The beauty of absolutely nothing... and the lessons learnt

So there we were... up at 5 am on Thursday and on our way to get onto the Gautrain and off to the airport to catch a chartered flight to Walvis Bay in Namibia.  The flight was suppose to leave at 10h00, but eventually we took off at 12h30 for a 2 hour flight aboard a very rowdy Boeing 767.

It is the first time I've been to Namibia (although we only saw 2 little towns).  I've seen deserts on TV and in movies, but to see it first hand is really an experience.

Just outside Walvis Bay, close to the famous Dune 7 we arrived for the commencement of...

It started off as quite a commotion! But the dust (literally) settled quickly.  We were divided into 5 armies (5 regions in the country) and each army was split into different platoons made up of +- 7 members each.  A list of instructions / tasks were handed to each platoon and different points were allocated for each task.

We had to build a tent from fabric, plastic pipes and rope that were provided and use these same materials to build a stretcher and carry an injured member of the platoon for at least 5 metres, find 2 ants, 5 different leaves and name them, run a dune, etc, etc.  I was leader of my platoon and in this photo I was caught trying to figure out a task where we had to build a bridge.

After a lot of running around and wasting a lot of time, the 2 hours we were given to complete the tasks ran out and we didn't manage to do all of them.  In after thought we realised that in stead of rushing out with the list and starting on the tasks in order they appeared, we should have sat down, read through all the tasks and checked for which tasks we would earn the most points and focus on them first.

This is so true in business as well.  When something goes wrong or even when a massive opportunity presents itself, we often just rush into the situation without taking the time to look through the facts and plan the approach.  We also learned that one should use the strengths of your resources to make tasks easier and also to enhance results.  This might seem as an obvious thing to do, but when you get into the heat of things, you easily forget the simple things!

We stayed at the Swakopmund Hotel, what an awesome place.

After having a quick shower and unpacking, we left on an 80 km drive in the dark. The convoy must have been about 30 mini buses long and we drove on a salt road.  When we got to our destination it was very dark and everywhere were candles in brown paper bags that showed us where to go.  The next moment big lights were turned on and there we were in dry river bed with huge rock formations on either side.  This would be the "venue" for our gala dinner and awards function.

Fantastic evening although I was one of the first to go back to the hotel.

The end of day 1!

In my next post I will share what happened on Day 2 as well as the lessons learnt.

Thanks for reading my post!

Francois

Patience is a virtue

I've been thinking what my next post should be about for the last couple of days... especially since I am still busy putting everything together.

I must admit that I enjoy blogging a lot and I thought that I would get tired of it (or bored rather) quickly, but I can't wait to do the next one and the next one and the next one... and for that same reason I can't wait to finsih the planning and preparation so I can get started in full force.

And this is where the patience come in!  You learn to be patient, you remember that Rome wasn't built in a day and you keep your eyes firmly on the dream.

It has been a long week and a lot happened during the week.  I got to see old colleagues, my previous boss and some other people and I got to talk to them and share experiences and concerns.  Their input is really invaluable and I am fortunate to have them in my life.

I have to run as I am off to our annual conference very early tomorrow morning and I need the sleep!

Thanks for reading my post - eventhough it is so short!

What am I thinking? (From the side of the N1 highway)

I am on the road and had to stop to fill up - both the car and my belly as I haven't had a chance to eat this morning.  This also presented me with an opportunity to start working on my latest post as service is not the best in the middle of nowhere. 

The intention of today's post is to give my readers more insight on what I am busy with and where this is actually going and what to expect in future.  It is all nice to write about my experiences of the day and what I think about everything that happened or how I felt during the day, but this does not add any value in your life (unless maybe we are close personal friends of course) and after all, I do have a very specific vision.

(The first two paragraphs were written yesterday and I am now continuing my thoughts today)...

I have 13 years of experience in the Financial Services and Financial Planning industry. During the last 13 years I was fortunate to fulfill the following roles:

• Broker Consultant - I was the link between the insurance company I worked for and the broker (Financial Adviser) and I was responsible for marketing the full range of risk, investment, group benefits and health care products to all contracted advisers that were linked to me.  In addition to this I was responsible for New Business Development, Practice Management, servicing on existing business and to resolve queries and problems for advisers and their clients. Also were responsible for training Financial Advisers and their assistants / office staff.
• Financial Adviser - I dealt with clients' financial affairs, planned their estates, made sure their wills are in order, put retirement plans in place, calculated and planned their tax affairs and also ensured that business owners and their businesses were protected in the event of the death or disability of any of the partners or directors.
• Branch Manager - Running a Broker Branch and looking after 5 Broker Consultants and about 75 Financial Advisers.
• Group Presentations and speaking - Regularly presented on various topics for financial planning and various aspects thereof to groups of brokers and clients.  This is one of my favourite things to do. I also talked to Grade 7's on budgeting and why it is so important.
• Qualifications - B Com Risk Management, National Certificate in Wealth Management (NQF5), currently completing CFP.

I have come to a point where I want to take the knowledge and experience I have to help educate people and children.  I am busy developing a series of talks, articles and videos to do just this.

Furthermore I want to create a Library of information for use by other financial advisers and broker consultants.

My passion is Financial Planning, my slogan or rule I live by is "Knowledge, Integrity and Service". That is the foundation of everything and the one cannot do without the other.  I will write more on this in a later post.

If there is any specific topics you would like me to discuss, please list them by leaving a comment or send me an email.

Thank you for reading my post again!

Francois