Thread by @sibumabena

How I boosted my business: doing jobs that required IP and didn’t really have hard costs. For e.g I did research for a documentary for 3 months and got paid a lump sum of R90k. Banked all the profit to be able to bank roll a project for Mtv on 30day 💰 term... that was 2015

Fast forward 4 years later and MTV is still a client and I’ve never made a supplier wait more than 30 days for payment WHEN a delay was experienced... our challenges are the same guys... it’s the circumstances and our responses to them that are different

Add to that the fact that I had the privilege of staying at home (sleeping on the couch) and taking taxis and gautrain before COMFORTABLY moving out of home into my own place... I had more than R100k in my business account but that was no incentive for me to think “I’ve made it”

BTW: I was bartending at The Sands, teaching dancing to kids, choreographing for a corporate project... and studying... R100k in my account meant nothing. I had to work for more

Ideas on jobs that require YOU and not a lot of money:

- Do proposals and presentations for people
- Do research for people (online, books, interviews)
- Teach something
- Bartender, waitress, promoter, packer, teller, help at a catering company

Working for someone can form part of your capital saving plan or even expansion strategy...

But be careful not to make your employer feel like they are incubating you. When you are an employee, be an employee.

I accepted my first R200k overdraft after 2,5 years of never borrowing money to do work. I only accepted jobs I could afford.

I registered my biz 2014 and only worked FULL TIME for it from October 2016.

I was a freelancer/employee for the first 2 years of my business being registered...

I was able to have my work salary and some freelancing retainers maintain my low standard of living whisky I capitalized the biz

I was only ready to employ myself full time from October cos I was sure I could afford to pay myself a salary for 12 months even if not one single piece of business care in.

Calculated and measured whilst being flexible enough to take on work

Also... I collaborated with ALOT of people... I didn’t try to keep all the money to myself by doing things alone. Yes that meant less profit...but it also meant being able to deliver...always!

Last piece of info; I had more small Cheques than I did big cheques... but there were a lot of small ones... all the experience from the small cheques trainer me for the big cheques.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk ❤️

P.S

No two people experience the exact same journey... be resilient, steadfast and focused on your dream (even if you don’t have a plan or strategy) and you’ll be fine!

(I wrote a business plan for the first time in 2017) 🙇🏽‍♀️ made it to my first mil without one. 🤕