Do Business Well

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 »

4 Comments »

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 »

5 Comments »

Poor Accounting Controls

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 »

1 Comment »

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 »

3 Comments »

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 »

5 Comments »

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 »

2 Comments »

BOOK VALUE

Each month or quarter you should be determining the company book value. This is the net worth figure on your financial statement. It’s the difference between your total assets and total liabilities using all the rules of accounting and taxation. As you’ll see, this has very little to do with the actual worth of your company.

LIQUIDATION VALUE

You would only rarely want to sell a successful business for less than liquidation value. You might do so to provide continued employment for loyal staffers, or some types of deals might include your continued employment or the receipt of certain royalties unrelated to the sale price. You arrive at the liquidation value by adjusting each asset to take into consideration its real value, as opposed to its book value. Next, you adjust liabilities to account for any amounts that aren’t going to be realized. Finally, there’s a cost of liquidation. Let’s look at all three for some examples: Continue Reading »

3 Comments »

The number one criteria for starting, buying or running a successful business is that you must truly love it. You must have an absolute passion for it.

So identify what business really turns you on. For Eric, it’s working with people and providing them with the advice that will help them become successful. For Mike, it’s getting people so excited that they motivate themselves to achieve their dreams. What does it for you? Do you have a hobby? Can you make money from your hobby?

In general, though, we would advise you to avoid areas in which you have little or no experience. They may seem exciting from the outside, but once you really become involved in them, you may find them barren. Continue Reading »

1 Comment »

Many inexperienced entrepreneurs expect too much from marketing in too short a time, e.g. they place one small advertisement in the paper or they distribute one leaflet and they expect immediate and significant increases in sales. When the results do not materialize, they lose faith. Remember, perseverance conquers all. The right marketing campaign is consistent communication directed in the right media at the right price to the right people at the right level over a sustained period of time.

From our experience, we have often found that entrepreneurs have not developed a marketing culture in the company because they don’t know how and don’t want to admit it. So here are six simple steps to follow when building an effective marketing plan:

Step 1: Establish your marketing budget

Continue Reading »

4 Comments »

After your business has opened, your accountant should:

• Set up a mechanism to record your daily business transactions e.g. sales, cash receipts, purchases and all expenses.
• Open a set of books (now recorded on your computer) e.g. cash book, journals, petty cash etc. This will most likely entail the purchase and installation of a software package suitable for the recording and presenting of your financial results.
• Arrange to present your accounts to you on at least a monthly basis. You should receive a package consisting of an income and expenditure statement, a cash flow statement and a balance sheet not more than 10 days after the end of the month.
• You should insist on receiving the following information on a daily basis

Continue Reading »

6 Comments »