Right now I’m in the middle of reading a great book by a friend of mine; Robert Copping: The Heart of Business Success – How to overcome the Catch-22s of growing your business It is available from Amazon right here In the book Robert explains that there are three key Catch-22s that collectively conspire against.. read more →
‘Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, but cash is reality’ I’m guessing that you’ve heard this phrase before – but what does it mean in the real world: Well, I’ve seen too many businesses spending their time chasing low-margin orders, giving larger discounts, extending terms – all in the misguided belief that such activities would.. read more →
The banks are in the news again. This time Barclays is being publicly berated for supposedly not paying enough tax. The headline on BBC Breakfast made reference to Barclay’s “Offshore tax arrangements” in a clear attempt to leverage the anti-bank feeling and grab attention. Online, in a more detailed story, the BBC did give a.. read more →
On the 9th February, the banks and the government signed a lending and bonus deal. Under Project Merlin, banks will lend about £190bn to businesses this year – including £76bn to small firms. There has been a lot of talk has been as to why it took so long to broker the deal. To answer.. read more →
On January 6th, in my post about HMV, I commented that the issue for SMEs will be what happens if or when the insurers pull cover: When a big retailer sneezes it is the suppliers that catch the flu. The debt insurers will pull their cover. The banks will then pull any financing, discounting or.. read more →
Stationary money is of no value. It just sits there. Doing nothing. Achieving nothing. Rotting away as inflation eats into it. Money needs to move. Stretch its legs. Be exchanged for goods and services so that the next owner can then use it to do the same. My neighbour gets paid a bonus (and the.. read more →
This morning I read a fantastic article by Lord Sugar on the Telegraph website. Success? It’s down to you all the way: Lord Sugar What I really love about his article is the simplicity and honesty of it. Lord Sugar tells it how it is, cutting through the BS of the management gurus and pointing.. read more →