Tag: small business

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Is your management style repelling employees from your business?

World Youth Day 2008 Concert (#458)
World Youth Day Concert (#458) (Photo credit: Christopher Chan)

In this economy when the pressure is on and you as the business owner expect your employees to perform, you may overreach and repel employees from staying in your business.

It takes a lot of thought to bring new employees into your business in the first place. You need to find out about their knowledge, skills, attitudes and attributes that fit with the core competencies of your entrepreneurial venture. All this time and money is wasted if you don’t treat your employees well. Continue reading “Is your management style repelling employees from your business?”

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Did this small business sign personal sureties?

Stadium progress - March 2008
Stadium progress – March 2008 (Photo credit: warrenski)

The weekend newspaper in the Western Cape covered the assets of a construction company under liquidation in its auction pages. When you look at the concrete mixer, generators and cut-off saw machine you get struck by the sadness of a business going into bankruptcy.

The sale didn’t only include these items but also the company’s construction, road and survey equipment and its office equipment and furniture. These items included containers, compactors, compressors, water pumps, moisture density gauges, generators and Leica Land Surveyor and large quantities of tools, ladders, drills and spares, scaffolding and trailers. Continue reading “Did this small business sign personal sureties?”

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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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Juiced up about a lemon business? Think again

Cover of "We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing Tr...
Cover via Amazon

An adventure reporter with two children is widowed. He leaves his reporter’s job and decides to buy a zoo in a small rural community. Despite the misgivings of his brother and children, he goes ahead and buys the zoo.

From the outset, the new zoo owner runs into problems with everything: staff who question his motive, sick animals, zoo keeping regulations and financial hurdles.

“We bought a zoo” is a light-hearted comedy/drama family film but it has some interesting lessons for startup owners and buyers of second-hand businesses.

Benjamin Mee, the new owner of the dilapidated zoo, has to convince the small staff that he is for real. None of them are convinced that he can resurrect the zoo. Continue reading “Juiced up about a lemon business? Think again”

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Simple ideas work best

Credit: Image courtesy of KTH The Royal Institute of Technology
Credit: Image courtesy of KTH The Royal Institute of Technology

A new, simple solution for traffic congestion in many cities could be an ancient transportation mode – the boat.

Researchers in Sweden, at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, are supporting a strong case on how water buses could be integrated into Stockholm’s mass transport system. Continue reading “Simple ideas work best”

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10 survival tips for small business owners

Sea survival

The reality for many small business owners is that they were forced into starting something of their own. Perhaps they were retrenched, fired or unable to find a job.

What this means is that often small business owners really haven’t even had time to obtain some training in basic small business practices such as finance, human resources management and marketing.

The other real danger is that the small business owner works so hard in the business, trying to push for more sales, handling negotiations with suppliers, making month-end payroll and trying to get big customers to pay on time that they don’t catch major problems in their business before they become a threat to their businesses survival. Continue reading “10 survival tips for small business owners”

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Watch out for dodgy business advice

Open mike night, Marks Park, Emmerentia, Johannesburg. Photo: Chesney Bradshaw
Open mic night, Marks Park, Emmerentia, Johannesburg. Photo: Chesney Bradshaw

We were halfway to a music venue when we realised that all the suburbs were impacted by the electricity power failure. But we really wanted to see the show because we had heard good reports and had waited several weeks to attend. When we got there the venue was in darkness except for a few candles.

The organisers had decided to continue with the musical show despite the electricity failure. One of the organisers drove his car up to the back window and shone his car headlights onto a circle in the middle of the large auditorium to light up the performers. This was a showcase of local talent young and old and gave us an opportunity to listen to music that you don’t hear on the radio, at big concerts and in pubs. Continue reading “Watch out for dodgy business advice”

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How far are you willing to venture outside your “circle of competence”?

Business Card Recycling
Business Card Recycling (Photo credit: System One Gang)

You look at the number of businesses that failed in South Africa last year and wonder what the causes were.

There must be many reasons why 4,000 businesses failed in 2013. What did they do wrong? Why didn’t they make it?

I haven’t seen an analysis of those 4,000 businesses and the reasons for their failure. This total or aggregated number is reported under insolvencies. But anyone who’s been in business for a while will know some of the possible reasons. It could be the economy. Slow demand or crashing demand. Management inexperience. Cash flow management. Financial management. Skyrocketing costs. Wrong identification of markets and demand projection. Continue reading “How far are you willing to venture outside your “circle of competence”?”

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What’s the special quality behind exceptional performance?

Rob Taylor (Photo credit: Chensey Bradshaw)
Rob Taylor (Photo credit: Chesney Bradshaw)

At 11 pm Rob Taylor, guitarist and singer, is getting ready to play his next set. He will entertain the crowd until 12:30 am. He’s playing a gig this night from 8:30 pm through to 12:30 am and it’s his second gig in two consecutive evenings.

How does a professional musician like Rob keep energised so much so that he is able to work at peak intensity for so many hours?

Just to give you an idea of what a superb and intense guitar player he is, on this evening, a Friday evening, he has already broken three guitar strings. Each time he’s stopped playing, repaired his guitar and come back on stage to play at the same spectacular level. None of this has got him down. Continue reading “What’s the special quality behind exceptional performance?”