Nicola Mawson | 19 December 2024
Nicola Mawson is an award-winning financial journalist, strategist, content creator and photographer who has worked for a number of media houses and in public relations
Starting a new business is tough. Looking back over the year that was, it is clear that preparation and planning are the key to surviving and then thriving, three new entrepreneurs say.
If you start a business as a solopreneur, you really need to be very organised, Candice Wilmot who started her cupcake company ButterCream about four years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic, says.
Wilmot enjoys baking and bringing joy to other people’s special occasions.
“The pandemic got me thinking about starting something of my own and also being able to be home with my daughter. It gave me time to plan and organise setting it up,” she says.
Working out of the kitchen in the family home, Wilmot now takes orders for cupcakes between 50 and 100 at a time.
Her biggest challenge is being a one-woman business and juggling that with motherhood.
“I make lists to organise my thoughts and plan my weeks out so that I don’t miss anything with my children or with work,” she says, adding that her husband supports her at home so she can concentrate on running her business.
She has struggled to keep up with the social media marketing her business requires and the need to constantly seek more exposure and clientele. “It is hard work keeping up with social media and trying to create an online presence.”
Outsourcing some jobs, like social media marketing, is something small businesses need to consider and build into their cashflow plans, especially owners who are working alone or in stretched small teams.
Wilmot is not giving up and will keep pushing the limits. “Every sale is worth it. All our businesses are built from a passion and that passion gives us happiness which in turn gives us our drive. Never lose the passion,” she says.
A business plan and finding funding to allow you to grow are key ways to be better prepared for the challenges of starting from scratch and getting your product into crowded markets.
This is a lesson entrepreneurs, like Catherine Meyer, who started Cumulus Creative Works as a side gig about 18 months ago, have learnt this year.
She realised that not having capital to produce her designs at scale is preventing her from accessing the markets she needs and moving into fashion design full-time.
Meyer says she is currently handmaking all her clothing items, including her most popular one, a wearable blanket made out of fleece.
“When compared with China, South African labour costs are high, so I can’t hire someone to assist me to break into the market and compete against big companies,” she says.
It is near impossible to find companies that will do small runs of her product, she says. 
“Most cut, make, trim companies will do a minimum run of 30 of the same garment. As a startup, I cannot afford the initial expense of fabric trims and labour for 50 of one garment when my range has 8-15 garments in it each season.”
Meyer knows she needs to get an outlet to agree to take 50 of each item on an exclusive basis under her brand.
But she says “getting noticed is also very difficult because it requires much legwork to even find the right person to talk to.”
Meyer plans to continue running Cumulus as a side hustle while she taps into her network and uses social media marketing to develop a name for herself. She also plans to work out how much she needs to really get her business up and running.
Party organiser Zinhle Ntini, owner of Zee and Becca Parties, quickly learnt the risks of being a solopreneur and as soon as her business’s growth allowed, she took on an assistant.
Since starting her business in 2018, she has learnt the hard lesson that being sick results in lost business and even losing clients.
Small business owners are very vulnerable to losing income due to being too ill to work as there is no employer to pay sick leave and often no colleagues to fill your shoes when illness downs you.
Income protection may help you ride out periods when you are unable to work, but Ntini says planning ahead is also key.
She has also learnt the value of building relationships with clients and the power of word of mouth, as she says social media marketing tends to attract a lot of scammers.
Despite the hard knocks she believes every moment of building a business is worth it. “Don't be scared to explore or spread your wings. You will never know how big you can grow and always give yourself the opportunity to learn more.”
