Tag: new business ideas

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Are you failing fast enough?

failure
failure (Photo credit: ‘PixelPlacebo’)

Some small business owners fail big time. On a radio show the other evening a small business adviser told the story of a business person who secured a large order with a chain store. The owner went to his bank, took out a big loan and built a plant to manufacture product. The chain came back and renegotiated the product’s price and made it clear that his business would need to pay for delivery costs. He hadn’t factored these costs in his business plan and now he is on his way to financial ruin unless he comes up with a solution fast.

How do you deal with failure? What have you learnt from failure? What are the more effective ways of dealing with business failure?

First time entrepreneurs fail a lot. In fact, many Internet marketers brag about their early failures and recite many valuable lessons that they have learnt from their failures. Continue reading “Are you failing fast enough?”

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Is your customer service giving your small business the competitive edge you want?

Spatchcocked on the Kettle
Spatchcocked on the Kettle (Photo credit: Another Pint Please…)

You hear and read it everywhere. Customers complaining about banks and insurance companies with long and drawn-out horror stories of frustration and personal loss.

This is where there is an opportunity for small business owners to outshine their larger business counterparts but many small businesses miss out because they don’t give it enough attention, have a system in place and train their staff adequately.

Continue reading “Is your customer service giving your small business the competitive edge you want?”

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The spirit of free enterprise

English: The historical centre of Simon's Town
English: The historical centre of Simon’s Town (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My father would go down to the small bay in Simon’s Town, down from the high sand dunes in the palm trees, to the strip of beach where before the early morning sunrise he would cast out his throw net from the shore. On those mornings he was there to net harders and other small fish that he could use for bait when he went out on his ski boat to catch yellowtail off the Bullnose and kabeljou and geelbek off Strandfontein or Cape Point. Continue reading “The spirit of free enterprise”

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Make your idea happen (even if you don’t think you’re ready)

IDEA
IDEA (Photo credit: mlinksva)

What does it take to get your new business idea off the ground? How do you make your new business idea happen? How much is it going to cost?

The challenge about starting anything new – and I’m not talking about inventors here – is that you need to be fairly high up the food chain to make your new business idea into reality. What I mean by this? I mean that you need to have the skills, time, motivation, contacts and money to make your idea happen.

Continue reading “Make your idea happen (even if you don’t think you’re ready)”

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What would you choose? Investment finance or small business advice?

Marinus van Reymerswaele (Follower of) (Zeeland, The Netherlands, 1490 - Goes, Zeeland, The Netherlands, 1546)
Marinus van Reymerswaele (Follower of) (Zeeland, The Netherlands, 1490 – Goes, Zeeland, The Netherlands, 1546)

Sometimes we can meet the right person at the right time and it seems like luck. But is it luck? Perhaps it’s at times when we are most down that we open ourselves up and let strangers into our lives who can help us.

When I was going through a difficult period I met an old-school sales person and financial adviser who gave me so much help that I could never really pay him back. He shared his business methods, dug out his old sales training material from years back and took me door to door on “knock, knock” sales calls. I learned to live skills from him that you won’t find at high school, in your university studies or even sometimes in families, no matter how well meaning they are. Continue reading “What would you choose? Investment finance or small business advice?”

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How do you form your small business team so that it’s competent instead of toxic?

Formula One World Championship
Formula One World Championship (Photo credit: varlen)

Lewis Hamilton, the F1 champion driver insists he has cleared the air with team-mate Nico Rosberg after his team driver won the Monaco Grand Prix. Despite Hamilton’s remarks, the media speculates that the duo are no longer talking to one another with the relationship at rock bottom.

This is the competitive world of Formula 1 motor racing. The money stakes and ego winnings are high. Team loyalty takes second place to first across the finishing line.

The loyal fans who watch world motorsport on the television screens on Sundays hope for an exciting race. But like at Monaco the two Mercedes that started first and second retained those positions to the finish. What they don’t get to see is the behind-the-scenes formation of the F1 teams and what it takes to put a Formula One car on the track. Continue reading “How do you form your small business team so that it’s competent instead of toxic?”

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Where do you get your inspiration as an entrepreneur?

English: Street scene from Brick Lane in London.Stewart Laing, tattoo artist, gave this pitch to the panel selecting social entrepreneurs to fund:

“I’ve been homeless, I’ve been an addict, I’ve been shot in the face. My dad died when I was young, I have no contact with my mum, I hustled for a living. Four years ago I turned things around. My tattoo teacher not only taught me, he saved my life. Now I want to set up a tattoo studio and employ troubled kids like I was to escape the street.”

This young man is 26 years old. He has developed his entrepreneurial instincts on the streets. Overcome childhood trauma. Learned to survive.

Seeing Stewart’s first-hand account from a piece in the Evening Standard, is powerful and moving. It shows how entrepreneurial skills can be found anywhere. It also shows how entrepreneurs can make money but also how they can make a difference to other people’s lives.

Continue reading “Where do you get your inspiration as an entrepreneur?”

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What early detection systems do you need in your business?

White_sharkA start-up co-founder Craig Anderson has come up with a shark attack mitigation system in the form of a product called Clever Buoy, which is able to detect sharks and warn lifesavers of their presence in bathing areas.

The Perth-based Shark Attack Mitigation Systems business has developed Clever Buoy with the help of Google and Optus (A POTUS). The company has used a process from the oil and gas industry to develop new software that recognises sharks through sonar based on their swimming patterns.

Continue reading “What early detection systems do you need in your business?”

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Is it your idea or implementation that will make you successful?

Rolling Stone reports that Pono is in fact a music ecosystem: a music download store, a tool that converts digital audio files into analog-sounding recordings, and a range of audio players.
Rolling Stone reports that Pono is a music ecosystem.

You watch other people come up with new ideas and wonder just how do they do it. Is it their idea? Or is it their implementation? What makes one idea more successful than another?

You may wonder what the real answer is but have more pressing things that rob you of your time. Your car needs to be taken to the panel beaters. Your roof is leaking and you have to call a roof repairer. Your child needs to be taken to the doctor. Your dog is sick and you must get to the vet urgently. Continue reading “Is it your idea or implementation that will make you successful?”

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How good are you at opportunity spotting?

English: A photo of a cup of coffee. Esperanto...
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A middle-aged man was out of work. He’d been a slacker. Now he was out of income. His lifestyle was going down fast. One day he saw something that gave him idea.

The man’s idea was to run a gourmet coffee mobile stand outside a petrol service station in a local community. He made an arrangement with the petrol station manager and soon people who filled up their cars with petrol got used to also buying a cup of fresh, delicious coffee from the man. Continue reading “How good are you at opportunity spotting?”