Doing Business in Sandton, May 2020

Welcome!

Welcome to the Megaplex Business Booster Newsletter as advertised in our longstanding Newsletter: "Shopping in Sandton".  This short monthly newsletter will give you quick tips that can make your business more profitable, more robust, and less likely to bankrupt you.

You are receiving this because you subscribed, or because your business in Sandton or Bryanston appears on the megaplex.co.za website.

Creating on-line videos?  Want to appeal to a wider audience? See the first tip below on how to add captions to your videos.

The Covid-19 lockdown is unprecedented in our lifetimes.  Are you wondering if you (or your child) will still have a job?  Below are special prices on two on-line courses that may help.

On-Line Business Tip: Caption your Video with an SRT file

In case you are sick of Google tips, And Now For Something Completely Different...

How do you add Close Captions to videos you upload to Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, or Wistia?

Thanks for the question, we thought you'd never ask!

All right, let's back up slightly.  What are Close Captions and why would anyone want them?

You have probably seen, on some videos, a text rendering of whatever the speaker is saying, usually appearing at the bottom of the video window.  It is useful for people who are deaf, or don't have audio on their computer, or have audio through loudspeakers and don't want the rest of the office to hear it.  It's also very useful for translation: The captions do not have to appear in the same language as the video.  You can see them in the picture below, just under the bearded face with the startled look.

Fortunately there seems to be just one standard.  It uses an SRT (SubRip Text) file.  This is not part of the video, but a separate file that has to be uploaded separately.  The easiest way to create one is via otter.ai or temi.com.  Both websites are user-friendly, offering an easy upload of video, and an intuitive text editor for splitting the text into captions with timing.

• otter.ai produces a more accurate transcript (at least of Rick's accent). However you cannot download an SRT file at all without subscribing. That costs US$ 9.99 / month.
• temi.com is not as good on the transcript, but they give a free trial.  When that is over, the charge is US$ 0.25 / minute of video. Hence it would be cheaper than otter if your monthly captions run to under 40 minutes of video, or happen irregularly.

One pitfall is that SRT files have a specific naming convention incorporating the language, for example: my_captions.en_US.srt or filename.en_GB.srt.  temi does not add it for you.  Without this, Facebook (and probably the others) ignores the file!

By the way, on Facebook, your video captions might be turned off.  Switch them on by clicking on the "gear" icon as shown above.  If you don't see a "Captions" option, choose "More video settings" and you will be able to enable them on a separate screen.

To see the above video with its captions, go to Rick's Facebook Page.

Attention: Tired Excel Users!

Are you a Microsoft Excel user who needs to stop wasting time on boring repetitive work?
But you can't work out how to get started?

You need to create your own time-saving Excel shortcuts...but you have a big problem:

It's figuring out how to create macros while avoiding the pitfalls that trap the self-taught.

But that's not the end of the problem. It actually gets worse! Why?

Because if you record your macro wrong, you'll have to do it again or do a mass of editing, wasting a lot of time!

Which means you’ll probably just give up and just keep re-doing the same boring old stuff that you could flash through if you turned it into a macro.

You won't be alone!  Most Excel users can't get past the idea that creating macros is really hard and requires you to have a degree in computer programming.

But luckily for you there's now a solution to your problem!

Introducing... the “Quick 'n Easy Turbo-Start Excel Macros” course. The course helps you:

1. Create your first macro within half an hour of starting the course...
2. Sail right past the biggest hurdle that causes most beginners to produce macros that aren't reusable or, worse, that mess up their spreadsheet...
3. Learn to understand what you have recorded, which means that you can debug it and improve it...
4. Leverage a list of simple steps to make sure your macros turn out fine every time, which means that you can share them with your team...
5. Increase your efficiency in Excel, which means that you'll save hours later...
   ... and much, MUCH more!

Here's the bottom line with creating your own time-saving Excel shortcuts:

• The longer you delay, the more irreplaceable time you are losing...
• You will get hours of your day back to use more productively –or go home early!
• This is your opportunity to become the "office expert" and get that promotion and raise –instead of it going to one of your colleagues...

Best of all?... You'll start seeing results with the “Quick 'n Easy Turbo-Start Excel Macros” course in a single afternoon and it costs just R447 (special for lockdown).

So again, if you're a an Excel user who wants to save hours on repetitive work...

Get Onboard with the Quick 'n Easy Turbo-Start Excel Macros course now!

Act Now - Before It's Too Late!

Get and Keep a Job During Covid-19 Time

It's no secret. Covid-19 lockdown is causing massive job loss.

Are you, or will you (or your child), be amongst them?

How will you (or your child) stand out in an increasingly crowded job market?

Would these abilities help?

• Never forget a name. Remembering names in a stressful meeting situation needs technique. Successful professionals in public life never forget a name. This skill is worth huge money if you are in selling!
• Cut meeting times in half. Most meetings waste huge amounts of time. Proper preparation prevents poor performance. There is one essential tool without which you must never go into a meeting.
• Communicate better at your presentations and briefings.
• Conquer information overload.
• Solve problems more creatively.  Use your brain the way it was designed to be used.

Does this sound useful? If so, visit Dr Richard Broome's Advanced Creative Thinking Skills course. Get 70% off the original price via a Monthly Subscription, with NO term commitment and a 30-day money-back guarantee.  It's just R600, a special for COVID-19. You can cancel the subscription at any time without commitment. You can stop and resume later at this same price no matter what happens to the ZAR/USD exchange rate. This is an unbelievably flexible arrangement to demonstrate Richard's wish to give back in these difficult times.

All the best from Rick at megaplex.co.za,

the World's most helpful website for shops in Sandton.

To view other issues of the newsletter, click these links (same page):
2019: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November,
2020: January, February, March, April
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