adminthe world of entrepreneurship and business.
Conveniently it is also our hundredth article (due to missing a couple of weeks here and there for various reasons we are a couple shy of the expected 52 a year for a weekly column). So that calls for a double shot in that glass of yours. If you are reading this at 10am in the morning it better only be a double espresso. In celebration let us reminisce over the last year’s writings. I have picked a combination or excerpts that were the most fun to write and got the most feedback.
Let us begin with “The curious case of the skipping waiter” from September.
I looked up all of a sudden and saw a waiter coming to work. He was skipping in to work. Skipping! Excited to serve people croissants and coffee. His face had a slapped-on smile that wouldn’t go away. He probably rode to work on a bicycle. Then the clock struck 11 am. I had never skipped to my office.
I didn’t smile when I greeted my secretary. I didn’t care about serving coffee. My accountants had thrown me into the pit of the “bottom line”. It’s all I could see and pretty much all I could think of. Why didn’t I skip to work. I mean after all despite the sheer extra physical exertion involved and the fact that skipping has the potential to look undignified, there was something about this guy that excited him about his work. He just looked like he wanted to be there. In that moment I experienced a paradigm shift that would alter the way I viewed work forever. There was more to life than the “bottom line”.
Last month I wrote about sales calls. This had my inbox buzzing with emails.
Let us start at the beginning.
There are a dozen people trying to sell me the same stuff so if you want to get hold of me you need to make an impression. Start by actually making an appointment to see me, it shows a little respect. Realise that my secretary, who controls my appointment book, is possibly your friend here. Be nice to her. Make her feel important and she may do you a favour. You can try a cold call walk in, but you better be really good. When you meet me you want to by-pass my natural urge to shove you out my office as soon as possible.
That urge manifests before you even open your mouth, within moments of me actually seeing you. So you better grab my attention. Be dressed the part, have a pet monkey on your shoulder, be accompanied by Kermit the frog, wear a big red nose, I don’t know what will work for you but get me intrigued before you open your mouth. If you can get me intrigued before I actually meet you even better.
But the winner over the previous annum has to be “The art of simple”.
Is there fogginess over your life caused by the haze of clutter? When putting something together ask “Did we make it clear or leave it hanging because of complexity?” Simplify your life. There are a few tips in doing this.
Eliminate the waste. Declutter everything, business, home, your equity spread. Go through your schedule. Cut the meetings that achieve nothing and where you have no contribution. Keep a travel diary for a week. See where trips can be combined or cut. Do you really need a sugar-filled dessert every night, letting that go may declutter you waistline.
Go through your investments; where can you cash in those odd little percentages that are doing nothing for you.
Sift through your wardrobe and toss out everything you have not worn in the last year. A warning, do not throw out the wife or children during this exercise (unless perhaps the children are 34, drive a better car than you, and still stay at home).”
We end this little trip down memory lane with a vote of thanks. Firstly, to the team at the Herald Business who continue to give a platform to write on as well as scrutinise what is sent in for erroneous spelling and punctuation.
But the final thanks also goes to you the reader. You have stuck it out, put up with my rants and ramblings, possibly even put into practice some of the suggestions, and kept my inbox full of dialogue.
E-mail:[email protected]
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter