Networking 101 - Ask for Referrals

Networking 101

Ask for referrals

By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC. February 2010

In his article entitled “Not Getting The Referrals You Want . . . Then It’s All Your Fault”, Dr Ivan Misner, puts the blame squarely at your feet and quite honestly I agree with him.

One of the first and most important things that you have to do when expecting people to refer you is . . . .  to ask them, and not just once either, keep on asking or make sure that people remember you or that you are the first person who comes to mind when they encounter or engage with someone who needs suppliers of your particular product and/or service.  Do this by meeting with them at any other Networking meeting that you may end up both attending, or keep in contact by means of a newsletter, or phone them, or refer someone to them, or meet them for coffee to catch up.  Doesn’t matter what you do, just ensure that they are reminded frequently, that you are still around and that you are ready to do business or add value to their ‘circle of influence’.

Make sure that people in your Network know that you take in an interest in their wellbeing and that you are not just interested in them for supplying referrals for your well being.  Pass on snippets of useful information or ideas or introduce them to people who may be able to assist them or do business with them,

Secondly, it’s no good asking people to refer business to you if they are not sure about what it is that you do.  They need to know what your business is all about, they need to understand, at the very least, the fundamentals of what you sell, be it product and/or service.  They need to understand how your business can make a difference in the lives of others.  Be careful not to give them too much ‘technical’ information at once but rather give out ‘bite’ sized bits of information that is easy to understand.  Don’t forget to let them know about any new or additional products and/or services that you add to your business, as you add them.  This will also help you to ‘keep in touch’ with them and keep them excited about what it is that you do.

Horror of horrors, if the person that has been referred to you has only used you once and then you have never heard from them again  . . . .  perhaps it is not because they are fickle, perhaps you should be looking inwards at yourself.  Did you close the sale properly?  Did you deliver and also important, did you deliver on time?

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za  or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Business Tips - Planning to Succeed - Part 2

BUSINESS TIPS – Planning to Succeed – PART 2


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC December 2011

Following on from last time, let’s look at some of the other guidelines that can be used by SMME’s to plan for the success of their business.

Organizational Chart

Contrary to popular belief, an organizational chart is not just about knowing which staff report into which departments or which individuals head up the various departments.  Having a proper organizational chart makes it that much easier for business owners to see or visualize the company with all its various divisions and compartments.

This in turn makes it easier to put strategy and infrastructure in place and it will also allow business owners to respond to changing markets, trends and opportunity, a lot faster and more effectively.  Having a plan or chart clearly visible has a great impact – much more than something that is merely a thought or an idea and that is kept only in the mind.

The organizational chart also means that intensions are clear and well defined and this makes it a lot easier to communicate these intentions to your staff.

Positional Contracts

Although all the staff need to have their own contracts – having contracts that are specific to a position is always a good thing.  Apart from the fact that the staff member concerned will be under no misconception about what their role in the company is, the business owner also gets to define that particular role and make their expectations clear.

The easiest way for me (and I suspect that this is standard practice) is to start at the top of the organizational chart and work your way downwards.

Remember of course to have the list of requirements for each task readily at hand and make sure that your expectations and requirements are clear.

KPI’s

KPI’s of course are “Key Performance Indicators” and they are how the performance of the staff member is to be measured.  Remember the old adage “If you can’t measure it you can’t manage it?” Well here’s the thing – it’s true and the best way to set those measurements and implement them is in the KPI’s or job descriptions.  That way, as the business owner, your intention is made clear from the start and the consequences of not meeting your expectation is also documented.

Just make sure though, that when you hire someone for a position that they are capable of performing the required task or you will be responsible for setting them up for failure.  The days of hiring someone because they had cute dimples or because they had long gorgeous legs and then dismissing them at some stage because you discovered that the work was not being done, are no longer here.  You, as the business owner also have a responsibility for ensuring that the person you hire is qualified and/or capable of doing the work.

How-to Manuals

It is of the utmost importance – most especially if you have staff – to document ‘how to’. Ensuring that your staff all complete tasks in the same way will ensure that things get done properly and consistently and will also provide you with something to measure their performance by.

Actually if the truth be told, even if you don’t have staff, having checklists for yourself for all the tasks that you perform will ensure that you don’t forget to do things when you are interrupted by the phone and/or a client.

Documenting your ‘how-to’ will also remove all sorts of emotional issues like (but not limited to) “but I thought you meant” or “I thought I would do it like this today” or my personal favorite “But I always do it like this!” Instructions that are simple and clear provide the groundwork for work that is correctly and timeously performed, leaving little room for error and oversight.

So, there you have it – the basic plans that you should have in place as you venture out into the world of Business Owner.

Don’t forget to check your plans and goals on a regular basis though – not only to see that you are still going in the right direction, but also to ‘tick off’ your accomplishments as and when you realize them.  Then of course there are always the little ‘tweaks’ that need to be done as you change direction due to market trends and legislational requirements.

Good luck on your new venture and don’t forget to have fun along the way.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Motivation - Defects & Strengths

MOTIVATION – DEFECTS & STRENGTHS


By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC

The quote today comes from Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, who says”

“By nature we have no defect that could not become a strength, no strength that could not become a defect.”

Wow, what an incredible statement to make and it really connects with me!  That’s for sure.

The first part of the quote for me is a ‘no brainer’.  You see I am on a mission at the moment to change people’s mind sets.  I am looking at the way we see things, issues such as the ‘VAT man’ or how we look at policies and procedures for example and how when we change our mind sets and we look at these in a more positive light, they actually become beneficial to us and to our businesses – so that one I don’t have a problem with.

It’s the second part of the quote that becomes a bit of a challenge!  Actually now that I think about it – it’s not that difficult.  I think that on some level, we as humans become somewhat ‘arrogant’ about our strengths and when that happens they can become our greatest weaknesses.

I recently saw a movie where the young lawyer had something like a 97% win ratio and this resulted in him being head hunted by some of the most prestigious law firms around.  He ended up prosecuting a case that should have been a ‘slam dunk’ and which very nearly became the ‘undoing’ of him, when he lost it.  His arrogance about his strength became his biggest weakness.

So no matter how excellent we are at something, it is in our own best interests to always do our best, take the time to ensure that we have all the facts and that we pay as much attention to something that we are good at as we pay to something that we are not so good at.

It’s about giving 100% all of the time irrespective of what the task is.  It’s about taking pride in what we do and being committed performing the task to the best of our ability at all times.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za.

HR 101 - Maintain Control of Your Staff - Part 3

ARTICLE 57

Maintain Control of your Staff – Part 3

By Nikki Viljoen of Viljoen Consulting CC April 2010

Continuing from last time here are some additional examples of what staff can get up to at their employers expense if they are not properly managed.

I’ve had two separate clients this year who have staff who abuse sick leave.  The one client’s employee took a total of 65 days sick leave over a 12 month period – that is more than double her 3 year allocation – and when we put a stop to that and told her that any further sick leave would be taken as unpaid, she promptly asked for her 3 days family responsibility leave as her son was having a medical procedure done.  Her son is 25 years old and the medical procedure turned out to be he had a tooth pulled.  Needless to say that leave was also taken as unpaid!

Then there was another client who had a husband and wife team working for him (that is also never a good idea).  Both went to the clinic once a month – on different days, but when the wife went the husband had to take her (so he couldn’t come to work) and when he went the wife couldn’t get to work (clearly the buses and taxis don’t work) and then they also expected to get their full quota of sick leave on top of that because ‘it wasn’t their fault that they had to go to the clinic every month’!  I guess maybe that they thought it was their boss’s fault!  Needless to say, they too have discovered the joys of unpaid leave!

Sick leave and especially excessive sick leave that is not monitored and controlled can cost the company hundreds and thousands and indeed can even cripple a company.  Having a proper leave policy in place that clearly states and outlines the consequences of excessive sick leave and ensuring that those consequences are upheld, will go a long way to ensuring that this particular problem does not rear its ugly head. Having a disciplinary policy that also clearly outlines ‘incapacity’ and that consequences of that, also often ensures that staff get to work on a more regular basis.

