Author Archives: Jon Stow

The fear of the unknown

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Jon Stow

The premise of this blog is my story of starting my own business by accident, because I became unemployed and couldn’t find another job. I had no choice. Of course prior to my involuntary arrival in what was a freelance … Continue reading →

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Is your content out of your control?

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Jon Stow

In this world of social media competition, I worry that some people are not in charge of their content. As far as I am concerned, social media is (are?) not supposed to be competitive, but about having conversations and getting … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Business planning, Customer relations, marketing, networking, Social media | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Having a negative influence online

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Jon Stow

Haven’t we talked about online reputations before? We certainly have! Just the same, I sometimes worry about apparently intelligent people who probably do their businesses no good with their unfettered pronouncements on anything we care to think about. I am … Continue reading →

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First impressions

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Jon Stow

  There are an awful lot of cliches. You know the sort.   You have thirty seconds to make an impression on a first meeting. You’ll never get a second chance to make a great first impression. Psychologists tell us … Continue reading →

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Really not a football post

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Jon Stow

And I don’t mean a goal post. It is just that sometimes we can use sport to illustrate a point about business. So to a cliched quote “If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting … Continue reading →

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Chasing the numbers or taking a gamble?

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Jon Stow

Having been networking on-line for quite a long time – eight years – I have quite a significant contact network out there. It is not the biggest network because I do not add people just to bolster my scores. I … Continue reading →

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Hitting the spot and pulling the heartstrings

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Jon Stow

We all need to give our clients and customers a compelling reason to buy from us. We have to be different from the rest and match exactly what our prospects think they need. Match.com has a great advert which exactly … Continue reading →

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If only I had…

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Jon Stow

There are the chosen few who have never worked for anyone else, and then there are the rest of us who used to be employed but now run our own businesses. When we were employed we did not have total … Continue reading →

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Come on, rabbit, don’t be shy!

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Jon Stow

Quite often when I am taking my evening walk, I pass a man of about my age scurrying back from the rail station. No doubt he is a City worker. He does not meet my eye and scoots past like … Continue reading →

Posted in Business planning, networking, Referral networking, Sales | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Why the personal touch is important in business

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Jon Stow

  Small businesses have a huge advantage. They know their customers. Large businesses don’t. Small businesses which become large businesses forget their customers. I wrote a while back about our extreme disappointment at our treatment by a veterinary practice.  Quite … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer relations, Customer service, marketing, Sales | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments