The psychology of putting your stuff out there

 A year ago, I created a new product for YOLO, a YOLO Garden Sieve. A friend had sent me a video of something that he had seen. I found the product listed in the UK - same product sold under three different brands (probably made in Asia and imported by different companies with their logo stuck on to it). I read through hundreds of product reviews and the same complaints kept coming up. But, I thought the concept was a good one and I was sure that I could improve on it. I made five major changes, additions or innovations from components to materials to make this a really awesome product.

I know a steel manufacturing business in George so I contacted them to see whether this was something that they would be able to make for me. With their confirmation, I drew up the design and made a cardboard 'prototype' for them - and myself - to gauge the size and components.

The factory manufactured a steel prototype for me and with only one small adjustment, I was very happy with the result.

I asked the factory to make three stock units, which they completed. That was a bit less than a year ago.

Why have I waited so long to put this awesome product out there?

A day or so after I received the stock units, I left for Expedition Africa. A week after I got back from the race, I left for the Seychelles, where I spent two weeks visiting family and exploring trails. I returned home to the craziness of the dogs (I still had all three foster puppies then) and catching up on YOLO and AR Gaiters work.

And a week after this dad-drama began. We're 10-months down with no let up. This has sapped a lot of time - hours every week, and both psychological and emotional energy. I've felt depleted and lacking in capacity to deal with anything new.

To get the YOLO Garden Sieve to market, I still had a lot that I needed to do: finalise packaging for courier delivery, work up assembly instructions, make videos, take photos, create the website page, write content and set up the product listing.

I had a good early part of this year with a lot of travel and event work. Returning each time meant catch-up time again (admin waits for no man).

Over the last few weeks, I have been sufficiently settled to attack these tasks. Earlier this month, I put the product up on the YOLO website, creating a page, adding content and images, editing video clips, and adding the online-order product listing.

For the last half-dozen days, I have worked intermittently on the assembly instructions, and creating all the drawings. I'm no CAD designer or technical draughtsman, but my drawings for each stage of the assembly have come out really well.

On the bright side of the delay in launching, I have used the YOLO Garden Sieve many times over the seven or eight months to sift compost and soil for a variety of projects. I've separated out roots, stones, leaves, uncomposted material and also beetle 'houses' and large white grubs with great success. I've filled bags of material and also a new raised bed. This has allowed me to assess the wear-and-tear on the sieve to send this product out there knowing that it is robust and that it does what it is meant to do.

While time, capacity and energy have been factors, there has also been a psychological component to getting this product out there.

I think the sieve is awesome and for people who need to sieve soil or compost regularly, it is an incredible asset. It works effectively, and it is made to be strong, robust and long lasting. 

I like it, but what if no one else does? What if I get no orders? While this sounds silly, one has to be able to handle the disappointment of a product not taking off. 

Realistically, this is a niche product, like my YOLO Compost Tumbler. But, it is perfect for the right type of person.

With the sieve now out there on the YOLO Compost Tumbler website, Facebook and Instagram, there is still work to be done to reach out to potential customers to let them know directly about this fabulous YOLO Garden Sieve.

The base work is done and I am pleased to now have it out there. Holding thumbs.

I painted a picture

 A watercolour painting teacher-artist (Andrea Nelson) came up on my FB/Insta feed a few months ago. I followed and have enjoyed her simple, creative and colourful projects. I just watched and didn't do, despite her encouragement of followers to just give it go.

The other day with friends, the one says that she gets together with another one or two friends every Monday and they paint - watercolour - for about 90 minutes. Of course I said, "I'd love to come" and the other two with us said the same.

On Monday, we joined the painting group. I only had an hour but I did complete this flower. I'm no good at thinking up things to paint myself (yet) so I found a picture online of something that I liked and did my own version of it.

My first watercolour painting probably since primary school!

I've got a way to go in learning how to use watercolours - strong, dilute, water first, how it spreads etc. It is fun and creative, and I look forward to improving.

As far as yarn crafts go, I have had a crochet hiatus for about two years. Sure, I have made a few odd items, but no proper projects. I just do not know what I would like to make. I have had an itch to embroider flowers. I saw a booklet at a fabric store a few weeks back with 100 embroidery stitches and took it as a sign. I started at 1 and worked my way through to create a sampler.

The first 40-ish embroidery stitches. A lot can be done with these
plus French knots and bullion stitches.

