Recently I have started 3 businesses.
I am unsure of why I am unsuccessful but I know I will eventually get it right. hopefully with my most recent. Really I am looking for advice here.
The 1st a photography business where I supply Photographers for various events, now I did make some money out of of this but I found it way too taxing in that my photographers were a little to fickle to comply with my SLA's
Then I decided to sell hotdogs at a trials biking event, you would think that this would be a guaranteed success as it is not rocket science, but true to form no one showed at the event and I lost a packet and ate hot dogs for ages.
Now most recently, I have started a business called www.wefinditsa.com and I think it's a great idea, and although it has not failed yet I have not seen the success I am looking for.
Does anyone have any great ideas for marketing or general comments for me?
Thanks
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
New business
Well I have started a sideline business.
www.wefinditsa.com
Check it out, offers some very cool services.
and please any feedback is welcome.
www.wefinditsa.com
Check it out, offers some very cool services.
and please any feedback is welcome.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Do we just except bad service.
We have all at one point in our lives received bad service, if you say that you have never received bad service then you are either an infant with an all giving mother, or you have locked yourself in a room and again you have an all giving mother to bring you food and drink.
I was reading an article on news24 where they mentioned bad service, which got me thinking. Why does bad service exist? After some thought a few reasons came to mind. Firstly we have to look at who is serving us, for example when you go to KFC or steers you are not expecting the royal treatment, all you want is your meal and you want it fast.
You don’t want your chips to be forgotten so that as soon as you arrive at your house and sit down to eat jour meal you realise that there aren’t any, and it would take you an extra 30minutes to go back and argue what you paid for.
However the truth is you are served by people who don’t want to be there and really don’t give a dam that you’re starving because they earn so little it actually isn’t a priority to them.
How long have you spent waiting in bank queues? Now I don’t know about you but I work 5 days a week and some weekends. When I go to the bank it is generally on a Saturday, does anyone else find it odd that they are only open till eleven on their busiest day? And only open till four every other day of the week, when you work until 5 what is that about. Technically a bank should be offering you a service not trying purposefully to inconvenience you and charging you for it. So you take your precious day of your weekend and spend half of it waiting in a queue because they can’t have the foresight to plan ahead.
I was at the Vodaworld the other day, the flagship store for Vodacom trying to enquire about a 3g card. Wait for it another line. I waited a half hour to be told I was in the wrong line. No wonder they need a golf course there while you wait, because you’ll finish 18 holes before you get any service.
How often do you go to a restaurant and find your waiter just doesn’t know what he/she are doing, he forgets your drink order and then forgets to take the mushrooms off your pizza for example. Or you spend 30 minutes just waiting for a glass of water, because that doesn’t contribute to your waiters tip.
These are just a few examples. My question is have we just come to expect crap service from everywhere, and what are we doing to stop it?
When last did you send you food back because it was cold or it wasn’t what you ordered, the fact is as long as you don’t the cycle will continue. If you wait longer than a half hour in a bank, report it on hello Peter and join a new bank that has better facilities and they are out there. If your chips were forgotten, don’t just leave it, you paid for them demand another meal and fill out one of the service cards. Start remembering the names of people who serve you. There are thousands of people unemployed in this country why not let someone who is good at the job do it.
I know this is really an entire blog of moaning but quite frankly I’m fed up with having my time and money wasted on a daily bases. If the people aren’t interested because they need more pay, maybe the institution employing them needs to think about that. If they need more training maybe they need to think about that too. Maybe they need better processes or maybe they need to think about that. But they are never going to know unless people say something.
If you are in a restaurant and you don’t get the food you want and you think if you complain they will bring you back food that has been spat on simply get up and leave the restaurant. I did that the other night not quite the same but I was at Cabana and I asked for a glass of water as I am on a diet, Lionel who was with me ordered one to. They asked us if we wanted sparkling or still, we said tap. Call me whatever you like but I refused to pay for water in a country where free water is healthy. They said they only served sparkling or still and refused to give us tap water. We opted to leave and I found a great restaurant up stairs that had fantastic meals and offered tap water, Cabana lost out on a R600 tab and I found a restaurant I will continue to go to in the future.
