Sign On Harvey Moon.....

So the Summer has now officially gone, we can start to settle back in to the doom and gloom of work, money, mortgage, money, car, inflation, money.... shall I stop now? Yet it may well be just another day (or at least, the 1st of September) but yet there are still over 2 million of us who actually wouldn't mind being stuck in that "money, work" trap. As for that 2 million - neither one of these items, at present, exists...

The children go back to school this week and thousands of parents out of work no longer have that excuse for being at home, simply because the kids are on their hols. Not that any of us actually DO use that as an excuse. For us, the reality simply sets in for the rest of the year. We know for a fact that we are not only up against each other to fight for decent jobs and employment, but we also have a whole host of University grads, A level students and a large handful of GCSE kids to compete with...

It's possible that my gripe today could well slip back into the age scenario which had that bee my my bonnet a few weeks ago (you see, the gap between posts has been unbearable, yet has given me enough material to last at least until the next day..) Yet there has been evidence of this - still, despite the fact that employers are "not allowed" to use the age thing as a reason not to employ you, what they have done instead is used a "point scoring" system in it's evil place and merely tell you after an agonising few weeks of waiting for that call, that "you were beaten to the post by someone who scored a higher mark than you..." Eh? What scores? Who? I didn't even realise I was having to score points at every interview question!!!! It's all a big fat lie, and we know it....

Yet there comes a time when we all have to consider the dreaded JC word (no, we are not referring to our Lord) but the Job Centre. In many forums I read in between either working for nothing or applying for jobs I know for a fact I am not going to get (simply because the agency tell me that there has been more that 50 applicants for that call centre role) that there is still, even in 2009, or especially 2009, a stigma attached to signing on. What we fail to realise is that in this country, we earn a right to this type of benefit.

When one trots into the Job Centre for the first time (and we don't usually go in so gaily, more wearing a paper bag over one's head, dreading to bump into anyone we know) we become faced with a jungle of specimens who look as though they are refugees from the Cold War. There is nothing to fear, you can relax. There is no point struggling with that nose on your face when the rest of your moosh is screaming out "I can't afford to be out of work!" You can apply for Contributions JSA, especially if you are over the age of 25 and had worked for many years. You would have paid in you NI contributions over the years you have worked and are now, simply getting that back, if you like. Suddenly the stigma is gone. Don't struggle looking for work. Go and sign on and give yourself a break.

However, some white collar will argue (and I did with myself over a long period of time) that simply being on the "dole" is going to shift you psychologically - it will give you the feeling of hitting rock bottom and that sense of being inadequate will rise over you like a sea of despair - well, that is one way of looking at it, then again, you can say that it is giving you a guiding hand, and the support you need while you look for work. No one wants to stay on it for long, and those who don't want it, are the one's who usually find work again quickly....

This blog many months ago started out as a focus to starting a business, yet in the light of this countries plight, the tables have turned. Now it is all about starting AGAIN - getting back on your feet and feeling human again. There are far too many of us feeling alone, unloved by employers and generally blue. We can ride it out..... at the same time, there is no shame in asking for help...

....particularly if you have paid for it....

Til the next post.....

m.duffy 2009

Single Minded - How The Life Of A Single Parent Has Still Yet To Change For The Better

I have been scratching around this week trying to find something to talk about. As I wondered through the minefield which we lovingly call the Internet, I found myself walking through the varied and many websites on single parenting.

It is bigger news today in this world than it was ten years ago and growing fast. Gone are the days of the taboo-ness of the subject, where everything was swept under the carpet and not discussed, and the thoughts on the topic are changing fast almost every day. In fact, it is hard to imagine that it was only in the last 50 years or so, young single mums were still being sent away to have their children. We HAVE come a long way, but sometimes, I feel, not far enough...

One of the first websites one comes across when looking around the net for articles on single parenting is Gingerbread. http://www.gingerbread.org.uk/portal/page/portal/Website. Sometimes it is hard to also imagine that we still need such organisations to fight the single parent corner. Having been a single parent myself, and most likely to be again at some stage, I found that these years alone with a child were rewarding but only in the sense that I gained ground, albeit in an emotional sense, as a person. Something happens when you become a single parent. The world around you suddenly looks hard and cold, and invariably it is. Single mums and dads still, even in 2009, get a rough deal. Particularly when it comes to, my favourite subject, work.

It is amazing the amount of people who find themselves alone with children having to take what I call, lower status jobs. Now, that does not mean to put down such jobs. There are many rewarding jobs which come under this category (and I too, have had to tread these lowly boards) although some are, still, not brilliantly well paid. Employers need to understand and recognise that single parents need support when it comes to work. They want to work for their children, as much as themselves. Ninety nine per cent of the time, they are the most loyal and hardworking. They are skilled and hold a wealth of experience. All they really need is a break.

All of these support organisations do a wonderful job. They post informative articles on nutrition, playing with your child, supporting them and most importantly, how to be two parents when you are only one. Yet very few will actually tell you how to maintain dignity in the workplace - how to maintain your job status in the world. If you were once a white collar, how to stay a white collar, not become a cleaner. There seems to be very little in the way of support for this subject. To me, it's the most important aspect. We can all read about the best way to get your child to eat carrots, but what we really need is to be told how we can get that job which means we can live comfortably and happily, doing the same thing we were doing before. It is what we want for ourselves and our children...

I suggest a new kind of forum - one that supports parents who need to consider the times their playgroup is open when it comes to finding a job that fits in. Whilst working with a lot of people struggling at this present time to find work, there are still too many good, intelligent and experienced people being turned away at interviews simply because they can't quite do the old nine to five. I have found that many employers are taking a huge liberty knowing that, right now, for every candidate walking through the door who might need a little flexibility in their working life, there is another 100 out there who will happily do the hours and never want to leave early because the school has called and little Timmy needs to go home....

The world of a single parent is still patchy. There is, as we have discovered, groups and organisations which will help until they are blue in the face but will fail to help in other areas. Please tell me if I'm wrong, but when a million single parents are having to ditch the office for a shop job at the weekends or a night cleaner simply because they can't find work any other way which fits in and which resembles the life before, there is a topic which still gets that carpet burn....

Until the next time

2009 Michelle Duffy

You might also like to read some of the topics supported and covered at: http://www.lone-parents.org.uk/

Taking The Career By The Balls - How Mr Ed Plans A Quick Fix Mix

It has been a week of quietening within the public sector. Since the world of the media has been so overcome with swine flu, it has allowed certain figures and departments to take a wise holiday from the front pages, namely Gordon Brown, Katie Price and oh yes, the public sector, and social services in particular.

Well, it's been a while since discs and laptops have gone for a Burton from the back seats of cars, and not much has disappeared from a train, only don't get on a bus if you're carrying sensitive medical records, there is a distinct panic, although I can't help but think why? What would a terrorist do with some old dear's medication history? Panic too much? Surely it is rather like the ID syndrome - if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear. I could be wrong....

However, through my wonderful Community Care email supplier, I am bound to stumble across a nugget or five in the news column. Today, it is the turn of Mr Ed Balls and his new and improved clean up campaign by giving professionals struggling to fine new employment a chance to become social workers - as if they really wanted to - rather like those adverts you see in the freebie newspapers about becoming a driving instructor....

As posted in the Community Care.co.uk subscription:

"Social care expert Ray Jones has dismissed the government's plan to fund other professionals to retrain as social workers as a "quick fix" and a "cheap option" that will not solve the profession's recruitment problems.

