It wasn't daunting. I felt very excited because it was the first time that I got to do this for real, like official. Growing up, I was at flea markets where I had my own store selling biltong. At university I was selling textbooks. I was making money and I was hustling, but I didn't have anything legit.

You learn that this too shall pass and better days will come. When the better days come, you actually have to remember the days when you struggled. Because when the better days come, you could have greed running away with you and your ego telling you you're such an amazing businessperson.

 Do something that's going to solve a real problem. It doesn't have to be this big, grand digital-type of business that's going to make you the money. It can be a simple product. 

It should include your marketing plan and your operational plan. Your marketing plan includes your visibility blueprint, also your brand style, your core messaging, your sales plan and where you're going to get your sales from. Your margins and the costing of your products are in your sales or operational plan.

The way I would approach it - and I've seen many successful small businesses use this concept - is to test the market by starting small.

It can be something as simple as a birthday party where you serve your cupcakes. Or you give them to someone as a housewarming gift or just because you're generous, and then you look at the interaction and the feedback to give you the cue that, yes, people love my cake - it was the first thing that flew off the table. And then you build on that.

There are four stages of startup funding. The first is self-funding, the second is investment from friends and family (I know that is not always possible), the third is bootstrapping and the fourth is seed funding.

There are many things that you need to do when you start a business. The most daunting part is the South African Revenue Service. 

 In the first 100 days, I would encourage entrepreneurs to focus on marketing and sales primarily. That means as a marketer you need to look at your visibility blueprint, the areas where you can make yourself visible to your ideal clients. 

Over the years of running a business, I’ve had my own mentors and coaches, and still today I have mentors and coaches, because I believe that even a business coach or an established entrepreneur must have someone to check their blind spots. That’s one of the foundational pillars of support.