Will the 2012 snow season be the same with thousands of businesses sending staff home early because of the weather? Companies who employ remote workers and home workers are always relieved and pleased that there will be no disruption to their normal business day.

At least 5.5 million Brits who are home based or work flexibly and remotely will not have to clear a snowed-in drive and battle cold non-starting engines. They will not be affected by delayed or cancelled public transport; instead, they will be able to throw a few snowballs with ‘home-bound’ kids before ambling into their home office and getting down to business as usual.
iHubbub a new social community for business start-ups and freelancers as well as remote, virtual and home workers, highlights how remote and home working benefits the environment, business production and an employee’s quality work life.

The winter of 2009 saw periods of extremely heavy snow combined with strong winds, followed by a big freeze. The treacherous conditions and snowdrifts of more than three metres high crippled road and rail networks and disrupted an economy already in recession.

Millions of people had to stay at home and do very little or suffer the stress, discomfort and danger of getting into work because there was no alternative. With the huge advances in technology millions of people hit by the recession have started up their own home business. Likewise, more and more ‘bang on trend’ companies have been implementing remote and home working solutions to enable their team to be mobile for all sorts of business advantages, including extreme weather conditions.

Founders Ken Sheridan and Paula Wynne are proud that iHubbub will champion the vibrant home business community via a range of social tools, helpful business resources and a growing online platform. They believe iHubbub’s social networking community is welcoming, encouraging, unassuming and above all supportive.

Ken said: “Thanks to the penetration of technologies in the home that enable home based working, the weather may stop transport systems, but it should not hit many SMEs and home businesses in the same way that it did in 1991 and 2009, particularly those that have already enabled staff to access the same information and systems from home that they have in their workplace.”

iHubbub enables its members to get in touch with other home workers and businesses within the community to get ideas, advice and support to make home working a pleasurable and successful way of working. So more than 5m home workers across the UK will not be effected by the 2012 snows.

According to the latest statistics from Ofcom spending on domestic telecoms has actually decreased on average, even though demand is increasing. People’s habits are changing, with data usage in particular going through the roof. Therefore, users are looking for a combination of value for money along with quality, high speed performance.

The average monthly telecom spend is £63.10 per household. This is made up of £31.34 on mobile; £22.27 on fixed voice; and £9.48 on internet and broadband. The vast majority of customers confirm that price is the overriding factor when they are choosing their telecom company.

This is the major reason behind Direct Save Telecom’s phone and broadband challenge. Direct Save is urging all UK households to take their telecoms challenge to see how much they could save. The firm’s simple and compelling promise is that any telecom user can send them a copy of their bill, and they will tell you how much that bill would have been if they were with Direct Save Telecom.

Stavros Tsolakis, CEO of Direct Save Telecom, says that the Direct Save challenge has been set-up to show everyone just how much money they will save if they change to Direct Save for their telecom and high speed broadband needs.

Stavros Tsolakis explains:

“We are committed to providing low cost, high quality telecoms and support. Our promise is a fantastic service at a great price, and we have the track record that proves this is the case. We put the needs of our customers first and provide a 24/7 UK-based, skilled, customer support team that are equipped to answer any query. We also aim to build up a good relationship with all our customers through our great service, fulfilled promises and trust – and this is why we can point to such a positive customer retention rate.

“This is not a marketing ploy, there are no hidden tricks, and the cost of your bill will not suddenly soar. We know we can save the average British family hundreds of pounds on their telecom needs, and we are quite willing to prove this before anybody signs up. Other companies will try and entice customers with special offers, but when the time-period elapses their bill will suddenly rise. Our prices remain constant.”

Direct Save Telecom (Direct Save) is an independent telephone service provider. Direct Save was created in 2003, and was born out of Utilities UK Ltd, which was one of the UK’s largest energy agencies at that time. Direct Save was formed when Utilities UK Ltd made telecoms its core activity. Since its creation, Direct Save has seen a steady growth built on a reputation for providing both savings and quality.

The clear message from Direct Save is if you want to reduce your phone and broadband costs then you should look away from the old fashioned telecom companies with their huge pension deficits and crippling debt burdens and look to the new generation companies.

