Open Letter To Bruce Whitfield

Dear Bruce,

I think no one is as surprised as I am that my life could change in a spectacular way through "1000 Beautiful Bracelets" and a phone call to the Radio 702/Cape Talk Money Show a year ago.

What surprises me more is that the business seems to have developed a life of its own and continues to grow (with a new product launch at the Soweto Festival Expo this weekend) and to push the boundaries, and also that it reaches its 1st Birthday on 1 October which means it falls into a special category of between 30 and 50% of micro startups that survived longer than a year.

Over the past year "1000 Beautiful Bracelets" received wonderful publicity not just on Radio 702 and Cape Talk but also in the printed media: through articles in "The Saturday Star", EntrepreneurSA magazine (January and July issues) and elsewhere..and tonight it reaches a new high: Television exposure!

Tonight at 9pm "1000 Beautiful Bracelets" has its first TV appearance in a half hour feature on "The Big Small Business Show" on Business Day TV (DSTV Channel 412) which will air to 100,000 viewers in Southern Africa. This is an amazing milestone for a micro enterprise.

1000 Beautiful Bracelets was recently at Decorex and a couple of weeks ago received a CathSSeta (DTI) sponsorship valued at R20,000 for the SMME Program at the Soweto Festival Expo. This comprises a stand at the Expo this weekend 20=22 September, as well as substantial Business Marketing Training over the next 6 months that will really help take this business forward.

I think my favourite part of this journey is that I have been invited as a (paid/professional) Speaker at the 5th Annual Vaal SMME Conference on 2 October to speak on how I started 1000 Beautiful Bracelets with very little.

And the Book "1000 Beautiful Bracelets" should be out soon...

So I really want to thank you, Bruce, for being a catalyst for so many dreams I'd actually forgotten about..to write a book, to speak and inspire others at Conferences*... but most of all to lead an interesting life and have fun on the way. "1000 Beautiful Bracelets" and the Money Show R1000 Challenge put me on a path to achieving all this in the most amazing and unexpected ways.

Thank you, Bruce Whitfield!
(and Radio 702/Cape Talk Money Show)

* I trained myself in public speaking years ago at Toastmasters, and I'm actually a Charter/Founder member of Midrand Toastmasters: won their Humorous Speaking Contest two years in a row - I'm funny by accident..

Creating a Free Website for your Business

This is so easy I never actually got to doing a "how to" but over the months, I've realised that although I found it simple and easy (and I'm sure you will too if you haven't already), some people need guidelines. Wozaonline.co.za has a wonderful service. To access this, you first need to set up a Google account (just go to www.gmail.com and set up an email address that syncs nicely with your business idea: I got 1000beautifulbracelets as a username, which was great. Actually I wanted "beautiful bracelets at gmail.com" but that was taken, which led to the next idea... you may have to play around a bit with words that best describe your own new business.

Once you are logged onto your gmail account, open another window and go to Step 2 on the http://www.wozaonline.co.za/getstarted page. One person who asked for advice had a problem with the "Add Products" page. I have to admit, since I am a complete layperson when it comes to IT, I actually have to "re-teach" myself each time I do it. But it isn't that difficult, and if it's taking too long, try the FAQ page  which may answer your question alternatively you could go to the Sitebuilder Help Centre, or Email the Support Staff or go to the online Support Forums. Although I have set up my own website (it took me 3 hours, others boast of setting up the whole thing in half an hour), please don't ask me for advice, I would have to refer you back to the help systems already in place that I just listed!!

There are many other "free websites" offered out there (do an internet search) but what I like about Wozaonline is you get a free domain for the first year of your business, which is very useful for a start up operation. Request the domain you want when you set up your Website. I first did a quick search to see if the website I wanted was already taken by anyone, amazingly, www.beautifulbracelets.co.za (my first choice) was available!! So within a few hours I had the website up and running on my own domain!

Why I think these Blog Posts are Popular..

