Jannie Mouton is one of South Africa’s most influential businessmen. Known as the “Boere Buffett,” due to his uncanny ability with the stock market, he has seen the company he founded in 1995, PSG Group, become one of South Africa’s greatest business success stories.
Getting Ideas to Work | If you think something through, you discuss it with people and if there’s merit it in then you must do it. But you can’t just do it with 75 percent of effort. You have to put 100 percent of effort into it. You have to execute what you believe in. Otherwise it’s always only just a good story.
The Difference Between good And Great | One word that comes up clear in my life is focus. And you can keep that in mind for the rest of your life it will benefit you. If there is something you want to do – an idea or a business proposition or whatever – focus on it. Eat, drink and live it till it is in place and working.
Knowing Yourself | You should know yourself, and analyze yourself and know exactly what you are capable of doing. For instance, there is no way that I could do something like Steve Jobs did. I don’t have the technical knowledge. And I must realize it. I don’t have the technical knowledge to go into mining. So you have to look at what you can master, what are your strong points, what are your weak points. And then analyze yourself
Read, Read, Read | Read as much as possible, because you have the opportunity to read. Now, if you read, you will see more opportunities in life, because if you read about successful people you will see opportunities.
Resources I Use | I invest in business books and books about people where you can learn something about life. It’s not always about business. I also like newspapers and I do sit and waste my time, watch a bit of TV, so it’s not that I read every day of my life. But I think the more you read, the more you understand what is going on around you in life.
Supporting People | The most important ingredient in business is management. You must think as partners, not as employees. You must appoint brilliant people and they must make the decisions. They have to run the business and you must support them 100 percent. Sometimes you must inspire them. They may have bad times and then you must be there. You help them. Give them good opportunities. And at the end of the day, enjoy working with them.
Being Creative | A company will only survive if it’s creative. The world is changing, so you have to be creative. You have to stay with developments in life. So, it’s a challenge. The next challenge is to keep the people looking at changes, opportunities, and bring it in to discuss it. You must encourage them. You must encourage your staff to be enthusiastic. Let them come to you with ideas.
Land of Opportunities | I’m actually fed up with South Africans sitting around the table telling me the bad things about South Africa. Because if it’s so bad then I will emigrate. It’s a land of opportunities here. To sit here all day and night talking about everything that’s bad is unbelievably negative.
On Humility | It gives me a wonderful sense of confidence if you are successful, but you have to be humble to be respected by others.
Words of Wisdom | Life is not about money – it’s about health, happiness and good relationships.
You Have To Believe It | If you know what you want to do in life. And you believe you are going to achieve it, you are 95% there.
Your Life Is Your Responsibility | It’s only you that can make a difference of what your life is – nobody else, only you. And I think if people understand that, whether they are fired, whether they start a career, it’s only you that can make a difference in your life.
We Are Always Looking For Something More | I like coming to work. It’s wonderful. What else would I do? We don’t sit and think about luxury. We think, “Is there something else that is interesting that we as a group can do about achieving”.
Success Is About People | I would say the “brilliant student” who only sat at his computer and never interacted with people, missed a lot in his life. He may get the best results, he may pass with an A, but there’s another part in life that he’s missed. And that is a very important part – interacting with people, discussing opportunities with people.
On Building Wealth | If you make the right investment decisions, it will make a difference in your life, financially, over a life time. So I’m very keen that young people should, at a very young age, start investing and not spending everything that you earn. If you start investing in a disciplined way, at a young age, it will make an enormous difference. We have little tables here that can prove that if you start investing at the age 25, by the age 65 what you would then have is unbelievable
Buying Shares | A good share will always do better than the South African economy and it’s something if you need money you can sell it and within 24 hours have almost the money back if there’s a crisis. But sometimes when you’re dealing with a property, it can take longer.
Useful Links |
YouTube Video of Jannie Mouton:
