Be the best in what you do

9th June 2013

So today is my last blog for the week. I must say its been a good week in terms of learning more about becoming a future entrepreneur. This week i learnt the importance of networking, the importance of service delivery, the importance of your 20% spike that makes up a majority of your 80% spike and the importance if perusing an entrepreneurial future that comes from the heart.

Wanting to be an entrepreneur is very easy, anybody can wake up and decide to be an entrepreneur. However ability and luck are not the only factors that contribute to being a successful entrepreneur. These items can result in success, however i feel the success will be short term if as an entrepreneur you do not have the passion for it and it is not coming from the heart.

However passion alone will not lead to your success as an entrepreneur as well, that's when the use of your networks comes into action as well making sure that you position perusing that passion in the correct manor as well as ensuring that, while in the industry that are you are passionate about, your employees are translating what you stand for in the correct way to you customers. Having good will is one of the most important items of as a future entrepreneur.

So well thats all from me for this week, till we meet again in 6 weeks.

Tarisai xx

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Ensuring high service standards

8th June 2013

Today was a very slow day as entrepreneur. However the most important thing i learnt was that as an entrepreneur it is important to have a form of quality control as well as service levels that are expected within your company.

Today i went for dinner at a restaurant at the Canal Walk with family friends, but was however very disappointed with the service received. As a future entrepreneur i realised it is important to ensure that you are aware of the service that your employees are giving your clients, as this is a very important factor that affects the goodwill of your business.

At this restaurant the food was amazing however the service we received was below standard for a restaurant of its calibre and because of the bad service received the chances of going back to this restaurant again are slim, and the chances that i will let my friends and family know of the bad service given by this restaurant are high. The waiter who served us was rude and did not write down our orders which resulted in him bringing the wrong orders to us.

The saying the customer is king is an important as the customer plays an important role in positioning an image of your business in customers minds. Having control over the standards of service that is given by employees is important, and i feel as an entrepreneur you must ensure that these standards are being kept by all employees. Those who need assistance in certain areas must be provided with training and mentoring programs to assist them. These are all very important aspects to a business that are usually overseen as there is a saying that says the way in which your business is run as an entrepreneur is a reflection of who you are.

Till tomorrow

Tarisai xx

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Graduating as an entrepreneur

7th June 20-13

Today i attended my friends graduation ceremony at UCT. She graduated from her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Sociology. In the opening speech the deputy vice chancellor spoke about how the room was full of future leaders such as doctors, teachers, engineers, accountants, counsellors etc. he also spoke about how UCT teaches in the South African context however they also go further and teach beyond The South African context as well, as there are a lot of foreign students present at the university as well.

From his speech i realised that in life people have callings for different reasons. Students come to UCT to further their education however everyone has a common at the end of the day and that is to graduate. As entrepreneurs our common goal is to graduate from this course having completed all of the courses necessary to equip us to be successful entrepreneurs in the future. 

As an entrepreneur it is important to be equipped with knowledge that will assist with being an entrepreneur. This semester we were able to study such subjects such as business in context, entrepreneurial strategies, finance, marketing, genesis, effective people practices and business communication. These subjects allow us to grow in knowledge through theoretical and practical experience. This also allows us to compete this course and allow us to be in the position to graduate as an entrepreneur at the end of 2013, paving our way to being future successful entrepreneurs.  

Till tomorrow

Tarisai xx

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Networking

6th June 2013

As an aspiring entrepreneur i have learnt the importance of using the networks that you have in order to be successful. In speaking to a family friend who is  an entrepreneur I managed to get ideas from her and discuss possible ideas for careers to venture into next year after graduating from this diploma.  In having my conversation with her i realised that she had a lot of knowledge to share and a lot of advice in how to chose the right career path.

Our conversation was very informal as it was held in my apartment and it was not a planned meeting. We started talking about what my my plans were when i venture into the world as an entrepreneur next year, and she started telling me about her career as an entrepreneur and how it was that she got to where she was today. She owns a successful clothing factory in Zimbabwe that she started 23years ago and is still managing and finding ways to improve all the time.