Here is a list of some of the "all time" most popular "1000 Beautiful Bracelets" Blog posts to date and a brief reason why (although I could be wrong, have your say in the comment section if you have another point of view):

It seems the Money Show Challenge aspect of BeautifulBracelets continues to draw a great deal of interest and attention, and certain of the weekly reports get a lot of attention (I gave a report-back for each of the 6 weeks of the Challenge). I am not sure why certain weeks got more attention than others. Here are links to the most popular of those:

• Money Show Challenge Report Back: Week 3
• Money Show Challenge Report Back: Week 5

Then I feel the next two Posts are popular because these give practical advice on social media and on aspects of getting products marketed:

• The Day After.. and Selling on Twitter
• How To Get Your Products into Retail

Lastly, these three Posts I believe are popular because we all need a bit of inspiration:

• Anything is Possible
• How to Get an Idea for a New Business
• 5 Things Every Happy Person Does

The reason I continue to keep up with this Blog is to bring hope, inspiration and practical help to people working on their own micro business idea. It is worth it if just one person receives that encouragement.

Health Issues Facing Entrepreneurs

The events towards the end of 2012 including the start up of "Beautiful Bracelets" took their toll over the break between Christmas and New Year and I found myself facing what for me is an unusual (fortunately short) period of feeling extremely unwell. My body rebelled against the major stresses of working hard, long hours for an extended period of about 3 months with very little respite! I really do believe that it is important to rest one day a week, but that is not enough.

So in 2013, I will be factoring in fitness, an exercise program and making sure that I take nutritional supplements to assist the careful diet program I am on (I lost 25 kg during 2012 so that major weight loss with associated detox probably also contributed to the brief period of extreme unwellness). I do feel comforted to be under the guidance of a specialist physician (who is on holiday) and will be careful to take his advice going forward...

We all know what we "should" do healthwise.. the thing is, we need to DO it! The past week has been a little warning to me and a reminder of what I already know: the most important attribute for the success of an entrepreneur is to have good health. Do whatever you need to do to protect that!

Plans for 2013

A discussion between Pavlo Phitidis and Bruce Whitfield on the Radio 702 /Cape Talk Money Show this evening touched on making goals for 2013. This is something I always try to do ahead of time for each New Year. Not Resolutions that will be thrown out by February: Specific Goals... I have found that when I set specific, measurable goals with time limits on each one, I tend to have an 80% success rate in achieving whatever goals are on the list. This does indicate that the goals were achievable, but I do try to “stretch” myself each time. Just a little. Although perhaps some of the 20% not achieved fall into the unrealistic type of goal. It’s still worth it to me. Sometimes those unreached goals just need a little more time to reach fruition.

So I decided to put some of my goals “out there” I haven’t sat down yet and written the specific plan, but I already know what some of them are likely to be. Some of these goals are an extension of certain things that I already know will be happening in 2013.

So one of my goals will relate to publicity. I am aware that there will be an article appearing in the January 2013 edition of EntrepreneurSA Magazine. This article will be on the Money Show Challenge which ran for 6 Weeks from 1 October to 12 November 2012. So this triggers a goal which will stretch me a little but won’t be impossible relating to publicity: I make it my goal to have 6 Press Releases published during next year. That works out to about 1 every 8 weeks. Should be possible.

Another goal relates to increasing Followers on Twitter and Facebook for Beautiful Bracelets. I would like at least 1000 Followers on Twitter. To this end, I will run a Competition on Facebook and Twitter (this seems to be what everyone else does to increase Followers if you’re not a Celebrity!). So I will do my best to run a Valentine’s Day Competition. Should be fun! Keep a look out for that.

The third Goal relates to the Book which is due to be published in April 2013: “1000 Beautiful Bracelets” How I made a profit from R1000 ($120) in just 6 weeks and how you can too. You can pre-order this Book on the Website, Beautiful Bracelets. I once heard that certain Publishers overseas won’t consider publishing a book that cannot make at least 4000 sales from the author’s own circle / contacts. I also once heard that in South Africa, because the market is so small, a book that sells more than 20,000 copies is considered a Best Seller! That seems like quite a minimal number of copies to sell, in my view. So my first goal is that sales of 4000 copies would happen quite quickly (for the sake of the Publisher). And then, of course, I would like to reach the next goal during the year if at all possible – to sell more than 20,000 copies: whether that figure makes it a “Best Seller” or not, it’s a nice figure to aim for. If each person who reads the book actually decides to “do” the book (or put it in the hands of a friend or family member together with the R1000 startup capital to “do” the book), that would be an incredible achievement. Can you imagine what kind of an impact we could have in our country ‘s economy if 20,000 people started a business and employed one other person each.

