Reduce Your Business Costs Barter! Yep – I know you’re probably thinking that it disappeared hundreds, if not thousands of years ago, but bartering has its place in modern day business. If you need something, don’t automatically reach for the...

THE SECRET OF SUCCESS There was once a boy who wanted to seek the secret of success. One day he approached a wise man living up in the mountain. When he found the wise man at the hut, he asked,...

A short while ago, I observed a training session where the topic was “Influences on the Buying Decision” The trainer put up four categories with the corresponding percentage of influence alongside.. These were Price 8% : Company Pedigree 17% :...

  P”ing Off the Tax Man The UK Tax Office decided to audit Grandpa, and summoned him to the London office.  The auditor was not surprised when Grandpa showed up with his attorney. The auditor said, ‘Well, sir, you have...

What’s this recession about? In three words – debt, debt and debt. It’s about consumer debt, business debt and government debt. Consumers have had a wake up call and many have changed their lifestyles dramatically to cope. Businesses that were previously...

Mervyn Davies, Minister for Trade and Investment, will be interviewed by the BBC journalist, Martha Kearney, on how the government is handling the recession at the British Chambers of Commerce’s Annual Business Convention. At the Convention, which will be held...

Rick Wagoner – the chief executive of struggling US car giant, General Motors has been ordered to step down by US President Barack Obama. The auto task force appointed by Mr Obama released two reports on Monday on the financial...

Stock markets have again fallen worldwide, fired by concerns that turmoil in the financial sector is far from over. On Wall Street, the US Dow Jones index fell to 6,700  points for the first time since 1997. In the UK,...

A member survey at the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) has shown that recent VAT cuts, bank lending guarantees and pledges on payment practices have had little to no effect on trading. The Government-backed Prompt Payment Code, launched last year,...

The decision to raise car prices, by both Ford and Vauxhall, at a time when sales of new vehicles is around 30% down, year on year, seems, on the face of it, absolute madness. Both companies blame plumetting sterling and...

Here’s a gem of a post from “JimTheGeezer” on the BBC website. Sharp. “Double or Quits! Gordon Brown says to Mervyn King, “Could you help me Mervyn? I’m a bit short of money at the moment. I’ve taken on this...

It is amazing that there are still some commentators who are hedging their bets regarding the recession. Here we are, just one week away from Christmas with, hopefully a jolly good time for us all. The outlook for 2009 seems...

Market share The tough economy will undoubtedly see its share of casualties. American Express OPEN reports that nearly 20% of small business owners felt that they are at risk of going out of business in this economic climate. What does...

“Where would we be without those few individuals who refuse to accept defeat and who continue to soldier onwards when common sense tells the rest of mankind that there’s no use trying?” Whilst this ultra tough market place will push...

It gets worse! Just when you thought that the Envirowise advice on tea making was way too much excitement, here’s another... The Waste and Resources Action Programme – WRAP for short – is suggesting that workers should not buy a...

Listen up – here’s an important business initiative from the Quango Envirowise....use teapots instead of teabags and don’t overfill the kettle! Yep, they get £10 million a year to advise businesses on going green and they come up with this...

One of my favorite films is the Shawshank Redemption with Morgan Freeman. It’s about a man condemned to life in jail for the murder of his wife and lover. Tim Robbins plays the man who feels like the walls are...

One of the biggest problems for small businesss owners  has always been the inability to get the more talented individuals to work for them. Why? Because the large corporations generally offer better pay, better conditions, training, a wide range of...