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STARTUP COACH. FICTION WRITER. FOLK MUSICIAN 

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Be the dance you wish to see in the world …

Coach,

Author,

Musician

∞♪♪♪
When you’re in sync with your life’s calling and in harmony with your smart instincts, you change. Your world changes.

Things you once believed were beyond your reach suddenly become available, and life becomes an exhilarating dance.

The beauty is, anyone can achieve this level of freedom. If you have the vision to read these words and the sense to understand it, you possess the leadership potential for boundless achievements and joy.

This is my great passion in life – helping fellow humans align with their individual calling. Guiding them towards self-empowerment to accept their fate and co-create their destiny.

I invite you to experience this website’s words, images, melodies, and uncover the changes you can make in your own life. I’m excited to see where your journey leads you.

Werner Schmidt                                                                    ♪♪♪∞

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Clients Coached

Books Downloaded

Original Songs

My fellow leader! Connect with me to join the #MentalMambo movement … #BeTheDance

Follow me on my social adventures

I'm Changing The Way Leaders Lead Their Lives

Have you decided that today will be a good day for you? How old do you want to turn before your last breath? Some call this our lifespan. What about your health-span? Wealth-span? Whether you retire or not, how will you refire your last decades to keep growing, to keep playing the roles entrusted to you? To keep making a contribution. How will you craft meaningful days, from today until your last ecstatic breath at the age of, say, 123 years of age?

Inspire. Ignite. Grow. These are a few of my favourite verbs, along with words like create, chaos, work, tears, action, adventure, joy, laughter, beauty, conversation, think, learn, structure, believe, experience and flow. Words flow from a river of appreciation.

Whether I coach business or NPO ventures to an authentic voice, through startup, life leadership and major new chapters in their stories, deliver a keynote address with ukulele and djembe, or write, publish and perform stories and songs, I love to inspire and ignite self-leadership, in me as well as in you. It is then that we grow as the autonomous, self-empowered individuals we were born to be.

DJ Opperman wrote ‘The greatest joy on earth flows from the trinity of food, drink and conversation,’ to which I add, ‘in concert with storytelling, music and joy of tears.’

What ‘generation’ do you think you belong to? Baby Boomer? Gen X? Millennial? Gen Z? Generation Alpha? WTF (Woeful Trite Falsity)! You are invited to join us … The Perennials. Waking up, growing up, and showing up to our calling, ’til our very last breath. Every single one of us can co-create a life, including relationships and work, that we won’t want to retire from, whether for a week-end, holidays, or decades after a certain ‘retirement’ age. Perennials keep refiring, changing, growing, being the dance we wish to see in the world …

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Stay True To Your Weird

COACHING & Keynote Speaking

Culture. Nature. Tech. Work. People. Ventures. Learning. Profit. Play. #WantWhatIGet

I can help you to:
+ Start a business or Non-Profit Organisation (NPO). Develop thyself, discover and serve thy market, reap the rewards. Repeat ∞
+ Grow and scale your existing business or NPO by authentically leading yourself, your people and processes.
+ Manage challenges like conflict, time management and productivity like a bona fide boss.
+ Become the self-empowered co-creator of your life, including work and relationships, a life that you will not want to retire from. Join The Perennial Generation.
+ Discover your personal style of entrepreneurship, an important part of your voice.
+ Become the authentic, inspirational leader your team deserves – earn their trust.
+ Rewrite your published brand story, e.g. on your website, social media and brochures, to sound like you and your organisational culture. Upgrade from ‘content’ to ‘delighted!’
+ Inspire your team or audience through interactive motivational speaking, including ukulele and djembe.

Whether I engage with you in a creative coaching, teaching, mentoring conversation or via a keynote address, my aim is to help you discover your style of entrepreneurship, your voice, and grow well, in accordance with your individual calling, character and competence.

The best time to plant a tree? 20 years ago. The second-best time? Now! – Chinese wisdom (adapted).

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Werner Schmidt

BOOKS

"Stories may well be lies, but they are good lies that say true things, and which can sometimes pay the rent." - Neil Gaiman

A confession & a children's play

My first novella, Confessions of an alcoholic’s son, was featured in the Vrouekeur magazine, and has been read by 7 500+ readers to date. Published as autobiography, at first, I republished the book as adult fiction, during 2014 and 2017, in English and Afrikaans, as 75 Bucks and 75 Rand(Afrikaans).

I wrote and performed an interactive children’s play, Flat Anna, the froggie that stood up, in English, Afrikaans (Plat Anna) and Sesotho (Anna Sepatlapatla), the latter performed by Rita Chihawa. The play was accepted for the Free State Arts Festival as one of its first tri-lingual productions. Flat Anna’s metamorphosis to a work of fiction is underway.

What happens next? Click on an arrow to turn the page …

Of micro-stories, roles & novels ...

I published Death by Design, first volume of micro-stories in the Cage | Stage trilogy, with volume two, 29 Chinchillas, published a year later. Both were nominated for the South African Independent Publishers Awards. Volume three is waiting for the right moment … yes, yes, I am a pro at procrastination.

I have worked as street-side fruit vendor, accountant, lecturer, juvenile bicycle repair guy, auditor, radio DJ (fired after three weeks), waiter, welfare volunteer, primary school storyteller, consultant, general manager, miniature golf course attendant, brand author, financial & HR manager, cashier, internal auditor and live performer.

Currently working on a young adult magical realism manuscript. My intention is to have this work traditionally published. No need to watch this space, I will vociferously whisper from the meadows, valleys and mountaintops once I smell printed ink on recycled paper.
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75 BUCKS

English, Magazine-Featured Fiction

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75 Rand

Afrikaans, Magazine-Featured Fiction

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DEATH BY DESIGN

Award-nominated, plain-speech poetry aka micro-stories

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29 Chinchillas

Award-nominated, plain-speech poetry aka micro-stories

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Fiction. Micro-story Videos

We love stories because we are stories.

DORIAN HAARHOFF

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Soulful lyrics. Memorable melodies. Easy listening.

Original Modern Folk tunes tinted with touches of Rock, Reggae & World Music. Enjoy my l i p-synced videos!

You're My Favourite Female, Dear by WFM
My True Selfie (Music & Lyrics Video) by WFM
Sometimes We Are One (Music & Lyrics Video) by WFM.life
Your Very Own Heart (Music & Lyrics Video)
BOOKINGS
more videos

Modern Folk Singer-Songwriter

EVENTS & GIGS

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Minstrel Music & Stories

Story-singing & telling minstrel reporting for beauty!
For your next garden party – both outdoor and indoor, house party, personal and professional celebration or event where meaningful inspiration is required.

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