Business Ideas 101

[adrianh]

Now the question is How do we reduce the population generating all the trash that is killing the planet?

hmmm.... me thinketh that a certain super power s doing that quite effectively across the middle east.

The only problem is that they are doing it to take the oil so that they can consume more and create more trash.


Solar power, wind power and all that stuff is not new technology nor is it particularly efficient when you consider energy generation from cradle to grave i.e. the infrastructure required to manufacture, transport, install, use and dispose of those technologies. LED lights and fluorescent lights may use less power at the end user but cradle to grave they are a disaster.


The best solution remains to changes our economic model so as to reduce unnecessary consumption caused by obsolescent manufacturing and wasteful usage of resources.

[adrianh]

I have to clarify something. I'm not against recycling, technology, innovation and I am not trying to be obtuse. I think that it is great that people try to recycle and I also think that there is money to be made through recycling. My sense is just that we are trying to treat a serious side effect of a far greater problem which is consumerism. We need to change our value systems to find greater reward in non-consumerism (The right words escape me) - Maybe I'm just getting old - I prefer to spend my days with my kids in a fairly crappy house (by my own standards) than working myself to death in a dead end job to buy stuff that I don't really need. I will rather buy a rickety chair built by an old man than buy the latest crappy R20k lounge suite on credit.

Our dump is about 3km from the house. They are very serious about recycling so we make a point of separating our trash and recycling what we can. I generate a look of wood waste (due to the lasers), plastics, metal etc (due to the CNC) so it makes sense to do our bit.

Maybe I'm kinda idealistic because I really dislike marketing / advertising and the manner in which people are manipulated into buying stuff that they don't need and on top of that getting screwed over by the fine print. For me the only way to deal with it is to avoid it as far as I can (so that I don't get manipulated into buying the very same silly nonsense) - Like I said - maybe I'm just getting old and totally blunted to the excitement of getting the latest iPhone on a R2k a month contract....

[Blurock]

I totally agree; consumerism is killing our planet. When I grew up, one bought quality items that could last for years. Heirlooms were passed on from generation to generation. We even wore hand-me-down clothes. Today we have a throwaway society where nothing lasts for longer than you can eat a takeaway and drop your rubbish in the street.
The problem: too many people, too little resources.

P.S. I have joined the "bunny huggers" as I have realized that we have to save this planet - it's the only one with chocolate!!

[adrianh]

P.S. I have joined the "bunny huggers" as I have realized that we have to save this planet - it's the only one with chocolate!!

I agree about the chocolate - I spend my day designing and manufacturing food safe molds :-)

[Dave A]

Part of the problem is the typical plastic user has no idea what they're supposed to do when it comes to prepping plastic for recycling, be it washing, or separating different plastic types and placing in different bins. In my neighbourhood we're told to put paper and plastic into the same bag. The assumption is this will be separated in due course and recycled. But is that actually happening? And could the program be more effective.

As long as the end user doesn't know what to do, it is useless to talk about separating different plastics at source (consumer) back to the recycling plant.

All plastics should be marked at manufacture in a manner that guides the consumer as to what group of recyclables it falls into - or even that it is not recyclable.

I share the frustration expressed above about built-in obsolescence and product failure. To this I would add the multiplier of product packaging, which is perhaps generating as much waste as the product it contains.

The product needs more packaging to protect it during shipping because it is fragile to start with (even when it shouldn't be). This fragility also causes the product to have a shorter lifespan. So more regular replacement... More waste more often.

One example that comes to mind at this time of night - light switch megs. They used to last decades. Nowadays many modern makes will not survive one slightly heavy handed incident.

[Blurock]

The drive for maximizing profits leads to low quality goods and the consumer is stupid enough to fall for it. We live in a throw away era where people's value systems have changed. Consumerism is driven by marketing and irresponsible drives for profitability. We are led to believe that it is not cool to own things, but better to just use it and throw it away. Don't own a house, rent it. Use Uber, buy takeaways. Don't by records or CD's, just stream it. Basically, people no longer want to take responsibility for owning and caring for anything. (I still have all my old LP's which have pictures and information about the artists, some with lyrics of the songs. The excitement of paging through the shelves at the record shop, listening to new releases, the sound, the smell, the vibe is something that present generations are missing out on.)

