Karl Craig-West

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):

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

Not many people like to defend teachers, it seems, when schools are forced to close because of extreme weather.

However, I'd like to point out something that many parents don't seem to take into account.

When we send our little darlings to school we expect them to be looked after and cared for as if we were in the room. The problem with extreme weather is that if only 2 teachers are unable to get to work then it leaves the school with up to 65 children to cover for.

And therein lies the rub: Would you want your child to be insufficiently supervised while at school?

Probably not, I'll wager.

A business of 15 staff can still function if 2 or 3 workers are unavailable. But because of the supervision challenges of being short staffed, a school (especially a primary school) would struggle with the loss of staff.

It's not a question of numbers, it's a challenge with being able to offer an acceptable level of supervision. No parent would want their child to be improperly supervised at school.

Now, you might be wondering why they don't just a cover/supply teacher in. The difficulty with this is that there is a limited number of supply teachers. Bad weather means that demand soars and available cover is taken quickly. So no cover is often available.

I know it's a pain but please, when your child's school closes due to bad weather remember that the decision to disrupt so many parents' lives is not taken lightly and is usually made with your children's interests and safety in mind.

Apparently this is day of the year upon which the most number of people normally pull a sickie: pretending to be ill for sake of not having to face the trawl to work.

Now I don't want to comment about whether people are honest or not but many of us can quite readily work from home and still get as much done as if we'd been in the office.

The technology to enable us to do this has been around for nearly 10 years but very few employers seem to want to trust their staff to work from home. The old adage that 'you must be seen to be working' seems to ring true. In a previous job, I was told I couldn't work from home to write a report because I was expected to be in the office: even though it took me much longer to write the report in the office because of all the interruptions.

However, today has brought about an interesting situation. The snow has meant that many people can't go to work for quite legitimate reasons: namely the (not quite unexpected) weather.

Many working parents are housebound because so many schools are closed. This means that they will either have to give up the notion of getting anything done or try and work from home.

So my thought is this: if some of us can get work done at home because we've been prevented from getting into the office, how easy would it be for many of us to work from home on a more frequent basis?

The technology is there, it's affordable and it could save money all round in travel expenses etc. Not only that but it would save countless hours in daily commuting time which would start to reduce the number of cars on the roads. Some businesses could even move to smaller and cheaper premises. There's also a positive environmental implication too because many homes are more energy efficient than offices and tele-commuters tend to use their cars less.

So if you tele-commute, or have staff who do, let me know by writing a comment below. Even if you don't I'd love to hear your thoughts on the concept of working from home.

It seems that even Microsoft are feeling the credit crunch with the announcement last week of a cut of 5% of its workforce (about 5,000 jobs).

Sales of their Windows operating system were considerably below expectation. This is partially due to a drop in PC sales but also because consumers are buying more Netbooks, on which Microsoft makes less money.

But something that Microsoft has failed to mention is that many Netbooks and laptop-style computers are now being shipped with a choice of operating systems (OS). Many Netbook manufacturers also offer Linux as an OS.

Linux is an Open Source (free to download and use) Operating System. It's increasingly popular as an operating system choice on Netbooks because of its fast speed, smaller size and also because there is very little likelihood that users will be forced to upgrade because the manufacturer has replaced the OS with a newer version. I'm not a fan of Microsoft for just this reason: every few years they try and force you to pay to upgrade to their latest edition.

I'm also not a great fan of Microsoft because, having worked in the IT industry, their software has traditionally been expensive, over-featured, slow and unreliable. In Microsoft's favour, though, they certainly have quickened the pace of adoption in personal computing.

These days though, there's little need to pay much for software. There is so much stuff available for free that I'm surprised that Microsoft gets away with charging so much.

So if you're sick of paying through the nose for software then visit my free software page and learn how much you might save.

Converting Website Visitors into Customers

Free Breakfast Briefing!

Although most businesses will define the number one issue with their website as being “to get more visitors”, the truth is that those visitors are often vastly under-utilised. Conversion rates of less than 1% are not uncommon, representing a huge waste of marketing effort.

Join Business Link on 28th January 2009 at The Quality Hotel, Loughborough for a short presentation which will introduce the techniques to get more value from your website visitors, whether that means sales, leads or some other form of interaction. From web design to data tracking via multimedia, you will hear about a variety of methods you can employ on your website to generate more business.

The morning will start with a light breakfast, registration and networking at 8.30 am, and the presentation will begin at 9.00 am. It will end at 10.30 am with an opportunity to ask some questions and carry on networking with the experts, other delegates and talk with Business Link Advisers.

Topics include:

* The statistics data you need and what to do with it
* The principles of copywriting for action
* The important areas of web pages that create action
* Using multimedia (audio and video) effectively
* Using social media in your website to improve conversion and retention
* Using split-testing in your pages and what to test

Who should attend?

This briefing is aimed at business owners, managers or marketing professionals who want to learn more about web development or online marketing.

Please refer to the eBusiness Website www.ebusinessclub.biz to register your place now

Just watched Barack Obama's inauguration speech and I have to confess that I'm very inspired. I found it quite humbling to be able to watch history in the making.

I'm very glad to have heard him speak about the economic and also the environmental work to be done. It was great to hear him speak of the need to make some very difficult decisions to bring about change. But most of all it was just an inspiration to hear him speak of his father who sixty years ago would have struggled to buy a drink in this city (Washington).

I really would like him to succeed in his aim to change the USA and the way it does business, especially around the world. I sincerely hope he brings waste and corruption to account where possible.

