I don’t always like to be right, but when a bookshop opened in our village, I really couldn’t see how it would stay in business for very long. It has lasted only about six months and has now closed. It really is very sad, and I can imagine the owner’s happiness at the start as…
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Confession Here is a confession: I am a consultant. I am consulted about tax issues and I am consulted about business problems. Luckily my potential clients know where to find me. Luckily? Well, maybe not. I have to market to get business. It is obvious really. I know quite a few other consultants. Many people…
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In my work I talk to many small business owners, and on a daily basis. Some in professional services are doing pretty well without making any effort to market. This is because they provide their clients with reliable, dependable support, and in return their clients recommend them to others. That way they have a steady…
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One rule of business is “never rubbish the competition” because it creates bad feeling in your profession, you make your potential customers uncomfortable, and people wonder about your character. Something else we have to consider is careless talk about our clients or careless talk in front of our customers. It is easy to fall into…
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I have seen the expression “knowledge is power” a number of times in blog posts recently. Jim Connolly is correct in saying that knowledge is only effective when you take action. I believe knowledge is currency. It involves action, but it has to be the right action. Knowledge is what you use to pursue and…
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The Danish King King Canute, or Knut or Knud is best remembered for commanding the tide to stop coming in, either because he believed he was so powerful that the sea would obey, or because he wished to demonstrate to his courtiers that he was human like all of them, and was bound to fail….
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Employee blues I was in the tax business a long time as an employee, and in the corporate world we were also in the “business advisory” sector. As someone who has run businesses for some time, I realise how fundamentally useless the so called “business adviser” employees were, because really you don’t understand small…
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Value pricing Now we all know (I hope) that when we offer a knowledge based service we bill for value. So if you deliver a huge cost saving to a manufacturing business by helping it re-source its raw materials you should charge it according to the value it receives in savings. If you offer…
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Clairvoyants Has your in-box suffered an influx of New Year predictions? Mine has. Some of the subjects are predictable of course: How will the economy fare? What trends will we see in the property market? Where will technology go? By which they mean computers and gadgets. Now of course we can make quite long…
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Yes, business is tough at the moment, so it is hard to believe that some owners are making more obstacles for themselves rather than trying to make running their business more profitable and less stressful. Somehow people get ideas in their minds which prevent their taking action. For example: Social media marketing wouldn’t suit my…
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