Tag: entrepreneurship

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Breakthrough ideas don’t happen overnight (how long do you have to wait?)

teaching material developed by maria montessori
teaching material developed by maria montessori (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I ordered a shipment of products. The delivery time was two weeks. When the products arrived in the country the courier company called about two days later and told me they would deliver in three days time. My products didn’t arrive on the third day. After kicking up a fuss, my products arrived late on the fourth day.

This local courier company that claims they are so fast with their deliveries added almost an extra week to the delivery time. They are the weakest link in an otherwise professional shipment chain that delivers on the promised delivery dates. Continue reading “Breakthrough ideas don’t happen overnight (how long do you have to wait?)”

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What can you do about losing more and more control in your life?

Stones on a Rocky Ocean Beach
Stones on a Rocky Ocean Beach (Photo credit: epSos.de)

What’s happening? Why does it feel that so many things are outside one’s control?

Take fuel costs, for example, which just seemed to keep on rising. With no end in sight. What can you do about it except to try to use less? But how possible is that when you have to use your car every day?

Electricity costs are following the same upward trajectory. Use less, buy energy efficient appliances. It’s hard but doable.

Policymakers introduce more restrictions on business. You’ve got less discretion to do what you need to do. Continue reading “What can you do about losing more and more control in your life?”

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Small businesses unattractive to job seekers (maybe it’s a good thing)

This image was selected as a picture of the we...

The other day I was reading about how almost 1.12-million job seekers take the National Public Servant Exam in China.

But only 19,000 positions are available. It means fewer than one in 50 candidates will be successful.

Chinese graduates are so desperate for these public servant jobs that they turn to plastic surgery for an advantage. One clinic offers noses inspired by the Eiffel Tower.

Continue reading “Small businesses unattractive to job seekers (maybe it’s a good thing)”

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Are you searching for the perfect thing?

Lets see if you can Stand behind our product
Protect yourself against killers (Photo credit: Insight Imaging: John A Ryan Photography)

I remember a guy who used to talk about finding “the perfect thing”. He was always talking about coming up with an idea for a product or service and a selling method that would enable him to achieve a lifestyle he had dreamed of.

Slowly he began to form his concept and eventually came up with the idea for a security product in a can. Similar products on the market were not that effective so the entrepreneur obtained various ingredients from the United States where the product was used extensively and was legal. Continue reading “Are you searching for the perfect thing?”

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All it takes to begin is the first step

Olympic Swimming Pool Fast Lane Category:Outdo...
Olympic Swimming Pool Fast Lane Category:Outdoor_swimming_pools (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The sun was shining in the late afternoon with the grey white clouds moving across the deep blue sky. A big palm tree swayed and the green leaves from the other trees shook against the blue canopy in the wind. Water splashed as children jumped into the pool and the sound of swimmers doing lengths of crawl echoed under the roof of the big half Olympic-size swimming pool in Linden, Johannesburg.

From the pool, leaning against the wall in the shallow end, I took in the view after doing a few lengths of crawl and breaststroke. A relaxed calm ran through my body as I gave my muscles a chance to relax. I was thinking that there’s no exercise like swimming that makes me feel so good. Continue reading “All it takes to begin is the first step”

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How do you come up with that winning idea in your business?

The ColaLife Aid Pod anti-diarrhoea kit.
The ColaLife Aid Pod anti-diarrhoea kit.

Simon Berry came up with an idea to save millions of lives in rural areas in developing countries.

He found that the space between the bottles in the crates used to distribute Coca-Cola can be used to transport oral rehydration salts.

His invention is the ColaLife Aid Pod anti-diarrhoea kit.

It is a waterproof plastic wedge-shaped package for an anti-diarrhoea kit that rests on top and between bottles in Coca-Cola shipping crates.

The AidPod also helps protect people from reinfection. People fill the AidPod with water, add anti-bacteria powder and let the sun’s UV rays kill waterborne bacteria.

New ideas turn into products and services can help to save millions of lives. Continue reading “How do you come up with that winning idea in your business?”

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A feast of crows

Jungle Crow Corvus macrorhynchos scavenging (feeding)) on a dead small shark at the beach in Kumamoto, Japan.
Jungle Crow Corvus macrorhynchos scavenging (feeding)) on a dead small shark at the beach in Kumamoto, Japan.

A couple started a game lodge in Botswana 10 years ago. It required building the place from scratch, financing it, advertising, making improvements. After five years the business was on its feet and now 10 years later with the growth in tourism in the country, business has picked up – in the winter season, the game lodge is booked out solid one and a half months in advance.

An overnight business success?

Hardly. Continue reading “A feast of crows”

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The swimming pools at Kalk Bay that people lost

Kalk Bay poolsWhen I was about six years old I started swimming in the pool below our house called Wooley’s pool. I was embarrassed because I had to use water wings. The problem was that no one had taught me how to swim. I wasn’t a natural learner.

But all that changed when I went to primary school at Kalk Bay. I can’t remember the day but I think it was on Wednesday that we would go to the Kalk Bay swimming pools behind the railway station for swimming lessons. Continue reading “The swimming pools at Kalk Bay that people lost”

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This entrepreneur didn’t need an incubator to hatch a motorised surfboard business

English: Mavericks Surf Contest 2010. Français...
English: Mavericks Surf Contest 2010. Français : Édition 2010 du concours de surf de Mavericks. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Chris Preston, an Australian surfer who damaged his shoulder a few years ago, has come up with a motorised surfboard for injured surfers would like to surf again.

Preston and his co-director, his wife Natalie, are launching Power Boards which will sell about 20 boards a month. Board prices, depending on board length, range between $4,200 and $4,700.

This is a great start-up story of an entrepreneur who spotted an opportunity and is motivated enough to make a go of his idea. It interesting that his idea came out of his surfing experience.

A surfing experience also led Anna Jerstrom, a Swede, to an idea for the Calavera range of bikinis designed to stay on no matter how rough the surf while on a surfing camp in Costa Rica. Continue reading “This entrepreneur didn’t need an incubator to hatch a motorised surfboard business”

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What challenges fire your innovation powers the most

Joker (comics)
Joker (comics) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The guru coaches and experts make starting and running an independent small business sound so easy that just about any fool can do it. Yes, we all believe them.

Let them speak to real business owners who are forced to live with landlords that push-up rentals every year. One small business owner I know lives in fear that his landlord will learn that he is doing well and push-up his rent. He’s devised sharp ways to keep the big bulldog at bay. Taking cash, running his business on word-of-mouth and keeping quiet as a church mouse about his sales. Continue reading “What challenges fire your innovation powers the most”