I’ve been running my own businesses for 21 years. It’s been brilliant, though tough at times. Brilliant when you’ve more work than you can do, and tough when the arse falls out of the economy, and you realise that your lovely clients are the only protection you have from the small claims court. I used…
It’s a question I’m often asked by clients- “what’s the best way to sell an idea in a sales pitch?”. The honest answer is, obviously, ‘It depends on who’s in the audience’ but in reality you often have to choose an influencing strategy as you start to prepare your pitch. Most people only have one…
Here’s a great article from Ian Brodie on how to drive your business development through your website- A must read for all of us who think that “build it and they will come” is a just a cheesy line from a Kevin Costner movie, not a credible web-based business development strategy. We did, they didn’t……
I saw an article the other day that said 30% of new publishing contracts for business textbooks are being offered to bloggers, on the basis of their published work online. Makes sense doesn’t it? A blog shows a potential publisher that you can write; you do write, and that what you write has interest to…
We’re restoring our house. A beautiful, but bedraggled victorian place, in Oundle, UK. The previous owner lived here for thirty years and spent virtually nothing on maintenance. Unfortunately he was a DIY enthusiast and had very little skill. We bought the house for its potential and saw past the tacked-up, bodged and home-made titivations that…
As a bloke who has built a few businesses up from nothing to sale, starting with no brand, no clients, no capital, no support and often, no idea how hard it is, there are just a few things I have learned that are worth knowing. There are also many that aren’t, such as- Coventry (in…
Holiday reading, staying in a friend’s lovely home in the green mountains north of Barcelona, Spain, I’d finished the crappy novel and trashy magazines I’d bought at the airport on the way out. What next for my idle mind while the kids were splashing in the pool? I was ‘mooching’ in the library, and I…
Whitehall insecurities about its new Conservative masters are laid bare in eye-opening secret papers leaked to The Sunday Telegraph.- Apparently!!! Here’s what the spleen-venting, deranged Sunday paper thought about finding out that one UK government department was preparing plans to build a working relationship with the incoming Minister and his team… ‘The documents, instructing senior…
I was a loyal Napster fan- I subscribed for 4 years, and then I saw a press advert for a new offer that was £3 per month cheaper than my rate. I rang up and tried to sign up. I couldn’t. I spoke, at length, customer services person and after much frustrating chatter, the guy…