Rowan Spazzoli

Today we said goodbye to our Swiss friend who has spent the last week or so with us. We dropped her off at the airport where she met up with her boyfriend and parents. Together they’ll spent the next week travelling up the coast of South Africa.

The friend’s boyfriend brought fresh chocolate from Switzerland for us. And my goodness it is beautiful.

More than just the chocolate, having this friend here reinforced the connection we have. We were close before, but now she has seen my friends and family, and will be part of my life forever.

And when she’s in South Africa, she will always have a home with us. And when we’re in Switzerland, we’ll always have a place with them.

So in there are the adventures and presents, but beyond that we are left with the most incredible connection 🙂

Image is of the chocolates we were given 🙂

Blog: 314/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey
Song of the day: Come with me - Nora en pure

Today I took my Swiss friend on a tour of the Stellenbosch winelands. We explored some of the most beautiful and prestigious wine estates in the country. And we had a spectacular experience.

We spent the majority of the time laughing, mostly at ourselves. We engaged the wine experts and spent time getting to know them. We arrived in hoodies and takkies. And we got treated like royalty.

Most of the other patrons in these places were the opposite. They were very serious when doing the wine tastings. They barely acknowledged the person serving them. They dressed really nicely and they arrived in fancy cars. 

And even though we were all at the same places, I can guarantee that we enjoyed it more. We weren’t trying to impress anyone or being pompous. We were there to have fun. 

It doesn’t matter if you’re a student or a famous business person. If you want to have the best experiences, don’t take yourself too seriously 

Image is from one of the estates we visited 🙂

Blog: 313/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey
Song of the day: Maroon 5 - Girls like you ft Cardi B

This evening I had the privilege to go to an event a Youth Entrepreneurship Programme event hosted by BEE Novation at Investec. The speakers and panelists were phenomenal and so was the networking afterwards.

There was something that one of the speakers said that stuck with me. They used an analogy for BEE and diversity that compared it to each country being a soccer team.

Some countries, like Switzerland, have all their players on the field, firing at their full potential.

But in South Africa, 90% of the country spent most of the 19th and 20th century on the bench. They weren’t allowed to play in the team. They weren’t even taught how to play.

Now, after 20+ years of democracy, most of the team is still sitting on the bench. Which makes it hard for the team to function at it’s optimum level.

So the objective of policies that address transformation and diversity is to try and get everyone on the field. To motivate people already on the field to reach out and help the players on the bench into the game. To let them participate in helping our country succeed.

So when looking at these policies, keep in mind that the objective isn’t to pull the current players off the field. 

It’s to bring the marginalized ones on.

Image is of the Cape Town City vs Kaiser Chiefs game last weekend 🙂

Blog: 312/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey
Song of the day: Winterya - A thousand smiles

One of the reasons I love taking people around Cape Town is that I get to experience it for the first time again, just through someone else’s perspective.

Today I traveled around the peninsula with a friend from Switzerland. We visited UCT, Rhodes Mem, Muizenberg, Kalk Bay, Fishhoek, Simon’s Town (and the penguins), Smitswinkel Bay, Cape Point (and the baboons, zebras, eland, ostriches), Kommetjie and Noordhoek.

The friend was blown away by the whole experience. And I got to feel that same “seeing it for the first time” feeling.

Image is of Smitswinkel bay from our drive to Cape Point today 🙂

Blog: 311/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey
Song of the day: I'm a believer - The Monkees

The job that you really want but don’t think you could ever get. The business idea that you want to launch but it’s too audacious. The person or thing that you dream of but is out of your reach…. 

That’s your unicorn. 

Your unicorn is something that you think is so far beyond you that you don’t even dare to go for it. The quest seems futile…. so you never try.

However, that unicorn might be needing you too. The job is looking for a person like you. The business idea needs someone like you to drive it. You might just be the unicorn to your unicorn.

The trick is to not get caught in your own assumptions about the unicorn. You might rule yourself out of it, but in reality there could be a very strong possibility of it happening. It’s up to you to change your perspective and allow yourself  to try for it.

So… what are you waiting for?

Go chase your unicorn

Image is from our little adventure to Hout Bay this afternoon 🙂

Blog: 310/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey
Song of the day: Vengaboys - We like to party

One of the reasons I love going to conferences and events is because of the people I get to meet there. These conferences bring together people with similar passions and interests. They unite fellow sparks under one banner.

Last year I went to three major conference and at each of these events, the speakers were fantastic. But what I really got out of the events were deep and long lasting connections. And it’s with these people that I am and will continue to collaborate with. And we’re going to change the world together.

One of the people that I met at BYM is Nondumiso. She’s written a brilliant article on her experience of another prestigious event, the Queens Young Leaders. To close off this blog post, here is the last bit of her article:

Whatever your passion is, start small and collaborate

If not us, then who? And if not now, then when?

Alone, one only gets so far. Together we get a lot further and have a lot more impact.

If you intend to do good in the world, and your passion fuels you, you will do good.

If your intentions are shared with like-minded people and your passion unites, it is amazing what we can all achieve together.

Nondumiso Hlophe (Read the full post here)

Image is from the Brightest Young Minds conference in September last year 🙂 Nondumiso is the third person from the left

Blog: 309/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey
Song of the day: Black Coffee ft Kensy - Go On

Having professional networks and (social media) followers has become highly valuable over the past few years. This is because companies have changed the way they advertise, from being directed to general audiences to being very specific in who receives the message.

For example, a food blogger/instagramer is likely to have followers that are in a demographic bracket that go out to trendy restaurants. As a result, these trendy restaurants and brands are likely to want to advertise through this blogger so that they can reach a very distinct group of people. 

As Seth Godin says, being able to organise communications to people now days has significant value. 

So who is your audience? And how are you delivering value to them?

Image is from a sneak trip to Hout bay yesterday 🙂

Blog: 308/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey
Song of the day: Liquideep - Still

Escapism is when someone runs away or distracts themselves to avoid an unpleasant reality. It might involve something like binge watching series. Or spending a serious amount of time playing computer games. Or scrolling through social media. 

Escapism is generally viewed in a negative light. Because it means you’re not dealing with your problems. And you’re not making an active effort to change your situation.

But change takes time. And money. And effort.

Which are not all easily accessible to everyone. Or manageable all at once

So as much as we might feel guilty about a good old Netflix binge, it’s actually quite okay. Escaping reality for a little bit offers some peace and rest from the chaos of every day.

And, slowly, we can begin making changes to our reality so we don’t feel the need to escape it.

Image is from my run yesterday through Greenpoint Park

Blog: 307/365. Click here to read about my #365of25 journey
Song of the day: The Cranberries - Dreams