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CONTENTS
Cover I first met James when we used to go to a Mastermind group together. I was always impressed • this Coreguy Design Group intelligence and could see what a true entrepreneur really was. James very quickly be and he just loved to take mick out of me. I’ll remember him for his warmth, kindness, generosi humour. He was a great Client and an amazing sales trainer. Me and Tom both miss James ve Team Talk Rest In Peace you. Danielle & Tom, Atmosferik Photography xxx
Banking Exposed
Iron Man Wedding Technology For business Google Wave & Social Network review
Core Design Group
I have known my Cousin James for most of my life. James's father, David Pope, married my A acted 'in loco parentis' for me at weekends and i really enjoyed the time i could spend with the Have Say a great sense of humour and was extremely proud of his your 4 children.
James and his brother, were always united in myAsk mind,The their comedy duo, the perfect interplay Expert laughter to all. I know that, in time, the Pope jokes • (inherited Business from Coachtheir Dad) and the laughs w • than life coach I'll always remember James as a successful, larger life character, who was great to be ar •
Solicitor
• Tax Accountant My thoughts, prayers and feelings are with his immediate family and close friends.
All the best Richard Lucas
• Humour Consultant • Guest Expert Our panel of experts are offering their expertise to the members. Also get an insight to what they see effecting us this month and what advice they have.
Rest & Relax
Although I never had the chance to meet James I could see he was a well loved Tribute To James Pope and well respected man who will be sadly missed. Diane Humphries
Networking
We see what everyone got upto in November and look at the month ahead
December Calendar
The months events all in one place. Arrange your month in advance and target the events more effectively.
Networking In The City John Haynes Meets Frank McKenna Where Are the Leaders?
Offers To Readers Contact Us
A Tribute to
TEAM TAL I
think I’m going mad. Am I alone in my view’s, have I totally missed the point, are other people completely ignorant of what’s happened, or do they just not care. Why has there not been a public outcry over the government’s response to the banking crisis? Could it be that it is all orchestrated. Let me explain my viewpoint and see what you think. The current recession is as a result of the banking crisis which started in America when some of the Worlds largest institutions apparently got into trouble after lending to a sub prime market. This market is theoretically made up of some of the poorer members of society, those people who are least likely to repay what they have borrowed. Who are these awful people, taking money from our poor old financial institutions and not paying it back? Well actually, it could well be you and I. You see, over the last 12 months I have heard many people saying that they wished the banks were like they used to be 30 to 40 years ago. Then I heard a bank manager of a large city centre branch saying she wished the customers were like they used to be 30 to 40 years ago. So why is everything so different and why do both sides not appear happy with the other. A typical customer of 30 to 40 years ago was a very different customer to that of today. Borrowing money from the bank was more of a big deal. Not repaying that money would have been a much bigger deal and whilst this did happen, it carried with it a certain amount of shame and therefore a much more concerted effort was made to repay. You see, if you borrowed money from the bank, the chances were that you put on your best suit, prepared your plan and pitch and went in to meet with the manager of your local branch, who actually was the only branch manager. This would be a man who was at the pinnacle of his career, respected and even revered by all in his community and beyond. He would have had many years, or more likely decades experience seeing people like you and listening to proposals. If you got the money you were after, it was because he said so. He would be more likely to lend to you if he knew and respected you, or you were able to convince him of your conviction and ability. So what changed? Banks are very big businesses which are owned by shareholders, who not only expect, but demand profits and growth. The system of yesteryear was
LK all well and good, albeit not perfect, but at some point it came close to capacity. Through advances in technology and great investment into research, a few things began to change. Consumerism began to gather pace and the banks developed ways of monitoring and checking people’s credit worthiness without the input from the local manager. People like you and I were encouraged to want more, to aspire. If we couldn’t afford to get what we wanted, were before we would do without, now we could have it straight away and pay later. Instant gratification and pay back over time. This opened up a huge new market for the finance industry and over the last 15 to 20 years our levels of personal debt has increased exponentially. All of this brings us to about 2 years ago. This is when we had the displeasure of dealing with faceless mega companies in order to get credit which we often didn’t need and had decisions made by a computer as to whether or not we were worthy of it. And what of the banks, they had to deal with potential customers who expected credit and had a flippant disregard for the consequences of not paying. It’s actually what happened next that really bothers me. Cue the meltdown. Firstly, in an effort to try and protect themselves, the banks stopped lending to each other. Then they stopped lending to their customers, you and I. This wasn’t enough and before long the government had to make a decision whether or not to bail them out. Whether the decision was actually made through fear of millions of voters having a rapid life style change, or whether it was all part of a pre planned and carefully orchestrated plot, (I am strongly leaning towards the conspiracy theory), I don’t know for sure, but a bail out it was. Now, the government, or should I say we the people, because after all, the government are just our elected representatives and run this country in the best interest of it’s people, don’t they? Anyway, we didn’t actually have a spare £1,700 billion lying around, which is approximately what it cost for the bailout (our national debt went from £500 billion to £2.2 Trillion). So where did this money come from? Maybe someone lent it to us, so we could bail out the banks. If so, why didn’t they just give it straight to the banks, why did we have to get involved? In actual fact, no one had the money, the money did not exist. Hang on a minute, if the money didn’t exist, how did we bail out the banks? Many years ago, the government could only produce money based on the gold reserves
£527,391, 589,647,1 24,528,34 9,101,480 ,923,760, 000,000,0 00,000,00 0.01
it held. Not now though. Now modern age, the governmen around and hey presto, £1.5 us that this is a very complic enables this to happen and get away from the fact that th then through a deliberately c simply invented; now it does system is that every pound th amount of debt. Now its not rate companies creating mo trying to compete to offer th be created in one place, (it duced anywhere, it is in act screen, which I’m sure you k it out anyway, just in case). to demonstrate just how ridic to create £1, then I would ow ample, 5 pence in interest. T does not exist. So if I am to p to go back to the place that c the 5 pence, but that comes exist, so to pay that back… here. It is actually impossible cause of the interest charged more debt. Clever stuff hey. in bringing this monetary syst cellor would no doubt be rew him Prime Minister when he ing the job.
Hang on a minute, maybe thi the government used this m and took shares in the banks done, the banks were on the share price that the governm to what the banks were orig shares went from around £2 15 pence. Bingo, that’s ok th for the share price to recov already doing and this will owed, but also make a tidy p tion, when we sell are shares have to pay income tax for a also have a holiday from ou to the Caribbean please. Ac ly not because the Caribbea people during the school ho ask ourselves why the gove
ings aren’t that bad. You see money to prop up the banks s for doing so. When this was eir knees. In other words, the ment paid was tiny compared ginally worth. Some of those 27 down as low as just 10 to hen. All we have to do is wait ver, which they will and are not only pay off the money profit. Cool, maybe as a nas back to the banks we won’t a few years. Maybe we could ur windfall. 60 million tickets ctually no, and unfortunatean can’t cater for 60 million olidays in 2010. We need to ernment is telling us that our
children and grandchildren are going to be paying back this money we have borrowed. We also need to ask, why did we borrow it? Couldn’t a system be put in place were by the banks could borrow it and pay it back themselves, after all, we only gave it to them and remember, it didn’t even exist before. I don’t have the time or the space here to go into the deal that the government actually did with the banks, but suffice to say that if they pitched the idea of this deal in the Dragon’s Den, they would have been laughed out of the room. Alan Sugar would have fired them. Maybe there is a bigger question here. Could it be that there is an ulterior motive behind the whole apparent meltdown and recession? I am curious as to why Briton is doing so much worse than the rest of Europe. Why is the Euro so strong against the Pound? At some point, a tipping point, the people of Britain are going to see the rest of Europe doing so much better, even overtaking the Pound with the Euro and we are going to demand being part of it. Of course then the government is just following the will of the people and the people don’t actually realise they were manipulated all along. In this world wide game of power and control, governments are just the pawns, there are greater, faceless powers behind them, manipulating and pulling strings. Not necessarily all coordinated, but all wanting the same things, all working to the same ends. They know how to create fear and euphoria in the people. After creating panic and fear, they then come in and rescue us, for which we are always grateful and are happy to give up that little bit more control over our own lives. They are even happy to lose the odd battle, accepting they will have casualties along the way, because they have us where they want us and they know they will win the war. I believe there is another way, although I also believe I will not see it in my lifetime. I am just a person, one of approximately 6 billion on this planet, no more or less valuable or important than the next. Unfortunately as a species, we don’t all think that way and more and more we are being trained to think and act differently, unnaturally. This creates stress, anxiety and even depression. In the western world, we now have more material wealth than at any time in history and yet the highest levels of stress anxiety and depression. This other way is certainly achievable, in fact can be observed in action, working very successfully in little pockets around the world. But that’s for another day.
By
Mark Brake
w, through the genius of the nt can shuffle a few papers 5 trillion. Of course they tell cated financial system which I’m sure it is, but you can’t he money didn’t exist before, complicated system that was s. The scary thing about this hat is created also creates an as if there are lots of sepaoney for the government and he best deal, no, it can only t doesn’t physically get protual fact only on a computer knew, but I thought I’d point Time I think for an example culous this system is. If I was we that £1 back, plus, for exThe problem is, this 5 pence pay this 5 pence back, I need created my pound and create s with interest, which doesn’t ………, you see the problem e to pay the money back bed; it is only possible to create Who ever was instrumental tem in when they were chanwarded, maybe even making is obviously incapable of do-
submit Your Comments to Mark by emailing him at teamtalk@yourbusinessezine.com
Iron Man Wedding I
t was a big day for all concerned, non more so than the Iron man and his beautiful bride to be! Whilst he looked a little Gormley, she was the epitome of love and devotion.
