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The Woman in Waders Make Waves

The Women in Waders is an all-female fly-fishing team who is set to make history this month by becoming the first ever female team to compete in the annual TOPS Corporate Trophy Challenge…

2019 has seen South Africa’s women breaking boundaries left, right and centre – from female pilots to DJs to seats of power in government to our national athletes.

Women are breaking into spaces and industries that were previously considered ‘boy’s clubs’ and this is just the beginning! The latest all-female troupe to break the mold in Mzansi is the Women in Waders. The fly-fishing quartet is sponsored by The Finance Team and the four incredible women who make up the team are ready to make waves (literally and figuratively!) at this year’s TOPS Corporate Trophy Challenge.

First all-women team to compete

The Challenge is entering its 18th year but 2019 will be the first time that a team made up entirely of women will compete in the finals which take place at the Wildfly Waters in the KZN Midlands. Even more fitting, the Women in Waders will be competing at the closing event which takes place on the last weekend of Women’s Month where they will be hoping to bring the trophy home.

They won’t have to travel too far – all four fisherwomen hail from KZN and the team’s captain, Roxanne Stegen, will be keen to make use of their homeground advantage. Revealing their tactics for the finals, Roxanne said, “At the finals, I’ll be more strategic around dam allocation. As opposed to the first leg of the competition which we left to lady luck, I will allocate dams based on knowledge and fishing style preference of each team member. Good knowledge of all the waters in the area is a unique challenge in its own right”.

Making history

The Finance Team also beamed with pride at the prospect of an all-female team making history at this year’s Corporate Trophy Challenge. Their director, Grant Robson, said “The TOPS @ Spar Corporate Trophy Challenge is arguably the most prestigious freshwater fly fishing festival held in South Africa and it has been dominated by male competitors since its inception.” He added, “We are so proud of our team for securing their place in the finals and we back them all the way,”.

We’ll be keeping up with the Women in Waders as they make history from the 22nd of August to the 25th of August in the KZN Midlands.

Which other women have inspired you to push the boundaries during Women’s Month 2019?

The Woman in Waders make Waves

Fly fishing is not for the faint hearted – early, chilly mornings is one of the easier aspects to this intricate sport. South Africa is an avid playing ground when it comes to freshwater fly fishing, with many individuals and teams having been selected to represent South Africa both internationally and locally. There are many competitions, both individual and team events, occurring across South Africa. One of the most well-known group competitions is that of the Tops Corporate Trophy Challenge.

The Tops Corporate Challenge has been the most prestigious Fly Fishing event in South Africa for the last 18 years, with each year becoming more thrilling and competitive than the prior. This year, over 240 anglers made their way to Wildfly Waters, Natal Midlands, where the qualifiers for this competition commences. Teams battle it out over three legs, with the top five teams of each leg progressing to the finals. This year The Women in Waders, proudly sponsored by The Finance Team, have been the first women-only fly fishing team to have made it to the corporate finals in its 18 years of existence. These four avid fly fishers did not let the fear of this male-dominated sport get in the way of their vision to be victorious.

Over the weekend of the 22nd– 25th August, the ladies gave it their all at the finals of the corporate challenge. Tough conditions were eminent and the ladies fished their hearts out. They went on to finish 9th overall– an amazing achievement for the team and prestigious representation for all women in the sport.

The Women In Waders, proudly sponsored by The Finance Team, seen at the finals of the Tops Corporate Challenge. The WIW team: Roxanne Stegen (captain), Bridgette Stegen, Sindi-Leigh McBain and Lyndall Blaikie.

We asked team captain Roxanne to answer some questions around the challenge on behalf of the WIW:

  • What would have done the same or different?

Hahaha I’m not one for regrets. I’d do it all over again… I’d prefer to look forward where our eye on the prize is top 5 next time!

  • How has The Finance Team’s sponsorship helped the Women In Waders?

Through the buildup we’ve enjoyed enormous coverage as “The Finance Team – Woman in Waders”, as such propelling our brand in collaboration with The Finance Team and beliefs that we’ve inspired a few other woman to take up fly-fishing as a recreational past time and step out of one’s comfort zone. An excellent example is a recent comment from a woman on one of the Facebook promotions who wrote “#goals” – awe thank you – it’s what keeps us going. Perhaps more tangibly I believe the sponsorship allowed us ladies to simply go out have fun and fish without any “financial burden” or pressure.

  • How many other women were there in the finals?

There was one other woman in the finals, legendary Louise Steenkamp who fished with her male counterparts as a team. Must be said she was the Top Dog in her team!

  • Words of advice to aspiring women anglers?

If the outdoors and idea of fly-fishing appeals to you, there’s no need to know it all.  Simply start slowly, join our Facebook Page Woman in Waders SA, follow us on Instagram, come join in on a ladies clinic, join a fishing club, buy second hand gear and get out there… we look forward to joining you!

As we look back, The Finance Team is proud to have been backing The Women In Waders throughout the entirety of the Tops Corporate Challenge from the beginning. The ladies can be very proud of the amazing end results they received in this tough and enduring challenge!

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March 4, 2022 / No Comments /  

3 Important Ways To Foster A Successful Future For Your Business

Article by entrepreneurmag.co.za

For any successful business, safeguarding its future through careful succession planning should be an important focus. This applies whether you’re running a large listed business, a family owned business, or a small to medium sized unlisted business. There are interesting parallels to heading a successful family and preserving long term family wealth.

This was borne out in our latest survey of over 150 ultra-high net worth individuals, many of whom run or have run successful businesses, often across jurisdictions and generations. Over two thirds of the respondents identified succession planning as their current primary concern in preparing financially for the future. This represents a shift from our 2017 report which identified capital preservation as the primary concern.

