Business measurement is not a tool to beat yourself over the head with, but should be seen as your business’ compass to ensure that you are on track to achieving your vision, mission and goals. Measuring your progress is the quality control function for your execution process, and covers every aspect of the business. Your “business plan” comprises a marketing plan, an operational plan and a financial plan. Each of these will have specific activities to measure. MARKETING PLAN

The word “execution” might conjure up visions of death for some, but sound business execution actually means to give significant life and growth to your business through appropriate actions. So what is the right way to go about it? Your business plan indicates and describes what and how you hope to do business, but you have to implement these plans. Appropriate actions are those that give life to your plan, and build your brand at the same time. What are these appropriate ac

So you have dreamed of opening your own chemical kit manufacturing business, your own coffee shop, ice-cream shop, or bakery? Your next step is to start putting your dream on paper. When you describe your dream in words, you start to bring the possibility into a reality. This process is called planning, and most would call it “the writing” of a business plan. The Springboard Academy’s Terence Knott-Craig prefers to call this the road map to success; the planning of your busin

Have you dreamt of opening your own coffee shop, Chemical kit manufacturer, ice-cream shop, a bakery, cell phone shop, fresh fruit and vegetable vendor store or leather work business? Your next step is to start putting your dream on paper. When you describe your dream in words, you start to bring the possibility into a reality. This process is called planning, and most would call it “the writing” of a business plan. The Springboard Academy’s Terence Knott-Craig prefers to cal

Have you dreamed of opening your own cell-phone shop, tattoo parlour, ice-cream shop bakery, spaza shop or leather work business? Most successful entrepreneurs started their businesses with a “dream”; not by accident or default. Entrepreneurship is hard work but it is also great fun! It is tough to take that first leap of faith and get started, but just think, what if you succeed? Individual entrepreneurs dream, and when others “buy in” to that dream, teams are formed who dri

Entrepreneurship is hard work! So often these days, we expect things to “just happen”. What do we mean by this? Well, the government, our teachers and parents tell us to study hard in order to get a good job and make a lot of money one day. In the same way, we might think that if we start a new business, we are entitled to clients who will buy what we flog, and, in turn, we will make a lot of money. The reality is different, and sadly we are seldom taught the realities of lif

Co-founder of Nkazimulo Applied Sciences and creator of the ChemStart science kit, Bathabile Mpofu says her purpose in life is to help young people become the scientists they want to be. ChemStart is a fun and practical learning aid for high school science pupils and includes 52 chemistry experiments – one for each week of the year. It is designed specifically to help learners enhance their understanding of the high school Science syllabus. A little over three years ago, Bath

There are so many different takes on what an entrepreneur is and what exactly they look like. Some would suggest that a newspaper vendor is an entrepreneur, while others say that only the Richard Bransons, Elon Musks and Johan Ruperts of the world fit the bill. Each of these perspectives is correct in some way. People like Richard Branson were entrepreneurs when they started their first ventures, and have since become “serial” entrepreneurs with huge success. But it is not on

When you pop in to a Micoffee shop in Port Elizabeth, and owner Mike Chizeya happens to be around, you are in for a real treat. Mike makes time for every single customer. And, if you make a return trip - after tasting the coffee, you will most likely be back for more – he’ll probably remember exactly what you ordered. The 39-year-old opened his first pilot kiosk in Walmer in 2015, but has gone on to establish another permanent shop in Newton Park, which his wife and greatest

“Entrepreneurship is a career, not a plan B.” This is what Terence Knott-Craig, founder of The Springboard Academy, believes. He also believes that young people are the future for growth and economic well-being in South Africa. “Helping young people discover their purpose and encouraging them into entrepreneurial thinking is the only lasting solution to the issues of poverty, inequality and unemployment,” he says. If there is someone who knows about small business developmen

Knowing the pros and cons of the different types of trading and legal entities is important in making the right choice before registering your business. What types of trading entities are out there? · Sole trader If you trade under your own name, using a “trading as” business name, you are a sole trader. A sole proprietorship (Trader) is a business owned and operated by an individual, and is the simplest form of business entity. Example: Brian Jones T/A “BJ’s Coffee Shop”.

Don’t be a statistic. Don’t become one of the estimated 80% of small businesses that fail due to a lack of sufficient working capital. There are many businesses you can start with very little funding or working capital. It makes sense to use what you already have to start your business, and self-fund your business’ growth through operations. Unfortunately, one of the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs is finding the funds necessary to launch their small businesses. How much

The budgeting process can be so confusing when you are told to do it before your business is even off the ground. But let’s look at some of the reasons budgeting is such an important and necessary step: A budget is a financial map of all your business’ planned activities, and includes the costs of machinery; equipment; marketing vehicles; cash and, most importantly, people’s services. Budgets should be compiled at the beginning of your business venture, and should be regularl

Business success is a result of a number of things, including good information and the sensible application of this information. In The Springboard Academy’s previous posts, we looked at the different tools we use to gather and compile good information for a business. Now, we need to look at what this information can tell us. Note that the same information can produce different statistics, depending on the point of departure and the intended use. Make sure that you take note

Financial statements need not create anxiety and fear. Not everyone is an accountant or financial expert, but you, as the business owner, need to have enough understanding of the numbers to make sound financial decisions. What are financial statements? Financial statements are a representation of the health of your business at any point in time. Some of these statements forecast what you can expect to happen in the future. Information from financial statements empowers you to

If Working Capital is the life-blood of a business, then the Assets and Liabilities are the working parts. The machinery and equipment needed to operate your business, and the ways of funding that equipment, are called the assets and liabilities of the company. Not all businesses use the same equipment, but whatever they do use falls into one of the two categories above. Assets A newspaper printing company may use a printing press that takes up a whole factory, while a small

Liquidity, and not profitability, is one of the main reasons start-up businesses fail. Liquidity is a measure of your business’ ability to cover its immediate and short-term obligations. While previous blog posts have dealt with profit, income, cost of sales, variable expenses and overheads, it is just as important to give proper attention to your cash flow. Cash flow is the money moving in and out of your business. If more money is moving in than out, your business is experi

In our post, Profit: for purpose and pocket, we discussed how our expenses tend to rise to meet our incomes. In business, that means no profit. You can avoid this by getting all your ducks in a row with proper planning and budgeting. The last element of the profit-and-loss budget is overhead expenses. Let’s look at a few things to keep in mind when budgeting for our overhead expenses: There are some expenses that remain constant no matter the extent of the sales activities; O

It is imperative to pay yourself enough of a salary that you do not end up with "your hand in your business' Cookie Jar”. This may sound harsh, but it simply means that the money in the till or business bank account is not yours…….yet. Pay yourself a fair salary The Springboard Academy’s Terence Knott-Craig was asked for help by a business owner who had got into some cash-flow difficulties. “While analysing the business’ finances, I asked what the owner’s salary was, to which

Working out the finances of a small business can seem scary for entrepreneurs new to the neighbourhood, but it doesn’t have to be complicated if you know the basics. There are a few components you need to know and understand, such as turnover, cost of sales, work in progress (if you are in manufacturing), variable expenses, fixed costs, mark-up, gross profit, costing, tax and profit. Okay, that all sounds very overwhelming but let’s break it down step by step. In this post, w