Mediocrity is for losers

At the start of all my seminars I play one of the Shift Happens videos. The people I talk to are usually the Eternal September crowd, so it’s important that I first illustrate the importance of having the correct mindset, a mindset which accepts change and progress. Only thereafter can I gradually ease them into the world of Social Media.

The mind has incredible power. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven.” If we take just a little effort to change how we think about things, new dimensions open up for us.

The Internet is huge, would you agree with me? I think you would. I was at the Coral International Hotel a few days ago (my second visit, and I highly recommend it) and I picked up a copy of an international newspaper there. An article by Arno Maierbrugger mentioned that, “By the end of last year, a total of 192 million domain names had been registered by internet users throughout the world, according to data by internet infrastructure provider VeriSign.”

I’d say the number is much higher than that though. Many websites use sub-domains – like photos.jayz.co.za, which do not need to be registered. Also, WordPress.com and other companies provide countless millions of sub-domains to their members.

So how do you stand out in such a mass of content. The key is to be different. The key is to be unique. And the funny thing is that we are all already unique. But due to society, peer pressure, and what is known as “group think” – many of us try to conform to be like everybody else. We discard our individuality for acceptance. And in doing so, we lose our unique essence.

I try my best to be myself all the time. I’m a teacher, so I try to teach. Many Social Media blogs rush to get out the latest Social Media news of the day. I don’t do that. For all the best news, go to Mashable.com – Pete Cashmore has done a fantastic job growing that website into the best online resource in this space. My blog is about ideas. Insights. And it’s specifically geared at the lay person. This is not a blog for geeks, although many may label me as a geek. It was refreshing to get a message on Twitter recently from Jo Duxbury who said to me, “It was so refreshing to see blog posts that are intelligent and original.” I don’t mention that to impress you, but I want to impress upon you the importance of being yourself.

Will Smith, in this video, says, “Being realistic is the most commonly travelled road to mediocrity.” Once we set ordinary goals, we just become ordinary. Why not set huge and unrealistic goals? I saw something interesting on Twitter today, which said: “Don’t tell me that the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon.” I like that sort of thinking.

Seth Godin is, in my opinion (and the opinion of some millions), a marketing genius. I have (only) 3 of his books, and I highly recommend getting any of them. At the last talk I did, I told the audience that if they go to a book store and see any book by Seth Godin, they should grab it and buy it – without hesitation. Yes, he’s that good. Seth is Seth. He speaks his mind, and he is very intuitive. I like that.

I found this interesting video of him, it’s titled “The Mindset of a Winner” – and I think it’s valuable that’s why I’m sharing it with you. I’m sure that after watching this video you will sit back – at least for a minute – and think about what you’re doing in your business. Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks.

Photo credit: thost

The Eternal September Crowd

On May 21, 2009 Seth Godin wrote a blog post called Eternal September. For a long while before then, I was focused on training “newcomers” and “novices” about Web 2.0 and Social Media. I didn’t have an adequate term for them though, because many of them were not absolutely new to the Internet, many of them were web designers (of the Web 1.0 era), and people who used the Internet on a fair basis.

I am astounded at how I, and other in the Web industry, take for granted what we know. When I deliver training, or consult with clients, I get asked questions which jolt me back to reality. That reality being that there is an endless stream of people who need to be educated – and inspired – about what the Web can offer today. It’s very exciting, and it’s really a thrill to catapult people from ignorance to absolute enthusiasm. As much as it is exciting, it’s equally challenging. The need is so big that we’ve now dedicated our resources to having continuous training events – seminars and workshops – across the country. The first set is already underway, and we’ve already received an overwhelming response from the public.

Eternal September is as apt a term as one could find. Seth puts it across clearly:

“…each September sees an entire crop of freshman showing up at college, you need to assume that you have to start teaching protocols all over again. Once a year, it’s a whole new audience, and they need to learn the ropes.

The Internet has been stuck in September ever since. Every day, new people show up at your blog, on Facebook, everywhere. Every day it’s a whole new crop that need to figure out what RSS is and how to subscribe.”

Will this “Eternal September” crowd ever disappear? Will we reach a point where everyone knows how to use online technologies to their fullest potential? I don’t know. I don’t think so, though.

Image source

WordPress 2.7 is here!

Finally, WordPress 2.7 is available to for download. WordPress is a blogging platform and I’ve been using it for more than a year now.

