Nur Ahmad Furlong

Category: Ideas

  • Quirk launches another great online venture – Ideabounty.com

    What are these guys eating for breakfast, it’s like around every corner they have something new up their sleeves. That’s what I admire about Quirk, they keep one step ahead and aren’t shy to be daring.

    idea bountyI think the tagline says it all, “the best ideas get paid”. So what is this all about then? The website www.ideabounty.com says it short and sweat:

    Clients: Get thousands of minds thinking about your brief and only pay for what you use.

    Creatives: Get paid for your best ideas with no long term commitment from you.

    Crowdsourcing is a growing scene which is maturing of late, but locally we are yet to tap into the vast intellectual and creative ocean out there. I’ve had the idea of an ideas network for a while, like many I suppose, and though mine has a slightly different spin on it, it’s encouraging, though not surprising, to see a company of Quirk’s stature venturing into this kind of territory.

    I’ve just registered, check it out and see what you think.

  • My ethically focused agency idea gathers momentum

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    found on http://www.theethicalagency.co.uk

    No this is not my business, of course not, not yet that is. I’ve come across quite a few UK based agencies of this nature in the last few years and it’s been my mission for a while to start one here in South Africa.

    TEA – The Ethical Agency, is a UK based ethically motivated advertising company which promotes ethical business and lifestyles and does so in a really thought provoking manner.

    Visiting their site has pricked my imagination somewhat and helped further crystallise the idea which has been brewing in my head for way too long.

    So who out there has any ideas regarding ethical business?

    Does this interest you, do you see a need for it?

    Anyone passionate enough to take it a step further and do something?

    We are all agents of change in our own right and have the responsibility to create a better space for all of us to live in.

    I found these inspiring quotes on TEA’s website:

    Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, for as long as you can. -John Wesley

    A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. -Greek proverb

  • Care to join me on a Journey of Self Discovery and Creative Development

    Like most professionals who also blog, I’ve wondered what steps to take to make what I do really rock so to speak; take it to the next level if you know what I mean. This post kicks off my nomadic blogumentary, a journey through the world of the web, creative thinking, social networking, business strategy, personal brand building and self discovery.

    This is the start of my nomadic BLOGUMENTARY, a journey through the world of the web, creative thinking, social networking, business strategy and personal self discovery.

    On this digital journey I aim to take myself from amateur blogger / professional web designer with little direction, to what I always envisioned myself to be. I aim to become an agent of positive change and innovation, and to find true meaning and purpose to what I do.

    a-nomads-journey

    How do I plan to do this you may be asking yourself?

    I’m still in the process of figuring all the steps out and plotting my course ahead. I know coming out with this self challenge is a brave move, one I could very possibly be very sorry for if I don’t keep up with the challenge, or fail to achieve the goals I set.

    Therein lies the secret. I plan to drag you all along on this journey, get your feedback, give you advice and ask for some as well. I might even involve a few of the Guru’s out there to help make this journey an action packed adventure, which we can all benefit from.

    I hope to cover everything from the initial idea / vision phase, on to a little bit of a business plan with clear goals. I will be developing a strategy including the steps which I will need to take to achieve certain goals.

    What will I be sharing with You

    • my Brand building endeavours and the lessons I learn
    • selecting & shaping my niche
    • the technologies & methodologies I will be using
    • the tutorials, tips & advice which shape my decisions
    • my favourite resources & influences
    • The tools I use to make my tasks easier

    Sharing the Experience

    I’ll be sharing the troubles I encounter along the way, the feelings of failure if any(I’m sure there will be), the stumbling blocks & challenges faced and the stresses I experience.

    Sharing the successes, stats, milestones & profits

    Any success achieved along this perilous journey will be shared with all of you. I’ll let you now when I earn my first paycheck, which I hope will be soon, in fact I desperately need it to be soon. I’ll tell you about what this project does to my web stats and when I’ve made a major breakthrough in learning or self development.

    What do I want from YOU

    the visitors to this site have pretty much kept their identities to themselves for their own specific reasons. I hope this will change.

    Involvement. I hope you will share this journey with me. To this point the visitors to this site have pretty much kept their identities to themselves for their own specific reasons. I hope this will change and that you will start to engage with me and get to know me as well as help me to get to know you better.

    Feedback. I’d like to know what you think about what I have to say, about the decisions I’ll make and the advice I’ll be giving. I plan to put in place a few incentives if and when I am able to make it worth your while to get involved. I started with a little experiment in the form of the Logo Design Q & A competition which I ran recently.

