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Read the following story about a successful entrepreneur.
SOURCE
An entrepreneur’s story of a difficult start in a grimy butchery
“WORK YOUR FINGERS TO THE BONE”
“My success came after I had worked my fingers to the bone and because I never became greedy.”
This is the secret of Mr Leon Slabbert, owner of the Cuyler Butchery in Uitenhage.
After finishing his schooling, Mr Slabbert obtained a degree in personnel management. He then worked in his father, Levi’s, butchery for ten years.
“My father is a perfectionist and therefore he is very particular about tidiness, quality and service. He taught me all about the select cuts and everything else I know. Thanks to him I am a disciplined person,” says Slabbert.
In August 1988 he decided: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” He sold his house and most of his other possessions and bought the Cuyler Butchery , which at that time was grubby and shabby.
Slabbert found it difficult to get loans from the banks, because he had no insurance. Some of his creditors showed him some mercy, but others simply had to wait for him to make enough money to pay them.
In the early nineties the political situation in the country influenced many people and businesses and Slabbert had to keep his head above water despite various threats. “In the first five years I just had to do crisis control most of the time to keep my business going. Competitors didn’t make it any easier for me to get my business to grow, and I had to do everything in my power in order to survive,” he says.
“Those were difficult years. I started with three staff members and did all the administration, daily chores and cutting of the meat. I had to make the sausages on my own. I also scrubbed the floors.
“I did not even have a proper cash flow that I could use for change and a friend lent me a lorry with which to transport my meat. A car was out of the question. There was no money
for petrol and I had to walk to work. My wife, Wilhma, was the owner of a hairdressing salon and she also had to work overtime to get her own business going,” says Slabbert.
His wife is now a director of the butchery and owns shares in it.
“Besides being in control of the administration of the business I am involved in every aspect of the butchery, from washing floors to cutting up meat.
“I was a hairdresser for 18 years and I found it difficult to give up this work, but my husband needed me and I supported him,” she says.
She regards her husband as being very honest and straightforward, and says that he has self-respect and respect for his fellowmen.
“All of these are qualities that have contributed to his success. He knows the meat industry and if he knows that lamb is going to be cheaper next week, he will not allow a customer to buy a whole lamb now, when it is more expensive,” she says by way of an example of his attitude towards his clients.
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