Guest blogging – what’s that about then?

Hi.

Really surprised it’s 7 weeks since I blogged – life is a bit of a blur, but that’s no excuse.

Actually, I wrote a blog a couple of weeks ago.  It’s on the subject of outsourcing, why you should, when you should and such forth.  So why haven’t you seen it?  Because it’s going to be published on someone else’s blog in a couple of weeks as a ‘guest blog’.

What’s the rationale?

Well, she doesn’t have to write a blog, so that’s easy for her!  It also means that she can publish a blog that she’s comfortable will be of relevance and interest to her readers and that they will be entertained / stimulated / given food for thought from a slightly different perspective to her usual standpoint.

For me, if her readers find me interesting, well, maybe they’ll follow my blog, or my Twitter feed (@enterprisedoc), or at least have a browse of my website (http://www.enterprisedoctor.co.uk/), which will hopefully be to their benefit and to mine.

Why am I telling you this?  Well, firstly as a bit of a teaser – in a couple of weeks I’ll point you at her blog so you can see what I had to say on the subject.

But also to make you an offer.

Do you think you could write a blog that would appeal to the type of people who might follow me & read my stuff?  If so, would you like to submit a guest blog to me?  If you so, I may choose to publish, if I agree that it’s interesting and relevant.  All my fans will then know a little about you.

Not quite sure who the loser is here – my kind of outcome!

Busy busy busy!!

I realised on Thursday (and I’ll tell you why in a mo) that I’ve not blogged in a while.

Why not?  Because I’ve been busy!

As a brief run-down, so you know I’m not just making excuses since I last blogged I have:

• Enjoyed watching the views go up & up on Youtube for the Christmas show on Marlow FM I did with Mike Duckett of http://www.coachingforsuccess.co.uk/ - 69 views so far, so little old me is quite happy with that!  If you want a listen (it’s quite entertaining) go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I-Xnasc3sc on your next lunch break & prepare to be entertained.  How long will it take you to guess who the guest was?

• Wrote a marketing strategy for a professional Institute – they wanted it partly to use as an aid in recruiting their new Marketing Manager – they liked it so much that they asked me to write the job spec & person spec, and then they asked me to take part in the whole recruitment process – challenging work but thoroughly enjoyable & delighted that they’ve made clear they want to put more work my way.

• Had Ros Hammond of http://www.eliaction.co.uk/ as a guest on Marlow FM – Ros is expert in the HR perspectives of employment law and you can hear a little of what she had to say at both http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDm7oR7m_Ks and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCWwJy8I3OA – the latter is particularly useful if you’re not sure why you might want to engage with an HR consultancy and you are a micro business.

• Went to Spain for 6 days.  It was work – honest!  OK, so I played some golf, ate some food, lounged around a bit too, but I was actually working with a business owner I know out there, helping him primarily with his first real foray into social media.

• And speaking of social media, we had Vicky White of http://www.outsourcepaservices.co.uk/ in the studio.  As the web address implies, she’s a PA you can hire by the hour or the day, but one of her key areas of expertise is social media, which she proved a number of times on air.  We’d heard that a number of Beatles songs had social media references within the lyrics – hear Vicky’s explanations at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsAsKkqGGug .  Her thoughts on Google + (perhaps more positive than yours!) are at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-pdSGMMaOo – have a listen – it may well give you food for thought!

• Mike and I often try to out-do eachother with absurd but true topics – to hear Mike telling us about a treadmill with a desk built in, so you can walk and work at the same time, have a listen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shGjyc4Cba8 – I think he might win!

Oh, and what prompted me to get back into blogging?  Vicky, of course.  No point talking about social media without doing it!

Best show of the year!

I co-presented Biz Buzz on Marlow FM with Mike Duckett of Coaching for Success on 20th December 2012.

We had a very special guest on the show – the CEO of a major global corporation.

In an unusual move the whole show has been uploaded here.

Listen from the beginning to hear Mike & I talk about altruistic bonuses, whether CSR is cynical or genuine, whether Christmas is a busy time for all businesses and a great chat about why “a knee in the groin” was in the news.

If you’d rather skip to the arrival of our special guest, that’s 18 minutes & 12 seconds into the recording.

If you can’t work out who he is, you can cheat by skipping to 40:28 where the secret is revealed!

We all really enjoyed the show – we hope you enjoy it too!!

Merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy & prosperous 2013.

CEO of major global corporate to be Marlow FM guest

Hi.

Really chuffed to be able to announce that my guest, along with co-presenter Mike Duckett  of http://www.coachingforsuccess.co.uk/ , for our next show on Marlow FM at 2pm on 20th December will be the CEO of a major global corporation.

He (and yes, it’s he, not she) will be talking about his business, how long he’s been running it, how they deal with their major supply chain challenges, how they’ve dealt with the attention of animal rights campaigners and much much more.

The bad news is that his security people have made us sign a non-disclosure agreement, so we can’t announce in advance who it will be – they really don’t want the studio mobbed by those who either love him or hate him.

