Tag: small business

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The past may be a rich source of new business ideas

Polski: Polaroid Spirit 600 CL - instant camera
Polski: Polaroid Spirit 600 CL – instant camera (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One Saturday afternoon I went to a one-hour photo lab to have an A4 size print made. These days the term “one-hour” is a misnomer because the print was done and dusted within 10 minutes. While I was waiting for the print, I looked around at the cameras and accessories in the one-hour photo lab. A camera in one of the display cabinets caught my eye. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. After so many years, the “Polaroid” instant camera was back. Continue reading “The past may be a rich source of new business ideas”

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How does your small business stack up against your competition?

IMG_3580I visited a coffee and cake shop in Parys, Free State, called Plumb Bakery. This coffee and cake shop has been operating in the main road of Parys for several years. It’s become quite pricey and so I decided on my next visit into town from where we were staying next to the river to have coffee at the competition, which has been set up recently, at a coffee and French-style cuisine restaurant called La Vie en Rose. When I asked the manager, who by the way was a local detective moonlighting on a Sunday for the owner, what sort of business volume each of the shops experienced, she told me that it was about half. Continue reading “How does your small business stack up against your competition?”

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Bouncing back after emotional upheavals and falls as an entrepreneur

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

Some time back after leaving for home after dark I stopped at a traffic light and my passenger front window was smashed and my two cellphones were stolen from my car. It all happened in a flash. I heard the loud bang against the window, the crashing glass and looked up but I didn’t even have a chance to see the criminal’s face. I drove home with glass splinters in my hand and back and when I got out the car I could hardly stand my legs were so weak. Continue reading “Bouncing back after emotional upheavals and falls as an entrepreneur”

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Do you fear being creative?

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

A person buys a second-hand business. He or she takes the business over from the previous owner and trades. Another person buys the same second-hand business but looks for ways to improve it, create new revenue streams and perhaps even ready it for possible expansion or franchising.

Which is the more innovative business person? Continue reading “Do you fear being creative?”

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How small business and creative industries thrive off each other

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

Small businesses are not an island on their own. They coexist and thrive with their surrounding environment. While some people have been wary of the creative industries in communities and cities perhaps they have not given enough thought to how small businesses thrive in these environments.

A city that is leading the way in combining artists and entrepreneurs who are wanting to make a difference through their start-up firms founded on creativity, innovation and digital technology is Berlin in Germany. A recent newspaper report indicated that the creative industries in Berlin employ over 240,000 in the city alone. These industries include clubs, gaming, fine art, performance arts, city development, music, TV, radio, form, newspapers and magazines, books, communications and advertising agencies, design and fashion. Continue reading “How small business and creative industries thrive off each other”

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Thinking fast and slow – speed thinking for great ideas

English: A Facial mask. Português: Uma Máscara...
English: A Facial mask. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In 2014 a massage therapist planted the seed for an idea that would grow into a retail beauty salon chain. Ian Fuhr, the founder of Sorbet, didn’t want to retire and was eager for a new challenge. Today Sorbet has close to 40 outlets with revenues of around R100 million a year.

People need to come up with new ideas to respond to challenges, problems and difficulties they are facing. They also may want to stretch themselves and come up with new ways to realise their aspirations. But they just can’t make a personal breakthrough. They rack their brains but still nothing comes. Continue reading “Thinking fast and slow – speed thinking for great ideas”

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5 questions to ask yourself before underestimating the demands of starting a small business

IMG-20141229-00144A restaurant business started a few months ago in the premises where a national food chain had vacated. The new small business came in with a line of flame-called chickens and the owner was excited to fill the gap left by the larger chain operation. The service at the new small restaurant and takeaway business was excellent, the food reasonably priced and tasty although perhaps not as good as the national chain store that had left. Continue reading “5 questions to ask yourself before underestimating the demands of starting a small business”

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Do you want your small business to be mobile?

English: Christchurch Art Gallery museum, New ...
English: Christchurch Art Gallery museum, New Zealand, 2006 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

An author and business consultant once told of her origin story where she had to flee her home country for the United States. She only had one suitcase with her belongings. In that suitcase was an ancient book that would eventually shape and change her life and turn her into an extraordinarily successful businesswoman.

Do you have transferable skills? Do you have a business that you can take with you and start up anywhere in the world? Have you ever thought about how you could take either your existing business or start a new one in another town, city or country? Continue reading “Do you want your small business to be mobile?”

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Where do you get your best small business advice?

Good Advice
Good Advice (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Take a moment and think back to when you needed advice for an important decision. Who did you turn to? Where did you find that advice? Did you eventually end up making your own decision?

You may have received well-meaning advice from a family member or close friend. Perhaps an outsider was able to give you advice that allowed you to look at things from a different perspective. You may have taken a number of different opinions and then drawn your own conclusion.

Advice for small business owners comes from many quarters. Business advisers, coaches and mentors. Lawyers, accountants and investors. Books written by previously successful small business owners. Reality TV programmes like Shark Tank and Dragons Den. The celebrity business person who has achieved greatness in business and has now condensed their business philosophy into pearls of small business wisdom. Continue reading “Where do you get your best small business advice?”

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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”