Ric Vatner's Blog

Posted By Ric Vatner on July 23, 2010

I can remember at least three bullies that made my life hell when I was at school. But as a parent I now realise that it is no fun for the parent to watch either. I had to learn to deal with each one of them and it never got easier. I guess if I was a born fighter like my dad, I might even have enjoyed it but personally, I prefer a quiet life and I never saw the fun in getting my teeth knocked out.

But that is just me. Some of the kids I went to school with positively lived for it.

Watching the movie the Karate Kid recently reminded me of the time my mum decided to put a stop to one bout of bullying I was going through at school.

The Day the Bully Followed Me Home

This particular bully lived near our house and used to catch the same bus home from school as me. Somehow I came to his attention (my mouth was always bigger than my biceps) and from that day on, he made coming home a nightmare.

I tried everything, including catching a bus going in the opposite direction and once when he was getting especially frisky, I jumped off the bus as it went around a corner to escape his pugilistic attentions. But almost every day I came home with a new bruise or a black eye and my mum was getting fed up with it.

One morning she told me it was over, that I was to give him a hiding he would not forget so he would leave me alone.

It sounded like a plan when she said it, but the closer I got to school and the further I was from home the less plausible it sounded. Why was today any different? How was I any different to the boy who took the beating every day rather than being the one who gave it?

We were in different classes so I managed to avoid him throughout the day but when it came time to go home, my stomach was in my mouth, as usual. I got to the bus stop to find him there already and he gave me that evil smile that was full of promise. And I knew he intended to keep it.

The bus was full so he couldn’t get near me until we got off so I kept close to the exit and was the first off when we reached my bus stop. By a combination of running and mingling in crowds I got closer and closer to home without coping the hated beating.

I got pretty close; I could see my mum in the kitchen window. If I thought I was home safe, the bully had other ideas, he knew it was now or never so he grabbed me, swirled me around and smacked me in the mouth. He knew my mum could see us but my embarrassment just gave him extra pleasure and made him even more determined to give me a good beating.

Fight! Fight! Fight! They Cried

Isn’t it amazing how fast it goes from no one around to a circle of blood thirsty hunters with ugly screwed up masks for faces screaming fight! fight! fight!

I wasn’t in the least bit keen; I just wanted to get the bashing over with but with my mum watching I couldn’t just surrender.

I was angry, I was embarrassed, I hated the thought that my mum was going to see me get well and truly done over. I hated the kids in the circle for hemming me in and, of course, most of all I hated the bully.

I felt my self start to cry and the shame made me scream a roar of frustration. I saw him look scared for a second and I instantly decided it was now or never.

I attacked.

It was like two trains colliding. We ran at each other kicking and punching, gauging and scratching with no rules or etiquette. The crowd went quite at the sight of our ferocious conflict but we fought on until we could not move an inch.

There was no winner; we were both beaten and sore. I looked at him but he was not keen to continue and neither was I so I turned and walked the few yards to my house hoping my mum saw my best fight ever.

It’s Not Over till……

She met me just inside the door, took my school bag and then taught me a lesson I have never forgotten.

She said “You have not won”. Then she told me to go back and fight him again.

When I got back to the crowd, he was being feted by the boys. I knew then that she was right. I challenged him to fight. The crowd gasped. Wasn’t the first one bad enough? Did I have a death wish or something they wondered?

I could see him deflate for a second but he was a fighter and quickly came back. He was not going to give me the same chance he gave me the first time.

Again we collided like two fighter planes spewing death. There was little defense, it was all offence and the blows thudded home to nose and cheek and bone. I don’t know how long it lasted but we were both on the ground with the crowd shocked into silence.

I rolled on to my knees and shakily rose to stand. He got up too.

I staggered through the crowd towards my house and raised my eyes to look at the door. She was there, her eyes steely in their stare and her arms crossed. Her body said it all; I had not won.

My entrance was barred; I knew what I had to do.

I felt the tears well in my eyes, I felt the anger surge through my body as I turned and screamed a great roar of hate and anger and frustration and death. I charged at the crowd and to my surprise they burst and scattered in all directions and ran from me screaming and then in an instant of fear, he turned and ran after them.

