Most businesses do take time for success. Many people give up when there’s no immediate success and the “Business Ownership Honeymoon” ends after a few months. They’ve only heard about the “instant success” ones and weren’t prepared for the unexpected challenges and the price one needs to pay. If succeeding as an entrepreneur is really important to you and succeeding quicker than the norm, then never stop learning and acting on what it takes to reach the top of your game. Use these 10 principles to help you achieve quicker success.

Your values are an intrinsic part of your business’s mission, vision, goals, and values. Values have a major influence on a person's behaviour and attitude and serve as broad guidelines in all situations. In the context of business the mutually agreed upon values guide the behaviour of the staff, so that clients are able to judge the character of the business.

Due to the pressures of time on business, owners not enough attention is given to the composition of the business strategy and, in particular, to detailed business planning. Ensuring the continued existence of our businesses should be enough reason to make time in our diaries to create the strategy for our business and to review this continuously. If we are too busy with other responsibilities, no-one else in the business will take up the responsibility of figuring out the strategy.

Have you stopped to think that your business actually reflects your own character? As a SME owner, the tone and way you operate your business is determined by who you are as a person. Let us look at some of the factors that influence your effectiveness as a leader and, in doing so, unpack some of the key reasons why certain leaders fail.

As business owners we are often so busy working in the business that we fail to work on the business. We are chasing the next transaction, dealing with a dissatisfied client, negotiating terms with a provider, or having problems trying to balance the cash flow. Over the years I have learnt that one should put aside enough time to consider the business’ current results and where it is heading. Here are three elements to help you decide where your business is heading.

A mentor can be a valuable guide and sounding board when you are running a small business on your own. If you feel you need the services of a mentor, it's important to find one with a good reputation, the appropriate experience in your industry or problem area, and one you can trust and get along with. So, where do you start looking?

“It often happens that I wake at night and begin to think about a serious problem and decide I must tell the Pope about it. Then I wake up and remember that I am the Pope.” – Pope John Paul XXIII. Like people, your business also has different roles to fulfill. It is important to know exactly what those roles are, because someone (a person or a team) in your business must take responsibility for this specific aspect, otherwise it is not seen to.

Business and creativity aren’t generally thought to go hand-in-hand. The idea is that you have either creative head-in-the-cloud types or practical business types. But then there’s the entrepreneur, who both creates an innovative new offering, and uses business savvy to try get the market to catch it. The entrepreneur is more than a business person, but also a creative. The intrepid entrepreneur performs a balancing act between the brain’s left and right hemispheres. So how does the link between entrepreneurship and creativity work?

Warren Buffet once said that “In the business world, the rear-view mirror is always clearer than the windshield”. One’s natural inclination is not to put enough effort into keeping an updated list of events/results and outputs in respect of one’s business. We remember negative events more easily. Make a point of regularly identifying and writing down the “learning experiences” you can derive out of the successes and disappointments you have had in your business.

While the slight relaxation of lockdown conditions comes amidst “creeping despondency of operating in a market that shows no signs of returning to buoyant times”; it also presents an opportunity for entrepreneurs to build anew.

One of the characteristics of entrepreneurs is the ability to adapt to, or even counter, seasonal fluctuations in their businesses or industries – that means maintaining profitability during slowdowns. The inherent seasonality of many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across many sectors is perfectly illustrated by the way accommodation establishments take turns at ‘feast’ and ‘famine’ across the globe. Here are some tips for SME owners on how to ride the roller coaster of seasonal fluctuations.

Here is some good news for business owners who are more comfortable with machines and production processes than with people: successful networking with people is every bit as systematic as networking with computers. All that is required to network successfully with potential clients, suppliers and business associates, is a strategy, some dedication, order and maintenance. Here are some general principles on how to master networking, as well as some tips on what to do when you are at a networking event.

Perform a simple exercise every month that will help you make the best of your business. The 5 Step Plan involves 5 easy and simple steps that you must commit yourself to execute every month, to improve your business. You don’t need a consultant or a business analyst to do this for you – nobody can do it better than yourself – nobody knows your business better than yourself! Call it your monthly strategic planning session. Here's how to get started.

Short, daily, morning meetings can improve the efficiency and profitability of businesses. These meetings are solely intended to improve management and performance levels in business. It should be implemented by managers as their daily, early, morning meetings with their staff. Here are some tips on how to introduce and maintain a routine of short, daily meetings to improve your business's efficiency.

Goal-setting is crucial to the success of any business, but is particularly important for entrepreneurs who can become distracted without focus. Goals direct actions, give you something to aim for, and can serve as a yardstick for measuring your business' success. The way you approach goal-setting will determine whether you are able to attain your goals. That said, if you tend to avoid goal-setting, these tips should help.

For many business owners the statement “My business is my biggest asset” would be true. It would therefore make a lot of sense to spend some time on methods a business owner can use to protect their business. For example, in most businesses there are people we call "key persons", whose absence would have an adverse effect on the profitability of the business. It therefore makes sense for the business to insure said key person’s life against death and disability. Read on to find out more about how to protect your business.

Before you dismiss the idea of project management as something that only big companies do, think again. Whether you want to standardise certain internal systems in order to function more efficiently or there is a special project that needs to be carried out, using a systematic approach can help you achieve your goals without losing precious time, costing more money than is necessary or using the wrong people to do the job.

The only certainty about the unprecedented Covid-19 crisis is that the world will be quite different once the pandemic and the different levels of lockdown pass - and that includes your town, your community, your industry and your business, says Jeremy Lang, regional general manager of Business Partners Limited.

With the ever-growing world of online communication, at some point or another you may decide to establish a presence on the Internet. It is however, important to first make the distinction between the Internet and the World Wide Web and whether or not having a presence in cyberspace will benefit your business. Not many people realise that there is a difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web. This article explores this difference.

Challenges such as strikes, load shedding and e-tolls reinforce the statement that starting and running a business in South Africa is not for the fainthearted, or – from another point of view – not for the unprepared. The difference in opinion reveals the other side of the risk coin, namely opportunity. For the entrepreneur who is prepared for the intense risks of the local industry, South Africa is teeming with business opportunities to gain market share and fill unoccupied niches. Here are some macro- and micro-economic risks for you to be aware of.