A strategic business plan is a document that lays out your company’s goals and points the way forward for your business. These goals could range from developing new products and targeting new market segments to solving underlying organizational problems and adapting practices to prepare for the future of work. Creating a business strategy also helps to improve company performance by aligning stakeholders around a single vision, uncovering biased thinking, and ensuring that you have clear key performance indicators (KPIs) against which to measure progress.¹

This step-by-step guide to developing a better business strategy is a good place to start.

Questions to ask in developing a sound business strategy

Building a solid business plan starts with asking the right questions. These questions will help you analyze where your company currently stands, where you want it to go, and how you can get there. They also give you the opportunity to explore current trends in the market and understand where your business fits in. 

Before you start creating a business strategy, make sure to ask yourself:²

1. Where is your company now? Take stock of how your business is currently performing.
2. How did you get to this point? Explore what tactics, strategies, actions, and decisions have resulted in your current success or caused difficulties. 
3. Where do you want to go from here? Decide what goals you want the company to accomplish within the next three to five years. 
4. How do you get to where you want to be? What steps do you need to take to reach your goals, and how do you go about taking these steps?
5. What are the biggest challenges you’re facing? Uncover what problems you’ll have to solve to reach your goal, what internal and external threats you’re up against, and what your biggest obstacles will be.
6. Who is your target customer, and how has this changed? What are the needs and expectations of your current target market, and how have their beliefs, values, and behaviors evolved?³
7. How is your industry changing? Are there disruptive players or technologies influencing your position in the market?
8. What should the company start doing more of? Analyze how your company is currently running and get input from your team on what they think is working, what could be scaled up, and what needs to change.
9. How are you measuring progress? Decide on metrics to track progress towards your goals and put steps in place to ensure regular check-ins.
10. How do you best serve your team and shareholders? Think about your employees and investors, and make sure your business strategy aims to benefit everyone, not just your customers. 
11. What skills or resources do you need to achieve your goals? Your team may need to be upskilled, so consider how you can create a culture of learning in your organization to fill any gaps. Also, think about other resources you may require to reach your strategic objectives and whether you need to outsource additional support.

What tools and frameworks to use when creating a business strategy

You can use various frameworks and tools to develop a sound business strategy that drives the future growth of your company.

The tools you draw on are entirely up to you. Different tools work better for different plans, so make sure you use one that works best with the goals you have in mind, rather than trying to fit your company into all of these molds. 

Below are four of the most common frameworks and tools used for building a strategic business plan:

SWOT Analysis

SWOT is an internal analysis tool used in strategic planning to identify and highlight your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.⁴ Team members have a brainstorming session where each member creates a list for each aspect based on their research and experience. Once created, they rank their entries in terms of importance and use them as a basis for creating their development objectives, tactics, and strategy.⁵

Porter’s Five Forces Model

This tool looks at what’s going on outside of your business and the critical economic forces impacting the market. These forces include current competition in the industry, the potential of new entrants into the field, the power held by suppliers, the power of customers, and the threat of substitute products and services. Applying this analysis helps you understand your industry’s dynamics and establish your company’s competitive standing.⁶

Balanced Scorecard

A balanced scorecard is a fundamental tool in business planning and execution that allows you to set, achieve, and measure your goals, strategies, and initiatives. The scorecard was originally created because many companies had the habit of basing their strategic objectives on their financial performance alone instead of factoring in several different KPIs. It looks at four main areas when creating a business strategy:⁷

• Financial: Are you meeting your financial targets?
• Customers and stakeholders: Are your customers still enjoying your product, and are you still creating value for stakeholders?
• Internal business process: Is your company working efficiently, focusing on quality?
• Learning and growth: Are you providing a space for development in human capital, technology, and culture?

VMOST

Standing for Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics, you can use this tool to ensure that all business activities are aligned with your core vision. It helps to offer clarity and keep the focus of all stakeholders on the future direction of the company. After all, while your business might be hitting all your targets, you could be wasting time and effort if those outcomes aren’t aligned with your plans. The framework supports you in establishing where you see your company heading, what steps to take to carry out your vision, what your quantified goals are, what needs to be done on a higher level to achieve them, and what specific actions you should take to execute your plans.⁸

Develop critical business skills on this 10-week online certificate course

THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE (LSE)
MBA Essentials online certificate course

Steps to creating a business strategy

Now that you’ve identified internal and external factors influencing your organization and have decided on clear objectives, it’s time to create your strategic business plan. 

There are six main steps you need to take when developing this document:

1. Analyze where you stand

Using the questions and frameworks above, conduct a self-assessment to review your past and current performance. Be honest about where you stand in your market, and try to identify growth opportunities. Conduct internal and external audits to fully understand the marketplace, your strengths and weaknesses, and the competitive environment you’re operating in.⁹

2. Create a vision statement

A vision statement outlines the future direction of the business. This should ideally tie in with the company’s values and purpose – in fact, more and more top-performing organizations now recognize how critical purpose is to achieving success.¹⁰ The vision statement lays out the overall aim of your company and details what it wants to achieve in the long term.¹¹ This could range from product development to becoming a disruptor in your industry. 

3. Develop a mission statement

This statement focuses on the company’s what, who, and why. It outlines why a business exists (its primary function), what it does, who it aims to serve, how it creates value, and broadly speaking, its path to fulfilling its vision. In doing so, it helps to make the vision statement more tangible.¹²

4. Highlight strategic objectives

Set high-level short-term, medium-term, and long-term objectives and priorities for all business areas that can serve as milestones to hit on the path toward your vision.¹³ Make sure that each objective is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely),¹⁴ and consider factors such as budget requirements, KPIs, and resource allocation.

5. Make tactical plans

Translate your strategic objectives into more detailed short-term action plans for each business department. This will help you fulfill your strategy by laying out the operational details for how the work should be done so that all team members understand their roles.¹⁵

6. Review and measure

Strategic planning is an ongoing process that requires constant reassessment.¹⁶ It’s crucial to review your strategic business plan regularly to ensure your tactics are still relevant and that you’re still on track to reaching your goals within time and budget constraints.¹⁷ Check that those in charge are measuring the success of every tactic their teams use to ensure you’re moving in the right direction. 