What is driving this change? According to our findings, the answer is the rapidly changing and uncertain socio-political and economic environments. Against this background, our respondents said they see a certain urgency in preparing the next generation of leaders to respond to future challenges and opportunities. This means a more sophisticated, better structured and increasingly democratic approach to leadership, greater emphasis on training and development of young people, and better communication and renewed emphasis on long-term planning. The risk of failing to prepare the next generation is now seen as the highest priority for long-term sustainability.

In the family business scenario, and given the rate of technological, social and political change, intergenerational relationships are also transforming. Nearly all respondents agree that the impact of societal change on a family business must be reflected in the way they prepare for the future. Traditional, informal approaches are thus being challenged as families look to more sophisticated governance and communication.

For many of our clients, a successful business is the principal source of wealth and frequently represents a substantial proportion of their assets. Below are some practical, actionable insights from the report that came out of the survey, Four Pillars of Capital: Practical Wisdom and Leadership for Changing Times.

Concern #1: Succession Planning

As mentioned, the survey showed a shift in the primary concern by respondents from capital preservation to succession planning. We found that 69% of respondents identified succession planning as one of their top three concerns for future financial planning, followed by capital preservation (62%) and tax planning (48%).

Our Recommendation: Planning for the long-term is crucial in any business. Discuss strategic planning for future ownership with your Board, your mentor, your family and or key business stakeholders, which could include raising external finance or planning for an exit. Develop a purpose or planned vision for your business.

Partner with an independent professional to help advise and implement suitable and practical strategies to support governance and succession.

Concern #2: Leadership Selection

We asked families how they selected their leaders and how this should change in the future. One of the most interesting results of the survey is that 28% of families interviewed still currently operate on the basis of primogeniture (the right of succession belonging to the first-born child). When asked about their intentions for the future, however, the figure is now around a third of that at 10%. There is a growing preference for wider consultation for the selection of new leaders, possibly including a formal process. Currently only 13% use a committee to select the leader, however at least a third (33%) expect leadership to be selected this way in future.

Our Recommendation: Our experience tells us that having a clear leadership structure and process will provide the best chance of managing unforeseen risks – both internal and external – pursuing opportunities and ensuring that the business prospers. Most business owners need to employ leaders who can keep pace with the modern world and are able to adapt to a fast-changing environment. This means more broadly-based preparation than in the past.

The counterweight is that there is greater need for leadership responsibilities to be shared with others who have both the knowledge and stature to debate the key areas of risk and ensure the interests of all stakeholders are properly protected. Having an experienced mentor to help think through ideas and handle challenging relationships is invaluable.

Concern #3: Failure to prepare the Next Generation

Respondents identified that the top risks to long-term family wealth relate to family disputes (68%) and lack of planning (67%) as well as the failure to appropriately engage or train the next generation. This happens in businesses too, whether or not they are family businesses. Partners in a business can fall out, leaving the business and its employees to an uncertain future and often resulting in detrimental impact to the value of the business.

Our Recommendation: Increasingly, we suggest that families and business owners should engage in ongoing, regular and transparent communication with all company stakeholders, regardless of their responsibility or position within the firm. Employees should be given an opportunity to contribute towards defining the company’s core values and owners should invest in continuous development training programmes for their younger, more inexperienced employees.

Article by entrepreneurmag.co.za

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February 26, 2022 / No Comments /  

How to Name (Or In Some Cases, Rename) Your Company

Article by Entrepreneur.com

Jennifer Fitzgerald is co-founder and CEO of Policygenius. But in 2013, when her company was starting out, it had a different name: KnowItOwl.

“We thought it was a clever play on the term know-it-all,” she says. The company helps consumers find the right insurance policy for them, so she wanted a name that suggested wisdom and guidance, with a friendly animal like the GEICO gecko.

“Then we started talking to investors, engaging our first users and talking to vendors and insurance company partners, and we just kept having to repeat the name — spell it, explain it. Pretty soon we were like, We’ve got a problem.”

And it’s not an uncommon problem.

A name is one of the biggest early decisions a company founder will make, and many get it wrong. Best Buy was first called Sound of Music. Nike was Blue Ribbon Sports. Google was BackRub. Each was a mistake in some form — too narrow, too generic, too evocative of the wrong thing. (BackRub?) For Know­ItOwl, the problem was being too clever.

So how should a company pick a name? Fitzgerald did some research and came up with this process.

Step 1: The big name dump

Fitzgerald created a shared Google Doc for her five-person team and over the course of a few weeks sent out prompts to focus people’s creativity — asking for portmanteaus (like Microsoft, the merging of microcomputer and software), names with numbers (like Lot18), themes like references to trees and more.

Step 2: Structure brainstorming

One Saturday, she invited friends in the branding and marketing industry to join her team for pizza, beer and what she calls “structured group brainstorming.”

She’d put up a word that related to her business — say, protection. Everyone in the room had 10 minutes to write down 10 protection-related names.

Then they’d pass their list to the person to their left and take seven minutes to create seven names inspired by the other person’s list. They repeated this a few times.

Step 3: Cut the crap

Between the Google Doc and the brainstorming, they had hundreds of names and started eliminating them in phases.

First: “Can you imagine saying your company name to a Wall Street Journal reporter?” That wiped out many. (Bye, “Harmadillo”!)

Then they nixed any similar to competitors’, names that could come off as unintentionally wrong (a classic of the form: Pen Island) and names they couldn’t get a dot-com domain for.

Step 4: Judge by colour

The surviving names were evaluated based on various criteria, including brevity (shorter is better), evocativeness (does it convey meaning?) and searchability (is it unique enough that when searched for, it won’t get lost?).