My father always used to say that no-matter what your job is, you should always do it with pride and it should always be done to the best of your ability.  Sadly this no longer seems to apply to people in general anymore.  People no longer seem to feel the need to take any kind of pride in the work that they produce and sadder still is the fact that that not only do they not feel the need to take pride in their work but they also seem to feel that employers should be very happy to accept their second and third rate work, whilst paying wages and salaries for first rate expectations.  Crazy idea that!  Again checklists laying out exactly what must be done and then ensuring that they are correctly signed off will ensure accountability.  Again though, it needs to be properly monitored and consequences must be metered out if the procedures are not complied with.

Next time we will have a look at some more examples of what employees get up to when they are not effectively managed.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Blogging 101 - Where to Look for Ideas

BLOGGING TIPS – Where to look for Ideas


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC January 2012

I know that I seem to be harping on about this, but every day I encounter people who seem quite keen to start a blog, but who have no idea what to write about.

It is sometimes extremely frustrating for me when this happens because as I talk to them and ascertain exactly what they do and what their passion is, it is abundantly clear that they have a huge amount of knowledge on their subject or specialty and that there is a copious amount of material that they could write about.  Even ‘every day’ things that occur could become a source of inspiration.

Whilst we were on holiday over the Christmas period, my friend Jacques and I were taking photos.  We took photos of everything that moved (and many things that didn’t) and I jokingly said to Jacques “we should start a blog on Things I Saw Today or Things I Did Today!”  The look that he gave me clearly stated that I had lost the plot – again!  I had a good laugh, you see Jacques is a gardener.  He works with many communities, showing them how to grow their own food and then how to turn the surplus into sustainable income and I realized that he was thinking how a photo of a clump of bobbing seaweed (being what we saw that day) could be turned into an article that would have any impact on the work that he does.

So I started to ask the questions (and happily I did know the answers because the tour guide had told us):

q. What does the bobbing seaweed tell us?
a. That there is no perlemoen (abalone) in the area because that is what they feed on – the poachers have harvested everything.
q. So would you harvest the seaweed?
a. Yes I would if I had, or wanted to start a perlemoen farm.
q. So what would the benefits be of starting a perlemoen farm?
a. Well it would replenish the stocks that have been depleted through poaching and it is a healthy organic source of food and if properly managed is extremely sustainable and  . . . .

All of that because of a clump of seaweed bobbing in the ocean – a whole bunch of stuff to write about (not to mention a whole host of opportunities for someone)!

We all have these kinds of experiences during our day – things that we see, encounters with people who we deal with and people who tell us their stories.  Each and every one of them has the propensity to become a blog article that highlights something in our businesses.  We just have to be open to the possibilities.

Personally, I think that the biggest challenge that most people think they have, when they want to write a blog, is the ‘how to write’ it and not the ‘what to write’!  As always my advice here is – write it exactly the way you would if you were telling someone the story, as if you were engaged in a discussion with someone and you were telling them what happened.

So now – who thinks that they don’t have anything to put into a blog?

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Networking 101 - Lead by Example

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

PART 146

Lead By Example

By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC. February 2010

I have one particular friend (let’s call her Jane) who consistently refers me to people.  Quite honestly, in the last two months alone she has sent 3 entrepreneurs to me.  Strangely enough, she only has a slight inkling of what it is that I do, but she has read some of my articles in the newspaper and the result of that is the minute she comes into contact with someone who owns a business, she insists that they have to meet me and we need to ‘talk’!  Now that’s the kind of friends we all want, I am sure you would agree.

Here’s the thing though, the people who we are most familiar with, and I am talking about family and friends here, are often the ones that very seldom give us referrals.  Apparently this is because with family and friends the relationships that we have with them is of a more personal nature and because of this it often does not even occur to them to refer business to us, unless we specifically make a point of asking for it or reminding them.

On of the biggest problems, I am led to believe, is that although our friends and family love us and think the world of us, they have also seen us at our absolute worst and they may not be comfortable with referring us to one of their friends ‘in case’ we embarrass them.  In some cases, no matter how much they respect, admire and even trust us, they do not want to mix business with personal relationships.  Even worse, many may not understand how to refer us.

This ‘non-understanding’ may not be confined to family and friends either – many of our colleagues and indeed, people who we see at Networking meetings all the time, may not have the slightest idea of how to ‘refer’ business to us.

Networking individuals who are inexperienced, often don’t think about looking for referrals except through their existing customers and whilst getting those referrals is not a bad thing, it does mean that the number of referrals that they get and/or give is seriously limited.  On the other hand there are some very experienced Networkers who go to Networking meetings on a regular basis and they think that the only referrals they are going to get will come from the people and/or members that they encounter at the meetings.  That’s also limiting ourselves badly.

In order to get the most out of Networking, we have to put the most in and that means that we have to lead by example.  We have to refer business to our colleagues, our friends, our family and also strangers that we have just met.  By doing this we demonstrate a ‘willingness’ to share information and add value to their lives and pretty soon they will start sharing with us too.

We also need to remind people on a constant basis, that we are always looking for business and there are many ways to do this.  Keeping in touch by means of say a Newsletter, reminds people that we are out and about.  Asking for testimonials is also a good way to not only remind the person giving us the testimonial, what a good job we did for them, but letting others see those testimonial shows people that we can be trusted too.

So get busy today, remind people who we are and don’t forget to ‘ask’ people to refer us.  We’ll be amazed at the results.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za  or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Business Tips - Planning to Succeed - Part 1

BUSINESS TIPS – Planning to Succeed – PART 1


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC December 2011

It’s no secret that in order for you to succeed in life, there has to be some sort of plan and obviously this also applies to business success as well.  In fact I would even go so far as to say that the ‘devil is in the detail’.  The more information and detail in the plan, the more you can ‘measure’ yourself to see how you are doing and the more likely it is to succeed. Clarity is King!

The problem of course is that many folk have no idea what needs to go into a plan and this statement is backed up and evidenced by the many businesses that fail because individuals have failed to make plans or set goals of any kind.

Here are some guidelines on what you need to look at in order to plan properly.

Vision
Your vision, of course, is your dream or your intention.  It is the ultimate goal.  It could be something as dramatic as having your particular product in every home in the country by xxxx date or as simple as providing training to 500 SMME’s (small, medium, micro enterprises) on a monthly basis.

What it should perhaps include however is what kind of product and why it should be in every household or what kind of training and why it will make a difference.

Mission Statement
For me, the mission statement is a simple plan on the ‘how to’ achieve your vision.  So how do you intend getting your product into every household or how do you intend getting the SMME’s into your training.  At this stage I wouldn’t go too in depth but rather have the basics down as these can be fleshed out at a later stage or as and when you get to the information that you need.

At this point it is also a good idea to start getting your figures in place – the budgets.  Number crunching is not always as difficult as we seem to think it is – just start with the basics and then the detail can be fleshed out from there.

Culture Statement
I must admit, when I ask this particular question, I am often met with a very confused look as well as the statement -  “The What . . . . ?”  Every business has a culture and pretty much like we are ‘masters of our own destiny,’ we also have a choice about the type of culture we want our businesses to be.  The way that you deal with customers and your suppliers or your staff would largely affect the type of culture that your business will become. In many instances, the culture of the company is determined by ethnic or religious influences but whilst we may be influenced by these external factors, it is equally important to ensure that our ethics also influence the culture of the company.

Often, it’s “Who we are” and our beliefs (and I am not talking about religion here), that are what attract people to do business with us.

Goals
Whether we want to admit it or not we all have goals – some of them are really simple and we make them without even thinking, like “I need to get to work by 08h30am this morning”.  Of course that is a goal – is it one that you need to write down – not necessarily.  Some of them can be seriously difficult and complicated, well actually – if the truth be told, we make them seriously difficult and complicated.

For me the easiest way to put my goals into perspective is to break things down into bite size chucks.  Where do I want to be in a year or two years or three years or even five years.  That’s the end goal – then break it down into the components – what do I need to do to get there and how long will that take me.  Once you have written all of that down, it is easier to set goals with time lines, be those timelines hours, days, weeks, months or even years.

Let me give you a simple example.  I want to paint my home and I want it done and completed at the end of say 6 months.  What do I need to do to get that done?  How many rooms are there, in which order will I paint the rooms.  What has to be done before I can paint (preparation), how long will that take me for each room (preparing the walls, covering and/or moving furniture, purchasing paint, brushes, etc)?  What has to be done once the room has been painted (clean-up and uncovering and/or moving furniture etc).

