Hello and welcome to 2011. Get up and go. It’s back to work time, back to school time and back to real life time. Some of us worked through the “holiday season” and that’s becoming more the norm these days than the exception. So while some out there are well rested and trying to get back into the swing of things. Others out there are exhausted and maybe a bit despondent, trying to stay in the swing of things. My advice to everybody is, close your eyes, block your nose and dive right i...

So, I was going to post about the high and low lights of 2010. We had The World Cup, Earthquakes, like Haiti, and so many other incredible things that happened. It was the year we showed the world. But then I thought, whatever, we all watched the news, and we all remember the year. The truth is it’s been a long year, it’s been a tough year, and it’s the year that nearly broke me. Nearly. The year that almost killed me. Almost.

Nearly, Almost, Didn’t. I learned a lot this year, and th...

Christmas Presence

So, this month alone I have heard so many debates on the origins of Christmas, and we should or shouldn’t celebrate it, and why etc. It drives me nuts, and I am not going to go into those details here. I am sure the curious people can Google it. My story today is going around the “Christmas Spirit” and what it means to me.

For me, Christmas is all about presence. Whether I get gifts or not is immaterial to me, (‘scuse the pun). Don’t get me wrong, I always love ...

South Africa or maybe Africa in general, needs debt training. Debt is such a mystery to the uneducated people; it seems like a magical heal-all remedy offered right at the time of need. The situation plays out like this, a contract worker has spent his weekly, or bi-weekly pay already, and it is still early in his pay cycle. Dun Dun Dun, enter loan shark!! The contractor is approached by someone claiming to have the solution to all of his problems. 

“Take this money, then you just have to ...

This post serves to notify that I am no longer exclusively blogging about business; I am broadening the blog material to include various other of my interests, and based on feedback I receive, your interests too.

Mind the Gap

I have been looking around in awe lately at all of the advancements that are happening in technology these days. I am barely able to get used to the new tech, let alone understand it before something fresh arrives on the scene. Nintendo wii, okay not so new, but when it hit, wow! Now X-Box throws down the gauntlet with Kinect ©.  Complete controller-less gaming. Okay so a lot of readers may not be gaming nuts, which is fine, but the technology that Microsoft has put behin...

I would like to share a story about great customer services. We went shopping at Makro recently to buy our monthly groceries. When we got to the till the manageress (from an external company) who’s name was Marcia (name drop) informed us that the nappies we were buying were on special in a different quantity. And we can pay less if we buy a larger amount. It worked out that we paid R50.00 less and got eight extra nappies.

Why am I bothering to blog about nappies? Well two reasons actual...

Striking – who wins – who loses?

Unions win, Companies win. Employees lose.

If a strike lasts for two weeks, it will take the employee up to five years to recuperate the income lost for the two weeks without work, does that sound like a good deal to you?  The union gains from the political posturing, and increases the membership fees. Employee loss number two. The company gains by not paying all the employees for the allotted striking period, and therefore not losing much from the strik...

It’s me again, I appologise for the delay in updates – in this time of technological advancements, gremlins still thrive, if not more than ever before. Now that the formalities are out of the way, let’s get on with business.

I wish today to gripe about an irksome phenomenon I have encountered in modern business practice. The problem is the lack of loyalty in the employment world, between employer to employee, and visa versa. For the past 100 years, one would find a job, usually in a ve...