What would you do

**Blurock** · 03-Apr-12, 11:49 PM

Leadership is about people. Know yourself and know your people. If you are a good motivator and a good negotiator, you are halfway there. Imagine if Richard Branson or Henry Ford or Steve Jobs said they will not employ people!

The most successful industrialists and entrepreneurs of our age all employ people. By putting the right systems in place and appointing the right people, they managed to grow their businesses to multi million Dollar enterprises.

Buying a franchise is not entrepreneurship - you still work for the MAN. An entrepreneur is enterprising (entrepre-)and is a a doer (-neur). Someone who takes risks and responsibility for the outcomes. One definition I've seen describes an entrepreneur as an intermediary between capital and labour. (Not so sure about that one as many entrepreneurs start without capital).

If you can make money on your own by not employing people, good for you. But you may restrict yourself to what you have now and a business that does not grow, eventually dies. By duplicating your business you can multiply your income and also meet your social responsibility.

Remember, the more people that are unemployed, the more tax you will have to pay to sustain the unemployed as well as the infrastructure required to run your town and country. You will also have to provide more security to protect what is yours.

Conversely, provide jobs and the tax base widens. More workers = more buyers, so business grows. That is why China and India are booming. The workers are also buying. Jobs give people self respect and keep them occupied and off the streets.

**Citizen X** · 04-Apr-12, 11:06 AM

Since capital is no problem for you, the business opportunities available to you are endless! The ball is in your court so to speak. You get to do things on your own terms! Not many of us can do things on our own terms because of a lack of capital!

**Blurock** · 04-Apr-12, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by Vanash Naick

Since capital is no problem for you, the business opportunities available to you are endless! The ball is in your court so to speak. You get to do things on your own terms! Not many of us can do things on our own terms because of a lack of capital!

One of my friends started selling fruit and vegetables in the townships. Through hard work and perseverance he has progressed to provide guarding services and from there started a manufacturing business. In all of this he had little or no outside funding. Bootstrapping (pulling yourself up by your boot laces) made the difference as all profits were ploughd back to grow the business.

Ina Paarman started her business in her garage with money borrowed from her mother. Today you get her products in all all the shops that matter. Nature's Source breakfast cereals was also started in a garage. The business grew tremendously and was later taken over by SAD.

Opportunity is a mindset.

**Nickolai Naydenov** · 04-Apr-12, 09:34 PM

Originally Posted by Vanash Naick

Since capital is no problem for you, the business opportunities available to you are endless! The ball is in your court so to speak. You get to do things on your own terms! Not many of us can do things on our own terms because of a lack of capital!

I know a person very close to me who had nothing, he literally hit the rock bottom he somehow made it so good that he's running a company turning over millions every month and he has more than 200 people working for him now, so if you think money is the way to make money I don't fully agree.

**Norri** · 04-Apr-12, 09:52 PM

Personally, I would invest the money in my own business - Just1.co.za. Something that a well-funded competitor of mine is doing that is great is they're offering the first 10,000 co.za domains free. Now if I could do something like that, I'd be able to grow my client base 10-fold. From there, I would keep doing what I'm doing now: up-sell other services through a "market place" where designers, SEO experts, AdWords Experts and copywriters could provide services for my clients and I take a cut.

**Nickolai Naydenov** · 04-Apr-12, 09:55 PM

"My poor dad thought money made you rich. My rich dad said what really makes you rich are your money habits."
Robert Kiyosaki

**adrianh** · 04-Apr-12, 10:53 PM

I honestly think that the ability to make money is not a direct function of particular industries or businesses. It seems to be a thought process honed over time. What do we call it 'The midas touch' my brother is a prime example, he is one of those people that enjoy the business of doing business. He calls himself a 'connector', because of his wide network and varied interests he is able to connect buyers and sellers, wheelers & dealers. And because he holds both financial and law degrees he is able to help the people that he connects together. I've seen him take weeny companies and help them grow big, over and over again. When I think of business I see it as a large airport with each business being a vehicle (trucks, busses, aeroplanes, etc) Each business does its own thing but it does interact with air traffic control and the other vehicles, be it to avoid them in the dark or to refuel. Some businesses are tiny, like the little carts that ferry the baggage to the planes and some businesses are huge Airbus A380's, A340's and a rake of A330's. The ground and air traffic controllers coordinate the whole lot as best they can (policy makers, bankers, etc). My brother is the guy that, when the radar is out, is able to see the air traffic pattern in his mind's eyes and deduce from that how the ground traffic should be regulated. It is absolutely uncanny how wide and how deep he can think simultaneously.

Another person that has the same wide and deep thinking ability is Mr Rohan Vos of Rovos Rail. I've spent time with him and its always amazing to see the simultaneous width and depth of thinking. He is able to see a very big picture and simultaneously zoom in on lots of tiny details without any loss of focus or clarity.

Ok, so what is the bottom line, I think that a lot of people make a lot of money by following a formula (like Justin Bieber - he is rich but is he good at what he does, I don't think so), some people make no money even though they are absolutely brilliant (Vincent Van Gogh), but there are people that make lots of money through the sheer enjoyment of using their skills over and over again (Tiger Woods, Donald Trump, Raymond Ackerman, Rohan Vos, and my brother - we call them lucky but the reality is that they honed their skills over many years. They are able to simultaneously think wide and deep and they equipped themselves the appropriate tools, be it education, mentors or staff)

Does anything I said have anything to do with making lots of money in a particular industry, no, not at all, my thinking is that it is the individual that makes the money, not the industry (in line with what Blurock said)

**Christel** · 14-Apr-12, 05:55 AM

Hi Nickolai,
Mine is also not a "brand new" idea, but if I had some cash to spend, I would buy a house in a business area - (ie. Walmer PE or even Newton Park), and then modify it and rent out the different rooms i.e. have a nail salon in one; maybe a bead shop or mosaic workshop place; a hairdresser; etc. And off course a small coffee shop & nice play are for kiddies. I can then just sit back, do maintenance etc and (hopefully) in a few years time see some money growing on this investment.

**Blurock** · 14-Apr-12, 09:37 AM

Adrian, it is clear that your brother understands economics. We all work together like cogs in a machine. We can even decide which cog we want to be, but if you do not have a passion for what you are doing, rather go do something else.

If I had money to throw around, I would start a Daddy Daycare in a large shopping centre. Let the women shop while daddy can have a beer, neck massage and haircut. (do we want to include haircut?Manicure, pedicure?) All while watching his favourite sport or DVD, or just sit and talk shop with the other guys in the lounge area.

What would you want in your daycare?