Entrepreneurship: It is all about the mindset

For a long time in our country we have been lamenting on the high rate of unemployment among the thousands of graduates that Kenyan university’s and colleges churn out every year. Yet these graduates are highly skilled and knowledgeable in various fields like information communication and technology, business and other technical areas which can provides profitable solutions to the many problems be-deviling our society.

Various suggestions have been offered in attempts to address this scenario though some have been too simplistic like

Top 10 Skills of Being an Effective Leader

1.      Ask who is in charge

2.      Think beyond yourself

What makes a Great Leader in today’s business world

1.      Great leadership is not about command and control. Great leaders attract the best and brightest people

How to build an Organization that can sustain itself as you made it.

As an entrepreneur it is important that you hire talented people and then manage them well.

To achieve the latter, create an environment where they use their intelligence and judgment  to act independently.

How?

Youth Get Tips on Career Moves

To many young people, making career choices is always a nightmare. And the intense advertising by colleges and universities for courses varying from hospitality to archeology, from communications to law, and contradicting advice from family and friends, does not help matters.

But does choosing a course or career path have to be an unpleasant experience? Patrick Juma the Business Development Manager at Inoorero University disagrees. Anyone seeking to join an institution of higher learning should first evaluate his or her interests, he says.

What Should Be Included in a Business Plan

I have heard on several occasions people ask, Do you know of someone who can write me a business plan? This question mostly comes when they want to seek outside financing and the potential investor or financier has asked for it. They thus rush to an accountant, a lawyer or anybody who can write one. What many entrepreneurs and business owners fail to understand is that by delegating this task to some else they miss out on one of the most valuable lessons they can learn about running their business.

How to Motivate Employees to be More Productive

To any entrepreneur or organization, your employees are the most valuable assets and thus understanding how to motivate them is essential for your success. In this post I will highlight 10 ways to motivate your employees to be more productive.

Starting a Business-The Importance of Having a Business Plan

As an entrepreneur you need a plan to help you determine which direction to take to get your business up and running. The written business plan serves four important functions:

First, it serves as your ‘plan of attack’ to get the business started. You can set goals, estimate the start up costs and expenses and decide how much you will charge for your services or product.

Top 5 Marketing Ideas for Entrepreneurs

To succeed as an entrepreneur, you need to attract ideal customers to your business. At times getting the right mix of strategies and tactics can be challenging. To help your business be seen, heard and have the flood gates of customers opened, I have compiled 5 simple marketing ideas that will increase your visibility and attract you more clients. Here they are:

Problem Solving Technique for Entrepreneurs

Here is some good news. There is no problem on the face of this earth that does not have a solution. Every problem known to man has been solved a thousand and one times by a thousand and one others. Even though your problem may seem unique to you, others have experienced and solved it. There is a way out and you are smarter than you have ever imagined. Your brainpower and creative ability have the ability to produce a solution to any problem.

Concealed within each problem, is a hidden truth.

How to Deal With Your Competitors Professionally

In today’s competitive world, every business has competition, and if you do not have, one will show up as soon as you start to operate. For any small business owner, competition is a reality and you must thus be prepared to compete and win. To get a clear perspective of the game, let’s pose and ask; who is your competitor? Your competitors are companies that satisfy the same customer need as your company.

 Now, there are two schools of thought on how to deal with competition: one school says that you should strive to kill or eliminate competition and the other one acknowledges that competition is there to stay in a liberalized market; hence companies have to find strategies to deal with it. I am of the latter.

The first thing to do is to identify your competitors.

Tips to Clear Your Debt and Get Your Finances in Order

By Guest blogger Marlon Powell: Debt Consolidation Care

The country is in debt crisis and same is the situation with the households. Most of the people are facing problems in managing their debts. So, is there no relief from this debt problem of yours? You can get out of your debt problem only if you spend at least some time for formulating a proper budget in order to find out your expenses. Though you can consolidate debt in order to become free of the financial obligations, it is much better for you to consider your expenditures too.

Optimizing your finances

In order to optimize your finances you will have to:

t         Take a hard look at your finances – It is important for you to take a hard look at your finances so that you can get a clear idea about your standing. What your financial position is and whom and what do you owe. This will help you to take at least some action in order to bring back your finances on track

t         Get rid of unnecessary expenses – You will have to try and get rid of the unnecessary expenses so that you can lower your spending and save more. This will help you to pay off your debts with the money that you are able to save form your expenditures

Setting and Reaching Goals-Tips for Achieving Your Goals

As an entrepreneur, what do you expect to get out of owning your own business? Do you want to be rich and famous or do you simply want to bring in more money each month to pay extra bills? You must get specific and know exactly what it is you want .How do you find out?

Well you should know your purpose and what you are passionate about. Then write down your goals. As you identify these goals, ensure that they consist of the following six components to attain success:

Customer Service Tips-How to Handle Irate Customers

No matter how good your product or service is, inevitably some disgruntled customers will show up at your business or call to register their displeasure with the level of service received from the company. And some of the customers may be emotional or hysterical about the whole issue. The ability to communicate another point of view to someone who is highly emotional is a very important skill which can be learnt.

The following are 19 skills that work regardless of how emotional, hysterical or unreasonable the other person may be.

How to Attracts Customers; Create a Marketing Message That Resonates

Are you having problems attracting   and connecting with prospects and customers?  Do they seem to be uninterested in listening to you talk about your product or service?  You can change this by creating a message that resonates with the prospect. 

Your prospects are interested in what your product or service can do for them.

How to Start a Fitness Training Business

Jared Kasuku runs a fitness club called Ruflo Fitness Centre. He opened it in early 2005 and is enjoying great success. I have brought this success story to find out what he is doing right and learn what strategies are working for him. I asked Kasuku to join me on a case study interview  to find out how he has managed to successfully run his business.

In this interview you will learn…

·       The strategies he used to achieve competitive edge.

·       Top traits every successful entrepreneur must have.

·       How to start and run a successful fitness training business.

Here’s the download link for the Interview-

·       DownloadText Transcript [ 4 Pages - PDF ]

How to Plan Before Starting a Business

Many successful businesses have been started by entrepreneurs without prior planning, propelled only by the burning desire to own a business and sheer luck. These stories are however few and far between. And as these businesses grew, many of the entrepreneurs wished they had carefully evaluated their choices and the business potentials, because they made several mistakes along the way. So, plan, in the beginning stages of your business and also assess its success potential. You do not want to spend precious time and money on a business that is not feasible.

Top 2 Fantastic Ways to Make Money Online

 From my experience, there are two fantastic ways to make money online through your blog or website. They are, affiliate marketing and direct advertisers (sponsors).

Affiliate marketing is selling the services or products of another company or person in exchange for a commission for each sale. For instance, if you sell a service that costs $44 and has a 50% affiliate program you will receive $22 commission per sale.

Top 5 Ways to Control Money for a Small Business

Cash flow management is every entrepreneur’s nightmare. Even for the financially astute, it is one of the toughest challenges every small business owners faces. Most have gone through the school of hard knocks and experienced cash flow crunches.

A small business that fails to manage its cash flow well, places its long term success and continuance in grave, grave danger.

Below are five ways to control your cash:

Big 5 Tips on Starting a Business

The big 5 tips weekly post is as always full of advice and tips for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses owners. This week’s post has advice on what to do before you start a business. Check them out and then share with a friend.

1. Find out your talent or passion and then use it.
2. Research, research, research. Understand the business you want to go into inside out.
3. Start your business from home or part time and grow it slowly and methodically.