Yummy Wakame Weblog
Archive: Entrepeneurial spirit
Swipe credit cards with your smartphone
Squareup is brilliant! So handy — I would say even crucial — for flea-market vendors, Craigslist sellers, at garage sales and for other small business needs.
The tiny card reader that plugs into your smart phone via the earphone jack is free. All you pay are transaction fees (which you do anyway when you accept credit cards). There’s no contract – just pay as you go.
Independent workers make up 30% of the US workforce
Freelancers Union is our friend. “Creating new ways for independent workers to have affordable access to portable benefits.”
Despite all that freelancers contribute to America’s economy, most are taxed more than traditional employees, can’t access affordable insurance, and have limited access to protections such as unemployment insurance, retirement plans, and unpaid wage claims. That’s why Freelancers Union is writing new rules for the new workforce.
Our mission is to support independent workers and model solutions so that they can be secure and thrive, no matter how they work.
You’ve got to find what you love.
“And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”
~ Steve Jobs
Speedway 105 Café
My dad Paul and his twin brother Dave van der Spuy are interviewed @ Speedway Cafe. It’s amazing to see the place jamming — originally a dream of theirs for years and years, and with all the crazy setbacks I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen. But one thing I know about my dad is that if he’s passionate about something, nothing will stop him. If you live in Cape Town and are a huge fast and classic car and bike enthusiast, you may have already visited. My dad’s the one on the left throughout most of the video. Unbelievably I’ve still never seen it — haven’t been back to Cape Town in over 10 years. I’m dying to go!! Please go for me if you can.
Watch the video in full screen at Zoopy
To get updated on all the events sign up @ the Speedway 105 Café Facebook Fan Page
Confounding Compounding Mystery
It’s been one thing after another the past few months and I’ve been trying to figure out what’s going on and just keep my head above water. I cant figure out why I’m being hit with so many storms at once with such an intense duration and increasing momentum. (more…)
Making It So
After over 5 years Yummy Wakame finally has a sleek new look! This has been a work-in-slow-progress for over a year now, as always with personal projects it’s been the last priority after paid work. At one point I thought it would never happen and didn’t touch it for about 4 months, figuring I’d work on it once work slowed down completely, but that never happened, and since October last year I suddenly found myself revelling in a whole lot more free time than I was used to. So YAY for Yummy Wakame! I guess now I’ll be passing around the business cards instead of cringingly giving out the URL to new clients. This design is a much better fit, inspired by something very meaningful to me. The portfolio isnt groaning under the weight of crusty 7 year old projects anymore. The new site and portfolio is so much easier to keep fresh thanks to WordPress, without needing to do a further stitch of code. I can make you a WordPress powered site too!
Oh and I’m working on the issue with the homepage taking a year to load. The hidden portfolio pieces are massive and unfortunately are loading before they are needed, so I still have to figure out how to load them on demand. Hopefully you all have broadband.
If anyone knows what that Kanji character is in the favicon you get +10hp!
New Sock Dreams Launches Today!
After a long production that felt like a bajillion years ago the all new and improved Sock Dreams site has finally launched! Today! I am so excited! Dan Foley did the backend, all the scripting and heavy duty stuff. He created it completely custom from scratch for Sock Dreams. I designed all the pages and created the XHTML template files for every page you see. And Monique Natosi is the owner and genius mastermind behind it all. In fact Sock Dreams was my very first freelance client all those years ago when I created the old site with my developer friend Sybrand Strauss. We never predicted it would take off in such a huge way and become the biggest sock store in the universe! We’ve been bursting out of the seams for years now so it feels so great to stretch out in a whole new lovely space that caters for a wider audience.
Love you Niq! Without you guys I may have never had the guts to go freelance! And without that I wouldn’t have the amazing travelling life I have now. Thanks for being the most wonderful client I could ever dream of and for making me feel like part of the family. Here’s to many more years of increased sales and shiny new website happiness!