It would be amazing. A dream come true! I will work on many other goals for Beautiful Bracelets in 2013, but these are enough to start with!

How I got the idea for Beautiful Bracelets

About two years ago, I was working on an international project, promoting the Quartet of Peace (four instruments: two violins, a viola and a cello made by violinmaker, Brian Lisus to honour the four South African Nobel Peace Prize Laureates). I arranged the inaugural Concerts for the instruments to be launched and presented to the public, these were held in Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Leipzig, Paris and London. Whilst arranging the two Paris Concerts, I liaised closely with Lainey Trequesser, a South African who has lived there now for over 40 years. When Lainey arrived in South Africa for the first Quartet of Peace Concerts, she gave me a "friendship bracelet", a really beautiful beaded stretch bracelet, which I loved so much, after a couple of years of wearing it almost every day, I wanted to make another just like it in case it perished with over-use. Around June 2012 I heard that someone had come all the way from Zimbabwe to Midrand to purchase beads for a new business she was doing, making jewellery! This was apparently a warehouse of beads in Midrand that I'd never heard of! Which surprised me, since I'd lived in Midrand since 1990. Sure enough, Allure Beads had every bead colour I needed to re-make the bracelet and much more! That bracelet was a rainbow comprising many colours, similar to the one above, and I had to buy at least 10 different strands of 100 beads each to make one bracelet. So I decided to make more, to give away to friends. After a bit, someone suggested I should sell them. I sold a few. This provided market research because the in the process of selling the bracelets people started telling me what they liked and gave me ideas I could work on and improve on until I got the designs for the Beautiful Bracelets that are now sold on the website, and that everyone loves! Once I'd sold to a few friends in June 2012, the idea went on the backburner for a few months and I actually forgot about it until the 1st of October when Bruce Whitfield mentioned he was seeking a listener to be a contestant in the R1000 Challenge on Radio 702 / Cape Talk, competing against their in house business experts.. The day I called in I was actually wearing one of the Bracelets and this gave me, on the spur of the moment, the business idea I presented on that life-changing phone call..

Think and Grow Rich

I am reading a revised, updated version of the Napoleon Hill classic “Think and grow rich”, which by the time of Napoleon Hill's death in 1970 had sold over 70 million copies worldwide. It was first published in 1937. The first Chapter is about “Desire” and for those who haven’t read the book I will quote (abridged) a short section that has worked for Beautiful Bracelets, even within the Money Show Challenge.

The method by which desire for riches can be transmuted into its financial equivalent consists of six definite, practical steps:
1.Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire
2.Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire
3.Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire
4.Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once whether you are ready or not, to put the plan into action.
5.Write out a clear, concise statement of the money you intend to acquire. Name the time limit for its acquisition. State what you intend to give in return for the money, and clearly describe the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.
6.Read your written statement out loud, twice daily, once just before retiring at night, and once after rising in the morning. AS YOU READ, SEE, FEEL AND BELIEVE YOURSELF ALREADY IN POSSESSION OF THE MONEY.

It works. If you follow the 6 steps exactly. I believe this book should be standard reading for any aspiring entrepreneur.

Christmas and Beyond

The last date for Orders for Beautiful Bracelets or Beautiful Pendants should you wish these gifts to be Christmas presents in time to be placed under the Tree is Tuesday 18 December, for any destination within South Africa. Most people in South Africa take the week off between Christmas and New Year to get some rest and relaxation with friends or family, whether in the country or overseas. Should you check back on this Blog, there will be inspirational posts to help gear up for a great 2013! If you're already on your way to wherever your holiday will be, we wish you safe travels and a Wonderful holiday! If you still have some last-minute shopping to wrap up before you go, why don't you consider checking out what the website Beautiful Bracelets has to offer at a very good price, you could make a friend or loved one very happy! It could even be delivered to your destination of choice. Every person who owns a Beautiful Bracelet just loves wearing it!

Beautiful Pendants is Launched!

