I had one question in mind when I attended the ‘Improve Your Resource Efficiency’ seminar: do we qualify for a grant? Unfortunately, the answer was more complicated than a mere yes or no.

Wessex Enterprise explained that applicants had to meet certain eligibility criteria:

1. Less than 250 employees (or a group with no more than 250 employees)
2. Annual balance sheet not exceeding €43 million
3. Annual turnover not exceeding €50 million
4. Not be more then quarter owned by firms that do not comply with the above criteria.

Grants could be used for: lighting upgrades, new heating systems, compressors, recycling equipment, CAD design software, testing & monitoring equipment, consultancy / training / certification for environmental management or other projects. These grants are issued on a 50% match fund basis (minimum of £1000 threshold and maximum of £40000). Investments must be in Dorset.

The bottom line was that the amount you qualify for depends on the difference between your current carbon footprint and your potential post-grant carbon footprint. The potential difference needs to be comparatively substantial, which unfortunately limits the options of a smaller enterprise [especially those that do not have high consumption or high wastage].

Wessex Enterprise does offer 12 hours free support, which can be used to benefit the business in developing an environmental policy, guidance on developing an environmental management system, legal compliance check, resource related research projects, etc.

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The pace of business is astonishing. With technology working so fast how can we keep up… and should we? I joined an online community of very charged, focussed and talented people. There are now over 3,000 very active members is just one week. We are collectively looking at publishing a book together in such a short space of time.

I have clients expecting artwork and designs to be turned around in hours and the pressure to deliver is intense. But should we be reacting like this? Yes the competition will always promise faster, quicker…. Better, but how good can we be if we don’t have time to think?

As a designer we are often seen, as oh that’s easy – left click right click! Anyone can do that – comments like even my son can build websites and design. Do we expect too much too quick and who does this help?

My best asset is not my skills on the Mac, nor how I can make illustrator or Photoshop sing but what’s in my head – how I think, why I believe what I do and the influence I have on the process of design and branding. The challenge is are people willing to pay for thinking time or are they only interested in the delivery?

What are you paying a design agency for? The end result of course but over demanding time scales will only deliver mediocrity. Too much dilution through input of many will also create mediocrity… so what does the future hold?

I say give me time to be me, give me time to do my best, give me time to think, give me time to give you my best, slow down and think. Best is not always the quickest. And I promise you will see and feel the difference.

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Today I was thinking why people put things off, and procrastinate. Is it the fear of failure, commitment, belief…? If we have the skills and people around us can see it, they believe, then why do we chain our self with limiting beliefs? I have my ups and downs like everyone but in the back of my mind I truly believe I will make it. So why even entertain the fact that you might not? This takes up valuable thought time.

If you have painted the picture of what failure looks like and you can deal with that then what else needs to be done? What’s the worst that can happen?

The effect of painting the success picture gives you the chance to focus on success, believe and others will follow. If it’s a vision board, fine, if it’s targets on the wall, photos on your desk, what ever motivates you make sure you get the picture of why you do what you do all around you. Don’t ever settle for second best it will only limit your achievement and fuel your negative thoughts. My dad told me that the sign on the door of opportunity says ‘PUSH’ (He heard or read it somewhere and thought I would like it)!

I will work hard and smart and let nothing stop me from creating my dream. Surrounding myself with talented believers who focus on ‘YES’ lets go for it! I suggest you do the same.

This cartoon by Wayne Logue was featured in a book a read a few months ago (Why Entrepreneurs should eat bananas – 101 Inspirational ideas for growing your business and yourself) And it made me think, who’s in and who’s not. Don’t let the ankle biters stop you.

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I bet that, like me, you were taught in school that day-dreaming is bad; in fact it is an excellent thinking technique. Einstein famously came up with his theory of relativity by imagining himself riding on a beam of light off into infinity. He was day-dreaming.

Day-dreaming is a profitable pursuit; yet in our hectic 21st century lives many of us do not give ourselves time to think, let alone daydream.

As marketeers we think for our clients and get paid to do it, but what’s the point, why not just get on with it? Well as Edward de Bono put it, “we need thinking in order to make even better use of information that is available to competitors”.

Thinking is as natural as breathing and walking; so natural that most of us take it for granted; so don’t just think about it, think about it!

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When the economy’s on song people buy for fun! We love it, we deserve it, it’s great to get a bit of retail therapy!

But when the talk is of crunch and crisis, the voice in our head changes. We continue to buy but for different reasons; maybe to avoid problems or because we think that it’s a bargain and it’ll never be that cheap again. Alternatively we might still need a sense of reward but buy smaller.

Different motivations but maybe same purchase.

A “Costa” everyday on the way to work was the reward for a confident earner; the same cup of coffee becomes the small reward for someone struggling to make ends meet. It’s all in the story!

If you’re marketing you need to work out how to adapt that story; customers will then be happy to change the story they tell themselves.

All the elements in your product or service when marketed add up to a perception. If you change these elements the perception changes, the buyer’s emotions change and the story will change too.

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I am sure most businesses face the challenge of how hard do I work & how long should I do this for? During the first 3 years or so I worked at an insane level, 14 hour days was normal and only stopped when I got ill (About every 3 months)! Sat and Sun were great days because I could catch up on work that I found hard with interruptions.

I have immense self belief and enjoy what I do that at times it’s hard to step away. I know that after 8 years things have become easier with the team taking pressure off and I have learned the power of delegation but I am sat here at my desk churning through paper work and briefs to make sure next week is effective.

Is it bad planning and time management? Will it always be like this because that’s who I am? Richard from RT Promotions is downstairs doing the same, working all hours.

I will finish this post with a ‘good job Karen understands’ line! My ever supportive girlfriend, I will be home soon!

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Every business has Customers. Every business wants more, buying more. Marketing today is searching for loyalty with discounts, incentives and reward schemes yet implicit in the word and in being a CUSTOMER is loyalty. Custom means repeated. Customers are much more than buyers. Customers are human beings.

Built into our natural being are the need to belong, the desire to be loved and the hope to succeed.

Yet we are all individuals who like to be recognised for what we are. The basics do not change simply because modern communications and technology creates new ways of doing things that appear to be quicker and cheaper.

Deal with a Customer quickly, cheaply and badly and you will lose a Customer.

Not right away but you will. The most expensive thing a business can do.

That is why every business should work out how it deals with its Customers, and in the 21st century, do it fast.

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Risk is a funny thing…it scares some and excites many, but as this poem sets out: that’s life!

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool

To weep is to risk being called sentimental

To reach out to another is to risk involvement

To expose feelings is to risk showing your true self

To place your ideas and your dreams before the crowd is to risk being called naïve

To love is to risk not being loved in return

To live is to risk dying

To hope is to risk despair

To try is to risk failure

But risks must be taken, because the greatest risk in life is to risk nothing

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing and becomes nothing

He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow or love

Chained by his certitude, he is a slave; he has forfeited his freedom

Only the person who risks is truly free

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We’ve just got back from ISE, the largest multi-media show in Europe. Some years all the talk in technology is about smaller, getting more stuff on smaller devices! This year the thing seems to be the bigger the screen the better. Plasmas and LCDs over 100″ were everywhere and when I asked the man from Panasonic why they would build a Plasma 150″ big, he answered, “because we can”, even if there appears to be no real market for it! RT had built a video presentation with live presenter for the SONY stand.

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