Running Things: 3 Simple Guidelines To Stay In The Race

We do Trep Talk on Tuesdays!

I ran my farthest distance this Sunday and there are 3 lessons I learnt that can apply to running a business.

1) Start Running

A year ago if you had told me I would be running my own business and driving over 40km at 05:00 to run races I would scoff at you. I wouldn't entirely laugh you out of the room, but I would ask things like "where will I get the money to start that?" or "will you pay for the fuel for me to get there?". 

When I arrived at the race I was late because, of the 40 km drive, so the race had begun and I had to catch up. I was the last person for almost 1km, but I kept running and I kept going till I was no longer last. I am fiercely competitive so being last was never an option!

Its the same thing in business, when you start, there will be others already ahead of you. They are in the big media, their website has no glitches, they have an office - not a second hand desk in the lounge ,with a reception area  manned by a receptionist. You are in the race now too, you can either hit the ground running or allow feelings of inadequacy to hold you back two the point that you drop out of the race. Keep looking ahead and thinking about the medal or the prize you want to win and slowly you will begin to pick up pace and get ahead.

2) Be Principled

I love the teaching by Dr Myles Munroe on facts vs principles. He said a principle is unwavering and don't change, whereas facts are circumstantial. You need to stick to your principles in spite of the facts.

When it comes to running my principle is "do not stop running". The facts are the circumstances that keep coming like achy knees, back pain, change in gradient or weather. So when my knees ache- I keep running, when my back is tight- I keep running, when the route is uphill- I run harder! 

In business the fact is the economy is in a recession, clients are cutting expenditure and December is around the corner. Your principles will be tested, especially when it comes to integrity, loyalty and honesty.Yes, we live in Africa but I refuse to believe the fact that corruption and bribery are the only ways to do business successfully on the continent. We are the new generation of African leadership and if we want to change the African narrative then it needs to start with us learning to run uphill. 

3) Know Your Team 

I personally do not belong to a running club, I like that "lone wolf" vibe, besides I enjoy my music a little too much than I do trying to maintain a breathy conversation. 

At the race on Sunday there was this trio of girls who were in my periphery. At 9 km an older man, dressed in pink, came up to me and said "see those 3, they want to to beat you. Don't let them." From then it was ON!

Bring it!

They got quite far ahead of me between 10-12 km because I was in so much pain in my back that I actually had to stop for a few breaths. Then one of the little piglets fell behind the pack and I lapped her. My power song came on and I knew it was my "eye of the tiger" moment. The two girls were running together but I could see one was more fatigued than the other, so I kept running even when they would walk. Eventually I left them all behind! The two slow friends held one of the girls back from their goal of defeating me! 

You need to know your team and what their limits are. You need to know who is the person best suited for a task or a portfolio. As far as possible try to put people in positions that are in their strength zone. I suck at admin, but my partner loves it. When she joined she wanted to get things in order internally, set up the website, design new business cards, etc. I like to move so, I found a programme - Awethu Project- to help us take the business to the next level through coaching and business management lessons, plus a R 5000.00 grant. 

When you know your team well, you can set goals that are realistically attainable and no one will feel like they are carrying the weight of the team or being slowed down by the others. 

In conclusion, there is no sprint to success- even Usain Bolt knows that. I am not where I want to be and I am probably not qualified enough to be giving this advice, but I think its important to share what I do know. Look at Mark Cubans blog, it was last updated in August 2014, when people get to that level they don't have time to be blogging consistently but they want to tell their stories themselves so they wont delegate that. I will be in the same position one day, so I want to document as much as possible! :)

What are some lessons you have learnt in sports, or other activities that you can apply to running a business? I would love to hear about them and it will help others learn something new too!

Form and Function

Welcome!

I've been expecting you!

I pledge the following for your loyalty:

I will post a minimum of 3 times a week:

Monday: The Rant

Tuesday: Trep Tuesday (Sharing some of my hard knock lessons on enTrepreneurship)

Thursday: Throw Back Thursday - weighing in on issues of the week from social media, because we are up to date and current on issues!

Fashion Fridays: These will be hosted by my beautiful twin, who is also a fashion designer and mogul in the making Miss Rumbidzai Audrey Ngwarai.

Lady Shakara law in this instance!

There will be a new poll at the bottom of the blog each week, so please take part!

If you would like me to discuss a topic, or if you would like to contribute as a writer please leave a comment below and I will get back to you!

This is going to be fun for all of us!

Launch!

Lady Shakara is officially on the scene!


This is not how I wanted to enter the web, but if I don't do it now, its not going to be done in 2015.

How I wanted to arrive

I had to start somewhere, so, I figured this was a good place to begin.

I started the blog Sisi In Sandtin when I moved to Johannesburg in 2011. I was young and naive, bright eyed and optimistic. 

I am not that green behind the ears anymore, but I will never stop being optimistic! I have learnt and grown so much that I cannot classify myself as that girl anymore. My style of writing has evolved, sharpened by my experience and life.

Sisi In Sandtin served me well and gave me the opportunity to give the voice in my head a hand. As Lady Shakara, I feel confident enough to lead the way and discuss those "ouch points", I am comfortable enough to expose myself occasionally because I want to reach all the Sisi's and Lady's (ladies-I know) out there. 

I hope you will support, engage and keep it real with me! 

So, here we go!

The 5 Guys I Adore..... But Could Never Date

I decided to rework a few articles from the past! This is one of them from 2011.. Some of the views expressed herein have changed eg, I no longer watch Jack-ass or South Park, I am off Weezy but on Drizzy! I might reconsider the pastor, if we can get on Preachers of LA! (joking)

I want to discuss 5 archetypal men I’ve known and adored, but with whom I could never build a successful long term relationship.

 1) The Mafia Boss!

American Gangster!

Not the drug dealer, but the head honcho- Al Capone or Don Corleone themselves. I’m an extremist, if I want to date the bad guy, I want the baddest guy ever! I think of myself as a fairly ride or die girl having dated a few mini thugs in my day and as an attorney I could do all the work and find ways to keep my man on the streets.. but I can’t deal with the guns, the constant hoodlums in the house and i am unable keep a secret so i wouldn’t be able to stop myself from bragging to my friends if he shot someone famous!!

2) The intellectual/ academic 

 I enjoy a mental challenge and intellectual conversation on a regular basis. I have a genuine interest in knowledge and a smart man who is well versed in many disciplines is so hard to resist..but once in a while I like to watch Jack-ass (isn’t it awesome in 3D) , South Park and scream for the sake of it with my 2 year old nephew!!

3)Lil Wayne..

I don’t wanna date a celebrity, or a rapper- I want Weezy! I would wear my hair down my back like his! Change my teeth and officially be Mrs Carter- right now I go by it but no one respects it :( .. We would skate board, swear and smoke weed n sip sizurrp, sag our pants and I'd lend him more skin to tat! Id attend all BET awards and sit with TI's wife throwing up gang signs at the camera.. In the real world where my grandparents are pastors, this wouldn’t happen because he will get old and saggy tatted skin with a permanent grill wouldn’t be something I wanna see every day.

4) The Pastor/ Preacher

Going to heaven is right at the top of my priorities! I love me some Jesus and I ain’t afraid or ashamed to say it.  I know we all have access to God but I feel like a pastor sees and hears things we all may not be open to, they have this spiritual alertness that can either lead people to salvation or demise, plus I like to receive prayers!I can’t deal with the duties of being a pastors wife! You have to be kind, nurturing, warm, no cussing, have a steady supply of baked goods and hold/kiss small children a lot. Plus I like Weezy.. I think that’s a point on its own

5) The Dictator

I think from my list one can see, I like men that have strong leadership qualities, I have a big personality and an even bigger mouth so I am not for the indecisive and I am very clever so manipulation comes as a sort of second nature. A man must stick to his guns or I will run you!  I won’t even go into the benefits of being a President’s wife.. but a dictators wife the benefits are well.. larger than life and unfortunately I mean this literally. Thousands of people die, are chased from their homes and much worse in order for one to live the life of luxury. This man is a leader, in most cases a revolutionary man who has risen above other men and they have found him worthy to take care of them as well as their children!

