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.
Creating videos for your business
Did you know that YouTube is the second most used search engine on the web? Creating videos for your business could and should be one of the most critical marketing channels that you can be involved in as a business owner.
Making videos is not always the expensive and technical challenge that you may think it is. A simple set of short videos is easy to compile and will put your brand in front of the world in a visual and creative way.
Here are some examples of the types of videos that you can compile for your business;
A short interview with the business owner or customers talking about the benefits of your products
Using a number of still photos, create a collage of your offerings. This done to music or a voice over is always a great way to promote your brand
Instructional video for the safe use of your product to enhance the customer experience
Promotional video to show case an event of upcoming competition
Demonstration or product reviews
I trust that this has given you some enthusiasm to start your business videos. For some examples of what we have done drop by our FaceBook page here.
If you need any assistance, advice or guidance with these, please do not hesitate for a moment to contact myself and we will talk you through some of the issues you may have.
Get those marketing juices and lenses (or cell phones) focused.
Reducing business to simple words
Reducing what business is all about is what we are all about. It is a total waste of time expecting busy business owners to have to attend long tedious lectures, complete home work assignments, read case studies and then still expect them to find time to apply learnings back in to their own organisation.
So here is a short video of the top most important words in business. You may be surprised to not find words such as Profit, Customers and Marketing. Enjoy