Now I have an idea of all the tasks that must be done and I can assign a time frame to each and if my time frames are reasonable and I stick to them, I can complete my task within the time period that I gave myself or not – you see here I can now adjust my ‘end result’, if that is what is required.  I have documented my goal and set a plan in place in order to achieve my goal – I can measure myself at every step along the way and see how I am doing.

In the same way and in every aspect of your business, this simple type of goal setting and planning can be implemented to ensure that you achieve whatever it is that you wish to do.

Next time we will have a look at the rest of the guidelines that I spoke about at the beginning of this blog.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

HR 101 - Maintain Control of Your Staff - Part 2

ARTICLE 57

Maintain Control of your Staff – Part 2

By Nikki Viljoen of Viljoen Consulting CC April 2010

I must admit that writing this particular article has taken me down memory lane and some of the most bizarre experiences, in terms of staff who just do not want to co-operate and who are in turn often mismanaged.  Just this year alone I have had more than half a dozen incidents where the employer has turned to me in absolute frustration and said “I know that I have allowed this to carry on far too long, but . . .”.  Sadly it has cost them all – dearly, not only in fees to pay me and then my HR specialist who had to be consulted in terms of dismissal and in some instances even representing them at the CCMA, but also in their own time that was wasted in trying to sort this out.

Some more examples of what staff do (or don’t do in certain instances), when they are not properly controlled and managed are, (but not limited to):

• Refuse to carry out instructions.  Often staff will pay ‘lip service’ to an instruction that you give them.  To outward appearances they have ‘bought into’ what you have asked them to do and you go about your business thinking that your instruction has been carried out only to find out later (and often when it is too late and the damage has been done) that the instruction was in fact not carried out.  This particular issue is worse than when the employee, straight out refuses to carry out an instruction – at least that way you know where you stand.  Here’s the thing though, in both of these instances this is grounds for dismissal and it needs to be dealt with immediately, especially if you have other employees who are watching to see what will happen.  The employee needs to be verbally cautioned about the fact that they are ‘refusing’ to follow a reasonable instruction and that this could lead to a disciplinary which in turn could lead to their dismissal.  If they still refuse to perform the task, disciplinary action should be taken.  In the instances where the employee has just not performed the task that they were instructed to follow, disciplinary action should also be taken – obviously this will not help the situation as you will still be sitting with the consequences of not having had something done, but it will send out a very clear message.  Remember by doing nothing, the message that you are sending out is that this is acceptable behaviour and that makes it all the more difficult to control the next time around.  Furthermore you are in all probability setting a precedent and if you don’t discipline the first person you cannot discipline the next one that does it. That would be considered ‘unfair practice’.

• A personal favourite of mine – it’s sure to send me crazy, is when staff do the work but then don’t check what they have done!  Man oh man, that does it to me every time.  For me it is indicative of a person who is doing the bare minimum to get by, someone who is not proud of their work or someone who just does not give a damn and quite honestly, I believe that we can all do without people like that in our lives.  If I have to check everything that staff do before it goes out then quite frankly I may as well do it myself.  One of the quickest and easiest ways to control this type of person is by means of a ‘check list’ for the task.  The last thing on the list should be ‘check and double check your work’ – make them sign off on that and that record will ensure that they remain on the straight and narrow and if they don’t you will have evidence showing that they have not completed the task correctly. Make sure that they sign for each step and this will make them a lot more careful.  Again, any deviation or variation on the procedures must be dealt with immediately to ensure that it does not reoccur.

Next week we will have a look at some more examples of what employees get up to when they are not effectively managed.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Blogging 101 - Write When You Do Have Ideas

BLOGGING TIPS – Write When You do have Ideas


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC December 2011

I’m sure that by now, most of you understand that I do love to write.  Actually, if the truth be told – if I don’t write every single day, I feel as though something is missing in my life.  You know what I mean – that feeling that you have forgotten to do something, but you can’t think of what that ‘something’ is.

The fact of the matter though is that despite the huge amount of material and ideas that I have for articles and stories – sometimes I am just not in the mood to write.  Sometimes, although the idea for the article is scrumptious and delicious and absolutely perfect – I’m not, and the words just won’t flow and as I once was so inspired, so uninspired I am right now. That’s usually when I fling my arms heavenward and declare “Someone has messed with my mojo!”

When I am in this frame of mind – well there’s actually no point in actually even trying to write!  I know because I have tried before – many times and all that happens is I’ve written a load of absolute drivel, messed up a perfectly good idea, then irritated and annoyed myself beyond reason.

Conversely, there are times when I can’t seem to stop writing – when ideas flow like running water and it feels like the pen won’t keep up with my thoughts or my fingers won’t move quickly enough over the key board.  When this happens, I can produce an article every 15 to 20 minutes and I have been known to write far into the night, often forgetting to eat or drink or even go to the bathroom.

I really do love it when I am in this space because this is the time when I write articles in advance.  The articles for my column in the “Your Business Magazine” (http://bizmag.co.za) may be written for the entire year, in one sitting.  Speeches for Toastmasters, or functions where I am the guest speaker or on occasions even new workshops that I have been asked to facilitate, are written during these times and are therefore ready long before they are actually needed.

There’s nothing quite like getting to a deadline knowing that the article has been written and that there is no need for panic or haste – especially when it is one of those times when I really don’t feel like writing about anything!

So use your time of inspiration to write to your heart’s content and put the ‘writings’ into your own pantry to be used as and when you are uninspired or just not in the mood. This way you can continue to love what you do instead of becoming irritated and resentful when you are forced to do something that you really don’t feel like doing.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Networking 101 - Getting to the Decision Makers

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

PART 145

Getting to the Decision Makers

By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC. January 2010

According to Michael Gerber, who is the author of The E-Myth only 4% of ALL businesses make it past 10 years.  How scary is that?

Gerber has shown that 80% of all businesses fail in their first 5 years and then 80% of the remaining 20% fail in the next 5 years.

For me, the reality is that it is not what you know, but who you know that makes the difference.  Actually if the truth be told, the reality is more, who you don’t know, who know who you do know!

The reality is that no matter how fantastic your product and/or service is, if you cannot sell it, you will starve.

The reality is that building a successful business is about building relationships and trust.

The reality is that getting decision makers (whether they are from a Corporate type environment or a small ‘one man’ type business) to do long term business with you and it will mean getting them to trust you.  They need to know that you really care about their needs.

Now how are you going to get into seeing those decision makers?  Where will you find them (other than ‘cold calling’ which I detest with a passion)?  For me, there’s only one place and that is at a Networking event.  Even if you only attend one Networking meeting a month and you only connect with one or two people, it is still quicker and easier than trying to set up appointments with people who have no clue who you are and what it is that you do.

Not only does Networking provide me with an endless source of new decision makers, but it also affords me the opportunity to engage with people who are like minded.  It allows me to ‘brain storm’ with people who have engaged in the same struggles as the ones that I have been through.

By it’s very nature, the people who attend Networking meetings come from all walks of life and therefore represent many industries and a variety of businesses.  I have never, for example, been to a Networking meeting that was attended by 20 people and all of those people were Accountants!

The reality of it is that at proper Networking meetings, we are encouraged to share and discuss ideas.  We are encouraged to ‘think out of the box’. Innovative thinking is a goal that we all aspire to achieve and transferring those ideas from one business to another means successful business for all concerned.

The reality is that although there may be competition from people who are in the same or similar businesses, collaboration is encouraged.  Joint ventures are encouraged and strategic alliances are definitely encouraged.

Often, what we cannot achieve on our own, becomes highly possible when we share, like the tender that is too big for one person but can be successfully tackled by two or three people who are in exactly the same business and who would have on their own been unable to deliver.

Don’t automatically view your competition in a bad or negative light, but look for opportunities where you can work together successfully or even add to each others value.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za  or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Business Tips - Why Twitter - Part 5

BUSINESS TIPS – Why Twitter – Part 5


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC June 2010

As promised last week, here are some additional tips on tweeting and the last in this particular series.

Isn’t the electronic age exciting?  I know that I am always on about the fact that I am a technophobe, but that is just because I don’t understand the technical jargon – on a logical level though, I do understand what different things can do and that, well that just confuses a lot of IT people who think that they can spin me a yarn and I will just accept it – that very seldom works, but I digress – again!

