About us - what the game is about
Cinao Business Mentors , established in 1989, assists people in attaining their dreams through the development of people in small and medium businesses. Cinao means "can is now an option". One day modules are held, either at the business premises of clients catering to their staff or at a convenient venue, in Johannesburg
That bridge the divide for individuals that do not have the business knowledge to enter the world of becoming an entrepreneur or integrating into the business life of companies.Take advantage of this opportunity. Have the confidence to start up and enter the world of owning your own successful and yes - profitable company speaking the language of an entrepreneur and business person. With 32 years of operational experience you are certainly going to leave the module being the richer for it.
Business is quite simple when you boil it down to the basics. You buy [or make] something and you sell it. Whatever is left after the transaction is yours. Simple, isn't it? Yet we do our best to complicate issues, don't we?
If we get it right we Buy Now, Pay Now, Sell Now, Collect Now - and whatever remains at the end of each day is profit. But we all know that if we can play with the flow of the money we can win even more so we try to Buy Now, Pay Later, Sell Now, Collect Now. This is great because the cash piles up quickly [because we're only going to pay the bills at the end of next month].
Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, we almost always forget that there are some big bills looming, so we do our best to spend the cash pile in the meantime - usually on some essential piece of equipment along the lines of a ML430.
Much more honourable, and far more common, is the business model in which we Buy Now, Pay Now, Sell Now, Collect Later! In this model we small business owners run out of money immediately, and need to head for a bank to get what our accountants euphemistically call working capital. The bank kindly condescends to lend us just enough money to strangle us with and as security they graciously accept our homes, policies, and everything we have worked for thus far in our lives! [Despite their overdraft being more than 100% secured by our life assets they will still demand a huge interest rate because 'your business is so risky'.]
Then, of course, there is the Buy Now, Pay Later, Sell Now, Collect Later style of entrepreneurship which most of us lapse into after a while. The government loves this one because we now need to employ staff to handle all the administration and reconciliation. Accountants love this because it means they too will now have a role in our businesses. Attorneys love it because they get to sue everyone who doesn't manage to quite make the payment dates. [Ever wondered why nobody is interested in helping to make it simpler?]
How do we get back to the simplicity and joy of running our own businesses? May I share a couple of simple points that may or may not be easy in your own circumstances? Firstly, focus on those numbers that will give you a quick feel for how your business is doing at any moment. Don't wait for your accountant to give them to you 6 weeks after you're already bankrupt! Pull them out yourself. In any business the most important number is the cash number. How much is in the bank; how much goes out at the end of the month; and how much is left [or needed]?
The business game is simple: run out of cash, or cash resources, and you've lost the game!
A team of very experienced individuals that are able to ascertain your requirements. This is very important in that experience and creative alternatives to existing infrastructure are what assist us out of very complex situations.