Jones, a former social services director and British Association of Social Workers' chair, said lawyers, teachers or others on the scheme, announced yesterday by children' secretary Ed Balls, would not be ready to practice after the 12-18 months of training it will provide..."

The rest of the article goes on to say how Mr Balls is intending to cut the training back at an alarming rate thus to ensure that these newly registered SW's are ready for work - only in the literal sense, rather than the academic...

So what do we make of this quick fix scheme then? Is it enough for our community of abused adults, battered children and mental health patients living amongst us to have a whole line of partially prepared social angels? Will these fast buck employees really be able to make a difference? Surely we would hope that people who chose to embark on a profession in the social car system goes into it for the love of working with people and helping the vulnerable, and I have know plenty of good, faithful and loyal social workers - and trust me, no one ever goes into the job for the money - there is none...

(The original article can be found here:)http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/10/112061/ed-balls-career-change-scheme-criticised-as-a-quick-fix.html

"The professor of social work at Kingston University is one of a number of academics to back making graduates carry out a probationary year in practice before being able to register as social workers, effectively extending the mandatory training period for social work to four years.
Training period too short
He said: "At a time when people are arguing that social work needs a longer training period [Ed Balls is proposing a shorter period]."
Commenting on the £15,000-a-year salary that trainees under the scheme will be offered, Jones said: "What we are being offered is a quick route to becoming a social worker for people who have chosen other professions, with a financial incentive that is not available to people who have chosen social work from the start."

I let you be the judge but personally I would think that the best policy here is to simply go back to basics and allow people to come into the profession who have that desire to help people - not just wave the illusion of it in front of the faces of people trying to find work - of any kind.

We have a dilemma on our hands when it comes to the social system and somehow, I feel this is not the way forward.....

Until the next time

Michelle Duffy 2009

Re-shaping the Community - How We Need To Go Back To Council Basics

If we could see exactly how our councils are run and the amount of work many employees of social services are under perhaps we would sympathise with these workers alot more. There are a great many stories leaking here, there and everywhere from each corner of the UK (and the rest of the world sometimes) on yet another child or vulnerable adult lying victim at the seeming hands of our social services network, yet are they really to blame? Well, there are, as with many social issues, two schools of thought - one would argue on one hand that they are fully to blame and should be held countable for every injustice in our community which could have possibly been avoided. On the other hand, there is the camp which, like me, are full of employees and former employees who understand fully the extent of the work which needs to be carried out to ensure the safety and security of every service user it encounters. Who is right? We blame, as a matter of human nature, the very thing we either cannot see nor understand....

Featured on the Community Care.co.uk website this week was an update written by Mithran Samuel, on the recent Vale of Glamorgan case which saw the unwise placement of a teenage sex offender with a family including two young children which he systematically abused. We would guess, rather wisely it would see, that the council placement team/policy is to blame, and we would be right, but are they really to blame, or is it resting firmly on the shoulders of a objective system which is long passed an overhaul - a system which, cannot be changed or revoked by anyone....not even in a case like this...

Mithran writes,

"Vale of Glamorgan Council will face an inspection after failings were identified in its handling of the case of a teenage sex offender who was placed with a family, whose children he went on to abuse. Welsh government deputy minister for social services Gwenda Thomas said today that the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales would undertake a review of the authority later in the year, with a particular focus on the issues raised by the case..."

"She was responding to a damning internal inquiry into the case by the council, published in May, which found that the council's leaving care team had failed to provide the adult placement service, which made the placement, with a chronology of his past offences or the results of risk assessments made on him...."

It is in this second paragraph where we find the problem: The system put in place here failed to the very service which would have stopped this placement happening, thus saving the mental and physical anguish of these poor children. No one to blame here - only a policy which doesn't and could never work.

The problem which our local governments today is the very system on which they are based. A vast majority of the time, they are ancient Establishments run by equally old fashioned councillors who have no true concept of the world in which their communities live. Any council department is run by it's sheer volume of paperwork. Everything is done like clockwork, despite the fact that a policy is outdated, the system in question will still go ahead simply because it exists within the council structure. So why aren't these policies examined and re-written? Because, like many other public sector authorities, something has to happen first before the system is reworked. Through the NHS, someone usually has to die before the way in which that person has died comes into clearer focus. Through social services, teams gather on a regular basis in huddled corners of council buildings and drum out in succession each and every case in which someone has fallen victim to a system or a policy and where justice needs to be sort. These people earn a lot of money simply attending meetings about a system that fails. More frighteningly enough it is through these systems that simple procedures and even diabolically bad human judgement has played a major role in the demise of an innocent person.

We look to the future in this business and wonder where on Earth to start. Being a former pen pusher myself, I had witnessed enough though almost two decades which I found both staggering and frightening. Not only because these events were taking place but there were huge teams of people who's job was solely to sort out the mess which was usually left behind as a result of a dusty and out of date system.

IF and this is a big if, any one person is to be blamed for these tragic stories which fill our already over spilling negative thoughts about our local councils, it is the very person or people who wrote these policies and systems in the first place. The real tragedy here is that these people are long gone - either off the mortal coil themselves or simply moved on into other professions. Council employees are not paid to judge what has already been judged. They are not paid to have an opinion and if they do, they are not paid to speak ill of it. Many social workers will say that they are far too pressured and over worked to think too heavily about how their system works or fails for that matter. If we really want to change the way we care for our vulnerable society, we need to re-write every single policy and regulation in the book. I wonder if the job is not necessarily too big but too worrying, as you could not imagine what would be unearthed....

Michelle Duffy 2009

The article mentioned here was taken from:

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/07/08/112055/vale-of-glamorgan-faces-inspection-on-back-of-abuse.html

Just as a final note on the subject the article mentioned states...

"Following the report, director of social services Phil Evans announced a major retraining programme for staff and an overhaul of risk management and case referral processes. Three members of staff were suspended, prompting Unison to accuse the authority of scapegoating social workers....."

I wonder when we will see the day when all social workers are given the support they need so they can do their job effectively, and above all, save lives.....

From Getting The Sack To Media Expert - The Quick Run Of The Unemployed Entrepeneur

I came across an interesting article this morning which, in the light of that current government marketing programme, "the recession," has seen a distinct shift in the way we see business. We have talked in the past at great length about how we are reacting with each other due to the pressures of today's society, and this article here, http://marketing.about.com/b/2009/07/05/five-guidelines-for-outsourcing-your-social-media-marketing.htm delightfully highlights the shadowy phenomena which has graced our Internet screens in recent times - The Social Media Marketing Expert...

We see them everywhere - little one page websites which literally pop up from out of nowhere and claim they have all the trade secrets worth knowing to kick start your business within hours, so much so that you'll be booking that three week holiday to Barbados in no time. These pc geeks, usually men in their middle forties dressing like students with caps on the wrong way round, conkers on string round their necks and transfer tattoos, make amateurish home videos of themselves and one other mate, sitting on a flea bitten couch telling the viewer how they can install this piece of groovy software (download for a hefty price) and within minutes be raking in the cash. Who are these guys? Well, last week, they were probably working as a clerk for Barclays, but during the layoff's they started up this neat scam - er, marketing ploy making them media experts.

I have yet to come across a system that works, but, (and as the article points out,) the number of amateurs are vastly outweighing the real experts. Yet how on Earth is the small business owner going to pick out the men from the boys? Simple - if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is (how many times have we heard that one before?) So, we look for an element of qualification don't we? I would hope so, or the scammers will sniff you out a mile away...

