Business

The next time you take a walk down your locak High Street it’s worth recognising the fact that you are witnessing something of a miracle.

In these difficult times for “brick and mortar” businesses the continued existence of city and town centres as vibrant shopping areas owes much to tbe tenacity, drive, enthusiasm and sheer doggedness of the business owners involved.

Town centres are just shopping and retail areas, they form a vital hub in the lives of our towns and a living link with the past, to an era when there wasn’t much choice, long before mass ownership of private vehicles and the term of “out of town” mean the countryside, not a large cinema and retail park!

But even the most committed of “real” businesses nowadays need to embrace the digital world and utilise and leverage the marketing benefits it can bring. Continue reading →

“A tidy office is a sign of a tidy mind,” one of my business mentors once said. He was obsessive in his crusade against clutter, convinced that it was a drain on efficiency and also signalled to anyone who saw your workspace that you were not in control.

Over the years I have been in business I have learned that there is more than a grain of truth in his advice.

I have three criteria that are important to my ability to focus and my efficiency.

• I am well groomed and wearing business atire (even if I am working from home)
• My desk and immediate workspace is tidy and uncluttered
• My wider workspace is professional and condusive to business

“Clothes maketh the man,” goes the quote, and I agree that it is true. If I wear a T shirt and jeans then I am in a T shirt and jeans frame of mind. By wearing business attire I am sending a signal to my brain that I am ready to work, and that I am taking my projects seriously. Continue reading →