J Is For Job Losses In Phokeng

Central Phokeng, around 5kms from where I live

One of the reasons I'm such a strong advocate for running your own business is that no one can retrench you.

A client can fire you. A long term contract that provides the backbone of your business can expire.But hopefully, if such a thing happens, you made sure you have other clients who can take up the slack and you know where to go look for more work to replace the client you lost.

J Is For Juggling Roles

The weekend was rough. We had electricity problems and were unconnected for more than 24 hours. It was not a loadshedding issue ( loadhshedding was not implemented in my area anyway). It was just a technical problem that was complicated by a techie who told the utility company that everything was fine on their end when they did in fact have a problem and it was affecting us.

So I had to back-and-forth with the utility for a while to get proper help. Meanwhile, our house  just felt dark and dank. We have a gas stove, lamps, heaters etc, so we could do the basics. But it's shocking how the lack of power affected our morale.

I also had to throw away perishables we didn't eat immediately. I was not going to risk our health eating food that could be off. I'm contacting our home insurance company today to see if I can claim money for that. We'll see.

Meanwhile, let's talk about juggling. As small business owners, we juggle many roles in any given day. You are the company's CEO, marketing manager, receptionist, social media person, spokesperson, probably even cleaner. 

I is for Ideal Working Conditions

Night flowers I'm planning to watch unfold

Sometimes you have to work hours or in locations that are less than your ideal, and your work has to fit around your life issues.Today is one of those days for me.

In general, I do better, am happier when I have a routine. I know, I know. Dull, isn't it?

But I've come to terms with the fact that I write/work better when there is no drama except the kind that is in my head; when I wake up each day and do the same thing over and over again.

For me, ideal working conditions are when I'm home with all my familiar working tools around me. I could work in my office, in my bedroom or even in the garden, but whereever I am, I should be comfortable/feel at home there. Unfortunately, ideal working conditions are not always possible.

Right now I'm writing this post sitting next to a clinic bed, where Mma is lying down attached to an antibiotics drip for treatment. We will go home after the treatment, but meanwhile, I have a couple of hours to kill while I wait for the medical professionals to  do their thing.Focussing on the work helps me to not go impatient while I wait. It also helps to focus my mind on intellectual issues, rather than my day to day challenges. It also helps me feel productive.

And when I get home and I've settled Mma, I'm going to make myself a big mug of tea, go sit in my garden, watch my night flowers unfold and just take a deep breath.

P.S. She's OK. There were just a few minor issues -what was initially diagnosed as dermatitis  was actually a fungal infection over the body. Apparently people who have diabetes have a tendency to get it,  and  the treatment, meds and creams will take care of it.

What are your  ideal working conditions?

I Is For Insurance/Income Protector

One of the issues we need to consider as business owners is how to bring in money when we are sick and incapacitated in some way.

In South Africa, many employers provide insurance that allows you to be paid your salary/a portion of it while you're on medical leave. We also have an unemployment fund, from which one can claim during the time that they are incapacitated.

However, as small business owners, we don't have the luxury of an employer ensuring that you have benefits that include your medical aid (what we call health insurance) or your income protector, which makes out a regular payment to you for the duration of your illness.

We also have to consider how to ensure that we have a decent income if we become disabled, even if we manage to find a new way of working after a life-changing illness.

This is something that you need to do for yourself. The big question is, have you? If you were sick for two months or more, is your income going to be affected? Before you run off, this is not a sponsored post and I'm not trying to sell you anything:-)

It's just that several things have gotten me thinking about the issue:

H Is For Home Office

My new home office (Black blob on the floor is my bag:-)

One of the most difficult lessons I've had to learn since I moved to Phokeng is that the space where you work matters and it's difficult to focus on the work at hand when your work station is unsettled.

Initially I worked where I could, when I could. I had a big table with my computers, printer and laptop in  my bedroom, but it didn't feel like a proper place to work. So I roamed about in the house, telling myself it was nice to be so mobile. And it sounds very nicely creative. However, the situation was not working as it should.

Here are some of the benefits of having a home office, whether it's an outside cottage, a room separate from the rest of your house or a corner in one of the family rooms:

Ubuntu: We Are Who We Are Because Of The People In Our Lives

The post is part of Michelle's Ubuntu blog hop, to celebrate her blog's third anniversary. Happy bloganniversary, Michelle!