From my time spent with my family friend i realised that networking as an entrepreneur should not only occur during scheduled meetings. Networking can occur any time in any place with the people you least expect in some cases. Networks may not be able to directly help you in becoming a successful entrepreneur, but they are able to link you to people they may know in the industry you would like to venture into or are in. The key lesson i learnt from today is don't be afraid to speak to people in the business industry and ask for advice and ask about how they got to were they are. In doing so you learn a lot that can assist you and they add to the 80% spike that contributes to your 20% spike.

Till tomorrow

Tarisai xx

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Reflection.. Your 20% Spike

5th June 2013

So today being my first official day of freedom, no 8am Business in Context class to wake up to, no tuts or lectures to attend i must say was the best feeling i've had in a long time. However it was also such a great feeling as it gave me time to reflect on my life as an entrepreneur.


As an entrepreneur you need to find your 20% spike and nurture it and grow it, as this 20% contributes a lot to your 80% as well as your success as an entrepreneur. This left me thinking about what my passion is and what i would want to focus my career as an entrepreneur. I then realized that recognizing your 20% spike is not as easy as one may think it is. I spent the whole day thinking about what my 20% spike is and still have not managed to come up with a clear answer.

Having ideas of what your 20% spike is as an entrepreneur is not the difficult part. I find the difficult part being choosing the correct 20% spike that you will be able to succeed at the most. The 20% spike that will result in allowing you to be innovative enough to create a blue ocean strategy and be a successful entrepreneur. Steve Job's, one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time's 20% spike i would say was his passion for perfection, and taking existing technological ideas and  making them his own. Richard Branson's 20% spike i would say was his passion for adventure and doing what had never been done before.

Spending personal time in getting to know yourself in order to get to know your 20% spike is important. As an entrepreneur before you embark on your road to success, ensure that you have taken time to get to know yourself thoroughly and have chosen your most appropriate 20% and not a pseudo 20% spike.

Till tomorrow, goodnight

Tarisai  

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Marketing... The end of the road..

4th May 2013

Today officially marks the end of exams. My first semester as an aspiring entrepreneur has been completed. I have many mixed feelings about this, happy that the first long walk to freedom is officially over, however sad that this means that we are that much closer to the end of the year, meaning that very soon it will be our time to head into the big world as well equipped entrepreneurs, which is a scary thought.

Looking back on the semester i can safely say that this course on entrepreneurship is not what i expected at all. At the start of this course i thought that entrepreneurship would be an easy course as it just involved enhancing your entrepreneurial skills and learning what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. However much to my surprise there are a lot more factors involved in becoming a successful entrepreneur. As one of our lecturers taught us, entrepreneurship comes from the heart. You cannot do anything you are not passionate about as an entrepreneur. This is also seen in the lives of successful entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs and Richard Branson.

Being a successful entrepreneur also stems from being proactive, having a clear vision and being timely. A successful entrepreneur also looks into ways of entering the market with blue ocean strategies instead of red ocean ones, in order to add value and have a competitive advantage. The importance of thinking and acting SMART is another key feature of being a successful entrepreneur.

These are all very small items that can easily be missed or not taken seriously by any entrepreneur, however play a huge role in shaping a successful entrepreneur. As stated in an Apple advert "it the crazy people who who think that they can change the world, who actually do". This statement is true and such lessons are lessons i never thought i would walk away with at the end of the first semester of this course.

Group work and learning how to function in the most effective and smart way as a group is also something i took for granted entering this course. However thus far i can safely say i have learnt a vast amount about how to deal with  certain group dynamics, and will only learn more in the semester to come. They say most learn by doing and in the case of becoming an entrepreneur thus far, i safely say the saying is true. One can only truly learn how to be an entrepreneur through being thrown into the   deep-end  as was done to us in this course. You can only really learn how to be en entrepreneur through experience, and i am ever so grateful for the experience that this course has given me thus far, and only hope to learn more valuable life lessons as an entrepreneur in the semester to come.

Thats all from me today..

Tarisai xx

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Sharing is caring...

Monday 3rd June

Hey there, so we meet again...

