Author: admin

So here we are, the last few days of 2019 and the end of the decade. Please don’t write in and tell me I’m a year early, I’m going along with the tabloids here.

Do we count from 0 to 9 or from 1 to 10? Whatever we count it seems easier to say the twenties than the noughties, which to me always sounded a bit naff.

However, I sincerely hope the decade has been kind to you. It hasn’t been kind to lots of big businesses and the high street looks a bit different now. Toys R Us, Toys R Bust. BHS is now British Home Shut. And so on.

It’s good to learn from the mistakes of others, such as missing the internet trend, not investing in shops people want to visit, or massive debt burdens that just won’t go away.

In our own world of business we can reflect too, so here are a smattering of questions to get the old grey matter limbered up for the year ahead.

Here we go…

Q1. What’s one thing you did really well in busines over the last 5 or 10 years?

Q2. What business habit do you need to change?

Q3. How will you invest in your own skill development next year?

Q4. What new product or service will you launch next year?

Q5. Who do you need to network with next year?

My answers to these would be…

Q1. I hired a PA. Having someone else to do the admin has been so helpful because instead of staying home to write up expenses and so on, I use that time to network.

Q2. This is an easy one. I need to block my time more. It’s too easy to start three tasks and finish none. The change I will make is to start and finish one task. I’ve already been practicing this with the mantra ‘just do one thing a day’ and it seems to work. Focus is better than a shotgun approach and over time my todo list is shrinking.

Q3. I’m looking for more therapeutic counselling clients. The training is fun and the work is challenging. The work is also the training too. Let me know if you know someone who’d like some free Skype time.

Q4. Ah well that would be telling. However it’s good to have little side projects and I’m always chatting to people and developing new ideas. One thing I will be doing is making more of my ace leadership programme. Lots of leadership training misses out practical application and my approach is to avoid sheep dip workshops and instead combine three distinct strands of learning. Fun, sticky and practical.

Q5. More SMEs. It’s too easy to forget our target market and stay local. I’ve set a goal of finding and getting to know 5 businesses that employ between 50 and 250 people.

So that’s my end of year reflection and forward thinking. It’s super useful to set a couple of goals to provide a clear direction of travel, otherwise we start scoffing Easter eggs and wonder where the time has gone and what we’ve been doing with it!

How did you get on with my questions?

And finally, thank you for reading my blogs. They are a labour of love and I’m a writer at heart and love to share my skills with the world.

Have a very happy New Year!

Next week: Personal Responsibility Rocks

Ho ho ho! Or not…

This is an odd time of year really. Odd because some people spend money on presents they can’t afford, to give to people they’re not interested in. Odd because some people buy food to share with people they don’t really like.

And odd because despite the simple nature of the festive message (peace and goodwill) many people take it upon themselves to drag trees into their house, waste electricity by lighting up the outside of said house and burn fossil fuels as they race to buy up every possible combination of alcoholic drink and chocolate treat. A simple message becomes a complex dance of consumerism and needless expense.

I have spent all year reading about the threat of global warming, the realities of climate change and the problems caused by single use plastics.

As a result I am now issued with a paper straw at my favourite local burger restaurant. Issued with! Clearly I’m incapable of restraint here and am not to be trusted with a whole pot of straws, as I may take two and thus ruin the world. Paper straws are about as reliable as an election manifesto, in that they work for a bit and then go soggy and you have to bin them.

Am I the only one then to wonder about how much single use plastic we devour at Christmas? Am I the only one who wonders about people who preach about global warming and then turn their house into a lighting display for a month?

(Ahh Richard, you misery, it’s for the kiddies, so all bets are off at Christmas).

What I like about Christmas is that the email avalanche drops to a trickle, people take time to be nice to one another and that it tends to provide cranberry sauce producers with a little boost.

What I find uncomfortable is the hypocrisy, consumerism and debt that Christmas brings with it.

I’m not saying we have to be miserable, or puritanical. Maybe, just that we need to keep things in perspective.

We also need to remember that this is an awful time of year for many people too. Short days, cold weather and the pain of enforced jollity conspire to depress many of those who are missing people, or grieving for loved ones who have passed away.

My Christmas message therefore, is to keep it simple. We can all have a tree, but can make it an easy tree; we can all find a way to have the most straightforward, affordable and sustainable Christmas that makes the most sense to us.

We can make Christmas our own and not be coerced into actions that sit outside of our personal values.

I’m wondering if I can manage a zero Christmas next year. Zero spend, zero decorations and zero hassle. That may sound a bit mean minded, but when you think about it, it’s actually the most environmentally friendly thing to do. It’s also the most economically sensible thing to do at a personal level. And it’s good for the world too, as a whole.

Less debt, less interest paid out, more cash in the bank, all equals good business sense. This is a business blog after all.

A hassle free Christmas!

What do you think? Something to strive for?

Have a peaceful festive time, whatever your beliefs are, wherever you are in the world and whatever you are doing.

Next week: The End Of The Year Is Nigh!