When I moved to the UK last year I was stunned that everybody uses the Internet as much as they do. Nobody does anything without checking the Net for traffic info, directions, bookings, better prices, and tonight's news. I use it to buy computers, books, software, groceries, support the Warrior community, phone SA for less than it costs my Mom to yell at my Dad in the shower, book trains, book hotels, ...
That's because it is dirt cheap, fast, and has no artificial restrictions.
Unlike South Africa, which is why it is difficult to persuade South Africans that this is the most important technology they will ever bump into, and any time invested in learning it is worthwhile.
South Africa for example, has the only ISP I know of that throws away one third of their clients' incoming mail. They do this without recourse, because their client doesn't know what's being thrown. Nor do they notify the sender. In my case, the first I know about it is when one of the Business Warriors asks me why I haven't sent any mail for a month!
Telkom email is another challenge, with emails bouncing all over the place these past few months as Telkom tries to figure out a way to operate on Duracells because Eskom is cleaning their boilers yet again.
A business that loses emails is not destined for success. Imagine that I send out 5 emails to ask for quotes for my new computer system. Only one person answers because three of them get blocked and one bounces back to me. Who gets the sale?
I am glad you asked.
May I invite you to check out Gmail? It is easier to use than regular email. There is no chance of a virus infecting your machine and eating your hard drive. There is no chance that your email supply will be disrupted. No emails will ever bounce back to your clients. You will have email access anywhere in the world.
You won't have to worry about downloading big attachments because Gmail will let you to read them online. Finding an email that you received from Uncle Dave sometime last year takes less than a second, as does finding all the emails since the Great Trek that mention the Potgietersrus Pink Parade. In other words, this is an industrial strength email solution that will put you on the same footing as anybody anywhere in the world - no matter how sophisticated their Internet access might be.
Did I mention that it costs absolutely nothing? It isn't tied to any ISP, so when you change your access method, or your PC, you get to keep all your emails. You get 5GB of storage. (After 700 emails/day for the past 18 months, I have only used 1.6GB - so this is enough for most of us for a long time.) I redirect all my email accounts into it because it has the best spam filters I have ever used, which I need because so many folk seem worried about the size of my various body parts, two of which I don't even have.
Head for http://mail.google.com - it will solve any email frustrations you're likely have for a long, long time. Not one of the folk I have recommended Gmail to have anything but praise for it - and you can't say that about much these days.
Wednesday 28 November 2007
Wednesday 21 November 2007
The Real Value of Information?
On June 20th, 1815 Nathan Rothschild informed the British government that Wellington had defeated Napoleon. They didn't believe him.
To really upset them (my personal interpretation) he began selling all of his stock on the English stock market, and with everybody believing that Wellington had been defeated, everybody started selling. Prices plummeted. At the last minute, Rothschild's agents secretly began buying up the stocks at rock bottom prices. One day later Major Henry Percy showed up, confirming that Napoleon had been crushed. This single event gave the Rothschild family complete control of the British economy. That is the value of information. And that is the cost of ignoring it.
When I started consulting with small business owners who were in trouble back in 1992, I was always called in too late to to save the business. I found it deeply distressing to guide people through the same dreadful experiences that I had had. I felt completely inadequate that I could not rescue these businesses from failure (or their owners from bankruptcy, and worse). I felt I was adding no value, and felt dreadfully guilty at my inadequacy
I was chatting to a therapist one day, and he gave me a completely different perspective. He asked, "If your doctor told you that you had cancer, and that it was terminal, and that there was very little he could do -- is it his fault? And would his best course of action be to walk away because he felt he couldn't do anything, or to hold your hand through the process? The mere fact that you have some experience in this issue means that you lighten the load, and while you might not save everything, you will probably save enough for this person to survive financially."
Information -- the answers to questions that you haven't yet asked because you are confronting a situation for the first time -- has a huge value because it will save you time, money, possibly your business, and probably your home, and definitely a lot of anxiety.