What I am trying to tell you is that technology makes things so much easier and instead of us trying to do everything ourselves, some really clever people have made it possible for us (with the use of links and automation) to do a great number of things with the click on a button.   For example, if you sign up for Tweetlater and set it up correctly (ok this is where you can’t ask me the questions as I don’t have a clue how to do this), it will automatically send a thank you message to all of the people as they ‘follow’ you.  How clever is that?

The other really cool thing is if you link all of your social networking sites to your twitter account.  That way everyone on those sites, are linked to you and that will also increase your following as well as increase the traffic that you drive to your website or blog.

Finally, don’t forget to look for a BIG/SUCCESSFUL person who is in the same niche market as yourself.  Once you have found them, follow them.  The fact that they may be big and/or successful in their own right, doesn’t exclude them from being a potential client of yours.  They may be doing research for something that they need to read up on and you may very well have the answer that they are looking for.

Be warned though, you will only be able to follow a maximum of 2000 people, until you have 2000 people following you.  Once you have the required 2000 people following you, the sky is the limit.

Oh and as always, don’t forget to have fun!

Happy tweeting!

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Motivation - Creating Yourself

MOTIVATION – Creating yourself


By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC

The quote today comes from George Bernard Shaw who says “Life isn’t about ‘finding’ yourself.  Life is about ‘creating’ yourself.”

I am often reminded how I needed to ‘find’ myself in my early twenties.  The problem of course is that when I ‘found’ myself, I didn’t much like who I was and promptly set about changing myself into the kind of person that I wanted to be – thereby ‘creating’ the person that I am today.

As adults, there are very few who can say that they aren’t changing themselves on a daily basis.  We all tend to strive to be the best of who we can be, and in doing this we morph into someone quite different to the person who we started out as.

The challenge, as I understand it, is to accept that we are continually creating or even re-creating ourselves as we slowly but surely change, as we grow as individuals.

We often comment, unkindly about superstars such as Madonna, who is continuously re-creating herself, yet this is exactly what it is that we do ourselves.

Perhaps it is time for us to understand and also accept the fact that we are exactly who we created ourselves to be and any change that we make to ourselves is made, by recreating ourselves.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za.

Blogging 101 - Stealing Content & Ideas

BLOGGING TIPS – Stealing Content & Ideas


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC September 2011

I was asked the other day whether I had ever ‘stolen ideas and/or content”? To be quite honest I was gob smacked!  Now I can see you all shaking your heads and wondering if I have lost all of my marbles!

Here’s the thing, more often than not, (probably around 99.9999% of the time), something that I have heard or something that I have seen or something that I have read about, has sparked an idea for an article, in my mind.

Logic must tell you that it would be impossible for me to actually experience every single thing that I write about.  Of course that does not mean that I cannot write about the lesson that needs to be learnt or in fact learn the lesson from someone else myself.

Look, let’s be honest here – I am not saying that you should plagiarize anyone’s work or not give an author credit for something that they have written.  That for me goes without saying.  Words that you use that were written by someone else should be correctly credited.  That’s not only a legal issue, but for me it is also a moral one.

What I am saying though, is that words, or pictures often spark another idea or are often the basis of another idea that will usually end up as an article.  Pretty much like the question that was asked that has now become this article.

This is often one way that allows ideas to be shown in perhaps a different context or from another viewpoint.

The fact of the matter is that I have several websites that I visit on a daily basis and several newsletters that I get on one feed or another and I also subscribe to several magazines and am constantly reading books that pertain to business or biographies and even non-fiction.  The fact of the matter is that all of this reading makes something ‘click’ and somewhere, something has made me think and that thought has resulted in an article being written.

So whilst I don’t condone or promote ‘theft’ of someone else’s work  or that an article that someone else wrote be attributed to yourself, I do feel that we all get ideas from somewhere and even when we do ‘research’ we are still using other people’s work to validate what we are doing.

Think about it for a minute – and then go and write your own article!

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Networking 101 - It's a Collaborative Effort

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

PART 144

It’s a Collaborative Effort

By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC. January 2010

Napoleon Hill said that “No two minds ever come together without, thereby, creating a third invisible, intangible force”, whilst Andrew Carnegie’s secret of success revealed “Economic advantages may be created by any one person who surrounds himself with the advice, counsel and personal cooperation of a group of men who are willing to lend him wholehearted aid in a spirit of perfect harmony.”

Now why would any of us even begin to doubt or even question the words of these two great and successful men?  Not me hey, if I can learn from others instead of having to learn the lesson myself, usually in the most painful way, well then I am a happy camper!

On top of that, what they are saying makes perfectly logical sense to me as well.  It is my personal experience, in a Networking environment (particularly the ones that I go to), that like minded people are more than willing to assist, to connect you to their data bases, to recommend you to other like minded people – it’s a collaborative effort.

My colleague and friend Colleen Larson of BE (Business Engage, www.businessengage.co.za ) always tells folk “that even as a group, we (BE) know that we cannot do everything and indeed we wouldn’t want to as we want to create the opportunities for our members”.

For me it’s almost like ‘playing it forward’.  It’s like Oprah Winfrey says in her “What I Know for Sure” when she says that her friend and mentor Dr Maya Angelou always says “When you learn, you teach.  When you get, you give.”  It’s about helping those navigate their way through the mine field that you have just walked through.  It’s about mentoring whilst you yourself are being mentored.  It’s about empowering people and SMME’s whilst I, myself am being empowered.

It’s about surrounding myself with people who make things happen, rather than people who are constantly wondering what the hell happened!

So pick your Networking events with care.  Make them work for you and don’t forget to work them too.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za  or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Business Tips - Why Twitter - Part 4

BUSINESS TIPS – Why Twitter – Part 4


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC June 2010

As promised last time, here are some additional tips when tweeting.

Since it is all about giving to get, (and I believe this to be true irrespective of whether you own a business or not), don’t just tweet to drive the numbers to your website.  Engage in conversation, join in discussions and respond to those who send you a tweet.  Yes I know that it may seem a little awkward at first, they are strangers after all, but remember – you are in cyberspace and that makes you very safe!

The more you engage with people, the more involved you become and the more involved you become, the more friends you make and let’s face it, we can always do with a few more friends!  Actually if the truth be told, because of twitter and facebook, I have reconnected with old friends and acquaintances that I had lost contact with – some of whom I have not spoken to or seen in over 35 years.  They are both an incredible medium.

Despite the fact that this is cyberspace and as far as I am concerned, you are safe – there are some scary people out there and it is always better to be safe than sorry.  So, no-where is it written that you have to put personal details such as your home or physical address or contact details and certainly it would be wise to exercise caution in these particular areas.  I always look at the following as a guideline before following another tweeter:

1. If, when looking at their profiles, everything is written in a foreign language, then there is really no point in me following them as I cannot understand what they are on about and

2. If their tweets (and for goodness sake have a look at more than one or two, to be fair) don’t hold my attention or deal with anything that I find even remotely interesting, then quite frankly – what is the point?

Exercise reasonable caution and you will be fine.  Remember though you can always stop following someone – there is no law that says you have to engage with anyone.

Next time we will have a look at some additional tweeting tips.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Motivation - Controlling Fear

MOTIVATION – CONTROLLING FEAR

By Nikki Viljoen of Viljoen Consulting CC

Today’s quote comes from Marilyn C Barrick, who says:

“For the most part, fear is nothing but an illusion.  When you share it with someone else, it tends to disappear.”

How fabulous is that?  I think it’s marvelous – the only problem of course is that we have to get over our own selves and our own egos and our own pride and our own lack of self esteem and of course our own . . . .  . fear!

Fear of what other’s may think of us,

Fear of how others may see us

Fear of how we may see ourselves

Fear!

Crazy stuff that – fear, and ironically enough something that every single person on the planet experiences at one time or another, and actually therefore nothing really to be ashamed of at all.
Owners of small businesses all over the country seem to think that they are always alone with their fears.  Strange thing that, how we feel that everything that happens to us is uniquely ours!

Come on people, we are actually all in this together, surely it makes perfectly good sense to get together and unite, as a group to face the challenges that presents itself to us all as individuals.  Surely it is better to ‘brainstorm’ our way through these issues rather than try to stand up in the face of perceived adversity, all by ourselves.  Surely it is better to find solutions for all of us than to try and be all of everything to ourselves?

