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“to fail to plan is to plan to fail” (US President &WWII Army General Dwight Eisenhower)
So what's your plan for the London Olympic Games, starting on the 27th of July?
I'm sure you will spend some time in front of the telly watching the games, might also enjoy going to see it live at the Stadium. That's all really lovely, but I'm always wondering what businesses will do during that two week period the Games are on?
Did you know that "ahoy" was the original way of answering the phone? Did you also know that businesses in the UK lose a huge amount of money when not answering the phone? And do you also hate leaving a message on an answering machine? If so, then don't worry, you're not the only one!
Join our human revolution by putting a voice behind every company.
Be convinced. www.youtube/messagebase
Monday morning, the morning after the Oscar ceremonies and having seen and loved The Artist I thought I would write today about how refreshing the film had been, a real “feel good" factor.
Then a photo caught my eye and my blog research time was spent looking at 191 more photos taken at Auschwitz in 1944. These document the stages of processing from arrival by train to the walk to the gas chambers and are from an album held in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum.
The photograph that initially caught my eye was part of a new publication, a comparison of then and now, the same settings without the people. The photographer, Pawel Sawicki, comments: I could sense the peculiar emptiness more and more. The people, who were the essence of the pictures in the album, were missing.
This week has been Social Media Week, the third event of its kind with 12 "hosting" cities around the world. Its purpose: reflecting on the global impact of social media and its role as a catalyst in driving cultural, political, economic and social change.
MessageBase recently sponsored a successful seminar, asking the question: do you like social media, but have no clue how to use it to actually grow your organisation? We are convinced that social media is an important business tool, but like many others need to work on how to use it to our advantage.
MessageBase is proud to announce a big partnership event to help its customers use social media to achieve your goals:
Are you using social media to spread your message, garner support or make sales? Or are you just using it to connect with friends? Have you ignored social media, considering it a distraction from doing 'real work'? Do you like Social Media, but have no clue how to use it to actually grow your organisation?
At this 45 minute talk, John P Morgan is going to be teaching you a simple and sensible approach to using social media that can have a massive impact on the success of your organisation.
A first impression is not just the most important but who’s to say that you won’t get that chance again? If your business comes across as unprofessional and inexperienced at first impression, it can usually be the deal-breaker with potential clients. Here’s how to be sure the one you leave is the right one.
Remember the last time you slipped up? That time when you kicked yourself and wondered why you were such a failure and why to even bother next time? Yes it was bad but punishing yourself is just not going to get you anywhere. To overcome the impact of what went wrong it’s time to start thinking about the solution.
Accept what happened, it’s done. Rather than continuing to blame yourself and maybe other people, it’s time to look at what really happened. The best question to ask your self is ‘what’s best to do now?’ You need to make more thoughtful choices that are solution focused. It’s not exactly a win-lose game, it’s more of a process where you’ll reach your goals by learning from your mistakes, making changes and looking forward.
Have you ever heard the story of the 4-minute mile?
It goes something like this:
For thousands of years, people held the belief that it was impossible for a human to run the mile in less than 4 minutes. The ancient Greeks even had lions chase the runners, but it was still ‘impossible’.
But in 1954, Roger Banister, a medical student at Oxford, with the mission to not only win the race but brake the ultimate record, ran the mile in 3:59.4, breaking this imposing belief barrier.
What’s more significant is what this breakthrough did for others.
UK innovation is alive and kicking according to a new study among entrepreneurs (@BizMattersMag). The research found that over 80 per cent of the UK’s entrepreneurial businesses have at least 2 completely new ideas which they have yet to commercialise and 26 per cent have 4 or more ideas waiting to be launched.
However whether these ideas will get off the drawing board is doubtful not only due to lack of finance for investment, poor day-to-day cash flow and lack of long-term planning, but over 30 per cent of entrepreneurs just don’t know how to manage their time.
The Apprentice is back on our screens providing a regular dose of Sugar and bringing with it a new round of business buzz-phrase nonsense and baffling bravado from the candidates.
No one likes a show-off, least of all the British, which is why watching the overblown confidence of each new crop of Apprentice contestants is such a guilty pleasure.
Each year they take the bravado, swagger and self-aggrandisement to new levels. They mix it with the usual business jargon that drives people mad. Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway has often written about the subject, calling for an end to all the “blue sky thinking”, “going forwards” and “pushing the envelope”.
One of the sites we follow is Working Naked.com. There are some good tips for the home and start up worker, just the sort of people we at Messagebase hope to assist in our day to day business.
“Working Naked” refers to the fact that when you start working from home, you’re stripped of all corporate support including an administrative assistant, technical staff and even the office busybody to keep you in the loop. In other words, you’re left “naked”
This is true; anyone who has taken the plunge into starting up a business on their own will recognise that feeling; it’s all down to you and the day can seem long and lonely. The fridge feels like a good friend, rewarding when you’ve done some cold calling, comforting when you feel you are getting nowhere.
The Economist looks at herd investing in the latest issue. Bottom line: it’s still happening and the herd still ain’t doing so well. Buried at the end of the piece is a joke from investor Warren Buffett about herd behavior.
Warren Buffett retells the story of the dead oil prospector who gets stopped at the pearly gates and is told by St Peter that Heaven’s allocation of miners is full up. The speculator leans through the gates and yells “Hey, boys! Oil discovered in Hell.” A stampede of men with picks and shovels duly streams out of Heaven and an impressed St Peter waves the speculator through. “No thanks,” says the sage. “I’m going to check out that Hell rumour. Maybe there is some truth in it after all.”
