I was at a conference yesterday in the nearby town of Nowra. It was put on by and for local business people. As the organizer, Linda, said to me, its the kind of event that when times are tough, small business people should participate in and attend. I talked about disruptive technologies and how they [...]
In 2005 I bought a Prius. Its been a tremendous car. Fuel efficient, quiet, inexpensive to run. In fact it was so good I decided that when it hit 100,000 k’s instead of trading it I would keep driving it. At 140,000 k’s I thought I would find out how much it would be worth [...]
You would think that it might be reasonable to assume that good companies aspire to provide great customer service, wouldn’t you. Some companies establish customer service as their primary goal. The bigger the company, the more the focus on the customer, in my view. But how much do we, as customers, help them to achieve [...]
It looks like it is going to be a big year. This year I will be back at University Of Wollongong teaching in the Arts Faculty – the same subject as last semester, ARTS301. I had tremendous feedback last semester from students. The subject is really about helping those about to graduate to understand how [...]
We all exist in networks of people. Before the industrial revolution they were close knit and very local. Fast forward through the industrial revolution and the ability to travel far and fast and into the digital era and we all have complex and vast networks of connections. All of those connections have influence on our [...]
While the media is all doom and gloom, for some there is boundless optimism. I have been asked to do several pitches in the last two weeks, two to companies that are expanding into new areas and want to make sure that they capture all the market potential that they see, and one to a [...]
How important in the development of ideas into commercial reality is talent? And how important is persistence, determination and hard work? They used to say: “1% inspiration and 99% determination”. The thing is that there are a lot of steps along the way to launching a business, launching a product, or launching a company. At [...]
I have had a number of branding jobs over the last few months. What is interesting about developing brands is that every job is totally different. Developing a brand architecture for an enterprise requires for there to be a real insight into how the model works, what the underlying brand promise is, and most of [...]
There are a lot of things to consider when starting a new business. And it is just as challenging to build an existing one. The big problem is that you have to do so many things yourself. And there just aren't enough hours. Last night I was at a dinner party and saw an old [...]
Pretty much everyone that I meet has a pet project that they want to take to market, or knows someone who has one. But almost invariably when the discussion turns to what needs to be done, the person at the center of the play – the entrepreneur if you will – has a misconception about [...]