We’ve been in lockdown for nearly a month now, and there’s a huge range between how businesses have fared. I’m lucky that I don’t depend on physical contact, or on physical supplies or products. Even so, one or two clients have put work on ice, and I’m prepared for more of that before the lockdown […]
Coronavirus — Are You Working on Your Business or Watching Boxsets? Read More »
We’re all trying to readjust to these strange times. First of all, we’re simply trying to get through the emergency with our health, our family and our business intact. Besides this, we’re trying to second guess what the world will look like when it finally emerges from the grip of coronavirus, and how our business
Are You Reassuring Your Clients in the Crisis? Read More »
We small business owners tend to have an affliction — especially if we’re one-man-bands. We often assume we have to do everything ourselves. After all, it’s my business, isn’t it? I’m complete and self-sufficient — why would I want anyone else helping me run it? The Lone Pioneer There can be good reasons why
A Helping Hand — Outsourcing for Your Business Read More »
A little while ago, one of my regular clients asked me to have a look at his website content and tighten it up. The thing I immediately noticed was that, as with so many websites, it was all about “why you should use my type of service” rather than “why you should use me.” He
Marketing to Your Strengths Read More »
Do you have a business partner? That might be easy to answer. Perhaps you’ve set up a company with someone else, in which case you very obviously do. Perhaps you’ve even officially constituted the company as a partnership. However, many people who set up a business (including myself) go into it alone. In fact, if
Who’s Your Business Partner? Read More »
How often do you say “I’ll do it sometime”? If you’re anything like me, it’s probably very often indeed. All those tasks that don’t have hard deadlines, so it’s OK to put them off in favour of the ones that do. You can do them tomorrow. Or next week, perhaps. Or sometime. The problem is
Sometime Starts with an N Read More »
“Silence is golden”, according to the classic Sixties song, echoing the old proverb “speech is silver, silence is golden”. Profound philosophy, perhaps, but definitely not a philosophy to be applied to your business. Silence isn’t golden so much as likely to cost your weight in gold. Getting the Word Out You can build your
Silence Isn’t Golden Read More »
Like all business owners and self-employed people, I have the annual task of doing my tax self-assessment. I’ve been receiving polite requests for this from HMRC each year since 2014, and before this year I’ve always been in the habit of getting it done straight away. It isn’t a difficult job, as my financial affairs
Whether you’re an accountant, a business coach or a piccolo player, it makes sense that you want to be good at it. The trouble is that, unless you’re in a really niche sector, you’re surrounded by competitors who are also good at the same thing. How do you stand out from the crowd? Try
Don’t Try to Be Good at What You Do Read More »
Promising and delivering are fairly central to any business. After all, if we don’t promise, no-one knows what we have to offer, while if we don’t deliver on the promises, our reputation won’t last long. So how does that apply to writing? The Promise Why should anyone read anything you write in connection with your
Promising and Delivering in Writing Read More »