Communities

No man is an island, we all want to belong somewhere.
In the new world this is tricky with all the time pressures on us. Typically these days people work and go home creating a community at home and maybe a community/tribe with their working colleagues.
Is this enough? My feeling is that you also need to belong to something outside of this framework, maybe adding value or making a difference…
We have built a community called “1 000 000 Ambitious South Africans” on Facebook. The group already has 760 members, and we find that people join because of the name. They want to feel part. They want to make a difference. They want to belong.
The irony about the word “ambitious”, is that it means different things to different people.

I belong to this group because (1) I am a proudly SA citizen and (2) I want to add value in both my work, and personal life.
Are you alone on an island…?

Adding value

Where do you want to contribute in your life when you retire?
Economic, political, spiritual?
You have to define in which context you want to contribute most of your time.
During your career you will be climbing the ladder. When you retire you want to make sure you end up at the top of the right building.
As we are rolling out our business I am confronted with a choice where to contribute.
I hope to find answers to the above. I want to add value.

a Ship in the harbour is safe

There is an old saying that states that a ship in the harbour is safe, but ships are not build to stay in the harbour.

In business or as manager/employee we tend to fall in this trap. The safe bet is to preserve the status quo, to do nothing extraordinary. We are so afraid of mistakes and failure that we keep our ships in the harbour. Nobody can blame us for anything, nobody can fire me, and nobody will notice if I am slack. The comfort zone harbour is very safe! But high performance people know where the idyllic island is, and that it will take ten hours of dangerous waters and winds to reach the island. High performance people know they don't have a choice, they need to reach the island and all the wonderful things it has to offer. They spend the same ten hours a day working, the only difference is the fact that the high performance people will be satisfied, fulfilled and making a difference in the world.

How do you spend your ten hours a day? I don't feel safe where I am right now in my life, but I am surely not in my harbour!

Mechanics vs dynamics, differentiate your business!

Why has the Spur restaurant survived and prospered for so long? Surely it is only another restaurant...? According to the “beautiful basics approach” it is all about mechanics vs dynamics.

Mechanics are the stagnant components for a specific industry. In our example a restaurant, without exception receive its patrons at the door, usher to a table, ask what to drink and eat, order in the kitchen…
A 5% improvement in the mechanics will not result an improvement in your business. (NB assuming the mechanics is 100%)

Dynamics are the aspects that gives a business personality “branding”, uniqueness for example, Kulula.com, Woollies, Spur, Google...

Improve your dynamics and your business will differentiate itself from the competition.
Is your business dynamic...?

Explain yourself

If you were invited by Quest on CNN for a 5 minute interview about your business/yourself, how will you use this time? (http://questmeansbusiness.blogs.cnn.com/)

I watched last night as the CEO of a prominent online business fumbled away his 5 minutes and only left unanswered questions about his business after the interview.

Even as an individual or business we should work on a selling formula to make use of ANY opportunity to summerise our core focus in a clear way.

In writing this blog I realized that I need to work on this in my own life. Imagine you are given 1 sentence to describe who you are, or the sole purpose of your business…scary thought… or is it?

Silver lining

The newspapers are full of the current bleak economic down turn and retrenchments across all industries.

How about I share some good news with you.


After launching Ambitionblog last week we already have 30 job advertisements with 220 profile holders (potential job seekers) registered on the site!
Feedback we received from our personal networks is that there is a need for specific skills like teachers and pharmacists at the moment.
We need to get these jobs filled, please ask your circle of friends if anybody knows about the above mentioned ”skills set” and get them to register on http://www.ambitionblog.com/
Help us in our quest to link great people with great companies!
Appreciating your support!

Keep on going and going…

I am not a jogger but what I have learned when I feel like switching over to walking is to get a beacon to aim at in the distance and to start counting the paces…when you reach the end you feel great.

To start a business you need to keep on going and going…

• Know where you are going and measure the steps, everyday you are one step closer.

• Stay calm and keep yourself busy with the right things. When you keep on doing the right thing, you will build momentum.

• Sometimes you don’t have a choice between quitting and continuing, it will take the same amount of energy (If you give up you will have to use the energy elsewhere.)

• The true opportunity, the break through, the WOW does not come out of the plan but out of executing the plan and leads to something great you could not foresee.

