Nur Ahmad Furlong

Category: Entrepreneurial

  • VeloCITI session 2 – the value of Value Propositions

    After investigating our values in VeloCITI session 1, we’ve moved on to crafting our Unique Selling Proposition or Value Proposition so we have a clear and impactful way of conveying the essence of what our businesses are all about.

    It’s sometimes referred to as the elevator pitch, you only have a few seconds to convey to someone what you do in a way which uncovers it’s unique characteristics while still being clear enough for them to perfectly understand what you’re saying.

    David Murray of Cape Venture Partners hosted an excellent half day session with us taking us through the nuts & bolts of value propositions. We also focused on company names and how these impact the way the market perceives the company.

    Describing your company in 10 words:

    If you had just ten words with which to describe why people should buy your company‘s product or service, what would you say?

    10 words are very few, especially when there’s so much we want to say to those who ask us that all important question: “So, what is it that YOU do?”. Many times we are faced with this question, not only from business people, but sometimes from our family members and friends. If we are stuck for simple words to describe what we do,chances are we haven’t Mastered the art of selling our businesses yet.

    So What exactly is a Value Proposition?

    Otherwise known as USP or Unique Selling Point/Proposition,it’s a condensed, yet simple and easy to understand expression of what your business is all about.

    • It has to be Unique, Different and that uniqueness has to be attractive enough to matter.
    • It has to be clear and easy to comprehend with as little jargon if any at all.
    • It has to matter to the customer or potential customer
    • It has to be a solution to an existing problem. In other words there must be real(or perceived) value in what you are offering or no-one will be willing to pay for it.
    • It has to be different in some way to what your competitors are saying in order to make you stand out and be more attractive to the potential customer.

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  • What does the communications agency of the future look like?

    When companies, organisations and even individuals want to get a message out to the public or some specific target audience, they approach a number of different types of companies & professionals to assist them in doing so.

    These range from PR consultancies to advertising agencies, branding agencies, media companies, new media, event managers, design studios and general communications consultancies.

    question-iconWhat influences companies to use a specific type of communication? Why do certain companies naturally gravitate towards PR rather than new media, or above the line rather than direct marketing? It’s not always the appropriateness but sometimes they just haven’t thought about anything else. It also seems there is a fear to reach out in new ways.

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  • VeloCITI Session #1: Getting our Values in order

    For the 15 start-up businesses chosen to be on the VeloCITI 2008 program, today, March 18, was a truly inspirational and profoundly introspective day.

    See more about What VeloCITI is?

    We started off at 9 waking up to cups of coffee and a round of congratulating each other for making it onto the program. It was great seeing the familiar faces from the bridging course 2 weeks ago and re-connecting. I feel this year will unlock some really special relationships and it seems it already has.

    We were introduced to Judit from PeerPower, our facilitator and mentor for the day who was later joined by Mignon(PeerPower). I think I can speak for all when I say we were rearing to go and eager to find out what the topic of focus for the day would be.

    Introducing ourselves

    First off we completed a quick introductions/interview exercise in which we each interviewed one of our VeloCITI peers and had to introduce them to the team. We then focused on setting some guidelines going forward in terms of rules of engagement and how we as a group think we would need to work together to produce the best results within the team over the next 7 – 8 months.

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  • My ethically focused agency idea gathers momentum

    rubbish_bin

    found on http://www.theethicalagency.co.uk

    No this is not my business, of course not, not yet that is. I’ve come across quite a few UK based agencies of this nature in the last few years and it’s been my mission for a while to start one here in South Africa.

    TEA – The Ethical Agency, is a UK based ethically motivated advertising company which promotes ethical business and lifestyles and does so in a really thought provoking manner.

    Visiting their site has pricked my imagination somewhat and helped further crystallise the idea which has been brewing in my head for way too long.

    So who out there has any ideas regarding ethical business?

    Does this interest you, do you see a need for it?

    Anyone passionate enough to take it a step further and do something?

    We are all agents of change in our own right and have the responsibility to create a better space for all of us to live in.

    I found these inspiring quotes on TEA’s website:

    Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, for as long as you can. -John Wesley

    A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. -Greek proverb

  • Yesterday was one Great day to remember- Open Coffee and all

    Whfew! What a day, been getting birthday wishes(I’ve just turned 30) from all sides, messages of congratulations related to so many great things that have been happening lately and business looks set to boom in the coming months.

    I have to say thanks to all of you out there who have been keeping in touch and being great support. This buzzy period comes after month of struggle and difficulty and I’ve seen times of major doubt and disillusionment. My sites traffic has seen a huge spike, some nominations for a few awards and some prizes coming my way from others.

    It makes me think of a verse from the Quran which goes something like: “Truely, After Difficulty comes ease, After difficulty comes ease.”

    The thing is, this is only just the beginning for me. I look forward to building a great network, upping my game in the blogosphere, building a great business and solving some key problems for business and society along the way.

    Open Coffee was a huge success today with a great turnout. As usual Henk Kleynhans of Skyrove was there topping us up with free skyrove credits which we are all grateful for. Thanks a ton Henk! I finally chatted with Eric Edelstein briefly. Eric is the original organiser of the Open Coffee Cape Town Meet up.

