We complete this short series as we look at the preferred quadrant of Conscious Competence. I know what I do well and I will keep doing it as much as possible. Wouldn’t it be great to hear this from your service providers each day as they arrive on time with the correct order and the correct quoted price? To deal with someone at the top of their game is a pleasure that is as rare as fresh vegetables at Shoprite.

John Maxwell says to ‘do what we do well and do nothing else’. Outsource ...

We continue with our Conscious cycle series as we look at the automatic quadrant we call Unconscious Competence.

The ability to do something without having to think is somewhat of a dream place to be. We breathe, pump blood around our bodies, drive, shower, shave and walk around in town with very little conscious effort. We rely on muscle memory and reflexes attune to the environment that will alert us if anything out of the ordinary happens. This is a fine place to be if we want to live our...

The proverbial ship that comes into our harbor bringing with it riches and wealth beyond our imagination is not as abstract as it may seem. One of our EI members Steve Horwood who owns and runs 7 Sea Geosciences is not waiting for his ship to come into harbor but has decided to make his own. Steve, the scientist with a creative mind, has designed a jack-up-barge system that will assist in undersea surveys and data collection off our coast. This barge, constructed in Cape Town, will be deploye...

Every Business needs someone to wear the hat of the manager. This hat is the hat of responsibility and procedure. Doing things right is the motto of the manager. He gets the right stuff done at the right time in the right way. Admin, finances, forms, legal and taxes are all done in the correct order. This is often a neglected area of a small business as most owners do not wear or even own a managers hat.

To get the business in a place of sustainable growth the manager needs to visit the busi...

This article in the news today” The legal framework necessary for the implementation of the new Companies Act would be ready on April 1, Zodwa Ntuli, the deputy director-general at the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), told the portfolio committee on trade and industry yesterday. She added that the minister had consulted widely on the matter and that the business community was fine-tuning their systems to bring them into line with the new legislation. Ntuli, who was providing the depa...

Today we look at Quadrant 2 in the Conscious cycle: Conscious Incompetence. Consider for a moment all the things about your business that you know you know nothing or little about. Quite a long list, isn't it? Now what to do about it? Well knowing what is on this list is the Conscious Incompetence part. At least you know what it is that you need to explore and learn more about in order to develop both self and business. This list is both a weakness and threat because if you do nothing it will...

This is the first in a 4 part series of the Conscious Quadrant. A little abstract and weird but read and enjoy, offers huge learning.

Dwelling in the place of unconscious Incompetence is what most people seem to do for a majority of their lives. This level of ignorance, deemed as bliss, does not achieve anything in the way of producing fruit of life. Not knowing what you do not know is for me the most frustrating thing. I have a mind like a sponge and a curiosity that will never see it satis...

We have being playing around with a few ideas and business models this week using various sources and information. This combined with my sleepless nights due to the post opp pain in my shoulder has resulted in a new concept to teach and build small businesses.

Looking at the journey from Unconscious Incompetence to Conscious Competence is one of exploration, self determination and evolution of both self and the business you run. Join us next week as we unpack this model in a series of daily...

From the people I get to see and consult with each month, most are Techies. People who have learnt a trade in the industry and have gotten to a point that they think they now know everything or enough about what they do to start their own business. Technicians make great business owners, because they know what they are talking about. Better a Technician who sucks at business than a businessman who bullsh#ts his way through the sales process.

All businesses need someone to wear the hat of th...

The world has changed and with it comes a huge change in marketing trends and the needs of our customers. We keep a close eye on marketing here at EI to keep up with the new thoughts and technology, and have been able to come up with some new, old and revamped ideas for marketing your brand this year. Here are some ideas to put on your next marketing discussion agenda. 

•  Marketing is getting in the face of your customers, big light displays, electronic billboards, whole buildings. We have a ...

Teegan Watson joins the office team today. Teegan comes from a varied admin and sales background with a recent job at Warwick. Teegan will be running the office doing all the stuff I never get around to doing or just am unable to do.

From today this office will be more efficient, better organized and cleaner. We will see and hear more from Teegan in the weeks to come so please be nice to her on the phone and answer her emails to make her feel welcome.

Great to have you aboard Teegan, trust...

Our first hat we discuss is that of the Entrepreneur. This for me is the easy place to begin because it is my natural hat. An entrepreneur in simple terms is a risk taker and opportunity seeker. We like to seek out new ideas and concepts and then make a plan to get them to market. This requires vision and energy. The Entrepreneur is one who sleeps with a notebook and pen, so he can awake at 02:45 to make notes for a new business concept. Entrepreneurs have huge imaginations and the word ‘im...

Ok, so you are sitting in your office and thinking, “Which of my keywords are better than the others, wouldn’t it be cool if they could compete in a boxing match and then I would know for sure”

Well no problem. Google Fight has the solution for you. Click here to go to this complete waste of time but fun website, enter in your competing keywords and click Make a Fight. The keywords battle it out for a few seconds and based on searched criteria on Google the winner is announced. Yipeee....

Most people will say that Africa is a third world continent and will stay as such for the foreseeable future. Well they would be wrong, in a recent article in The Economist various countries in Africa will soon be outperforming the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as the fastest growing economies in the world. Who would have guessed? 

According to the article in the last ten years, 6 of the worlds 10 fastest growing economies were in sub-Saharan Africa.  Read the full article here. Th...

Looking at creation and all that it contains, what would be the most significant species on our plant? Which organism would make up the largest percentage of all biomass? Biomass being the mass of all living matter in a given geographic region. If that region means the whole planet, then the mass of all living organisms must be quite substantial.

If I told you that the ant species accounted for a massive 15% of all biomass on our planet would you be shocked? Think of the mass of all the gam...

Every business owner and Entrepreneur has many different roles to play. Each one separate from the other, yet similar in many ways. Getting the balance right is an art, getting it wrong results in failure at work and at home. Over the next 9 weeks on Wednesdays, we will look at the various hats or roles that any Entrepreneur needs to wear. We will unpack all the pros and cons around each hat and assist you to become a better business owner, parent and spouse and Entrepreneur.

Be prepared to...

We set goals, forget about them, ignore them and then wonder why we never get anywhere in life or business. The facts are simple: if you want to get results from a goal then tell someone about them and ask them to hold you accountable for getting it done. Just the mere fact that you have shared this will boost your chances by up to 80% of a positive result. We hate to look bad in the eyes of others, so share your goals and dreams with other people who are close to you, like your spouse, mothe...