A regret more than a mistake ... not "taxing" myself every month ... something I would advise anyone running a small business ... no matter how small like 1 % ... its about getting into the habit ... you will never have enough money to save money ... every month there will never be enough money ... so why not just take a little and put it away for a rainy day.

Working too long and hard ... When I think back to some of the amazing places I have worked ... for example I spent 2 years on a farm in the Drakensburg building a water treatment plant ... we ate fresh scones with strawberry jam and cream every single day ... enjoyed farm breakfasts and dinners ... I have completed 4 projects in Cape Town and only been to the Cape once on holiday ... I spent 10 years building water and waste water treatment plants in literally every small town in KZN/Swaziland/Mozambique ... had access to the river and dams ... yet I didnt even own a fishing rod or an off road motor bike ... instead just chasing the project completion date ... instead of taking a few days to enjoy the surroundings ... it would be hassle hassle to the next project ... before I wiped the shyte my eyes ... 10 years had past and I was sitting on the street homeless and without a family ... I thought all those long hours and hard work was to keep the family ... in the beginning I only had bad things to say about her ... until I realized it wasnt only her sitting waiting ... but my kids ... if you are young and starting out ... your family is priceless ... jobs will come and go.

Investing in expensive machines and test equipment and testers ... buy good quality equipment that you are going to use on a daily basis but dont waste money on shyte you dont actually need ... they have absolutely not value when you try sell it.

Managing finances ... no matter how much money you make ... be it R100 or R100000.00 ... its not how much you make ... but what you do with it.
I have been spoilt in the sense that there has always just been enough to get by and buy the toys I wanted ... until I had an accident ... every penny had to be counted ... what I would do is put the money on the table and allocate a portion to food ... accommodation ... fuel ... entertainment ...etc ... within a couple of months I started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel ... I just wish I had kept at it ... redit card sand overdraft facilities are designed to make people like me poor for the rest of our life ... that why I no longer have credit cards or overdrafts or accounts at wholesalers ... smart "businessmen" who can handle their financial affairs ... can utilise and grow with these facilities ... but people like me who like to spend money and live at the edge ... not a wise idea ... as we all know by now ... the best tradesmen dont just become smart businessmen ... in fact the biggest problem with small businesses failing is because people who are good at what ever it is they do ... dont automatically become smart businessmen.

Managing the admin side of a business ... 30 years later I still do all my own admin from quote to service sheets to time keeping to material costing and invoicing you name it ... dont be a fool ... get a admin clerk and use them ... if they have time to sit and play on the computer or cellphone ... get them to collect and deliver stuff to site to keep the important money making part of the business flowing ... we all know that wholesaler visits are a waste of time and money ... yet everyday I see bakkies full or employees pissing many against the wall from early in the morning.

Another waste of time is teams sitting in vehicles while people buy lunch ... and you wonder why customer complain about being charged 3 hours for 15 minutes on site ... it boils down to bad management ... that simple ... if your manger is ducking and diving all day ... how do you expect the teams to function at full capacity.