Are you too stressed to take the time to drink a cup of coffee to get that caffeine into your blood? I kid you not, someone has exploited the convenience market and brought out a coffee inhaler. The Le Whif, a lipstick shaped product is designed to be inserted in the mouth and inhaled, delivering an instant 100 milligram caffeine hit, equivalent to a shot of espresso. They also have chocolate dust inhalers in three different flavors. The ultimate busy executive accessory

Choosing what to wear to work today was easy. My new Heavy Chef T-shirt won at last night’s Heavy Chef session in Cape Town. Justin Stanford gave a scary but educational talk on web security and what we need to watch out for when developing new apps and going about our daily web activities.

I got the T-shirt for what I thought was an interesting question on biometrics, but Justin shot it down saying that fingerprinting technology sucks and could not be reliable based on inferior hardware solutions on the market. This on the same day as Banks announced that they will be implementing fingerprint identity in the branches linked to Home Affairs to validate customer identifications. Mmmm, interesting.

Great session last night guys, thanks for the shirt.

Each Thursday we will bring you a financial tip or article. Supplied by our Wealth Coach and Financial Mentor, Clive Bydawell from 7 Year Wealth Plan.

By continually buying depreciating assets (called liabilities) like cars and expensive electronic goods you undermine your propensity to build long-lasting wealth. So what do you do when you have to buy a car and you have to finance this car?

Don’t buy the most expensive luxury car you can afford – rather buy a smaller practical and reliable second hand car that costs half the price. Then pay off this debt as fast as you can. Even the billionaire Sam Walton, who founded Wal-Mart drove a red ’88 Ford pick-up truck for most of his living years.

Great advice once again, Clive. Take this one step further, when spending any money on your business ask this simple question, “Will this item be able to generate enough income to pay for itself and then yield in a profit?” It makes sense to have an asset that depreciated in value as an expense but can at the same time generate income in the sales column. Take a look around your office, see how much stuff you have that has cost you a whole bunch of change and never turned a profit. We outsource all non functional tasks, but will buy in equipment that we could use regularly to either save or make us money. Just makes good financial management.

So what about that new coffee machine…

Yesterday I was in a Doctor’s office and noticed that he had a map of the world stuck up on his wall but it was upside down. I asked him if this was just his own perspective of life or a sub-conscious view of the medical fraternity.

We was amused by my comment and explained to me that it was there to help keep him grounded in this work and to always think out of the ordinary and to never assume things. He mentioned that he could see 5 kids in a row all presenting with the same flu like symptoms but to avoid just reaching for the same prescription he approaches each case with a new sense of perspective so he does not miss anything that may be masked by his assumptions.

Do you have a similar tool to use to avoid making the same mistakes or assumptions again and again? Try this to start your day: from the time you wake up to the time you start work do everything with the opposite hand that you would normally use. Showering, shaving, brushing your teeth, drinking coffee eating breakfast, locking the door. What this does is make your brain cross over the normal muscle memory to the other side of the brain and create often new pathways of learning. This will give you a new brain activity base to set the day on its ear and give you a new view of how things work. Give it a try and let us know of any changes. Just be careful with that sharp razor in your left hand.

This morning we have our first group of business owners descending on our venue for the first of our monthly Small Business Workshops. We will assemble, chat over good coffee, warm scones with strawberry jam and cheese and get to know each other. We then go into a formal introduction where each person will get 90 seconds to introduce them selves to the group. The purpose of this is to market each represented business to not only the group members but to the 2^nd and 3^rd degree of relationships present. This technique we will develop in meetings to come.

This is followed by a 20-minute presentation by one of the members to educate and inform on issues related to business issues. We will then move into a time of open sharing and conversation offering pearls of wisdom and referrals. All this in just 90 minutes, what a great way to start the day. Want to join us for the next one? Register here for Cape Town South or here for other areas.

It is common knowledge that Twitter is fast becoming the new place to be seen and heard. In South Africa, we tend to lag a tad behind the first world in technology use and recently the twitter use in SA is growing exponentially. The best thing about Twitter is the up to date environment that it provides on the Search Function. If I want to know what happened yesterday, I go to Google. If I want to know what is going down now, I go to search.twitter.com.

News even before it becomes news can be found here. What’s happening in the traffic, at the airport, rumors, events, issues what’s hot and not. A simple search here gives you all the before news that you could ever want. Oh, Google is so yesterday, try surfing on search.twitter.com.

This week marks the start of a new weekly series that I have put together on the 9 Hats of Entrepreneurship. These will be published on Ideate each Monday for the next 10 weeks.

Each article will unpack a different role that Business owners and Entrepreneurs have to play as we tackle every day life in the trenches of business. Knowing what hat to wear when goes a long to to maintaining balance and a sustainable organisation. Please click on over to ideate and read not only mine but the other articles by respected bloggers in the business community.

So often I get to meet business owners and when they get to talk about their own business they are unable to communicate clearly what they do. Their hand goes up to the back of their head (a sign of insecurity) and they fumble along some technical jargon that makes no sense to anyone.

We only get one chance to make a first impression and then it is over. Often deals and relationships are lost in just the first few seconds. As a business owner always be prepared to market both yourself and your business. It may become boring to say the same speech again and again but it is the first time others will hear it. Make it captivating, persuasive, exciting and engaging. Your elevator pitch should be something you can do in your sleep but make it fresh each time you deliver it.

Also have your marketing material, business cards, flyers or brochures ready to hand out all the time. I am still amazed at how many people go to business functions or network events and do not have business cards. Keep a stock in your car, in your desk and in your bag at all times ready to dish them out to people once you have greeted them and presented yourself. In addition to this I like to wear my name badge to most functions, it helps people overcome fear when approaching you and gets them to see, read and say my name (great for memory) even before they meet me.

Be prepared to meet new people, form new relationships and develop new networks that could lead to new income streams.

Go get ready, now.

With just 90 days to kick off we continue with our 100 day plan for your business with 100 questions to ask as a business owner, one for each day until 11 June. So here are the next 10, about marketing in your business.

1. Have you created a profile of your potential customer with as many adjectives as you can?
2. Do you know the places your customer frequents?
3. Do you know the associated services your customer uses?
4. What types of marketing material could you use to reach your customers?
5. How would you get this material into their hands at the right time?
6. What ways can you build and maintain good relationships with your customers?
7. How could you measure and manage your marketing?
8. How fast are you able to adapt to the changing market?
9. What campaigns have you used related to the World Cup?
10. What have you set in motion for post World Cup markets?

Get going with your answers, the next set in 10 days time.