BBBEE Update: This week one of the Business Warriors was asked to join the table to discuss the finalization of the codes of good practice for BBBEE for small business. I am so proud! His submission to the DTI was created through the Business Warrior Forum: more than a thousand comments, questions, and answers from the Business Warrior community helped Dave Alcock draft a submission that reflects the real concerns of small business.

The department has received substantive comments on these draft codes and we wish to convey our sincere gratitude to your company for putting time and resources aside to develop the very well thought out submission you made. While assessing some of the comments we received we realized the urgent need to hold further consultations on the various areas covered by these codes as well as to support the final draft of the codes with empirical evidence.

Despite most of us existing business owners want to ignore this pending legislation, we can't. I think it makes sense to explore the options as they arise, and that's what we're trying to do within the Warrior community. Please consider joining us.

It's human nature - especially as we get older - to dislike change. And living in a country that is changing as fast as this one is, is bound to stress the heck out of each one of us. It seems that each new piece of legislation adds a new level of complexity to business - despite the avowed claim of government that they are dedicated to relieving the red tape burden. However, in my 2006 spirit of optimism, this is not about the bad stuff being thrown at us, nor the constant threats of jail for minor administrative infractions. It's about doing something useful to take back some control.

Here are a few simple suggestions that will - at some point in your future - make an immense amount of difference to your life:

Create a FICA documentation pack. Government's legislation to stop you from laundering your ill gotten proceeds demands that you provide proof of residence whenever you open a bank account, open a credit card, sign a life insurance policy, open an investment account, or purchase foreign exchange. It makes sense to put that in place now - long before you need it - and to keep it up to date each month.

A rates bill, telephone bill, or water/electricity bill with your name and address on it is usually enough. (You will, of course, need one of these for your Pty/CC/Trust as well - just in case you want to launder money through it as well, you cunning devil, you.)

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Create a family documentation pack. A prudent business owner does not keep all the family eggs in a single basket, and I can virtually guarantee that your future business efforts will have an international flavour. It makes sense, given the efficiency of the Dept of Home Affairs, to arrange your documentation now - LONG before you need it.

As their services slow down, we need to think further ahead - so put in your applications for a "Unabridged Birth Certificate - reflecting both parents' details " for your entire family now. This process can take as long as a year. And if you don't yet have a passport - put that app in now as well. When you want to chase that deal in Dubai, you won't have time to wait!

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Gather every cell phone and SIM in the house, take note of every significant mark and number, and write it down somewhere safe. You will need this sooner or later because you WILL either lose one, or it will break, or it will get stolen, or be eaten by the dog, or fall into the pool/sink/bath... And then if you fail to report it in triplicate, Ggovernment's latest Act will try and throw you into chookie - especially if that phone is subsequently used in the execution of a money laundering activity as mentioned above.

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Start learning a financially valuable skill - like marketing. Your success, and that of your business, has little to do with your technical competence. Even if you're the world's best attorney, if nobody knows about you, you're probably going to get really thin.

Time to add some real value to your business, and the sooner you start, the sooner you'll retire. (And if your sales and marketing efforts have been international, that retirement can be on a beach anywhere from the Andes to Zanzibar via Umhlanga Rocks.

I know that I keep writing about this - but I am so concerned that we all get on the Net quickly that I don't quite know how else to tell you to invest in something like Insider Secrets to Marketing your Business on the Internet? (Tells you how to sell, what to sell, who to sell it to, how to get the best prices, how to sell obsolete stock quickly, how to write, who to write to, where to find products if you don't yet have any, how to get listed on search engines within 48 hours, how to automate it all, how to get a bigger readership than Petes Weekly - which I have seen a bunch of folk do quickly, and has another 1000 pages of really useful stuff to help you sell what you do.)

If you feel you did not get value - the IMC team will pay back your complete investment in their product. (This has happened to 4 Petes Weekly readers out of the 500 who have invested in it thus far.) And I am so convinced it will work for you that I will personally even give you back your US$177 freight fee from the USA! (They get it to you within 4 days.) Please get it here now.

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Start travelling internationally to expand your horizons. It provides a wonderful perspective against which to weigh the issues that dominate our lives in South Africa - and fills your mind with excellent ideas. (If you don't have time to travel then you cannot own your business, because it owns you.)

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Start building your financial resources right now by applying for a credit card or three. (Before you lambaste me for so vile a suggestion - read my article Money4Nothing - which you will find here. It explains over 30 fascinating pages why this is a donderse good idea.)

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And finally - start getting fit. It's the quickest way to get positive about some of the exciting challenges we face daily. Nothing like an hour in gym trying to lose 100grams, watching some poor rotundee trying to recover from a 10 year binge on cortisone, to make you think you're Arnie Schwarzenegger's nephew and you can conquer the world. (If you don't have time to get fit then you cannot own your business, because it owns you.)

Have an exceptional week.

May 10th, 2006

Peter Carruthers

Umhlanga Rocks, South Africa