Every year people make New Year’s resolutions. They tell their friends and family, feel good about them for a few days, but before they know it they find themselves backsliding.

As a self-regulating system, we have a built-in push towards equilibrium called homeostasis. 

If you have developed a bad habit, homeostasis will resist your efforts to break that habit. The bigger a change is...

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Fear of failure, fear of friends and fear of success are common in our excuses to perform. We duck and dive and delay the inevitable day when we have to step out into the spotlight and announce to the world that we are either a success or just an average person who will never amount to anything.

The opposite of fear is confidence. This comes from a number of habits that we instill in our business leaders. Some of these are easy to define and practice. Issues such as the removal of clutter fr...

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Imagine that you run an illegal business and drive an unroadworthy car and employ illegal staff. Now imagine how much energy you need to consume each day to make sure you are not caught or found out. In fact this is the normal status quo of most small business owners in South Africa. How do you feel when a police car drives up behind you, or you get a call from the SARS or Labour offices. What is your initial emotion? Fear, hesitancy or panic?

How much of your business dealings are not up t...

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It was not that long ago when I still believed, like so many men that if things had to be done right, it was up to me and me alone to get it done. No one else could possibly know what I needed done and it was too much hassle to try explaining it to them. And even if I could, they would stuff it up; so alone I travelled, doing everything myself. Guess what, it all came tumbling down around me.

As entrepreneurs we cannot afford to work alone. It is only through the power of collaboration and ...

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This last weekend we hosted the winning team from SA Teen Entrepreneur at a workshop. During this time we ran through some of the basic attributes required to become a successful entrepreneur.

Once again the age old enemy of self-doubt and lack of confidence was named as the number one enemy of a successful future.

So many times we have seen businesses and ideas come to a grinding halt because the brain behind the idea froze in fear when asked to present to the world.

So what can be done t...

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A while ago I hired a Writing Mentor to help me with the process of getting my book together and hopefully published one day. I met with him over a few weeks and proudly presented him with a copy of my work in progress. This had included almost 6 months of work and many hours of thought and slog at the keyboard. 

He returned my work during our scheduled meeting and I awaited his praise. The manuscript had almost doubled in weight due to his addition of ink scribbles and corrections. This I c...

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The old saying of “Where there is a will there is a way’ rings too true in small business. We are often faced with obstacles that seem impossible to overcome but through a determined will and dedicated persistence we have the ability to persevere.

The opposite is often used “Where there is a way there is a will”. This is often used by our clients, who ask to be shown a way to do things and then they will conjure up the enthusiasm to get the job done. This is unfortunately never true...

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Colin Hall, one of my mentors and a man who has journeyed many a road, has begun work on his second book. In true Colin style, he is doing it differently to what anyone else would do. He is writing it in a series of letters and publishing them online for us to read chapter by chapter.

Titled: Fully alive: Letters of encouragement for those who, like us, seek to master our personal energy and live fully …. day after day! You may think that this book sounds like some new self help book you m...

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It was my birthday on Sunday and I got an email from myself. Not just any email, but one that I wrote a while ago to myself. FutureMe.org is an application that allows you to compose and send emails to an address with a future delivery date.

The email I got asked me 5 key questions that I should have addressed in my life this year. It pointed out the areas that I needed to focus on and complete certain tasks. It came as a bit of a shock and with some serious conviction. Yes, I had done some ...

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This design is doing the rounds on shirts and posters. We have the right to stand up against big corporations wanting to drill into our country and extract our oil for their own gain. Very little has been shown that will actually benefit the land owners and citizens of the Karoo from this project, except 15 years of drilling and raping the environment.
 

 I have stopped buying fuel from Shell. I think if we collectively stood together we will see the power of the people. Egypt did it, why can't...
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Any business owner who has children will know the challenges that arise. To be honest, working from my home office, even though it is separate it still presents huge issues when the kids are home and want to play with Dad. As a parent business owner you are faced with two decisions: Do you want your kids to inherit your business? Do you want your kids to learn about business from you? Each ‘Yes’ answer will require a huge amount of time investment in exposing them to the various aspects o...

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When I wear my husband hat and then work in my business, I have a huge responsibility to my wife. Having the Spouse hat requires us to communicate openly to our other halves as if they actually are our other half. We like to go out on dates and just chat about the business and all the challenges and opportunities. I cannot expect my wife to understand all the technical stuff I talk about but she does appreciate the communication and openness. I always tell her about any new client we get and ...

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Oh, to be single and have no responsibilities or time barriers. Just think about how much work we could get done without the nagging of family commitments. Sound familiar? Well, let me share with you a secret. If you are single and have not yet started a family, you yearn for the day, and those, like myself, with a house full of noise yearn for the old days. Not always but there are times that a quiet home with no noise or agenda sounds appealing.

But as a business owner with a family you n...

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First let me explain what the difference is between an Executive Director and a Non Executive Director is and what their hat looks like. Any board of an organisation is made up of paid staff and outside consultants. The Executive Director heads the organisation; they have day-to-day responsibility over the processes and procedures of the business and draw a salary for this.

A Non-Executive Director sits on the board and is a non-salary person but has responsibilities that include Strategy, ...

