Every once in a while, you find someone who's iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare. -- Children's book author Wendelin Van Draanen (1965- )
The mainstream publishing industry has popularized the stereotype that “self-published” books are inferior to “traditional” ones because the author does not receive an advance and the services provided are less professional. The reality is that the Big Four publishers attained their enormous market share by, at least initially, relying on author subsidies. When advances were paid, they were typically loans that had to be repaid if a book failed to sell a volume of books that would cover the advance.
Startups are all the rage in the tech business press. Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley write endless columns about the Next Big Thing. Entrepreneurs are celebrated, written about, and there’s both an HBO and an Amazon series about them. VCs (Venture Capitalists) look for the next Unicorn. What’s that? It’s a startup they invest in early, raise a few million up to $10 or $20, maybe even $30 million, that will then grow to Billion Dollar value. Yes, that was Billion with a B. Maybe to get there, in VC money-speak, it will take a few more rounds, an A, BC, even a D round, raising many millions, tens of millions, to get there. Usually this requires stellar success, revenues and growth.
James Fernie is one of those people who can say he has achieved what he set out to do. He would, however, disagree, as there are many more future plans in the making. His company Uthando (meaning love in Xhosa) has grown beyond expectations, proving that his vision for a need of such company was founded.
Beauty is skin deep, but this doesn’t stop the Fashion and Beauty Industry from making millions. Modern Society is bombarded on Social Media with a certain perception of Beauty. If you happen to miss all that, you might notice the giant billboards on your way to work.
