Category: Blog

I think it is safe to say that my job includes a fair amount of travel. After recently visiting 8 countries in 10 weeks, I wanted to impart some of my wisdom to those planning a trip in the future. So here I have just a few tips and tricks that I use or have learned over the years of travelling.

Making the bookings

If you are planning a trip in advance, subscribe to a few airline or travel websites’ newsletter. That way you will get notified of all the specials and deals and you may just get lucky!

If you are planning a holiday and you don’t need to be in a certain city on a specific date, look for flights around that date as there may be a more affordable option.s You may have wanted to fly on a Friday but opting for a Tuesday may save you quite a few pennies! When you do your search for flights online, there is usually a little button that says “flexible dates”. Click that one and explore the different rates.

Don’t travel light? Look for airlines like Qatar that allow up to 45kg per person instead of the usual 23 kg.

For holidays, try Airbnb rather than a hotel. The first time I used AirBnB was about 2 years ago in New York. It was a bit daunting not knowing what to expect from a service like this, but the experience was amazing and we ended up paying almost a third of what we would have paid for a hotel in Manhattan. Booking on AirBnB means you can have an entire apartment or house to yourself where you can cook and go about your business. It usually also ends up being more spacious than a hotel room. Airbnb also has many amazing discounts for long stays. In some cases it is cheaper to book for 4 weeks than 3!!

Getting Ready

After you have booked your flight, you can choose your seats as well as a meal preference beforehand. The different meals range from low calorie, low salt, vegan or vegetarian, gluten free and so much more. If you do have a dietary restriction, there is a good chance you will be covered.

The back of a flight is usually emptier, so you are more likely to score an empty seat next to you. If you are travelling with someone or a group, book your seats in such a way to leave single seats open in between each person. Chances are, if the flight is not full, a single person will not squeeze in between two other people and they would choose another seat. If the flight is full and that open seat gets taken, simply ask that person if you could swop to sit with your friend or significant other.

Are you hot or cold blooded? The window seats tend to be warmer than the isle, especially on local flights in summer.

Always pack a small umbrella! I have been caught off guard a few times with rainy weather in a foreign country, even outside their rainy season.

ALWAYS leave room in your suitcase for shopping, even if you think you won’t be shopping.

Make sure you know what is allowed in your carry on. There isn’t much room for negotiations at airport security. So, if you accidently packed your favourite big bottle of cologne or perfume in your carry on, and you can’t go check it in, you can say goodbye to that item!

Travelling Internationally:

Withdraw a large some of spending money and exchange it to the currency you will be using. Each time you swipe your card internationally you get charged a sometimes-hefty fee. You will also need cash at some shops, as well as for tips and so on.

Go on, get that sim card! Most tourists think they can get away with just connecting to wifi, but believe me, being connected in a foreign land is so much easier. If you need to find your way or translate a sentence, you will be able to. Most countries’ data fees are lower than what South Africans are used to. Also, you will need your passport when purchasing a sim card so don’t leave that in your room.

If it is a country that speaks a foreign language, learn a few sentences to get by. The locals will also really appreciate it.

For the best, most authentic meals, stay clear of the tourist’s spots. Ask some locals which places they would recommend, and where they eat. It will most often than not also be cheaper.

And then my last and most important tip is to just have fun and don’t sweat the small stuff. Safe travels!!

An attempt to appeal to everyone is a prominent and commonly made mistake in the marketing of a product or a service. The ideal route begins by discovering your specific target audience and appealing only to them.

What is a target audience?

Your target audience consists of different people with shared interests and characteristics, all of which are interested — or are potentially interested — in indulging in what you have to offer.

Why is it necessary?

To refine your audience down to a core group permits efficient scaling and more cost-effective marketing. Furthermore, your target audience opens doors for improvement; through this core group, you will receive an accurate analysis of what is working, what isn’t working, and what will potentially work. Taking this into consideration will allow you to not only improve the marketing aspect of your company, but the actual product and service as well.