When the anger left me, I was so tired I could not move. But I felt her behind me and then her arms engulfed me and as I broke down and cried, shaking from exhaustion, I could hear her say, “There, there, it’s all over now. You will never have to fight him again”

And boy, was I glad.

Category: Life, Love & Philosophy, Short Stories | 158Commentshttp://www.ricvatner.com.au/2010/07/how-my-mum-beat-the-school-bully/How+My+Mum+Beat+the+School+Bully2010-07-23+06%3A40%3A07Ric+Vatner
Tags: Bullied on way home, Bullying, How my mum beat the bully, how to beat a bully, Karate Kid, kitchen sink philosophy, My early life, Parents, Ric Vatner, School, School Bully, short story, Violence and Abuse, Youth

Posted By Ric Vatner on June 11, 2010

Do you know why I hate Seth Godin?

Because I have bought all his books – and read them, I follow his blog, I read his articles, watch his videos, download his PowerPoint Presentations and eBooks and just when I think he couldn’t possibly have anything more to say (that would be worth listening to) he comes up with more.

When will Seth Godin run out of ideas?

He is so damn prolific! I struggle to write a few articles each week and never make it round to all my blogs let alone get my newsletter out while he just seems to pump out quality articles, newsletters, eBooks and blog posts one after the other and never misses a beat.

Oh, you noticed? I’m jealous.

Well surely that just proves I’m human. He does what I want to do, and does it so effortlessly and well; what do you want me to do, throw my knickers at him? (okay, under pants but that didn’t quite work).

Then today I read his blog post Hope and the magic lottery and I realised that his life wasn’t always so easy. He once also knew the sense of frustration felt by artists and business people alike, when they feel that things are not happening fast enough. And that secret fear, that it may never happen. That feeling is the business equivalent of wading up hill in a fast moving stream against the current.

He knows that feeling and he has not forgotten.

It’s funny; when someone becomes successful they are often called an overnight success because “yesterday we had never heard of them; today they are famous”. But I have met many such people and they all say “It took me ten years (or in some cases, 20 years) to become the overnight success” they say I am.

Sure some people, a very small, and lucky, minority might strike success immediately or within a short period of starting. But while they may get a lot of publicity, they are the “lottery winners” that Seth mentions.

The trouble is that many people think that should be them. so they spend their life chasing that lottery win instead of working on becoming successful one step at a time. Mau Zedong famously said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” However, Seth covers that issue in his blog, I want to make another point.

Who is Really the One Impatient for Success?

In my experience, it is not always the artist or the budding business entrepreneur that is the impatient one. Quite often they are far too busy enjoying the journey to be impatient. More often, it is the family of that person and their friends who are the impatient ones and take morbid satisfaction out of pointing out how long it is taking to achieve “success”.

Of course they are often blind to the little successes along the way that like milestones, indicate the distance covered.

Sure, they are frustrated; they want the benefits that the aspirant promised would flow when they are a success. Maybe they missed out on spending time with the person while they worked on their project, maybe they feel that the person could have earned more money as an employee or may be they just fear being embarrassed if they fail.

Often, these hecklers on the sidelines do not have what it takes to do it themselves, either in talent or strength of character which would enable them to make such sacrifices at the alter of Ganesh*1. As a result they often harbour a secret jealousy against the hard working, dedicated and dare I say it, contented (possibly even happy) budding entrepreneur (or student, or artist etc).

The saddest part is that these “friends and family” often work hard actively encouraging their loved ones failure, doing everything in their power to make it happen. They withdraw their moral support, they promote every little failure and ignore any successes along the road, they sneer and put the person down in public and denigrate them in private. They sap their energy and their confidence. And if the one with the dream should fail, they show them no respect for trying but rather say things like “It was impossible”, “you were not up to the task” “you were talked into it”, “it was a silly dream”

And the worst one “Don’t ever try and do it again”

Over the years, I have seen many young adults leave home because they got no support from their parents for their ambition to be different. I have also seen marriages break up because one partner had a dream to achieve something and the other just wanted the rewards. Maybe they shared the dream in the beginning, but success is a long distance race not a sprint. Even instant success is often only a stepping stone to somewhere else. So somewhere along the line, the non participating partner, friend, parent or child drops out of the dream and to justify their failure, they actively pursue yours.

