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Business plans – Chapter 4 |
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Stage 1 Entrepreneur -
Business Planning
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Written by Winnie Lombaard
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Tuesday, 27 July 2010 10:12 |
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Now that you know what you need to provide your product or service, you need to look at who you need. Human resources can be a nightmare, especially for a small company that does not have a specialised human resource officer. We will keep it simple, assume the company is small and start with the basics.
The fundamental questions that need to be answered is how many people do you need to start your business and what do each need to do? Who will manage them and the business? Remember to think about contingency plans... if you are the only manager there, what will happen if you cannot come to work?
Once you have decided how many staff members and managers you need, you must look at their basic job descriptions. This is important because you will need to take this into account in the recruitment process, both so that you know what you are looking for and that they know what is expected of them. Also make sure you know what the relevant salary and wage scales are and include these in your financial planning.
Remember that you can also have part time or contract staff. Ensure that you know all the legal requirements that go with each type of employee. Find out about UIF, tax deductions, unions, training requirements, etc.
Lastly you must concentrate on outsourced services. Find yourself a good bookkeeper or accountant, insurance broker, possibly even an attorney. |
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Charlies Blog -
50 Years and counting...
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Written by Charles Reid
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Tuesday, 20 July 2010 14:55 |
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Heard on the radio that the Western Cape Government has been pumping millions into the development of SMME's in the area. Done it through the Red Doors and it is being pushed as a major success. Now not to poop on this party too bad, but my limited involvement in this area would indicate to me that initiatives like this are purely waysof redistributing income from those that earn (ie taxpayers and companies) to those who in the majority should not be in business but due to certain factors can access funding. Now don't get me wrong. This is not a bad thing as most of these SMME's that get the funding spend a hell of a lot more than they earn and so the money gets recycled into the economy in ways that it was not getting there in the past. The major downside from my perspective is that there are certain obligations that have to be met when money is made available and we need to build the capacity of those that receive the money in order for them to realise what it is that they are letting themselves in for. Without building this capacity, the recipients are in fact a lot worse off than they were before they got the money!!!! |
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Charlies Blog -
50 Years and counting...
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Written by Charles Reid
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Tuesday, 27 July 2010 07:52 |
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Whilst visiting the Augrabies National Park recently (well worth a visit) we took a drive through the park to the Echo Valley. The sun blasted landscape has its own beauty and we saw giraffe along the way. The usual screaming, shouting, whistling etc at the stopping point resulted in a very poor and indistinct echo. The Delivery to Promise was certainly lacking and we were underwhelmed. You see we had experienced great echos while on the Orange River and also in the canyons of Namibia. I can only hope that people do not feel the same way about the products that I advertise! I have always had a problem with the marketing bumpf that those in suits put out, and it is a fine balance trying to ensure that your marketing brings them to your door and then their expectations are met. One of the tricks is to try and put yourself in the position of the customer and test your offering in that way. Easier said than done. All I can say is that there is very litlle that really impresses me and I seem to be more unimpressed than impressed!!! |
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Charlies Blog -
50 Years and counting...
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Written by Charles Reid
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Thursday, 22 July 2010 17:52 |
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On our holiday in Namibia we experienced a wonderful thing. There are lots of people in places where there are NOT lots of people that are only too willing to help one out when you land in a fix. It seems that the more crowded areas of the world are where the milk of human kindness has turned a tad sour. Obviously it is not good to do business for no charge but the good-will that one builds up is immense. Sometimes it is a good idea not to charge for everything!! |
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Charlies Blog -
50 Years and counting...
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Written by Charles Reid
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Thursday, 15 July 2010 17:14 |
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Well hi there from a recently well travelled traveller. Went on a road trip to Namibia for the last 3 weeks and had a gas. A number of business ideas surfaced in our travels. Namibia however is a hard country and the country side is littered with the bones of past endeavours. Case in point is a village called Kolmanskop outside Luderitz. Great idea- build a village away from the sea where we can be close to the mine and take advantage of the great weather. Oops! They did not take into account the fact that the desert moves through that area when the wind blows and the houses landed up getting buried. How many of our great ideas have been buried in the sand as the wind that was not blowing at the time picks up and blows a gale. The latest global melt down is a case in point. Totally out of the scope of most small businesses and has had a major impact on the SMME. |
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