Invest in your Business

Many small / medium sized businesses are incorrectly set up. The thing is many of them try to short cut their way to success and it always comes back to get them at a later stage. Often that stage is when they seek external funding.

When going into business you need a few things from the outset. There will be listed below:

• Money - You will need funds to establish your business properly regardless of your strategy. Your business needs to be registered. Depending on the nature of your business, you will need a structure that limits your liability. They will be differences in your jurisdiction, but will serve similar purposes. Allocate some of your funds to seek sound legal counsel and establish your business on a proper footing. 
• Money is also needed for a business plan if you do not yet have one, they are not cheap; though when compared to the costs of not having one they are priceless. 
• Stationery, Office Equipment, Tools, Marketing Material, Other Assets necessary for your business. There's just no way to really shortcut this, if you have to borrow it more than twice, you need to purchase your own. Besides it is usually a tax deductible in most jurisdictions.
• Working capital - to facilitate operations including inventory, salaries and wages, and rental / purchase of a location.
• Support and access to funds - good relationship with your banks and close finance network which may comprise of family members and close friends. Especially necessary for quick turnarounds of various opportunities.
• A team - real or virtual; you need support. At the minimum, you will need the following and should secure their services or at the very least make contact to have representation for your business based on your agreed terms - an accountant, an attorney, business advisory (all aspects of operations), tax planning. Identify and work with a human resources professional, you would want to be compliant with the rules and regulations governing employment of staff and independent contractors. 

When you have these basics in place, you will have a better chance at succeeding in your venture. 

There's no room for Lazy...

Entrepreneurship, is NOT for the faint of heart. It's where you put everything on the line. The success or failure that you experience puts you in contact with your real self. Among the questions that flit through your mind, this one stands out; "Do I have what it takes to be a winner?"

Some people embarking on the journey say in an off handed manner that they want to be their own boss. Making their decisions and so on. The reality is that you are accountable and to more people than you initially realize. To mention a few:

• Yourself
• Your family
• Your customers 
• Your investors 
• Your supporters
• Your suppliers 
• Your various members of your public who are waiting to see if you are for real.

Often when you start up, you will be placed in the unfamiliar zone of loneliness. There's no longer a superior offering you instruction by way of orders or suggestions. The directions and instructions now originate with you. Have you thought them out well enough to recognize that they have far reaching impact on various aspects of your business? The decisions that you make wil; contribute to your success or failure. 

You're no longer entitled,,,,

• Paid vacation leave
• Getting paid for showing up for work 
• Vacations, if not carefully planned are never experienced
• The freedom of speech must now be tempered with the impact that it will cause
• Sick benefits, are you kidding me? Get into the work environment and forget about going to bed because you feel ill

The buck stops with you. It's no longer turn up, collect your paycheque, ensure the money's correct and then leave. You have to create the safe environment. In other words, the following is your responsibility:

• Creation of a safe, functional work environment
• Planning customer interactions so there's always steady revenue streams 
• Taking responsibility for minimizing expenses that are unnecessary
• Cash management and all that it entails - working capital, management of accounts payable / receivable, ensuring there's adequate stock / inventory 
• Meetings with investors, staff, prospects, clients, banks, accountants, and the list goes on. 

Everything that happens in your business will be a result  of the effort that you put in. To get to the stage of residual income, you have to work hard initially at the systems required to develop the active income. In instances where you don't know what you need to know, you will have to take classes / hire consultants / develop competent teams / research information. All of these areas require the investment of both time and money. 

Do you still want to be your own boss? Does this skeletal outline look like the part of the sacrifice you are willing to make? Understand this, when you are getting into business; read what I'm about to say at least ten (10) times so that it will sink in. THERE IS NO ROOM FOR LAZY! 

iLuv WoRk

There's something about work that excites and intrigues me; especially when it is exciting work. Sometimes when groups of us discuss business, invariably someone would ask, "What makes you want to get out of bed every morning?"

On the surface, it seems like a relatively easy question to address until you really look a little deeper. Many people go through life unhappy and unfulfilled since they never took the time to question themselves in this manner.