    Inspiration & Advice. We can never achieve much on our own. We achieve things by learning from others and benefiting from others, and then by sharing this with others. I hope we can develop a mutually beneficial relationship where we influence each other and inspire each other to achieve great things. Where there are areas which you could help me I’ll appreciate it and if there’s anything I could do for you I hope to be able to help as well.

    So where do we Start?

    Well we kind of have started already. I’ve met some great people already and have a few of you subscribe to my RSS feed. I’ve just crossed the 4000 hits mark since starting out blogging more seriously a few short months ago and have a few more RSS subscribers but have no idea who they are.

    I’ve just completed negotiations with a few parties to get into my own office space and have just moved in. I’m also in the process of re-designing my website to empower me on this journey.

    I’ve gotten started on a few post series and have some great ideas for interesting and value adding content to help you guys out there with your journeys.

    What I’d like to know from you guys is this:

    Who are you all out there?

    What Can I do for you?

    Do you have any advice for me in getting started?

    • Who are you out there?
    • What do you guys do for a living?
    • What can I do for you out there?
    • What would you like to see on this site?
    • What would you like to hear about?
    • How can I empower you all to excel in what you do?
    • How do we develop a platform or community which can be a springboard for us all to achieve something good?
    • Do you have any advice for me in getting started?

    Lets start talking and start something meaningful!

  • Wanna start an Agency with me? I’m looking for a partner!

    I am working on setting up a Strategic Communications Consultancy and need a Partner willing to start the venture with me. I’m looking for someone with a strategic mind and who has been involved in some form of Brand Communications at some level.

    The person should be independent, or looking to go independent. Someone with a wide skills or knowledge base and a solid network of strategic connections would help. Someone with previous experience in advertising, brand development, web development or journalism would be suitable.

    Are you an entrepreneur in the making? If you’ve thought about starting an agency or consultancy more than once a month in the last few years, then this may be your chance to do just that. If you don’t need to do a wikipedia search to know what Design Thinking means then I’d love to pick your brain and maybe develop a business together.

    Someone with a highly ethical approach and positive outlook on the environment and development of positive values in society would be ideal.

    Interested in chatting, mail me on [email protected] or contact me on skype with “one-nomad”. Looking forward to chatting soon.

  • New School Business Idea no.1: Web 2.0 worker Spaces for rent

    Ok this is something I have been thinking about for a while now and I’ve just decided to go with it. I’ve got an overactive imagination and my mind just won’t leave me alone sometimes. There are times when I can’t even get to bed in the early hours and just have to jot down some ideas before I can get some rest from the continuous mental processes happening up in here.

    I have ideas on a daily basis, ones which I think are great and just have to be acted upon, but a host of reasons prevent me from acting, mostly procrastination and lack of motivation or just feeling bogged down by earning an immediate living. I’ve decided to document these ideas and share them, to see how others react, see what kind of feedback I can get and maybe if I can find some interested parties to collaborate or invest in them or just as a bouncing board.

    IDEA # 1: Mobile Office for knowledge/web 2.0 workers

    With so many of us taking the plunge into self employment or just being on the go and out of the office it has become increasingly difficult to find the right places to meet with our clients or peers, to sit down somewhere and get some work done away from our couches & beds at home and to just have a place of refuge when the creative juices are being dried up by our dry surroundings.

    Onto the scene walks the office away from the “home” office (This is my idea). Imagine a few centralised spaces where you can go, pay a small fee for an hour or 2 or 3, have some coffee, plug in and do what you do best. It’s designed to suite the modern knowledge worker, it allows for booking spaces in advance, you can take your clients there. There’s an open plan area for collaboration, brainstorming, networking & the like, as well as some private or more quiet spaces for concentration or to cut yourself off from the world.

    They offer office services like faxing & printing, places to plug in your iPod and watch the latest TED talks or listen to your favourite podcasts. They sell the latest gadgets which keep us drooling on a daily basis. They have a few techno savvy guys & gals to help with any glitches & bugs. Maybe they even have a few in house businesses running, which offer supporting services to the knowledge worker community like people who know how to set up blogs, wiki’s etc.

    You can go and have a video conference, shoot or record something for your latest podcast. It’s a web 2.0 worker paradise. Think it’ll work? Anyone got anything to add?Anyone got some moolah to throw at an idea like this or know some open minded investors? Jump in and throw your 2 cents or 20 million at this idea. Lets see what we come up with. If anyone’s got connections at any of the big malls or centers maybe get them interested in the idea. I’m sure they wouldn’t sneer at getting peeps like us interested in spending more time in & around their malls.

    Does anyone know of something like this which really exists? If so and it’s based in Cape Town I’ll by you a coffee & a Muffin if you point me to it in the next month. 🙂