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Are you Addicted to the Internet?

Howzit

I don’t know about you but it has become patently obvious to me that I am addicted to my inbox. I reckon that I click on send/receive at least 30 times per day. It is a powerful and absorbing thing, this internet and its related technologies. I was planning to book into a rehab centre till I learned that a Chinese lightie of 15 was recently BEATEN TO DEATH whilst attending an internet addicts boot camp. The Skynews article also notes that China has the world’s largest internet population, with almost 300 million users, and that they have more than 200 organisations offering treatment for web addiction. Only last month, the nation banned electro-shock therapy as a treatment for the problem. How’s that for harsh my China? Continue Reading

Struggling to meet Sales Targets?

Exceptional Times call for Exceptional Ideas.

In many industries right now, making sales is very tough, in some cases almost impossible. Salespeople are frustrated and demotivated, sandwiched between the pressure of meeting targets and their customers’ reluctance to buy. Traditional sales techniques are not getting the required results.

We need to explore a new approach to selling, which utilises more of the current technology and psychology. This does not mean that the basics of selling have changed or should be discarded. It means that the psychology of buying needs to be taken into account. Continue Reading

South Africa – Seeing is Believing or Believing is Seeing?

Eish

It’s not easy being an optimist in these challenging times.  The forces of sadness and negativity are finding more and more evidence to justify their unhappy existence. The psychic vampires are conspiring to drain my positive energy.

Also, I am beginning to think we South Africans suffer from a form of collective national erectile dysfunction. Or at least a massive countrywide inferiority complex, with a smidgen of schizophrenia thrown in. It seems to me that many other countries believe in South Africa more than we believe in ourselves!

The Indian Premier League is a prime example. The people of India (who completely idolise their cricket players) were concerned about the IPL players’ safety due to possible unrest during their elections. So they sent them all to SA, in the midst of our elections, to play the IPL tournament here. They believed that their players would be safer here than back home in India. In addition, we were given only a few weeks to prepare for this massive event and, in true SA schtyle, we pulled it off magnificently! Continue Reading

Awesome Photo Of Africa From Outer Space

This awesome picture of Africa was taken by astronaut Sunita Williams. Besides the breathtaking beauty of the picture, it provides visible evidence as to why SA is the strongest economy in Africa. Look north towards countries like Egypt and Nigeria, with populations much larger than ours, and note how relatively little light is generated there. Perhaps Eskom is not that terrible after all?

It also shows just how developed Europe is by comparison, with little room for growth or expansion. Finally it shows me just how much potential and opportunity exists just north of our beautiful country.

What does it show you ?

This is WHY 2009 is going to be KWAAI.

Howzit

Eish my Boet – the New Year has barely begun and already the prophets of doom are spreading the negativity lekker dik, like Bovril on a braaibrood. They klap us with deeply disturbing chirps like the global economic meltdown, soaring unemployment, vehicle repossessions, declining property values, stock market collapses, recession, depression, deflation, stagnation & fornication et al. It’s enough to make you naar my bru!

In spite of all this, I find myself feeling positive, upbeat and even (cautiously) optimistic right now. In May 2008 I was gatvol and ready to leave SA. Yet today, January 2009, I am feeling much more at peace and actually looking forward to the year ahead. This is despite having had my office broken into last November and being relieved of my laptop, briefcase, 3 cell phones & various digital cameras!

Continue Reading

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