If there is one radio show guaranteed to make me change channels, it’s the Jeremy Vine Show on Radio 2. Not because I have anything against Jeremy, it’s because, generally, the views of the public aired in response to the issues raised infuriate me. A couple of days ago, Jeremy conducted an excellent interview with a BBC correspondent about the Afghanistan non-election – a well informed, concise, detailed explanation of the issues. This was then ruined (for me) by uninformed points of view that added little or nothing.

Much has been written about the “demise” of the Birmingham Post, and the genuine concern at what will happen to the journalists who are losing their jobs. I sincerely hope that those skilled at writing will find new employment, albeit in a different market. I would far rather read, or listen, to someone who knows their subject and can present it well, than someone who writes and broadcasts just because they can.

The proliferation of Blogs, and the ability for anyone to write when, and on whatever subject they choose, has been cited as the end of quality reporting. I would disagree. I have more faith in readers and listeners exercising their choice to read and listen to what they like, and to switch off what they don’t like.

I also believe that there is a duty for those who know what is going on to share their knowledge and expertise.

I was talking with a client about the amount of business they were generating from their website. The key interface between the business and the customer is the contact form, that tells the business about what the customer needs, as well as a contact name, number and email.

A brief look at Google Analytics revealed some interesting statistics:

• In the last month, their website had received just under 6,000 hits, and
• In the same period, only 54 click through’s to the contact form had been generated by the website, meaning that
• Less than 1% of visits had resulted in a request for a contact.

This was pretty depressing, but it explained why the business felt that it wasn’t getting much benefit from the website.

By looking at each page, it became apparent that there was no obvious “call to action”. Even if the visitor was keen to make contact, it wasn’t clear how they should.

I’m no web-master, but I do understand the importance of making sure the link between you, your product, your “shop”, and your customer, is seamless.

When was the last time you asked someone to give you honest feedback about how easy you are to locate, find out about, and to buy from?

I heard a speaker recently who gave an example of too much choice being a bad thing. The example involved offering free samples of jam to customers in a shop, and then offering them the option to buy a pot.

The research found that beyond a point, more choice led to lower sales. Some choice was good, too much was not so good.

So how much choice is good?

I am sure the supermarkets have worked this one out but, as usual, I found myself thinking laterally. When looking for a solution to a problem, how many options are there?

I reckon that, with enough time and resource, there is no problem that doesn’t have a limitless range of possible answers. Ask an academic if you are unsure about this one… The problem is that we don’t have limitless time and resource, and have to make do with a small number of options.

Unless you have a “no-brainer” of a question, possible solutions can be grouped into categories. For example, the obvious, the wacky, the seemingly stupid, the clever, the smart.

However you face challenges, the trick is to not let the question become overwhelming. Which leads me to a favourite saying: How do you eat an elephant? Answer, one mouthful at a time. The saying neatly illustrates the point that a complicated question, with too many possible answers, could probably be simplified if it was broken into smaller pieces, so you don’t get indigestion…

Time is money. We all know that. But do you know how much your time is worth? I recently helped a self-employed client work out this cost, and thought I’d share the process.

The starting point is to work out how much it costs to “keep you alive” each month. This should include your rent or mortgage, your utility costs, average food bill, travel costs, a contribution to a small annual holiday, and a little contingency “just in case”. Let’s say, for example, that this amounts to £1,200.

You now multiply this cost by 12 to get your annual cost: £14,400.

Assuming an average working year of 220 days, you need to earn just over £65 every day to stand still. However, that’s after paying tax. So your gross earnings would need to be in the region of £80 per day.

So assuming an 8 hour day, it costs you £10 an hour to sit still.

It might not sound much, but every hour you don’t earn means you have to earn more in the other hours. Let’s say you only earn in 60% of the time. You need to charge about £135 a day, or £17 per hour.

So when you sit down to read or do something that you are not being paid for, ask yourself, is it worth £17 per hour?

Nothing succeeds like a budgie with no teeth.

I have had a few meetings recently with people looking to start a business. Some of the businesses were start-ups, some were buy-outs.

As a freelance FD, I was asked if the idea stood a chance of succeeding financially.

What we very quickly got down to was not CAN they make a success of the idea, but do they WANT to make a success of the idea.

Without the will to succeed, it’s very unlikely you will succeed.

With a determination to succeed, even average ideas stand a good chance of making money.

Much is being said in the media these days about what economic recovery will look like. I suspect that life is too complicated to find generalised answers to this question, and that we are better looking at more specific areas.

One measurement of economic output I was told about many years ago was the “crane count”.

Very simply, how many cranes can you see on the skyline of your city?

Each crane represents an army of workers delivering a building project. Each one represents confidence in investment. There is no such thing (unless I’m much mistaken) as an idle crane.

How many cranes can you count, and are there more, less or about the same as this time last year?

Having looked at the numerous summaries of the budget, I am left feeling somewhat bemused.

The media has led us to expect a significant budget, responding to extraordinary economic circumstances. Having run the “what this means to you” calculator a couple of times I can’t see any dramatic change to my personal, or business, circumstances.

Perhaps the message is that the chancellor hasn’t got a wand to fix the problem. In fact, perhaps the problem is not tangible enough to fix. I have suspected that a good proportion of our current and future woes are self perpetuated, by the “ever ready to tell a bad story approach” of the media, and by our own insecurities.

If there is a way out of the hole we are in, perhaps the message is that it’s up to each of us to grasp opportunities as they come, and take control of our own destiny.

Cashflow is the heartbeat of every business. Books have been written on the subject – but what lies at the heart of the topic? Talking to a client today, we discussed cashflow in terms of certainty, which seemed to strike a chord, which made me want to share the conversation.

We saw two models of cashflow; the first is usually called the budget, and includes everything you hope will happen. The second (and possibly more important) is the real cashflow, and should only include figures where certainty is close to 10 out of 10.

Certainty of expenditure is pretty easy to plot, wages, rent, telephone bills, they all fall due with depressing regularity.

Certainty of income is far less simple. Not only should the value of the income be certain, so also should its timing. You may know you are expecting a cheque for £5,000, but when exactly will the funds clear your bank account?

When it comes to your cashflow, make sure you are dealing with certainty, not hope.

What is working capital?  When accountants use it they are referring to “Net Current Assets” which are your companies short term assets less your short term liabilities.

To make this easy let’s assume that you have £1,000 of stock, you are owed £500 by your customers and you have £200 in the till.  This means that your short term assets are £1,700, unfortunately at the same time you have £1,000 of bills to pay, which are described as your Short Term Liabilities.

Therefore your working capital, or your Net Current Assets, are £1,700 less £1,000 = £700.

Naturally, you would assume that the more working capital you have in your company the safer your company is, but this is not always true. If too much of that working capital is in stock, it is dead money; which comes alive when sold and then can be used to buy new stock. 

Recently a large furniture retailer went into liquidation even though it had no major debts, because all its money was in furniture and no one was buying their furniture, this led to a major cash flow crisis and its eventual demise.

So you must look where your cash is and whether it is working for you. This is why before Christmas all the major retail chains were giving such big discounts, as it is no good having money in stock, if you don’t have cash to pay your staff and your regular bills.

The message is, if your stock isn’t selling, sell it at any price and use that money to buy stock that will sell.

I gave a presentation to a business-networking group this week on the subject of Social Media and Business.

Realising the audience was at best sceptical (with a couple of exceptions!), and at worst cynical, I used the following images.

• Plain website = shop window, hopefully directing you to the door in.
• Blogging on your website = shop front glass now removed, allowing you to talk to potential customers, and for them to talk back (for example by leaving comments).
• Social Media (such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn) = you have left your shop and are walking about sharing your ideas, and encouraging others to talk about them as well (not always with you present).

It is a bit blunt, but seemed to get the key messages over:

1. Social Media is not something that only happens online – it’s a mesh of physical meetings and online activities.
2. Ideas that are spread through groups of people are far more powerful than ideas delivered to individuals.
3. Real engagement is when people do things for you that you didn’t ask them to.
4. Learn to lose some control – in return for greater reach.

With thanks to Steve Bridger (http://www.stevebridger.com/) for his insights…