They say time flies when you're having fun, but in my case its been work work work. Well today was a bit of an eventful day. I wrote my Genesis Exam, so our course convener before the exam says "it's a hard exam to fail, because i'm in such a great mood, so just sit back and enjoy writing".. my first thought was please give me some of that energy sir, and while you're at it would you like to write my paper for me, since you're in such a great mood :))

Genesis is a course that focuses on our product, which right now is the Azura. It focuses on all of the aspects that go into product production as well as team dynamics, as we work as a team in all our Genesis work. One of the questions in the exam asked us what advice we would give next years Genesis students in terms if cake sale (our capital making event) and group building activities, while also drawing on examples from our own group. I found myself writing a lot, about how teams should be proactive, think and work SMART, and  engage in group activities outside of school before the tasks,to allow team members to get to know each other and what each team member enjoys, which can assist with allocating roles that members would be comfortable in. 

It was funny, because while i was writing my answers, (not that they are correct or anything) because in doing so i realised what a long way our group has come in becoming entrepreneurs and growing as a team, without even realising it. The metamorphosis can even been seen in the changes from cake sale 1 and cake sale 2 and the development of our product, the Azura. Though development has been a little slow due to exams, it was just very eye opening to see that not only have I grown and learnt a lot in such a short amount of time, but that I have experienced this not only as an individual, but also as part of a group of aspiring entrepreneurs like myself. Though it hasn't been all roses along the way it was just a very nice feeling knowing that we are growing in a way that we are after such a short period of time, able to already be offering advice to future budding entrepreneurs like ourselves. 

Well that was my biggest highlight for that day, that it sometimes takes being given the opportunity to share your knowledge with someone that allows you to see how much you actually know and have learnt. So the key lesson of today for any aspiring entrepreneurs, is don't be scared to share your knowledge with people.

Much love

Tarisai xx

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Final Takeaways for the Semester - Saturday/Sunday 1 & 2 June

Over the weekend we're preparing for our last two exams: Genesis and Marketing.

Genesis refers to the actual process we have been going through in setting up our businesses at university and the action-learning process.

The marketing exam is an overview of the mainstream theories and practices of modern day marketers.

The two seem to blend quite well.

What seems to be a marketing principle that we've learnt upon many occasions is the importance of the customer experience. The idea is to exceed customer expectations and delight them to the degree that they stay loyal to the brand, produce positive word-of-mouth messages and develop a relationship with the brand. One of the reasons why this is so important is due to the fact that the cost of acquiring a new customer is far greater than extending the lifetime relationship of those who have already been converted.

From the start of our Genesis activities, we have aimed to more than satisfy our customers at Cake Sale, and put in place the necessary steps to develop our customer relationships. We did this by collecting email addresses right from the beginning of the year and entering people into raffles when they bought from us. Now that our product launch day is getting close, we have a list of people who are familiar with us and will likely be interested in attending our launch on campus.

While it nice to see where we have implemented good practice, it is also good to reflect on where we could have improved and begin doing some of those things while we have the opportunity in the up-coming holidays. Most notably, I would say is getting to know each other as a group! This is crucial as whatever dynamic is in place will also mediate how stress is expressed and experienced by different members of the group when it shows up.

I look forward to these holidays and having one or two great 'jols' with my team! :)

Chat to you next blog-shift,
Craig

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Keeping Momentum - Friday 31 May

The onslaught of exams are finally over... for this week. The next wave starts again next Monday and Tuesday... and then freedom!.. For a little while.

It's important to remember during these periods of recovery and breathing out, that it is an opportunity to be well prepared for the final set of exams. Kind of like when two boxers are in a ring together, the general advise is to never show your opponent that you are tiring... keeping the psychological game up. I'm not sure if this metaphor applies well here, but it totally resonates for me right now!

It's definitely been a recurring lesson for me throughout this semester that we are all much more capable than we give ourselves credit. I can remember when I filled my calendar with all the deadlines for the semester, stood back, took it in all in, and started getting heart palpitations.

I didn't believe in myself. All of my past 'failures' and memories of late hand-ins came rushing back to me... I was projecting my past into my future, and assuming that I had not grown, could not grow, out of the struggles I had around time and task management.

While I admit that it still is something I strive to master, it is amazing to look back and reflect on how much was actually achieved, and reframe some of those limiting beliefs.

It is with this positive outlook and self-assurance that I wish to direct into these last few exams, as well as the semester ahead... Keep the momentum going, finish strong, and kick some ass!