Why just accept things the way they are when we have a choice? This is not about saving R7 on water, it’s about not doing something you don’t want to, if Vodacom is going to take all day to serve you, go with MTN, and if you can’t get a Telkom phone go with Neotel. If the supermarket is full and only five tills are open go to another supermarket in future. Stop accepting and then complaining about how you had to wait for ages. Which I know is ironic because it is pretty much what I am doing now, but maybe we can all learn from my mistakes.
Please comment below and please add suggestions as to what you would like me to write about next. Or a question you would like answered. And don’t hesitate to click the follow this blog button.
I was reading an article on news24 where they mentioned bad service, which got me thinking. Why does bad service exist? After some thought a few reasons came to mind. Firstly we have to look at who is serving us, for example when you go to KFC or steers you are not expecting the royal treatment, all you want is your meal and you want it fast.
You don’t want your chips to be forgotten so that as soon as you arrive at your house and sit down to eat jour meal you realise that there aren’t any, and it would take you an extra 30minutes to go back and argue what you paid for.
However the truth is you are served by people who don’t want to be there and really don’t give a dam that you’re starving because they earn so little it actually isn’t a priority to them.
How long have you spent waiting in bank queues? Now I don’t know about you but I work 5 days a week and some weekends. When I go to the bank it is generally on a Saturday, does anyone else find it odd that they are only open till eleven on their busiest day? And only open till four every other day of the week, when you work until 5 what is that about. Technically a bank should be offering you a service not trying purposefully to inconvenience you and charging you for it. So you take your precious day of your weekend and spend half of it waiting in a queue because they can’t have the foresight to plan ahead.
I was at the Vodaworld the other day, the flagship store for Vodacom trying to enquire about a 3g card. Wait for it another line. I waited a half hour to be told I was in the wrong line. No wonder they need a golf course there while you wait, because you’ll finish 18 holes before you get any service.
How often do you go to a restaurant and find your waiter just doesn’t know what he/she are doing, he forgets your drink order and then forgets to take the mushrooms off your pizza for example. Or you spend 30 minutes just waiting for a glass of water, because that doesn’t contribute to your waiters tip.
These are just a few examples. My question is have we just come to expect crap service from everywhere, and what are we doing to stop it?
When last did you send you food back because it was cold or it wasn’t what you ordered, the fact is as long as you don’t the cycle will continue. If you wait longer than a half hour in a bank, report it on hello Peter and join a new bank that has better facilities and they are out there. If your chips were forgotten, don’t just leave it, you paid for them demand another meal and fill out one of the service cards. Start remembering the names of people who serve you. There are thousands of people unemployed in this country why not let someone who is good at the job do it.
I know this is really an entire blog of moaning but quite frankly I’m fed up with having my time and money wasted on a daily bases. If the people aren’t interested because they need more pay, maybe the institution employing them needs to think about that. If they need more training maybe they need to think about that too. Maybe they need better processes or maybe they need to think about that. But they are never going to know unless people say something.
If you are in a restaurant and you don’t get the food you want and you think if you complain they will bring you back food that has been spat on simply get up and leave the restaurant. I did that the other night not quite the same but I was at Cabana and I asked for a glass of water as I am on a diet, Lionel who was with me ordered one to. They asked us if we wanted sparkling or still, we said tap. Call me whatever you like but I refused to pay for water in a country where free water is healthy. They said they only served sparkling or still and refused to give us tap water. We opted to leave and I found a great restaurant up stairs that had fantastic meals and offered tap water, Cabana lost out on a R600 tab and I found a restaurant I will continue to go to in the future.
