Ok, so this is a rant.

I don’t often rant so make the most of this. I am quietly fizzing.

I’m ranting about Social Media Gurus (or gooroos as they’re sometimes known). It seems that everyone who can’t make money by some other means is jumping on the “You ain’t nothing unless you Tweet” bandwagon, and charging you to tell you the painfully bleedin’ obvious. How much would you pay me to show you how to use Twitter? £50 an hour? £99 an hour? Are you NUTS? Continue reading →

Every company seeking customers or clients will have developed some form of marketing strategy, whether it be placing an advertisement in the local free paper, or a full blown assault using every medium known to man.

Whatever the process (and of course budget) we all understand that few people will come to you for business if they don’t know you exist, and without some effort on your part of course they won’t! But as a start-up business funds are inevitably short, and marketing on a budget is essential. Hey, even if it’s not essential, why waste money? Continue reading →

Many moons ago I used to be an IFA with a large national company which had no shortage of good quality leads. Great at the time, but in the financial world clients are encouraged not to touch their money for a period of five years or more. This led to the need to continuously find new clients until there was a five-year “rolling stock” of clients to build a sustainable business for each adviser.

Bearing in mind that the average financial adviser stayed in position for an average of two and a half years, you can see why a considerable “hit and run” philosophy built up within the advising community, and large companies would build up a backlog of orphan clients which often remained ignored. There has always been an emphasis on getting new blood as far as clients were concerned, hence advisers still being referred to as a “Sales Force” rather than “Advisory Force”. Continue reading →

There are three types of people who start, or attempt to start a new business. They are:

1. Those who have a dream, haven’t done their research, and ultimately end up losing their house through the pursuit of the impossible.
2. Those who start what might be a decent business, but subsequently take a paid position with an employer, opting for the perceived safety of corporate life.
3. Those who do their research, work hard and with imagination, and ultimately reach their business goals and the lifestyle of their choice.

It’s difficult to be too condemnatory of anyone in the first two groups, mainly because it’s better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all. Continue reading →

What follows is a semi-hypothetical scenario. No names have been mentioned to protect the horrendously guilty.

A colleague of mine has just been introduced a businessman, head of an established business, and with a great record of achievement in his industry. However, times have changed and business isn’t all it could be. Time, therefore, to take a new look at marketing. Continue reading →

Unemployment figures have been accelerating upwards as the economic environment deteriorates and are predicted to go higher for the remainder of the year, leaving the spectre of redundancy looming large for many people. However, for anybody worried about their job security, there are a few practical steps that can potentially cushion the blow. Continue reading →