Tag Archives: entrepreneur

Business Lessons from the NBA Finals

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I enjoy watching several sports, and I especially appreciate basketball for its fast-paced action. It’s quite entertaining to observe the highly competitive players battle with drive and determination for over 48 minutes, until one team achieves its ultimate objective of winning the game.

Recently, Game 6 of the 2013 NBA finals, which was fiercely contested by the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs, gave me much more than just vicarious pleasure. I was extremely inspired by the action, as I marvelled at the twists and turns of one of the finest games in basketball history.

As the game progressed along to its nail-biting conclusion, I realised that the setbacks and successes the teams had experienced provided several lessons that could be applied to the world of business. Here are some of the entrepreneurial insights that I gained from the NBA finals: Continue reading Business Lessons from the NBA Finals →

Food and your Finances

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Jamaicans definitely have a very special relationship with food. Our love of preparing and eating good food is culturally celebrated in poems, songs, wise sayings and folklore. Many people will travel far and wide just to partake in a fancy food festival or curry goat cook-up.

Food also has a major effect on our economy. Apart from the profits that food providers can make, other businesses can benefit from our fascination with food. If you’re planning an event and you want to encourage people to participate, just let it be known that free food will be available!

The benefits of the food industry

On the positive side, our country is experiencing a resurgence in the quantity and quality of food service professionals. When I was in school, over 20 years ago, it was not considered ambitious to take a home economics class, as you didn’t see how it could contribute to a lucrative career. Continue reading Food and your Finances →

More Money: Finding Earning Opportunities

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Most people will agree that having more money is essential, but many will admit that they don’t know where to find opportunities to earn from their own efforts. Our education system does not really put much emphasis on self-employment and entrepreneurship; so many graduates leave school with a dependence on external sources to generate an income.

Our columns for this month have been dedicated to helping you understand what you need to do to increase your earning potential by creating your own sources of income. If you are going to survive and succeed in these challenging economic times, you will need to focus a lot of your attention on making extra money in your spare time.

This week, let’s look at some simple strategies that can help you to identify and take advantage of various opportunities to create your own income. Continue reading More Money: Finding Earning Opportunities →

What does it take to earn more?

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Last week we looked at the importance of placing a value on your work effort. Most employees are constrained by the amount of money that their jobs will pay them, as their work value is dictated by someone else. To earn enough money to fulfil your goals, you need to create your own avenue of earning where you can determine the true worth of your work time.

Over the years, I have recognised that many persons only wish to have the end result of having more money, but are not really prepared to put in the necessary work to get it done. Before you can enjoy the fruits of success, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes to generate a consistent and worthwhile income source.

You must understand that positive changes will not occur in your life if you simply continue along the same pathway that you are on today. If you wish to generate additional funds to build your financial future instead of just living from pay cheque to pay cheque, you have to be willing to make some big sacrifices and do things differently. Continue reading What does it take to earn more? →

More Money: Use What You Have

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Patrick owned a small pharmacy that had been struggling in recent years. Rising overheads, declining sales and a burdensome debt situation were some of the factors that were crippling the cash flow and profitability of the business. Patrick was in a quandary – there wasn’t enough capital to either cease or continue operations.

To pay off long-standing bills and restock his store, Patrick tried to obtain additional financing, but his poor credit rating prevented him from getting another loan. In desperation, he decided that the only option to generate extra cash was to have a massive sale on most of the items that had been sitting in his establishment for a long time.

With little concern about the original cost of his ‘dead’ stock, Patrick slashed prices on all non-performing goods to J$1,000 and less. Then he put up sale signs and displayed some of the articles on a table outside the store. To his surprise, during the first week he made over J$40,000; and the increased traffic also boosted his sales of regularly-priced items in the store. Continue reading More Money: Use What You Have →

Sponsor Me, Please

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You may have vivid (and not-so-fond) childhood memories of being asked to take home a sponsorship form in support of a school fund-raising effort. Sometimes you were required to participate in a walkathon based on your pledges, but very often it was merely a symbolic effort to bring in cash from friends and family.