Can Your Family Survive Your Success?

Can you succeed in an environment that is hostile to success without splitting up? My honest opinion, it is difficult.

if your success is your partner’s failure, there is no team goal. In fact they can be as committed to your failure as you are to your success. Why? Because if you do succeed, they fear you will go on to a place where they cannot follow.

They fear losing you to the very success that you promised would bring the family such great honour and rewards. As surely as every success or failure along the way develops your character and changes you as a person, so the ones not experiencing these challenges, successes and blips, are in danger of receding further away from you intellectually.

Your challenge should you accept it, is to ensure that you take them along with you on the trip. Don’t say goodbye at the beginning of it as you “go it alone” and expect them to be ecstatic about your success when you return (metaphorically speaking) 10, 15 or 20 years later.

Climbing to the top of the heap is not the real challenge, that’s the fun part; taking your loved ones along, that’s the bit that’s not easy.

[1] Lord Ganesh is the Hindu God of Success and overcoming obstacles

Category: Business, In my opinion, Life, Love & Philosophy | 143Commentshttp://www.ricvatner.com.au/2010/06/can-your-family-survive-your-success/Can+Your+Family+Survive+Your+Success%3F2010-06-11+09%3A41%3A44Ric+Vatner
Tags: Ambition, Blog, Book, Business, Business Success Vs Family, Dreams, E-book, Entrepreneur, Failure, Health, Hope, Hope and the Magic Lottery, Ideas, Negative Impact, Seth Godin, Social Sciences, Success

Posted By Ric Vatner on May 11, 2010

I heard a programme about business to business payments on ABC Radio 702 this morning. In short, they’re too slow at the moment and that poses a real threat to economic recovery.

Deborah Cameron interviewed Damien Karmelich from Dun and Bradstreet who apparently keep a file on how quickly companies pay their bills. (to see the blog go to http://bit.ly/bVeP6p, unfortunately you won’t be able to hear this excellent segment as this is one of the few shows that the ABC don’t produce a podcast for).

This is not recent news, small business has been suffering since at least May 2009 and who are the worst culprits? I’m sure you will not be surprised to hear it is big business and government departments. Closely followed by small business who can’t pay their bills due to the above.

During the call in segment, small business people and in some cases their spouse or family member rang in with horror stories of how small firms such as plumbers were owed hundreds of thousands of dollars for work done. I know they are not exaggerating, I have a number of small business clients, one is owed over $600,000, much of it from councils and the bulk of the rest is owed by property developers.

Of course the consequence is that these businesses pay their creditors late and in many cases there is nothing either party can do. Even if the creditor was inclined to sue, you can’t get blood out of a stone and bankrupting a company is not only expensive it almost guarantees you will never get paid or if you do, you get your money in such small dribs and drabs it is useless.

Damien also pointed out that many of the businesses that go broke each year do so not because they can’t get work but because they can’t get paid.

My client points out that many businesses are in a bind. If you have a council as a regular client or a large property developer you can’t afford to stop working for them because they will easily find another company that will but when times return to normal, you probably won’t get any more work from them.

In the mean time you need to chase residential jobs just to pay the bills. But this is a different kind of work and a company that manages to break into the world of big business is not necessarily still able or capable of doing this type of work at a competitive rate. They have invested heavily in big equipment and while you don’t need it to clear a blocked toilet, you still have to pay the lease. The big businesses and sadly, the councils, know this and use it to their advantage.

While to the CFO of these organisations this is just a case of  “managing their cash flow” the toll it takes on small business and frankly, on the staff, the families and the small business owner, is disastrous.

Has anyone calculated the cost to the country of supporting employees who lose their job because a big organisation wants to keep their cash in their bank? What about the cost in human suffering and loss of capital due to the break up of families often directly attributable to the stress that cash flow problems cause the small business. Or of the loss of experienced small business entrepreneurs who between them employ over 49% of all private sector employment (http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/1321.0Main+Features12001?OpenDocument .