At the time of the Radio 702 Money Show Challenge, Tracey Webster, CEO of the Branson Centre for Entrepreneurial Development recommended Beautiful Bracelets’ next step may be to branch out into other product lines, like Pendants. A week before the Grande Finale, we had actually designed and made up a Beautiful Pendant and Bracelet set to be auctioned on a Charity Art Auction in aid of the Starfish Foundation. Today we carried through with the idea, and launched “Beautiful Pendants”. We had previously secured the domain www.beautifulpendants.co.za and will be pointing that domain to the products page for Beautiful Pendants shortly. The Beautiful Pendant and Bracelet Gift sets make a great Gift idea. The deadline for orders to make it under the Tree in time for Christmas is Tuesday 18 December: Don’t delay, place your order now!

Re-Seller Opportunities

In some countries (USA for one), you need to ensure you have the necessary permits:a Re-seller's Licence or Permit. I can't find anything like that in South Africa nor have I ever heard of it, if anyone has please let me know! The reason is that the VAT portion is removed for parts of the transaction. That isn't really applicable in this case since the VAT registration threshold in South Africa is R1million of taxable supplies per annum (2012). Beautiful Bracelets will be thrilled when it reaches that level!

I had been looking at other ways to sell Beautiful Bracelets, which included Re-Sellers, when people started approaching me directly to Re-sell Beautiful Bracelets, even from overseas! (Australia). The ones I am most excited about are the students, who at the moment in South Africa have their summer break of 2-3 months over December/January. Today I met one of them, who had listened to the entire Money Show Challenge and had been inspired by it to create her own small business on the side whilst she continues to complete the final year of her IT degree next year. I find this very exciting, because this is really the best way to solve the unemployment situation in South Africa in my view: Students need to be thinking about business already whilst working on their studies.. The long vacations are the perfection opportunity to practice starting a small business, and if you or someone you know is in that scenario, why not use the model given in the Radio 702 Challenge, and make a decision to work as hard as you can and see if you can make a go of it? The worst case scenario is you used R1000 and got no return. Or R50. Or, you could generate a profit of R3,750 or R4,850 or R12,000 or, like the incredible Pavlo Phitidis maybe you also have a brilliant idea and with a whole lot of hard work can multiply it into nearly R70,000 in just 6 weeks! 

It was truly gratifying today to be told by this Student that she had been inspired by the R1000 Money Show Challenge to do it herself which is why she contacted me to start her own small business, using her social networks to sell Beautiful Bracelets!

Midrand Moonlight Market, Carols by Candlelight

For those who don't live in Johannesburg and don't know: We tend to schedule some of the Festivities a bit sooner than is done elsewhere simply because most of Johannesburg shuts down from about the 10th of December every year and many leave the City for other places in South Africa or overseas where they can relax with family and friends and just take a rest from the frenetic pace of life in the "City of Gold".

The one Christmas Market I've been looking forward to most is finally here, tonight, I just can't wait!! Find Beautiful Bracelets there if you can make it! Bring a R20 donation for the Candle (goes to Botshebelo Children). Details on the Poster:

The Best Place to be in Midrand...

One of the difficulties of starting your own business sometimes can be the loneliness, especially if you’re a gregarious person. It helps to “get out” somehow and one of the excuses I used was to take advantage of Cappuccino’sMidrand’s Unlimited Wireless Internet facilities (which is great if you need it – actually, I have my own) but it is good to know about, and a great excuse to get out and chat to people if you work alone most of the day.

Myself with Tasser, Nana and Mike (co-owners of Cappuccino's Midrand)

Cappuccino’s Midrand is certainly one of the greatest landmarks in the area with its double-volume circular shape giving one a sense of uncluttered space yet somehow managing to maintain a wonderful ambience for social or business interactions. It is no wonder you will often notice business meetings in progress at various tables there, corporate lunches, celebrations, parties, and friendly coffee/chat sessions happening and the place buzzes, with a busy-ness that is both fun and good for working or friendly connections from early in the morning (Breakfast is served from 7am) through to late at night. The place is never empty. Mike and Nana, the co-owners are examples of the best kind of boss which reflects in the warm, friendly, service-with-a-smile of the staff. The food is excellent and competitively priced. There isn’t anything to beat it in Midrand. That’s why Beautiful Bracelets is proud to say this building has been “almost” our first office. And we will certainly celebrate our successes there as the business grows!

Celebrate!

