Your journey
Growing my business.
The business works. That is the problem. What got you here is now the constraint, and the useful question is not what to add but which single thing is actually holding you back.
Where you probably are
- You have outgrown the space, or the space you are in was never designed for what the business turned into.
- The branding was done quickly at the start and now it undersells you to the customers you actually want.
- The business runs on a WhatsApp group, a notebook and a spreadsheet somebody keeps on their own laptop, and you cannot answer a question about last quarter without an afternoon of work.
- Customers who already know you are fine. The problem is everybody who does not.
Usually only one of these is the real constraint. Fixing the other three first is the expensive way round.
Where to start
Not a sequence this time. Work out which one is the constraint, do that one properly, then reassess.
-
01
Work out what is actually limiting you
More space will not help a business losing time to admin. A rebrand will not help a business nobody can find. This conversation is free, and it is worth having before you spend anything, because the answer is frequently not the thing that has been annoying you most.
-
02
More space, or better space
Sometimes the answer is a bigger premises. More often it is the same premises laid out around the way the business actually trades now rather than the way it traded when you moved in. Fit-outs and change of use are common work and they are much cheaper than moving.
-
03
A brand that has caught up with you
Plenty of businesses are further along than their branding suggests, and it costs them the larger clients quietly. If the mark is recognised and worth keeping, we redraw it properly and build the identity around it, so you keep what customers already know you by.
-
04
Stop running the business on a spreadsheet
Custom software for the way you actually work: stock, clients, invoicing, who owes you money, what a job actually cost. You own it, there is no monthly licence, it runs on ordinary hosting, and it keeps working when the connection drops.
-
05
Be found by people who do not know you yet
Most Zimbabwean businesses have no site, or one Google cannot read, or a Business Profile claimed once and never filled in. The field is thin, so the fundamentals done properly get results here that would be impossible in a crowded market.
What it costs
These are separate services and most businesses take one at a time, which is the sensible way to do it: fix the constraint, let it settle, then look again. Payment on any project runs 30% deposit and 70% on completion.
The figures below are the common starting points rather than a bundle. Nothing here has to be bought together, and we would rather talk you into one than sell you three.
- A system that replaces the spreadsheet A dashboard, an inventory system or a straightforward CRM. Full platforms from $1,200
- from $450
- A brand that matches where you are Brand Identity, including social templates, company profile and stationery
- $280
- Being found SEO Setup one off, then ongoing SEO inside the Business support plan at $200 a year
- $120
Starting prices. Final quote after a free consultation.
What usually goes wrong
Buying software for a problem you have not defined
A system that automates a process nobody agrees on just makes the disagreement faster. The first thing we do is watch how the work actually flows now, including the WhatsApp group, because the real system is usually already there and undocumented.
Rebranding when the problem is that nobody can find you
A new logo does not change your search results. If customers who reach you convert fine and the problem is volume, the money belongs somewhere else.
Subscribing to foreign software that nearly fits
Per-user fees grow as you hire, the price rises annually and you cannot change the parts that do not suit you, so you end up changing the business to suit the software. Compare three years of subscription against building something you own before deciding what custom costs.
Moving premises when a layout change would have done
Moving is expensive, disruptive and often solves the wrong problem. It is worth an hour to find out whether the space you have can be made to work before you commit to a new lease.
Common questions
How do I know which one to do first?
Ask what you would fix if you could only fix one thing this year, then check whether the thing annoying you most is the same as the thing costing you most. They are usually different. The free conversation exists for exactly this, and we have told clients to spend nothing before.
Can you work with the systems and suppliers I already have?
Usually. Send us what you are running and we will tell you honestly whether it is worth building on or replacing, including when the answer costs us the bigger job.
How disruptive is putting in a new system?
Less than people expect, because we build the most useful part first and put it in front of your team early. Every system we have built changed shape once real people started using it, which is expected and budgeted for rather than treated as a problem.
Start here
Tell us what you want to build
A house, a brand, a website, a system, or all of it. Send a message and we will map out the path from idea to reality.