Tag: opportunities

Posted on

Enviroentrepreneurs come up with new ideas to make money

English: Thin plastic shopping bags Polski: To...
English: Thin plastic shopping bags Polski: Torebki foliowe – foliówki (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When you look at the streets, they are filled with plastic bags. Drive out on the highway – more plastic bags. Even drive along a country road and you’ll see plastic bags. Walk along an inner city river and the banks are festooned with plastic bags.

Many years ago environmental authorities introduced a concept to reduce the number of plastic bags used by shoppers. The idea was simple: place a levy of a few cents on the plastic bag. Some years later everyone or almost everyone seems to have forgotten about that. Plus if you go into how the levy was used sadly all you will find is mismanagement on a bizarre scale. No one likes to admit it but it was an idea that failed horribly. Continue reading “Enviroentrepreneurs come up with new ideas to make money”

Posted on

Being your best at the worst of times

English: A group of acorns.
English: A group of acorns. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I heard a story once about how a sales manager in the depression years encouraged his salespeople to make their daily sales targets. He would tell them to put five acorns in their left pocket and that they could only go home after they had transferred each of those acorns into their right pocket. To transfer an acorn, they had to call on a potential customer. Continue reading “Being your best at the worst of times”

Posted on

Starting something from scratch – fear trip or adventure?

English: ladder and sky.
English: ladder and sky. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometimes we get trapped in our fears. No place to turn to. Or so we think.

A middle age woman wrote to an agony aunt telling her that she hadn’t been romantically intimate with a man for five years and asked how she could get out this cage she had trapped itself inside of. The agony aunt recognised and acknowledged the woman’s situation. She praised where the woman crying out for help was in her life and acknowledged how difficult it was to get back into relationships and feel intimacy, friendship and trust again. If she continued creating greater mental barriers, the more difficult things would become.

The agony aunt advised the woman to take small steps such as signing up for a dance class where she would be able to hold hands with men and press some flesh, practice talking to strangers, harmlessly flirt with men in appropriate situations and perhaps even sign up to an online dating agency. Continue reading “Starting something from scratch – fear trip or adventure?”

Posted on

The case of the absentee business owner

English: Picture of an authentic Neapolitan Pi...
 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A restaurant franchise owner told me about a young restaurant owner who lost interest in his two franchise businesses.

The restaurant owner was given two franchises mainly selling takeaway pizzas and other Italian food. He did well rapidly at both locations.

Then the trouble started.

Collecting fast cars.

Racing stock cars. Continue reading “The case of the absentee business owner”

Posted on

Are you searching for the perfect thing?

Lets see if you can Stand behind our product
Protect yourself against killers (Photo credit: Insight Imaging: John A Ryan Photography)

I remember a guy who used to talk about finding “the perfect thing”. He was always talking about coming up with an idea for a product or service and a selling method that would enable him to achieve a lifestyle he had dreamed of.

Slowly he began to form his concept and eventually came up with the idea for a security product in a can. Similar products on the market were not that effective so the entrepreneur obtained various ingredients from the United States where the product was used extensively and was legal. Continue reading “Are you searching for the perfect thing?”

Posted on

Are you staying opportunity focused in this economy?

Money_Man
Credit: Creative Commons

In this economy every source of income counts. But where do you begin to discover hidden or new sources of income?

You may wonder about the term “multiple streams of income”. What is it? A buzzword from some self-help business guru that helps him or her sell their books and other products. It’s really a term to entice people into believing that it so easy to make money that you merely need to turn open a tap and money will pour into your banking account. This does not happen in the real world. You need to work long and hard for any sort of income.

In every business or new venture knowing where additional sources of income will come from is important. The simplest example is a product business that adds after-market service to their offering. This provides two sources of income: product sales and service. Continue reading “Are you staying opportunity focused in this economy?”

Posted on

5 overlooked opportunities for your small business in this sick economy

Shipyard_Crane
Shipyard_Crane (Photo credit: shoebappa)

I heard this story once about a shipbuilder who would wait for an economic recession to build new ships. He could get labour, steel and services far cheaper when times were bad. By the time the economy mended itself and was growing again, the shipbuilder would sell his ships. Demand for ships was stronger again. That’s how he made big money.

This economic downturn has been running for five years. In South Africa, although we experienced 0.9 percent GDP growth in the first quarter (not unlike Mexico, at 0.8 GDP growth, mind you) we still haven’t gotten into negative territory. Some sectors have but here we are talking overall.

Look what the sick economy has brought: high administered prices, shocking energy spikes (electricity and petrol), tightening of cash and weak demand. As costs have risen so has inflation and wage demands. Small business has experience increased theft, stock loss and armed robberies.

Yet while many things are going south in this rocky economy, smart-thinking small business owners have been fine-tuning their costs, negotiating harder and sweeping out the dead wood.

Here are five overlooked opportunities for your small business in this sick economy: Continue reading “5 overlooked opportunities for your small business in this sick economy”

Posted on

How do you scout for ideas?

Wine-tasting
Wine-tasting (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It pays to look for ideas outside your usual routine. Perhaps you are tired of sitting at home, in your study using idea-generation techniques. Then get out and take a look around. Perhaps you’ll find new ideas or ideas to make money with the ideas you already have.

Observation is one of the best tools or methods for finding ideas. Go for a walk. Visit a shopping mall. Trawl through a mall you usually don’t shop at – go to a mall in a low income area or go to an expensive maul out of the range of your customers. Continue reading “How do you scout for ideas?”