I am often told about individuals who are ‘lonely’ in business by themselves and yet that is exactly how they mean to stay – by themselves because of the ‘fear’ mostly, I guess, fear of opening themselves up to anyone, of showing how weak and/or vulnerable they are.  Yet in the words of my friend and mentor Vanessa Paige – ‘Your greatest strength lies within your vulnerability’, lay my biggest ‘ah ha’ moment!  Took me quite a while to get that one, but I did – eventually and I am a far stronger person for it.

Now you see, I share everything about my life with people.  My fears, my challenges and my triumphs - especially my triumphs.  I am not alone in my business and I don’t have to do it alone either.

Are you alone?  Are you afraid and alone?

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za.

Blogging 101 - Learn Something New

BLOGGING TIPS – Learn Something New


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC July 2011

I must admit that there have been occasions when I have sat here in my office, word document in front of me, ready for me to just put something on it and nothing comes to mind.  I can’t begin to tell you the number of times, that that clean white block looks back at me, mocking me, bullying me, daring me, in fact doing everything nasty and horrible that you can think of to me.  The one thing that it never, ever does is inspire me!  That has to come from somewhere else and that somewhere else, for me is usually something that I have seen, read or listened to, but now have an opinion about and as I have often said, I usually have an opinion about most things.

Sometimes when I am writing an article on a particular topic, it feels like a chore – something that I was really on fire about, just a few weeks ago has become a chore, a pain in the rear end!  That’s when I really do procrastinate – trying to squirm myself out of writing the article with ‘I don’t feel like it or I want to do xyz now, or my own particular favorite one – I’ll just go and make myself a cup of tea and I’ll write it as soon as I get back.  Needless to say, when I come back or rather if I come back, there is always something else that I need to do first.  Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

What I have realized lately is that the reason that I am not inspired to write that particular article on that particular subject, is usually because I’ve gone off the boil.  I mean how many times can you say the same thing in a different way and sometimes people just don’t get it.  Now that’s not my fault, although to be honest it can be quite frustrating for me.

So how do I get back ‘on the boil’?  How do I get my ‘mojo’ back?  Well I can either look though all of my material that I have gathered over the years, and believe me there is a lot of it – but the idea of getting some 20 odd boxes of notes and cuttings down out of the top corners of the cupboards is about as exciting and spark creating as watching paint dry (yet I still collect stuff all the time).  The quickest and least painful thing for me is to put the old headphones on, crank up the music (I am currently listening to Duffy singing “Distant Dreamer” as I type this) and go on an e-journey on the subject that I am wanting to write about.  I always find something that I never knew on the subject, or something that I can now look at from a  completely different aspect and my spark is once again ignited, my mojo returns and the blank word page, suddenly fills up really quickly – just as it should.

Personally, I don’t think that we will ever know all that there is to know about a particular subject. I think that we often become over confident about it.  That’s the danger!  So when you’re stuck, learn something new about the subject that you want to write about or about anything really.  Learning something new never hurt anybody and it can be a lot of fun!

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Networking 101 - Time is in Short Supply, Don't Waste It

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

PART 143

Time is in Short Supply, Don’t Waste It

By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC. January 2010

I don’t know about you, but time for me is something that is in very short supply and I value it immensely. Little wonder then that I get extremely peeved when people waste my time.

Corporates are notorious for wasting people’s time and the amount of time that it takes for them to make a decision about anything often makes me wonder about whether they actually know how to make one at all and in moments of extreme agitation and irritability I wonder how they actually function as a business.  Their inability to make any kind of decision must surely hamper anything that they may be trying to achieve.

Understandably then, I much prefer to do business with and deal with the like minded business people that I generally meet at Networking meetings.  There’s no beating around the bush.  Decisions are made based on the input available and with a minimum amount of fuss and bother.

You see, we all know and understand firstly, the reason why we are at the Networking meeting, which is to do business, to meet people and to build relationships.  Secondly we all understand that the time of everyone there is a precious commodity, so we don’t waste each other’s time.  There is no pondering and pampering of egos.  There’s no dancing about and around the issues.  It’s either Yes, or it’s No!

The quick decisions, and yes they are informed decisions are what makes Networking so valuable to all concerned.  The ‘no nonsense’ let’s get done because I have other things to do, makes it for me a valuable source of new clients, new service providers, new contacts and new relationships.

Knowing ‘how to’ Network effectively is one of my greatest assets!

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za  or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Business Tips - Why Twitter - Part 3

BUSINESS TIPS – Why Twitter – Part 3


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC June 2010

Twitter for me, as you no doubt have seen in the last two posts, is about communicating with a much larger audience.  Most sites that you get onto today have a link onto twitter – especially the social networking sites.  This of course means that your ‘tweets’ are reaching a much larger audience and this of course also means that you are driving more and more traffic to your own website.

Most of the professional social networking type websites such as (but not limited to) Facebook, have Twitter groups.  These are individuals who are passionate about their tweets and who love to grow their following and who love to interact and share information, knowledge, experience and generally just have good fun.  Write a little something about yourself – remember to keep it short and to the point – find these groups and let them know what you are about.  Generally speaking, people who are interested in what you have to say, will be interested enough to follow you, thereby exposing your blog and/or website to a whole different group as well.

One of the quickest ways to get people interested in following you or driving traffic to your blog or website is to post a question with a poll.  Yep, people are curious as to what other people think and love to see statistics on ‘who thinks what’ (actually how many people agree with what they think is more like it!).  If you make the topic of the poll something to do with what it is that you do, not only will it drive people to your website, it will in all probability keep them there too and get them coming back, time and time again.

When I started my whole Networking experience, I started asking questions – lots and lots of questions.  You see, I had come from a Corporate Environment and being on the road for almost three weeks of the month, I was pretty isolated from the rest of the Company.  From there I went straight into my business and met the real world – in great abundance.  There was so much new stuff that was happening that I was completely clueless about and so much that I needed to know.  So I traded.  For every question that I asked, I tried to ensure that I also ‘gave’ some useful information in return.  As I used the new information that I was given I, in turn shared it with others and so the blog was born. One of the most important things I discovered though is that generally speaking, people love to share their experiences and their knowledge.  Actually if the truth be told, generally speaking, people love to help others.

So don’t be scared to ask for help, but remember the ‘give to get’ thing.  Don’t always just take – give as well!  You’ll be amazed at just how good it will make you feel.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Motivation - Don't Ever Do . . . Nothing

MOTIVATION – Don’t Ever Do . . . . Nothing


By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC November 2009

Theodore Roosevelt said “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing.  The worst thing that you can do is nothing.”

Wow! Ironically enough, my good friend and colleague Colleen Larsen of Business Engage (http://www.businessengage.co.za) and I were discussing this very issue earlier today.  Doing nothing about something never makes the problem go away – in fact it usually just makes it that much worse.

Obviously, in any given situation, it is always a good thing to do the ‘right’ thing.  That’s just a given and it always makes life just that much easier.

The dilemma comes along when there is indecision or when the decision comes packaged with a huge consequence – one that we are perhaps not so willing to subject ourselves to.

Here is where the danger lies. Here is where we meet the challenge . . . or not.  This is where we usually step back from the situation.  Oh and don’t misunderstand me for one moment – stepping back from a situation is within itself, not a bad thing if the reason we are stepping back is to take a breath and look at what is happening.  That is definitely not a bad thing.  But once you have stepped back you still need to action something.

Step back, but don’t come to a full stop.  Strategize, plan, engage and get going again.  Do something for goodness sake!

Doing nothing is quite detrimental to yourself.  Doing nothing means that nothing will happen.  Doing nothing will often created a negative situation or even a vacuum and it will result in  . . . nothing!

Remember that every action causes a (re) action.  So get busy, get moving, get actioned!

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

HR 101 - Maintain Control of your Staff - Part 1

ARTICLE 57

Maintain Control of your Staff – Part 1

By Nikki Viljoen of Viljoen Consulting CC March 2010

One of the biggest mistakes that small business owners make when they employ staff is to make them part of their extended families.  Do that and you have lost control from the get go.

Maintaining control of your staff is critical to ensuring that everyone works well together, in the same direction and working towards a common goal.  Most importantly, it will ensure that everyone is working to maintain the highest quality of service and/or quality control.

