One of History's Most Remarkable Men..

I am being inspired by the biography of George Washington Carver at the moment, an American Scientist, Botanist, Educator and Inventor who invented and promoted over 100 products made from peanuts including cosmetics, dyes, paints, plastics, gasoline (petrol), and nitroglycerin. Born to slave parents, he was orphaned before he could walk. In his youth he fought poverty and throughout his life he battled prejudice. Yet he emerged as one of history's most remarkable men! It is an incredible story.

Photograph of George Washington Carver taken by Frances Benjamin Johnson in 1906

Another person whose biography inspired me earlier this year was that of Steve Jobs. I think what I remember most is that Steve had a sense of destiny. He knew from early on in his life (as a premonition) that he was not going to live long, so he had a sense of urgency to fulfil his life's purpose in a hurry. He was a perfectionist and one of the amazing things to me is that if he hadn't got involved in the computing industry you wouldn't be reading this Blog Post in a pretty type face. One of the elective courses Steve took after "dropping out" of university as a full time student was "Calligraphy". Hence the designer fonts we all have to choose from. Great, I love it when art and science meet in business.

I would encourage you, if you aren't already, to read the biographies of successful people. This is one of the places I gain very useful tips and information on how to run my own businesses and grow successful in them.

How NOT to Start a Business

A great article in this month's Entrepreneur SA magazine has inspired this post. We desperately need new business startups in this country that will have a greater chance of success. Avoid some of these pitfalls if this is you:

Wrong reasons to start a business: 1) To become wealthy. 2) Job creation 3) Freedom

The main reason to start a business should be to fulfil a need in the marketplace. Better still, to fulfil a need that will evolve in the future, filling a niche that others haven't found yet. And your business should adapt and change as the market moves on too.

A key to success is having the right financial controls in place. "Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts" Proverbs 24:3-4

You need to know exactly where you stand at all times, keeping your finger on the pulse of things. Poor credit arrangements, lack of financial planning, unnecessary overheads, insufficient reserve funds or cashflow are amongst main reasons business startups fail. Don't use your new business profits like a piggy bank to splurge on luxuries. Decide on a monthly salary and don't go over that.

Be realistic, under-promise and over-deliver. Too many startup businesses make promises they can never make good on. Don't take on an order that is so fantastic there is no way you'd ever fill it. If you can realistically produce 10,000 units, then you need to turn down an order for 100,000 until your capacity for the production is there. Or ask for an extended time period to deliver that will fit your production capacity.

Keep it simple, stay focused, and get the right people for the job. If you pay attention to all these things, your business will have a better chance of success.

For more on the Article that inspired this Post, see Entrepreneur SA.

Disaster Creates Opportunities

Valley of Desolation, Camdeboo National Park (Source: www.southafrica.net)

I really believe the best online businesses that will be the big names within the next 5 years are probably business ideas or concepts that no-one has even thought of up till now. As new situations arise and develop, and things happen that have never happened before, entire new industries will develop (at one time the internet was an “event” that had never happened before and now some of us depend on it for our livelihoods).There have been some amazing ideas even in South Africa that have sprung up.

Businesses can happen out of situations of great distress. For example, the AIDS epidemic in Southern Africa has (sadly) been a massive source of prosperity for new (and old) businesses in South Africa. Some of the “old” business ideas have been the funeral parlours. AVBOB is probably the best known of them, established in Bloemfontein in 1921, it is probably a little known fact that the company is now one of the most successful in South Africa, with net income in the tax year 2011/12 posted at R820million (an increase from R456,6million in the previous year) whilst total assets increased over the same period by 19.5% to R6.2billion (see Chairman’s Report). I was actually shocked by these figures, particularly the increase year on year which indicates that the AIDS pandemic is far from being “under control” which our Government is very quiet about. I cannot imagine another reason for the doubling in turnover of a funeral service business, since South Africa has not had a sudden outbreak of War or other major catastrophe. Scary.

Another business in South Africa which was probably much needed previously, but became a viable business as a result of the sheer numbers of deaths due to the AIDS pandemic. I heard (from a reliable source, I once interviewed the Founder's Personal Assistant many years ago when she was looking for a career move!) this business was started as a result of a conversation between two people in a pub. One of them had a relative who’d passed away (around 1998) and was lamenting that he needed to repatriate the body to another country bordering South Africa for a burial according to local traditions but was struggling with the logistics, being unable to find anyone who could help. This birthed a new business where the founder secured deals with all the local insurance companies providing insurance policies, and started the first specialized business handling all the logistics for people who needed this service. It is a thriving business with its head office in Midrand, 21^st Century Life, now with 25 branches across the country.

If you don’t ask, you won’t receive: Ask God for a new business idea, but when you get it, don’t speak about it: ACT swiftly and DO it!

The Big Reveal Tonight...!

