Today sees the anniversary of my business. Today 10 years ago I got the first CK1 documents stamped by the authorities in Pretoria marking my entry into the small business arena. With the odds of a 90% failure rate stacked against me and the economy going the way it has, it is a huge achievement to still be around and in positive score with the banks and SARS.

So happy birthday to me, lets plan and forge ahead towards the next 10 years. Many thanks to those who have played a role in building and maintaining my business and to those many clients, may this bring positive hope for your business.

Full press release here.

To help survive in these tough times as business owners need to keep our eyes fixed on the prize: The prize being staying in business. I see so many people wavering from the basics and loosing the plot to just wake up too late and find that they have run out of cash flow and energy before the end of the month.

To keep your eye on the business requires a daily checklist of simple yet critical activities:

1. Am I still doing what I need to do to fulfill my life purpose?
2. Is my business still doing what it needs to do to support my core purpose?
3. Is my organizational structure set up to support the business strategy?
4. Is my management structure set up to support my organizational strategy?
5. Is my staff structure set up to support my management strategy?
6. Is my marketing structure set up to support my staff strategy?
7. Is my systems structure set up to support my marketing strategy?

Seven simple checks to revisit on a regular basis to keep you and your business on the right track.

Pamela Slim wrote a book titled Escape from cubicle Nation that records the dreams and wishes of many Americans trapped in the corporate word living each day with a hope to one day escape from their cubicle and into the world of self employment.

Many South Africans find themselves in the same situation, going each day to a job they dislike, doing tasks that bring little or no joy and waiting for Friday and Payday just to get by. How sad is this, how depressing it must be to live your life for time away from your job.

Finding a way to break out and begin to live our lives fully as we were designed to be, using all our skills, talents and passions each day to add value to others could be your normal day at the office. It is for me and those we work with at the Entrepreneur Incubator.

A recent assessment of the utilization of my strengths revealed that on any given day I am operating in 98% of my strengths. That equates to only 2% of tasks I do are not energizing myself. This means that I am able to give more of myself and energy to my work and customers without having to waste personal resources on survival-mode or covering my back because I may mess up and be caught out.

Self-Employment is not all roses and money, we do have our bad days; but a bad day working for yourself is still better than a good day in a cubicle…

Our website has finally moved into a new domain location.

Please everybody welcome www.EI.co.za

Drop by for a visit, read a bit browse around and leave your name – good to have you visit. This is a small part in a huge marketing drive that peaks towards the end of August when we will have a stand at the small business week expo to display what we and our members do for a living and show of our unfair advantage in the small business market.

This months Succeed Magazine has a short article on myself and the  Entrepreneur Incubator on page 22.

Do yourself a favour and pick up this collectors edition to read and pass on to your friends and colleagues.

This is the beginning of a huge marketing push for the business over the next few months with several press releases, radio spots and articles planned, working up to the Small Business Week in August were we will be at the three day expo in Cape Town.

Our new web domain, business cards and flyers all go to print in a few weeks so keep close to see our progress.

Our newest client to join the Entrepreneur Incubator is Margaret Mortimer from Upholstery Works. Margaret comes from a family of Entrepreneurs and retailers each having run successful ventures in and around Cape Town.

Upholstery Works opened in 2003 as a home business and has moved to their main road shop and factory in Diep River, Cape Town. Margaret has developed her products and service based on relational focused service. Her face is well known in the industry and area. They offer new and upholstered furniture as well as a range of accessories. Looking for excellent quality fabric for your old or bespoke furniture then drop by Upholstery Works, 188 main road Diep River, or call 021 715 4924.

We look forward to having Margaret on the Entrepreneur Incubatorprogramme and developing her business to beyond her dreams in the coming months.

Almost 3 years ago I received a call from a women who was busy studding to be a coach and required a mentor/coach to assist her through the process. This is when Megan and I met.

One of our first tasks was to develop her 3 year goals and begin the journey. One of her top goals was to find the perfect man and get married. This together with completing her coaching course, resign from her current position and start her own business, move to live on the Atlantic seaboard and become financially independent.

Our journey continued for a year as I met with Megan each month and we began to reach her goals and tick them off one by one. Once Megan was qualified she joined our HEP team as a family coach and counselor. She has since started her own business, moved to live on the Atlantic seafront and on Saturday we attended her marriage to Clinton who in her words is the perfect man.

Well done Megan and congratulations of the final goal achievement and all within the specified 3 years. Just proof that coaching and accountability does work and you too could be get your life and business re-engineered and moving forward.

Yesterday HEP hosted the first Entrepreneur IncubatorWorkshop for all our members at Little Stream Conference Centre. The theme for the day was ‘Marketing for Small Business”

 It was awesome to see so many people bringing their goods and ideas to the table to share and network. The exponential amount of energy created by the collection of similar ideas is amazing. By the end of the day many new bonds, ideas, concepts and even a new business idea had been formed. All this together with a bunch of referrals for new business and clients.

 Our quarterly Incubator workshops are run for our members and address specific topics related to Entrepreneurship and Business Owners. Our next workshop in February will discuss the topic of “Me, the Business Owner” Looking forward to our next gathering of the collective minds.