There are a lot of ‘sugarman’ in the world

I am sure when half the people see the word sugar and man they suppose that I have made a mistake and am trying to talk about ‘sugardaddy’. But no I got it right, it is a documentary I watched on a man by that name.

I believe that the man’s name is Rodriguez.

In Africa I feel sad that we had not exploited our talents as we should and so I lament on that in this particular article.

Rodriguez, who is based in Detroit somewhere in North America, is a person that wanted or had at some point a career in music. Being of Spanish decent or Mexican he never got anywhere despite singing the rock music in English.{Listening to his lyrics I too agree that he was spot on}.

The lyrics had a message but after two ‘failed’ albums he went on to do what everyone else was doing or expected him to do and did odd jobs for a living- which in my opinion is very sad indeed.

However, in South Africa his music was loved in the seventies and onwards and his music helped steer the direction amongst the conservatism. The story, within the story is that he never knew he was appreciated somewhere else on the continent and carried on to live a ‘poor life’ until he was rediscovered in the late 1990’s by his fans in South Africa. {the story is he still lives the modest life his known all his life} Clearly by then he was older, so to speak, but had a chance to sing his music in live concerts- which had been his passion growing up.

It is a touching story and one wonders perhaps how many Africa’s have kept their talents ‘hidden’ so to speak since there is no sponsorship or money and the list goes on. Or how many people have feared to pursue an innovative career since it simply won’t pay the bills initially perhaps?

The story of Rodriguez resonates reality. What we need to compete internationally is to produce quality products and support our local industries. There is no need in reinventing the wheel.

It is indeed my deepest desire and hope that no matter how hard and long it takes one should not hide one’s true talent because of perceived failure. As we all know our fear of failure is what traps us to remain in positions we should not really be in. As the year comes to an end, don’t look as how you have not achieved anything but how much effort you put in trying- as Thomas Edison once said after failing to make the light bulb several times- ‘I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.’

These are my words of encouragement to you. Pick up your pen and writing pad and write a report to yourself  recount how many ways, events, trips, interviews or sales calls you made that did not materialise and with a smile find out why not and try and establish a new marketing attempt, a happier persona and with renewed determination if you feel it is worth it, start all over again to try and achieve what you were set out to do. Remember your strengths and weaknesses and remember that your deepest fear is failure. Happy holidays.