Ann Druce: Is your communications strategy clear & relevant?

Ann Druce, Octarine Communications

Ann Druce started KZN-based Octarine Communincations in April 2001 after the mid-size advertising agency where she was working underwent restructuring. She seized the opportunity to go on her own, and set up a home office with friends’ castoff furniture, a computer and a phone.

Have you always been entrepreneurial?

I started out in corporate marketing but, happily, working in organisations that encouraged entrepreneurial thinking. 

What were you doing before starting your business?

I had begun the process of cutting the apron-strings by moving from corporate to a mid-sized advertising agency. Then when things were tough and the agency restructured, it provided the impetus I needed to go on my own.

What kind of planning went into starting the venture?

I don’t think an elaborate document is essential, but a plan certainly is. However, before I’d even started thinking about writing a business strategy, my start-up plan was instigated by a client when I mentioned I might start an ad agency.  He committed to giving me his business if I started on my own, giving me the freedom to make the decision based on what I wanted to do, rather than a fear that it might be a while before I established a client base.

What was your big dream for this venture?

The good old-fashioned ideal of being a true business partner to my clients – learning their business and making a real strategic contribution: translating their marketing strategy into clear, relevant messages that reach their target markets.

How does a new entrepreneur find business leads and profit from them?

Not every entrepreneur is a born salesman. But we have to use what we have at our disposal – from working our existing networks and developing new ones, to the dreaded cold-calling. I recommend that new entrepreneurs join business groups, scan the employment section in the Sunday papers and see when new decision makers are being appointed, and call them up. And that they ask clients for referrals after every single sale, be it a product or a service.

How does a new entrepreneur figure out what makes them unique and leverage that difference?

Sometimes what makes you unique isn’t unique at all. All margarine is cholesterol-free, but Flora made this their point of difference, while others were talking about taste. So decide what your niche is and make your unique claim. Evaluating your target market and what they might need is a good place to start. What are their key stressors? Can you address that? What are the frustrations that people think they have to live with? Can you change that? Is it your hours of service? Is it a standard call-out fee? Is it a guarantee that is credible?

How does a new entrepreneur figure out what to charge for their service/product?

Pricing should reflect your value. Don’t assume that being the cheapest will get you more business – you might just look suspiciously cheap. Establish what your costs are and evaluate your competitors’ pricing, and take a view on what your market can stand. Then decide where you want to position your offering relative to these factors. You may want to be viewed as a luxury item, or you may want to be seen as accessible to all. You may need volumes for production economies of scale or you may prefer to limit volumes and earn a greater profit per item.

What was your most epic fail in the early days?

I was away and relied on a colleague to proofread an ad before it went to print. There was a typo in the headline. Bad enough for any client, but particularly so when the client is a university and it looks like they can’t spell! I discovered it too late to stop it going to print and there was nothing I could do. I phoned the client and told them before they found out elsewhere. Abject apologies and loads of humble-pie – and a relationship of trust and respect – got me past this.

What are the two biggest/most common mistakes that new entrepreneurs make?

Spending money they don’t yet have and focusing on an image of success instead of the work they produce.

How do you keep yourself motivated?

Get dressed and go to work. If you aren’t busy producing work for paying clients, you should be developing your marketing.

Do you have a mentor?

I never really had a mentor, but the single best piece of advice I was given was: When you don’t know where to start, just start. It’s funny how that questions that you need to ask and the research you need do become evident as you begin to structure your project.

How long does it take for a venture to get off the ground, in your experience?

I’m sure this varies by environment. In an area like advertising and graphic design, you are asking a client to trust you with his company image and reputation as well as his money, so it can take a lot longer to build a business than if you are selling low-price, low risk products, where if your product doesn’t live up to expectations they simply don’t have to re-order. You need to build a suitable time-frame into your plan.

What’s your life motto?

Life is too short to do a job you don’t love. 

If you could give yourself any advice back then, what are your top 5 wisdoms?

* Apologise when you mess up. And you will! Don’t make excuses.

* Don’t work with clients you don’t respect.

* Don’t work with clients who don’t respect you.

* Know where the money is.

* Don’t be embarrassed to chase clients who owe you money – they’re the ones who should be embarrassed.

Get in touch with Ann Druce from Octarine Communications via: www.octarine.co.za, on LinkedIn and on Twitter: @AnnDruce

Frances Wright: Be an empowered entrepreneur

Frances Wright, Trinitas Consulting

Frances Wright, MD of Trinitas Consulting, knew her future was not as an oral hygienist, nor in PR. She launched the company in September 2006 with the dream of establishing a marketing/communications/operations company with a holistic view on clients’ businesses to positively affect business success.