The reason so many businesses die is that we leave things too late. It's a bit like not wanting a medical diagnosis to confirm your worst fears. We know there is something wrong, but we don't want to face how deep it goes. Indeed, the tests can be uncomfortable. Having somebody slipping a probing finger into the furthest reaches of one's 1958 bottom to establish a swollen prostate is not nearly as enjoyable an experience as sipping a quality class of 1999 Vergenoegd Merlot before slipping prostrate into bed, and consequently we delay thinking about it. We fear what might happen, rather than taking some concrete action to define what we want to happen.
Facing business challenges is never comfortable. However, just as death is an integral part of life, so are challenges an integral part of business. Of course, you can face them alone. But I'd like to help if I can. That's why the South African Business Warrior community is the leading online resource for small South African business owners - no matter where they might find themselves.
To really upset them (my personal interpretation) he began selling all of his stock on the English stock market, and with everybody believing that Wellington had been defeated, everybody started selling. Prices plummeted. At the last minute, Rothschild's agents secretly began buying up the stocks at rock bottom prices. One day later Major Henry Percy showed up, confirming that Napoleon had been crushed. This single event gave the Rothschild family complete control of the British economy. That is the value of information. And that is the cost of ignoring it.
When I started consulting with small business owners who were in trouble back in 1992, I was always called in too late to to save the business. I found it deeply distressing to guide people through the same dreadful experiences that I had had. I felt completely inadequate that I could not rescue these businesses from failure (or their owners from bankruptcy, and worse). I felt I was adding no value, and felt dreadfully guilty at my inadequacy
I was chatting to a therapist one day, and he gave me a completely different perspective. He asked, "If your doctor told you that you had cancer, and that it was terminal, and that there was very little he could do -- is it his fault? And would his best course of action be to walk away because he felt he couldn't do anything, or to hold your hand through the process? The mere fact that you have some experience in this issue means that you lighten the load, and while you might not save everything, you will probably save enough for this person to survive financially."
Information -- the answers to questions that you haven't yet asked because you are confronting a situation for the first time -- has a huge value because it will save you time, money, possibly your business, and probably your home, and definitely a lot of anxiety.
The reason so many businesses die is that we leave things too late. It's a bit like not wanting a medical diagnosis to confirm your worst fears. We know there is something wrong, but we don't want to face how deep it goes. Indeed, the tests can be uncomfortable. Having somebody slipping a probing finger into the furthest reaches of one's 1958 bottom to establish a swollen prostate is not nearly as enjoyable an experience as sipping a quality class of 1999 Vergenoegd Merlot before slipping prostrate into bed, and consequently we delay thinking about it. We fear what might happen, rather than taking some concrete action to define what we want to happen.
Facing business challenges is never comfortable. However, just as death is an integral part of life, so are challenges an integral part of business. Of course, you can face them alone. But I'd like to help if I can. That's why the South African Business Warrior community is the leading online resource for small South African business owners - no matter where they might find themselves.
Wednesday 7 November 2007
In the shuffling madness...
Some folk will not do business with you unless they can shake your hand and look you firmly in the eye. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is so limiting. As technology changes, the way we do business should change as well.
Before I talk about business, however, I must share a guilty secret. I have never been really interested in the concept of business per se. I'm far more interested in the people behind business. And I'm especially interested in those people who have the courage to take on the world in their own business.
There is nothing wrong with being a passenger in the business equivalent of a cruise liner. But the folk that I admire the most are those folk trying to cross the Atlantic in a dinghy, rowing like crazy. (This is the kind of thing you realise when you take a month off to think about your life.)
As I write this I am listening to CapeTalk 567 and laughing my head off. It's amazing how homesick you can get listening to South African humour when you are in a country where people your age grew up watching British TV, and you grew up watching American TV in Afrikaans because the Brits were boycotting us!