"Go Where You Are Celebrated Instead of Where You Are Tolerated." Mike Murdock

I love this quote by Dr Mike Murdock and it really resonated with me this week. I am very happy to have Beautiful Bracelets stocked in various outlets, from Johannesburg to Cape Town and in 2013 one of my goals will be to increase the retail outlets where Beautiful Bracelets are sold in South Africa. Sometimes it may seem that one or another retail outlet's sales of Beautiful Bracelets are either minimal or zero. There could be several reasons why this is not happening, perhaps that particular store has a sales representative inhouse who is simply not interested in the product or for some reason is promoting other items in the store.

Then there are other outlets that are selling Beautiful Bracelets with such gusto that I have to replenish stock almost every other day. This kind of retailer is Celebrating Beautiful Bracelets! And that is where we want to be: Where we are Celebrated...!

Tips to Boost Business This Christmas

Eiffel Tower decked in Gold Christmas Lights, December 2010

Run a Last Minute Competition. I’ve noticed a few companies still doing this, why not you? There is plenty of information on the internet on how to do it well, and inexpensively via social media and online via your website.

Christmas Markets. If you’re in a small startup like Beautiful Bracelets, ensure you’re at every possible Christmas Market you can gain entrance to. People do go to these Markets with the express purpose of buying Christmas Gifts, and at one such Christmas Market, a real estate agent was handing out free “branded” bottled water to everyone as they arrived at the market, so there are ways that any business can increase it’s “reach” this Season.

Delivery. Offer guaranteed delivery by a certain date. Christmas should be perfect, especially the presents. Customers will want their deliveries promptly before the big day arrives.

v    Make sure your customers know the last date and time they can order something and have it delivered before Christmas.

v      When they might expect to receive delivery of the item/s.

v      If they ordered after the final date for it to be in time for Christmas, where else might they be able to find the item.

Greetings to your Database. Email your database with a “Happy Holidays” or “Christmas” greeting to ensure they keep you top of mind. Include a few special offers on products. Don’t overdo it or it could backfire on you when your email is sent to “spam”.

Run limited period promotional offers: Free-gift wrapping, perhaps give them a mince pie and a cup of tea whilst they are waiting (it would be great if the tyre balancing service people would do this). Use any opportunity you can to get to know your customers, and offer excellent customer service.

Branded Gifts. Give your clients or customers a useful Branded Gift. (Like the Bottled Water mentioned before). The more personal the gift, the better. Many people use Fridge Magnets for branding these days. But if these are a conspicuous advertisement they could land up in the trash.

Christmas is very commercialised, but we can make it special and personal, and if carefully thought out, it is a time when people are thinking of community and involvement (exchanging gifts) and it can be a very uplifting and joyous time. Celebrate it with your customers in a way they will remember you.

Twitter Tips to Promote Your Startup Business

Before the Radio 702 Money Show Challenge on 1 October 2012, although I had a personal Twitter account, like so many others: I never used it. So I had to become an expert on Twitter (and many other things) in a hurry since starting Beautiful Bracelets! I have a few tips for those who, like me, are fairly new to Twitter. I could probably do some of these things a bit better myself, I’m still learning! I am including some things that put me off Twitter so I hope I am not offending anyone by mentioning it here. Feel free to leave a comment or a tip, I am quite happy to consider other points of view or ideas. I’m still growing, learning and changing to become better at this each day:

• Don’t spam your Followers by sending out too much info in a rapid succession of Tweets. Rather use something like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck and schedule the information in say, 5 short Tweets over the period of a week or so.
• It is better not to have your Facebook/Twitter accounts linked, I noticed very quickly that people don’t like it. It feels too much like Spam.
• No graphic details. Don’t tell me what you ate for breakfast, lunch or supper unless you’re a restaurant. Maybe I’m squeamish.
• Reach out to your Audience in a friendly way and tell them things that may be of interest to them. The kind of things that others “retweet” will give you an idea of what people like to hear about. Tailor this to yourself and your tweeting.
• Be Retweetable! Add Tweet buttons to your website and Blog. Make it easier for others to retweet you. Keep your Tweets to under 120 characters or less if you want to allow commentary.
• Tweet to Inspire or Inform: Some of my best viewed content was as a result of the following Tweets: “Anything is Possible”, “How to GetYour Products into Retail Stores”, “Have a Vision for Your Business”. In each case, I quoted the link to the related Blog Post on the “1000 Beautiful Bracelets” Blog.
• Track your success. Google Analytics is a great tool for this. What is the point of using Social Media or Blogs if you don’t track everything and keep yourself up to date with what’s of interest to your audience? 
• Be relationship-focused and keep the human-interest angle top of mind.

