Karl Craig-West

Seem to have spent a lot of time lately building websites. Not that I mind but it has occurred to me that even something that you think might not take too long actually takes ages.

To be honest I ought to know better. I spent years working in the IT industry and in technology it always seemed that what, on paper, should have been a 15 minute job often takes over an hour to complete.

At the moment I have to install a new wireless router at home since our current one is on the blink. In theory it should take less than half an hour but the reality is likely to be much different.

Having recently spent a couple of weeks in southern Spain (close to Mojacar) I came back feeling reasonably refreshed.

Looking back I realised that I'd eaten more ice cream in those 2 weeks than I had in the previous 6 months combined, not healthy.

You see, there's a cafe bar called Blu on the front at Mojacar which serves up some very good coffee and also some exceptional Italian ice cream. To me this is an almost irresistible combination. Even worse is that they make delicious crepes too.

So, I've hit the gym hard this week in an effort to fight back.

Rugby Borough Council Debt Recovery Scheme

• Are you a business?
• Are you based in the Rugby Borough Council area?
• Have you heard about the Council’s Debt Recovery Scheme?
• Do you need assistance of a debt recovery solicitor?

Background on the Initiative

This is just initial notice that I'm working with Illuminate ICT to organise a one-day Midlands Drupal Event which will be held in the last week of September, somewhere in the Coventry area (venue hasn't been agreed yet but we're aiming at being close to a junction of the M6).

We'll be sharing ideas on best practice, building better websites, Drupal social websites, staying on the right side of the DDA, monetising Drupal websites and more.

We're also running a session where delegates can show off some recent Drupal projects and technical achievements.

Leicester FSB Networking Evening

Date: Tuesday, 9th June 2009
Venue: Leicester Creative Business Depot, Rutland St, Leicester LE1 1RE
Time: 6.30 - 8.30pm
Cost: £10 pp

Come and join us for an evening of informal networking at the LSB Depot.
Food is provided.

Our guest speaker will talking on 'On-Line Marketing De-Jargon-ated!'

We'll also have representatives from Business Link, DeMontfort University and Leicester College letting us know about the funded business support that's available to the small business sector.

Visit http://www.fsb.org.uk/100/assets/leicester%20city%20june%209th.pdf for a booking form.

When I do time management training I always ask the question 'Who uses a to-do list?'

You might not be surprised to find that nearly all hands in the room go up, including mine.

However, when I ask 'How many people feel that their to-do is is more demotivating than inspiring?' most delegates err on the side of demotivating.

There's a number of reasons for this but the most common is that many to-do lists never seem to get any shorter and thus start to become overbearing and even stress inducing.

For some time I've had a few ideas for web publishing business but haven't had the time or technical expertise to make them come to life.

I've never really been a big fan of the biorhythm theory but there is a way to use your own body's way of working to help you get more done.

You see, I often find it very difficult to have a lie-in because my body starts to wake up around 6 o'clock in the morning. Even when I've been out for a few glasses of wine with my rugby team-mates I still can't sleep late.

Just registered this blog with http://condron.us/ which is a blogroll.

A blogroll is a website that features blogs on behalf of blog owners.

A good friend of mine who recently started an astronomy blog (http://www.bellatrixorionis.com/) has been generating traffic through using blogrolls since she started. She recommends it highly.

So, I'm going to do some more of this and see what happens. I promise to keep you informed.

In my role as a promoter of funded and free training on behalf of Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, I've come to realise that many people don't actually listen on the phone.

It's my job to make appointments and explain the benefits of funded training to those in business and the majority of people I speak with dismiss the concept without even stopping to think for a moment.

So, stop and think for a moment.

Think about what your reaction would be to someone trying to give you over £1,000 worth of training for every member of your staff.

On Friday last week I went to the Skills Brokers Conference in Birmingham. I was expecting the day to be a bit dull to say the least.

 

However, I was pleasantly surprised since it was more interesting than I'd though it was going to be.

 

First off, I was able to put it to Lord Tony Young (Parliamentary Under Secretary for Skills and Apprenticeships) that the bureaucracy surrounding funded training was a pain in the neck for businesses who are already drowning in compliance paperwork. He said he'd look into it: hopefully they won't be hollow words.

Next I was able to do some very useful networking with training providers and brokers from around the country.

And finally, most of the speakers were actually quite engaging and I picked up some useful information about how funded training can be used.

 

Sadly I didn't get a chance to have a look around the National Motorcycle Museum, where it was held.

On Friday last week I went to the Skills Brokers Association's Convention at the National Motorcycle Museum near the NEC (more on that on the next post).
During the lunch break I was one of the last people to reach the serving area and was not happy about having to stand in a long queue to be given a plate of sweet and sour chicken. My stomach was growling and I didn't fancy the (estimated) 15 minute wait.
Then I realised that there was a whole table of puddings with nobody to guard them. So I dashed over and grabbed a decent slice of very tasty chocolate sponge cake.
This then left me free to sit down and eat something and start networking with other delegates over lunch.
As you can imagine I got a few funny looks (and comments) but I didn't care, my appetite was satiated. Not only that but I was able to get sweet and sour without having to wait in any queues - problem solved.
So, is there a moral to this story?
Absolutely! And it's this:
 
Just because there's a queue it doesn't mean that there isn't a short cut. You just have to think a little differently from the crowd.

At a recent networking event my friend, Emma, confessed that she's love to write more stuff for her website but just doesn't seem to have the time to sit and make it happen.

Sound familiar?

I know from my own research that Emma isn't alone, I sometimes feel the same way too and so do many others.

But if you want to write more, there's a couple of simple ways to get it done quickly and without spending hours on a keyboard (it's even worse if you're a slow typist like me):

We would like to invite you to FSB Member Evening
18th February 2009

The Nelson Suite, Leicester Racecourse, Oadby, Leicester LE2 4AL
commencing 6.45pm

The evening will commence with refreshments and open networking and the opportunity to meet with your regional and local branch committees

This will be followed by presentations on:

Making the most of your FSB membership
How to access the Government Funding made available on 14th January 2009
What other funding/grants are available
What training is available for you to access

Although there is no cost to attend this event, please would you book your place/s.
This event will be open to members and non members.

To book your place tel Maxine Aldred, Regional Organiser on 0116 2597 707 or email maxine.aldred@fsb.org.uk

I'm not a fan of horoscopes but a friend of mine, Wendy Churchill, sent me this in her newsletter 'Life is a Bag of Revels'.

I think there may be some great lessons in this.

Dear Karl,

I have never been able to decide whether I believe in horoscopes or not. After all, can all the children born in a particular year really turn out to be introverts? And can one in every twelve people really expect luck from a man smoking a cigar in a second class carriage?

What I can say for horoscopes, however, is that I have often found them useful, inspiring and an aid to my own thinking. On occasions they have even influenced my future.

Take the current Chinese horoscope prediction for the year ahead for example...

The bad news first: We still have to reap what has been sown

There is much about the Chinese Year of the Ox, I think, that will be a good message for a lot of Life is a Bag of Revels readers. Even the bad news, in fact, can be seen in some ways as positively cleansing.

One thing about the year of the Ox, you see, is that it is said to be the year in which we reap what we have sown.

And how very true that is!

But perhaps a better world will emerge?

We have as a nation indulged in too much credit over recent years so this therefore HAS to be a year when we have to spend and borrow less to redress the balance. And however much the government try to force up to keep on spending, a lot of this slowdown is both inevitable and unnecessary.

Yes, a lot of jobs will be lost in finance but hadn't too much lending, speculation and dare I even say 'growth' or even ' faceless greed' made it become too unwieldy or top heavy in the first place?

And the same, I believe, goes for retail where a lot of other redundancies are occurring. Shopping and the acquisition of slick material luxuries had become too much of a central part of our lives. And while yes it will be terrible for those who lose their jobs in retail, perhaps it is right that retail - and the large out-of-date retail corporations in particular- should shrink or change in this way?

Is a 'recession' necessarily such a bad thing? Isn't a little 'receding' needed so that a new kind of growth can occur. A growth that is less fueled by self-edifying financial greed at any cost - more fueled by a desire to live our lives well and enjoy products that also enrich the lives of those who make and sell them. Perhaps we could even start enjoying the spoils of advanced efficiency in manufacturing by all working less hours and having more time for life, fun and love?

There is a real desire for positive change among the people - if not the politicians

Perhaps, for example, rather than wanting to grab big plastic toys off the shelves of Woolworths next time we have to buy a child's gift, we will want to be more discerning and look for something that has been crafted by a local craftsmen? Rather than the impersonal feel of large stores that suit during a time of self-absorption and shiny consumerism, we will want new ways of shopping that suit our more calm and community-spirited sensibility?

So while the poor people who worked in Woolworths might have lost their jobs (did they like them that much anyway?), perhaps they might, for example, be able to find new and more satisfying employment by setting up a business selling books beautifully illustrated by local artists?

Rather than 'spending less', how about 'spending better'?

Perhaps that picture is rather too rosy and wishful thinking - especially as I also have a rather more pessimistic voice in my head saying "but our population is just too large for that". But it does bring me to another point of apparent paradox and change of heart.

The irony, you see, is that for several years now I have been saying that we should spend less. And while I still believe that we should definitely spend more within our means than we have been, we still DO need to spend otherwise nobody will make any money and none of us will have any jobs!

My own optimistic prediction or horoscope for the five years ahead, therefore, will be:

• Initially we can expect more business closures and redundancies... more economic and financial uncertainty... desperate measures by flailing politicians... and surprise events that nobody can predict such as high interest rates perhaps and inflation.

• Positive eventual change lead by people demanding new values in life - rather than government trying to use artificial means to motivate this abstract and artificial notion we call 'the economy'.

• More people actually enjoying the work they do.

• People working less hours and enjoying more quality of life.

• A positive change in our relationship with money. Rather than a reason for stress or a means to a plasma TV end, it is a currency we can use to share the fruits of progress between us and network our talents and enthusiasm in a more positive way.

But back to the Year of the Ox...

The Ox, I read, is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. The Year of the Ox tends to bring honesty, more modesty, a return to traditions and values and a calm desire for creative labour and honest rewards.

According to the Hong Kong feng shui master Raymond Lo quoted on Reuters last week, the world of finance can expect a calmer and more subdued year in 2009:

"This year of the Ox is an 'earth' year, when people will take a breather and reflect on what they should do after a turbulent 2008," he said. Practitioners of feng shui maintain the universe is made up of five elements - earth, water, fire, wood and metal - that define the collective mood in our environment. Earth is the calmest of the elements and this year is a "yin earth" year as well as an Ox year, symbolizing a more feminine energy, says Lo.

The Year of the Ox, which started on January 26, will be the most peaceful year globally since 2000.

The serenity of the Ox will ease us out of recession

Another interesting source I found noted that the last time the earth Ox was seen as the ruling influence was January 29th 1949 to February 15th 1950. Having suffered a recession in late 1948 and early 1949, the world economy recovered during the year of the Ox due to rational decisions and careful planning.

This time round, rather than looking to the government for careful planning and rational decisions, I have the feeling that the change will come from the people of the nation.

And I do weirdly find this whole peace and hard homely work thing permeating me already. What else would have driven me to spend most evenings of the last two weeks happily sewing curtains while listening to Radio 3 interviews?

I hope the Chinese Year of the Ox turns out to be a positive one for you - whatever trials it may bring.

All the best

Wendy Churchill
Life is a Bag of Revels

You can subscribe to Wendy's newsletter by clicking on this link: http://as1.emv2.com/I?a=A9X7CqgEZM6B8Wk1d67y6tfjIQ