Brand Awareness on Twitter

Hats off to BT, although I could have done without the problem in the first place, they've been pretty prompt and communicative in fixing the fault with my phone line. My phone started playing up on Tuesday.  I could make outgoing calls and my broadband wasn't affected - or it could have been more serious - imagine being without Twitter for 2 days!

Having reported it to my provider Utility Warehouse - they passed it on to BT and kept me up to date via text message.  Not only did the engineer call me on my mobile before and after he'd worked on and fixed the fault but I've just received a Tweet from @BTCare.  Less than 48hrs after it was reported the problem has been fixed.

Good to see that some companies are monitoring their brand on social media platforms.

Do You Take A Lunch Break?

According to a recent survey by the Spar store group - workers are taking even shorter lunch breaks.

Due to the recession, workers are taking an average of 35 minutes for lunch with many taking less than 20 minutes for their break, if they're not skipping lunch altogether.

Not only are companies benefiting from the extra half hour or more from their employees but this will only add to the stress and pressure in the long term.

Having worked in the corporate world for many years, I know what it's like to only take as long as you need to grab a sandwich and carry on working while eating it at your desk!  Sometimes it's a because you've just got too much to do, sometimes it's because you don't want to be seen taking a 'long' lunch break.

Frequent breaks are necessary to maintain productivity and keep working efficiently. Not only do you need time to refuel and that means more than 5 minutes to grab a sandwich but taking a break will get the energy levels going again.  If you've been working really hard and running on adrenalin, you need the time to relax.

Not only do you need to make sure you take your lunch break but take regular breaks throughout the day - you'll feel better for it and work more productively.

If you're struggling to fit everything into the time you have available, look at ways of working smarter.

Enjoy your lunch.

How Not To Cold Call ...

It may be a sign of the times but I'm getting more and more cold calls these days. Some of these are just people looking to sign me up to a business directory or to sell their SEO skills and get my business to page 1 on Google but just recently I've taken calls from two organisations who are trying to sell me their services.

As with most of these calls, they're not upfront about what it is they actually have to offer until they've been through their 'spiel' or they go through what appears to be a great opportunity for me but is actually just a thinly veiled offer to lure me in to what they're really interested in selling me.

One person started - injected a few questions along the way but was patently not listening to or interested in my answers before he carried on with the rest of his script, not bothering to adjust it to what information he'd just been given. I was counting the number of times he said "That's fantastic" in response to my answers (with poorly masked insincerity) as he wasn't really listening, it was just a way of interjecting something into the conversation before he moved on. It took him fifteen minutes before he got to the point i.e. what he was actually selling. This particular company has called me on a weekly basis for the past few weeks and each time speaks to me as if it's the first time they've called. I'm pretty sure I've spoken to the same person at least twice and requested again that they remove me from their list. Wonder how long before the next call.

Today's caller went on for almost twenty-six minutes without stopping - he did ask a couple of questions. I said I wasn't really interested when he finally got to the crunch point after fifteen minutes but he just carried on and repeated the benefits several times, emphasising what a great deal they were offering. I also had the classic "Hold on, I'll just talk to my manager to see if we can do a better deal for you"!

Suppressing the laughter, I sometimes keep listening out of a sense of amusement to see just how the pitch is going to unwind and how long they'll take to get to the point and if I can work out what it is they're actually trying to sell me before they say it and whether they've established if I'm likely to be the slightest bit interested.

Sadly - there seems to be one all too frequent sales 'technique' where the approach is - launch into sales pitch, talk for at least fifteen minutes before revealing the 'solid gold, not to be missed, this week only' offer, ask occasional questions, make suitable 'listening' noises, don't let the customer interrupt, stick to the script no matter what, rinse, repeat until customer gives in and agree to a sale or hangs up on you.

Now, I'm no cold calling/telesales expert and like many people would probably rather have my teeth pulled than make cold calls but I think I'd prefer to establish a) if this is a good time to talk, b) are they likely to be interested in what I have to offer before waffling on for fifteen minutes, wasting not only my time but theirs.

At least I'm learning what NOT to do.