However, above all, I hope he can bring a new era of honesty into US presidential politics.

OK, so now I'm done gushing about the new 44th president of the United States.

The thing is, we should never be afraid of change. Change is constantly with us. Heraclitus wrote in 500bc that "There is nothing permanent except change".

So let's all hope that change can actually come in the USA and around the world. And let us not be afraid of change when it does come.

If you're running and promoting a small business, whether online or offline, the use of digital images can be a powerful tool to help you visually present your business, products and services.

The ability and power of digital imaging has developed strongly over the last few years, with a dazzling array of devices and software applications to help you explore and exploit the potential of producing and presenting your own digital images.

· Are you unsure where to start when buying a digital camera?

· Do you need to enhance the visual content with images on your web site?

· Do you need to create product photographs for eBay and Amazon?

· Could you enhance the visual appeal of your email marketing campaigns?

· Could you become more creative using images in documentation and newsletters?

Join Business Link on 9th February at the Three Swans Hotel, Market Harborough for a short presentation which will introduce you to the wide range of resources available, help you to explore the fundamentals of digital cameras and understand the technology behind creating and enhancing your own digital image files.

The morning will start with a light breakfast, registration and networking at 8.30 am, and the presentation will begin at 9.00 am. It will end at 10.30 am with an opportunity to ask some questions and carry on networking with the experts, other delegates and talk with Business Link Advisers.

Presentation topics include:

· Digital Cameras - types of cameras and how they work

· Understanding the digital image - file types & resolution

· Image Editing Software

· Basics of Image Editing

· Printing Digital Images

· Online Image Libraries & Image Hosting

· Useful Resources

For more information call the eBusiness Programme Team on 0845 603 8370
www.businesslink.gov.uk/eastmidlands

A number of years ago I did an invitation-only seminar on small business marketing. The key concepts were all about improve marketing effectiveness without spending a load of money.

You can watch the first 5 minutes of it by clicking on the link below.

Free Marketing Seminar Video

You might have realised by now that I'm a big fan of free stuff. So, to follow on with that, I'd like to tell you about a funded training scheme aimed at businesses with 2 or more full-time staff.

CWT Chamber Training are currently working with Business Link  to give (yes give – for free) up to £1,000 funding for training to directors and principle decision makers within a company.

To kick this scheme off, CWT are running a series of seminars early in the new year at Bosworth Hall Hotel. These include Strategic Business Planning, Inspirational Leadership and Understanding Company Accounts.

However, you may not need those sets of skills so you can use the funding to help pay for other training appropriate to you and your business. As a result you can use the funding to pay for  training such as  NEBOSH, Prince 2, ILM Level 5 and many others.

So, what would you do with £1,000 to spend on your own self-development?

I'm sure you could come up with something that you've been wanting to learn or improve on.

However, as you'd expect, you have to actually apply for this money but Business Link will help you through the paperwork. 

So, if you'd like to know how you can access this free money for training then contact me in the first instance and I'll pass your details on for a Business Link adviser to arrange a visit at your convenience.

A few weeks ago I bought a Christmas gift over the internet. The company I bought it from is based in Israel. I paid for the goods including shipping charges without a problem.

About 10 days later I received the gift via Federal Express (Fedex). So far so good.

Roughly a week later I received an invoice from Fedex for VAT (you have to pay VAT on goods bought from outside the EU if they're above a certain value). But the invoice also included a 'Clearance Administration Charge'.

The charge wasn't a lot of money but having checked the website of the company I bought the gift from I phoned the FSB legal helpline to check the validity of this admin charge. I found out that, since I'd not agreed to the charge at any point, then I shouldn't have to pay it.

Based on this I sent an email to the invoice enquiries address at Fedex saying that I hadn't agreed to the admin charges and, therefore, wouldn't be paying them (a copy of my email is below).

Well I've just had a response from them and they've cancelled the charges and cleared my account.

The thing is: I never agreed to the charges up front. In UK contract law, if there is no prior contract/agreement for the charges then I'm not obliged to pay them - and neither are you if you have the same situation.

This makes the admin charge potentially unlawful.

So, if you buy something from outside the EU and the vendor has nothing about admin charges by the shipping company in their T&C's then you should not have to pay the admin charge.

Sadly I think far too many people would just pay the charges without thinking about whether they should.

My email to fedex if you want to contest the charges.

Dear Fedex,

After having bought a present for my wife from Israel I was surprised to receive an invoice from you for VAT and clearance administration charges.

After having consulted my lawyer about the issue I agreed to pay the VAT, since Israel is not in the EU.

However, I refuse to pay the clearance admin charge since at no point was I made aware of, nor did I agree to, any terms and conditions which clearly stated that I would be liable for any such charges.
At no point in the transaction and subsequent delivery was any contract for a clearance administration charge made between Fedex and myself.
I understand that the supplier (Walletex) state on their website that they are not responsible for custom brokerage fees but I was not made party to the agreement between the supplying company in Israel and Fedex and, thus, entered into no contracts for any explicit charges with Fedex. I paid Walletex for delivery in good faith and no agreement between Fedex and myself exists.

If you want to pursue further charges for delivery or administration or the terms upon which goods are shipped, I suggest that you take it up with the organisation that hired you.

Therefore, I have paid the sum of £9.21 on the invoice (by phone) and hereby request that you cancel the remaining sum of £6.80 on the invoice for the clearance administration charge.

Please let me know when this has been done.

Regards,