What you are about to read is a decade in the making.

But it’s based on three decades of designing, building and managing systems in the corporate world.

I’ve decided to write this strategy series, as I’ve seen too many small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs fail in the decade since I decided to become one myself.

I’ve seen the pain, heartache, ruined relationships, broken families, loss of possessions and more as a result of business failure.

The reason for this failure is that most people who start a business are not entrepreneurs investing capital for a profit, as the textbooks want us to believe.

Businesses are started by ordinary people who had an “entrepreneurial seizure” as described by Michael E. Gerber in his book, “The E-myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It.”

This is how an entrepreneurial seizure happens.

One day, out of the blue, something happens, which can often be traced back to a single event.

It could’ve been something you’ve seen or read, the way the boss peeved you off in the morning… virtually anything. But that event triggered something inside you. From that point forward, you had no choice but to become an entrepreneur, whether you were ready or not.

No strategy and no systems are often the fatal flaw that causes most small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs to fail.

I know. I nearly did.

Here’s a short story about my entrepreneurial seizure…

On 5 December 2013, Nelson Mandela died.

Nelson Mandela sacrificed so much for my freedom as a non-white South African.

He was incarcerated for 27 years for my freedom and the freedom of a nation.

In 1996, he signed into law the South African Constitution that guaranteed an end to discrimination, whether it be against race, gender, sexual preference, or association.

All inspired by the words, “...I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul”, from the poem Invictus. And popularised by the movie of the same name, featuring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, and directed by Clint Eastwood.

From that point forward, I knew I had no choice but to resign from my comfortable corporate job as an information systems manager at one of the leading fashion retailers in South Africa.

I knew I had to start my own venture so that I could have my independence.

And I knew that I wanted to help small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs succeed.

But as it played out, I often thought that this entrepreneurial seizure would be the death of me.

Despite having postgraduate studies in business management and three decades of experience in designing, building and managing systems in the corporate world, I had a fundamental flaw.

I did not know how to acquire and retain customers affordably and effectively.

I did not have a strategy.

And I did not have systems.

And without this, I was doomed to failure, like so many other businesses around me.

So, I ended up consulting to pay the bills, while I worked on a customer acquisition and retention strategy for small businesses, startups and entrepreneurs as I believed that it is the key to success.

It became a mission.

I did not have the budget or the resources. But I had the technical skills and the experience to design and build systems.

A system is not just a bunch of arbitrary parts.

Having all the parts of a car lying unassembled on your garage floor is not a car.

The parts have to work together and interact harmoniously with a common purpose for it to be a system.

So I looked at what was already available online and cobbled together systems using different components.

It often reminded me of Frankenstein's monster. But, I was able to build several different customer acquisition and retention systems over the years, each using a different set of components.

In 2019, I started a digital magazine with my son, Khalid.

This was the fourth attempt at a digital magazine.

Some were complete failures and others were mildly successful. But this time I set up everything as a customer acquisition and retention system.

Not to make a lot of money. But to test the system and the processes.

The system we use to acquire subscribers, retain subscribers and communicate with them is the same system any business can use to acquire and retain customers.

Today, we are a well-known publication. Khalid, who is the face of the magazine, is well-known by professional players, the national team, administrators and members of the press. We also have a loyal and engaged fan base.

I’m in the background managing the systems.

But the systems for Cricket Fanatics Magazine were still too complex and expensive!

Luckily, I’ve found a solution that’s affordable and scalable.

But before we talk systems. We need to talk about strategy.

Without a solid strategy, any system will fail.

Introducing the strategy

I chose the two keywords, acquisition and retention, deliberately.

Acquisition is all about turning strangers into customers.

Retention is about building relationships, loyal fans and long-term customers.

Both are important and they need a different, but overlapping strategy, which will also be revealed.

The customer acquisition and retention strategy covers the three essential ingredients that every business needs to survive and thrive:

- Awareness (Traffic)

- Engagement (Leads/Prospects)

- Conversion (Customers/Sales)