Now that’s a spectacular early Christmas present for the Chancellor, and more importantly for more than 80,000 people, who are no-longer listed as being out of work.
Category: Columns
Columns, blogs and opinion from some of the UKs leading business opinion makers and entrepreneurs and small business owners
Don’t let Christmas creep up on you
Modern-day Christmas festivities aren’t always the joyous occasion intended: financial pressures are magnified and a somewhat artificial situation is created. Just like during summer holidays, family members who usually pass like ships in the night are thrown together for longer periods of time.
Response to the Autumn Statement
So there we have it, the Chancellor’s third Autumn Statement. So what did we at the FPB think about it from an SME perspective?
Can You Ever Be ‘Too Expensive?’
I recently noticed a fellow professional speaker post on his Facebook page that a potential client had told him that the fee he wanted to charge them to speak was ‘too expensive’. He went on to say he was a bit surprised, as he doesn’t normally get that kind of reaction.
7 Things To Do Over Christmas To Make Your 2013 Sales Great
With the Christmas break nearly upon us, I’m finding a lot of people asking me: “Andy, how can I use the Christmas break productively, so that I can get ahead of my competition and set myself up for a great 2013?”
Brand protection: IP matters
You cannot escape intellectual property law in the news at the moment. Recently Cadbury’s won the right to use Pantone 2685C exclusively on chocolate bars and drinks ending an eight-year legal battle against rivals Nestle.
Measuring your business performance in real time
It is crucial to monitor the performance of your business in real time, rather than waiting weeks and months for the accounts after year end.
Don’t let shoddy imitations devalue real apprenticeships
Doug Richard’s long-awaited report into apprenticeships could have been written by me, or I suspect any other employer who truly understands the benefits to businesses, individuals and the economy of quality workplace training.
10 years, 500+ success stories later, more authors than ever can be published
In these challenging economic times, I am delighted to have recently celebrated not only a decade in business, but also recession-busting growth in revenues and profits with my self-founded book coaching company, The Book Midwife.
Entrepreneurs have never been more valuable to the country than right now
Right now, as we finally seem to be emerging from recession, we are perhaps more reliant on entrepreneurs than any time in recent history.
PR – My key recommendations & tips
A lot of business owners have been asking how they can promote their products through the media.
Can you ring-fence your business in your divorce settlement?
The Law Commission recently unveiled plans for a radical overhaul of how divorce settlements could be worked out in the future in England and Wales.
Why are the values and culture of your company important?
When preparing or revising a business plan, one of the often forgotten or underrated components is defining the values and culture of the organisation.
Sales Managers – Incentivising Your Team – What Are The Pitfalls and Potential Successes?
The question: “how can I best incentivise my staff so I get better performance from them?” is an interesting one. Because of the wide range of businesses that I work with, the staff concerned could range from serious under-performers, through to average performers, right up to top-performers – who the managers are very happy with in terms of achieving targets, but just want more from them.
Unemployment: teach kids the idea of working for a living
The unemployment figures are in, but before we start celebrating, we need to address youth unemployment by getting back to basics and instil a work ethic that makes them effective contributors to their employers’ business and the UK economy.