Each criterion was marked as red, yellow or green. The name Policygenius, say, got a yellow for brevity. Too many reds meant elimination.

Step 5: Test people’s memories

Will people remember a name? Can they spell it, if they hear it? To test this, the team recorded someone saying the finalist names, posted the audio to Soundcloud, and embedded it in surveys that they paid $2,000 to have sent to 1,000 people.

They also asked respondents to write down any emotional associations the names created z- “just to make sure nothing was offensive or conjuring up any emotions we didn’t want to conjure up,” she says.

After this, Policygenius had its name. It now employs 130 people and helps a million people each month find insurance, either through its service or content — success that (ahem) owl started with a great name.

Article by Entrepreneur.com

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February 18, 2022 / No Comments /  

Top 10 Reasons Businesses Fail After Their First Growth Spurt

Article by: www.growthinstitute.com

Experiencing a major growth spurt in your business for the first time?

Then chances are, you’ll be making some mistakes. Though some are a natural part of the growth process, the rest should be avoided at all costs. And here’s your chance to learn from those who ventured out before you.

Growing from a startup or mid-market company into a scale-up is a challenging transition. Even the most experienced CEO or executive will admit that growing pains are inevitable once you start scaling. However, the faster you overcome the hurdles, the smaller the chance your business fails.

One of the biggest problems when you lack experience with scaling up, is that you don’t know what you don’t know. But fortunately for you, others have already made some mistakes in the process. Knowing what they are can help you prevent them.

Over the past decade, I have personally helped thousands of startups and mid-market companies move from one phase to the next. By now, more than 70,000 companies have successfully scaled up with my elaborate framework of tools and tactics, the Scaling Up methodology, which is described in detail in my bestselling book Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t.

One of the main reasons CEOs and executives of fast-growing companies struggle and fail is that they try too many things at the same time. It’s really important to have focus, be disciplined, and gather the data you need to be able to know what works and what doesn’t.

Here, I’ve listed 10 of the most common and dangerous mistakes CEOs and executives of scale-ups make that you can avoid.

 

1. Scaling up too fast

One of the most common mistakes companies in the startup phase make is that they scale up prematurely. After getting one or two clients, they believe they have already proven their market-fit.

Although the excitement is understandable, you really have to validate your business model before you scale. Because even when you already have more than one or two clients or users as a startup, you still have to gain traction on the main market.

Geoffrey Moore wrote an interesting book about this phenomenon, called Crossing the Chasm. It describes the challenge of getting from very few buyers to a lot of buyers. You have to realize that at first, it’s the early adopters that are buying your product; people who generally like to try new things. But after that, you need to reach the majority. The majority of buyers are very different and the gap between the two can be a difficult one to bridge. Therefore, this point is also the one in which most companies get stuck or even go down entirely. Make sure to test your product-market-fit thoroughly and that you know exactly who your ideal customer is.

Also, without proper preparation and strategic focus, rapid growth does not necessarily mean profitability. You have to be ready to scale. CEO and Co-founder of Fracture, Abhi Lokesh, said they had to learn this in his company the hard way: “It’s a euphoric feeling to see orders flood in, but you have to make sure you’ve got an ironclad grasp on the unit economics of those orders and the efforts that led to those orders. How much did you pay for them? Are they actually profitable?”

Lokesh’ advice was not to be seduced by top-line numbers: “Along with rapid growth also comes additional overhead costs – more employees, more infrastructure, more everything. Are you truly prepared to handle it? We weren’t, and it cost us dearly.”

In any growth phase, dig deep to ensure that the growth is sustainable and you can actually keep it up. Otherwise, you’re not scaling at all – you’re just getting bigger and less efficient.

2. Lack of focus and alignment

When your company is gaining more traction, the decisions you need to make grow even more complex. This pressure can cause you to make poor decisions that can hurt your potential for success and even set you back.

More companies die for the excess of opportunity than for lack of it. To prevent overwhelm, (excessive) stress, and disorganized movement in all directions, it’s essential to know exactly what your focus is.

This means you’re deliberately choosing what to do, but also – and equally important – deliberately choosing what not to do.

Don’t go crazy trying to add new features or related products once you’ve achieved product-market-fit and started scaling up. It’s important that you can do one thing better than anyone else before you start building new stuff.

A great tool that you can use in your organization to gain more clarity on what your focus should be at any point in time, is the One-Page Strategic Plan or OPSP. This is a very concise plan that’s easy to communicate with your entire team. This one-page document will literally get your employees on one page and achieve team alignment.

You need to have the right goals and metrics in place and these need to be clear and transparent for everyone on your team. Because without alignment, focus, and commitment, fast growth isn’t sustainable.

Everyone makes mistakes but the key is being aware of them. This is the only way can discover what works and what doesn’t. It’s how we distinguish smart, well-informed decisions in your business from the opposite. What you don’t track and measure, you cannot improve.

The daily huddle is also an effective tool that helps you and your team(s) to remain flexible without losing alignment or focus. This is a 5-15 minute meeting to discuss tactical issues and provide updates. It’s part of a proven meeting rhythm that many of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world implemented in their organization to enable their major, rapid growth. You can read more about effective meetings in my article “How Weekly Meetings Can Accelerate Your Firm’s Growth, Keep Everyone Motivated, And Achieve Your #1 Priority”.

 

3. Hiring prematurely

Another common mistake startups tend to make in their first period of significant growth is to hire too fast. Jeremy Ong, the owner of HUSTLR and a chain of blogs and eCommerce stores, learned this the hard way: “One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made when my company was experiencing rapid growth was to hire people prematurely because we were just desperate for extra manpower just to cope with the demand.”

