Tag Archives: business start up

Ageing, with attitude

Cardi, slippers and a wee sweet sherry? No, ta. I’m not quite ready for mind-numbing middle age. Or maybe I’m just kidding myself on. I’ve got just about enough marbles left to be well aware that I ain’t no spring chicken no more – the harsh truth of the matter is that I am well and truly

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The slovenly side effects of start up

It was a shaft of spring sunlight that nearly caused my own wee waterworks to start sprinkling this week. Admittedly, I was a bit broken after a few days of particularly tough graft and nowhere near sufficient shut-eye. I had a horrid headache and burny eyes, a queasy tummy and a wee bit of the

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Small business signs of spring

I wandered, lonely as a cloud. Well actually, I wasn’t wandering, I was running. Running through the monsoon conditions that have been sweeping in over the wilds of west Glasgow at regular (nay, incessant) intervals lately. And I wasn’t lonely, though there were clouds – great big black bruisers of nasty nimbostratus. But I was

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Cold calling collywobbles

There’s nothing like lifting the handset to try and sell something to a complete stranger for bringing on a case of the commercial collywobbles. The very thought of it makes me sweat and feel ever so slightly sick. Because, when it comes to finding new clients, the fine art of cold calling is something we

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Everybody wants to rule the world, yeah?

Everybody wants to rule the world, right? Everybody who’s an entrepreneur, anyway. Well, there wasn’t much entrepreneurial activity, let alone global domination, on show chez nous on Sunday evening. No, just the mundanity of a bit of clearing up after a final seasonal calorific overload, courtesy Mr Word Up’s magnificent macaroni cheese. But I was

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Illuminating ideas in enterprise

Let there be light. Sometimes, just sometimes, the screamingly obvious in self-employment comes along and flicks on a light switch. But this ain’t no common or garden 60W tungsten, this is one which really illuminates the shadowy corners of your business brain. And sometimes you really, really wish that the switch had been flicked just

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The 10 Competitive Commandments of Small Business

The 10 Competitive Commandments of Small Business:- Thou shalt work Monday-Sunday, and on bank holidays. Thou shalt get up before daybreak and retire in the wee small hours. Thou shalt sacrifice family time and thine own quality of life. Thou shalt foreswear social life and time alone with your partner. Thou shalt be perpetually crabbit

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The Unwritten Rules of Business Behaviour

If I had a fiver for every time a dear friend or relly has told me how brave I am to have started my own small business, the income column on my cashflow spreadsheet would be looking pretty damn hefty. Of course, having the backing of family and friends is nothing short of stupendous, and

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Nervous networking for small business

Tense, nervous headache? Oh yes, the dull throb and queasy tummy symptoms began at about 4pm last Wednesday. And not surprisingly, the green-round-the-gills feelings began a couple of short hours before I headed out the door earlier this week in my new role as small business owner and sole trader. Because I was getting ready

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