Teaching Children How To Start & Manage A Business

Tomorrow is enterpreneur's day at Baby' school, so she's going to run a jewellery stall for a day. Essentially, the kids choose the merchandise they want to sell, borrow money from their parents to buy stock and pay R10 for the stall, develop promotional materials like posters and invite the general public to attend their fair.

On the day, the kids sell a variety of goods including curries, burgers, hot dogs, cakes and drinks, as well as jewellery and many other things primary school kids find interesting.

As far as I'm concerned, buying stock is the hardest part of the job. We visited a number of wholealers, argued about whether the stuff she wanted could be sold at profit, discussed the profit margin we wanted and calculated it, then had to work out if we would pay that amount of money for cheap jewellery.

The selling part will be easier: last year Baby showed me that she did have the makings of a good salesperson. She had no qualms walking around the "fair" hawking stuff and encouraging students to go to her stall. I even heard her negotiate for a discount to encourage a mother to buy 3 pairs of ear-rings, instead of one. I was so proud!

After the fair, the kids who made a profit are upposed to pay back their parents their seed money and donate 10% of their profits to charity. I can't think of a better way to teach children about how to start and manage your own business.

Feature About Read SA Published In The Daily Dispatch

I've previouly mentioned that I joined Read SA, a new campaign encouraging South Africans to read, emphasising that it is hip to read, and to be well read. I volunteered to manage the online stuff for the campaign, including creating a Facebook page, and I have to say it's been a pleasure.
The campaign has lots of people who are committed to making it work, and they have spread the word far and wide, with the result that the FB fan page now has accumulated over 340 fans in a month.

Anyhoo, today READ SA made it into The Daily Dipatch, thanks to Stevie Godson. Check out the article. If you are a writer/publishing professional or just love books, you might also want to check out the READ SA Facebook page. The campaign is also on the BOOK SA site.

The Case Of The Disappearing Blogging Mojo

Was feeling uninspired for the past couple of days. So I implemented the obvious cure: spent more time doing life stuff. So I spent time with Baby / socialising with friends/puttering around the house/gardening and less time on the Internet and no TV.

The Ultimate Gift - A Charity Screening To Raise Funds For Cancer Treatment

My friend Ramon Thomas has finally talked me into attending the charity screening of The Ultimate Gift,a 2007 film based on author Jim Stovall's novel of the same name.

It isn't that I didn't want to support a good cause (Faces of Hope Foundation, which raises funds for individuals who need financial assistance for cancer treatment and awareness of various cancers). I was quite happy to spend the R150 for the ticket.

But going out on a weekday is a bit of a schlepp. I either have to find someone to babysit for the evening, or drag an 11-year old to an event when she should be in bed by 20h30. And then, there's the fact that I need to watch Kwanda at 9pm. Anyhoo, I'm sure Baby will survive sleeping late. And I'll watch Kwanda on Thurday morning.

For more info about the event, check out the event listing on Facebook.

Short synopsis from Wikipedia

When Howard "Red" Stevens (portrayed by James Garner) died, Jason (Drew Fuller) thought he was going to inherit a piece of the old man's multi-billion dollar estate, but it came with a condition.

In order to get his share of the willed inheritance, Jason must complete 12 separate assignments within a year. Each assignment is centered around a "gift". Gifts of money, friends and learning are among the dozen that Jason must perform before he is eligible for the mysterious "Ultimate Gift" his grandfather's will has for him.

I'll do a short review on Thursday.

The Challenges Faced By Work-At-Homers In South Africa, By Gaynor Paynter

A very warm welcome to Gaynor Paynter, a writer and transcriptionist living in Johannesburg, South Africa. Gaynor is one of the very good friends that I made online.

We "met" on a forum women who work at home in 2000, I think. Met once in person around 2002/3, and by some twist of fate, recently ended up living near each other.

More than being a friend, Gaynor has a thorough understanding of the challenges creative profesionals and businesss owners who work from home face. She is the owner of Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC, has self-published a book entitled " Working from home as a trancriptionist in South Africa."

Hopefully, some of the points she raises will those of you who are dreaming/planning to launch home-based businesses at some stage. Thanks Gaynor for joining us.
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Hello everybody. I’m honoured to have been asked by Damaria Senne, whom I hold in probably the highest regard it is to hold a writer and fellow work at homer in South Africa, to write a guest post for her blog, and I hope what I’m going to say will be interesting to you. I’m also happy to answer questions that you might have, and welcome any comments, too.

My name is Gaynor Paynter and I work from home as a transcriptionist (primarily) but also offer other virtual services such as typing, Afrikaans to English translation, proofreading and editing. I’m also comoderator of a forum for transcriptionists and VAs in South Africa (TAVASA – www.tavasa.co.za) I combine this with being a wife and a mother of two kids aged 8 and 11. What I would like to talk about today is the particular challenges that face all work at homers in South Africa with references to my own personal experience, and put forward ways in which we may be able to overcome these.

I started out as a transcriptionist in 2005, from my home office, and I was lucky enough to find an invaluable source of support, Joan Masterson’s Women At Work Forum, which was a general support forum for South African work at homers and where I made wonderful connections with many people, including Joan Masterson (of course), Damaria Senne, whom you know to be the author of this blog, and Alison Fourie, who is together with me the comoderator of the TAVASA forum.

Starting out as a transcriptionist in 2005 was, quite frankly, hard enough, even with the support of these wonderful mentors, and it was the realization of this last year that got me thinking that it would be beneficial to many to try to myself provide support to newbies and, if possible, be a mentor. This, together with a second realization – that there are issues in South Africa that are common to ALL work at homers – writers, transcriptionists, VAs, proofreaders, translators, etc. was quite an eye opener to me.

