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February 9, 2012#

Rosso di Sicila – La Mura – 2009

Rosso di Sicila

Weekend is almost here and I’m going to do something new.

Starting today I’ll try and introduce you to my wine collection, bottle by bottle. I started collecting wines with no specific reason in mind but in grew on me. Some wines I tasted and liked, some are received as gifts and some are “stolen” from my father’s cellar. 

I don’t pretend to be an expert on wines but with these articles I’ll try to show you some of the research I’ve done on my collection. I think of it more as an exercise for my self to keep reading, but as long as you find it interesting I would love your feedback.

My first taste of La Mura was as 2008 Bianco Organic. I had a few glasses with some friends over a plate of seafood pasta. After a few months i discovered in stores “Rosso di Sicilia”. The wine has a soft fruity taste packed with red berry fruit and cherry flavors. Perfect with pasta.

I started reading more about it and found out some incredibly interesting stuff. It seems that by nature of its climate and soils, Sicily is an ideal organic grape production region. An abundance of sunshine and sandy soils allow for the perfect micro climate for the grapes to thrive.

La Mura wines represent the best winemaking traditions in the area. Not only are Natura Sicilia wines made from organically grown grapes, but also tremendous care is taken throughout the entire production process to ensure the environmental impact is minimized.

The grapes are hand harvested from the certified organic, hillside vineyards of the Marsala and Salemi areas. Upon de-stemming, the grapes are softly bladder pressed and fermented in a controlled environment. Remontage, or pump over, ensures full extraction of the wonderful flavors and color.

Lamura’s Rosso di Sicilia is great Italian table wine, uncomplicated and heartfelt, from a place and a culture, and all the more delicious for it.

February 9, 2012#

Starting a business

When you set out to start a business you are excited. You finally get to do the things you love and do them by your standards.And you leave your job, and you get right to it, and you make the best stuff you can. You are proud of your work and everything feels great. Than you realize that the cash flow is not how you’d imagine it.

That is the first moment you understand that there has to be some one in charge. The moment when passion is not enough and business skills are needed. So you leave everything for a while and concentrate on your business to be. You create financial forecasts, a clear business plan and define your target market.

I hate this part of the process but I’ve come to realize that it’s the only thing that can get me trough the harsh times. Your passion, my passion, has to be planned like a business if it is to support our living standards. Other wise it’s a hobby. And a very expensive one too.

So if you know anybody starting a business these days give this 3 step solution:

  1. Leave the hobby behind.
  2. Start building a business.
  3. Return to the passion of doing things after everything is set up.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this? Can you start something just out of passion with no regard for the business part?

February 6, 2012#

Enjoy the sunrise

Enjoy the sunrise

I see many of my clients waking up in the morning and forgetting to “enjoy the sunrise”. I myself have been there for the last couple of months. Waking up and jumping at my smartphone, checking emails, trying to find some order in the chaos. I was worried that my plans would not succeed. I was micro-managing everything. And it was not the solution.

When you have to lunch a new product or service what do you have in mind? Yourself? The potential client? The problem it solves? I always wonder why it is so hard to focus on the actual result.

You, the business owner

Most often you think to much regarding the actual product / service lunch that you forget the bigger picture. You get so involved, like myself, in the little details that you care not to look at what’s happening at a bigger scale right now. Thisis the momement you have the biggest chance of failure. This is the single momemnt when you care more abut the color / lights / texture etc. than of what your customers are hoping to receive.

And that’s a shame. Because you are the only one that get’s to really interact with the customer, you are the only one that can provide real insight into what the product should be about. Let others focus on the little details. You are the “mastermind” here.

Stop for a second and look beyond the unimportant stuff, remember why your heart was in this in the first place. This kind of clear perspective can and will bring success in the long run.

They, the marketing agencies

They have the best intentions when it comes to your product. They really do. But they have so many other clients, so many other projects that they too forget to enjoy life, to do the little things. They are probably the best at what they do. But they forgot one thing along the way: how to relate.

They don’t understand the little problems because they don’t have them anymore or they learned to ignore them. When they try to give an opinion it’s mostly based on their own lifestyle. They are the ones that should be looking at the client and from the client’s perspective. But more and more they choose their own.

You have to bring them on track every time and advise them every step of the way. And even if you can do that and you do a fine job, you shouldn’t. They should be you partner and ease your journey not make it even harder. What you have to do in this case is to learn to use their knowledge and ignore their prejudice. And this can become overwhelming at times.

Me, the consultant

I come into play somewhere in the middle of all this.  I help you succeed in finding that bigger picture. I help you audit the agency’s work and most of all i help you measure the success of all the activities. I show you how they all come together dictating your business success or failure.  I am not a magician. I don’t make a bad business work. But I can show you where you got it wrong.

Maybe the next day you will wake up looking at the sunrise, knowing that you business is coming right on track. Maybe you will once again enjoy the little things and find that magic feeling that drove you into business in the first place.

image (c) http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-wallpapers/1206.html
November 25, 2011#

Kindle Fire in Romania

Ma uitam ca cei de la EvoMag ofera Kindle Fire in precomanda. Stau si ma intreb daca chiar am nevoie de noua versiune de Kindle. Am deja un Kindle Keyboard si sunt foarte multumit de ce stie sa faca.

Inteleg transformarea catre un device de media mai mult decat un ebook reader. Dar sti cineva daca toate acele functionalitati merg si in Romania?