Learning Everyday

There's not much to report on the Cake Sale front but today was quite interesting and eye-opening for the group. We have a project that we have to do for one of our other courses that entails us conducting an analysis on a micro-enterprise like a small stall. Our group decided to interview a group of people that sell ornaments and key rings made from wire and beads on the side of the road by a mall.

These guys make most of what they sell and this is them being entrepreneurs. Being an entrepreneur does not depend on the size of your business. Being an entrepreneur means that you are trying to create something worth value that  either supplements your livelihood or can make the world better somehow. But the key is creating value. Never giving up and finding something that works and developing it until you can't anymore and it's the best that it can be.

If there's anything I learnt today from those gentlemen it's to be patient because your time will come as long as you are willing to put in the hard work.  

- Dominic

A Good Day

Today was a good day. We had our first meeting since we went on break and we also went on a productive adventure to find suppliers like we did a few weeks back.

In our meeting we cut down our menu and decided we will only be selling burgers along with donuts and some other pastries. Our thinking behind this was to keep it as simple as possible. One of our failures of the first Cake Sale was that we were trying to do too much without the adequate manpower. And now with less core members we need to dumb down the process although we will be getting some much needed help on the day in the form of 4 chef students. We did, however struggle to agree on the number of burgers we want to sell with Deon wanting to play it safe and me wanting to go for the kill. It was a little weird negotiating with my own team member but refreshing at the same time. But we came to a reasonable conclusion.

After our productive lunch meeting we went driving around going to different suppliers to compare prices and deals and this proved to be a good move as we found a cheaper supplier of bread rolls and pastries than the one we used in our first Cake Sale. It felt good to be out there on the 'streets', once again, hustling as a group.

-Dominic

Back to Business

Although it's still our mid-semester break, businesses are open again and that means we can get back doing what we do. We've made contact with some more potential sponsors, there's one in particular that we're very keen on  - a car company. Musa has a personal relationship with one of the employees and he also seemed keen to work with us but all he can do is pass the message on to his superiors for them to make a decision. That seems to be theme of our contact with sponsors "I'll speak to my manager" and when we contact the managers they say "I'll contact head office". There always seems to be a higher power that we rarely get to speak to.

Some aspects of how we've approached Cake Sale 2 have been similar to how we approached the first one - some good others bad. But I know the things that we do differently will be the difference and will carry us over the finish line with our heads held high. I feel that we know enough about our past mistakes not to repeat them and there won't be a mad scramble come Friday when we need to finalise everything.

There's exactly a week to go and it's time for us to grind.

- Dominic 

Rise Up

Public holidays are a blessing but since we're on our mid-semester break the day off carries no significance to us. It only means we are unable to contact any potential sponsors or make any traction. Since there is nothing to really report on why don't I take this opportunity to introduce myself a little bit and share some of my thoughts so far because I'm sure you all know by now, Monday means a new blogger on rotation but I'm last on the list so there will be no more new faces after me!

My main role in the operation of our business is basically to be the money guy. All costings are run by me first and I authorise any payments and such things. In a not-official capacity I think I try keep everyone calm in overly stressed situations - a voice of reason if you will:) But that's enough about me...

Since our group dynamics changed just over a week ago the vibe I've been getting the rest of the team is just that we're a bunch of guys, doing our thing trying to make money while learning along the way. At least that's how I feel. Certain aspects the girls brought will be missed, like the organisation and admin work but that just meant we all had to step up our game. Although I feel we've bonded more as a group of four than as a group of six but there's no love lost between us and the girls. This just means we see them less.

I was at first sceptical of finishing the year in a 4 person group and when we entered into our meeting with Stuart I was sitting on the fence but ended up leaving feeling confident and hyped about what we, as a team, could achieve. And I doubt that will change anytime soon!

- Dominic

Easter friday

Firstly happy easter to the Christian community. As term has ended and we are all on holiday I will leave you guys with a refreshing piece I wrote just to give you some motivation so that you keep going at what ever it is you're doing. Here goes 

''A picture of people in prison clothing sparked so many thoughts in my head. I thought of the ideal life that everyone or rather most people wish to have , this idea of ideal differs with people since  such a life is thought to be  brought upon by success, and success can be perceived in different ways since people have different goals that they set out to achieve. So why isn't everyone getting successful easily and getting a step closer to the ideal life? Well I think we as people face daily imprisonment, although it might not be something we can see with the naked eye, we are held captive by intangible prison bars, and thick prison walls that come in the form of Laziness, Procrastination, short attention span, and poor work ethic etc. And this all boils down to lack of constant motivation since people always seek that little motivation so as to keep them going hence we as people read motivational quotes and watch videos on motivation all the time, but the sad reality always hits us when we realise that this can never be enough to keep us going. So I like to compare motivation with money since it's nice to have some but it goes by fast, and it's fickle. I would like to think that motivation is the same since it also changes frequently as a result of one's interests, loyalties and affection. So if this is the case then I think we need to stay loyal to being productive such that it becomes a habit like having to take a shower everyday, so if you don't do it you feel weird, and incomplete. So taking charge of our responsibilities and turning them into habits will definitely move us closer our goals, eventually freeing us from the prisons we create for ourselves.''

