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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More

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...

Read More