Living in a foreign country is awfully interesting. When I embarked for the UK back in 2006, I expected it to be a little like “going home”. Enid Blyton, Noddy, everything quaint, with funny accents, but almost understandable. It wasn’t. It felt a little like SA was in the ’70s. Without the sunny skies, braaivleis … Read more

In every bank manager’s office is a piece of furniture which looks like a chair. When you visit your bank manager to borrow money, he points to this piece of furniture. He says, “Won’t you bend over my barrel?” He knows that 9 out of 10 small-business owners wait until it’s too late to borrow … Read more

I bet you you thought this COVID time couldn’t get worse? Our government thinks you might like another challenge. (If you own your own business, that is.) You would think circumstances are dire enough. No money is coming in. We’re not allowed to go to the office. People are dying in droves. You would be … Read more

We waste real money to attract strangers. We don’t invest a few hours to stay in touch with people who already know us. We try to find strangers in magazines, on billboards, via car signage, through Google Adwords, via Social media, … I’ve studied thousands of small business owners since 1984 to find out how … Read more

During the past 28 years, I’ve asked thousands of people to explore different approaches to earn more cash. Their primary motivation for not doing so has been, not enough time. That excuse blew out the window three weeks ago.

There is so much we don’t yet know about this new thing. The longer we delay, the more it looms. Soon we give up because it is too huge. And then we find another novel project to annoy ourselves with.

This is just a quick note about something critical during this scary time. It’s about a contract called an Acknowledgement of Debt. I’ve just read a piece about negotiating with suppliers for new terms. The author assures the reader that the supplier will ask you to sign such a document. And that you should. This … Read more

I have worked from home for about 30 years. It’s a wonderful dream. But the concept has some drawbacks. In my case, at least five. Children. They’re noisy. And wonderful. Not usually at the same time. Trying to find a home big enough to accommodate them, and Mrs Carruthers, and me trying to do any … Read more

In 2006 all six of my Internet connections in Durban failed. And then I made the worst decision of my life. In a huff I chose to sort the problem out by leaving Durban (almost reasonable) and heading for Hampshire (utterly silly). Talk about hopping out of the frying pan. Seven years and two countries … Read more

It’s absolutely vital to your business future to retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. We, little guys, know this, and we’re pretty good at it, given the challenges. Yet 96% of us fail in the first decade. I have wrestled with this number since 1992 – trying to … Read more