Success Leaves Tracks
Before David killed Goliath, he first killed a lion and a bear (refer to the relevant scripture) This is a story not most people care to pay attention to. When you translate this into the realities of business it simply means, one way for you to be successful in your business is to ensure that you apply trialed and tested principles that have worked for your previously, in your current business. This can also be interpreted as, it is easier to get into an industry you are knowledgable about or have worked in than starting a business in an industry you know nothing about. Simply put, don't decide to be a chef after having been a plumber your whole life and have never done much cooking but since you saw someone else doing well in being a chef now you want try it. Not every business is for everyone. You may see someone else make a success of themselves in a certain industry or in a certain business, but it does not guarantee you success.etc.
What is yours will be yours, do not spend time watching others that you miss on being you.
Side Hustles Graduate
Starting a business is often the hardest thing anyone can do. The uncertainty of whether or not the business will grow on thrive is enough to put the best into shame. Most people start a business with a timeline in mind of when they expect it to start generating revue and when they expect it to break even. More often than not it hardly ever happens that it reaches those projections and expectations. In a world where one has bills and responsibilities, the thought of going 6-18 months or more without a stable income is enough to make one give up on it all. The price to pay feels like it is too much to bare. However, this is the reality for most business owners. This makes a side hustle the most practical way to go. Give your baby idea a chance to find its feet. Test the market while keeping your 9 to 5 and test the market and see how you respond before you put your whole life in the hands of an infant.
Start a Business Without Capital Funding
I can imagine for most businesses this may not be applicable, but before you get your pitch fork, tyre and matches here me out. I will share my story and how the principles I applied can be adaptable for many different types of businesses and scenarios. Before 2019 I was managing a furniture shops with ambitions of eventually opening my own. After many attempts of approaching my then boss for assistance I quickly realised that no one was coming to help me. Anyway why would he when I had managed to set up his shop and run it successfully with giving him any strain and going as far as overseeing his factory and other shops. So I made a decision to go on my own, I started preparing a business plan, identifying potential shops and approaching potential investors. After 6 months of trying this I realised it was not going anywhere so I registered my company and started posting ads online under my company name while I continued to work at the shop as a store manager. Every sale I made I would just add it to the sales of the shop all with a plan of eventually picking up momentum. I kept collecting the contact details of all my online customers and even potential customers, if you enquired with me I would store your phone numbers. Then 2020 lockdowns happened, it was the scarriest time of my life, I could not imagine life continuing but I continued to post online. Before I knew it the ads I had posted started picking up traction and I had people contacting me daily. By April 2020 I remember asking a bakery truck if they could help me transport a headboard to Johannesburg, which never materialised but we made a plan to get it to the client. Since people could not move around they would just see the final product. I would pick up the products from my suppliers and just deliver, it was perfect. In custom orders I would ask for a small deposit and negotiate with my suppliers to release the goods before I could pay the full amount which they did not like at all at first but soon came to understand that the business was working. By June 2020 I had a full furniture shop at my mother's house as it was more presentable than mine and she did not mind. It became a furniture shop from home. This showed me that most of the limitations are in our own minds and possibilities and solutions are endless if we apply our minds.