It stands to reason then that a ‘close eye’ needs to be kept on the staff to ensure that they meet their quota’s and that they maintain a high standard of quality work ethic.

Often consistent and poor conduct or lack of compliance to laid down procedures is a direct reflection of poor management.  Usually it means that management lack the relevant skill or that they are unwilling to manage or control staff effectively.

This will often result in issues such as (but not limited to):

• Staff spending hours talking to friends on the phone (irrespective of whether they use the office phone or their personal cellular phones).  Time spent in frivolous chatter is actually ‘theft’ of Company time.  It cuts into that particular staff members’ productivity time and if there are other employees in the vicinity, it disrupts them as well.  In essence it costs the company in time, productivity and in all probability – quality.
• Quality of work.  Most often, the first thing that goes when the staff are not effectively managed is the quality of their work.  It’s pretty much a case of ‘well if no-body is taking any notice of what I am doing, I don’t need to take care of what I am doing.”
• Another issue that constantly arises when the staff are not managed correctly and efficiently is another ‘theft’ of time.  It’s when the employees perform their personal and private chores during office hours.  I recently came across a situation where a client’s employee was fixing printers on the side.  The client’s printer broke down and despite the fact that one of the employees duties was to maintain the electronic equipment and despite the fact that he repaired the printer during office hours, this employee actually presented his employer with an invoice for repairing the printer – quite a cheek I am sure you would agree.

Next week we will have a look at some more examples of what employees get up to when they are not effectively managed.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Blogging 101 - The Writing

BLOGGING TIPS – The Writing


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC April 2010

About now we hit a complete blank!

We all know what it is that we know and given any other opportunity to tell people what it is that we know is never a problem.

Ask us to write down what it is that we know in anything other than a ‘strictly business sense’ and quite frankly we are up *&^% street without a paddle.  Actually if the truth be told, many of us do not even have any kind of business profile to speak of.

Here’s the thing though – to talk and gesture and pontificate, well that’s easy – we do it every day, but to put our thoughts, our passion, our feelings down on paper, well that’s an entirely different thing altogether!

Somehow, through our own perception, we lock into something dark and unacceptable when we put our own thoughts down on paper.  Truth be told, I guess – these thoughts come back to haunt us or bite us on the bum.  Strangely enough for me at any rate, what I write about is what I most need to hear myself.

Many of my most profound lessons and the things that I have most needed to learn or understand are the things that I have shared with the world, on my blog.

Many is the time that I have ‘kicked’ your rear end and my own at the same time!

You see, I don’t just rely on ‘what I know’, I research almost every article that I write, which means, not only do I provide you, my reader, with information, but I also keep myself up to date and that is extremely important!

Often as Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners we are so caught up in the running of our own businesses that we do not keep up with what is happening in the world around us. Doing the research for my blogs allows me to do this.

My marketing becomes my training and my R & D too – how cool is that?

Blogging really has become part of my marketing and the time that I spend on it is really worth while.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Business Tips - Why Twitter - Part 2

BUSINESS TIPS – Why Twitter – Part 2


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC June 2010

Everyone is ‘twittering’ about twitter!  From what I have heard, it is often asked “what is twitter” or “how does it work?” and my personal favorite “What are you doing?”

Those of us who use social networking as a marketing tool, this last question is often seen on sites like Facebook, or MySpace or Linked in.  The fact of the matter is that people are interested in learning more about you – be that in your personal capacity or in your business capacity.  That’s just human nature – we are a curious species.

So for me it makes perfect sense to use Twitter as a marketing tool.  As individuals “follow me” on twitter, so they link into my website and my blogs.  If they like what they read, chances are that they will start looking out for my daily link and many of them don’t even wait to do that, they signup on the website to get the blogs sent to them on a daily basis.  How cool is that?

Now, I’m not saying that everyone who “follows me” will be interested in all of the articles that I write, but since (in my opinion) there is something for everyone, it stands to reason that as I link up to people who I follow and then they follow me – more and more traffic is driven to my website and we could all do with that, I am sure you will agree!

From a marketing point of view, those who “follow me” on twitter have found something in my articles that interest them – this of course means that they are my ‘target market’.  Here’s another cool thing – not only are these individuals looking at my information, but I am also looking at their information.  Not only am I making a difference in their lives, but they are also making a difference to and adding value to mine.

What an incredible way to collaborate!  What an incredible way to interact with and meet new people!

Man, I love technology – yes, I know that I always say that I am a technophobe (but that is because I don’t understand the technical terminology) and that I don’t always understand it, but I do know, a little bit about what it does and I sure do love it!

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Motivation - Creating Opportunities

MOTIVATION –  Creating Opportunities


By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC – April 2011

Bruce Lee said “To hell with circumstances, I create opportunities!”

This statement really carries a punch for me!  To be quite honest, I am really fed up with a number of people at the moment.  I am seriously sick and tired of people with begging bowls who seem think that it is my ‘job’ to provide for them.  To hold their hands, or put money into their pockets or even to supply them with solutions to their problems because – well because they were previously disadvantaged – or their circumstances were not the same as mine (not that they have a cooking clue about my circumstances you understand).  It’s just expected.

I have just had a meeting with a young chap, let’s call him George – who read an article in a magazine, where I was interviewed.  Apparently, as I am given to understand it as I have not seen the article in question, I help people to start businesses – I suppose that’s a pretty fair (although very broad) statement of what I do.

So his opening request is “I want you to write a business proposal for me”.  Now, no-where on anything that I have ever written, have I offered writing business proposals for anyone, irrespective of whether I am being paid for the service or not.

To cut a very long, painful and frustrating conversation short – the story is as follows:

George used to work in a fish and chip shop – peeling potatoes for the chips, so he thinks that it might be a good idea to open up a fish and chip shop.  Nothing wrong with that dream, I hear you saying.  Here’s the problem, he has done no research, never managed anything, never employed any staff, never done any other kind of work in a ‘fast food’ type environment and he has no money to put down.  So clearly that turned out to not be such a good idea.

So his next plan was that he had worked as a volunteer in a clinic – he says, doing counseling, (but he has no education to speak of), around HIV and STD’s.  I suspect (and I say suspect, because getting any information was like pulling hen’s teeth or dancing between the raindrops), that he spoke about the use of condoms rather than actually counseling someone with HIV or aids or any of the STD’s.  George apparently worked there for 6 months, so now – how about he opens a clinic!  I mean for goodness sake!  The only research that he has done is to ascertain that the ‘government says that they will fund it’!

George registered an NGO 14 months ago and now he wants me to write a proposal to government because ‘they must fund it’!

Currently he is ‘working with fibre optics’ and when I asked the probing questions I discovered that what he is actually doing is laying cables in the trenches – well not today he wasn’t, today he was wasting my time and irritating me because that seems to be his right because his “circumstances” growing up were less than mine!  It’s his right because he was previously disadvantaged – although the fact that I am currently disadvantaged is not something that he wanted to talk about!

George’s parting comment as he prepared to leave was that “he can see that he needs to do some research, but eish, it’s hard and when I have done the research I will contact you so that you can tell me what to do next!”  My response “Sure okay, but my hourly rate is …….  And the next meeting you will have to pay for in advance.”

My circumstances – well they made me work harder, something that I still do to this day.  I started working after school and on the weekends at 13 and by the time I was 15, I went to court to have myself legally declared an emancipated minor.  I had my own flat that I paid for and that I worked for. Sure I’ve had help along the way, but it has always been help that I reciprocated.  I have made my own way, watched out for opportunities or made my own.  I’ve come really far but I can say with all honesty, I have paid to get here.

Perhaps I have done it the hard way around, perhaps I should have sat on my arse with my begging bowl extended and bemoaned my particular set of circumstances and demanded that my expectations be met off the backs and hard work of others.

The problem with that though is the fact that I would then never have been  . . . .  well me!

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

HR 101 - To Steal or Not to Steal

ARTICLE 56

To Steal or Not To Steal

By Nikki Viljoen of Viljoen Consulting CC March 2010

Please note that this pertains to the South Africa Labour Relations requirements and best practice.

When you catch an employee stealing, your initial ‘knee jerk’ reaction is one of ‘get them out of my sight and out of my company (preferably before I do them grievous bodily harm).’  Step away from the employee – no, seriously – step away from the situation it is full of emotion and that emotion will induce you to do something that you will regret.

Gone are the days when you could just dismiss an employee for stealing.  Gone are the days when you could just tell an employee to pack up and go – the rules are in place and if you don’t follow them, you will be the one paying the consequences for their misguided youth.

Here’s the deal:

Theft is considered a ‘misconduct’.  The Code of Good Practice states “Dismissal imposed several requirements on an employer who is considering dismissing an employee for misconduct.”

“Three of these requirements are:
1. The employer should first consider factors such as the employee’s length of service and disciplinary record;
2. The misconduct must be of such a grave nature that it makes a continued employment relationship intolerable and
3. An employee should be dismissed only if that have been found guilty of gross misconduct.”

So what is considered as ‘gross misconduct’?  Some of these are (but not limited to):
• deliberate (wilful) damage to the employer’s property
• deliberately (wilfully) endangering the safety of others
• Physical assault on the employer, a fellow employee or a client/supplier
• Gross insubordination (so they can steal from you but they can’t give you the finger)
• Gross dishonesty.

In the old days, stealing from your employer meant that you were dishonest and that dishonesty meant that your employer could no longer ‘trust’ you and meant that your continued employment would be intolerable for the employer – well those were the ‘old’ days.  Things have now changed – again.

You see, the law says it has to be ‘gross dishonesty’ and therefore not all dishonesty.  Therefore this means that not all ‘theft’ can be considered as ‘gross dishonesty’.

My take on this is that if my employee lies to me, I cannot trust them.  If they steal from me, I cannot trust them and quite frankly if I cannot trust them then I don’t want them to be working in my company let alone anywhere near my space.  The law of course, sees this in a different light.

Remember that mitigating circumstances have to be taken into account – those are things like number of years that the employee has been employed by the company and whether or not they have a clean disciplinary record or not.

The employer also has to prove that continued employment of the employee will make the employment relationship intolerable.  This proof would have to show that the relationship was not merely damaged but actually destroyed.

Note to self – outsource everything that you can!

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Blogging 101 - Your Writing Style

BLOGGING TIPS – Your Writing Style


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC March 2011

As many of you know, I am an avid reader.  I have this insatiable need to learn and reading keeps that particular monster fed and at bay.  Over the years though, I have certainly become more of a discerning reader and obviously tend to look at articles that are of particular interest to me.

I am not for example, going to be reading about IT hardware (or software for that matter) – I don’t understand the terminology and would probably have more fun watching paint dry.  So how do I choose what I read?

First and foremost, the title would have to grab my attention and then the content would have to be not only interesting, but in my case it needs to make me ‘see’ the picture.

If my imagination is not captured within the first few paragraphs, I move on!  It’s that simple.

As I have often said before, it’s all in the telling of the story and if that is not told in an interesting way or if I don’t find it exciting or funny, well then it’s not likely to hold my attention.

For me the easiest way to write is to tell the story in exactly the same manner as I would if I were chatting to a friend or even a client. Using simple words I create the picture or vision, if you will, in the mind of the listener.

Remember, in this instance, your listener becomes your reader and you have to keep them engaged by ensuring that the tale you tell is interesting and insightful from the get-go.

Keep it short, keep it sweet and keep it interesting!

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Business Tips- Why Twitter - Part 1

BUSINESS TIPS – Why Twitter – Part 1

By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC June 2010

For the last couple of years now, I have been listening to all the hype about “Twitter” and “Tweeting” and “Tweets” and “Twits” and so on.  Actually, now that I think about it, my technophobia aside – I really do love technology, I love the world that it opens up to me.  The fact that I am not sure how the technical side of things work doesn’t really phase me at all.  I do know that “Twitter” is another form of international communication and what I really love about it is that it allows me to put a one-liner up which will drive a considerable number of people to my website.

For example, on a daily basis I tweet – Today’s blog (and then the title of the blog), add the URL address of my website and that’s it.  Looking at the statistics afterwards shows me exactly how many people come to visit my website and they usually stay for a while and look around.  How do I know this?  Well the stats show that the average time anyone spends on my website is in excess of 5 minutes.  See, my website is very content rich with loads of information that pertains mostly to SMME’s (small, medium, micro enterprise), Entrepreneurs and start ups but actually in general to everyone.  The information is presented in bite sized chunks, with my own brand of humour and I know that many have not only learnt something but have also enjoyed a chuckle whilst doing so – and that’s always a bonus.

I also know that when I started the whole ‘twitter’ scenario, I was addicted.  I couldn’t get enough of the site.  I found myself standing in a queue and instead of reading my book (which is what I used to do), I would be logging onto the site via my phone to see ‘who had posted what tweets’ – it was an exciting time of information overload.  Back at the office, I found myself logging onto the site at every opportunity and found myself going from one site to the other as I devoured all the information that others had so thoughtfully found and shared with me.

Reality hit me really hard one day, when I got up and it was still dark outside.  I did the daily things that are routine to me and immediately logged onto the site.  During the course of the day, I felt hungry and thirsty but every time I wanted to get up and get something to eat or drink, I found myself caught up in whatever it was that I was reading and thought ‘as soon as I finish this article I will go and get (insert food or drink here)’.  Of course I got so involved that getting something to eat or drink just never happened.  After what seemed like a couple of hours, not long at all, I suddenly realized that it had gone very dark and I thought it must be because there was going to be a Highveld storm.  One of those that we are famous for – you know when suddenly the thick black clouds come over and then the rain comes down in sheets for about 10 minutes and then the sun comes out to play again? 

Sadly it wasn’t!  What it was, was the onset of night – in fact it was after 7pm.  I had sat in front of my computer playing on twitter and going from site to side from around 5.30am to after 7pm without eating or drinking anything.  Needless to say, no work had been done for the day either and I gave myself a helleva fright.

The solution to the problem of course was clear, I went out and bought myself one of those oven timer clocks and limited my use of twitter to 15 minutes a day.  When the clock alarm goes off, it doesn’t matter where I am and what I am reading, I have to close the site down!  Addictive it is and I am not the only one to say this either!

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be sharing some of the things that you can do with Twitter – I hope you will stick around and enjoy the journey with me.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Motivation - Believing it is Possible

MOTIVATION – Believing It is Possible


By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC – November 2009

Richard M De Vos says “The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.”

So what exactly is it that we are all so afraid of?  Why is it that we are afraid to believe that “things” are possible?  Why is it that we have so little faith in ourselves and the magnitude of ‘that’ person that we are, that we are afraid to try things in life?  Quite honestly I don’t have the answers.

What I do have is a life and business coach by the name of Vanessa, who is teaching me and guiding me through this process.  I always smilingly say that I am a ‘work in progress’!

What I am discovering in this amazing journey through life is that I am beginning to ‘try’ things – not just wanting to try them or thinking about trying them, but that I am actually actively engaged in the process of ‘trying’ life. I am physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually engaged in ‘the business of trying life.’

Please believe me when I tell you that it is the most difficult thing I have ever done and also the absolute easiest.  Difficult because I have had to let go of and work through my own fear and my faith in myself and the Universe.  Easy because, once I let myself ‘do’ it, I could not for the life of me understand what it was that I was so scared and afraid of in the first place.

Yip – a work in progress, that’s me!  You see every time I hit a ripple in the road (usually put there by myself) my first reaction is one of fear and then I have to stop – work through everything from a logical perspective, understand the fear, throw the fear and the uncertainty out and then continue on my way.  I do understand and am aware of the fact that as I continue on my journey the ‘fear factor’ will become less and less though.

You see, the ‘fear’ had been a part of my life for so long that it had become a really nasty and evil habit.  Like any other bad habit, you have to be consciously and consistently aware of the damage that it is doing to you and only in that awareness will you be able to rid yourself of it.

It’s a habit that I am expunging on a daily basis.

It’s a habit that will soon be gone from my life forever.

In my new found ‘fearless’ freedom, I am finally starting to try new things and in so doing I have found the faith and trust in myself and the purpose of my life, which will ultimately allow me to live my life to the fullest.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

HR 101 - Safety Laws & the SMME

ARTICLE 55

Safety Laws & the SMME

By Nikki Viljoen of Viljoen Consulting CC March 2010

Please not that this applies to South African Labour requirements and bet practice.

The Occupational Health & Safety Act (OHSA) applies to everyone – irrespective of whether you have 1 employee or you have 100 000 employees – it applies to everyone.

