A Memoir - This Month Last Year - Mar 2021 www.thelifesway.com #TheLifesWay

Hi Friends, 

March 2021 was the time and moment I have been praying for as my deputation again started from 2-Mar-21 onwards after a gap of 10 months or so. The total salary that I drew from offshore was less than the rent I paid here in Johannesburg for the house and amenities every month so I was on my savings for the 10 months or so. It really gave me a perspective that you need to upgrade yourself to better organisations as and when someone offers your hike and promotions rather than keeping yourself in the same comfort zone of one organisation. I have lived 15 years in a single organisation and they are going to reward me using an R2000 voucher once I complete them in Jun-22. That's way less than the prizes of R5000 radio channels and Twitter handles of various banks are given to random people every week. 

1. @NescafeRicoffy Shares Pride and Respect in Every Sip #NescafeRicoffy #NESCAFERICOFFYRESPONSIBLYSOURCED - - https://www.thelifesway.com/2021/03/nescafericoffy-shares-pride-and-respect.html - I received this invite for the first time from Nescafe and attended the session too. I won an R2000 gift voucher from Sandton City along with multiple packs of Nescafe Ricoffy from them which are still going on at my home as well as the kid's nanny's house. I used the voucher to buy Polo South Africa clothes during the black Friday sale and some were spent on Lindt chocolates which I distributed to the PR companies of several brands and other individuals who invited me to their food events from time to time. Later in the year, I had the chance to meet Catherine Constantinides at Acrobranch in Melrose who was the MC at this event of Nescafe. 

2. Movies @MontecasinoZA Brings Back the Magic of the Big Screen #MonteMovies #ZamundaRoyalsZA - https://www.thelifesway.com/2021/03/movies-montecasinoza-brings-back-magic.html - I received this unusual event to attend the movies at Montecasino where there was a movie for kids as well as one for adults. I was part of both the events and somehow I won in both the lucky draw contests to receive myself Coca Cola goodies, as well as Tomato Watches which I later gifted to my relatives. I really like watching movies at the theatre as compared to watching them on streaming platforms. 

3. UNO® Celebrates 50 Years of Bringing People Together #UNO50 #UNO50SA @Mattel - https://www.thelifesway.com/2021/03/uno-celebrates-50-years-of-bringing.html - Mattel South Africa sent their UNO gift package on the occasion of their completion of 50 Years and this gift is such a unique one. I have kept the same in the package to date and only checked it again as I wanted to get some photos of the package. UNO is one of the games I learned and then beat all the players not once but twice in a friendly game in London. 

March 2022 is already is a great month as I am getting some new opportunities to look forward to. I am able to complete the 20 kilometres I planned for every week and am on my way to reaching 1000 kilometres by the end of the year. I am also on the way to complete my 42 Years of Hanuman Chalisa prayers by the time I wanted them to be over. I also bought a lot of stuff that I always wanted to buy and now don't have to look towards any trade exchanges rather they have to pay me if they want me to do anything on my social media channels. 

Cheers!!!

Support me if you like reading this blog post by buying me a cup of tea (so far USD 0.00) - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheLifesWay Contact at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for giveaways, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #10YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!

9 Years of www.TheLifesWay.com #TheLifesWay #BlogAnniversary #9YearsofTheLifesWay #2500Post

Hi Friends,

1 Dream to make The Life's Way a brand to reckon!
9th Blog Anniversary on 27th December 2021
3.46 Million Pageviews Achieved on 2500 Blog Posts

Reached Local Guides Level 9 Top Contributor in Johannesburg, South Africa

40 Million Photo Views Achieved on Google Maps with 12300+ Photos

220k Views on 229 Reviews Posted for Google Maps #LetsGuide #LocalGuides

Posted 235 Videos on The Life's Way - Youtube Channel

Crossed 845+ Subscribers and gained 150+ subscribers in 2021

#TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay

Thousands of photos on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Thanks to everyone who contributed and collaborated in the growth of The Life's Way!

2021 has been my best year ever in terms of getting some paid assignments in cash which is really good in terms of paying some of the bills and building on the equipment necessary to shoot the videos and write the blog posts. The next year of 2022 will be totally focused on getting more and more self-written blog posts and also getting more sponsored social media content deals. No free press releases will be posted on TheLife'sWay anymore in 2022. Before posting anything I will always ask the PR executives what's in there for me and if I feel value provided then only I will go ahead else TATA Bye Bye! as I don't want to waste my and theirs time spent on sending the same to my email ID etc.

