Random Thoughts

One year of being "the boss"

This week marks the one year anniversary of my entrepreneurial journey and I can honestly say that it's been great. There were ups and downs, but definitely more ups than downs.  I learned so much this year, not only about business but also about people.  I’m not going to share all of it but here are some of my top lessons from the past year. 

Hard work will pay off. Maybe not now, maybe not next month but put in the effort and you will be rewarded.  Sometimes is difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel but it will come. 

Treat others as you would like to be treated.  This statement covers many things – from the type of tone you use in your emails (no exclamation marks or SMS language!) to how you pay your suppliers (preferably on time, thank you).  It also includes showing up for meetings or at least letting the person you are meeting know in advance that you can’t make it anymore.

Discipline is extremely important - especially if you are working from home.  I don’t have any plans of getting an office, ever. I wish people would stop asking me that – having an office and employees working for you do not define how successful your business is.  Working from home does come with some challenges though.  To ensure that I’m as productive as possible I have a set routine that I stick to.  Even though I work from home I don’t wear my pyjamas to the “office.” I always get dressed as I think this plays an important role in self-discipline and makes a huge difference to your mindset. 

Make time for exercise. I cancelled my gym membership and invested in a treadmill and it was one of the best decisions I have made. I aim to run every morning, even if it is only for 20 minutes. When the midday or late afternoon slump hits, nothing cures it quite as well as a power run.

You can choose who you want to work with.  I unfortunately learned this lesson the hard way but now I’m making the most of that right. I've had a bad experience with a potential client (male) that led me to this realisation. The meeting with this potential client took place during the first two months that I started Twenty3Media.  At that stage I needed to sign all the clients that I could but I was not willing to sell my soul.  

Staying motivated can sometimes be a challenge and I definitely miss the interaction and conversation that an office environment brings.  Running a business brings a whole other spectrum of responsibilities and I’ve learned to stay on top of the books, slips and spreadsheets.  If you let the admin stand over for one month it’s such a mess to figure out. The other important thing that you have to do regularly is making back-ups.  It only takes a few minutes and can save you a lot of frustration and tears. 

Another lesson that I had to learn this year is that nice is not going to get you anywhere.  While I still treat others like I want to be treated I’m very firm when it comes to outstanding payments or sticking to the limit or revisions that have been set in the client’s contract.  It took me a while to learn to say no but I’m getting there. 

I love freedom, the flexibility and the unique opportunities that being an entrepreneur have brought me.  This year has been an amazing journey and I look forward to what the future holds in store!

Tequila

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Tequila.zip (223 KB)

Funny exam answers

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Thoughts on efficiency and time management

Time management and working as efficiently as possibly have always been important to me but even more so since I started my business.  One of the biggest challenges for me about working from home is to stay focused on work.  Now that I have more ‘flexible’ work hours I discovered that I’m more productive in the mornings and normally hit a slump around 11h00 or 12h00 - therefore I get an early start, normally around 07h00, to ensure that I make the most of those productive hours.

Working productively is also very tricky with so many distractions around (for instance social networking and instant messaging).  Working from home can be lonely some days and it’s easy to get ‘lost’ in a Skype conversation.  Therefore whenever I work I try to avoid time thieves like my personal email account, Twitter, Facebook and Skype.  In order to minimise the time I waste on these platforms I close all chat clients, personal email, Tweetdeck and Facebook.  You’ll be surprised to see how little you miss out on if you only check these platforms two or three times a day.

Meetings are important and necessary but they can take up a big portion of your working day.  I personally prefer afternoon meetings, any time from 14h00.  This gives me about 6 productive work hours before my work flow is interrupted by a meeting.

When it comes to doing the work I find that having a to-do list is handy.  Mine is done in Excel, I used to write my to-do list down but it really ticked me off when something moved and I had to scratch it out and write it on another page.  OCD much? :) In my Excel to-do list there is a sheet for each week with a column for each day.  I write all my daily tasks in the column and then tasks are ranked according to priority.  I rank the tasks in the morning and the rest of the day I focus on working through my to-do list.  It works well for me and I can easily keep an accurate record of what was done when.

Another useful productivity tip that I read somewhere is working in ‘blocks’ of time.  This method increases productivity since you pay your undivided attention to a specific task for a set period of time.  My ideal ‘block’ of time is 45 minutes to an hour, anything longer without a break and I start losing interest.  Some tasks may require more than one ‘block’ of time to complete the task but it’s an approach worth trying out.  In the end, for me efficiency is the name of the game - trying to get things done as accurately as possible in the shortest amount of time.

Importance of a strong support system

Time really flies when you’re having fun!  It’s been more than six months since I’ve started Twenty3Media and I have learned many valuable business lessons.  One of them that I would like to share is the value of a strong support system.

Starting and growing a business is hard work and there are days that you are going to need encouragement and motivation.  We all need ‘cheerleaders’ in our lives, be they family or friends.   I call them cheerleaders because these people will celebrate your achievements with you and encourage you to push through when you don’t feel like it.

I’m blessed to have an amazing support system.  My partner, parents and close friends have been extremely supportive and understanding.  Since I’ve started Twenty3Media I’ve noticed that my group of friends can be divided into two groups, those that are genuinely interested in my business and the progress I’m making and those that politely ask how the business is doing and then moving on to the next topic.  Surround yourself with those people that are genuinely interested.  I also find value in meeting up with other business owners and discussing our different experiences with issues like business development, productivity and managing clients. 

