📸 A Moment with The Professor The Man Behind the Lessons When people hear me talk about The Professor, they often imagine a successful businessman. He was. But that's not what made him special. He was a husband who loved his wife. A father who loved his three boys. A man of faith. A man who never needed to raise his voice to earn respect. In all my years growing up, I never once saw my parents argue in front of us. If they disagreed, they spoke privately. Looking back now, I realise they weren't just protecting their marriage. They were protecting our home. My father lived a simple life. He didn't smoke. He didn't drink. He wasn't interested in cards or late nights. His greatest joy was his family, his customers, and the people whose lives he could make a little better. He had a remarkable gift. Walk him into any shop, warehouse, or business, and within minutes he'd know everyone's name. He made people laugh. He made people feel important. He made strangers feel like old friends. Some people called him The Professor. Others gave him different nicknames. To me... He was simply Dad. The older I get, the more I realise that everything I know about business began long before I ever made my first sale. It began by watching a good man live a good life. That is the legacy I hope to pass on through this community. 🌿 Lessons Worth Passing On.

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The Burger War That Brought Our Family Together When I was growing up, my father owned a takeaway in Pretoria called Mascot Tea Room. One day, a new burger shop opened just a few hundred metres away. The owner walked past my father and jokingly said, "You won't be here for long. I'm going to put you out of business." That evening, my father called a family meeting. It wasn't a business meeting. It was a family meeting. My mom, my brothers and I all sat around the table. He looked at us and said, "For the next month, we all tighten our belts." No eating from the takeaway. No drinking the cooldrinks we sold. If we wanted food, Mom would bring it from home. Every rand mattered. Then he came up with a plan. The new burger shop was selling burgers for 99 cents. My father did the maths and realised he could survive a short-term price war. So he put a big sign outside our shop: 4 Burgers for 99 Cents Students from the nearby technical college couldn't believe it. They stopped at our shop before they even reached the new burger place. A few weeks later... The owner of the new takeaway came to my father and asked if he wanted to buy the business. Not long afterwards, they closed their doors. 🌿 The Professor's Wisdom Competition is part of business. Panic is optional. When people stand together with a plan, they can overcome challenges that seem impossible. My Take Every business faces difficult seasons. The strongest businesses aren't always the biggest. They're the ones with the strongest people, the clearest plan, and the determination to keep going. Your Turn Have you ever gone through a difficult season that made you or your business stronger?

📖 Story Time with Gilbert The R2 Chicken That Taught Me a R1.50 Lesson When I was a young boy, I worked in my father's takeaway shop in Pretoria called Mascot Tea Room. One day, a customer pointed to a piece of fried chicken. I picked it up with the tongs, placed it on the scale and said, "That will be R2." The customer looked at the chicken... ...and walked out. I didn't understand what had happened. My father smiled and called me over. He said, "My boy, you never asked the customer how much he wanted to spend." He explained that if the customer only had R1.50, I should have cut the piece to fit his budget. Then he said something I'll never forget: "That R1.50 walked into our shop. It belongs in our till, not in the street." That lesson has stayed with me for the rest of my life. 🌿 The Professor's Wisdom Don't sell what you think the customer needs. Help the customer buy what they can afford. Listen first. Sell second. My Take Too many businesses lose sales because they stop listening. Every customer walks in with a budget, a need, or a problem. The businesses that succeed are the ones that adapt instead of assuming. Your Turn Have you ever learnt a business lesson from a customer that stayed with you for years?

I was about 12 years old when my father took me with him to the Pretoria Fruit & Vegetable Market. We left the farm at around 3:30 in the morning and arrived before most people were even awake. As we walked through the market, The Professor turned to me and said: "My boy, today I'm going to show you how to make money with no money." I looked at him and thought he was joking. How can you make money if you don't have any money? As we walked around, he started marking tomatoes, beans, and other produce that were in short supply. He booked them under his number before the other buyers arrived. Later, we sat down for a coffee. Soon the other buyers arrived. They wanted the very products my father had already booked. One after another they asked if they could buy the stock. The Professor smiled and agreed. They paid him. He paid the farmer. And by the end of the morning, he had made about R70 profit without owning a single crate of vegetables. I never forgot that day. Not because of the money. But because of the lesson. 🌿 The Professor's Wisdom Opportunity is often seen first by the person who arrives first. The early bird doesn't just catch the worm. The early bird sees the worm before everyone else. My Take Most people wait for opportunity. Entrepreneurs learn to spot it early. Sometimes success isn't about having more money. It's about seeing what others don't see. Your Turn What's the best business lesson someone taught you when you were young?