Great short video from Derek Sivers. Founder of CD Baby, TED speaker, writer, and all around nice guy, Derek talks about  Uncommon Sense. Entrepreneurs and business owners take note. This is 1 of 8 video you can watch the rest here.

How do you startup a successful dating site, consultancy, blog and create a series of children’s books? Impossible right?  I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Howard Kington from startupremarkable.com

In this interview I discuss what it takes to have a portfolio career and how to act on your entrepreneurial impulses as well as sharing the methodologies I uses to get so much done. The video is a very grainy in parts. You can check the video out below.

A national mentoring programme aimed at educating small business owners on the requirements for getting bank finance will be launched on Monday.

The initiative – backed by the British Bankers’ Association and the Prince’s Trust, among others – is the latest plan to help create meaningful change in the area of access to finance. Around 200 mentors will initially be made available to guide company owners through the process of applying for a loan, although the plan is to increase this number to 1,000 eventually. Access to finance remains a highly contentious issue in spite of banking industry claims that the main high street lenders are meeting their targets for making money available.

Borrowing by small businesses continues to fall. Figures released by the Bank of England this week showed that, in May alone, the amount banks lent to non-financial corporations fell another £4.9bn. The Bank of England’s agents report, published earlier in June, suggested that small businesses are putting off borrowing – not because they do not need funds but because they fear that asking for additional cash will mean they will be made to pay more for their total debt. The findings also suggest that companies may be stockpiling cash as a security against having to borrow.

Deposits in May rose by £4.7bn, 11 per cent higher than three months earlier. Lending through alternative funders – such as building societies, invoice financing businesses and asset-based lenders – last year rose to £10bn from £7.5bn 12 months earlier, according to the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB). However, this was still about 47 per cent down on the amounts lent in 2007.

Adam Tyler, NACFB chief executive, said banking industry claims that most loans are approved exclude the large numbers of applications that fail to get as far as a credit committee and so are not officially turned down. NACFB’s members want to lend but struggle to gain the attention of would be business customers because they are not on the high street, Tyler added.

John Anderson, chief executive of The Entrepreneurial Exchange, the networking club for ambitious fast growing companies in Scotland, welcomed the new mentoring scheme, but added that a lot of information to help companies secure loans is already available on websites and not being used. “There is no doubt that there is still a lot of naivety on what is required,” he said.

First published via The Financial Times

In researching his book, Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work, Paul L. Marciano planned to review 15 different theories on how to motivate people. What he discovered was that productivity was not increased by the traditional “rewards and recognitions” prevalent in organizations. Watch this short video on his explanation as to why carrots and sticks don’t work.

His book “CARROTS AND STICKS DON’T WORK” Can be purchased here

Does your company need a mobile app of its own? With all the talk of iPad and other mobile devices that use apps, many companies are asking, “Should we get in on this?” But not all businesses benefit from developing an app.

For some, a well-designed mobile website can be just as effective. Find out what companies should consider before getting a piece of the app market by checking out this nice infographic courtesy of buysellads.com below.

The heads of Britain’s blue-chip companies have been criticised after they were reportedly given big pay rises despite the economic donwturn.

The figures, compiled by pay consultancy MM&K and corporate governance group Manifest, angered shareholder groups and trade unions. Those in charge of FTSE 100 companies earn more than 150 times the average wage in Britain of around £23,000.

The FTSE’s top earner was Michael Spencer of broking firm ICAP who took home £23m. Median pay, the mid-point between the top and bottom earners, was £3.5m. Sarah Wilson, chief executive of Manifest, said:

“This is not the politics of envy, this is about saying, ‘hang on, you’re coming back to shareholders for bailing out, but we are not getting rewarded. “The survey identifies a shift from longer-term incentives, typically over three years, to annual bonuses, mirroring the approach that caused so many problems in the banking sector.” First posted via news.sky.com

A merchant services account is necessary for businesses that wish to accept credit cards. Credit cards are becoming very popular these days and accepting this form of payment really improves the shopping experience for your customers. Banks and third party financial institutions such as North American Bancard offer merchant accounts. These institutions provide businesses with a way to validate a credit card transaction and once a transaction is valid, it is processed.

