We love our business and that has a lot to do with our relationship and our passion for the work we do. However, running a business can be a lonely experience. It often involves having to make difficult decisions on your own, as the decisions may affect or directly relate to a business partner or because the buck stops with you. At times, you can feel that you have no one to turn to for advice and support.

We have found over the years, that the experience and guidance of a high calibre mentor can make the difference between success and failure. The following tips and thoughts will help you to decide if the time is right for you to find yourself a mentor, and help you to make the most of the mentoring experience. Continue reading →

Last week, Hank from MyInvestingBlog tagged me with the Lemonade Meme. I was delighted to be tagged. The idea is to write about a time when things went wrong and you somehow turned it into something good, a blessing.

My story happened about 9 years ago. Life was sweet, then. I was a part of a social/business community based on personal development. I had started public speaking a couple of years before and found I had a talent for it. I took every opportunity to speak and, before long, the opportunities were lining up… Continue reading →

Want to make a little extra money, get to see the back of your debt even quicker? Check out the Idea Cafe. There’s a ton of ideas and advice for starting an enterprise. Anything from a micro-business, for a few extra snowflakes to a full-on enterprise, creating an avalanche. You’ll find all sorts of help and people on hand to test out your ideas on. Need finance? You can learn all about that too.

I saw it for the first time today but I’ll be a regular visitor from now. There’s much for the experienced entrepreneur as well as the absolute beginner.

Last week’s exercise involved making the final choice for your first project. This entrepreneurial journey has been designed for adults and children to do together or separately with help and encouragement both ways. If you haven’t been following the series, last week’s post had all the exercises in it.

The Big Day has arrived - it’s time to make some money - not earn it, but make it! Like any act of creativity, making some money is immensely satisfying. Especially the first time. So, now you’ve chosen your product or service. You know where, how and to whom you are going to market it. Off we go! Now there are only two things between you and making money - action and your emotions… Continue reading →

In part one, we looked at making money by doing what makes your heart sing - combining the activity, environment and people you most enjoy, to find a project or idea to make a little extra money. That got the creative juices going for some, others needed more encouragement, so we took another step on this entrepreneurial journey by carrying a small amount of cash around for a week and asking how we could use it to make more. That began to give more shape to people’s ideas and practical projects emerged. Last week, the exercise was about adding value to something we could source. This series began as a way of introducing children to the basics of entrepreneurship and doing projects together as a family, preparing children for adulthood in a rapidly changing world… Continue reading →