I believe that common issues facing all home workers in South Africa include (but are not limited to):

- Eskom
- Telkom
- Internet service provider issues
- Safety issues (how to get the work if you’re not comfortable with receiving unknown clients at your house)
- Receiving payments from international clients
- Improving standards in our industries.

Many of us know that it is very hard to tackle these issues without any form of support, or place to vent, for that matter. And here is where the another side to the all important activity of networking comes in. Yes – networking can get you clients. But it can also get you support.

How better to handle these issues than to have a network of experienced contacts in a variety of industries? Maybe you’re having continual problems with your ISP but don’t know where to go … and maybe, just maybe, there would be someone out there who can advise you. Maybe somebody else out there is having a problem with electricity supply and you have a suggestion about alternative energy.

How will this information be spread if we do not know about each other? Not that I’m saying we have answers to all of these constraints … but many heads put together certainly make the load easier, and information spread between industries can only be beneficial. It can also assist you when the time comes that your business is so successful that you need to sub-contract.

People ask me why I help newbie transcriptionists, when I’m a transcriptionist myself. They ask me if by helping the beginners, I’m not compromising my own business. My answer is to liken this to an experienced artisan training an apprentice. The new people are going to come anyway, and by sharing our knowledge, we can only improve our industry standards. If we don’t share our knowledge, how can we expect someone else to share theirs … and we’ll only have ourselves to blame when the industry collapses due to an influx of beginners blundering blindly along and making preventable mistakes.

So my advice to newbies or people struggling with the frustrations that these challenges provide (in whatever field you’re in) is to look to expand your network of contacts and ask relevant questions – and my request to experienced work at homers is to give advice to newbies – for the sake of all of us.

Places you can go to look to expand your network in South Africa include:

www.tavasa.co.za
www.womenatwork.co.za



Gaynor Paynter
Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC
Cell: +27834424689
Web: www.typewritetranscription.co.za
TAVASA Cofounder and Moderator http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/tavasa/

I Wish Time Would Slow Down

I'm feeling a tad stressed by the idea that Christmas is very near. My work schedule is not slowing down, and everytime someone says something like "eight weeks before Christmas," I wonder how I'm going to get it all done before the year ends.

Last year I didn't take a Christmas/new year break, because I was busy setting up the OneLove web site, and it was due to launch on the 14th January. This year I plan to make sure that it does not happen again and I get a real break.

But, I still have some big milestones to meet ( approx. 2 new sites to set up and one electronic newsletter to launch) and little time to complete the tasks. So my general sentiment towards Christmas is more "meh!" than "merry!"

I wish time would slow down and the festive season wouldn't get here yet:-)

OneLove News

Meanwhile, Pakachere and its partners in Malawi are launching the OneLove campaign in that country, so this week will be hectic as I do quite a bit of online promotion for that campaign. I'm happy about that though, because new events and developments on a campaign always provide fresh content I can publish.

And the creative writing is going slow....

The Role Models In Our Lives

Had a wonderful weekend connecting with friends and family. My sister and brother-in-law came up from Durban, and I spent hours cuddling my 4-month old nephew Matthew Kabelo. He's such an adorable little man. He's very quiet though, but has this beautiful smile I want to see over and over...

Baby and I spent Sunday at at her paternal grandmother's. Everytime I see Eileen, I'm reminded of why I love and respect her so much. In many ways, we are kindred spirits. And she's the homemaker I want to be.

While her house beautifully maintained and decorated, with excellent quality pieces she somehow manages to get at bargain prices, it i first and foremost, a home, where family meets, prepares big lunches and dinners and just hang out.

I have good memories of Christmas mornings of exchanging presents, tempting smells wafting from the kitchen and being able to just be, watching my own mother take a nap after a meal while the chaos of life goes on around us.

Eileen sews like a dream - she made my sister's wedding dress and all the dresses for the bridemaids (see image of the bridal party she dressed below).

She has this incredible garden that she seems to maintain effortlessly. And she does this while also maintaining an extremely high-pressure job and running a clothing design/sewing business on the side.


She's been teaching me quite a bit about food alternatives I can use to replace wheat and dairy products, and adapted some recipes to make my meals interesting.

This Sunday she gave me pack of potato and rice pastas to try out, and lent me a couple of cookbooks, including Cultivating Flavour - Kitchen Gardening For Kindred Spirits, by Toni B. Walters (image above).

Question: There are many people in our lives who live in such a way that they make us want to do better, be better. Name one or two of these people in your life and how/why you admire them.

Using iGoogle More Effectively?

I wonder why I never explored iGoogle thoroughly to see what I could do with it? I've just loaded gadgets for Facebook, Twitter and blogger. Which means that I can now work from one screen and each tab takes me to whatever plarform I want to use at that moment.

Cool - I can post on a blog, check my Facebook and Twitter accounts, and once I figure out how to add a Wordpress gadgets, do my work blog. All from one screen; with each platform being represented as a tab.

That should really help me be more efficient, as I don't have to have multiple screens on, or to continually log in or out.

Sent this post from iGoogle actually.

Have A Great Weekend

It hailed quite strongly yesterday.



















My poor seedlings took a beating.















Have a hectic social weekend planned. But I also need to do some serious creative writing - the novel breakdown and first chapter is due to the publisher at the beginning of November.

Have a great weekend.

Saturday afternoon update: my plum tree also took a beating. Lots of leaves, and small, still green plums, fell to the ground. What a waste!

