To be realistic is to find a rational way to achieve a magnificent goal. PS: This is neither a biography, nor a success story. This is just the testimony of an African entrepreneur for those who can be inspired by it, here or elsewhere....

Success has several meanings in the dictionary. It may be about a happy outcome, a job, a sporting event. For a public figure, it may be a favor, a public hearing. It is also about pleasing someone, seducing someone or achieving a desired goal. In all these definitions, one thing is certain anyway, one must work hard to achieve a marked success. But today, success is regarded as the result of practices which are unorthodox, shady or even occult. Anyone who gets successful is systematically accused of having made a deal with the devil. Nowadays, in many people's mind: "Once someone has been dirty, they can never get the right to become clean". Some (mostly public) people have seen their past resurface and be exposed to public scrutiny. We don't have anything better to do than to draw upon people past history and mistakes, hence giving rise to avalanches of accusations that are all equally wacky. I wonder if we are no longer allowed to succeed on this earth; if we are bound to die poor and unhappy; if we should remain in a state of failure instead of trying to improve ourselves. As of today, I, Strella, am neither the daughter nor the protegee of anyone. I have been knocking on every door while hoping for help, but those doors usually remain closed. Nevertheless I persevere and I continue to move forward. I struggle as much as I can. Sometimes, I work without being paid. While I am in the face of adversity, no one shows up, there are no rumors about me, there are no nude pictures or videos of me anywhere....

A user of one of my web applications sent the following question : Hi my name is T. and I am 15, when I am older I want to be a part of the gaming industry and I am just wondering can you guys help with that, can you give me any tips or any experience? Would posting to your website help me out in this? I would love to hear your reply, it would really help me out. Here was my reply:...

Monty Oum was the Bruce Lee of Digital Arts. That was the man who never slowed down, who always wanted his artistic life to be efficient, quick and as productive as possible. He was litterally a personification of motivation and determination, here are some of his best lines:...

There are some people who are willing to sacrifice almost everything, including their time, resources, sometimes even their social life, their sleep and some "normal" pleasures of life. All of that, in order to work hard and focus on their vocation, to improve things or try and make their world a slightly better place. Your grandparents had a word for that: Saints. Today we refer to them as Entreprenerds....

A couple of years back I shared my reading list and wrote about the books I found most interesting. But then I have been reading some more over the past few months, here are my recent favorites:...

Yesterday I posted an urgent advertisement to recruit a multitasking and bilingual intern. The required skills were: - To know how to write and speak English. - To know the Web environment and social networks. - To be curious and to be available immediately. Within 10 hours, I received 65 applications by e-mail or via my Facebook page and profile. I received very good profiles. I will not talk about those. I will focus on those who have been systematically rejected, since many of them were disqualified because they haven't realised that social networks are now a place where recruiters are "stalking" too. And if you dream of getting hired for an Internet job, here is what you must avoid doing:...

I hope the year 2013 has been good for you. For me, it's been intense and rich in lessons : 1. Never let a good crisis go to waste (turn sh!t into sugar)....

There are already tons of good insights available on Sebastian's website. However, having a one-to-one discussion with him was very useful to discuss specific challenges relevant to some ongoing projects. Through that conversation, Sebastian gave concrete, actionable pieces of advice on project management, recruitment and teamwork :...

Lately, I have been interacting with some major project leaders. These are people who are confident about their projects. They generally avoid discussing these projects with others, for fear of having their ideas stolen. But they still needed a trustworthy advisor... And finally they decided that it would be Nnenna. After some "maximum security clearance" considerations and "highly classified" discussions, I noticed:...