3 RANDOM THINGS RECOMMENDED (OR NOT) BY KELI H
There's another reason, besides my prominent flu, why I might have hesitated to do a post today... Over the past week and a half or so, I've had trouble getting my blog indexed by Google. There's errors with the whole site - redirect errors, duplicate canonical tags, site maps not being fetched. And I can be an absolute dodo with technology, so I'm not even sure I've managed to fix the issue. I'm worried I'm just writing and posting on this blog with no hope of it ever fortuitously being discovered by the right person at the right moment. You know - the way it happens in the stories, and the main character falls off the precipice of ordinary and into a life of stardom. I know in my very first post I said I just wanted to use this space to aimlessly patter about with words, whether anyone saw it or not ... but being genuinely faced with my imminent internet mortality now, I realize that I do want the serendipity of being discovered by readers, after all.
But in the hopes that this issue resolves, I will continue posting. Sometimes, by sheer effort and conviction alone, you tell the world how it needs to bend for you.
In light of current conditions, I'll be doing something simple and silly today. I've titled it '3 random things'. I'm going to list 3 random things I've bought in my home that do and don't work. Consider it home and lifestyle content, I suppose. Maybe these will guide your home buying decisions in the future. There's nothing else to this, so let's go!
3 RANDOM THINGS THAT DON'T WORK
1. White Glo Teeth Whitening Kit
I feel a little bad for picking on this brand specifically, when in all honestly I've tried multiple brands of whitening kits, and they all don't work, somewhat equally. But with this brand being reasonably expensive and involved in a barrage of marketing campaigns that I fell for, I'll note to you that I've bought and tried it for you - and can confirm it doesn't work.
My teeth started slightly discoluring years ago from a consistent diet of coffee, black tea, alcohol and energy drinks - med school was the culprit cause - and it didn't help that I was also a violent brusher. All in all, I landed up with teeth that have a gentle discoloration. For example, you wouldn't notice it if you took in my face as a whole, but if you looked directly at my smile, you would notice my teeth aren't pure white.
The White Glo kit I used (it might have been called the Diamond Series) didn't whiten my teeth, though it did make the colour paler. Resultantly, I landed up with teeth that looked buttery off-white. So it definitely doesn't remove or whiten stains, it just changes the shade of them. Considering my teeth weren't very discolored in the first place, and this kit didn't have a lot of overhauling to do, I think I'm justified in saying this product doesn't do much.
I suppose I should throw in most charcoal toothpastes onto this end of the list too. I've yet to meet one that works.
2. Sell Like Crazy - Book by Sabri Suby
If you lived on the internet in 2021, you'll know the book I'm talking about. Social media adverts for this book would pounce on you if you even thought of the word 'entrepreneurship'. It was a constant onslaught. The adverts were of all kinds - videos, reviews, long-winded stories of success. The right type of advert for you seemed to turn up at the right time. Ultimately, I fell for what the author calls a sales funnel. You take the target down an ever-narrowing rabbit hole, until they land up in a position where's nothing left to do but buy the product. In this case - the book. I ordered it all the way from Australia, no less, because the book was only being sold direct-to-customer (no bookstores or third party sellers were stocking it.)
Sell Like Crazy is a business book that portends to help you get more customers than you can possibly imagine. It's aimed at small to mid-sized businesses and freelance entrepreneurs. Personally, I found the entire book quite click bait. There is no information in there that you won't find covered more proficiently in other books. And the advice it gives is not just superficial, but very much geared toward click baiting your customers in return, the way you were into buying the book. So hey, maybe there's something to be said for it after all, if I fell for the trick...
3. Gold Earrings From NWJ
For my non-South African visitors, NWJ is a chain jewelry brand (fine jewelry, not the costume and trendy type stuff from Lovisa). For a brand with this much legacy and heritage behind its name, I am surprised to find myself consistently disappointed by my purchases through them.
The first, a good ten years or so ago, was a gifted pair of diamond earrings. The earrings are small and lovely. What underwhelmed me was their packaging. For such an expensive, significant item, their packaging was a little plastic dome with a piece of foam inside. There was no thought to it at all. Fast forward to about two years back. I bought a pendant from them. This one was a little simpler - a cubic zirconia gold plated pendant - and the packaging hadn't improved in the slightest in all the time that had passed. It came in a cardboard box with cheap pre-fixed ribbon, the type you buy in bulk from China Mall.
The packaging aside, there's a greater reason I included NWJ on this list. Last year I bought a pair of gold earrings from them. The cheap box was a given, of course. But when I took the box home and opened it up, I realized the earring backings were poorly fitted for the earrings - they were made incredibly loose. There are no returns on earrings for hygiene reasons. Well, it should have come as no surprise that within a few hours of wearing the earrings for the first time, the backings came off and got lost, and I was disappointed nonetheless after spending so much money. I never found them again. And so, within less than a day, I had to start using my nice gold earrings with a less than pleasant cheap backing I bought in a bulk pack, and I have to replace them every so often because they get green and tarnished. This is not the experience one hopes to have when investing in expensive jewelry pieces. I haven't been to an NWJ since.
Onto more pleasant conversation...
3 RANDOM THINGS THAT DO WORK
1. Electronic Scent Diffuser
I'm cheating a little with this one because I didn't technically buy it; I received it as a gift. And this is probably the best gift I have ever received.
The scent diffuser is a little device, maybe the size of a bread loaf, that plugs into the wall. You fill it up with water and plop in a few drops of your favourite essential oil. It radiates the smell around your home. The one I have also has a nifty feature where you can change the color of the device, so it creates a beautiful ambiance - my favourite setting is the blue colour, of course. Mine also has a smoke feature where it emits gorgeous tendrils of smoke, and you can adjust the height of the tendrils.
Electronic scent diffusers, all of them, also have the added benefit of acting as humidifiers for the room, because of the water. The range and reach of the scent is amazing, far better than any scented candle. And it's quite fun to change up the scent with every use as you just need to empty out the water and drop in a fresh oil. Essential oils are easily and cheaply available everywhere.
2. The Personal MBA - Book By Josh Kaufman
This book has consistently remained on my top 3 business books for years. (Side note, I should do a blog post on the top 3.) Other spaces on the list have been filled with fluctuating titles, but not this one. It remains steadfast on its victor position. To be honest, I don't think it will ever leave top 3. I don't believe I'll ever read a book more helpful than this one.
As someone with no previous business background, this book is invaluable. It summarizes all the business concepts and jargon that exists - and I mean all of it - into understandable terms, and includes example stories for each one. This book really is an MBA in itself. After reading this book, the trajectory of my business skyrocketed. I also found myself being able to comfortably converse with business people far my senior because of the business understanding this book gave me. It's single handedly the best investment I ever made into my entrepreneurial education.
3. Tripod For My Phone
I have had far more moments of fun with this than I can count. I've got a tall tripod with 3 height settings and a phone holder attachment on top. I received this one as a gift too (so I guess I'm cheating again.)
I initially used this to film videos for my work Instagram. Simply attach my phone and stand in front of it and chat about the books we were publishing (for context I own a book publishing house called The KREST House, which can be found at www.kresthouse.co.za). Once the work Instagram required a lot less of my presence online, I started using the tripod to film fashion videos for Tik Tok. Again, I'd just stick on my phone and waltz around in my outfit for the day. Super easy! And now that I'm tapering myself off social media, I use the tripod to take photos for my blog. Honestly, this has a million uses for the creative soul that just wants to put out fun content. I'm so glad I received this as a gift, I'm not sure I would have thought to buy it for myself. I clearly have the best people in my life that pre-empt my needs before I have them!
So that's my little list for today. As always, I aim to share with honesty, in the hopes that it helps someone out there make informed purchasing decisions.
For more articles written by Keli H, the author, visit this blog's home page on keli-h.com
Keli H is the award winning author of the 400 series, which includes The Four Hundred Club and Splitting an Empire. The 400 series is high brow contemporary fiction revolving around the lives of wealthy circles. Keli's other works include Creating Literary Art. She is also the founder of The KREST House, a storytelling empire.
Comments
Post a Comment