“He epitomizes the strong silent type and that’s why I love him, he’s also a hopeless romantic and just has to watch the sunset every evening come rain or shine” The sands of time may have weathered his good looks, but nothing could steal his bride’s heart more than his ferrous nature. “We feel very privileged to shoot this wedding as we do for all marriage ceremonies over the last thirty six years. This has helped us build a very strong relationship with the people of Merseyside, having been based in Crosby from 1973 until 2007 it seemed fitting that we took the photographs”. Although no longer based in Crosby the reputation Howards Photography have built has seen clients
search Them out from far and wide, but it is amazing how many people seek them out from Crosby and Waterloo. It is now two years since Rob took over the business from father in law John Howard and with combined experience of over fifty years photography backed up with a vast array of products to choose from they know they’ve got something for everyone. Although no longer at retail premises the services on offer have actually expanded, with commercial photography for companies such as Tesco and Barratt housing to at home and location portraiture. The recent bad press regarding the poor quality of wedding pictures highlighted on the BBC means people are quite rightly on their guard when it comes to booking wedding photographers. “That’s why we go to great lengths to ensure all our clients are treated to the best quality photography and service which is of the utmost importance particularly on a day as unrepeatable as your wedding”! Howards Photography have recently revamped their website and they decided to contact a few clients for their experiences. “I was quite overwhelmed by the great feedback received, some of which can be viewed on the testimonials page of our website”. Having been in the business as long as they have, they have great relationships with many associated businesses and would be only to happy if you wanted a little advice about organizing a wedding, floristry, wedding cars, venues etc. “If we don’t already know the answer I’m sure we could find out what you need in no time at all”. So if your partner ‘STEELS’ your heart and your getting wed, just like in these photo’s, why not contact Rob from Howards Photography and let him ‘IRON’ away all of your concerns.
www.howardsphotography.co.uk
TECHNOLOGY forBUSINESS What a Month... We have been run ragged with technology updates from around the globe. From software to hardware and back again. There is no denying that we have been a bit confused as to what to bring you this month so i thought i’d bring you 2 reviews based on effective communication, community, collaboration, and networking.
I
t’s been a busy final quarter for Google, with the release of the beta version of Google Wave and the Google Chrome OS (operating system). Tech fans erupted on twitter following the first batch of invites going out to users whom registered for Google Wave. Since the release it’s safe to say that Google wave has been present on twitter.com’s trending topics followed by New moon of course. Some of you may still be waiting eagerly for your invite to start waving (I have mine). Other will be reading this and scratching your head. It’s been widely referred to as “if email was invented today it would look like Google Wave”. To a big extent, I’d have to agree. One of the best features of wave is that as you type each letter it is displayed in the wave. This means that as people reply to a post you can read as they type and reply quickly. This may seem a bit inpatient but what a wave does is more or less mimic the way we use speech. Google Wave is a combination of instant mes-
saging and email. You can start a conversation and invite as many people as you like or even make it public. When the conversation gets rolling it can quickly get messy in conventional instant messaging platforms. You may have found yourself having multiple conversations with one person and having to rummage through threads to reply to the right thing and then you find yourself writing 5 replies just to get back on track. This is a very real scenario. What Wave does is eliminate this issue is by removing the text box that sits at the top or bottom of your IM screen. The way you reply is to click reply on the post you wish to reply to. This means that if there are several conversations going on at once then you can simply reply to each individual post. This is a great innovation that will organise your conversation and allow you to keep your replies relevant and tidy. As I mentioned before, you can make a wave public. The reason for making a wave public may be to have an open forum about a particular topic such as the newly released Windows 7 or even the latest movie. Again this could have
been a nightmare to try and scramble through all of the waves to find one that you find interesting or likewise for others to find your wave. For this Google has introduced “Tags”. Now tags are a great feature that needs to be added to conventional email ASAP too. A tag is a keyword (or number of) that you assign to a wave and this makes it easier for people the locate waves that they want to be part of. What Google have created it email with an option to communicate with the rest of the world in an open community. Google has kept Wave as an open source product, open source meaning that the code for wave is available to developers who with to build applications for the platform much like apps for your mobile or a facebook app. This has paved a way for some innovative, what Google call “ROBOTS”. A robot sits in your contacts list and is actually a contact but the email address it is linked to is the communication tool between the wave and the actual app. For instance I have a robot called “Rosie”; Rosie is a language robot that when added to the conversation she monitors incoming messages from other languages and converts the text live in front of your eyes to your specified language. There are many more robots available and a lot more in development. Just to name a few; Bloggy – uploads your wave to your blogger blog and any comments made can be managed from within the wave platform. Tweetie – Allows you to turn a wave into a twitter search and you can update twitter via your wave Polly – Conduct surveys where the information is relayed back to you via a gauge CleanTXT – Cleans up any blank posts or random misplaced letters or words Maps – Allows you to highlight a location and click the maps extension tool which will add a Google map to the wave and gives you all of the functionality of Google maps plus the ability to add your own markers and zone lines. Google wave is a fantastic tool that will change the way we collaborate in work and in our personal lives too. Everything is made simple,
even to the point where you can drag and drop pictures and documents from your desktop into wave. More articles will follow on how to optimise the use of Google wave for your needs, for now become a fan of our facebook page or follow us on twitter to be notified of when we have Google wave invites to give out. (Members first) www.facebook.com/yourbusinessezine www.twitter.com/yourbizezine www.wave.google.com
DID YOU GET YOUR
I
f you’re on LinkedIn then it’s likely that you have been presented with an email from a connection asking you to join them on their Naymz network. It’ll look something like this;
on their security preferences. Should you wish to connect with said person then don’t be looking on your profile page. You have to email them an invite to join your network. This is a big problem if
If you’re like me then you would of probably ignored the first 20-30 or so due to being on various other networks that satisfy your needs. Over time, the continuous stream of invites would of started to eat away at your brain and the desire to find out why everyone finds this network useful beats you and you finally click “accept”.
you do not connect with them on the other networks which leads me back to my point of; If you have a fully functioning and interactive social network account with facebook and LinkedIn then why on earth would you need Naymz?
Big Mistake! – Let me tell you why. Naymz is a social network for professionals that rely on you being active on other networks in order for you to make more connection online with the same people. ??? –I don’t get it either. This is not the worst thing. This new professional network offers less functionality than twitter but claims to be better than every other network.
Connections
In order to grow your netwok you need to give Naymz access to all of you connections on other networks such as LinkedIn and facebook. What it does once you have done this is not auto connect you to others, No… that would be too easy. Naymz digs through all of the email addresses of you connections and emails them an invite to join the Naymz network. OK, facebook and LinkedIn do this at this stage too. The problem comes when you want to connect with others on the Naymz network. Yes you can see a public timeline like on twitter, and like twitter you can view the profile of that person based
The Concept
Naymz write; “How is Naymz unique from other online networks? As one of the newest and fastest growing professional social networks, we often get asked what makes us different in comparison to other networking web sites available today. Naymz has taken a unique approach by applying the best of online networking and offering additional tools focused on reputation, personal branding, and identity verification. With Naymz, you can: • Establish and accentuate your professional brand and reputation. • Find and connect with anyone on the network – including people you know and don’t know, without having to pay to do so. • Communicate easily and effectively with your professional contacts to learn about and share opportunities. Some online networks are like high school and coworker reunions and are great for keeping in contact with people you already know. Many professional
IN
NVITE? networking sites are like being an attendee at a networking event. Naymz is like going to a networking event and setting-up your own exhibit. Here are several unique products and services Naymz offers which makes us an invaluable tool for professionals looking to take their networking to the next level.” Here are a list of products that you get from Naymz (if there unique then there is a reason for it);
Microblogging
The Naymz Exchange is a microblogging platform that allows Naymz members to exchange ideas, questions, opportunities, and statuses in real-time. Members can reply, forward, and save posts of interest. Twitter, facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Ning… you get the idea, they all do it and they do it very very well.
Identity Aggregation
As internet usage grows, so do the tools and options available for individuals to create, express, and promote themselves online. Naymz allows you to collect links to all of your online personas in one easy-to-find place. It’s like the table-of-contents to your online identity. Additionally, if your other web profiles and accounts have RSS or ATOM feeds, we will take those and create one comprehensive personal “Web Activity” stream in which others can follow. I have tried to set this up and it doesn’t work very well. As well as terrible user interface, I struggled to see were anything was being placed.
RepScore
Anyone can create personal profiles on any number of web sites. How can you tell the information included on a particular profile is accurate and trustworthy? Naymz has introduced an innovative scoring model called RepScore to give confidence to your profile visitors and allow you to find and connect with other reputable professionals. You can earn RepScore Points through Community Verification, Profile Completeness and Identity Verification.
This is actually the best feature of Naymz but it is applied in the wrong way, read the next feature and my explanation…
Reputation Assessments
All contacts are not the same. Often members of other social networking sites will collect as many contacts as possible regardless of their relationship to them. Because Naymz is built on reputation and trust, we ask new contacts to fill out an assessment each time they connect with someone. How one’s contacts answer each assessment directly influences the RepScore of that individual. You are now presented with a dilemma, you are a professional and you want to network on the social networking platforms and therefore make new connections. This RepScore and reputation assessment discourages this from happening. There are over 500 people I know through facebook and nearly 100 on linkedIn. Most of these connections have been established online and the relationships have developed since then. If Naymz unique tool is to assess the trustworthiness of a profile then I would have one of the lowest scores because I wish to grow my network beyond traditional means of communication (email, telephone, face to face). This system would label me a “spammer”.
Identity Verification
Premium Service (US Only) Naymz has partnered with online identity verification leader, Trufina, to provide our members with personal identity verification and background check services. When you verify your identity, a Trufina verified seal appears on your Naymz profile and you receive additional RepScore points. If you employ somebody’s services over a social network with no professional opinion and not having met or at least had a telephone conversation with them then you’re asking for it. This is not something that I would say is a must for a social networking site.
Network Activity
Do you like to keep tabs what your contacts are up to? Naymz Exchange provides a feed of updates anytime someone in your network changes anything on their Naymz profile or adds anything to web sites they control which allows for RSS (syndication).
Reputation Monitor
It’s becoming increasingly important to keep an
eye on what is being said about you online. Naymz created Reputation Monitor to help make this task as easy as possible. Naymz observes numerous sources such as blogs, news sites, social networks, and other online content and provides reports anytime your name appears. This is not unique, this is a very common feature, again this is let down by the user interface and navigation making it less appealing than the same features on other networks.
Visitor Reporting
Most social networking sites will only provide limited information about visitors to your profile, and only provide notifications when those visitors are members of the same network. Naymz will alert you anytime someone visits your profile, whether they are a Naymz user or not. It’s a great way to keep an eye out on who is interested in you. Unless you are a premium user then this tool is completely useless. Would off been a nice touch but Linkedin offer something better in the form of “how many times you have featured in search results” & “what page you where on in the results” etc…
Top Search Engine Placement
The first place people typically go to find information about you are the search engines. Naymz is designed to make it easy for you to control what people find about you on the web. Naymz will acquire a sponsored (paid) search engine results for your name on Google which will appear at the top of the first page of results when others do a search for your name and link it directly to your Naymz profile. This is free with members with a RepScore of 9 or higher. Our Premium Membership includes sponsored search results for Google, Yahoo, and MSN as well as the ability to customize your search engine description. This sounds like a nice touch but since when do you click on sponsored links on Google? I don’t, and that is why SEO for organic search placement is such a big industry. With facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn holding some of the biggest market shares of users and therefore site usage the SEO rankings can not be competed with regarding organic search results. As suggested he results for my name goes as follows:1) Facebook 2) LinkedIn 3) 4Networking 4) Twitter 5) Naymz Ok, so my Naymz profile is on page 1 of googles’ organic search, why spend extra for the premium membership?