If anyone tells you that Australia has escaped the worst of the GFC (global financial crisis) just tell them to go to any suburb and speak to the small business owners. When you hear a financial analyst tell you that Australia’s fortunes are tied to China, ask them how many small businesses sell products or services to China?

When a politician wants to know how the economy is doing tell them to forego their boardroom lunch at BHP or Rio Tinto and forget the banks (they forgot you years ago) and go to their local plumber, electrician or retail shop and talk to them.

If they did I think we would hear a lot less about how well Australia has fared since the beginning of the GFC.

Category: Business, In my opinion, World Affairs | 136Commentshttp://www.ricvatner.com.au/2010/05/slow-business-to-business-payments-pose-a-threat-to-economic-recovery/Slow+Business+to+Business+Payments+Pose+a+Threat+to+Economic+Recovery2010-05-11+07%3A18%3A48Ric+Vatner
Tags: Business, Business and Economy, Dun & Bradstreet, Employment, Magazines and E-zines, Money, Private sector, Small business

Posted By Ric Vatner on April 15, 2010

One of my friends recently complained that he had to take his kids to “The Show”. That’s the Royal Easter Show which has been an institution in Sydney since 1823 and is still the biggest show in Australia. I couldn’t help smiling as I remember when I had to find entertainment every school holiday for mine.

But then I got to thinking that once people were hanging out to go to the show. It was the most important event in the calendar, so what happened?

A number of things have changed our thinking about it. First, there is no doubt, it has lost its purpose. That’s the real killer. Once an event loses its reason for existing and becomes a purely commercial affair, it stands or falls by what other alternatives are available and whether or not, compared to them, it is good value for money.

It was the later that my friend was questioning. Going to the Easter Show can be quite an expensive day and if you don’t think it is value for money or you don’t enjoy it as much as you used to, you won’t rush back. And maybe that’s why the organizers have to work so hard every year to keep the numbers up.

I wrote an article about this for ESTV and I suggested that it would be a shame to see the show die out and to avoid this happening we should rethink what its purpose could be in the 21st century. Unfortunately organisations tend to leave it until the event is on its last legs before they wake up to the fact that there is a problem. I’m hoping this one man campaign will ring some bells.

In the early days the Easter Show was the one time each year when the city folk got to meet their country cousins. Here the country folk showed off the crops they were growing and the animals they were breeding and they in turn got to see what new technology was available – as well as have some fun and possibly find a spouse for the young ‘uns. It was the networking event of the year.

Why would you go to the show today if it wasn’t to keep the kids happy for a couple of hours? Even “The Show” must find its unique selling proposition and prove it is worth the effort and the money.

I have one idea I think is worth pursuing, I think it could be a mini expo – a time to show off what Australian business is up to? Manufacturers could show off their latest products and hair dressers for example could promote their skills with shows and low cost hair does for the visitors (I think I have seen that happen before). Of course it would keep the entertainment precinct but it has to find a way to attract more than just young families. If it became an expo it would attract not only local business people and hordes of interested visitors but also overseas tourists. It could be a tourist bonanza for NSW.

I think the Easter Show could have a resurgence in popularity and play an important role in getting NSW back on its feet, if we only took the time to think about it. What do you think?

Category: In my opinion, Life, Love & Philosophy, Public Speaking | 122Commentshttp://www.ricvatner.com.au/2010/04/the-royal-easter-show-a-lost-opportunity/The+Royal+Easter+Show+-+A+Lost+Opportunity2010-04-15+10%3A43%3A02Ric+Vatner
Tags: Australia, Business, Easter, Holidays, New South Wales, Oceania, Sydney, Sydney Royal Easter Show, Tourism

Posted By Ric Vatner on March 10, 2010

I have finally been invited to speak at my alma mater philosophy group, Philoagora. 

I found Philoagora on the Internet by accident about twelve months ago. I was searching for some information and was directed to their web site by Google. At first I was sure it must be in England or America as I had never heard of any philosophy groups in Sydney. When I saw they met in a cafe in Glebe Point Rd my first thought was, “Boy they have a Glebe Point Rd over there too”. I know, I can be a bit obtuse at times.