“As a result, I have hired employees that do not fit into the company culture at all, which hurt company morale in ways I didn’t imagine. Employees started sharing bad habits with each other and the productivity per employee dropped because of the distractions and the poor performance of other employees. We ended up being less productive as a company, even with more people.”

Jeremy was hoping things would improve over time but eventually had to dismiss the bad apples after a series of poor performances spanning over a year and a half. The company had to undergo a culture rehabilitation exercise to get the best employees back on track.“I now believe that it is better to push our best employees harder and treat them better, instead of using a duct-tape solution by hiring employees just because we’re in need of more manpower.”

Matthew Ross, Co-owner and COO of The Slumber Yard had a similar experience due to hiring too quickly without the proper interviews and screening: “After a couple of weeks, it was apparent that we had hired the wrong candidates. Whether they didn’t possess the skills necessary to succeed in the position or didn’t fit into the company’s culture from a personality standpoint, these hires actually hindered the company’s growth.”

His advice: “Take your time and really train up each new employee. If you’re constantly trying to rush, you may find yourself getting out over your skis.”

It’s also important to remember that you need to stay lean. Don’t hire too many people (middle managers or specialists) as this takes away from your core competencies and leave you prone to trying to scale other areas too quickly. A small, motivated, and highly productive team is better than a sluggish team with poor morale.

But don’t postpone hiring new employees too long either as failure to deliver is at the core of many business closures. Just make sure to hire efficient resources that believe in your vision. And don’t forget that especially amidst rapid growth, outsourcing can be a great solution for non-core tasks too.

4. Mistaking leadership for management

When your company is still in its initial startup phase you may be able to handle all of the functional roles, but it’s a fatal mistake to believe you can continue to do so.

To stay on the path toward achieving your BHAG (Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal), stick with leading, don’t start managing. Shyam Krishna Iyer, the founder of SKI Charities, experienced the consequences of getting too managerial as a business leader. He said: “While an entrepreneur may drive early success, I have found successful entrepreneurship to be far more “bottom-up” as local level ownership and buy-in will determine the success of any project or enterprise.”

When Shyam started out, he decided that a high level of oversight and control would be necessary but he soon learned this was not scalable: “I quickly became stretched too thin and lost the connection with my staff on the ground. The entire enterprise began to lose focus and flounder.” He found that autonomy and control must devolve from the entrepreneur to the field in order to scale successfully.

Business leaders inspire others, have the vision, make connections, and secure funding for their companies’ continued growth. They’re idea machines. These are not necessarily the same qualities found in a good manager. It’s important to leave the execution to those who are great at that.

5. Not setting long-term goals

Goals give you direction and keep you on track during the day-to-day operations. By making sure your goals are SMART, you can identify where you want to go and outline the specific action steps needed to get there. This is something most business leaders understand and do well.

But although most startups and scale-ups do set short-term goals (monthly, quarterly, yearly, and perhaps also 2- to 5-year goals) to measure their progress, they often fail to define long-term ones too. If the long-term is not clearly defined, your short-term goals might end up being the wrong ones.

Long-term goals are often overlooked in startups for reasons (or excuses) of agility but if you want to move fast, you need to know where you are going. You have to be able to make quick but smart decisions. And this requires a clear sense of direction.

Coming up with a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal (BHAG) that you’re striving towards the next 10 to 20 years can help you with that.

6. Saying yes to every customer request (“over-customizing”)

Another mistake that fast-growing companies often make when they start to scale-up, is that they say yes to every (feature) request made by their customers. In this case, you’re running the risk of over-promising and under-delivering.

This is also what the Co-founder of GreenPal (a company described as “Uber for lawn care”), Gene Caballero, experienced: “One mistake we made when trying to scale, was to give our customer too much power when it came to dictating their schedule. We allowed homeowners the chance to add one-at-a-time appointments whenever they wanted and didn’t give them the ability to easily schedule either weekly or biweekly appointments. This is a logistical nightmare for the lawn care pros that used our platform.”

They decided to implement a change that forced homeowners to opt for a regular routine. This ultimately provided them with better service from the vendors, who in their place were more engaged since, knowing that the homeowners they obtained via GreenPal were in it for the long haul. “This has helped us grow at over 100% YoY. Our projected revenue for 2019 is $20m,” said Caballero. The saying they have at their company is one that could be useful for many to remember in the scale-up phase: “We let the thousands decide what the millions will do.”

7. Focusing on marketing too little or too late

One of the biggest, most persistent mistakes startup founders make is assuming they don’t need to market and that their customers will find them. Many believe that marketing is a function they can do without for the longest time and they almost always use it as a last resort to gain traction. But thinking you can create a major, sustainable growth organically is very naïve. And word-of-mouth referrals and direct marketing do not scale.

Obviously, the best type of marketing for you depends on your business and your target audience. But whether it’s traditional advertising, online marketing or content marketing, you’ll need something to scale, and that something has to be a strategic choice with clear KPIs and ROIs that are well measured.

Too little strategic focus on marketing can also result in becoming dependent on one marketing channel only. And like Abi Lokesh from Fracture experienced, this is inadvisable too: “One mistake we made at Fracture while scaling was putting all of our growth eggs in one basket. We rode the wave of what helped us achieve scale, somewhat naively hoping that it would never end, without taking advantage of that opportunity to diversify our marketing efforts.”

Lokesh learned that “you’ve always got to have multiple irons in the fire”: “Sooner or later, a marketing channel will peak and begin to lose efficiency. Don’t wait until that happens, because by then it’s too late. Recognize that every scaling tactic has an expiration date and keep working to find the next growth hack.”

8. Postponing the next-round funding too long

Running out of money should be avoided at this stage, so have your action plan in place early on and get ready to impress investors earlier than you may have intended.

Venture Capital firms that invest in later-stage funding are more risk-averse than your early-stage or pre-revenue investors. It usually takes much longer to attract them and seal the deal. But you need fast cash to grow your facilities.

Hunting down funding almost becomes a CEOs full-time job if it’s not approached strategically and you don’t partner with investors for the long run. This is what Kim Saxton, MBA, PhD, and Clinical Professor of Marketing, found and described in the book she co-authored, The Titanic Effect: Successfully Navigating the Uncertainties that Sink Most Startups: “To grow means having enough cash on hand to make investments in sales, marketing, and people to support customers. Often early on, startups are interested in any source of funds. They don’t vet their investors. They need to partner with investors who can fund successive rounds of investment. Instead, they end up having to hunt down new sources of funds. That takes time and the process is slow. So, it’s hard to match up funding time with needs for cash to grow.”

Apart from the difficulties that business leaders may experience in their quest to impress investors, it also becomes more difficult to estimate your expenditure correctly in the scale-up phase. William Taylor, currently CDO (Career Development Officer) at MintResume, had this experience while running a previous company of his: “Initially, we thought that we wouldn’t be needing additional staff as we already had a well-trained team that was good at multitasking. But, we soon realized that we needed more people as our team was already overworked and struggling with time management issues. So, we hired a new team. To accommodate this cost, we compromised on the office renovation and our higher management had to pool in a few resources to meet our expenses.”

You never miss the water until the well runs dry, but if you wait until the last minute to seek funding this can lead to extremely tight and stressful situations that could threaten your company’s very existence.

9. Lacking a scalable infrastructure

As your company grows, nothing scales automatically, unless it is systematically set up for scale. You need to have the right infrastructure in place – systems, procedures, and physical space – in order to keep the pace and make optimal use of your company’s momentum.

To expect communication naturally evolves with growth, for instance, is a false assumption many startup founders make. It’s obviously a lot easier to communicate changes and progress to a few other people, versus 10, 50 or even 1000 other people.

Fracture founder Lokesh also learned that you shouldn’t take good communication at scale for granted; you’re going to have to work at it: “During rapid growth, it’s much easier for messaging to get misinterpreted, key points to get lost, and dangerous assumptions to be made. You have to invest in your company’s communication infrastructure to make sure everyone gets and stays on the same page.”

Your IT infrastructure has to be set up properly too. This does not only mean having the right systems in place for communication and execution; it also means investing in redundancy. As Deni Ivanov, CEO and CMO of Royal Services could illustrate from his experience. He admitted they didn’t invest heavily enough in their company’s online infrastructure “We didn’t think about the fact that you should make backups for almost everything you work on. Redundancy is of huge importance as we try to keep all of our information online and all of our communications are done in one form or another over the internet. You need to have backups for whenever a system crashes or an email gets deleted by accident – we learned the hard way.”

10. Not being agile

Strategic action plans are important to achieve your vision but they can’t be written in stone either. Unforeseen situations occur, market trends change and aggressive competitors can pop up out of nowhere. Consequently, you may need to change course quickly at one point or another.

Change is the only constant, especially in startups and scale-ups. Don’t to pivot for the sake of pivoting but if you become stubborn or paralyzed, you will stall out.

A strong IT infrastructure and communication system can help you iterate. Making small, daily, incremental changes that are aligned with your company’s long-term vision or BHAG and that contribute to your most important KPIs, is the best way to ensure agility.

If you’re experiencing hiccups on your road to major business success, know that you’re not the only one in battle (regardless of the type of product or service you provide or the industry you’re in).

Always remember that for every problem you encounter, another company has already faced something similar, and you can implement the tools and strategies that have proven to work.

Article by: www.growthinstitute.com

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February 10, 2022 / No Comments /  

5 Tips on How to Avoid Entrepreneurial Burnout

Article by www.thesmallbusinesssite.co.za

The modern workforce is tired and worn out. Advancements made in technology have resulted in the ability to always be online, always check mail, and to always be available for meetings. In many cases, we cannot switch off and it means that no one truly rests after a day at the office. This is even more true for those who run their own businesses.

Entrepreneurs are, essentially, the face and brand of their business. In many cases, an hour that they are not working, is an hour not earning any money – and that is something that is always at the back of their minds. These entrepreneurs are fiercely passionate and most obsessive about getting work done, servicing clients and ensuring that no ball is dropped. As a result, entrepreneur burnout is a real thing.

David Seinker, CEO and founder of The Business Exchange, a South African-born co-working space, has a few tips on how to avoid entrepreneur burnout and how to ensure that you are taking care of yourself, all while taking care of your business.

Make time for the things that keep you sane

I have found that it is often easy to let time with family, friends and doing hobbies slide. You always think that your loved ones will understand and that there will always be time to do that fun activity another time. It’s a slippery slope.

If you do it too often, you will do it all the time, and soon enough you’re missing out on moments you used to enjoy being part of. If you say yes to an event, go to it. If you’ve planned a date night, stick to it, and if Sunday mornings are usually reserved for mountain bike rides, then commit to it. This way, your days aren’t only filled with work and you are giving your head and heart some time to re-energise.

Talk to other entrepreneurs

You’re not the only one going through this. It’s easy to believe that a) our problems are unique and that b) we don’t want to burden other busy entrepreneurs with our problems, but you would be surprised at how easily other business owners are willing to talk about what they are going through and offer up some advice. No man or woman needs to be an island, and a good chat about shared issues can be very therapeutic and beneficial for business.

Check in with yourself

Don’t get so buried under the pressure and volume of work that you don’t even notice the signs of burnout. Take some time every now and then and check in with yourself.