The premium membership for this network comes in at $7.95 per month but has to be paid in one lump sum.
The Interface
The interface refers to the functionality of the site and how you navigate around it. Let me tell you now… this is the biggest factor of all when it comes to this site. I can put up with some rubbish features and awkward networking but not this. The Naymz site has been built to look pretty when you click on a button, Expanding menus, pop-ups, and all that jazz to bring you your information with a song and dance number (I find It difficult to actually find which part of the button you must press to activate the link), that’s not all, when you press the link, go off and make a cuppa before you return because it will take a while to load what little information it has to offer. The navigation alone (forget the buttons for now) is laid out in what can only be described as unnatural. I’d have to say, I have never been so confused, disappointed, and angry at a site like this before. I am trying to bring you an unbiased opinion but I’m afraid that all I have done is rant. Unfortunately there is no other way of going about this review. If you do decide to check it out and manage to actually navigate the site you will be constantly reminded that you have a FREE account and in order to invite someone who’s email address you do not have you must pay $95. I’d say I was reminded of this every 3-4 clicks through the site whilst navigating which is a pain in the backside when it take ages to load and got back to the previous page.
Anyway, my final words are:
If you are looking to network professionally, but market to a huge database of people and promote products and brands to consumers, stick to the 3 big players – FACEBOOK, LINKEDIN, TWITTER. When marketing your brand, product, or yourself, don’t think that more is better, be creative and most of all be honest and informative.
Kiwi’s & Sheep C But They’re On T
Liverpool
Can’t Fly Top Of
W
hat has Liverpool and New Zealand got in common? They both famously are represented by their flightless birds. For New Zealand it’s the Kiwi and for Liverpool the, (albeit a fictional one), Liver bird. Imagine being a Kiwi, (not the actual bird, but a person from New Zealand), and coming to live and work in Liverpool. Do you think you’d be attracted to the Liver birds in order to feel a sense of security, or a sense of belonging? If so, how close do you think you could get. After all, I’m from Liverpool and the closest I’ve ever got to the Liver birds is like most Scousers, The Pier Head. So here at Your Business E-Zine we thought we would conduct a very thorough scientific study
into the general proximity of any Kiwi’s to our Liver birds. Well, when I say thorough scientific study, we thought we would gets close as possible to the Liver birds, then see how far we would have to travel before we come across a Kiwi. Tape measure in hand, I set off. I entered the Royal Liver Building from the main entrance on the Pier Head side. I have to be honest, I was a little nervous, because if you look up at the Liver bird on the top of the tower at either end of the Liver building, you can see that there is a room immediately below the clock. Now this is the closest point in Liverpool to the 18ft tall Liver bird that you would find someone, so would have to be my starting point. The problem was, and this is the reason for my nerves, whoever occupied this space must be a very important person. Perhaps even
royalty, well probably not royalty, but you see my point. Maybe some high powered Alan Sugar type character sitting behind a huge desk and shouting, “YOU’RE FIRED”, to anyone entering the room. Possibly it was a leading politician, but then I remembered where I was, Liverpool, we don’t have any. But whoever it was going to be, the chances are I’d struggle to get in there to begin my search. As I approached the reception desk in the foyer of the building, a security officer suspiciously looked at my nervous demeanour and asked, “What do you want?” “I, I, I was just wondering, if there would be any chance of me having a look in that office just below the clock, if that’s ok?” “Ang on a minute why I call im…….,Kevin, there’s some strange bloke down here with a tape measure who wants to
come up to your office…….., he’s on is way down, wait there.” Breakthrough. Soon after,Kevin Arrived. “You the bloke who wants to look at our office?” “Yes please”, I said. “No problem, come with me”. Wow, cool, that was easier than I had expected, at least now the experiment can begin. On the way up in the lift I thought I’d indulge in a little idle chit chat, you know how awkward these lift journeys can be. I inquired, “So, where are you from?” To which Kevin promptly replied, “New Zealand.”……….. Oh, I thought………, job done, that was easy. I don’t really need to go up there now, but as I was in the lift anyway, it just seemed rude not to. Actually I’m glad I did now, besides having the coolest office in Liverpool, what an interesting couple of blokes and a great business too.
What Has New Zealand & Wales Got In Common? Other Than Mint Sauce & Lamb.
K
evin Mulligan is one of the partners in Core Design Group. He set the company up 18 months ago with business partner Chris Thomas, (affectionately described as a Welsh tree hugger), who he worked alongside for 3 years in charge of design and print at Royal Liver Assurance. When the company was looking to make some cut backs and considered outsourcing some of their in house departments, Kevin and Chris left to set up Core Design Group taking Royal Liver as their first customer. “I had made plans to set up on my own a year before but just kept it in the background working from home and in a freelance capacity until the time was right. I sold Chris my idea, which wasn’t hard really. The fact we knew how we both worked, got on well, had similar experiences, and attitudes to business.” It didn’t take long for him to jump on board. After all they didn’t move far, just into offices in the same building. Since then the company has gone from strength to strength. In fact, such was the reputation of Kevin and Chris’s many of their old employers are now their clients. Core Design Group do exactly what is say’s on the tin. They deal with things like branding, illustration, copywriting, general design, photography and print management. They are not printers themselves, but have a very close working relationship with the key printers they use. Some of the bigger jobs they are responsible for they are justifiably proud of. Chris said, “We understand that in our line of work you are only as good as your last job and who knows where that may end up and on who’s desk. We are very lucky to have a weird and wonderful mix of clients all willing to give us the freedom to create eye catching design work.” Kevin himself was actually born in Kirkby in Liverpool, but did spend 12 years in New Zealand where he did most of his education and now has dual nationality. He comes from a strong footballing family, he played for the country at youth level in New Zealand and came back to the UK to try to play professionally here, even having try outs for Everton. His brother actually is a professional footballer. Things people don’t often know about Kevin are; he speaks Maori, the native language of New Zealand and can do the Haka, that’s the scary thing New Zealand rugby players do before each game, in fact if you meet him, just ask as he’s always looking for an excuse to do it. Kevins’ philosophy is head down tail up, funnily enough like a kiwi! Unfortunately, for some obscure reason, Kevin has what can only be described as an unhealthy obsession with The Beastie Boys, in fact he loves to get out onto the roof of the Liver Building and dance and rap, something about ‘skills to pay the bills’. Apparently the Liver Birds used to face inwards on the building until Kevin started going onto
the roof, then they had to turn away. Kevin loves, to the point of obsession, Liverpool Football Club, but hates celery. That’s actually quite common, in fact I can’t remember the last time I watched a Liverpool match and seen a single stick of celery anywhere in the crowd. Chris……., nice Chris…….., nice caring Chris……….., lovely nice caring Chris, actually Chris the hippy, without the hair of course. Chris is from Welsh Wales, although unlike Kevin, who only lived in a different country for 10 years and wasn’t from there, Chris does not speak Welsh. Now I come to think of it, he doesn’t even sound Welsh. I’m not from Wales and even I can speak a little Welsh, so just for you Chris, here goes your first lesson. Araf, (that means ‘slow’ courtesy of the paint on the roads). Blodwin, (that’s a girl’s name). Ruthin, (pronounced Rithin, that means Ruthin. It’s a place). You see Chris, with a little effort, it’s not that hard. The high point of Chris’s career was quite literally when he climbed on top of the Liver Birds for charity, (I think that secretly he just wanted to get up there and give them a hug).Chris’s biggest obsession has to be cheesecake and not any old cheesecake, oh no, it has to be from Daphna’sCheesecake Shop on Smithdown road. He goes nuts for the stuff, Kevin suggested he goes to cheesecake anonymous, but he’s having none of it, not unless Kevin goes to Liverpool FC anonymous anyway. Kevin and Chris are proud to be based in Liverpool, especially as Liverpool is now more and more being seen as a centre for creative industries, then to top that, their office in one of the world’s most iconic buildings gives tremendous kudos. The majority of Core Designs clients are more towards the corporate end of the scale, after all, this is where Kevin and Chris’s backgrounds are. But have recently been working alongside web design company IAW to offer something very different. Package deals for start up businesses. You see, Core Design believe that making quality design and print with a quality website available to start up businesses, would give the start up a head start that they so desperately need and often don’t realise. The packages are designed to be affordable and flexible, without being complicated. So next time your down at the Pier Head, in front of the Liver Building, look up to the 11th floor, just beneath the clock and give Kevin and Chris a wave. Unless Kevin’s dancing on the roof in his football kit and Chris is hugging the Liver Bird, with cheesecake stuffed in his mouth.
www.coredesigngroup.co.uk
photography by Robert Edge of Howards Photography www.howardsphotography.co.uk
HAVE YOUR S A Y
T
his section of the magazine is for you, the local business people of Merseyside. It is a platform for you to voice your opinion about anything you feel you need to say. If you’re particularly not happy with something, maybe it’s something holding you back, then let us know, we may even be able to help. Also, if you are particularly happy with something or someone, tell us about it here. We are not a news paper and we don’t need to push doom and gloom to push our readership. We believe there is a lot of positivity around at the moment and it’s good to share that. So we are happy to print genuine testimonials for people, (not a blatant advert though). Here at Your Business E-zine we also believe that working together makes us all stronger. People whom you may have traditionally thought of as your competitors can actually be your greatest allies. If you need support in a certain area of your business, why not let us know, we could put you in touch with the right people to fill your particular gaps. Maybe you have a proposal or an idea that you just want to put out there and see what response you get, this is the place for you to do that to. Your Business E-Zine also believes that business should be fun. There is nothing wrong with enjoying what we do and even our extra curricular activities. With this in mind we have a proposal we would like to put to you. We would like to organize an event for next summer. Something fun that we can all get involved in. My thoughts are to run a soap box derby. Each company building there own machine, fully logo’d up of course, and we would get a suitable road closed off somewhere in or around the city centre, build a bit of a track and race down it. Prizes for the winners of course and even a podium with champagne spraying etc. What do you think? Is it something you would get involved in, either taking part or helping to organise? Let us know, or any alternative suggestions you may have. The previous edition of this magazine had in excess of 50,000 views. That was our launch edition, it’s only going to increase from there and increase substantially. So use us to your best advantage and have your say, we will put your name and your company name after your piece. Let me tell you, the exposure won’t hurt. We look forward to your comments.