I hope that the piece was refreshing enough for you guys to want to keep on reading the blog. Cheers

Protoyping documents

Today excitements were a bit high amongst us since it was the last day of term and it was also the day we handed in our product prototypes for our business that we will be running this year. Each and every team member had to come up with a prototype, and then as the team we have to choose which one to go to (decision will be made after cake sale two).

 The prototypes that the team members came up with were all innovative and potent businesses that could grow big. Of course we wanted to know what the other groups came up with so we asked around and most prototypes were pretty exciting so anticipation for the year just grew in me and my team members.

 So just to briefly break down our prototypes incase you are wondering, Deon came up with a mini vegetables garden pot you can keep in the house, while Musa came up with a recyclable pastry idea, Dominic on the other hand came up with portable bamboo speakers, and I(Tsedzu) came up with digital posters for campus adverts.

 So yes I know the times ahead are exciting and we will keep you guys posted all the way.

new strategy and planning

So straight after we had declared ourselves the underdogs we had to meet up to discuss strategies and also re structure the team roles. 

So we had a meeting in the afternoon where we spoke about how things should work. We all had to agree that pulling up our socks was the way foward,so we kept the roles that we had been assigned to at the beginning but we all agreed that we should split up the organisational work of the team with regards to school work and admin within Genesis.

 In the meeting we also discussed cake sale two, and in that discussion we spoke about how much stock we had left from cake sale one and how much we might need for cake sale two, we also discussed potential food products for cake sale two and also sponsor feedback. It seemed that we had everything in order since everyone was happy and we knew that we would be able to pull off cake sale two by having that meeting.

Meeting with Stuart after group breakup

The week started off quite slow since we had been on a long weekend so the posts have also been slow.but since it is on a Tuesday we had to meet up with Stuart(our course convenor)..this how ever would be a difficult meeting since we had been down two members and we had to decide whether we would stick as a group or not and Stuart would was going to advice us on this.

 When we touched on the topic in the meeting Stuart told us that splitting up or staying together is all up to us so we weighed out the options and we decided that staying together would be a better option even though it meant more work for us it also meant more equity in the business hence more money(haha). So after the meeting everyone seemed determined and I there was just a sense of energy in the room because we all were ready to do it and face all the challenges ahead. Since there was a sense of new energy in the group we decided to spice things up and call our team the underdogs. So in a nutshell that was the beginning of our week.

Poll is UP

Right guys, the voting poll is now up and running. All you have to do is click on the food items that you would like to be able to get from Kitchen on Jammie, and then come by our stall on Tuesday the 5th of April to see if we have got the item there.

I will be posting updates on Facebook as well as we get closer to Cake Sale 2.

HOPE EVERYONE IS HAVING AN AWESOME WEEKEND!!!

Blog Update

I decided to try and give the blog a bit of an appearance update.
Would actually help matters if i saved the work after I changed things. it would save the work and my time.

I have decided that i will do a poll to see what you guys would really like to buy from Kitchen on Jammie
at out next cake sale.  I am trying to think of ideas, and once I have some, I will put a poll up and
you guys can then vote and tell me what you want.

Conflict

Group conflict is never a nice thing to have to deal with, however, the friction that is caused in a group can spark the makings of a new idea that can take a group to the level of team and then from that formation, start the journey to a fantastic product idea.

I though that as many of the other groups are probably having the same sort of problems in their groups, I would share this to maybe try and help them all resolve any conflict that may have arisen and become a better team.

Hey guys, I hope this helps anyone that feeling like they are in the middle of a conflict!

Advice for Entrepeneurs

A lot of people have many different ideas of how a business or company should be run, so I did some looking around and I think I found a person that can undoubtedly give some of the best advice to entrepreneurs.  Sir Richard Branson...is the founder of the Virgin Group and an extremely successful entrepreneur.

Other great entrepreneurs include the likes of:

Steve Jobs
Bill Gates
Warren Buffet
Theo Paphitis
Opera Winfrey


All these people have been very successful in the business world, and they all have some advise for those that are willing to listen.

After Cake Sale 1

So cake sale was yesterday and everyone is still trying to recover from the very long day that we had.

I thought I would share a few more pictures of the day.

On another note, CONGRATULATIONS to the winners of the SEED Experience show tickets.

Cake Sale Fun

Today was Cake Sale Day, and boy was it an eye opening experience.  there was so much going on around one, it becomes quite hard to captures everything.  I think we all had a lot of fun, and all worked extremely hard today.  Rest is definitely needed!

It was so interesting to see how many people prefer one item over the next, and this gives great insight into the next Cake Sale on the 5th of April.

Try to describe the atmosphere to you as a reader wont be as good and being able to see what all was happening.

