Rural Business

Beating Time. 2 Timothy 4:2. "Be prepared in and out of season." Business is not always on the highs and sometimes we relax because of the state of the economy or seasons. Recently I got a call from a client on Friday that she wants a product for Sunday morning  As on Fridays we have to make rounds and check the progress of the week, I scheduled to make it on Saturday.  Come Saturday morning the client was at my door step saying she is here to take the product she ordered. I'm like to her, "No you said you wanted the product  Sunday morning". The client was saying no I want it now for 10:00, and that time it's 08:50. Now it is in this moment that we see what you are really made of and how capable you are  of working under pressure. There I was assembling  and making what the client ordered in less than an hour. It is then very important to be able to bear fruit even in dry, unplanned, short noticed and busy seasons. In finance we learned...

Failure! As humans we are scared to get out of our comfort zone and try new things because we are afraid of failure.  But we need to understand that the fear of failure paralizes us and robs of us true liberation. The magnitude of success is based on how many times one fails at something. We are afraid of taking risks in our busiensses, because we fear that we will not see it's fruits. These multi-million rand's  businesses are what they are because they have failed more than we can imagine and have lost and suffered a hundred times. And yes the education system is the one to blame because when one fails they are considered stupid.  Business requires long and dull hours of hard work where even it's success is not promised. I always say that success in not guaranteed but failure is inevitable. Let's rid ourselves of trying to avoid failure and embrace our flaws and learn and move forward. Develop that mind

Can we about the people who are supposed to support us and help us grow in business? I have seen about 80% of businesses fail because there was no money to buy stock or materials.Why? Because the business did not make any money to do that.  There has been a business in my Kasi selling cooked food. During the day relatives would come and dish themselves shocking amounts of Food saying they are just tasting.  The business didn't even run for three months and was shut down. We even have friends who want credit. I mean guys this is pure disrespect.  There are a lot of similar scenarios I can talk about but I am sure you get the picture. Why do we do that as black people? We are not helping or building anything, in fact we are tearing the foundation. I think we need discipline to call these people to order. Let's stop with tendencies that keep us stagnent and poor. Develop that mind.

Values in business In every one of us there are things that drives us and influence our decision making.In business too, we have such. This then lays a foundation on how we operate and see the world of business.  What I am referring to here is values.  Now values are what guides us in every step we take. In  business we need to have values that are very productive, have  a positive impact and not selfish. We have to be driven by empowerment, kindness, life, health,innovation, creativity and respect. This helps in a sense that how we make money  should cater  for these  values. For instance one would not sell drugs if you value the lives and the health  of others. I have seen people in business being greedy and making money in anyway possible but neglecting the fact that they are killing people. People must check their value system and re-evaluate their lives. What is the use of gaining the whole  world and...

Selling doesn't mean you are poor. Why do South Africans disregard people who are in business or who sell things? We have people who are not South African that are selling things and are doing pretty well for themselves then you find poor South Africans looking for employment? We need to deal with such a mentality that when you are selling you are the poorest of them all. Entrepreneurship should be taught in communities and we shouldn't wait for the government to come to our rescue. People we need to be moving in a different direction and shift our focus. Young people should not go to school so that they can get a job and security but to build a multi-million company.  We need to be investing in our future by inventing and innovating constantly. #Develop that Mind

Technology advances How is your business taking advance of the Mobile phones, the internet, apps, online and self- help services.? How much do you know about this wireless technology? In this regard we need be reading alot of tech news. Gone are those days where we have to come to your store to know or buy your products. People want to look it up on their phones, place an order and get it on their door steps. How are you in the rural areas taking advantage of this change and making more money? Technology is making things convenient and better. Political action New laws create new business ideas. But do you know of these changes. The instability of our politicians can be a great business opportunity, you just have to learn and think how you can tackle this issue

 How does one take advantage of opportunities in the rural areas.? We come across four trends we can observe to spot opportunities. Economic trends,social trends, technological advances and political actions and regulation changes.  let's look at the first one. Economic trends. Here we look at the state of the economy and how people behave whenever there is a change, people  tend to spend more on luxury goods when the  economy is strong . When the economy is weak people are hesitant to even spend their money and are terrified of losing their jobs. What does this mean for you in the rural areas? Firstly we need to understand the level of impact of the economic change. Are you really affected by these changes or you never even notice? Do you see a change in your customer's buying pattern with respond to the economy. Most businsses in the rural areas  are not even aware or they might be but fail to analyse and take action. Now...