The packaging for this throw-away consumerism is clogging our rivers and oceans. Fortunately there are some who have seen an opportunity in this and are making packaging from banana leaves, sugar cane or paper compounds. It is interesting to note that throughout history, opportunity comes in times of the worst turmoil. All we need to do is to be alert to identify these opportunities and to find solutions for other people's problems or to add convenience to existing products or systems.

[JpSmith1]

I would love to get together with some business professionals that are open to sitting in on a discussion with a unique group of business men and woman looking at how we can do things better in the current economy and diversify our options and get ahead... From the comments and posts I have read my associates and I would ceratinly love anyone who is open to come and sit in on one of our discussions

[adrianh]

Product packaging....don't get me started. We purchased a new washing machine from Game a couple of months ago (after the last one we purchased from them a couple of years ago fell apart...but I digress) The smart new silver Defy machine was delivered very late in the afternoon and the delivery guys went off because i had to leave. A couple of hours later I get to remove all the packaging only to find that the machine has a massive dent on the side. I phoned Game the following day and they were very apologetic offering me a discount or even an upgrade for free. I turned both offers down and had them send me a new one. About a week later the geyser sprung a leak and I refuse point blank to pay R 8,000 to have it replaced. I ordered a new one from our local supplier and they delivered it a couple of days later ....yes you guessed it... with a massive dent (I got wise and removed the packaging before the delivery drivers left so they got to take it back with them. They eventually replaced the geyser a couple of days later and I had it fitted for about R 1,000.

So, even with all the packaging the products still get smashed up.

[Blurock]

I would love to get together with some business professionals that are open to sitting in on a discussion with a unique group of business men and woman looking at how we can do things better in the current economy and diversify our options and get ahead... From the comments and posts I have read my associates and I would ceratinly love anyone who is open to come and sit in on one of our discussions

Collaboration is always a good idea and in my experience getting people from different backgrounds to talk always generates something positive.
The only problem is distance and getting people from all over the country to talk is not always practical.

[ians]

I was chating to a tree fella a while back... he was telling me it is too expensive for him to give his staff vehicles ...insurance ...repairs cost etc just get out of control... so uber it is... he moves the staff from site to site using uber

I got to thinking why arent we doing a similar thing in the trade ...how often do you see vehicles parked on site day after day after day ... so some might say but we need our tools ... i had a customer who just couldnt get his head around letting me make a little money out of the projects we worked on ... he would squeal when he had to pay me R25 k for my labour... on a million rand project ...it went from me doing the quotes ...supplying the material ...driving to site ...booking into accommodation.

down to him collecting the tender document ...dropping off at my office ...collecting once it was prepared... to him supplying the materials for the site ... his mechanic would pick me up and hook up my trailer ...to even providing accomadation (which sometimes was a foam mattress on site with a bucket hanging from a tree for a shower... what a sucker i was... he cannot understand why i told him to stick his work were it fits best...not before he made a few million.

back to trademen and vehicles... those of you who work like i do ...how long do you waste driving to the wholesaler to collect stuff stand around waiting to be served then by the time you get back to site you have wasted 2 hours... i am thinking i should get a driver ...set up a few trailers (which you can move right onto the site where you are working) the van will have afew odds and sods which are not generally used but sometimes required ... the drive rwill be on standby all the time ... in fact a few contractors should get together and have a2 vehicles for example running all day long ...you pay per km you use the vehicle ...just like uber. .. or even better you have your own uber teams which specialise in tradesmen mobility...so you are not making uber rich but your own group of companies using the vehicles.

it is possible i know because i have setup a trailer in the past and worked too far to just have to drive to buy or collect stuff

[Blurock]

... in fact a few contractors should get together and have a2 vehicles for example running all day long ...you pay per km you use the vehicle ...just like uber. .. or even better you have your own uber teams which specialise in tradesmen mobility...so you are not making uber rich but your own group of companies using the vehicles.

