Look Mom!! No Wires!!!

I’m sitting in the departures terminal at Johannesburg International Airport, and I’m literally quite amazed at how far we have come in little more than 5 years. I’m connected via a wireless link (Wi-Fi) to a server which keeps me in touch with the office, more importantly, it allows me to write this blog!

Funnily enough after I wrote the paragraph above, I just got off the phone with Andrew from our office. We’re trying to connect Charlene on one of the business ADSL accounts (which automatically give Wi-Fi Access, as I am using my personal account. One of Mweb’s (the largest ISP in South Africa) operators told us that no business has ever requested Wi-Fi on a business ISP account. I find this so hard to believe it’s frightening. Anyways, enough b*tching.

Trying to pinpoint where the market is going is never easy. We have millions of consumers and businesses doing different things for different reasons on the Internet – (which in itself is a unique and different for everyone that uses it). So begs the questions: How is it possible to keep up and still get ahead when things are changing so quickly…. The focus on this

A) Research – gather as much market intelligence as possible before making decisions. Look at market sizes and growth rates. Also, try to find technologies and services which are ground breaking and innovative.

B) Follow the big guns – FindWhat.com just launched Pay Per Call today, an ingenious move to bring small business onto the web, even if they don’t have a website.

C) Follow product updates and releases – try to figure out what the big picture is and how it will affect existing products and services.

D) Subscribe to many newsletters, and keep reading, but weed out the crap – it will just waste your time.

E) Attend Conferences – I have found that networking and meeting with people is often the best way to find out what’s happening in the market (especially after a few drinks ).

F) Don’t be afraid to admit when you’re wrong, you can’t always be right and the trick is to be right more times than you’re wrong (with the exception of major screwups, obviously).

G ) Probably the most important point: GET DOWN AND GET DIRTY!!! There is nothing more hilarious than people who try to have high level discussion about Google Adwords, for example, and actually don’t understand the detail and have probably never even worked on the backend! This gives you insight into what top companies are doing and also where their mindset is – it’s crucial to understand every element within your space, to the finest detail, if necessary.

My point is (yes, I actually do have a point here), is that in order to innovate and strategize, you need to have your finger on the pulse, from all directions within your space. Try taking a step back and look at the bigger picture, have some vision, and infect those around you with that vision. You don’t always have to be the leader, but make sure that you realise that working and living for a dream is sometimes all our lives are about…so make the best of it. Hours, days and weeks might go by, and if you haven’t bothered so see where you fit into the big picture of your company or small business, you might feel that you have wasted time, but if you’re patient and can go the long haul – it just might be the most spectacular experience of your life!

Now, some feedback from dinner last night at Belthazar :

Meals took to long, food was average, which means that it was overpriced. The ambience was good, however it’s nothing to write home about (no chirps please). For being rated one of Cape Town’s finest, I must say that I was disappointed overall & so was Charlene. However, looking ahead at all the airplane food I’m going to be eating, I’m going to miss last night’s dinner

My plane is boarding soon! I’ll be incommunique for the next 24 hours! This is Vinny Lingham, Live from Johannesburg airport, over and out!

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