Why just accept things the way they are when we have a choice? This is not about saving R7 on water, it’s about not doing something you don’t want to, if Vodacom is going to take all day to serve you, go with MTN, and if you can’t get a Telkom phone go with Neotel. If the supermarket is full and only five tills are open go to another supermarket in future. Stop accepting and then complaining about how you had to wait for ages. Which I know is ironic because it is pretty much what I am doing now, but maybe we can all learn from my mistakes.
Please comment below and please add suggestions as to what you would like me to write about next. Or a question you would like answered. And don’t hesitate to click the follow this blog button.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
do atheists exist?
I asked a friend of mine if he had any suggestions for a new blog post for me. “He said why don’t you write about; why the sky is blue, or perhaps do atheists exist?” If you want to find out why the sky is blue you can go to http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html, but I decided I would write about the second question. Do atheists really exist?
Now I thought about this for a bit, because obviously there are people who call themselves atheists and therefore they must exist?
But in order to answer the question properly we have to look at counter arguments and define atheism. Let’s start with the definition.
“Atheism can be either the rejection of theism,[1] or the position that deities do not exist.[2] In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities.[3].
The term atheism originated from the Greek ἄθεος (atheos), meaning "without gods"”
So this clearly shows that the word indicates that an atheist is a person who does not believe in “gods”.
Is it as simple as that there are no gods and therefore I am an atheist? Or is there more to it?
Some people choose to argue that there is no such thing as an atheist and people who call themselves atheists don’t understand what they are saying.
It took me a while to think about this post because as a Christian I had to separate myself from my own beliefs in order to make a valid argument, unfortunately, I fear I have not done that, but you can be the judge and ridicule me afterwards.
Now taking away the idea of one specific religion, it could be said that if someone worshiped something that something must be a god to that person, for example the sun to the Incas or the ancestors to some African cultures and altars made of gold or possibly the cow in the Indian culture. (I don’t know enough about African cultures to include them all).
Can we agree on the idea that if something is worshiped it is perceived as a god. We all know the sun for example is not a god, however if it went out one day we may start praying for it. But for the point of this argument let us agree that this is the case.
Now if it is the case that if something is worshipped, it could be perceived as a god then it makes it very difficult to decide does atheism really exists. As we all worship something. Are you saying to yourself I don’t worship anything . But the reality is worship can take many forms. It doesn’t have to be bowing on your knees or clapping hands in a church. Worship is simply doing a task with the idea of praising something or someone or for the purpose of achieving a goal that will show appreciation to the person or thing.
Most Christians will try and display a certain type of lovingness and live a righteous life in order to praise God. This is the case in most religions. As this is the case it could be said that your smallest actions can be praising or worshiping something. Are you starting to see where I am going with this? What have you been worshiping lately?
Do you have a “god” that you worship in your life, everyone has something. For most people, here are a few of the more regularly worshipped gods: Sex, or the opposite sex. How much time do you spend trying to get the opposite sex to like you and want to sleep with you? Money, how much time do you “spend” thinking about money, talking about money or trying to make money? Food, is food your god, are you feeling the pounds pack on you while spending your day waiting for your next meal? There are many more but I think my point has been made.
Now we have to ask the question how can you be an atheist if you are constantly worshiping the ‘gods’ stated above. If you follow a specific religion, are you falling into the same traps? Most Christian’s I know have worshipped the above mentioned ‘gods’ .I definitely have worshipped the above mentioned ‘gods’ on many occasion.
My point is we all put our faith in something, whether it be God or something material. People put their faith in the things they worship.
Everyone has to put faith into something because we aren't omniscient. We only have a finite amount of senses and ability to process things and think about them. What you choose to focus your attention on is your choice but a least be aware that you have a choice and that does not mean you don’t follow a god it just means you don’t believe in a formal religion.
There are more arguments stating that atheism does not exist this is one of them. http://www.mwillett.org/atheism/do_atheists_exist.htm
I choose not to copy paste this as it is not my writing but also has no bearing on my own personal belief however here you go.
As for the rest well you decide.
I will ask all the readers of this blog to please post a comment, I am looking for fresh ideas to write about whether it is long lines in a bank or the tooth fairy, but I would like my readers to decide. Also if you have views on the subject yourself don’t hesitate and please feel free to click the follow this blog button.