I’ve been very bad at blogging, and bad at keeping my promises (see my blog post prior to this one)! All with good reason though. I’ve been hard at work building my company and building a strong global network. I’m so looking forward to 2009. I just wish I could get this holiday over with a fast forward button! :)

I need to get blogging more regularly though. I have so much to say and share, so I really need to be disciplined about it – like I was 12 months ago. Then on the development side – I have this blog to redesign by mid-January 2009, as well as 2 others, and then I also have 8 new blogs to put up by the same time. I have some busy days ahead of me, and hopefully WordPress 2.7 will make my journey a bit easier!

This will be my last post for 2008. Expect to see a brand new look to www.jayz.co.za in 2009! Happy holidays, and please be safe – and sane! :)

A good dose of my own medicine

I’m sure we all know the story of the cobbler’s children having no shoes. People in a certain profession are always able to provide services and products to others, but in their own businesses or lives they lack in that very same area of skill or expertise. I’ve seen this so many times in my life.

The same is true for bloggers. I love blogging, I get absolute pleasure from it, and it’s helped build and expand my business – but still I have neglected it for about 3 months now. I have seen many other bloggers in the same dilemma. I must say though, that bloggers who blog for a living, or who get decent ad revenue from their blogs, often don’t suffer from this cobbler’s syndrome. It’s bloggers like me, who do it purely for the love, and for sharing information, who are caught in this. For the past 3 months I have been thinking *daily* about my blog, thinking about blog topics – but I’ve just become to *busy* that I’ve neglected it.

Well, that’s all ended now. I’m recommitting myself to what I know is not really a negotiable item. Online, in face-to-face meetings, and in public talks I emphasize the importance of blogging, and a good blogging strategy, and yet in the back of my mind I know I’ve been lacking in this area.

Lots have been happening with Jayz Internet Solutions, and I promise to keep you updated daily from now on.

Facebook Spam

This afternoon I did an awesome video and photo shoot with Rafiq Phillips and Charl Norman. I interviewed them at the new Blueworld offices at 210 On Long (I wrote about Blueworld here), and the objective was to cover their new project called SEOblog.co.za. I’ll be putting up photos in a few hours, and video in a few days – check back here for updates. That’s not the subject of this post though. When I left the shoot, on my way home I logged into Twitter on my mobile – as I always do. I sent a tweet, and logged into Facebook – as I always do. Then I saw a very shocking wall post – it read:

“have you heard about some blog that was about you? its really bad ;( i think you and everyone should read it http://cudearewuzy.blogspot.com” (actually, the URL is not very accurate, because I deleted the wall post without doing a screen grab of it, but it was close to “cudearewuzy.blogspot.com”!)
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Presenting Twitter

This is a video of a presentation done by the CEO and Founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey. I’m totally a Twitter fan, because it does the Web 2.0-thing so well, it sparks the conversation. You can watch the conversation, join the conversation, or simply research conversation trends. What people are “saying” is more valuable than a billboard, don’t you think?!

Enjoy…

Jack Dorsey Presents Twitter from biz stone on Vimeo.

WPCPT3 Report

Last night’s WordPress Cape Town 3 Meetup was a huge success. The Events Room at the Bandwidth Barn was packed with WordPress enthusiasts. The event was a social and educational gathering for people interested in WordPress. This growing blogging and CMS platform is growing worldwide and communities are forming all over. WordPress is only 5 years old, but has a strong backing due to the ease-of-use and robustness of the platform.

First off Johann Botha spoke on WordPress Security, and I must admit that he highlighted many security issues that I was not aware of. Johann’s personal website is at www.swimgeek.com, and one of the companies that he has co-founded is an ISP called Frogfoot Networks (who were one of the sponsors of the event). Johann highlighted vulnerabilities of WordPress, and the common reasons for hacking – like email spam, SEO spam, etc. He mentioned a few methods of improving security, 2 of which are to implement strict file permission settings (especially on themes, etc), and Apache htpassword protection.
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WordPress Cape Town Meetup 3

WordPress, for those of you who don’t know, is a Blogging platform which has now moved into the CMS arena as well. It’s a very versatile platform, and boasts growing communities worldwide that support it fully. In Cape Town there’s a community like this. I’m very excited that this week brings the third WordPress Cape Town Meetup. A few months ago we gathered the River Club in Obs for the first meetup. The second meetup I hosted here at the Bandwidth Barn, and the third is coming up. Nur from Nomad-One is organizing this one, and he’s been pretty busy I tell you.
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