4 simple things that you need to do to everyday to become a better entrepreneur
When your business becomes successful, it does not mean that it is time for you to sit back and relax. Successful entrepreneurship is a constant work. You do not stop working on it. It requires consistent effort.
You have to work on your business on a daily basis to become the best version of yourself, no matter how successful your business is. Success in entrepreneurship is not an end destination.
So, here are four things you can do every day to become a better entrepreneur:
Start your day positively.
Feed your mind with positive thoughts from the minute you wake up. Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them.
Plan the night before, everyday.
Put down 1 to 3 most important things to get done on your to do list and complete them.
Ask yourself how you can make today better than yesterday.
Find time to come up with ideas on what you can do today that can make it better than yesterday.
Be clear about your intentions.
Whatever that you intend to do today, stick to it and complete it. Do not let anything distract you. One of the best ways to ruin a productive day is to give into distractions. Becoming a better entrepreneur starts with planning and sticking to that plan.
March – The Financial month
The marketing month – February is almost over, we are now entering into a new month – March the financial month. For many companies March means the beginning of the financial year. In preparation for setting your budget and financial goals, we are allocating this whole month to you. We would like to help you with all your financial matters.
Before we go any further, allow us to share exciting news with you. We have grown so much as a company in the past few months. We are now a big company with THREE core offerings that we take to the market. Entrepreneur Incubator & Academy has merged with Michelle Davidson Business Solutions to form one big company. We are now Entrepreneur and Management Solutions (EMS). This is such an exciting time for us. We specialize in this three key areas:
- Accounting Services
- Couching Programmes
- Marketing Solutions
To find out more about the services we provide and about our new company, please visit www.em-solutions.co.za.
Life Series Podcast Presents Bruce Wade
This week on the Life Series podcast, SPICE4LIFE interviewed Bruce Wade, CEO of Entrepreneur and Management Solutions, about his views on youth development and his various career changes over the course of his life.
An eloquent, opinionated man, Wade has worked as a navy officer, computer operator, project manager, programmer, process reengineer, trainer, author, and coach. In his free time, he strives to improve himself and expand his knowledge by reading whatever he feels will help him in his work and taking up to several courses at a time. He doesn’t write exams– he doesn’t need the certifications, he says, just the knowledge. He has his life’s motto – “Get it Done” – tattooed on his body.
Wade was born in Chingola in the southwest of Zambia and attended Bryanston High School outside of Johannesburg before embarking on his first adventure – joining the South African Merchant Navy.
“When you’re young you have no cooking clue what you want to do,” he said. “You have no idea what life is about. I joined the merchant navy to sail to exotic places and meet exotic people.”
There, he gained skills including training as a fire fighter, a ship’s doctor, and navigating by the stars.
Eventually, Wade realised that he wanted to more with his life and took an Information Technology aptitude test while on leave. In the mid-80s, the IT field was just beginning to emerge, and Wade scored 100 on the aptitude test.
“The guy just said to me, ‘Whatever you’re doing now, stop, you’ve got to get into IT,’” Wade said. “Because my scores were off the charts. My brain was wired for IT.”
After years in IT, Wade began to apply his analytical and organisational skills to managing companies. He is currently Chief Entrepreneur Officer (and, as he puts it, Chief Buttkicker) of Entrepreneur and Management Solutions. The company offers accounting services, coaching programmes, and marketing solutions to help entrepreneurs and businesses achieve sustainable growth.
Basically, he said, his business is about “bringing new ideas into organisations and changing the organisation to be more sustainable, cutting out the waste,
Wade is currently working on a new method of marketing that focuses on a narrative, story-telling approach. He hopes that by using classic story-telling techniques – the hero, the villain, “once upon a time” – he can encourage the audience to connect with an ad.
Entrepreneur and Management Solutions is also currently working on an initiative in Sudan, helping refugees learn entrepreneurial skills to help them establish a life in their new country.
Wade defines success by “sleeping well at night”, puts his faith in God and his own practiced perseverance to get him through tough times, and believes in working hard to get where you want to be.
“Every day’s a constant fight,” he said. “The wonderful analogy is that if you go back to the 80s and 90s, it was like rowing a boat on flat water, where today working is like rowing a little kayak uphill in a waterfall with white water.”
Listen to Bruce Wade’s Life Series interview here.
The 10 Myths of entrepreneurship
1. Successful entrepreneurs are male drop outs and secret geniuses.
No. The potential of successful entrepreneurship is in each of us. The entrepreneurial idea begins with unique means that a person already has.
2. It’s not the goals we focus on in the beginning but the means, by acting without a single fixed goal.
Wrong! You need to have a goal of where you want to see your business.
3. It takes a lot of money to finance a new business.
Not really, you can start your business with your available means.
4. People will still your ideas if you talk about them. Keep them a secret.
You have to talk about your ventures and goals to extend your means and portfolio of goal.
5. Entrepreneurship is a win – lose situation, where you decide who gets the largest piece of cake.
In entrepreneurship the cake is not even yet baked. Those who want to join bring their means and ideas to bake the cake together.
6. It’s not a win – win situation either.
In business you build the future together, without competing.
7. You just have to go with the flow.
Wrong! you need a business plan. How else are you going to know where you are going if you do not have a plan?
8. You need to follow a learnable routine and formulas to become a successful entrepreneur.
Wrong. Everyone of us have a unique start of means that can be applied by anyone to become successful in business.
9. Entrepreneurship is rooted in the genes.
No. Entrepreneurs are made, not born!
10. Entrepreneurs can predict the future.
The only thing entrepreneurs do with future is build it, not predict it. They are definitely not prophets.
Marketing VS Advertising
So, what is the difference between Marketing and Advertising?
Most of us do not know the difference between marketing and advertising. It seems like it’s two terms used to describe the same thing. The difference can be confusing, indeed. While these two concepts are vital in your business and work interchangeably, they are not the same and their roles are different.
Let’s first look at the definition of these two terms:
Marketing – It is a systematic planning, implementation and control of business activities intended to bring together the seller and the buyer for the mutual exchange or transfer of products.
Advertising – It is a paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor. It is essentially spreading the word about what your company has to offer.
Now, how do we market?
When you market your product or services, you need to have studied your target audience. You need to know what their needs and wants are.
Marketing is based on thinking about the business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction. It is about meeting the needs and wants of customers.
It is is a business-wide function – not something that operates alone from other business activities. It is about understanding customers and finding ways to provide products or services which customers demand.
And, how do we advertise?
Advertising is a communication of your brand to your target audience. It essentially includes the placement of an advertisement in the media. Print, television, radio and the internet are all venues that can communicate your brand to potential buyers. It requires budget because putting an advertisement in the media need to be paid for.
These two concepts are slices of a bigger pie in your business. They work together towards the bigger goal.