Quinton Douman If it has your ears and your eyes, then it has your attention. If it has your attention then it has your heart and if it has your heart it will surely have your voice, says MD of 2one2 Business Consulting ; personal development coach and a professional speaker Quinton Douman.  Currently, South Africans are being inundated with a barrage of negative messaging from a wide variety of sources and platforms, from news outlets to social media posts.  Anger, insecurity and fear breed anger, insecurity and fear. These three emotions are toxic to your success on any level and can destroy all the hard work that you have put into improving your life or your business; they push you into making defensive decisions rather than proactive ones, spreading the negativity to employees, contemporaries and even family members. However, if you choose to be anchored in voices and messaging that inspires hope and confidence, then your internal dialogue will reflect that, pr...

The ultimate reason for going into business is to make a profit, but this primary objective is often not effectively planned for by small business owners, says Standard Bank. The first step towards ensuring that you are building a profitable business is knowing your numbers. This needs to be followed up by active planning to make a profit. “Generally, many small business owners try and increase profitability by controlling costs. However, by cutting costs, one rarely adds more than 10% or 20% to the business’ bottom line. More time should be invested in income generation than reducing costs,” says Clive Pintusewitz, Head of Small Enterprises at Standard Bank. Building sustainable profits requires: • Generating business leads This means knowing where your leads are coming from and how many you currently have. The easiest way of finding this out is by simply asking customers where they heard about your business. Advertise your product or service in local media and create a ...