There are some lovely floral designs that I have seen online. I need to choose one and a colour palette and give it a go. Handcrafts like this go well with listening to audiobooks and podcasts, and watching shows on streaming.

My years of blood donation posts have done some good

I have been a blood donor since I turned 16. I had a gap of about eight years when I was often in malaria areas with adventure races, which is cause for deferral. I regained my regular donor status in 2008 and have retained it since.

I usually post here and on Facebook after donations, encouraging friends and readers to only donate if they intend to go back again at least three times within a year. The reason for this, in South Africa at least, is that your plasma (the other components are discarded) is quarantined after your first donation if it passes various tests - like for HIV and hepatitis. When you return and the tests on your second donation are clear, the plasma from the first donation is used and the second is quarantined. The same happens when you return a 3rd time.

It is only after you are clear of various transmissible diseases three times within a 12-month period (you can donate up to six times a year, every 56 days) that your red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma are used.

As such, once-off donations are a waste of time, resources, labour, testing, freezer space, money, and blood because your donation will be discarded after a year if you do not return. The marketing around blood donation always says that each donation saves three lives. It only serves this purpose if you donate regularly so that all of your blood components are used.

I went to donate yesterday.

Watching Olympics at the George Western Cape Blood Service branch. My timing wasn't great as I got powerlifting instead of something like athletics, but it was interesting to see. 

My oldest friend David - we met at nursery school when I was 2 and he was 3 - responded with this:

"You’ve successfully persuaded me (after 20 years of making these valuable posts) to try again in the UK - they didn’t want it when I first moved here but this time they did - been used at Charing Cross hospital already. Just saying so you know your adverts work."

He is booked for his next donation in three-months time. 

My friend wrote a fiction novel, Sanguinous by Allison Glass

I am super proud of one of my oldest and dearest friends, Allison Glass, for writing a fiction novel. While I write, I write about real people and events and conversations - easy stuff, no imagination required. Creating a fiction story with a strong storyline, convincing characters, interest and intrigue, and lots of conversation is a whole other skill. 

I have just read Allison's book 'Sanguinous' - devouring it in a few days - and I loved it. At its root, it is a vampire story, set in Johannesburg, with a journalist as its main character. The main story is set in the present with intermittent chapters that go back in time from when a key vampire character arrived in South Africa, so there is a wonderful inclusion of South African history and accounting of significant events where he was present.

What does the enigmatic nightclub, Sanguinous, have to do with fatal house robberies in the leafy suburbs of Johannsburg and a 17th century stowaway?

Rory Tate is a young journalist on her first job with a reputable news agency. Her investigations lead her into a bloodthirsty criminal underworld she could never have imagined.

I loved True Blood (tv series) and Twilight (books & movies), Interview with a Vampire (book & movie) so I'm an easy-sell on the vampire genre. That said, there is more that I don't read or watch that is too far fetched. I like my vampires to be believable.

Allison is a doctor but she moved to specialise in HIV and virology many years ago. She now heads up the molecular lab at a big pathology company. She started writing her book some time ago - a big commitment - and she self published 'Sanguinous'.

Allison has breathed life into her characters with descriptions that gave them presence and personality, and that left a clear image of them in my mind. She cleverly wove their interactions and history into the story, maintaining a smooth flow throughout. This book is a fluid read.

The best part of the book, for me, was the way that Allison dealt with the 'being a vampire' reality. As we all know, vampires drink blood but they don't have a beating heart that pumps blood around their bodies. So how do they walk, talk, think and function? Their flesh is essentially dead but they don't decompose. Allison delighted me with her rationale for their undead-ness.

For vampires, it can be risky business to snack on just anyone without knowing whether that person has a disease. In the book, Allison brings in HIV - her area of professional expertise - and its effect on vampires. Allison's outcome is even better than what you can imagine.

The book's ending left the opening for sequel - I hope there will be one in time.

I've had a rough run of books this year with a number that I've struggled to get into or to read to completion this year - even those by well-known authors. Allison's book is just what I needed. It kept me hooked from the start, was smooth and quick reading, and kept me up (or lazing in bed) to read just a little bit more before turning out my light or getting up. 

Sanguinous is a vampire novel with a solid story and characters, and a cleverness in dealing with the essence of what vampires are. It is a good adult read but I can definitely see it in the older teen space too.

Sanguinous by Allison Glass is available on Amazon as an e-book or paperback. You can also message me and I'll connect you to Allison to get a paper copy.

Well done my friend xxx