To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity 1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down. 2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom... Don’t Disguise Your Voice. 3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that. 4. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks . Once Everyone has got Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso. 5. In the Memo Field Of All Your Cheques, Write ‘For Marijuana’. 6. Skip down the hall Rather Than Walk and see how many looks you get. 7. Order a Diet Water, whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face. 8. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is ‘To Go’. 9. Sing Along At The Opera. 10. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can’t Attend Their Party Because You have a headache. 11. When The Money Comes Out Of The ATM, Scream... ‘I Won! I Won!’ 12. When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Parking lot, Yelling ‘Run For Your Lives! They’re Loose!’ 13. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, ‘Due To The Economy, We Are Going to Have To Let One Of You Go. ‘ And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity 14. PICK UP A BOX OF CONDOMS AT THE PHARMACY, GO TO THE COUNTER AND ASK WHERE THE FITTING ROOM IS.
Wendy Rogers Rainbow Nutrition
>>> Reply Number 13 & 14 are my favourite. Although i am more than likely to carry out No. 13. Have you done any of these or do you have more suggestions? Look out for our discussions online at:
www.facebook.com/yourbusinessezine
Is There A Case For Men-Only Business Networking Events? With the recent explosion in womenonly networking events, and their effectiveness, would men-only events be as successful? Would they be welcomed or frowned upon? Straight away, Nancy commented
“Ok.. here it is.. there is a reason that women celebrate “women in business” and hold women only events is due to the struggle women have had over the years to gain respect in the business world as leaders.This has changed dramatically over the years which is great and therefore an event that unites businesswomen is extremely helpful to us when looking to gain support from other women who have already succeeded, share tips and gain potential partnerships. Although I have nothing against men holding a “men’s only” event, I don’t think it would have the same meaning.. :)”
Val responded
“...having spent a lot of years in mainly male environments...I personally think the mix is good...because of the different way we approach tasks. plus it is much more fun to mingle!”
Emma countered “...Although I agree with
Nancy, we have come way too far to start isolating ourselves again from the male business environment. This will only lead to us being venerable. Its great to celebrate our success and encourage other women into business, but you can’t ignore the fact that its discrimination. We shouted and fought for years to be included, and now we’ve decided to exclude ourselves! I was at the Train 2000 awards yesterday and it was fantastic! So empowering. I understand why we need to have these events, but I hope the message to our future entrepreneurs isn’t confusing, otherwise we will create more problems.” Ian Denny Plus 1 Networking / Smart ICT Factory
>>> Reply Ian, I think you’ve hit a soft spot. This is a massive topic in the business world lately, with more and more networking events popping up there is more and more cause for this topic to be discussed/debated. The 3 responses you got are very right, each in their own way. Apart from the political aspect of the situation (meaning discrimination) we have to sit back and look at what has happened and why. As Nancy has discussed there was a “man is boss” mentality that ruled the world, not just in business but in life too. but things have now changed, women have equal rights and have done for a number of years, so I can only think that these groups had originally been set up in spite and for nothing productive (don’t get angry just yet), as there is no avoiding who you deal with in business, male or female. The talk of setting up a men only networking event is, as far as I am concerned a response to the women only groups, again in spite of... Therefore this is wrong too. By individualizing yourself or putting yourself into a single category you will miss out on so much. The success of an event will never be determined on its guests but will be judged on the event as a whole, including attendees, format of the event, venue, speakers, etc... I bet there are a lot of men that would enjoy the format and to listen to the speakers at some of these women only events. By stopping people from attending you are reducing your chances to meet some great people and help others in need. I have never been to a men only networking event and do not see any long term benefit in doing so, as I have been helped so much by a great mix of people. Craig Brake Your Business eZine
If you are still not convinced then email us at haveyoursay@yourbusinessezine.com
Ask The Ques
Ask The Exper
stion
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Business Coach Life Coach Commercial Solicitor Tax Accountant Humour Expert Guest Expert
Ask The Expert
Busine Richard Dickinson
Richard started out in his working life in the Navy, were he served for a number of years, travelling around the world learning some fantastic skills and meeting people from many different cultures. After leaving the navy, Richard entered the world of banking and finance, ending up in a role as East Midlands Region Development Manager for a high street bank. Richard then decided he was ready for another challenge, so he left the bank and set up his own national insurance brokerage, which he ran for 5 years, until selling the business in 2005. Given Richards extensive experience over the years in dealing with businesses and more importantly business people, Richard felt he would make a very good business coach. He then trained and was accredited by the Adler School of International Coaching and took on a franchise from Ology Coaching, which gives him the support of a multi national company, whilst at the same time still being able to give a local personal service to his clients. We are very pleased to have Richard on board and are sure you will benefit from his wisdom and experience.
R.A.S. A Marketing and Customer Service Perspective
H
ow a person’s RAS (Reticular Activating System) affects the way they perceive products and services
What is a RAS (reticular activating system)? The RAS is the name given to the part of the brain believed to be the centre of arousal and motivation in people.
The Universal Law of Attraction
“It’s a common phenomenon. Almost everyone can relate. You start looking for a new car, something special, something not like anyone else’s, something unusual. You pick out what seems to be a unique, unusual choice of a special red car and all of a sudden, there it is – your red car, the one you thought was only yours. It’s on every street corner.
It is at every stoplight. You see three of these red cars just driving down the motorway. You never saw these cars before. What happened? How did all of these people get your unique red car at the same time?” “Well the fact of the matter is that your brain is seeing the red cars that were always there. Since you picked out this car for yourself, that car has become special for you and now you are noticing what was really there all along.” -Karren Lynch, The Universal Law of Attraction The same can be said of when you’ve had a bad experience; your brain has a conceived conception that the product or service is not good. No matter how many people from then on tell you that
ess Coach the product or service is good your opinion rarely changes. This is where the phrase ‘first impressions count’ comes from. This is caused by your RAS - the part of your brain that automatically filters out what is not important to you and brings your attention to things that are important to you i.e. good and bad experiences. Basically the RAS is how the ‘Law of Attraction’ works. We get what we focus on; we create what we think about, we focus on good and bad experiences, the RAS system of our brains just helps this process along.
First impressions count
Imagine walking down a busy street, hundreds of people talking, music playing, advertisements shown and 100’s of shops selling products. How much of this is brought to your attention? In reality, not a lot. True, you can hear general background noise, get glimpses of advertisements but not one thing comes to our attention.
negative experience. This is why it’s so important for organisations to rectify bad experiences with their customers as and when they happen.
The importance of RAS to organisations
While good experiences are of great benefit to your organisation bad ones can be detrimental. Dissatisfied customers not only defect, but on average tell 10 people about their bad experience. They might be having a conversation about your products with a friend or spouse years after but thanks to their RAS they will remember their negative experience. Organisations need to put measures into place to change these people’s opinions sooner rather than later. It’s more likely you’ll help change their opinions with positive measures immediately after their experience occurs, rather than later when it’s too late.
But then you see a shop advertising a new product, the offer is great but you’ve had a previous bad experience with that store, suddenly your attention is full on. Your RAS mechanism acts as a filter between your conscious mind and your subconscious mind. It takes instructions from your conscious mind and passes them on to your subconscious. It tells you there is something of interest, but no matter how good the offer the bad experience is the one at the forefront of your mind.
An elephant never forgets
Reticular activation cells are some of your most powerful memory cells in the brain but are untapped in day to day thinking.
To ask Richard a Question, Please email him at: richard.dickinson@yourbusinessezine.com
When you have a bad experience with an organisation it is stored by your RAS in your subconscious. It may be years later when you next come across that organisation. When you do however you’re RAS will filter the memory from your subconscious and alert your conscious mind, alerting you of your
or visit Ology Business Coaching at www.ologybusiness.com/richarddickinson/
Ask The Expert
Life C Lisa Madariaga
Lisa is a life coach of some distinction. She is what you might call one of life’s achievers. Allow me to explain. Lisa is a qualified Barrister and a Chartered Accountant. She has worked around the world for both NYSE and FTSE 100 companies. Then one day, in November 2005, she collapsed in her London office. Not only was she unable to work, but could barely get out of bed for 5 months. As her health slowly improved, she was able to re evaluate her life. Lisa found that with her unique experiences of life, she was able to help others. She re trained and is now also qualified with the Institute of Leadership and Management, (ILM), as a life coach and executive business coach. Lisa is the founder and trainer of the Finance Coaching Academy of RSA, (formerly Royal and Sun Alliance). Soon to publish a self help book for people living with or recovering from ME, we are truly privileged to have Lisa contribute for us. So, don’t be shy, use this fantastic opportunity and ask Lisa some questions and don’t miss her articles, they may just change your life.
Di-stress or De-stress???
I
s your Christmas tree up yet? Sorted out your Christmas shopping? Yes, it’s that time of year again when we are all supposed to be as merry as the jolly-old bearded man in red again. But for many it’s the time of year when the normal strains of everyday life get exacerbated and Christmas is just another added worry. So I thought that this month we could explore what we can do to make the season of good will go just a bit more smoothly, especially in a time of recession and floods(!). So, firstly, what is stress? There are everyday factors that result in what we all consider stress such as a rushed journey to meet an appointment time, children’s questions, partner’s expectations, family events, social engagements, work demands, argument with your boss, an unhappy customer, you name it, it all adds up to the same.
