Tag: entrepreneurship

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Do you have what it takes to start a new business in your mature years?

English: Don Chow Tacos Ultimate LA Taco
English: Don Chow Tacos Ultimate LA Taco (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A business radio program gave an example of a man who retired and invested R5,000,000 of his savings into a “Vet Koek” (a traditional Afrikaner pastry made from dough which is deep-fried in cooking oil) business in a coastal Town which shortly thereafter went bankrupt.

The radio topic was on how people in the mature or retirement years can start something of their own. With many people needing to work beyond their official retirement date and with people living longer because of healthy lifestyles and modern medicine, there is much debate about entrepreneurship or small business ownership post retirement. Continue reading “Do you have what it takes to start a new business in your mature years?”

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How does a system of entrepreneurship help you implement your best idea?

Fresh red chile de árbol chili peppers
Fresh red chile de árbol chili peppers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Start-up founders were asked the following question on a popular online forum: “What does it feel like to be the CEO of a start-up?”. There were many replies to this question from start-up founders and owners with a lot of them saying how difficult it was to “turn it off”, to create a vision, a culture, to find the right people and to get enough sleep.

One entrepreneur said that you learn to do what you need to do when you get punched in the face many, many times. You also learn, said the entrepreneur, that you are bad at many things, lucky if you’re good at a handful and the only thing you can ever be great at is being yourself “which is why you can never compromise it”. Continue reading “How does a system of entrepreneurship help you implement your best idea?”

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Does walking spark new ideas for you?

IMG_1434.JPG.storyboardOn Sunday late afternoon I took a walk along the Braamfontein Spruit watching the baby ducks that had grown up during the summer months. I went up to the bird lookout at Delta Park which overlooks a field of bulrushes where small finches were eating the seeds in the setting sun.

During this walk an idea that I hadn’t thought of for a while slipped into my mind. I tossed it about and came up with a potential market for the product, a name for varieties of the product, how to package it and what I would have to do to test market it. By the time I’d finished my walk I had a reasonably developed idea, much more feasible than when I had first thought about it. Continue reading “Does walking spark new ideas for you?”

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Entrepreneurs are open to possibilities

Statue of the thinking bull in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Credit: Hungarian Wikipedia, Magyar Wikipédia
Statue of the thinking bull in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Credit: Hungarian Wikipedia, Magyar Wikipédia

The other day I saw a hamburger fast-food restaurant that had opened up in a small shopping centre. It was doing exceptionally well because because the owner had found a small area of opportunity that had been ignored by the major fast-food restaurant chains.

Where some people may see problems, entrepreneurs and start-up business owners see opportunities. Call this creative thinking or visionary thinking whatever you want but entrepreneurs open their minds to possibilities. The average person may see an empty garage filled with useless equipment. An entrepreneur may look at the same space and see a cellphone repair shop or even a deli outlet. Continue reading “Entrepreneurs are open to possibilities”

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A danger that lurks inside some small businesses

(Copyright © 2014 by Chesney Bradshaw, all rights reserved)
(Copyright © 2014 by Chesney Bradshaw, all rights reserved)

A woman in her 30s pleaded guilty some time back to stealing more than one million from a small business to fund her lavish lifestyle. At the time that she stole from the small business the woman was employed as the manager of the firm.

A fatal flaw was that this person held the passwords to the owner’s bank accounts. This enabled her to make electronic transfers from both accounts. She siphoned off the money before she was caught out. Continue reading “A danger that lurks inside some small businesses”

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Have you modernised your thinking in entrepreneurship?

(Copyright © 2014 by Chesney Bradshaw, all rights reserved)
(Copyright © 2014 by Chesney Bradshaw, all rights reserved)

A commentator in a Himalayan publication was saying that we have modernised today not only with technologies but with our thoughts too. The commentator gave several examples where thinking had changed including in education and the workplace.

How have you modernised your thinking when it comes to entrepreneurship, start-ups and small business?

Are you using the same style of thinking that you used several years ago? Continue reading “Have you modernised your thinking in entrepreneurship?”

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Smashing the myths of smooth operator entrepreneurs

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(Copyright © 2014 by Chesney Bradshaw, all rights reserved)

Why is it that the popular papers paint a picture of successful entrepreneurs as almost smooth operators that have somehow made their money through fast talking and conjuring up sleazy deals?

Is it just because the popular media need to conjure up a story that seems wild and fanciful? You know the kind of story, the one where the entrepreneur is something of a misfit, unable to fit into any company let alone society. The person who bangs at doors trying to get into the business world that keeps getting doors shut in his or her face. The old, familiar story of someone who is rejected and has to find a specialised or overlooked niche to make their mark or even has to leave the country of their birth to find more fertile ground for their entrepreneurial flair. Continue reading “Smashing the myths of smooth operator entrepreneurs”

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Barbie becomes an entrepreneur in this economy

BarbieOver many years Barbie, that cute little doll, has taken on many roles. She’s worked at “pink-collar” occupations such as candy-stripper, ballerina, aerobics instructor, nurse, flight attendant and model. Barbie has been a doctor and various kinds of chefs including a cookie chef, sweet chef, pancake chef, pastry chef and pizza chef.

In this tough economy, Barbie has become an entrepreneur. The Washington Post reports that Entrepreneur Barbie is clad in a tight, hot-pink dress and sky-high black heels. She carries a patent-leather briefcase, pink clutch and what seems to be a knock-off iPhone and iPad. She comes with her coterie of “Chief Inspiration Offices” and has served own hashtag #unapologetic. Continue reading “Barbie becomes an entrepreneur in this economy”

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This business pioneer never put an age limit on entrepreneurship

CBPENCILSKETCH LIGHT BULB webFifty-nine years ago an American fast-food pioneer opened the first McDonald’s franchise which launched a company that would eventually become the world’s largest food chain. Ray Kroc opened the first franchised McDonald’s on 15 April 1955 in Days Plains, Illinois, in the United States.

The first McDonald’s restaurant was started in 1948 by brothers Maureece and Richard Macdonald in San Bernardino, California. Salesman Ray Kroc, who sold appliances to this small hamburger restaurant, was intrigued why they needed eight malt and shake mixers. When he visited the brothers in 1954 to see how a small fast-food restaurant could sell so many milkshakes, he discovered an efficient format that allowed the brothers to produce huge quantities of food at low prices. Continue reading “This business pioneer never put an age limit on entrepreneurship”

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What can you learn from an entrepreneurial MOOC?

Credit: wikimedia commons (Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License)

The East Rand, just outside Johannesburg, has an infestation of Norway rats. Things have become so bad that people kill them and throw them in the street. One local business person said the rats are big as his size nine shoe and that his two big dogs “deal with them”.

A small fact tucked in the article mentioned that the municipality was spending “millions a year” to fight the scourge.

If you are entrepreneurially minded, where do you see the opportunity in these giant-sized rats?

Chunking it down, you might see opportunities for pest control businesses, rat poison and even a system for devising better waste disposal. Continue reading “What can you learn from an entrepreneurial MOOC?”