Once a transaction is processed, an electronic bill is sent to the customer’s credit card provider so the funds can be transferred. Because of the fees associated with accepting credit cards, merchants earn less per transaction. But, the benefit of this is that more customers are more likely to shop at your establishment due to the convenience. This allows you to earn more than you would without accepting credit card transactions.

Cash only businesses are becoming less popular because not many consumers carry around cash these days. This is mainly because credit cards allow customers to check out much faster and credit card companies reward them with perks for using their card.

It is difficult for businesses that don’t have a merchant services account because potential customers may go elsewhere if you only accept cash. Many businesses are also present online. This gives your establishment a much larger customer base. Most Merchant accounts also provide the option for processing online payments. This is another benefit of accepting credit cards.

In business and in life, it is important to understand that people are different. They have different needs, wants and requirements. The idea of one service fits all mindset will surely lead to your failure.

Understanding that each of your clients has a specific requirement will lead to better client relations, better client loyalty and ultimately greater financial success. Not understanding your clients needs and wants will almost always lead to ambiguity, social and financial loss. Below is a nice example from HSBC illustrating the importance of local knowledge

UK marketing executives cut their budgets for the second quarter running as business confidence fell to a two-year low with fears over the outlook for the economy worsening, according to the latest Bellwether survey.

The influential report, jointly produced by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and BDO, found that marketing executives slashed their budgets in the first three months of 2011 in response to public sector spending cuts and rapidly rising cost pressures.

Published on Monday, the quarterly Bellwether survey found that 25% of UK companies reported that they cut their budgets in the first three months of the year. Read the rest of the finding at  guardian.co.uk

It’s now april. The first 3 months of the year are now over. So what have you achieved? Check out this brief video below that will hopefully give you a kick start to get you back on track.

Great short presentation from Ian Ayres who spoke to the RSA, the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, which for over 250 years “has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress.”  You can buy the book of the same name from Amazon.

Having suffered the incompetence’s of a hosting company loosing 2 months worth of valuable content data over the weekend. I began my search for something or someone who could help. I think I may have found my solution in the form of BackupBuddy.

BackupBuddy is the all-in-one solution for backup, restore, and migration. Back up to your server, Amazon S3, FTP account, or send backups by email. The sales copy also informs me that one can use the backup with the Importing & Migrating script to quickly and easily restore your site on the same server or even migrate to a new server with a different domain and database.

Whether you’re an end user or a developer, this plugin is sure to bring you peace of mind and added safety in the event of data loss. They finish with a goal. “Our goal is to keep the backup, restoration, and migration processes easy, fast, and reliable. Back up files, settings, content, plugins, database, and everything else.” If only I’d know about them a few days ago. Check out the brief video overview below.

BackupBuddy from WebDesign.com on Vimeo.

2011 is all about increasing my knowledge base and reading lists. I’ve just added The Wisdom of Bees: What the Hive Can Teach Business about Leadership, Efficiency, by Growth management consultant and beekeeper Michael O’Malley.  The book shows how a few simple behaviors enable one of natures most productive systems, and how this can inform the design of businesses.

The book is available from amazon. You can also watch a video [below] from a talk he gave at LSE where he discuss’s the topic. It’s quite long however there are some interesting points made.

Seven steps to better brainstorming Most attempts at brainstorming are doomed. To generate better ideas—and boost the odds that your organization will act on them—start by asking better questions.

Companies run on good ideas. From R&D groups seeking pipelines of innovative new products to ops teams probing for time-saving process improvements to CEOs searching for that next growth opportunity—all senior managers want to generate better and more creative ideas consistently in the teams they form, participate in, and manage.