The physical symptoms of stress can vary from person to person, but they are all caused by the same trigger. The ‘fight or flight’ response is a well-documented automatic reaction to a perceived danger (real or imagined – and that is a crucial point). Fight
or flight worked wonderfully when humans were hunting mammoths and running from sabre-toothed tigers (I am no prehistoric expert, but you get the idea!). In this response, the sympathetic nervous system is triggered by the sensory cortex of the brain through the hypothalamus to the brain stem. The effect of the hypothalamus includes the pituitary gland, which releases the hormone Adrenocorticotropic (ACTH) which in turn stimulates the adrenal cortex to release adrenalin, noradrenalin and cortisol. The results of these hormones include all the classic stress results, increased heart rate and blood pressure, increased blood flow to the muscles and limbs (allowing us to run faster from the tigers!) the digestive system slows down as a result and the skin sweats. Does this sound familiar? So, stress and the fight or flight response have their place and uses, like when we need to act quickly in an emergency. For example, we have all heard of the super-human strength of a parent lifting a car which is trapping their child, but when the danger is only “perceived” or when the stressful situation is prolonged and becomes chronic, our bodies react
Coach in varied and unhealthy ways. These range from fatigue, allergies, skin disorders, and migraine to heart attacks and, it has been claimed, cancer. The emotional and mental results of stress can also be extreme, including the inability to concentrate, over-worrying, obsessive thinking, depression, low self-esteem, uncontrolled crying, phobias and panic attacks. So can we identify it when we are under stress? Sadly it is often easier for us to identify the symptoms of stress in others, but there are a number of indicators that we can use. Emotional
Thoughts
Behaviour
Physical
Being in a bad mood
I can't do this
Rushing around
Feeling hot
Feeling upset
I'll never finish
Starting tasks and not
Heart beating fast
finishing them Feeling angry
Sweating
I can't cope Not being able to concentrate
Feeling impatient
Stomach ache
Mind racing Shouting
Feeling hopeless
Headache
Waking up too early in the morning
Source – www.Samaritan.org
Once we have identified that we are stressed, what can we do? The body has a natural reaction to this fight or flight response, this is triggered by the parasympathetic nervous system, the equal and opposite to the sympathetic nervous system, sometimes called ‘rest and digest’. It affects the same bodily functions, but it calms instead of stimulates. Therefore, blood pressure is reduced, as is heart rate, the digestive system starts working effectively again and our muscles relax. However, in extreme cases of stress or in prolonged stressful situations, the parasympathetic nervous system just isn’t enough. So, what can we do to help our body overcome the stresses and strains? Well, there are a number of methods that are repeated
in all the helpful sources over and over again. The number one method is to relax, to take time out for yourself and just stop. The result of this is the space it creates, space between us and our ‘problem’ or stress inducer, whether it be real of perceived. Remember the cliché about ‘me time’, women and their long baths, or men and their golf, well, it all adds up to excellent de-stressing! So if you don’t already treat yourself to a little of whatever you enjoy, start now – you body will thank you! Other methods of de-stressing include sitting in silence and just being still, listening to calming music, maybe even having a snooze! Breathing exercises where our conscious awareness is taken to our breathing patterns is an excellent way of relaxing and shutting off from the outside. Try just sitting and listening to your breath, then inhale to a count of three and exhale to a count of three. Once you are conformable with this, increase the count to 4 then 5 and so on. The food and drink we intake has a huge impact on our stress levels, items that may have a negative effect include tea, coffee, cocoa, energy drinks, fast foods and takeaways, dairy, sugar and alcohol. Food items we should increase our intake of include water, fresh fruit and vegetables, fish and soups. So, now you are armed with stress busting knowledge and techniques – I hope that you find preparing for Christmas as much fun and as enjoyable as Dickens wanted! Remember… just take a deep breath!
To ask Lisa a Question, Please email her at: lisa.madariaga@yourbusinessezine.com or visit Lisa’s site at www.lisa4coaching.com
Ask The Expert
Solicit We would like to thank Kirwins for stepping in last minute to bring all of you an informative article about company law and answer any questions you may have. please direct your questions to editor@yourbusinessezine.com
FIVE CHANGES TO COMPANY LAW THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
T
he final implementation of the Companies Act 2006 took place on 1 October 2009. The provisions coupled with those parts of the Act already in force comprise the most fundamental and wide ranging change to company law since the mid nineteenth century. The new Act is designed around the needs of small private companies and is based on a “think small first� approach. The changes are generally de-regulatory in nature and are aimed at simplifying company law to make it easier for shareholders in small private companies to make decisions. Where appropriate, companies should consider how they could take advantage of the new law. The following 5 changes will be of interest to small businesses. 1 The documentation required to form a company now differs significantly from the previous requirements. Any company formed after 1 October 2009 will have a simple statement in a prescribed form setting out the intention to form a company and to subscribed shares as its Memorandum of Association. Furthermore, there will be no limitation on a new
company’s objects (unless the articles provide otherwise) so there will no longer be any need for an objects clause in the Memorandum. From 1 October 2009, the provisions of the old style Memorandum of Association which are not found in the new simplified form will automatically be deemed to be provisions of the Articles of Association. Whilst existing companies are not required to take an immediate action as a result of this transfer there may be advantages for many companies in removing provisions of the old Memorandum from their Articles. Under the new law a company has unrestricted powers unless it specifically restricts them in its Articles. Since the Objects Clause contained in the Memorandum of existing companies will from 1 October 2009 be transferred to its Articles, this provision will act as a restriction on the otherwise unlimited powers of the company and many companies may wish to remove it. 2 The concept of authorised share capital has been abolished. Instead, companies are now required to provide a Statement of Capital. This is a standalone form which is required on incorporation of a new
tor
company and needs to be updated with every annual return or whenever a change is made to an existing company’s share capital. Part of the Statement of Capital form requires a company to confirm the amount paid up and the amount, if any, unpaid on each share. This should assist companies in checking the credit worthiness of any company they are looking to do business with. A Company Secretary responsible for filing forms at Companies House should ensure that they give themselves sufficient time to fill in any Statement of Capital required so as not to breach a filing deadline.
4 From 1 October 2009 many of the old forms used by Company Secretaries to update records at Companies House are no longer in use and have been replaced by new forms. Those responsible for filing forms at Companies House should ensure that they are familiar with the new forms, many of which require additional different information from the previous forms used under the old Act. In particular, Company Secretaries should be aware which forms should be used especially if there is a time limit for registration as in the case of registering Charges or Debentures which must be done within 21 days of completion.
Accounts departments should also be aware of the changes and should review a new client or customer’s Statement of Capital form whenever any form of credit is being provided.
There are currently transitional provisions in place which determine whether to use the old or new forms. A list of the new forms and the previous forms can be found on the Companies House website.
3 Directors, and where applicable company secretaries, of existing and new companies can now keep their residential address off the public record by instead filing a service address.
5 From 1 October 2009 a company no longer needs specific authorisation in its Articles to be able to purchase its own shares or redeem shares unless prohibited by its old Articles.
The service address could be the company’s registered or main office. Whilst it is still a requirement for each director’s residential address to be provided, such information is now deemed to be “protected information”, and will not be put on the public record after 30 September 2009.
Previously private companies had to go through a number of prescribed stages in order to purchase their own shares or redeem shares. This procedural de-regularisation applies equally to new companies formed after 1 October 2009 and to existing companies. Directors and shareholders of new and existing companies should consider whether they want to restrict the company’s ability to change its share capital in this way and if so make any necessary changes to their Articles.
This change will be of comfort to directors involved in businesses which attract media or public attention. However, there will be no automatic removal of directors’ residential addresses for existing companies formed before 1 October 2009. Existing companies should consider adding service addresses for directors and removing residential addresses no before the next annual return.
This article contains general information and, although we attempt to ensure that the content is accurate and up to date, users should seek appropriate legal advice before taking or refraining from taking any action. The contents of this article should not be construed as legal advice and we disclaim any liability in relation to its use.
To ask Phil a Question, Please email him at: editor@yourbusinessezine.com or visit Kirwins at www.kirwanssolicitors.co.uk
Ask The Expert
Tax Ac Pat Cobham
Pat Cobham used to be a tax inspector. She has more than 30 years experience in accountancy. Mostly from the side of the inland revenue. Pat set up Cobhams tax consultants and accounts in 2004 and has not looked back since. With a no nonsense and plain English approach to accountancy, Cobhams is going from strength to strength. You not only get knowledgeable one-to-one advice, but you also get it at a fraction of the cost you would pay a large company. They even go that bit further and offer a one-to-one service out of hours should you require it. With background in the corporate world, they are better placed than most to help you with your corporation tax and whether you’re a sole trader, small business or established company, they will make sure everything is done quickly and efficiently to meet all HMRC deadlines.
TAX BITS & PIECES The Tax Man Calls
Since the Inland Revenue and the VAT Offices merged it has come as no surprise to anyone in the profession that the Revenue have gleefully dived on the VAT powers. Did you know that Tax Inspectors can call at your business premises to examine the records possibly unannounced? That being said it is unlikely that many people will be visited in this way. Unannounced visits will only be made when HMRC have reason to believe something is seriously wrong. For this reason alone it is imperative that the person’s tax advisor is present. The start of an unannounced visit can be delayed whilst summoning help.
Savings via ISA’s
Previously £7,200 per annum could be invested in a tax free savings plan above. From October this year anyone who will be 50 by 5 April 2010 can invest £10,200 for 2009/10.
VAT Increase
We have all got used to the 15% VAT rate but remember that it goes back to 17.5% on 1 January 2010.
Useful Revenue Booklet
HMRC have published a new A to Z guide of Tax Treatment of Employee Benefits. This is a very useful work of reference for employers who provide benefits or are thinking of doing so.
Money Laundering Regulations
This isn’t really anything to do with tax but the Inland Revenue are one of the bodies who monitor the above. Certain businesses e.g. banks, accountants, lawyers etc have to register with an authorised agency and have to report suspicious activity to the Serious Organised Crime Agency. The scope of the rules have been extended over the years. For example, self-employed bookkeepers now have to register. From 31 July 2009 the Money Laundering Regulations also apply to businesses involved in property sales such as Estate Agents and to any agent providing consumer credit. These businesses have until 31 January 2010 to register. If you are suppose to be registered and you haven’t, directors are exposed to unlimited financial penalties and even jail!
ccountant Online VAT Registration
If we were doing the VAT registration for our clients we would invariably do it online as this seemed to be more efficient. However, this is not the case anymore. A new version of the paper form was introduced at the beginning of the year and once this was introduced the online procedure immediately became incompatible and various checks could no longer be done online. It turns out that when you now apply online the form is printed out and put in a pile with all the other paper applications! Accordingly, if you are thinking of doing online VAT registration this is probably only efficient if you are a soletrader as there are few checks that are needed to be made. If you are a partnership or company then you may as well do the paper registration.
VAT and the Flat Rate Scheme (FRS)
The flat rate scheme has been pushed by HMRC on the grounds that they say it is a time and money saving arrangement. However, there can be sometimes hidden dangers in the FRS. If you are in the FRS you cannot reclaim input VAT but you pay over less output VAT. However, you have to apply the reduced flat rate percentage to all business income even if the business income is usually exempt or zero rated. So, for example, if your business receives exempt rents or even sells a company car which would normally be exempt this could lead to an unexpected VAT charge. Thus think carefully before joining the FRS.
