…upset, to put it politely.
But then I am a bloke. Let’s face it, everyone would understand it, too. I’d cut the sponsorship, I’d cause a fuss and I would probably be very rude about it.
But then Ginni Rometty, IBM’s CEO is a woman and Augusta National has a 79 year male only history (gee, wow…).
What does Ginni, or for that matter all women, expect? That some men are not sexists?
The sad truth is that Ginni probably learned very early on that men are sexists!
Yesterday evening, Steve Jobs died. A man like no other, who has changed and touched many of us with his products and his vision.
When I wrote my post “We need more Jobs, …. more Steve Jobs“, the other day, I was wondering how long he would be still with us. He had been battling with cancer since 2004.
It was his aim to put a “dent into the Universe”, he certainly did that. To me he will always be the grande master of products design, innovation, presentation, but most of all business focus and passion. He most certainly had a great team, to help him with Apples success, but even that was part of his brilliance and his legacy.
I for one, will miss the ultimate “There’s one more thing….” man, that was Steve Jobs. Farewell Steve.
In an excellent article about “What Facebook Really Wants“, Nicholas Thompson of The New Yorker Magazine, writes about how Facebook is trying to create a sub-internet, an all encompassing online world for its users.
Nicholas is clearly worried about a future where one organization controls your online life, tells you what to think and read. “Google does the same”, you say and I agree. In my opinion all these mega organizations trying to find a way to grow even faster and even bigger.
But as we all have been able to witness with AOL, it does not work. The biggest danger these organizations face is their size, their bad behavior, their lax attitude to online privacy and IMO there anti-competitive behavior. Even so we can not see it yet, these companies are fighting for their survival, because they know their end can be as fast as their rise. Who remembers “MySpace” – when did we talk about this company last?
Over time their press is going to be so bad, that it will become socially unacceptable to get involved with these organizations. It is already happening, here we are, writing about Facebook, Google and Co. – you can watch the tide grow.
For that reason I’m not panicked about what Facebook will announce next week, in my mind, they are the new AOL!
Not sure that this is in compliance with the laws about product labeling:-
The man who apparently failed to recognize that we were in a recession, has now decreed that engineers can’t run successful businesses.
What gets me, is not “Lord” Sugar, who in my opinion is well past his sell by date (lets face it anyone can make money out of a large real-estate portfolio), no it’s the public outcry and interest in these “celeb-entrepreneurs”.
We live in a different world today. Sugar was very successful in his day, but he would most likely not succeed today, where very different qualities are needed to succeed in business, none of which he evidently has ever heard of.
If a would be entrepreneur (including engineers) looks and listens to Sugar, Dragons & Co, he or she would get the completely wrong end of the stick of what it is like to run a business today.
While I have to admit he is a great advertisement for starting your own business, because who in their right mind would want to work for someone like him?
While many understand that we in the UK, after the reckless years under Labour, have to look at saving money and balancing the books, it seems that every-time this actually happens people threaten to go on strike.
To me it seems unbelievable, that the same people (Labour) who, IMO, are largely responsible for the financial mess our state finances are in, are now advocating resistance to the much needed and much delayed measures, which will allow our economy to recover and strengthen.
Ed Balls is currently calling for an emergency VAT cut, how much would he like to cut VAT by – 20%? It worked so well last time around, didn’t it, under Labour’s Darling Brown debacle. Could this be another “BallsEd” idea?
Anyone seriously considering the Labour frontbench as a source of sensible economic policy, must have already forgotten the mess of 2008. Problem is that the real effects of Labour’s failure and incompetence are now beginning to show up, for instance in our benefit system.
Some new approaches to the pension system are being debated. For instance, some people should retire later than others, Prof Harper of the Institute of Aging, has come up with this ideas:
In my opinion totally unworkable and will punish for example doctors for their extra effort. We could link pension age to productive work, then Prof Harper, would have to consider retirement at 99, as this is a complete waste of time and a useless concept.
Why don’t we discuss concepts like a maximum wage, we have a minimum wage? Why does Labour not get all worked up about that? Do you really need multi-million pound bonuses every year, paid for by the tax-payer?
Or, maybe if people would rely less on the state but on themselves to provide for their old age, by running a micro business and taking control of their life and their finances, we would all be better off.
Strike, which is what is going to follow, will hurt our economy even more. Labour is going to use every opportunity to fuel the fire for their own means, but most of all micro and small businesses are going to suffer.
Many of my customers have all their belongings in their business and they need a functioning infrastructure to run their business, they also employ of 50% of the UK workforce. My clients can pay themselves bonuses when their business is doing well – only then!
We are not talking about the big corporations and financial institutions who lost in the global greed mania our pension monies and who then had to be bailed out with our tax money – why did nobody strike then?
IMO, anyone thinking about striking during times like this is reckless, does not understand the real problem and will kill small & micro businesses and with that their own future.