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I reside on a management board of a Non Profit Organisation as Chairman. It was an interesting journey finding my place as Chairman of a board of an organisation that I do not work in on a daily basis. What is the role of a chairman? What do the other board members and the staff expect of me? And how do I get along with the CEO?

The Chairman’s hat is a large and often heavy one to wear. It is woven with responsibility and procedure and can often bring about long discussions and uncomforta...

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Think for a moment how you would act or react if you had equity in another business? What sort of input would you like to have in the way the money is spent on R&D and marketing or wasted on yet another batch of pink T-Shirts for the next convention. Now consider your own business, I assume you have equity in this? Why then do we ignore the way we often waste our resource just because we have the authority to do so. The Share Holder’s hat needs to be worn all the time to assist in the distr...

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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 ...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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As a business owner and Entrepreneur we are often faced with failure that comes in many forms. It could be a lost account, a failed test of a product or yet another rejection for funding. For me, I take failure very personally, it cuts me deep and will often take time to heal, but heal it must and we need to get back on that dam horse and keep riding.

A few other issues that get to me are when people do not do as they say and fail to keep appointments, do not show up for workshops they book ...

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Today we run our Conflict and Communication workshop and thought it may be good to share some of the wisdom we have on offer. We chat about the two ways in which we accept appreciation and also resolve conflict. These can be boiled down to our 5 Love languages and our 5 Apology Languages.

From the list below choose what top 3 ways you naturally like to receive appreciation and love from someone else.

1.  Quality Time
2. Words Of Affirmation
   
3. Gifts
   
4. Acts Of Service
   
5. Physical Touch
   

Now chose the top 3 wa...

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Every business every day will be faced with a situation where the values of the organization will be tested. A shady deal, discounts, cash payments to avoid VAT, backhands, employments and awarding contract all amounts to having to measure yourself against what you say in your mission and values statements. But who holds us accountable; who if anyone, will keep an eye out for what we do? Some I have chatted to hold to the position that you are only guilty if you get caught and others only if ...

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Life is running a one hectic pace. We are often just trying to keep up and run like hell in any direction we can in order to not miss out on anything.

We all learnt at school that when we are on fire to STOP, DROP and ROLL. The same applies to us when we are busy to the hilt: STOP, PAUSE and PLAN.

Just a simple lesson in life today, give it a go and see the difference it will make. Have an awesome day. 

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When it comes to business and personal values, it is often Integrity that is selected by most people on their list of top 5. But if we look at what integrity is all about we find that it cannot be a value on its own, it is the core of all your values. It describes how you address your other values and how fast you recover from them once they have been violated, this is your integrity.

Both myself and the business have signed up for the Unashamedly Ethical pledge on their website. They offer ...

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This week my daughter turned 4. She has now come of age as a child and begun to master her world. She has friends, play dates and a network to solve problems she faces each day. Her short term future is clear and apart from a small chest infection she is really happy with life. Her brain is in the process of making new discoveries and connections each day and according to research she has already learnt half the things she will learn in her entire life.

Me, well I am in the 40 plus age group...

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The path between both Human Capital and Talent to Success always needs to pit stop at Plans and Goals. There is no accidental success that I have witnessed. Success needs to be planned for. Simple setting of goals for a desired outcome it critical for the project. Begin with the end in mind, plan backwards, play it forward and you are on your way to success.

But Life also happens, we will get sick, machines will break down, staff will leave, banks will recall their loans; all these will crea...

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This week Yola was a victim of a Denial of Service or DoS attack on their servers. This resulted in their entire service and all their client’s website coming offline, including our site. This, I can imagine brought frustration, anger, denial and then acceptance cycle of emotions for Vinny Lingham and his team. The normal response to these from leader of industry is to first deny that anything is wrong and then to cross blame anyone and everyone for the problem. This can go on for ages unti...

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Back in the days when we wrote Cobol code on the big IBM mainframes, sitting in Cubicle nation, we had a saying that rung true every day. The Sooner you start coding the sooner you will have to start again. This was told to us again and again by our project manager. It proved to be true then and still hold today. Too many people jump right in and do the ‘work’ of a task before they have stopped to think or plan.

Another useful saying “Failing to plan is planning to fail” once again w...

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At first this may seem a weird topic for a Monday morning but actually are three critical activities that every business owner and entrepreneur needs to take into account each week. 

Working ON your business requires working on the strategy, developing new markets, more products, brand footprint, reputation management, building expansion and foundation networks. Each of these tasks are critical and should be scheduled into every weekly programme. 

Working IN your business is what the techni...

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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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It was a few years ago when I started seeing the influence that sport had on my mood and relationships that I made a conscious decision to watch sport without allowing the result of something I have no influence over have a negative impact on my emotions. This realization not only moved me into the adult section of the EQ class but also allowed me the freedom to watch and enjoy sport for the pleasure of entertainment and appreciation of the skills on display. Sure it is always good to have y...

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Who moved my Cheese? Change Management. Facilitating Change. All good books and great advice on how to change people, structures and companies. All this information and yet when real change happens it seems to defy all logic and written theories.

Even as I sit here just a few hours away from the start of the largest sporting event ever to be held in Africa, change has reached a tipping point of no return. Africans have united in a way never seen before. The constant noise of hooting, vuvuze...

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