The best advice I will share this year…

When I moved to the UK last year I was stunned that everybody uses the Internet as much as they do. Nobody does anything without checking the Net for traffic info, directions, bookings, better prices, and tonight’s news. I use it to buy computers, books, software, groceries, support the Warrior community, phone SA for less than it costs my Mom to yell at my Dad in the shower, book trains, book hotels, …

That’s because it is dirt cheap, fast, and has no artificial restrictions.

Unlike South Africa, which is why it is difficult to persuade South Africans that this is the most important technology they will ever bump into, and any time invested in learning it is worthwhile.

South Africa for example, has the only ISP I know of that throws away one third of their clients’ incoming mail. They do this without recourse, because their client doesn’t know what’s being thrown. Nor do they notify the sender. In my case, the first I know about it is when one of the Warriors asks me why I haven’t sent any mail for a month!

Telkom email is another challenge, with emails bouncing all over the place these past few months as Telkom tries to figure out a way to operate on Duracells because Eskom is cleaning their boilers yet again.

A business that loses emails is a business that is not destined for success. Imagine that I send out 5 emails to ask for quotes for my new computer system. Only one person answers because three of them get blocked and one bounces back to me. Who gets the sale?

I am glad you asked.

May I invite you to check out Gmail? It is easier to use than regular email. There is no chance of a virus infecting your machine and eating your hard drive. There is no chance that your email supply will be disrupted. No emails will ever bounce back to your clients. You will have email access anywhere in the world.

You won’t have to worry about downloading moerse big attachments because Gmail will allow you to read them online. Finding an email that you received from Uncle Dave sometime last year takes less than a second, as does finding all the emails since the Great Trek that mention the Potgietersrus Pink Parade. In other words, this is an industrial strength email solution that will put you on the same footing as anybody anywhere in the world – no matter how sophisticated their Internet access might be.

Did I mention that it costs absolutely nothing? It isn’t tied to any ISP, so when you change you get to keep all your emails. You get 5GB of storage. (After 700 emails/day for the past 18 months, I have only used 1.6GB – so this is enough for most of us for a long time.) I redirect all my email accounts into it because it has the best spam filters I have ever seen, which I need because so many folk seem worried about the size of my various body parts, two of which I don’t even have.

Head for http://mail.google.com – it solve any email frustrations you’re likely have for a long, long time. Not one of the folk I have recommended Gmail to have anything but praise for it – and you can’t say that about much these days.

And on that note, I am off to work on the seminar I will be presenting in SA next March – about “emigrating” to Netfontein, that magical place that sits on your desk like an ATM ready to disburse Rands, where you don’t pay rent, nor staff. It’s where you pit your incredible SA acumen head on against some of the softest folk on earth, and where you too can build a business that works anywhere. More about that next week.

You know where to find me.