Risk and Rise

Telana asked twelve of the guests on Risk & Rise about their thoughts around an excuse that aspiring entrepreneurs often give. This being: What comes to their minds when they hear someone say "I can't start a business because I don't have the funds"? She shares their challenging, varied, and inspiring responses, which push us to rethink if we actually need money, and to not excuse ourselves from starting to explore our next business idea if we feel we don't have the funding.

Guests are: Adri Neuper, Allon Raiz, Anne Gray, Dr Chomba Chuma, Erica Shofield, George Scola, Jonathan Smit, Kerryne Krause, Paul Smith, Richard Nilsson, Renier Kriel, York Zucchi, With Telana Simpson (host) For more info on each guest see: https://www.innercoaching.co.za/riskandrise/do-we-need-money-to-start-a-business/

Erica's background in theatre is where she learned about being an entrepreneur. She also ran an organic deli which helped her fine tune her business skills and crowdfunding knowledge. And it is from the challenges and failures she experienced that she now talks about the gems that she learnt from that challenging time. Erica shares on when to quit, when to persevere, and how to build a culture and deal with staff making mistakes. We also touch on the challenges of being a female entrepreneur, as well as explore how our inner voice is one of our greatest assets in business.

Resource for entrepreneurs

Thundafund is a way for entrepreneurs and startups to crowdfund and test their business ideas, build a community, and find their customers. They currently have an initiative running with Standard Bank currently, where whatever you raise through your crowdfunding campaign, up to R50,000 will be matched (if your business meets the qualifying criteria, T's and C's do apply!). For more information, see: https://www.thunda.fund/opportunity .

The fear of failing might just be one of five reasons that you are procrastinating on starting your business. Emma O'Brien shares why we procrastinate and what we can do about it, as well as the mindset we need when it comes to dealing with failures in business. Here no-nonsense approach, and candid examples brings some fresh energy to our exploration of overcoming our fears of failing and taking risks.

Telana asked eleven of the guests on Risk & Rise this one question: How do we find a business idea, if we want to be entrepreneurial, but have no idea what business to start? She shares their varied, practical, useful and inspiring responses, tools and exercises, which we can use straight away to explore our next business idea.

Guests are: Adri Neuper, Allon Raiz, Anne Gray, Dr Chomba Chuma, George Scola, Jonathan Smit, Kerryne Krause, Paul Smith, Richard Nilsson, Renier Krie,l York Zucchi, with Telana Simpson (host).

For more info on each guest see: riskandrise.co.za

Whenever we start something new there is a strong likelihood that the Imposter Syndrome will be triggered. This is a phenomenon where we experience such fear of being exposed as a fraud, and it is heightened when there's any chance of us failing. It can stop us from starting anything new or taking any kind of risk.

In this episode Telana explains how the Impostor Syndrome works and how it is linked to and feeds, our fear of failure.

If you would like a PDF about the Imposter Phenomenon Scale explained in this episode, just sent Telana an email on [email protected]

Serial entrepreneur Richard Nilsson explains how he dealt with rejection in his journey of raising around $6M for his current business MyPetGo. He also describes how he's been dealing with anxiety as an entrepreneur, and what he calls 'near death experiences' in business, and how those lows have resulted in learning and pivoting, which have taken his businesses forward. Richard shares a wealth of ideas from how to raise capital, to life strategies that help him deal with setbacks, as well as what he sees happening in the landscape of entrepreneurship all over the world, from his viewpoint in Europe and Asia.

Jonathan Smit, entrepreneur and angel investor, shares how he went from seeing a gap in the market that he knew nothing about, to building (and then successfully exiting) one of South Africa's top fintech businesses called Payfast.

Jonathan shares his experience and learnings around building a culture of innovation and teamwork, as well as the mindset we need in order to tackle mistakes and challenging times as an entrepreneur and as a business. He also unpacks with Telana how South Africa doesn't have a winning mindset, what we might do about it, as well as his top tip for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Craig Lubbe has moved up the ranks and is now a director of the Bob Group. He shares his failures and fears along his corporate journey, as well as what he has learned from bringing his intrapreneurial flair to the businesses he has worked in. We explore how he creates a culture of innovation and how he sees risk and failure with his forever learning mindset.

Resources for entrepreneurs

The Bob Group offers a number of ecommerce solutions that makes it very easy for a startup entrepreneur to get going, with no initial costs. Craig and Telana discuss how the Bob Shop can be used by those wanting to create an online presence and start selling immediately. Find out more at www.bob.co.za.

Maurice's entrepreneurial journey is a great example of how one can bootstrap and start exactly where you are. Maurice also shares his greatest failure and how that led to him pivoting into what has now become his greatest strength. He talks about the importance of relationships and how to take calculated risks, and we share how he became the onematchstick startup entrepreneur.

Graham Coetzer is an award-winning investigative journalist and has just published his book "Hunting with the Hawks". He shares with Telana how he handles the fear of finding himself in life threatening situations for his work, as well as how he deals with the fear of how his book might be received and the judgment that comes with creating his work. In this episode they touch on managing fear, dealing with conflict, having difficult conversations, engaging on social media and the important work that his book is highlighting about the South African police force.

Hunting with the Hawks: Untold stories from the elite South African crime-fighting unit by Graham Coetzer.

The Hawks, South Africa's elite crime-fighting force, have put scores of our worst criminals behind bars. In this book, investigative journalist Graham Coetzer offers us a rare glimpse into the secretive world of this top police unit. It is also an ode to the hard work and dedication of the best of our police service.