These promotions were usually quite successful in helping schools and other institutions to generate much-needed capital to carry out important projects. Sponsorships have been used to buy sporting supplies, send students on trips overseas, and even build auditoriums. Individuals can truly be powerful when they co-operate towards achieving a common goal.

One, one coco full basket

Recently, I received an e-mail that invited persons to sponsor the entrepreneurial efforts of a young lady who wished to publish a daily calendar featuring Jamaican proverbs. The link pointed to a website, Sponsume.com, where you could support the project either by giving US$5 in sponsorship or pre-ordering various quantities of the proposed item. Continue reading Sponsor Me, Please →

Business Lessons Gangnam Style

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Unless you have been living as a hermit for the past three months, (or just been really, really busy) you would have seen or at least heard of the music video Gangnam Style by South Korean artiste PSY. In a short time, this Internet phenomenon has captivated the hearts, minds and dance floors of millions of people around the world.

I got my first look at the popular dance moves while watching the ICC World Twenty20 cricket competition a few weeks ago. West Indian batsman Chris Gayle revealed snippets of the Gangnam Style during matches against Ireland and England, and then led the entire team in a spontaneous rendition as they celebrated their tournament win.

Intrigued about the origins of the dance, I checked online for more information, and was immediately captivated by the catchy tune found on YouTube. According to Wikipedia, Gangnam Style refers to a lifestyle associated with the Gangnam district in the capital city, Seoul, “where people are trendy, hip and exude a certain supposed class”. Continue reading Business Lessons Gangnam Style →

Business Lessons from Ben’ Down Market

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Recently, I travelled west to the parish of Trelawny, to find out more about the income-generating opportunities present in its capital town. A friend had told me of her success in selling some goods in a popular Wednesday sales venue in Falmouth, and I wanted to test the viability of a new product in the famed Ben’ Down Market.

As a resident of Kingston, I am sometimes guilty of thinking that the best economic activities take place in the first city. The reality is that there are many enterprising persons all across Jamaica who are creating wealth in a variety of ways. To learn more about what people were doing to make money in that side of the island, I decided to share market space with my colleague.

My adventure started off very early in the morning, as I was told that to secure a good spot we needed to be at the location by 5:00 am. The sun had not yet made an appearance when we arrived, but already there were dozens of persons working industriously in the bustling environs of the marketplace. Continue reading Business Lessons from Ben’ Down Market →

Business Lessons from Usain Bolt

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When Usain Bolt finished the 100 metres final of the 2012 London Olympics in a new meet record of 9.63 seconds, the eyes of millions of people were keenly watching his performance. With his brilliant accomplishment, the Jamaican sprint star demonstrated to his many fans around the world that he is indeed a legend in his own time.

In addition to his athletic prowess, I am inspired by Bolt for reasons outside of the sporting arena. After the 2009 Berlin World Athletics Championships, I reflected on some of the lessons that the sprinter could teach us about money. Discipline, self-belief and persistence were just some of Bolt’s habits that could also help us to achieve our personal and financial goals.

Bolt’s attitudes, actions and achievements continue to give us examples that are worthy of emulating. After watching him win another gold medal for Jamaica last Sunday, my thoughts turned to areas in his life that could educate and encourage entrepreneurs. Let’s look at some of the business lessons that we can learn from Bolt. Continue reading Business Lessons from Usain Bolt →

Money Mission: Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle

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In today’s economy, many consumer products are made to be disposable. Gone are the days when you could buy an item that could be used for several years or even passed down through generations.

It seems that some goods are designed to last for a specific time; once they have reached that point, an internal self-destruct feature is activated and they suddenly stop working.

Manufacturers recognise that one of the keys to sustainable profits is to create products that their customers will consume quickly and purchase again. So, even though their offerings are made to the highest standards and are built to last, some marketers will continually release new versions of their ‘must-have’ items to ensure that consumers discard the old for the new. Continue reading Money Mission: Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle →