Nur Ahmad Furlong

Category: Entrepreneurial

The South African new media scene is hotting up
The last few weeks have been an amazing experience for me as a blogger, designer and new media strategist though it’s been one steep learning curve. It all started when I quit my day job a little short of 2 months ago. I had been blogging for a while experimentally and on more of a personal level just writing about my own stuff, anything that interested me really. I never paid any attention to visitors, to rankings, search engines, all of that stuff just made little difference to me.
I think it started when I first installed the stats plugin in my wordpress and started noticing some activity based on my posting. It was all pretty tame and just a few trickles of curious onlookers. When I decided to become a true nomad and take the plunge into solo uncertainty I knew I had to start doing something more serious with my site and had to start getting serious about networking as well. That was just less than 2 months ago, so I started clicking & reading, adding plugins, modding my blog, adding facebook friends, signing up for linked in & my genius, started linking all my social networks to each other, subscribed to a whole batch of RSS Feeds, set up my own feed, wrote more content for my site, designed my new logo … Wow. I can’t actually believe I did all this stuff in such a short space of time.
(more…)
October 23, 2007
Chris Garret – on blogging and internet marketing
On the lookout for new tricks and techniques to get my blog and those of my clients more airtime I came across Chris Garret (a professional blogger and online media consultant).
You might ask, what is a professional blogger, isn’t blogging just some kind of hobby or something someone does in their spare time. If that’s what you thought you’re about to learn what you’ve been missing all this time.
(more…)
October 5, 2007
Branding Bettina Branding
I was approached by Bettina Moss, a Strategic Brand Consultant, to develop a visual identity for her new brand consultancy, "BettinaBranding" and to assist with creating a simple yet interactive online presence. Bettina had a few ideas for starters which helped get the process going, but once ideas were put through their paces a few new directions developed. One of the initial conceptual ideas was to create a spiral element which conveyed the message of Branding being an inward and outward looking process. As is the case many times what is seen in the mind comes out very differently in reality and we progressed to develop a simpler yet bolder identity.
Draft Logo & Branding Ideas
Because of the name BettinaBranding and the emphasis on the B it Bcame clear very early on that the letter B was our friend though at times it wasn’t Bhaving the way we would have liked it to. Oh I’ll stop B’ting around the Bush, oops, couldn’t help that last one.
(more…)
August 30, 2007
Startup Business School
Like many, I’ve been agonising for years about going out on my own and starting some kind of business. So many ideas have come and gone, some even making it to the planning stage, but I’m very much used to being permanently employed within companies and sooner or later whether due to lack of time, energy or motivation the business ideas end up on a dusty shelf in the back of my mind. Recently my entrepreneurial mind has started bugging me again and due to many circumstances in my life it seems I am being forced into the position of taking a step out there into the great big unknown of self-employment.
A while ago I came across the Startup Business School while searching for some online productivity tools. Back then I was still very much comfortable in my day job and things seemed stable but the internet industry is in a constant state of flux and things change so quickly. Today I hunted around for this tool and checked into my free account that I had set up back then. Why didn’t we learn a bit of this type of thing back in school I ask myself, so many people are in need of the simple skills required to get started with some kind of business or entrepreneurial venture.
(more…)
August 24, 2007
Entreprenometer – I took the test
Starting to move in the direction of getting your own business up and running is a daunting task for most who make the decision to go solo with their ideas. Scouting around for some resources I came across www.entrepreneurship.co.za
Vision
The South African Institute for Entrepreneurship has a vision of a dynamic culture of entrepreneurship in South Africa that promotes a positive mindset in youth and adults and assists in the eradication of poverty through the creation of effective entrepreneurs and enterprises.
PURPOSE
The SAIE develops innovative materials that utilize original, creative methodologies; and trains educators, trainers and community-based organisations to convey business skills, uncover entrepreneurship qualities and ensure sustainable economic development and wealth creation.
I took this nice little entreprenometer test which gave me the following results.
Try it out for yourself and see if you have what it takes to make the big bucks!
August 3, 2007