But it was (and still is) a Sydney group and I later discovered they are but one of a thriving group of such clubs in Sydney. After years of reading philosophy on my own, in private (almost but not quite “under the blankets”) I can’t tell you how happy I was to discover that there are hundreds of amateur philosophers like me in Sydney. In fact I can heartily recommend if you want a great night out that is stimulating as well as fun, try visitiing one of these philosophy groups.  I’ll be giving a talk at Philoagora in July on Nietzsche but don’t wait until then, they meet fortnightly at the Fair Trade Cafe, 33 Glebe Point Road.

The next meeting is on March 16th 2010, and the topic is Reinvention: A Philosophy for a Second Life.

March 30, Lou Salome (Who was proposed to by Nietzsche) and Rilke (Rainer Maria Rilke) 

April 13th, Toward a Social Ethos

April 27,  A debate: Atheism will never win the battle with Religion

You can see the notes and the schedule of meetings at www.philoagora.com

I’ll put together a list of other philosophy groups later and post it here.

Category: Life, Love & Philosophy, Public Speaking | 118Commentshttp://www.ricvatner.com.au/2010/03/up-coming-speaking-engagements/Up+Coming+Speaking+Engagements2010-03-10+00%3A00%3A41Ric+Vatner
Tags: Philosophy, Western Philosophy

Posted By Ric Vatner on March 8, 2010

As a parent you get used to some of the names kids call you, sometimes in jest and sometimes in anger. I’m sure most parents have been called a Dinosaur by their ever loving kids at some stage but do you remember the first time? I do.

When my kids were really young we used to play monsters which involved the four of them spending an hour or two attacking me from all directions after which I had just enough energy left to watch TV with them.

Every time we watched an old movie they would turn to me and ask, “Was it really like that Dad?” One day we were watching Camelot and they turned to me, but before they could open their mouth, I said “Exactly how old do you think I am?”

That’s how I got the nickname Dinosaur.

Category: Short Stories | 115Commentshttp://www.ricvatner.com.au/2010/03/how-i-got-my-nickname/How+I+Got+My+Nickname2010-03-08+06%3A45%3A08Ric+Vatner
Tags: Love Story, My early life, short story

Posted By Ric Vatner on March 1, 2010

The previous week was such a good week, you would think the Karma alone would have carried me through last week.

Well don’t you believe it!

On Monday evening I started to feel queasy but I made it to work on Tuesday (Oh I am such a macho guy) but within half an hour of getting to the office I was so sick my daughter had to come and get me and take me home to my bed (Oh I am such a wimp).

I was in agony all Tuesday and Wednesday but thankfully, I drifted in and out of sleep, mostly in.  I was worried on Wednesday evening that after so much sleep I would lie awake all night, but I slept like a baby.

On Thursday I was still weak but made it in to the office late morning, only to find bad news, a good client finally succombed  to the GFC.

So I had to come in on Friday like it or not but atleast I was feeling better, if still very tired. Then I got my blood results back and as my doctor suspected my symtoms were not all due to “the bug”. Great. What a way to end a lousy week.

Did I say end a lousy week. Wash your mouth Vatner. 

On Saturday I was going to walk in to the city (and maybe pop into the office) as I really needed the exercise and fresh air. The walk from the Eastern Suburbs to the city along any of the routes is either scenic or interesting. I usually go for interesting and take Oxford Street. I love the hub and bub of Oxford St Paddington.

I love the flea market in the old Church, full of clourful characters somehow imported from the sixties selling art works and clothes which are works of art in their own right and the fairground food stalls with a trendy touch. Strolling the dappled corridor between the makeshift and fleetingly temporary galleries and open air shops with their hardly decent change rooms  it is impossible to not be in a place, where the sun always shines.

But on this Saturday my daughter asked me to drive her to the city. Although she was not the one that picked me up on Tuesday, she is a darling and always there to help when you need her or even if you don’t. I drove her in and wondered where I would find a parking spot at that time on a Saturday mid morning. As luck would have it  I got one not two minutes from my office. Life was looking up and I was feeling good.

I decided to walk home that night and due to the Gay Mardi Gras I had to take a long detour but I really enjoyed the walk. I walked back in on Sunday to pick up my car and wouldn’t you know it – it had been stolen!

