BLOGGING TIPS - Research

BLOGGING TIPS – Research


By Nikki Viljoen – Viljoen Consulting CC - November 2010

What a couple of months I have had. I know that my blogs have not been as consistent as they usually are and I really do need to apologize for that. Truth of the matter is that I have been really busy and for that I refuse to apologize. Actually if the truth be told, I’ve been productively busy. How cool is that?

Thing is though, every time I write a blog, I have to do the research! Contrary to popular belief, I don’t just wake up in the morning and decide ‘well today I am going to write about the inside of a ping pong ball!’ I may wake up with an idea, but it has to be researched before I can actually write the article.

Think about it for a moment – what if I write about something like perhaps VAT or HR and none of it is based on fact, all of it is just fiction that I have dreamed up or based on my personal opinion of what I think should happen. You take that information, believing that it is fact and apply that to your business, only to discover, when the brown stuff hits the fan, that it was all fiction. Going forward, how much of what I write would you believe? Not much hey! My reputation would be worth less than nothing and my credibility would be lower than shark poo!

Actually, perhaps I should ask the question – do you think that I ‘know it all’ or do you actually realize what goes into each and every article that I write? Each one has to be researched or is the direct result of something that has happened to me – personal life experience, which I guess, in itself is also research! Whichever way you look at it, a certain amount of research has to be done in order for me to arrive at the facts.

Truth be told, judging by some of the comments and requests that I get, many people are really clueless about the amount of work that goes into writing an article – it really is not a five minute job – it has to be topical, it has to make sense and it has to be researched.

Thing is though, I recently have been getting a large number of inquiries that go along the lines of “I read your article and need more information, send it to me”. HELLO! I actually got a call the other day from a woman who said “I read your article on cash flow and am interested in it” – that was the extent of the discussion. It didn’t matter what I asked – like ‘what about it interests you?’ etc. she just kept repeating that one line – I mean really!

The bottom line is that I have done the research and given you the fundamental basics. Quite frankly, if you want more – well you need to pay for it or do the research yourself.

My experience is that for many SMME’s or Entrepreneurs, the perception is that other people should do the research for them and indeed that research should be done at no cost to themselves.

Actually, whilst I am on this particular soap box . . . the baby boomers amongst you will certainly remember . . . when we went to school, we were given the topic or the heading and the book in which we would find the information and sent away to write the essay or do the work. I don’t ever remember evening having multiple type questions. We opened the book and read the required piece to get to the information that we required.

These days of course, everything done for the kids. The teachers provide copies of the information and that gets glued into the school books and the parents do the projects and the kids . . . well they work very hard on MXIT or play computer games or any other number of applications that are designed specifically for them out there. Pretty much playing adult games whilst still in their nappies.

Many start up SMME’s try to do the same thing.

They expect someone else to do the research (usually for nothing) or someone else to use their hard earned money to fund their un-researched idea and then play at being a “business owner”, when they don’t have a clue about what it is that they are doing. This, of course, is an extremely dangerous game to play!

My value add as I see it, is to supply you with enough information for you to ascertain if you need that particular information or not. If you do need the information it is up to you to then do the research to find the correct solution to your particular problem. Whether that solution is to hire an expert in that field to assist you with your problem, or for you to do the research yourself and come up with your own solution, well that’s your decision. My decision then is, if you want me to supply you with the information, understand it will be at a cost to yourself. I have already paid my dues – I have done the research.

So please, understand the dynamics – the research has to be done!

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za