50 Urgent Questions to Ask in Your SWOT Analysis Every business owner should conduct a regular SWOT Analysis to assess the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in relation to its competition. A SWOT Analysis helps evaluate where a company stands in a competitive market and what steps need to be taken for further strategic
11 Best Tips on How to Write a Value Proposition Look at any well-written Business Plan and you’ll see a section called “Value Proposition” – and this is normally one of the key questions investors have from entrepreneurs and how this value proposition will solve a problem for your intended customer. How can an entrepreneur create
The 4 Best Times to Borrow Money for Your Small Business Small business owners face many challenges when they apply for loans, but sometimes, the biggest mistake and challenge is of their own making. If you wait until you urgently need financing to start looking for a lender, you’ve waited too long. It’s often said
10 Basic Bookkeeping Accounts You Can’t Ignore as a Startup Millions of small business owners and startup entrepreneurs are masters at creating great products and services, building effective teams and winning over customers. Many of them, however, would probably flunk basic bookkeeping. As the business owner, if you don’t understand the different types of “accounts”
Venture Capital Ins and Outs: 7 Things Entrepreneurs Should Remember Venture capital is one of many ways entrepreneurs can obtain funding for their business ideas; among one of the most popular, in fact. Venture capitalists can be found anywhere, especially in the fastest-growing cities for entrepreneurs today. How does venture capital work? What do you
Lockdown Nightmare and 8 Honest Tips on Starting a Business Now! With all the negativity surrounding us due to the major impact COVID-19 has had on our economy, I want to believe that new businesses will emerge during and after the lockdown. South Africans are a resilient bunch and NOW may be the best time
12 Personal Branding Mistakes to Avoid Consumers, now more than ever, feel they need a stronger connection with the companies they engage with. Personal branding and how you represent your business are vital considerations in today’s market. How you come across and are perceived are more important than just a logo and a tag line.
As an Entrepreneur, Do You Feel like You Suck Sometimes? You are Not Alone! Where are the days where you would walk into a coffee shop and in passing, the discussions you would overhear are about business ideas, the next big thing, etc.? The past year, 2020, can in some circles only be described as
22 Free Marketing Ideas for 2021 Very little in life is free. So if you can get free marketing ideas, you might be sceptical. Whether your business is still new or well-established, large, or small, you need to tell people about it, and that means marketing (and advertising). But that does not mean you need
Starting Your Own Business and 3 Agonising Emotional Costs Starting your own business means that there are a lot of costs involved. Employee costs, the cost of funding (capital), the cost of marketing, and the cost of monthly expenses. But why do we never talk about the biggest and perhaps most crucial cost – the
12 Tips to Avoid Business Failure due to Bad Cash Flow Management Having worked with small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for over 15 years, I have been privileged to provide advice to clients in almost every industry including retail, education, construction, e-commerce, ICT, mining, FinTech, MedTech, Healthcare, Tourism, and even hospitality. By working with all
8 Ugly Truths on How Small Business Financing Will Change in SA after COVID-19 Small Business Financing is already one of the most difficult challenges to SMEs operating in South Africa. Nearly nine months later, and we can all agree that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way small businesses handle their finances. Stay-at-home orders