Archive for September, 2008
Fast Forward Options
Sep 30th
When thinking about dieting, and in particular diet pills, one needs to be very careful, and WELL informed.
I’ve never taken diet pills, but it sounds like one of the newest types to emerge are called slim shots. Clicking that link will take you to a website where these pills are reviewed objectively, giving you the pros and cons, and possible side effects. If you’re going to sashay into the world of diet pills, then like I said before it’s best to be informed. Go and have a good read if you’re interested.
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Lightning McQueen
Sep 29th
Slightly misleading title, I apologise, but when I think of ordinary cars, I can’t help but think of that awesome movie made by Pixar called “Cars”. Being a mom to two boys, rest assured I’ve seen that sucker close on 100 times. The theme songs are already burned into my memory without any effort on my part, owing to the fact that the video is practically on loop in our house, 24/7!
Anyhoo, back to the task at hand, if you are looking for auto insurance quotes then please do click on this link back here, to visit a great site offering you various options and quotes for car insurance. One thing I’ve found in my quest to save money, is that if you regularly ring around for car insurance quotes, you can OFTEN find a better deal. After all, car insurance is money for nothing – until you need it right?
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Cultural Differences
Sep 28th
Do you do much international trade? *Laughs* Doesn’t everyone these days? I suppose even the act of blogging, particularly if you blog in English is an international trade of some sort, given that it’s an exchange of information, and cultural information.
I remember years ago, entering the US on a J1 Visa, which is an exchange visa (as opposed to a tourist visa), which allows you to work in the US as a Summer Camp Counselor etc that kind of thing, for a few months. The immigration officer at JFK was tough. The toughest I’ve had yet entering the US. He gruffly asked me why I was on an ‘exchange visa’, and I said that I was there to work as a Summer Camp Counselor.
He tried to corner me into saying something wrong, by saying words to the effect of, “Oh, so you mean that South Africa has summer camps too, and that OUR PEOPLE go over to YOUR COUNTRY as camp counselors there?” and I was like (23 and full of arrogance at that age I might add – plus I was pretty well travelled, and SO not in the mood for this guys unneccessary hasseling of me).
So with a hint of rolling my eyes at him, I said with a modicum of sarcasm, “No, a J1 visa is a CULTURAL exchange visa, which means I come over here, teach horsebackriding to some kids who’d like to learn, and while I’m doing that, the kids get to learn what my country is like, and what someone frome that country, i.e. ME is like. In return, I get to learn all about things like Thanksgiving – which we don’t celebrate by the way – and egg nog recipes and get to travel around afterwards seeing more of the country.”
I really did say egg nog recipes to an immigration officer. I mean after all no other country in the Western world knows what that stuff is – or why people drink it either – yuck – I mean seriously, so where else are you going to learn?
He waved me through after stamping my passport a bit roughly, and I have a feeling that had there *not* been a queue of people like 100 long forming behind me from another flight that had just landed, I may just have been subjected to a more thorough grilling!
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Something Everybody Needs vs Wants
Sep 27th
Making your product or service indispensible to someones existence. That’s the goal right?
Making money from selling the one thing (or several things) that everybody needs, is the key to a sustainable business. If you only sell things that people ‘want’ then you’re moving into the realm of things that people who want, will get, and move on looking for their next ‘want’ and it is up to you to set the trend and hope to anticipate that ‘want’.
A lot can be said for carrying a combination of the two. I’m a photographer, who dabbles in some digital design, corporate identity, and runs an image manipulation service. So while these three are all relatively closely related, and compliment each other, they are not solely dependent on one another. I’ve found *my* ideal combination of activities, which work for me.
Have you found yours? Sometimes it takes a little lateral thinking. Perhaps you’re an electrician by trade. How about carrying a line of energy efficient lightbulbs or even light fittings? If you’re a daycare teacher, why not carry a line of disposable diapers or other necessities that parents will buy from you, purely for convenience sake.
I suppose the rule of thumb, is “If their feet are IN the door, find that thing that your customers/clients ALSO need”.
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How Eco-Friendly is Your Business?
Sep 26th
In this day and age, being environmentally aware is an extremely important focus for a business. Large corporates are waking up to this fact and many are making great strides into improving their eco-friendliness. One that we’re going to look at today, is a household name.
Johnson and Johnson are known worldwide, particularly in the field of medical diagnostics. They are also completely transparent with regards to their environmental policies. You can view their sustainability report and other interesting factoids in this regard, here.
