David Erasmus

Smells are strong and trigger all sorts of memories.

Whether it is the smell of the roast in the oven, the smell of baking cakes filling the house or that dirty smell of sheep poo when you enter Wales and the most immature person in the car points at someone else and says ” ARHH Did you fart!”

When you catch a good smell of something you don’t know much. You might not know what it is, where it is, how much of it there is, who owns it, whether you can have it or whether it actually will taste or look good but you damn well know you want to find out more!

Sometimes in life we get a whiff of something and we instinctively know it smells good or bad but we can’t necessarily qualify or quantify it.

What can you smell?

Everyone knows we are meant to tell the truth.

The interesting question though is how much truth should we tell?

Should you tell your partner that their butt did look big in those new jeans?

If it helpful to point out every flaw in that new song your friend has written when he asks for your opinion?

I think a good question to ask is are you saying for them or for you?

All I know is that when honest conversations happen more often than not its awkward and painful but afterward you achieve new levels of intimacy.

Personally,I also love someone knowing everything about me, good and bad as that way they can make an informed decision.

If they still choose me after knowing everything whether business, client, family or friend I know I have been truly chosen and its a very satisfying feeling, if they don’t choose me it hurts but at least I didn’t hurt them by blagging my way into their lives.

I am reading an Interesting book called Radical Honesty, take a look on YouTube at Brad Blanton being interviewed.

Tell me your thoughts……

I thought you guys might find my response amusing, For the record I think RDF are great and I am looking into doing work with them in the future………

On 14 Apr 2010, at 16:47, ******************  wrote:

Dear David,

Having read about you and your success with www.cubate.com and your other business ventures, I am contacting you to see if the television series I am working on might be of interest to you. I am approaching potential benefactors to take part in the award-winning Channel 4 series, The Secret Millionaire. Given your passion for philanthropy and business, I think you would make a wonderful mentor for struggling charities and social enterprises. We are keen to feature more successful young entrepreneurs in the series and I think you would fit the profile perfectly. I watched a short interview with you on www.ambassadorforphilanthropy.com and was struck by how engaging and charismatic you are – I’m sure you would come across really well on television.
If this is something that interests to you, I would welcome the opportunity to speak to you about your potential involvement as a benefactor for the series. We could discuss the possibility of you doing a programme either individually or with someone you know, such as a business associate, partner or relative.

We have received extremely positive feedback from the benefactors who took part in previous episodes and this is reflected in the attached testimonials of their experiences. In case you aren’t familiar with the series, here is a short explanation:

Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire is the award-winning and BAFTA nominated documentary series – in each episode a different benefactor is given the opportunity to live ‘undercover’ in some of the country’s most deprived areas. They do not reveal their full identity and immerse themselves in the community for 8 days; meeting the local residents, making new friends, taking on jobs or doing voluntary work – all with a view to deciding who they believe is most in need of their support. At the end of their visit, these modern day philanthropists reveal their true identities to those they ’d like to help and offer their time, their skills and their financial assistance (Channel 4 stipulates a minimum donation of £40,000) to help make a positive change to people’s circumstances. This programme offers philanthropists a rare opportunity to actually meet the people that directly benefit from their assistance.  It also allows our benefactors to highlight and explore specific social issues that may be close to their heart.

This project would require 8 consecutive days out of ones schedule.  I have attached an information sheet about the programme, along with some press quotes and testimonials from benefactors who have previously taken part. Here also is a link to the series where you can get a little taste of what we’re doing: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-secret-millionaire/4od

Thank you for your time and consideration. Please find further information attached, I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind Regards,
*************

************* | Assistant Producer | Secret Millionaire
RDF TELEVISION| The Gloucester Building| Kensington Village| Avonmore Road| London| W14 8RF
tel. +44 207 *********| fax. +44 207 *********
**********@rdftelevision.com  | www.rdftelevision.com

From: David Erasmus [mailto:era@me.com]
Sent: 15 April 2010 12:09
To: *************
Subject: Re: Channel 4 series

***********,

Thanks very much for the email.

I know Ben Way and Paul Wills really well and I know they massively enjoyed their time on the show it seems like a great opportunity.

There are 2 hang ups….

1. I am not a millionaire.
2. I don’t think I would be comfortable with the deception element of the show.

I love telling stories and advocating for those in the margins so If there was an opportunity to do that I would be all over it like a bad rash!

I could put up some cash but it would need to be enterprising and attempting to be sustainable and probably wouldn’t be as much as £40K

Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks

Dave

I have long since known that I am not the most ingenious inventor.

I am not likely to come up with ground breaking technology or invent a life altering service.

I decided long ago that I would “hook myself on” to the biggest best technology companies and pick up their scraps.  See they are so big that they struggle to provide decent customer service to the long tail of small businesses. Convenient as it is my favourite market.

Its a mutually beneficial relationship, they appreciate us and support us and we get all the benefits of their their huge research and development budgets to make sure we are at the front of the game.

I have enjoyed doing this for years with Google in the UK, South Africa and Brazil and now I am really enjoying my working relationships with PayPal and eBay with regards to mobile web innovation.

If the train is already leaving the station then hook yourself ont0 the back.

Don’t reinvent the wheel if there is already a multi-billion pound one in your space.

This is the letter I wrote to them this morning, lets see what they say……..

Dear Clas Ohlson,

I went to your store for the first time the other day……Brilliant!

Its like an Ikea Metro thank you for bringing it to Kingston.

I have an apology to make, I came in with my Girlfriend looking for a few bits and bobs for my bedroom which she is helping me do up. I was carrying a BIG bag from Primark I put it down and found 2 silver dimmer switches, Perfect.

I then however accidentally with no spare hands available put the dimmer switches in my Primark bag so I could carry everything ( I stress I did this totally sub-conciously.) We then decided that we would go to TK Maxx to see if we could find cheaper picture frames and if not would come back and purchase the lovely frames from your store, we did not however come back.

That was that but later in the evening thinking about how I was looking forward to putting up my new Clas Ohlson dimmer switches (it’s sad I know) I thought to myself “we didn’t check out at Clas ……..but I am sure I have the simmer switches?” Low and behold when I checked my bag I had in fact accidentally nicked 2 dimmer switches from your store. I found it highly amusing as I think its the first physical good I have stolen since I was 5.

My dilemma continued, knowing that I should bring the switches back to the store but really wanting to put them up!!! I gave in they now look brilliant on my wall and I can set the mood lighting however I please and sometimes change it up and down just because I can. This is my apology for stealing from you.

I like Clas Ohlson and want more of your products that I want to pay for them. Please tell me where I can send the money for the dimmer switches, I would much prefer not to come into the shop again as its quite far for me and petrol is flipping expensive at the moment.

Thanks for reading this.

I look forward to hearing from you as to which bank account I can send the 20 odd pounds.

Thanks again

Dave