Yet all senior managers, at some point, experience the pain of pursuing new ideas by way of traditional brainstorming sessions—still the most common method of using groups to generate ideas at companies around the world. The scene is familiar: a group of people, often chosen largely for political reasons, begins by listening passively as a moderator (often an outsider who knows little about your business) urges you to “Get creative!” and “Think outside the box!” and cheerfully reminds you that “There are no bad ideas!”

The result? Some attendees remain stone-faced throughout the day, others contribute sporadically, and a few loudly dominate the session with their pet ideas. Ideas pop up randomly—some intriguing, many preposterous—but because the session has no structure, little momentum builds around any of them. At session’s end, the group trundles off with a hazy idea of what, if anything, will happen next. “Now we can get back to real work,” some whisper.

It doesn’t have to be like this. We’ve led or observed 200 projects over the past decade at more than 150 companies in industries ranging from retailing and education to banking and communications. That experience has helped us develop a practical approach that captures the energy typically wasted in a traditional brainstorming session and steers it in a more productive direction. The trick is to leverage the way people actually think and work in creative problem-solving situations.

We call our approach “brainsteering,” and while it requires more preparation than traditional brainstorming, the results are worthwhile: better ideas in business situations as diverse as inventing new products and services, attracting new customers, designing more efficient business processes, or reducing costs, among others. The next time you assign one of your people to lead an idea generation effort—or decide to lead one yourself—you can significantly improve the odds of success by following the seven steps below. via mckinseyquarterly.com

As a member of several meetup groups and as someone who likes to meet new people for business. It has become more apparent to me that going to these various meetups was and is very much like being single and being on the dating scene.

One of the things that I’ve noticed about the meetup groups and networking events that I go to, is that they vary in both quality and content and as such so do most people’s dating experiences.

So for all those new to both dating and more importantly networking for business here are some dating tips from topdatingtips.com that can be applied to meetups and networking for business events in general.

Top 10 Dating Tips [Which can be applied to business networking]

1. Get prepared for dating. If you really want to succeed in the dating game, be ready to commit to dating. Half-heartedness won’t work. In fact, it won’t even get you half-way. If you really want to date, put some effort into it. Do some research and think about what you want out of dating. Prepare yourself for the inevitable rejection we all face at some point in dating and commit not to give up.

2. Get your act together. Begin a regime of looking your best. Join a gym, read health magazines, get fit and start a diet. Get your hair cut or styled and begin a new regime of good grooming or beauty treatment. Though it will not find you a date in itself, you will feel a million times more confident about yourself, and others can sense that.

3. Go shopping and treat yourself to new clothes and even a whole new look. Get your image right, one that you can manage and live with, but one that flatters you. Don’t try to be someone you’re not, but amplify and accentuate your positives. Throw out those tired jeans, old sweaters or cardigans and spruce yourself up. Your date will appreciate that you demonstrated some effort.

4. Think about what you want to gain from dating and what timeframes you expect. Do you see yourself married within 2 years? If you do, then approach dating accordingly. If you are more laid back and don’t take dating too seriously then ask yourself some honest questions about why you are dating and what you hope to achieve. If it is purely sex then ask yourself if you are about to be honest with those you hope to date.

5. Surround yourself with people who will support your dating aims. By following the first four tips you will feel better and be more focused. Don’t sabotage this by sitting around with friends who are negative about love and relationships (often the married ones). Start attending social functions frequented by singles. Sitting alongside couples at dinner parties in suburbia is not necessarily where you need to be right now.

6. Choose those you have a good chance of dating. Be realistic. In other words, your dating is based on the whole package you present as well as just your personality. If you are looking for a glamour girl or boy and want to date someone trendy and gorgeous, great! Just know that others will expect you to be the same.

7. Join clubs, societies, sports events, drama groups — anything that might help you meet like-minded potential partners. You will not meet people by staying indoors and playing video games – many have tried and failed at this approach.

