Poke The Box - Seth Godin (Book Review)

“Poke The Box” is the first Seth Godin book I’ve purchased having become familiar with his blog posts, interviews, videos, lectures and talks.

The book was mentioned on an internet marketing podcast that I listen to regularly so decided to order it on a whim.

The central theme hinges on the notion of starting by taking action. It’s about dispelling the fear of failure and inhibition when we want to commence a new project or activity. Lack of imagination, poor attitude and society’s disapproval of those who upset the applecart is something perpetually holding the best of us back.

Improve Your Sales Pitch #7: Understand Cultural Differences

In my business/marketing affairs with local takeaway outlets, I have met and spoken to several Chinese restaurant owners. A tip I read in an online article about Chinese business culture describes the need to save face in negotiations. A slower, hushed conversational pace and sense of reverence is congruent in a typical Chinese boardroom. The slow pace and mutual respect helps build trust for what will usually be viewed as a long term business relationship.

Can anything be learned from this that would help us deal with Chinese-run businesses in England or elsewhere?

Social Networking On Your Day Off

Social networking seems very easy for some people. They can walk into a room and in a few minutes they'll be talking and getting to know the most important people there. 

They're lucky, many others have trouble with basic networking skills. This can cost them job opportunities, customers, and chances to advance their career.

Still, even if you're an introvert, you can increase your network, helping your job opportunities and expanding your career options. The best part is you can do it in your spare time and even have some fun doing it. All you need to do is find your interests.

Wasted Opportunities #4: Stock Purchase Hesitation and a Missing Supply Chain

This one of many retrospective accounts of a money making idea not followed up or blundered because of procrastination.

It serves as my own reminder and as a lesson for future reference.

Dear Diary…

For my illustrated greetings cards, a high street retailer offered the envelopes I needed at 2.5 pence each, sold in packs of 40. The dimensions were slightly off by a few millimeters but it was the cheaper option. I bought a few hundred envelopes months ago but ran out. Upon returning to the store to buy more I discovered they have discontinued this line of stock.

How to Improve SEO for Your Small Business Website in 2013

If you want to improve the success of your small business website, you need to actively work on your website’s SEO.

By improving the SEO of your small business website, you will be able to increase the number of visitors that come to your website by getting your website to move up the search engine rankings. While this process of improving your website’s SEO is not complicated, it is time consuming and requires a sound strategy in order to succeed.

I was hired to perform an SEO campaign for one small business company. Here are my advice based on my own experience.

Should You Expand Your Small Business Abroad?

Any small business needs to consider how it is going to progress.

A business that provides a very local service may not need to look beyond a small geographical location, but businesses that rely on sales or a variety of services may have the option of launching into foreign markets. 

Run a Local Collection Service

The elderly often have no means of transport and will gladly part with cash for assistance. Similarly, the perpetually short of time, busy or disorganised find it easier to delegate food shopping to someone else. They will pay for the privilege.

If you have transport and live near a 24 hour store, you could provide a useful local collection service and create an in-demand business focusing on your town or local area.

3 Tips for Cutting Small Business Expenses

To make money you need to spend money; running a small business incurs all sorts of costs from paying staff salary to purchasing shipping supplies.

Unless you have been highly diligent in tracking how your business spends money, chances are you may be putting out more than you need, which is directly impacting your profit margin.

If you are struggling a bit, it is high time to take a good look at where your money is going to see where you can make some cash-preserving tweaks. Here are some tips to cut your business expenses.

A 50 Year Review of House Prices

We live in a time of relatively stagnant property prices, however over the last 50 years house prices have increased quite constantly.

In fact, according to a recent report the price of a home just over 50 years ago was only £2,500 – making it something of a bargain.

The report by Halifax shows that the price of a home has risen by over 65 times in the last half a century, The housing area has in fact grown by almost 9 per cent each year since 1959, which is quite a significantly large figure.

5 Ways to Show Initiative in the Workplace

Organisations and society in general have conditioned us into compliance rather than curiosity at work.

Nobody wants to take the blame if something does not work out. If an idea succeeds, you get the credit. If it fails, your manager looks bad.

But find small, safe ways to push yourself past your job description and you will build a reputation as someone who gets things done. Superiors will come to have more confidence in you and allow you more responsibilities.

Improve Your Sales Pitch #6: Use Imagery

Having studied and created art all my life, I tend to talk in way that illustrates ideas using mental imagery. Painting a picture using metaphor, idioms or comparisons is like a concise poetry that can speak a thousand words so you don't have to. 

Sales people usually carry promotional literature and use slide projectors in their presentations, but even better is a mental that speaks meaningfully to your prospect.

If you already know a little about a prospect or have built up prior knowledge of their interests, you can tailor this approach to great effect.

Top Tips for Potential Investors

If stocks and shares interest you and having a go a trading is your next big financial step, it pays to know what you’ll be getting yourself into. Here are a few basic tips to put you on your feet before you begin trading.