Finally, please Retweet this Post!

Twitter Tips to Promote Your Startup Business1000beautifulbracelets.blogspot.com/2012/11/twitte…
— Beautiful Bracelets (@1000bracelets) November 26, 2012

Join us for this Wonderful Christmas Moonlight Market!

Join us later today for a stunning event inside Kyalami Estates, considered the BEST Residential Estate in the  Country! The Christmas Moonlight Market will be held today (5-9pm) in the Main Park, Gosforth Avenue, and promises to be excellent in the style of any previous events hosted on the Estate. There will be live music, entertainment for children, a Marquee (in case of rain) and professional lighting. And many Christmas Gifting ideas amongst the many stalls (do visit Beautiful Bracelets). The food on sale is likely to be great, and the ambience will certainly be magical. Should you decide to attend, please contact me directly (you can do so even by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post, I will get back to you and provide you with an entrance code for the Main Gate which you will need for access).

Customers Who Love Beautiful Bracelets!

I surprise myself that even after having arranged delivery via courier of quite a number of Beautiful Bracelets to various customers from across South Africa and overseas, I STILL wait, holding my breath each time, to find out whether the person is happy with their order and with the product. To date, between 25% and 30% of all Beautiful Bracelets sales have been online sales. And since my desire is for this online business to really take off and do well, I am probably a bit intense over making sure I do it right.

I don't want to pressure anyone by calling or emailing too quickly. So usually I just wait. Of course, if I had no response within a reasonable period, I would follow up in case there is a problem (thank goodness, no problems to date). I do have a 100% guarantee/returns/refund policy but hope it is never needed. This past week has had the most orders generated so far and many of the deliveries reached their destinations. I am so happy to have received ecstatic, happy responses from customers so far:

Here are a few highlights from comments by customers since the inception of Beautiful Bracelets on 1 October (for the Radio 702/Cape Talk Money Show R1000 Challenge):

The first delivery was actually to a customer in Ladysmith, Kwazulu Natal, who found out via Facebook. (A Facebook friend via other friends of mine): Received today...early Christmas shopping....they are beautiful Valerie Pole...love G.

Thanks Valerie. Good product, delivery and service. Well done. Good luck with your competition. (Comment by a client on “HelloPeter.com” by a customer who heard about Beautiful Bracelets as a result of the Radio 702 Money Show Challenge)

I have received the bracelets and they are STUNNING!! Thank you very much they are going to make beautiful Christmas gifts for my daughter and granddaughtr from the UK. (a client in Johannesburg who was probably referred as a result of a delivery of Beautiful Bracelets to another customer who works at the same place).

Yesterday I had 2 phone calls from clients who were ecstatic with their delivery of Beautiful Bracelets. One of whom was The Ballet Box, a shop in Cape Town which is selling Beautiful Bracelets. They ordered 10 Beautiful Bracelets and sold 4 immediately on unpacking them! Her comment on her Facebook Page: JUST UNPACKED! .... hurry hurry...10 ordered, 4 sold already.....1000 Beautiful Bracelets you rock! I love the quality - a nice weight and no scimping on the quality of beads and packaging!

Another Facebook customer (a friend I haven’t seen since school!) said today: Just to let you know that I have received my order and the bracelets are stunning. All the girls at work loved them and I have given them your website so I hope you get some more orders.Take care...

So how DO you create raving fans?

By delivering an excellent product, and giving legendary service. May the compliments continue. I will do my best to ensure continued success!

Why Am I in Business?

Very few people ask themselves this question, especially people starting a business for the first time, and sadly they might only ask the question if they fail. The stats are high for failures of startups and I hope to give help that would give you a greater chance of not being one of the casualties if you are considering starting a business or have already.