Taking Joy In Your Work

If you've hung around here for a while, you've probably noticed that sometimes I've very grumpy, especially if I have to do tasks that I don't like/that I'm not good at. But for the most part, I thoroughly enjoy the work I do. Writing is not something I have to suffer through before I'm allowed to have fun.

During conversation with one of my cousins today, I realised that she does not take pleasure in her life, work or any activity she undertakes. Her conversation is made up mostly of complaints about how other people were rude to her, hurt her feeling etc.

If she went out to dinner at a fancy restaurant and you asked her what it was like, she'd tell you about the skinny woman in the lift who wore really nice expensive clothes ( which she wishes she had), the fact that they had to wait overly long for their table while people who came after them were ushered in quickly and a myriad of things that went wrong.

I'm not saying that she should pretend a happiness she does not feel. But for every negative thing that happens in her life, surely there must be many positives? I think she does not see the good because she is too focussed on the bad. She is the quintessential victim who is constantly trying to solicit sympathy, and does not understand why people avoid her.

She's young, and hopefully she'll outgrow this habit. But it saddens me that he loses out on the joy of life, simply because she does not see anything to be joyful about.

Question: Does your world view influence the subjects you cover in your writing/blogging/art and the viewpoint you take in the telling? Do miserable people make better artists or the other way round or maybe, the artist's temperament does not matter as long as he/she is talented?

The Jacarandas Are Blooming In Joburg

I love Joburg this time of the year, when the jacaranda are blooming.

















Today I was especially struck by this garden. The flowers cover the street-side portion of the perimeter wall of this home, giving passing motorists a really nice view.


















I also love the fact that Joburg has millions of trees. Some people have called Joburg an urban forest, and I once heard someone ( Paris Mashile, chairman of the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa to be exact) say that Joburg had over 6 million trees. That early in 2008, and since then, there has been a continuous drive to plant more. And for a city with a population estimated at slightly over 10 million, that's real eco-friendly.

I am inspired by old Johannesburg homes and gardens when I create homes for my characters and I usually view them with the idea that one of my characters could live in such a house/visit such a house/aspire to own such a house.

Actually, sometimes I think houses and garden should be novel character in and of themselves, but the story would probably be dull. Unless the house was haunted and killed off my human and animal characters:-)

Question: what inanimate objects inspire you in your writing/blogging/art?

I Am Just A Writer

Back in the day when I used to work for an advocacy organisation and then later, an organisation that helped to raise funds for non-profits, my biggest frustration was that there were many people I could not help. Reasons were that:

• The organisations I worked for were not donor organisations. They were advocacy organisations and/developed solutions that allowed companies and individuals to give to charities of THEIR CHOICE.
• We lobbied for the Income Tax laws to be changed so that individuals and organisations that worked for the benefit of the public were recognised a such and people who supported received incentives to do so. Sure you’d get money (once the law was enacted), but from the tax man. If you had money to be taxed to begin with:-).

I was a communications manager, which meant that I was actually NOT the doer, but the voice and face of the organisations. It was all about managing people’ s expectations, and making sure that they understood what the organisations I represented could or could not do.

Fast forward five years, and I’m now working as a writer/blogger, and over the past year many of the projects I work with are campaigns by non-profits. And I find myself getting asked by my readers and people who I meet me online in the context of the campaign to assist them in ways I’m not equipped to do. I feel a lot of guilt having to decline invitation to speak at events or explain that I’m not comfortable introducing them to some person or I’m not in a position to recommend their project to my clients and even if I did, no one would listen to me because I’m not an expert in that field, and even if they were silly enough to listen, they are not a funding organisation and it’s all moot anyway.

And once again, it comes to managing expectations and regularly clarifying what it is that I do and what I can offer. And it’s really hard to stand my ground and say “I’m just a writer and nothing more,” because I have been so blessed and there are so many people out there who have noble missions who maybe think that I can help them and it seems churlish to refuse to help.

Question: Do you think that people who work in a public sphere ( e.g, writers, actors, musicians, photographers, models, even bloggers) have an obligation to assist their fans/supporters? At what point do you draw the line?

Language In A Multicultural Society

I have a new project in the works. Got briefed today and will be able to talk about it once all the papers are signed and dusted.

All I can say is that it will be my most challenging community-building initiative to date, because the people brought together will help people in crisis and it would be an honour to have played a small role in getting them and their resources together.

The OneLove campaign web site is still going strong and today we're chatting about whether couples who have been together for a long-time should use condoms and whether condom use is a trust issue or a protection issue, and Kwanda, where we give some tips on how to arrange an event to raise community awareness on an issue.

If you're a writer/aspirant writer, you can also check out the update on the campaign to encourage South Africans to read by Zukiswa Wanner.

NOVEL UPDATE

Finished the chapter by chapter outline of the novel over the weekend. Now I evaluate the first chapter I had to see if it first the rest of the story well, and rewrite where I need to.

DON'T SPEAK TO ME.....

Yesterday I ended up in Yeoville on Rocky Street [see image of Rocky street I took].

Those of you who've heard of that Joburg suburb/been there know it has a reputation for being overcrowded and not quite safe. It's also a melting pot of immigrants from all over Africa, and I suspect that there are as many people living there who speak French as there are who speak English.

Anyhoo, while I waiting in the car for my friend ( we didn't feel comfortable just leaving the car unattended), I saw a very interesting woman. From the front, she looked very ordinary.

BUT, she wore a big sign that covered most of her back from her shoulders to her butt. The sign read: "Speak to me English. Don't speak to me in a local African language and assume that I speak it because I'm Black."

