In October 2009, Irene Fischer's car was hit by a truck carrying 25 tonnes of maize. When she woke up after her two week coma, she had to start the long and arduous journey of rebuilding her broken body. This task included relearning how to walk and how to feed herself. 

In this episode of 180 Degrees, she shares that journey with us, and also how she found purpose in her horrific experience. Irene has since become a motivational speaker, university lecturer, and authored a book to educate people about traumatic brain injury and different types of disability. 

This episode is dedicated to all the writers out there who are afraid to share their stories. Irene Fischer didn't make room for self doubt. Neither should you. 

You can learn more about Irene and her amazing work by visiting her website: irenefischer.co.za 

I'd love to hear what you thought about the episode. Please leave a review after listening. If there's someone in your life who needs to hear Irene's story, please share the podcast with them.

SJ Wiggett is the last person in the world that you would expect to start a business. He loves certainty and security. He feels incredibly uncomfortable with not knowing what comes next.  Yet, in early 2020 he left his stable, well paying job as the sales manager at a  Cape Town media firm, to start Brands and People, a marketing company that specifically caters for SMEs who don't have the cash to employ a full time marketing team. 

Starting a new business under normal circumstances is intimidating enough. Two weeks into SJ's new venture, South Africa went into lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic. No one was spending money on marketing. Especially not the already cash strapped SMEs he wanted to become his clients.

In this episode he shares his early war stories, and practical examples of how he managed to bring his fledgling start up through lockdown, to the point where it is now soaring into success.