Category Archives: Business planning

Small business and the baked bean test

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Jon Stow

Smalls Shopping around for products and services, it is human nature to look for good value. Because an offering is cheap does not necessarily mean it is good value. It may be though, depending what you want, and if the … Continue reading →

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Lack of success and the blame game

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Jon Stow

Excuses It is easy to lay the blame for business failure at someone else’s door, but usually it is an excuse. Sometimes bystanders to a disaster blame other businesses. It is not so long ago that from the early hours … Continue reading →

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The On Our Bikes guide to Windows 8 for small businesses

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Jon Stow

Windows 8 is here and still on a special introductory price that we didn’t see with Windows 7. There are all sorts of wizard devices that run Windows 8  and if you want to play with it and see what … Continue reading →

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Kindness in business

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Jon Stow

It is part of some businesses to be kind, such as when you have lost a loved one. This is the last time I will talk about it, but everyone was so kind in guiding and helping is when we … Continue reading →

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Business, family and friends

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Jon Stow

This is a business blog, and I do not write much about family issues. Yet we cannot run a business easily without the support of our families and unless we are mostly happy. If we do not have these two … Continue reading →

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The decline and fall of a successful business

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Jon Stow

  Sun roofs Once upon a time there was an entrepreneur (except they weren’t called entrepreneurs in those days) who had a brilliant idea for a business model. He put it into action, offering a type of franchise and took … Continue reading →

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If a tree falls on your business…

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Jon Stow

Are you on top of your business finances, managing your cash flow, your sales takings ratio to money going out? Are your orders coming in well? Are you attracting new business? Do your staff have any issues? Are they happy? … Continue reading →

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More time-sheet follies

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Jon Stow

Hammering home my point about time sheets, remember how much we are selling in terms of our know-how. For those hung up on charging for time spent on each job, if you must think about time, remember how much of … Continue reading →

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Dealing with yesterday’s men and women

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Jon Stow

  Old times In 1970 the Labour Party published a poster during the General Election describing the Tory opposition as “Yesterday’s Men”. It was a short-lived element of the campaign and was withdrawn very quickly. The Labour Party lost that … Continue reading →

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Selling our knowledge as a small business service provider

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Jon Stow

  They can’t do what we can Having knowledge, an expertise, is to have a highly valued asset. It is up to us to exploit it as well as we can. If we are service providers there are two ways … Continue reading →

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