A part of me was horrified by what I perceive as aggression in the message. But, I could so relate with her, because I face the same problem daily and if I had the guts, I'd wear the same sign. Many shop assistants speak Zulu to me, assuming that I know the language because I'm Black and South African. Problem is, I only understand a smattering of Zulu from informal lessons from friends, and get really annoyed when I'm put under pressure to communicate in a language I'm not fluent in.

Usually I retaliate by speaking in my own home language. That tends to revert the conversation to English real fast, because fewer South Africans speak Setswana, and I speak the old version of the language my grandparents spoke (more like Victorian English versus modern English), so even those who usually speak conversational Setswana have a hard time understanding me. Which is why I prefer English, so we're all on the same page.

But going back to the lady with sign, I also thought her sign was more of a deterrent rather than a way to facilitate easier communication. It also made me wonder other things we unintentionally do to discourage conversation with other people.

What do you think?

Writing Through Interruptions

Had a very erratic morning, where I couldn't seem to get enough quiet in my home. It's Baby's mid-term break from school, so she interrupted me quite a bit. But that was normal, and expected. Then there was:

• An old acquitance I haven't seen in years. She lives in the same surburb; was driving past my house, remembered I work from home and decided to pop in. I wish she'd called first, but once she explained what has been happening in her life (husband terminally ill and won't last the year), I couldn't give her the bum's rush.
• The once a week gardener. He's invaluable in doing the hard jobs, so I can trully enjoy gardening. But I wish he was a planner and didn't ask for every item he needs one by one...
• Numerous phone calls from a friend - I only took the first call, explained I was busy, and she still left messages. And it was not an urgent matter. At least, not to me!
  
• Phone call from another friend - I did ask her to excuse me..
• Baby - "I'm hungry! What's for lunch?" So I had to prepare a decent meal.
  
• Building contractor - to do some measurements and quote me for a job. Why didn't he come on Saturday as previously agreed?

And all before 13h00! How is a writer supposed to do her job with so many people pulling her attention away from the page?

Question: How do you handle interruptions from family and friends while you write/blog?

My Writing Process

This is a long post, so skip if you're not actually interested in my writing process.
Cheers,
Damara
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Po recently asked me about my creative writing process. It made me think about how I actually go about writing articles and stories, and the frightening realisation that I don't actually have a set method.

Ja, I know, you'd think that someone who earns a living as a writer would actually have a system. But for the most part, I just sit at my desk/on the sofa and start working on the paid commercial work, and when I've finished the day's quota and I have some time, I write the creative stuff. So this process will be as illuminating for me as I hope it will be for you:-)

So how does it all evolve?

1. Where I Write - I don't have a specific place I have to be in order for the words to come. I do have a home office but I also spend a lot of time sitting on my living-room sofa and in the garden, and go to the Mugg & Bean at the nearest mall.

2. Sounds and smells - I don't ever play music when I'm working, unless the CD has something to do with work. Music souns like noise to me then, and it's very irritating, which is not good for creativity. But I do regularly play movies/DVDs while I'm writing [P.S. Harry Porter and the Goblet of Fire while writing today]. It feels like company. And I don't mind having people around, even kids playing, as long they don't talk to me while I work.

3. The Writing Tools - I need my laptop and Internet access when I work, and can't imagine working without them. I also have a big flash notebook, where I write stuff when I'm inspired creatively speaking.

4. Research - Whether it's an article or piece of fiction, doing some kind of research is crucial for my story writing process. I also interview people in the industry I'm writing about so I can make the story feel real. I do the interviews in person, by phone or email, depending on the preference of the person I'm interviewing. However, when I don't much about the subject, I prefer to do the interview by email, because then the people write down whatever they want to say, and I can't misunderstand/misinterpret it when it's in black and white.

5. The thinking process - Sometimes a story comes fully formed, and all I need to do is pull the threads of it together. But sometimes, I have to think through the whole to decide where the story starts and what I want to say. I usually spend this time doing manual labour - home renovation task /working in my garden/sweeping the yard/scrubbing floors etc.

6. The first draft - Once I have an idea of the story I want to tell, I start drafting it as a word document in my laptop. No, don't usually outline, unless I'm really struggling with the story (and for me, that usually means I'm not interested in the story/I don't have enough information to get started/the issue is very sensitive and I'm trying to tread carefully and not doing a good job of it). The writing is really instinctual - I follow the story, regularly referring to my notes and interviews and research material. The process is interrupted by short walks to stretch my legs, meals etc.

I do have one eccentricity: I don't take phone calls when I write. My clients generally email me and I respond almost instantly, whereas I don't check my voicemail messages. My landline asks all business contacts NOT to leave a message, and to email me, giving them my email address. But explaining why I don't deal well with phones is another post altogether. But suffice it to say, I also find having to answer phone calls very distracting, which affects productivity.

7. Edit and rewrite - Once I have finished the first draft of the story, the hard part begins: reading it, cutting, moving things, adding more details to the story, choosing a way to make my points, strengthening sentences and paragraphs and generally making sure it flows better. The rewrites and edits happen more than once for works for fiction and longers pieces.

8.Review - After doing edits and rewrites a couple of times, I sometimes lose all perspective on the story, and start to feel that the whole thing sucks and I'm a terrible writer...and I should just call my editor and tell her she made a mistake by hiring me and can she please take the job back? Enter my friend Christelle Du Toit, who's a journalist. I cry on her shoulder, she tells me I'm being silly, I email the story to her and she goes through with a fine tooth comb and mercilessly cuts whatever doesn't work for her. She sends the story back to me, and I do final polishing and send it back to her. [I do the same thing for Christelle, and she reads her scripts for her news stories and features to me].