Bonus

Ill add Donald Trump

 What are the types of girls/ guys you always fantasize or daydream about but that just look good on paper? Coz you know it would not last!!
For guys; is it an Amber Rose- a girl that’s pretty all the time and is the life of the party?
Ladies; is it the athlete? Tall, toned and …..Come guy and gals, share J… What’s your fantasy?

Girls with Swords

Women: We are under attack.

 Our womanhood is under siege and so many of us are just laying it down for our rivals to pick up. I am not even going to get Biblical here, but I believe that God created us well, assigned the right genes/ gender to each of us.

I was going to write about how much Bruce Jenner irks me! I am talking about him before he put his peen in jar. My first encounter with him was on KUWTK and he was being mean to Khloe, telling her "you still look fat in black" and I knew we were dealing with the classic case of "asshole". Nothing has changed.

I think being a woman is a privilege and its like getting the 42 colour crayon set, whereas being a man is like getting the 6 colour set. Then some men think/ feel that the 6 colours arent enough and they want to take some pink, turquoise,jade, orange and end up looking like a science experiment. They think being a woman is about being "pretty, curvy, lusty and high cheek bones ". When I see women cheering on men transforming, I cringe because I feel that we are giving up ground!

Women are beautiful creatures, but can you honestly remember the last time you were worried about looking "cute" for a meeting? or do you worry about "will they take me seriously?", or "have I done enough to show that I am qualified for this position?".

I am not even going to address the side chics and whore-ish females who are setting us back. Those women waste their crayons- like the kids who colour and draw on the wall or go outside the lines- wasting space and messing up things!

We need to protect, fight for and take a stand for our womanhood. Dont share or waste your crayons! Use them to paint portraits for the world, such as Ava Duvernay, Sheryl Sandberg, Angelina Jolie, Michelle Obama, Oprah and YOU!

Africa Kwenu!

This may get me into trouble, if you read it wrong. Therefore I urge you to apply your mind and find the meaning in this rant- its actually at the end.

If anyone knows me, you know my obsession with Bella Naija Weddings page. Fridays are my day to go through the updates, with every wedding more opulent than the last.. sometimes. For those who are unfamiliar, this is OPW stepped by 1000 and some weddings are even beyond Top Billing.

It is pretty clear that Nigerian people know how to get married, or at least throw a proper wedding! Everything is so spot on, from the proposal, the pre-wedding photo shoot, the white wedding and right through to the traditional wedding. The vibrant colours, box fresh fashion with top of the range fashion and musicality of the entire affair heightens the entire celebration. 

3 pairs, 1 bride!

I decided that I was going to marry a Nigerian man.

Then a few weeks ago, like an epiphany it hit me. I am not interested in Nigerian men. Its the culture that I am enthralled by! I find it so attractive that the people, especially the men are so proud of their cultures. A man in an agbada can ask me for any favours and he will be met with little to no resistance (lol).

Yes dear!

Now that I am able to see clearly where my interests lie, I have been relinquished from dealing with some really strange men *shudders*- but thats a whole book on its own. It has also prompted me to look a little more into my own culture and learn more about what Tsonga/Shangaan people are about.

Twerking in part of my culture!

As feminist, I was put off culture because of how oppressive it is of women. However as a businesswoman who is developing products and services for the African market, I cannot overlook the importance of culture to the people I want to reach.

There are some very cool parts to culture like the flamboyant fashion, delicious food and vivacious music! I am going to enjoy those elements. The parts that do not feel good to me or align to my personal beliefs- I am going to leave out.

As modern African where do you stand on this issue of culture? How embedded into your life is it, if at all?

Jozi Gist Feature

Check me out here

Next Stop!

I want to be the cover girl for Forbes Africa, not Forbes Woman

How to invest your heart like a Shark!

I am now obsessed with Shark Tank, I watch the show back to back (hey hubby) and I love how shrewd, focused and practical the sharks are when it comes to making investments with their money. I think women can learn alot from that too, we need to learn to invest our time and emotions with wisdom. A shark can afford to lose a few millions, can you afford to lose a few years??

