Hard work comes easier when your work is your passion

English: Catherine Malandrino - Fashion Designer
English: Catherine Malandrino – Fashion Designer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We went to visit a fashion designer in Salt River, Cape Town, because of my daughter’s interest in fashion. It was two days before New Year and the fashion designer was working flat out at 3 PM. She showed us some of her many patterns, we watched one of her staff cutting cloth from a pattern and were told how she farmed out the garment construction to a sub supplier. She preferred to outsource this part of her garment construction because it is a specialist field in itself and requires a different overhead to where this fashion designer is presently located. But one thing stood out. Continue reading “Hard work comes easier when your work is your passion”

An old Kalk Bay fish trap reveals a secret to sales

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

Over the festive season, I walked down to the rocks near Kalk Bay to show my daughter and son an old fish trap along the coastline. They were amazed. They asked me how old the fish trap, made in the rocks on the water’s edge, was. I really can’t give a precise answer because to my knowledge there is no history of these fish traps around the South African coast. Some romantic historians would put these fish traps in ancient times but this one in particular looked as though it had been made about more than 100 years ago. Continue reading “An old Kalk Bay fish trap reveals a secret to sales”

How can you learn to be more creative?

Mind-map showing a wide range of nonhierarchic...
Mind-map showing a wide range of nonhierarchical relationships (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Small business owners, start-ups and entrepreneurial venture founders use idea generation and creativity in coming up with a new business idea whether that be starting something from scratch or taking a second-hand business and repurposing it for a specific target market. Once the small business is up and running, the small business owner would typically deal with a number of difficulties, problems and challenges – all of which need creativity to be solved. Continue reading “How can you learn to be more creative?”

Small businesses battle to survive

the marina mall in kuwait
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When the economy heads south, the attention turns to the creation of small businesses. Why initiatives such as setting up ministries, increasing training and funding couldn’t be set up before the financial crisis baffles brains. It seems that small and medium-size businesses, neglected in good times, are suddenly shown up as the saviour for dwindling jobs in the public and private sectors. Continue reading “Small businesses battle to survive”

Are you a solution finder or problem solver?

Photo: Wikicommons
Photo: Wikicommons

A few weeks ago I was walking through a mall in a coastal town and noticed a retail shop that was converted into a play room for children. Inside the playroom were several children sitting at tables playing games, making things and enjoying themselves.

Some mothers can have an awful time of it shopping when the children are nagging and even screaming for attention. This is a problem for mothers. I have not seen local entrepreneurs come up with such a playroom but have heard of an entrepreneur who has developed several for mothers in Malaysia. Their children play mainly with Lego which he sources cheaply from an Asian country. Now an entrepreneur locally has woken up to the problem that mothers face while shopping and has developed a playroom for kids where they can enjoy themselves while their mothers shop peacefully.

An author of a little book on advice for entrepreneurs claims that employees are problem solvers while entrepreneurs are solution finders. But is it really fair to say employees are problem solvers rather than the solution finders? The thing is that when people write books like these they tried to simplify everything and often these statements are not accurate or based on fact. As much as entrepreneurs can be solution finders, employees need not only be problem solvers but can also look for solutions that benefit business entrepreneur really.

Just in recent months I have come across entrepreneurs who have found solutions for green gardening and landscaping, energy efficiency in the home, an ointment for bluebottle and insect stings from the humble pawpaw fruit and a woman entrepreneur who came up with specially designed swimwear that doesn’t fall off when women are surfing.

What problems save you come across recently in your daily personal or business life or that of others that you can turn into solutions other people would be willing to pay for? There are so many problems that consumers and customers have that it pays to look and listen. What about health and safety issues in small businesses? What are entrepreneurs doing to protect their staff from harm? As you probably know, many accidents don’t always happen in an industrial workshop or factory but occur at home. Slips, trips and falls are common accidents at home where many entrepreneurs now set up the home businesses. How can they better protect themselves?

Problems with poor quality products seem to have grown exponentially. Do you have any solutions for helping to improve the quality of products or come up with a better quality product? It was sad to see how many presents under the Christmas tree this year – sourced from Asian countries – were damaged or fell apart. What can we do about better quality products? Do we have to accept such cheap junk?

