A decade ago when Gail Jones (then Gail Everton) and I embarked on the journey of setting up a business on the Internet, I had no idea what lay ahead. In fact if it wasn’t for a pretty horrendous experience when trying to register and host a domain called theGallery.com, we’d never have changed direction and set up a business in the hosting arena. And I suppose it was the “bad experience” which forged the direction we took to provide the very best in service right from the outset. It was this start which also gave us an understanding of exactly how a client feels when the hosting provider goes wrong or doesn’t listen. If you are a client of UKFast and you ever have… Read the Rest »
I can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the new week marks the beginning of the new era at UKFast. With UKFast’s 10 Year Anniversary Party at the Palace now a fond memory, I can reflect on the funny stories now that I know the night was a success. It was 11 years ago at Granada I first used the Grand Ballroom at the Palace for an event. It was to raise money for the Christie’s For Cancer Appeal. The night was a huge success and I fell in love with the room. It is the perfect room for hosting a ball. I knew the hotel well, as I’d originally played the piano there in my early years when I first came to Manchester…. Read the Rest »
This week has been an interesting one. I gave a talk at the ProManchester event at law firm Pinsent Mason’s which was great fun. I mentioned that I was lucky enough to be “raised in a convent” making a joke that this was a different talk for another occasion. Well, maybe it’s time for that discussion. A couple of weeks ago we were planning our new “School of Hosting” campaign. This was at a time when we had just had a very successful day where staff dressed up in St.Trinian’s outfits to raise money for charity, it was suggested, why not use the photography and continue the theme to promote the School of Hosting. Business men and women of City Tower Manchester are used to… Read the Rest »
I recently blogged on the topic, do you diversify or remain specialised? I forgot a fundamental principal which we now adopt before venturing into the unknown. The 3 circles. You may have come across Jim Collins a lecturer at Stamford University, he is an authority on the study of successful businesses. He predicted and charted the growth of some of Americas biggest businesses and when challenged as a young lecturer by a student not much older than himself on the success of Apple (a then unknown) he decided to put his formula down on paper and test it amongst other great fortune 500 businesses. One of the things he found with his research is that all of the businesses which grew at a faster rate… Read the Rest »
After a focus group with fellow entrepreneurs in the design, creative and PR sector recently, I left analysing why so many businesses were owner operated and they relied on the owner for everything. Bank managers, strategic advisors accountants, business consultants have all said to me at some point, all small businesses are about the “owner-operator” and take them away and they fail. I have always hated this attitude and could never understand it. Until today and after sitting with fellow business people and for a change I was the MD of the biggest business there, I could see how they arrived at their theory. We were discussing training. A subject I am passionate about and one I do not feel I am an expert at as… Read the Rest »
That old question that I must have heard a thousand times, “so, what is your exit strategy?” always makes me smile. As if you’d tell someone you barely know. I always say, “well I’ll be leaving work at about 7pm this evening.” I hear this question 3 times a week. I think it is important to know where you are going. Businesses need direction. I am a great believer in goals and raised a laugh at the How-Do convention recently when I admitted my wife and I have a “50 year plan.” But why not? I work on the principal that you need to know where you are going. What is wrong with mapping out your life to when you are in your 90′s. You… Read the Rest »
I was asked at a How-Do discussion group recently where I was part of a panel of experts [if there is such a thing], do you diversify or is it better to specialise? Great question, and there is no right or wrong answer. I explained that I have tried and failed many different things. The important thing in my opinion as an entrepreneur is to dust yourself off and have another go. Great entrepreneurs are resilient, they don’t know how to give up, they are prepared to push the boundaries and if they fail they do not see this as a negative emotion. In fact failure to a receptive mind means you are learning. If you are going to try something new I think it… Read the Rest »
I remember an argument between 2 friends years ago. It was a regular discussion that happened between 2 actor friends of mine. I remember trying to play the piano whilst they both went at each other. My closest friend Ashley Paske played Matt in Neighbours the Australian soap which consumed the UK in the 80′s and early 90′s. Ash had finished with Neighbours and was treading the boards in Oxford. He couldn’t go anywhere without being mobbed. People would interrupt every occasion when we were out in public, it is incredibly frustrating, but one he thrived on. The other actor was far less famous. Successful in his own right however on a much less grander scale. He was in a failure of a programme called… Read the Rest »
According to many leaders of small businesses “Goal setting” is a waste of time and energy. It is an outdated American principal for the happy clapping brigade. Is there more to goal setting than meets the eye? What if goal setting was a scientific art form? What if you could literally pinpoint your every move in the future and design the outcome of every turn years before you arrive there, long after the memory of even setting the goal. Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it. Yet my wife and I have built a business on this very principal. I am in Amsterdam at present and yesterday went to Anne Franks house to visit a very important place preserved in our history. The one thing I came away… Read the Rest »
Whether or not you like Bing as a search engine you have to be impressed with recent events. Google the internet giant that grew from a garage start up in San Francisco has a competitor. As an underdog myself in the hosting world fighting to grow our business, I have to favour the smaller player. It is not often that you can refer to one of Bill Gate’s enterprises as a smaller entity. But smaller for how long? A little like a boxer who smiles at his opponent in the ring when he feels a punch that cuts him to the quick, he makes too much effort to hide the pain. Recently Google have been sparring in similar style scoring points with Microsoft over petty… Read the Rest »