Now I thought about this for a bit, because obviously there are people who call themselves atheists and therefore they must exist?
But in order to answer the question properly we have to look at counter arguments and define atheism. Let’s start with the definition.
“Atheism can be either the rejection of theism,[1] or the position that deities do not exist.[2] In the broadest sense, it is the absence of belief in the existence of deities.[3].
The term atheism originated from the Greek ἄθεος (atheos), meaning "without gods"”
So this clearly shows that the word indicates that an atheist is a person who does not believe in “gods”.
Is it as simple as that there are no gods and therefore I am an atheist? Or is there more to it?
Some people choose to argue that there is no such thing as an atheist and people who call themselves atheists don’t understand what they are saying.
It took me a while to think about this post because as a Christian I had to separate myself from my own beliefs in order to make a valid argument, unfortunately, I fear I have not done that, but you can be the judge and ridicule me afterwards.
Now taking away the idea of one specific religion, it could be said that if someone worshiped something that something must be a god to that person, for example the sun to the Incas or the ancestors to some African cultures and altars made of gold or possibly the cow in the Indian culture. (I don’t know enough about African cultures to include them all).
Can we agree on the idea that if something is worshiped it is perceived as a god. We all know the sun for example is not a god, however if it went out one day we may start praying for it. But for the point of this argument let us agree that this is the case.
Now if it is the case that if something is worshipped, it could be perceived as a god then it makes it very difficult to decide does atheism really exists. As we all worship something. Are you saying to yourself I don’t worship anything . But the reality is worship can take many forms. It doesn’t have to be bowing on your knees or clapping hands in a church. Worship is simply doing a task with the idea of praising something or someone or for the purpose of achieving a goal that will show appreciation to the person or thing.
Most Christians will try and display a certain type of lovingness and live a righteous life in order to praise God. This is the case in most religions. As this is the case it could be said that your smallest actions can be praising or worshiping something. Are you starting to see where I am going with this? What have you been worshiping lately?
Do you have a “god” that you worship in your life, everyone has something. For most people, here are a few of the more regularly worshipped gods: Sex, or the opposite sex. How much time do you spend trying to get the opposite sex to like you and want to sleep with you? Money, how much time do you “spend” thinking about money, talking about money or trying to make money? Food, is food your god, are you feeling the pounds pack on you while spending your day waiting for your next meal? There are many more but I think my point has been made.
Now we have to ask the question how can you be an atheist if you are constantly worshiping the ‘gods’ stated above. If you follow a specific religion, are you falling into the same traps? Most Christian’s I know have worshipped the above mentioned ‘gods’ .I definitely have worshipped the above mentioned ‘gods’ on many occasion.
My point is we all put our faith in something, whether it be God or something material. People put their faith in the things they worship.
Everyone has to put faith into something because we aren't omniscient. We only have a finite amount of senses and ability to process things and think about them. What you choose to focus your attention on is your choice but a least be aware that you have a choice and that does not mean you don’t follow a god it just means you don’t believe in a formal religion.
There are more arguments stating that atheism does not exist this is one of them. http://www.mwillett.org/atheism/do_atheists_exist.htm
I choose not to copy paste this as it is not my writing but also has no bearing on my own personal belief however here you go.
As for the rest well you decide.
I will ask all the readers of this blog to please post a comment, I am looking for fresh ideas to write about whether it is long lines in a bank or the tooth fairy, but I would like my readers to decide. Also if you have views on the subject yourself don’t hesitate and please feel free to click the follow this blog button.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Planning for the worst and expecting the best.
Burgers and hotdogs
The other day my boss came up to me and said he was looking for someone who would be willing to sell burgers and hotdogs at an event he was involved in called trials. As soon as I heard there would only be one vender I quickly jumped at the opportunity to make some extra cash. I thought what a breeze this is going to be, stand around sell some burgers and make a whole heap of cash. Sweet!