Finally we have the Radio 702 / Cape Talk "Big Reveal" tonight during the Money Show aired on both radio stations between 6 and 8 p.m. This is where they will reveal who the winner of the Challenge is, out of  5 Contestants including Paul Theron, Tshego Modisane, Pavlo Phitidis and Warren Ingram and myself.  It seems Bruce Whitfield will be devoting most of the Program this evening to the R1000 Business Startup Challenge and even if I weren't IN the Challenge I am sure I'd be listening. It should be fun! There will be inputs from other parties who will give insights into aspects of a micro business start up.

If you want to listen via streaming audio, you can here on Radio 702

Otherwise, download the Podcast later. There should be links on the Radio 702 website, I will try post the link here once it is available.

I 've had the time of my life in this Challenge, it has been a WONDERFUL 6 Weeks in my life, I've worked hard, and enjoyed it thoroughly. They say "hard work is its own reward".

Big Day Tomorrow!

I have known from the start of this Challenge that 10 November would be the biggest day for me... A Christmas Market at my church where 600 women have confirmed attendance for a Conference running parallel to the Market, a wonderful opportunity for Beautiful Bracelets to be showcased and many have warned me to anticipate a sell-out! I really hope so.

In addition to this, elsewhere there are Beautiful Bracelets selling, in stores, at Flea Markets, online and even at a Charity Art Auction in support of the Starfish Foundation...

I must say, this Radio 702 Money Show R1000 Challenge (make a profit from R1000 in just 6 weeks) has blossomed into something bigger than even I could anticipate. The publicity has been phenomenal, although I am being quite careful to keep tabs as far as possible as to which sales I could attribute to the fact of the publicity generated by the actual Challenge, and which sales are as a result of my own personal networks and social media and ENERGY. It takes a LOT of energy to make a success out of any business and I have worked very hard on this business NOT just with the idea that it is a "6 week wonder" but rather, I have viewed the 6 weeks as an opportunity to start something that would have legs, that would go the distance and actually continue to be a sustainable business that would help people going forward. It may be in the spotlight at the moment, but I still have a big vision for what it possible, whilst still working on the nitty gritty of the day-to-day aspects that are needed to nurture a micro business startup.

There are probably things I could have done better. And I'm sure I will receive useful guidelines. There are people now depending on the ongoing success of this business and my desire is that it will continue to be a source of inspiration, hope, and an income for many...

Radio 702 MoneyShow Challenge Update: Week 5

Although I try to get this Weekly Update on Beautiful Bracelets done first thing each Monday, this one is a bit late on purpose, I didn't want to pre-empt the In-studio Radio 702/Cape Talk interview with Bruce Whitfield on the Money Show. If you missed this, you can listen/download the Podcast here: http://bit.ly/WrdS7z 

With Bruce Witfield in the Radio 702 Studios

There were a few landmark things that happened in Week 5:

1. First international order confirmed via the Beautiful Bracelets website (for 14 Beautiful Bracelets, from London!).
2. Firehouse Gifts, Dunkeld West Shopping Centre, Jan Smuts Ave, Johannesburg requested and took delivery of Beautiful Bracelets and 2 of these bracelets sold to a customer who walked in whilst I was standing there!
3. A Cape Town Publisher, Modjaji Books, agreed to publish the book in April 2013, which will probably be titled "1000 Beautiful Bracelets" (subtitle: "How I made a profit from R1000 in just 6 weeks and how you can too")
4. Employees: Beautiful Bracelets is now the proud employer of  TWO people, creating employment being one of the major aims of this new business. But of course, one has to watch the profits carefully and ensure that expansion of the staff is in line with growth in the business. This is something we will continue to monitor carefully.

Like many people reading this Blog, we are sitting on the edge of our seats and working very hard until the last second, doing our best to beat the other 4 Contestants in the Radio 702/Cape Talk Money Show R1000 Business Challenge.. Since Beautiful Bracelets is a retail item, it all comes down to sales at the end of the day, and we are not sure how all the contestants are doing, so from our side we are doing our best and working as hard as is humanly possible to ensure success. We can do our best. The final decision rests in the hands of the Judge.

Success and Criticism

There are bound to be detractors when success comes. Not everyone is happy watching a person succeed. I suppose there could be many reasons, jealousy being one but that isn’t what this is about. To continue with success, one needs to develop (or have) a thick shell. An invincible shield against words. You can only attain the level of success to the degree that you can handle the level of criticism that goes with that success.

The higher the level of success you aspire to, the more prepared you should be to handle whatever criticisms, negative comments or gossip that goes with it. Successful people don’t have time for gossip or negativity. Should one become aware of something adverse, face it squarely, if the criticism is true, adjust or deal with it. If not, ignore it. There is no point in thinking or worrying about something or someone you cannot change.

Keep moving forward with excellence. Have an unshakeable faith in yourself and your business. Make sure that your product or service is the best it can possibly be with compensations for the clients/customers when things go wrong whether it was your fault or not. We are not perfect, although we strive for perfection. Effective, immediate customer service in handling any of the problems will pour oil on troubled waters.