You can listen live via the Listen button on the top right corner of the page at http://www.marlowfm.co.uk/ .  If you’re local to Marlow you can listen live on 97.5FM.

You can also email or text questions during the show and will also be able to phone in while we’re on the air to chat with him & ask your business related questions (please only phone while music is playing so we can chat to you prior to putting you on the air).

We look forward to entertaining you with some real business insights from the man who is undoubtedly the global number one in his field.  Enjoy.

So what’s this CSR thing all about then?

The radio show on http://www.marlowfm.co.uk/ last Thursday was fun.

Mike Duckett of http://www.coachingforsuccess.co.uk/ co-presented with me as usual, and as usual we had a good chat before talking to our guests for the show.

Given the interest that both Mike and I have in sales, the link at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EktNYGyT9TI&feature=plcp is on how a sales person can influence a decision by a buyer simply by carefully choosing how hard a seat they sit on.  Have a listen – you might learn something useful!

Another way of influencing people is by having appropriate receptacles in which to serve food – confused?  Have a listen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrLzqkU0okQ&feature=plcp – all will be revealed.

Bekki James and Sharon Cook of http://www.4cwycombe.com/ were our guests on the show, to talk about Corporate Social Responsibility and how 4C helps both businesses and charities to make that happen.

So what is CSR?  Have a listen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8gquD9dfhc&feature=plcp to find out.

And what if you’re not Mega Corp plc, with deep pockets & thousands of staff?  The clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=janrv13OPh4&feature=plcp explains how even one man (or woman!) business can not only get involved, but can themselves benefit in tangible ways from that involvement.

Hope you enjoy the clips.  All feedback welcomed!

Oh, and by the way, we’re negotiating for a really serious guest on 20th December – he runs a massive global enterprise with phenomenal supply chain challenges – do make sure you listen in!

So – who is best – Reading, Manchester United or Enterprise Doctor?

On Saturday afternoon the answer about Reading and Man U was answered in a brilliant game – if you’re not aware of what happened, read about the “remarkable 7 goal thriller” here .

On Sunday morning, the mood at the Madejski Stadium was a little more subdued, the crowd a little smaller.  In a first for Berkshire, Get Berkshire Active (see here for more on them) used the services of Steve Woolland of wctd to organise a full day of networking, training and sharing of best practice for sports coaches from across Berkshire and beyond.  For an insight into some of Steve’s work for them, have a look here .

I had accepted the challenging role of getting the coaches into the right frame of mind for the day, making them want to do things better, to run a better sports club, to better manage their people and their members, as well as managing “up-line” in some circumstances.

I have done a presentation a number of times before, at networking groups, at a regional AGM of the FSB and even (somewhat dauntingly!) at a meeting of the Chartered Management Institute.  That presentation, which usually goes down quite well, is entitled “How to improve your business”.

But these people were not running businesses, they were sports coaches.  True, some of them ran their own coaching or personal training business, and some of them recognised that a sports club is in many ways no different from a business.  So, I set about changing my standard offering to be more appropriate to the audience I’d be addressing.

And how did it go?  Well, if you have a look at my Twitter feed @enterprisedoc you’ll see what I re-tweeted from participants.  For a broader view you can search Twitter for #coachforum – some great comments there.

From my perspective, it went pretty well.  I feel I really motivated some great sports coaches to think a little differently about what they do.  They are often focussed on how they can help their members to be their best – I helped them to focus more on how they can be their best, to better help their members to achieve.

So – who is best – Reading, Manchester United or Enterprise Doctor?  Well, I guess it depends on the criteria, but if it’s motivating a group of coaches on a very cold Sunday morning, I’d say Enterprise Doctor!

How to build a company & sell for £200m. And then what?

Mike Clare was the guest of Mike Duckett of http://www.coachingforsuccess.co.uk/and myself on our most recent show on http://www.marlowfm.co.uk/ , and what an interesting guest he was.  Mike is the former owner of http://www.dreams.co.uk/ which he famously sold for around £200m, and is now Executive Chairman of http://www.clarenco.com/ and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of http://www.theclarefoundation.org/ .

Having delved into start-ups in previous shows, we wanted to look at the other end of the scale, selling a business.

Given that we don’t just throw these shows together (!), there was a flow to the discussion and you can follow that flow through the links below.

Mike speaks first about his first steps into the bed business (and what he did before that) here and reveals some of the secrets of his success here .

A key part of being successful is hiring and nurturing the right people.  Mike explains how it was important for him to know if the candidate was wearing a cap or on drugs.  Confused?  Have a listen here .

Perhaps the key question is “Why sell a successful business?” – hear Mike’s answer here , as well as why he didn’t sell it sooner.  What makes it the right time??

Having never sold a business, how do you go about doing it?  Who should be your advisors?  How do you know you can trust them?  Hear how Mike did it here .

So, there you are with £200m in the bank and no job.  So, what do you do now??  Your answer may well be different to Mike’s but hear what he had to say here.

We hope you enjoy these clips – as always, constructive comments are welcome!