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 Ten Million Pound Question At a meeting last week, I asked what changes each business owner could implement immediately to drive his business forward quickly but without additional cost. Over an hour we heard – in general terms –...

   TWO MINUTE MANAGEMENT COURSE LESSON 1 An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing absolutely nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, “Can I also sit on my ass like you and do nothing? 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,...

We’ve all got views on this one – should more MPs resign over the expenses scandal??? I’m with the “Ayes” here. The seriousness of this disclosure has been washed over by all parties – why hasn’t there been an outing...

We preach and teach “change” 24/7. The old slogan ” The sign of (business) madness is doing the same thing each day but expecting something to change” – still hits the nail. We know that many times it’s hard to...

Hey – it’s the weekend – so why not rest up and relax a little!...

  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...

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1920’s, 30’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s !! First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos...

Within just 48 hours of Alistair Darling presenting his budget forecasts, it was announced that the British economy shrank at the fastest rate in 30 years in the first three months of this year.  Official figures showed gross domestic product...

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,...

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...

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...

Small Business Plan One of the key issues with business success is the small business plan. No plan – no direction – no progress. Each business needs to have an overall plan plus a detailed plan for each quarter, month,...

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...