There is a magic ingredient to running a successful business . . . . i.e. finding an elegant solution to all things.

Elegance is not a soft girly word. At the heart of elegance is the concept of being “ingeniously simple” (effortless, refined, tasteful and graceful are all part of it). Because an elegant solution is ingeniously simple it is quick, easy and inexpensive to implement; it does not incur an onerous and crushing overhead.

• An elegant solution has a wow factor. Your staff love it because it is easy to implement. Your clients are amazed because it catches them off guard; they are both surprised and delighted.
• An elegant solution has a simple beauty to it; it is timeless and classic.
• An elegant solution does not incur discomfort and disturbance around it. It fits effortlessly into the existing infrastructure without major paradigm shifts or renovations.
• An elegant solution is fun and everybody enjoys participating in the process.
• An elegant solution contrasts with its surroundings; its stands out without being offensive or authoritarian.
• An elegant solution gets buy-in from all concerned, quickly and easily.

Example: The most anticipated event at the annual LIVEOUTLOUD Super Car day is the race between a super car and a helicopter around Kyalami race track. This is a typical LIVEOUTLOUD Event – it has the wow factor yet is eqasy to implement, surprising and delighting both clients and spectators alike.

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Much has been said about opening a business in South Africa, often painting it as a danger when in fact it is an opportunity . . . . Consider the following  . . . .

• Lack of competition. Compared to countries like the UK or the USA the South African market is wide open; you can find an open place and make it your own. Naturally you have to have a unique selling point and your business must have a competitive edge but beyond that you dont have to use force to open a gap in the landscape or patiently wait for a lucky break; you can just go for it.
• In the first year or two of your business there is very little governance and red tape to slow you down; yes that may come later (see next point)
• The African mentality and culture has a certain amount of flexibility to it. African is a place where people are given a chance. Africa makes allowances for remedial and corrective action to be taken “on the job”. You are given time to conform because growth is seen as more desirable than governance.
• We have a first world infrastructure while still having an affordable workforce. With the right training and nurturing unskilled people can become skilled at the fraction of the cost in other countries.
• Being young is not seen as a disadvantage. Society perceives you to be an expert in trends and growth (while older people are seen as being experts in procedures and administration)
• Being small or a medium sized is often seen as an advantage because you can move faster and at a fraction of the price.

I have started many businesses and this has been my experience. Sure your reality may be quite different but I believe that the way you approach a challenge can determine your success or failure.

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Do you have a business or are you involved in a money generating activity? Put your business to the following test and ask yourself . . . what is a business?

A) Is your business (going to be) profitable? Bankers will tell you that this basic concept is often overlooked. “Profitable” means anytime, anyplace and anywhere. The business plan is robust and can weather season and fashion. What you offer taps deeply into human nature – people are prepared to pay handsomely for your product or your services. “Scraping by” is not a business.

One of the characteristics of a profitable business is its competitive edge – an edge that is difficult to duplicate.

B) Is your business scaleable? This means that one person can live off this business with a small investment but equally 1000 people could be employed with an equally bigger investment. Your business can be scaled up in times of expansion and scaled down in times of recession but the doors would remain open under all economic conditions.

C) Is your business sustainable? If the “ME” disappeared out the business, would it survive? Are you the brand? Are the skills, resources, systems and procedures in place to continue to make a profit under all circumstances? A business built around the genius of one person is not a business.

If A, B and C are true then you have a business which you can sell, which is the fourth characteristic of a true business.

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There are only two possible answers i.e.”Yes” and “No”. If “Yes” we talk RECOGNITION. If “No” we talk CHANGE.

Change is simple and is made of three elements i.e.

• the target,
• time management and
• rethinking

It is unlikely that the target is the problem. How can an acceptable target suddenly become flawed?

Time management is a solvable problem.

The most likely candidate is old thinking. Old thinking is a lot like cholesterol – it affects performance. Rethinking is the solution as it demands that we “profoundly reconsiders” our strategies. Re-thinking brings profound changes that allows us to reach our targets.

By setting targets for staff and making them accountable one week later your business is set for expansion especially if it is coupled with the powerful antidote of rethinking. By incorporating targets and rethinking as a basion of company-culture you can only expand.

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Here is mine and it’s just four words . .  ”YOU ARE THE PROBLEM”.

Your business is a direct reflection on you. Problems in the business are problems in you. Staff imitate you.

What excites you excites them. What disinterest you disinterest them. Your interpretation of balance is their interpretation of balance.

Here is the longer version of this strategy . . .  ”What is the problem within you that is causing the problem in the business?” Address the problem in your own life and the problem will disappear in the business. Once you have it mastered your own problem, the business problem will disappear permanently (which is unlike with any other externally imposed solution).

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In the south its a month that falls between the cracks – people get sick, the weather is unpredictable, sales slow down, people slow down as they wait in anticipation of the beginning of the southern summer  - 1 September.

Dont let this month slip by. Now is the time to re-focus. Get out those target figures you set at the beginning of the year and re-appraise them. Remind your team of the dreams and visions that you had when the year started. Re-energize and re-focus.

Remember that your team takes its cues from you. If you dont make August important it will not be important to them and it can easy slide by without anybody noticing.

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LIVEOUTLOUD has come through this chaos but our survival was not luck. We deliberately planned, strategized and restructured our way throughout this time of recession and uncertainty.

Our survival was a 5 point strategy

Chaos brings confusion – We rejected confusion and became single minded. No matter how murky the waters became we only got more and more focused on our pinpoint goals i.e. to be the “best luxury brand magazine” and events company anywhere.

Chaos is unpredictable – We therefore implemented the 90 day business rule. While remaining focused on our goals we reinvented ourselves every 90 days. Like riding a bull the reinvention was in response to what was happening around us.

Chaos seems random – Chaos however is dependent of the initial conditions that started the chaos. By focusing on the initial conditions the chaos was no longer random. As the meltdown was initiated by financial collapse we took control of our finances and learnt to master the numbers in our balance sheet.

Chaos brings disorder – We embraced order. We flattened our management structure and made everybody 100% accountable regardless of their position, portfolio or the immediate circumstances; if this meant working through the night we did it, but the job got done.

Chaos engenders disorganization – We ruthlessly  implemented organisation.

• Organisation is having an expert in every field.
• Organisation is diversity across genders, ages, cultures, personality types, paradigms and disciplines. Diversity therefore plugged the gaps we had in our organisation, mindset and culture.
• Organisation is everybody (despite their diversity) adhering to the same values and culture.

This painful process was fortunate and our organisation is the stronger for it.

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Candice and I come from two very different families.
To expect them to bond together without any glue is unreasonable so we set about providing the much-needed glue i.e. a five day wedding extravaganza for the immediate family members.

We also included my six groomsmen and Candice’s six bridesmaids because that’s where we spend our time, either with our families or with our close friends.

We chose Prynnsberg Estate in Clocolan – a 14 bedroom sandstone mansion built in 1881 by the diamond mining magnate Charles Newberry. In the LIVEOUTLOUD tradition the event had to be larger than life. We arranged clay pigeon shooting, bicycle polo, croquet and archery. Each evening had a different theme e.g. a masked Venetian ball in the old chapel and an Arabian evening on the terrace. At each event everybody was required to dress up. This was important to get people to relax but also made for awesome photos!

Meals were also a critical time for people to get to know one another. Every meal was in a different venue; this forced people to sit in different places and in different combinations. The main lounge was equipped with an espresso machine that ran 24 hours a day; folk were able to chat and discus the mansions interesting collection of fine South African coffee table books going back almost 100 years.

The extended period also allowed interaction of a more serious nature. Candice and I spent time with the pastor who married us. This allowed us to reflect on some of the more serious issues of a lifetime commitment. The night before the big day my dad and I spent in the mountain cave just hanging out and chatting about ‘stuff’.

The entire stay was documented by two photographers and one videographer. Ok, so my family LOVES photos but that aside – the photos provided us with a fun way to interact on FaceBook after the wedding – thus we were able to keep the conversations going long after the event was over.

Our wedding format drew a line in the sand and helped all involved to understand that family life after the wedding will never be the same again – new faces, new viewpoints, new values, new sensitivities and a new family dynamic. Every person is an equal member of the new family, from the grannies in their 80’s to my baby brother who is only 6 – and let’s not forget the family pets where who also present!

It was not all fun and games – during the stay we charged the two families and our friends that they were equal custodians of our marriage commitment; that they also had a responsibility to make this thing work, no easy task in this modern era.

The wedding format was a great success and achieved more than we could ever have hoped for. It is my wish that more families will take a more serious look at the mechanisms needed to join families together in a life long commitment that is part of this thing called marriage.

The five day event was featured on SABC3 – Top Billing. Catch it on their YouTube channel – sabc3topbilling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiv9ibzJHHs

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The vegetarian meal that would change my life forever

From early beginnings as a teenage waiter turned entrepreneur to the founding of LIVE OUT LOUD media group comprising of luxury travel and events, South African Michael Eilertsen’s entrepreneurial journey delivers great lessons about determination, starting up, passion and courage to succeed.

Here Michael tells how he learned from his past experiences and his biggest mistakes in business when starting up. Click here for more

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Genghis Khan built one of the greatest empires from scarcity.

His homeland of Mongolia is a harsh environment; freezing cold, arid, isolated, treeless and with little in the way of natural resources. The Mongols developed a lifestyle matched to this environment and flourished. Every man had three horses and with a few chunks of cheese and blood from his horses he could survive for 16 days. When he fired a shot, he never missed because arrows were scare.  Russia by comparison was an easy environment with food, trees, water and infrastructure – even the Russian winter the Mongols took in their stride.

Building a business in a recession is not for the fainthearted but then that depends what you are use to. If you have developed an appetite for abundance then you will hunker down and with the rest of your bushiness sector wait for the good times to return. If however you are used scarcity you will see big wide open spaces of opportunity. Your ability to do great things with little will leave your intimidated opposition far behind as you reap in fields of little competition and great opportunity.

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