Longevity

How does this work? Some companies last less than a year some last for over 100 years. The stats on those that start up & die are really scary. How many businesses give me a ten or fifteen year plan? I can say about none!
If you dont think intend to be around in ten years then dont plan to be and that usually works.
I have a guilty secret I am going to share with you - on Saturday I travelled up to London to attend a concert at the Albert Hall now this was not just any concert this was to see one of the best R&B bands of the 70's Earth Wind and Fire and despite the emotional memory link to the music I was enthralled at the energy and stagecraft of a group of men who had been doing this for over 40 years.
Now we all know that longevity in the popular music industry is rare they are getting more numerous and health care for the aged improves and drug use declines with age. We have The Rolling Stones and many groups who only intended to be around for a moment in time. Least said about Sir Cliff the better...
My point is that not one of these groups planned for this but certainly have more than their fare share of talent and tenacity and resistance so they are still there more important what they do is still valued regardless of fashion tastes they seem to overcome that. While sitting being thoroughly entertained by these gentlemen a thought struck me they started out not for fame or money but because they loved what they did and they found they were good at it. I couldn't envisage 60 year old One Direction managing to keep me entertained in the future - but then that seems to be beyond them now...
Life as though today is the only day in your life but plan for the next 30 years just in case your still around tomorrow when the sun comes up.

Building up a head of steam

Who or what is the blind cyclist?
Its a theory on how to help small business owner react quickly and rely on senses that they thought they never had. These senses rise above the normal Aristotle 5 senses and can number at my last count 22 senses ranging from the understandable and creditable to slightly out there senses which we take as granted but don't use to gain our own ends.
When faced with a large corporate who usually can do the job no better or worse than the smaller company how many of these corporations know what it is to "sense gravity" in a business environment - if more had then maybe the bankers wouldn't be up there looking down on the rest of us?
More to follow...

I have been out of things for a while both laid up with a blood clot in my leg.
Whilst this has been happening I have been thinking about my new idea to be added to the unfair advantage programme which will be using the analogy/story of the Blind Cyclist - this is not in itself a theory but the working out where your advantage lies when you seem to be in a place where you are less than favourite is one which most small business owners are literally blind to. Every opportunity seems like a problem and only the lucky ones win profitable contracts while the rest of us sneak around the bottom of the pool eating leftovers and spillage.
Not so keep coming back to this blog to pick up more ideas on this theme...

Have you been predicted yet?

Communication is the only way us humans can get together and share stuff.
Whether that is emotional or physical it goes without saying that is we fail at this really basic level then we may as well give up and hide under the stairs.
We all know that certain professions have been led to think that having a strange outlook on communicating is acceptable but I would hazard a guess that this is pretty self generated. A case of the shy convincing the shy. In a business environment getting your idea across in as unambiguous manner as possible is fundamental to getting the job done.
Using all the available senses would be a good way to start!

Finding the unfair advantage of the blind cyclist - Stage 1 Yellow Jersey.

It has been a while I know but I've been tied up for the summer...
I made a commitment to get fit and part of that means that three times a week I drag myself out of bed at 04:50 in the morning while the rest of the world sleeps soundly, and put on the "kit". In the summer its okay as the number of items that have to be pulled on is a lot less demanding than those winter months. But I digress - I manage to leave the house at about 05:04 do the stretches as prescribed and set off towards to town, as even at this time of year the sun is not up yet, so I decide to keep to the route where the road lamps are still on. Normally my body starts to get into a rhythm at about 2 miles but sometimes it takes a bit longer, most mornings I have it in my mind to run at least 6 and half miles but I can get distracted and go on for a bit longer. The reason I say this is that jogging in the morning gives me time to think and it just so happens that this particular morning I managed to have a reasonably clear head and taking the normal route round by the railway station with the dilapidated Victorian villas, that frankly have seen better days, most of which have been adopted by the local council for all sorts of uses. I take the road past the trading estate now having completed about 3 and half miles now this morning as I get to the four mile mark just as I'm exiting the trading estate a cyclist is coming towards me, now taking into account that we are still in the half light and actually the sun isn't trying to raise itself, so it is quite a surprise to see that the lady is wearing sunglasses. That got my overactive mind thinking about the sense of that choice or perhaps there were reasons behind what would appear to be a less than sensible eye-wear choice for 05:30 in the morning? As I jogged on I thought about the various plausible explanations firstly she could be a film star on a slob day or she could be a rock star still high on last nights chemical input or alternatively she could have an eye infection, which would be silly as reducing vision more in an already limited peripheral horizon would be dangerous.
I finally decided that, even though there was a distinct lack of Golden Labrador or white stick the cyclist was indeed blind or at the very least partially sighted. Then I wondered what the advantages there could be considering that she does this journey daily and she has not been hit by a truck, car or another cyclist or maybe the devastation of running over pedestrians keeps her going. There are advantages which I will review next time...

Hidden Taxes

Hidden taxes don't you just love them
We've got a staff of about 50 people, most of whom work really hard and diligently. Every now and then something crops up which questions our beliefs on why we do this business thing at all.
The government, in following its austerity plans lemming like over the cliff edge, has stated again and again that the SME companies form the backbone of the economy oh yeah!
Finding out that the their main worry net their only worry is having enough cash to hand out to their supporters has meant that sneaky little taxes have been slipping under the radar. This weeks was finding out that its employers not the Government that funds Statutory Sick Pay. For my employees it comes out of my pocket. So not only do I have to find them work but also have to fund their sick time when both us and them have been paying ever increasing National Insurance payments just to keep our leaders pensions topped up.
It's time Georgie boy was called to account. His astounding under performance is no longer just a joke for the Eton set. Lets all be in on the laugh and dump him. K

Hanging on to the ceiling by you fingernails?

You may not be actually doing this but sure as hell it feels like you are!

Hazards

Just thought I would share an irritation
Will the person who invented hazard warning lights for cars and other vehicles please stand up so I can kick them squarely where it hurts.
So far as I can see hazard warning lights should be on and flashing all the time with some drivers as the hazard they have identified clearly sits behind the steering wheel...
These lights are put on a vehicle for use in extreme conditions such as breaking down on a dark and unlit country road or a seized engine on the M4 motorway when coming to a sudden and jolting halt.
Not for mums who ignore all traffic signs and road markings to pick up the fruit of their loins from Nursery School or if it suddenly starts to rain and  the car in front has suddenly slowed down - this is supposed to be expected and sure enough if it is raining on your car then it really is a given that it is likely to be raining on the car behind you.
Hazard warning lights are not to be used to let your other half out at the crossing so she or he can stumble a little closer to the shops. Funnily enough on a clear day I can bloody well see you doing stupid things one of which is drawing attention to your stupidity by putting on flashing lights.
Stop it for gods sake...
I may just decide to drive into you just because of them. on that subject of purposeful accidents don't those little signs in the back windows of cars stating the fact that a little person is on board just make you want to speed up and drive like a maniac?

Whoops where did they go?

What have Clintons Cards, Comet, Jessups, HMV and Blockbuster all got in common? These were shops with their plans firmly fixed in 1983 not 2013!

Some commentators have said that they didn’t embrace the internet and failed to gauge shopping trends correctly now that there is an increase in on-line spending on a range of goods from big ticket electrical items through to the usual stuffed through the post clothes, books, cds and dvds and more specialist delivery items such a food and certain white goods. Once upon a time the only home delivery item was flowers from the interflora florist who came round in a little van on special occasions. Unfortunately that is not the whole picture. Even when companies have a substantial web presence they can still disappear only it can take a while for anyone to notice. Losing a big high street store can be a bit like losing a front tooth – it really notices!

I see the real problem as more of management one most of those who go out of business do so because the planning is either nonexistent or painfully short term. A good business plan is a flexible and living document that adapts to the changing times but always has an eye on the future is should support and advise the decision making process and be there on those cold dark nights when things are going so badly wrong that all you want to do is get a proper job.

 

Away from home again

I am relaxing here in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the seething masses of Marrakech. It's quite cool, the weather l mean not me sat here with my feet up, in fact it's almost like an English summers day. Yesterday I wandered out with my wife into the world famous Marrakech Medina souk where even the lowliest berber put our top class closing salesmen to shame. The welcome, plus the my house is your house routine, is set to engender warmth and cosiness and its not until you are in that comfy mindset do you suddenly realise the danger you are in. You came wanting nothing but suddenly you can't leave without the presenter offering to put his eldest born to the sword if you would only dare to not to consider the quality and workmanship of the naturally dyed, hand stitched by virgins, made from the highest living, thus softest and rarest, goat hair in the Atlas Mountains Kilim. It would take a seriously hard hearted person just to turn and walk away having ascertained that for, what is to us westerners, a paltry sum we could be the owners of a material strong enough to pass on to the fruit of our loins for generations to come - or the congealing blood of his first born on our hands. You choose.

