Entrepreneurship and sales: Mastering the moment

Be where your customers are; be available when they want a quote. Think about it – no one expects translation services companies to do the actual translations on a Sunday night – but what if they could issue a quote at this time? No one wants to do their first home loan application on a [...]

Don’t be a square peg and a round hole

I’ve worked in enough places to have had a range of bosses; some whom I respect, some whom I don’t. Ethical judgements aside,  what’s emerged lately is some thoughts around averages: The Average Boss vs. the Average Employee in terms of psychographic profiling. Okay, okay, My Average Boss vs. Me. What made them successful, in [...]

Thinking about business modelling

So. You’ve found a way to create business queries you can monetise. You’ve signed up to the referral network. You’ve registered the relevant web real estate. Your mates, business associates and former coworkers are all helping you get the ball rolling. You’ve carefully distilled your service offering and an appealing value proposition, and your corporate [...]

From jack of all trades to Master Jack (TM)

Oldschoolers derisively dismiss the jack of all trades as master of none. I am all for specialisation. Doing your 10 000 hours and becoming an expert. But as an entrepreneur, you’ll need to move your thought processes beyond the traditional moulds and stereotypes. Start thinking in terms of becoming Master Jack of Many Trades. As [...]

Wanna start shit? Say hello to risk

Risk is an integral part of any form of investment. If you’re going to ever start your own business, you’re going to need to get at least semi-comfortable with the idea taking some risks. As an entrepreneur, there are many  you will face. Business risks, financial risks, operational risks and even legal risks may come [...]

The role of employment: a good dose of honesty

Working is great. Structured work is better. Systemic work makes the world go round. The question is what work is doing for you. As mentioned in this blog’s first post, it provides regular cashflow. It provides security. It provides you with a sense of progress… or does it? The myth of progress Not everyone who [...]

So when does one start connecting the dots?

So against my will, and very much informed by a lack of other choices, I join a Cape Town based online marketing firm. Again. SEO copywriting. Whoooooo. Fuckall Christmas Bonus. The advertising agency I worked for before lost a big account and were generous enough to give us retrenchees a whole extra week’s worth of [...]

Old Dog, New Tricks

Becoming an entrepreneur when you’ve already stepped into the mindset of “wekkah” “worker” requires quite the mental leap. What convinced me that it can be done was an incident involving me and my ex’s standard poodle (read: “Canine Sheep-thing”). That particular morning, she left early, and I left late. She locked my car into the [...]

Why do some people start their own business and others never do?

There are many factors informing this, yet the following graphich, courtesy of our Rich Dad Robert T. Kiyosaki, goes a long way to explaining the economics underlying your fear: Where you come from informs with how seriously you take the ‘threat’ of no income – if you and your old man were honest working men [...]