The Life's Way in 2021 enjoyed goodies from a lot of contests as compared to the Blog and Media drops though it was much more than previous years this season. I received a lot of snacks and also a lot of online invites as the lockdown level was reduced. I did a lot of Youtube videos of unboxing goodies and also my biggest will be having a white desk of my own which I can now decorate with the RGB lights and all the gaming keyboards, mouse and mousepad. Some of the stuff I have to buy for which I am looking at the deals on takealot.com. I also factory reset my smartphone after many many years and it's a divine feeling of spring cleaning the device. Automatically, you will see that the phone starts working faster as compared to before. I also did a modelling assignment for one of the facemask companies and received a thousand rand for half a day of shooting with 3 dress changes. 

This year there was no Christmas Gifts from any brands other than Nokia who sent 4 cupcakes and I didn't get to eat as we were 6 family members and my turn never came and now from Huawei just now in the form of macaroons and biltong. But luckily I participated in some contests on Twitter and won in one or two to receive to buy my own Christmas gifts, the main one being the R2000 Gift Voucher from #PredatorTreasureHunt to shop on Acer Shop where I bought Seagate SSD 500GB for R2300 which is really beautiful and small. Another one was a Twitter contest won from CNA Africa for 2 toys from SolarPop that my kids loved playing with. Earlier in the year I won a GV of R2000 from Nescafe Ricoffy in their Twitter contest and bought all the Lindt chocolates as well as some clothes from Polo during the black Friday sale. Taking two doses of vaccine has been the highlight of the year as after the first one I got Covid positive and took a lot of time to recover but thankfully I am back to okay health. 

In my 9 Years of The Life's Way, I gifted a lot of Lindt Chocolates and other goodies to various people in PR companies and fellow influencers/celebrities who supported me throughout with launch event invites from time to time. I also packed a suitcase of products to be shared in India as I planned to travel to India in December 2021 but the flights got cancelled due to the new variant of Corona. Keisha's Youtube channel also was deleted and I intend to relaunch it in 2022. I also shifted my Internet Fibre connection from SADV/Afrihost to RAIN 5G and I am using the top package (R999 per month) which is giving me a great speed of 150+Mbps all the time. I travelled to the Northern Cape to see Namaqua National Park as well as Augrabies Waterfall in the month of Sep-21. Also, I received my first Thule Lifestyle bag ever from the Telkom Music Launch event and I am really grateful to Tencent who invited me to the event as a last-minute entry. 

I also received the legendary Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G smartphone in Phantom Black colour which is my day to day device that I won during the Foldable Launch event in Aug-21 and received in Oct-21. For the first time ever I also bought something in the Samsung shop as I bought the expensive Leather cover for my Z Flip 3 phone for R1000. This is the most expensive mobile cover I have ever bought in my life as earlier I have always bought them from takealot.com or China mall. The last one I bought was R400 for my Galaxy Note 20 from the online store of takealot.com and one before that for R200 from Celcom Pty for Samsung Note 8. I did a lot of shopping this year in terms of setting up the house from paint to furniture to various other things. During this time of setting up my new home, I also loved the LeRoy Merlin Store in Edenvale and Fourways. I visited Edenvale store more than 10 times already and Fourways for around 4-5 times.

I fell in love with the Canon's EOSM 22mm lens but couldn't find it at the right price and am still on the lookout to buy the same. I am also thinking of switching to Sony Alpha 7 series mirrorless camera by selling all the camera gear I collected over the years but the camera shops are pricing them too low for which I think that I shall gift it to my family rather than selling it. I also intend to buy the MacBook with an M1 chip along with an Apple iPad with Pencil and iPhone 13 Pro to get into the Apple ecosystem in 2022 if I travel to the USA then I will definitely buy them from there and till that time I will keep collecting money by pitching sponsored posts to all the brands. Whatever cash is earned will be going to the Apple Fund for TheLife'sWay.

In the end, thanks to all the Brands, PR executives, Marketing managers, Readers and Followers for keeping me in the loop with their products and services. I hope I have done enough justice to their products offered to me and I intend to focus on the Technology niche going forward and a lot of self-written posts on Thought Leadership and the learnings I have had in all these 42 Years on Planet Earth. Have a great festive season and a Merry Christmas and wishing you all a great Happy New Year 2022!