It is going to get tough – let’s not make it even worst!
Christmas is a time for reflection and contemplation, and for me a vital part of Christmastime is to say thank you for the support of colleagues, friends and loved ones over the previous year.
So I thank you, my readers, for your support and input in to this blog; without which it would not have been so successful – and I would not have enjoyed writing it nearly so much!
I have enjoyed conversations with many of you, either in the comments section here on my blog, or on Twitter, and look forward to the coming year and building on these beginnings.
The New Year brings with it new ideas, and a new impetus to put ideas in to action. As Christmas brings with it time with loved ones, and celebrations, there will be fewer postings here over the Christmas season.
But the New Year will bring exciting projects, postings and updates – so I look forward to seeing you there!
Many people assume, quite wrongly, that if you are a lifestyle business there is no need for online collaboration, in any sense. But, online collaboration can be a great way to increase the efficiency of your lifestyle business whilst at the same time providing your customers with exactly what they are looking for. There are two main areas in which online collaboration can greatly benefit small businesses; these are by using the Internet to collaborate with other businesses in your field, increasing the offerings you can provide to customers without costly expansion, and by using online software to collaborate with other businesses you may outsource to, such as bookkeepers, accountants or VAs. 
A lifestyle business can benefit a lot from online collaboration. For example, a small business selling jam with a website can collaborate with a cake maker and offer link exchange and promotional offers. A small online dress shop can offer a discount shoe voucher to its customers and the shoe shop can offer the reverse, thereby, offering benefits to the customers while promoting each other’s business. This also increases differentiation between yours and other businesses; increasing the reasons for customers to choose your business over a competitors
You also need to watch closely what you invest in. While starting, it may not be possible to hire employees to manage your accounting, so collaborating using small business software online may is a significantly more cost-effective investment. Online software gives you a lot of flexibility and allows you to manage your office online without investing in expensive computer software and office supplies.
As businesses change and small businesses outsource in order to keep costs down, online collaboration keeps all parties in the loop, without all having to meet and rent expensive office space. Online collaboration works for small businesses and freelancers, as a great means to keep costs down, whilst at the same time increasing business efficiency, ultimately saving your business time and money.
Moreover, if you are a freelancer, or a VA, accountant or bookkeeper, online collaboration with your clients really could give you a fantastic competitive edge over your competitors. Giving you the ability to collaborate with all your clients in one place will mean you can offer a better standard of service to all your customers while being able to keep detailed records and great customer service.
Whether you are a small business or a freelancer, online collaboration could move your business forward.
In an unprecedented weak budget spiked with half truths, Mr Darling is trying to ignite a class war in the UK in an attempt to boost the Labour Party election prospects – a dangerous game to play with our fragile economy at this time.
While any real and immediate public spending cuts are delayed until at least 2011, so not to disgruntle potential Labour voters, higher earners where hit hardest again. Labour is implying a ‘well-off association’ with bankers – who are to blame for this mess – to disguise it’s attempt to ignite a class war to hide it’s total failure on the economic & political front!
Not one word about Labour comp-licitness in our current problems – it was after all our current PM, then Chancellor Brown, who was warned over five years ago of the pending problems with the credit levels in the economy. Yet, the self-declared ‘saviour of the world’, did nothing to stop this problem when it was first publicly discussed in the media.
Any attempt to help small business, can at best be described as window dressing, no deference of the re-introduction of the higher VAT rate to 17.5%, which will hit small business hard. It is worth mentioning that Labour is breaking another promise by withdrawing support for the economy before the economy has emerged from recession.
Darling announced another £500mio in an business development fund, another £500mio that will never reach those small businesses that really need this money to survive. His ‘lending guarantee’ signed with the ‘state owned’ banks has also not come to anything.
As this government is running out of money and soon people it can squeeze for more tax, the outlook for our economy remains troubling at best. We need many more small business start-ups, which in time will create better and more secure jobs, than any of the big companies ever will.
Early indications via twitter and other online social media is that more and more people thinking about leaving the UK to set up shop abroad. Many saying if Labour is returned to power, they will leave next year!
The Shadow Chancellor Osbourne said ‘Britain is closed for business…!’, a sentiment echoed by more and more small business owners.
All in all this was not a Pre-Budget Report, the was a Pre-Election Manifesto.
The Easiest Customer May Also Be The Best
I love reading Seth Godin’s Blog – you should click over to it, it’s worth it – he has a way to extrude the essence out of all kinds of stuff and topics.
But sometimes he gets it spectacularly wrong, at least in my opinion. In one of his posts he asserts that:
That is looking at customers from a sales man point of few, which is so last century. To me, there is no connection between ‘a customer’ and ‘getting someones attention’!
You should focus on customers that need what you have to offer, means you don’t have to sell to them.
In that scenario, the easiest customers may just be the ones who understand and need your offering and don’t need selling to.
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