Last week I went to purchase some ink for my Lexmark printer at CNA. While there I asked the saleslady whether they had a copy of The Secret DVD (not the book!). As it turns out they were sold out. But what really shocked me was the retail price of R450! That is about US$65 and about 3.8 times the retail price the current retail Amazon.com of $17!

When it comes to The Secret, you either love it or hate. And if I had to go by the very heated Amazon.com Customer Reviews I would say that those who love it, cannot stop talking about it; while those who hate it, absolutely loath it. From 1681 total votes at the time of writing this is the overall feelings about those who purchased The Secret DVD:

• 58% love it *****
• 13% think it’s great ****
• 8% though it was average ***
• 6% didn’t like it **
• 15% hated it *

Read more »

Popularity: 21% [?]

At the Cape Town 27Dinner event in June 2008, Jo Duxbury made a great pitch for people to attend the first Flying Solo Unconference in Cape Town and Johannesburg. I really liked the idea because it was all about sharing ideas on growing your business with like minded people. And the idea of the unconference is that unlike the traditional conference there would be more panel discussions and interaction with the audience.

Over the last 5 years I have experienced various ups and downs in my own business growth. For the most part I was self-employed as described in Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow Quadrant. And it’s only in the last 6 months I have taken the idea of working on my business more seriously than working inside my business. This is not something that happened over night and I have bumped my head time and time again trying different things to grow my business. Maybe the best part of the experience is that I have now figured out how to generate cash flow at will. And for the most part this has to do with being clear about my products and services that I offer.

Anyway Jo Duxbury and Pam Sykes are organising this unconference and asked for volunteers to do short presentation on their areas of expertise. I jumped at this opportunity because I get more practise as a speaker in front of a new audience. And with their feedback, I can constantly improve my material. So since the above mentioned 27Dinner event I have been reworking my business networking presentation and more importantly the way I want to deliver that to this audience. In all my other training programms I offer the delegates a free CD with resources I have collected and collated from the Internet. This ads tremendous value because they now have something specific to go through upon completing my seminar or workshop.

What turned out to be a surprise for me was this message requesting a deposit of R200 that goes toward the food and drinks for the day. I emailed Jo and Pam to ask if the speakers also had to put down this deposit - and I received ZERO response from them. I take my presentations and talks very, very seriously as a member of Toastmasters and the Professional Speakers Association. More over I also subscribe fully to the principle of Fair Exchange as advocated by Dr John Demartini in his excellent book, How To Make One Hell Of a Profit and Still Get To Heaven. At the very least I would expect any fees to be waivered for the speakers because I am forfitting my fee and paying for my own travel to Cape Town.

Oh just before I forget to mention this: I fully understand the Wild Fig restaurant is sponsoring the venue, however, forcing people to buy your food is not the way to go. What about all the people who may have wanted to bring their own picnic basket or fast good?

Anyway what do you think is fair exchange for speakers to speaker at no cost at this event or any other?

Popularity: 29% [?]

Last weekend I spent some quality time with my best friend Bradley Minnaar. He’s mother passed away recently and now moved back in from a granny flat into the main house. All his sisters are married with kids and his one brother is married with kids, while the other became a missionary after his wife passed away only a few years after getting married. Sometimes while growing I envied to luxury, as I perceived it of having both your mother and father available to you.

One of the things we discussed was the missing father syndrome in so many families, including my own. One obvious thing for me is how strong the link is between poverty and missing fathers. I grew up primarily with my mother in Uitenhage, outside of Port Elizabeth, and probably one of the poorest towns in South Africa. The biggest employer is Volkswagen, Goodyear and some other factories, all which remove fathers from the houshold.

Anyway back to my own story. Until my father married his 2nd wife, when I was about 12 years old, I used to visit him for extended holidays in Johannesburg. I recall the feelings of trepidation I had when I realised my father was having another son i.e. my brother. The love that comes with a new born soon replaced whatever insecurity or anxiety I had about his arrival. Looking back, maybe the biggest disappointment for me was when my father could not make it for my 21st birthday in 1996. This was also the same weekend I graduated with a BSc degree, becoming the first person in my extended family to complete a university degree.

Read more »

Popularity: 31% [?]

It feels like yesterday that I met Professor Stephen Hawking in Cape Town at the AIMS 2008 graduation and the launch of the Next Einstein project. While at this event I spoke at length with Pik Both, former minister of Foreign Affairs and he related how he had met Stephen Hawking in the 1990s. And they struck up a friendship around science and exploration. Pik told me that when Hawking was in his 20s he was lying in a hospital bed and another person opposite him died. And at that moment I realised how precious life was and dedicated himself to exploring the most complex problems facing humanity. And as is the nature of all true scientists he has never stopped working on these challenge of understanding the universe. And what really inspires me, having read his book 10 years ago without understanding what I read, is to re-read a Brief History of Time and his follow-up The Universe in a Nutshell.

Anyway here’s a video from TED 2008 where X Prize founder Peter Diamandis talks about how he helped Stephen Hawking fulfill his dream of going to space — by flying together into the upper atmosphere and experiencing weightlessness at zero g. It is no coincidence Stephen Hawking played himself in a Star Trek TNG episode.

Popularity: 38% [?]

Last Friday I finally made it to 27Dinner in Cape Town. This particular event was oversubscribed, which is a healthy sign for any event organisers and sends a positive message to all the participants. It reminds me when someone said, the geeks shall inherit the earth This is really a superb way to meet the most prolific bloggers around South Africa. I have been recommending the students from my blogging seminars, including many from the PR industry, to attend these events. And they have done so with great feedback.

The Wild Fig restaurant, which has served as venue for several previous events, is an awesome retreat from the insantiy of Primi Piatti, the venue of choice in Johannesburg. Even though it took me about 30 minutes of driving around Observatory it was well worth it in the end. The first people to arrive was Dave Duarte and Max Kaizen, the hunter of genius. Does anyone else know they brother and sister?

Read more »

Popularity: 99% [?]

Kimmie Weeks speaks about how to end poverty in Africa. I really enjoyed the video clip of one of his inspirational talks originally posted here. You should also checkout his own video clip archive on Youtube.

For every Charles Taylor there has to be a Kimmie Weeks. I am re-post this video on because I want to help South Africans identify with and cultivate more inspirational leaders. You may have read the call for more inspirational leaders by Clem Sunter, South Africa’s leading expert on scenario planning at a recent conference in Johannesburg. Clem does most of his talks about whatever his most recent book is, and in this case it’s Socrates and the Fox. Some more details about his views on leadership was mentioned in a blog by Anthea Garman.

For me the best kind of inspirational leaders are those people who make a real difference in their local communities. To many times do we wait and waste time to be rescued by someone else, someone from the outside, someone far away, maybe a Nelson Mandela, who has already done everything possible in his power post 1991 to now. The sad thing in most of Africa you more likely to die from civil war, starvation or Malaria than find an inspirational politician. Someone who actually does what they say, and follows through with action oriented policies.

We need a Kimmie Weeks in South Africa instead of idiots like Julius Malema. Anyway here’s a clip from one of his last speeches about ending poverty in Africa:

Popularity: 46% [?]