Well the process began, not only did it involve drawing up list after list to ensure I had everything I needed, as the area was remote and there would be no facilities at all including water. The cost of the operation soon rose and rose. I thought sweet I have all the supplies and as long as I sell out which shouldn’t be a problem as I am the only food seller there I will make a profit.
I had estimated numbers of how many people were going to be there because my boss was able to tell me how many riders there were. I took the amount of riders and added a few spectators and came up with a number of about 120 people. So I stocked about 120 peoples worth of food and drinks.
Then came spread sheet number three, amount/ cost, profit to be made/ potential loss. Now I knew going into this that I had a lot to lose. I was putting up all the money for supplies; I had to pay someone to be there to assist me. But what I didn’t take into account was the little things the things that were not on my list.
I had to buy things like sauce bottles and plastic bags for serving. Then came the cost of getting there, because we were transporting so much we had to take to vehicles, which cost about R200 which was fine, but this all put a huge dependency on selling out.
Well the day came, we all got up at about 04:45 to get dressed and packed, and we arrived after an hour drive at about 07:30 at the venue to set up. Because we were new at the whole thing we didn’t have massive attractive signs to let people know we were there so I walked around from person to person letting them know we were selling food(which helped sales a lot by the way). Only to find out that most had just had a big breakfast at the hotel they were staying in. What I also realised that I had way over catered, opposed to my calculation of about 120 people there were about 70 if that, most of which had brought their own food and drinks due to the fact that no one had ever supplied there before.
By lunch time I was getting stressed we had only sold half of our burgers and almost no hotdogs and cold drinks, cold drinks by the way were my biggest expense and smallest profit margin. These sales I must also mention were mostly due to the fact that I physically walked around and offered people items, and brought it to them. I needed to make sales happen and fast.
Fortunately at three people stated to buy more of our burgers which we managed to sell out on, however we only sole about 12 of the 72 hot dogs I had catered for cost R180. We waited and hoped, the day got longer and longer, eventually I decided to cut my losses, at 17:35 we started to pack up and head home after packing up driving back we got home at about 19:30, with R1000 and a ton cold drinks and hot dog rolls to show for it. Fortunately I managed to sell some of the cold drinks and rolls and left over sausages which earned me R1300 and then just gave away some perishables to my girlfriend’s mom as it would just go off in my fridge.
All in all I lost about R1000 rand, which is better the two I guess. I had the monopoly and I managed to lose money...
Looking back. There are a few things I could have done to prevent this from happening.
1. Is be more pedantic about my costs and potential gains
2. Is to use actual instead of estimates.
3. Analyse potential risk versus gains
4. Put more effort into cost saving.
All in all a very long day with no reward
I have learned a lot though and what I have taken away from this experience is you will never know until you try but expect the best and be prepared for the worst. In my case I should have bought less and guaranteed a sell out that way at least I would have known how much to expect at the end of the day. I do not regret this decision however as I took plenty away from it, When I one day open a business which involves a lot more infrastructure I will remember this incident and ensure I am prepared.
Let me know what you thought of this blog if you are enjoying the new additions, please feel free to make a comment below or become a follower.
The other day my boss came up to me and said he was looking for someone who would be willing to sell burgers and hotdogs at an event he was involved in called trials. As soon as I heard there would only be one vender I quickly jumped at the opportunity to make some extra cash. I thought what a breeze this is going to be, stand around sell some burgers and make a whole heap of cash. Sweet!
Well the process began, not only did it involve drawing up list after list to ensure I had everything I needed, as the area was remote and there would be no facilities at all including water. The cost of the operation soon rose and rose. I thought sweet I have all the supplies and as long as I sell out which shouldn’t be a problem as I am the only food seller there I will make a profit.
I had estimated numbers of how many people were going to be there because my boss was able to tell me how many riders there were. I took the amount of riders and added a few spectators and came up with a number of about 120 people. So I stocked about 120 peoples worth of food and drinks.
