Email only twice a day?
May 23, 2008
On 26 October 2007 I blogged about The 4-Hour Work Week, the bestselling book by Timothy Ferris. You can read that post here if you missed it. There’s a video of Tim at that link as well.
Tim talks about “NR” – the New Rich, about living the life of our dreams, and about mini-retirements as opposed to an eventual retirement. He says that we should eliminate time-wasters, and reduce our input – whilst increasing output. His ideas of mobility tie in well with what technology offers in this age, but his usage of technology – it seems – does not tie him down as it seems to be doing to the rest of us. He advocates, for example, checking email twice a day. Can you do that? I find it hard. But see what he says in this short clip, and you have to agree with me that it makes sense…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pu172VHCjM[/youtube]
Jo Duxbury – South Africa’s Freelance Expert
May 23, 2008
Last year I had the privilege of participating with Jo Duxbury, and others, on the VeloCITI business programme. Jo runs Freelancentral – a website that serves freelancers looking for work, as well as companies who are looking for freelancers. The website boasts a very sophisticated portfolio directory – for the freelancers, and a job placement section – for companies and agencies. Freelancentral is focused on the design and creative industries.
Jo has grown the company substantially, and is fast becoming the freelance expert in South Africa. She has worked in marketing, advertising, and business communications since 1995. She has worked locally and in London, giving her a broad base of knowledge and experience. I met with Jo yesterday and we discussed some interesting business ideas and strategies.
Unfortunately there is a local perception around freelancing, and that is that freelancing is for people who can’t find a full time job. This cannot be further from the truth. Jo says that some people in full time design and creative positions actually wish to enter the realm of freelancing, due to it’s competitiveness, the huge demand, and the rapid growth it offers.
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The Human Web – It just feels right!
May 22, 2008
I feel so blessed to be in the Web industry, and in particular in the Web 2.0 space right now. There is so much opportunity and excitement – it’s just unreal. The time is right to be online, it’s so much different – and so much better – than ever before. The Internet, as a baby grows, has grown up and is now able to offer real tangible value. Web 2.0 is really what I call “The Human Web” – for several reasons.
1. Web 2.0 is about “real” things. Real conversations, real people. People are blogging daily about their life experiences, their business experiences, their ups and downs – everything. Micro-blogging – Twitter in particular – has become so huge because people relate to it. People want to share. People love sharing.
2. The new Web is about collaboration. Mass collaboration. Wikipedia – prime example. Google – prime example. Many people don’t know this, but Google’s real jolt to success was when they realized that the surfers of the Web had the most value to offer, which resulted in development of their PageRank Technology. Read about it at this Wikipedia page – it’s actually pretty amazing.
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