You have to be ready to serve your customers! Every kind of work has things you have to do before you can sell. These are called inputs. Inputs are the things you must get or use to make the product or provide the service. They will cost you money, time and effort (labour).

There are different sorts of things you can do (but remember that they all require inputs!):
• Making things people want
• Doing things people need (providing a service)
• Growing things people need
• Buying and selling

Let’s look at some case studies.

Making things people want: Chicken soup
Dineo Matlala lives in Soweto. One day she saw people coming home late from work. She thought how tired they looked, “…and now they still have to make supper!” It was another job they had to do.

Dineo saw the problem. She decided that she could give herself paying work, helping these people. She thought of making chicken soup and selling it to the people at the taxi and bus rank. She talked to them about her idea, and they liked it. They would buy the soup, and Dineo would be able to keep working.

Now, every morning, Dineo goes to the local market and buys vegetables and chicken from the farmers. Back home, she prepares the ingredients and makes soup. In the evening she sells the soup to the people who come home late and do not have time to cook healthy meals. She solved the problem!

What were the inputs?

These are Dineo’s inputs:
• The costs of buying the items that will make the finished product – raw chicken and vegetables. One asset (positive, helpful thing or resource) in her community is clean tapwater, so she does not have to pay for that.
• Her effort or labour – shopping, preparing and cooking the ingredients for chicken soup
• The time it takes to prepare to sell – two hours of shopping, one hour for preparing and cooking for the soup (Dineo is a good cook!), and one hour for travelling

Doing things people need: Maths tutoring
Thapelo Modise lives near Polokwane in Limpopo. He noticed that the parents in the village talk a lot about their children. Many of them are worried because their children are doing badly at Maths. They are very worried because Maths is an important subject for studying after high school and future employment.
Thapelo saw the problem, and thought of a solution. He was good at Maths, and he was also good at explaining things, so he thought of paying work to give himself. He would teach extra Maths! He talked to the parents about it, and they liked his idea.

What were the inputs:

• Thapelo bought Maths textbooks (the learner’s book and the teacher’s guide) in town, which cost him money.
• He also made sure he had enough paper and pens and pencils so that everyone could do the work.
• He went through all the Maths problems to make sure he was prepared and could answer the children’s questions, which cost him his labour and his time.

Now, every afternoon after school, Thapelo gives 40 learners extra lessons. He teaches them in four groups of ten learners for an hour each. Their parents pay him R10 per lesson.

Growing things people need
Dlyani Ngobeni used to work for a restaurant in Vereeniging in Gauteng. Every day he took the taxi from Walkerville, where he lives on a plot. The restaurant owner was always complaining about how difficult it was to buy good, fresh herbs in Vereeniging.
Dlyani saw the problem. He thought about paying work he could create for himself. He would supply fresh herbs. Dlyani read about growing herbs and found out where to get seeds. He talked to the restaurant owner, who thought it was a good idea.
Now he plants seeds to grow herbs on the plot. He has enough space and the soil is sandy, which is good for growing herbs. He makes sure the herbs get the right fertilizer and enough water. He looks after them carefully. Every Monday and Thursday Dlyani picks the herbs, takes the taxi to Vereeniging, and sells the herbs to the restaurant. He solved the problem.

What were the inputs?

• Dlyani has to buy seed, which costs him money. He also has to pay his taxi fare.
• Water and land are other inputs he uses.
• It also costs him time, labour and skill to be a gardener.

Buying and selling
Nikiwe Mabasa lives in a small village in the Eastern Cape. Every week she used to take a taxi to the nearest town to buy mieliemeal, samp, flour and other things for her family’s meals. It is a long way to town. The taxi ride is expensive – it costs R40 – and the shopping takes the whole day, so she cannot clean the house or help the children on that day. Nikiwe had a problem!

She always talked to the other women in the taxi and they all complained about the problem of shopping. So Nikiwe thought about paying work she could give herself. She talked about her idea to the other women, and they liked it.
Now, once a week, Nikiwe takes the taxi as usual, but the other women do not! Nikiwe buys things the women need, brings them back, and sells the products to the women. They are happy to pay her more than she paid because they save the R40 taxi money, and now they can spend the day at home.

What were the inputs?

These are Nikiwe’s inputs:
• Nikiwe has to use money she has saved to buy items that the village women need.
• It also costs her time and effort (labour) because she has to spend her day travelling and shopping.

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Resources: What assets, skills and advantages do you have and are around you?

Resources are a supply of something or a support that helps us to achieve our goals. They can be inside us or around us.

Think about your skills and advantages. What are you good at? What are you interested in? For example, you might be a good listener, or a problem solver. Or perhaps you are very fit so you can do hard labour. Remember, too, if you have time then that is a resource! For example, Nikiwe had time to go shopping.

Think about your community. What positive things are already there that you could use? For example, there may be resources such as clean tapwater for chicken soup; assets such as land/space for growing herbs, and sandy soil, which helps herbs grow well.

There may be public spaces to meet in the afternoons, such as schools, educare centres, church halls or a library where you can tutor, or run other events. A library can also be helpful for research.

Another resource is people in your community, who may be able to help you in different ways. Think about who is an expert in their work, for example, a mechanic or a person who can repair cellphones.

What resources do you have yourself? What are your skills and interests, or behaviours? For example, you might go to a clinic regularly where there are good shops.

What resources are in your community that you could use as inputs?