Then came spread sheet number three, amount/ cost, profit to be made/ potential loss. Now I knew going into this that I had a lot to lose. I was putting up all the money for supplies; I had to pay someone to be there to assist me. But what I didn’t take into account was the little things the things that were not on my list.
I had to buy things like sauce bottles and plastic bags for serving. Then came the cost of getting there, because we were transporting so much we had to take to vehicles, which cost about R200 which was fine, but this all put a huge dependency on selling out.
Well the day came, we all got up at about 04:45 to get dressed and packed, and we arrived after an hour drive at about 07:30 at the venue to set up. Because we were new at the whole thing we didn’t have massive attractive signs to let people know we were there so I walked around from person to person letting them know we were selling food(which helped sales a lot by the way). Only to find out that most had just had a big breakfast at the hotel they were staying in. What I also realised that I had way over catered, opposed to my calculation of about 120 people there were about 70 if that, most of which had brought their own food and drinks due to the fact that no one had ever supplied there before.
By lunch time I was getting stressed we had only sold half of our burgers and almost no hotdogs and cold drinks, cold drinks by the way were my biggest expense and smallest profit margin. These sales I must also mention were mostly due to the fact that I physically walked around and offered people items, and brought it to them. I needed to make sales happen and fast.
Fortunately at three people stated to buy more of our burgers which we managed to sell out on, however we only sole about 12 of the 72 hot dogs I had catered for cost R180. We waited and hoped, the day got longer and longer, eventually I decided to cut my losses, at 17:35 we started to pack up and head home after packing up driving back we got home at about 19:30, with R1000 and a ton cold drinks and hot dog rolls to show for it. Fortunately I managed to sell some of the cold drinks and rolls and left over sausages which earned me R1300 and then just gave away some perishables to my girlfriend’s mom as it would just go off in my fridge.
All in all I lost about R1000 rand, which is better the two I guess. I had the monopoly and I managed to lose money...
Looking back. There are a few things I could have done to prevent this from happening.
1. Is be more pedantic about my costs and potential gains
2. Is to use actual instead of estimates.
3. Analyse potential risk versus gains
4. Put more effort into cost saving.
All in all a very long day with no reward
I have learned a lot though and what I have taken away from this experience is you will never know until you try but expect the best and be prepared for the worst. In my case I should have bought less and guaranteed a sell out that way at least I would have known how much to expect at the end of the day. I do not regret this decision however as I took plenty away from it, When I one day open a business which involves a lot more infrastructure I will remember this incident and ensure I am prepared.
Let me know what you thought of this blog if you are enjoying the new additions, please feel free to make a comment below or become a follower.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Making Assumptions
The Pope was visiting America the other day and when he arrived a huge stretch limo was waiting to pick him up. As the driver let’s call him Gareth opened the door the Pope requested that he drove. Of course Gareth declined and said “I can’t let you drive what if something was to happen to you?” The Pope then went on to plead to Gareth the driver, saying that they never let him drive at the Vatican and he missed it terribly. Eventually after going back and forth for some time Gareth gave in and said the Pope could drive, so he got in the back and the Pope got behind the wheel. As they pulled off Gareth immediately regretted his decision as the Pope reached 180km’s an hour on the motor way. A speed cop saw the limo speeding past and requested they pull over.
When the limo had pulled over the officer walked up to the window to find the Pope in the driver’s seat. The officer immediately turned around and got on the radio with his Section Chief. Chief he said I have just pulled over a limo for doing a 180km’s per hour but I don’t know what to do. Book them replied the chief, no you don’t understand said the officer it’s someone really important. Who the Mayor? Replied the chief; no bigger than the mayor said the officer. The Governor guessed the chief again, no much bigger than that. Well who then? Said the chief. I think its God said the officer, God said the Chief don’t be silly. Seriously Sir I think its God, I think so because he has the Pope as his driver.
What assumptions have you made lately?