Developing a good business strategy takes many hours of analysis and groundwork that shouldn’t be overlooked. It also requires sound strategic planning skills and a commitment to developing such competencies where they’re lacking. An online short course can be invaluable in this regard, helping to equip you with skills that you can apply immediately in any field to improve performance in your current role. With the right training, you can add value in a changing business landscape, safeguard your business against disruption, and effectively guide your team and company forward while delivering strategic impact. 

To help you in your quest to create a robust strategic plan, we’ve created a basic business strategy template for you to complete.

Download the template and let us walk you through the process of developing a comprehensive strategy document. One click and you’ll be on your way to setting your company off in the right direction. 

[DOWNLOAD BUSINESS STRATEGY TEMPLATE]

The post A Guide to Building a Better Business Strategy appeared first on GetSmarter Blog.

Women in the workplace has been the subject matter of academic studies, global surveys and corporate diversity schemes for decades. Yet, only 33 Fortune 500 CEOs are female – the highest number to date.¹ Nevertheless, the business advantage of women in executive positions has been proven both economically and culturally. Is digital transformation – where technology fundamentally changes the way businesses and industries operate² – the key to levelling the professional playing field? The trajectory of some of the most powerful women in tech suggests it could be.

In the US, women have earned the majority of college degrees, both at bachelor and more advanced levels, since the 1980s.³ As of the first quarter of 2019, women make up a greater percentage of the college-educated workforce – 50.2 per cent, up 11 per cent since 2000.⁴

However, the increased education level is not reflective of women’s acceleration into executive positions. PwC UK’s Women in Work Index 2019 acknowledged that women in positions of leadership are still underrepresented, and the gender pay gap still exists – but also highlighted positive changes such as a 20.2 per cent increase in female earnings in the UK since 2000.⁵ The financial benefits of female economic empowerment speaks volumes: the projected boost in GDP, for member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is $6 trillion and $2 trillion for improving female participation in the workplace, and closing the gender pay gap respectively.⁶

Women in tech: skills gap and digital transformation

Historically, automation has, on the whole, had a positive impact on women’s quality of life and economic empowerment.⁷ However, the current wave of technical automation and artificial intelligence (AI) could be a threat as there is a high concentration of women in lower and middle-skilled jobs that would be the first to be automated.⁸ That said, these technologies could also open up new opportunities as digital platforms offer a broader range of ways to upskill, or allow the possibility of working remotely. This could provide new or higher earnings and help balance work and home responsibilities. 

It is critical that women are better represented in information and technology fields and in management positions, as these are the types of roles that will not only survive digital transformation, but be the key to economic prosperity. 

A 2019 report by Silicon Valley Bank has found that only 56 per cent of startups have at least one woman in an executive position.⁹ And when it comes to having at least one female board member, it drops to just 40 per cent.¹⁰ Small steps towards addressing these disparities are being made – one in six tech startups have a framework for increasing the representation of women in leadership.¹¹

Programmes and policies aimed at nurturing female talent are necessary. The drop off of females in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) industries escalates along the progression of education, research and career development. In fact, it’s so common that it is known as the ‘leaky pipeline’ phenomenon.¹² Yet, this does not have to be the case and in some countries it’s not: In Lithuania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Portugal, Denmark, and Norway women outnumber men in science and engineering roles.¹³

A report by PwC has identified four key changes that need to happen in order to increase the number of women in tech:¹⁴

• Provide greater education on the role technology plays in shaping the world and how it can be used for good
• Show that a career in technology is within reach
• Increase the visibility of women already in the industry and promote them as role models
• Ensure that women in the industry reach their full potential

Their findings are not unique. Charles Kenny, a global expert in technology and development suggests that changing gender policy and social norms now, will ensure that all women benefit from the technological advances that will reshape the future of work and, in turn, leadership roles.¹⁵ It’s important that women already in executive roles champion the inclusion, promotion or hiring of other women instead of being ‘Onlys’ – the experience of being the only female in their department, level or organisation – to change the leadership of the future.

Women in the workplace: leadership effectiveness

A-typical career paths bring a unique skill set that can benefit organisations, especially as digitisation grows to affect and change every industry.¹⁶ Sheridan Ash, leader of the Women in Tech initiative at PwC, did not attend university until she was a single mother in her late 20s,¹⁷ eventually earning an MBA and working her way up the corporate ladder. Her unique career path has given her invaluable insight:

Research shows that the leadership style adopted by most female leaders helps build interpersonal relationships in the workplace. Leadership skills displayed by most women include effective communication, emotional intelligence and authenticity. As a result, the advantages of having women in executive positions include:

These findings all count towards, what researchers have dubbed, the ‘female leadership trust advantage’.²³ And it can give women in the corner office that competitive edge in times of crisis.²⁴

It is also proven that women-led organisations make financial sense. While venture capitalists spend 98 per cent of their capital investing in startups run by men,²⁵ data has shown that female-run startups offer a better investment:

Tech trailblazers: women who have led the way

The early days of tech were filled with female pioneers: Ada Lovelace is generally considered to be the first computer programmer, publishing the very first algorithm in the 19th century.²⁹ Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr invented frequency hopping method of transmitting radio signals that avoid detection and hacking, paving the way for WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth.³⁰ During the second world war, Grace Hopper lay the groundwork for programming languages with her work for the US navy.³¹ Katherine Johnson made history, and inspired the film Hidden Figures, as the first African-American women scientist at NASA in the 1950s.³²

Despite the current underrepresentation of women in STEM fields, there are a recognisable collective of female innovators and icons who are helping to change the face and styles of leadership in technology.

1. Sheryl Sandberg 

Best-selling author of Lean In and Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy. Sandberg has been COO at Facebook for more than a decade, leading the company from $56 million in losses to a $22.1 billion profit last year.³³ She has recently been in the firing line over Facebook’s data controversies and the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but has shown resilience in her fall from grace.

