Small Business Growth Conference
Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs are invited to the Small Business Growth Conference in Sandton on 20 November – a one day conference designed to inform entrepreneurs on how best to effectively grow your business.
Win one of two delegate tickets valued at R1 850 pp EX VAT.
By entering, you automatically qualify to receive 50% off when purchasing tickets, should you not win 1 of the prizes on offer. Enter the competition by clicking here.
Everyones a winner!
Competition closes on 8th November 2013.
For exhibition stand prices and branding opportunities, click Sponsorship Prospectus
Is Your Life Out of Control?
How to tell if your life is out of control and what you can do to regain a sense of balance and focus.
How to gauge your presentation
When presenting to an audience, how to you gauge the success of your speech? Can you look out over your audience and judge from their faces, or the amount of closed eyes and tilted heads? Or maybe from the level of applause, but then I have clapped hardest for people just as a relief that they were actually finished. Here are six simple questions that you can ask attendees to answer that will give you a clear defined appraisal of your presentation:
Can they repeat the main points?
Could they visualise the product/topic you spoke about?
Will they remember you and your topic by tomorrow?
Could they relate what you spoke about to their own lives?
Did they respect you and your topic?
Did they want to talk to you afterwards?
Using these as indicators, your presentation should be topical, easy to remember, focused, use live examples that your audience can relate to and end with a clear call to action.
Alive Cafe – developing that creative spark
Nestled in the Muizenberg village lies a small yet distinctive venue geared at that inner creative we all seem to share but may not be willing to let out. The Alive Café is an artistic studio, theatre and live music venue. They aim to open the door for each person’s creative spark by offering the experience of participating in a collective hub of creativity.
Are you ready to be funded?
Successful funding for small businesses, is a few and far between activity these days. No longer does a thick business plan and a smile get you good credit with your bank, a start-up grant, and funding from the local government agency. Becoming fundable as a business requires a number of key activities to be engaged and completed. These include, but not limited to the following;
- a reputation of achievement, perseverance and entrepreneurship stop
- a solid financial model around your product offering
- having achieved a proof of concept milestone or at least a plan to do so in the near future
- a well written plan for your business that contains all the required information
- a financial history that is void of red flags and black spots
- at least one referral in the funding environment from somebody who actually knows you well
- a product offering that is unique either in design or execution
- a support team of coaches, mentors and colleagues who have achieved successful business growth and finding either themselves or with past clients
- an ability to be scalable to national or international markets
- a personal profile and presents that exudes confidence and entrepreneurial ability
Putting all these together is not something one does over a weekend or even within a month. Building up a fundable business can take anything between nine months and five years. Is important to get yourself known in the local markets by joining various programs, entering competitions, and participating in workshops and events. Once you have built a reputation of participation within your sector people will get to know you for who you are and begin to understand the full impact of your business venture, this makes it a lot easier to get those all-important referrals and links to key people in the industry.
It is also important to understand a little about the theory of financing. It is important that you know the difference between the various funding models the content of a term book, how repayments work and the differences in the various equity versus profit models.
It is also important to understand what type of financing you are looking for and where to go for financing. Shopping at the wrong financer for your money will not only results in no loans but also make you look incompetent.
If this is something that you are interested in pursuing for your business, then please feel free to contact us, and we will assist you in this journey.
Can successful board games still be produced in SA?
Today I met with Rene van Huyssteen, the creator of an exciting board game Yunomi (pronounced You Know Me). Rene came up with the idea of a new game almost 5 years ago and has been able to develop, manufacture and sell his game across South Africa.
This is no surprise when you consider that Rene sought out the assistance and guidance of Calie Esterhuyse, the creator of the now world famous 30 Seconds. Calie also hails from the Western Cape and has sold over 150 000 copies of his game since its launch.
So the question; can board games still be developed and sold in today’s market of mobile and tablet apps and online games? The answer is a resounding YES. There are still people, families and groups who prefer to enjoy each other’s company around a good game that does not require batteries or wifi.
We are currently working with Wayde Holland who is in the process of developing a new game concept that should hit our shelves by Christmas next year. (no pressure Wayde)
I can assume you have played 30 Seconds, give Yunomi a try, you will not be disappointed and keep a look out for yet another successful board game to emerge out of the Western Cape soon.
Continuing education, a choice or a must
The phrase ‘ the school of life ‘ is used by many occasion to relate to lessons learnt on completion of our formal education. But have you ever wondered exactly what the school of life is and where we get our education from. I am not just talking about lessons learned from our mistakes or experience, but they are currently many many different online schools and learning platforms that offer excellent ongoing education programs that entrepreneurs should be continually involved. The concept of ‘I have learnt how to do my job and now I don’t need to learn any more’ is a very false and shortsighted. I highly recommend that every entrepreneur or business owner attends and completes at least one new business course and one new trade course every quarter of the year. This will ensure that you get and keep your education on par with industry trends and advancements in technology.
For the past year I have been attending courses onwww.coursera.com and to date I have completed five courses that have enhanced both my business knowledge as well as my network with other academics and business owners the world over. Another brilliant website that I have been involved with iswww.udemy.com . This website allows you to change shorter courses in video format together with file downloads and quizzes. This website is filled with many different skills enhancement and education courses. In fact I would like to invite you to attend one of my courses recently submitted on to Udemy. If you’re interested in creating a marketing strategy for your business or want to learn more about sales funnels and then please click on one of the links below and it will direct you to the course of your choice, and using the coupon code you will be able to take this course for free for a limited period.
This is a option open to only those on this mailing list. If you wish to take advantage of this is do so in the next week as both space and time has been limited.
Creating a marketing strategy for your business coupon: Free2me
Implementing sales funnels in your business coupon: Free2me