A few miles down the road from you, there’s another company very similar to yours. They’re in the same industry, offering a similar product to a similar customer base. There’s just one substantial difference. While your IT is all cutting-edge and up-to-date, they’re still working with computers from 2008. Now, from their point-of-view these machines […]
Tag archives: outsourced financial management
VHS accounting vs Netflix accounting – which do you use?
In December 1944, Japanese soldier Hiroo Onoda retreated into a jungle on a small island in the Philippine archipelago, to hold off the American and Philippine troops. When the war ended, he noticed a lull in the fighting but didn’t realise the implications. And although he saw several American leaflets announcing the end of the […]
Out with the old…
The start of 2023 is, fittingly, all about new beginnings for me. After 35 years in the same house, Thelma and I are moving to Gloucestershire. We’ve always fancied slightly more rural surroundings, which will be slower and calmer than our Essex life – although we will be returning to Essex frequently for the business […]
Tudors, war chests and pyramids – oh my!
I know it’s traditional to look ahead around New Year’s… But over the last few hours, I’ve been looking backwards. To be precise, I’ve been looking over all my emails from the past year. We’ve covered so much – from building up your business’s financial resilience to the financial lessons of the late Queen’s jubilee. And along […]
Your business wish list for Santa
I miss the days when my kids were young, and wrote a wish list for Santa. Their lists could include anything from Thomas the Tank Engine to weird items like a barometer (well, I guess my son did grow up to be a scientist), pets, dolls, “jewerly” (sic), hula hoops and one memorable year, a […]
Success in an economic downturn
A few weeks ago, I went to a conference by the Heritage Railway Association. The economy was naturally a big topic of conversation…. But possibly not in the way you might expect. Initially it was very much doom and gloom. But my position was that the British population can still, broadly, be put into two […]
This man is the secret to my success…
For nearly a decade, I’ve been working with a business coach. He’s my sounding board. I find it invaluable to discuss challenges in my business with someone who is not emotionally involved. Quiet and serene – unlike me! – I trust him to challenge my thinking and give me unique perspectives, most recently around how […]
Fear
Recently, I’ve been talking to a lot of business owners about how to prepare for our winter of discontent. And while some are doing all the right things – trying to understand the biggest risks they face, planning how to deal with the worst case scenarios and building a war chest… …More people are reacting […]
My counter-intuitive advice for surviving a financial crisis
In the late 1800s, when a storm was approaching, sailors took a special precaution. They spread tarpaulin over openings and then placed wooden strips – called battens – on top of the coverings, to stop them blowing off. This measure was known as “battening down the hatches.” And colloquially, it’s come to mean turning away […]
War Chest
Did you know that a war chest used to be a real, physical object? Soldiers and military leaders kept it in their homes or barracks, to store arms and armour. And when they launched their military campaigns they took it with them, to store spoils which they could spend along the way. The purpose wasn’t […]