2. Susan Wojcicki

The current CEO of YouTube, Wojcicki rented out her garage for $1700 to Larry Page and Sergey Brin in the late 90s. She was the 16th employee to be hired at Google and advocated for the purchase of the video streaming platform that is now worth an estimated $90 billion.³⁵ One of her early marketing projects was Google Doodles³⁶ and drastically increased the company’s advertising revenue with AdSense.

3. Angela Ahrendts

The former senior vice president of retail at Apple, Ahrendts is currently on the board of Ralph Lauren and, as of May 2019, Airbnb as well.³⁸ While CEO at Burberry, she more than tripled the value of the fashion brand and was, at one point, the highest paid CEO in the UK.³⁹

4. Kimberly Bryant 

One of the few women of colour in the tech industry, Bryant has worked in STEM since the mid-80s, founding the pioneer non-profit organisation, Black Girls Code, and considered to be one of the 25 Most Influential African-Americans In Technology.⁴¹ Through Black Girls Code, her goal is to teach one million girls by 2040,⁴² which will go a long way in changing the gender, and racial, imbalance in STEM.

5. Gerri Martin-Flickinger 

The executive vice president and first-ever CTO at Starbucks, Martin-Flickinger is a key driver of tech adoption at the organisation. Her innovations have included mobile order and pay, and voice ordering.⁴⁴ She is vocal about making digital transformation work to improve the experience of customers and of the role tech plays at an organisation like Starbucks.

Leadership of the future: empowering women

The innovation and financial successes seen at many women-run startups show that women are taking the lead in the tech space.⁴⁶ However, there are definitive steps that need to be taken within the industry at large to ensure future empowerment. For young women, and girls, in the early stages of education and career development, the tech industry must be presented as a viable option. For women further along in their careers, there must be opportunities to upskill and adapt their strengths to move into the tech space. Ultimately, greater gender diversity benefits innovation and investment as much as it secures the economic future of women in the age of automation.

The post Women Disrupting the Future of Work appeared first on GetSmarter Blog.

Taking on more than one main job has gained popularity among millennials² in the past few years, with many working additional jobs to complement their salary, or as a way to help settle student debt. While taking on a side hustle is by no means a breeze, it can help you finally attain greater financial stability while consolidating a solid work ethic.

But does this automatically point to you taking on another job? Perhaps. There are so many good additional income opportunities available, with some even paying more than many day jobs.

What Side Hustles Are Out There?

One of the biggest problems people tend to have when deciding to take on a side hustle is finding one that fits into their lifestyle. Adzuna put together a listing of best-paying side hustles in South Africa at the moment, which offers enough flexibility so as not to interfere with the normal eight-to-five day job.

Granted, many of these roles come with strange working hours; however, many make it possible to choose your own hours. This makes it easier to fit the job around your lifestyle, not the other way around.

Following are listed part time jobs and salaries in South Africa, based on information shared by Adzuna, which is correct as of June 2018.

Become a Driver

• Typical income: R236, 843 per year
• Prerequisites: Varies by employer, but can include having use of your own car, valid driver’s license, and a private hire vehicle license, which is easily obtainable via registered bodies like Lyft.
• Main benefit: Incredibly flexible hours

Thanks in large part to businesses like Lyft and Uber, it’s never been easier to become a professional driver when it suits you. Work over weekends and evenings, and around your schedule, and earn a side income fit around your schedule.

Start a Cleaning Business

• Typical income: R207, 000 per year
• Prerequisites: No set prerequisites
• Main benefit: Easily shore up return business

There is always a demand for corporate cleaning services. Deliver a professional service at competitive rates, and you will enjoy return business, and reap the benefits of word-of-mouth referrals.

Become a Tutor

• Typical income: R183, 878 per year
• Prerequisites: Adequate knowledge in the subjects you’d like to tutor, preferably supported by a bachelor’s degree. Great organisational and communication skills, and teaching style.
• Main benefit: One of the best paying hourly rate part time jobs in South Africa.

Standard Bank Will Give You a R1 Million Salary to Work on your Side Hustle for a Year

The phenomenon of side-hustling in South Africa has become so much part of the mainstream that even established financial institutions are getting in on it. According to Business Insider³, Standard Bank is willing to pay someone a million-rand salary to help them pursue their side hustle full time.

The bank’s new campaign, My Fearless Next, wants to give budding entrepreneurs afraid of taking a leap of faith the financial security to take on their side hustles with confidence. The most promising side hustlers will be put through a bootcamp, with one contestant walking away with the chance to pursue their side hustle as their full time job. Those who don’t win the final prize still benefit from the bootcamp training, giving them skills that can be applied to their side hustles.

Pitfalls of Side Hustles

While the lure of an additional income in your spare time is enticing, there is also an underbelly of side hustling to be considered. Perhaps one of the biggest dangers of taking on a side hustle is the potential for it to place greater demands on your time than you’re able to give.

Be wary of adopting the “always on” mentality. If you don’t put clear boundaries in place that separate work from your downtime, you may end up working every waking hour of your day. This bleeds into several areas of life, across family time and even putting your day job in jeopardy. The additional income is tempting, but avoid allowing your side hustle to degrade your quality of life, or throw your life out of balance.

Lifelong Learning Can Help You Master the Side Hustle

Upskilling yourself can better position you to take on a new side hustle. Lifelong learning is becoming more and more popular among working professionals who realise that in order to stay agile and relevant in an ever-changing economy, they need to continuously upskill themselves.

You might already be set to turn your hobby into a side hustle without even realising it. If you’re good at taking photographs, taking a digital photography course can teach you the finer details of becoming a professional freelance photographer. If you love building websites and emails, or think you could be good at it, solidify your expertise with a web design and graphic design course.

At GetSmarter, we offer online short courses from the world’s leading universities in areas as diverse as project management, business and international relations, and artificial intelligence, among many others. We make learning flexible and adaptable to your schedule, and make it easier than ever to learn new skills that can help you in your career, or even taking on a new job.

Ready for a side hustle?

Gain a new skill

BROWSE OUR COURSES

The post The Rise Of The Side Hustle In South Africa appeared first on GetSmarter Blog.

