On Line Shopping as a Baby Boomer

This morning Barrie and I had a coffee meeting. As Director of Resources at TomorrowToday I had to admit to him that I had never ordered a book on line…… Yet I am an avid book buyer from the stores in my area. He challenged me to come home and place an order with Amazon. Ok Barrie – Two hours later the deed is done. Why had I not done this before??? Especially in my role as Head of Resources. I had to admit that the Baby Boomer in me was in the way. If this is so for me, how do we teach all those Baby Boomer book buyers out there to convert to on line trading?

A second incident around this happened last week with my ten year old niece who calmly told myself and her Gran that she had ordered ten books from Amazon that day and was negotiating with her Dad as to who was going to carry this investment. Why am I scared, she is confident and my mother does not even contemplate this channel? This is a great marketing challenge for the On Line trader.

Triple Bottom Line in the Rainbow Nation

The Rainbow Nation
Most of us who are resident in South Africa are proud of the fact that we live in the Rainbow Nation. To the world we are a ‚miracle nation‛ because we went through simultaneous social, political and economic change, and surprisingly came out the better for it on the other side! But how many South Africans have actually embraced the idea of the Rainbow Nation, and to what extent do they believe in the concept? I believe that the Rainbow Nation is a surface concept for most South Africans who, when faced with a challenge, revert to the old paradigms that formed the basis of the pre-Mandela South Africa. The challenge our nation is facing is for each person to reflect a deep understanding and love for all people. How can the leaders of our nation instil this change?

Triple Bottom Line reporting has been introduced with Corporate Governance for all public companies in South Africa. The business world now needs to report on its financial health as well as the contribution it is making towards social change in an effort to uplift the disadvantaged and protect the environment. The JSE has also introduced the CSI index as a measure of how we are performing in this regard. But how are individuals faring when it comes to social change?

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Baby Boomer in a Virtual World

For me, life has always been about challenge, passion, growth and making a difference. Working each day without experiencing these things would start to cause a slow death inside. I choose to try and live my life to the fullest, to push the limits of my potential. This means that I can’t rest too long in the comfort zone of life. I find that when the fear of staying is greater than the fear of changing, it is time to move on. This is what drove me � a ‘baby boomer’, single mom on the wrong side of 45 � to give up the comfort of a stable work environment to enter the challenging virtual world.

I undertook this challenge at the beginning of 2003 and moved from the work force as a director and co-owner of a business to the world of consulting. I was searching for opportunities where I could use my skills, have an impact, test my current knowledge and grow in new areas. The early part of my first year out of the office was driven by constant fluctuations between a fear of the unknown and the adrenalin of fresh prospects The South African Government and banking platform are not user-friendly to the small business owner. There is an enormous amount of red tape, forms to fill in and taxes to pay. One has to establish new ratings and credibility even if the same bank has dealt with you in your personal capacity for the past twenty years. At many points along this road I was tempted to give up. In the end, these setbacks only encouraged me to push beyond bureaucracy and make a go of it.

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