Tag: idea accelerator

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After enduring much trauma, this small business owner finally made a personal breakthrough

BOOK 2 FLAT jpg croppedI was talking to John, a small business owner a few weeks ago. He told me how desperate he had been for a personal breakthrough in his life.

He ran a factory with his brother but it was over when the Asian imports destroyed their market. He moved cities and thought that he could trade similar products, importing them from different markets overseas. On one of these shipments, a full container load, which he had financed himself, was hit by a sudden drop in the volatile local currency. He had not taken forward cover on the currency. He was devastated.

John is not a quitter. Over the next few weeks he began to plan for his future. An image began to form in his mind. He realised that the idea that he had for a new business is what he wanted to do. He would start a small takeaway and restaurant business but keep it to a size where if things went wrong he wouldn’t be over his head. Continue reading “After enduring much trauma, this small business owner finally made a personal breakthrough”

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“I hear you knocking, but you can’t come in”

Michael Bradshaw ready to paddle out into the waves at Longbeach, Kommetjie. (Copyright © 2015 by Chesney Bradshaw, all rights reserved)
Michael Bradshaw ready to paddle out into the waves at Longbeach, Kommetjie. (Copyright © 2015 by Chesney Bradshaw, all rights reserved)

I was talking to a small business owner some weeks ago when out of the blue he mentioned a subject that he believes strongly about. He said he didn’t admire the celebrity entrepreneurs who will only hire people who already have all the qualifications and skills. But he said he did admire one celebrity entrepreneur who is prepared to take on someone who doesn’t have the qualifications and skills and develop them in his or her business.

What is your approach to hiring new staff? What qualities and experience do you look for? Are you prepared to take on someone who has potential but doesn’t yet have the necessary qualifications, skills and experience? Continue reading ““I hear you knocking, but you can’t come in””

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Advantages of a small business idea accelerator

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

A man hung on to his idea to start a small businesses and worked hard to bring it into reality. After the inevitable false starts and dead ends, he got his hand and body lotion micro-enterprise off the ground. He started small, hand selling at Saturday morning markets, travelling from one part of the city to another like a Gypsy. His product was of a high quality made with a combination of milk and honey. Soon it began to take off. He branched out into online selling and keeps growing his business.

How many people do you know who come up with a promising idea but never turn their business idea into reality? Some research says that half of the working population have an idea that they wish to turn into a micro-enterprise, small hobby business or small business. Yet the percentage of those who do take their business idea and make it into reality is minuscule. Why is that so? Is it because they don’t have cash? Don’t they have motivation? Or, don’t they have the right mentor or business adviser to help and encourge them to bring their ideas to life? Continue reading “Advantages of a small business idea accelerator”

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How much is a new business idea worth to you?

Ideas are the Basis of Progress. Every Improve...
Ideas are the Basis of Progress. Every Improvement in This World was the Result of Someone’s Idea – NARA – 534220 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A civil engineer came back home after his contract ran out in Papua New Guinea. Because jobs are hard to find in his home country he sat around sending out more than 300 CVs, started running out of his savings, eventually had no money to make cellphone calls and by the hair on his chinny chin chin after one year secured a job in Saudi Arabia. This is the prison that the person with no new ideas experiences. All he or she can sell is skills and time.

A young woman landed up in Worcester, Western Cape, fell in love with the place and wanted to stay but there were no jobs. She wracked her brains, desperate to find some idea to make an income so that she could live in the town. Even though Worcester sauce is made by the giant food manufacturing companies right there in Worcester, she came up with an idea for her own special Worcester sauce, developed her product and it took off. Continue reading “How much is a new business idea worth to you?”

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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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5 ways to juice up your start-up idea

Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

A London cabbie driver was given two tickets to a West End show. He found out a bit about the show and realised it wasn’t for him. He thought that someone else might enjoy the show much more than he would so he left the two tickets on the back seat of his taxi. At the end of his working day, he took a look at his back seat to see if the tickets were gone. What he found was two tickets for the same show placed together with the ones that he had left on his back seat.

This may be another tall story but it highlights the need to come up with things that people really want. A West End show is much a product or entertainment solution as any product you may buy from your local supermarket or from an online retail store.

New business ideas for a start-up or boot-strapped business need to count. A bad idea that is the basis for a new product or service simply isn’t going to make money. But what’s a bad idea? Let’s rather flip that into a more positive statement: what makes a good idea? Continue reading “5 ways to juice up your start-up idea”

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Does your revenue model have multiple sources of income like this one?

Four revenue streams
Four revenue streams

Eighteen years ago in June I took out my first cellphone contract. This June I cancelled the contract. When I look at how much I’ve paid over almost two decades, I can see what a brilliant business model the cellphone companies have in this country.

But for the consumer like me it’s a different story. I won’t even use the word customer because the relationship with a cellphone company is close to zero. Though you benefit from a cellphone, it’s still a grudge purchase.

The cellphone company shackles you into a two-year contract. They charge a premium price for the cellphone unit and load it with a hire purchase interest rate. This is only the beginning. You are charged for voice, SMSs and data. Continue reading “Does your revenue model have multiple sources of income like this one?”

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Is passion enough?

Passion
Passion (Photo credit: Alex Abian (Also on flickr.com/alexabian))

I’ve just come in from an early morning run. En route I saw a man walking in the street and greeted him. He could barely push out a greeting from his mouth – it seemed to be there but at the same time it wasn’t.

It was early in the morning and yet this person looked frustrated, down, dejected and almost as if he had given up hope.

Have you ever felt this way? Have you ever been paralysed by your negativity? Have you been unable to find your passion? Perhaps you tried and tried and tried and just couldn’t find your mojo.

Is passion really that important? Continue reading “Is passion enough?”

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What does it take to start something of your own?

Sheridan gym
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On Saturday afternoon I met a young woman at the local gym who has four years in academic entrepreneurship training but has yet to start something of her own.

She is now selling subscriptions to the gym to hone her selling skills. After close to five years she still doesn’t have any clue about what she could start herself. Continue reading “What does it take to start something of your own?”

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What does it take to start something of your own?

Cover of "Start Your Own Business"
Cover of Start Your Own Business

On Saturday afternoon I met a young woman at the local gym who has four years in academic entrepreneurship training but has yet to start something of her own.

She is now selling subscriptions to the gym to hone her selling skills. After close to five years she still doesn’t have any clue about what she could start herself.

This is the way it goes for many would-be entrepreneurs. She has spent R200,000 ($20,000) to learn how to be an entrepreneur from a so-called top academic institution but still has nothing to show for it. You’d think that completing a degree in entrepreneurship would move you a lot closer to finding an idea to start your own business. But many people just try to get a degree certificate to have some paper behind their name. Yet after completing a four-year entrepreneurship degree you have to pay a lot back if your parents are not financing your education or if you were unable to get a study bursary. Continue reading “What does it take to start something of your own?”