Artificial intelligence, 3D printing, healthcare informatics, Hyperloop travel, robotics, blockchain, Bitcoin, self-driving cars, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things.

You might find yourself bombarded with several of these concepts in the space of one scroll through your newsfeed. In the back of your mind, you can almost hear your elders lamenting the relentless march of progress. But are these new-fangled inventions as disconnected as they appear to be?

IMPORTANT! Tony Seba of RethinkX describes some of the massive paradigm shifts that are headed our way: https://t.co/XT6ZIML5xL #paradigmshift #blockchain #disruptivetech #energy #solar #Tesla #autonomouscars #selfdrivingcars #ridesharing

— CryptoSunTsunami (@cryptosuntsu) March 6, 2018

Disruptive Tech as Market Evolution

All of these innovations fall under the umbrella of disruptive technology. Harvard Business School Professor Clay Christiansen coined this term in 1997, broadly defining new strategies and technological innovations that force companies to change their business model or risk falling into irrelevance.¹

Here’s #RT of some interesting #AI & DisruptiveTech #news from a trusted industry source brought to you by @TheIoTWarehouse: https://t.co/M7vF4Bwux8

— The IoT Warehouse (@TheIotWarehouse) March 7, 2018

While big companies are focused on sustaining their product by upgrading existing products and services to attract a higher price tag, disruptive innovators slip in the back door to create a new product which serves an overlooked gap in the market. From that foothold, they climb up the ladder to change the face of the established market.

A peek at your newsfeed is enough to give you a bird’s eye view of the changes that disruptive tech is bringing:

Healthcare

Property and Insurance

#DigitalTransformation Market is Growing By #DisruptiveTech – Forecasts 2018-2025 #IoT #blockchain #AI #insurtech MT @andi_staub#fintech
https://t.co/Hjt53inQ6y pic.twitter.com/FJtHj7UpxG

— Sebastien Meunier (@sbmeunier) March 14, 2018

Entrepreneurship

Cybersecurity

Ready to stake your claim in the future of disruptive tech?

Join the conversation.

The post Join The Conversation: Disruptive Tech appeared first on GetSmarter Blog.

Need some motivation to kick your business idea into high-gear? Rob and Sam Paddock, Co-Founders of the digital education company, GetSmarter, chatted to Matt Brown, Podcast Host, about their massive international acquisition, their struggles coming up with an idea that works, motivation, and more.

How do you feel about the R1.4 billion acquisition of GetSmarter?

Sam:

It’s a big number. The key for us is that its representative money, an easy way to reference the world and the underlying success of the business. It’s a very proud moment for all of us and a kind of a strengthening of the base of GetSmarter as it relates to our future potential.

Rob:

The point around the capability of South African entrepreneurs cannot be overstated. As South Africans, we are infinitely capable, and I think we don’t back ourselves enough. I think we need more stories like this, more success stories of South African companies winning on an international stage to kick our butts into gear, to realise we’ve got what it takes. A lot of what we lack is a mindset that we need to go after this. We believe we’re infinitely capable, and the acquisition stands as an indicator of what’s possible.

What was the pain you were going through when you decided to start GetSmarter?

Sam:

Two brothers, together with their mother and their father, set out to do something important. We did our best and we worked our butts off to get the very first customer, and that led to a win right at the start of our business journey which gave us the confidence.

There’s nothing quite like when your first project of four or five months comes off, which our first project was this Wine Evaluation course from Stellenbosch University, and you get that affirmation, that confirmation of what you’re doing – people will pay you for. I think that gave us the sense of self-belief to go and do it again, and we did it again, and again with other universities. And over time we built a meaningful business.

Was this your first experience in business?

Rob:

Sam and I have slightly different stories there. I was fortunate enough to be part of a company that was based in Cape Town, South Africa that then set up shop in London. I was fortunate enough to be part of that – in the trenches, in a startup getting the business off the ground in London. That wasn’t my business but I was very much involved.

Sam:

I’ve been trying to start businesses all my life and failing every moment of the way. I tried to sell Ninja Turtle stickers in grade three. And then in university, I tried to start a web design company in London. And then when I got back to South Africa I tried to compete with private property with a company called No Agents, and again it didn’t work. And then I was Co-Founder of GetWine in 2005, and then post Rob, my parents, and myself starting GetSmarter, we failed a lot.

We tried a lot of new things and subsequently started a professional education agency for corporates, in something called Hubble Studios. When the electricity crisis hit, we tried to create backup box generators for lights and TVs – disaster. And many things along the way which didn’t really work, to be clear. But I think it’s been a relentless pursuit of what sticks.

What would you say to entrepreneurs, listening and watching right now, about failure, and how to deal with failure?

Matt:

South African culture specifically and our association and the way we perceive failure – it’s not cool. But I think, the point I’m trying to explore is that it’s okay to fail. All those failures you had, you were learning how not to make decisions.

Rob:

I think it’s reasonably easy in theory or in principle to talk about failure and to talk about why it’s so important and how you should expect it and so on. It’s another to actually live through failure, and since we’ve started, we’ve launched a number of initiatives that have failed radically. And it’s hard, and it hits you to your core.

Coming back to the theoretical principles though, you can think about currency and the Rand or Dollar value of currency, you can also think about learning as a currency in itself. And I’ve found the subtle shift in mindset when thinking about learning as an actual currency that is something that builds over time in your life to soften the blow when the inevitable kind of ego hits happen. I have a mental model – building a learning bank account over time, which helps me to deal with how hard and how personally I take the challenges.

Sam:

The paradox of success that is built on failure. My wife’s just given birth to twins, and they constantly fail all the time, and they learn, and so they progress. I think a big question for me is do we have a healthy relationship with failure? Because it’s also not healthy to say I’m going to set out to fail, equally as it is unhealthy to try and desperately avoid failure – and so my sense is what’s kept up the object of a business is to survive like we always think of this thriving, no, it’s to survive.