9. If it's non-fiction, I send story to another copy editor - He's my gatekeeper, and makes sure that my non-fiction pieces conform to editorial guidelines, and tweaks what needs to be tweaked.

Anyhoo, that's it in the nutshell.

P.S. The review portion of the proces is not included when I blog, as this type of writing is a more instant process and is usually about me and what I think/feel.

Question: Do you have a writing process which you follow when you write/blog? And what little eccentricities do you have?

World Food Day: Why You Should Consider Growing Your Own Food

World Food Day is annually held on Oct. 16 to commemorate the founding of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

To celebrate this, I'd like to remind all my readers that you don't have to have a big garden to be able to grow some of your food.

You can use a small patch of ground in your yard, or if you live in a flat/townhouse and don't have a garden, you can do container gardening.

For more information on how to start a container vegetable garden, visit this web site.

So why should you grow your own food?

1. Fresh food is delicious - Growing some of your veges means that you have access to foods that are in season, and can eat them very fresh (off the stalk).
2. Fresh food is cheaper - Growing your own vegetables helps cut down on your food bill, especially if you're able to get a reliably good harvest.
3. The cost of growing your own food can be low - I've found it works even more beautifully during the rainy season, because I can use all that "free water" to water my garden.
4. Gardening gives you food security - I also like the fact that gardening gives me food security - no matter how broke I am, I can still eat well.
5. Gardening offers good exercise and relaxation - working in my garden after a hard day's work is very relaxing. And it gives me good exercise.

Blog Action Day: Little Things You Can Do To Help Stop Climate Change

When Baby mentioned to my oldest nephew that she was learning about global warming and climate change at school, his response was, "so climate change is real? Gosh! I thought it was a myth."

Which got me thinking about the fact that many people I know in my village think that IF global warming is real, it's something that is relevant for people in the Western world/people who live large cities and are affluent enough to worry about whether their light bulb fluorescent and not incandescent.

What is the relevance of climate change to ordinary South Africans who are still aspirational and dream of owning big houses, driving big cars, to be able to take long hot baths and to own as many electronic gadgets we can get our hands on?

Yet, our earth cannot cope with current demands that are being made on it, never mind the demands of those who are previously disadvantaged. We have to start thinking about some of the things that we can do to stop global warming, even as we continue to dream of having greater access to resources and living more affluent lives.

Here are some of the things we can do:

A. Reduce the amount of power we use in our day-to-day lives by:

1. Using less hot water
2. Using a clothes line instead of a dryer
3. Turning off electric devises that you’re not using
4. Unplugging electronic devises from the wall when you’re not using them
5. Only run a dishwasher when you have a full load

B. Emit less carbon dioxide emissions/absorb some of what you emit

6. Plant a tree. A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide in its lifetime.
7. Buy locally grown or produced foods – they travel less to get to you, and therefore, less power is used to get food to you. You will also be supporting local farmers and markets while you’re at it.
8. Walk to the corner store ( rather than driving there) and/or carpool with your colleagues and/friends when you can. This helps reduce the amount of fuel you use to travel and the accompanying carbon dioxide emissions.
9. Phone/email when you can, rather than travelling long distances to attend meetings. This means you use your car or any mode of transport less, and emit less carbon dioxide in your travels.

Doesn't sound so hard, does it?

Staying Profesional While Working From Home, By Tamara

A warm welcome to Tamara, over at Doodles Of A Journo, our guest poster today.

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Many people dream of having a job where they can work from home, choose their own projects and control their own working hours. It sounds like bliss. Often, however, the reality is somewhat different. Being your own boss means solving your own problems – from keeping your workspace tidy to managing your own accounts, doing your own admin and bringing in your own clients.

It’s definitely doable, but it will be infinitely easier if you put reliable support systems in place for yourself. For example, I am useless at keeping tabs on numbers and managing my financial paperwork, so I outsource this to a professional accountant. This not only takes a huge weight off my shoulders, but means that things get done on time, my desk isn’t buried under half-finished balance sheets (it’s actually buried under half-finished story ideas instead) and I don’t end up paying penalties for overdue tax returns and so on.

One of the major unforeseen issues I’ve come across in my ongoing journey towards fulltime freelancing (I currently work for a company in the mornings and freelance in the afternoons) is that of remaining professional. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but I’ve realised that it’s difficult to get clients if people don’t take you seriously. And it’s difficult to get people to take you seriously if you come across as unprofessional.

Here are a few tips I’ve found that have really helped me in this area. I’d appreciate any other advice you have that might help those of us who are working from home (or planning to).

• Dress the part. If you turn up to a meeting with a potential client wearing your gym pants that you’ve had since 1985 paired with grubby flip flops, you’re not likely to be seen as professional. Even if the meeting is at your house and you don’t feel the need to wear a suit, make a little effort to look good. Put on make-up and comb your hair. Clients need to know you’re willing to put in the time and effort on their projects, but they’re not going to feel that way if you can’t even be bothered to brush your teeth. When I first started doing telephonic interviews as a journalist, I actually dressed up just for the phone call. My thinking was that if I look professional, I feel professional and then I act professionally.

• Be reliable. Just because you’re not working regular office hours doesn’t mean your clients aren’t. If you say you’ll email a document to a client by close of business, make sure it’s there by close of business. Don’t send it at 9pm because that’s when you feel like being online.

• Keep up with your industry. Nobody will take you seriously if you’re not onboard with the latest trends and news. For example, if I want to pitch a story to a magazine, I check that it hasn’t been covered before and make sure that I have a good grasp on the magazine’s content before I contact the editor at all. If I pitched an idea for a story on a celebrity fashion profile to a financial journal, I doubt my name would spring to mind when they’re next looking for a freelance writer.

