Rags to Wreckages... to Riches

End of Firms? What entreprenuers need to do…

What kind of business will be successful coming out of this recession?

And, how do we build it?

That is the big question for every entrepreneur who is either starting up now – or already on the journey.

So, what will happen… and what do we do about it?

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Innovation Challenge…

Research shows that freelancers can solve many of the challenges faced by businesses, agencies or departments that are looking to innovate and grow.

Instead of just being a way to save costs, freelancers are discovering that they bring original ideas and solutions to their clients.

But does it work? Can freelancers help avoid failure and stimulate innovation?

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How to Achieve More with Less Cash

Okay, we know the answer lies with outsourcing – but how much can you outsource and how do you do it safely?

Here are our 7 key tips…

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How to Grow your Successful Enterprise – Get Agile

I recently got sent a link to the report that Ernst & Young launched at Davos earlier this year and it has some important lessons and advice for successful entrepreneurs – you’ve got to become agile.



So, how do you do that? Let’s find out…

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7 Point Plan – How to Grow Your Business in 2010

How do we grow our businesses in 2010?

We have less cash than before, and borrowing is either impossible or way too expensive.

We’ve made cuts already to our business and so have a smaller team and less staff than before.

We know government cuts to public spending are coming and will impact on at least some of our customers if not our businesses directly.

So what do we do?

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Wake up and Smell the Greek Coffee

The riots on Greek streets and the IMF inspired bailout tell us that a major fiscal storm is coming to the UK very soon – unless deep cuts are made to public spending.

And, for businesses to be prepared to handle that impact, we need to plan and implement right now.

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Successful Entrepreneurs Ditch the “Sell Your Business for Zillions Goal”

Guys – it is time to ditch the old ‘build a business and sell it for zillions’ goal!

Just as easy credit has passed into history so too have the dreams of becoming instant dot.com millionaires as a result of a few lucky breaks and some unknown buyer waving cheque books.

As most successful entrepreneurs know, it doesn’t really happen like that – unless you are incredibly lucky.

But, it is a common battle cry from entrepreneurs that they want to sell their business for £5m in 3 years time – or some similar sort of goal.

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Three special questions every successful entrepreneur asks

Successful entrepreneurs are constantly asking three key questions –

1. ‘what isn’t working’
2. ‘why isn’t it working’ and
3. ‘can I do anything about it’?

These three questions are the most important questions in the entrepreneurs vocabluary and a lifetime can be spent on developing the skills and abilities to answer those as successfully as possible.

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Are you Building a Big But Dumb Business?

Tom Farmer, the entrepreneur who made his money with Quick Fit, a tyres and exhausts retailer and fitter, says that the bigger you are – the dumber you are.

In Mr Farmer’s view ‘the reason governments are dumb is because they are so big’.

So size is a real problem for both businesses and institutions.

Therefore, Tom Farmer is an advocate of the low employee business, which grows by outsourcing all the other services.

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The Economist Gets Behind Freelance Working

Even The Economist´s Schumpeter column is reporting and marginally supporting the idea of freelancing, especially for interim CEOs who are normally very expensive to get rid of (and most of whom don’t work out). The article points out that the hiring process for CEOs is ‘hopelessly inefficient’ yet ends with the old adage that The most [...]

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The Big Secret – Recruitment Interviews Don’t Work

We have a recruitment interview Breakdown – 86% of interviews fail to pick the right person for the job.
According to a Michigan State University study on predictors of performance,
Some 90 per cent of hiring decisions are made as the result of the interview, but interviewing is only 14 per cent accurate…

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Dear Successful Entreprenuers – A warning…

Dear successful entrepreneurs,

Here is my warning…

Just remember if you do employ traditionally (and ignore the freelance model), here is what you will be paying for sooner or later…

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Freelancing – the Future Looks Like This… Part I

“The glue that holds the company together is trust” said Dr James Bellini, a forecaster of employment trends, and therefore not employment.

This statement stands in direct conflict with some of the comments expressed in response to my article ‘Entrepreneurs – never employ anyone’.

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Objection to Hiring Freelancers – “I Want to Hire the Best”

Okay, we’ve started the ball rolling on this website with the controversial claim that entrepreneurs should only hire freelancers…

…that you have to hire the best. … and hiring the best means you have to offer the full time employment – the best package – a full time employment contract and for CEO’s golden handshakes to welcome them and golden parachutes should they fail, share options if they don’t etc.

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National Freelancers Day

Business models are changing – and what people want from work is changing too. The new way to work, for nearly all white collar work, is freelance. In recent years, freelancers have established their own trade body – the Professional Contractors Group. And now they are celebrating National Freelancers Day on 23rd November 2009. This [...]

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