Extract . . .
"So your customer rings and says, “I need something fast, cheap and cheerful, nothing fancy. Could you have a quick look?” Don’t believe it. This is false economy and the result can be less than satisfying for all involved."
Link
http://www.flyingsolo.com.au/finance/pricing-strategy/false-economy-beware-the-lure-of-the-quickie
Thursday, September 30
Trading with Europe: A Beginners Guide
Extract . . .
"The European Union EU is the single largest commercial market in the world currently with 27 Member States. It is attractive for businesses as all of the EU Member States have ratified trade agreements, legislation, tax and customs regulations to make the EU one of the most straightforward territories to do business with. If your enterprise wants to enter a new overseas market, trading with Europe is one of the easiest parts of the world to move into to start selling your goods or services."
Link
http://www.selloverseas.co.uk/trading-with-europe-beginners-guide.html
"The European Union EU is the single largest commercial market in the world currently with 27 Member States. It is attractive for businesses as all of the EU Member States have ratified trade agreements, legislation, tax and customs regulations to make the EU one of the most straightforward territories to do business with. If your enterprise wants to enter a new overseas market, trading with Europe is one of the easiest parts of the world to move into to start selling your goods or services."
Link
http://www.selloverseas.co.uk/trading-with-europe-beginners-guide.html
Experiential marketing - a bullet point guide
Extract . . .
"Experiential marketing is a cross-media promotional activity which encourages two way interaction and direct physical immersion into a brand. Experiential marketing is a relatively young marketing discipline, but is growing rapidly because it ticks a lot of the right boxes. Compared to mass media campaigns, experiential events tend to communicate on a much more personal level, generate a deeper level of emotional engagement, result in better conversion rates, and all at relatively low cost. Experiential marketing activities can range from high profile invite only events to tasters at a local farmer's market."
Link
http://www.marketing-made-simple.com/articles/experiential-marketing.htm
"Experiential marketing is a cross-media promotional activity which encourages two way interaction and direct physical immersion into a brand. Experiential marketing is a relatively young marketing discipline, but is growing rapidly because it ticks a lot of the right boxes. Compared to mass media campaigns, experiential events tend to communicate on a much more personal level, generate a deeper level of emotional engagement, result in better conversion rates, and all at relatively low cost. Experiential marketing activities can range from high profile invite only events to tasters at a local farmer's market."
Link
http://www.marketing-made-simple.com/articles/experiential-marketing.htm
10 rules to promote your small business website via Google
Extract . . .
"The most sustainable method of gaining relevant sustainable traffic to your website is via Google. Their ex-NASA engineers, massive computing power and 'do no evil' philosophy has made them the most powerful force on the internet today. To get the best results, most of the time you spend promoting your website should be used to improve your exposure on this monolithic search engine."
Link
http://www.marketing-made-simple.com/articles/website-promotion.htm
"The most sustainable method of gaining relevant sustainable traffic to your website is via Google. Their ex-NASA engineers, massive computing power and 'do no evil' philosophy has made them the most powerful force on the internet today. To get the best results, most of the time you spend promoting your website should be used to improve your exposure on this monolithic search engine."
Link
http://www.marketing-made-simple.com/articles/website-promotion.htm
Keeping up appearances
Extract . . .
"Q. I run a one-man band web development company which has the appearance of being a larger organisation than it is. However, it’s always me answering the phone and replying to emails. Is it advisable to go down the route of a virtual office with someone else to field calls and enquiries or should I just be upfront with my clients and let them know it’s just me?"
Link
http://www.startups.co.uk/6678842910891103920/keeping-up-appearances.html
"Q. I run a one-man band web development company which has the appearance of being a larger organisation than it is. However, it’s always me answering the phone and replying to emails. Is it advisable to go down the route of a virtual office with someone else to field calls and enquiries or should I just be upfront with my clients and let them know it’s just me?"
Link
http://www.startups.co.uk/6678842910891103920/keeping-up-appearances.html
The first five of the 15 key attributes to presenting the appropriate entrepreneur image
It’s very rare for one individual to be able to consistently and simultaneously project all 15 key attributes.
It’s debatable that even the most successful entrepreneurs in the world are able to do so. So by projecting a cluster you’ll beat other entrepreneurs pitching to the same potential investor who can’t.
Before getting involved in descriptions as to what these phrases, words or terms mean, consider the following. Which are the most important? Is it possible to rank them in order of importance? The answer is ‘No’. They are all of equal importance. It’s crucial to get the vocabulary correct when describing these attributes. Otherwise they are open to misinterpretation. So let’s start with . . .
1. Conviction
Both entrepreneur and potential investor want to be in control. For the entrepreneur this means being in control of both verbal and non-verbal communication. Don’t confuse this with controlling the entire meeting. To attempt that would bring you into conflict with the potential investor. Controlling your verbal and non-verbal communication won’t result in conflict. Many potential investors try to asses leadership potential in the entrepreneur. Sensible and skilled entrepreneurs in part achieve this through their conviction of purpose. Closely allied to ‘conviction’ is ‘authority’. The combination of conviction, self-control and authority is almost irresistible to an interested potential investor.
2. Belief
This is the entrepreneur’s honest belief in a fact, idea or concept. The belief being of such intensity that it inspires the potential investor to feel the same way.
3. Thoughtfulness
There are three components to this. Foremost, is treating people in a kind and considerate way, especially by anticipating their wants and needs. More relevant and more powerful here though is thoughtfulness as a descriptive word. This means the entrepreneur appearing to be in deep thought and showing the application of careful thought. This is a key component of understanding how to answer a potential investor’s questions. More on this later in the series. Meanwhile – always count one second (at least) before answering. The delay adds impact and gravitas.
4. Credibility
In the context of the meeting with the potential investor this word takes on two meanings. First, the entrepreneur’s ability to inspire belief or trust (probably both) in the potential investor. Secondly, their willingness to accept what a potential investor is saying as true. This second part is often overlooked. If through non-verbal communication the entrepreneur radiates disbelief (somewhat different from a healthy scepticism) then the potential investor will be turned off. From experience, credibility or lack of it shows up in the first ten minutes of a meeting.
5. Empathy
Entrepreneurs often confuse empathy with compassion. Compassion usually and correctly describes the ability to be sympathetic to the suffering of others. Clearly inappropriate in the meeting. Unless of course the potential investor is in some form of physical or emotional distress. In contrast, empathy is the entrepreneur’s ability to identify with and understand the potential investor’s feelings. Those feelings can be negative or positive. It’s the ability to identify with either that is crucial. Remember it as follows. Compassion in this context has a negative connotation whereas empathy has a positive one!
If you want to talk to the author then please phone Howard Popeck on 07870 192618.
Link
http://www.go-between.co.uk
It’s debatable that even the most successful entrepreneurs in the world are able to do so. So by projecting a cluster you’ll beat other entrepreneurs pitching to the same potential investor who can’t.
Before getting involved in descriptions as to what these phrases, words or terms mean, consider the following. Which are the most important? Is it possible to rank them in order of importance? The answer is ‘No’. They are all of equal importance. It’s crucial to get the vocabulary correct when describing these attributes. Otherwise they are open to misinterpretation. So let’s start with . . .
1. Conviction
Both entrepreneur and potential investor want to be in control. For the entrepreneur this means being in control of both verbal and non-verbal communication. Don’t confuse this with controlling the entire meeting. To attempt that would bring you into conflict with the potential investor. Controlling your verbal and non-verbal communication won’t result in conflict. Many potential investors try to asses leadership potential in the entrepreneur. Sensible and skilled entrepreneurs in part achieve this through their conviction of purpose. Closely allied to ‘conviction’ is ‘authority’. The combination of conviction, self-control and authority is almost irresistible to an interested potential investor.
2. Belief
This is the entrepreneur’s honest belief in a fact, idea or concept. The belief being of such intensity that it inspires the potential investor to feel the same way.
3. Thoughtfulness
There are three components to this. Foremost, is treating people in a kind and considerate way, especially by anticipating their wants and needs. More relevant and more powerful here though is thoughtfulness as a descriptive word. This means the entrepreneur appearing to be in deep thought and showing the application of careful thought. This is a key component of understanding how to answer a potential investor’s questions. More on this later in the series. Meanwhile – always count one second (at least) before answering. The delay adds impact and gravitas.
4. Credibility
In the context of the meeting with the potential investor this word takes on two meanings. First, the entrepreneur’s ability to inspire belief or trust (probably both) in the potential investor. Secondly, their willingness to accept what a potential investor is saying as true. This second part is often overlooked. If through non-verbal communication the entrepreneur radiates disbelief (somewhat different from a healthy scepticism) then the potential investor will be turned off. From experience, credibility or lack of it shows up in the first ten minutes of a meeting.
5. Empathy
Entrepreneurs often confuse empathy with compassion. Compassion usually and correctly describes the ability to be sympathetic to the suffering of others. Clearly inappropriate in the meeting. Unless of course the potential investor is in some form of physical or emotional distress. In contrast, empathy is the entrepreneur’s ability to identify with and understand the potential investor’s feelings. Those feelings can be negative or positive. It’s the ability to identify with either that is crucial. Remember it as follows. Compassion in this context has a negative connotation whereas empathy has a positive one!
If you want to talk to the author then please phone Howard Popeck on 07870 192618.
Link
http://www.go-between.co.uk
HMRC tax error could affect up to 15 million
Extract . . .
"Up to 15 million people could be affected by the HM Revenue & Customs miscalculation of tax ranging back over six years, it emerged today, amid signs that a taxpayers' rebellion against the blunder is starting to gather pace.
The Revenue's 2009-10 report and accounts reveal that it has been unable to deal with the bulk of a backlog of 18.2m unreconciled cases dating back to the 2004-05 tax year."
Link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/sep/07/hmrc-tax-error-affects-millions
"Up to 15 million people could be affected by the HM Revenue & Customs miscalculation of tax ranging back over six years, it emerged today, amid signs that a taxpayers' rebellion against the blunder is starting to gather pace.
The Revenue's 2009-10 report and accounts reveal that it has been unable to deal with the bulk of a backlog of 18.2m unreconciled cases dating back to the 2004-05 tax year."
Link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/sep/07/hmrc-tax-error-affects-millions
Wednesday, September 29
Garmin-Asus to Launch Android Smartphone in India [Your Phone is a Navigator]
Extract . . .
“Even though Garmin is revisiting its smartphone strategy worldwide (and might reevaluate the decision to stay in the smartphone market), Garmin-ASUS (a JV between Garmin and AsusteK Computer) will very soon launch its Android device in India. Running on Android 2.1, the device will have GPS navigation capabilities and offer features similar to other smartphones . . .”
Link
http://www.pluggd.in/
“Even though Garmin is revisiting its smartphone strategy worldwide (and might reevaluate the decision to stay in the smartphone market), Garmin-ASUS (a JV between Garmin and AsusteK Computer) will very soon launch its Android device in India. Running on Android 2.1, the device will have GPS navigation capabilities and offer features similar to other smartphones . . .”
Link
http://www.pluggd.in/
Plumen Is a Fluorescent Bulb That You'll Want to Use
Extract . . .
"Even the most attractive low-energy compact fluorescent bulbs are pretty ugly. But the Plumen, a so-called'"designer energy saving light bulb' released this week in Europe, might just change that. The Plumen isn't the most exciting light bulb we've ever seen, but it's still more aesthetically pleasing than most of the utilitarian CFL bulbs currently on sale."
Link
http://www.fastcompany.com/1687995/plumen-is-a-fluorescent-bulb-that-youll-want-to-use
"Even the most attractive low-energy compact fluorescent bulbs are pretty ugly. But the Plumen, a so-called'"designer energy saving light bulb' released this week in Europe, might just change that. The Plumen isn't the most exciting light bulb we've ever seen, but it's still more aesthetically pleasing than most of the utilitarian CFL bulbs currently on sale."
Link
http://www.fastcompany.com/1687995/plumen-is-a-fluorescent-bulb-that-youll-want-to-use
Seven Surefire Steps to Incentivize the Modern Employee
Extract . . .
"All too often, executives and managers focus on implementing lean practices, cutting waste and investing in new capital to boost workforce productivity. And all too often, the easiest and most cost effective method to increasing output is overlooked: incentivizing employees."
Link
http://www.businessreviewcanada.ca/business-features/operations/seven-surefire-steps-incentivize-modern-employee
"All too often, executives and managers focus on implementing lean practices, cutting waste and investing in new capital to boost workforce productivity. And all too often, the easiest and most cost effective method to increasing output is overlooked: incentivizing employees."
Link
http://www.businessreviewcanada.ca/business-features/operations/seven-surefire-steps-incentivize-modern-employee
The Digital Economy Act explained
Extract . . .
"Before the election, one of the most controversial bills going through Parliament was the Digital Economy Bill, which contained several new and amended laws in the area of technology. When the election was called the bill went through the ‘wash-up’ process, which meant it was passed quickly, without much of the debate that normally goes into the passing of bills in Parliament. The Queen signed it into law on April 12 and it went into force on June 12 as the Digital Economy Act 2010. So what can we expect from the new act?"
Link
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/features/2269236/digital-economy-act
"Before the election, one of the most controversial bills going through Parliament was the Digital Economy Bill, which contained several new and amended laws in the area of technology. When the election was called the bill went through the ‘wash-up’ process, which meant it was passed quickly, without much of the debate that normally goes into the passing of bills in Parliament. The Queen signed it into law on April 12 and it went into force on June 12 as the Digital Economy Act 2010. So what can we expect from the new act?"
Link
http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/features/2269236/digital-economy-act
Duncan Bannatyne: it makes business sense to go green
Extract . . .
"The questions on everyone's lips were whether there are ways to change everyday working practices within businesses to help the environment; what responsibility employers have to act; and finally, the trade off between short terms profits and long term survival."
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/duncan-bannatyne/6911027/Duncan-Bannatyne-it-makes-business-sense-to-go-green.html
"The questions on everyone's lips were whether there are ways to change everyday working practices within businesses to help the environment; what responsibility employers have to act; and finally, the trade off between short terms profits and long term survival."
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/duncan-bannatyne/6911027/Duncan-Bannatyne-it-makes-business-sense-to-go-green.html
Retailers braced for further gloom
Extract . . .
"Retailers will warn this week that the outlook for consumer spending will toughen in the coming months, as shoppers prepare for the VAT increase and concerns grow about public sector job cuts."
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/7996560/Retailers-braced-for-further-gloom.html
"Retailers will warn this week that the outlook for consumer spending will toughen in the coming months, as shoppers prepare for the VAT increase and concerns grow about public sector job cuts."
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/7996560/Retailers-braced-for-further-gloom.html
The decline of the cheque as shoppers switch to debit cards
Extract . . .
"The use of cheques dropped 10 per cent during the second quarter of the year as people used debit cards instead.
An average of 290,000 fewer cheques were written each day during the three months to the end of June, compared with the same period of 2009, according to the Payments Council."
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/7990166/Cheque-numbers-decline-as-shoppers-switch-to-debit-cards.html
"The use of cheques dropped 10 per cent during the second quarter of the year as people used debit cards instead.
An average of 290,000 fewer cheques were written each day during the three months to the end of June, compared with the same period of 2009, according to the Payments Council."
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/7990166/Cheque-numbers-decline-as-shoppers-switch-to-debit-cards.html
Tuesday, September 28
Simon Mundell: Setting up business in the US
Extract . . .
"Simon Mundell is the Co-founder and Director of RESULTS.com. He speaks locally and internationally about successful business execution."
Link
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/small-business/news/article.cfm?c_id=85&objectid=10671429
"Simon Mundell is the Co-founder and Director of RESULTS.com. He speaks locally and internationally about successful business execution."
Link
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/small-business/news/article.cfm?c_id=85&objectid=10671429
Lack of funds paralyzes chief scientist
Extract . . .
"The lack of grants is slowing the growth of the country's high-tech companies, which often rely on the government agency, said industry sources.
The Chief Scientist's Office at the Industry and Trade Ministry may have a new head, but his hands are tied: A week after the appointment of Avi Hasson was announced, it turns out his office has no money - its budget ran out in June."
Link
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/lack-of-funds-paralyzes-chief-scientist-1.313299
"The lack of grants is slowing the growth of the country's high-tech companies, which often rely on the government agency, said industry sources.
The Chief Scientist's Office at the Industry and Trade Ministry may have a new head, but his hands are tied: A week after the appointment of Avi Hasson was announced, it turns out his office has no money - its budget ran out in June."
Link
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/business/lack-of-funds-paralyzes-chief-scientist-1.313299
Virgin territory: how to name your business
Extract . . .
"What's the best or worst business name you have heard? Leave your comment below . . .
Ridiculed in a July 14 post by the tech blog Cnet, the Samsung emoticon shows how tricky the creative process of naming can be. Picking a name for your start-up is one of the first decisions that you must make and one of the toughest."
Link
http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/startup/virgin-territory-how-to-name-your-business-20100719-10hi0.html
"What's the best or worst business name you have heard? Leave your comment below . . .
Ridiculed in a July 14 post by the tech blog Cnet, the Samsung emoticon shows how tricky the creative process of naming can be. Picking a name for your start-up is one of the first decisions that you must make and one of the toughest."
Link
http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/startup/virgin-territory-how-to-name-your-business-20100719-10hi0.html
The Internet of Things
Extract . . .
"Will your fridge be able to detect any product past its use-by date and inform you about it in the near future? The Internet should not only connect the more than 1.5 billion people who use it, but also people to things and things-to-things, according to Spanish Socialist MEP Maria Badia i Cutchet."
Link
http://www.europeanbusiness.gr/page.asp?pid=841
"Will your fridge be able to detect any product past its use-by date and inform you about it in the near future? The Internet should not only connect the more than 1.5 billion people who use it, but also people to things and things-to-things, according to Spanish Socialist MEP Maria Badia i Cutchet."
Link
http://www.europeanbusiness.gr/page.asp?pid=841
At the end of the rainbow
Extract . . .
"James Crow assumed all families had a 'go to' jar. Whether it was a cut or a scrape, a bite or a burn, Crow’s mother would reach in the cupboard for the 1kg jar of homemade all-natural skin balm to soothe various ills."
Link
http://unlimited.co.nz/unlimited.nsf/startup/at-the-end-of-the-rainbow
"James Crow assumed all families had a 'go to' jar. Whether it was a cut or a scrape, a bite or a burn, Crow’s mother would reach in the cupboard for the 1kg jar of homemade all-natural skin balm to soothe various ills."
Link
http://unlimited.co.nz/unlimited.nsf/startup/at-the-end-of-the-rainbow
Bank customers can make higher online payments
Extract . . .
"Bank customers can now make payments online up to the value of £100,000, up from just £10,000.
Until now, the Faster Payments Scheme - used for transferring money between accounts – has limited payments to the lower level. But it has now been raised to the six figure sum in a move to provide customers with a better service."
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/7994416/Bank-customers-can-make-higher-online-payments.html
"Bank customers can now make payments online up to the value of £100,000, up from just £10,000.
Until now, the Faster Payments Scheme - used for transferring money between accounts – has limited payments to the lower level. But it has now been raised to the six figure sum in a move to provide customers with a better service."
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/7994416/Bank-customers-can-make-higher-online-payments.html
Monday, September 27
James Caan- Business Investor
Extract . . .
“It's been a while since we last spoke to James, since then he has added Chairman of The Big Issue to his CV - not bad. James talks about adapting to his new role and gives some sound advice to start-ups. He also discusses the iawards, which provide a platform for people to showcase their talent in business technology.”
Link
http://www.sybmagazine.com/feature_caan.html
“It's been a while since we last spoke to James, since then he has added Chairman of The Big Issue to his CV - not bad. James talks about adapting to his new role and gives some sound advice to start-ups. He also discusses the iawards, which provide a platform for people to showcase their talent in business technology.”
Link
http://www.sybmagazine.com/feature_caan.html
Spammers Make 57,000 Fake Websites a Week
Extract . . .
“Spammers and hackers are constantly trying to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers (also known as my parents) online. According to a three-month study by antivirus developer PandaLabs, these cyber-criminals are creating around 57,000 new fake websites every week. That's close to 3 million per year. And all of it is being done to exploit major brands.”
Link
http://www.fastcompany.com/1687988/spammers-making-57000-fake-web-sites-a-week-to-exploit-big-brands
“Spammers and hackers are constantly trying to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers (also known as my parents) online. According to a three-month study by antivirus developer PandaLabs, these cyber-criminals are creating around 57,000 new fake websites every week. That's close to 3 million per year. And all of it is being done to exploit major brands.”
Link
http://www.fastcompany.com/1687988/spammers-making-57000-fake-web-sites-a-week-to-exploit-big-brands
India's Top Guns
Extract . . .
“Very soon two of India’s most prestigious companies will lose their chairmen. Infosys Technologies Ltd and Tata Group, are both looking for replacements for Narayana Murthy and Ratan Tata respectively.
Narayana Murthy, who founded Infosys in 1981 resigned in 2006 as executive chairman. He was 60. The Company, which prospered under his mentor-ship had been preparing for its biggest leadership transition since then. The hunt will formally begin in January next year.”
Link
http://www.businessreviewindia.in/business-features/leadership/indias-top-guns
“Very soon two of India’s most prestigious companies will lose their chairmen. Infosys Technologies Ltd and Tata Group, are both looking for replacements for Narayana Murthy and Ratan Tata respectively.
Narayana Murthy, who founded Infosys in 1981 resigned in 2006 as executive chairman. He was 60. The Company, which prospered under his mentor-ship had been preparing for its biggest leadership transition since then. The hunt will formally begin in January next year.”
Link
http://www.businessreviewindia.in/business-features/leadership/indias-top-guns
Curse Fear Spells End to Fortune Teller Tax
Humorous Extract . . .
“Politicians in Romania have dropped plans to tax fortune tellers and witches amid fears they will be cursed.
Officials drafted a law demanding the tax as well as measures to ensure that psychics were held liable for faulty predictions.”
Link
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Strange-News/Romania-Fortune-Teller-Tax-Dropped-Because-Politicians-Fear-They-Will-Be-Cursed/Article/201009215724480?lpos=Strange_News_First_Buisness_Feature_Teaser_Region__0&lid=ARTICLE_15724480_Romania_Fortune_Teller_Tax_Dropped_Because_Politicians_Fear_They_Will_Be_Cursed_
“Politicians in Romania have dropped plans to tax fortune tellers and witches amid fears they will be cursed.
Officials drafted a law demanding the tax as well as measures to ensure that psychics were held liable for faulty predictions.”
Link
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Strange-News/Romania-Fortune-Teller-Tax-Dropped-Because-Politicians-Fear-They-Will-Be-Cursed/Article/201009215724480?lpos=Strange_News_First_Buisness_Feature_Teaser_Region__0&lid=ARTICLE_15724480_Romania_Fortune_Teller_Tax_Dropped_Because_Politicians_Fear_They_Will_Be_Cursed_
'Frustration-free packaging' slow to catch on
Extract . . .
“Just the other day, I got bitten by one of those hard plastic clamshell cases that retailers still seem to love. Even with a pair of heavy-duty scissors, it took me several minutes to pry the stubborn thing open, and as I sawed away, a jagged piece of plastic tore at my finger and gave me a good scratch. At least I didn’t bleed on my newly purchased USB hard drive (this time).”
Link
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100909/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc3585
“Just the other day, I got bitten by one of those hard plastic clamshell cases that retailers still seem to love. Even with a pair of heavy-duty scissors, it took me several minutes to pry the stubborn thing open, and as I sawed away, a jagged piece of plastic tore at my finger and gave me a good scratch. At least I didn’t bleed on my newly purchased USB hard drive (this time).”
Link
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100909/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc3585
Phone users waste millions paying bills by credit card
Extract . . .
“According to online price comparison uSwitch.com, customers are losing money ‘down the drain’ because of their payment methods.
This comes at a time when consumers face more financial pressures as leading phone companies, BT and TalkTalk, plan to increase prices by as much as 39p. A change in the way many pay their bills may work to counter the 'astronomical increases' in call charges that will come into effect from October 1st, says Earnest Doku of uSwitch.com."
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/7992029/Phone-users-waste-millions-paying-bills-by-credit-card.html
“According to online price comparison uSwitch.com, customers are losing money ‘down the drain’ because of their payment methods.
This comes at a time when consumers face more financial pressures as leading phone companies, BT and TalkTalk, plan to increase prices by as much as 39p. A change in the way many pay their bills may work to counter the 'astronomical increases' in call charges that will come into effect from October 1st, says Earnest Doku of uSwitch.com."
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/7992029/Phone-users-waste-millions-paying-bills-by-credit-card.html
If You Don’t Listen, You Can’t Hear – Part 2
Having ‘listened’ and hopefully ‘heard’ you then need to give feedback to the person you are communicating with.
Effective feedback starts with commitment between believing that both individuals amount to something, and neither is any better than the other, that it is natural that both be open and honest with one another. Working from this hypothesis there are all kinds of wonderful results that can be obtained by interaction between these two conversing persons.
Feedback is response to another person, the act of speaking directly in response to a statement or question meeting the speaker where he or she is. Feedback requires creative listening to be valid. Its meaning is important. You have heard what the speaker is saying and you understand. There may be details, however they are not quite clear. Feedback in response is usually given as a request for some kind of clarification or evaluation. It is also used to correct errors that might have crept into the transmission of the information from one to another. You can look on feedback as a means of monitoring the communication bond. The purpose is to double check the effectiveness of the communication and to assure that the correct meaning is shared.
Feedback can be descriptive or it can be evaluative. However, no judgements should be made, no labels pinned. The listener should simply clarify what the speaker has said without adding argumentation or persuasive elaboration or embellishment. The listener should not project any judgement about a statement. The pinning of a label can be regarded only as a hostile response that can put the speaker in your case, the investor, into a defensive posture. Investors don’t like being placed in such a position and would be quite prepared to walk – irrespective of how powerful the opportunity might be.
Effective feedback needs careful attention
To be effective good feedback needs careful attention to all five of the following points.
You must always look at the person with whom you are communicating. You should always look at the person squarely and directly. Visual contact is not only important when you yourself are speaking, but also when the other person is speaking as well.
Visual contact is the best way to establish a bond between you and the listener. You should continue to work solidly on this connection once it is established. Without it, you will lose contact and you would dilute the quality of the bond and lose all the positive gains established to bring your business association to a successful conclusion.
Having said this, don’t stare at the person with whom you are communicating! Look at the person and let him or her know that you are there all the time and that the act of communication is going on.
In summing up then, you should listen not just with your ears but with your eyes as well. If you fail to look the speaker in the eyes, you will never know what thoughts or ideas he or she may be trying to communicate to you. The eyes can say a lot.
Verbal interruption
Just because a person stops talking does not necessarily mean that the topic of conversation is over. You must let the speaker have time to think something out. A pause may mean that the investor is gathering thoughts or mentally formulating meanings.
The point being that a moment of silence in a conversation is not necessarily a bad thing. With continuous dialogue and snappy comebacks, what might be what you see on television, it’s not really how true conversation flows.
Do not try to fill up with an interruption when you are in conversation with somebody by an immediate interjection of a statement of your own. You may be killing an entire thought process of the fellow business person. Worse than that, you may be in the process of making an important pitch and inadvertently lose it by breaking your investor’s concentration. Or the investor may be at a crucial point of a difficult resolution of a problem. By your interruption you may kill the approach that’s beneficial to you.
Imposition of meaning
Each individual faces feelings and thoughts that no one else experiences. It is quite difficult to express some feelings, particularly emotional ones that may occur in business dealings as well as in others. You should never allow yourself to place value judgements on another person’s innermost thoughts.
It is not necessary to agree with everything another person says. You can argue or discuss any point at length. But a good listener, a creative listener, never expresses value judgements such as ‘You can’t mean that!’ or something like that.
Avoid value judgements and labels. Value judgements are a very destructive force in normal conversation. A value judgement is an instant label. A label is a stereotype. People are individuals, no matter how we may think they may seem to fall into specific categories.
I also think of a label as a serious detriment when you apply it to yourself. That is even you think of yourself, even secretly as a loser, you will be a loser. If you think of yourself as possessing an inferiority complex, you will have an inferiority complex. If you think of yourself as a difficult person, then yes, you will be a difficult person.
What labels do to people is to categorise them and put them into a specific box. It is a most difficult job to get them out once they are packed solidly in that little or even big box.
In listening and responding to someone else who is speaking, watch out for value judgements, labels and snide remarks.
• Never judge
• Never give a verdict
• Never pass a sentence
Until the next time.
Link
http://www.go-between.co.uk
Effective feedback starts with commitment between believing that both individuals amount to something, and neither is any better than the other, that it is natural that both be open and honest with one another. Working from this hypothesis there are all kinds of wonderful results that can be obtained by interaction between these two conversing persons.
Feedback is response to another person, the act of speaking directly in response to a statement or question meeting the speaker where he or she is. Feedback requires creative listening to be valid. Its meaning is important. You have heard what the speaker is saying and you understand. There may be details, however they are not quite clear. Feedback in response is usually given as a request for some kind of clarification or evaluation. It is also used to correct errors that might have crept into the transmission of the information from one to another. You can look on feedback as a means of monitoring the communication bond. The purpose is to double check the effectiveness of the communication and to assure that the correct meaning is shared.
Feedback can be descriptive or it can be evaluative. However, no judgements should be made, no labels pinned. The listener should simply clarify what the speaker has said without adding argumentation or persuasive elaboration or embellishment. The listener should not project any judgement about a statement. The pinning of a label can be regarded only as a hostile response that can put the speaker in your case, the investor, into a defensive posture. Investors don’t like being placed in such a position and would be quite prepared to walk – irrespective of how powerful the opportunity might be.
Effective feedback needs careful attention
To be effective good feedback needs careful attention to all five of the following points.
- It must be specific. You should never pull any punches or try to evade the truth. Feedback should avoid vagueness and ambiguity. Your response should be narrow in scope and it should focus exactly on what the speaker says, rather than on what the speaker might have said or could have said.
- Must be immediate. Feedback should never be after the fact. If it is not immediate, the bond of communication between speaker and listener will be broken. If it is not immediate the actual thoughts tend to blur in the distance of time.
- Must be directed towards feelings and actions. These feelings and actions must be controllable as opposed to considerations that are beyond control.
- They must never be sympathetic. Feedback should never offer any kind of help. If it does sympathise, feedback becomes a kind of wailing wall technique of stroking that gets the speaker nowhere.
- Must be a simple link in conversation. Feedback should be part of creative listening that assures the speaker that the listener knows where the conversation has come to, where it is going, and understands it. It should be a statement in reverse that assures the speaker that both communicator and listener are in sync and ready for the next step in the communicative process.
You must always look at the person with whom you are communicating. You should always look at the person squarely and directly. Visual contact is not only important when you yourself are speaking, but also when the other person is speaking as well.
Visual contact is the best way to establish a bond between you and the listener. You should continue to work solidly on this connection once it is established. Without it, you will lose contact and you would dilute the quality of the bond and lose all the positive gains established to bring your business association to a successful conclusion.
Having said this, don’t stare at the person with whom you are communicating! Look at the person and let him or her know that you are there all the time and that the act of communication is going on.
In summing up then, you should listen not just with your ears but with your eyes as well. If you fail to look the speaker in the eyes, you will never know what thoughts or ideas he or she may be trying to communicate to you. The eyes can say a lot.
Verbal interruption
Just because a person stops talking does not necessarily mean that the topic of conversation is over. You must let the speaker have time to think something out. A pause may mean that the investor is gathering thoughts or mentally formulating meanings.
The point being that a moment of silence in a conversation is not necessarily a bad thing. With continuous dialogue and snappy comebacks, what might be what you see on television, it’s not really how true conversation flows.
Do not try to fill up with an interruption when you are in conversation with somebody by an immediate interjection of a statement of your own. You may be killing an entire thought process of the fellow business person. Worse than that, you may be in the process of making an important pitch and inadvertently lose it by breaking your investor’s concentration. Or the investor may be at a crucial point of a difficult resolution of a problem. By your interruption you may kill the approach that’s beneficial to you.
Imposition of meaning
Each individual faces feelings and thoughts that no one else experiences. It is quite difficult to express some feelings, particularly emotional ones that may occur in business dealings as well as in others. You should never allow yourself to place value judgements on another person’s innermost thoughts.
It is not necessary to agree with everything another person says. You can argue or discuss any point at length. But a good listener, a creative listener, never expresses value judgements such as ‘You can’t mean that!’ or something like that.
Avoid value judgements and labels. Value judgements are a very destructive force in normal conversation. A value judgement is an instant label. A label is a stereotype. People are individuals, no matter how we may think they may seem to fall into specific categories.
I also think of a label as a serious detriment when you apply it to yourself. That is even you think of yourself, even secretly as a loser, you will be a loser. If you think of yourself as possessing an inferiority complex, you will have an inferiority complex. If you think of yourself as a difficult person, then yes, you will be a difficult person.
What labels do to people is to categorise them and put them into a specific box. It is a most difficult job to get them out once they are packed solidly in that little or even big box.
In listening and responding to someone else who is speaking, watch out for value judgements, labels and snide remarks.
• Never judge
• Never give a verdict
• Never pass a sentence
Until the next time.
Link
http://www.go-between.co.uk
Friday, September 24
Word of mouth advertising
Extract . . .
“Word of mouth advertising (WOM) is the unpaid spread of a positive marketing message from person to person. It can take place directly using the human voice, or can be transmitted via any communicative means such as through the internet or via text message. WOM is a powerful promotional tool and should be considered as part of almost every business marketing strategy.”
Linkhttp://www.marketing-made-simple.com/articles/word-of-mouth-advertising.htm
“Word of mouth advertising (WOM) is the unpaid spread of a positive marketing message from person to person. It can take place directly using the human voice, or can be transmitted via any communicative means such as through the internet or via text message. WOM is a powerful promotional tool and should be considered as part of almost every business marketing strategy.”
Linkhttp://www.marketing-made-simple.com/articles/word-of-mouth-advertising.htm
Surviving the world’s most expensive cities: London
Extract . . .
“Sara Turner reveals good-value places to eat, sleep and play in the notoriously pricey capital.”
Linkhttp://www.businesstraveller.com/archive/2009/september-2009/special-reports/surviving-the-worlda-s-most-expensive-cities-lo
“Sara Turner reveals good-value places to eat, sleep and play in the notoriously pricey capital.”
Linkhttp://www.businesstraveller.com/archive/2009/september-2009/special-reports/surviving-the-worlda-s-most-expensive-cities-lo
The net's next big thing
Extract . . .
“Today Google, Twitter and Facebook are among the most popular sites on the net. But what will tomorrow’s online crazes be, and what will they do? JV Chamary looks at the things that will change our use of the web . . .”
Link
http://www.bbcfocusmagazine.com/feature/tech/nets-next-big-thing
“Today Google, Twitter and Facebook are among the most popular sites on the net. But what will tomorrow’s online crazes be, and what will they do? JV Chamary looks at the things that will change our use of the web . . .”
Link
http://www.bbcfocusmagazine.com/feature/tech/nets-next-big-thing
Top Tips for email marketing success
Extract . . .
“Most marketers measure the success of their email newsletters in terms of the amount of emails opened and the clicks they generate. As a general rule, these statistics tell us how well an email newsletter is performing.
If your email newsletter marketing isn't going as well as you'd planned, here are some suggestions to help you to improve your email marketing efforts and the success of your email newsletters.”
Linkhttp://www.bytestart.co.uk/content/marketing/online-marketing/email-marketing-tips.shtml
“Most marketers measure the success of their email newsletters in terms of the amount of emails opened and the clicks they generate. As a general rule, these statistics tell us how well an email newsletter is performing.
If your email newsletter marketing isn't going as well as you'd planned, here are some suggestions to help you to improve your email marketing efforts and the success of your email newsletters.”
Linkhttp://www.bytestart.co.uk/content/marketing/online-marketing/email-marketing-tips.shtml
Pension savers hit by shrinking payouts
Extract . . .
“The income you can expect to receive from your pension pot is at a record low due to falling annuities; employers are predicted to start cutting their contributions to company pension schemes; and even those who build up good-sized funds can have them decimated by stock market falls.”
Linkhttp://www.moneysupermarket.com/newsandcommunity/news/pension-savers-hit-by-shrinking-payouts_0010062.aspx?maillink=true
“The income you can expect to receive from your pension pot is at a record low due to falling annuities; employers are predicted to start cutting their contributions to company pension schemes; and even those who build up good-sized funds can have them decimated by stock market falls.”
Linkhttp://www.moneysupermarket.com/newsandcommunity/news/pension-savers-hit-by-shrinking-payouts_0010062.aspx?maillink=true
Entrepreneurs - are we failing them?
Extract . . .
“Often ignored or sidelined, small and medium sized businesses and entrepreneurs will be the rock upon which any future growth is built. George Osborne's reputation depends on it.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/kamal-ahmed/7991684/Entrepreneurs-are-we-failing-them.html
“Often ignored or sidelined, small and medium sized businesses and entrepreneurs will be the rock upon which any future growth is built. George Osborne's reputation depends on it.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/kamal-ahmed/7991684/Entrepreneurs-are-we-failing-them.html
Thursday, September 23
Overdraft Rates at record high
Extract . . .
“Bank and building society customers faced interest rates of an average of 19.1pc if their accounts became overdrawn. Meanwhile, credit card rates remain high despite the sustained low base rate of 0.5pc for a record 19 months.
Moneyfacts, the independent savings analyst, identified a pattern of lenders setting current accounts with long interest- free credit periods to attract customers. But these are offset by elevated interest rates which later affect .”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/creditcards/7992419/Overdraft-Rates-at-record-high.html
“Bank and building society customers faced interest rates of an average of 19.1pc if their accounts became overdrawn. Meanwhile, credit card rates remain high despite the sustained low base rate of 0.5pc for a record 19 months.
Moneyfacts, the independent savings analyst, identified a pattern of lenders setting current accounts with long interest- free credit periods to attract customers. But these are offset by elevated interest rates which later affect .”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/creditcards/7992419/Overdraft-Rates-at-record-high.html
Why Google TV faces an uphill struggle
Extract . . .
“For cutting-edge technology firms, television is the electronic Afghanistan: all the major powers have attempted to tame it, and all the major powers have ended up in protracted, painful and ultimately pointless conflicts. Microsoft tried it with Media Center, and latterly with Xbox 360. Apple tried it with Apple TV and the new! Improved! Apple TV. And now Google's going to have a go. To its credit, Google is attempting to throw absolutely everything at Google TV. It will let you see statistics as you're watching sports. It'll have a web browser. It'll give you YouTube. It'll be controllable from Android handsets and iPhones and it'll have voice search and Twitter and Flickr and Android Market and a customisable home page and a free horse.”
Linkhttp://www.techradar.com/news/internet/why-google-tv-faces-an-uphill-struggle-715139
“For cutting-edge technology firms, television is the electronic Afghanistan: all the major powers have attempted to tame it, and all the major powers have ended up in protracted, painful and ultimately pointless conflicts. Microsoft tried it with Media Center, and latterly with Xbox 360. Apple tried it with Apple TV and the new! Improved! Apple TV. And now Google's going to have a go. To its credit, Google is attempting to throw absolutely everything at Google TV. It will let you see statistics as you're watching sports. It'll have a web browser. It'll give you YouTube. It'll be controllable from Android handsets and iPhones and it'll have voice search and Twitter and Flickr and Android Market and a customisable home page and a free horse.”
Linkhttp://www.techradar.com/news/internet/why-google-tv-faces-an-uphill-struggle-715139
Why pawnbrokers have become respectable
Extract . . .
“The pawnshop has been rehabilitated, and apparently this is not even such a Bad Thing. The decline of these seedy outlets was once measured in inverse proportion to the advance of the welfare state, until such businesses achieved vivid attention only when one was reading the novels of Dickens, Lawrence or Dostoevsky, or perhaps the early writings of Orwell, when he was down and out in Paris and London, or on the road to Wigan Pier.”
Linkhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/09/pawnshops-have-become-respectable
“The pawnshop has been rehabilitated, and apparently this is not even such a Bad Thing. The decline of these seedy outlets was once measured in inverse proportion to the advance of the welfare state, until such businesses achieved vivid attention only when one was reading the novels of Dickens, Lawrence or Dostoevsky, or perhaps the early writings of Orwell, when he was down and out in Paris and London, or on the road to Wigan Pier.”
Linkhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/09/pawnshops-have-become-respectable
House Doctor: David Snell's DIY career
Extract . . .
“Moving home is something most of us try to keep to a minimum. But not David Snell. "My wife and I have moved 35 times in the 39 years that we've been married," beams the Telegraph's long-serving columnist, whose popular Bricks and Mortar column settles this week into its new, extended slot, called the House Doctor.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/7989892/House-Doctor-David-Snells-DIY-career.html
“Moving home is something most of us try to keep to a minimum. But not David Snell. "My wife and I have moved 35 times in the 39 years that we've been married," beams the Telegraph's long-serving columnist, whose popular Bricks and Mortar column settles this week into its new, extended slot, called the House Doctor.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/7989892/House-Doctor-David-Snells-DIY-career.html
Mobile Roaming. Use your phone abroad for free
Extract . . .
“Take your mobile abroad and it turns into a cash assassin in some places, costing more than £1/min just to receive calls. Of course, the easiest solution is don't take it with you, but in our 'have mobile, will roam' world, many would prefer to leave a lung behind instead . . .
This is a full guide to getting the cheapest mobile roaming (the term for overseas use) rates to sometimes cut the cost of £100 calls to a fiver, either by accessing your network's hidden deals or using specialist international Sim cards.”
Linkhttp://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-roaming-calls
“Take your mobile abroad and it turns into a cash assassin in some places, costing more than £1/min just to receive calls. Of course, the easiest solution is don't take it with you, but in our 'have mobile, will roam' world, many would prefer to leave a lung behind instead . . .
This is a full guide to getting the cheapest mobile roaming (the term for overseas use) rates to sometimes cut the cost of £100 calls to a fiver, either by accessing your network's hidden deals or using specialist international Sim cards.”
Linkhttp://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-roaming-calls
Making strategic sense
Extract . . .
“The most profitable Angel investments are in businesses that can be sold at higher multiples because of the strategic fit with the buyer. By Tom McKaskill.
IF YOU WANT to raise Angel finance, you have to first prove your business concept. This means you have to have an established business with real product and real customers and be able to show how the business will generate significant revenue and profit in the future.”
Linkhttp://www.mybusiness.com.au/articles/Financing-Your-Business/Making-strategic-sense
“The most profitable Angel investments are in businesses that can be sold at higher multiples because of the strategic fit with the buyer. By Tom McKaskill.
IF YOU WANT to raise Angel finance, you have to first prove your business concept. This means you have to have an established business with real product and real customers and be able to show how the business will generate significant revenue and profit in the future.”
Linkhttp://www.mybusiness.com.au/articles/Financing-Your-Business/Making-strategic-sense
If You Don’t Listen, You Can’t Hear – Part 1
Success is listening
It may be a truism, but nobody listens! In fact you could go as far as to say that nobody ever listens! But what has been observed in committees, and is completely transferable to the entrepreneur/investor meeting is that some people are so eager to be heard that they’ve not bothered to listen to what the other person is saying in the group. You may indeed be nervous about this first meeting, bearing in mind it could be the last meeting and therefore you want to make the right impression. And so, of course, you’ll be involved in preparation or rehearsal, or whatever phrase you want to use. The point is though, that you can’t keep on rehearsing this to the point that you are oblivious to whatever else is going on in the vicinity.
Listening is an art form
Half the skill of conversation is the ability to listen. It’s more than an ability, it’s an art. The clever conversationalist is usually not the one who says the most words and holds the stage for the longest time, but the person who listens the most carefully and is able to make a particularly trenchant comment at a crucial moment. That person is the one remembered, not the monotonous person who’s train of thought has been ceased upon and reduced to a pithy statement.
While the most important elements in business communication of any kind is mutual understanding. Mutual understanding is impossible without the occasional shifting of a point of view. That is you must trade positions with the person with whom you are communicating to try to see things the way he or she sees them.
You must put yourself in the other person’s shoes for the moment in order to understand that person’s feelings thoughts or ideas. This act requires imagination and mental agility. Without imagining what the other person thinks or feels, you do not really involve yourself in true communication. If such a person does not trade with you when you are explaining your own unique idea, he or she will not be involved in communication either. The trick of mutual understanding – the purpose of communication – is in being able to shift your point of view with accuracy and agility.
You have to be able not only to be in your own shoes and say what you’re saying, but you must be able to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and evaluate what you are saying in his or her way.
Listening versus hearing
A lot of the success of such understanding relies on the communicator’s ability to make the other person see things exactly as the communicator sees them. The easiest thing to see through another’s eyes is a visual scene. This is the value of good story telling technique. The communicator relies on anecdotes with the anecdotes bringing the idea alive to the communicant.
To listen is the put together all the sounds that you hear and assemble them into a picture in your mind’s eye. Through sounds you hear, you can form a picture of something you have never seen yourself.
By assembling the sounds you hear into a picture outside yourself, you are performing an important skill of active listening. Active listening is, in turn, the key to mutual understanding, which I mentioned earlier.
By imagining sights communicated through the words of another person, you can put together a picture that is the same as seen by the other person. The complicated picture you assemble is the essence of pure communication. You can actually leave your own world, and become part of the world of your investor and live that person’s experiences along with him or her. To do so you move from your own point of view to their point of view. This is a magical journey that enables you to go somewhere that you’ve not been before, to see things you’ve never seen, to experience feelings you might not have felt previously.
The key to communication is your own desire to come to know the person with whom you are in communication. To understand and see the world through other eyes, to think the way another is thinking. The key to this type of inter-relationship is your ability to actively listen to whatever he or she has to say and to recreate what is being conveyed through words in your own reconstructed images and emotional pictures.
Creative listening
It takes work to listen creatively, it takes effort, but when you do manage to listen creatively you establish a bridge between yourself and the investor that becomes a two-way avenue of understanding. You become more alive by sharing your feelings and their feelings and imaginings, and they become more alive being able to lead you into another world, their world.
So many people cut off any chance of communication by tuning out when somebody is talking to them in order to rehearse what they are going to say when it comes to their turn, that it’s hard to believe that any communication can ever be effective. Once the bond of communication is severed it is difficult ever to re-establish it.
So whenever you listen to anyone else speak you should always keep one question in the back of your mind, ‘What do those words mean to this person?’ Words are planks in the bridge of communication, but words have different shades of meaning to different people. What one word means to you may mean something else to the person with whom you are in the act of communicating.
By keeping in mind this essential difference you remind yourself that you are listening to another person who is unique and who sees the world in an individual world that is different than yours. You are trying to understand the thoughts and feelings experienced by that person by carefully following his words and phrases and absorbing their meaning. Creative listening allows you to put together what the message is. Emotions are difficult to put in to words. Unlike a conversation between two people discussing substantial things in a new start up. Which is completely different of course between two people having a conversation that deals only in emotion.
When such a communication is established it is likely that the listener may try to help the communicator put those complex ideas and feelings into proper words for articulation. The creative listener helps as much as possible. ‘I don’t quite know what you are saying. Can you put it into other words? Do you mean something like this . . . ?’
Active listening
Listening is not a passive activity. Unless your mind and persona are involved, you’re not really listening at all. You are just hearing sounds.
Consider yourself the listener and the other person the speaker. You are performing active listening. Your listener is a feeling, thinking person. You may not necessarily agree with what the speaker, in this case the investor, is saying but you do acknowledge the legitimacy of the communication by a remark or two. These remarks forming an effective response are what constitutes feedback. Feedback is reaction that goes back to the speaker as assurance that he or she counts for something, not because of what is said, but because the speaker is involved in communication.
Without some kind of valid feedback from you to show that you are actively participating in the conversation the speaker might easily feel put down and invalidated as an individual. To sit there and listen without displaying a shade of emotion, or making any indication that you are hearing what is said is to make the speaker feel you are non-existent. Clearly this is not the impression or situation that you want to create with an investor.
Such a conversation would gradually slide to a halt. The only option for the speaker in this case would be to pack up and disappear.
Next time we'll cover how the 'active listener' must then give feedback in order to cement the verbal relationship.
Link
http://www.go-between.co.uk
It may be a truism, but nobody listens! In fact you could go as far as to say that nobody ever listens! But what has been observed in committees, and is completely transferable to the entrepreneur/investor meeting is that some people are so eager to be heard that they’ve not bothered to listen to what the other person is saying in the group. You may indeed be nervous about this first meeting, bearing in mind it could be the last meeting and therefore you want to make the right impression. And so, of course, you’ll be involved in preparation or rehearsal, or whatever phrase you want to use. The point is though, that you can’t keep on rehearsing this to the point that you are oblivious to whatever else is going on in the vicinity.
Listening is an art form
Half the skill of conversation is the ability to listen. It’s more than an ability, it’s an art. The clever conversationalist is usually not the one who says the most words and holds the stage for the longest time, but the person who listens the most carefully and is able to make a particularly trenchant comment at a crucial moment. That person is the one remembered, not the monotonous person who’s train of thought has been ceased upon and reduced to a pithy statement.
While the most important elements in business communication of any kind is mutual understanding. Mutual understanding is impossible without the occasional shifting of a point of view. That is you must trade positions with the person with whom you are communicating to try to see things the way he or she sees them.
You must put yourself in the other person’s shoes for the moment in order to understand that person’s feelings thoughts or ideas. This act requires imagination and mental agility. Without imagining what the other person thinks or feels, you do not really involve yourself in true communication. If such a person does not trade with you when you are explaining your own unique idea, he or she will not be involved in communication either. The trick of mutual understanding – the purpose of communication – is in being able to shift your point of view with accuracy and agility.
You have to be able not only to be in your own shoes and say what you’re saying, but you must be able to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and evaluate what you are saying in his or her way.
Listening versus hearing
A lot of the success of such understanding relies on the communicator’s ability to make the other person see things exactly as the communicator sees them. The easiest thing to see through another’s eyes is a visual scene. This is the value of good story telling technique. The communicator relies on anecdotes with the anecdotes bringing the idea alive to the communicant.
To listen is the put together all the sounds that you hear and assemble them into a picture in your mind’s eye. Through sounds you hear, you can form a picture of something you have never seen yourself.
By assembling the sounds you hear into a picture outside yourself, you are performing an important skill of active listening. Active listening is, in turn, the key to mutual understanding, which I mentioned earlier.
By imagining sights communicated through the words of another person, you can put together a picture that is the same as seen by the other person. The complicated picture you assemble is the essence of pure communication. You can actually leave your own world, and become part of the world of your investor and live that person’s experiences along with him or her. To do so you move from your own point of view to their point of view. This is a magical journey that enables you to go somewhere that you’ve not been before, to see things you’ve never seen, to experience feelings you might not have felt previously.
The key to communication is your own desire to come to know the person with whom you are in communication. To understand and see the world through other eyes, to think the way another is thinking. The key to this type of inter-relationship is your ability to actively listen to whatever he or she has to say and to recreate what is being conveyed through words in your own reconstructed images and emotional pictures.
Creative listening
It takes work to listen creatively, it takes effort, but when you do manage to listen creatively you establish a bridge between yourself and the investor that becomes a two-way avenue of understanding. You become more alive by sharing your feelings and their feelings and imaginings, and they become more alive being able to lead you into another world, their world.
So many people cut off any chance of communication by tuning out when somebody is talking to them in order to rehearse what they are going to say when it comes to their turn, that it’s hard to believe that any communication can ever be effective. Once the bond of communication is severed it is difficult ever to re-establish it.
So whenever you listen to anyone else speak you should always keep one question in the back of your mind, ‘What do those words mean to this person?’ Words are planks in the bridge of communication, but words have different shades of meaning to different people. What one word means to you may mean something else to the person with whom you are in the act of communicating.
By keeping in mind this essential difference you remind yourself that you are listening to another person who is unique and who sees the world in an individual world that is different than yours. You are trying to understand the thoughts and feelings experienced by that person by carefully following his words and phrases and absorbing their meaning. Creative listening allows you to put together what the message is. Emotions are difficult to put in to words. Unlike a conversation between two people discussing substantial things in a new start up. Which is completely different of course between two people having a conversation that deals only in emotion.
When such a communication is established it is likely that the listener may try to help the communicator put those complex ideas and feelings into proper words for articulation. The creative listener helps as much as possible. ‘I don’t quite know what you are saying. Can you put it into other words? Do you mean something like this . . . ?’
Active listening
Listening is not a passive activity. Unless your mind and persona are involved, you’re not really listening at all. You are just hearing sounds.
Consider yourself the listener and the other person the speaker. You are performing active listening. Your listener is a feeling, thinking person. You may not necessarily agree with what the speaker, in this case the investor, is saying but you do acknowledge the legitimacy of the communication by a remark or two. These remarks forming an effective response are what constitutes feedback. Feedback is reaction that goes back to the speaker as assurance that he or she counts for something, not because of what is said, but because the speaker is involved in communication.
Without some kind of valid feedback from you to show that you are actively participating in the conversation the speaker might easily feel put down and invalidated as an individual. To sit there and listen without displaying a shade of emotion, or making any indication that you are hearing what is said is to make the speaker feel you are non-existent. Clearly this is not the impression or situation that you want to create with an investor.
Such a conversation would gradually slide to a halt. The only option for the speaker in this case would be to pack up and disappear.
Next time we'll cover how the 'active listener' must then give feedback in order to cement the verbal relationship.
Link
http://www.go-between.co.uk
Wednesday, September 22
Google Instant promises live search results
Extract . . .
“Google has sped up its internet search engine by launching a product called Instant that displays results as soon as users type in queries. The service predicts a user's query and modifies the displayed results as more letters are typed into the search box. The company described it as ‘search at the speed of thought’. Previously Google's suggested search terms did not reveal results until the ‘enter’ key. Google Instant goes live in the next week and on mobile devices by autumn. The service will initially be rolled out in the US, UK, Spain, Germany, France and Russia.”
Linkhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11239037
“Google has sped up its internet search engine by launching a product called Instant that displays results as soon as users type in queries. The service predicts a user's query and modifies the displayed results as more letters are typed into the search box. The company described it as ‘search at the speed of thought’. Previously Google's suggested search terms did not reveal results until the ‘enter’ key. Google Instant goes live in the next week and on mobile devices by autumn. The service will initially be rolled out in the US, UK, Spain, Germany, France and Russia.”
Linkhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11239037
Send me an angel
Extract . . .
“AS BUSINESS bounces back, essential funding remains elusive. The recent upheaval has left banks unified in their conservative views on approving business loans. Venture capital funds are also constrained in funding businesses, stifled by an inability to secure vital wholesale debt facilities.
This leaves businesses that are seeking growth capital in search of an angel. Not the imaginary type but the investing kind, though they have been almost as hard to find in recent years.
Angel investors are typically high net worth individuals who have successfully been in business for themselves, giving entrepreneurial experience and management credibility to spot and profit from investment opportunities in other businesses.”
Linkhttp://www.mybusiness.com.au/articles/Financing-Your-Business/Send-me-an-angel
“AS BUSINESS bounces back, essential funding remains elusive. The recent upheaval has left banks unified in their conservative views on approving business loans. Venture capital funds are also constrained in funding businesses, stifled by an inability to secure vital wholesale debt facilities.
This leaves businesses that are seeking growth capital in search of an angel. Not the imaginary type but the investing kind, though they have been almost as hard to find in recent years.
Angel investors are typically high net worth individuals who have successfully been in business for themselves, giving entrepreneurial experience and management credibility to spot and profit from investment opportunities in other businesses.”
Linkhttp://www.mybusiness.com.au/articles/Financing-Your-Business/Send-me-an-angel
Changes to the building regulations dealing with energy efficiency
Extract . . .
“Continuing the series in which our Clinic experts provide a guide to those thorny issues that can trip up the unwary. This week, David Snell on changes to the building regulations dealing with energy efficiency.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/propertyclinic/7965675/Changes-to-the-building-regulations-dealing-with-energy-efficiency.html
“Continuing the series in which our Clinic experts provide a guide to those thorny issues that can trip up the unwary. This week, David Snell on changes to the building regulations dealing with energy efficiency.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/propertyclinic/7965675/Changes-to-the-building-regulations-dealing-with-energy-efficiency.html
Be careful what you tweet
Extract . . .
“Nothing said online is really private, says Bill Thompson. Online tools and services such as Twitter and Facebook create a social space that encourages informality, rapid responses and the sort of conversation that typically takes place between friends in contexts that are either private or public-private, like the street, pub or cafe.”
Linkhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10740954
“Nothing said online is really private, says Bill Thompson. Online tools and services such as Twitter and Facebook create a social space that encourages informality, rapid responses and the sort of conversation that typically takes place between friends in contexts that are either private or public-private, like the street, pub or cafe.”
Linkhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10740954
PAYE tax error: 'HMRC may be too late to demand money back'
Extract . . .
“People hit with an unexpected tax demand may be able to refuse to pay as HM Revenue & Customs could have exceeded its own time limits in which to ask for the money, experts have said”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/tax/7984853/PAYE-tax-error-HMRC-may-be-too-late-to-demand-money-back.html
“People hit with an unexpected tax demand may be able to refuse to pay as HM Revenue & Customs could have exceeded its own time limits in which to ask for the money, experts have said”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/tax/7984853/PAYE-tax-error-HMRC-may-be-too-late-to-demand-money-back.html
Funeral directing the female way
Extract . . .
“A career as a funeral director is not the obvious choice for most 18-year-old girls, but Anne Beckett-Allen, founder of Rosedale Funeral Home, came from a long line of practitioners and could see no reason why being female should keep her out of the family business.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/startingout/7863730/Funeral-directing-the-female-way.html
“A career as a funeral director is not the obvious choice for most 18-year-old girls, but Anne Beckett-Allen, founder of Rosedale Funeral Home, came from a long line of practitioners and could see no reason why being female should keep her out of the family business.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/startingout/7863730/Funeral-directing-the-female-way.html
Tuesday, September 21
City engineer transforms his prospects
Extract . . .
“It might not sound a radical move but, after more than a decade of the brightest engineering talent dispensing with their mortar boards and heading off to the City, the 33 year-old's decision to make the return journey (and not end up wearing a woolly hat running an organic catering business in rural Dorset) is something of a revelation.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/7434573/City-engineer-transforms-his-prospects.html
“It might not sound a radical move but, after more than a decade of the brightest engineering talent dispensing with their mortar boards and heading off to the City, the 33 year-old's decision to make the return journey (and not end up wearing a woolly hat running an organic catering business in rural Dorset) is something of a revelation.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/7434573/City-engineer-transforms-his-prospects.html
How not to provide IT support
Extract . . .
“Jeremy Turner spent four years learning how not to run a business, working for a company that provided IT support. "They did everything wrong. The customer would be sold one thing and end up with something completely different because the original item hadn't been ordered. There was bad planning, bad management and increasingly unhappy clients," he says.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/startingout/7832171/How-not-to-provide-IT-support.html
“Jeremy Turner spent four years learning how not to run a business, working for a company that provided IT support. "They did everything wrong. The customer would be sold one thing and end up with something completely different because the original item hadn't been ordered. There was bad planning, bad management and increasingly unhappy clients," he says.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/startingout/7832171/How-not-to-provide-IT-support.html
Technology allows digital nomads to work anywhere
Extract . . .
“Online digital storage devices and innovative internet connections mean working from anywhere in the world while travelling has never been easier. For the 20% of UK workers who spend three hours or more commuting each day living as a digital nomad could be more than just a dream.
Link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/8941048.stm
“Online digital storage devices and innovative internet connections mean working from anywhere in the world while travelling has never been easier. For the 20% of UK workers who spend three hours or more commuting each day living as a digital nomad could be more than just a dream.
Link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/8941048.stm
Banks' report aims to blunt lending row
Extract . . .
“Britain's six biggest banks have commissioned a report to profile the creditworthiness of their business customers in a bid to break the deadlock with the Government over lending levels.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/7983176/Banks-report-aims-to-blunt-lending-row.html
“Britain's six biggest banks have commissioned a report to profile the creditworthiness of their business customers in a bid to break the deadlock with the Government over lending levels.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/7983176/Banks-report-aims-to-blunt-lending-row.html
New chapter for independent book seller
Extract . . .
“Three independent bookshops are closing every week, according to the latest figures from the Booksellers Association, apparently hit by the recession and the growing use of new technology.
However, anyone who claims digital books herald the end of more conventional paper ones should visit Jaffe and Neale in Chipping Norton, a winner of the Best UK Independent Bookshop Award and the hub of the Cotswold town's social life.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/startingout/7489107/New-chapter-for-independent-book-seller.html
“Three independent bookshops are closing every week, according to the latest figures from the Booksellers Association, apparently hit by the recession and the growing use of new technology.
However, anyone who claims digital books herald the end of more conventional paper ones should visit Jaffe and Neale in Chipping Norton, a winner of the Best UK Independent Bookshop Award and the hub of the Cotswold town's social life.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/startingout/7489107/New-chapter-for-independent-book-seller.html
Joss Kent: How I pack my bag
Extract . . .
“Joss Kent, 40, is president and chief operating officer of Abercrombie & Kent, the luxury experiential travel provider founded by his father, Geoffrey Kent, in 1962. He is responsible for 2,500 employees in 60 offices in 32 countries, and travels to a destination that could be anywhere in the world for a week to 10 days every month.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/businesstravel/7512916/Joss-Kent-How-I-pack-my-bag.html
“Joss Kent, 40, is president and chief operating officer of Abercrombie & Kent, the luxury experiential travel provider founded by his father, Geoffrey Kent, in 1962. He is responsible for 2,500 employees in 60 offices in 32 countries, and travels to a destination that could be anywhere in the world for a week to 10 days every month.”
Linkhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/businesstravel/7512916/Joss-Kent-How-I-pack-my-bag.html
Monday, September 20
Overview of Korea’s tech scene
Extract . . .
“During the stay, our ‘host’ in Korea, Chang Kim (one of the biggest star web entrepreneurs in the country), delivered a great primer on how the web industry evolved over the years.
There’s a number of interesting peculiarities in Korea, Asia’s fourth biggest online nation (37.5 million of the 48 million Koreans are online). For example, there’s the ubiquity of the Internet explorer (90%+ market share), the world’s highest broadband rate (which stands at a staggering 95%), or how certain social patterns in the real world are reflected on the web (distinct group behavior of Koreans in the real world facilitating viral marketing).
Here’s the presentation that Kim, now a product manager for Blogger.com at Google (the company that bought his startup two years ago), delivered . . .”
Link
http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/01/geeksonaplane-in-korea-12-demos-from-local-startups/
“During the stay, our ‘host’ in Korea, Chang Kim (one of the biggest star web entrepreneurs in the country), delivered a great primer on how the web industry evolved over the years.
There’s a number of interesting peculiarities in Korea, Asia’s fourth biggest online nation (37.5 million of the 48 million Koreans are online). For example, there’s the ubiquity of the Internet explorer (90%+ market share), the world’s highest broadband rate (which stands at a staggering 95%), or how certain social patterns in the real world are reflected on the web (distinct group behavior of Koreans in the real world facilitating viral marketing).
Here’s the presentation that Kim, now a product manager for Blogger.com at Google (the company that bought his startup two years ago), delivered . . .”
Link
http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/01/geeksonaplane-in-korea-12-demos-from-local-startups/
Banks leave some customers in 'dire poverty'
Extract . . .
“High Street banks have been accused of leaving some customers in "dire poverty" after taking money out of their accounts without permission.
Banks can move cash between different accounts belonging to the same person, and only have to tell them afterwards.”
Link
10 Social Media Books Every Small Business Owner Should Read
Extract . . .
“There are dozens, if not hundreds, of social media books out there. So how is a many-hat-wearing business owner supposed to know which ones to read? Here is a list of the 10 social media books that small business owners can read to get the most bang for their social media investment of time and money.”
Link
Women better at keeping corporate secrets
Extract . . .
“Of the 135 people Fortune 500 employees targeted by social engineering hackers in a recent contest only five of them refused to give up any corporate information whatsoever. And guess what? All five were women.
Contestants targeted 17 major corporations over the course of the two-day event, including Google, Wal-Mart, Symantec, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Pepsi, Ford and Coca-Cola. Sitting in a plexiglass booth, with an audience watching, they called up company employees, trying to get them to give up information.”
Link
Orange and T-Mobile merge networks
Extract . . .
“Customers of Orange
The deal is one of the first practical benefits from the recent merger of the two firms, which have 30 million customers combined.
The network sharing deal is limited to 2G signals, meaning that customers will see little benefit when using the mobile web.”
Link
Good financial advice goes a long way
Extract . . .
“The internet has made it easier than ever to take control of your finances. At the click of a mouse you can watch stocks and shares rise and fall, and react by buying or selling. Plenty of sites also offer the opportunity to compare fund performances, pick ISAs, apply for a loan or open a savings account.”
Link
Increasing your self-confidence
Following on from our discussion last time about image projection we now move on to - Increasing your self-confidence
Once you’ve learned how to be you, there are many different ways you can nourish your own character and in so doing increase your self-confidence. There are certain pitfalls and certain setbacks you will experience. The following tips in self-confidence may be able to help you through some of the dark days which are sure to come. Always have a thorough of, and an understanding of, your strengths and weaknesses before you set any goals in your mind. By the time you understand your limitations, you can set yourself certain goals that are within reach and that can be obtained. In the long run you will not fail. You’ll probably stumble along the way to some of the minor goals that you set, but do not blame yourself too much if you do. Do not despair. Let yourself off the guilt hook and try again.
Do not limit yourself to remembering negative incidents that have happened in the past. The truth of the matter is that the physical being has no memory of pain. Reversals and bad things that happened are carried in the intellect alone, not in the psyche. Forget the bad. Remember the good.
In building up a persona, choose objectives that you value most in your life. Pick up what you really believe in. If you set your goals towards ambitions that you really want to achieve, you will find them easier to attain.
One thing to understand when you are building up an image is that you are not completely detached from everything in the universe. You have roots, you have tradition behind you, you continuity with your past. Past, present and future – these are all things that are important in the consideration of your goals in life.
When a setback occurs that tends to undermine your confidence don’t let it throw you and do not look into your own personality for the answers for the setback. Quite likely the setback occurred because of outside forces, i.e. those beyond your control. These might be physical, i.e. there was a traffic jam, economic and political aspects of your life that can cause things to go wrong at any time. These are not your fault. If they are uncontrollable then do not try to control them. Combat them without changing your goals.
Never allow yourself to feel guilt or shame over your actions, even though it is sometimes tempting to do so. Many burden themselves with guilt that is not theirs to bear. You’ll be slowed down and waste precious energy in worry and anguish. Unburden yourself of guilt as soon as you recognise its presence. Shame is a personal and individual assessment and should be carefully examined before you allow yourself to be overcome by it.
Be tolerant of others. People make mistakes. You yourself have made many. As you were tolerant of others, be tolerant of your own actions. There are at least two different ways of looking at every act that takes place. Do not assume that everyone else is out to hurt you. Allow your actions to be open to evaluation by others and by yourself as well. Everything that you do should be open to improvement. But do not let other people criticise you as a person. Keep the personal side separate from what you do. Do not criticise anyone else as a person, only criticise their actions.
It is easy to get into the habit of putting yourself down. It allows you to feel pity for yourself. You make others will be nicer to you if they feel sorry for you. This is not the case in this crucial first meeting between entrepreneur and potential investor. That idea is a fallacy. It is not true. A self-pitying attitude is the worst thing you can adopt in order to make people like you. If a person, chore or situation becomes intolerable to you then study it carefully. Do not allow it to be a stumbling block to your progress. Pass it by as soon as you can. There are better things in life than meeting every obstacle head on.
Be sure to take time off the job to relax, to meditate, to enjoy hobbies and recreation hours. Quality time is time to get in tune with yourself. You should be able to devote a number of hours every day to your own psyche and your own personality, the most important possessions you have. Do not let them get out of tune. Set aside a certain amount of quality time for this effort.
Examine carefully each failing or disappointment that occurs in your business life. Each may be able to give you some clue as to what you are doing wrong. A failure may be the best warning of all to you that your goals are not realistic.
Be sure to let others know what you want from them. Also let them know what you can do for them in return. Keep reminding others that you are ready to share with them and take on some of their troubles as well as their joys. Practise being a social animal.
Keep evaluating your progress as you go along on long range goals. Establish specific short range mini goals that are realistic and practical. As you win a small victory you gain confidence. Be sure your long range goals are broad enough to allow for alteration you might want to make as you approach them.
If you experience a deep hurt, simply turn the other cheek, or at least try to. Your ego is possibly not as fragile as you might think. It is stronger than you yourself. Yes, an ego can be hurt, but it can never be demolished or fractured beyond repair. Do not insulate yourself from the world because your ego is bruised. Everyone suffers if you do. The wise person ignores bruises to the ego.
You always have to be in charge of the direction of your life. Things do not usually come out exactly the way you want them to, but you can hold your goals in sight no matter what happens. When you develop confidence, you will forget all about the self and self-confidence and become absorbed in living your own life. Then you will be a unique individual who can make the right things happen to you.
Link
http://www.go-between.co.uk
Once you’ve learned how to be you, there are many different ways you can nourish your own character and in so doing increase your self-confidence. There are certain pitfalls and certain setbacks you will experience. The following tips in self-confidence may be able to help you through some of the dark days which are sure to come. Always have a thorough of, and an understanding of, your strengths and weaknesses before you set any goals in your mind. By the time you understand your limitations, you can set yourself certain goals that are within reach and that can be obtained. In the long run you will not fail. You’ll probably stumble along the way to some of the minor goals that you set, but do not blame yourself too much if you do. Do not despair. Let yourself off the guilt hook and try again.
Do not limit yourself to remembering negative incidents that have happened in the past. The truth of the matter is that the physical being has no memory of pain. Reversals and bad things that happened are carried in the intellect alone, not in the psyche. Forget the bad. Remember the good.
In building up a persona, choose objectives that you value most in your life. Pick up what you really believe in. If you set your goals towards ambitions that you really want to achieve, you will find them easier to attain.
One thing to understand when you are building up an image is that you are not completely detached from everything in the universe. You have roots, you have tradition behind you, you continuity with your past. Past, present and future – these are all things that are important in the consideration of your goals in life.
When a setback occurs that tends to undermine your confidence don’t let it throw you and do not look into your own personality for the answers for the setback. Quite likely the setback occurred because of outside forces, i.e. those beyond your control. These might be physical, i.e. there was a traffic jam, economic and political aspects of your life that can cause things to go wrong at any time. These are not your fault. If they are uncontrollable then do not try to control them. Combat them without changing your goals.
Never allow yourself to feel guilt or shame over your actions, even though it is sometimes tempting to do so. Many burden themselves with guilt that is not theirs to bear. You’ll be slowed down and waste precious energy in worry and anguish. Unburden yourself of guilt as soon as you recognise its presence. Shame is a personal and individual assessment and should be carefully examined before you allow yourself to be overcome by it.
Be tolerant of others. People make mistakes. You yourself have made many. As you were tolerant of others, be tolerant of your own actions. There are at least two different ways of looking at every act that takes place. Do not assume that everyone else is out to hurt you. Allow your actions to be open to evaluation by others and by yourself as well. Everything that you do should be open to improvement. But do not let other people criticise you as a person. Keep the personal side separate from what you do. Do not criticise anyone else as a person, only criticise their actions.
It is easy to get into the habit of putting yourself down. It allows you to feel pity for yourself. You make others will be nicer to you if they feel sorry for you. This is not the case in this crucial first meeting between entrepreneur and potential investor. That idea is a fallacy. It is not true. A self-pitying attitude is the worst thing you can adopt in order to make people like you. If a person, chore or situation becomes intolerable to you then study it carefully. Do not allow it to be a stumbling block to your progress. Pass it by as soon as you can. There are better things in life than meeting every obstacle head on.
Be sure to take time off the job to relax, to meditate, to enjoy hobbies and recreation hours. Quality time is time to get in tune with yourself. You should be able to devote a number of hours every day to your own psyche and your own personality, the most important possessions you have. Do not let them get out of tune. Set aside a certain amount of quality time for this effort.
Examine carefully each failing or disappointment that occurs in your business life. Each may be able to give you some clue as to what you are doing wrong. A failure may be the best warning of all to you that your goals are not realistic.
Be sure to let others know what you want from them. Also let them know what you can do for them in return. Keep reminding others that you are ready to share with them and take on some of their troubles as well as their joys. Practise being a social animal.
Keep evaluating your progress as you go along on long range goals. Establish specific short range mini goals that are realistic and practical. As you win a small victory you gain confidence. Be sure your long range goals are broad enough to allow for alteration you might want to make as you approach them.
If you experience a deep hurt, simply turn the other cheek, or at least try to. Your ego is possibly not as fragile as you might think. It is stronger than you yourself. Yes, an ego can be hurt, but it can never be demolished or fractured beyond repair. Do not insulate yourself from the world because your ego is bruised. Everyone suffers if you do. The wise person ignores bruises to the ego.
You always have to be in charge of the direction of your life. Things do not usually come out exactly the way you want them to, but you can hold your goals in sight no matter what happens. When you develop confidence, you will forget all about the self and self-confidence and become absorbed in living your own life. Then you will be a unique individual who can make the right things happen to you.
Link
http://www.go-between.co.uk
Friday, September 17
Tom Allason
Extract . . .
Courier service Shutl promises a revolution in online delivery. It's about time, says founder Tom Allason Tom Allason's elevator pitch begins with an anniversary. “Give or take a couple of days, he says, e-commerce is exactly 16 years old. In that time the internet has evolved from 30,000 pages to well over a trillion, while e-commerce has ‘moved light years’. What's interesting, he says, is that "the one thing that hasn't changed at all is delivery. Consumers still wait days for delivery, which takes place at a time determined by the courier company."
Link
http://www.director.co.uk/ONLINE/2010/08_10_tom-allason-shutl.html
Courier service Shutl promises a revolution in online delivery. It's about time, says founder Tom Allason Tom Allason's elevator pitch begins with an anniversary. “Give or take a couple of days, he says, e-commerce is exactly 16 years old. In that time the internet has evolved from 30,000 pages to well over a trillion, while e-commerce has ‘moved light years’. What's interesting, he says, is that "the one thing that hasn't changed at all is delivery. Consumers still wait days for delivery, which takes place at a time determined by the courier company."
Link
http://www.director.co.uk/ONLINE/2010/08_10_tom-allason-shutl.html
3-D Printing Spurs a Manufacturing Revolution
Extract . . .
“Businesses in the South Park district of San Francisco generally sell either Web technology or sandwiches and burritos. Bespoke Innovations plans to sell designer body parts. The company is using advances in a technology known as 3-D printing to create prosthetic limb casings wrapped in embroidered leather, shimmering metal or whatever else someone might want.”
Link
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/technology/14print.html?_r=1&ref=technology
“Businesses in the South Park district of San Francisco generally sell either Web technology or sandwiches and burritos. Bespoke Innovations plans to sell designer body parts. The company is using advances in a technology known as 3-D printing to create prosthetic limb casings wrapped in embroidered leather, shimmering metal or whatever else someone might want.”
Link
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/technology/14print.html?_r=1&ref=technology
Report on bank small business lending decisions 'a pointless exercise'
Extract . . .
“Senior figures in the credit referencing industry have said a move by major banks to have the creditworthiness of their business customers independently profiled is "a pointless exercise" that brings nothing new to the lending deadlock. The move is an attempt to defuse the row over small businesses' access to finance.”
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/8000675/Report-on-bank-small-business-lending-decisions-a-pointless-exercise.html
“Senior figures in the credit referencing industry have said a move by major banks to have the creditworthiness of their business customers independently profiled is "a pointless exercise" that brings nothing new to the lending deadlock. The move is an attempt to defuse the row over small businesses' access to finance.”
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/8000675/Report-on-bank-small-business-lending-decisions-a-pointless-exercise.html
Peter Jones claims youth enterprise schemes 'put good money after bad'
Extract . . .
“Dragon Dens' Peter Jones says the Government should roll out his enterprise curriculum into secondary and primary schools rather than fund promotional campaigns like Make Your Mark, run by Enterprise UK.”
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/8000531/Peter-Jones-claims-youth-enterprise-schemes-put-good-money-after-bad.html
“Dragon Dens' Peter Jones says the Government should roll out his enterprise curriculum into secondary and primary schools rather than fund promotional campaigns like Make Your Mark, run by Enterprise UK.”
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/8000531/Peter-Jones-claims-youth-enterprise-schemes-put-good-money-after-bad.html
Mortgage lending reflects 'weak market'
Extract . . .
“Number of mortgages for house purchases rose 7% in July, but loans to first-time buyers fell by 2%, the Council of Mortgage Lenders says 'Demand for mortgages remains weak, despite loans for house purchases rising by 7% to 56,000 in July compared to the previous month', according to latest figures published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders.”
Link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/sep/13/mortgage-lending-weak-market
“Number of mortgages for house purchases rose 7% in July, but loans to first-time buyers fell by 2%, the Council of Mortgage Lenders says 'Demand for mortgages remains weak, despite loans for house purchases rising by 7% to 56,000 in July compared to the previous month', according to latest figures published by the Council of Mortgage Lenders.”
Link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/sep/13/mortgage-lending-weak-market
Fame & Fortune: Matt Dawson
Extract . . .
“Matt Dawson, 37, was a member of England's 2003 Rugby World Cup winning team and is England's most capped scrum half.”
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/fameandfortune/7999085/Fame-and-Fortune-Matt-Dawson.html
“Matt Dawson, 37, was a member of England's 2003 Rugby World Cup winning team and is England's most capped scrum half.”
Link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/fameandfortune/7999085/Fame-and-Fortune-Matt-Dawson.html
Thursday, September 16
Don't you believe it: Trying harder will get results.
Extract . . .
“Avis was famously the car hire company that tried harder, but it's a pretty limited strategy.”
Linkhttp://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/1023449/dont-believe-it-trying-harder-will-results/
“Avis was famously the car hire company that tried harder, but it's a pretty limited strategy.”
Linkhttp://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/1023449/dont-believe-it-trying-harder-will-results/
How to . . . share bad news
Extract . . .
“Get bad news out in the open with as little stress as possible.”
Linkhttp://www.managementtoday.co.uk/features/1023447/career-masterclass-sharing-bad-news/
“Get bad news out in the open with as little stress as possible.”
Linkhttp://www.managementtoday.co.uk/features/1023447/career-masterclass-sharing-bad-news/
Is recovery tougher than recession?
Extract . . .
“With all the ‘will it, won’t it’ tension surrounding our economic recovery, today’s business pages tend to read a bit like an EastEnders script. But it’s no surprise that those tasked with running businesses aren’t exactly enjoying the drama: in fact, a new survey has shown that for more than eight out of 10 business leaders, the uncertain business climate means conditions are tougher than they were during the recession – a damning indication of the state of business confidence at the moment. Looks like, come October’s spending review, the ‘doom and gloom’ Coalition will have its work cut out.”
Linkhttp://www.managementtoday.co.uk/bulletin/mtdailybulletin/article/1026939/is-recovery-tougher-recession/
“With all the ‘will it, won’t it’ tension surrounding our economic recovery, today’s business pages tend to read a bit like an EastEnders script. But it’s no surprise that those tasked with running businesses aren’t exactly enjoying the drama: in fact, a new survey has shown that for more than eight out of 10 business leaders, the uncertain business climate means conditions are tougher than they were during the recession – a damning indication of the state of business confidence at the moment. Looks like, come October’s spending review, the ‘doom and gloom’ Coalition will have its work cut out.”
Linkhttp://www.managementtoday.co.uk/bulletin/mtdailybulletin/article/1026939/is-recovery-tougher-recession/
Unpaid interns
Extract . . .
“What legal rights do these interns have over being paid?”
Don’t think that because you have an agreement with the employee about non payment, that you are operating legally.
Linkhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10869607
“What legal rights do these interns have over being paid?”
Don’t think that because you have an agreement with the employee about non payment, that you are operating legally.
Linkhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10869607
Sign language; the art of attracting shoppers into stores
Extract . . .
“At the beginning of any economic recovery, new businesses will be trying to make a name for themselves. That is where traditional signwriter Wayne Osborne comes in.”
Linkhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10126807
“At the beginning of any economic recovery, new businesses will be trying to make a name for themselves. That is where traditional signwriter Wayne Osborne comes in.”
Linkhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10126807
Gender pay gap ‘to last 57 years’
Extract . . .
“Women managers across the UK face a wait of more than 50 years for their salaries to equal their male colleagues, a study says.”
Linkhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11015445
“Women managers across the UK face a wait of more than 50 years for their salaries to equal their male colleagues, a study says.”
Linkhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11015445
True image expression
Following on from previous discussions on image, let's now look a little deeper into how you can build on this.
Erecting barriers to true expression
Almost everyone experiences a certain amount of self-consciousness. It’s part of the human condition. But if you let self-consciousness interfere with your actions, it can neutralise an important positive attribute to your psyche, your self-esteem and consciously or unconsciously the potential investor will pick this up.
The problem is that your projected image of self may not appear to be materialising correctly. You may be inhibited by social contacts, by personal attributes, by a lack of self-esteem. These obstacles may force your self-image into a quite different aspect from what you would hope them to be. Worse you may not perceive your true image through self-deception, through inhibition or through an inability to see yourself clearly. Clarity of observation is prevented by the barrier of self consciousness you have erected. The prototype is the person who is not in touch with himself or herself. This person is not wholly integrated into one individual personality and is, in effect, split up into two personalities. The imagined personality and the real personality.
The person out of touch with him or herself can never be in complete control. No one in such a confused state of mind can be natural and as you will recall from earlier in the series, being natural is a prime consideration for an entrepreneur when maximising their opportunities of success in the first meeting. No one who is a bundle of contradictions can ever hope to project style. No one who is out of control can ever hope to project charisma.
The way to get in touch with yourself is first through self-analysis, then through a subsequent exercise in re-training and re-directing your psyche, and, finally through rebuilding yourself into a person more like the one you really want to be.
How can you do it?
First of all you have to know both your inner and outer selves for what you are and understand yourself without frills, without hopes and without self-deception.
Getting in touch with yourself
Drawing a picture of yourself
The first step in getting in touch with yourself is to sit down in front of a mirror and study yourself as objectively as you can. OK, you’re not Brad Pitt or Jennifer Lopez or whoever else is popular at the time of reading this self-help guide. You will always find something there that bothers you. If you’re normal there will be a lot more there that you don’t particularly like.
You cannot pretend that you do not look like the image in the mirror because you do. Yet you must remember that other people already see you as you really are and that they are not negatively affected by your appearance. Since surely this is the case, then why should you be?
Selecting the key features
The second step in getting in touch with yourself is to select the feature of your face that you think is best. Hair, eyes, nose, and so on. This might spread to obvious masculinity, or obvious femininity.
Probably you’ve always known your most distinctive feature and it’s quite likely that you already accentuate it to some degree to make it your key feature, and if you don’t then you certainly should.
Once you have selected your key feature, you must remember to use it as a central reference point in the creation of your image. You should use it to describe yourself to others. By remembering it is your main feature, you can proceed to construct the rest of your persona upon it. And once you have decided on that feature, you must determine how to make it even more attractive or arresting. Then you will create an image that is even more individual, even more noticeable, even more exceptional and, hopefully, even more unforgettable!
The search for the exceptional
Finding the good feature is only part of the process in getting in touch with yourself. The next step is to find the worst. Hair? Nose? Chin? And so on. Everyone has one or two bad features. Even the most beautiful person has a bad side. Everyone has moles and warts or something like that. Try to put your bad feature or features in the proper perspective.
The key is to think of your flaws and admit them, to realise what they are but to know that they could be worse and to rise above them. To a degree, ignore them. The thing not to do is to pretend that they don’t exist. Live with them.
Breaking yourself up into parts
Self-knowledge is not the easiest thing in the world to obtain. Most people never even try to know themselves. Instead they fashion themselves into versions of other people and, as a result, become nothing but a bad imitation.
Take an inventory of what you consider to be your strong points of character. I’m talking about the elements of your personality that exert most influence on your actions.
Are you, for example, passive or active? Optimistic or pessimistic? Serious or frivolous? Do you have a sense of humour, or do you just think that you have one? Are you gregarious or shy? Robust or delicate?
Make up a true inventory and study it carefully. By putting together all the pieces that you are, you should be able to put together a picture of yourself as others see you. Keep that picture in mind and carry it about with you, so that you know exactly who you are in those crucial few minutes when you meet the potential investor for the first time.
Criticism and what to do with it
Think back to criticisms that have been made of you in the past. Never take all such criticisms seriously as many are just cheap shots thrown at you for all manner of reasons. In many cases these criticisms are exaggerated. However, you should think about them because there may be something to them. It’s a question of striking the right balance.
Think beyond verbal communication. Study non-verbal statements. People usually volunteer what they really think of you and if you’re truly sensitive you may be able to pick up those thoughts use them to improve yourself. In this way you should be able to find out what makes you stand out in the eyes of others.
With all these points in mind and with your own inventory, you can get a good idea of who you are, where you are and where you are going. From this overall acclimatisation, you can develop your behaviour to emphasise and polish what you like in your nature and at the same time underplay and minimise those things that you don’t care for.
Next time we'll talk about nurturing your self-confidence.
Link
http://www.go-between.co.uk
Erecting barriers to true expression
Almost everyone experiences a certain amount of self-consciousness. It’s part of the human condition. But if you let self-consciousness interfere with your actions, it can neutralise an important positive attribute to your psyche, your self-esteem and consciously or unconsciously the potential investor will pick this up.
The problem is that your projected image of self may not appear to be materialising correctly. You may be inhibited by social contacts, by personal attributes, by a lack of self-esteem. These obstacles may force your self-image into a quite different aspect from what you would hope them to be. Worse you may not perceive your true image through self-deception, through inhibition or through an inability to see yourself clearly. Clarity of observation is prevented by the barrier of self consciousness you have erected. The prototype is the person who is not in touch with himself or herself. This person is not wholly integrated into one individual personality and is, in effect, split up into two personalities. The imagined personality and the real personality.
The person out of touch with him or herself can never be in complete control. No one in such a confused state of mind can be natural and as you will recall from earlier in the series, being natural is a prime consideration for an entrepreneur when maximising their opportunities of success in the first meeting. No one who is a bundle of contradictions can ever hope to project style. No one who is out of control can ever hope to project charisma.
The way to get in touch with yourself is first through self-analysis, then through a subsequent exercise in re-training and re-directing your psyche, and, finally through rebuilding yourself into a person more like the one you really want to be.
How can you do it?
First of all you have to know both your inner and outer selves for what you are and understand yourself without frills, without hopes and without self-deception.
Getting in touch with yourself
Drawing a picture of yourself
The first step in getting in touch with yourself is to sit down in front of a mirror and study yourself as objectively as you can. OK, you’re not Brad Pitt or Jennifer Lopez or whoever else is popular at the time of reading this self-help guide. You will always find something there that bothers you. If you’re normal there will be a lot more there that you don’t particularly like.
You cannot pretend that you do not look like the image in the mirror because you do. Yet you must remember that other people already see you as you really are and that they are not negatively affected by your appearance. Since surely this is the case, then why should you be?
Selecting the key features
The second step in getting in touch with yourself is to select the feature of your face that you think is best. Hair, eyes, nose, and so on. This might spread to obvious masculinity, or obvious femininity.
Probably you’ve always known your most distinctive feature and it’s quite likely that you already accentuate it to some degree to make it your key feature, and if you don’t then you certainly should.