You can ask yourself questions such as “Am I easily irritated by small issues?”, “Do I feel tired and run down all the time?” and “Am I missing out on other parts of life because I’m working too much?”. If the answers to all of these questions is “yes”, then perhaps it’s time to take a bit of a breather.

Take some time off and don’t feel guilty

If you need time off, take the time and don’t feel guilty about it. In fact, if you can regularly schedule a break, do it.

Perhaps you could block out the first weekend of every month to just unplug and relax? Or the first week of a certain month for a mini-holiday with friends or family? Give clients notice well in advance, delegate tasks to other staff, if you have people working for you, and enjoy some guilt-free downtime.

Make sure you’re in an environment that allows you to thrive

It is important that your work environment is relatively stress-free and allows you to thrive. If you, for example, work out of your garage surrounded by clutter, it is going to clutter your mind and add to your stress levels.

If you’re working from home and you need to schedule an important meeting, so you have to scramble for a suitable meeting location, you will feel stressed. Take these small issues off your plate by making sure that your working environment puts you at ease rather than on edge.

For example, book meeting rooms or boardrooms for important meetings. They can even have a team answer your calls and take messages – small ways to take some things off your plate. If you are working from home, ensure that you have set up your workspace as an area conducive to creative thinking and high output.

Article by www.thesmallbusinesssite.co.za

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February 8, 2022 / No Comments /  

5 Keys to Making Your New Year’s Financial Resolutions Stick

Article by www.entrepreneur.com

As an entrepreneur or business owner you know the truth of the old saying that sometimes you have to spend money to make money. But, you also have to save money to have money! And saving more money consistently ranks as a top financial resolution people make each New Year.

We all need to do it — whether to build a robust emergency fund, secure our retirement, or create the equity we need to build a business and lifelong wealth. But, how many people actually succeed?

According to some reports, up to 80 percent of people who make New Year’s resolutions fail to keep them. Yet we know that people who make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t.

For many people, the start of a new year is the trigger they need to change their behavior patterns to set themselves on a lifelong journey toward financial security and self-sufficiency.

What does it take to be one of the successful few? What can you do this time around to increase your likelihood of remaining on track when next New Year’s Day rolls around?

1. Understand that real, permanent change comes from within, rather than from outside pressure.

In their groundbreaking book, Changing for Good, three psychologists looked at 130 different techniques that people used to try to give up smoking. They discovered it is not a lack of potent and effective quitting techniques that defeats so many smokers. Rather, it is the internal thought processes that prevent (or enable) permanent, life-enhancing change.

Their discovery captured the attention of leading academics, clinical psychologists, life coaches and authors looking into why certain people are able to set a life-changing goal, meet it and keep themselves from relapsing.

The good news: Researchers have discovered that we all have it within us to modify our behavior and cross the “Resolution Finish Line,” regardless of how ingrained our habits are. When you consider how mindset affects everything in our lives, it’s no surprise that it’s the key to achieving our financial goals.

2. Enlist allies to help you stay on track.

Many people require outside support when they decide to get serious about holding themselves accountable for their financial resolutions.

M. Kathryn Seifert, Ph.D., a Maryland psychologist who operates three mental health clinics, says a coach — whether a professional for hire, a friend or a religious leader — can help people reinforce their commitments.

Dr. Seifert’s clinics see about 2,000 distressed individuals a year, many of them struggling with financial crises. For most people, the right motivation coupled with persistence and the aid of a coach provides what they need to achieve their goals, she says.

3. Set incentives and consequences for sticking to or breaking your commitments.

Consider using websites such as www.stickk.com that allow you to give yourself incentives for sticking to your commitments, and set up penalties for breaking them.

This carrot and stick approach relies on three factors: a goal, stakes, and a referee, according to an article a few years go on commitment contracts.

When you make a commitment binding in this way, it will make you think twice before backsliding. Even better, the rewards that come with sticking to your commitments establish a feel-good pattern of positive reinforcement. And that will make staying on track easier as you move forward.

4. Skip the pity party when you fall short.

Don’t wallow in self-blame when you fail. Instead, pick yourself back up, learn from your mistakes, and go right back to work toward your goal.

Steve Siebold, author of How Rich People Think, says one of the key differences between those who are defeated by financial roadblocks and those who knock down barriers along their path, is how they respond to disappointment.

Siebold estimates that 40 percent to 60 percent of today’s most successful investors, entrepreneurs and executives have failed multiple times. Those who rebound the fastest and most successfully set aside emotional thinking and put their minds to the task of plotting a logical pathway forward.

5. Don’t set yourself up for failure by insisting on an all-or-nothing change.

Judith A. Belmont, a psychotherapist and author of the “The Swiss Cheese Theory of Life,” has described New Year’s resolutions as “a setup for failure” because they embrace an all-or-nothing attitude toward change.

Belmont cautions against perfectionism and advises patience and persistence instead.

“It doesn’t matter where you are on the journey, what matters is the direction you are going,” she says. “Learn from the past, accept shortcomings, realize where you made errors and build on them like stepping stones.”

One final piece of advice: Give yourself reminders to keep your focus on where you are going and your long-term goals. One of my favorite ways to do this, especially when it comes to holiday shopping, is to wrap my charge cards in my goals. Every time I take a card out, I see a picture or some words that remind me of why I am saving. This is a trick to make yourself pause a moment and consider whether what you are purchasing is more important than your goal.

Remember, when it comes to keeping your financial resolutions, you are the key. You make decisions every day, every week and every month throughout the year that all add up when it comes to building savings and wealth. Only when you set your mind and heart to the task can you successfully create long-term change in your fiscal direction.

