Tag: idea generation

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Afraid of risk? Then take a look at this…

Photo courtesy of "Death to Stock"
Photo courtesy of “Death to Stock”

The other day I heard about a business person who exited a company to get hold of pension money to invest in a business. The basic premise would be to use the pension money to expand and grow the business. The business person is still young and able to recover if the business goes bust.

It reminded me of someone some time back who was fired from his director position with a large company. The way the company went about firing him was disgusting but let’s not get into that here. The business person decided to go into an industry where he thought he knew what was involved. So he invested his pension money and extended his home bond for the capital requirements of this new business. Within less than two years, the business went bust. Costs were underestimated and demand for product was overestimated. Plus a competitor, much larger, entered the market with big resources, making the small manufacturing business unviable. Continue reading “Afraid of risk? Then take a look at this…”

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Do you need to change the value proposition you are offering your customers?

(Copyright © 2015 by Chesney Bradshaw, all rights reserved)
(Copyright © 2015 by Chesney Bradshaw, all rights reserved)

When I was fishing on the commercial boats years ago your personal value proposition was simple. Either you caught a lot of fish or you didn’t get invited back. What’s the use of having someone take up space on the commercial fishing boats and not catching fish to produce income for the skipper and boat owner.

In changing times like these when prospective customers are feeling the financial pinch or in serious financial trouble, it’s important to look at your “value proposition” to see whether you are offering your prospective customers the best value they can find. Continue reading “Do you need to change the value proposition you are offering your customers?”

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This small business owner was forced to draw on her creativity

Castle Drive, St Mawes
Castle Drive, St Mawes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The other day a bridal company entrepreneur was talking about her worst nightmare. She had ordered over 300 hydrangeas for a “white ” colour wedding from a grower in KwaZulu-Natal because she did not want to import the flowers. She placed the order six months before with the grower. This was good planning. Continue reading “This small business owner was forced to draw on her creativity”

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A lesson about risk from a successful entrepreneur

photo-1439902315629-cd882022cea0
Credit: Unsplash,Christopher Campbell

The other day I was talking to a successful entrepreneur that I’ve known for some time and I asked him what was the biggest lesson he had learnt as a business person. He immediately came out with this answer: don’t take too much risk. About two years ago before he started the business that he is presently running, he imported a container load of product. Everything was working out well until the local currency dropped overnight. He had not taken any forward cover and his loss was astronomical. Continue reading “A lesson about risk from a successful entrepreneur”

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Picking the eyes out of a failed business

English: Ringwood : Royal Mail Postbox One box...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One publisher was so fed up with the collapse last year of the Post Office services that he has vowed never to use them again. For his subscribers he set up a door-to-door delivery service and deliveries via POSTNET.

The complete breakdown of the postal service showed how quickly a going concern can die because of poor management. It’s ironic that the executive managers were patting themselves on their backs over and over about how “sustainable” the business was when they completely lacked a plan to deal with changing circumstances. Continue reading “Picking the eyes out of a failed business”

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Information is a commodity, specialised knowledge is valuable

liquid paper (A bottle correction fluid), pict...
Liquid paper (A bottle correction fluid), picture and eraser – Nakhon Sawan, Thailand (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the small businesses I was trying to get up and running some years back gave me a lot of headaches. A big challenge was getting the distribution right. Without distribution channels, the business could not get off the ground. Another issue was trying to attract a specialised staff person but with the small business not having any track record.

These are the kind of issues that the person who is starting something from scratch often confronts. Other issues could involve product prototyping and estimating market demand. These are not easy to issues to solve especially when you are a small business person operating on a shoestring budget with your resources only being yourself and meagre savings. Continue reading “Information is a commodity, specialised knowledge is valuable”

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Even the top opera singers are in search of new business models

BinaryRhyme East Village Opera Company Chamber...
BinaryRhyme East Village Opera Company Chamberfest  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A top, seasoned tenor, Stéfan Louw announced his plans to come up with a new opera company to help bring back the “mysticism” and “singing excellence” of opera. He has named his company Big Wig Opera – because he is so tired of pretentious names that no one understands – and will operate from the Roodepoort Theatre. He has already produced “The Tragedy of Werther” at Roodepoort and hopes to do bigger productions in 2015. Continue reading “Even the top opera singers are in search of new business models”

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How long will it take for you to get your new business idea off the ground?

3_1The founder of Liquid Paper, Bette Graham, came up with an idea while watching painters decorate Christmas Windows at the bank where she was a secretary. She came up with a way to correct typing errors but had to work five years while sending her product from home. She mixed up different colour paints with a kitchen blender until she was able to come up with a suitable product which essentially was correction fluid. After being fired by her boss because of the mistake she couldn’t correct, she started out full-time and grew her business into a large company. Continue reading “How long will it take for you to get your new business idea off the ground?”

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Be aware of negative attitudes towards “problems”

IMG-20150822-00887Automatically seeing a problem as “negative” can prevent you from getting the facts both positive and negative to an issue. As creative consultant Man Min Basadur says, our negative perceptions cause us to avoid problems rather than to seek them out.

“We will seek only the facts that support our preconceived negative view, leading to inadequate and off-target problem defining,” Basadur says. Continue reading “Be aware of negative attitudes towards “problems””

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Creative ideas needed to stop elephants destroying traffic-counting devices in game park

English: Elephant mating ritual (No. 2 in a se...
English: Elephant mating ritual (No. 2 in a series of 5 photos) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A creative idea was needed to stop elephants damaging traffic-counting devices during a study in a nature reserve on roadkill. Motorists speeding in the nature park were monitored with the use of traffic-counting devices but the elephants discovered them and took a liking to the devices.

If you were faced with a similar challenge, what idea would you come up with to prevent the elephants damaging the traffic-counting equipment? Continue reading “Creative ideas needed to stop elephants destroying traffic-counting devices in game park”