• Manage your time. It frustrates me that many of my friends think I have oodles of time to sit and twiddle my thumbs just because I work from home in the afternoons. That said, I do have the luxury of occasionally taking the afternoon off to see a friend who’s in town for a visit or something similar. But if I let the occasional time off become a regular occurrence, I find that I’m not only putting more pressure on myself (if I take today off, I have to do double the amount of work tomorrow), but I also lose the motivation I’ve built up on a project.

• Invest in the necessary tools. This may mean replacing your 15-year old fax machine that only works once in every three times you want to use it, or spending a little money listing your services in a relevant publication. You’ve got to spend money (even if it’s only once every while) to make money. And remember that most work expenses are tax deductable.

• Find out from someone you trust whether you make a professional impression. A friend recently pointed out to me that it’s high time I get my website up and running, especially if I want more website copy-writing jobs. She’s very right and that’s next on my agenda.

I hope you find these bits and bobs useful. I’d love to hear from you with any advice you may have on the subject of keeping up the professionalism while working from home. Email me at doodlesofajourno at gmail dot com.

Bio
Tamara is a freelance writer who runs the very interesting blog Doodles of A Journo. She has previously mentioned that she likes writing feature articles.

One Reason Why I'm Not A Farmer

For the past couple of weeks, I've been waiting impatiently for rain to come, because I've planted loads of seedlings for my kitchen garden and I didn't want to use municipal water to water the garden.

So I waited for the rain to come.........................
and waited..............................................................
and waited...............................................................
and wondered how real farmers actually survive the stress of waiting for their crops to grow.

Then it struck me - writing is like growing vegetables. You prepare, your get your story idea ( seed), you plant it ( research and start writing) and then you continue to write until it grows and takes shape. You water, feed and weed the garden ( rewrite and edits). And the whole process takes hard work and patience.
Somehow I have the patience for the writing process. But the garden is driving me nuts. Come, rain already............!

A Rant From A Formerly Fat Person

Something has been bugging for a long time now and I think it's time I said it. Or I'll choke on it. My issue is about weight gain, and people, sometimes even strangers, who feel compelled to tell you:
a) You've gained weight
b) You should go on a diet/start an exercise regime.

Let me clarify: I'm not fat. I'm currently in good control of my weight and eating habits, and have been for 2 years now. I wear size 14-16 clothes and have done so for years. Ironically, that's the size I was when I was 17 years old 25 years ago. Physical labour in my garden and walking gives me ample exercise. And when I run/walk an occasional 5km or 10km race, or go hiking, my body copes well, thanks.

But, I WAS a chubby child who turned into a chubby teenager who turned into an overweight young woman. And you know what hurt me the most during all those years when I felt I was not in control of my body? Not the weight itself, which was not healthy for my overall well-being. The greatest hurt came from inconsiderate busybodies who felt compelled to tell me I was fat and should lose weight.

Here's my message:

You're not my friend ( or you would know that discussing my weight is the fastest way to offend me). So why do you think I care what you think about my body? And what business is it of yours whether I have gained a few kilos/need to go on a diet/need to start an exercise regime? And what would you say if I told you that:
a) your hair is ugly
b) you need to go to the hairdresser right now to fix it?
Is your ugly hair my business?

Fat people are not stupid. They know they are fat.
Fat people are not blind. They see themselves in the mirror everyday, and know they are fat. They don't need you to tell them that they are fat.
Fat people can read. They see the same health warnings you do. They read the same magazines and books and newspapers that explain how they can lose the weight and get healthy. They don't need you to tell them what to do.

You think telling a fat person is tough love and will get them to act? Not it's not. That person already has someone who loves them; who tells them uncomfortable truths. And judging by your words, I suspect they don't think that person is you. Your words are the reason they need comfort. They are the reason they spend sleepless nights asking God why he didn't give them different bodies. And sometimes, God help us, your words are the reason they hate their bodies more, and try to find solace in food. Viscious cycle, and your words sometimes contribute to it.

You know what makes me even angrier? When an adult person says the same things outlined above to a child. Children are helpless against us adults. They are smaller, more vulnerable and can't fight back. They need us to love them, care for them, validate them. So when an adult acquitance says to a child "You're so fat!" I have to ask myself, to what purpose are you saying this? Your words are not words of love or comfort. They are certainly not teaching this child how to live a healthy and fulfilling life. You're not giving this child tools to help them navigate the tough terrain of life. So what's your point?

Were you were just in the mood to punch something and this child was convenient? Do you feel better about yourself now, now that the fat child has slunk off to cry on his /her mother's shoulder?

So what got me to this place where I just had to rant? Yesterday Baby and I bumped into an acquitance. Baby is tall for an 11 year old (more than 1.5 metres) and she's chubby (she'll lose the baby fat. I did). And this acquitance, a friend of a friend of one of the mothers from Baby's school, felt compelled to remark on Baby's weight. Of course she was hurt and felt self-conscious afterwards. I just wanted to smash something. Preferably this woman's face.

Instead I blogged about it, because I know there are many more people like this acquitance out there. And I wanted to say STOP. YOUR WORDS DON'T HELP. Your words steal a child's confidence. And sometimes, the damage you do lasts until adulthood.

I'm doing my best to make sure Baby knows confidence comes from deep within yourself, not from other people telling you who/what/how you should be. I'm also confident that pre-teen weight gain is temporary, and she'll grow into her beautiful, healthy body.