Poor quality service is now so prevalent if you stand out with excellent service you will be far ahead of other businesses. Small businesses have a huge edge for better quality service. The cost of eating out needs better solutions as the price of meals rises out of reach of many people. The high cost of electricity is begging for domestic energy efficiency solutions.

If you are looking for a solution to turn your promising business idea into a source of income, you may want to consider “Breakthrough Ideas”. It’s essentially a solution finder. It helps you find a solution that you can turn into a product or service to form a small enterprise, something of your own from scratch. You have an opportunity to secure this resource with a special incentive before the general public… So don’t miss out! Don’t let your dream pass you by. Secure your copy now by putting your name down on the waiting list.

Businesses that don’t keep their promises to customers get away with it but at their own peril

English: Grilled calamari
Grilled calamari (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On Christmas morning we went down to the beach at Muizenberg for a swim. The water was lovely and cool and enjoyable beyond measure. Afterwards, we all felt a bit peckish from the sun, sea and sand and went up to a small restaurant for some calamari, chips and coffee. The coffee was all right but the chips and calamari were nothing really to speak about. In fact, the calamari was tasteless. It was so easy to spot the fault with the calamari. It had been soaked in meat tenderiser to make it soft which had left the calamari tasteless. Continue reading “Businesses that don’t keep their promises to customers get away with it but at their own peril”

Put your idea to the test before you invest

IMG-20150105-00181 IMG-20141230-00151In these times when two incomes don’t always cover your monthly living expenses, more people with an entrepreneurial flair are starting new products and services and other income-generating activities.

But here’s the thing: you need to know whether there is demand for your product or service before you start investing money in it. It also not advisable to give up your day job, your main source of income, because it’s much harder to get a new product or service off the ground than most people think.

So what you do? Have you tried out something like this before? What have you found to be the best way?

Any sort of start-up needs to prove its business model. In fact, a successful entrepreneur and entrepreneurial coach said that a start-up is really a business in search of a viable, sustainable business model. It may take you one year to establish the success of your start-up or even longer. During this time you would need to perhaps change direction from your original approach as you try to seek demand for your product service in the marketplace. Continue reading “Put your idea to the test before you invest”

Are you paranoid about other small businesses copying your ideas and products?

IMG-20141229-00142I met up with an entrepreneurial couple who had returned to the country from the UK and had decided to make energy bars to sell. They began making and packing their energy bars at home and then going around to shops and delicatessens to leave samples. Soon they were receiving calls from where they had left the sample energy bars with shop and deli owners placing orders. Sounds like a success story, doesn’t it? Continue reading “Are you paranoid about other small businesses copying your ideas and products?”

5 key traits of entrepreneurs

Order Breakthrough Ideas online
Order Breakthrough Ideas online

What are the key traits of successful entrepreneurs? If you had to boil it down, what would you consider to be the top few characteristics of outstanding entrepreneurs? From your own behaviour and that of other entrepreneurs what do you think makes one entrepreneur more successful than another?

Are the characteristics or strengths of entrepreneurs different from other business people? Most business people need to think creatively, identify opportunities, be outstanding implementers, sell their ideas and concepts and possess a mindset where they take failure in their stride and persist against the odds. Often it’s important to look at the whole, the Gestalt, rather than just one or two traits because successful individuals have a combination of strengths, talents and skills. Continue reading “5 key traits of entrepreneurs”

Do you need to put your business on a fat reduction programme?

English: American crocodile in La Manzanilla s...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A physicist who has taken up science communication teamed up with a professor to produce a simple explanation of how the body gets rid of fat. This, they felt was a contribution to the war on obesity. They found that heat is released, especially when you exercise, but that is a by-product of the chemical reaction that takes place in the body when you lose fat, not the conversion of fat. Calculations showed that the lungs are the primary excretory organ for fat. When you lose weight, you need to unlock the carbon stored in fat cells. You release fat as carbon dioxide and water through your lungs. Continue reading “Do you need to put your business on a fat reduction programme?”