"Open the shop first. Paint the walls later."

📖 Story Time with Gilbert Three Vetkoek for 10 Cents When I was growing up, almost every takeaway shop in our area sold vetkoek. (For my friends outside South Africa, think of it as a golden, deep-fried bread roll—crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy inside.) The going price was simple. One vetkoek for 10 cents. Then my father did what he always did. He looked at the problem differently. Instead of making one large vetkoek, he used exactly the same amount of dough... ...and made three smaller ones. Then he put up a sign: 3 Vetkoek for 10 Cents People loved it. Friends could share them. Families could divide them. Children each got their own. Before long, customers were coming to our shop because the offer simply made more sense. 🌿 The Professor's Wisdom Don't always compete by lowering your price. Sometimes the better answer is to improve the offer. Look at your product through your customer's eyes. They may value something completely different from what you expect. ☕ My Take That lesson has stayed with me throughout my business career. Innovation doesn't always mean inventing something new. Sometimes it's simply seeing an everyday product from a different perspective. That's where opportunity begins. 💬 Your Turn Have you ever seen a simple idea completely change the way people bought a product or service?

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?