Growing Up

GROWING UP

Anyone out there who lives with the combination of a teenager and owning their own business may relate to this article. Even if you don’t have the teenager hanging on, you have been there yourself so in some way you will be able to relate.

Looking back on the teenage years, we remember the moments of confusion, frustration, ‘knowing it all’ then the realization that there is one huge world out there and you are one small fish. 



Growing up - growing passion.



Let’s take the analogy and apply it to your small business. Having a business that is your own can in many ways be like having that difficult teenager. There are times when all is hunky dory and the cash flow is great the customers love you and the world is your oyster, then comes along that difficult transaction that you know you shouldn’t have got into, that deal that has the potential to sink you and then it’s not that rosy out there.  Well just like with many kids a good solid start in life goes a long way to weathering the storms of life especially when the parents are no longer there to guide and protect, and so with your business a solid grounding is vital to ensuring that your business weathers those tough times.  By having your books in order, the legal side of things in order, a healthy relationship with the tax man, and a good idea of the financial health of your business will enhance your chances of making it through those rough times.

Gail Emmerick, a Forensic Auditor, Business Consultant and developer of the acclaimed FIGG Excel Accounting Solutions products had just this in mind when she developed the products that are now available to anyone who would like to better manage and control their business.  She has a real understanding of the weak points and challenges that face small business owners, and has incorporated all the relevant tools necessary to ensure your business grows and strengthens.  To do this she has focused on empowerment through educating. Many of the tools come with full explanations of what should be posted into which account, what x,y  and z terms mean and why you need to do certain things in your business - quite remarkable when you think of it.

Like with the difficult teenager, it is great to have someone who you can talk to and have the tools available to manage that Teen challenge, and so as your business grows from the child phase to the teen phase and later the adult phase make sure that you give your business the grounding it needs to survive, and then make sure you use tools such as those developed by Gail Emmerick to turn your business into something that is strong and healthy.

Make contact with Gail and speak to her about how FIGG can help you.  Email info@figg.co.za

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Brendon Burmester is the owner of Inspire Small Business He can be contacted at info@inspiresmallbusiness.co.za

 

www.figg.co.za

THE GOOD TIMES AND THE BAD

I was inspired by an article that appeared in one of the local small business publications that talked about the challenges that we as entrepreneurs face especially during these more difficult economic times and of course that got me thinking..

BED OF ROSES

It’s certainly no bed of roses, in the days when you may have been employed think of all the decisions that the boss made without you having to even know about, now you are the boss.  And when people said that it takes tenacity and hard work with incredible focus to get to the top, did you ever really believe them?  But looking back I’m sure you can appreciate where you have got to and how far you still have to go, but hey, that is why we are here, we’re in it for the long run..

COMMUNICATE

…in it for the long run, growing up as part of the X Generation we certainly grasped the concept of instant gratification, that was what it was all about, get in the car at a time when petrol was so cheap and go where ever you wanted, TV had just hit the scene and in the 80’s many of the X generation were already being fed TV as a staple diet, then came Mnet, Video Machines and Fax Machines and some of us even had computers at school, we really got into the instant stuff, but one thing that we missed out on was learning to communicate effectively, of course a huge generalization but still quite accurate, and so the 30 somethings like myself grapple with that. 

All I can say is force yourself, acknowledge your weakness and push through, but realise that if you don’t improve that skill it will get you into stacks of trouble. Communicating clearly with Customers and Suppliers is a challenge, I often sit back and think about some of the mess ups I have made and I ask myself how much of this was as a result of poor communication and people hearing but not listening.  Do you hear or do you really listen?

FIND A MENTOR – SOMEONE YOU CAN TRUST AND SPILL YOUR BEANS TO (OH AND BE REAL)

We all need someone we can trust to spill the beans to, both on the personal and the business front, especially in small business the realms of personal and business collide more regularly than in an office/ corporate environment where the mighty board sit and spill their beans while the rest of the worker bees buzz away at their corporate stuff keeping work at work and personal at home.

 Running a small business means that in many cases you are the business and in my case we are the business, and I have a mentor that I can trust with my life, wow that’s few and far between but it hasn’t been an easy ride.  That trust thing - not that simple, saying it as it is - also not that simple, but if it wasn’t for my mentor and friend I think I’d be back buzzing away aimlessly as a worker bee in the hive of a corporate company probably wondering what the purpose of all this buzzing is.  So actively look for that mentor and learn to spew it out..

KEEP YOUR HEAD ABOVE WATER WHAT EVER IT TAKES

Do you want this, or has it got too tough?  Sticking to THE PROJECT your main business, your vision and your passion must be the most difficult aspect of running your own business.  When those big deals fall through and the pending break though results in bitter disappointment, you need to ask yourself ‘Is this what I really want?’ 

Really wanting this life of a small business owner, life of the small guy with big dreams slogging at it with no results getting yourself so bogged down that you forget to lift your head up, and see how much progress you have made and how close you actually are to the big break.  Well at the end of the day it’s like that walk in the Drakensberg where you see the destination ‘not far off’ while it is actually kilometers away, ‘they’ say 1000 days and ‘they’ are probably quite close to the truth, 1000 days of persistence and growing and learning and experiencing something that more and more South Africans are experiencing.  All I can say what a blast and what a ride … stick to it and work at it you will start to see the fruits of your labour..

Brendon Burmester

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