People often say to assume makes an ass out of you and me; “ass – u – me” which I always thought was an annoying statement because quite frankly in life we have to make assumptions at times. For instance right now we are going through a recession, we have to assume things will get better and go back to being normal again. We have to assume this because there is no evidence to suggest that it will go either way but being positive will ensure that we remain sane and instead of panicking we continue with our lives which in turn drives the economy and things stabilize, well that’s what we hope anyway.
But is it wise to assume something? Would it not be better if we were prepared? People often do things on a whim or an assumption (the big picture) without any planning necessary. In such a case you have a 20/80 chance things will work out the way you planned because you have not taking into account external factors. The officer in the story jumped to a conclusion, obviously he was wrong in his assumption, which begs the question, how difficult would it have been to simply ask who the passenger was?
By simply asking questions we can take the guess work out of the equation. This is something I’ve noticed throughout my life in various circumstances. Relationships are a prime example. How often do we tip toe around and plot in a relationship trying guess what our partner or potential partner is feeling or thinking, why can’t we just ask? If he or she does not feel the same you saved yourself a whole heap of time and trouble.
In business we elevate all the guess work by putting together adequate well thought out business plans, top professionals will tell you it took them years before they put their plans into action, especially if there is finance that is required.
Another very popular saying is;” you ask no questions you hear no lies.” My philosophy is you ask no questions you hear no truths, I remember in high school when teachers would ask if anyone had any questions and no one would put up their hands, then after the teacher was finished they would ask their friends to explain what had been said only to have their friends tell them they didn’t know either because they were too embarrassed to put their hand up as well.
I’ll end with this. A person who asks a question is a fool for thirty seconds and person who does not ask a question is a fool for the rest of their life.
Let me know what you think of this post by adding a comment and if you are enjoying these weekly posts please feel free to join this blog.
When the limo had pulled over the officer walked up to the window to find the Pope in the driver’s seat. The officer immediately turned around and got on the radio with his Section Chief. Chief he said I have just pulled over a limo for doing a 180km’s per hour but I don’t know what to do. Book them replied the chief, no you don’t understand said the officer it’s someone really important. Who the Mayor? Replied the chief; no bigger than the mayor said the officer. The Governor guessed the chief again, no much bigger than that. Well who then? Said the chief. I think its God said the officer, God said the Chief don’t be silly. Seriously Sir I think its God, I think so because he has the Pope as his driver.
What assumptions have you made lately?
People often say to assume makes an ass out of you and me; “ass – u – me” which I always thought was an annoying statement because quite frankly in life we have to make assumptions at times. For instance right now we are going through a recession, we have to assume things will get better and go back to being normal again. We have to assume this because there is no evidence to suggest that it will go either way but being positive will ensure that we remain sane and instead of panicking we continue with our lives which in turn drives the economy and things stabilize, well that’s what we hope anyway.
But is it wise to assume something? Would it not be better if we were prepared? People often do things on a whim or an assumption (the big picture) without any planning necessary. In such a case you have a 20/80 chance things will work out the way you planned because you have not taking into account external factors. The officer in the story jumped to a conclusion, obviously he was wrong in his assumption, which begs the question, how difficult would it have been to simply ask who the passenger was?
By simply asking questions we can take the guess work out of the equation. This is something I’ve noticed throughout my life in various circumstances. Relationships are a prime example. How often do we tip toe around and plot in a relationship trying guess what our partner or potential partner is feeling or thinking, why can’t we just ask? If he or she does not feel the same you saved yourself a whole heap of time and trouble.
In business we elevate all the guess work by putting together adequate well thought out business plans, top professionals will tell you it took them years before they put their plans into action, especially if there is finance that is required.
Another very popular saying is;” you ask no questions you hear no lies.” My philosophy is you ask no questions you hear no truths, I remember in high school when teachers would ask if anyone had any questions and no one would put up their hands, then after the teacher was finished they would ask their friends to explain what had been said only to have their friends tell them they didn’t know either because they were too embarrassed to put their hand up as well.