The true opportunity is discovered in the activity of doing the right thing again and again…

Your turn to blog…

Phase one of the ambitionblog website is complete!!!
I have sent you many blogs about the birth and growth of our business (and my personal growth…) and will continue doing so in future.

My turn to listen. Register your profile on http://www.ambitionblog.com/

(Please note that you will be building a footprint of yourself and this might take some time…Don’t rush)

Appreciating your support and looking forward to your comments.
Charl

Go for it

I joined 3 mountain bike fundies for a ride in the Kogelberg recently. (Kleinmond, Western Cape)
I do not currently own a mountain bike and had to use an old “Hypermarket” special with tekkies and green hat as helmet.
As a passionate cyclist I easily kept up with the pace and enjoyed the outing!(despite the lack of shocks and gear...)


Should I ever want to ride competitively I will probably need to buy the correct equipment.

What did I learn?

To get up and go and start to do something you don’t need the best equipment. If you want to start a business or have a brilliant idea to implement at work, you don’t need all the funding and systems in place to start. Just get going, and start gaining momentum. Phase two will be to “upgrade” the tools.

Tourists only

On Friday during the Easter Weekend we jumped on the red Hop On – Hop off open top Cape Town bus. As a true Capetonian I thought I would not learn anything new on this trip. (shouldn’t this bus only be used by overseas tourists?) What a surprise!

I learned so many new things about the Mother city.

In your business/career are you comfortable with being a local, or do you have the guts to put on the tourist cap once in a while?

What is in a name?

When last did you think about your name? How important is it to you? Today I experienced this after a meeting with a prominent company. At the end of the meeting the top executive mentioned our names in his good bye. On reviewing the outputs of the meeting the mere thought that the executive remembered our names put the meeting in a new light.
I have decided to make a renewed conscious effort to remember and to use a person’s name in conversation.

How do you manage?

How do you build a house? First you plan the look and feel, then you organise all the materials, you activate by building and all along you control the project by checking the progress.

This is a practical example of the management functions we are implementing:

• Plan (with the output in mind)
• Organise
• Active
• Control

Brand building

How do you market yourself?

We went to the KKNK in Oudtshoorn the weekend to do some promotion work for Ambitionblog. We ended up in one of the VIP tents. All the who’s who of the Afrikaans singing community were there. Except for all the bling, I learned something from them. Every step they take is to promote and sell themselves, each one of them is building his own brand. This is extreme personal selling, but should not be exclusive to stars!

To build your own brand (personal or business) you have to believe in yourself and promote your OWN unique talents, skills and expertise!

The choices we make?

In business we sometimes make the choice to say “or”. We decide between one way of executing an idea above another. Why can’t we say “and”. What will the possibilities be if you entertain and execute both choices? (You might be surprised at how little the cost implications are sometimes)

Networking

This weekend while camping in the Overberg (close to Swellendam) I went for a run. Close to the finish I met a bunch of joggers. We started talking and it turned out that one of them is a rental agent in Bloubergstrand. The exact place we are looking to rent at the moment.

This is where networking starts, with basic conversation.

I have quickly realized that your network is actually everyone that you have built a relationship with or in a few moments made “contact” with.

In the business world this is your life line. On the Internet there are a couple of websites available to keep track of your network, but it still boils down to making personal contact with another human being.

Learning to sell

This week I am stepping into the marketing function of the business and specifically into personal selling.
From being an office bound specialist in the finance function this is a completely new world to me.

What have I learned so far?

• Prepare, prepare, prepare

• Keep eye contact with your customer and try to make a personal connection

• Listen to your customers needs and adapt your selling strategy to fit

• Define your output for the meeting clearly

• Show your excited - positive energy is contagious

• Note to self: never use understatements to sell anything

• Conclude the meeting by summarising the decisions made and the way forward

• Follow up with a thank you email for the opportunity

• Enjoy the interaction!

Hidden opportunities

Yesterday we visited a potential business partner in Gauteng. We had our preconceived outputs to achieve. Halfway throughout the meeting we realized our planned output will have to be adjusted.

After about 2 hours of back and forth talking we reached outputs that far exceeded our expectations.

What did we learn?

• In a meeting you have to adjust your pitch to the meet the exact requirements of the person across the table.
• You have to be open minded and be able to change lanes, switch gears or do a U turn should the direction of the road change.
• Always be open to find new solutions and synergies.