Success

What Happens to a business when it becomes successful?
Yeah sure you make a bit more money and you may have a bigger car or larger office but will you get more sleep?
Do the problems go away?
We would like to think so wouldn't we but actually no they just change and in most cases become bigger. So where do go from here some business owners I have met have decided to not be as successful as they could be or in rare cases be purposefully unsuccessful. It might be that we need to be clear on how we measure success at the outset. Maybe unsuccessful businesses are unsuccessful because that's what the owners want them to be. Just a thought!

Dont hide the truth from me!

During my work I hear lots of excuses from owners on why their businesses have got into their parlous state before they decided to give me a call.

Did you know only 6% of Small Businesses call on professional help and advice?

I will ignore the excuses because all they do is mask the problems and give me false information – if I ask a company why anyone should buy your products or services from you and more importantly why does anybody buy your products or services? You would be amazed at the answers! in short most business just don’t know. When I ask the question “are you any good at what you do?” they are really sure on that one but just don’t feel confident enough to tell anyone about it. So to sum up companies are really good at what they do but they have no real idea of why anyone should or actually does deal with them. To be successful it’s important to know why.

My theory on the difference between women business owners and men business owners (it's fair to state that 90% of my clients are women) is explained as follows. Men will look at a problem and say what has gone wrong?– women on the other hand will look at the problem and say what did I do wrong to make that happen? The answer never easy but questioning your performance is a good way to get a grip on what is going wrong in your company.

Astonishing Idiocy

I have say not often am I lost for words.
Recently my aged parents needed to renew their "blue badge" disabled parking permit. These days this no longer just requires a doctors note because the coalition government no longer trusts doctors to determine whether or not we are disabled - this has become the province of an unqualified bureaucratic nightmare known as the local authority. Disabled drivers now have turn up in person to see if they are still eligible (maybe they got all better) and they could be parking in bays they are not entitled to. This of course should carry a mandatory 6 years incarceration. So they pack up the necessary travel accoutrement, which can only be required by new born infants and the elderly, and off to Saffron Walden they went. They sat waiting their turn only to be "interviewed" by a council ingrate who then filled in an identical form that had been sent by post. This was the total extent of the "assessment" and the beloved parents were then shown the door. The final comment was that "it would take two weeks for a decision to be made on their case but I the meantime would they like some help getting the wheelchair back into the car"!!!!!!!
It makes you wonder when the monkeys took over the running of the zoo,

Keeping too many secrets

How much do we want anybody else to know about our businesses?

Probably more than we do!

When you are in business asking for help can be a daunting task and I should know as I am being asked for help all the time – well I would be as it's my job – but how much I need to know about the business is debateable as some businesses are very specialised and others more general so how much can I really know?

I look at it like this anyone who has set up a business should be or should aspire to be the experts in that core business and there is little I can or should add to this. I may well ask advice from that business owner or know of other clients who could use their expertise. But just because the business is good at what it does why should it be also good at running a business? Very few are. Most business owners are keen to focus on what makes them contented and feel comfortable. Examples of the business creator being ousted by their board are numerous and smaller business owners selling out when they didn’t expect “all those problems with the business stuff”. I have to tell you that the business stuff is my specialisation so when you are losing sleep or not sure what to do next call in an expert – it's what you would recommend to your clients.

Success is in the numbers!

Success is in the numbers!

We should all know that a substantial part of this country’s business backbone is the small business section. There are over 4.7 million small businesses in the UK and businesses with less than 250 employees account for 99.9% of all enterprises.

Small firms employ more than 58% of the private sector workforce and 13.5 million people work in small firms. These firms contribute more than 50% of the UK turnover, which would explain why 500,000 people start up their own business every year and that figure is growing!

So there we go, those are the facts and starting a business is incredibly easy. You can even register a limited company for about £29, but that doesn’t mean it's going to be easy to be a success, however; there is no mention of failures in this list as we don’t dwell on negative thoughts.