The entrepreneurial audience will resonate with this, it is about survival and whereas it relates to survival you have to be a little paranoid about your risks and failing. I don’t want to fail – that doesn’t mean you don’t give yourself permission to fail and to manage yourself through it. Let’s understand that as we fail in the ordinary course of the day, and hopefully not catastrophic failures, like those are the seeds of progress. I think it’s about a healthy relationship with failure, one that has circling back to the failures understanding and extracting it for all this learning value, and then progressing.

What was the biggest crisis you’ve had, and what were the events leading up to it?

Rob:

We were working in an office across the road, Sam and I for a long time used to sit next to each other. However, we were not managing cash flow effectively. And we were in May, and we realised we weren’t going to be able to pay salaries in July, based on our current trajectory. And at that point, we probably had a hundred and twenty staff or so, and that was about one of the most panicked feelings I’ve ever had. You feel a sense of responsibility to your team members to keep this thing going, to pay their salaries. They’ve got responsibilities to meet themselves and the sense that we had not been paying enough attention and had gotten to the point where we might not even be able to pay salaries was probably one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life.

Thankfully, we went immediately into action mode and ran a massive early bird promotion campaign where students paid upfront for a particular course and they would be able to get a discount. And we managed to manage our cash flow just well enough to make sure that we got through that period. I think speaking to what was an obvious failure we made sure that we never got into that position. Failures aren’t much help if you don’t get into the details and diagnose exactly what it was that resulted in that failure and make sure you don’t do it again.

What would you say to entrepreneurs who’ve lost the shirts off their back and are a bit ambivalent now about reaching out for the stars and pursuing their dreams? What would you say to that person, and how do you get them to stand up again?

Rob:

This is very practical advice as opposed to a philosophical view. You know, often, we’re at the point in your late twenties, early thirties, you’ve got real responsibilities and managing your own cash situation and having that stress taken off the table helps you to make better decisions about your business. If you’re making decisions based on meeting short-term objectives again and again and just getting money in the bank, you’re likely to be setting yourself up for an ultimate business failure.

What I’ve seen work well is when people do part-time work which just sufficiently covers their expenses and start a business on the side. You don’t necessarily in the early stages need to dedicate yourself to it full time. Make sure your basic expenditure is taken care of by the reliable income stream that you have from regular work, and then start your business on the side. You’re going to work like hell in order to do that but there’s going to be sacrifice in order to actually start gaining sufficient traction with your business, to get it to the point where you can justify jumping in full-time.

What do you two disagree on, as brothers, and how do you go about making sure you have the right partner?

Sam:

What comes with brotherhood is a deep understanding of one another, and based on our upbringing (we were fortunate enough to have great folks) – trust. The challenges that occur are mainly archetypical, like you’ve got competitive issues between brothers. I think we had more of the right benefits and less of the wrong kind of attractions over time.

We saw a psychologist weekly, or bi-weekly, for some time when we were going through some harder times and just dedicating ourselves to aligning all the time. People have remarked over our business journey together how aligned we are, and that’s time and effort. It’s messy at times but you push through that and you get to the point.

Rob:

The situation as brothers is actually remarkably similar to just about every other relationship you have with any person who you significantly partner with – it’s the same work you need to put in. We work hard at it, and Sam speaks about that alignment, that alignment has come because of the hard work. The other thing that happens is that you spend enough time together and you start to train the way that you think and it gets easier.

So what I would say to entrepreneurs out there who are in the midst of trying to find each other and trying to find alignment with their partners – keep at it and work diligently on yourself, as much as you work on the relationship between yourselves is what ultimately will lead to some degree of success and the good news is that if it is a good match between the two people it does get easier. I’ve found that in our relationship we had to work a lot harder at it in the early stages, and as alignment, trust and familiarity has grown, it’s gotten easier.

Who is the first person that you hire?

Sam:

It’s probably one of the biggest challenges of self-funded startups – how do you scale your business given that it was just you to start? I think every situation is different, and depending on the needs of the business at any one time, the question is who’s going to do the work? If business is just people doing things, as you scale the things increase in size and now you need a range of people to do that work.

The question is, do you know who you are and what you’re good at, and how can you as quickly as possible employ and delegate tasks and projects to people who can do their work better than you? And the biggest challenge of that is like how do you scale in a way which takes into account constraint of your cash flow, of what work needs to be done when and can you work more than 14-18 hours a day? Who you employ and when you employ them is in relation to who you are and what you’re good at, and what you’re not good at because you want to employ people in the areas you’re not good at in relation to your cash flow and when you can afford them.

Then there’s the cultural piece which I think is probably the most important medium and longer-term consideration, which is will this person impact your culture, the way things get done at your business and the behaviours and values of your business? What happens in the early days is that the people who see the organisation’s culture have an outsized impact on everyone else’s culture because they bring with them ahead of time – the way things get done, and new people that come in adopt those same principles. So who you get, who your partner is is, who your employees are – if you get it right, you have an outsized impact, if you get it wrong you need to cut.

How do you go about finding your weaknesses?

Rob:

Well, I think there’s a couple of ways you might think about it, the one is the overarching development of a reflective practice on yourself and you might bring in people who are close to you. We had the benefit of each other from the outset, we’re able to be kind of bouncing boards for each other, hold up a mirror to each other on certain elements. So that was a distinct benefit that we had. But, you know those sorts of reflective processes can happen with mentors, they can happen with people that you bring into your life, close friends that sort of thing, who can help you give another perspective on what you’re doing well and where you might need to improve.

I have a sense that additional perspective is helpful, but the internal perspective, the internal honesty that you’re able to develop about yourself, it kind of comes from a learner-mindset that says I constantly need to learn, I need to figure out what I’m good at, what I need to improve on. We refer to the term often at GetSmarter – The New Professional.

The New Professional in the world of work that is looking to establish themselves in a constantly changing environment and to kind of constantly be pinpointing themselves relative to the work that needs to be done, and so do we at GetSmarter. We offer a range of short courses to help people upskill themselves in those areas where they are lacking. We offer a regular newsletter that people are able to subscribe to which gives them professional advice on how to deal with the new world of work.

I think that by developing this learner-mindset and becoming a New Professional, seeing this job of work being that it is constantly about your learning and your reflective practice, seeing what you’re good at, seeing what you’re not good at, where you need outsource, where you need to upskill yourself. I think you stand in good stead to make those individual decisions where it’s hard to say generally what those might be.

What is your experience in picking yourself up and carrying forward and pushing through that barrier you’re experiencing?

Sam:

I think entrepreneurship is not a be all and end all, and if you look at the stats, a lot of what makes entrepreneurs successful or the new enterprise and startups moving into hockey-stick territory successful, is timing. Which are stuff that we don’t always control and its well covered in Gladwell’s Outliers and how he thinks about Jobs and Gates and the way they succeeded because they were born at the right time, like into their computer space.

My point is that I think it’s much more about a very personal journey for the individual, what entrepreneurship has offered us – you get a full spectrum feeling of being alive by starting your own business and engaging with the great highs and the deep lows that accompany ultimate responsibility for something. Probably not too dissimilar to that of parenting, although I’m a new parent, and I feel like that’s something which I’m experiencing now as well – the deep highs and lows.

The entrepreneurial mindset is about creating something without regard for resources currently controlled, that’s a scary space to be, with huge reward if you get it right. And without being labeled as an entrepreneur, you can engage in entrepreneurial-like behaviour.

Rob:

I think I would give a very practical point which is that managing your own energy and this is a particular queue for me right now because I haven’t been doing it recently, couldn’t be more important. If you’re fundamentally coming off a low base, and when I’m talking about a low base – it’s physically, energetically, mentally, you’ve been grafting for 14-18 hours every day, you’re not sleeping, you’re stressed out your eyeballs. It’s tough to just take a knock and be like I’m just going to motivate myself and get back on track.

My question to entrepreneurs out there, and this is different for everyone, what are you doing to manage your energy, what are you doing to make sure your health is in good order, your closest relationships are in good order? Those form the foundation on which you build your entrepreneurial activity on top of. When you’re coming off a strong base you’re much better equipped to deal with the changes that inevitably come your way in entrepreneurship.

Watch the full interview.

Take control of your future and start working towards your business goals today.

BROWSE SHORT COURSES

The post Interview with Rob and Sam Paddock, Co-Founders of GetSmarter appeared first on GetSmarter Blog.

Born to a family of entrepreneurs, business has always been in Lindy Scott’s blood. Her creative passion, however, is a streak she nurtured from a young age. “As a child, I was always interested in creativity and always needed stimulation and to have fun. My mom shares stories about how I would never sleep as I was too scared to be missing out on the action.”

Lindy’s love of creativity led her to pursue a degree in Fine Art at the University of the Witwatersrand, but her passion for business never wavered, and she poured her creativity into innovative new business strategies. “I was interested in the process of collaboration and how creativity could be used in business. I have always been fascinated and drawn towards working with people. During university, I used to run family holiday programmes for a hotel and one could say this was the foundation of my career. Creativity and fun have been key aspects of my career to date.”

Designing a Business Blueprint

In 2012, Lindy Scott took up an internship in Belgium with international teambuilding company Hercules Trophy. This introduction to a creative business model – and the mentorship of founders Yves Vekemans and Inge Van Belle – sparked an idea with Lindy. Upon her return to South Africa, she founded Conceptual Eyes. Over the past five years, the business has grown to become one of the leading business management consulting agencies focusing on creative strategies for internal communication and employee engagement in corporate spaces.

“Companies spend so much money on marketing and advertising, but often forget about the workforce employed who actually have to implement what is communicated to the outside world. This is where we come in. We focus on ensuring that the entire team is aligned, ensuring that employees know what to expect or deliver. These employees then build the business outwards.”

Lindy Scott’s shareholders tell her she’s been subconsciously building this business since she was seven years old. “I knew that I wanted to work with people, I knew that I wanted to have a creative job but during my youth I didn’t know that it was possible to build a business like Conceptual Eyes.”

Building the Plane

Lindy Scott had no shortage of vision for the future of Conceptual Eyes, but found herself lacking some of the practical skills needed to propel the business forward. Frustrated with her limited understanding in financial strategies and how this stunted her communications with clients, she registered for the Introduction to Financial Management online short course in 2016. “Knowing that my team were all creative and not exposed to the jargon or acronyms of the financial sector I knew it was important to upskill myself.”

She followed these up with the GetSmarter Corporate Strategy and Occupational Health and Safety courses, and Lindy says each course has helped her to achieve different goals.

“Each client we work with faces different challenges, and often the scope of work we need to bring to life is niche to a specific business or industry. I have found that upskilling and constantly learning has given us an accelerated growth to be able to handle more complex and diverse projects for our clients.”

For Lindy, learning on the job is key to business success. She advises aspiring entrepreneurs to start their businesses first, then learn as they build, through on-the-ground experience, short courses, and conferences. “Studying full time has its place for some careers, but in today’s fast and forever changing economy you need to keep informed and short courses was the best solution for me. The common analogy of building the plane while it’s flying is something I have found to have worked well while building my business. You need to trust yourself and start.”

Creativity Saves Lives

Lindy’s passion for her business has paid off. She was nominated in the Sanlam Top 15 Entrepreneurs of the Year in 2017, and she has big plans for the future as Conceptual Eyes expands their footprint across Africa. “I see myself leading creative teams across the continent and having our Health and Safety Campaigns rolled out across Africa. I am passionate about ‘creativity saving lives’.” She highlights the GetSmarter Women in Leadership and Project Management online short courses as being next on her list.

“Studying will always open your mind so if given the opportunity to study while working, I would always suggest that you embrace the challenge.”

What skills do you need next?

Discover your next challenge.

BROWSE ALL COURSES

The post Meet The Entrepreneur Who Made A Business Out Of Creativity appeared first on GetSmarter Blog.

On this list was one of history’s most infamous companies, Kodak, who at its most successful point captured 90% of the film market in the United States.² Kodak went from booming to bankrupt. The reason? A total lack of change management.