I’ll end with this. A person who asks a question is a fool for thirty seconds and person who does not ask a question is a fool for the rest of their life.
Let me know what you think of this post by adding a comment and if you are enjoying these weekly posts please feel free to join this blog.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
I wise person once said
How wise are you?
I was listening to a speaker the other day talking about the difference between being wise and being smart. Firstly it must be noted that being educated does not mean that you are wise.
Being smart allows you a freedom of knowing the best course of action through a specific situation. Being wise is the understanding of the fact that you do not know everything and that there are people who are smarter and wiser then yourself. Knowing this, allows you to put pride aside and ask questions and receive guidance.
Recently the Idea of mentors has become very popular, although this idea has been implanted by very successful professionals for years. Some of the smartest most successful people I know have mentors, someone to guide your ideas and set you on the right path.
Being wise allows you to understand that no matter how much you know you can still learn something from someone else.
Will smith said something at the Nickelodeon kids choice awards about three years ago which caught my attention. He said “you are like your friends, if your friends are a bunch of thugs you are a thug.”
This is relevant because it important to note that you should model yourself after someone wise. It would be foolish to model yourself after someone who does not understand that they don’t know everything.
When we are growing up a lot of us want to be just like our mom or our dad because to us they are the wisest people we know. We understand that they know far more than us and we seek advice. People often note how fast children learn, although this has no scientific justification, but could the reason for this not be because as we become older we start to believe we already know everything and choose to stop learning.
When I heard this speaker talk about how we need to accept our faults and seek the advice of others it hit a nerve. I am very proud at times and tend to ignore the advice of others because I often feel I know more than them. This speaker made me realise how foolish I had been. When I arrived in Joburg I understood that the only way I was going to survive was if I stole as much information from the people around me as possible and used it to work for me. I modelled myself after the members of my staff who achieved the most, I used the procedure implanted by my company because it has been tried and tested, and subsequently I am now the top money earner in my department.
The foolish man believes he knows everything, the wise man learns from those around him. “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” William Shakespeare
Surround yourself by people smarter and wiser then yourself and you will become wise.
Let me know your thoughts about this blog and feel free to become a follower.
I was listening to a speaker the other day talking about the difference between being wise and being smart. Firstly it must be noted that being educated does not mean that you are wise.
Being smart allows you a freedom of knowing the best course of action through a specific situation. Being wise is the understanding of the fact that you do not know everything and that there are people who are smarter and wiser then yourself. Knowing this, allows you to put pride aside and ask questions and receive guidance.
Recently the Idea of mentors has become very popular, although this idea has been implanted by very successful professionals for years. Some of the smartest most successful people I know have mentors, someone to guide your ideas and set you on the right path.
Being wise allows you to understand that no matter how much you know you can still learn something from someone else.
Will smith said something at the Nickelodeon kids choice awards about three years ago which caught my attention. He said “you are like your friends, if your friends are a bunch of thugs you are a thug.”
This is relevant because it important to note that you should model yourself after someone wise. It would be foolish to model yourself after someone who does not understand that they don’t know everything.
When we are growing up a lot of us want to be just like our mom or our dad because to us they are the wisest people we know. We understand that they know far more than us and we seek advice. People often note how fast children learn, although this has no scientific justification, but could the reason for this not be because as we become older we start to believe we already know everything and choose to stop learning.
When I heard this speaker talk about how we need to accept our faults and seek the advice of others it hit a nerve. I am very proud at times and tend to ignore the advice of others because I often feel I know more than them. This speaker made me realise how foolish I had been. When I arrived in Joburg I understood that the only way I was going to survive was if I stole as much information from the people around me as possible and used it to work for me. I modelled myself after the members of my staff who achieved the most, I used the procedure implanted by my company because it has been tried and tested, and subsequently I am now the top money earner in my department.
The foolish man believes he knows everything, the wise man learns from those around him. “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” William Shakespeare
Surround yourself by people smarter and wiser then yourself and you will become wise.
Let me know your thoughts about this blog and feel free to become a follower.
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