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Synthesising the Collection of Entrepreneurial Strategies - 30 May

One of my favourite courses this semester has been Entrepreneurial Strategies. Here we looked at a collection of what our lecturer considered some of the best readings on business theory. We studied theories on strategy, creativity and even the lives of modern day entrepreneurs like Richard Branson and Steve Jobs.

While the course was full of interesting content, it never seemed like we had enough time to fully engage with the material as the program workload was just so intensive. Now that it is exams, it is the same story! There just is not enough time to read and study everything.

So in the name of entrepreneurship, we as a student body came together, worked SMART and summarised one or two readings each and uploaded them to Vula - a file-sharing platform provided by the university. This was truly a helpful exercise for me, as not only have I taken a short-cut approach to learning the content, but I'm considering reading the course pack over the holidays! It's that juicey.

We're encouraged to synthesise our own understanding of the theories we have learnt and to apply them to the life of Steve Jobs. I'll let you in on the distinct pattern I've noticed that informs how to achieve greatness in your lifetime...

I have drawn on Gladwell's theory of 10 000 hours until mastery of a discipline, Michael Porters theory of the comparative advantage of nations, and Blue Oceans Strategy. I would recommend reading up on those three things and applying them to the life of Steve Jobs, but I'll save you some time and tell you the end result of my discovery and how to apply it to your own life.

Step 1, gain 10 000 hours of mastery in the discipline in which you are most passionate. Step 2, find out what your nation has a comparative advantage in, and step 3, find a way to apply your discipline to that industry. The final key to doing step 3 right, is step 4, apply Blue Oceans Strategy to define your business and uniquely differentiate yourself by creating a 'blue ocean'.

Apply those steps and I'm sure you will succeed in having a major impact on your industry of choice!

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Business in Context - The Lense of Leadership - Wednesday 29 May

Yo yo yo, today we wrote one of the craziest exams! Business in context, yo it's the next step, in the evolution, of our constitutional exploration into leadership... I'm not a great rapper.

Seriously though, the course content was pretty cool. I quite enjoyed the section on transformational leadership and human needs.

Basically, it became apparent to me how given the current challenges we face as the human race (not breaking into another rap), such as climate change and political-economic instability, we need to be teaching young people the art of transformation leadership.

A transformational leader differs from the traditional stereotypical Hollywood leader, in that they lead from the back instead of the front. They empower others instead of being the source of power. They take time to understand people and their needs, and tailor the ultimate vision to cater for and meet these needs.

I personally feel interested in learning more about transformational leadership, applying it and teaching it to others in South Africa. I think that making these kinds of teachings available to more people (through the use of technology) is one of the strongest ways I feel inspired to contribute to the transformation of our society.

For now I would like to work on applying what I've learnt about leadership within our business, as well as leading myself effectively throughout the exam period and study well and productively!

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The End of Finance... And Beginning of Life! - Tuesday 28 May

Today we wrote the finance exam... Boy am I glad it's behind us!

I must say that I did learn a lot from the course, probably the most notable being the importance of budgeting. This allows for better control and planning of business activities and the setting of financial goals and targets for the period. It also showed me how the different departments of a business can come together in forecasting the amount that is expected to be spent.

I realised how importance of the above exercise as that is the current state of our business. We are grappling with forecasting our costs and ensuring that we follow an accurate budget

I am grateful that we have the opportunity to formally learn such concepts and then practically apply them to our business. However, I do wish I had more time to study! That being said, talk to you next time!

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The Calm Before the Storm - Monday 27 May

This Sergeant Craig Jaf. reporting for blogger duty. Exams are upon us, full force. We're experiencing heavy fire. We're expecting the first attack to take place tomorrow morning, Tuesday 28 May 08:00hr, the second on Wednesday 08:00hr and a final assault for the week on Thursday 12:30hr. We will fight them through the night and right through the day. We shall never surrender!

While our enemy is a clever foe, we have received reinforcements from an ally platoon in the Marketing program. One of their captains has experience fending off finance exam attacks, and offered to host a workshop over the weekend to prepare us.

I have been very impressed by the unity within the varying Management programs and the willingness to work side-by-side in these dark hours. We shall surely prevail!

On a brighter note, our squad member Riana is celebrating her day of birth today. Congratulations, soldier!

We're a little tougher than these guys...

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