Category: General

So, who’s going to win the UK election, and do we really care? I think we do, we care about issues – not about politics, I think we care about how we’re going to pay the bills, save enough money for a pension, a holiday – I think we care, as a nation, how well our children eat and the sense of entrepreneurship.

Political blogging is big business in the US, in fact it took off during the last election – but the UK is catching up, there’s reports of parties buying up domain names left, right and center to be used for their own ends, and I’ve found the Guardian’s UK Election Blog really good reading – I don’t really watch TV reports on the news, because they are skewed or cut, or edited or done in a certain way to suggest one thing.

Another thing is, I keep hearing how its about “having a say”, I don’t want to have a say – I want to make a difference, and I want the person I elect to make a difference, to lead, to take charge and be fully accountable.

Who I’m I electing for? I dunno, it really depends on who stands in my local area, and what they stand for – I probably won’t vote, but I haven’t made my mind up yet.

Do we care? The issues matter. Politicians don’t. Its as simple as that.

One of the most common questions I used to ask before I started a business was do I really need a business plan? You might be in a situation where you are asking yourself the same question.

The bottom line is; it really depends on what you want to do.

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An age old question, cliche or cynicsim I always hear from people I meet is that “enterprenuerisim cannot be taught, you are born with it”.

Personally, I don’t believe that. Passion, motivation, desire, willpower can be trained, it can be mustered from people with the help of other people.

Naturally – you’ve got to want to do it, be it to stay longer at work, to help out on a weekend, or bring more business to your company. This is where I fundamentally believe that enterprenuerisim is being taught, because you are learning it first hand – you see it first hand – you reap what you sow and you adapt to the situation because the situation demands it.

Can you learn enterprenuerisim at school? Well it depends, there are lots of schools out there, you can learn it at University, or at schools like Nesta which is offering a fantastic 10-month programme. There is also CMI Enterprisers, which I had the pleasure of attending, and the Cambridge MIT Institute (note: there are lots more too).

So, what’s the answer to the age old question of whether enterprenuerisim be taught, or is it something you’ve got to be born with? The answer really lies with you. If you don’t feel confident in yourself, your skills, your abilities, your self worth, your career or your future, then find out more about these schools, find out if they will help, then take action.

If you’re worried about the cost, don’t be – try to qualify the benefits of the school, the courses, like you would do for a car – really delve deep into what you personally want to achieve, want you want to do – then pursuit it.

Find confidence in these schools, contact the main tutor and try to explore this – if the school is good, and I mean really, really good – you can learn not just how to be enterprenuerial, but how to be yourself.

As it’s April Fool’s Day, here’s a quick yonder at some of the stuff that was reported by the press, and so forth…

• Google News Reports on April Fool’s Day
• Guardian News Item about April 1st 2005
• Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All Time – This website never seems to be up and running, so here’s a cached version of the website.

I don’t know why, but everybody thinks that the famous Swiss Spaghetti Harvest was one of the best pranks ever done, I personally don’t think it was *that* good.

The story goes that in 1957 the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees.

Huge numbers of viewers were taken in, and many called up wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti trees. To this question, the BBC diplomatically replied that they should “place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”

An April Fool’s Day for me is never complete without Arnold Schwarznegger prank calls or other celebrity prank calls.

Once youve built your website, you need to promote it and draw leads, customers and revenue.

For many businesses this means search engine marketing, optimisation and placement however this is not the only way of promoting a website, or attracting new customers (and leads).

Although such paid services as Google AdWords, or hiring expert SEO experts can be beneficial and bring you fast leads, it might be very expensive or way out of your budget.

So, how else can you promote your website?

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If you (or your business) have a website, chances are youve heard a lot about web standards, and accessibility and how businesses are working closer towards web standards than ever before.

The reason why standards compliance is becoming important for a number of businesses (and private web owners) is because of a number of reasons.

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If youre a small business you might already have an Internet connection and may be considering broadband, but you might be unclear of the actual benefits of broadband.

In this article, I hope to show some of the benefits of broadband for your business.

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A number of sites have reported that Paris Hiltons mobile phone was hacked and private information, including photos and a database of celebrity phone numbers have been posted on the Internet.

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E-marketing is the use of digital and Internet technology to help promote and sell your goods on services.

In some ways it shares a lot of features with traditional marketing it allows you to create communications that attract customers, leads and prospects, but crucially E-marketing can be far cheaper and more effective than traditional marketing.

e-marketing is a process, not a destination.

What examples are there of attracting new customers, keeping them and turning into loyal ones?

This list is not exhaustive.

Examples of E-marketing

• Web sites / E-branding
• E-mail marketing
• Online competitions, vouchers, discounts and loyalty programs
• Affiliate marketing
• Send to a Friend technology
• Mobile/SMS text messaging
• Digital Advertising Platforms
• Digital audio/video viral messaging
• Broadband Entertainment
• Virtual Reality
• Digital audio, photos and movies
• Search Engine Optimisation, placement, Google pay-per-click marketing, etc
• Personalised customer login areas
• Product/Service Recommendation engines
• E-commerce shops
• Forums, Message boards, Guestbooks, Customer Comments, etc
• PDF Libraries, Press Releases
• Plus, so much more

Measuring the Results

Before launching any e-marketing campaign, you need to be aware of what results you want to achieve. Is it to attract leads? Is it to generate sales? Is it to entice existing customers to spend more?

Here are some examples of the kind of results you can record via site statistics, site logging and other technologies:

• How many visitors or e-mail requests your website got? (How many leads?)
• How many sales you got? (How many prospects?)
• How many existing customers bought/sold products or services (How many retaining customers?)
• How many new customers registered to your website (How many new loyal customers?)

Like traditional marketing, E-marketing isnt about one thing (ie: e-mail marketing), its actually a process.

A lot of companies over-complicate what e-marketing is and what it isnt. All you need to remember is to set simple benchmarks with clear goals and measure the results. Then, explore ideas on how to improve on your results and do the process again!

Read about the benefits of e-marketing>

One of the most potent images of the late 20th century was of the man who stood in front of a row of 17 or more tanks during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

This person is often referred to as The Unknown Rebel or Tank Man.

But who was this mysterious person?

According to the wikipedia.org and truthout.org, the persons identity is still a mystery to this day. Some newspaper columnists claim it was Wang Weilin, a 19-year-old student; however, this claim is dubious and unsubstantiated.

As with most matter, the Tank Man topic is still a political taboo in mainland China; this man whomever he is was moved by his convictions, beliefs that he stood alone against not just a row of tanks, but by a country and a political philosophy.