Now, that was the end to a really lousy week.

Category: Life, Love & Philosophy | 111Commentshttp://www.ricvatner.com.au/2010/03/my-week-in-hell/My+Week+in+Hell2010-03-01+09%3A23%3A58Ric+Vatner
Tags: Oxford St Paddington, Paddington Flea Market, Ric Vatner

Posted By Ric Vatner on February 25, 2010

Sometimes it’s hard to believe but it’s true – we are the future.

Do you remember when the blockbuster and now, cult movie; 2001: A Space Odyssey, came out in 1968? Maybe not, especially if you weren’t born or were very young, but those who do will tell you 2001 seemed so far away that they never really considered that one day they would be living there.

Well here we are in 2010 and even writing it, it somehow still looks futuristic.

I came across an interesting blog post today about a book written in 1972 titled: 2010: Living in the Future written by Geoffrey Hoyle (the son of the famous astronomer, Fred Hoyle, with whom he co-authored a number of books)

The post was by Daniel Sinker who teaches journalism at Columbia College Chicago. It’s interesting because he has recreated the book so readers can see what their parents and grandparents were told to expect about life today.

It is also interesting in an unintended way because of the juxtaposition of the content and the medium. The blog is on Tumblr, one of the 21^st century’s Web 2 phenomenon social media web sites.

A quick look at the way we live (according to our grandparents)

I’ve no argument with the fact that I am still making beds, it was a nice thought.

But I wonder what he was smoking when he wrote “Your home is very carefully planned”

Kids have been creating havoc at home since the year dot and he forgot to mention what drugs they (sorry, we) are feeding to the kids to make this particular prediction come true.

There are many other predictions that you will recognize today probably by another name, e.g. Vision Phone aka Skype / Internet / Intranet, which makes the book prophetic enough to be worth some consideration again. In fact enough people thought so to start up a Facebook group to find the writer (Geoffrey Hoyle) and ask him about his visions.  Maybe they wanted to know why he didn’t think of Facebook and invite them to be shareholders?

Your Chance to be a Fly on the Wall

I think you will find it interesting to read about yourself from the prospective of being able to listen in on someone postulating what you are going to be like today (in 2010) when you were a baby or possibly before you were born.

Even weirder, if you read the book back then or in the early ‘80s did you get a déjà vu feeling as you read about “you” in the future and do you now get a reverse déjà vu when you read it again?

My problem with the whole genre of “going back to the future” literature is that it tends to concentrate on the hardware i.e. what will we be using, the flying cars, computers, wrist phones paraphernalia of life but it never looks at the software, the morals, ethics, compassion and humanity aspects. The “How do we change or evolve as human beings” perspective.

The Decline of the West – Mark 1

I recently finished reading a great little history book called Medieval Cities by Henri Pirenne written in 1925. It describes the rise and fall of cities, mainly in Europe, but in doing so it really addresses the economic structure of the world economy from the period of the Roman Empire to the 14^th century.

It was an eye opener to read about the economic decline of the West which was all over by the beginning of the 5^th century and how that led to centuries of stagnation during which time the cities were practically emptied of dwellers other than people working in or for the church.

Most interesting to read was, how money lost its value because there was practically nothing to buy and in any case, people had lost faith in the state that backed the currency.

Pirenne talked about how the great land owners took to melting their gold coins down to create beautiful relics which they donated to the church to buy favors in heaven. You only had to read the news during the depths of the financial crisis and for many things haven’t changed much yet, to see that favors in heaven is once again looking more enticing than what’s ahead on earth for many of the disadvantaged or disassociated.

It was hard not to relate the situation described in the book to the economic problems we were facing at the time (the GFC was in full swing while I was reading it) and realize how similar some of the problems were to those our ancestors faced.

If the banking crisis had got worse instead of being held at the last hurdle by some swift and possibly temporary financial strategies, our own money system could have collapsed and I don’t believe I am being alarmist in saying that.

So, to end this post but not the topic, because I intend to return to it again either here or on my philosophy blog “Shadow in the Flame”, I would like to ask you what do you foresee in the next 50 or 100 years?