Blog Action Day - Poverty And The Girl Effect.

Well, if you didn't know about it you might have missed it too but the 15th of this month was Blog Action Day. One day for hundreds of bloggers to post about one specific topic. Last year it was the Environment, this year it was Poverty.

When many of us are feeling the pinch as prices rise on food, fuel and the cost of living, there are many more who are far worse off than we are. As a result of several Blog Action Day blogs I read on Wednesday, I came across this:



Take your time to have a look around The Girl Effect website to find out more. It makes interesting and humbling reading.

Shopping Around - Petrol Prices

If you're looking to save money then it certainly helps to make sure that you're not paying over the odds for your fuel - especially as it's been rising rapidly over the last few months and now costs about 30% more to fill your tank each week.

I usually fill up at my local Asda, as it always has the cheapest petrol in the area and seems to drop it's prices before the others. The other two local petrol stations are a couple of pence per litre more, which isn't a big difference and not worth making a journey out of my way to fill up but I passed a petrol station this weekend that was charging almost 10p per litre more than what I was paying. That amounts to an additional £4-£5 every time you fill up. Multiply that over the course of a year and that's over £200 - just on fuel.

Check the Petrol Prices website for your local area.

What were they thinking?

In theory the new Bus Lane - or more correctly the bus 'corridor' between Peacehaven and Brighton (Ovingdean actually) was meant to improve the traffic flow along the coast road. Presumably because everyone would jump out of their cars and onto the buses. However, the reality is that people will continue to use their cars and now that they've cut the lanes from two down to one along some stretches of this road, to make way for the bus lane, all those cars are now squeezed into one lane instead of two. Things will be so much worse.

While they've been making the 'improvements' the traffic has been worse than ever. In the morning after the rush the traffic has been much slower getting down to the Rottingdean lights and coming back from Brighton has been much, much worse. Usually any time after 9.30 and before 4.30 you can whiz into town in about 20 minutes, now depending on what state the roadworks are in and whether there are temporary lights, stop/go boards or not, it can take 30 minutes - 50% longer. I haven't attempted to make the journey during the rush hour since they started the road works and will avoid it at all costs, unless I have no choice.

One of the advantages of working from home is that I don't have to sit in traffic these days in order to get to work.

Let's see what it's really like once the school traffic has been added to the mix.

Blogging - What's it all about?

Having just attended the Brighton Chamber Training session on blogging I not only have just added my blog to my website - finally, but was thinking about the reason people blog - or rather why I blog.

When I started up my own business I found I had a knack for writing. For years - many people had commented that they enjoyed my writing - which at that time was mainly limited to letters, postcards or emails home, when I was away travelling. One of the first things I did when starting up my business was to create a newsletter. The blog was started from wanting to continue the 'chat' element from my newsletter about what I was up to each month, as well as passing on tips and advice on more time-related topics or just business in general.

It's certainly evolved and not only do I have this blog but also a more focused M.A.D. Moments blog - which gets updated every Monday and may eventually get merged into this one, two personal interest blogs and one for Financial Advisers which is more business focused and specific in content.

If you're thinking about blogging, ask yourself these questions:

What do you want from/for your blog - who's going to read it, what do you want to say?

How and how often are you going to blog - separate blog, part of your website, several blogs on different topics, daily, weekly blog?

Blogs are easy to create, so don't let that stop you. Blog frequently, play, practice, adapt and once you've found your feet, tell people about it, share your blog and share your comments.

Oh, and of course - if your blog is important to you personally or your business, set aside time to blog regularly.

Ah - The Great British Summer

Gale force winds and lashing rain - yes, it's another great British Summer. The weather is always unpredictable - that's why it's such a great talking point and you never know whether the three hot days you had last week is going to what makes up summer this year or not. However, even for July the weather seems to be unseasonably inclement! The Worthing Birdman Competition was washed out this year - at least on Sunday, although if it had gone ahead, I'm sure they would have had some record breaking distances covered - in fact they would probably have got as far as Brighton with a following wind.

Saturday in complete contrast (apart from the wind) was warm and sunny. Sadly the Peacehaven Carnival took place on the Sunday and those who turned up were buffeted and soaked in equal measure. I'd only intended to be there to help out for a couple of hours and that was about as much as I could take before heading back home for more editing.

No Country For Old Men

Now what was that all about? A totally strange or rather a quirky film but then what else would you expect from the Coen brothers. None of the Hollywood glitz, glamour and CGI action that you get on the big budget productions. This was gritty realism - taking place in the dry desert of Texas or in low-budget motel rooms.

Great stuff but with a disappointing end ... at least for those that like a definite conclusion.

Dragon's Den - Concentrate

I only got back in time to see the last 15 minutes of Dragon's Den tonight but the timing was perfect. A familiar face appeared on screen. Mark Champkins with his Concentrate products. Poo pooed by most of the Dragons, who quickly opted out - Mark finally picked up his investment from Peter Jones after a hard battle over percentages. Another Dragon who saw the potential in the person rather the business.

In 2004 - I was involved in the NESTA Graduate Pioneer Programme. A training programme to enable graduates to learn about getting started in business and allowing them to apply for grants to get them started. Mark was one of several graduates I worked with and it's great to see him with some of the ideas that he developed all those years ago.

Concentrate - Design For Education Products for helping children to concentrate better in lessons - something he was passionate about then and is obviously still passionate about now. You can find out all about his products and how Concentrate got started on the website. You might even have seen the products in the press - he's certainly been getting some publicity since winning his NESTA award in 2006.

I wish him all the best and will certainly be checking in to see how things are doing.

Grand Design Live 2007

I was in two minds (I am a Gemini!) but I eventually decided to have a day out and headed up to Birmingham for this event. There's masses to see and it really depends what you're after as to how much you get from it. I have to say - apart from an armful of leaflets and a bag of sausages, I didn't get much and it wasn't really worth the trip.

Although there's a whole area on Build - there was very little about the actual building aspect. There are a couple of places where you can get advice from the experts (architects and planners) and have your grand plans reviewed but most of the show is made up of companies selling their wares. If you want to look at underfloor heating, radiators, kitchen fittings, bathrooms, outdoor eating and the top-end of the market, then it's the place to go. I really can't see me ever wanting a spa pool.

I came back with a couple of leaflets from the oak-timber frame companies there and eventually tracked down a company that runs courses on straw-bale buildings. There were a few companies such as Huf Haus that produce kit form houses. I also picked up back issues of the Self-build magazine for only £1 each. Plenty of tips and ideas in these. The talk on Going Green - was pretty basic. We're all much more eco-savvy these days. There was very little around on that aspect which was disappointing. A few companies selling solar panels and the UK Renewables that have all sorts of ideas for renewables.

Solar water heating panels - will require your existing hot water cylinder to be replaced. Grants are available but the overall cost is between £2-3,500.

Solar electric panels - are expensive to install and not that efficient. £10-15,000. Although if you generate enough electricity you could end up selling it back to the grid but not for as much as you're buying it for.

Wind turbines - although you can now get these in B&Q, these need to be installed with a direct line of sight (or line of wind) to the prevailing wind. If you're built up area like mine - there's little point as there's too much turbulence from houses, trees etc.

Underground heat source - seems to be coming more popular - can't seem them allowing me to dig up the road to install one.

There are plenty of shopping opportunities if you want some art for your walls, sparkly chandeliers, ornate furniture or the ultimate in ladders or even a new drill set or perhaps a fondue. If you were the process of accessorising or wanting to choose the type of flooring for your kitchen/bathroom and have plenty of money to spend, then you might find something useful.

Some of the couples from the Grand Design TV programme where there to talk about their own projects and how things are now the cameras have gone and they've actually been living in their homes.

First find your plot.

The Death Of The Body Shop

Dame Anita Roddick died earlier this evening from a brain haemorrhage at the age of only 64.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6988343.stm

She has been a real inspiration to many entrepreneurs who start up their kitchen table businesses. She built a multi-billion dollar, global company that set the ground rules in green, ethical business and laid the foundation for others to follow. I read her biography - Body and Soul a few years ago.