Some of the reasons might include:

• To set oneself up for retirement.
• To have a certain lifestyle.
• To fire your boss
• To prove something to yourself, your parents, or life partners/family
• To cash in on a great idea or opportunity
• To create a legacy for your family when you move on
• To be financially independent
• To make a lot of money and live at the sea

My own reason for being in business is to make the maximum profit possible in whatever business it is, so that I can be a conduit of financial blessing to many people firstly by providing employment and secondly by providing practical help and donations to certain registered Charity Organisations, like the Starfish Foundation. My own view is that it is crucial for a business to be tithing, or donating a minimum of 10% of profits to a beneficiary from Day 1 of the business. Today I received the thank you letter from the Starfish Foundation for 100% of Profits of Beautiful Bracelets in the first 6 weeks:

Starfish brings life, hope and opportunity to children left orphaned or vulnerable in South Africa. On their info sheet, they state:

South Africa is experiencing the largest HIV and AIDS epidemic in the world, with a 10.6 % national HIV prevalence rate. Approximately 22% of the country‟s 18.6 million children are affected by HIV, with over 2 million children left orphaned, with the number of children with neither a mother nor father having more than doubled since 2002. 60.5% of children are living in poverty, where the monthly per capita income is less than R522, with 28.8% and 16.3% of children living far from any health facility or primary school, respectively.

(The South African Child Gauge 2010/2011).

Beautiful Bracelets will be continuing to donate a minimum of 10% probably to a similar non-profit linked to my church, being Acts of Love as well as continuing with donations to the Starfish Foundation since their cause is close to my heart.. At the moment this ministry is involved with a Shoebox Project, where 1000's of orphaned children in the Midrand area will be receiving a gift at the Annual Christmas Party arranged by the Acts of Love Charity. There are many different projects they are involved with throughout the year, bringing practical help to the hungry and hurting in the area.

Week 7 Reportback!

Today was a good day, I had more customers coming back to buy even more Beautiful Bracelets as Christmas Gifts, and much of this business was repeat business. Which is gratifying. And I received a phone call from a customer in Cape Town who was ecstatic, having received her Beautiful Bracelets order. So far the feedback from all customers who buy online has been great. The best customer is a happy customer who buys again!

I am toying with the idea of continuing with a weekly summary and feedback report as I did in the first 6 weeks. Perhaps continuing to Week 10. But Week 7 has been the busiest yet, I have been literally "run off my feet" with the Beautiful Bracelets Business. Just when I thought, great, the challenge is over, now I can rest a few days and put my feet up. Not so. The orders in the first 3 days after the Grande Finale exceeded the first 3 weeks of the Money Show Challenge, it has been quite something to keep up! Especially as all the profits are in the hands of Starfish, one would usually re-invest profits especially in a Startup situation. Since I want to keep this R1000 as close to the original idea as possible and just see how far it can go within 6 months, I will invest R4850 of my own money into the business to put it back to a "real life" scenario.

From now on, Beautiful Bracelets needs to secure its own Markets (flea markets) and it turns out, places like  Irene Market apparently have a waiting list of 2 years! Which is why it was wonderful to have the support of people like Corlia who has an existing Antique Jewellery Section and broke her own rules to "host" Beautiful Bracelets for the duration of the Money Show Challenge (It is quite a responsibility to take on other people's products due to high theft levels at these Flea Markets: a shocking thought). We have been accepted onto at least one Christmas Market (although it seems some of them prefer to be branded as "Festive" markets). And another to confirm shortly. Then I have so many other avenues to explore, it is time-consuming, but this is the groundwork needed, and it will be covered. My business coach said he wanted me to double employees and profits in the next 6 weeks. That would be great, especially since this is traditionally a good time of year to be selling "gift" items like Beautiful Bracelets! As I go forward, I will let you know where Beautiful Bracelets may be found and what I am doing to boost sales. One new store where you can find Beautiful Bracelets probably within a day or so, is at The Ballet Box in Tygervalley, Cape Town.

Beautiful Pendants

The other great thing is I managed to secure the domain www.beautifulpendants.co.za which will point to Beautiful Bracelets and we will be launching Beautiful Pendants shortly due to popular demand. At the Grande Finale of the Money Show Challenge, Tracey Webster, CEO of the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship actually said to me (live on air): you should branch out into a wider range of products like necklaces/pendants and earrings. Well, one of the new Beautiful Pendants had already been presented to the Starfish Foundation Charity Art Auction and I have had requests from clients who want to buy matching sets. So Beautiful Pendants will be available soon!

