Is friendship a farce?

Is friendship a farce?  Last year I had a fallout with very close friends that got me wondering about the whole concept of friendship and what exactly it is all about. I try not to delve too much in the past, so have tried to move on, but the cruelness of it all still haunts me, and every now and again my brain wanders in that direction especially when I go for long runs – that’s when I try to make sense of life  and formulate my blogs in my head.

With that said, I have recently been making sure that I surround myself with positive people and have been meeting incredibly inspirational people. Which again has made me realise that often you need to let go of something to open up opportunities to other experiences and interactions.  That is the same in business, sometimes you need to let go of projects or even clients in order to move forward and grow.  It’s daunting, and nerve racking, but without change,  growth cannot take place. When you run your business, all you want to do is please everyone and do work for everyone – but at the end of the day it is important that you target and know who you want to do business with, resonate with the people you deal with, internally as well as externally, and that projects are aligned to your core values so that you can do your best work and keep growing.

Great by Choice - yes!

February 2014 - This was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed - it is the first Jim Collins book that I've read, so am keen to read his others as well.  I really enjoyed the examples used, e.g. the contrast in the expeditions of Ambudsen and Scott to the South Pole.

 

Lesson from the book: By doing things consistently, keeping an eye on the end result and being steady in achieving your goals, you will reap the rewards in the long run. 

Recommendable? Definitely - a good easy read.
Rating: 8.5/10

No more freebies!

For a long while I had five key business lessons that I subscribed to, which I have been pretty good to stick to - recently I realised that I needed to add a sixth one.

No more freebies!

The reason I don't like doing work for free or rendering a service at a lower cost is that it de-values the service that is provided to our other clients. The long and the short of it is that when doing something for free it takes away from clients that are investing their hard-earned money into a service.

I recently had an incident where someone needed some guidance on using social media. I am very happy to help where I can, and agreed that I would mentor them until they were comfortable to manage it on their own - but I didn't listen to my own advice. The realisation came like a bucket of ice cold water over my head that my goodwill was taken for granted and that my 'mentorship' role had changed to a personal assistant role, when mails for updates would come through with no "please" or "thank you" - just delegation and an expectation of things magically happen.

Isn't it interesting that it is generally those who don't pay for a service that then expect the most - why is that?

Instant Success - why not!

I am a fan of the Instant Success series by Brad Sugars. He has invested and turned around MANY businesses and is a multi-multi-billion-dollar success, so I am more than happy to absorb and learn as much as possible from him. What I like about the books are that they are easy reads and there is always something to take from them.

For instance, I have just finished the Instant Systems book where he focusses on the importance of having structures in place to make sure that service delivery on all spheres is consistent. This is especially important for us as we have offices across the country. So we have slowly but surely started documenting all our processes and now have a step-by-step guide for almost everything! I can attest to the incredibly positive impact it has had on how we function as a team to deliver on and be the  "Swiss Army knife" of business communication!

Dressed for success!

They say that it is not what is on the outside, but what is on the inside that is important. True. However, being human beings, we judge. everything. all the time.

It only takes seven seconds for someone to form an opinion of you when they meet you for the first time. What you wear, how you wear it and how your present yourself really does matter.

I love colour, the brighter, the bolder the better! You would definitely not say this if you looked at my very black, grey and blah corporate wardrobe a week ago. At the beginning of the year, with business goals set, I knew it was time to invest in a closet clean-out and re-haul. But - what do I keep, what do I throw out and what items should I invest in? So, I called on the help of Nedine Pieters, dynamic business owner of Creative Styling Solutions.

I will be the first to admit that there was much hesitation to let someone into the incredibly person and intimate space of ones wardrobe. Oh so many (unnecessary) worries and concerns. But what a wonderfully eye-opening experience.

Nedine helped me to put structure into place for easy mixing and matching, and also showed me amazing combinations of clothes that I would never in a millions years would have considered a match. With her direct approach, honesty and fine sense of humour - we worked through what would work, what would  not work, and what from the 90's had passed their due date.

I am having so much fun with my wardrobe, it is so interesting to see and experience how much confidence a new style and clothing combination can give one.

Here's to dressing for success in 2014!

Regrouping and getting ready for the year

Three long weeks of summer holiday was over way too quickly! I feel a bit torn about it though - as much as I could really do with another couple of days of holiday, I am super excited about the year ahead and getting back into the swing of things. 

We had an amazing team building session earlier this week in Tulbach, Western Cape (Vindoux – Tree House Guest Farm and Spa - is highly recommendable – apart from beautiful scenery, the rooms and especially the hearty homemade meals were a treat!). The session helped us to re-group, re-focus and set goals for the year ahead.

As we all work remotely in different parts of the country (Pretoria, Randburg, Tembisa, Midvaal, Cape Town, Stellenbosch and newly added Klerksdorp!), it was wonderful to have all the ladies together – there was a lot of laughter despite very early mornings and a jam-packed itinerary. 

I am so incredibly grateful for the amazing team.  

Here’s to magical things happening this year!

Holiday happiness

Holidays are great! Something which was definitely neglected by me last year. It has been wonderful to recharge the batteries - so much so that I have already diarised considerably more breaks for this year! 

My top six favourite holiday activities - 

1. Spending quality time at home and with those that are dearest and nearest

2. Reading - Long Walk to Freedom was the holiday read and highly highly recommendable for everyone living or visiting South Africa, it outlines the history so well. (I don't think it would hurt our current dispensation to go through it again as a reminder as to what it is all about)

3. Catching up on vitamin D 

4. Baking - lemon meringue pie (battling to get oemph into the meringue part, but I think I have it now using an Italiain meringue recipe). Reindeer ginger / mixed-spice biscuits were also tried and used for Christmas gift decorations. A couple of years back my sister helped me bake them (ok she baked the whole herd!) don't know how she did it; seven were my limit :)

5. Knitting - was quite proud to figure out a rabbit pattern (pom pom tail and all!) for my god-son. The first attempt was not that successful, after a guffaw and tears of laughter at my "octopus" (from said dearest and nearest) I realised I had to try again. Fortunately the second attempt was more successful. 

6. Puzzles - Jan Van Haasteren is my absolute favourite jigsaw artists. I was treated to the "Safari" one this year. The detail of these puzzles are amazing. 

7. Surfing - definitely catching a few waves, (unfortunately the surf is not that great at this time of year) - making one appreciate the good days so much more.

What are your favourite holiday activities?