    I also met up with the guys(Kilian & Nico) from Red Button and chatted briefly about their businesses development, cool things coming from their side regarding wireless hotspots. You can become a Red Button affiliate and earn some cash by recommending a venue which needs a hotspot. I think Red button could learn a thing or 2 from Skyrove’s event sponsorship approach.
    Callum Macdonald was around doing his regular Scottishly nomadic thing and promoting the wordpress meetup which has shifted to Wednesday 26 March due to the easter weekend.

    I had a very interesting Interaction with Frans Kuipers who I met at the first Open Coffee I attended last month. Frans is an open source enthusiast and a Drupal developer. We spoke about the problem Open Source seems to have with getting rapid uptake of it’s programmes and platforms in the general public. From my perspective it has to do with 1. Usability and 2. Communication and Marketing. Some areas programmers & developers don’t always have a tight handle on

    I also met Andre from Biz-community and a guy from Joyent who’s name I forget because his business card was a Joyent Logo on a sticker. A few others who I chatted with briefly were Scott Hayes(Encyclomedia), Michelle Matthews(Writer & Publishing Consultant) and Will Gubb(Wired Communications).

    Myself & Callum spent a bit of time trying to convince one of the above that wordpress is better for blogging than Joomla, I won’t mention who.

    I had to rush off after receiving a call for an urgent proposal, hold thumbs for me, it’s a nice big one. I spent the following few hours in Kauai recovering from the coffee scrabbling down a proposal just before the sun went down.

    All in all, another productive day of networking, doing business and sharing of ideas.

  • Care to join me on a Journey of Self Discovery and Creative Development

    Like most professionals who also blog, I’ve wondered what steps to take to make what I do really rock so to speak; take it to the next level if you know what I mean. This post kicks off my nomadic blogumentary, a journey through the world of the web, creative thinking, social networking, business strategy, personal brand building and self discovery.

    This is the start of my nomadic BLOGUMENTARY, a journey through the world of the web, creative thinking, social networking, business strategy and personal self discovery.

    On this digital journey I aim to take myself from amateur blogger / professional web designer with little direction, to what I always envisioned myself to be. I aim to become an agent of positive change and innovation, and to find true meaning and purpose to what I do.

    a-nomads-journey

    How do I plan to do this you may be asking yourself?

    I’m still in the process of figuring all the steps out and plotting my course ahead. I know coming out with this self challenge is a brave move, one I could very possibly be very sorry for if I don’t keep up with the challenge, or fail to achieve the goals I set.

    Therein lies the secret. I plan to drag you all along on this journey, get your feedback, give you advice and ask for some as well. I might even involve a few of the Guru’s out there to help make this journey an action packed adventure, which we can all benefit from.

    I hope to cover everything from the initial idea / vision phase, on to a little bit of a business plan with clear goals. I will be developing a strategy including the steps which I will need to take to achieve certain goals.

    What will I be sharing with You

    • my Brand building endeavours and the lessons I learn
    • selecting & shaping my niche
    • the technologies & methodologies I will be using
    • the tutorials, tips & advice which shape my decisions
    • my favourite resources & influences
    • The tools I use to make my tasks easier

    Sharing the Experience

    I’ll be sharing the troubles I encounter along the way, the feelings of failure if any(I’m sure there will be), the stumbling blocks & challenges faced and the stresses I experience.

    Sharing the successes, stats, milestones & profits

    Any success achieved along this perilous journey will be shared with all of you. I’ll let you now when I earn my first paycheck, which I hope will be soon, in fact I desperately need it to be soon. I’ll tell you about what this project does to my web stats and when I’ve made a major breakthrough in learning or self development.

    What do I want from YOU

    the visitors to this site have pretty much kept their identities to themselves for their own specific reasons. I hope this will change.

    Involvement. I hope you will share this journey with me. To this point the visitors to this site have pretty much kept their identities to themselves for their own specific reasons. I hope this will change and that you will start to engage with me and get to know me as well as help me to get to know you better.

    Feedback. I’d like to know what you think about what I have to say, about the decisions I’ll make and the advice I’ll be giving. I plan to put in place a few incentives if and when I am able to make it worth your while to get involved. I started with a little experiment in the form of the Logo Design Q & A competition which I ran recently.

    Inspiration & Advice. We can never achieve much on our own. We achieve things by learning from others and benefiting from others, and then by sharing this with others. I hope we can develop a mutually beneficial relationship where we influence each other and inspire each other to achieve great things. Where there are areas which you could help me I’ll appreciate it and if there’s anything I could do for you I hope to be able to help as well.

    So where do we Start?

    Well we kind of have started already. I’ve met some great people already and have a few of you subscribe to my RSS feed. I’ve just crossed the 4000 hits mark since starting out blogging more seriously a few short months ago and have a few more RSS subscribers but have no idea who they are.

    I’ve just completed negotiations with a few parties to get into my own office space and have just moved in. I’m also in the process of re-designing my website to empower me on this journey.

    I’ve gotten started on a few post series and have some great ideas for interesting and value adding content to help you guys out there with your journeys.

    What I’d like to know from you guys is this:

    Who are you all out there?

    What Can I do for you?

    Do you have any advice for me in getting started?

    • Who are you out there?
    • What do you guys do for a living?
    • What can I do for you out there?
    • What would you like to see on this site?
    • What would you like to hear about?
    • How can I empower you all to excel in what you do?
    • How do we develop a platform or community which can be a springboard for us all to achieve something good?
    • Do you have any advice for me in getting started?

    Lets start talking and start something meaningful!