Its life as usual in this London bookstore destroyed by a bombing raid in 1940.

In my book, the ability to survive is the defining characteristic of the entrepreneur. There is no attitude of reliance or entitlement – no bill of rights – no excuses – no procrastination – no pre-defined game plan and indeed, very few rules. The successful entrepreneur is a survivor; a deep tactical instinct to “survive and adapt” regardless of circumstances, trends or betrayal.

The successful entrepreneur has a war-room mentality. Resources, strategies, intelligence and alliances are close at hand. Using gut-instinct he discerns the available field intelligence and immediately, and without remorse, makes a tactical survival choice – once made he pursues it with uncompromising tenacity because failure is not an option.

For these reasons front-and-center in his war-room are his Code of Values because “survival without conscious” is a dark and lonely road. Making difficult choices have wide and serious consequences and if you are going to be called to book your value-set needs to carry you through critical scrutiny from both friend and foe.

Evolution tells us that survival is built on a myriad different resources. This is why his war-room is over-engineered. Diverse networks, deep relationships and a robust reputation are all war-room resources. The roller coaster of Surprise-and-Business throws out diverse challenges and only over-engineered resources will carry you through.

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This Empowerment Entrepreneur started the Empowerment Plan giving homeless women in Detroit hope and dignity.

Would-be entrepreneurs think that a business starts with a business plan and bank loan – this is not so. You start with what you have – the proceeds from your entry level naturally seeds the next level up. I have followed this model from my street corner business “Breakfast Boy” all the way up to my newest venture VaultLife . This is what an empowerment entrepreneur does . . .

“Start where you are, use what you have.” Mike Eilertsen

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One of the things that I learnt first and foremost from this game is that to have a sustainable empire you have to get them into income generating areas. In the game you would have to get them farming, mining gold and stone, and as fast as you started making resources you could apply them to building infrastructure and spending the money that you were currently making.

I think too many entrepreneurial organisations don’t get the fundamentals of this principle. Firstly, they start spending money before they are making money. They believe that they have to put huge infrastructures in place, obligated to have fancy offices, and that they have to bring in a variety of heavy management before they have even got their principles of their sales correct.

The best businesses start employing sales people first, understanding and selling the product, as well as adapting their sales strategy based on what the market is looking for. Once you start generating that income you can start spending on infrastructure – your income generators must exist before you cost centres.

Start off making money before spending it.

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I then mentally modify my offering to their corporate culture.  It is my preparation that prevents me from being put into tough situations or asked questions I cannot answer. In gymming you have a muscle memory, in business you have a pitching memory.

Having gone through the various scenarios before walking into the meeting, I can quickly close down objections and turn them into reasons for buying.

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Here is her interview on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

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Thirty year old South African, Mike Eilertsen, is the founding member of The Luxury Network in Africa, a brand building and luxury marketing agency. He is also CEO of LIVEOUTLOUD, an all-encompassing luxury lifestyle brand and a new company VaultLife due for international launch on 16 October 2014.

Mike Eilertsen is often referred to as a serial entrepreneur, as he has a history of entrepreneurial endeavours that span back to his primary school days. He is a finalist for the 2012 Sanlam/Business Partners Entrepreneur of the Year award and has also made the top five finalists in the Africa SMME Awards for the Most Innovative Company in 2012.

How we made it in Africa’s Kate Douglas asked Eilertsen what it takes to be a successful serial entrepreneur in South Africa.

What is the single most important reason for your success?

My enthusiasm for everything I do mixed with a never say die mentality. I also have a “less time planning, more time doing mentality”.

Do you think being an entrepreneur has changed you? If so, how?

Not at all, it was something that was always a part of me. I started my first business before I even knew what a business actually was. In fifth grade, my weekly R10 (US$1.23) lunch money went to paying the two best marble players a couple years ahead of me R5 ($0.62) each for all their marble winnings of the day. I then divided them into starter packs and sold them for R10 to the mothers in the parking lot after school. Business was shut down when my parents called the school after I asked them to take me shopping to spend my R930 ($115).

If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?