It is believed Kodak failed dismally due to their boycotting of the digital industry. But what many don’t know is Kodak was the first company to invent a digital camera back in 1975.³ Kodak’s problems fell more within the inner workings of the organisation. Instead of embracing the new marketplace, Kodak held back due to a fear of change. Sony and Canon came sweeping in with their digital photography, and the rest is history.⁴

The future of change management: accessibility, simplification and customised tools

Change management is the discipline that guides how individuals are prepared, equipped and supported to successfully adopt change to drive organisational success and outcomes. One of the greatest reasons big corporates fail to create effective change is due not to stagnancy, but rather the inability to act appropriately. Managers will often have one of the following two responses instead of actively and collectively pursuing change:

1. Privately think, explore and debate the need for change for a long period and then launch into the initiative, forgetting others haven’t been a part of the discussions from the get-go.
2. Boycott or become resistant to the project altogether due to lack of knowledge about change management.

Although the discipline of change management has been around since pre-1990s, a top trend expected for 2018 is the formalisation and maturation of change management, with the inclusion of online communication tools, computer-based training, and gamification of learning.⁵ However, without all stakeholders on board, your change management strategy will fail; in fact, 70% of change management initiatives do.⁶ The success of your change management approach depends on persuading every individual in the company it’s time to change the way they work.

How to effectively implement change management within your company

1) Create a change climate

It’s been predicted companies will recognise change management as a “key organisational differentiator” by the year 2018 as they begin to feel the pressure to become more resilient and take a proactive stance towards customer and market trends.⁷ The movement towards accepting that change is a necessary component of any business will ensure a climate for change is created before attempting to implement any change strategy. Employees will be prepared and constant change will not cause disruption, but rather form a part of everyday life in the workplace.

Follow these steps to create a case for change within your organisation:⁸

• Create and update your vision: always have an idea of where the company is going – whether you’re CEO or the most recent employee, it’s essential to know the company’s reason for existence from the beginning and understand that this vision will continually be updated.
• Complete involvement: include every person in the company from the beginning so everyone understands the need for continual change, ensuring no one will be surprised when it is implemented.
• Vary your communication: hold regular company-wide meetings, face-to-face check-ins and create videos explaining the current status of the company and where you plan to take it, considering every individual’s feedback along the way.

2) Convince your stakeholders

When a change management plan is first announced, all those involved will have their concerns. The number one reason change management plans fail is due to the majority not being involved in the planning from the beginning, and then expecting to suddenly implement change without warning.⁹

Every change initiative takes time.

New Directions Consulting describes how most change initiatives will fail because the purpose behind the change has not been communicated to all stakeholders, with only managers knowing the reason behind the change management plan: “We suggest that every manager be able to articulate the case for change in a 2-minute ‘elevator speech’ – a 2-minute dynamic summary for why the change is an imperative that can be communicated in the time it takes to ride the elevator with someone who is challenging the change initiative.”¹⁰

3) Preparation before creation

CEOs and entrepreneurs now have the opportunity to embrace inevitable and necessary change within the business instead of fearing it. However, before embarking on complex performance-improvement programs, it’s essential to determine the extent of change required to achieve desired business outcomes. The quickest way to save on both costs and time is to simplify tasks before creating an implementation plan. The content of change management is relatively acceptable, but the managerial capacity to implement the plan is underdeveloped.  Many companies outsource specialists or consultants instead of strengthening their managers’ knowledge and abilities in change management.¹¹ This leads to employees growing cynical when change is announced, due to failed change management initiatives of the past.

Businesses will do well to train their current employees by sending them on change management training or aiding them in the completion of change management online short courses. It’s essential to understand the approaches, models, and tools that can be applied to various change contexts, organisations, and situations, before attempting change within your organisation.

The business that can anticipate and address change proactively is the one more likely to remain competitive and relevant.

Leverage the one thing you can truly count on – change.

Download a course prospectus today and register for the Change Management online short course

REGISTER NOW

The post The Number One Reason Good Companies Go Bad appeared first on GetSmarter Blog.

This Guide is designed to help you become recognised in 2018 and achieve the following three key priorities:

1. Embrace the new career economy: learn how to stay relevant amidst technological transformation.Think artificial intelligence, Bitcoin, self-driving cars, big data, and drones.
2. Pay attention to career predictions: be prepared for the future of work. Think the old versus new economy, the relevance of your current skill set, and jobs that haven’t been created yet.
3. Have future-focused career goals: Create your steps for success. Think learning new skills for success, growth hacking your career, and seeing your skill set as a commodity.

By downloading the New Professional’s Career Guide, you’ll discover the ways in which your ambitions can be recognised in 2018. What are you waiting for?

The post The New Professional’s 2018 Career Guide appeared first on GetSmarter Blog.

Out of the top ten people on last year’s Forbes 400 list, seven of them founded and built the businesses that made them as successful and wealthy as they are today.¹ This is where starting a business could take you.

The first step to achieving growth as an Entrepreneur is having a unique business concept, but that’s just the start. In order to realise the potential of your startup idea, you’ll need to be able to build an effective, efficient business around you, meaning you need to be a Project Manager, strategist, people manager and business analyst all in one.

Related content: How To Go From Startup To Global In 8 Years

What are the key responsibilities of an Entrepreneur?

A foolproof way to learn how to be a successful Entrepreneur is to look at the mistakes of startups that have failed before you. Many small businesses fail in their formative years, with almost 45% of companies closing their doors within five years of opening them.²

Leading causes of startup failure are:

• Not solving a true market problem
• Running out of capital
• Hiring the wrong team
• Getting outplayed by competitors
• Pricing your product or service incorrectly

In order to ensure your startup succeeds, you’d need to be confident in your ability to deal with the responsibilities that entrepreneurship requires of you. Your skills and tools would need to evolve to serve your market niche and help you develop a sustainable business plan to fill your gap.

Meet two GetSmarter Past Students and Entrepreneurs

Shannon Smuts

One of the key skills that Pure Good Food owner, Shannon Smuts, identified early on in her career journey was the need to understand her business’s finances and not outsource the responsibility to a third party.

“Understanding your companies cash flow is hands down the most important skill any entrepreneur should possess.”

