The question I get asked a lot, what advice can you give to others, who are considering starting out on their own?

There is not one most important lesson learnt in the past 30 plus years, but here are a few I can share from my experience.

* Be the best at whatever it is you want to do.

* Learn just enough about stuff, that people cannot bullshyte you (very important), there is a much higher percentage of bullshyters than real people who you can trust.

* Understand that you are going to pay school fees, it is what you learn and how you adjust to the challenges that will make or break you.

* Buy a property and use it to create a platform for you to access funds/security when you really need it, the longer you have the property the higher the value as you grow. (I wish I had done this for the business 20 years ago). If I look at what the house, I live in is now worth, compared to what I paid for it, I will have millions for security for bigger projects as you grow.

*Expensive equipment does make you look good, but unless it is covered in the contract, get what works at the best price, and invest the money where it has a better return. I have lost a lot of money from this mistake. On paper my equipment is worth a lot of money, but the resale value, it's pretty worthless.

* Open an account which is used to keep the taxes safe until they have to be paid, those days of SARS freezing your bank account are long gone (2011) now they go in take what you owe. I had it happen in the past, where they go in and cleaned out all the business bank accounts due to an outstanding VAT payment. It was money that was due to them, and they are not interested in your business challenges and outstanding payments to the business, they just want what is due. I am sure we all wish we could do it to people who owe us money.

*Always have a backup for wages, staff want their money due to them, they have no interest in the challenges the business faces, be it customer nonpayment or the comment above, a lesson you don’t want to learn, especially when it is happens at month end or a Friday when you have wages to pay.

The notice will look something like this - "Kindly note that SARS has issued a Third-Party Appointment letter to Standard Bank in terms of section 179 of the Tax Administration Act No. 28 of 2011, obliging the bank to withhold and pay over applicable funds to SARS." You get the email the day after they remove the money

* Taking loans or large overdraft facilities through the bank is not the way to fund the business projects, there are lots of people out there who want a piece of the action and understand the risks, rather look at getting people to invest in the business or the project if it is too big for your to fund.