Author: Tito Philips

Regardless of the goal, task or activity being undertaken, there are a lot of factors that can be attributed to your success or failure in any given endeavour. But of all these factors, none is as powerful as personal conviction –a deep seated belief that you can accomplish the goal, task or activity and an unwavering commitment to do whatever it takes to get it done. This personal conviction comes from clarity of purpose –an unbiased understanding of WHY [the reason] you are undertaking such task or activity and the fundamental ROLE [the importance] of such task or activity in…

Each time I throw open this question to entrepreneurs; what is the most important word in business? The most frequent answer I get is profit. Profit is a short term view of assessing the health and wealth of a business. Unless you want to stay in business for the short term, don’t focus on profit alone. The most important word in business is not profit, but cash flow. Yet, many entrepreneurs strongly believe that profit is the most important word in business. But according to management guru Peter Drucker, this shouldn’t be so. In his all time management classic book;…

In 2011, Hamilton Powell sold a couch on Craigslist. By 9:00pm, a man in a van showed up with $400 cash to his office. It scared the heck out of him! That’s when he started thinking about the downsides of Craigslist and it led him to search for common categories that are more valuable, and therefore even scarier to sell, than couches. He typed in several search terms and when he typed in “Rolex” he was dumbfounded. Right there, he knew there had to be a better way to sell a watch. And Crown & Caliber was born! Crown &…

What’s the singular driving force behind the success of unusual entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, and many others in their league? Is it their ground breaking innovations or exceptional business skills or determination? The answer is neither. While it’s obvious that all of these attributes definitely contributed to their success, as a matter of fact, these are the very attributes that have been often popularized. The truth is that there’s something more subtle that’s been frequently overlooked but is highly responsible for the success stories of most unusual entrepreneurs. What’s this often overlooked…

Poor inventory management can lead to overstocking which eventually affects your profitability. To increase profits, better manage your inventory. Here’s how!

Perhaps the most frequently asked question by entrepreneurs is this; “How do I get funding for my business?” Without any doubt, this is a very valid question. However, this is not the right question entrepreneurs should start with. Rather, they should be asking questions such as these; “Will I get funding for my business?” “Should I get funding for my business?” “When do I qualify for funding?” “How can I build my company without funding or by delaying funding?” The question of how to get funding presumes that everyone can get funding, if only they knew the method. So every…

Entrepreneurial FOOLISHNESS: How To Become A Better FOOL In Business. The difference between successful entrepreneurs and the unsuccessful ones is this; the successful ones know the areas where they are complete Fools and the areas where they are complete geniuses.

What Will You Do Differently In Your Business This 2014?

I would like you to chew on this question for a while. This year will most likely end up just as last year did if you don’t deliberately make up your mind to do something’s differently in both your life and your business.

Things will not change unless you change some things. In 2014, something’s gotta change!

All your list of New Year resolutions isn’t going to nail it. What you need is to ask yourself this question and relate it to some specific aspects of your life and business. Answer the questions and just do it!

So it’s that time of the year again, when so many giveaways will be generously shared by your friends, family and even companies. Well for us at MADphilips, we want to giveaway NOT for free, but at a ridiculous discount one of our Differentiate Online services –blogging for business design. Beyond Websites … If your business doesn’t have a website, it doesn’t have a chance in the market. If you don’t have even a basic website up and running these days, your prospective customers and clients are going to have a hard time seeing you as being relevant. But there’s…

You are going to need help to build your business, there are two ways to go about this; you can hire people on full time basis [employees] or you can get external help [outsourcing]. For many entrepreneurs, knowing when to hire full time workers is a no brainer, but knowing when to get external help is where the problem lies. So in this unusual article, Stephan is going to outline some vital questions you need to ask and answer to help you know when to outsource or not. Take it away Stephan! What Is Outsourcing? Before we begin, let’s be…

