If anyone has chutzpah, it must surely be Johannesburg entrepreneur Irvine Green. He has continually risked all to pursue a range of business ideas, with the obstacles to success almost always linked to government red-tape. Or, what he calls “meddling”.
The Biznews.com small business expert shares his story of economic struggle to illustrate which business areas are simply not worth the bother because involvement with government officials will sap your energy and resources. Tell us whether you agree with him, below this article.
Irvine begins with a personal tale about his mother to provide some context for his persistent attempts to succeed as an entrepreneur. It seems his mother was so irritated that Irvine had not pursued a career in accounting, and instead aimed to follow his heart in a field he would enjoy, that she cut him out of her will.
If, like Irvine, you don’t want government – or anyone – to be your boss, then there is only one route: entrepreneurship. Irvine Green’s blogs are essential reading for small business operators who want to avoid mistakes or look for new opportunities in a business environment that is not easy, but potentially rewarding. – JC
South African government shackles small businesses, says small business expert
By Irvine Green
Something I’ve learnt over the years when starting a business… don’t cross Govt’s path… As in DON’T start a business where Government is already MEDDLING in that industry, or is LIKELY TO.
Example. I’ve mentioned in passing that many decades after doing a B.Comm, I finally started a small accounting services business, for SMMEs and individuals. It wasn’t really something I wanted to do for an income, as I had done my B.Comm under duress (parental pressure).
I’d wanted to do something in electronics or TV – which I did, once I finished my National Service (after having done my Degree… which is probably why on her passing, we being Jewish, my mom left everything to the Jewish Helping hand – aka Chevrah Kadisha. I got NUTTIN/ZERO/ZILCH. Probably because I didn’t do what SHE wanted – be a good little yiddisha boykie and become an accountant/CA).
At the time of launching my accounting services in 2000, everything else had folded or not taken off, so I thought, well, OK, let’s do this – it can be ‘on the side of something else’ if I hit gold or silver in another business (which IS how things later developed).
I gained about eight clients, all small businesses. I did it all, from book-keeping to tax form submission and here and there arguing for my clients on expenses etc rejected by SARS.
Then SARS started up the Tax Practitioner thing… interfering more and more in the business of accounting services and the life of tax practitioners (as us accounting types were now referred to in socialist geek speak).
I’ve always had an important mantra – I don’t care WHO runs the country, and what demands are fairly made of business and citizens when sticking to the law. But DON’T interfere in my life or business if I am not breaking the law; or if I am not doing something I should be doing eg, paying rates, TV licence etc). Otherwise – LEAVE ME ALONE.
So, as SARS started behaving like a legislated mafia, plus telling me what to do and how in my business (but only with THEIR permission) while I had properly done everything for just under a decade without any problems or arguments/differences with either clients or SARS, and without SARS being the one to decide whether I could do this for a living, I called ‘ time out ‘ in the accounting services industry. (So did a few thousand others).
I finished the financial year docs for the clients I was busy with, and referred them to a friend who has a large FS & a/c services business. My clients were upset – I had not wanted to grow beyond a certain size, and so had just a few happy clients who all received individually oriented, personal service, as they weren’t ‘one of dozens and dozens’ as is often the case.
I wasn’t going to run the business on Govt terms – and Govt wasn’t going to be my boss, EVER. They weren’t paying my salary. I wasn’t going to act as a ‘Govt agent’.
Laws that are just I’ll always obey, of whatever sort, but I wasn’t going to pay Govt for permission to be a TP. I was happy to be a member (as required) of the overseeing body of the profession… but interference in my life and my business by the end recipient of what I was doing wasn’t on my list of business methodology. Apart from following the standard tax requirements and deadlines that is. Doing what I had to do correctly and on time was fine. But that was where it ended. So – PELINDABA (means ‘end of dialogue’).
By that time I already had the video archiving services up and running – and it really took off at just about the right time. I really can’t see Govt trying to muscle in on such an industry (holding thumbs).
To put things in perspective: what I am on about is that in starting a business, make sure it’s not in a field where Govt (socialist-oriented ones especially) will stick its neck, hand, foot, stick and such into. In SA, these include Law, Accounting, Financial Services, Insurance, Medicine (Drs etc), staff employment (there’s a Govt idea under development where when a position in a company becomes vacant you have to advertise with a centralised Govt employment agency and Govt sends you the prospective employees), Fishing, Flying, Restaurants (and catering etc), Transport, Telecomms, radio and TV broadcasting, newspaper publishing, education, some engineering services, electric power generation, mining, road maintenance, vehicle manufacturing, farming, agriculture (and related services), social services, sport management and associated event organisation, museums, funeral services, clothing manufacturing and a few others.
That leaves us the open fields of art, writing (as in book authors etc), photography, archiving, flower production and sales, music, public speaking, book and film reviews, comedy, feature and documentary film/TV production, importing or exporting of SOME products, advertising services (in some areas anyway – it’s not totally ‘ free ‘ or open), car repair and maintenance services (say car wash centres), internet cafes, etc. You’ll soon work out what type of business COULD see Govt looking over your shoulder 24/7 or trying to trip you up. And which ones will leave you free as a bird.
As I had said often to accounting clients – remember, every day of your life and in every business transaction, the FIRST thing you have to consider is Tax, Govt, and bureaucracy. THEN the client and the level of service and quality.
Thus the MOST important thing to do when starting a business is to make sure you can minimise – or move DOWN the ‘first to do/consider’ scale as far as possible – how often every day and in every business transaction you do that you have to put Govt into the equation, apart from at financial year end.
It’s said that there are two things that are unavoidable – death and taxes. Add Govt to those if you’re in business.
To close and putting it simply: when you decide on a business idea, BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE, analyse how much control Govt is going to have (or is likely to impose later) over the business operation.
If it seems the answer is ‘LOTS’, try another field…! You’re in business for YOU – for yourself and your employees. NOT GOVT. Govt does not sit on your management board – so its say on what you do and how, where and when doesn’t count.
To get the point if I have missed it or you can’t see it, read ‘Animal Farm’. And explore in detail the central political theme of communism/socialism too.
More by Irvine Green:
Irvine Green: Turning a business dream into reality often starts with an outrageous idea
Irvine Green: How to promote a small business on a small budget