To top it all, they have just played one of my all time favourite songs (Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull) while discussing how Nationwide Airlines is trying to cut fuel costs by eliminating extraneous engines from their aircraft. (Not politically correct this dark side of the Equator.)
Which brings me to the point of this email. No matter what you have to offer - there are enough people around the world who want it! CapeTalk inspired me to visit Amazon and buy 3 albums (about R200) from a band that - in music time - is from the Mesolithic age.
The concept is known as the Long Tail. And it allows me to run a business from the UK for South African business owners throughout the world. (It's not so much about the business as it is about the business owner.) Back in the day when you needed the handshake, you could meet 5 people a day - all of whom needed to be within driving range. (That was not far when we still drove horses.)
Today I spent 5 hours on the phone (actually inside a headset) talking to 10 business owners in SA and the UK, discussing their websites, debts, business partners, starting up plans, closing down plans, financing plans, as well as the weather. And it all happened at 3p/minute, without creating any carbon emissions.
Then connected with 2000 Warriors to offer a £100 discount on an Apple laptop because one of the Warriors had an order cancelled and wanted to move his stock.
It is a privilege to live in this time of technochaos where things happen faster and cheaper than ever before.
That same technochaos means that being South African does not mean that you need to be in South Africa. I still get asked why I am living in the UK right now: because it is easier to support my clients and friends from here than it is from Durban (which would be a lot warmer and far more sociable this time of year).
The next time one of your kids plays some music that involves fourteen banshees and a power drill, remember what we used to listen to back in 1975. Eish, those were the days. No CDs, no PCs, no DVDs, and Sundays that seemed to last forever because your Dad felt the need to share his Jim Reeves collection with you.
Before I talk about business, however, I must share a guilty secret. I have never been really interested in the concept of business per se. I'm far more interested in the people behind business. And I'm especially interested in those people who have the courage to take on the world in their own business.
There is nothing wrong with being a passenger in the business equivalent of a cruise liner. But the folk that I admire the most are those folk trying to cross the Atlantic in a dinghy, rowing like crazy. (This is the kind of thing you realise when you take a month off to think about your life.)
As I write this I am listening to CapeTalk 567 and laughing my head off. It's amazing how homesick you can get listening to South African humour when you are in a country where people your age grew up watching British TV, and you grew up watching American TV in Afrikaans because the Brits were boycotting us!
To top it all, they have just played one of my all time favourite songs (Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull) while discussing how Nationwide Airlines is trying to cut fuel costs by eliminating extraneous engines from their aircraft. (Not politically correct this dark side of the Equator.)
Which brings me to the point of this email. No matter what you have to offer - there are enough people around the world who want it! CapeTalk inspired me to visit Amazon and buy 3 albums (about R200) from a band that - in music time - is from the Mesolithic age.
The concept is known as the Long Tail. And it allows me to run a business from the UK for South African business owners throughout the world. (It's not so much about the business as it is about the business owner.) Back in the day when you needed the handshake, you could meet 5 people a day - all of whom needed to be within driving range. (That was not far when we still drove horses.)
Today I spent 5 hours on the phone (actually inside a headset) talking to 10 business owners in SA and the UK, discussing their websites, debts, business partners, starting up plans, closing down plans, financing plans, as well as the weather. And it all happened at 3p/minute, without creating any carbon emissions.
Then connected with 2000 Warriors to offer a £100 discount on an Apple laptop because one of the Warriors had an order cancelled and wanted to move his stock.
It is a privilege to live in this time of technochaos where things happen faster and cheaper than ever before.
That same technochaos means that being South African does not mean that you need to be in South Africa. I still get asked why I am living in the UK right now: because it is easier to support my clients and friends from here than it is from Durban (which would be a lot warmer and far more sociable this time of year).
The next time one of your kids plays some music that involves fourteen banshees and a power drill, remember what we used to listen to back in 1975. Eish, those were the days. No CDs, no PCs, no DVDs, and Sundays that seemed to last forever because your Dad felt the need to share his Jim Reeves collection with you.
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