No Horses Were Harmed in the Making of this Article

In General | 7 comments | permalink

Anyone who saw last year’s smash hit “BORAT” movie will know that Kazakhstan is a funny old place. It was shown as a place where you sleep with your sister and where horses are valued higher than women.

But despite all of this, I believe we can learn something from Kazakhstan that can change the way we work, can prevent procrastination, and change the way we use the Internet for life.

Disclaimer: No horses were harmed in the making of this article.

So here is how I stumbled upon this life changing realisation: I was browsing the net and I came across an article on the cost of an Internet connection in Kazakhstan.

Source: Kazakhstan Net Prices

Here is a quick summary:

Dialup Internet: €82 ($111) in a country where the average monthly wage is €292 ($399)

DSL, an unlimited 1.5Mbps connection: €2,458 ($3,355) a month, and doesn’t even included the required ADSL modem

6Mbps cable connection: €16,144 ($22,032) a month

YIKES!

When I read this article I went through three stages:

1) I had a giggle

2) I felt bad for the people of Kazakhstan

3) I realised that this could change the way we work online

So here is what I realised… If Borat wanted to use the Internet, it would cost him a minimum of 25% of his monthly salary. I can tell you one thing for certain… if my net connection cost $22,032 a month, you can guarantee that I wouldn’t waste any time watching crappy YouTube videos, sending pointless emails, creating a Myspace account, wasting time in forums, procrastinating etc…

In fact, you can guarantee that I would work as fast and as effectively as possible. I would ensure that every word I wrote was WORTH WRITING, and I would get stuff done!

Isn’t that what we all strive to do as entrepreneurs?

So each day from 2pm until 5pm I have what I like to call some “Borat Time”. I try and imagine that I am in Kazakhstan paying most of my salary on my net connection, I put myself in a Borat frame of mind… and once I have made love to my horse I get down to getting stuff done… Kazakhstan style.

If you are able to put yourself into Borat mode for a few hours a day you will notice that your success, efficiency and overall profits will rocket.

So ladies and gentlemen, boys, girls and horses… please join me in standing for the national anthem of Kazakhstan.

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7 COMMENTS

  • domagoj

    Hi, I always like your posts, but Borat is a bit insulting topic, not just for Kazakhstan, but for all eastern europen countries, so this post made me feel kinda, I don’t know…sad?
    I know you didn’t mean that, but anyway….

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  • http://thedragonproject.blogspot.com icedragon

    Make us want to see the Borat movie and go to Kazakhstan
    We felt guilty of the high prices of DSL but, we will recover in time, youtube is a good therapy

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  • http://deanhunt.com Dean Hunt

    Domagoj – Borat is a spoof character, his goal was actually to mock America, not Kazakhstan. I thought most people knew that?

    Ref being a sad post, yes it is, it should be! At the heart of the article is the fact that people in Kazakhstan have to pay at least 33% of their salary to get the Internet, it is sad and disgraceful. I tried to make light of this as best as I could, but also, I wanted to raise awareness of it.

    Dean

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  • http://interestfreeloans.blogspot.com/2007/07/7-step-guide-to-drowning-yourself-in.html NoSecretsNoLies

    Dean,

    Couldn’t agree more. Didn’t see the film (can’t stand Cohen) but certainly recognise the need for making every second count. Keep telling my FOUR kids the same thing – got it too easy over here.

    If a large chunk of their pocket money had to pay for the connection to MSN, YouTube and whatever else, I wonder how many kids would signup to the mind-numbing tripe they gorge themselves on?

    Mark

    (P.S. The link is a pseudo-homage to your “10 Step Guide …” viral post.)

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  • domagoj

    Let’s put Borat aside, you are right, but lots of people did’nt understand it like that (me included).

    When I got my flat rate DSL about a year ago, after a dial up connection, I was amazed with the possibilities and getting thousand ideas a second about what I could do…let’s say ideas dimmed down now a bit…should have wrote them down :) it’s still expensive a bit…
    but anyway, what I want to say is, don’t feel bad if you have better opportunities than someone else, use them the best way you can, that will automatically increase their opportunities as well. What do you think, when would I get DSL if USA and west Europe didn’t get it 5 yrs before me…hm.. I messed up something in that sentence, hope you understood what I wanted to say…:)

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  • http://blog.gems4friends..com Greg

    Hi Dean,

    Most of us in the US really have no idea how well off we are, compared to the rest of the world. At least Kazakhstan HAS internet. At some point, baring war, chaos, all the usual irritations, it will improve over there.

    And I think your idea of “working as if you were paying …” is excellent. Thanks.

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  • omer rosen

    It is like the phrase “live the day as if it is your last.”
    Almost…

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