Talking of Success and Numbers, the difference between success and failure can be measured in very simple terms;

It’s the number of times you can get up after being kicked to the floor - but remember if you are not going to always get up then stay down, especially the first time it happens, it's so much easier. Running a business is a bit like that, if you don’t get up again and again - don’t bother to start.

Perhaps the real secret is not falling down in the first place or at least trying to learn the skills that will help you get up quicker!

Im pleased to announce that I have advised and coached my first start up to a turnover of over £1million in 7 years now that is something that can happen for any business so contact me if you want to know how.

The top 10 thing that can and will kill your business stone dead 

 I normally hate bullet pointed lists but going through the basics sometimes needs a bit of structure so here you are.

1. Failing to sell stuff - It's kind of important that someone other than you wants your stuff and is willing to part with the hard earned to get it.

2. Not keeping your eye on the cash - You must have heard that cash is king and unfortunately it's true without cash you lose your home, your kids don’t wear the best clobber and you all eventually starve. It's no fun living eating cardboard and beans.

3. Not chasing for payment - They owe you so go out and get it.

4. Under-pricing - Most small businesses and larger ones too don’t value what it is they do high enough. Remember it's not what you do it's what happens when you’ve done it that matters.

5. Failure to do a reality check on your basic business idea - Mad ideas are usually just that Mad.

6. Forgetting about the competition - Tricksy they are indeed - selling similar stuff to you and to your clients right under your nose keep an eye on them or maybe both eyes

7. Not getting the right advice when you need it - That’s where I come in call me and find out to keep going

8. Ignoring legalities Only take risks in the area you are most confident in – which for most people isn’t the law. The devil is in the detail check small print in contracts before you sign. Don’t commit to anything that you don’t think you can deliver on. Find a good lawyer and build a relationship with them legal wrangles can waste a lot of your time or even close you down if you get it wrong.

9. Taking too much money out too soon It's tempting, I know, but just because you put money in quickly - doesn’t mean you can take money out quickly. Whatever you think it costs add ten percent for contingency then another ten percent for SNAFU.

10. Getting trapped in long-term arrangements Flexibility is key and you need that flexibility at the start. Keep things as simple as possible and think about what you can do if things don’t go your way. The biggest strength of small businesses is that they can quickly change to take advantage of the opportunities they discover. Don’t throw this advantage away.

Passive income?

I've been reading a lot about so called "passive income" recently how everyone needs to earn while they sleep or they are done for.
The internet never sleeps retort is very accurate but I've found most of cyberspace is a wasteland. The wind whistles through it like a Californian Gold Rush Ghost Town. Trying to find the nuggets is getting harder and harder. There are many websites, blogs and network groups that are screaming that they have the rights to the next great "passive income claim" so if I don't act now I'll lose my chance. My twitter feed grows daily because I may have shown a vague interest in someones witty or pithy aside and now I am bombarded with gormless idiotic chatter.
What is the correct etiquette here? If I "unlove" someone do they appear at my bedside at night brandishing venom and hate or "troll" me out of my mind. In the old days it was a simple case of checking under the duvet and having a strategy for disposing of a horses head before jumping in for a decent nights rest.
How does the cyber world, not known for its mature and stable relationship building skills, deal with faceless rejection?
Now back to passive income I hate to mention it but there is no such thing if, like me you believe that every one buys from someone they like, know or trust, which would indicate that there is an emotional aspect to this, then where does the word "passive" fit in?
To create this passive income you need to create a stable of constantly evolving products or services which continue to add value to an ever changing and increasingly demanding marketplace. Doesn't sound very passive to me. I think what they mean is an income which requires no input from me on building a relationship between buyer and seller above a daily email that says "you bought X from us six months ago so we thought you might like to purchase Z" now that's handy as I didn't know that Z actually existed now I know I need to have one. Phew what a service - now I'm off to check if I've been invaded by trolls under the bridge.

Growing Pains

When you are seeking to grow your business asking for help can be a daunting task, but how much anyone needs to know about the business in order to accelerate growth is debateable. Some businesses are very specialised and others more general, so how much can somebody from outside the business really know?
Anyone who has set up a business should be, or should aspire to be, the expert in that core business and there is little anybody can or should add to this. Specialists in this field may well ask advice from that business owner or know of other clients who could use their expertise. But just because the business owner is good at what they do why should they also be good at running a business? Very few are and most business owners are keen to focus on what makes them contented and feel comfortable.
Examples of the business creator being ousted by their board are numerous as are smaller business owners selling out when they didn’t expect “all those problems with the business stuff”. I have to tell you that the business stuff is my specialisation so when you are losing sleep or not sure what to do next then call in an expert – it’s what you would recommend to your clients!