They have many large goals set for 2010, and they are forward thinking enough, to rethink their goals every 5 years. Just some of these goals include Energy Usage, and Carbon Dioxide reduction, Paper and Packaging, Water Use, Waste Reduction and many others.
I am a huge fan of Johnson and Johnson baby products, and my husband wears JnJ contact lenses. They have such a huge range of products in the global marketplace, that it’s practically impossible for them not to touch our lives in some ways. I for one am very happy that I’m supporting a company that is so eco-conscious, that also cares so deeply about the community that they operate in, and the world in general.
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Exclusivity Can Be Great Business
Sep 25th
…or really grate your customers depending on how you deploy the concept.
Getting a client to sign an exclusivity agreement can help your business. You will save precious hours that you might have spent working on designs ideas or concepts for a client, only to be told, “Oh we went with XYZ Design Company instead.” “Doh!” is what you say for being such a twunt and having wasted all those creative hours on someone who wasn’t serious about going with you.
This is particularly bad in the travel industry where clients will go to three or four agencies for an airline quote, and all the agencies will hold a booking in the system, hoping for payment, but in reality all this does is sell out the cheaper fare allocation quicker, and drives the prices up. I suppose in this scenario the airline scores, but no one else.
The downside of exclusivity is the annoyance factor. As a customer of mobile phones, it really grates me, that a particular phone that I may really like, is ‘network locked’. I feel like, if I’m going to like it enough to buy it, then it should be MY CHOICE which network provider I go with, especially now that number portability is more widespread. FYI you can get unlocked cell phones here. The other thing that annoys me is the 24 month contracts they drag you into (ditto my internet provider), you pay enough monthly, and you should be able to cancel when you want to – especially if you bought your phone/modem cash, and don’t owe anything on it.
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Home Office Basics
Sep 24th
If you work from home, do you do all your own blog networking setup? Cabling, routers, printers, wi-fi etc and such?
If you do, and you appreciate all things colourful, cool and designy then take a look at this websites awesome, funky range of CAT6 cabling for networks. Available in a variety of lengths, and in all 10 delicious flavours you see in the picture on the left.
Finally, cabling that you don’t mind seeing, and the colour co-ordinating could come in handy when organising your network too. Especially in some offices that still use the legacy iMac’s that were available in all those yummy, fruity colours too, I wish they still did that – but that you could buy interchangeale face plates for your Mac etc to change colour with your mood.
Remember these?
I’m sure it’s not only geek chicks that would appreciate matching their Mac Housing, cabling, with a matching assortment of brightly coloured beanbags for their creative spaces!
I still feel inspired by this picture, maybe I should incorporate it in a new blog design – after all they were classics!
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2 Nights Away, and All is Well
Sep 23rd
I’m certainly pleased to find everything at home just as I left it, save for a few really awesome assignments that found their way into my inbox, and which I will tackle starting tomorrow.
My kids are well, had a ball with their grandparents, and both my dogs look happy to see us, although probably not as happy as the prospect of being able to spend yet another night sneaking onto our empty bed.
So – where did I go?
Just 90 mins drive from here so at least I didn’t need to purchase travel medical insurance, as I would have, had I been taking an overseas trip.
I drove through some interesting mountain scenery and into undulating beautifully chequered farmscapes. Of course being at the tail end of Winter here, everything is very green. The sheep are washed white and woolly from all the rain, and the canola is in full bloom, leaving the landscape in wonderful contrasts of rust red soil, emerald green grass and bright sunny yellow canola. Driving back this morning, I kept wanting to stop and try to capture the great big shadows racing across the landscape from the clouds racing overhead, but the pull of seeing my boys at home, was too great, so I had to make do with capturing it mentally.
That’s probably the only downside to being a photographer, you’re so busy trying to capture things for posterity, that you don’t stop to experience them in the first place.
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The Ultimate Mac Office: Decor
Sep 21st
Naturally, if you’re a Mac Owner, you’re probably also pretty creative, and if not, well at least you’re smart enough to have purchased a Mac, and you have enough taste to recognise good design and aesthetics etc.
You probably have all sorts of funky and cool photographs in your office space, or cool colourful art works that inspire you to greater creative heights.
Something that I think that can really make a creative office space pop?? That’s digital signage. Think coughBillGatescough and the type of LCD screens he allegedly has dotted throughout his ridiculously huge house. Screens that display the kind of artwork that you like whenever you walk into a room. Or that you can preprogramme along with your lightning preferences into your mood/ambience control panel.
Yeah. I think that would be cool.
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