Here are ten (10) reasons why I love work:

1. I love the challenges that are presented to me daily within various situations, especially when I'm able to solve what others couldn't. 
2. The money isn't bad either, I can live if I plan carefully. 
3. It's my contribution to poverty alleviation, since I help others empower themselves economically and see them get on purpose about their lives. 
4. It's enjoyable to see people develop an idea and have it emerge into a thriving business from which they can support themselves and others. 
5. It's gratifying to negotiate successful deals for business ventures. 
6. Giving back through charitable serving is always a plus. 
7. It's great to be able to use technology to speed up the processes with which solutions can be provided.
8. Work is not limited to current geographic location. 
9. Effective planning within your work can make it easier to realize accomplishment. 
10. Helping businesses make profits so that they can successfully help more people through the expansion of their operations. 

Business Start Up - Observing the Nitty Gritty

Business Start Up, Entrepreneurship, Business Development Programs, and other such combinations of words are touted about in the media a lot nowadays. Especially in times of economic hardship and uncertainty of the economy, stifling taxation policies and limited access to actual funds make the entrepreneurs become overwhelmed.

Finding sound, proper, practical technical assistance is becoming a myth. Not making negative references to those qualified theoretically, and having little experience to truly guide an emerging / expanding business. But T/A programs are often underfunded, seeking to pay such reduced rates to those providers that they would rather do without the payments from these programs; which are often excessively late. The reasons for the late payments is another story.

In short, entrepreneurs and businesses seeking funding to expand their operations are between a rock and a hard place. The expanding trend is to take classes and enter competitions in hopes of winning the prize money to springboard your business. It seldom materialises.

So let's get real. What's going to get you to the money. Here's what is NOT working:

• A brilliant idea 
• You management team comprising of your family members 
• The fact that you're under funded with no access to collateral (There are no sympathies for the death of your business before it gets started.) 
• Your presentation of the business plan and countless slides 
• Your talking past the close when you don't realize what you're selling has already been sold. 
• Not realizing that your novel idea / concept is not really that unique. (Someone else pitched it just two candidates ahead of you) 
• Saying that you can sing better than Rihanna (Yes I've heard that countless time) Same as making better burgers than Chefette. (It's kind of in that category)
• Not knowing how you actually will make the money and from what channels; not to mention how much and within what time frames. 
• How will you present your service / product that people (your customers) would love and welcome. (I fired someone today that just didn't cut it.)

Here's what you need:

1. A clearly thought out and documented concept that conveys exactly what you'll be doing in as few words as possible without diluting the meaning of what is intended. It should be backed up numerically and be able to withstand cross examination confidently. Your operation should be immaculate and functional. [How will you make money sustainably and by doing what?]

Some resources that you need:

• Get professional help it's necessary
• Accounting
• Legal
• Business Advisory Services - Operations
• Access to highly liquid collateral - Funding 

Money's not everything, but it's right there with oxygen, if you don't have it you're going to miss it. (Zig Ziglar) 

If you don't have these things covered, don't get into business. Even when going to professional help, they won't take you seriously if they have to commit to your business more than you're willing to. 

Here's hoping that I'm not too controversial, but too many people are seeking to get into business totally unprepared. Have some great weeks ahead. 

Music in Business

While I'm not an expert in music, I know great music when I hear it. Not knowing the names of all the artistes was never something that bothered me. Just recently I realized that I was feeling quite bogged down with all the work that I had to do. So I did something that I hadn't done in so long that it was becoming rare; I put one some music I had on my computer, leaned back and closed my eyes for a while.

It wasn't to sleep, but then I realized that the classical music I was listening to had an invigorating effect on me. Wanting to get my assignment done, I turned on the noise cancelling feature on my headset and listened a bit more. The effect was something worth noting, answers to challenges I had just poured forth. I reached for my notepad (the original) and my pencil to begin noting down the thoughts that were coming to mind. The solutions came almost effortlessly.

After some time of listening to the classics I then switched to the reggae / dancehall genre. Here's what I found, the confidence to implement the programs I thought up grew within me. With all scenarios carefully thought out the best paths of implementation came about. Hmmmm, two different genre and with very different results. I then experimented with other genre to see that impact they would have and though my study was not a formal one, I found that the results were all different and brought gratification in different ways.

One thing was certain, as we get older, we have gotten too lazy, forgetting the steps that we took when younger when we acted as we couldn't fail. As we aged, we became conformist to our detriment. This caged thinking may have held us up, stopping us from accelerating to the success levels we desired in our youth.

Takeaways include: listen to music of all kinds with appreciation, dance when you can (it's exercise and cheaper than the gyms), the classics auger well for creativity and focus, reggae for boosting confidence, soca / calypso for lightening the mood and relieving stress, and R&B coupled with other genres for relaxation and environmental changes even if its only on a mental level. Gospel helps reconnect with our creator and provides grounding.

Don't neglect the importance of music in your life. It can very well help you find the rhythm that you have naturally, and perhaps buried. Reconnect with your dreams, goals, and mission for your lives. You owe it to yourselves remembering; music in life and certainly music in business.

The Teas ("ty's") of Business

In business, life most things in life there must be some element of governance. Nowadays, many are jumping onto the bandwagon of entrepreneurship with the mindset that they want to be their own boss. What needs to be asked is, have we counted the true cost of the elements that are needed for business? Have we looked at key ingredients that if not present, the business is doomed to failure.

This short, interactive article will look at not the teas, but the ty's of business. We will highlight them and briefly illustrate how they can be useful in business. The list can be extended as you deem fit, however this is the starting point to just quicken your thinking into considering which of these apply to your business and how you may adapt them to move your business forward. You will be able to identify your own "blend" of business.

Responsibility

Authority

Loyalty

Dependability

Accountability

There, I have hyperlinked them for you. On this occasion, you are going to look them up individually rather than me tell you their meaning. Why?

It's because if you're serious about business, you would want to be aware of the ingredients that go in and make your blend that's suitable for you, your staff, and your customers. Ponder on the next image and see:

• The various elements that affect your business
• How can you manage them with all that's going on?
• What are some of the decisions that you'll have to make and how will the affect the big / small picture of your business?
• Do you affect only the local situation where you are, or do your decisions have an international impact? Think in terms of all the "publics" you will serve. 
• Are you setting any trends / just following leads within the market?

Business is dynamic, interesting, exciting, risky, sometimes stressful, gratifying, and despite the myriad of emotions and experiences - good and bad that it presents, more people want to get into business.

For instance; I want to publicly thank those who created these images that I have used in this article. My imagination would not have allowed me to convey this message as clearly without these images that they developed and never knew that they would be of use for me. Their decision though having an initial local thought has international impact. I also liked learning about their services when I followed their links, since it sort of blends with what I do.

Think locally / Act globally is more than a cliche. It is a MUST. I hope to enjoy your "ty" [pun intended]. Wishing you the best!

Business Incubator Opportunities compliments BIDC

BIDC Accepting Applications For Incubator

Friday, February 20th, 2015

The Barbados Investment and Development Corporation is accepting new registrants for its Incubator facility.

Game-changing entrepreneurs who are desirous of accessing on-site business advice and support services for the purpose of getting their business ideas off and running in a cost-effective and nurturing environment are being urged to apply. Companies applying for placement in the Incubator must be three years old or less and must be registered or incorporated. Owners should have a business plan and be willing to accept mentorship and guidance.

The BIDC incubator facility is where start-up businesses are moulded into economically viable enterprises with the capacity to create employment and stimulate economic growth.  Facilities can accommodate businesses involved in services or light manufacturing. The incubator provides business counselling and a range of services to startup and growing companies to aid their development and sustainability.  In addition, Incubatees are offered:

• Affordable workspaces
• Access to business intelligence
• Local telephone, fax machine and photocopying services
• Computer and printer services with internet access
• Fully equipped conference room and training room
• Shared lunch rooms
• Mail box/ Business Address
• Building security
• Parking facilities

There are valuable benefits to be gained from being resident in the Incubator. There is the internal dynamics that are derived from businesses working together in a shared physical space with certain common services, the joint and cross-disciplinary learning that takes place, and the opportunity to form business networks and to make contacts which are vital to the launch of successful ventures.

Ryan Nurse
Business Development Officer

Barbados Investment & Development Corporation
P.O Box 1250, "Pelican House", Princess Alice Highway
Bridgetown, Barbados, BB11000 | www.bidc.com

T 246 426-2300 Ext. 8731 | C  246 836-3873

F  246 426-4635 | E rnurse@bidc.org