Posted on June 14, 2010 by Nick
Is business the province of the Suits on Dragons’ Den, or is business actually an opportunity for many more people than you might think? I spent the first week of June in Barking, East London, finding out. I have been involved for three years now with a company called Yoodoo, whose website gives people bags [...]
Filed under: current affairs, marketing, retail | Tagged: Barking, business, business advice, business skills, economy, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, run a business, running a business, small business, start a business, start your own business, Yoodoo | Leave a Comment »
Posted on May 31, 2010 by Nick
New entrepreneurs, on the cusp of starting their own businesses, generally fall into two categories: People with no idea what to do, but the urge to try something new People with a brilliant/hare-brained idea, but no idea how to execute it In the second category are a fabulous breed of people: the hobbyists. Turning a [...]
Filed under: finance, marketing, sales | Tagged: banks, business, business advice, business skills, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, fun business, hobby business, low-risk business, run a business, running a business, small business, start a business, start your own business, turn your hobby into a business | Leave a Comment »
Posted on May 4, 2010 by Nick
It’s going to be an exciting week. For me, election time is thrilling: a pivotal opportunity for us all to have some sort of influence over our immediate futures. I feel that anyone who squanders their right to vote by staying at home has no right to moan for the next five years. This election, [...]
Filed under: current affairs, sales | Tagged: ash cloud, Athens, Bob Crow, BP, business, business advice, business ethics, business skills, corporate social responsibility, CSR, economy, election, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, ethics, globalisation, goldman sachs, oil slick, recession, RMT, run a business, running a business, Ryanair, small business, start a business, start your own business | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 26, 2010 by Nick
Off to Leicester last week for my annual pilgrimage to DeMontfort University, where the business studies courses include a ritual called Fox’s Lair – a thinly disguised version of TV favourite dragon’s Den. Teams of students put together a business idea, draw up a plan and present it to the Dragons – no, I mean [...]
Filed under: finance, marketing, people skills, presentation, sales | Tagged: business, business advice, business skills, demontfort university, DMU, Dragon's Den, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, finance, Fox's Lair, invention, leicester, market research, marketing, run a business, running a business, small business, start a business, start your own business, students, teamwork | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 12, 2010 by Nick
Look at this merry lot. Is it the last day of the Oktoberfest? A leaving party, perhaps? No – it’s the London Area Communicators Group monthly meetup (run by the inestimable Matt O’Neill). Every industry has networking groups, and I truly believe that these gatherings are the lifeblood of business. When I first started out, [...]
Filed under: marketing, people skills, sales | Tagged: sales, networking, business, business skills, entrepreneurship, small business, matt o'neill, start a business, run a business, running a business, start your own business, entrepreneur, business advice, business networking, LACG, people buy from people, networking skills | Leave a Comment »
Posted on March 22, 2010 by Nick
Have you ever watched that extraordinary business TV show, “Mary, Queen of Shops”? In it, retail guru Mary Portas dispenses her wisdom to struggling shops around the country. I’m always impressed when TV pundits put their reputations on the line with real, sound advice; and Mary is a triumph. But I remember one episode of [...]
Filed under: retail, sales, service | Tagged: business, business advice, business process, business skills, customer service, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, mary portas, mary queen of shops, production line, restaurant, retail, run a business, running a business, service, small business, start a business, start your own business, time management | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 15, 2010 by Nick
I’ve just read this interesting piece from the New York Times, and I’d like you to read it before you carry on here. It’s an interview with George Cloutier, renowned in the US as “The Turnaround Ace”. I think some of what he says is true, and other points are so far off the mark [...]
Filed under: finance, people skills, sales | Tagged: business, business advice, business skills, economy, employee relations, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, fear, finance, george cloutier, invoicing, marketing, motivation, payment, run a business, running a business, sales, small business, staff relations, start a business, start your own business | Leave a Comment »
Posted on February 11, 2010 by Nick
I’ve covered lots in this blog about various online trends, but for some reason I’ve never really looked at online security. Actually, I do know why I haven’t looked at security. It’s because I think I’m pretty clever, and I wouldn’t fall for a scam. Which is why I was gobsmacked to be told that [...]
Filed under: current affairs, mobile, security, technology | Tagged: 419 scam, Bernie Madoff, business, business advice, business skills, consumer direct, data security, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, fraud, Get Safe Online, OFT, online security, phishing, run a business, running a business, scamnesty, scams, security, small business, start a business, start your own business, text scam, Trading Standards | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 8, 2010 by Nick
When did being green suddenly start being cool? Correct me if I’m wrong, but for most of my life, green sympathisers were beardy sandals-and-socks types who rode tandem bikes through hedges and sang ‘Kum Bay Yah’ a lot. And then something changed. Anya Hindmarch brought out her ‘I am not a plastic bag’ carrier bag [...]
Filed under: current affairs, marketing, retail, sales, technology | Tagged: business, environment, green, business skills, entrepreneurship, small business, start a business, run a business, green business, running a business, start your own business, entrepreneur, business advice, innovation, al gore, zac goldsmith, altrusim, rationalism, curb, curb agency, natural media, disco fungi | 1 Comment »
Posted on January 25, 2010 by Nick
There’s a war going on out there. And it’s happening right in front of your eyes. Strangely, the main protagonists of this epic battle are, amongst others, an opera singer and a family of russian meerkats. I’m talking, of course, about the insane level of competition between price comparison websites. Ask yourself this: when did [...]
Filed under: marketing, retail, sales | Tagged: advert, advertising, branding, business, business advice, business skills, differentiation, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, marketing, price comparison, price comparison site, promotion, run a business, sales, small business, start a business, startup business | 1 Comment »
