Risk and Rise

Telana asked twelve of the guests on Risk & Rise about their thoughts around an excuse that aspiring entrepreneurs often give. This being:  What comes to their minds when they hear someone say "I can't start a business because I don't have the funds"? She shares their challenging, varied, and inspiring responses, which push us to rethink if we actually need money, and to not excuse ourselves from...

Erica's background in theatre is where she learned about being an entrepreneur. She also ran an organic deli which helped her fine tune her business skills and crowdfunding knowledge. And it is from the challenges and failures she experienced that she now talks about the gems that she learnt from that challenging time. Erica shares on when to quit, when to persevere, and how to build a culture and...

The fear of failing might just be one of five reasons that you are procrastinating on starting your business.  Emma O'Brien shares why we procrastinate and what we can do about it, as well as the mindset we need when it comes to dealing with failures in business.  Here no-nonsense approach, and candid examples brings some fresh energy to our exploration of overcoming our fears of failing and takin...

Telana asked eleven of the guests on Risk & Rise this one question: How do we find a business idea, if we want to be entrepreneurial, but have no idea what business to start? She shares their varied, practical, useful and inspiring responses, tools and exercises, which we can use straight away to explore our next business idea. Guests are: Adri Neuper, Allon Raiz, Anne Gray, Dr Chomba Chuma, Georg...

Whenever we start something new there is a strong likelihood that the Imposter Syndrome will be triggered. This is a phenomenon where we experience such fear of being exposed as a fraud, and it is heightened when there's any chance of us failing.  It can stop us from starting anything new or taking any kind of risk. In this episode Telana explains how the Impostor Syndrome works and how it is link...

Serial entrepreneur Richard Nilsson explains how he dealt with rejection in his journey of raising around $6M for his current business MyPetGo. He also describes how he's been dealing with anxiety as an entrepreneur, and what he calls 'near death experiences' in business, and how those lows have resulted in learning and pivoting, which have taken his businesses forward.  Richard shares a wealth of...

Jonathan Smit, entrepreneur and angel investor, shares how he went from seeing a gap in the market that he knew nothing about, to building (and then successfully exiting) one of South Africa's top fintech businesses called Payfast. Jonathan shares his experience and learnings around building a culture of innovation and teamwork, as well as the mindset we need in order to tackle mistakes and challe...

Craig Lubbe has moved up the ranks and is now a director of the Bob Group. He shares his failures and fears along his corporate journey, as well as what he has learned from bringing his intrapreneurial flair to the businesses he has worked in.  We explore how he creates a culture of innovation and how he sees risk and failure with his forever learning mindset. Resources for entrepreneurs The Bob G...

Maurice's entrepreneurial journey is a great example of how one can bootstrap and start exactly where you are.  Maurice also shares his greatest failure and how that led to him pivoting into what has now become his greatest strength. He talks about the importance of relationships and how to take calculated risks, and we share how he became the onematchstick startup entrepreneur .

Graham Coetzer is an award-winning investigative journalist and has just published his book "Hunting with the Hawks". He shares with Telana how he handles the fear of finding himself in life threatening situations for his work, as well as how he deals with the fear of how his book might be received and the judgment that comes with creating his work. In this episode they touch on managing fear, dea...

Anne Gray brings a unique perspective from her background in the corporate world, to owning and selling a business, to now running a startup. She shares how important self-awareness is as a leader of a business, as well as her approach to experimenting, and taking risks, as well as creating a culture that is innovative and manages mistakes well.  She also explains a number of practical tools that...

"The ashes of failure are the best fertilizer for your next business idea. Failure is hard but don't let it hurt you more than it needs to. Failure is just a hard teacher and not a reflection of who you are. Learn, adapt and go for round two." - York Zucchi This episode of "Risk & Rise," where host Telana engages with York Zucchi, a seasoned entrepreneur with over 33 years of experience across mor...

There is a difference between good failure, and useless failure.  Telana unpacks the difference, and explains a practical process to turn those mistakes and failings into learnings, that will turn that failure into a good and productive one. This is how we can make a difference going forward, turning failure into feedback, then learnings and future actions. If you would like a PDF about the reflec...

Paul Smith has a background in academia, running his own businesses, and in supporting high growth entrepreneurs. He shares with us some strategies to follow instead of being concerned about learning from failure. And he explains the concepts of a growth entrepreneur, disruptive entrepreneurship and the role of mentorship and education in helping us to grow entrepreneurs.  Paul also touches on the...

There are often times we just feel like giving up. We have come to the end of the road and we can't see a way to keep going. Allon Raiz shares how to know when to quit, from this book: "What To Do When You Want To Give Up".

Renier is an example of the entrepreneurial spirit that we are looking to grow within ourselves.  He tackles the risks just one little step at a time. And he plays in the space of not knowing so that he's always open to learning, and encourages us to fail as many times as we need to in order to learn what it is we're trying to do.  In this episode Renier shares about his own entrepreneurial growth...

Dealing with our fears and understanding what they are telling us, is a life-skill that can help us deal with failure. Telana shares some frameworks from the cognitive behavioural sciences for looking at our emotions, and fear in particular, including the Plutchik model and Tony Robbin's view, that are most useful. She explores how this mindset of using our fear as a signal relates to the way we d...

What would happen if we celebrated entrepreneurship more? Dr Chomba Chuma shares his ideas around celebrating entrepreneurs and how this will grow more businesses (and through that, more job opportunities). He also shares his own personal experience coming from a winning culture and then learning how (and why it is important) to fail early and fail forward.  He describes the process of failure tha...

Is there much difference between being an entrepreneur and being self-employed? Adri has been both, and she shares her ingredients that make for a successful entrepreneur and business owner.  She's an example of seeing opportunities and making them happen with her just do it kind of attitude. She talks with Telana about: how she deals with fear in business, as well as the imposter syndrome; the sk...

Is the "stigma of failing" what we fear, more than the actual failure? Kerryne Krause shares her thoughts, experience, and useful tips to overcome those moments when we fail.  We explore redefining success, detaching our value from our doing, making decisions, the negative effectsof complacency on business, and the fear of rejection.  The discussion also touches on sexism and ageism, as well as th...

George has an entrepreneurial spirit that has helped him not only be involved in a number of businesses, but also in how he handled his stroke. He chose to do so in a way that not only helped him, but is still helping many more people through the Stroke Survivors Foundation, which he co-founded.  George shares with us his life motto, as well as how confidence in business comes from belief in your...

The mindset we need if we are to keep trying, and learn from each failure, is the Growth Mindset. In this 'mini masterclass', Telana explains this "get better" way of seeing ourselves, how it is useful to our business and entrepreneurial endeavours, and how we can develop it.  She draws on the work of Dr Carol Dweck, and Dr Heidi Grant Havelson.

The journey of entrepreneurship is full of ups and downs, and failures and successes. If we are to take risks and rise through this journey, we need to grow personally and evolve in our inner capacities, including our self belief and self worth. Allon outlines how successful entrepreneurs manage inevitable failure, giving us practical tips on how to get up and going again after a setback, and also...

Mongezi Mtati, Digital and Marketing Strategist, shares how he faced the fear of quitting his job to start his first business.  It failed, and the learnings were well worth it as he kept building, and has had a few other (ad)ventures on his way to where he is now.  He shares some ideas around selling and the fear of rejection, and that we, as entrepreneurs, need to be less committed to comfort to...

Telana shares how the way we have constructed our sense of self-worth is under the way we handle failure.   She asserts that to overcome our fear of ailing, we need to change the way we define our worth as a person.