Very good idea Ian! I have found that collaboration between companies where everyone is prepared to share resources and information sometimes works better than a partnership. Each have their own business and account, but can pass on overflow business and share resources. I have even seen farmers sharing tractors and harvesters to good effect.

[adrianh]

I was chating to a tree fella a while back... he was telling me it is too expensive for him to give his staff vehicles ...insurance ...repairs cost etc just get out of control... so uber it is... he moves the staff from site to site using uber

I got to thinking why arent we doing a similar thing in the trade ...how often do you see vehicles parked on site day after day after day ... so some might say but we need our tools ... i had a customer who just couldnt get his head around letting me make a little money out of the projects we worked on ... he would squeal when he had to pay me R25 k for my labour... on a million rand project ...it went from me doing the quotes ...supplying the material ...driving to site ...booking into accommodation.

down to him collecting the tender document ...dropping off at my office ...collecting once it was prepared... to him supplying the materials for the site ... his mechanic would pick me up and hook up my trailer ...to even providing accomadation (which sometimes was a foam mattress on site with a bucket hanging from a tree for a shower... what a sucker i was... he cannot understand why i told him to stick his work were it fits best...not before he made a few million.

back to trademen and vehicles... those of you who work like i do ...how long do you waste driving to the wholesaler to collect stuff stand around waiting to be served then by the time you get back to site you have wasted 2 hours... i am thinking i should get a driver ...set up a few trailers (which you can move right onto the site where you are working) the van will have afew odds and sods which are not generally used but sometimes required ... the drive rwill be on standby all the time ... in fact a few contractors should get together and have a2 vehicles for example running all day long ...you pay per km you use the vehicle ...just like uber. .. or even better you have your own uber teams which specialise in tradesmen mobility...so you are not making uber rich but your own group of companies using the vehicles.

it is possible i know because i have setup a trailer in the past and worked too far to just have to drive to buy or collect stuff

I am joining forces with 2 companies who already share resources. They currently share 2 CNC multi-axis lathes, 2 x 4 xis CNC mills, a flatbed CNC router, a manual lather and a nice big manual mill. Of course they also share all the workshop equipment and hand tools. I am going to be putting my 150w laser and my small Arburg plastic injection molding machine in there . I might add the Zinc spin casting equipment as well. The bottom line is that the only way for people to profit from expensive equipment (cars and trucks and stuff as well) is to share resources. I spent many hours this weekend working on their lathe and they did some work on my laser on Friday. If I didn't have access to their lathe I would have had to either outsource the work (at a cost) of buy a machine for R27k (which doesn't make sense for the odd turning jobs that I do) Another wonderful (let's call it - 'side effect") of sharing resources is that one shares knowledge with like-minded people. It has taken me many many years to learn that a business cannot operate as an island trying to do everything in-house - that said, it also doesn't make sense to outsource everything - this is the best of all worlds because the skills and resources are close at hand yet not so far that one cannot maintain some degree of control.

[kidd]

It was outlawed due to the potential threat of harm to the hijacker/robber.[/QUOTE]

like the hijacker/robber will show you Marcy

[Blurock]

The latest business I came across is when someone approached me to draw up a business plan for a private cemetery. Yes, I also had a question mark until I did some research.
Private cemeteries is a very large industry ($20 billion) and pretty much thriving in all parts of the world especially in developed countries such as United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia and Italy et al. Statistics has it that in the USA alone, there are about 7,112 licensed cemetery services companies, employing about 33,518 people.
There are already some private cemeteries in South Africa, charging anything from R3 000 tp R30 000 and more, depending on the type of grave and service.

[Blurock]

Kouga has officially completed phase one of Africa's first eco-friendly road!

For every kilometre of eco-friendly road constructed 1.5 tons of waste plastic, the equivalent of 1.8 million plastic bags, will be used.

🇿🇦 Forward-thinking
🛠 Innovative
🚀 Embracing change