By learning skills like cost and management accounting, you’ll be able to understand which future ventures are profitable, which opportunities should be turned down, and what you need to consider to ensure sustainability in starting a business.

Ashleigh Battle

For the owner of The Lot and Third Eye Wear, Ashleigh Battle, the solution to stay ahead in the competitive retail and property industry was to study the University of Cape Town Property Development and Investment online short course.

“I believe that, due to rapid urbanisation in emerging markets, being able to collaborate as a developer, whether it’s with community, government or other industries, will become more and more important.”

By focusing on developing your property expertise, you’ll be able to make decisions on potential business investment opportunities, learn to effectively conduct property management, and set yourself apart as a property entrepreneur.

Other key responsibilities of an Entrepreneur include making an impact in the following three areas:

Related content: How To Build A Strong Business Network

What is the career path of an Entrepreneur?

When pursuing a career in entrepreneurship, you have the ability to choose your own career path. You could be both the founder and CEO of your company, such as Bill Gates of Microsoft. You could choose to start a business and then find a CEO to run it for you, like Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp did in the early days of Uber. You could also follow in the footsteps of Forbes 400 #3, Warren Buffett, and fund multiple startups with other investors, acting as stakeholders in those companies while their values grow.

The self-made entrepreneurs featured on the Forbes 400 2016 list are worth a total of $1.6 trillion, with 35% of that net worth being found in technology companies and 25% found in finance and investment businesses. Other notable industries include media and entertainment, fashion and retail, real estate and energy.³

The question is: which is the best industry to start a business in?

• Tech
• Finance and investments
• Media and entertainment
• Fashion and retail
• Real estate
• Energy

What is the potential salary for an Entrepreneur?

No two entrepreneurs experience the same business process, meaning no two entrepreneurs have comparable salaries. Your salary is entirely up to the decisions you make and how well your startup performs.

To figure out what you should be paying yourself, you need to look at your business’s revenue and your personal needs and make a decision about what you deserve to get paid.

Make use of pay information sites like Salary, Glassdoor and Payscale to compare your pay to people in similar positions and locations to ensure you pay yourself what you deserve. If the business can’t afford to pay you after deducting operating costs, hold off on your salary but consider marking it as a debt the company owes you, to be paid in the future.

What are the education and training requirements for an Entrepreneur?

Depending on the industry you wish to enter into or the type of product you wish to offer, you could require anything from a college certificate or a Bachelor’s Degree to a Doctorate and multiple certifications.

This is why Entrepreneur, Shannon Smuts believes online business courses are the best option for Entrepreneurs looking to achieve real-time business goals.

Jeff Bezos held a Bachelor of Science from Princeton when he started Amazon.com, while Bill Gates didn’t even finish his studies at Harvard before dropping out in his second year to start Microsoft.

No matter your level of education of qualification, there are key skills you need to be a successful entrepreneur:

• Business strategy
• Business management
• Project management
• Commercial law
• Cost and management accounting

Which skills do you need next?  

Download a course prospectus to find out how one of these online short courses can help you become an Entrepreneur.

¹ Forbes
² BLS
³ Forbes

The post How To Become An Entrepreneur appeared first on GetSmarter Blog.

Entrepreneur and business owner Ashleigh Battle, founder and owner of The Lot and Third Eye Wear, is currently studying the University of Cape Town Property Development and Investment online short course and has been chosen as our Notable Achiever for maintaining a high standard throughout the course.

Her Success Manager nominated Ashleigh due to her consistent performance on the course. Despite the ongoing demands of running and owning her own businesses, Ashleigh managed to maintain a high level of quality on her assignment submissions.

Have you studied an online short course before?

This is the first time I’ve studied online.

Why did you decide to take this course? What did you want to gain from this course?

I took the course to formalise my interest in property development and to gain a deeper and more structured understanding of the industry.

What is it like learning online with GetSmarter?

Learning with GetSmarter has been a very rewarding experience. I’ve managed to fit it into my extremely busy life with relative ease – probably because of how well structured the modules are. From the start of the course I’ve know what is expected of me and when, making studying and assignment submissions easy to plan for.

What were your concerns before enrolling on this course, and how were these alleviated?

My concerns were mostly around time management. Having each module broken down into units with corresponding time allocations has meant that I know in advance what my weekly time commitment looks like and how to fit those units into my daily schedule.

How do you plan to use the skills you learn on this course in your career?

I’ve already started using the skills I’ve learnt in several business plans I’m working on and a current property project.

What does it mean to you to earn a UCT certificate?

It’s a great honour having a certificate of accomplishment and especially when it’s from the number one University in Africa. It will be a proud reminder of my success in this endeavor.

Will you be hanging it up? If so, where?

I have a place ready for it in my office. I think it’s important to have visual reminders in your creative space of both future goals and past accomplishments. You can be proud and humble at the same time.

What is one of your favourite articles on the GetSmarter Career Advice blog?

I recently read “The Difference Between Power And Influence”. In order to engage others in business, you need to be fully engaged yourself. I found this article captured the essence of that concept well.

What is your favourite module in the course so far?

Module 4 on Property Cash Flow and Income was probably one of my favourites. I struggled with it at the time because it was the subject matter I was most unfamiliar with, but received 100% for my submission and felt a great sense of accomplishment.

What advice can you give to others looking to do this course?

Sign up for the next course. There’s no ideal time to take on more responsibility but whether you do or don’t, the same amount of time will pass regardless – just in one version you will have bettered yourself.

In your industry, what are the top three skills or talents that you believe are going to be most critical for success over the next 5 to 10 years?

I think that technology, innovation and sustainability will be key drivers for the industry. I also believe that, due to rapid urbanisation in emerging markets, being able to collaborate as a developer, whether it’s with community, government or other developers, will become more and more important.

With urbanisation, society is moving into smaller spaces in closer proximity to each other and we need to find a way to create greater harmony, sustainability and productivity within new limitations.

Want to accelerate your career and stand out as a GetSmarter Notable Achiever?

TELL ME MORE

The post Meet Ashleigh Battle | Notable Achiever appeared first on GetSmarter Blog.