Workshop Changes

I no longer am able to run the Wednesday Workshops because of a lack of finance and venue. That has not stopped the workshops though. They will continue in the form of a blog which is called http://www.blogger.com/mindfulmarketingbonniekaplan. I will be sending marketing notes on this blog.

The following is the email I sent to the group for today's workshop:

"Attached is the business plan template I promised to send to you. Please start your business plan at the point where you need to do the work. For example you may need to focus on your marketing right now or you may need to deal with the administration side of your business at the moment. Make your business plan something that you live with daily. Let it become your friend and companion and the closer you get to it the more it will work for you. Believe me, you will be surprised how quickly your business plan will start working for you when you make it a daily exercise to work on it. Eventually there are parts you will use to apply for funding and other parts you may want to keep somewhere else as a guide for running your business.

Contact me if you need help with any aspect of it.."

Also, ask me for the notes on writing emails. Notice how I make mine look professional."

The group started working on the aspect of a business plan that suited each individual. Some needed to plan their marketing strategy more, others needed to work on business forms and the administarative aspect of their business.

We discussed their previous weeks business and whether they have enough income. The challenges remain very difficult with a need for access to premises, finance, a suitable market.

The progress for me seems to be slow, I just have to offer the space here and assist where I can.

I have work for one of the clothing manufacturers through a contact of mine.

I believe that many South Africans are seeking social and economic independence and security by trying to create their own businesses, often due to financial insecurity, unemployment and/or poverty. Creating self employment has many hardships and obstacles that are at times almost insurmountable. I believe that the development of entrepreneurs needs to be treated with a sense of urgency in order to speed up the rate of social and economic transformation because of the lack of employment and the high rate of poverty in Durban South Africa.

This is the blogspot for one of the NVC Group

http://www.blogger.com/rearrange?blogID=6791654340484553933

In our NVC workshop today we discussed strategies to enable the group to find premises to work from, have a showroom and become more active in their marketing endeavours.
We may need Corporate Social Investment to assist us with this. I would like to have a small factory equiped with all the requirements to run a small factory. I would like to use this factory as a stepping stone for my NVC groups. Once any one of them is more established, they can move on to their own premises.

I would like to devote all my working hours to my NVC work, how can I do that?

29th September 2010

Bonisile has sent me this picture from her stand at the SMME fair.

Ntombi has taught he to become a multi skilled decorator and her work is world class.

SeStuTHESA

This afternoon's SeStuTHESA workshop has been another afternoon of stimulation, discussion, argument and learning. Chris was tasked to teach us more about the use of our blogspots. I particularly wanted to learn more on blogspots because of my Wednesday NVC group's lessons that I give on blogspots. We are using their blogs as a marketing tool for their business marketing strategy. I have come to learn today so that I can go back and teach blogging. In the process I also downloaded PICASA to manage my photo's in order to make it easier to upload on blogs. Then I also added RSS to my outlook so that any posting from my blog and SeStuTHESA blog will come up automatically as an email.
For me this has been a very majo learning and educational experience today. Everything I have learnt today I will aplly practically.

Yesterday Joan gave us a handout of a few pages from Schon, The Reflective Practitioner. The handouts we get and advice on reading are invaluable to me and I take them as a generous gift from Joan.

On a lighter note, I enjoy the teasing and joking, comraderie and argument. If I don't know something and need to ask, I never feel stupid. I am never afraid to ask what may appear to be a naive or uneducated question. I am never afraid to be myself in this space. I feel surrounded by a bubble of friendship and a nurturing educational experience.