Here is an interesting article called ‘The Importance Of The Company You Keep.’  It focuses more on building online relationships but it’s still worth a read.

Braai idea - beer can chicken

We made this beer can chicken last night and not only is it super easy, it's delicious! Here is the recipe courtesy of Food24:

http://www.food24.com/Recipes/Beer-can-chicken-20091103-3

Slow motion daschund

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Slow_motion_daschund.zip (148 KB)

Most brands don't give a sh*t

The fact that I'm writing this post means that I'm really, really ticked off.  I normally don't complain when I receive bad service (at least not this publicly) but I've had enough of brands mistreating their clients.

The problem, in my opinion, is that we are so used to receiving bad service that we don't even think twice about it.  As a marketing consultant I create marketing strategies for clients that focus on building and maintaining relationships with their clients.  In my opinion we should not be receiving bad service at all, brands should be doing everything in their power to retain us as customers. Yet when we receive poor service we don't complain (or complain hard enough) and therefore these brands continue to mistreat us.

I've been trying to sort out a product quality issue with YDE for about two and a half weeks.  I bought a shirt from their Vida range which was a bit more expensive than what I would normally pay for an item of clothing.  It was a classic cut, sand coloured shirt that I thought I would be able to wear for years to come because I was buying quality, right?  Wrong.  The quality of the material was so poor that the shirt started tearing after three months – a big tear appeared on one sleeve and a smaller one on the back of the shirt.  I took the shirt back to YDE expecting them to take the shirt back, admit their mistake, apologise and give me a credit note or similar.  How wrong I was. 

Since taking the shirt back YDE has been making me jump through all kinds of hoops.  Not only that, they have been making me feel like I did something wrong because I brought back a faulty item of clothing.  Eventually the Canal Walk branch took the shirt to send to their quality control department for inspection.  One of YDE's staff members phoned me about a week ago to tell me that there's 'nothing they can do'.  No 'sorry' or 'how can we fix this'.  Plus now I don't have the shirt any more because it was sent to their quality control department (who clearly can't do their job properly).

Last year June I had the issue with Dial Direct. I religiously pay my insurance premium every month (well, it goes off on a debit order but still) and the first and only time that I'm in a car accident I have to beg for my money after my car is written off - and then wait almost a month for them to pay.
 
I've come to the conclusion that brands don't give a sh*t about their consumers. They want us to buy their products and services but they are not willing to provide us with proper after-sales service.  If YDE admitted their mistake, apologised and tried in some way to fix the problem then I wouldn't have written this post.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who has received poor service from a brand.  I may only be one customer (a very small ripple in a big pond) but from now on, when I receive bad service, I will tell everyone about my experience – from friends to family to the people on Twitter. 

Update (19 January 2011)

The Canal Walk branch’s store manager phoned this morning to let me know that ‘they have decided to let me exchange the item for another item to the same value.’  Numerous phone calls, emails, visits to the Canal Walk store and one blog post later the issue is finally resolved.

Handling a crisis

I came across this post on Harvard Business Review that gives the following pointers as guidance when handling a crisis: 

• Take a moment to figure out what's going on
• Act promptly, not hurriedly
• Manage expectations
• Demonstrate control
• Keep loose

These ‘steps’ can be applied to an issue in your personal life or a crisis at work.  In short:  Think the situation through before you talk, think about what you are going to do to solve the issue, tell the parties involved how you are going to solve the problem and be sure to manage expectations.  Managing expectations is in my opinion something that one should do on a continuous basis regardless.  Read the full post (How a good leader reacts to a crisis) on Harvard Business Review.

60 tips for a stunningly great life (by Robin Sharma)

Most of us commit to New Year’s resolutions at the beginning of the year but few of us see them through.  Why?  In many cases it’s because the goals we set for ourselves are unrealistic and the time frame in which you want to achieve them is too short.  A better approach in my opinion is to set the goal and then breaking it down to daily actions that you have to take in order to achieve the goal.  In other words, take it a day at a time - it is way less intimidating! :)

My dear friend Mariska sent me the link to this blog post by Robin Sharma a few weeks ago and I thought I would share it with you.  In the post Robin offers 60 tips and ideas that you can apply to improve the quality of your life.  Some of them are things you might be doing already but I would like to lift out a few that I would like to start doing this year / like to do more of:

-    Exercise daily (even if it’s only a walk around the block)
-    Expect the best and prepare for the worst
-    Plan a schedule for your week (I plan a month ahead - OCD, I know)
-    Know the 5 highest priorities of your life (I redefined mine for 2011)
-    Drink a lot of water
-    Get up at 5 am each day (I’m going to change this to 05h30)
-    Be a hero to someone
-    Smile at strangers
-    Be the most ethical person you know
-    Save 10% of your income each month (I’m really bad with this)
-    Remember that leadership is about influence and impact, not title and accolades
-    Be passionate
-    Honour your parents
-    Spend time in the mountains (Beaverlac close to Porterville is one of my favourite places in the Western Cape)
-    Speak less, listen more

Lastly, this point really hit home for me:  Never miss a moment to celebrate another.  Robin’s list is one of those that you need to print out and keep in a place where you can see it every day - just to keep you on the right track.  I’m printing mine now! :) Take a look at all 60 tips on Robin’s website.