First of all before giving "all of me" to someone's dream- you need to look at the viability of the project or the credibility of the person. I will give examples.

This past weekend was the Made in America festival and the headline performer was the Queen Mother- Beyonce. The show was live cast exclusively on Tidal. Tidal was a crummy investment- in my opinion. It cost Nicki a VMA because they exclusively put the "Feeling myself" video on it. If a  kid in China or Russia decides they wanna see this exclusive content and not pay the fees- guess what? They will find a way and share it with the likes of me. Enough about Tidal. Anyway, Beyonce believes in and wants to support her man in this disastrous venture, so she put on her leotards and danced her azz off on her birthday weekend! Jay has credibility, so she can give herself to his mission impossible vision.

Even Nick and Meek have a fighting chance, she stood by her man when he flung himself head first into the lions den and spoke out of term about my hubby. Meek has some type of career, he got a buzz, he got people listening to his music and his sales probably improved after that hell ride.

Secondly, you need to think about what you are going to benefit and also add to this expedition. The Sharks will sometimes walk away from great projects simply because they feel that they cant add anything to this venture. Kris and Caitlyn/ Bruce work so well together because they are both media slores. Imagine if Bey married an investment banker? If you are an auditor and you meet a guy who wants to be an astronaut, apart from pray for him, how will you actually be of use and vice versa? Where will aerodynamics help you be a better bean counter? Personally I would like my SO to be a reduction to a cost centre I have in my various entrepreneurial projects, eg  finance, engineering, IT, get the drift! #mustlovenumbers #doitforthekids


Lastly, look at commitment. Kevin O'Leary, ironically dubbed Mr Wonderful is the meanest shark of all, asked a 9 year old entrepreneur to drop out of school to pursue her business on a full time basis. Mark Cuban also asks those who come into the tank if the project they are pitching is what they do on a full time basis. In the same way, how committed is this person to what they want to build? Do they flaunt like a month end millionaire, or invest a huge part of their salary in their plans?If its the former then you need to tell him "I'm Out".

Mikaila Ulmer is the CEO and Founder of BEE Sweet Lemonade

I hope this has outlined the difference between holding down a a pipe dreamer and raising up a king. Kings have a clear vision for a Queen to support and scale. If he can show traction, credibility/feasibility and commitment then you have a deal!

Other Peoples Problems

Until recently, as in 17 days ago access to wifi was on my list of “other peoples problems”. I am sure we all have that list, you know the stuff that’s a real challenge to everyone but you, kinda like how Nkandla is everyone’s problem but Jacob Zuma.

I moved from my apartment of 2 years into a new neighbourhood and have no wifi as I wait for the ADSL provider and fixed line company to finish playing tag and set me up. The show has to go on even in purgatory. I have a business to build, I am trying not to end up as a sad statistic of the 85% of start ups that fail within the first 3 years.

Initially I thought it was very Parisian or New York-ey to work in cafes, sipping lattes while using their wifi. Until I realized that lattes cost money, summer is around the corner so I need to be careful about what I eat and the wait staff come around every hour looking at you like “you better tip!”. Yes I do have a 3g dongle but you have to put money into it to make it work and these data bundles aint cheap.

Then I began to think about all the other entrepreneurs who are facing this same burden of having no fixed line, therefore no fixed abode. How many businesses aren’t “popping” because people cant get online? Fortunately I have been able to do the bare minimum in terms of keeping informed and emails, but I haven’t been able to surf the net and let new ideas come to me. It’s hard to innovate on 50MB/ 30 minutes free per day. I was forced to innovate on how to get beyond that 50MB.

At the Brightest Young Minds Summit for 2015 and I learnt about this thing called crowd funding. Sure, I heard the word before but I wasn’t entirely sure about what it meant. It’s basically raising money for a project from people on the internet. In a similar fashion we can group resources for and from entrepreneurs to get us our own space, sort of like a stockvel for an office- except everyone gets the pay out at the same time!