Article by www.entrepreneur.com

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February 5, 2022 / No Comments /  

Successfully Selling Your Business

Article by entrepreneurmag.co..za

Many startup founders and small businesses dream of receiving an offer to becoming the next billion dollar business. Whether its because they are ready to move onto another project, or they are ready to expand and are looking to leverage the financial power of a bigger partner, selling a business is a big move for any business. For many business owners, getting an offer from a buyer is certainly exciting, but before you jump into anything, remember that there are important steps to take before you sign the paperwork that will move a successful transaction forward.

Some entrepreneurs are ‘starters’, they like to start a business, get it off the ground and then flog it. Others are ‘growers’, they look for existing businesses and have the ability to grow them beyond their original value. Both will probably get to the same end point: Selling the business.

But entrepreneurs are often misled when it comes to the sale. They have put everything into the business and it is worth a huge amount to them because of it. But buyers are seldom willing to match the price, because what is being sold, and what is being bought, are not the same thing. Sellers see the emotional and financial investments they’ve put in; the buyer mostly looks at one thing: Profit.

Prepare for the challenges of selling

Once you get to market you will soon realise that there are, unfortunately, fewer buyers than you’d like. Unlike listed companies, you can’t sell shares easily and quickly on a public platform. Instead, you need to find an interested individual or business, many of whom just aren’t buying what you’re selling.

Some of them are, but that doesn’t guarantee a sale. Most SMEs must put their faith in a cash deal, since banks will never finance anyone wanting to buy them. In reality, this means that you may have a genuinely interested buyer for your business, who won’t be able to get finance for it from the bank. So, after a few months, you’re back to square one. After a few rounds of this cycle many entrepreneurs will just sell out of desperation, forgetting what the business could actually be worth.

Selling a business can be very emotionally draining and this will be compounded by many people who will waste your time and mess you around. You spent a large portion of your life building this, but others will not see it the same way you do. Ensure that you prepare and mitigate against all of those issues, and have the stomach for the fight.

Always keep the end in mind

If you are looking at exiting your business, it is crucial to allow enough time to prepare yourself for it. Maybe you’re simply tired of your business and you just want to get out, but, because the business is not in a great state at the moment, you’re too fed up to care, and you simply don’t have the energy to fix the issues.

You’re at risk of letting your business go for next to nothing. All the hard work for hardly any reward.

If you have the end in mind, and prepare for it, it can be a very different, more lucrative story. A successful transaction will mostly boil down to having a solid business with great systems in place that is making decent money and the starting point for these transactions will be financial information. You need to have proper financial records for your business and you need to be able to show the potential buyer how much the business is making and how it is making it. It sounds so elementary, yet most entrepreneurs don’t have financial information when they want to sell their businesses. If you think you may want to sell in the future, make sure you’re keeping solid records now.

If your business’s financials are messy, start cleaning them up at least twelve months before trying to sell your business. Remove all your personal expenses from the business and ensure that all transactions are properly recorded, and that your taxes are up to date and accurate. Work with your accountant to prepare a sales pack with all your financial information, including details of your clients, employees, suppliers, what your strong and weak points are and how the business could grow in the future. It’s at this stage that you can pick up on issues and resolve them before taking your business to the market, making it a much more attractive product.

With some (more) hard work, you will be in a great position to sell your business, you will have serious buyers and the valuation that you deserve for all your hard work.

That being said, here are 4 essential steps that will help you avoid potential setbacks and increase the chances of a fair and satisfying transaction while you are selling your business.

1. Preparation is everything

Since you’re already a business owner, you most likely already know the importance of preparation. When it comes to selling your business it’s always wise to conjure up all that you have learned along the way and apply that to the process of making a sale.

Some of the key documents that buyers expect to see are:

  • Corporate records
  • Records of any important contracts
  • Information concerning stocks and investments that would affect the relationship with the buyer.

Preparation also entails that you are forward about any setbacks or issues you had in the past that currently affect company operations. Being open about what failed in your business model will help buyers feel confident in their decision working with you, in addition to understanding what to potentially avoid in the future.

2. Setting up the right environment for buyers

Your business may have received endless praise from the press and has made the “most up and coming list” time and time again that doesn’t mean you are ready to sell. Good press will very likely attract buyers, but if you haven’t created the right environment to continue along with a merger and acquisition, those investors and businesses that were one so eager to scoop you up may not stick around that long. To ensure a productive environment for selling your business  it pays to be open to new ideas, while also maintaining a professional setting from which trust can build.

3. Make sure your finances are in order

Financial records are vital when making a sale. Not only to they provide a clear outline of your businesses progress in numbers, they are also key to making sure you get what you want out of the final sale in the end; investments and any and all financial commitments. Ensuring that both parties are satisfied.

4. Hire a merger and acquisitions advisor

Even the most experienced business owners can benefit from the expertise of a mergers and acquisitions advisor. Trained specifically to help owners assess their the value of the business by reviewing it’s strengths and weaknesses on both a macro and micro economic level.

Some of the key ways that an M&A consultant can help you streamline the selling process are as follows:

  • Professional who specialise in mergers and acquisitions are highly skilled at preparing for due diligence, helping you to navigate and organise the necessary documents and information that is needed by all prospective buyers
  • If you are in the unique situation that you have more than one buyer interested in acquiring your business, an M&A consultant can help you assess which one will be the right relationship for you, especially if you will still be activity participating in daily business operations.

Again, experienced business owners may know everything there is to know about running a company, but that doesn’t mean they know how to appeal to buyers. Not only do you have to be in tune with your own company’s needs, but it’s essential that you understand what buyers and investors expect from a sale.

At the end of the day, even if you think you’ve found the perfect buyer, taking a few extra steps to ensure that a potential buyout will meet both parties needs and is overall good for the business can be done by being fully prepared and and working alongside an expert that will help to point you in the right direction. Successfully taking your business won’t happen overnight, in fact most transactions take about six to twelve months to complete, so it pays to be prepared every step of the way.

Article by entrepreneurmag.co..za

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February 4, 2022 / No Comments /  

AI is coming for your job – regardless of which sector you work in

Article by www.businesstech.co.za

The collision between “business as usual” and technology is imminent, and the fallout will be nasty, especially for millennials, says recruitment specialist, Adzuna.

According to the online job aggregator, automation and Artificial Intelligence is one of the most disruptive forces the ‘modern’ workplace has encountered thus far, and if the predictions from across the world are correct, up to 37% of millennials are at risk of losing their jobs to automation.

Since the baby boomer generation is now generally employed in leadership or managerial roles, and jobs that require more complex problem solving, they’re not in such grave danger as their younger counterparts. This is according to Scott Dobroski from Glassdoor.

The millennials are the ones that will be replaced sooner since they don’t have as many job skills and generally, they hold positions that are simple enough for AI to take over.

“The jobs that AI and automation will take over aren’t just the ones that come to mind first, like drivers. They’re across all sectors because every company in the world relies on some sort of tech at the moment,” said Jesse Green, country manager for Adzuna South Africa.

“Every company on earth has an online presence or an app, and that puts everyone at risk.”

Jobs that require critical thinking, strategy, and data science are less likely to be replaced than repetitive, white-collar jobs like accounting roles. This means that professionals like software engineers, data scientists, doctors, nurses, and financial planners are relatively safe, for now.

Although automation might not take over those roles, they will most definitely affect them, said Green.

The role of AI and automation on the jobs that are “safe” will be to make them more effective and efficient. “We’re still a couple of decades away from seeing robots analyse someone’s back injury and fixing it on the spot.”

Citing an article from the Harvard Business Review, Green said that AI will reshape the organisational structures we are used to today. Ravin Jesuthasan and John Boudreau, the authors of the article, said that the human aspect present in the workforce after the Fourth Industrial Revolution hits us won’t be sourced through employment.

Jobs within organisations will become a thing of the past and will instead be outsourced by measure of units.

Kai Fu Lee, an AI expert and venture capitalist recently spoke to CBS News in an interview, revealing that it’s possible for up to 40% of all jobs across the globe being replaced by robots or computers. Big names, like Elon Musk, have been warning about the power of AI for quite some time, hammering on how it has the ability to disproportionately affect low-income workers.

But the sad reality is that AI is on the rise, and there is no stopping it or the impact it is bound to have on society. Artificial intelligence can be seen in the same light as the steam engine and electricity. Before those systems worked, people laughed at the struggling inventors, but only until their dreams became a reality across the world.

Humans will always be affected by change, but somehow, we always get over it. The only problem with AI is that it will hit us much sooner (and harder) than those innovations did.

Article by www.businesstech.co.za

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February 2, 2022 / No Comments /  

Money saving tips for financial success in 2019

Article by www.iol.co.za

With the excesses of festive season spending behind you, the New Year represents the perfect opportunity to whip your finances back into shape, beginning by implementing these seven simple money-saving tips from Citadel Advisory Partner Daryl Coker.

1. Set your financial goal

January is thus the perfect time to reflect on your accomplishments during 2018, and set new financial goals for the year ahead. These may include paying off debts, saving towards a deposit on a home, or even revving up your retirement savings.

2. Reassess your budget

“Many people diet in January because they put on a little too much weight during the holidays and are trying to get their life back in order, and budgeting is similarly an important exercise for trimming the fat from your finances,”

Look for places where you can cut back or may be overspending, and see whether you have any surplus cash left at the end of the month that you should be putting to better use.

If you have received a salary bump, also remember to allocate a portion towards saving rather than just increasing your lifestyle spending.

3. Pay back the money

“As part of your budgeting process, you should therefore look to put any spare funds or bonuses and salary increases towards eliminating debt, as paying down your debt more quickly could save you significant amounts in repayments over time,” Coker explains.

Begin by creating a debt strategy that will help you to repay your debts as quickly and effectively as possible. This means prioritising your debts in order of the most expensive according to the interest being charged on the debt – usually starting with costly short-term debt on credit cards, followed by less expensive debt on cars and homes.

4. Price-check your short-term insurance

One simple, yet often forgotten, method for cutting costs is to re-examine your short-term insurance cover and costs each year. This means comparing quotes from different providers, as well as checking that your motor vehicles, home and household contents are still insured for the right amounts.

Coker said, “While it’s important to make certain that you are not under-insured, it’s equally important to check that you’re not over-insured”.

5. Manage school fees wisely

According to Coker, people need think carefully before paying school fees upfront as a lump sum.

Coker said, “Most schools do offer a discount of usually between four and seven percent for early payment,” he notes. “However, also consider that by opting for monthly payments, your child is essentially receiving a year’s education upfront and you will not be charged any additional interest on the amount owing – the monthly cost will remain the same, which is almost like receiving an interest-free loan”.

6. Optimise your tax affairs

With the February tax season soon upon us, high income and provisional earners should also consider seeking professional tax advice in order to optimise their tax efficiency, for instance by making the most of allowable deductions for contributions to retirement savings before the financial year end.

 7. Consider the timing of purchasing a new vehicle

If you are considering purchasing a new vehicle, remember that it may be more beneficial to buy in early 2019 rather than later in year.

“If you are looking to purchase a new vehicle and your budget allows, it may be more beneficial to buy earlier in the year rather than later, or even worth saving and waiting until the beginning of 2020 instead,” said Coker.

Article by www.iol.co.za

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January 28, 2022 / No Comments /  

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