I am frustrated! November was set to be a super busy and lucrative month with 3 big talks and Zimfest for the band to perform at. So imagine my disappointment when a very well paying talk cancels out of the blue which also means that my flight to Jozi (that coincided nicely with TEDx) was going to have to come out of my pocket. Then a few days later, Zimfest decides to 'postpone' the festival because the rain – 10 days before the event! So – onwards I go and buy my ticket for TEDx only to have Kulula make a monumental hash of the booking which resulted in me having to pay for it TWICE because they neglected to ask for email/fax confirmation of internet transfers and wouldn't let me board without swiping my card. Talk about Kulula.con!
So, after an awesome time at TEDx, here I am waiting to fly home when in comes an email from my CT talk saying 'sorry for the inconvenience but we are postponing the event till next year'.... Amazingly the client who cancelled last week also apologised for the inconvenience!
INCONVENIENCE? A traffic jam is inconvenient, a power failure is inconvenient, chips when you ordered a baked potato is inconvenient! Cancelling a confirmed talk that has been invoiced for, has required that a tax clearance certificate be issued by SARS to satisfy miles of bureacratic red tape and has meant other bookings have been turned away is NOT INCONVENIENT! It is a serious dent in a very tight month of planning, a massive financial blow to a one woman show, a huge disappointment and a very large pain in the proverbial butt!
I am coming to realise that a hefty deposit for any bookings is what is required. No more Miss "I Love Doing Things for Free so Please Don't Worry About the Impact Your Shift in Schedule has on Me"!
There... I have spoken my truth! This 'living your dreams' lark is quite a rollercoaster and not for the faint hearted I can promise you! Now...how am I going to pay the rent??