Will the corporate culture change?

Ambitionblog’s vision is to market profile holders via their profiles. (Professional, green, wellness, talents & social…)
Over dinner tonight our friend Dirk (working for a corporate institution), asked the question, will companies change to really care about the person behind the CV?
Today from our visits and meetings with two prominent tertiary institutions they are really keen on using Ambitionblog to market their students to find the best possible opportunities.
Maybe the change should be driven from the prospective employee instead of the employer?
With the current economic crises in the world, after all the excess have been shed in corporate companies, will the employees have a chance to instigate change?

Great expectation

“High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation. Unknown author”

Our business is built on the expectation that it will be a success.

This week we are introducing our business to Gauteng Universities. The aim of this is to encourage students to create profiles on Ambitionblog 'to tell the world more about themselves' and to expect great opportunities in return...

Are you living in expectation?

Fit for business

I went for a jog after work. Wow! but this can clear your head. This bit of exercise gave me the inspiration for this blog.

My coach in business is always hammering away to “get” fit for business. We don’t always think this way about business.


Any business or department should at least have the following basic “legs”:

• OPERATIONS – What you suppose to produce or deliver
• MARKETING – How good and how often you market or communicate your processes internally and in your work with customers, externally
• ADMIN & FINANCE – Financial targets and budgets
• HUMAN RESOURCES – manage the skills needed to perform all the above

In turn each portfolio above is split into these functions. This principle even applies for those of you who are currently an employee. Each day you have to work on each one of these functions.
To stay “fit” I apply these principles to this blog. Let me know how you stay fit!

Get up!

When we say, we would like to promote the talents, skills and expertise of individual’s; we would like to add the word “balanced’ individuals. A balanced life means you are a person capable of juggling your 08:00- 17:00 with having a family, friends, time for exercise, going away on week-ends , eating healthy foods, recycling, having time for yourself, and getting enough sleep.

Profile five: The Wellness Profile

Our wellness profile will zoom in and take a snapshot of your current health profile. We will give you cool tips on healthy living, and get our experts in to help in terms of exercise tips.
The irony is, that living a healthy life and exercising, has a way of tipping the scale, so that you have more energy to balance the rest!

Your other world

The word “social” is often linked to parties, events and restaurants. We reserve the word to the time slot after work. The time when you can relax, and let off some steam.

Profile four: The Social Profile

We think a social profile is much more than inviting a friend to join you on a social network. It is a vital aspect of who you are, and does not stick to certain time slots. Your social mannerisms after work, has a direct impact of your relationships at work.
We would like to portray this aspect of your life, in a creative way. Why not tell the world more about who you are as a friend, family member and future CEO.

Going Green

There is such a big focus on companies and industry leaders going green. Carbon emissions are being cut, greener cars are built and the offices are going paperless.
The man on the street read about the green revolution in the newspaper, and see’s it on TV. He feels he would like to do something to change the world, but does not have a clue where to start.

Profile three: The Green Profile

At Ambitionblog, we are not asking you to become an instant green activist. What we would like to do, is to create an awareness, that the earth should be considered when making decisions, and that being conscious about the environment, will add to a balanced lifestyle.
When interacting on our green profile, you will gain knowledge on ideas and tips on the small changes that you can make today, saving our world for tomorrow.

The Talented

A talent is a natural ability or aptitude, to make something that would take others years to perfect, look simple. Talents are highly under estimated in the work environment, with all the focus being set on skills learnt, appose to skills naturally gained.

Profile two: The Talent Profile

When looking at an individual as a whole, one cannot ignore this ‘compartment.’ Whether you are a natural sports person, have a healthy appetite for arts, or a flair for languages, a talent has a tendency to overflow into passion, and there for affects who you are as a person, and an employee.
We will supply the canvas, for you to portray your talents. Tell the world more about you!

The professional

To enable Ambitonblog to “tell the world more about you” we will give you different profiles to complete. This will act as a guide to draw the best marketable information about you and make it presentable to prospective employers. In the following couple of blogs I will explain the five different profiles in detail.

Profile one: The Professional Profile

Basically, this profile summarizes how you have chosen to spend the biggest part of your life. It connects the dots from your part time student job, to your 1st leap into the corporate world, to where you find yourself today. Add achievements, compliments from clients and targets exceeded to enhance the depth of this profile. We are professionals at making you look good! We want to portray this aspect of your life in an ‘easy to use’ manner, where you can show potential employers, why they cannot afford not to hire you.

Holding on...

On Sunday morning I put on my cycling gear to participate in the Cape Argus Cycle Tour. My aim was to do my first sub 3hour ride. I ended doing a sub 4hour ride.

What happened?

Well if you watched the news you would have seen that the howling winds of the Cape wreaked havoc. We had to cycle in winds of up to 60km/h. I can tell you this was a challenge. I decided to do my best and the satisfaction of finishing was great.

What has this got to do with our business?

Currently we are facing difficulties in finishing our ambitionblog website. It feels as if the winds are blowing against us from every direction. We under estimated the scope of the project, we are still changing the look and feel and some of the functionality.

The same as my sub 3hour goal we have to force ourselves to adapt and to change gears to race to the finish line.

In a Nutshell...

Ambitionblog is a company specialising in giving you the tools to promote yourself.

Companies so often focus only on the professional side of an individual. We would like to promote you as a whole.

You will register on our website, and create a profile that summarises not only your professional, but also your talent, social, green and wellness profiles.

These profiles would help you find and be found by recruiters, friends, family members, peers and colleagues.

From our side, we will ensure that companies post their job adverts on our site at a set fee, and will also give them the opportunity to act as page sponsors. Not only will you be offered the best opportunities, but you will be able to use all the functions on the site at no cost!

Both companies and individuals can search the site for free.

What about the non job seekers…? You will use your Ambitionblog profile as a footprint for future use. You can update and personalise your profile, and in turn, never have to compile a CV document, again!

You will control your profile via a private or a public setting. You show and hide whatever you deem important! The moment you open your profile to others, you open yourself to being headhunted, or invited to apply for specific positions, invited to network with peers or you can simply apply for jobs.

Ambitionblog, telling the world more about YOU!

Why are we blogging?

• We want to inform the world about our vision and business plan.
• We want to learn about the pitfalls of launching an internet business
• We want to learn how to formulate a “call to action” on which you, the reader want to act
• We want to market our business before we launch
• We want feedback (comments, emails) and tips on how we can improve
• We want to share our problems in building the business
• We want you actively involved, refer to previous blog

Our business is promoting YOUR talent, skills and expertise to the world.

Go and market yourself!

You, all our followers went through the process of registering on our blog. We also know that there are more readers browsing our blog. Big thanks to you all!

Now we want to put the ball in your court.

We want to know how you would market yourself. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who has just lost a job, or wants to change jobs, or want to change a career path completely, or move out of a specific industry.

We CHALLENGE you to post a comment and tell us how you would market yourself. We will respond by telling you how Ambitionblog would market YOU!

Mr Shadow

“Reputation is 'the result of what you do, what you say, and what other people say about you'.

- Wikipedia

What does having a reputation mean? A permanent shadow?

A good reputation stands for honesty, integrity and trustworthiness.
Reputation builds trust. If clients have trust in your company they are customers for life.
How do you build a good reputation?

At Ambitionblog we strife to focus on the following:

• To prioritize effectively (50%)
• To execute effectively (50%)

To prioritize effectively means sorting the relevant from the irrelevant.

Relevant priorities need to be tackled with passion and determination. This will ensure efficient execution.

Building a good reputation makes looking back at your shadow easy!

When vision hits reality

When the Vision that you have created for your business, hits day to day reality, it can so easily go out of sync.

One tends to spend energy on things that doesn’t really matter, on things that will bring short term returns. It is then, according to the coach, that the leadership needs to go back to basics.

Focus on the original plan. Focus on the vision.

What I understand about a vision is that:
• It is a dream with a deadline.
• It has a beginning and an end.
• It does not wait for ideal circumstances; you have to make it happen.

Our team is trying to spend all our energy to “chase” our vision. We want to be the Nr 1 displayer in the world of people’s potential, talents, skills, expertise and the available opportunities.

Our challenge will be to ensure that when we fulfill our Vision, that it is not only us who benefits, but that the world is a better place.

Is this possible in the world of business...?

The Ambitionblog Team

Quinton - CEO and visionary

Aka the coach, 18 years own business experience. Graduated Pukke. Motivator and mentor. Married and family man. Car and motorcycle enthusiast. Loves walking. Traveller. Amateur "recycler".


Marianne – Marketing

Sales, training and recruitment expert. Graduated Maties. Creative with words. Happily married. Walking, swimming. Avid traveller. Wildlife enthusiast.


Christa – Operations

Franchise owner. Graduated Pukke. Creative in finding solutions. Happily married, three children. Motorcycle enthusiast. Enjoys hiking. Amateur "greenie".


Charl – Business developer, blogger, admin/finance

Chartered accountant. Graduated Kovsies. Story teller, world traveler and explorer. Happily married. Cycling, swimming, surfing. Outdoor fanatic.

So let’s talk frustrations

We have been testing the Ambitionblog website for almost three months.

Our developers are working every night till after twelve. We are communicating with them via “Gmail” and “Skype”.

Why is the website not finished yet…?

Maybe we have so many cool ideas to implement that we keep on changing the specs?
Maybe it is the physical distance between us and them?
Maybe our decision to give young developers a chance to build the site of this scale… (part time)?
Maybe the developers are so enthusiastic that they add to many “nice to have” gadgets?

We have decided not to launch until the site is the best possible platform to promote you.

A bit of a tug of war, though…?

Telling the world more about you

When someone asks you the question “who are you…?’ What do you answer..?

Do you start with the fact that you have a degree at Stellenbosch University, or do you start by telling the person about your passions?
Why do we have to choose? Why only mention one or two aspects of our lives. Surely that does not portray who you are?
We have created a platform, where you can ‘tell the world more about you”, without having to limit yourself to one or two aspects.
Every individual has different “profiles”. From a professional profile, to a social, green, wellness and a talent profile. Think about it. You apply for a job. You post your CV. You wait. You never once mentioned the fact that you have completed the Comrades marathon, twice. Or that you are trying to contribute to the environment, by recycling your glass bottles. Or the fact that you have back packed through Europe, and that you see yourself as an adventurer. Maybe you have mastered the Violin. “What has any of this got to do with getting a job you might ask….?

” We believe, “Everything.”

Every Company has different “profiles.” From a professional profile to a social, green, wellness and talent profile. Think about it. They have a vacancy. They post a job add. And they wait. They never once mentioned the fact that their sales team jogs together every week. Or that they are trying to contribute to the environment, by going “paper-less”. Or the fact that they prefer camping to fancy hotels, when they planning a company conference. Or that they have their own company band, which plays when they want to celebrate a big achievement. What has this to do with recruiting a new employee you might ask….”

“We believe, Everything.”

When someone asks you the question “who are you…?’ What do you answer..?

The YES man

So I have made the leap of faith…my last paycheck as employee is at the end of March. I have made the choice to become an entrepreneur.

My heart says “Yes Yes Yes” to the new opportunity!
My head is absorbing the new challenge.
My hands are writing this blog.

This is our business brand
Heart, head and hands in the air.

According to the Coach, everything starts with the heart, your attributes and attitude. If you have passion for something the word “No” becomes “Yes”.

The head represents your knowledge, skills, expertise and your qualifications.

The hands refer to how you apply the gained knowledge.

If you believe with the heart, you can execute with your head and your hands will do the work.

This philosophy will be at the core of our business in everything we do.

Please comment if you have ever taken a giant leap of faith...

To move from your comfort zone and being challenged

My whole career so far has been spent in the finance environment. Talk about staying in your comfort zone. Don’t get me wrong, you are being challenged daily by working on the numbers, but within the luxury of your comfort zone. When I read the business plan for ambitionblog, I was moved. I thought it would be awesome to get involved in this business. Little did I know I would end up having to compose this blog. To start off with a clean word document with no excel columns is really out of my framework. I mean I used to write written reports in excel.

Outside the work environment I have many passions: travelling, meeting people, exercising to name a few. These passions, I believe also contribute to making myself more marketable to any employer. This is what ambitionblog has done for me so far. My fellow team mates have already discovered there is more to me than numbers. I have been assigned to move our business into International waters. The ambitionblog business will take all the different aspects of your life and mould it into one “advertisement” of yourself and publish it to the world.

Watch this space for my next blog.