Not from a technological point of view but rather how do you feel man will evolve “sociologically” over the next 50 to 100 years?  Will all the problems we face today; economic, global warming, population and environmental, change us for the better or worse or not at all? Will we still be here in a hundred years?

Category: Life, Love & Philosophy, Technology, World Affairs | 96Commentshttp://www.ricvatner.com.au/2010/02/2010-how-your-grandparents-saw-the-present/2010%3A+How+Your+Grandparents+Saw+the+Present2010-02-25+06%3A05%3A56Ric+Vatner
Tags: 2010, 2010 the future today, Decline of Cities, economic decline of the west, Futurist look at 2010, Henri Pirenne, Medieval Cities, Philosophy, Technology, The future, the next 100 years, the next 50 years, value of money

Posted By Ric Vatner on February 18, 2010

This was an incredible week. Probably the best so far this year!

I think in respect of the long term future for eSTV, the biggest news this week revolves around one topic, Video and more specifically, Pay per View.

Pay per View Video coming to eSTV

eSTV have now secured new technology that was developed here in Australia and it will have a huge impact on us going forward.

We can now offer producers and video content owners the opportunity to put their films, for example:

• Short films,
• Movies,
• Documentaries,
• Training programmes (e.g. language lessons) or
• How To videos etc

on eSTV our TV style online magazine  on a pay per view basis. Putting them on eSTV will of course open them up to a larger audience

The owner of the content (i.e. of the video) will get paid every time someone watches the video because every video has a set fee to watch it. Another great feature is every video can have a different fee. So one film might cost $1.99 to watch and another $2.50 – each film can have its own price tag.

Of course the videos will be available to viewers world wide so the potential audience is huge.

Monetize your Videos

Imagine how many good to excellent movies there are out there that have never been able to tie up a distribution deal and have either earned their owners very little or nothing. Well that is about to change.

eSTV has already added a shopping mall to our magazine (which will open soon) and we recently “built” an office tower over that to cater for service businesses (see our Best Deals Australia information video) – well I can now see us adding a movie theatre so our visitors can watch movies as well.

This technology will enable video content owners to monetise their production be it a movie, a documentary or information video and it will also make it worthwhile for producers to create new content.

Web Sites can now sell Pay per View Video

Even better, we can also enable any web site (world wide) to add our video player to their web pages and serve the same pay per view content from their web site – and get paid every time someone watches the video. They can also add their own original pay per view content and get paid when people watch that.

Finally, web sites that add their own original content to the video player can also make their content available through our system to other web sites who will earn money every time it is viewed on their web site and so will the content owner.

Imagine you can now create training videos and make them available to your team world wide. Why would you go to the expense of producing DVDs and posting them when you can now use our video player and sell the video as pay per view.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any enquiries ric at eSTV dot com dot au.

Category: Best Deals Australia, ESTV, Internet Marketing, Social Marketing Strategy, Technology, Whats Hot | 88Commentshttp://www.ricvatner.com.au/2010/02/pay-per-view-video-now-a-reality/Pay+per+View+Video+-+Now+a+Reality2010-02-18+06%3A32%3A18Ric+Vatner
Tags: add pay per view content to your web site, Best Deals Australia, earn money on short films, earn money on your documentaries, earn money on your How To Videos, earn money on your movies, earn money on your training videos, earn money on your video content, ESTV, Pay per View video

Posted By Ric Vatner on February 14, 2010

I just added a short story to my blog at Shadow in the Flame – you can read it here:  http://bit.ly/avBfQd

It’s a simple parable about an enterprising boy who starts a great little business at infant’s school.  I like the little blighter but he does make you think. This is the American Dream  (which is now the world’s dream)  but is it what we really want.

I am really keen to get your feedback so please leave a comment or send in a longer response. The details are at the bottom of the article.

Category: Life, Love & Philosophy, Short Stories, World Affairs | 84Commentshttp://www.ricvatner.com.au/2010/02/the-great-chocolate-rip-off-a-short-story/The+Great+Chocolate+Rip+Off+-+A+short+Story2010-02-14+07%3A22%3A49Ric+Vatner
Tags: A parable about the banking crisis, Ric Vatner, short story, The American Dream, The great Chocolate rip off