I'll fall, I'll rise again... just please not at 5am (a "businessy" post)

So off I went this past Tuesday evening, camera in hand, as I have been doing for about a year now, whenever there is a Cape Town Girl Geek Dinner. I came across a Facebook post last year for a Girl Geek Dinner event and everything about it appealed to me. The venue (The Atlantic Imbizo in the V&A Waterfront) has convenient parking (I can’t explain how important easy public transport OR convenient parking is to me in this post, it will end up with nothing else), the topics and speakers lined up are interesting, boundary-pushing and informative, there’s food, and there is an amazing collection of geeky girls (and a few guys) attending, whom, if not into tech, is at least not frightened by the concept of tech.

So it seemed that I would be right at home*…

*Just to clarify, in case you haven’t had, mmm let’s say the pleasure of, interacting with me before: I’m not good with people. I feel uncomfortable and out-of-place, always uncertain when I should or shouldn’t make eye contact, am pretty terrible at small talk and usually speak too much (I talk when I get nervous, deal with it). That said, I love learning new things, gathering information, and basically only keep myself alive to hopefully one day (soon?) have a direct brain-computer interface and I get all gaga about everything around Artificial Intelligence, so a dinner that has the word “geeky” in the title is about the closest to feeling at home I will ever get while there is over people around.

But back to this week: So off I went this past Tuesday evening, camera in hand, to a Girl Geek Dinner.

The topic was “Rise, Fall, Rebirth: the story of an entrepreneur” and the speaker was Alan Knott-Craig, which has lived exactly that… he rose quickly, fell hard and started again. And this was his story, and along with the telling he shared his hard-learned lessons.

Alan is nice.

And I cannot overstate the importance of being nice in this world of ours. I mean, I do not know this guy. Sure I’ve heard of him somewhere, but I do not know him. However, the unassuming way of the man, who moves in circles I only read about**, is enticing. He has an easy way about him and took the stage and simply talked. And the geeky girls and guys? We listened. We laughed. We engaged.

**Turns out my hubbie actually kinda moved in the same circles as Alan’s dad, doing software development for Vodacom backed projects, back in the day, with business partners of Alan Sr… Who knew? Also, when I checked out Alan’s Linkedin Profile, it turns out my friend Dave worked for Alan at iBurst and Mxit, so my circle is obviously shinier than I realised.

Anyway.

Since I often am (hiding) behind a camera, I have developed a habit of watching people who are watching other people. I turn my eye to the audience. It is amazing what you can learn from an unguarded expression. For an extreme example, think the face of a groom when he first sees his bride… And I was I in for a treat face-spotting at this event.

The way Alan talked to the group was informal, quirky and open. Most faces lit up as they looked on, frequently smiles broke through with out loud laughter punctuating some points and serious nodding at others. He said plenty of things that if taken out of context would sound rather strange. It gave a warm feeling though, like he is talking to a friend. He has a sense of humour which I could quickly sense is not for everyone, and some of his comments was met with confused looks. But he is okay with this. I know, coz he said so. He likes to address a room with a “this is me” attitude, and have those with similar outlooks come to him, rather than seeking them out.

Honesty is one of Alan’s most valued attributes (unless he is a very good liar). And this is also a key point he wanted to share: if you are honest and have integrity in your business dealings, and anything around money, you can get up after an entrepreneurial fall. Trying and failing is often expected in business, and can be forgiven. Messing with someone’s money: that is not.

Other advice he shared that really resonated was simple: take responsibility. You can ask for advice, you should do research, listen to your gut… but when you make a decision, it is your decision. Own it.

There was plenty more, and I am not mentioning it all here, but conveniently he wrote a book: 13 Rules for being an entrepreneur.

One last thing I want to say is: there are entrepreneurs (like me, who thinks R5000 is a lot of money and has been running a mostly one man show operation for the past 14 years, earning enough to pay my salary and pay the freelancers that I contract out to when needed), and then there are ENTREPRENEURS, (like Alan Knott-Craig, who thinks R5 000 000 is a lot of money under certain circumstances, but not so much in other cases, has gone big, dreams big and does big things*).

*Things like working with SA municipalities to provide free WiFi hotspots where it is needed most, all over South Africa with Project Isizwe.

But I suppose the biggest thing I have learnt is that I will never be rich. Because if getting up at 5am every morning is really a requirement of being a super successful entrepreneur, I am going to have to settle for mildly successful ;)

If you ever have the opportunity to  see Alan Knott-Craig Jr. speak, I highly recommend it. But what you can do in the meantime, if you are in the Cape Town area, mark your calendar for the next Girl Geek Dinner event.

The dinners are all organised by volunteers, headed by Suhaifa Naidoo, and rely on amazing primary sponsors like Snapscan, SnapBill, Creative Brands, RS Components , Sir Fruit and Bizoe Wine, with Atlantic Imbizo as their venue partner. It is a really cool thing to place on your “must do in Cape Town” calendar for the last Tuesday, every second month. You do not have to be a geek, just need to be open to possibility.

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Photos by Suki Lock (yes, that’s me).