Anyhoo, one of the lessons I learnt growing up was that Motho ke motho ka batho ba bangwe.  [A human is human because of other people]

This meant that I was part of a community and that I would do better in the world when supported by my family and my community. Without them, I was nothing, even if on the surface I seem succesful.

F is For First Times, Five Buck Forum And A Filing Cabinet

My First Time - I finally finished the first story I plan to submit under a pen name. It's for a YA anthology and I wrote it with a specific publisher in mind. Let's just hope they like it.

Oddly enough, the theme for this anthology is My First Time, but unlike my last "My First Time" contribution, this one is fiction.

The deadline is still far off, so I have time to polish the story before submitting it.Will let you know if  it's accepted.

Meanwhile, please do buy My First Time published by Worldreader.org, a collection of true stories to tell girls that whatever they're embarrassed, scared, or excited about, they're not alone.

The stories  are interesting and span both the magic of self-discovery and the exploitation of innocence.The proceeds go to a good cause.

E Is For Encouraging Our Children To Love Reading

Source: pbs.org

Three years ago, before I moved back to Phokeng, I was heavily involved with READ South Africa, an organisation formed by local writers, editors, publishers and librarians to encourage South Africans to read locally published books and to be well-read.

I mostly worked on the Facebook page, updating it, initiating and monitoring discussions on various book-related issues.

One of the issues that came up was how we could encourage our children to love reading. How do you foster that love for books, so it's not only something that they do because they have nothing else going on, but something that they actively seek as part of their life moving forward?

Many people who "liked" the Facebook page gave suggestions, which I collected at the time, hoping to write an article, maybe even an ebook, on the subject.

Unfortunately, the article never happened, as my priorities soon changed and I did not use Facebook for the next couple of years. Still, the material remained in my laptop, and I've now found the opportunity to publish it.

D is For Drafts

Yesterday was a very good writing day. One of those days writers dream about where you have an idea, and you sit down to write it down, and the ideas and words just keep coming.  By the time I finished, I had 4000 words of an outline for a series of children's stories.

The idea came from this guy.

Fluffy on a rug in our sittingroom

 We call him Fluffy. I know, I know. Not very original, is it?

C Is For Crushing On Brandon Stanton.. Ahem... Content

source

Well, to start with, C is for Cheers from Baby. Or is it Crushing on Brandon Stanton?  Not sure.

Nonetheless, she was very excited because her copy of Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton finally arrived from Amazon.

I'm not going to embarass her here by publishing her email to me where she squealed and shrieked etc, thanking me for the book.

You can read about what she did when it arrived here, if you don't mind teenage language and enthusiasm (She's 15).

For the rest of you, let's just say I'm her favourite person because I listened when she bludgeoned me about loving Brandon Stanton, wanting to read HONY and basically, wishing she could grow up to be like Brandon Stanton. Yes, I know I'm repeating his name a lot. She repeated his name and book title A LOT!

And when I didn't take the hint, she started sending me posts from his Facebook page.

C Is For Celebrating Storypot's 8th Anniversary

Source: Pinterest

Wow! Time flies while you're busy living, doesn't it? Today is the 8th Anniversary of Storypot, and I must say the journey has been worth it.

It's also nice that the anniversary comes at a time when I have renewed enthusiasm for blogging.

Here are some of the blog's highlights

A Fresh Introduction: This is the first blog post that survived the set up process. In it, I talk about why I  started the blog and how my focus has changed from the initial plan.

I also share some strong views about fairytales for modern African children. Most of those views stand, by the way.