Sprung out

Can you smell it too? Do you know that it's more than just a feeling it's lighter mornings longer days some weak and watery sunshine. Holiday ads, buds appearing, Mothers Day and Easter just a chocolate spit away. Yes; that's right - it's spring, my favourite season. When I lived in the Middle East we only had two seasons - hot and very hot so Spring and Autumn are real joys for me personally.
Apart from the flowery rhetoric and positivity returning you still have to spring clean all the detritus and baggage out of the guest bedroom. Isn't it strange that we are only a few weeks past a really really cold February snap and our whole outlook has changed.
Good times are just around the corner; this is not a government press release or a party political broadcast it's just that it was going to happen anyway regardless of whatever anyone in charge did. Natural cycles are not just bikes made out of recycled paper they are natural a rhythm of life just plodding along in the background. 7 good years 7 bad years heard that one before or not? On a 14 year business plan Joseph had it 50% awesome and 50% crap so let's skip the crap bit! life would at least be so much easier if not better. This must have been the first business plan developed with future risk analysis built in. The fact that it was conceived off the back of a dream only goes to show that either dreams are important or the seriously troubled mind can create a successful strategy.
I have some really bad news for anyone looking for the green shoots of recovery you've missed the boat. Recovery planning should of happened almost at the moment we knew we were going into recession!
Going back to basics for a final comment there are only two reasons for anyone to buy anything - firstly to stop or move away from pain secondly to move towards pleasure. That's it! you can analyse selling and sales strategy as much as you want but if it doesn't fit into one of those two categories then it's just fluff and nonsense. Remembering of the two, the first one is hard wired into humans and happens almost subconsciously. The second one is harder to pin down but worked properly is just as effective. The pain scenario is one we all relate to but pleasure is more individual. If you can take the pain away they'll trust you if you add pleasure they'll love you.

The ten year business plan

Why do I need a ten year business plan? I'm happy with only a one or three year plan? Lets deal with the business myopia straight away a ten year business plan helps real business owners to have some idea of what they want to do and where they want to go. If you have a mortgage or pension plan then you personally can think further than three years... Funding a 25 year mortgage or pension off the back of a three year plan either suggests that you have one hell of great three year plan or you just haven't bothered to take on the enormity of the undertaking. Let's look at the current financial instability and uncertainty globally today if you started your business in 2009 then you can't have much joy in your business plan as it is probably a one way decent into oblivion. Much of your well thought our strategy has been blown away and there was nothing you could of done to change that - it was out of your hands. On the other hand if you had a ten or even fifteen year plan then you have had a hiccup in the business whilst still in start up mode. Happens to everyone. You thought about the future in your pension plans or marriage plans or even your mortgage plans so why not in your business plans. It's difficult so you need help and advice to get you there. SO what are you waiting for..?

The Million Pound Front Bench where did it come from

Lets take a look at the new programme I have just launched its called creating unfair advantage is works on the principle that who you know is far more powerful than what you know. We all work really hard at gaining the right reputation and the right qualifications to try to impress. Impress who and why I ask. If it is to impress your mother then you don't necessarily need qualifications you just need to have respect and care about your family. I have been told in the past that referrals come from people who know you, trust you and care about you but then do you know I have never got a piece of business from my Mother so either she doesn't fit into the trusting caring or knowing categories or that statement is clearly wrong. Don't worry if you haven't got business from your nearest and dearest its not because they don't love you it's because they just don't get it. What do you want from a relationship (family aside)? We know that no one works for money alone on a list of one to ten most people put monetary gain at about three or four with the odd delusional putting it at one. Number one is peer group recognition - you want your co-workers and people you do business with or for to think that you are great at what you do and really fun to be around and someone they would recommend to anyone that's listening. Unfair Advantage is the ability to manipulate and leverage this relationship to the benefit of both parties the good old win/win relationship sometimes unbalanced but similar to winnish/winnish generally. Look at the UK top table in politics and business - same or similar schools (educational standards are totally unimportant here) same language same skiing holidays same summers on the same yachts. Time to leverage and build relationships then. Business can be the same you just need to work at it and I can show you how.