On top of that, discovering your target audience aids the process of delivering, proposing, and advertising your product or service. Do not overplay your hand and expect to win; narrow your audience down and play your cards right.

How to find your audience:

Prior to a show, Larry Soffer surveys and researches his audience; this allows him to discover what interests and disinterests his audience and gives him the opportunity to analyse the results after each show.

Remember that your audience can be anyone from a single private client to one thousand separate clients.

1) Conceptualize your audience:

Create an outline of your ideal target customer(s) and identify the target demographic. Imagine this customer to be a fictional character and consider different characteristics: age, education level, income, etc. You can “create” different target customers as your target audience will likely consist of different personalities. Now work towards attracting the particular target customer.

2) Research your audience:

Market research — this is the first thing you should do after you conceptualize your ideal audience. You may believe you’ve identified your target audience, however an in depth market research might highlight potential issues with your concept of the target audience.

Through the market research, you will ensure that the demographics you have selected are indeed the most optimal to move your brand and product forward.

3) Engage with your audience:

Build a relationship with your audience. If you can get to know your clients personally, then great! But chances are that you may have a target audience that is a little too large to know everyone on a first name basis. So, work on understanding them, their needs and desires, and how to serve them successfully. Analyse individual clients as well as your audience as a group. This can be done through surveys, one-on-one conversations, forums, social media, and blog comments. Then, act on what you learn from your audience and use everything you are told to improve the client experience.

Moreover, analyse their social media activities: their likes, shares, retweets, and comments. Identify patterns by studying these statistics and over time you will learn a great deal more about your audience.

4) Analyse social trends:

Employ the tactic of social listening: that is, you should explore social media, the web, and local groups to discover what other topics interest your target audience. This provides the opportunity to uncover new trends that may be of interest to your target audience. Implement these trends or use them as an alternate angle to gain a firmer understanding of your audience’s needs and wants.

5) Branch out:

Don’t just stick with your current target market. Aim to branch out as much as you can. The larger your target market, the more your brand will be recognised. Thus, selling more products and bringing more money in. However, it is important too not let your target market get too broad or you may lose your core audience. Learn about related niches by seeing what captures your audience’s (and related audience’s) interests.

Find the link between audiences in which your product has gauged an interest and the other products they tend to purchase. Find that product and see what you can do to bring that core audience over to your product. With enough facts, research, and statistics, you can walk away with a much larger target audience.

Experiment with your audience:

The same routine grows old fairly quickly. Maintain the same level of quality, but change things up to prevent losing members of your target audience as a result of sheer boredom and continuous repetition.

 

At times Larry will experiment with his own crowd during performances. He might throw in a cheeky new effect or jest now and then to test the waters before introducing a major change. This is also an effective way of steering his performance into a new direction without great risk.

 

This is not only a career tip, it can also be implemented into your personal life — discover how to react to new topics and learn to steer a conversation in a certain direction.

 

Lastly, remember that client feedback is of utmost importance! If it is clear that your audience isn’t reacting positively to changes, you should revert back to what worked in the past and try again when the time is right.

 

Without the audience, there is nobody to indulge in your product or service, so consider their comments and criticisms and aim to provide them with something they will enjoy. With time and experience, you will come to know what will work and what won’t. Work with your audience. Knowing who your clients are allows you to provide a much greater service.

1) Give it your all:

2) Always be ready to perform:

3) Impressions Last:

4) Be ready for the curve ball:

5) Take care of yourself:

6) Stay updated and well-read:

There is more to making people happy than simply meeting their expectations. One needs to exceed expectations to truly satisfy another person’s desires; this is what we call the “WOW Factor”.

The moment you leave someone — your friend, a client, a coworker, your dentist — saying “wow” or looking like they’ve been wowed is the moment you have truly become impressive and successful in your task.

Instead of solely satisfying someone, try raising the bar a little: throw all your joy, energy, ideas, and helpfulness at them; whether you are at work or at a coffee shop with a friend; aim to not only satisfy them, but to WOW them!

