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...

Some readers seem to have noticed that all of my Twitter accounts seem to have grown exponentially. Absolutely true! And I’ve had a lot of questions recently on this.........Have I spent my life, these past few months, behind closed doors, being...

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...

Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling and Peter Mandelson are flying to a world economic summit. Peter looks at Alistair and chuckles: ‘You know, I could throw a £50 note out of the window right now and make one person very happy.’...

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% :...

On 14th June 2002 I set up a Clickbank account to sell my book on advanced sales techniques – “How to Sell in Todays Tough Markets”. The sales website is http://close-that-sale.com Yesterday I came across, by accident, my own text,...

Have small businesses been meeting secretly and agreeing on the answer to one our early fact find questions? It seems strange that the answer that many business owners give has instant signs of “OK Guv – hands up – I...

Just back from a Club La Costa “Holiday Club” presentation in Spain. It wasn’t business – it wasn’t “mystery shopping” or strategy advice – it was pure family time – although this blog is a reflection of my (business)thoughts on...

  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...

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...

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced a pre-tax loss of £44m for the three months to the end of March.....compared to a profit  of £479m for the same period a year earlier. So, doesn’t it make you feel...

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...

Seen on Martins MoneySaver Website...... Recession is when your neighbour loses his job. Depression is when you lose your job. Recovery is when Gordon Brown loses his.    ...

BCC Business Convention :  A series of business surgeries will be running alongside the main Convention. Designed to make the Convention more accessible to small businesses they are free-to-attend and will offer practical advice for your business. The surgeries, 50...

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...