Newsflash Mail on Sunday 8 November 2009 Headline : Middle Britain Caught in Blitz on Tax Havens The Mail ran a story about the latest offshore initiative by the Inland Revenue. Last year the Revenue gave publicity to the fact that they have details of offshore accounts held by UK residents which have not been shown on their tax returns. The Revenue offered a sort of amnesty for those who came forward in that if they declared the offshore accounts paid the tax and interest then the penalty loading for non-declaration would be kept at 10%. A number of people came forward but a lot did not. The Revenue have now launched a second initiative whereby if people come forward now the penalty would be kept to 20% of the tax due. The above headline was to publicise the Revenue’s stance for those people who still had not come forward. They will throw the book at them and will prosecute if needs be even if the tax bill is relatively small. The threat is prosecution for sums as low as £10,000. You have been warned!
Tax Scams
Note that there are a lot of the above going round at the moment. They proport to be the Inland Revenue offering a refund. The first ones of this nature were very obvious as they were clearly written by somebody who did not have English as their first language. However, later scams have become far more sophisticated. Please note that HMRC would never never use email to advise somebody that they had a tax refund so do not go there!
To ask Pat a Question, Please email her at: pat.cobham@yourbusinessezine.com or visit Cobhams at www.cobhams.co.uk
Ask The Expert
Humour
Stephanie Davies
Director and Founder of Laughology, Stephanie Davies has over 10 years experience working in the public and private sector which has gained her an unsurpassed reputation for designing and delivering laughter and humour interventions for businesses, practitioners, clients, young people and adults. Stephanie is recognised as one of the UK’s leading voices in laughter and humour. She was recently invited by the University of Chester to develop and deliver the UK’s first MA course in Humour in the Workplace and will soon complete an MA on The Psychological Benefits of Laughter, Humour and Personal Growth.
On leaving Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts in 2002 she began performing stand-up comedy, firing her fascination with the power of laughter and humour. After attending Dr Kataria’s Laughter Leader course Stephanie was accepted as a participant in world-renowned, Dr Patch Adams’s Health Care Intensive Training in the USA. She worked with Patch exploring the relationship between health, humour, community and the arts. On top of her busy training schedule, Stephanie is often asked to contribute to popular television programmes, such as Trisha, The Bank of Mum and Dad, BBC’s Heaven & Earth and ITV’s Stand-up Jenny. She is also a regular on BBC Radio
Service with a Smile or Snarl With the Christmas period approaching the service industry will take on temporary staff to cover the December rush with shops and restaurants around the UK getting busier. As people wine, dine and shop to get the best of out the commercial season, money is splashed about and tips are given as part of the season of goodwill. So are we right to give a tip just because we feel obliged and what kind of service is good enough to tip? From the age of eight when I lived in a hotel/restaurant until twenty-one, I have worked in the service industry to support my pocket money and help pay my way through higher education. My mother set very high standards and all the staff at the restaurant were trained and delivered a top quality service. I remember at the age of twelve waiting on and having to ask a customer if they would like custard or cream on their spotted dick. I was so embarrassed I left out the spotted part by mistake, which to the
table of ten was hilarious, and I ran off, though my mum was adamant that I go back, apologise and ask them politely again. I was very thankful they were nice people who saw the funny side and even left me a large tip. (I did wonder after that if I should miss the word out in future as a way to increase my tips) As I grew up and began working in different jobs; bars restaurants, shops I was always aware of giving the best service. Smiling and using appropriate humour to make sure the customer received the best possible experience. (I feel the need to reiterate here the spotted dick slip up was not an intentional joke at the age of twelve but was a learning point of how laughter can encourage a positive relationship with the customer. The other learning point of course was as I got older spotted dick was not just a dessert and not funny in the slightest) I was always thought if I got the experience right for the customer they will be loyal. Near where I live there is a local convenience store, the owner knows my
s
Consultant name and asks how I am every time I go in. Even though the goods are a little more expensive as it’s an independent shop and I am more than happy to support local people. Also I enjoy going there and feel valued as a customer and so I am loyal over the cheaper, larger stores. Unfortunately I find this the exception rather than the rule and I can re-call a number of incidents of bad service which have made me laugh and cringe at the same time. Possibly one of the most memorable was when I was a student and began working in a restaurant. In fairness it wasn’t silver service and catered more for students and a quick bite to eat, though good food, however good service should be expected still. There was a mixture of staff, mainly students ranging between sixteen and thirty. The incident I recall was a gentleman who had ordered chicken, it was not cooked properly and so he asked to speak with me about it. As I already had a handful of plates, I apologised and asked if he would mind waiting whilst I freed up my hands. As I approached the table I saw another member of staff speaking to the gentleman. To my amazement I saw the waiter in question lean over and grab the chicken off the plate. When I asked him in the calmest way I could what he was doing, he explained the customer was not happy with the chicken and he was taking it back. I explained through gritted teeth but still smiling, to take the whole plate. His response was possibly the best and worst response I’ve ever heard: “but he’s only got a cob on with the chicken.” Now whilst this is an extreme case it certainly sums up the lack of training provided. That was ten years ago and I don’t feel things have improved, if anything they have got worse. I know I’m not the only one who whilst being served, you find you are interrupting a conversation between Tracey on the till and Sharon on packing who are discussing the previous nights antics. One chain in particular I have questioned on a number of occasions their slogan, “happy to help”, when I’m not sure happy is the emotion I would use as the adjective. In any kind of industry where you or your team comes into contact
with the public, training is essential. Simple things like service with a smile, creating happiness and even a laugh with the public is paramount for repeat business. It’s unfortunate that this has slipped by through the years, possibly with the introduction of some of the larger stores this has produced a lack the personal touch. My top tips for anyone in the service industry is always be kind to your team, show them how feeling good encourages more positive behaviour and feedback. Take time to smile, talk to customers even share a joke. It will not only improve your business but help improve the day of you and your team. My final piece of advice would be the other name for spotted dick is plum bolster; it may save your younger team any unfortunate slip ups.
Ask Stephanie a Question by emailing her at: stephanie.davies@yourbusinessezine.com You can visit stephanies website at
www.laughology.co.uk
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hen is a taxi not a taxi? When it’s driven by a chauffeur. But what is a chauffeur? I always thought that a chauffeur was someone that held a driving licence and wore a uniform, or at least a suit whilst driving someone else from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’. Actually I was quite wrong. Whilst my assumptions may actually be correct, indeed essential to the job, it turns out that on there own they definitely do not denote the presence of a chauffeur. The actual and correct definition of a chauffeur is a mobile butler and as such, will have been trained to be so. I don’t get out much, but a couple of months ago I had to travel to London for a meeting with the government over something I can’t tell you about. Not that it’s a secret or anything, or even anything exciting, I just don’t have the time here and besides
that’s not what this story is about. Anyway, I decided to go down there on the train, and when booking the tickets I found that to travel down in what was rush hour, in first class was very expensive, so I went standard, but for my return journey, which was going to be a less orthodox time, it wasn’t much difference in price, so I booked first class to come home. I arrived at the train station in the morning and soon enough the train turned up. I found my seat and sat down. As I sat there I thought of the difference in price it had been for my seat and the first class version. I’ve never travelled anywhere first class before and I have to say, in the standard seat I was sitting in, on the Virgin train I was sitting on, it was quite pleasant. How much better could it be in first class I thought. I became quite smug, thinking how clever I was to save the extra money and almost feeling sorry for the poor folks up ahead that had forked out
the extra money, or perhaps they had more money than sense. I arrived in the capital just over 2 hours later and getting off the train at the same time as those up ahead, I couldn’t help smiling inside. I then went happily off to my meeting, then afterwards had a bit of time to kill, so wandered around doing a bit of sight seeing. After being bumped into for the 600th time, tutting at the price of, well everything and being very aware of just how fast everyone scurries around and thinking to myself, “why the hell would anyone want to live here”, it was time to head back to Euston for my train journey home. My First Class train journey home. When I got into Euston, the first thing I noticed was the first class lounge. I was a little early so I went in. As I sat there sipping my green tea with lemon and ginger and reading the papers provided in the very comfortable surroundings, I looked out the window to the ‘standard’
passengers below, scurrying and hanging around. At this point I began to think it was worth the extra money just for this. We were then informed of our train’s imminent departure, so we all headed over to the train. Finding my seat in first class and sitting down I quickly discovered what the difference in price was for. I was well attended to by some very well trained and courteous staff. I felt as though I was being looked after, more than the slightly bigger seats, this is what made me appreciate, in fact really enjoy that journey home. I was honestly sorry to get off the train at my station, and it wasn’t just because I was leaving behind half a bottle of wine. After that journey I vowed that whenever possible I would travel first class in the future.
Robbie Doran is the Managing Director of Rest and Relax transfers UK. He has been a chauffeur for the last 15 years; in fact he was actually trained as a chauffeur by Rolls Royce in Crewe. Over the years he has chauffeured over 600 celebrities all over the UK. Robbie set up Rest and Relax 7 years ago to do taxi, limo and transfer services with a difference. You see all of Robbie’s drivers are trained chauffeurs. Using chauffeurs instead of just drivers is exactly what sets Rest and Relax apart from the competition. Well that and Robbie’s extensive knowledge of the industry and his working environment. Allow me to give you an example. All of the chauffeurs that do airport runs have an extensive knowledge of the airport, specifically Manchester. As service is paramount for his clients, Robbie makes it his business to know what’s going on in Manchester Airport. You can give Robbie any flight number and he can tell you where that plane is coming from, what time it took off, or is due to take off and when it is due to land, or more impressively, he can tell you if the flight is delayed, even before it’s announced at the airport. This is important for him as having this information to hand means that when an airport job comes in, the customer is never left hanging around. Now that’s First Class customer service. Rest and Relax now have a substantial number of new fleet and executive cars, 8 seater minibuses and even a 16 seater minibus specially kitted out for golfers. In fact the company is sponsored by Golf Tours International based at Formby golf club. The company built its reputation predominantly doing airport transfers and has just won a lifestyle award at the Palm House in Sefton Park for this service. But now it is so much more. Having just secured the contract for the brand new 5 star Hilton Hotel in Liverpool, Rest and Relax are just going from strength to strength. Their business and hotel taxi service is growing in popularity on a daily basis and why not, if you need to travel somewhere by taxi, where would you rather sit. In a normal taxi, or in the back of a chauffeur driven car, where the sole aim of the driver and company is to deliver you to your destination as safely, efficiently and pleasantly as possible, because their reputation depends upon it. Robbie is very modest about what he does. In fact when pressed on the subject of the company’s success he quickly passes praise away to others within the business. “It’s all about the drivers, if you’ve got great drivers, you’ve got great customer service and we’ve got the best drivers. We are just like a family here, a very proud family. We take pride in each other and what we do as a company”. It’s actually really nice to speak with someone who has such passion and enthusiasm for what they do. Robbie said it would be very easy for him to just sit in the
office and run the business, but that’s not him, he is a chauffeur and wishes to remain one, so as often as possible he is out there with his family of chauffeurs. Something that I found amazing when talking to Robbie and Chris, (one of his managers, who also drives and I have met previously), is that if the driver has done their job properly, when the client, (not a passenger, that’s what other firms carry), leaves the vehicle, he or she should feel as though they have had a thoroughly pleasant journey, whether or not they spoke to the driver, but they shouldn’t know the drivers name. Now this isn’t for security reasons, or in fact for any other reason other than if the client has found out your name as a driver, you have gone too far. You should be informative, helpful, courteous, even friendly, but not enough to be friends. This is a fine balancing act, but with the right training and experience, this is what is expected. There are many things in the company that are now coming to fruition after Robbie has spent the last 6 months working very closely with his good friend James Pope on business development. James was tragically killed in a car crash recently, (a tribute to whom is in another section of this magazine), and this has hit Robbie understandably hard. “The best thing I can do now to honour James’s memory is to make sure that the plans we worked so hard on together, actually get delivered. Things are already happening, like the Hilton contract and winning the award, both due in no small measure to James”. The last few weeks have certainly been difficult, but Robbie’s determination will mean that whatever they were planning, it will happen. So what of the future for Rest and Relax. Well Robbie would very much like to see them as a household name around the Merseyside region and why not, with service like that the company will only continue to grow. He is also working closely with Liverpool City Council in an effort to expand the service he provides to hotels in the area and in an effort to try and stop taxi company’s that are not registered in Liverpool working in the area in blatant disregard for the licensing regulations. This is for the benefit of all Liverpool taxi firms, despite Rest and Relax expanding, some firms have found the last few years quite tough, so Robbie is championing their cause with the council. So next time you’re looking for a taxi, going on holiday or a business trip and need to get to the airport, want a Limousine for that special occasion, or going on a golf trip with a group of friends, you know there is only one company to call. Then all you have to do is Rest and Relax.
