eBusiness.Life.Passion

Holiday...no appointments

Because I am a great fan of Outlook and practically run my life around it - I have a windows based mobile phone which syncs with my Outlook. This is great - but whenever you look at the phone, it can seem a bit never ending...

...your next appointment is...

...your task list is so large, it won't fit on the phone...

But for the last 7 days, I have enjoyed the following message on my phone, PDA and computer:

Holiday. No upcoming appointments.

Great! The only task I have to do is have a great holiday. And I did, despite Duchy Holiday (who still have not replied to me).

I went out of my way to have a good holiday. It was a decision that I made. It was a "goal" if you like. And do you know what...the office survived (I think) and business is still happening.

I would hate to be in the position again of being the only one in the company that could make business work. I couldn't have enjoyed my holiday if I did!

What NOT to do when things go wrong, by Duchy Holidays

OK - here is my rant. It is not something that I want to specifically use this blog for...but occasionally I feel the need to blow a little steam.

Since my post about Audi (no comment from them yet) - things have been quite quiet. But today is a little different.

This morning I should have had a phone call. A simple phone call. It didn't happen. Here's the problem.

You are not a cog

You are not a cog.
You are not an assistant or an administrator
You’re not a gofer or a middle manager either.
No, you’re creative. A valuable asset to your family and your community. A person who can make a difference to an organisation.
You are capable of having an impact, leaving a legacy, creating things that are outstanding.
You are not ordinary.
In fact, you are remarkable
Now, hurry, don’t let yourself (and the rest of us) down.

From the Book - The Big Moo.

Because the book donates it's profits to charity, you should buy a lot of them for you staff! The book is great reading, and I have included a direct link below to make it easy for you!

England's tactics and my business

I am sure that I will not be the only one to post their comments on the England game last night…but I thought I would use this opportunity none-the-less.

What a difference a year makes! Last year, England suffered their heaviest defeat in 25 years, losing 4-1 against Denmark. It was a disaster. A nightmare. It should never have happened.

Then the world cup. Well, the less said the better. We should have done better – and everyone knew it. We had the talent but we lacked passion, courage and leadership.

Yet with pretty much the same team used last year and in the world cup, a year later the team was transformed. It worked like it should. We had passion, pace and a winning score line.

I know it was only a friendly – but hey, with England we need to enjoy this whilst we can!

Sometimes business can be a bit like England. It should work. It should be better, much better. So what can I learn from this?

See if you can solve this mystery

OK, so I have mentioned Seth a few times recently. I guess this is because I enjoy reading his books at the moment...and on his blog, he is offering the chance to talk to him (click here for more info). Unfortunately - I am on holiday but you might fancy a chat yourself...

...to do this though, you need to get his new book. See if you too can spot the mistake in the title though...maybe this was all a secret ploy?

On Seth's blog - the link on the left talks about 183 rants. Click the website of the book (www.smallis.com) and the bookcover says 183 rants. Scroll down and the text says 193 rants (10 more!).

Goto Amazon.com and and it tells me that it is 193 rants...

Yet got to Amazon.co.uk and it tells me that it is 183 rants...

The plot thinkens...if anyone knows knows why (an accident? A secret ploy? Do we have to read the book to find out? Clever marketing?) - please let the rest of us know.

A good old hero story

Looking through the news - it is good to come accross an article or two that has a "hero" twist to it

Driver halts runaway bus with car 

A motorist brought a runaway bus to a halt as it careered towards a group of children by ramming the 10-tonne vehicle with his own car.

Dean Sutcliffe, 33, from Thetford, Norfolk, drove his Vauxhall Zafira into the path of the empty bus as it rolled along Bank Plain in Norwich.

Read the rest on the bbc website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/4794735.stm

Sometimes looking down is the best thing to do

I was listening to a CD in the car last night on the way home from work. The speaker was talking about vision, ie. goals - have a clearly defined goal, a dream with a deadline. A plan of what you want to do and when you want it done by.

I am all for this. Have a plan. Have a goal. They are worthwhile things to do. Have a vision (because with out one, according to Proverbs, us, our businesses etc will all perish).

Sometimes though we think too much about the future at the expense of what is happening today.

Say 'No' To Many Good Ideas

I got this in my email this afternoon and thought you would enjoy it. It comes from one of my favourite books: An Enemy Called Average.

There is one guaranteed formula for failure, and that is to try to please everyone.

There comes a time in every person's life when he must learn to say no to many good ideas. In fact, the more an individual grows, the more opportunities he will have to say no to. Becoming focused is the key to results. Perhaps no other virtue is so overlooked as a key to growth and success. The temptation is always to do a little bit of everything.

Parking in disabled parking bays

Last night I drove back from the in-laws house where me and the family had a great weekend.

We had got caught in a bit of traffic (who is responsible for the road works on the island at the High Wycombe M40 junction??) and so we were travelling quite late up to Liverpool.

So, as any good responsible driver should – I take regular breaks as I refuse to fall asleep at the wheel. Sure it means I get back late (and this may explain to my staff why I arrived at 11 this morning!).

I sat in the car with the kids whilst my wife had a little walk to stretch her legs. As I sat there waiting for her (patiently of course!?) I noticed a people carrier in the disabled parking bay. No disabled sticker. Just parked there because it was easier for them.

I don’t know how you feel about non-disabled people parking in disabled parking bays, but personally – I don’t do it. I have no problem in walking the few extra meters to my car.

I don’t know how you feel about a disabled person finding equally as difficult when they use your website.

More and more, I guess because of the nature of my work, I am going on a journey of discovery where website accessibility is concerned. I used to be ignorant about it. I know that is no excuse, but I was.

Then changes in the law made it a requirement that I stop being ignorant, and start making some changes to my website. I shouldn’t have taken a change in the law for me to think about people that are blind, deaf, visually impaired or even people that cannot use a mouse using my website – but unfortunately it did.

I realised that my principle of not parking in the disabled bay at the shopping centre had not followed through into other areas of my work, including my website.

Web accessibility is important, for you, your business and your users.

Why people buy?

I was reading Seth's blog today, and read his lotion and potions blog (see below), and it reminded me of that rather useful expression:

People buy with emotion and justify with fact.