I want to get in touch with other like minded people, who are looking for an obligation-free space to co-exist in. A place where you pay a very nominal fee ( less than R1000.00 ) for access to unlimited decent wifi, that doesn’t smell like cooking oil, with no dirty looks because you only had water for the past 3 hours, a landline- where you have to use your inside voice, printing/ scanning facilities and some terrible coffee.

Yes I am putting this out and someone may steal the idea- which exists by the way, but I am at a point where I don’t care because something has to be done! It doesn’t have to be done by me, but something has to happen if we are serious about small businesses being the engine drivers of the economy.

If you are interested in joining me and others- a couple of people have shown an interest then please contact me on tiyani@butterbutt.co.za and lets see how we can create our own Google-esque space. Entrepreneurship is a lonely road, so lets try to remove as many road blocks as possible!

The Tide is In!

In the song “Drunk in Love” Jay did say “I hope you can handle this curve”.  He really is “on to the next one” I hope the $56 million dollar investment will bring him back some money please.

For those who are living under a rock, or just don’t understand why most of black celebville was turning their profile pictures to this shade of blue, I am not even going to try to name the colour (teal, aqua, jade?).  Tidal is a music streaming service, like Spotify, Pandora and others, but the main difference is that it is a high definition music streaming service.

The landing page of the website identifies your device, including i0S and Android and has multiple audio devices listed for you to choose from in order to optimize the listener experience.

The subscription packages range from $9.99 for the standard quality audio and $19.99 for high quality audio. The site also has high definition videos and all the context is expertly curated by an editorial team. There are other features which will be announced when the site officially airs at 5pm, which is 2 hours away from the time of penning this post.

I look forward to whatever is going to be next in terms of services and features, but also what this means for music. The comments I have seen, mostly from the black internet are that this is too expensive considering that this music is now freely available. What are your thoughts on the price?

I hope this doesn’t turn out like the Samsung thing where its all hype and poor delivery. I have all kinds of respect for Jay Z as a business man and I think whichever way it goes, kudos to him!

Well my fellow African brothers and Sisters- we too can access this service, unlike Spotify and Pandora! All you need is a credit card and you can join the wave. Are you going to allow yourself to get carried away? My real question is when are we going to have an African music streaming platform with our music and our artists? I tried to reach out to a well known music producer who I will not name and shame with this idea in January, but he probably thought I was a groupie! Lets put the rands, nairas and Zim dollars together to do this thing! 

She who must be obeyed.

Sisi in Sandtin 

Are you free or are you dom?

I know we are free now. Pass laws have been abolished. But, seriously, where was everyone on Freedom Day?? Honestly, can I get an answer.

The day begun abruptly as the sun seared into my eyes and I rolled out of bed to attend a meeting, after a heavy night at Club Hush. An unsolicited debit order had gone off my bank account and I was determined not to let anything get between me and money. I HAD to reverse the transaction, so off to FNB (the best bank) I drove- without bathing but wearing the right attitude and copious amounts of deodorant. Only to find the bank closed..

Then I decided to go to Meltz, because I heard they were going under liquidation, yet, alas it was me who was liquidated. After Meltz, I went Waka and was like:

I bought a water jug and kitchen knives at Adams Discount store. I'm bad.

Skip past the chores and enter the finale of Come Dine With Me. The highlight of the event was the sex toy presentation by a very nervous Cara of Bella Rouge. For other people these were sex tips to spice up their bedroom lives, for me it was purely educational. It was quite fascinating, but the thing that interested me the most was the lengths that women will go to please men. Do men host sex parties? Do men sit and try to find solutions on how to keep the weight off, wash and feed the baby plus, excel at their careers without a nanny? (That's its own topic)

Hit fast forward again. Now Miss B, Zani and I are in Braamfontein….

Expecting this:

                             

But got this:

Thirty minutes later, we go to Randlords, expecting this:

The cover charge made us:

Back in the car, off to Melville, with the motto: No cover charge; no problem! What we found was………

We had a problem because we were looking like this:

                                                            Ok, not quite, but close

We hit the car, off to Sandton Newscafe, now in pursuit of

A Sweet Brown wanna be waitress told us the kitchen was closed, and we ended up at

So, where were you?