What if there was a cheat code for starting a business. All you needed to do was enter the code A43F6T48 into your phone app and you instantly became invincible and financially enabled. Then you could launch whatever business idea you have.

Seems unlikely in the real world, but are there ways to beat the odds of start up failure. With up to 80% failure rate of small emerging businesses in South Africa, it is still a wonder why we see so many new registered businesses each month. Your odds of winning at the Lotto seem almost better and a whole lot cheaper.

But there are stats that depict a reversal of these odds with up to an 80% success rate for businesses who participate in a good quality Incubator. A successful Incubator with a solid methodology for business development accompanied by experienced start up coaches and a network of associated practitioners who will guide and lead you to the right places towards success.

If there were such places, why do so many people still risk the odds of trying to go it alone and beat the system? Maybe for the same reason that there are long queues at the Lotto each week, or hundreds of people at the casinos each evening. The faintest of hope drives people to play the odds and try to win, knowing deep down that it is almost impossible.

But beat the odds we do. Here at the Entrepreneur Incubator and Academy we have a very well versed plan of action to start any business. Our Steps to Success guides our clients together with solid coaching and mentoring along a road that will ask all the required questions to lead to points of Viability through Feasibility to Sustainability. Each step is equipped with Go/No Go scenarios and we will never waste time trying to pursue an idea or product that does not match up to the rules. This assists in failing fast and not wasting time, energy and money in the process.

Actually come to think of it, there is a cheat code to business success. It is simply and email to admin@ei.co.za to book your first session. We look forward to your success.

Just last week we published our latest online course titled: ‘Sales Techniques for Effective Entrepreneurs’. This course has created such a buzz with 960 people signing up in the first 4 days. Our greatest launch to date.

The course covers aspects of selling that are not normally covered in marketing workshops. We look at how to define your product, create a scripted sales pitch based on a defines sales funnel and the sales cycle. We chat about how to ask the right questions using the right content for the right audience at the right time. The course concludes with a look at a template to use for all future marketing campaigns. All together a very comprehensive course.

With Spring just around the corner for us in the south, we are offering a chance for you to participate in this course for half price using our spring coupon. Click HERE to access the course and pay only $10 for lifetime access to all the videos, handouts and notes.

This coupon is only valid until the end of September with a limited number of places, so first click first learn. Our gift to you, Enjoy Click HERE

We are asked to introduce ourselves many times each day. This should be done in a short sharp 10-15 word sentence. Accompany this with your business card and a smile and you are already in the top 10% of people in the room.

So let’s look at the anatomy of a personal introduction. It needs to include the following information:

• Your name
• Your interest
• Your job function
• The business you work for
• Call to action

Write these out in point form and then just string them together to make a sentence. Keep it witty and easy to understand. Drop any long syllable words and technical words and it should be done.

Remember that people want to do business with people before doing business with your business, so be a person first. Be interesting and show yourself, step out from behind the business mask and be the real you.

If you are stuck with this try some of the following techniques;

• Mention your favorite sports team
• Tell people of a recent accomplishment
• Tell people about a book you are reading
• Share a good bit about your family

The more you practice this the better you will become. Practice, practice, practice, until you are confident.

So many people run what I call HOPE based marketing. They place adverts online, in the phone book or local newspapers and then sit back and hope that someone reads them and calls with an order.

If you have ever, or currently use the word “hope” in connection with your marketing, you know that you are in trouble. In fact this word should not be used in any association with running a small business. Never hope money will be paid, never hope people will read your adverts, or hope they come to an event.

Turning hope into certain confidence is key to developing a solid marketing strategy that will develop your business into the future.

So our lesson today is: take a look at your business marketing strategy and where you ‘hoping’ that things are going to work, start to change these. In our next post we will begin to discuss more productive ways to target your customers

This week we attended a workshop presented by the Cape Chamber of Commerce on the challenges of doing business in Africa. Some very interesting speakers were present; here are some snippets of their wisdom:

Identified Risks

• Non payment of accounts
• Exchange control issues with unstable currencies
• Problem and expense of moving people around different regions
• Many different staffing regulations
• Credit risk insurance
• Freight and logistics issues
• Labour unrest

Some recommendations

• Find quality partners in each region before launching a new venture
• Visit places personally, do not do internet meetings
• Mitigate risks by investigations and relationships
• Cover all your bases with legal contracts and clauses
• Build in arbitration and mediation clauses into all contracts
• Do not hurry business deals, let them evolve at their own pace
• Plan for the worse, hope for the best

Even with all the challenges and risks, Africa remain the most lucrative market on the planet with countries boasting growths in excess of 25%. First one in gets the catch.

Are you a startup looking for funding? Do you want to compete against the world’s best start-ups and stand a chance of securing up to €1 000 000 (R 15 000 000.00) in investments into your start-up business?

Interested yet?
Get in the Ring: The Investment Battle is a worldwide competition for the most promising start-ups to secure their investment of up to €1,000,000. The competition is selected by the Kauffman Foundation as one of the ten featured events of the Global Entrepreneurship Week. In 2014 this competition will be organized in over 50 countries with over 2,000 participating start-ups. Through 50 National Finals, 8 Regional Finals 8 start-ups will be selected for the International Final which will take place on the 21st of November in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

This year, Get in the Ring (GITR) will be hosted in South Africa for the very first time. The hosts of the South African National Final event of GITR will be Silicon Cape in partnership with the bhive EDC an initiative of the Faculty of Economic Sciences & IT on the North-West University Vaal Triangle Campus and Silicon Cape.  Find out more

Fear of failure, fear of friends and fear of success are common in our excuses to perform. We duck and dive and delay the inevitable day when we have to step out into the spotlight and announce to the world that we are either a success or just an average person who will never amount to anything.

The opposite of fear is confidence. This comes from a number of habits that we instill in our business leaders. Some of these are easy to define and practice. Issues such as the removal of clutter from our daily lives. Finding focus on our purpose. Understanding who, what and why we are. And to top it all practice. Creating a number of daily habits that include practicing for what lies ahead will overcome the fear and replace it with confidence. Even if you are unsure what to say or do, to do it with confidence will swing the odds of success in your favour. Learn to stand tall and build your self image around a positive attitude and confident mindset.

In my books confidence starts in the brain and moves to the heart and from there to the very tips of your being. Make no mistake that this is easily toppled, so a daily adjustment is required to get and keep it in shape and ready to face the world. Confidence results in attempt, and attempt results in success. Remember that you will miss every shot you do not take.