SMME/entrepreneurship issues: What I learnt from starting my own business
When I started my PR business in 2012, the only thing I knew very well was my profession — public relations (PR). I knew that what I had learnt in the 13 years I spent working for big companies like the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica), Absa, MTN and Business Connexion (BCX) I could use in my own company.
My main goal was to run my own show and service my own clients in my SOHO (small office, home office) type of business.
As a PR expert, I was confident that I could work in my sleep, but little did I know that running my own business needed far more than that.
The first mistake I made was that I went into the business with debts I had accumulated when I was working full-time; not thinking that I would not have a monthly salary to service those debts.
Second, I did not know about complicated business stuff such as cash flow, overheads, company financials, administration and HR, to name a few. It all sounds very complicated.
It was confusing for me too because I am a content person, not into numbers or financials.
These are important things I had to learn because I was a one-man show, running all parts of the business on my own.
In the big organisations I worked for, there were different departments responsible for various functions like HR, finance or legal issues. Now I did not have that kind of support.
I had to become a “Jack of all trades and master of none” very fast. For any of you who have started running your own businesses, lessons I learnt were cash flow is money that comes into the business regularly, paid by clients for a service or product. This money allows you, the owner, to pay off the debts I was referring to earlier or cover monthly expenses (business and personal).
Please note, though, that for you to have cash flow, you first need to have clients to whom you provide a service or product. Very importantly, these clients need to pay you regularly and on time — otherwise it is “kushubile” for you and your business.
I then learnt about “overheads”. This is basically your business expenses and could be rent, stationery, airtime, data, computer/laptop, car expenses like petrol, as a few examples.
I learnt it was very important to keep monthly expenses low if I wanted my business to survive.
It did not help that I was told by everyone that most blackowned, small businesses normally failed within the first two years.
Just imagine how scared I was because I was not only “udarkie”, but also a young woman. So here I learnt that I needed to cut any unnecessary expenses so that my business could survive.
I did not get a fancy office to rent, I worked from my home
— on my sofa or bed with a laptop on my lap. I realised the only thing I really needed to service my clients was a laptop, a 3G card or wifi router, airtime or data and a little stationery.
Not having an office meant that if a client called, wanting something urgently while I was driving, I would stop on the side of the road, open my laptop, connect and send the document to the client.
What was important was that work was moving — it did not matter if I worked from the boot of a car. This meant that I could be paid and make some money.
My advice to those who still want to start their own business is to try and go into a business that does not need much money to start, because this is usually money most of us do not have.
Lastly, I know not all businesses are the same and our experiences might differ, so it is definitely not one size fits all. I am just telling my own story, hoping it will help someone.
NB: I would like to encourage all of you to start engaging on these important issues, constructively of course.
You will find this kind of column every Thursday on all my social media pages —FB, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram (IG) handles are all the same @MirandaLusiba.
Each week, we will tackle different topics I am passionate about.
For more info, call Lusiba on
078-675 1297 or e-mail her on
Ora4117@gmail.com and/or miranda@strangeconsulting .co.za