Author archives: charlie

You know the allegory about how to boil a frog… If you put it in a pot of boiling water, it will immediately jump out to save its life. But if you put it in a pot of pleasant, tepid water and gradually heat it up, by the time the frog notices that the water […]

Last week, during a team meeting, we discussed the awful situation in the Ukraine. Like everyone, our initial reaction was shock and horror at the humanitarian and political disaster. The pictures of tanks, bombings and refugees coming out of Ukraine are enraging and heart-breaking in equal measure. We simply cannot imagine what those poor people […]

When COVID hit, most people called their family and friends. My first phone call was completely different… …I called the bank managers of the businesses we serve. Take the heritage railway which I told you about last week. I’ll never forget the call, because their bank manager was brand-new, and “Hello Brian, I need money,” […]

The price of coal has almost doubled in a few short months. It’s an obscure fact… …But as the Finance Director for two heritage railways, it’s the kind of thing I worry about! You see, before the pandemic we could buy coal for around £150 / tonne. If one of our railways burnt around 2,000 […]

One of the trends I’m noticing right now is that companies are having problems with cashflow, particularly in the B2B space. It’s either taking longer for them to get paid, or they’re not getting paid at all. There are many reasons why this might be happening… We seem to be entering a very unstable economic […]

A friend of mine recently told me a funny story… He was on a video call with his son one evening, when he noticed how late it was getting. “Daniel, it’s 10.30 already – go to bed!” he told his son. The son couldn’t believe his ears. “Dad, I’m 32-years-old. I have my own baby. […]

Imagine you decided to invest in a new product line, which you believe will double your profits and help fund your retirement one day. You pour significant funds into its development, hire new managers and salespeople to get it off the ground… And initially, your hard work pays off. Early sales figures are positive – […]

Would you rather retain complete financial control of your company – or make more money from it? That’s the “founder’s dilemma,” says Harvard Business School professor Noam Wasserman[1]. He studied 212 start-ups that were determined to grow large (not ‘lifestyle businesses’ that simply made their owner comfortable). What he found is that owners could optimise […]

Every few months, I face the same dilemma… We take on new clients and need more help in the office. But there’s not quite enough work to justify hiring a new person quite yet. If we bring on a new accountant, it’s going to be hard to cover their cost… But if we wait too long, until […]

In 2018, BP decided it no longer wanted to be an “oil giant” – associated with greed and pollution. Instead, according to its new mission statement, it was dedicated to “reimagining energy for people and our planet. We want to help the world reach net zero and improve people’s lives.” These weren’t just words. BP […]