Next Steps...

Note: This Blog Post relates to some of the things one would need to do for a business in South Africa.
Whilst some of the things would be similar, each country has its own requirements, which you could find out via a Google search or speak to an attorney, accountant or business advisor in your own country.

For the first 6 weeks of this Beautiful Bracelets business I focused on growing the business and generating sales. I didn’t want to add unnecessary expenses to the business and in any case one would first want to prove the business to be a viable one before doing that. A number of years ago I had a recruiting company, one of the clients who used my services for recruiting his start up staff spent R50,000 with me in the first couple of weeks into the business (the equivalent of R250,000 in today's money), utilizing the Access Bond on his house to finance his business. His business folded within 6 months, and sadly these employees lost their jobs. It would be prudent in a micro-business start up to watch your spend very carefully in the first 6-12 months. Take advice and wisdom from others around you (for me this is my business coach, Stan Close of Ikusasa).

Now we have to work on the practical aspects. Beautiful Bracelets and its profits are now MINE to do with as I wish (until 12 November all profits went to Radio 702/Cape Talk Money Show for the Starfish Foundation and I’m thrilled about that), I have to make sure to do all the right things and some of these things cost money and require re-investing some of the profits back into the business. Like purchasing domains that would point to Beautiful Bracelets or the 1000 Beautiful Bracelets Blog... So by going into “Google Analytics Dashboard” I can work out which “search terms” people from around the world are using to find Beautiful Bracelets and start by registering those domains and pointing them to my websites. I also want to make sure I get them before anyone else does, possibly to pre-empt any copycat ideas! For starters, you will find the Blog if you try www.1000beautifulbracelets.com or www.1000beautifulbracelets.co.za with highly visible links to the main Beautiful Bracelets website where you can buy Beautiful Bracelets online.

The next step is to register the company name with Cipro and get all the paperwork done. In my first business, a recruiting company, I registered my own Close Corporation and had the Founding papers within 24 hours by driving to the Registrar of Companies and Close Corporations in Pretoria. At the time I could do this easily without assistance of an attorney or accountant: my first 4 years of employment were in law firms where this was one of my tasks! You can still do it yourself online or in person but if you don’t have time, pay a lawyer or your accountant to do it for you.

The next thing I want to do is get all the correct paperwork and import/export licences from the Department of Trade and Industry. Even the day after the Money Show Challenge ended I received an order from Canada and the level of business from overseas countries is increasing to a point where I need more systems in place to insure everything is above board. With higher volumes of Beautiful Bracelets being ordered online it won’t be feasible to send the Beautiful Bracelets as “gifts” to other destinations any longer!  A great service is provided by my international courier, with whom I signed a contract giving Beautiful Bracelets preferential local and international courier rates yesterday. This company is focusing on providing excellent rates to e-commerce start-up businesses at the moment. They will help me achieve the required export/import licences via their contacts within the DTI, but I have been warned it can take up to 6 months therefore it is probably important to get these applications in the pipeline soon .

And last, but not least, once your business in South Africa begins to show a turnover that will be likely to exceed R150,000 in its first tax year, it begins to be a more viable option to ensure your business is registered in a format that would attract a lower rate of tax. Your Accountant can advise you on this. Since I have big dreams and a huge vision for Beautiful Bracelets I am already looking at all these aspects. SARS (South African Revenue Service) gives good advice and insights on Turnover Tax here.

There are other aspects one needs to be aware of and deal with as the business grows, I will cover these via this Blog as I get to them. Things like Labour Laws, Basic Conditions of Employment, the practical aspects of business administration and other things one needs to be aware of in the first 6 to 12 months of running a business. I believe in treating people well, and looking after my staff because I believe that if you have staff that are also your raving fans, life will be easier. I want Beautiful Bracelets to be a happy place for people to go to work as it grows! Mike, one of the joint owners of Cappuccino's Midrand (my favourite hangout whilst working on this Blog and the 1000 Beautiful Bracelets Book) is a great example of how one should treat one's staff. Happy staff equals happy customers and more sales!