Emotional Stuff

Now I consider myself as a pretty unemotional sort of level headed person. But after reading Emotionomics I realise that I am just another emotional slob subject to the same influences as a six year old schoolgirl. Got to think about this in depth before I go over to my mates for a weepy film and a sleep over!!!

Getting things done?

More of a question than a statement are you getting things done or not, in itself it's a simple enough question but then there could be a whole load of different answers.
It's a bit like multi-tasking, something that us men are supposed to be useless at, but then what exactly is multi-tasking? could it be a lack of ability when it comes to concentrating fully on what needs to be done or just not being able to identify what it is that is urgent. If so then everything becomes urgent all at the same time and we all know that this idea is just silly, unless you are incredibly badly organised, in which case the whole concept of multi-tasking is thrown into disarray. Careful planning and an understanding of the situation should mean that you don't actually need to do everything at once. Lets break it down if you need to multi-task it could be that you are in a complete mess. There is no substitute for focus and concentration in today's world; this skill is becoming increasingly hard to find. Then again if it is such a great personal commodity why is it that only one gender claims to have monopoly on having the skills to carry it out.
I've given this some thought (as well as doing something else at the same time) and it is my considered opinion that multi-tasking is the ability to do lots of different things badly as opposed to doing one thing really well. Would you want a Brain Surgeon that could do great stuff with rump steak or would you prefer he concentrate on the job in hand...

2012 and all that stuff

I occurs to me that in this year of the Olympics we could learn a thing or two from these highly toned and tuned athletes.
I am sure we all know that really all sportspeople do is turn up twenty minutes before their event and perform to international standards more out of luck than judgement.
Then it's home for tea and to put the medal up on eBay to make a few bob...
Now seriously we know that would be stupid as a concept, what would happen if their bus was late, they would lose out one the chance to be famous and respected by their peers!
Now let's consider this again especially in light of what we now know about some of the antics of the eastern block countries and how serious they took sporting achievements of their Olympic teams. Some of their competitors started at birth and were given little option but to join in the state sponsored fitness programmes, no fattys in front of telly, Xbox or wii here then.
Admittedly the powers that be planned winning at all costs from birth. So planning to succeed took more than a three year plan then?
On that note the Architect of my local cathedral in Salisbury knew from the outset that this was going to be a hundred year project and one it was impossible he was going to personally see more than a snippet of the construction finished. He planned for three or four generations of his family to stay in the same profession as did all the stonemasons and carpenters or the job just wouldn't get done.
So these two high performance examples of achievement took slightly longer than a series of X factor or big brother to plan execute and deliver to the world. Which of these is likely to still be remembered in say 50 years (Olympic champions) or 500 years (cathedral)?
So when you write your business plan think a bit further than this one recession. Most people will experience 4-5 recessions in their lifetimes if your business plan is 10 or more years long the effect will be just a small blip if your business plane is 3 years then regardless of the reality of the situation you're much more likely to throw in the towel. You can only lose it all if you give up now.

Keep warm by being active how to prune effectively.

Take a look out of the window.
Stark isn’t it; nothing growing, everything hunkering down and waiting for a downturn in temperature. You have two options to wrap up warm and sit by the fire or get active, get the blood running and keep really warm. I know which option I prefer so let’s get busy on the business for the coming spring – if the Arabs can have one so can we... it's just a turning point when things can only get better.
Pruning is a great way to ensure healthy growth.(Heads of Government may disagree)
It's always tough to decide which branches to trim right back to the earth to ensure their success in the next season. But in business we need to be just as tough there are clients who suck the very life out of you and your business – we all know who they are and have put up with them.
Some behave like spoilt children, demanding and complaining and even tantrums and blaming others. Unfortunately, they are using up resources that could be better used elsewhere.
This is known as "Lost Opportunity Costs" and raises the question every time we engage with these people “whatever else am I missing out on while I am being sucked dry by these clients” if the answer is “loads” then you know what to do if the answer is more worryingly “I don’t know” then you need some help identifying opportunities. I am not saying the pruning process is because they are bad people or run bad businesses it's just that it is a toxic relationship and to ensure that you both survive it is time to cut free.

If we keep in mind that we need to culture unfair advantage in everything we do then a great clearout will ensure that you maintain your unfair advantage by only keeping those who have good balanced relationships with your company.