www.rest-relax.co.uk
Just like everyone else that we know, when we heard the news of James Pope’s tragic death on Thursday 12th November, we were completely in shock. When you first receive news of that sort, your first reaction is one of disbelief. “It can’t be true, it must be a mistake”. Followed by a feeling of helplessness, wanting to do something constructive to change a situation that can not be changed. Like so many others, hundreds of others, we were not his family, nor even his closest of friends, but a friend nonetheless. We were due to meet with James and Mel on Monday 16th in the hope that we could develop a much closer working relationship. This is something we will now talk to Mel about over the coming months. James was a gentle giant of a man. He was confident, happy and very giving. He was incredibly supportive not just of his friends and family, but also to other business people. Especially if he believed in what they were doing. A few words of encouragement from James if times were becoming tough would be all that was required for someone to pick themselves up and keep on going. The sheer tidal wave of condolences that have poured in through the social media sites is testament to the affect he has had on the lives of all those he touched. James, we are proud to have known you, you will be sorely missed. The team at YBE. Mark, Craig and Emma.
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I first met James when we used to go to a Mastermind group together. I was always impressed with his intelligence and could see what a true entrepreneur this guy really was. James very quickly became a friend and he just loved to take mick out of me. I’ll remember him for his warmth, kindness, generosity and great humour. He was a great Client and an amazing sales trainer. Me and Tom both miss James very much. Rest In Peace you. Danielle & Tom, Atmosferik Photography xxx
I have known my Cousin James for most of my life. James's father, David Pope, married my Aunt. Often they acted 'in loco parentis' for me at weekends and i really enjoyed the time i could spend with them. David had a great sense of humour and was extremely proud of his 4 children. James and his brother, were always united in my mind, their comedy duo, the perfect interplay, brought laughter to all. I know that, in time, the Pope jokes (inherited from their Dad) and the laughs will carry on. I'll always remember James as a successful, larger than life character, who was great to be around. My thoughts, prayers and feelings are with his immediate family and close friends. All the best Richard Lucas
Although I never had the chance to meet James I could see he was a well loved and well respected man who will be sadly missed. Diane Humphries
A Tribute to
James Pope
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Our Next Event: Andersons Bar, Exchange Street East (a right off Dale Street just before Royal Bank of Scotland), Liverpool City Centre, 26th January 2010. www.plus1networking.com
Business for Breakfast is a business club whose key aim is to help its members significantly grow their businesses through relationship marketing and the passing of qualified referrals. We run fortnightly meetings at locations in Liverpool and Wirral. Business for Breakfast only allows one person per industry sector to join a forum. This effectively prevents any of your competitors from participating - so all the referral business for your particular industry is yours. Why not take a look at the opportunities and benefits that your Business for Breakfast membership offers?
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he Manchester Curry Club was started 33 years ago by 3 bankers in the Raj Doot restaurant. It is still there and going stronger than ever. After changing hands several times over the years, 3 years ago Steve Kettle decided to take over. At that time there were about 15 people attending on a monthly basis, although many of those were retired and just used the monthly Curry Club as an excuse to get out of the house for an afternoon and socialise with friends as well as having a nice meal. All of this changed when Steve took over. Along with friend Pat McGreevy, they steadily built the numbers back up and got serious business people to attend. Then around 12 months ago they decided to register a company and Networking In The City was born. Over the last 12 months the numbers have now reached a steady 60 serious business people and NITC launched a Liverpool Curry Club in the Mayur restaurant in August of this year. Also over the course of the last year Steve and Pat have now been joined by Steve Maz, the companies IT and general technical guy as well as support from Wendy Harker.
LIVERPOOL
Curry
The format for every event is simple. All of the events are just £15 to attend. There is no membership fee and the £15 can be paid online or on the door. You arrive at 12 noon and register your attendance as well as receive a guest list. You are then able to head to the bar and with drink in hand, the next 50 minutes is open networking. At 10 minutes to one, one of
the team will say a few words and more often than not there will be someone else to speak for a few minutes. Then at 1 o’clock its time to sit down and continue chatting over a 2 course meal. Actually, one of the things that NITC pride themselves on is the quality of the restaurants, and having attended several events, I can tell you that the food is superb. The food is usually finished by around 2pm when people begin to drift off, but of course you always get the hard core who stay on much longer, often moving on together to another location if the restaurant closes. The events are always attended by key decision makers and high profile business professionals and are usually oversubscribed. The company is continuing to grow at an amazing rate with 4 events now running in Manchester central (Raj Doot), Manchester south (Swadesh), Liverpool (Mayur) and Sheffield (Agra). Next is going to be Edinburgh, Preston and Chester, with 28 more planned for next year. Now that’s what I call growth.
MANC
I can’t recommend attending these events highly enough. There is a great bunch of regulars that are serious business people and very approachable. You also get business people at these events that quite simply just don’t attend any others. And what a great excuse to have an extended business lunch, or even better, take the afternoon off work.
www.networkinginthecity.co.uk
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Due to the nature of networking events and the shear quantity, we are unable to list all of them in time for the release of the eZine as they may not of been confirmed. So, we have set up a public calendar on Google where the events will be kept up to date. Take a look... Click Link Below http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=calendar%40yourbusinessezine.com&ctz=Europe/London
To notify us of an event you can email the details to events@yourbusinessezine.com or Call 08000 432 734 Alternatively... Invite calendar@yourbusinessezine.com directly from your calendar.
NOVEMBER
25th
Master Mind - By Jim Petafi The Pioneer, Liverpool road, Crosby 1730hrs - 2000hrs FREE
NOVEMBER
25th
Liverpool Curry Club Sultans Place, Victoria Street, Liverpool Time: 5:00pm - 8:00pm ÂŁ15 on the door rsvp@mynetworkingpa.com www.liverpoolcurryclub.co.uk
www.mynetworkingpa.com
NOVEMBER
26th
Juice Networking Home at Woodside, Woodside Ferry Terminal, Birkenhead, CH41 6DU 0700hrs - 0830hrs ÂŁ10 Breakfast
http://www.juicenetworking.com/events.php
2nd
DECEMBER B for B Atlantic tower, Chapel Street, Liverpool, Merseyside 0645hrs - 0830hrs ÂŁ10 breakfast no commitment for non-members first visit required
http://www.bforb.com/index.php?pag=group_details&group_id=211&p=liverpool-atlantic-tower.html
Juice is a networking club that brings a fresh and vibrant flavour to blending different people together, in order to help businesses to grow and prosper. Juice has a friendly, professional and unique approach whereby there are NO rules. Just one simple request which is that each member attends the meetings with a zest to demonstrate commitment.
www.juicenetworking.com
Juice is about creating fresh opportunities... It’s about sowing the seeds and reaping the rewards.