Almost 87 000 page views; spread over 1200 posts, resulting in 1900 comments: Clearly, Storypot is not setting the world on fire with hundreds of thousands, or even millions of page views. However, the blog has grown steadily, and the traffic that did make its way here has been meaningful, resulting in:

• freelance writing work and referrals (too many to mention)
• publishing a publishing contract or two, even been interviewed by an Irish production company for a documentary to expand on something I said on Storypot
• some ebook sales
• finding children's books Baby fell in love with  and books I thought Baby could learn from (Baby is now 15 years old and still has a love affair with books)
• meeting and working with organisations that support writers. Check out SCWBI Gauteng if you are a children's writer. The people are really helpful and friendly. And if you're not based in Gauteng, find the organisation in your area. It is a global organisation.
• Profiling some interesting development projects on the blog
• sharing some of my adventures travelling the world and some of my life experiences
• plenty of business lessons  and sharing of cultural experiences.
• some great friendships (thank you for your friendship and support over the years)

Changing our corner of the world: We've also worked on and/supported /blogged about some very good causes:

• OneLove Regional Campaign and Kwanda, both projects of the Soul City Institute and its partners
• Shukumisa -This national campaign aims to shake up social attitudes towards sexual abuse
• 16 Days of Activism Against  Gender Violence
• Read South Africa - encouraging South Africans to read and be well-read
• Blog Action Day

Some cash and in-kind benefits -  Loved them. Want more of them:-)

So. To celebrate Storypot's birthday, I'm giving away copies of my ebook, How to get quoted in the media," which I co-wrote with Christelle Du Toit. All you have to do is leave a comment in this post, maybe share what your blog's birthday means/meant to you, and how you celebrated it/plan to celebrate it.

I know, I know. I'm the one who's supposed to get the birthday gifts, yes? But, I'm generous like that :-)

Acknowledgements

This blog post is part of Week 3 of the VA Blogging Challenge. Here are my previous posts for the challenge:

Week 1:
A is for Assessment
A is for Anthologies and Amazon Widgets

Week 2

B is for Basics
B is for Bookmarks

B is for Basics

Diary from St Giles Home

The one big thing that emerged from my assessment of my life is that I had too many things going on at once.

Some of it are the result of life and I have very little control over it, but there are also many things which I could simplify if I put in a little effort.  

And simplifying for me means going back to basics:

Health

• Doing a  medical check up so doctors can catch silent illnesses, like cancer or diabetes, early if any are lurking in there.
• Making sure that I have enough medical cover
• Registering with the public health care system, so I can also access that service if the need arises. Yes, their clinics are crowded, but taking Mma through the system has taught me that the medical expertise is just as good, and even though the staff services way too many people on fewer resources, they do try.
• Setting aside time each day to take care of myself – to grow my food, prepare it, eat well, exercise etc.
• Filing all our health- related paperwork as it comes through, so any family member can easily access it if needed.

A Is For Anthologies & Amazon Widgets

Buy the book and support Short Story Day Africa

Even though this post is part of the VA Blogging Challenge, the content is basically my general news - a glimpse of my writing life and stuff that I come across/use/interests me/influence my writing/I want to promote.


A is for Anthologies

So. Today my blogging friend Tiah sent me an email to announce that they had finally launched Rapunzel is Dead, an anthology of 17 short stories by the young participants of Short Story Day Africa 2013. Contributors for this anthology were within the 9-12 age group.

I was priviledged enough to be one of the judges of the competition, so I'm thrilled to see the result of their labour. Congratulations!

The ebook is available on Amazon for $2.99 or, you can set your own price on Smashwords.  Setting your own price means you can ask for the book for $0.00 (free). But if you do pay something, the proceeds will help fund Short Story Day Africa 2014.

A is for Assessment

To my regular readers: I mentioned that I was taking part in the VA Tips & Tricks Blogging Challenge? Well, it's about to start. I hope that you find my posts useful/entertaining or something. At least, not BORING! Maybe even interesting enough to want to read posts by other participants? There's over 60 of us!

I also want to thank you for always showing up, no matter how busy your own lives get. You make me want to be better; do better. Which is what inspired this post.


And to my new visitors who came through as part of the challenge, thank you for visiting my blog, Storypot. I hope you enjoy your stay here.. and we can make you want to come back:-) And thanks Gaynor for inviting me to participate in the challenge. 

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For the past couple of months, I've been doing an assessment of my life and career.  I wanted to see where I was doing things right, and could pat myself on the back for the success, LOL, and what I was doing wrong, so I could work towards improving.

I also wanted to use the information I gathered to better plan my days, so I could set realistic goals and do what I need to do with minimum stress. I decided to divide my assessment into separate life categories to try to make it all make sense: