From the editor
(Ann Williams)

Hi

It's great to be talking to you again, and as you read through this e-zine you may notice a number of changes. Firstly, that this is Edition One. This is because the 2Be-zine is no longer the mouthpiece for 2B Marketing only, but is now the official electronic newsletter for our new entrepreneurs website: www.2BBusiness.co.za. (The format of the 2Be-zine will also be getting a major rebranding in the next few weeks.)

I am very pleased to present this new offering and I'm sure that it will be of even more use to you than previously as it has news, ideas, articles, blog snippets and notices about ALL aspects of running a small business.

Pass it along...

Please do have a look at the new website and pass this newsletter along to any entrepreneurs in South Africa that you know so that they too can benefit from the information provided. To subscribe to this newsletter, please visit here...

Warm regards,

Ann

 

2B BizBlog
(Snippets of practical info, views and ideas for small businesses)

Using Quick Response (QR) codes in printing - QR codes are printed 2D barcodes which embed information that can be read by programs in smart phones and then automatically take you the website or give you their contact details in a form that is easy to save to your phone. (Ian Franks)

Gone to a Ster Kinekor 'Happy Place' lately? I could not imagine a more inappropriate advertising campaign than Ster-Kinekor’s Happy Place adverts! Hubby and I love going to the cinema, but over the past year or two we probably go about a third as often as we used to.

Market to callers on hold... - but don’t put callers on hold to market to them!  
 

Articles
(From SA Contributors and other sources)

Feature article for this issue

Seven best practices for business blogging
Blogs have become one of the hottest communication tools on the web. Offering the opportunity for anyone to create their own free website and encouraging opinions and interaction. (Kari White)
To read this article...

New articles on the 2B Business website

Sales and safety margins are sexy figures! - Figures can tell you so much about your company; yup we are talking “sales figures”, “operational figures” and “financial figures” – not sizzling female models and jaw-dropping-abs-packed hunks. (Hermien Kriek)

Improve your body language - Your body language is an integral part of your interpersonal skills. Understanding and controlling how you use your body to communicate is essential to working in a team, managing your staff, contributing to meetings and confronting difficult colleagues. (Simon Buehring)

Some Six Sigma terminology - Six Sigma is nothing but vision of improving quality, which aims at reducing defects to less than x defects per y count for each service, process, product or transaction. In a nutshell, Six Sigma strives to achieve perfection. (John Nash)

Seven small business marketing tips - Here are seven low-cost but highly effective marketing tips to help any small business find customers and generate sales quickly. (Bob Leduc)
 

Resources
(Including video snippets, book reviews and software downloads)

The Marketing Gurus
Resource type: Book
Edited by: Chris Murray
ISBN:1-59184-105-4
Publisher: Penguin
Ann's Rating: 8 out 10
Read review...

Five ways to come up with new business ideas (Video) By Nicole Dornan
 

Companies
(Case studies, company profiles, announcements and product/service previews)

Mini-case study for this issue

Burning bright with Glass & Fire
In the two years since they started, the owners of glass bead making company, Glass & Fire, have been burning a steady path towards Gauteng domination in the fields of teaching lampwork and providing the materials for making small glass objects.
To read this case study...

Other company news

Event managers - get some help! - Red Balloon Event Administration Solutions provides backend support for event managers with a focus on providing secure online event registration and professional RSVP management services.
 

Community information
(Links to useful information, software, websites etc)

Government: Operation We Pay by Public Works Department
Fastracking outstanding payments of Public Works Department debt
The national Department of Public Works (DPW) has established a call centre as part of their Operation Re Ya Patala (Operation We Pay), an initiative to help clear backlogs in payments to service providers.

Green affairs: Where to turf your old computers…
Electronic waste is poisoning our ecosystem
Each year hundreds of thousands of computers and their peripherals are chucked out; sometimes into the dump where they leach toxic waste into our soil, or they are just thrown into piles such as the one shown here.
 

What's On
(Competitions, awards, exhibitions, conferences and events of interest to entrepreneurs)

Johannesburg Halala Awards 2010
Now open for entries
In 2008 the Johannesburg Development Agency launched the annual Halala Joburg Awards which recognise and honour people, projects and places that strive to improve the quality of life in the Inner City of Johannesburg and ensure that the vibrant heart of Joburg’s Inner City built environment continues to provide the steady rhythm of growth and development. Nominations for the 2010 awards are now open and close on 19 March.

2010 My Business Expo and Conference
"The small business & entrepreneurial happening of the year."
The National Small Business Chamber is hosting an exhibition of services that can help you start, buy or grow your businesses, with a line-up of speakers which is to held at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, Gauteng on Friday, 5 March 2010 from 9am to 5pm.
 

A word or two
(Tips and chuckles)

Actual quotes from the Mpumalanga Hospital Register...

1. The patient refused autopsy.
2. The patient has no previous history of suicides.
3. Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.
4. Patient's medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 11 kgs weight gain in the past three days.
5. She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.
6. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
7. On the second day the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.
8. The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.
9. The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.
10. Discharge status: Alive but without my permission.
11. Healthy appearing decrepit 69-year old male, mentally alert but forgetful.
12. Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.
13. She is numb from her toes down.
14. While in ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home.
15. The skin was moist and dry.
16. Occasional, constant infrequent headaches.
17. Patient was alert and unresponsive.
18. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.
19. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce.
20. I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.
21. Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.
22. Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
23. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
24. Skin: somewhat pale but present.
25. Large brown stool ambulating in the hall.
26. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.