Cake Sale Week

So this week is Cake Sale Week, with cake sale being on Tuesday on Jammie Stairs.  We have all been running around frantically trying to sort out the finer details of our preparation.  At this point all is on track for the big day tomorrow.

We all decided to go collect all of our ingredients and products this afternoon in preparation for tomorrow. we got everything that we needed to, and looking forward to tomorrow.


Come check the site out again sometime this week to see all the pictures from Cake Sale.

#HustleWeek - Day 5

Connections,Relationships and Networks:

So today, Domonic and I went to Naspers office in Cape Town cbd to meet up with one of our sponsors. We were fortunate enough to structure a deal with 'Spree.co.za'.the website is part of Media24's Ecommerce division, is one of South Africa's leading online fashion retailers and the first online shop to offer a magazine-styled shopping experience. Items on Spree include ladies’ and men’s apparel as well as kids’ and babies’ clothes from local designers, suppliers and international brands and labels. Launched in April 2013, Spree inspires shoppers through beautiful lookbooks, email publications, editorial images and a digital shoppable magazine offering style advice and fashion stories.

Spree will be sponsoring us with 1000, R100 gift vouchers for their online app, of which we will be using as an incentive for our raffle draw for Cake Sale 1. One of the things we learned today was the idea of making contact with people in high places, we were just regular UCT students but we still managed to get make a deal with one of Naspers subsidiary products. 

When we left the lady who was assisting us said "Please email us if there are any more opportunities at a later stage" this is evidence that we managed to secure a network and relationship that can potentially turn into much more fruitful. 

After our adventure Spree, we then went to Stuff magazine in Parrow near the airport. Also at Stuff we were warmly welcomed by another network we have managed to secure. Whilst at Stuff we were not only given magazines but, key insights about some of the challenges that face print media in South Africa. This was also another learning curve because we were given some real information that we as a group can use as key insights as we develop our product. 

#HustleWeek - Day 4

Unfortunately  my internet was down last night,

Thursday was a mixture of things - Collection of equipment, capital fundraising  activations on campus ( Raffle ), meetings with sponsors and ordering of stock for Cake Sale 1. 

What impressed me the most about Thursday, was how people within the group were starting to take initiative and taking control of their individual roles, which is good because things need to get done so that we succeed and come out as the best group.

I think pressure is key in any business, because pressure puts you in a situation in which you perceive that something at stake is dependent on the outcome your performance, which is what is happening in our Genesis groups. 

#HustleWeek - Day 3

Pressure

Frustration 

Anxiety 

Comfort zones

Disappointment  

Clip from today :) Enjoy!

Today was nothing more but a reality check ( Reminded us of the state of things in the real world ) 

After today, I can confidently say that I think all the members fully share a similar way of thinking, that is in relation to Cake Sale 1.

I believe that this is a good thing because it shows that there is gradual progress and growth within our group.

#HustleWeek - Day 2

Business is really about people - Suppliers, customers, staff, environment, financiers, competition etc. 

You can read all the business books in the world, but without people you are going nowhere. Today I truly learned that success in business is all about people, people, people. Whatever industry a company is in you are going to have to deal with people one way or the other.

After a rigours day of absolute #Hustle I realised that the only way we can truly succeed is if we treat the people that are involved in this journey properly, that includes our team, sponsors, mentors,the bank, suppliers and most importunely the 'customer'. 















Despite some of our challenges both at a personal level and at group level, I am still very optimistic about my team and the first cake sale on the 15th of March.

#HustleWeek - MONDAY

Hustle, hustle, hustle, HARD 

Eight days before Cake Sale and things are really getting tense. Difficult sponsors, team dynamics, time and absolute pressure.

Being your own boss isn't all about fancy lunches and fast cars. In fact it's rarely about that. Running your own company can create pressures inside and outside of the work place.

Stressfull 

Its never ending 

Its frustrating 

BUT IT WILL BE DONE!!!

Hey guys Musa, I will be taking you through #HustleWeek.  This will include Cake Sale 1 planning, meeting with sponsors, seed capital activation, collecting stock and more planning!!!

Sunblogging

Hi guys, 

The week has finally come to an end and it's nearly time to say goodbye. Wrapping up a rather interesting week where  in a nutshell we are learning more about each group members' different working ethics and how to compromise and adapt accordingly to find a common ground ourselves. We are learning how to function effectively and efficiently as a team.  As for our business, we are learning how dynamic the entire process of coming up with capital is challenging. We have constantly been reviewing our business strategies and accordingly adjust our target initially set. An exciting week awaits us. More determined than ever, we will do our best to make this week as productive and flourishing as possible. 

At a more personal level, I have been able to identify a few of my weaknesses and I look forward to turn those into strengths for the future. 

Shout out to all of you out there ;-)

It was such a pleasure to share my experience with you all this week. I'll pass my virtual pen to my team mate , Musa! 

Have an excellent week ahead ! :-)

Yuvna