Right, now that I have that out of the way, less unpack it and see exactly what that means.

Most small business owners/entrepreneurs that I know, seem to think that the Act only applies to large corporations – please understand that it doesn’t – the Act requires that an ‘employer’  must ensure that the workplace is free of ‘hazardous ergonomics and substances, micro-organisms etc, which may cause injury or disease’.

The purpose of the Act is to establish a minimum set of standards and/or requirements of occupational health and safety within the workplace and/or working environment.

Actually, if the truth be told all companies should have a health policy, which needs to be applicable to all of their employees and workplaces.  Actually it needs to be for persons other than their employees too – so it would need to be applicable to clients or service providers and others who would be ‘visiting’ their premises for whatever reason.

Where SMME’s go wrong is that they compare their small workplace to that of a mine or a large manufacturing plant and/or factory and then they don’t see their workplace as a potentially dangerous working environment.  Truth be told, all employees have a constitutional right to work in a safe environment, so employers need to do whatever they can to prevent injury to their staff and it is also advisable for them to have someone trained to deal with emergencies.

The staff member also has an obligation not to put themselves at risk.  For example if they work say on site in a construction company, as much as the employer is required to supply the employee with protective clothing, such as a hard hat or steel capped boots and gloves, the employee is obliged to wear such clothing and/or cooperate with the employers requests on the matter.  Failure to do that would actually constitute ‘negligence’ on the part of the employee and the employee can be disciplined and/or actually dismissed on these charges.

Be warned, inspectors from the Department of Labour regularly inspect companies – large and small and they will also investigate any incident where someone is injured or any complaint that may have been made and if the SMME has not complied they will be in for penalties, just the same as any large corporation.

Remember too, that it is the responsibility of the company to report any injury that has occurred in the workplace to the Department of Labour within 7 days of the incident occurring.  This does not just apply to incidents where someone has lost a limb but also incidents arising when someone slips or trips or is exposed to chemicals or falls from a height or where someone has a sprain or strain or sustains a burn or even noise damage etc.

If you, as an SMME or entrepreneur, are not sure of what needs to be done be sure to get some help.  But get yourselves a ‘health policy’ and get yourself informed – someone’s life may well depend upon it.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Blogging 101 - What Makes a Blog Well Written - Part 2

BLOGGING TIPS – What Makes a Blog Well Written?

Part 2


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC  2010

So now we have a great title and . . .  now what?

It feels like a hundred years ago since I was at school, but I do remember the
English teacher always drilling into us the basics of a good composition – it, the story that is, has to have a beginning, a middle and an ending.  Let’s be honest here, what is a blog – if not a story about your business, or about who you are or what it is that you are doing and why you are doing it?  The reality is that it is a story and it is in the telling of the story, that you have the power.

A story is no good, if the beginning makes you want to fall asleep.  Most people will stop right there and not continue reading.  So too is having a fantastic and strong ending, without a great beginning.  That is just a hopeless exercise.  Conversely having a fantastic beginning, that grips the imagination or curiosity of the reader and then having an ending that makes them feel like they have just lit the soggy end of a wet squib, will also make them reluctant to read any of your future offerings.

So you’ve got a fabulous beginning and an ending that will make the reader bang down the door for the next installment, but what about the middle?  How do you tell the story?  Does it follow the twists and turns, does it have a surprise somewhere along the way, does it make the reader engage with the characters or feel that they want to buy your product or service?  Does it conjure up pictures or colours or smells or memories that reach down into the very core of a being?  How does it make them feel inside?  For example, what are you ‘feeling’ right now as you read these words.  Are you nodding your head furiously because you understand exactly how you feel when you are reading something that bores you to tears or the excitement that creeps up from within as you read something that gives you an ‘ah-ha’ moment or that challenges you or that makes you think, I mean really think – or are you sadly shaking your head from side to side, because you don’t have a clue about what it is that I am going on about (and yes, there will always be those who remain utterly clueless – no matter what the topic)!

For me, the beginning must grab my attention from the getgo – I must think, I have to just read this page before I  . . . .  (insert what you will here).  The ending must make me sigh with pleasure, sad that I have come to the end and eager to start reading the next article or the next book by the same author and the middle, well the middle must keep me engrossed, it must feed my imagination and satisfy my curiosity, it must stretch my mind and leave me with an internal sense of well being. It must make me willing to follow without question, not make me feel like I am being dragged along, resisting all of the way.  Reading the kind of articles that make me feel like I am being forced to read, irritate and annoy and sap all the pleasure out of reading the written word.

Step back from your page for a moment and ponder – what is the picture that you want your reader to have?  What is the experience that you wish for them to have? Is it a pleasurable one?  Now sit down and write the story with all of those images that run around and swirl about in your head – they will see them, they will feel them and I have no doubt that they will enjoy them.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Networking 101 - Being a Great Connector

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

PART 140

Being a Great Connector

By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC. December  2009


So  what exactly is it that makes connectors so popular in a Networking environment?

Simple really, as their name suggests they connect people with one another – people who can do great, profitable business.  People who, under normal circumstances, would never even realise that they have any kind of synergy are connected in ways that they never even thought about.  Connectors are able to see/think out of the box and because they understand the true essence of Networking, they are able to, not only see the connection but also facilitate it.

Connectors build huge networks around themselves, so it’s little wonder that many people would love to get to know them, to have access to their network and/or data base, if nothing else.

Connectors are people who are trusted by their networks and/or data bases and since they are well known and trusted people often do business with one another, without knowing, or on occasion, even meeting one another.  You see the relationship has already been established and built by the connector.

You will always find at least one connector at a Networking event.  It’s not because they need to meet yet another bookkeeper or another coach, it’s because they need to meet and have access to all the people that that bookkeeper and/or coach know in order to facilitate the connections that they need to make.

Connectors are driven to move the value that they know and trust is in their networks from one contact to the other, connecting one person to another.  They understand that making these connections will also benefit them.  They also understand that Networking isn’t about instant gratification but rather of adding value to their Network and over time they will reap the rewards from making these connections.

Connectors understand that it’s about finding synergy between people they have known for years and the new people that they are constantly meeting.

Connectors instinctively Network where ever they go, with everyone that they meet.

Connectors know and appreciate that their Networks are in fact a professional asset to their businesses.

Is your Network a professional asset to you?  If not, perhaps it is time to make it one of the goals for you for the coming year.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za  or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za

Business Tips - Documentation and SARS

BUSINESS TIPS – Documentation and SARS


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC – May 2013

On a daily basis I meet with people who are either starting their own businesses or alternatively there are those who have been in business for many years now – irrespective of where they are in this particular journey called life, they more often than not, have no clue about the legal requirements around the retention of their business documents.

The harsh reality is that not only is there a legal requirement in terms of what documents must be kept there are also requirements on how long these documents must be kept and they are not all just about the financial records either.  Some need to be kept for only a couple of years, others for up to 5 or 7 or even 15 or so years and others that have to be retained ‘indefinitely’.

Add to all of this the digital and electronic age and although in many ways this simplifies life there are also instances where this will complicate things.

Take for example the tax records . . . it has been promulgated into law that the tax records and financial documentation pertaining to these records can be stored in their electronic form provided that they are stored electronically in a physical location in South Africa.  Furthermore, if the taxpayer wishes to store and maintain their accounting or invoicing records using ‘the cloud’ technology or servers outside of South African borders, they will need to obtain written approval from a Senior SARS officiator.

Apparently though, obtaining authority to do this is not an easy achievement either, as the following requirements have to be met.  These are (but not limited to):
- You have to be able to easily access these records here in SA.
- Irrespective of the location of these servers, this should not affect the access to the records.
- It is a requirement that the country where the servers are hosted has to have an international tax agreement with South Africa for reciprocal tax assistance.
- That the taxpayer in South Africa has to be able to produce an acceptable electronic form of the record – ideally it should look exactly like its paper hardcopy equivalent and
- The storage capabilities must meet all storage requirements.

Additional challenges that may be encountered are in the form of system description development should the software or electronic platform not be commonly used and/or recognized in South Africa, so beware of all the ‘off the shelf’ products that may have been developed in India or the USA as they may carry ‘hidden’ costs.

Be sure to have properly researched what you purchase to ensure that SARS requirements are always met – it will be cheaper in the long run.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za