But many overweight people never learn this fact, and negative words simply aggravate an already bad situation. So, the next time you meet a fat person, think before you speak. Their weight is none of your business.

Christmas Party

LauraKim over at Female2Female is organising a Christmas party for 60 Children at Othandweni Children's Home ( part of the the Johannesburg Child Welfare) and she'd like your help. She says:
"Those of us with children know how infectious the excitement of Christmas is aswell as the look on a childs face when opening a gift is priceless. So PLEASE join me and get involved in this – its R100 and a packet of chips or sweets!"
Read the full post.

A Day Full Of Poetry

The day evolved into a long moment full of poetry. I expected the Eisteddford thing. The event was held at St Benedict's Catholic School For Boys. Baby's school did very well thanks.They earned their diploma, I thought. But then I'm biased.

Through the event Baby discovered Kenn Nesbitt's poetry, and she's in love. So she spent most of the evening yesterday reading a selection of his poems for me, making him my new favourite children's poet. His poetry is simple, fun and funny with some unexpected twists.

So if you have kids/nephews/nieces and want to include a book in your Christmas gift pack, check out Poetry4kids and order one of Nesbitt's books. There's still time for them to ship to South Africa, I think. Or you could check if Exclusive Books orders his books?

On the local front ( and for parents), I also found out that Barb, a blogging buddy who co-owns Earthbabies, is also a pretty good poet. I thoroughly enjoyed her poem entitled "Someday I will live with my kids."

Here's a sample:

When I’m an old lady, I’ll live with each kid,
And bring so much happiness…just as they did.
I want to pay back all the joy they’ve provided.
Returning each deed! Oh, they’ll be so excited!
(When I’m an old lady and live with my kids)

Read the full poem

A Fresh New Look

I couldn't sleep after watching Kwanda last night ( don't know why my mind refused to shut down) so I worked until the early hours of the morning doing some Spring cleaning on my sites. You may have noticed that changed the template, added a few features and some colour. You like, I hope?

Also rearranged things on the Kwanda social network. Most of the members are from NGOs and community-based organisations, and some have not used social networks extensively before. So I'm trying to help them find information they need more easily, and join ongoing conversations. If you are involved in community development in any way, feel free to join the Kwanda social network and tell us all about it.

You can even set up a blog to talk about your cause/organisation on a regular basis, upload pics and essentially promote what you do.

Eisteadford, Harry Potter and African Writers

Are you going to join the conversation on Blog Action Day? The event takes place on the 15 October and the theme is climate change. If you haven't registered yet, please do so here.

Baby is doing a solo poetry performance at Eisteadford tomorrow, so that event has taken over our household. Is she ready? Do I think she'll win a diploma, or maybe a gold? Did I remember to clear my schedule so I'm present when she does the performance; did I reember to buy lots of bottled water because it's hot and she doesn't want to be thirsty just before the performance etc etc.

And when conversation is not about Eisteadford, it reverts to Harry Potter. She's now reading book 4, and yesterday I put my foot down and demanded she needs to slow down and do other things. It's one thing to enjoy reading; quite another to let a series take over your life.

But to be honest, as a writer I'm jealous of ol' JK. Rowling, and how she managed to entice people into Harry Potter-land and keep them there. If I can write half as engagingly, and encouraged South Africans to read as she has popularised reading globally, I'd be a happy camper.

A day in the life

Still, I was not as productive as I would have liked. The article and creative writing portion of the day went well enough, but the end-of-the-month reporting is going s-l-o-w-l-y. Especially the parts that include Excel spreadsheets.

I wish I'd inherited a portion of my baby sister Debbie's talent: she's a project manager at heart (and professionally) and does these reports and spreadsheets and tracking mechanisms because she enjoys it and it suits her sense of order, not because it's a necessary evil. And the witch writes some seriously good poetry on top of it too. Don't over-achieving siblings just about annoy you?:-)

Chatted with Ben Williams, editor of Book SA about the ReadSA campaign. Book Southern Africa is the Internet newspaper for SA books, and I'm really learning a lot about modern South African writers and their works.

Also chatted with Ivor W. Hartmann, who's very jacked up when it comes to African writers /writing. Talk about pan-Africanist writer! Anyhoo, Ivor designed a really nice logo for ReadSA. Check out the blog, and the logo.

And as usual, I'm going to urge all my South African readers to watch Kwanda tonight. It broadcasts on SABC1 at 9pm. A lucky viewer stands a chance to win R2500 by answering a simple question by SMS. And if you have a minute, please check out the discussion taking place on my Facebook profile.

I asked why a beautiful, successful woman would choose to have an affair with a married man, and there are two gentlemen whose responses left me speechless for a while. The excellent news is that they were being very honest. But it's their attitude which reminded me why we really need the OneLove campaign in the first place. Think hard about their reality, and then please throw in your two cents' worth.

Getting My Groove Back

So the publisher liked the synopsis ( with a critique, of course) and I'm to submit the first chapter and a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the novel. Faster than Speedy Gonzales, hey? I like this publisher! That, of course, boosted my spirits no end.

I'm also finding my groove in terms of work-related projects. Had a record number of comments on multiple concurrent partnerships and alcohol yesterday, and comments from Kwanda viewers also continue to come in.

I've also managed to automate part of my publishing process. It used to be I had to pick up links from the articles I publish on blogs to some of the social networks I use like Facebook Twitter, Plaxo and Stumble Upon. What i didn't realise was that these platforms have tools to link to each other and automatically push content from one platform to another.

So now all I have to do is publish a post on a blog ( say a Kwanda post), and it will automatically publish a synopsis on the Yahoo profile and Kwanda Facebook page, which pushes the synposis on my Plaxo and a one-liner with link on my Twitter profile. Plaxo also republishes on Stumble Upon.

And the best part is that I'm not using any additional tool to get this done - these platforms do it using the persmissions I give them. I'm actually tired of having to adopt one more tool that's supposed to make my life better, but actually adds to the balls I need to keep in the air.

Lastly, if you have a minute, check out this quiz, where I ask people to think about the influence that they have on their children.

The aim of the quiz is to help parents think about how their gender and sexual attitudes and actions affect their children. A lot of the time we think our sex lives are not our children's business, but they watch, they learn and they emulate.

Eating An Elephant

I'm sure you all know the popular saying about eating an elephant "one bite at a time." So that's what I decided to do about my creative writing project. Instead of worrying about whether I will have the time to finish the novel, I polished the synopsis over the weekend and submitted it.

If the publisher approves it, then I finish the chapter outline and first chapter and send them in. If those are approved, then I will be doubly motivated to make the time to write it, because I will have a contract on hand. Wish me luck:-)

A Conundrum

Feeling more like myself everyday. It helps that I've shifted some of the work to someone else, lightening my load, and can now focus on things I want to do and/can do well.

We also have guests for the weekend: a good friend who lives in Bloem is visiting for the weekend and is quite determined to help me have fun. And one of Baby's friends, whose family commutes between South Africa and Mozambique is also in town, which means a sleepover tonight and lots of girly giggles in the house.

Work status

In terms of work, things are getting very interesting on the OneLove regional campaign. Pakachere, a Malawian NGO involved in the campaign, is launching a new radio drama series on the 9th October.

And while the drama broadcasts in a number of radio stations in Malawi ( and thus has no relevance for my South African readers), I'm going to do a lot of online promo for that series in the coming weeks.

So if you know of Malawian web sites and bloggers whose themes are love, marriage, relationships, cheating, intergenerational relationships and office romance, drop me a line? I'd really appreciate it.

Kwanda is also chugging along very nicely. Getting lots of comments and questions from viewers, and the number of Facebook fans is also growing nicely. I still welcome reviews of the show, by the way.

Creative writing conundrum

Got a writer's brief for a novel series this morning from a publisher (by way of a friend). A big part of me wants to jump up and down in glee.

But I don't even know if I should attempt to write for them, because I'm so tired and I still need to do a lot of thinking about how to juggle the copywriting/web development work and the creative writing opportunities coming my way. The bottomline is that I am a novice novelist, so I have to do a huge amount of work before the publisher and I reach a contract stage. And it's hard for me to invest a lot of time and resources in something that has no contract, and may not yield desired results ( if I suck as a novelist:-).

I know books are where I want my future to go but how do I navigate my way there? Thinking of doing Nanowri as a way to force me to finish the draft of the one novel that could meet the editorial guidelines. But considering how tired I've been lately, and how behind I have been with my current work, I'm not sure it would be wise to attempt it.

Read South Africa

And to distract myself from work/life balance issues, I created a blog and Facebook page for Read South Africa. Here is some info about ReadSA:

The pursuit of information, the desire to "broaden ones horizons" has unfortunately and tragically remained a "Western" and "elitist" construct.

We as the writers of our time would like to move beyond these artificial barriers and create literary awareness and a passion for reading among the majority of South Africans.

We want to use our profession to reach the oft ignored South African classroom, the beleaguered minds of young and old alike.

We want to offer other paths that could be followed to somehow stem the tide of violent rhetoric that has permeated and diminished the lives of South Africans, where ignorance plays a major role in perpetuating this violence, where it becomes cyclical and passed on from generation to generation.

I'm sure you're wondering why doing those sites was different from actual work? Well, firstly, the organisers had no expectations, as it was a favour. So no pressure.

And secondly it was the little that I could do to support something that fits within my belief system. And could benefit me directly as a writer.

So if you're a writer, or an aspirant one, check them out and join the cause. And feel free to offer your views on the Facebook page. Contact Zukiswa Wanner if there is anything you can do to assist. ReadSA belongs to everyone.

Moral Of The Story: Learn To Ask For Help

So I've previously mentioned that I was behind with work, and was also losing my good cheer due to some life challenges on top of it.

And I was talking to someone who I work with and he said: "the problem with you is that you don't tell me when you have a problem so that I can help you. I find out afterwards, once you're drowning."

And I had to acknowledge that he is right. He's not the first friend or colleague who has said that to me, and it usually drives them all crazy. And occassionally I promise myself that I will try to get better at it.

But when I do need help again, I get into the same old trap of trying to convince myself that everything will be fine as long as I work harder, smarter etc. But life doesn't work like that, does it?

Fulsome Compliments or Spam?

I regularly receive the following statements on one of the blogs that I manage:

Generally I do not post on blogs, but I would like to say that this post really forced me to do so, Excellent post!

Hey, I found your blog while searching on Google your post looks very interesting for me. I will add a backlink and bookmark your site. Keep up the good work!

I read a few topics. I respect your work and added blog to favorites.

I usually don’t post on Blogs but ya forced me to, great info.. excellent! … I’ll add a backlink and bookmark your site.

Such an enjoyable read, and fantastic comments

Sounds great, doesn't it? Except it's spam, and links from these compliments take readers to get rich quick schemes, porn, sites selling stuff that really would not help my readers.

So I treat the comments as spam and delete them. But there's a part of me that wishes that the compliments were real, and not a hook intended to make me overlook the fact that these people do not read my site, and their comments are automated and intended to sell their products using my platform.

Do you also receive these kinds of comments on your blog? How do you deal with them?