8. Take time off from dating occasionally if it’s not going well or causing dating fatigue. Recharging your batteries and keeping confidence and optimism levels high is an absolute must. We all hit rough patches, but don’t let your search for love become a death march. Date in phases if necessary.

9. Enjoy dating for what it is, dating. It is meeting people and socializing and spending time in the company of stimulating individuals who may or may not play a bigger part in your life down the road. The fact is, most people have something interesting to offer. While you may not be out on the dating scene looking for new friends, you may well find one or two fabulous people along the way.

10. Never make yourself too available. People like mystery and enigma and the thrill of the chase when dating. As part of keeping up the mystery, do not sleep with your dates early on. The longer a person is made to chase and fall for you within reason, the more likely that love may blossom. (And yes, this goes for both men AND women!) If the chemistry peaks too early, your emotions may never have time to catch up and the relationship will eventually wither away.

If you’ve not already noticed most of the social media, entertainment and general news coverage over the last few weeks has been about the strange behaviour of Charlie sheen. Most people are seeing his actions as negative or bad press. However if you look behind the madness, here’s what you can learn.

1. Branding – He has created his own “Brand” appeal and language starting by owning the hashtag #WINNING. You should create a clear and simple message to you clients that will allow you to get your message heard.
2. Social Media - Twitter welcomed new member Charlie Sheen a few days ago (@charliesheen).  Since that time he has acquired over 1.7 million followers and growing.  Charlie Sheen’s Twitter account set a Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest Twitter account to reach one million followers.

By utilising social media and creating buzz he has been able to build a fast and engaged following by communication to his followers in a two way dialogue. Do the same with your brand.

]]> http://www.thinkbigbebigentrepreneurs.com/2011/03/what-charlie-sheen-can-teach-you-about-business/feed/ 0 http://www.thinkbigbebigentrepreneurs.com/2011/03/the-lynx-effect-how-it-can-help-your-business/ http://www.thinkbigbebigentrepreneurs.com/2011/03/the-lynx-effect-how-it-can-help-your-business/#comments Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:09:54 +0000 Timothy Bosworth http://www.thinkbigbebigentrepreneurs.com/?p=3510

A few days ago I decided that I was going to watch Television. I know how novel I hear you say. Well to me it was, as I am a child of the internet. Well more a large child/man who consumes most of his content via the internet. So on this night of nostalgia I found myself watching a documentary about elephants. However, for me it wasn’t the decomposing two tonne carcass that got me thinking it was the adverts in between the programme that I was fascinated by. One in particular was the new The Lynx effect Lynx Exite TV Advert. See below.

As I watched the falling angels from the sky I wry smile crept across my face at the genius that was the brand that had come up with this idea.  Like the Tango ad of the 90′s [With a very young looking James Corden] three things became clear and could be learnt and used in a business capacity.

Men love beautiful women. By targeting Maslow style base needs it is clear that you can exploit and get money from this target demographic by positioning your brand in a way that allows the “Everyman” the feeling that he is a god like being.
Creativity is key. [Watch the Sony Bravia Bouncy Balls Ad ] In order to succeed in an ever competitive business environment, one has to think outside of the proverbial box and offer your customers something that they have not had before.
Think viral. In a post from back in 2009 we showed you how to become viral in 6 simply steps
The summary below.

Give away products and services
Provide effortless transfer to others
Your message scales easily from small to very large
Your message exploits common motivations and behaviours
Utilizes existing communication networks
Takes advantage of others resources
This I believe is the key to any business’s success. Don’t get me wrong, there are many additional factors that make a brand successful, however on a quiet Tuesday night whilst watching a decomposing elephant that’s all that was going through my mind and that of the Hyaena as it stuck it’s head up the elephants you know what!

So do you agree? Let us know your thoughts and don’t forget to.  For more great Lynx effect adverts you can visit their youtube channel