Once you have selected your key feature, you must remember to use it as a central reference point in the creation of your image. You should use it to describe yourself to others. By remembering it is your main feature, you can proceed to construct the rest of your persona upon it. And once you have decided on that feature, you must determine how to make it even more attractive or arresting. Then you will create an image that is even more individual, even more noticeable, even more exceptional and, hopefully, even more unforgettable!
The search for the exceptional
Finding the good feature is only part of the process in getting in touch with yourself. The next step is to find the worst. Hair? Nose? Chin? And so on. Everyone has one or two bad features. Even the most beautiful person has a bad side. Everyone has moles and warts or something like that. Try to put your bad feature or features in the proper perspective.
The key is to think of your flaws and admit them, to realise what they are but to know that they could be worse and to rise above them. To a degree, ignore them. The thing not to do is to pretend that they don’t exist. Live with them.
Breaking yourself up into parts
Self-knowledge is not the easiest thing in the world to obtain. Most people never even try to know themselves. Instead they fashion themselves into versions of other people and, as a result, become nothing but a bad imitation.
Take an inventory of what you consider to be your strong points of character. I’m talking about the elements of your personality that exert most influence on your actions.
Are you, for example, passive or active? Optimistic or pessimistic? Serious or frivolous? Do you have a sense of humour, or do you just think that you have one? Are you gregarious or shy? Robust or delicate?
Make up a true inventory and study it carefully. By putting together all the pieces that you are, you should be able to put together a picture of yourself as others see you. Keep that picture in mind and carry it about with you, so that you know exactly who you are in those crucial few minutes when you meet the potential investor for the first time.
Criticism and what to do with it
Think back to criticisms that have been made of you in the past. Never take all such criticisms seriously as many are just cheap shots thrown at you for all manner of reasons. In many cases these criticisms are exaggerated. However, you should think about them because there may be something to them. It’s a question of striking the right balance.
Think beyond verbal communication. Study non-verbal statements. People usually volunteer what they really think of you and if you’re truly sensitive you may be able to pick up those thoughts use them to improve yourself. In this way you should be able to find out what makes you stand out in the eyes of others.
With all these points in mind and with your own inventory, you can get a good idea of who you are, where you are and where you are going. From this overall acclimatisation, you can develop your behaviour to emphasise and polish what you like in your nature and at the same time underplay and minimise those things that you don’t care for.
Next time we'll talk about nurturing your self-confidence.
Link
http://www.go-between.co.uk
Wednesday, September 15
Why new banking rules are so important
Extract . . .
“Credit (please) where it's due: on Thursday, yesterday and today, the BBC has covered the historic agreement on new capital and liquidity rules for banks in the main body of its bulletins. It's a certainly not the easiest story to explain, but it's hard to think of one of more importance to our future prosperity.
So I regard it as something of an achievement that the BBC has provided its reports outside of the ghetto of specialist financial news. Which is not true of many mainstream news organisations (the FT and Wall Street Journal are of course splashing the story). I don't suppose most British people, including our lawmakers, would therefore have much of a clue that agreement has been reached on the most important global initiative to learn the lessons of the 2008 banking crisis and correct them.”
Linkhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2010/09/why_have_we_left_bank_reform_t.html
“Credit (please) where it's due: on Thursday, yesterday and today, the BBC has covered the historic agreement on new capital and liquidity rules for banks in the main body of its bulletins. It's a certainly not the easiest story to explain, but it's hard to think of one of more importance to our future prosperity.
So I regard it as something of an achievement that the BBC has provided its reports outside of the ghetto of specialist financial news. Which is not true of many mainstream news organisations (the FT and Wall Street Journal are of course splashing the story). I don't suppose most British people, including our lawmakers, would therefore have much of a clue that agreement has been reached on the most important global initiative to learn the lessons of the 2008 banking crisis and correct them.”
Linkhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2010/09/why_have_we_left_bank_reform_t.html
Financial complaints to Ombudsman on the rise
Extract . . .
“The number of complaints made about financial firms to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) rose in the first half of the year. However, the FOS sided with the consumer in a smaller proportion of resolved cases than previously. It received 84,212 new complaints, with more than half about five major banks.”
Link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11295377
“The number of complaints made about financial firms to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) rose in the first half of the year. However, the FOS sided with the consumer in a smaller proportion of resolved cases than previously. It received 84,212 new complaints, with more than half about five major banks.”
Link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11295377
What is mentoring?
Extract . . .
“A mentor is essentially a ‘wise or trusted adviser or guide’. The word has its origins in Homer’s The Odyssey. Before leaving to fight the Trojan war, Odysseus leaves his son and estate in the care of his friend Mentor, who then guides the young Telemachus.”
Linkhttp://www.startups.co.uk/6678842908131881651/what-is-mentoring.html
“A mentor is essentially a ‘wise or trusted adviser or guide’. The word has its origins in Homer’s The Odyssey. Before leaving to fight the Trojan war, Odysseus leaves his son and estate in the care of his friend Mentor, who then guides the young Telemachus.”
Linkhttp://www.startups.co.uk/6678842908131881651/what-is-mentoring.html
IMF says growth will slow in coming months
Extract . . .
“Growth in the global economy is likely to slow towards the end of 2010, the International Monetary Fund is warning. The IMF blames weakness in the financial sector and the crisis of confidence in some national economies. It is calling on the most developed countries to cut their budget deficits in order to tackle the problem.”
Link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11269449
“Growth in the global economy is likely to slow towards the end of 2010, the International Monetary Fund is warning. The IMF blames weakness in the financial sector and the crisis of confidence in some national economies. It is calling on the most developed countries to cut their budget deficits in order to tackle the problem.”
Link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11269449
Find a system to free up your time
Extract . . .
“Once a business owner has worked out what they want their business to look like, and have started to measure everything they can to ensure they are staying on track, they have to find a way to free up their time to continue working on the business. It is at this point they are faced with two choices.”
Link
http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/find-a-system-to-free-up-your-time-20100913-158mu.html
“Once a business owner has worked out what they want their business to look like, and have started to measure everything they can to ensure they are staying on track, they have to find a way to free up their time to continue working on the business. It is at this point they are faced with two choices.”
Link
http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/find-a-system-to-free-up-your-time-20100913-158mu.html
Search Takes a Social Turn
Extract . . .
“Now, even on the Internet, it is not what you know but who you know. After a decade when search engines ruled supreme – tapping billions of Web pages to answer every conceivable query – many people now prefer getting their online information the old-fashioned way: by yakking across the fence.”
Linkhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/technology/13search.html?_r=1&ref=technology
“Now, even on the Internet, it is not what you know but who you know. After a decade when search engines ruled supreme – tapping billions of Web pages to answer every conceivable query – many people now prefer getting their online information the old-fashioned way: by yakking across the fence.”
Linkhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/technology/13search.html?_r=1&ref=technology
Tuesday, September 14
Marriott hotel operator warns customers of credit card data breach
Extract . . .
“HEI Hospitality, owner and operator of upscale hotels operating under the Marriott, Sheraton, Westin and other monikers, has sent letters informing some 3,400 customers that their credit card data may have been compromised. The warning stems from an intrusion into point of sale systems at several HEI properties earlier this year, which could have allowed card holder data being to be illegally accessed, the company said in the letter.”
Linkhttp://www.cio.co.uk/news/3239099/marriott-hotel-operator-warns-customers-of-credit-card-data-breach/
“HEI Hospitality, owner and operator of upscale hotels operating under the Marriott, Sheraton, Westin and other monikers, has sent letters informing some 3,400 customers that their credit card data may have been compromised. The warning stems from an intrusion into point of sale systems at several HEI properties earlier this year, which could have allowed card holder data being to be illegally accessed, the company said in the letter.”
Linkhttp://www.cio.co.uk/news/3239099/marriott-hotel-operator-warns-customers-of-credit-card-data-breach/
Why start-ups shouldn’t have to pay to pitch angel investors
Extract . . .
“Last week, a number of the TechCrunch50 companies informed me about firms calling them to present at their “Angel forums” — only to discover that they would face fees ranging from $1,000 to $6,000 for a 10-15 minute pitch slot. After additionally investigation by the Jason Nation (the top 10% of the maniacs who follow me on Twitter), I was sent details of one epic bastard that wanted $10-$25,000, plus a couple of percentage points of the value of the deal (you’ll find out who later in this email).”
Link
http://calacanis.com/2009/10/09/why-startups-shouldnt-have-to-pay-to-pitch-angel-investors/
“Last week, a number of the TechCrunch50 companies informed me about firms calling them to present at their “Angel forums” — only to discover that they would face fees ranging from $1,000 to $6,000 for a 10-15 minute pitch slot. After additionally investigation by the Jason Nation (the top 10% of the maniacs who follow me on Twitter), I was sent details of one epic bastard that wanted $10-$25,000, plus a couple of percentage points of the value of the deal (you’ll find out who later in this email).”
Link
http://calacanis.com/2009/10/09/why-startups-shouldnt-have-to-pay-to-pitch-angel-investors/
Pegged down and losing out
Extract . . .
“Can loyalty to your bank bring you just rewards? What might look like a great offer could be anything but once all the lender's conditions are met. Chiara Cavaglieri investigates the rise of tied products.”
Linkhttp://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/pegged-down-and-losing-out-2040518.html
“Can loyalty to your bank bring you just rewards? What might look like a great offer could be anything but once all the lender's conditions are met. Chiara Cavaglieri investigates the rise of tied products.”
Linkhttp://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/pegged-down-and-losing-out-2040518.html
Remunerating for profitability
Extract . . .
"It is important to factor in the value of both the work and the individual's contribution when setting wage and salary levels. Begin by assessing the value of a particular job. Here, you must look at the work, not the person doing it, and ask how much value it adds to your business. Based on this assessment, you can set a wage or salary range for the job. Of course, you will also need to keep an eye on the labour market and be sure to set and maintain remuneration levels that are competitive."
Link
http://www.eaassociates.co.uk/content/business/business-finance/improving-profitability/remunerating-for-profitability.html?u=40c38B45&m=7659
"It is important to factor in the value of both the work and the individual's contribution when setting wage and salary levels. Begin by assessing the value of a particular job. Here, you must look at the work, not the person doing it, and ask how much value it adds to your business. Based on this assessment, you can set a wage or salary range for the job. Of course, you will also need to keep an eye on the labour market and be sure to set and maintain remuneration levels that are competitive."
Link
http://www.eaassociates.co.uk/content/business/business-finance/improving-profitability/remunerating-for-profitability.html?u=40c38B45&m=7659
Cold calling should be banned, says survey
Extract . . .
"The majority of consumers would like to see the practice of cold calling outlawed, a survey has revealed. According to consumer group Which?, of the 2,000 people polled in the survey, three-quarters want an end to cold calling. A quarter of those questioned had felt intimidated by the marketing tactic.
On average consumers receive six cold calls each month, while for businesses the rate is higher. Firms are allowed to contact potential customers in this way, although people and other firms may opt out of receiving unsolicited phone calls. In the view of the Business Department, which holds responsibility for the regulations governing cold calling, there is a balance to be struck "between allowing legitimate businesses to continue to operate and the needs of consumers."
Link
http://www.eaassociates.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=32957&d=601&h=160&f=260&u=40c38B45&m=7659
"The majority of consumers would like to see the practice of cold calling outlawed, a survey has revealed. According to consumer group Which?, of the 2,000 people polled in the survey, three-quarters want an end to cold calling. A quarter of those questioned had felt intimidated by the marketing tactic.
On average consumers receive six cold calls each month, while for businesses the rate is higher. Firms are allowed to contact potential customers in this way, although people and other firms may opt out of receiving unsolicited phone calls. In the view of the Business Department, which holds responsibility for the regulations governing cold calling, there is a balance to be struck "between allowing legitimate businesses to continue to operate and the needs of consumers."
Link
http://www.eaassociates.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=32957&d=601&h=160&f=260&u=40c38B45&m=7659
Consumer confidence on the up
Extract . . .
"Consumer confidence climbed in August for the first time in six months, new figures have revealed. This despite the looming austerity measures to be introduced by the government. According to the GfK NOP consumer confidence index, optimism among consumers rose by four points in August to reach -18.This was an increase of seven points on the same time last year and the first rise since February. The index measure was based on interviews with 2,000 people."
Link
http://www.eaassociates.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=32979&d=601&h=160&f=260&u=40c38B45&m=7659
"Consumer confidence climbed in August for the first time in six months, new figures have revealed. This despite the looming austerity measures to be introduced by the government. According to the GfK NOP consumer confidence index, optimism among consumers rose by four points in August to reach -18.This was an increase of seven points on the same time last year and the first rise since February. The index measure was based on interviews with 2,000 people."
Link
http://www.eaassociates.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=32979&d=601&h=160&f=260&u=40c38B45&m=7659
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