I too have nothing against free enterprise - after all to a certain degree, it keeps a small amount of people going/generating income etc but to who's expense? It keeps the grey matter ticking over but it fools everyone else who signs up for this nonsense. Anyone can set themselves up as anything these days, and as a good friend said to me only a few days ago, in the ten years she had been a financial advisor, no one had ever asked to see her qualifications yet she takes home a figure most of us can only dream about ...

The real bet here is to do what everyone else is doing - if they are claiming to be experts, then surely you can train yourself? The only fooling around which is going on this life of business is the fools taking in the fooled - there are only tricksters around if there are those around who are "willing" to be tricked. If we keep one step ahead of these guys and do it ourselves then we can only win. After all, it does not take a degree in rocket science to discover how the likes of media monsters Twitter and Facebook can really do for you....

Until the next time...

Michelle Duffy 2009

Blue Days And Work - The Need To Keep The Mind Safe In Todays World

There is a wonderful article this week which I would like to draw to your attention. Now, I know I don't always do this, but I have had many readers request that I write a few postings as to what the humble buisness here of mine actaully does, so here goes... (see, a little self promotion never did anyone any harm, right?)

This article, http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2009/06/30/111970/people-with-depression-lack-access-to-exercise-therapy.html highlights one of the most passionate subjects which Community Consultancy covers - mental health. Through a multitude of networking events, I was lucky enough to meet some wonderfully talented and hard working individuals who also share my aim to highlight awareness of mental health issues particualrly in these concerning times. We think a lot about businesses/finance and the state of the global economy but yet do we really think about the impact it has on ourselves as human beings? If we're being brutally honest, then probably not....

Yet we should. In a recent article I highlighted on leading wonderworking organisation, LinkedIN, I brought to the attention of the 41 millions services users on the website, the strong connections between mental illness and financial debt. As you can probably imagine, it was received in a stunned silence. I guess for the many readers and for those who had time to wander around the Mental Health Commissioning Group on the site, it gave food for thought. Yet there are significant factors in our own lives which can trigger problems. There are millions of people, across the world who have lost jobs, homes and even relationships due to the shortfall of money. It happens. We are not as resilient as we would like to think. If we are aware of our own minds - we can help not only ourselves but each other, right?

A friend of mine posed a very interesting question to me only yesterday, and she said "Would you employ someone back into a highly responsible job, like a commercial pilot, say, if you knew he had a history of a nervous breakdown or something similar?" And I had to admit, it made me think.

Now, there are two scores of thought on this:

1> The person in question might not ever be in a fit state to ever fly a plane and land it. Much of the population will agree on this no doubt, but what about this one for you?

2> That person is very employable in this role, as he recognises and understands the triggers of this problem so therefore is more than equipped to deal with it, should it arise again.

I bet that has now made you all think....

So, this is how I see it - We take someone who has had such a breakdown. That person has now fully recovered and has passed all the health tests etc under the sun and appears to have no other underlying mental health concerns - in other words, he or she is fit to do the job.

Years ago, in another life, I worked for the NHS (what capacity I shall keep to myself, although I did work very intensely with mental health patients and institutions before they all closed) I knew a particularly wonderful person who had a very responsible, medical job. He was a friend and still is, but his personal life had been peppered with a list of tragedies and upheavals so much so that he suffered (on more than one occasion) a nervous breakdown and spent some time in hospital. He was not allowed to return to work. To his job. At all. Was this fair? To me, no.

He was more than capable to do the work. He had been in his position for decades, yet because he went through a nasty patch in his personal life which got on top of him AND never was likely to happen again - he was medically retired. The truth of the matter here was that the NHS lost a highly valuable member of staff, who has worked in a job since then which does not fulfill his talents.

We can all think of someone who has had their fair share of life and what that has thrown at them over the years. When one in four of us is likely to suffer with mental health problems at some point in their lives, we are more likely to think of several people, rather than just one. Should these people be given a fair chance to start again or should they be forgotten about?

The government and the general dire system we have in place today is fairly embarrassing, yet at the same time, makes my business more lucrative, and sometimes I wish it didn't because it means that the system is nuts. There is so much discrimination on this subject, you would not believe. There are problems we deal with every day of the year, many I have already covered in this blog which can be linked to mental health problems. We are told that if we have a health mind, the body usually follows. This is true, but not enough attention is given to our own mental wellbeing - we are too preoccupied with looking fit and healthy. What does that count if we have a long list of problems and concerns we need to straighten our in our heads?

If we have a good, positive outlook on our own lives, the rest of ourselves will follow. At times, the world looks bleak. Socially we are not allowed to consider mental health - to many of us think of people with mental health illnesses as people shuffling around and dribbling a lot. It goes deeper than that and even "blue days" need to be addressed...

We just need to know how to deal with that....

2009 Michelle Duffy

Run For Your Life Or How To Keep Ahead In Unemployment

I want to talk a bit more today about this thing we call the recession and it is re-shaping the way we see our lives and how we deal with others.

I should think the vast majority of us and getting fed up to the back teeth with talk about the state of the global economy and how on Earth we are going to drag ourselves out of the mire yet putting the banks and the government (seeing as it is actually their fault) aside, I find myself more and more fascinated each day on how all this madness is actually changing the way we think - not just about money, but how we see each other.

Employment is a nasty word right now - if you're lucky to still have a job, I bet you get the odd sarky comment from passers by when you freewheel past the full doors of the local Job Centre - I even bet that you aren't that popular in the newsagents, because you're not the one buying ten local newspapers at a time. If you, on the other hand, have joined the long, depressing queue of around 2 million people who have suddenly found themselves one minute in the office and the next, sitting spread eagled on the pavement outside, then you'll be changing immensely on the way your view yourself and the way you view others - especially those who are still in the building you've just unceremoniously left...

The world of finding a job will come as a massive shock to two groups of people who have found themselves recently given the boot:

1. Those who haven't been in the dole queue for the last ten years or so (if not more)


2. Those who usually job hop easily and don't ever have a problem getting interviews or finding work.

In my mind, these groups are the worst hit. We can gently put aside those who have been out of work for a long time due to health reasons etc because they aren't looking for work so therefore won't really have an acute idea as to what trying to find a job is like. Yet these two remaining groups share one great thing in common - their perception.

Imagine if the world you knew all your life (or working life) suddenly changed because someone or something moved the goal post - how would you react? You would adapt, because that's what we as humans do - we have to otherwise we would have been eaten/attacked/starved to death a long time ago, right? Right. So we change. How we change and to what benefit is another matter. Change does not always mean positive instead of negative.

So what do our two unemployed groups do to change? They change the way they have always conducted themselves to make that interview work/to find that job/to complete that application form. They have to keep up with the times because since they are all now in the same boat as a hundred other people who are far more qualified, the competition has stepped up a notch. This is why those who have easily job hopped in the past suddenly now can't and find that every interview does NOT result in a job offer as it did in the past. The others who have enjoyed one employer for God knows how many years have a good chance of getting that job, but they have no idea how to conduct themselves at an interview or don't know how to make a CV sound wonderful.

There are some pretty good website out there who can help - http://www.prospects.ac.uk/ are a good start although watch out when it comes to interviews. One mistake made frequently is not being flexible enough. Chances are the employer is looking for a full time person - you if say you can only make three or four days a week due to child commitments etc then chances are you won't get offered the job - employers are not allowed to discriminate so they will get around it by saying you didn't score enough points. Companies will still hire with age/family life/location in mind, despite the fact that two of these are discrimination's.

The only trouble is - it is damn hard for you to prove this was the case when you didn't get the offer, especially after the event....

Try also here for cv advice - http://www.cv-service.org/cvhelp.htm

Michelle Duffy 2009.

Bully Bosses and Bad Days - The Real Causes of Stress In The Workplace

Today I want to talk a bit about the work my business continuously aims to accomplish and it's on the subject which holds me curious, fascinated and intrigued every day of my working life...

Mental illness - cause and effect...

When we think it terms of stress, we think of it as being man made and that's very true - as successful human beings we are ultimately the victims of our own success - we put pressure on ourselves in our daily existence - we strive to be something we're not most of the time and this is usually down to media pressure, after all one in four of us will be effected at one point in our lives - that's an awful lot of us, yet how do we deal with that when it is in our faces, quite literally every day of our lives? We are confronted with images on television and in magazines of rich, beautiful people and are subconsciously delivered the message that we are literally nothing if we are not these two significant elements.

There are a fast growing number of websites and journals appearing on the Internet regarding our stressful lives and how best to deal with them. Many of these sites will try and make money out of those who seek help. Unfortunately they usually end up asking the seeker for money in order to obtain a "manual" on how to cope with stress. We buy, as we're often told - on our emotions towards a product or a service and some people play on that idea. They are, most probably, scams although there are one or two genuine help sites which do make a difference - I just personally, haven't come across them yet...

What we do need to do is one of two things first - educate ourselves on how stress occurs and prevent it in future. It doesn't matter which way around, but what we don't need is another long list of breathing techniques - that never got anyone out of a clinic and it won't now...

According to the Health and Safety Executive website, there is a distinct difference between stress and mental health problems and this is outlined clearly on the first page. Firstly we need to define what stress is. We have already understood that it is a man made subject - we create stressful environments for ourselves and each other. Stress is something we can do something about. We inflict it on each other and ourselves both intentionally and unintentionally. It is literally something we feel as a reaction to a person/people or situation.

A mental illness is something complete different, although they are, more often than not, mixed up. The general feelings of stress and mental health problems are very similar. One can feel as though they want to sleep often, they might feel like crying and loose their appetite almost altogether.

We all have a level of stress which we are fairly familiar with. Not everyone on the planet is immune to stress. We all have our breaking point, yet if there is an underlying mental health issue, the a stressful environment will only add to that. This does not mean that bosses need to scrutinise every applicant that comes through the door for an interview for a hidden mental illness, it just means that employers need to be aware of the level of stress which he or she is, in turn, putting upon the employee.

I had myself significant points in my employee career where I had been under elements of stress at work. I did not think at the time that there could be any underlying problem but I understand now that if I had subjected myself to any further stress, there would have been a permanent damaging effect. As it was, I got out in what I would term as "just in time" and sort a future soon after to help others.

I am all for the employee. In having experience of a bully boss, your whole perception of life changes. If it was only a simple matter of leaving work at 5pm and forgetting about the day on the way home, it turns into a clock counting nightmare in which all you do is count the hours til 9am the following morning. I decided to tech myself more about mental health problems and the way they effect us at work. As we can all appreciate - victims or not, the stress at work thing has a serious knock on effect - we go home not to comfort but more often than not - resentment and guilt that we are possibly not handling it better ourselves in the office...

What could be seen as a simple case of pressure in the workplace - can actually be something on a deeper level.

This article today is not to scaremonger - far from it, but the nature of my business now is to educate and make aware. If we learn to prevent mental health illnesses, we can in turn combat the effect and causes of stress in the workplace.

As stated in the HSE website:

"Organisations can manage and prevent stress by improving conditions at work. Doctors usually treat common mental health problems by prescribing medication. However, you and your managers have a role in making adjustments and helping the person to manage the problem at work...."

http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/furtheradvice/stressandmentalhealth.htm

As Dr Frasier Crane would say, "Goodnight and good mental health..."

Michelle Duffy 2009

Changing The Record Or How To Become Successful In Three Minutes

This morning, I attended the North Surrey Business Expo 09 at Kempton Park Racecourse. Now, I am typically someone who likes to mingle (and that's a far more generalised event than actual networking) and I like to do this with the ordinary man - the tradesman, the mini-entrepreneur, the average man or woman looking to make some money from a hobby, or an idea, making a difference in their lives and those of others. As you can probably tell from where this paragraph is going - there were no such people at Expo 09...

I always take the liberty of going to something that's free. When it comes to networking, because you can do it anywhere - in a supermarket, laundrette or even walking the kids to school, I don't see the point of paying for it simply because they offer you a free cup of coffee and a slim wafer. So, when the email advert was junk mailed in my direction, I jumped at the chance to attend.

The Surrey Chambers of Commerce are a jolly bunch - lots of BMW's and smiles, but for me, the key points I yearn for stop there. These are people who are businessmen and women who have big desks and their employee figures go into the hundreds. So this got me thinking - not so much about their lives, their cars and how much Pimms and Tennis will be talked about at the event, but the word "success."

How do we define success?

The the common definition of this word is in the third party - in other words, it is a term we would use to describe someone else and rarely ourselves. To us, we define it as power, money and influence, or maybe one out of three, yet I feel this is where we go wrong. What separates us from Jonathan Jay and others, is our own perception of this word - and nothing else....

And I meant "nothing else..."

No, I haven't gone barking mad - it is literally all about perception. We only look at someone being successful when we see that they have a pot of cash, an Aston Martin and a fat Filofax - they may well have inherited the lot, yet we don't see that - we see someone who has been successful in something and it is usually in business.

Take something silly you've done today - bought a pint of milk perhaps - you made the decision to step out of the front door and get some milk, why? Because you had identified a need for some (you might see where this is going now...) so you went out and got a pint and probably came home again - you were successful. Full stop.

It's as simple as that. Most of us will see that as simply going about their daily chores, a bit like a wealthy businessman will go about his daily chores too - he might check out the stock exchange, sell some shares, do a deal with ICI for a 7 figure sum etc, etc, - the two are the same - it is only the way we perceive it, that is different - as soon as we stop seeing a vast difference, then we can truly be successful in everything we do...

Take today and the events which happened in my life - I heard from two people I met at a networking event last week - they both emailed me today. I was approached by the head of a major influential company who had read one of my articles on a website. I attended two free seminars which taught be valuable lessons in marketing - tips which could make and save money. I managed to find the venue for these seminars without getting lost or stuck in traffic on the M25. I have had a very successful day.

Someone else might see it as a day spent wandering around, driving for most of it, listening to two people waffle on about something, got a couple of emails which might not amount to anything and the car sounded a bit rough on the way home..... you see? It's all about perception.

If we shift the levels of success, we begin to see our own achievements for what they really are - achievements. We erase the line between stacks of cash and fast car and just ticking over and we find that we are successful in every day of our lives. The key to being rich is a matter of luck and judgement - nothing else and no NVQ is going to teach you any different. Being successful on the other hand is simply a matter of how are own minds work and changing it.....

Until next time....

Have a successful day......

Michelle Duffy 2009

The Joys Of Negative Networking Or How I Got Happy With My Business

We have all been there - we get geared up for the networking do of the month (or the week, if some of us are really popular) and we are about to jump out of the front door, and we suddenly get an attack of the negatives - in other words, our previous engagement might have hit the skids so, we dip the paint brush once more into the tar...

We wonder - what's the point? We know for a fact that there is nothing like painting a morbid picture about a networking event if the last did not go as planned. We had had a great time. We had played several parts. We had been a million different people. We had delighted in our audience and laughed in a sparkling manner, yet two weeks later -the phone didn't ring.

It takes time to click with people, and if you really don't like networking further than a two mile radius of our own front door, then it is highly unlikely you are going to bump into the same people again. Then again, it is good to see sometimes the same people - we jog memories and engage in a little light banter of "so, hows business since I last saw you..?"

Sometimes you get lucky - you meet the odd person and gel instantly. You know from the word go you're going to be in each other's lives on some level for years to come, but this rarely happens - there will be, more often than not, loads of people who you will probably not hear from again. That doesn't matter - you should never concentrate on the short lived acquaintances - only the ones who you feel you connect with instantly.

There are points, (as ever in my mutterings) which must be considered when networking - one in particular importance is that if you are one of the few who really clam up at the thought of talking to complete strangers about your business, then the best way to overcome this is to attend a seminar of such which allows you to network also - what usually happens is that you'll relax listening to someone else talking so when it comes to mingling with some coffee and a biscuit, you've got something to talk about before you launch into a sales pitch...

However, these are some of the do's and don't's which should be digested:

• DO: look smart - I don't care if you are attending a freebie in a pub on a lunchtime - these people you are likely to meet are potential clients/customers/business partners - they are also your extended sales staff as they will go off and tell everyone they know about you - you want to make a good impression, don't you? Ditch the jeans and the loafers and put on your suit - it won't kill you, even if it's you day off. (Another good trick here is to wear a suit for a more important reason - it will make your audience think you are at work/going to a business meeting straight after/going back to the office later on - the last thing they will think of is that you are out of work and desperate for a project. People want to do business with someone who everyone else is doing business with...)


• DON'T: say anything negative about either yourself or your customers - it will generally look unprofessional, and your audience will not relish the idea of one day, your slating them to someone else - say good things about yourself and your clients - the audience will like to think you will do the same for them if/when they hire you.


• DO: smile - for all the very obvious reasons.


• DON'T: turn up in a sloppy car - if there is a chance that someone/your audience will see you - it's not just you that has to look smart - everything about you must show the same good presentation.


• DO: Take along a buddy or even a past customer if they don't mind - they will be an advert - a mobile one and your audience will be suitably impressed.


• DON'T: Sound disorganised - practice your pitch, don't pause/look over their shoulder and if you feel their attention waining, ask them about their businesses - as they are speaking you can be taking stock and thinking about what to say next.

I guess that just about wraps it up on the networking front - don't forget go to as many events as you can - there are plenty of free ones out there - if you sign yourself up to Start Up Community, you will receive regular invites to all sorts of seminars and networking sessions - the more people you meet, the more your business will get round. It's always worth it - even if you don't get any business from a session, you might just pick up some good friends!

The Intrepid Journey of a Consultant Part One - Networking Nerves

Much of my time spent as a consultant is giving people real solutions.

Now I know you've heard many a consultant say that before - "real solutions for real businesses/people/clients/mental health patients" - you name it, there is a consultant for everything. We tend to pop up in the most unexpected places (can you believe there's even a market for traffic and parking consultancy?) You see, where there is a business, there is somewhere a consultancy for it.

What I tend to put together is tangible solutions to problems, rather than creating problems for clients and then spend the next half of my invoice to them, convincing them they actually have this problem in the first place. If you think you have a concern with the colour of your teeth, I will tell you to change your toothpaste. Most other over paid consultants will tell you that it's not your toothpaste you need to change but your fluctuating staff resistance programme (what's more, you didn't even realise you had one.)

When you work for "the people" and yes, I am donning my Citizen Smith hat once again and standing outside Tooting Bec station, you don't get paid a great deal, then again that's what separates one group of consultants with another. There are some who do it to charge a four figure sum for a day's work and another group who do it simply because they want to give something back (am I sounding like a multi level marketing empire after your money? Probably.)

The problem is when you are a consultant is where to start first with the whole business. As we all know, nearly all work which comes in to an SME is through referral. Don't worry, this isn't a post teaching you to suck eggs. What does count is being personable. You need to network and you need to be liked. When you are liked, you are trusted after a period of time and not only do you acquire good friends but you earn clients, and yes, I did say the word 'earn.'

We don't come into this business demanding clients. If you do that, you are soon out of business, yet so we don't end up sitting around watching Jeremy Kyle every morning waiting for the phone to ring - we network. Be it online or face to face. For me, it comes before everything else - admin, budgeting, accounts - if you haven't got work - none of these pastimes will get you anywhere.

Now you can drop direct marketing and door drop advertising like a couple of hot bricks. Unless you are a roofer/plumber/electrician and just about any other business which offers a service or product for the HOME - don't bother to drop leaflets through people's doors. Nine times out of ten, most businesses earning a substantial profit which they might consider giving some of that to a consultant - do not operate from their home address - I say 'most,' in fact, I have yet to come across a business with 200+ employees all working office hours from the directors spare bedroom. If you are going to provide a service to someone in the home - then drop your flyer's. If it is business to business, then catch them at the office, not at home.

With consultancy, or at least, my business which is in social services, you are reaching out to all people. Now this presents a problem. Many of my clients might not be able to read or write, so there is no point shoving a flyer through the door. So how do I go about this? Well, that's a good question and the day I find the answer, I will immediately become a millionaire. In the mean time I build relationships with as many fantastic and awe inspiring people as I can. I don't look at business networking for the sake of grabbing as many business cards as I can in one lunch time, I talk to everyone, regardless of which business they are in. People are people and I expand my knowledge of life by creating an interesting circle of friends and associates.

Network at will. That's all you can do. It gains everything but if you're far from confident in a room full of people then you have to overcome that, the same I had to. Today's lesson is to appreciate your contacts. The ones you already have the one's you will find tomorrow. There are a whole of host self struggling sole traders and other such businesses out there who are just as nervous and human as you. This, I will tell you for nothing was my biggest challenge - not my first project but actually getting around to walking into a room full of strangers to promote myself. Take a deep breath and if it really scares you, take someone along with you.

Enough can't be said about such networking. If you attend as many courses as you can (Business Link or Train to Gain etc) they can be an event where you not only learn something but network as well.

When business is quiet, finding new contacts to share a few consultancy jokes with will perk you up no end and put your confidence back in good shape.

If you need a hand looking for good networking clubs in your area in the UK, email me at mail@communityconsultancy.com and I will try to help you out....

Good luck and until the next time...

Michelle Duffy 2009

Umeployment Or Just A State Of Mind?

You might have heard on various local radio stations and other forms of semi-multi media that the latest unemployment figures are out today, with, according to Mark Carter's Breakfast Show of BBC Surrey, our county (Surrey of course) having only an average of 5 people apply for a job rather than 21 or so in neighbouring Kent. Things looking up? Okay, so why the news that managers won't hire you if you've been unemployed for six months?

Despite these figures, one thing that did tweek the nerve endings this morning was the fact that their roving reporter, at a recent Job Fair in Guildford, decided to ask the opinions of a 21 year old student, (who had incidentally only been out of University for a month,) on the recent unemployment crisis. What, we ask, would he know about what it is to be unemployed? If the reporter had been me, I would have made a B line for the nearest 40 something, middle manager who had obviously been out of work for a year and looking like he was on the brink of desperation. Then I would have got a real scope on what it is like to be unemployed.

It's all in the mind...

There are some key issues we need to tackle here. The first is that when looking for a job, after a long session of unemployment, what you DON'T do is tell the interviewing manager that you are unemployed. Why? Because he will know as well as you do that the word, "unemployment" is a word one uses when really one could say "Actually, I am not working and I feel lousy about it so don't employ me."

Any thoughts?

Okay, so here's what happens...

• When you apply for a position (and interviewing managers can take note here as well) if you need to fill in a substantial gap from the time you left your last employer to now, then think about exactly what it is you've been doing. After all, put yourself in the shoes of the interviewer and think about putting down the U word - would you hire you? Probably not. But, if the answer is yes, then put down the things that you want that interviewer to know about you. If you have been literally sitting in front of the TV for six months, then fool you, however, we can get around that. Be creative, say you've been doing voluntary work. Use your mind.


• Have you been looking after the house? Put down good administration and financial skills, balancing budgets/book-keeping. Do you look after an elderly relative or children? There's the care industry right in front of you. Are you good at something? What did you do in your last job? Have you done any community work? If not, do some! Even if it's a day here and there for the local voluntary service, do it and then add it to your CV - there you are, you've done something!


• The most important piece of information available to you in this blog today is this: A prospective employer does not care one bit if you have been unemployed. If he does, then he is not worth working for. Any good, experienced manager/director knows exactly whats going on in the world and it's economy today. They won't judge you. What they will do is look at the way you view yourself and if you say you have done nothing over the last six/twelve months - that will manager know that you don't value yourself so why should he?

Think about it. Unemployment is a state of mind. We are all busy people and we all have busy lives. We all work - we all do something, whether we get paid for it or not is a different matter. We work at our lives/homes/children/families/neighbourhoods and they are all worthy qualities which should not be cast aside.

So, when you hear today that managers are less likely to hire you if you've been unemployed for six months. Don't listen to it and think again. Six months is not long, and I'll bet you've done a multitude of things in that time to get you back to work. Anyone who is worth employing does not sit around letting the grass grown beneath their feet. Managers know that. You truly know that. Fill in the gaps. Say, yes, you haven't worked for an employer for X amount of months but say you've been designing this and creating that/you've taken time out and research on a subject/you've looked after the house and it's accounts and discovered your desire now to strive for this job, that's why you're applying now.

Getting a job is not tough. It is as tough as you want it to be. At the same time, make it easy for yourself and you'll be swamped with offers. It's that simple.

Good luck.

Michelle Duffy 2009.

It Could Only Happen In A Recession Or The Curse Of The Interviewer

Mondays are dreadful days.





Once we have basked in the glorious sunshine which God very kindly offered to us over the weekend, we are struck by financial doom and gloom exactly 24 hours later simply because there is an M in the word Monday. Money is the very evil we are all driven by and if it was not bad enough that an ice cream on Worthing sea front now costs a whopping 2 quid for a '99,' we can look forward to waking up the following day with that ever so distinctive sinking feeling (and we are not where near the water.) Yet in high flying, middle management, coffee and damp biscuits weekly, "Management Today," we were woken to the dulcet tones of International Monetary Fund boss, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who has quite promptly told us that the good old, back biting recession is all over and we can stop having night sweats and panic attacks.

Isn't that nice? So, in true Michelle Duffy style, here are my own thoughts on the real recession:

Saving the best questions 'til last

I have, over the last few months become increasingly fascinated with the way human beings have changed themselves during the recession. Not so much in our shopping habits and other financial pastimes but in the way we behave, and it would appear that there employers (and we all are or will be at some stage, so don't knock them just yet) who are determined to carry on regardless of any recession, including, refusing to change their attitude towards potential employees...


Interviewers are going to be my gripe of the day today. There is a rule somewhere that states that if an employer has a temp or such person already doing a job he or she wants to fill permanently, instead of just giving the person already sitting in the hot seat the job, they must or at least, I think they are obliged to advertise the post publicly, despite the fact that the person; no matter who walks through the door, doing the job already is going to get the job.


Does that seem fair to you? No. I didn't think so. Well, at least from the candidates point of view, for them the whole process is a total waste of time.

Or as I recently said on Twitter "Help, I'm an interviewer's list of unfair questions! If I saddle up to this jug of warm water much longer I shall take the job myself..."


So, before us employers offer a jug of warm water and a series of unfair questions, I put this dilemma to you. Would you go to a job interview yourself, even if there was absolutely no chance you actually getting that job because there was someone in the background at the company already doing it? Of course you wouldn't but you would expect a whole host of wanna be employees to trip through the door even so wouldn't you? (I guess the real answer here is that we wouldn't go for a job interview in the first place because we disliked being employees ourselves - that's the reason why we set up our own businesses right?)


Perhaps it would be better if we just didn't say anything at all at a job interview to give the game away. There are two misleading faux par's which employers slip up on at a job interview: (Take note future candidates here,)

• The trick question: Ask the candidate a question they could only possibly know the answer, if they were already working there (chances are they already have someone in mind for the job - the girl/chap who is already doing it, and they are the only ones who could answer this.)


• The Temp Slip: Or just simply stating that someone temping is already doing the job. If you're the candidate, you can pretty much bet that if she/he has gone for an interview too, she/he will be the one who gets the job.

It could only happen in a recession. I have found that many employers are getting tough when it comes to interviewing. They are far more reluctant to dish out the interview letters, and when it comes to the actual interviewing, why waste time getting someone in who is probably right for the job and train them when it would easier to take someone you already employ and who knows the company well enough not to train.

As an employer it makes perfect sense, so don't think this is a dig at the boss. For a candidate, it simply warns them to stay on guard when it comes to interviews and actually planting the job. It certainly is far from easy today than it was to get a job say, three years ago. We are all on our guard - employers and candidates alike. We're are no different from each other...

Until the next time, happy interviewing....

onemum 2009

A Day In The Life Of.... A Blog (Part Two) Or How I Wouldn't Turn Down Dinner With Jonathan Jay

The art of staying afloat in this business is, to my mind, the most essential skill anyone could want to start off a new business with. It is not the supreme ability of balancing a budget, or even closing a deal, but the emotional art of staying afloat - that ability to see beyond the sinking ship you are standing on and look into the middle distance, almost looking upon dry land, or at least, actually wishing so hard, you make it real...

It has to be said, you can have all the business plans and marketing techniques in the whole world, but if you can't, in your own mind, see and adapt to what is next around the corner, then jack it in now, get yourself down the job centre and get ready to don some reinforced knee pads to fit over your suit. You will have to do a lot of begging to get on the dole.

Business is all about being in a particular state of mind. For example, you can be sitting at your desk in your cosy home and several things might pop into your mind. I know for a fact that I visualise myself walking into the room, right now, and recording in a short statement exactly what it is I can see. Do I see a business woman, at the helm of her company, frantically typing away, networking, thrusting her business forward, or do I see someone idly tapping away at something that isn't making any money and eventually she will have to throw in the towel and go back to a "proper job?"

Last month, I had the opportunity to go and listen to one of my ultimate business hero's talk. Jonathan Jay is the real deal when it comes to entrepreneurs. He started with less than a 150 quid in his pocket and a house which the bank was about to take away from him. So what did he do? He started a business on nothing. He started being a life coach. On his first session he was broke. Nineteen sessions later, he made a million.

And the question I would like to ask is... "HOW THE HELL DID HE DO THAT???"

I'm sorry but it makes absolutely no sense! We are trying it aren't we? You must be otherwise you would not be reading this now. I doubt very much Jonathan reads this blog, or he would be on the phone to me right now saying "Look, it was like this..."

You see, I can't accept that someone can just suddenly turn themselves into a money making machine. If they tell you that they can and it all sounds too good to be true then, it probably is (we know that much about scams in this life.) Jonathan must have quite literally sold himself. He does say that he hired himself out to talk about his life. I can't imagine any takers on someone like me who has drifted in to Surrey Ambulance Service then drifted out nine years later into business....

Mr Jay's process to financial fame is probably straight forward enough, but I can take a calculated guess that there is an element in him, Brad Rosser and all the others, which many of us actually lack - the ability to view themselves in a light we can't.

Derren Brown - all round weird guy, magician, illusionist and banned from all casinos in Las Vegas has written many books on his wit, wisdom and downright bigheaded-ness, yet his last book was called "Tricks Of The Mind," and I strongly feel in business, that is exactly what it's all about. For Jonathan, he merely "tricked" (if I can use that word, sorry Mr Jay) others into believing he was the real deal, even when the bailiffs were knocking on his door. Jonathan says his secrets are in in the following (and here, as per usual, are my takes on what these phrases actually mean..)

• Referral Marketing: The art of getting in with a huge crowd, introducing yourself and somehow forcing, by means of eletro-telekinesis, businessmen to speak about you to their friends using really nice adjectives.


• Data Base Marketing: This could mean pinching someone else's Littlewoods catalogue but I very much doubt it. I should imagine it is rather like the aforementioned, but on a slightly non face to face level. It could mean going through everyone else's data base and collecting a few sound choices.


• Up-Sell Techniques: In my line, this would have usually meant that you sell something claiming it is better than it actually is. People buy anything for emotional reasons (you can quote that, I learnt it from retail) You've only got to look at those twinkling eyes and you're sold.

The next lesson to be learned here is to "get out while you can." Have you ever noticed that many of these self made millionaires tend to sell to a private equity company as soon as they have reached the top? Do you think it's a deeply bedded fear of failure? Do they think they will flop in the next Wall Street crash?

Or is it because suddenly the novelty of being a business man wears off?

Discuss.

Until next time, happy marketing/up selling/data base shifting (delete as appropriate...)

onemum 2009

A Day In The Life Of.... A Blog.

Going slight off the beaten track today, I thought I would share with you a day in the life of my humble small business - my business and my blog Part One.

I am sure that for similar reasons, there are those of us who can't wait to get our angst down on paper - be it for a professional cause or otherwise. It is therapy (as I once described a equally humble job years before) and for me, this is the perfect platform (even if nobody ever is likely to read it...) After all, we learn by mistakes the most, not from the ones we make ourselves, but the ones which are made by others. At least we can then take delight in saying "thank goodness that wasn't me!"

The day starts off, like many SME's, with the good intentions of the world then somehow from morning to night, somewhere, it all goes the other way. For me, the day begins with several cups of tea and a struggle to get motivated. There in itself, lies the cardinal error - motivation. If, there was nothing along the lines of motivation in the world, jobs wouldn't get done, countries would not trade, governments would cease (not a bad idea) and money would not exchange hands. I read a book recently which stated that "everything in the world started off as a single thought." Now, I don't know how you feel about that, but I would disagree. It is rather like the old saying of "Some men are born great, others have greatness thrusted upon them," (A Night In The Museum: movie) there is an argument to it. A thing might start off as a single thought, but the brain has still needed an element of motivation to get there first!


The daylight hours


The middle of the morning can be a wonderful experience. The sun rises and we feel thrilled to be alive. The day is full of promises yet to be made, but sometimes what really happens is rather like playing a computer game simply because you like the soundtrack. The idea of business is usually what makes us all tick. That, if anything, is the very thought that leads to motivation.

Yet not everything can be like a University paper and have the word "discuss," at the end of it to make it suitable for therapy. The conclusion of the day should, fundamentally, be the same - we are in business to make money. Some of us, mountains. Others, just enough to get by, it is the service we provide that is the wealth we desire: not just the green stuff.

So I start the day/afternoon with a blog...

I have found that these things called blogs are our best stage for a jolly good rant at the end of the day. I find working on my blog has to be done in the middle of the day while the house is quiet. However, when a certain time rolls around, the volume goes up, cats wail and a smaller version of me wants to be fed. All this said, I would not be true to my blog here if I didn't mention how such a valuable source of marketing they can be for the SME. What I have found over the years since starting various blogs (5 to date which are still present, but not updated as lovingly as this one) is it's fame depends on who your host is, (such as Blogger etc.)

Friendster, Wired and all these other strange and curious blog hosts which aim to delight and please as well as promote and share, are all very well, but if they won't generate a good listing in Google search, then your efforts are wasted and you must as well print a few copies off and hand them out in the street to complete acquaintances and passers by.

Going in for the kill

The site I came across today was this one. On Educause, (http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutBlogs/156809) they discuss the very importance of having a blog and the rules one should comply with. Now please allow me to take this extract taken from the above page and dissect it. The passage reads as follows...

"(A Blog) is an online collection of personal commentary and links. Blogs can be viewed as online journals to which others can respond that are as simple to use as e-mail. The simplicity of creating and maintaining blogs means they can rapidly lead to open discussions. Faculty are using blogs to express their opinions, promote dialogue in their disciplines, and support teaching and learning; students increasingly use blogs for personal expression and as course requirements. By carefully evaluating blogs' strengths and weaknesses, educators are learning to set guidelines and expectations to maximize blogs' instructional benefits. Structured exercises and clear goals are further enhancing the educational value of blogs. Put into practice with an understanding of their benefits and limitations, blogs are an increasingly accepted instructional technology tool."

Okay, here we go....

Firstly, blogs, or at least a vast majority of them are used as business tools. There is nothing wrong with that, but the way we view blogs has changed immensely over the years to the way we use them today. Many are used on a personal basis, yet how many potential customers really want to see pictures of last years sun burnt week in Scarborough when your Auntie Dot lost both her cork mules in the sea and forced you all to eat sand covered custard tarts because the local chippy didn't open for another four hours? The way in which we use blogs has crossed over from personal to business, or rather we mix the two. Which, and you may disagree with me, is just not cricket...

Students, it states are increasingly using blogs for educational purposes - well if you say so. I know many a student who spends their "free period" conversing on Facebook rather than on Faculty webpages.

• "By carefully evaluating blogs' strengths and weaknesses, educators are learning to set guidelines and expectations to maximize blogs' instructional benefits. Structured exercises and clear goals are further enhancing the educational value of blogs. Put into practice with an understanding of their benefits and limitations, blogs are an increasingly accepted instructional technology tool." To be honest I'm not sure exactly what this actually means. I certainly agree with the piece at the end describing blogs as an instructional technology tool but surely these are only effective to the student if the student is actually reading and digesting it's content. Blogs are for the casual reader first and foremost and as we move into the idea of blogs for business, there are a great many blogs who end up in the graveyard simply because they are not effective.

Answers on a postacrd...

The conclusion to this peculiar rant today is this: The common or garden blog has somehow lost it's appeal and worth. Many businessmen state that their blog and it's content is for minor marketing reasons but to be honest, there are very few blogs out there which are actually turning over revenue. After all, we take hours to write and 'hours' means an hourly rate right? That probably means very little money to the SME, I know it does to me. There is much the SME does, that literally is for nothing, so don't let a blog be the same for you.


So what have I learned today as I type away at my blog? I know not to look at the Educause website again, and if I do, I will read instead, "7 Things You Should Know About LULU," and hope that it might tell me why on Earth she released "Boom Bang A Bang..."

Until the next time...

onemum 2009

There's No Business Like Show Business!

This all sounds off the beaten track but today, I wanted to talk about a news article which was put in front of me by a friend of mine and you can find the original article here: http://www.businesszone.co.uk/topic/finances/susan-boyle-effect-what-entrepreneurs-can-learn-britains-got-talent?ref=ukbf

She came on, if you might have witnessed at the beginning of the auditions for Britain's Got Talent, and the initial reaction was - laughter. Not with her, or for her, but AT her. Why? She wasn't pretty, she didn't have a good figure, she looked, dare I say it, batty and she generally looked as if she couldn't sing for toffee.

This article written at the link, expresses the connections, albeit, darkly, between Susan Boyle and what it is to run a small business. Now, you may initially want to throw your head back and laugh til you are blue in the face, but this article, frighteningly has a valid point.

These videos of the badly dressed Boyle is quite astounding. Not only can she really sing, but she actually managed to prove Cowell wrong - which in itself deserves a medal in my book. She has since become a world wide phenomenon, being now mentioned in The Simpson's (which, as you will know is an accolade in itself) as well as being the doll at every important venue, being played on the radios of all the most important people in the world. No bad eh?

Yet there is a destruction behind this - world domination, of any description does not always lead one to the right conclusions. More often that not, one's actions are seen as merely to be continuously that power til the world stops turning, but unfortunately Ms Susan has simply proved to us how a human being reacts in a situation - you blow, when the world stops promising that domination for you.

So, what can we as SME's learn from this? Not to throw a tantrum in the face of diversity (or not) as the case maybe - there could be a joke there somewhere, but on a serious note, there is a lesson to be learned here. In the article, it asks the question,

"What is your definition of success?"

As a business owner, what do we think as being successful? Stefan Topfer said recently that you defy your own success and that could be at any level, and have any meaning. Do you believe that when you go to bed at night, that you have had a successful day? Or do you wonder if the day should have been filed under F for failure?

In today's society, you don't have to win to be a success - we've seen that we Will Young and the young man who came second, Gareth Gates. Both have been as successful as each other. Last year's runners up in BGT were the pairing of Signature, who are now tipped to be performing for Micheal Jackson. Whats the winner, George Sampson been doing? Don't think I can remember...

It's all about learning from mistakes - okay, so Susan had a swear and threatened a few people but that still doesn't take away the fact that she can sing. There have been many people in the world of showbiz who have done things the wrong way around, but that never takes away what they can do. We don't like Gary Glitter for what he has done lately, but that still does not take away the fact his records thirty years ago were legendary.

We will sometimes get it wrong with customers that will end up with them going next door to find someone who can do a better job - that doesn't make them bad, it just means that they are exercising their right to chose where they want to go and who they want to do business with. As a business owner, you have to try and get them back - you make up for your mistakes, you offer them something, they smile and return knowing you better and respecting you as a human being the same as them - well, sometimes that works...

We can see from Susan though that at first she got it right - it was the song that did it for her - and as businesses we all need to find the right song to sing. Once we have it, the market is putty in our hands. What Susan didn't do is come on and sing "The Ugly Duckling" which would have seen her as the laugh we initially thought she was going to be. The thing should should have stuck with was that song, but when she came on and sung "Memory" at the semi's she was flat. I don't care, she was as flat as a pancake. Wrong song, bad temper equals second place.

People want to see something different and that's we got with Susan. In business we strive to be something different and perhaps even quirky like Susan. We love that as emotional beings and as consumers - we like things to stand out and this is the secret key to business - the very lesson of today.

We are all Susan Boyles in business, looking for a song, a break - there is indeed very little difference between office business and show business. We are all Ethel Merman's trying to throw tonnes of shoulder at the world. Some of us will win, some won't but we learn and we grow.

I hope Susan learns and grows from this madness in her life that has been the last three months. She should write a book and if she does, there will be a whole line of SME's queuing up for book signing.....

onemum 2009

Hitting The Globe Or How I Hang Out With The Rest Of The World

The idea of actually talking and conversing with people on the other side of the world still hasn't quite sunk in to the grey matter just yet.

I mean think about - can you really do business with someone sitting at their computer in the middle of the night in their PJ's? (and yes, there are some of us seeing dark right now, something I sometimes can't get my head round) Especially when they can't see you or hear your voice; know what food you like; how many cups of coffee you drink each day, what music you like, what you wear etc (well, most people don't even know that about their own spouses so we'll leave that subject for another day...)

Years ago, when you went for a job with someone, it usually started off with an interview, then if you liked the look of each other and you fitted in, you got the job. Nowadays, you go to an interview already struggling under the weight of all the documents you must present to simply prove that you are who you say you are. A quick check on your date of birth simply doesn't wash with prospective employers anymore - you have to come armed with every conceivable document ever written about you including all your exam results from school, and trust me, if that is as far back for you as it is for me, then in my opinion, they should give you the job on the spot for just still having the paperwork you left school with....

It would seem that we now live in a world of two business extremes: on one hand, we don't trust anyone; we simply can't trust or hire an employee out of the blue without the 1001 documents to prove he or she exists. Secondly, still in the world of business, we will quite happily work with each other on projects, ideas and solutions even if it means that your co-pilot is several thousand miles away and all your going on is what they decided would look right on their webpage profile.

So why has it got this crazy? My guess is, is that in business, there are two kinds of people:

1. The desk top, tied down employer: This chap doesn't trust or sometimes even like the people who come in for the interview and there is a perfectly good reason behind this theory - he wasn't the one who decided who was fit for an interview and who wasn't. He is the one who has been told to sit there and spill out the same questions each hour to different candidates. As far as he is concerned, everyone is a criminal and is guilty til proved employable. Coveted by red tape from his senior management team, he is a hamster on the wheel of employment himself, never daring to get off, always there, dependable and reliable and possibly sees everyone who walks in for an interview as a threat. We feel sorry for him. He works hard and never gets the break.
2. The world wide web businessman: With regards to this chap, his desk is the world. He sits himself comfortably at his computer each day and welcomes several billion people into his office. He chats to an old friend in China and strikes a deal with a contract partner in France. He will jump on a plane like you and I would jump on a bus, to go to a meeting. He will teleconference more often that BT. He commands a high salary and the world loves him, yet to his next door neighbours, he is the man who lets the front lawn grass grow til there are pygmies dancing around in it, chanting, and as far as the woman across the road is concerned, he is that guy who lost his job several years ago and doesn't come out of the house anymore, so why does he do business with the world? Because someone in another country has taken the trouble to work and connect with him when they didn't have to.

It's all about the way we look at things. To my family, I am the one who can be heard thundering away on the keyboard all day and sometimes all night, occasionally stirring for a cup of tea, but slinking away for further hours of something, yet I am conducting business. I guess they think I am probably playing solitare.

Since persuading myself that the world is now my community rather than pitching my work to a 30 mile radius as Stefan Topfer, CEO and Chairman of WinWeb http://www.sme-blog.com/ said to me, from my own front door, I now talk to people in Canada, the US and other countries I have only heard existed from watching years of the Eurovision Song Contest.

It's still odd to me and to be honest, I have yet to strike that deal with someone in a far flung country but I am hoping it won't be long. In my business, I work with communities and as many of you will know from the business website, http://onemum.webs.com/, my work is based on helping sections of our community who need extra services and information from their local authorities to maintain independent lives. See, it's VERY local, my business, but who's to say that, that community I so heavily focus on, can't be the world wide community, rather than a few streets away from where I actually live?

It's true. Once you find yourself in a global frame of mind, suddenly the world is not so big as you first thought. It shrinks in fact in the palm of your hand and once you have that in your mind, you can become that businessman and let the grass grow...

So long as you don't let it grow under your feet.....

onemum 2009