I fly at least twice a fortnight, yet I’m sitting here on board British Airways flight BA 6430 from Cape Town to Jo’burg, and felt compelled to stop everything and write this post. This has been without a doubt the nicest domestic flight experience I’ve had in not-so recent memory.

It started at the check-in counter where the guys that were there smiled at me and said that although my bag was pretty big, I was the only guy in Club and would I not rather take it on board with me. I was cool to check it, more smiles all around, a joke about being able to play one-man musical chairs (and win every game), and I was off to the lounge.

There I was spotted looking at the hot chocolate machine that was off for refilling. I said that it was fine but they insisted on getting it back on in a hurry for me. However just when they were nearly were done my flight was called. I got up to leave and was met the hostess coming back up the stairs with the take away cup she’d managed to find for me elsewhere, the other hostess phoned the gate and told them that I’d be down in two minutes. Again, big smiles, and minutes later I was boarding, steamin’ cup of hot chocolate in hand.

Awaiting take off, I was chatting to one of the cabin crew about his goal of becoming a pilot, and the steps it would take him to get into the cadet program, when another cabin attendant came from the back of the plane, saw me alone, laughed and asked if I’d like her to to fill up Club with all the hot ladies from the flight. Not wanting to appear ungrateful, I of course said yes (sadly though I’m still alone). The meal was wicked cool, I was brought three piping hot dishes to chose from, and the meal was served in courses, as opposed to the crammed tray that SAA and Nationwide give you. Finally, when I was done, the Cabin Controller popped by and sneaked me some extra Sally Williams nougat, with a smile and a wink.

The key word here: Smiles, and not the fake Americanised ones, genuine smiles at every interaction. Wicked. Seriously, an all round kick-ass team effort by BA, much respect.

Really makes me regret being the Voyager mile whore that I am…!

I was chatting to a guy yesterday and he said to me, “I never mix business and pleasure”. I have just one thing to say to people with this attitude and that’s, “Well mate, then you’re almost certainly not in the right profession, ‘cos if you were, you’d realise that separating business and pleasure is physically impossible.”
I remember an an argument I once had with Andrea the wife (read: boss), it went like this:

Andrea: You’re home late again.
Me: Stop moaning, I wasn’t out with lads or having a laugh somewhere, I was working!
Andrea: That’s bullshit… YOU LOVE YOUR WORK!
<30 seconds of holding a stare, and silent deliberation>
Me: Sorry
<sex>

She’s right, I get a real kick out of being at work, and that rocks. If ever you hear yourself saying “We work hard, but we play hard”, realise that it’s not a good thing, and look at how you can get more play in your day….!

I bought a new car this weekend, it’s a Lexus LS460. That’s not the story though, this is the story…

• Riccardo the sales guy saw my email signature and pre-named my car’s bluetooth profile, “Capitalist Punk”.
• Then, when I arrived home, I saw three gift-wrapped presents. The first was a Lexus coffee table book, the second was a box of chocolates, and the third, a hand-picked special gift, was this:

That, my friends, is punk rock…!

This may seem like a strange, even paradoxical, name, but I guess that depends a lot on how you interpret the word punk. If like me, you were quite involved in the punk rock scene, you would see punk as:

…an ethic, a way of life that involves questioning conventional norms, changing the world - and doing the right thing.

So why capitalist? Well, I was driving to a punk rock show a few months ago in my then flash Mercedes, and I remember feeling embarrassed, I felt very un-punk rock. A sell-out. That pissed me off, you see I’d sold nothing out. I still wanted to change the world, I still question the norms, and I still wanted to do the right thing - I was just good at it.

It amazes me that in most sub-cultures failure = authenticity. This seems crazy to me as it in effect tells us that the system we believe in is fundamentally broken. My mission is simple, I want to create a business with all the punk ethics I mentioned above, and I want that business to rock. Every cent I make, proves that this way of thinking is a viable alternative. That’s why we’re capitalist punks.

So simply put, this is not just a blog, it’s a business philosophy…!