Is it all doom and gloom when starting a business or is there a silver lining? Creating a new business is a process fraught with difficulty and failure and many businesses fail in the first twelve months of trading. Most businesses operate in competitive markets: They have to compete against and out manoeuvre competitors in
“The best start-ups generally come from somebody needing to scratch an itch.” Michael Arrington, TechCrunch Founder and Co-editor Whenever meeting new or existing entrepreneurs, you are bound to hear the term ‘Business Model’ somewhere in the conversation. But just what is a business model? Which ones work best and why? How do you know
Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. Franklin D. Roosevelt Trying to do too much by yourself can be detrimental to your business. Being a one-man band or solo entrepreneur (‘solopreneur’) has tremendous advantages: you can set your own schedule, and
Forecasting is the art of saying what will happen, and then explaining why it didn’t. Anonymous (communicated by Balaji Rajagopalan) The South African landscape lends itself to the fact that many individuals have limited education and training on basic financial literacy skills. These individuals form part of the pool of prospective entrepreneurs. Without basic financial literacy and
Behaviour precedes belief – that is, most people must engage in behaviour before they accept that it is beneficial; then they see the results, and then they believe that it is the right thing to do….implementation precedes buy-in; it does not follow it.” Douglas B. Reeves Speak to any prospective entrepreneur and even existing business owners
Anybody beginning or extending a venture that will consume significant resources of money, energy or time and that’s expected to return a profit should take the time to draft some kind of business plan. But there are many reasons to write a business plan, including the following five: 1. You want to start a business. The
