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» 30 June 2009
Hints and tips for SMEs and entrepreneurs
Conrad Steyn, Managing Director of Barnstone, a company which has a number of investments in entrepreneurial enterprises and offers a blend of advisory services, application support and specialised outsourcing, has the following advice for fellow entrepreneurs:
The art of not losing heart
Don't lose heart when obstacles come your way. Many entrepreneurs say “if I had known x or y before I started...” It is good that you don't know what is in store at the beginning, otherwise you would never have started the business in the first place! Obstacles are part of business and part of life—it is how you handle them that counts.
Build bridges
Be able to partner—don't try to do everything on your own. Build relationships with other organisations. It doesn't have to be a formal joint venture, but adopting a style of partnering creates more opportunities.
Manage the flow
Manage your cash flow and make sure your clients pay on time. Even though most large organisations say that their terms are 30 days, you can usually negotiate. This makes it much easier to manage your growth.
Let go
For the business to succeed, it is critical that you have the right person running it. Often this person is not the person with the idea. So if this is you, recognise it! Also, if you want to grow beyond 20 people, get a good management team in place. As an entrepreneur, there is a tendency to want to do everything yourself but at some stage you have to build capacity.
Get real
If you don't have clients and don't have sales you don't have a business! To be in business, the bottom line is that you have to sell, so if you don't have the ability to sell yourself or your business you're in the wrong game. For a small business, sales are critical otherwise you have nothing.
It's all about balance
Try to find the holy grail of balance between annuity income and once-off opportunities. Annuity safeguards your business in a changing landscape, and once-off opportunities can be quite lucrative so see if you can have a bit of both.
- Start me up:
http://www.startmeup.co.za/articles/helpful-hints-for-startups.html - Skills portal:
http://www.skillsportal.co.za/features/090701-entrepreneurs-hints-tips-business-company.htm - Fin24:
http://www.fin24.com/articles/default/display_article.aspx?ArticleId=1518-2386-2399_2553639 - BizAssist:
http://www.bizassist.co.za/news.asp?ref=2051&Cat=recs
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