I wouldn’t employ my clones, and often it is difficult to realise you have done it until someone else points it out. As human beings, we are comfortable around those who are similar to us. Gregarious people enjoy the company of other enthusiastic individuals, while accountants generally prefer the company of others with logical and analytical personalities.

No matter whom you may be, one tends to be impressed when hiring others with whose traits you relate too. In my case I am a hunter sales personality with weak administrative skills. Three months after opening we had a team of six others exactly like me, and not a contract, procedure or file in sight. Once the “clones” were pointed out, I diversified completely, targeting those who were as different from me as possible.

In your opinion, what is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?

Courage.

Almost every person I speak to has a big idea. The only difference is that months later, it is still nothing more than an idea. What differentiates entrepreneurs and people who work for others is that they had the courage to take that last step, and make it a reality.

Why do you think there are so few young, successful entrepreneurs in Africa today?

Firstly I believe Africa is the most entrepreneurial spirited continent in the world. However, as a continent, we haven’t yet fully grasped the concept of differentiation. The result is that the same products and services are offered by everyone, allowing no one to grow beyond a small time operator. Think of informal trading at Africa’s traffic intersections; there are amazing products being sold by spirited entrepreneurs. The problem is it’s the same products at each intersection. They also believe they need an elaborate business plan, which isn’t as necessary or important as a good idea and the courage to see it through. I believe people spend too much time planning and not enough time doing.

Describe an average work day for you?

It begins early so I can reply to emails in “dead” time, freeing up my nine to five to concentrate on growing the business. In the mornings I do all my sales calls and meetings to make best use of those high energy levels, and the afternoon is dedicated to conceptualising events, internal meetings and strategy sessions.

What has been your most satisfying moment in business?

Employing Kuda who was begging on the side of the road, as he had no arms. He was so enthusiastic, passionate and fun loving; making jokes with commuters despite his situation. Today he manages the office, works on a computer and his phone of choice is a BlackBerry touch screen. He has taught me that anyone can achieve anything they want, as long as they set their mind to it.

Tell us about the strangest thing you have ever done as an entrepreneur?

My first business as the ‘Breakfast Boy’ is definitely the strangest thing I’ve ever done. It started on the corner of [Johannesburg’s] Jan Smuts Avenue and Conrad Drive

At 3am every morning I began baking muffins, so that by 6am I could be on the road at the intersection I had selected. My outfit included a chef’s hat for easy identification and my signature basket with 10 breakfasts, enough to service every robot change.

For R10, commuters driving to Sandton would get a breakfast bag containing a muffin, fruit, yogurt, Snickers bar, mint and a napkin. But having a great product wasn’t enough, as all good entrepreneurs will know; you need something that sets you apart and communicates directly with your target market.
So I made a fold over pamphlet, telling my story and giving weekly updates to the lessons I was learning while trying to run a business of my own. The standard opening line was: “I am a first year BCom Entrepreneur student at RAU [Rand Afrikaans University] and I believe only so much can be learnt in the classroom without firsthand practical experience. My mobile number ended the week’s learning, and allowed Sandton’s commuters to communicate directly with me for pointers, advice and new opportunities.

Within two months I was at maximum capacity selling 60 breakfasts a morning. The R300 per morning I was making made me a millionaire in student terms, but I found myself loving the interactions even more, as daily messages flooded in from both those who purchased and who had just received a pamphlet.

I will never forget the morning my former high school headmaster pulled up at the intersection. I greeted him with a cheery “Good morning, Sir” and what I got back was a look that seemed to read as: how can a private school education amount to selling food on the side of the road. But I was just beginning, and I never let those disapproving looks get to me. By the end of the fourth month, four other students were employed and The Breakfast Boy could be spotted at crowded intersections across the Northern Suburbs.

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The people who are driven and ambitious stand out from a young age – people like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos (created Amazon). Someone like Jamie Odgers stood out from the first time I met him. He made an incredible impression in terms of just how driven he was; he stood out amongst his peers, he just had a different aura about him and he carried himself differently.

Jamie Odgers did an internship with LIVEOUTLOUD when he completed matric before he set off to America on a rowing scholarship. He achieved exceptional results as part of the Boston University Men’s Rowing crew and is going to be a sporting name to remember. He was in Johannesburg for five days and he chose to visit us at VAULTLife.com for three of them as his aim is to achieve greatness, not only in rowing, but also in the business world.

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The biggest misconception about business, is that to start a business you need capital.

It is something I actively fight – you build a business based on what you can afford.

When I originally started my first business, I had R100, all I could afford at that time was to go buy muffin mix and sell muffins on the side of the road. The money I made from that eventually grew to me being able to negotiate a deal with Nestle to purchase coffee machines. I could now sell coffee and muffins on the side of the road.

As each business grew and I had more money available, it opened up additional doors and took me on the journey to where I am today. I now own the most luxurious magazine on the African continent as well as being a shareholder of VAULTLife.com. None of this was by design, all of this was based on decisions, entrepreneurial behaviour and the amount of money I had in my pocket at that time.

When people come to me now and say please can I invest in them and aid them with regard to gaining finance, my answer is always no. Instead I ask them what they can do in that space, that time and with the money they have available to be able to grow, learn and be entrepreneurial.

Being entrepreneurial is not about having one business idea but being able to see an opportunity based on your current space, current means and current experience in the market place you are dabbling in.

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Firstly, you need to take your plans out and take note of what you have achieved.
Questions that should be asked are:

• did you hit your six month milestone
• did you manage to pull off what you needed to do in Q1 and Q2.
  You need to take into account that Q1 and Q2 are normally slow, strategy and budgets are off, it is also slow consumerism and unproductiveness because of April. However, we are now in the throngs of it.

Moving forward-

• what is July looking like,
• what are your goals for Q3 and
• how are you monetising to give yourself the biggest buffer as possible to ensure that you smash your Q4 target.

You need to start planning on how you are going to leverage media and your profile within the industry as well as upcoming events that you can capitalise on. More specifically, there are major events that are being set up from July onwards in terms of conferences, expos and concerts that are coming to South Africa. All of these represent opportunities and represent massive brand exposure for short periods of time. Therefore, you need to know how you are going to be tackling these in terms of a very detailed plan. This plan needs to be broken right down, to ensure that there are deliverables on each item.

At LIVEOUTLOUD and VAULTLife we sat down to create our 6 month strategy, this is how we break it down.

1. A month by month strategy of department goals, figures and the critical objectives.
2. A review of our culture and values, to remind the team who we are, what we stand for and how we achieve success the VAULTlife.com way.
3. A flow chart of business coming in and moving through the company, to highlight departments that naturally bottle neck and to ensure they are as efficient as possible.
4. A detailed cash flow, budget and income projection plan- startups burn through funds. Knowing what and when we can spend forces innovative behaviour without over extending.
5. Critical thinking- the whole company had to read the first 100 pages of a book which is relevant to what we are experiencing in our company right now, and were given tasks to present back to us. The team then presented back to the company in different roles, eg. Donovan Black became the CEO and he had to re-present the 6 month strategy with changes he would make to the plan. They were amazing and over half have been implemented. Developing critical thinking in a startup is crucial to success and takes away the natural inclination of employees to lean on the entrepreneurs.

Having non tech people in key tech positions ensures usability and simplicity in areas that intend to become over complex.

Simplicity is the greatest form of genius.

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Image: Touch Digital co za

Growth in Africa.

Economic growth is robust and foreign investment is growing.  Its expanding urban middle classes are creating an internal market of global scale. The continent is actively harnessing its natural resources, but Africa is not just about the commodities boom. There is growth in manufacturing, technology, telecoms, finance, business services, outsourcing, retailing and hospitality. Each of these sectors are changing the face of the continent’s cities.

Which cities offer the best opportunity for economic growth will clearly vary by industry sectors – here is a list of 10 African cities that are likely to have the combination of critical mass of commercial activity and underlying growth factors to push them to the top of the continent’s city hierarchy.

The 10 African Cities on the international radar are:

• Mature: Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg
• Emerging: Accra, Cairo, Casablanca, Lagos, Nairobi
• Early Adopter: Addis Ababa, Luanda

Looking at the bigger picture, these are the 12 factors that we believe will underpin growth in Africa’s commercial real estate industry:

10 African cities poised for take off – read the full story on Moneyweb

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