As I opened the door the six people in the open plan office looked around. “Hi there, I’ve come to see Steve”, I said brightly. As a man they returned their gaze to their computer screens. They all had the hunched and dejected look of a team that resides at the bottom of the bottom [...]

Often when asked to come up with a goal people will think of what they’d like to do. That’s great, what they need to ask themselves is whether it’s realistic at the current stage of their business. There’s nothing wrong with aspirations at all. However, using goals to try and achieve them in the short-term [...]

When I run my time management workshops I often find that companies have been sucked into having regular meetings and often they’re run very badly. Here are some ways that a meeting can go wrong: a) attendees arriving late b) People talking to their neighbour (off-topic) during the meeting c) People wanting to only talk [...]

I was talking to a client yesterday and he told me that the most frustrating thing for him had been that he knew what marketing he wanted to do but that he didn’t have the time to: Pull it all together Update the company brochure Regularly update the company web site Agree and release press [...]

For one day only I’m offering you a free 30 minute session where we discuss your business and come up with strategies that will help your company grow more profitable and more enjoyable to be in. Even the best run company faces the inevitable effect of a downward slide in the economy.  And of course [...]

Blogs have been around for quite a while now and we do still seem to have a variety of newspapers and magazines available. That said there’s no doubt that the print media dominance has been severely eroded. I’ve talked before about how the number of readers of print media has been dropping for several years [...]

We all like to think we have a valuable ability to do an amazing presentation to our clients, employees and others. Unfortunately from long and sometimes bitter experience I can attest to the fact that there are very few people who are great presenters from the day they start. I’ve actually sat through presentations where [...]

You fit the bill. That’s right I don’t take on everybody I meet! Over the years, I’ve realised that there are some people who just need some guidance, a bit of training and focussing to develop themselves and/or their business. And I can really help those people, if they’re the right ones. So how do [...]

I went to a menswear shop in Manchester today. It’s not in a particularly great location, and yet it’s close to the city centre. Plus it has free parking in the streets nearby. I’d popped in once before because I was intrigued by its location and I suspected that it probably wasn’t doing too well. [...]

Business management consulting, business coaching and the people who are highly visible in that market place are getting much more popular. People like Brian Tracy and Jack Canfield and authors like Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill must have benefited from the massive rise in Internet searches for their name. And the increase business guru searches [...]

Over the years I’ve discovered a very interesting thing in the businesses I coach. There are some that I work with that can double their growth and others which don’t have a hope of ever reaching anything like 100% growth in a year. And believe me I’ve tried to help those companies that don’t have [...]

How often do you step back and look at your business? I know we’re all guilty of being deeply immersed in the doing of stuff that makes money. That means it can be terribly difficult to put time aside to work on your business. You may be terribly busy, rushed off your feet, going from [...]

Does anyone truthfully know the reason for the growth of Internet marketing? I remember in the early days web sites were very unsophisticated and shopping karts and Paypal and Google didn’t work like they do now. People seemed to have very little trust that the Internet would deliver the goods they chose and bought. There [...]

All the time I’ve been executive coaching I’ve been observing the things that drive people forward to major achievement,. And it all comes down to 3 things. Those things are Purpose, Passion and Pride. Let me explain what each one of those mean… Your Purpose Every peak performer who has a job, runs a company [...]

Manchester is currently the land of opportunity for grabbing hold of some free coaching and consultancy that will power your business growth.

It’s that time of year once more when our thoughts to turn to presents. Usually people look to buy the latest business book that sounds interesting. I’ve just emailed a client a list of books that any business would benefit from reading. So with that in mind I’d like to share the list with you, [...]

Corporate Christmas gifts are always difficult to buy. And the reason is simple. Whilst you may know your clients in a business context you don’t always know what they would like as a gift, or even if they’d prefer just to pop out with you for a Christmas drink. Obviously the solution is to sound [...]

Manchester has an interesting funding arrangement at the moment. It’s called Creative Credits. Creative Credits aims to help Manchester SME businesses get creative input from other businesses registered on the Creative Credits gallery on their web site. The way it works is as follows: Creative Credits As A User Initially eligible users register on the [...]

There are a number of risks that are associated with running a business. One you don’t often think about is what would you do if you couldn’t actually get into your premises for 2 weeks, 3 weeks or longer? Trapped Outside Your Business What if there was a fire in the next office, one that [...]

Mary Portas’s BBC programs on reviving retailers fortunes has been consistently interesting. Sometimes because of the way her clients try and dig their heels in to avoid change. And sometimes because you can’t believe that people are just ignoring what she says when they’d have to pay a fortune to get such advice from anywhere [...]