Who do SMEs really help?

Ever so often we need to take stock of what we do. We often hear of the benefits of SMEs being touted online, but I really need to beg an answer to this question. Who is really benefitting as a result of what has been dubbed entrepreneurship? 

At the micro level, it is a way of helping people develop gainful self-employment, which enables governments to boast about how many jobs were created. However, for those who work within the sector and are observant, it is hard to recognize that the technical assistance entities need to be more holistic in their approaches to SMEs. 

The result is that many entities open and operate as SMEs throughout their entire existence growing to a certain level and no further. The majority function as trading as/general partnerships and those who incorporate are unaware of their strategy for doing so. They also don't have an exit plan that would enable the business to survive beyond their lifetime. 

Too many entities are dependent on the most expensive way of raising capital which is through the banking system and few, if any, really look towards creating equity finance opportunities where investors can participate meaningfully. 

Still others are not up on the information required for good governance and in some cases where to turn to find it. Many entities cannot hire the talent they need on a full time basis and many are concerned that they cannot afford the fees of outsourcing. 

Trainnig should be on-going and many your entrepreneurs fine the pressure of down time being adequate for them to participate in such continuing education. Therefore they drop behind. It is for that reason that those of us who do train must keep updated with technology so as to better provide solutions. 

So does having a SME really help? The answer is really up to those who have benefitted and continue to benefit. 

We need to do better for our entrepreneurs as running a business has a lot of moving parts, and we don't learn them all in business school. 

Keep checking back for more posts or recap some of the older ones on this site. 

Have a great week ahead. 

 

It's possible for you to create employment

 In this environment, there are so many seeking jobs that they almost seem preoccupied with that task. They write letters, scour the newspapers, and it seems like they want to actively seek to attend multiple interviews. It's a sort of push behaviour where you are trying to get in front the decision makers so that you are noticed. 

It almost seems like those seeking employment are hoping to get employed before they show what they are capable of doing. They are loaded with knowledge but have not demonstrated their ability to use their knowledge. Hence in the minds of prospective employers, they remain a high cost expense rather than being viewed with any value as an asset. 

In short form, many will be reluctant to pay you for having a degree. More people see the value in your ability to use the information you would have received while you studied. Many employers may not have been formally exposed to education themselves, and therefore don't adequately explain what they are truly looking for in employees/workers. 

Many people often quote, "Knowledge is power", yet it is when that knowledge it put to use that determines the true value of that said knowledge. 

To communicate you capacity for using your knowledge, it is going to be contingent on your ability to communicate effectively. How can you create an attraction of having prospective employers seek you out because you have a perceived value which they want. 

It's possible to communicate your abilities by:

• blogging - e Blogger is a free service once you have a Google account. It offers you the ability to reach a wide cross-section of people without having to leave your domicile. There are a variety of methodologies that can showcase your knowledge - Case studies, Situation analysis, Story telling, that make people think, offer inspiration, or just pull in even more information that contributes to overall communication of everyone. 
• LinkedIn - allows you to do the following: write articles, make contact with alumni, follow influential people, read articles written by others within industries/sectors that you may have an interest in. It allows you to gain practical insights so that you can find out how closely your education theory aligns with real world practicality. 
• Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms allow you to offer practical insights as to why knowing you can be deemed desirable. Do you offer solutions rather than dwell on the problem? Though your page is yours, are you showcasing your best features that can help you gain traction as you seek employment? 

I hope that this article helps jog your thought process in your employment creation and pray that you'll be successful. Have a vision for how you want to live your life, and how you would like to be remembered. Look around out website for additional information that may be of benefit to you at www.bladesandbladesconsultancy.com Enjoy your day. 

A fresh perspective is needed

Psalms 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. 

Facing the challenges of people in business can be a daunting task. In business development, it means that I daily have to grapple with the challenges and problems that people present to me about their situations. Often they are related to their business, however, there are instances of some personal issues they need to address that often impact their businesses.

2018 has been a particularly rough year, it seems that bad news was just coming in from all directions. Averting foreclosures, turning around financial situations, dealing with all the challenges in business within an environment of uncertainty were all old hat to me or so I thought. The bigger the problem people had the more I enjoyed the challenge of successfully solving it for them.

This year, sure it may have been going on before, but I hadn't noticed it with this intensity. Lots of people I know died, and quite unexpectedly and at a rapid rate. It was at such a rate that I couldn't even attend all the funerals. Many were younger than I am.

'“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”' Ecclesiastes 1:2

I managed to recognize it earlier last evening when depression was trying to grasp me. Having heard others describe it, I never once experienced it before. Along the way, I wondered how many others have to grapple with this thing called depression, especially when everywhere they turn there is bad news. Reader, we have tried to compartmentalize our lives using human standards of understanding, and we are wrong. Life is intricately intertwined.

Of late, there are many who want to put God in a box, only calling on him when there is a tragedy. I have read comments by those who know better, it would appear, who post seemingly careless thoughts about what they think about God.

Well, thank God for my relationship with him, since you can really get some really negative thoughts coming at you that if left unchecked can result in a loss. It is important to have a default position. Mine is with Christ. The opening statement of this article sums it up to an extent.

How many others have to grapple with this with changes and challenges to their equilibrium with regards to work, family, lifestyle, country, and other aspects of living to which they have grown accustomed. Yes, the only thing constant in life is change, but are we prepared for these changes?

We can't rely on the government for assistance, but the government has to rely on us as we are facing a most dire rebuilding process given the magnitude of the situations we face. There are many who don't have a mechanism for coping. We have to be our brother's keeper. It is necessary for others to experience the joy of their salvation. A fresh perspective is needed.

Why Work?

Lately, it appears that there's a toss up between getting a job or starting a business. The thing is starting a business is becoming so academic that there are now definitions as to who is / isn't an entrepreneur. The discussions are now spinning out as to if the business is designed for growth / just the lifetime of the owner complete with further drilling down of all the surrounding factors.

The various analyses have lead me to a question that I don't believe many people seriously ask themselves. I say seriously since the default answer regardless of whether they are looking at working for themselves / someone else seems to stem from being able to pay bills.

I have been alive long enough to see the spending power of currency shrink. Once upon a time, $x would have enabled you to take 2 or more trolleys to the check out counter of most supermarkets. Nowadays, that same $x would allow you to look through the trolley of goods and see the floor beneath. In other words, the trolley would not even be half full and the money's already gone. May I hasten to add that you still would not have been able to purchase everything that you needed.

So why work? 

• Is it enough to say we want to be able to pay our bills or should we be able to have at least some discretionary income? Governments don't seem to think so as they think of taxes of every type to acquire our often hard earned money with nary an incentive to encourage spending that would result in money making opportunities. Not everyone wishes to engage in squandermania. 
• Will we ever break the cycle of more month than money? 
• What are we doing to build our financial IQ so that we can spot and capitalize on opportunities?
• The days of one job and employment loyalty are a quickly fading memory of the past. Everyone's tuned into the station WIIFM [what's in it for me]. Yet the biographies of the rich and laden with stories of how much they give, and the fact that the more they give the more they get. 
• Athletes and entertainers are paid lots of money for doing one thing well. Yet many of us try to do many different things often unsuccessfully. When will we learn the power of focus. 
• What do we gain from work? Do we work because we want to or because we have to? The difference in answer will assist in determining our attitudes towards our work. 
• Is it only about the money? Many people are going to work so numb nowadays, seldom giving any serious thought to their work unless they hear that it, work, is threatened with cessation. 
• Is owning a business better than working for someone? The answer for this all depends on you. I have met people who have been quite successful in both situations. Their success stems in a large part from their attitudes. 

Various people have different reasons as to why they should work. For the others who are unsure, identify why you do work, decide if this is what you want to do with regards to making your contribution. Then make the adjustments in your life to find your true calling. Once you've take these steps you'll be crystal clear in your mind as to why you should work. Today find your Why for Working! 

Opportunistic employment - A potential conflict of interest?!?!

There's a pattern developing among entities that are in businesses that require training. It is the behaviour that has the following steps:

• requesting proposals 
• trying to get the training provider to prepare a comprehensive document which outlines the elements of the training
• then trying to do the training themselves using the template that they would have received from the training provider and any additional information that would have been provided in the attempts to seal the deal. 

Often a poor job is done since the end user trainer does not have the benefit of the comprehensive information the bonafide trainer would have had. In many cases they are not suitably qualified on the subject area, but attempt to read and bluff their way through.

Is this value for money to the entity? In these economic times, more companies seem to want to adopt this approach and in so doing compound their already challenging situations. Keep reading as some may feel that I'll outline a procedure here, and you may be right, but it is not the one that you expect.

Trainers modify your sales techniques so that when you provide information within your proposals, you outline what you'll do, not how you'll do it. Too often, we feel that it's necessary to tell of the tasks required to do the job, when the true value's in the results. Once you follow this path it should reduce, if not eliminate this practice of people wanting to be opportunistic trainers when they are trying to supplement their income along with what they're getting from their job. It should reduce the potential for conflicts on interest.

This can be applied to a cross section of professions and is so rampant, it needs urgent address.