Posts

How high can mums go in business? 5th December 2017 12:14 PM

Great topic, but can't help being a little mischievous  

I think the post title "how high can mums go in business?" will be viewed with amusement in 5 - 10 years, as society progresses, stereotypes slide away and people who choose to work for themselves and adopt a flexible work pattern just get on with it, kids or no kids, male or female, white, black or green.

We live in such a different age to our parents. Technology is literally reshaping the world around us, from the High Street, to working practices, types of jobs, even politics, social fabric and culture.

In the next 10 - 15 years we will have automated vehicles, new technology that will make teams more virtual and flexible working will be the norm not the exception. Whole industries will change for ever. People currently worry about what people will do, but the reality is jobs will evolve. They will become more interesting and flexible, whole industries and job types have yet to be created. Race, gender or child care won't be the issue, it will be capability and are you available for work and what hours.

The 1950's family has gone for good. We all know people who hanker after the good old days, but I think that mindset and view is disappearing with the outgoing generations.

Running a business isn't easy, neither is raising children. But both are incredibly satisfying and I think they have the ability to complement each other. Finding that balance is tough, something I'm still working at.

I've told my two girls they can do anything they set their sights to, although that currently that ranges from popstar to being an astronaut. They'll join the labour market in around 10 years time, so hopefully by then any final stereotypes will have been stamped out. I also hope some of the bra burning feminism has disappeared and people are just people.

OK, maybe 20 years 

I think the key thing about blogs is quality. The majority of guest blogs and blog posts I see on small business websites tend to be awful. They are obviously just put up for contents sake rather than being a well crafted piece of content. A couple of paragraphs of boredom no one will ever read, let alone link to. 

I've been guilty of it plenty of times myself. But if you spend the time to really research and frame an interesting topic, making it informative, readable and useful, then it can be an incredibly powerful marketing tool, generating links and page authority.

They reckon professional blog/content writing is now a growth industry and people with a journalism background are the ones in demand rather than more traditional digital marketers. Which is  a change to the last couple of years where the focus has been to drop written content in favour of video.

Keep thinking quality versus quantity 

A Monday riddle 5th December 2017 10:34 AM
No, and he can't operate because he's also injured? (I'm rubbish at these...)
Think along the same lines as the answer to the original riddle.....

 

 

erm they're brothers 

Continuing my business with my savings 5th December 2017 10:33 AM
 I've got no sales. I'm not really sure what's wrong with it. I don't want to take another client because I am tired of making tons of money for them. I want to make myself a millionaire. What do you think would be the best plan of action in my case?”
 

Your statement doesn't make any sense 

"I've got no sales", yet you don't want to take on any more clients because you are "making tons of money for them"?

If you have a proven product that is genuinely effective, then those happy clients will give you both testimonials and referrals. I assume you are charging your clients, so why aren't you making any money?

Make sure you have a genuinely costed product with profit margin. Then work out the average acquisition cost for new clients and put this aside as your marketing budget. Work out many clients you need to cover your overheads including ongoing marketing and give you an acceptable profit.

It may be that you do the sums and you realise the painful truth that you don't have viable business. In which case cut your losses, regroup, analyse your data, learn, then look at a different opportunity.

Keeping a business afloat with savings isn't a business, it's an expensive hobby

A Monday riddle 5th December 2017 10:19 AM
Is the surgeon lying?”
 

No, and he can't operate because he's also injured? (I'm rubbish at these...)

I think at 1 stage I had 4 on the go. I'll never take out another credit card that has a APR above 5% and 34.9 is a complete rip off . ”
 

4 on the go, oh my word I'd have heart failure! Mind you in the circumstances, understandable! Must seem like a lifetime ago.

Going through the post this morning and the usual monthly attempt to get me to have  a credit card 

Normally they get binned but opened this one and it made me chuckle...

Now anyone that knows me knows I personally don't like credit cards, never have done. It's a personal choice, I think they are the curse of Satan and watched countless people over the years get sucked into large debts with obscene interest rates. 

That said, the wife has one, uses it daily, pays it off every month and calls me a grumpy old fart. Plus if we book a holiday we have to do it on her card for the added protection. So yep I'm a hypocrite. But I did smile when I got the above letter.

According to Capital One, the default reason for not having one is because you are a walking talking financial disaster zone and need to repair your credit rating 

Thanks Capital One, but no thanks...   Plus the only person who calls me Steven is my mother when I'm in trouble 

When you think how big social media is now, in all our lives, it's bizarre they don't post on that account. Surely it can't simply be an oversight....maybe you should offer to manage their social media Steve 
 

See Rebecca,  austerity has even hit the Tories  They obviously can't afford to pay for a social media bod 

Another day in Twitter land 

He really is on a one man mission to divide the world...  leader of the free world??  Answers on a postcard 

Did like the response from Sadiq Khan this morning:

Meanwhile the UK Government social media airwaves are strangely silent. The last update from the official Number 10 Press Office account was Nov 2016!

Starting to feel like I have a bit part in a Hollywood film with the most unbelievable plot in the world...

It seems the world really has gone mad.

World politics and influence is now directed via micro blogging, or Twitter as we all know it.

The worlds most powerful person takes time out of his quite busy schedule to re-tweet 3 posts from a right wing group.

Click, Post, Send and off it goes to an audience of  43+ Million followers...

At least our opposition was quick to publicly respond.

The Govt twitter feed remained quiet although an official spokesperson from Number 10 did make a statement.

"It is wrong for the president to have done this"

Ok there was a bit more, but it seemed a bit damp squid to me

But my favorite response was from the White House:

Well that's all taken care of then. I wonder what's on Trumptons social media calendar for tomorrow?