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Silicon Valley : The Second Wave
by Craig Lock
Sharing some thoughts on the future of the net.
This is a letter of mine published in Time Magazine, which may be of interest to your readers. (It was in response to their feature on "Netrepreneurs").
Dear Sir
Silicon Valley: The Second Wave
As we all know, the Internet revolution is evolving at a dizzying pace. What we see today can be history next year or even next week. Five years from now the Internet will be quite different from that which most of us can imagine.
The vision of a "nerdish" future with a dash of Gordon Gecko Wall Street greed and a touch of youthful creative imagination and energy is one that excites us in "sleepy, far-off" New Zealand. It's a vision my partner and I, as budding netrepeneurs cherish and have fully embraced - one whereby the small guys in geographically isolated communities like us, can take on the world and the major players on a relatively level playing field, except (in most cases) for miniscule advertising budgets. However, start-up venture capital for "high-risk ventures" is still a big problem here in New Zealand, because, unlike in Ireland, Czechoslovakia and other forward-thinking countries, the government here in "Godzone" has been relatively slow to embrace the technological revolution (though they are now getting on board - perhaps an impending election had something to do with it!).
The "technological revolution", electronic commerce and the information age could be just the recipe the world needs for a level playing field of socially responsible capitalism - one in which smaller countries and "the little people" with imagination + vision can take on the corporations and the giant countries, like the US and Japan...if only the conservative money-lenders, the banks embraced the same vision and stopped lending umbrellas to budding netrepeneurs when the sun's shining and asking for them back, as soon as it's starts to rain.
The successful cyber entrepreneur of today could well be the equivalent of the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Kennedy's, Paul Getty's and Henry Ford's of yesteryear, especially in the new ENTREPRENEURIAL (nice big word) AGE, which I believe, is even more important (and a more appropriate term) than the information age.
What you do today could repay you a hundred-fold tomorrow...and there is just one rule: As the Nike ad says, .. "Just do it."
Craig Lock Eagle Productions http://wwwcraiglock.com
The various books that Craig "felt inspired to write" are available at: http://www.nzenterprise.com/writer/books.html http://www.bridgeniche.com/get-motivated-now/index.html and http://www.bridgeniche.com/southern-african-experience/index.html All proceeds go to needy and underprivileged children - MINE P.S: Don't worry about the world ending today... it's already tomorrow in "little" scenic and tranquil New Zealand
About the Author
Craig Lock is a graduate from the University of Cape Town in South Africa... but he has learnt far more from the "school of hard knocks" and the University of Life... battered, bruised but never unbowed. He is an extensive world traveller (on a "shoestring budget") and failed professional emigrater who has spent most of his life's savings on airfares. He is still 'sliding down the razor blade of life' on the beautiful undiscovered island that is New Zealand, somewhere near the bottom (rude!) of the world near Antarctica. There he talks to the 60 million sheep! Craig has been involved in the corporate world (life assurance) for over twenty years in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. However, through a strange set of circumstances and finding himself in a small town near the bottom of the world ...and with nothing else to do, he started writing. That was five years ago. Five published books later and having written another fourteen manuscripts (on widely differing subjects) being published and promoted himself on the internet... this is where Craig is in the "journey/adventure" that is life. Craig has taught at the local Tairiwhiti Polytechnic (English), as well as running a successful creative writing course (not teaching sheep!). He is the author of (as far as we know) the first and only creative writing course on the internet by a published writer. Craig has many varied interests and passions. He is particularly interested in the field of psychology and what makes different people "tick-tock grandfather clock". One of his missions in life is helping people make the most of their hidden potential and so finding their niche in life... so that they are happy. He firmly believes in the motto: "Find what you love doing, then you will never have to do a day's work in your life." Craig is certain he has found his niche in life... anyway, what other job would be suitable for him?
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