Bring it on
By Kim Browne
The sky is always blue at The Toast, which loosely translated means we’ll give almost anything a go. We like being given tasks to solve for clients. We like the challenge, it keeps us stimulated.
Working in a demanding space, with tight deadlines; it would be a dream not to have to deal with infrastructure challenges. Eskom and Telkom just make our lives so much harder. Some days it feels like we’re swimming upstream all the time!
Traffic was a massive issue for us, so we moved the business to the Fourways area a year ago and scored all the way. We’re closer to our Pretoria clients and traffic issues have been marginalised. With the onset of load shedding, we invested in a generator, so when the darkness descends, we can work. Oh, and a gas cooker to ensure we can always make coffee!
But the knock-on impact of load shedding presents further challenges. Traffic is again an issue, with robots often not working somewhere. An increasingly huge issue for us is Telkom service. Depending on the duration of load shedding, Telkom connectivity can become patchy at best, slowing us down. Yes, we have cellular connectivity as a back-up, but it’s not enough. Fibre is the answer, but it’s currently unavailable in our area.
We need a really fast internet connection. It’s business critical to us, so we have no choice but to find a workable solution. Frustrating times and another business challenge to overcome. It might not be pleasant, but the experience will make us stronger. Giving up or just accepting the status quo is not an option!
It’s fantastic to see entrepreneurs taking advantage of the new business opportunities created by the current infrastructure meltdown. The EskomSePush mobile app that sends you regular notifications on everything you need about load shedding has become an indispensable resource. Waze, the community based traffic and navigation app is seriously useful. You’ve also got to love the businesses with signs out front, announcing that they’re open for business during load shedding. Let’s go there!
In the meantime, we have reached an important milestone at Twisted Toast Digital. We’re now officially four years young ☺ The agency is busier than ever and we’ve knocked down a few walls and ordered new furniture and computers to help us cope with managed expansion.
Hectic and “busy” gets used all too often as an excuse not to undertake things we’d rather put off. If it’s important enough, no matter how busy, you’ll make the time to fit things in. Celebrating success along the way is important enough to make the time for.
We’re planning a solstice braai in June to celebrate turning four. It’s become a tradition to wear our PJs to work that day, so be warned…
We are grateful to have a number of diverse projects to work on, keeping our day jobs interesting and rewarding. Most importantly, we keep on growing our own knowledge base. Powerful stuff!
