All organisations, companies and sole traders that process personal data must pay an annual fee to the ICO unless they are exempt. For ‘small’ businesses this is £40 (or £35 if paid by direct debit). Organisations across the business services, construction and finance sectors are among the first to be fined by the ICO for…
Is your website due for an MOT?
Your website should be your best marketing asset. Having an online presence is no longer a ‘nice to have’ for entrepreneurial business owners it’s an essential item to include in your marketing toolbox. And it has one big advantage over most of your other tools in that you own it rather than rent it. Unlike…
What is your digital strategy?
Entrepreneurial business owners could be forgiven for thinking that the ‘digital revolution’ only applies to larger businesses and that they can continue in their old ways and still remain competitive: nothing could be further from the truth. All businesses need to adopt a digital strategy that’s supported by a clear digital implementation roadmap. The…
It makes for difficult reading
This blog is for entrepreneurial business owners, the sector of the population I share most time with and whose dreams, goals and fears I share. Entrepreneurial businesses are mainly small – less than five staff – but are the lifeblood of the economy (whatever politicians and the media may think). Most of us who…
Do the brakes work?
Imagine that you are thinking of buying a new car and visit your local car showroom. The salesperson approaches and you ask a couple of questions about the model you’re interested in: Does it have four wheels? Do the brakes work? Stupid right? Because products or services we are thinking of purchasing have certain intrinsic…
Time to overthrow the existing order?
When Kodak chose not to develop the digital camera, which had been invented by their 24 year old employee Steve Sasson, in favour of sticking with their old and hugely profitable film business no-one should have been surprised. Not surprisingly the main objections to developing the digital technology came from the marketing and business sides.…
Are you busy?
I’m sorry to interrupt you…. are you busy? Of course you are. You’re a business owner and we’re always busy. Putting in long hours and working hard. I bet it’s a bit chaotic too. Phone calls, emails, staff and your to do list (which never seems to get any shorter). A lot of business owners…
Possibly the worst advice you could give to a start-up business
This week I want to tell you about something I read whilst I was away. You see, I read a lot of blogs. I like to keep up with trends in marketing and finance. I find that blogs are usually the best way. But as with most things in life you have to be curious…
When your ‘why’ is strong enough, the ‘how’ will take care of itself.
Discovering your purpose is the first step to entrepreneurial success. In a recent blog I gave you a guide to discovering your purpose and as you may have found it’s not easy. In fact, few of us discover it until our late 30s or 40s. But when you have discovered your purpose (your ‘why’ according…
It’s no longer good enough
Last week the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England increased the base interest rate to 0.75%, only the second increase in the past 10 years. One respected commentator said “It takes some considerable stupidity to see a crisis coming and decide to make it worse. But that’s exactly what the Bank of England has…