I am also thinking of switching from Blogger to WordPress so that I can monetize my blog in 2022. I am only going to do the paid posts which is very much clear in my mind now. I don't need this biltong and other stuff which is of no use to me and not taking me closer to my goal of buying some of the Apple products and other gadgets of my choice. I have started writing my own thought leadership articles and you can check them on my blog going forward and I hope it will create some value in your life as it has been created in mines as I share daily habits which I also want to follow or is following already.

Cheers!!!

Support me if you like reading this blog post by buying me a cup of tea or coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheLifesWay Contact at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for giveaways, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!

NESCAFÉ RICOFFY Celebrates All Things South African As The Brand Turns 50 @NescafeRicoffy

Hi Friends, 

Iconic South African brand NESCAFÉ RICOFFY celebrates its 50th birthday this year. To celebrate the occasion the brand honours South Africa’s heritage through a campaign that encourages all South Africans to celebrate our uniqueness. The campaign has a number of exciting elements, each of which puts the spotlight on the beauty of South Africa and NESCAFÉ RICOFFY’s proudly South African heritage.

As part of its birthday celebration, the brand has over the last months, asked South Africans to co-create with them and share the words and phrases that celebrate the idiosyncratic ways that make us South African – what the brand is calling ‘South Africanness;. These words were then used to create a one of a kind MZANSAY keyboard which will allow users to send a predictive text that incorporates unique South African words and phrases. A celebration of the country’s unique and authentic language, the keyboard is available for download from the App Store or any Android or IOS device.

“Uniquely South African expressions often get lost, misunderstood and misinterpreted with autocorrect and predictive text,” explains Nicole Roos, Business Executive Officer, Coffee and Beverages at Nestlé. “We’re solving this problem with the launch of the Mzansay Keyboard which allows people to connect in a natural way, allowing people to have fun and communicate in a genuinely South African way. It’s about celebrating our unique expressions. “

The keyboard has been developed with the help of contributions of uniquely South African words, expressions, sayings, colloquialisms, sounds, gestures and even hand signals from South Africans across all walks of life. Social media influencers and celebrities have been encouraging their audiences to contribute suggestions. Over six thousand words have been contributed to date.

In addition to the Mzansay Keyboard, NESCAFÉ RICOFFY will release a limited edition heritage tin that celebrates 50 years of South Africanness, designed by renowned South African illustrator Karabo Poppy. Launched during Heritage Month, the limited release tin will be available at retail outlets from the month of September.

“Being part of such a truly iconic South African brand’s 50th birthday celebrations is very exciting,” says Poppy, revealing that the tin’s design incorporates unique South Africanisms such as ‘eita’ and ‘lekker’ as well as a theme of currency to express the country – and the brand’s – long and rich heritage.

The final element of NESCAFÉ RICOFFY’s 50th birthday celebrations includes a collaboration between the brand and acclaimed South African designer Gert Johan Coetzee. The latter has designed a fabric bucket hat that will include a selection of words and phrases from the Mzansay Keyboard. The hat, promises to be the most coveted summer must-have item.

“South Africans have been through a tough time in the past 18 months,” says Roos yet again we have shown our tenacity and humour through it all. We are a resilient nation, connected by our ability to find humour in even the most difficult and challenging situations. The uniquely South African way we have of describing these situations is something that has previously escaped predictive texts. That changes with the launch of NESCAFÉ RICOFFY’s Mzansay Keyboard which allows us to celebrate and embrace our South Africanness.”

NESCAFÉ RICOFFY, the first coffee and chicory mixture to be introduced to the country, has over the years become a staple in many South African households. NESCAFÉ RICOFFY joined the NECAFÉ family in 2002 and is a well-entrenched and much-loved brand in South Africa’s coffee culture. Visit the website, www.nescafe-ricoffy.co.za or the brand social media pages @NescafeRicoffysa to be part of the birthday celebrations.

Cheers!!!

Support me if you like reading this blog post by buying me a cup of tea or coffee - https://www.buymeacoffee.com/TheLifesWay Contact at thelifesway@gmail.com to collaborate and promote your services and products. Subscribe to my YOUTUBE Channel for giveaways, product reviews and mystery unboxings. #TheLifesWay #9YearsofTheLifesWay. Namaste!