Expert Financial & Business Insights for South Africa
Strategic analysis from Idea Accelerator and ready-to-publish content from Financial News Daily.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the traffic and at almost every four-way stop people thrust pamphlets at your side window. Are these pamphlets effective? They’ve slipped ones through the top of my window for storage facilities, vehicle repairs and maintenance, beauty products, gyms and even for retirement accommodation. Continue reading “Is direct marketing effective for the small start-up?”
I rang up a retail owner the other day to find out if he had some specialist supplies that I wish to order. He told me that he had closed down his retail business in Benmore, Johannesburg, in the winter. This business had been trading for the past 50 years. Initially his retail arm was situated in downtown Johannesburg but about 15 years ago he moved out and relocated on the environs of Sandton. Now, it was gone for good. Continue reading “How valuable is your small business in these changing times?”
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”
A pop-up store was set up in a shopping centre in Cresta, Johannesburg, some time back to find out if a range of UK-made clothing would work in South Africa. There were other pop-up stores in major centres such as Cape Town and Durban. I’ve never heard a word about the results of the pop-up store success or otherwise since. But demand must have been lower than expected because the store was never established in Johannesburg. Continue reading “If you had to screen a new product idea, what is the one criteria you would use?”
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”
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”
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”
I have come across quite a few under-the-radar businesses. You might ask, what are under-the-radar businesses? First up, it’s got nothing, absolutely nothing, to the legality of operation. An under-the-radar business is completely legitimate, complies absolutely with the rule of law and pays its taxes. So that’s it – it’s a completely, absolutely legitimate business. There is absolutely nothing, but nothing, untoward about an under-the-radar business.
Now let’s get into it. But I don’t want to go into examples because I don’t want to break under-the-radar businesses cover. The first thing about an under-the-radar business is that it is out of the prying eyes of competition. It’s not like a main street, retail business looking for foot traffic and word-of-mouth. So yes, it is a business that does not require a heavy cost in marketing and promotion. It’s usually a business that has built itself up with a number of key customers that rely on its products and services. Continue reading “What are the criteria for an under-the-radar business? Does it matter to you?”
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”
What have you made yourself? Did you make anything when you were young? Have you thought of making something recently?
If you answered yes to any of those three questions, then you will know what excitement happens when you make something of your own for yourself. When you make something for yourself and you can also find a market, or you have thought about the market before you even made your product or service, you will know how satisfying it can be. It puts your destiny in your own hands.
It’s by no means an easy route to take. I’m not talking here about going into full-scale manufacturing but coming up with something that you can initially do on the side and may lead to bigger things. There is a compelling case for making something of your own. We still live in a world where we sell our expertise and time to someone else. But a growing number of people both young and old have started to make things for themselves. You only need to look at the app developer market to see how many young people have got involved in making apps for smartphones.
I have visited many morning markets around the country and have discovered that both young people and old are making things of their own. Products that have stood out for me recently have been a line of specialised skin creams, smoked products, organic coffee, specialised “cage” dolls beautifully made by a sculptor, and a kitchen sink board for preparing vegetables and salads. Here I am only scratching on the surface because there are so many wonderful products that people have come up with.
Yet, it is tragic when someone comes up with a good idea but is unable for various reasons to execute it or, simply put, put it into action. I came across the example of a school teacher who is retired recently and decided to open a kindergarten. But months later she has not got off of the ground and has been forced into going back into teaching at a school for delinquents in a rough area. You see, this is a typical story. By not taking your life into your own hands you end up settling for second best. This is where you get kicked in the face, where takers steal and confiscate from you and others pass the pennies at the end of a hard year of working. Perhaps this schoolteacher will get her kindergarten going eventually.
If you have never come up with something on your own whether it be a product or a service, meaning either a physical item or an intellectual concept or service, then they are ways to bridge this gap. There are ways to come up with ideas on your own that you can make viable. The is a process for product and service development. Find a system, a method a process that works best for you.
PS Disclaimer: I have started five small businesses from scratch, one of which failed and four which were successful.