Have you always been entrepreneurial?

It’s something that’s grown over time – I originally studied to be and practiced as an oral hygienist.

What were you doing before starting your business?

I was managing director for a PR company, but a disconnect existed between myself and the CEO’s vision resulting in an untenable work environment.

What kind of planning went into starting the venture? Huge, complicated documents or not?

Planning is important, but business plans should be succinct and to the point. I encourage clients to keep their business plans to no longer than four pages, and to remember that, although it is a good starting point, you need to be flexible within that plan to “roll with the punches” that entrepreneurship will throw at you. 

What was your start up capital?

Trinitas started in Raizcorp, and the capital came from share buy-back from the previous company that I worked for.

How does a new entrepreneur find business leads and profit from them?

Through excellence of delivery, resulting in word-of-mouth marketing and relationship-building.

How does a new entrepreneur figure out what makes them unique and leverage that difference?

Entrepreneurs should identify a problem in a specific market and then develop a solution that is specific to that need.

How does a new entrepreneur figure out what to charge for their service/product?

Work out cost of sale, forecast sales and spread overhead costs across clients, then add the required profit margin. Once the ideal sales price is determined, market research should be done to see if the price is in line with the market; if your price is too low clients may not take you seriously but if it is too high you will price yourself out of the market.

What was your most epic fail in the early days?

I sold shares to somebody that was not aligned with the business culture or ethos. After a few months I had to buy him out by paying back the money paid for the shares, plus interest.

What are the two biggest/most common mistakes that new entrepreneurs make?

Going after every opportunity that presents itself, without first evaluating the chances of success whether it be a business venture, or taking on a job within your business which is too much work for your company to be able to deliver on. More entrepreneurs fail from too much business than too little.

How do you keep yourself motivated?

By understanding your calling in life and keeping your eye on the next step only – take things day by day.

How long does it take for a venture to get off the ground, in your experience?

There should be money flow within three months. Profitability could take longer, but after a year or so, if there are no profits, the business model has to be looked at. Profitability does not mean that the entrepreneur can relax though, as more tough times will come. Keep an eye on the macro environment constantly to look for threats.

Which three character traits do all entrepreneurs possess?

Ability to take risks, the ability to handle stress and sound relationship-building skills.

If you could give yourself any advice back then, what are your top 5 wisdoms?

* Contain growth.

* Focus on one business.

* Keep learning.

* Surround yourself with support.

* Follow your gut, especially with regards to recruitment.

Get in touch with Frances Wright from Trinitas Consulting via email: frances@trinitas.co.za, visit: www.trinitas.co.za, on Facebook, Twitter: @FrancesRay and on LinkedIn.

My Independence Day

If you'd have told me two years ago that I'd be sitting at a loaned computer in the spare room of my home, after having lost pretty much everything that "makes me who I am", I'd have tied you up, covered you in syrup and rolled you down a gravel pathway because I'm spiteful like that. But here I am: no job, single and nursing the fragments of an idea that I'd like to lovingly turn into a legacy project that I can be proud of -- and that turns a profit.

I left a job that I loved at the end of May 2012 -- I've been in the consumer magazine industry in South Africa for the last 18 years. It was a rash, instantaneous decision but the absolute perfect one for me: my independence day. So, I've spent the last month setting up a home office and trying to dream up a strategy that I can use to market my skills set and turn them into a viable business that pays the bills and allows me to live a comfortable lifestyle. Which is not as easy as it sounds.

I've limited capital and loads of confidence in my abilities in the print media and digital space; the only challenge is that I have absolutely no working knowledge of being an entrepreneur. And that's where this blog comes into its own. I hope to put my skills as a journalist and writer into play, and interview those amazing local business owners and entrepreneurs who have done all the hard work before me in setting up their companies. The practical, hands-on wisdom they share, I hope, will be worth far more than spending cash I don't have on courses and tutorials that could turn out to be a waste of time. I see it more as knowledge-sharing and paying it forward.

With the economy being in the sad state that it's in, I have three friends who are struggling entrepreneurs, who need to make some very serious decisions in the next few months on whether to abandon their own-business dreams or to seek out gainful (yet very junior) employment. They seem to think I have a magic business 8-ball on my desk that I can consult on their behalf, to give them ideas on how to breathe life into their own ventures. I don't. I don't even know what to do for my own struggling start-up, except trial and error. But that, for me, is not a very positive or proactive point to start from. So I'm going to do what I do best: interrogate the crap out of this "going on my own" lark in the hopes that it helps other people out there who are in a similar situation to turn their business dream into a reality. It'll be done in my own way and I hope you enjoy coming with me on this adventure into entrepreneurship!

And to the universe: thank you for this -- and something better!