I remember shopping in the Body Shop in Chichester in the early days when she'd just got started. The products came in the same bottles with the same green labels that we're so familiar with the emphasis on natural. Even then the core focus of the business was on organic, natural products well before all the other companies jumped on the green and ethical bandwagon. She expanded her business with fairtrade and sourcing products from around the world but also not exploiting the communities from which these came.

Somehow the Body Shop was never quite the same when she handed over control to L'Oreal.

More Spam Than Monty Python

Well, it seems to be raining spam at the moment. Someone has obviously got hold of my online email addresses and I'm being inundated with the standard spam messages every day. Annoying but unfortunately a fact of life in these days of the internet and email addresses.

It's all basically 'selling' the same stuff although it's interesting to see the new approach that spammers take every few months. The latest seems to be validating your login id to some spurious site - Wine Lovers and Cat Lovers spring to mind. None of which I've subscribed too, although it's sometimes difficult to remember what I've signed up with.

I've also had a few recent emails supposedly from Paypal with the title 'Protect Your Identity' - just the usual phishing emails. While the more obvious 'medical' spam and emails from Banks you've never heard of is easy to recognise and ignore, some of the less obvious one's may be leading you to sites which will download malware which could enable your computer to be used to send out further spam.

Just make sure your virus and firewall software is up-to-date.

In Memory of Bella

Bella died today. Quietly put to sleep having developed cancerous lumps on her leg a few months ago. She was a lovely, affectionate black labrador. Not mine but friends. Very upsetting for the whole family. Molly, their chocolate lab died just over a year ago, so now the house must be feeling very empty.

Very beautiful and originally the runt of the litter. I've known Bella since she was a puppy and have always had a soft spot for her. She always came to greet me when I arrived for a visit. Apparently there weren't many people she'd move out of her bed or spot in front of the fire for. She loved playing ball in the garden even if she wasn't very good at bringing it back to you - sitting just a few feet away waiting for you to come and pick it up. She'd play for hours given half a chance, even when she was panting and exhausted and this didn't stop as she got older.

She'd wimper if another dog came near when out walking, wagging her tail enthusiastically at the same time. A habit for eating and rolling in anything slightly smelly, or rather the smellier the better, as dogs do. Dinner time took only a few seconds as she wolfed it down and known to regularly jump up and steal the cat's food too!

I was due to go down and dog-sit with her in a couple of weeks, as they didn't want to put her in kennels while the family went away on holiday.

I'll miss her - it will be strange not seeing her when I next visit.

BHCC - Sustainability

Tonight's talk from the Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce was on sustainability. Actually nothing I hadn't heard, wasn't aware of or don't do already but at least it's raising awareness in the business world of not only becoming more environmentally aware but saving money into the bargain.

Involve your staff in the discussion - not only will they then be more likely to buy into what you're trying to achieve but they'll come up with their own ideas.

Easy saves for your business premises to reduce resources are:

• Reduce the temperature of the office by just one degree and save an average of 10% of your heating bills.
• Don't heat or light empty offices - save 50% on your bill.
• Get staff to 'switch-off' lights when not in use.

• Fix leaking pipes and taps - save hundreds of litres a year.
• Install water-saving devices in cisterns - save 3 litres every flush.
• Make sure taps are properly turned off.

• Flat pack boxes and other waste to reduce disposal/collection costs.
• Reduce waste bins required and frequency of collection.
• Don't print emails.
• Re-use scrap paper.
• Print double-sided.
• Use recycled paper products.
• Recycle waste - paper, glass, cans, card, organic waste.

For longer-term results or when changing or updating equipment - try some of the following.

• Replace lighting with compact fluorescent tubes or low wattage bulbs.
• Install flush controls on toilet cisterns.
• Replace taps with sensor or push spray taps.
• Install waterless urinals.
• Ask your suppliers for reusable packaging.
• Use Fairtrade products.
  
• Install proper insulation.
• Use energy efficient appliances.
• Implement home-working - less commuting.
• Encourage use of public transport.
• Install energy saving equipment for heating and lighting.
  

Even if you don't work in an office and work from home, many of these can still apply to your home office.