Unusual entrepreneurs will always depend on other people to help them in their quest to change the world and profit from purpose. Top on the list are employees. Regardless of how talented or passionate you are as an entrepreneur, it’s pretty obvious you can’t succeed all by yourself! To build the company of your dreams, you need a team of exceptional people. But what makes an exceptional employee? That’s the subject matter of this unusual article. What Makes An Exceptional Employee? An exceptional employee is more than someone who fits the job description. Finding this person is critical since hiring…

As a leader, you’re responsible for your team. You need to help your team run efficiently, and you need to make decisions that are best for your team. Most leaders have their own way of leading. Average leaders lead by force, but great leaders lead by example, and through inspiration. So if you dream of being a great leader, one that will increase the productivity of your team and maintain a happy work environment, the following are four essential things you must do. 1. Have a great attitude Your team is not going to want to follow a leader that…

This is a guest post by Damian Wolf. Smart business owners have discovered that the best method of survival in today’s market is through customer retention rather than through finding new customers. It costs more to find, impress and encourage a new customer than it is to convince a current customer to use your product or service again, which is why your focus should be placed on customer satisfaction. How many of your customers are repeat buyers? And how often do you lose customers because of your service methods? If you want to be successful, you need to show your…

Entrepreneurs are humans and all humans are prone to mistakes. As the saying goes; “no one is above mistake.” But you must also know that all mistakes are not created equal, some mistakes are more deadly than others, especially in business. So in this unusual article, I want to open your eyes to some of the deadly mistakes entrepreneurs make in their journey to change the world and profit from purpose. As always, I encourage you to join in this conversation by sharing from your own unique experience in the comment section at the end of this article. The 7…

I have always been fascinated by greatness; that special realm of human existence where achievement blends with fulfillment and creativity aligns with purpose. I strongly believe besides greatness, nothing else accounts for a life well spent. Greatness is the summit of life on earth! The pursuit of greatness in the realm of business is what inspired me to create this blog; naijapreneur –to help as many unusual entrepreneurs as possible build businesses that MATTER, change the world, and profit from purpose. It is the basis of all that I write about and the glue that binds us as a community…

As more and more businesses are leveraging the internet to find, attract, convert and retain profitable customers, it’s now very important for your website to speak the language of your target customers. Ever been to a website that left you wondering;  “What exactly do they do?” “What exactly are they trying to say?” “What exactly do they want me to do?” “Why should I buy from them?” Unfortunately, many websites make this kind of impression on visitors; no wonder very few people successfully convert visitors into customers. The Customer Journey to Online Purchase According to Google, in a recent study…

Being average would have been great if there weren’t many people in that space. The average space is already crowded, there’s little or no room for you. The more you try to be like everyone else, the less visible you become. Being average is the closest alternative to extinction!

When you are like everyone else your existence don’t matter; whether you are present or absent, no one bothers. Why? Because there are so many others just like you to cover up for you. Who needs another average product, service or company when they are already crowded by many? Average is abundant, extraordinary is scarce.

Growth in business as well as in life rarely happens overnight, as a matter of fact, it’s not the giant steps that count as much as the little consistent efforts focused on continuous improvement in some key areas of your business. Below are 5 of these key areas to focus on improving that will guarantee sustainable growth in your business.

Between the conceptualization of business a idea or the recognition of a business opportunity and the actual execution of the idea or the pursuit of the business opportunity, there is a gap. This gap is caused by fear, those inner demons that rare up their ugly heads as you embark on your entrepreneur’s journey. I refer to them as entrepreneurial fears and they are quite a handful of them.

Johan Nel is the South African CEO and founder of Umuntu Media, Africa’s leading online publishing platform. The name of the company, “Umuntu” means people in Ndebele. The company runs local content portals across Africa through its i-Portals and Mimiboard innovation. They currently have presence in about 17 African countries including Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Botswana, Rwanda and Tanzania. In this edition of the unusual entrepreneur interviews, Johan shares with us his unusual story and how far he’s come on his mission of delivering relevant local content on world class platforms across Africa. How Unusual Is Johan Nel? Recently,…