Blog

  • 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!

  • nomad-one.com nominated in SA Blog awards – Vote for me!!!

    Today just keeps getting better for me, my blog has also been nominated in the category Best Blog about Design in the SA Blog Awards.

    Thanks to all those who nominated me, much appreciated, though the guys I am competing with make it really difficult to get past this point.

    So give me some help and vote for nomad-one.com in the SA Blog Awards Now! http://www.sablogawards.com/2008/

  • VeloCITI 2008 – I’m officially on the programme. Yeah!!!

    velociti-hereicomeMy head is spinning completely after attending the bridging course of the VeloCITI program. Out of all the companies applying (20 odd) who were short listed to attend the bridging course, I’ve made the cut with 14 other exciting new companies who will be given the chance to build their businesses from the ground up with professional help.

    If you don’t know what VeloCITI is all about, it’s the business incubation program sponsored by local government and run by CITI (Cape Information Technology Initiative). It aims to take start-up technology based companies and grow them with the hope of increasing employment and growing the local economy.

    A well known graduate of the programme, Rafiq Phillips was recently seen on Carte Blanche discussing web 2.0. Rafiq made a name for himself with his start-up venture, i-drive and is still out there creating buzz and achieving great things. Other companies like Red Button, one of the winning companies from the 2007 program are making it big with their wireless hotspots.

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  • 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.

  • Have you heard of the freedom toaster?

    ftoaster-top-250x457Just met Brett from freedom toaster, a great new initiative coming out of the Shuttleworth foundation which aims at bridging the digital divide by providing a mechanism for people to access high bandwidth content.

    The freedom toaster is a kiosk/vending machine type technology which comes standard with USB & DVD burning ports.

    "…preloaded to dispense confectionery, Freedom Toasters are preloaded to dispense free digital products, including software, photography, music and literature." http://www.freedomtoaster.org/

  • Ad Designed with no electricity, Ogilvy tackles Power Crisis

    I found this interesting story on biz-community.com

    Ogilvy Cape Town’s art director Jennifer Macfarlane and copy writer Cuan Cronwright are the winners of The Times Young Creatives Competition, held 23 – 26 February 2008 at this year’s Design Indaba Expo.

    Winning Ad Designed without using any electricity

    A PR stunt no doubt saw creatives pitting their skills against each other in a fishbowl style space with Public onlookers. Pity the procedings had to be screened on Plasma screens which would have used a fair amount of power themselves. Kind of defeats the purpose a little but I suppose it was about driving a message home and this little stunt certainly did that.

    The winning agency was rewarded with a full page ad they can use for any pro bono client of their choice worth about R50000. Check out the article with all the details.