Pruning Season

It's the season where, as all good gardeners know, you need to get rid of the dead wood so that next years growth will be better and stronger.
In business it's no different:
Take a good look at your client base and ask yourself which 20% are using up 80% of your resources and delivering so little to your bottom line?
Don't get me wrong, this has nothing to do with whether or not they are really nice people or they add to you turnover figures - its just that they are abusing the relationship and that is not very healthy.
You need to take this time to either get them back on track or dump them over the side.
If you need to know how this can be done wait until the next installment...

Where do we want to be?

We have all heard the basic stuff about planning there are so many from quotes from Alice in Wonderland meeting the Chesire Cat through to the quippy "you don't plan to fail you fail to plan" the problem with them all is that they are all correct!
So let's start with the end.
You have, with a bit of luck, 10 - 20 years of self-employment and you have decide, not right now but eventually, if you want a larger company with employees or a smaller one that outsourced every non core element. It's quite important to know where your risk profile sits and by this I mean at what point do you seriously lose sleep and eventually your sanity? To work this out we need to have dream not a fixed in one point dream but a flexible creative point which allows you to feel what success can be.

Travelling to Belgrade

Surrounded by slightly dubious opportunities to rid myself of my hard earned is always going to be a nightmare for me as I know I have a very low ability to avoid the emotional purchase.
Sitting in Terminal 4 shopping centre waiting to leave is a bit of a temptation too far.
I very nearly tried to talk myself into boondoggling my cash into Dixons for electrical goods and the duty free for booze and perfumes.
Sense has returned and I have kept the seal on my wallet intact.
I am flying off to Belgrade and was informed Monday that my flight two days later was going to be delayed and by how many hours - now that is some foresight an airline called JAT can tell me the future when others can't even get the weather right. Now is this a Balkan type of insight given Vlad the impaler's special skills is impressive. Let's hope the pilot knows where we are going as well as that would be a bonus.

New Enterprise Allowance - use it or lose it the new deal-ish

A new scheme to encourage self-employmant is arriving in Jobcentres across the country on the 1st of August 2011. With little more than a week to go it’s not yet clear whether all Jobcentres will be ready. But, after earlier pilots and trials, the New Enterprise Allowance is scheduled to go live across the UK from the start of next month – making it available to qualifying unemployed job seekers.

Jobcentre Plus is in charge of the scheme because it is only open to people who have been claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) for more than six months. NEA gives people who have been unemployed financial support for their early months of self-employment, access to a start-up loan, and advice and guidance from an expert business mentor.

That at least is the theory. But if you look in detail at what’s on offer it is hard to see much incentive to come off benefit and embark on the scheme – even if you are intent on starting a business.

What you get:

The NEA weekly allowance, worth £65 for the first 13 weeks, then payable for a further 13 weeks at £33. You can also get a start-up loan of £1,000 to help with start up costs, but this of course has to be paid back. Depending on your household circumstances, which takes into account the income of anyone you live with, you might also be able to open a claim with HMRC for working tax credit.

What you lose:

Jobseekers Allowance. You must close your claim to JSA in order to get the New Enterprise Allowance weekly payments and loan. Jobseekers Allowance is currently worth £67.50 per week, or £105.95 for a couple. This goes on indefinitely as long as you are available for work and comply with some other conditions. In fact these conditions permit you to work up to 16 hours a week on a business and keep your JSA claim open, as long as you declare your hours and earnings.

On the face of it then there doesn’t seem to be much incentive to close down a JSA claim and take the risk of going on New Enterprise Allowance. In a mere three months you could be worse off and owing money. And after six months the allowance ceases entirely.

If you expect your business to take off slowly this doesn’t look like an attractive option – remaining on JSA but keeping below the 16 hours limit would be safer financially. The New Enterprise Allowance only looks attractive to people who have a venture they are sure they can get into profit quickly. Within six months you would need to be making enough profit to allow you to take an income from the business above your current benefit level. Realistically this isn’t going to be the case for an enormous number of people.

But let’s wait for all the details to emerge and the public response before condemming the scheme. The idea of using self-employment to get people off benefit is not the problem – PRIME itself believes in it. But the money to make it a practical proposition for a whole lot more people is lacking from this scheme. The New Enterprise Allowance is unlikely to make much dent on the unemployment figures, which is what it was set up to do.