Raizor's Edge 20 lessons over 20 years

20 lessons over 20 years

Over the past 20 years, Raizcorp CEO Allon Raiz has learned many tough lessons and overcome many entrepreneurial challenges. He has also had the privilege of learning from the journeys of over 13 500 entrepreneurs who have passed through Raizcorp. In this podcast series, Allon shares 20 of the most important lessons he has learned which he wishes he had known before starting his journey. Using a sequence that mirrors the typical stages of the entrepreneurial journey from ideation through to scaling a business, Allon talks us through these lessons.
Monthly English South Africa Business
20 Episodes

Legacy

You often hear entrepreneurs talking about leaving a legacy but what exactly do they mean by this? Amassing a fortune to hand down to future generations of their family? Having a hospital wing named after them? In the final episode of the 20 Lessons Over 20 Years podcast series, Allon…
1 Dec 2023 17 min

Succession – It’s hiding in your business

Is succession planning only for large corporate companies? Not according to Allon Raiz who, in this episode of 20 Lessons Over 20 Years, advocates for early thinking about succession in entrepreneurial businesses. Having a succession plan in place not only makes your business more attractive to investors, it also helps…
27 Oct 2023 10 min

Complacency – The rule of doubling efforts

So many entrepreneurs fall prey to the intoxication of complacency . . . They win their biggest deal ever. They overtake a competitor. They believe that they’ve made it – and then they take their foot off the pedal. The beginning of the end. In this episode of 20 Lessons…
28 Sep 2023 11 min

Our journey towards becoming unimportant

Whether you’re the CEO or a staff member, tightly holding on to knowledge and relationships effectively means career stagnation and eventually becoming a constraint in the business. In this episode, Allon Raiz discusses how you should be building a culture in which you encourage your management to delegate projects, processes…
25 Aug 2023 18 min

Lack of rhythmic, well-designed meetings

Without rhythmic, well-designed meetings, there is no order and no predictability and a very high probability of misalignment across the organisation. In this episode of 20 Lessons Over 20 Years, Allon Raiz discusses why meetings – done correctly – are actually one of the most important tools entrepreneurs have to…
21 Jul 2023 17 min

The lazy vision statement

In the whirlwind of starting a new business, the original vision tends to get lost for a while but, in Allon Raiz’ experience, if entrepreneurs don’t rekindle their relationship with their vision within two years of the startup grind, the business is far less likely to thrive. But, a word…
23 Jun 2023 22 min

Delegation vs abdication

A common mistake entrepreneurs make as their businesses start to grow is confusing the concepts of delegation and abdication. In this episode of 20 Lessons Over 20 Years, Allon Raiz explains why knowing the difference can make all the difference.
26 May 2023 13 min

Fear of conflict

Do you find yourself agreeing to a dramatic price drop to gain a client? Or caving in when a certain staff member demands a salary hike? In episode 13, Allon Raiz talks about the stark difference between the success rates of entrepreneurs who develop boundaries when dealing with staff and…
21 Apr 2023 17 min

Disregard for process

“Process sets you free” goes the saying. In episode 12 of the 20 Lessons Over 20 Years podcast series, Allon Raiz sets out to convince his listeners that process does indeed set entrepreneurs free to scale their businesses and make a profit. Even if you’re a startup, you definitely want…
17 Mar 2023 13 min

Developing a competitive mindset

In business, every time you win over a new client, you are displacing a competitor. You have created an “enemy” simply because you have competed. This may seem fairly obvious but, in his more than two decades of working with entrepreneurs, Allon Raiz has encountered a large percentage of business…
17 Feb 2023 10 min

Hiring mistakes

As entrepreneurs, we never stop making hiring mistakes. There are many reasons a hire could be bad for your organisation. Join Allon Raiz for episode 10 of the 20 Lessons Over 20 Years podcast series two find out what the two biggest reasons are behind hiring mistakes. He also shares…
20 Jan 2023 20 min

Getting the size of your premises right

An early quandary that most startup entrepreneurs have to face is getting the size of their business premises right and, if they’re renting the space, the duration of the lease. If you’re strapped for cash, you obviously don’t want to be paying for unnecessary space. At the same, though, when…
16 Dec 2022 12 min

Lack of financial discipline

Your financial statements provide detailed information regarding the financial health of your business. Too many entrepreneurs fail to produce accurate and timely financial statements, which has a negative impact on the growth of their businesses. As an entrepreneur, you need to consider the quality aspect of your financials: are they…
18 Nov 2022 13 min

Lack of financial understanding

In episode 7 of 20 Lessons Over 20 Years, Allon Raiz discusses how too many entrepreneurs hand over the responsibility of their finances to an external accountant and, in effect, abdicate their responsibility when it comes to their business numbers. It is a trap that he, too, fell into when…
14 Oct 2022 10 min

Surviving customer abuse

In the startup years, the adage “the customer is king” remains fresh and deliberate in your mind. They are, of course, the king (or queen) and you are here to serve. This is the ideal narrative but every business at some point in the journey attracts a client who is…
16 Sep 2022 19 min

The False Start

The typical pattern in many small businesses is that they start with a monthly revenue line that is relatively flat and a similar-looking profit line (or rather a lack-of-profit line), along with a cash-flow line that points 45 degrees downhill. As the business starts gaining a little traction and more…
19 Aug 2022 20 min

Misunderstanding pivot

The business world is notorious for generating trendy concepts, phrases and buzzwords that become part of the general business lexicon – despite a common lack of understanding of what they actually mean. Best of breed, paradigm shifts, disruption, technology stack are just a few such buzzwords. A more recent example…
15 Jul 2022 19 min

Insufficient financial runway

There are two funding rules of thumb that too few startup entrepreneurs are aware of. One: The timeframe you predict you’ll break even is normally double in reality. Two: The funding you predict you need will turn out to be four times more than what you thought. These rules have…
10 Jun 2022 19 min

Is there really a market?

Many would-be entrepreneurs make the assumption that if a problem can be solved by a product or service, it amounts to a sustainable business. A cold toilet seat in the middle of winter is a problem that many people would love solved. However, there is a miniscule subset of people…
16 May 2022 18 min

Am I really an entrepreneur?

Anyone who has started a business recently or is about to start a business should ask themselves the serious question: Am I really an entrepreneur? At its core the question does not refer to the skills of an entrepreneur but rather to their characteristics. Statistics show that 96% of businesses…
12 Apr 2022 13 min