Start-up Tips

This week we are looking at the last 3 points to ponder before starting your business, as taught by Start Up Cup. Follow these links for the first and second instalments of this series. What do you need to do now? Here’s where you decide on the actions and steps you need to take, to turn your idea into a …

Last week we started exploring Start Up Cup’s nine points to ponder before starting your business. If you missed out you can find the first three points here. Today let’s look at the next three points. How will you get the word out? Your idea will need to be promoted so that you can reach your target audience. How are you planning …

You most probably started the New Year with new resolutions. And since you’ve been dying to start your own business, either as a side hustle or going in it full throttle, starting The Business is definitely listed as a priority on your list of goals. In this issue and the next two, I’ll be sharing with you the points to …

A few weeks ago I got a call from Rose (not real name). She had retired from employment and used her retirement package to set up a small manufacturing plant for a product she was convinced would be useful for a particular section of the market. She had done research and found out that her potential clients needed such a …

A matatu crew is one fascinating sales team. They go out of their way to acquire customers; from inviting, cajoling and sweet talking to pulling, pushing, racing to the next bus stage, sometimes coming to blows. Yet after the commuter has boarded their bus, they don’t care whether she is comfortably seated, they play loud music whether she likes it …

You’ve been working very hard at selling your products or services without saying much results. I’d like to share with you what sales guru Todd Duncan considers as the five to killers of sales, and how to avoid them. Pausing: trying to sell instead of training to sell. To overcome this, train to be really good at selling. Spend 30 …

Your business starts with you. However it is not about you. Your business is about your clients; about how they perceive the value of what you are selling. When your client is buying a perfume from you, what do they really want? They want to smell good. Or they want to smell like a particular celebrity. How about when they …

Are you struggling to get good customers? (Your services are not valued. Your products are not moving. You are wondering what you got yourself into). Are you tired of chasing clients who don’t appreciate or value what you offer? (Your potential clients keep complaining about your prices. It’s so frustrating and discouraging. You are praying for clients who would be …

I recently met this interesting entrepreneur. She seemed to know her stuff at the tip of her fingers, but when I asked her where she saw herself in the next 5 years, she looked at me as if she was landing with a thud from the treetop. She fumbled a bit then confessed “I have actually not given it a …

You know what your passion is. You know the need this passion can satisfy in the market. You can’t wait to register your company, patent your idea and start your own business. Here is the reason you should hold your horses a little longer however. I have recently met entrepreneurs who have got all the paperwork right but haven’t identified …