When is the right time to involve your kids in your business?...  Today was the first official day of ‘work’, for my two daughters, both aged under 12. I gave them instructions to the tasks that I needed done, which were mostly the cleaning of tuna cans for our Toona Can product. After I explained the task I went over to my desk and attended to some emails. After a while I heard some bickering between the two of them. They were struggling to divide the work and defining roles. I heard the eldest, Chelsea, (in a highly irritated voice) say: “It’s impossible to work with you Kirsten!” And she walked off! I had to chuckle!

by Lizl Naude, founder of Lilly Loompa

My husband can be quite philosophical at times. Both of us are big movie watchers, and try to always dissect a movie once done watching. We watched the Brad Pitt movie, Moneyball, recently. And I think, since we saw it the first time, my hubby has watched it at least four times again! Here are some thoughts stimulated by that experience.

by Lizl Naude, founder of Lilly Loompa

It’s hard to believe that we are already in the second month of 2018! Most of us have made earnest promises to better ourselves during this coming year. Some resort to making New Year’s resolutions, others just continue with their routines as in the past. Some are very disciplined by nature, others like me have to be very intentional about discipline. 

by Lizl Naude, founder of Lilly Loompa

It was 12 September 2015, and I had hit rock bottom. I remember the day clearly. I was a visitor at a ladies church conference in Sandton, and with every speaker that took the stage I seemed to feel more and more confronted by my flaws. It was like they were speaking directly to me. These ladies were well rounded, well dressed, confident, and experts in their respective fields. It was their whole demeanour, paired with God’s message that actually gave me a wake-up call!

By Lizl Naude, founder of Lilly Loompa

Entrepreneurship rocks! Well it does most of the time! I am not going to tell you this is the easiest journey, but it is truly rewarding! In my case starting out, I was one of those “go with the flow” people. I never had a plan of what I was going to be. I didn’t have it all planned and I was definitely not goal driven! Now, years later and after many learning trials, I can honestly say today that by the grace of God and my entrepreneurial journey, I am a different person. Better I would say!

Establishing a business is really not for the faint-hearted. It requires faith, stamina, and perseverance. In essence...it is more of a mental challenge to overcome than anything else.

The media sometimes comes across as a scary monster. Being a visual thinker, I always imagined it to be a big creature sitting behind a desk chewing papers. To sum it up in one word…it seemed intimidating. As of late and out of my personal experience as an entrepreneur, I can safely say…the media is and can be a friendly giant.

We all know them…those pop stars who made it big…BUT with only one song. Right Said Fred, Los Del Rio, Vanilla Ice, and a few others. They blazed onto the stage with fire, only to vanish into thin air. Wikipedia describes it as: ”A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity and success for a very short period of time, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success”. It got me thinking of the kind of business I want to establish.  Do I want a long-lasting, sustainable business that will go on long after I have gone, or am I building a fleeting one-hit wonder?

In general, people like to mind their own business…excuse the pun. But I will tell you something about small town people…they love to help! We live in a society where we are trained to be self-sufficient and independent. Although it has merits, is it all that healthy?

Turns out, I’m actually a pessimist as an entrepreneur. I was reminded of my pessimistic thoughts last night as my husband proudly spoke of my company’s successes in the last few weeks.

A few days ago, I scheduled a quiet morning to analyze my business as I needed to get some clarity…some balance. I am sure you know the feeling. I needed to re-group and gather myself so I decided to visit the library. Not wanting any interruptions, I unplugged my laptop and switched off my phone. Taking a notebook and pencil, I started doing a SWOT analysis. As I worked through my business’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, I made a startling discovery! Imagine my surprise when I suddenly realized, my business has been stealing from me!

I CAN’T SWIM! At the age of 38, that is an embarrassing confession to make. Three weeks ago, I decided to finally change that narrative and started taking swimming lessons!

When I get a creative idea, it feels like the inside of my brain is having a fireworks display. Little pockets of colour and excitement explode non-stop and the only way to calm this euphoric sensation is by executing my idea. Sometimes it is easy to bring the idea to life, sometimes the execution becomes an experiment. Either way, I love this process. It allows me to explore unchartered territory, or even unusual ways of doing things.