August 13th 2009
No matter what business you’re in, or how effectively you run it, you’re sure to have some clients and customers who are slow at paying their bills—and some whose lack of speedy response will sorely test your patience and business acumen. Continue Reading »
May 7th 2009
How much of an investment will be required for the franchise? Is the ‘franchise fee’ merely a down payment? Are there hidden costs in the form of payments for equipment, leases, buildings, supplies, advertising, corporate overheads, royalties, renewal fees, or insurance? Continue Reading »
September 1st 2008
As you might expect, great managers take a welcomingly pragmatic view of our innate imperfection. They begin with an important distinction, a distinction between weaknesses and nontalents. A nontalent is a mental wasteland. It is a behavior that always seems to be a struggle. It is a thrill that is never felt. It is an insight recurrently missed. In isolation, nontalents are harmless. You might have a nontalent for remembering names, being empathetic, or thinking strategically. Who cares? You have many more nontalents than you do talents, but most of them are irrelevant. You should ignore them. Continue Reading »
August 23rd 2008
Just over 40 percent of households (42 percent) bought some kind of art in 2005, up significantly from the purchase incidence in 2003. With consumers turning their attention to the walls for decorating, they are responding to new availability of ready-to-hang art at retail outlets ranging from mass merchants and discounters to home specialty stores. No longer are consumers required to seek decorative art in out-of-the- way galleries and art dealers, or pay exorbitant prices to custom frame a print. Already-framed art, as well as the explosion of specialty framing boutiques that offer affordable and quick custom frames, have opened the art market to the masses. Continue Reading »
July 26th 2008
The human touch is going to come back into fashion. It will (yet again) become the differentiating factor between services. Computers can deliver lousy service pretty much on their own. The very best of humankind needs to be coaxed and coached out into the open. People need to be showcased and supported.
On the way to the virtual world some businesses have a lapse of memory — it’s a kind of ‘Honey, I forgot the people‘ approach. Others adopt an Animal Farm like ‘machine is good, people are bad’ approach. If they adopt the attitude of pigs they should expect to end up as bacon.
Every business should understand that at heart the internet is not a machine, it’s the interaction of millions of people. In the end someone still says ‘I have something for you to buy’ and someone still replies ‘I would like to buy it’. The technology simply represents one set of people trying to sell to another group of people. Continue Reading »
July 15th 2008
The majority of people who work from home, whether they be working for giant corporations or in one-man bands, work by themselves. On the one hand, that means they are extremely efficient — no interruptions, no joking during meetings, no office politicking around the coffee machine, or gossiping in the lunch break — but it also means that homeworkers can feel terribly alone and isolated.
`I found that working six hours a day at home was worth more than eight in the office,’ says Emma Dally, now Publishing Director for The National Magazine Company. ‘There are so few interruptions that you are able to work very intensively.’ Continue Reading »
June 4th 2008
Accounts receivable. The A/R ledger has to be reconciled with the sales journal and the cash receipts journal. If not, it /Ispossible to lose an invoice, have the customer never pay, and never realize it. It’s also a good idea to add up the totals of your numerical invoice file and compare the results with your sales journal.
Accounts payable. Make certain that your A/P ledger agrees with your purchase journal and your disbursement journal. If you don’t do this exercise, you could double-pay an invoice, or lose an invoice and not pay it. The next time you need product from the supplier you will be past due on the account. This may result in your having to pay the old bill (which you weren’t expecting) and pay for the next order COD because you lost your credit standing with this supplier. Continue Reading »
May 18th 2008
A separate, vital family question: Am I being a hero to my kids?
In 1998, MTN gave Mike a sponsorship to motivate matric students throughout South Africa. Mike went into schools and spent time with the students. He asked them what their biggest source of stress was. Guess what their response was? Their parents. Not exams, not the future, not the job market, their parents. Many of the kids told Mike that their fathers and mothers were suffering from extreme stress.
They said that their houses were places of tension and uncertainty. And this home strife was affecting their academic performance. Continue Reading »
May 18th 2008
How to exercise the Power of Choice: pause, evaluate, decide, act, be slow to anger, be quick to forgive
Many would-be entrepreneurs fail even though they have the ability, the resources and the passion. You know why? Because they dare where angels fear to tread. They fire before knowing where they’re even aiming. They become victims of their passion and temper. They allow their hearts to rule their heads.
Being a highly successful entrepreneur is a high-wire balancing act. On the one hand you have to be able to pause and coolly evaluate a situation. On the other hand, you must be decisive. On the one hand you must be passionate about what you’re doing. On the other hand, you can’t afford to take it too seriously. On the one hand, you must rarely lose your temper. On the other hand, you must always forgive. On the one hand, you must trust others. On the other, you must be extremely vigilant. Continue Reading »
May 18th 2008
How to use the Power of Conscious Thinkingto achieve the results you desire.
If there is one factor that sets man apart from other animals, it’s the ability to choose. Birds operate on a genetic code embedded deep within their brains. Mammals operate on instinct and conditioning. Only humans have the gift of conscience and consciousness. The problem, though, like all other gifts, is that we may have the gift but we don’t use it. And so the gift loses its power. In this session we will show you how to leverage the gift of Self-Awareness. We will demonstrate the Power of Choice and Conscious Thinking. And finally we will show you how to help others do the same. Continue Reading »
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