DECEMBER
3rd
The Liverpool Property Meet Malmaison Hotel, Princess Dock,, Liverpool Doors open @ 18:30 and tickets can be booked online
www.liverpoolpropertymeet.co.uk
DECEMBER
8th
B for B Liverpool Marina, Cogburg Wharf Sefton Stree, Liverpool, 0645hrs - 0830hrs £10 breakfast no commitment for non-members first visit required http://www.bforb.com/index.php?pag=group_details&group_id=270&p=liverpool-marina-bar-grill.html
DECEMBER
8th
B for B The Liner hotel Lord Nelson St, Liverpool, Merseyside 0645hrs - 0830hrs £10 breakfast no commitment for non-members first visit required http://www.bforb.com/index.php?pag=group_details&group_id=62&p=liverpool-the-liner-hotel.html
DECEMBER
9th
Simply Networking Touchbase,East Britannia Building,Gower Street,Albert Dock, Liverpool 1500hrs - 1700hrs £10 on the door 50 capacity - Please book
http://www.networking4business.com/liverpool-events.htm
DECEMBER
9th
Juice Networking Home at Woodside, Woodside Ferry Terminal, Birkenhead, CH41 6DU 0700hrs - 0830hrs ÂŁ10 Breakfast
http://www.juicenetworking.com/events.php
DECEMBER
10th
Juice Networking Home at Woodside, Woodside Ferry Terminal, Birkenhead, CH41 6DU 0700hrs - 0830hrs ÂŁ10 Breakfast
http://www.juicenetworking.com/events.php
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T
is the festive season again! Time for sharing bad jokes in crackers with your family, a time to share more food than should be legally allowed, and a chance to reflect on the year that’s been: What’s been achieved and what can be improved for the coming year ahead? The team at YBE would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and thank all you fabulous people who have supported us and contributed to the ezine. We really couldn’t have done this without all of you. Now usually at this point myself, Mark or Craig would sit down with the business in question, start our mind map (mark is obsessed with them) and ask a number of questions before we write the feature. Well I cant do that, It just doesn’t feel right to write about ourselves, so instead we have asked one of our members to write a few words on what we’re doing and his thoughts on the ezine…….. “As you may well know, the first edition of Your Business E-Zine was launched online in September, and was well received. I had an advert in this and the results were overwhelming. I received nothing but positive feedback in the form of new work and new contacts in the industry. I also received positive feedback from friends and colleagues whom I’d asked to take a look at the ezine. They all seemed impressed with the articles, the accessible online style, the professional layout of the ezine and ironically the environmentally friendly use of the online format (that is no trees to fell to make the monthly edition). This generated lots of new work for me through the free advertising! It’s a real boost for me and my team when we receive new business via a fresh new medium. The launch party for YBE in September at the Chameleon Bar was a resounding success, with over 200 people there, this allowed me to really stretch my wings and reach a much wider audience. A purely fun and tasteful networking party which generated yet further publicity and interest in my company. Fantastic! Emma Dolan, the magazines networking guru makes all the difference when it comes to these kinds of events as she is a people person with flair and skill to get results for your company, as she has with mine. Mark who contributes the bulk of the content in the ezine is professional and measured in his approach to the content and presentation, gaining maximum impact with minimal fuss. And then there’s Craig. He han-
dles the technical side of the magazine, creating original designs which gives the magazine its unique format and style which has been described as intelligent and fresh. What’s not to love? So what’s on offer at the magazine now? Well they like to do things differently at YBE. For example, should you wish to place an advert but are unsure if it will be successful or cost effective, then there is no need to worry. You can simply pay for your advert on a “Pay as you Go” basis. That is if your advert doesn’t work, you simply don’t pay! It really is that simple. Free advertising! I don’t know of any company who works this way and it just confirms the whole ethos of the magazine. They really are here to support and help local business. Another amazing opportunity for you budding entrepreneurs out there, YBE is now ready to franchise into other areas. With solid support from their team, it’s a perfect opportunity for those who want to get in to the business, but don’t know how, or have the necessary technical or business skills. They are aware that there are many of you who would be perfect for the job, but may not have the financial backing at present. So YBE has offered a “Try Before You Buy” deal. Now those of you who network a great deal more than myself will know just how cool there jobs really are. Who knows, that could be you! YBE really has been a revelation for businesses across Merseyside, with astounding results. I would recommend it to anyone who takes their business seriously and would like to take it to the next level. It’s such a great tool to get your business out there in the public and business domain, and not only Liverpool, it’s now launched in Manchester, will be in London by March and soon to be in Singapore and Dubai, in fact by the end of 2010, they estimate there will be between 15 and 20 editions being published. In other words, global exposure. The sky really is the limit. That’s another thing I like about the YBE team, their ambitious. They think outside the box, the magazine and the country. Horticultural work being seasonal, I have time during the winter months to plan ahead for the forthcoming year. YBE helps by offering an array of services to get my business ready for the New Year, like listing networking events which always spur fresh contacts and generate business. “Have your say” a chance for people to leave comments and have their business named in the ezine. “Ask the experts”, yet another great tool for SME’s who may not have the resources
to approach these experts directly. There are too many things to mention and I’ve enjoyed being part of it from the very beginning. YBE’s assistance since their launch has been Sterling in their tireless efforts to get businesses booming again. A truly professional outfit, I can’t say enough about them. If you’re not a part of the ezine yet, I’d suggest you get your skates on and join this exciting and successful new venture that is Your Business E-Zine.”
S A M M T S I R H C Y R R E
Well Gareth from Horlock Horticulture, what can I say besides thank you. (I’ll drop that £50 quid off for you later).
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John Haynes Interviews Frank McKenna Where Are The Leaders?
L
eadership is the most important single factor in determining business success or failure in our competitive, turbulent, fast moving economy. The quality of leadership is the decisive strength or weakness of our businesses in Liverpool as a city and our country. The ability to step up to the plate and provide the necessary leadership is the key determinant of achievement in all human activities. This month I am speaking to Frank McKenna. The reason I have chosen Frank McKenna for
my lets fly with the eagles interview, is that he is one leader in our city, who seems to have the courage and honesty to see the world as it is and not as he wishes it to be. As you read this interview I want you to appreciate the honesty and courage that Frank has shown as he has gone through much adversity, ties and setbacks in his life. But like true leaders, he has kept faith with his own beliefs and values. He has fought back and is now becoming a true and inspirational leader in this city, which by the way is definitely lacking and needed in many quarters. Read and enjoy about the real
Frank McKenna……………… I’ve known Frank McKenna for many years now, in fact I was one of the very first members of Downtown Liverpool in Business. To be honest with you, there aren’t many people on Merseyside that don’t know him now. So were did Frank come from and how does he find himself in the position he is in today. Frank started out his working life as a welfare rights officer at the tender age of just 19 in Leicester. He fondly remembers working there
between 1983 and 1984, even stating his salary at the time of £7190 per annum. From here, Frank went on to study at Liverpool University and in 1986 got a job as senior community developer in St Helens. Much of his time in this role was spent putting together proposals which were subsequently put before politicians to make decisions on. So in 1986, Frank decided to become a politician and was the youngest county councillor in Lancashire at the time, at just 26 years of age. In 1991 he headed social services in Lancashire, which was the biggest in the country at that time and then, in 1992 he
came to the attention of the Labour leadership and was made a Parliamentary Assistant in Westminster. He held this role for 7 years and during this time was part of Tony Blair’s campaign team. Then in 1999, Frank was voted Deputy Leader of Lancashire County Council, as well as being the leader of the North West Regional Assembly. This role as Deputy Leader was something that Frank cherished. The actual leader at the time was more of a figure head, so Frank effectively led Lancashire County Council from day one, in actual fact he was officially elected leader soon after and described by the Financial Times as the most powerful politician in the north west. It is fairly safe to say that Frank had achieved a considerable amount in his early career. Unfortunately, like many things in life, what goes up can also come down. After being elected leader, Frank found himself being investigated by the police for overspending. You see as a politician, you have a budget you can spend on campaigning for an election; at the time this was £10,000. Now if you’re in a marginal seat, it would be quite common to use every last penny of this, but if your seat was safe, that would be unnecessary. Frank was in a safe seat. He was extremely confident that he had not overspent at all. In fact it turns out that the investigation was for a £66 overspend. Given his confidence about his innocence and the amount of the alleged overspend; Frank was sure that this wouldn’t go any further. Then just before the 2001 election, he got the news that the Crown Prosecution Service had decided to prosecute the case. This now made Frank’s position untenable. He remembers at the time thinking, “in any other walk of life, you are innocent until proven guilty, but in politics, an accusation can end your career”. He was stunned and resigned under duress. All of Frank’s income had come from politics, now he was out of a job. He quickly decided that he would have to become self employed, after all, who would want to employ him with a criminal investigation ongoing against him. He started off advising the private sector on matters to do with the public sector, in the mean time, the investigation continued. His house had been raided, he had been arrested and in 2003, not long after Frank’s 40th birthday, a date was
set and 4 weeks set aside for his court case. Frank actually remembers a meeting with his barrister, after he had reviewed his case, and his barrister telling him that he never tells anyone they are going to be found innocent, as you never know how things will go on the day, but he will be found not guilty. The case was being heard in Chester Crown Court. The judge threw the case out on the first day, there was no case to answer. Franks team has estimated that the cost of investigating and bringing to court this alleged overspend of £66 was in excess of £11 million. Also whilst the investigation was ongoing, Frank was constantly in the press, for all the wrong reasons. In fact he was told that he is the only man to appear in 70 consecutive editions of Private Eye. But Frank also recalls that to the credit of the journalists that covered the investigation, they also covered the fact that his case had been thrown out. So, after the highs of being elected as leader of a county council, to the lows of being the subject of an unfounded criminal investigation, in April 2004 Frank set up DLIB. In fact, DLIB was set up as a political lobby group, mainly for the property sector, but through demand from its members, also became a networking organisation. So what made Frank go from being a successful politician to a successful business man? What was his motivation for fighting through and not only surviving, but actually doing well? Franks first response to this question was having great people around him, which to be honest, must be part of the answer, but there has to be more to it. He then said that everyone has to find their own reasons, but for him, he really felt an “I’m going to show them” attitude. He also felt as though he had a responsibility to his family to get himself back out there and achieve something. But behind all of these reasons, there is an underlying drive which he has had since childhood, to be the best at whatever he does. What of the future now for Frank and DLIB. 2010 looks like being a very important year for the business. With plans to move into Manchester, this will be a huge leap forward and is only possible because of the investment that’s been made into employing and motivating a young and high achieving team of people who are able and driven to move the business for-
ward. Frank openly admits that the businesses greatest strength is also it’s greatest weakness, himself. So after just over 5 years of trading, DLIB is moving to the next level, a level were it can survive and prosper with or without Frank McKenna. There have certainly been mistakes made along the way, Frank actually says that he has made far more mistakes in business than he ever did as a politician, the only difference is that as a business man, you are able to simply pick yourself up from your mistakes, brush yourself off and try a different way, were as a politician, you are generally nailed to the wall, either by the press, or your opposition every time you do the slightest thing wrong. So would Frank ever go back into the political arena? Well, you can never say never. He feels that at this moment in time he certainly wouldn’t. “I have the best job in the world right now”, so why would he leave that. If however, maybe in a few years time, his succession plan was successful and DLIB could not only survive, but prosper without him and an opportunity arose for him to run for a post such as elected Lord Mayor of Liverpool, then he may consider it, but there does appear to be a lot of ‘if’s’ in there. Frank has a great vision for the future, but can he predict it. I wanted to know if he was prepared to make a few predictions about anything he felt like. Here is what he came up with. “The next 10 years for Liverpool will be better than the last. The next 5 years for DLIB will be better than the last. Everton Football Club will win a trophy this year. Liverpool Football Club will win the Champions League this year”. You heard it here first folks. Let me tell you, as a devoted blue, that last one hurt him to say. Great business leadership is characterized by honesty, truthfulness, and straight dealing with every person, under all circumstances. Keep leading Frank, keep this city of ours on its toes, by having the courage to tell it the way it is. Keep your honesty, fun and above all keep your passion, love and desire to make Liverpool and its business community the very best. Thanks for your time Frank, you are a true leader.
www.downtownliverpool.com
images courtesy of DLIB & Matt Ford Photography more images at www.downtownliverpool.com
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