BlueCollarWhiteCollar
Aw… my Dad’s first clothing shop – Frank B Earnest in Gardens Centre, Cape Town. I remember helping to paint that amazing floor when I was a little kiddo. The last time I popped round, over 10 years ago, there was a new store there but they’d kept the beautiful painted floor. Those old leather couches and the Persian rug used to be in our livingroom…
When I was a really teeny weeny he worked for the House of Monatic where he started the Carducci label. I remember spending hours with my brother at the office, scooting wheelie chairs all over the building, up and down the elevators, spinning around and around for hours… sniffing suit fabric swatches, gluing and stapling fabric and paper together into strange things. I remember the office windows were floor to ceiling and the entire building smelled heavily of brand new fabric and carpeting. Now that I think about it I was probably always high on fumes… oh and those permanent markers… and spinning round and round and round… He was always away on business trips. I remember particularly when he went to Italy and Japan and would come back loaded up with crazy toys I’d never seen in South Africa. He was a fun dad and I missed him a lot when he was away. Back then and for years I thought “Overseas” was a country people visited on business trips and rich kids went skiing with their parents, and “South Africa” was where everyone really lived. An entire classroom of laughing kids enlightened me to reality. That happened often. (more…)
For The Love of Tea!
“Great love affairs start with Champagne and end with tisane.”
~Honoré de Balzac
My love affair with Atlas started just a few posts ago and has blossomed into a chronic habit. I was more than happy to sit by my favourite window seat and people watch the Pearl Street pavement from The Cup, a coffee shop just a few doors down from Atlas. So Joseph, knowing I have a thing for good teas, had to nudge me a few times to give Atlas a try. Once he gave up nudging I realised I might forget, so I found myself here, trying out the frothy rooibos chai and sharing a giant table with a few friendly guys keen to expand the party.
I don’t know if its the huge poster of Craigslist > Atlas Missed Connections posted up on the wall or not but this place has an unmissable sniffable air of being a singles meetup spot for young, often trendy 20- and 30-somethings who I am guessing must be web designers, graphic designers, writers and other types of freelancers who can waffle hours of the day away looking busy. Freelancing is a good life for sure, and even with the unreliable income, no health plan and occasional cash flow crises, I wouldn’t trade what I do now for any amount of money or luxuries. I have a credit card for such emergencies!
Today as soon as I came in I started distractedly unpacking my laptop to secure a spot, and one of the owners, the one I got to know on my first day here, came round to my shared table and dropped off a tall frothy glass of Rooibos chai with a warm smile. Without realising what it meant, I don’t think, he was welcoming me to my home from home. Atlas is now officially my favourite work spot in Colorado. Once they are open till 11 I will be in heaven!
Here’s some snaps of my favourite bits to give you a feel for the place:
The wall of missed connections (more…)
Catching My Tailspin
What’s up with that? Where do I get this INSANE sense of URGENCY from? I feel like I only have 2 years left or something. Oh these plans for the next two years keep going around and around in circles in my head, I freak out about when I’m going to get it all done, how I haven’t been back to Cape Town in 10 years, how I’m going to save up enough to do the Appalachian Trail next year, get access to a chiropractor to fix my back… Late last night I was online chatting to my best friend Joseph, going on and on about this and that, trying to figure out where I’m going to settle for a few months to grow my garden, how I’m going to schedule and plan my garden’s seasons around all my travel plans just for this year, knowing the garden needs to be more of a priority as it will pay for all this travel. And its my first garden so I need to focus on it but if it goes too long it could tie me down… blah blah… fret, worry blah. Brain fart.
He just listened for ages. Nothing seems to rush him into a fluster, not even when I’m freaking out. (more…)
Help Save Japan’s Dolphins!
More than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises are being slaughtered each year and their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is being sold as food in Japan, often times labeled as whale meat. Send a letter to President Obama, Vice President Biden and Japanese Ambassador to the United States Ichiro Fujisaki urging them to address this issue »
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