Here are 4 methods on how to go the extra mile and WOW someone:

 

1) Stay Focused on One Thing:

In this modern generation, there is nothing easier and quicker to take us off track than the tiniest distractions; whether it is the buzz of your phone, a coworker’s fingers tapping on your shoulder, or running out of coffee; distractions take you out of the workflow and once you get out of the workflow, it is difficult to get back into it.

Retaining your focus on a single task will keep you working throughout the day without significantly losing any productivity along the way. This focus does not only apply to the workplace, but to your friends and family, health and fitness, and hobbies and entertainment too.

To leave a lasting impression on both others and yourself, you need to put in the hours and get the work done. That means no distractions. Take a mental and physical break when necessary, but keep in mind that your tasks only get fully accomplished when you put in the hours and persevere.

2) Deliver More Than What is Expected:

Consider what it takes to keep customers and friends happy. There are a multitude of personality characteristics involved, such as:
Trying to be beneficent, transparent, and ebullient.
Avoiding being onerous, monotonous, or cant.
Now by all means do not take this as an invitation to become a people pleaser, for the reason that people appreciate honesty and authenticity and generally see right through a quasi-friend.

When it comes to your work, more is always better. Doing more work is better; assisting coworkers is better; going out of your way to be helpful to clients is better. Exceed your clients’, your coworkers’, and your boss’s expectations; and who knows, maybe you will be rewarded with a promotion, a raise, or just a simple token of appreciation. But don’t aim for the reward; aim to impress; aim to exceed expectations.

This applies to your social and out-of-work life as well: aim to be a better friend, a better lover, a better stranger, and a better person overall.

3) Get to Know Your Audience:

As mentioned previously, this post does not only apply to the workplace, but to your entire life as well. So consider your audience to be anyone you are currently engaged with, conversing with, or assisting in some way.

Getting to know your audience isn’t as easy as it may seem. It comes with time and effort. Imagine you are a mentalist performing on stage. As a mentalist, you will have to analyse your audience to get an understanding of their mood and the atmosphere. More importantly, you have to consider their reactions to your performances: which illusions worked and which didn’t; why they worked and why they didn’t; and what can be changed and offered in the future to better accommodate the audience.

Moving forward, equipping this information about your audience will prove to be exceptionally valuable for the next encounter with said audience. It will greatly improve your in-person interactions and it will act as a guide for the next first date, family dinner, or client communication.

4) Be Early:

Arriving on time is one thing, but arriving early is a whole other story. A better one. Now it may seem unnecessary to arrive earlier than expected and in some occassions you shouldn’t, but when it is appropriate to do so, it becomes a sign of respect and enthusiasm.

And although this may not always be necessary, it certainly does fall under going the extra mile. Again, this applies to anything: whether it is arriving a little bit earlier to the workplace meeting or a little bit earlier to your friend’s party.

Just because there is a specific time, it does not mean that you cannot go out of your way to do more in that time. If that means arriving early and leaving later, then so be it. Furthermore, people will catch on. When they notice you doing this multiple times, it will symbolise your dedication and passion.

As Tony Jeary beautifully explained in his article, “The expectations you exceed today become the seed for new opportunities in the future.”

Give more than is expected from you and others will reciprocate. You will stand out like the sole sunflower in a field of grass. People will want to spend more time with you; and in exchange, they will strive to give back to you. Furthermore, this will set a new benchmark, not only for yourself to aspire to, but for those around you as well.

 

Always give it your all.

 

 

1) Sleep:

When discussing time management, the worst thing you can do is not sleep enough. Getting work down effectively and quickly is extremely unlikely when you have deprived yourself of sleep; the only thing sleep deprivation will bring is decadent productivity.

 

2) Time Allocation:

As important as planning may seem, it is not nearly as important as actually getting the work done. Thus it is important to get this note out of the way right away: spending hours on planning is not productive work!

 

3) Indecisiveness:

Stress and a lack of decisiveness play a huge role in day-to-day productivity. To dissipate time worrying over matters is not only wasteful but incredibly frustrating as well.