If you'd like to find out more and get some great tips, information and advice on Greening your Business join my eco-friendly Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Club on Ecademy.

Get your Sustainable Business Checklist from Sally Lever's Downshifting site.

Live Earth: Good, Bad or Indifferent?

I didn't watch it last night as I was elsewhere having fun but I wonder just how much 'good' the latest in a series of musical events is going to do in changing people's minds.

What strikes me is the huge amount of energy and money being used/wasted in putting on these concerts around the world. OK, they only used artists who were already on tour but the shear amount of energy needed to light the stage and power the instruments, to say nothing of, transmit the event around the world, must have created a pretty heavy carbon footprint. Something that will take years to offset by us switching our appliances onto standby, changing to low energy light bulbs and recycling. What some of us are trying to do on one hand is completely wiped out in an instant, unless of course this was a carbon neutral event! Now there's a good PR stunt.

As I said, I didn't watch it - too busy creating our own CO2 emissions down at a beach BBQ, so I don't know what emphasis there was on the Climate Change issue or if everyone was just there having a good time but I really don't see what difference it's going to make. Yes, it might raise awareness to those few people who haven't heard about the issue (where have they been hiding?) but with the US still being the biggest polluter and not prepared to sign-up to do anything about it, it's about government and industry rather than what you and I can do. It won't stop me doing my bit, I don't like waste in any form and besides reducing MY carbon footprint also helps increase my bank balance.

I'm off out to enjoy the sunshine - now that we have some. Climate change having created the wettest/windiest June in ages.

Smoking Ban - How Will It Affect You.

Of course the big news this month is that while I was away, the smoking ban was introduced in England. Hoorah! Not that I frequent them that often but now I’ll be able to go out for an evening in a pub or restaurant and not come home smelling of smoke. Although the downside seems to be that all the smokers now congregate outside the doors, so you have to walk through them or they are now out in the garden, so if you want to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine, you also have to endure the smoke.

Based on the experience of Ireland and Scotland you'll now have to step over the piles of fag butts outside places of work, pubs and restaurants and on the street in general.

Has the ban made any difference to you? If you're in business - what have you had to do to deal with the change? If you’re a smoker are you planning to give up?

BHCC - State of the Nation

The first of what's planned to be an annual event by the Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce. An opportunity for discussion and debate on business in Brighton & Hove, the economy and the challenges facing the city and a chance to ask questions and maybe even get answers.

The Speakers and Panel consisted of:

Tony Mernagh - Chief Exec, Business Forum. How the city sits economically compared to the rest of the South-East and the UK in terms of population, wages and housing.

Alan McCarthy - Chief Exec, Brighton & Hove City Council. The challenges facing the city in terms of employment, where to live and how to service the population.

Derek Maddison - Manager, Churchill Square. Plans for developing the main shopping area in Brighton, given the space available as well as the age of the site.

Julie Stanford - President, B&H Chamber of Commerce. What this means to the businesses in the city.

The Public Sector employs 27% of the workforce in Brighton, Tourism, not surprisingly 20%, Business and Finance 26% and the Creative Industry 15%. Only 4% of businesses are involved in Manufacturing. More surprising is that 85% of business have less than ten employees. Wages are however the lowest in the UK and South-East, possibly because of the high amount of tourism, seasonal workers and traditional low page jobs associated with hotels, restaurants and bars of which there are plenty. The population is likely to increase by 33,000 in the next couple of decades but jobs will not increase by the same amount.

Affordable housing is a big issue around the country and not just in Brighton where the controversial plans to build two tower blocks at either end of the city has had residents in uproar. There's a need for housing - there are more residents in the Brighton area than workers (many workers commuting to the nearby metropolis of London - or they just don't work). Of course being a pretty built-up area there's a limited amount of land available on which to build. This is the reason for some of the more controversial plans up for debate. You can get an awful lot more homes in the same space if you go upwards. Average house prices are over 40% more than the average for the rest of the UK and considering the low wage there's a need for affordable housing - also part of these plans.

A few facts and figures that create a better understanding of the challenges of living in a large, growing city which needs jobs, housing and an economy to support it.