A few weeks ago I spoke to a frustrated client. He was en route to his office to do “yet another quote”. He complained about the time needed to prepare quotes after each email enquiry. He did not keep track of his conversion rate. He felt that it was one in every five proposals sent. He never … Read more

Right now, while you are reading this, before you read the next paragraph, make a note in your diary to call your biggest client during this past year later today. Not email. Phone. You will call to say thank you for the business. I know it sounds wimpish. But humour me. While you’re at it, diarise the same … Read more

In early 1995 I went to a therapist. At the time I counselled people going out of business. Harrowing work because I was a couple of years down that same path, and I could see what was coming for them. Each individual still clung to the optimism I had recently lost. “What am I offering … Read more

Welcome to 2017. I’m glad you could make it. So, how have your New Year Resolutions worked out?  (My annual scorecard for successful New Year’s resolutions is 51 losses to zero wins.) I ask because I’ve been setting them since, well, 1976. Big Hairy Audacious Goals. SMART, as well, you know: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, … Read more

Closing a business in 1992 was the scariest thing I’ve done in my life. We business owners balance two key roles. Most of us don’t balance them well. The first role is to find income. We South Africans take that seriously because we have no support net. Hunger is awfully motivating… The second role is … Read more

Note: Article Updated October 17, 2016 to reflect: Speedify updates, faster, more servers, and an easier interface, and the bit I forgot, about seeing stuff you can’t normally see in your home country… Here’s a typical SA cry for help regarding Internet access, especially from people setting up online businesses. I do such training here. “We … Read more

We South Africans speak more than we listen. We hear your story as background noise while compiling our own tale of bigger tribulation to trump yours. Often our story bears little relationship to yours. The best we can offer someone is time. Time to think. Time to grieve. Time to dream. Time to speak. Time … Read more

This week something new about using Mind Mapping to help your business and study efforts using superb free Freeplanesoftware. I started to write some words detailing how Mind Mapping changed my life. Then I realised that the only way to demonstrate that is through a video rather than the written word. If a picture is worth … Read more

We South Africans struggle to say “No”. Most English-speaking people face this. Norwegians do not. As we grow older our stream of “No” defines our legacy better than our stream of “Yes”. After 58 years I cannot remember one instance of a “No” costing me spiritually or financially. I recall many “Yes” replies that derailed … Read more

A deadline means a Treasure chest of memories beats a box of cash Someone who faced a terminal deadline said this to me… I met a young Dutch man with a deadline a few years ago. He lived in an apartment next door to Granny. Gran lives in a block on a beach on the … Read more