Sorry for being so quiet. I had an extremely busy year so far.
I got appointed as an teaching assistant at Cape Peninsula University of Technology - I worked with a lecturer which kept me busy when I had off periods and after class.

I also worked at a school as a business study teacher for Grade 11 & 12. The classes were small but I had to prepare lessons, etc. I also found a special someone who has my undivided attention. #love
I also cut some people out of my life which weren't there for the right reasons.

I'm at a stage now where I am in the process of finding a job for next year. I compiled a CV last week and dropped it at a school in Stellenbosch.

I'm hoping for the best!

Hope you are all very well. If you have any questions, feel free to post in the commentary box!

Regards
Miss D

MYOB

Happy days!

Reflective Piece

When I got the assignment to start a blog, an immediate feeling of anxiety struck me. It was something that I did not have a lot of knowledge about and had no idea what my blog was going to be about, what I am going to write about or even what my topic will be. It took time for me to decide on what I was going to do, but when the idea of Mind Your Own Business entered my mind, there was no going back.

Blogging definitely taught me things that I will use for many years to come. I began to think more creative and I wanted other students to find my blog interesting and really enjoy reading it. I would sit and edit my blog for hours to get every detail perfect. The feeling of pure excitement when someone has positive comments on your post is indescribable. I learned to use blogging as a basis to share my passion, which is business. Blogging also caused many sleepless nights, because the deadlines were only a week apart and being a student it can be quite difficult to always be on top of your writing game. Besides from creative side, I also learned that blogging can be used in the classroom. Students will be able to interact with their teachers in a fun and professional way. Sharing ideas and opinions will be able to happen any time of day at any place. The blog can be a basis for very educational conversations and using the internet to broaden our horizons in a way never done before.Blogging has become a part of my life and I would definitely keep my blog updated with the things I find interesting and opening new worlds to the people who like to read my blog.

The following quote sums up my fellings about blogging perfectly:

“I will no longer let the fear of vicious comments or replies stop me from speaking what I believe to be right. I will also never give a message that everybody will agree with. I know that even my most faithful followers will never agree 100% with what I say. I also know that they know that and are fine with it.

I am done letting the bullies win. They won’t anymore. Not here.” ― Dan Pearce.

 

Keep on reading my blog, because here we Mind Our Own Business.

Educational Piece

The 5 magic steps on starting a successful business

Businesses are all around us, but what makes one business more successful than the other? A lot of factors will determine if your business is successful or not, such as your vision, mission, workers and ethics. When starting a new business, people usually do not have the necessary skills to achieve greatness. The following post will educate you on how to get the best possible start for your business.

First step

The first important step is to hire people that will make your business legal. It will be very useful to hire a lawyer, because they will organise the needed paperwork and permits.  A lawyer will also help you decide which type of business best suits your business idea, such as: Sole partnership, partnership or a closed corporation.   

Second step

It is very important to have a business plan ready when you want to start a business.  The business plan will create a clear idea of what your goal is for your business, how many finances you will need and how many employees you plan to hire.  The business plan will also be helpful if you need financial aid from the bank, because you need to present your business plan to the bank manager in order to get a loan.

Third step

When you have the necessary financial support to start your business, you need to find the perfect location. The location is important, because it is where your business will be. You need to be closest to the people who you want to do business with. Your business also needs to look presentable and people should feel comfortable visiting your business.

Fourth step

It is very important to hire the best possible employees to work at your business. Workers will play a key part in the success/failure of your business. Employees need to have the needed skills and qualification to do a certain job and they should also get along with each other. Set up interviews with possible candidates and choose the perfect team!

Fifth step

Promote, promote, promote! It is very important to promote your business. You can use the internet, newspapers, schools, radio and business cards. This way people will know of your business and you will start building a client basis. If you deliver excellent products or service, you will soon be on your way to the top.

Starting a business won’t always be easy, just remember to always stay motivated and keep your eye on the goal you have set for yourself.  Good luck on starting your own business and make sure to follow the five magic steps.

Motivational pictures to help you start your business:

Narrative Essay

The Determinable Role Model - John

I visited a business recently on behalf of a promotional company I work for part-time. The business is very successful and people are really fighting to get a position to work there.  I had an appointment with the marketing manager and they told me to wait in the reception area, where I met a very nervous interviewee, John.

 I saw John from the corner of my eye, sitting in the chair next to me. John had papers in his hand which were rattling and his leg was shaking uncontrollably.  At first I tried to ignore him, but after a few minutes I asked him why he is so nervous.  Our conversation that followed completely changed my day, maybe even my life. John told me that he was here for an interview for assistant manager of the business and that he was feeling very scared and nervous. John grew up in a very poor household and only his mother raise him. When his mother passed away it was John’s responsibility to take care of his younger brother and sister. John was motivated to change his life and succeeded in school, which led him to receiving a bursary to study business.  John passed all his subjects with a distinction all four years of his studies.

John was the most polite person I have ever met in my life with a genuinely warm heart. I nearly teared up as he told me his story. I finally understood why he was so nervous about the interview, it was because it meant so much to him and he wanted to give his brother and sister a better life and set an example for them. When John was called in for his interview, the other interviewee came out of the office and was boasting about he definitely got the job, because his father knew the owner of the business. John’s anxiety became even worse. I wished him luck and he left for the interview.

A few months I revisited the business for promotional reasons and to my delight I saw John worked there.  I thought back to the other interviewee and I realised – you shouldn’t count your chickens before they hatch. John is a very good example of a role model for young people and in my heart I hope that he reaches success in his career – and life.

 

Many of us think successful people do strange rituals to reach their success....

 

The truth is that they follow simple routines. They wake up and stick to a game plan. They find freedom in their routine while average people see routine as imprisonment.
To put it into perspective here are the routines and daily rituals of some highly successful people.

The Daily Routines & Rituals of The Highly Successful

1. Maya Angelou (Author)

Maya Angelou would get up around 5:30 and grab a cup of coffee with her husband. She could only do her work in a hotel or motel room. She would keep a face basin, dictionary, bottle of sherry, and a bible with her.

“If the work is going badly, I stay until 12:30. If it’s going well, I’ll stay as long as it’s going well.”

When she arrived home she would go over what she had written. Then she would shower, prepare dinner to unwind by the time her husband would get home. After their dinner she would read what she wrote to her husband without expecting comments.

2. Benjamin Franklin (Inventor)

Benjamin Franklin had a strict schedule. He made time for all that was important to him. All at specific times of the day for him.
His famous question for every day was What good shall I do this day? He would wake, wash up, eat breakfast then work from 8-12.
He would dine with friends and look over his accounts then work for a couple more hours. He would review his accomplishment for the day and retire. He also adopted the practice of daily air baths. Instead of taking a cold shower, which he felt shocked his body too much, he would stand naked and bath in the cold air.

I rise early almost every morning, and sit in my chamber without any clothes whatsoever, half an hour or an hour, according to the season, either reading or writing. This practice is not in the least painful, but on the contrary, agreeable; and if I return to bed afterwards, before I dress myself, as sometimes happens, I make a supplement to my night’s rest, of one or two hours of the most pleasing sleep that can be imagined.

I’m not always the best sleeper, so I’m tempted to try this and see if I too can have some of “the most pleasing sleep that can be imagined”!

3. Jack Dorsey (CEO Square & Founder of Twitter)

This guy is a machine. When he was running both companies he would dedicate 8 hours a day to each!

The only way to do this is to be very disciplined and very practiced – Jack Dorsey

To deal with distractions of the week he created a weekly schedule he would stick to everyday so he knew what he was working on.

Monday: Management and running the company Tuesday: Product Wednesday: Marketing and communications, growth Thursday: Developers and partnerships Friday: Company culture and recruiting

4. Winston Churchill (Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)

Winston had a “modern day routine” that many people would love to have.
He woke up at 7am and would stay in bed until 11. He would catch up on local news, eat his breakfast, and speak with his secretaries. He would then bathe, walk outside, the start work with a whisky and soda. For late lunch he would eat with family and friends.

At 5 he would take a nap for a couple hours, bathe again and get ready for dinner. Dinner was considered the highlight of his day, with much socializing, drinking, and smoking that sometimes went past midnight. After his guests left, he would then work for another hour or so before heading to bed.

5. Stephen King (Author)

When asked about his schedule the legendary writer said:

“I have a glass of water or a cup of tea. There’s a certain time I sit down, from 8:00 to 8:30, somewhere within that half hour every morning,” he explained. “I have my vitamin pill and my music, sit in the same seat, and the papers are all arranged in the same places. The cumulative purpose of doing these things the same way every day seems to be a way of saying to the mind, you’re going to be dreaming soon.”

6. Beethoven (Music Composer)

The famous composer would wake at dawn and have a 60 bean cup of coffee. He would sit at his desk and work until 3:00 pm. He would take small breaks during his days. He would then take a walk after midday lunch. He would keep a pencil and music paper with him incase he got some inspiration. He would visit taverns in the evening and would go to watch stage plays or meet with friends. He would rarely work on music in the evening and would go to bed by 10 pm at the latest.

7. Barack Obama (U.S. President)

Barack starts his day at 6:45 am with a workout and then has breakfast with his family. He starts his work day at 9 am in morning. he handles all the issues that a president must handle. Lobbying, bills, reform, global peace treaties, you know the norm. His day ends at 6pm.
Obama has dinner with his wife and daughters to reflect. Of course he has a lot of routine during the day which is top secret. But you can see how the normal routine of the beginning and end of his days are.

8. Evan Williams (Twitter, Blogger, Medium Founder)

Evan Williams, The founder of Blogger, Twitter, and Medium is a machine that works all day, right? He actually doesn’t. Evan Williams makes sure to take a break midday to go to the gym. He found out that he was more productive in the morning so uses that time to get import work things done.

My focus is usually great first thing in the morning, so going to the gym first is a trade-off of very productive time. Instead, I’ve started going mid-morning or late afternoon (especially on days I work late).

9. Ernest Hemingway (Author)

Hemingway would work as the sun rose until he got all his thoughts out. Unlike most writers who write a lot during the day, he would only write in the morning. He would then hold his thoughts in his head the remainder of the day, anticipating the next morning when he could get all of them on paper.

Conclusion

So as you can see. The routines of the people listed aren’t anything too crazy (beside Ben’s “Air Bath”). They found what worked for them and stuck to it for the span of their professional careers and lives. What is your routine? Please share it with us in the comments section below.

Here is the link to go directly to this article:
http://www.entrepreneur.co.za/9-daily-routines-rituals-of-highly-successful-people/


Here are a few inspirational business quotes to bright up your day

 

 

Weekend News

5,500 sugar workers to strike

May 26 2014 at 10:49am

http://www.sxc.hu/

 

Johannesburg - About 5,500 sugar workers in South Africa plan to strike tomorrow demanding an 11 percent increase in pay, a 40-hour working week and a monthly housing subsidy of 800 rand.

Employers including Illovo Sugar and Tongaat Hulett, Africa’s two biggest producers, have offered raises of 8.5 percent meaning the two sides are “relatively close,” Tongaat chief executive Peter Staude said in an interview today.

Inflation was 6.1 percent in April, according to the statistics agency.

South Africa is already beset by its longest and most costly mining strike, which began four months ago when platinum workers downed tools at Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin, the world’s biggest producers of the metal.

The strike is hampering economic growth, Gill Marcus, governor of South Africa’s central bank, said last week.

Tongaat will mitigate the effect of the strike by running its mills longer at the end of the year if needed, Staude said.

“The mills actually shut down in November normally,” he said.

“You always have the possibility later in the year to run a little bit longer. We are constrained by cane rather than milling capacity so that also helps.”

The rand weakened 0.3 percent against the dollar to 10.3257, the first decline in four days.

Illovo’s net income increased 6.5 percent to 916 million rand in the year through March as production climbed, while Tongaat’s earnings rose 7 percent to 1.16 billion rand after a boost from land sales in Kwa-Zulu Natal province, the companies said in separate statements today.

Bottom End

Sugar prices fell 42 percent over three years through 2013 after growers from Brazil to Australia raised output, leading to a global surplus.

That made the sweetener cheaper to import to South Africa and harmed local producers.

Illovo has sought to mitigate the impact by diversifying its business into alcohol- based products while Tongaat is selling land near Durban for residential development.

“Sugar is a cyclical commodity and we are currently at the bottom end of the cycle,” Mount Edgecombe, South Africa-based Illovo said.

“We expect this cycle to turn in the short to medium term and thus benefit from the huge growth in Africa.”

South Africa raised the dollar-based reference price of sugar last month, meaning importers will have to pay tariffs on shipments for the first time in four years.

“Better import protection should lead to lower exports being necessary,” Tongaat said. - Bloomberg News

Here is the link to go directly to this article:http://www.iol.co.za/business/companies/5-500-sugar-workers-to-strike-1.1693834


What is your opinion on this article? Can South Africa handle any more strikes?

LD