It appears that competition season is open and in full swing. If your business is worth sharing then get on this one and the YEP to see how you match up against the best of SA. The Sanlam/Business Partners 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year® competition is now open for entries. A great article by Fred on Ideate here explains it all and gives some interesting stats on the state of Entrepreneurship in our country.
Entering competitions like these is hard work and requires a bunch of typing and pr...

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The Young Entrepreneur Program (Y.E.P), a program run by Evo Media, Sierra Nevada College, Northern Nevada University and US State Government, promotes the development of the entrepreneurial spirit in young South Africans. The program starts with Orientation classes in South Africa then takes the “YEPers” to the United States(USA) where they are paired up with local entrepreneurs for 5 weeks. After this experience YEPers are ready to turn training into reality. 

The first group Young Ent...

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There has been a flood of very clever advertising on the radio of late from the Mantelli’s biscuit factory based in Westlake, Cape Town. This has gotten my attention and so today we popped in to see what all the fuss is about.

They have a huge range of individually wrapped products ranging from Shortbread fingers to Almond and white chocolate crunchies. We stocked up for our coming workshops at EI and will now be able to invite participants to the tea break with confidence. I have not yet ...

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I was walking through Greenmarket Square in Cape Town this week and got to witness the local craft market selling tactics first hand. Each time I slowed to look at an item I was accosted by the store holder with a well thought out selling speech and deal makers. At first this was fun and I got to interact with the seller about their work and what they did, where they came from and their business. But then it was the same with all the engagements, selling turns to desperation and the negotiati...

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Just the thought for most of kissing your sister is enough to bring those scrunched up face looks of disapproval. Very similar looks and emotions come to business owners when we chat about marketing and having to write copy for the latest campaign.

The secret is, that just like kissing your sister, once you get into it and overcome the initial emotion of inertia, it becomes fun and interactive. The process needs to be set up with clear guidelines and defined outcomes. Build in some measurabl...

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 A huge part of being a successful entrepreneur is complementing a good business model with an excellent team. This team needs to be lead by a person who best fits the Entrepreneurial profile that will against all odds be able to weather the storm of small business and still be around in the future. This question of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur is one that we have toiled with for some time and have recently come a whole lot closer to answering with a sense of confidence.

We ...

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A lot of my time is spend setting up meetings and chats with people I have never met before. This always carries a certain amount of risk and anxiety for both parties. Here are a few things that I do to mitigate the issues. 

•  I set up the appointment by phone whenever possible so I can get a confirmed time with both diaries open at the same time.
• If the meeting has been set up more than a week in advance I confirm the meeting the day before via email or sms
• I try to meet at a venue that has tabl...

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•  It’s the stuff you leave out that matters.
• Focus on substance, not fashion.  Focus on what won't change. 
• When good enough gets the job done, go for it.
• When you make tiny decisions, you can't make big mistakes. 
• Pour yourself into your product.
• You rarely regret saying no but you often regret saying yes. 
• Better your customers grow out of your product, than never grow into them. 
• You can’t paint over a bad experience with good marketing.
• All companies have customers. Fortunate companies have au...

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What I love about the new web technology is that it is giving birth to some crazy ideas that people are implementing. I have written so much about the need to provide convenience to people through small business to capture a segment of the market. Robert Bernatzeder has done just this. 

His Direct Land Sale site first launched last month has had some new features added and is now fully operational. Their offering is simple. If you have a plot of land to sell and want to market it effectively, ...
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Remember the song “I’ve got a combined-harvester and I’ll give you the key” from the early 70’s. Was this the beginning of this movement or as all good things was it just copied from African tradition of bata and ubuntu. Anyway the rise of collaborative consumption and the joint venture for the greater good of the community can be seen as a major trend in small business.

A simple rule applies: Do I have something that I am not using right now that could be used by others who need ...

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SEO is allthe buzz at the moment with businesses paying huge monthly premiums to get their ranking up to the first page on search engines. It is an ongoing issue of keyword density, back links, meta tags and descriptions. A lot of effort goes into developing an online ranking.

But what about the reputation of a business? Known also as ORM or online reputation management, social media platforms allows us to monitor and manage any good or bad comments made about our business within minutes of...

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What are the top 10 signs that your online marketing has hit the wall? Here goes:

10. The only person to “friend” you on Facebook in the last 6 months is an inflatable kangaroo

9. You just spent R5,000 on printed marketing collaterals, only to discover your marketing agency’s proof reader is dyslexic and your URL has a typo

8. Severe writer’s block on your biz blog finds you drafting a post “Which are Cuter, Puppies or Dust Bunnies?”

7. So many people have “un-followed” yo...

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According to our Financial guru and Associate Clive Bydawell, 79% of South Africans are under constant financial pressure. Well to state the obvious, thanks Clive, but there is more that he has to say. Clive is offering a chance to get out and become one of the 21%.

No this is not just a get rich scam or MLM programme using Twitter and email to generate leads.

Clive has started an online financial literacy course that is delivered through online videos that will give you some insight, educa...

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Brilliant analogy of what we go through each day at the Entrepreneur Incubator
This from a series of cartoons at Agents of Digital
Thanks guys 
 
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I heard this quote in a movie on TV a few days ago and it lingered with me. I do not remember what programme it was or when but the comment was directed to a girl who had physical assets that she was encouraged to use to further her dancing career. She was dressed in a loose fitting grey and brown outfit that did nothing to show off her ‘sexy’.

How often we as business owners keep our best attributes under wraps at functions or networking events in order not to seem proud or boastful. We...

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I have been devastated in the past by the success of others with whom I have been associated with. When they then became successful, it created all sorts of ugly emotions deep within me. I know I am not alone, why, because there is even a book written on this very topic.

 

The success of others, being family, friends, spouse or arch enemy all bring out that green eyed monster that lurks just beneath the surface in all of us. Coping with this takes a lot of courage and positive self esteem. Ju...

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Here is some more business wisdom from the guys at 37 Signals

When you want something bad enough, you make the time. 

The perfect time to start something never arrives. 

Start a business, not a start-up. 

You need a commitment strategy, not an exit strategy.

Huge organizations talk instead of act, and meet instead of do. 

Build half a product, not a half-assed product.

Getting to greatness starts by cutting out stuff that’s merely good.

The real world isn’t a place, it's an e...

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It is not only a good flyhalf who need spot the gap to become successful, entrepreneurs have to do the same. It is actually easy to come up with creative ideas, most of us do this naturally and most often in our sleep. Finding the gap in the market to position this idea is the quality that separates the dreamers from the successful.

Gap identification and analysis is an art. The best way to spot a need or gap is to look for pain. Where people are experiencing pain or frustration there is nor...

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