Divine Ndhlukula

They say that the more you know, the less you fear. Perhaps that’s why so many entrepreneurs have a thirst for learning as they build their businesses. Often a fear of failure is at the heart of that desire to learn as it is often rooted in doubts about personal abilities or lack of practical business experience. Education, training and information seeking are a powerful antidote to such fears, and they can take many forms – it does not mean you have to return to a formal classroom. You might need to develop specific skills in business administration, it’s why some entrepreneurs choose to do a part-time MBA whilst they are building their businesses. I did my MBA in 2010 when my business was already successful and many people wondered I exerted myself on a very grueling schedule of classes, assignments, running 2 fairly large businesses, being involved in business member organization at leadership levels, and still being managing the social part well enough. Why, they asked, as they thought I had arrived and did not need to put myself through what I was going through. There is a need to implement more stringent quality controls around the products you are developing for your customers, and as a result, you need to undertake a specialist training programme. Whatever the need, a commitment to continual learning on your entrepreneur journey can help you to deal with the challenges and the unknowns you will face. Ultimately, it will help you to mitigate the fear of failure and give you self-actualization at the same time. 

Look at Obama, and you find Leadership + Character were his hallmarks hence he won the 2nd term when it looked almost impossible. Human nature is that people want to deal with people they trust hence a track record which is beyond reproach is essential.

From Series 1 one of this topic, I will share some of the practical nuggets on the practical building blocks that have also helped me on my journey as an entrepreneur and building in a harsh economic and social environment. Social as well as there are social aspects to it. Want to make more money??? Provide more value. Want to beat out your competition? Provide more value than they do. Want to make lots of money quickly? Provide lots of value quickly! So, the more value you provide, the more profitable you should become. My team and I always Think of all the ways we can currently help our customers and look for ways to do more. Try to get a better understanding of what their most pressing issues are and then help them with solutions is a sure way of winning their hearts. The costs can stifle and certainly can kill a good business. We chose to grow our business organically, with very little borrowing, retaining all profits into the business for the first 6 years of the business – no dividend – zero – as we had our eyes on the vision. Our policy on dividends is very conservative. I sold a house 2 years after I started the business, to create cheaper capital, and moved into a rented one with my sister with all our 8 kids, and took over 2 years to build a modest house that I live in now as we were not receiving any dividends as we reinvested the returns into the growing business. Not that the money was not there, but I know it was not my money yet. That takes serious discipline. Discipline is probably the most critical quality possessed by successful entrepreneurs. I chose to cut back on life style choices so that the capital could attain longevity. I Focused on creating the right mindset. I always try to Show up with an open mind and a positive demeanour. I am informal and try to have a sense of humour. That has an element of making anyone feel they belong and that is just magic. The connection with people and the business has helped in inspiring excitement and sets the scene for an execution culture in the company. When you come to our offices and interact with any of our team members or anywhere, they may be, you see this great sense of purpose in all of them. We call this a “rush to the scene of the crime” culture. That has given us the competitive advantage and are always ahead of the curve.