How Companies Really Grow

For some people, setting up as a self-employed business person is for personal reasons; a preference to be at home, work around family-life or simply not be a slave to commuting and a big boss.

To others the idea is to start a business that will in turn grow into something bigger.

Growing pains can be one of the hardest things a company can suffer.  If all is going well and business is good, the way in which a business manages its growth can make or break a company.

I’ve seen this at first hand, where an entrepreneur starts a business, the company excels and grows at an exponential rate without being managed correctly; and the walls come tumbling down.

In such cases this is because the warning signs are not heeded or growth explodes before profit allows for sustainability.

In his book, How Companies Really Grow, Ciaran Walsh explains how to grow a successful business.  By recounting various real life client scenarios he breaks down the process in six easy to follow phases:

• The Creative Phase – when and how you devise an idea for your business

• The Analysis Phase – researching and collecting information to ensure your business idea will work

• The Reactive Phase – where you start to sell your products or services and react to customer feedback

• The Processes Phase – when you are achieving enough sales to make a profit

• The Empowerment Phase – when your business achieves enough growth that you need to delegate to others

• The Divisions Phase – when you create and separate divisions that differ from your main business

One of the main problems that small businesses have as they begin to see growth, according to Walsh, is to carry out inappropriate activities while in the wrong phase of growth. Whether it be writing long term business plans while still in the “Analysis Phase” or launching too many new products at once while in the “Reactive Phase” that causes confusing results.

Others small business owners do not calculate the right time to delegate to others; doing so too early or too late leads to dire consequences.  Again, I have seen this myself in several companies I have worked with where a manager wants to step away from the day-to-day management duties and another whereby his ‘closeness’ turned from a leadership quality to one of interference that stopped others doing their jobs.

Each phase of this enlightening and very easy to read book follows on from the last in a linear fashion and needs to be read from cover to cover rather than be used as a point of reference to drop in and out of.  This book is a valuable source for any start-up or small business owner who is looking to grow their business.

In this book Ciaran Walsh draws on his own experience of running a successful business for 13 years and the knowledge he has of over 200 entrepreneur-led businesses with which he has help to grow.  He has also been a director of many privately owned and Plc companies based both in the UK and overseas.

How Companies Really Grow by Ciaran Walsh is published by Matador priced £19.95

Efficiency is key to success in business, but it is an area that many employers ignore because they find the prospect of reorganising when everyone is familiar with the current way of working a daunting one. However, workers are more adaptable than many bosses realise and will often appreciate management attempts to streamline ungainly work processes, while also appreciating that adaptability is one the best routes to ongoing employment in the current climate.

If you want to streamline your business practices and make you operation more efficient here are some starting points to consider.

Employee Delegation

Are your middle managers weighed down by undemanding administrative tasks? Are they finding themselves dealing with problems that they have no working knowledge of? Often the employees in the field are the most au fait with the workings of their department, and the best equipped to suggest ways of addressing issues. Bosses who are serious about streamlining may wish to consider delegating limited responsibilities to lower level workers in order to lighten the load on management. If handled correctly delegation to employees can be a positive process – allowing them to feel like a trusted member of the team and helping to prepare them for potential moves up the career ladder, while liberating managers from the minutiae of office operations to focus on improving business performance.

Software Consolidation

If your workers are using a number of separate programmes for different work functions, you may be missing a trick. Time spent entering and re-entering data in multiple systems could be better used for building business and meeting orders. Consider consolidating the software you use for areas such as ordering, accounting and invoicing. Using a single programme, or creating your own bespoke white label software using a facility such as Google Apps is a great way to reduce unnecessary repetition of tasks – leaving works free to spend their time on other areas such as client relations or building new leads. Consolidating old software to incorporate more modern methods of communication – such as input from mobile devices used by employees on the go can also help to make your commercial interests more competitive.

Outsourcing

Ok, it may go against the grain in the current climate to pay outside operators to perform tasks on your company’s behalf, but if a task lies outside of your own workforce’s area of expertise, then outsourcing may be the answer. Weight up the costs of outsourcing a certain task or project against the time freed up for employees to perform the jobs that they are best at and earn money for your business and you may find that there  is actually a saving to be made in approaching a necessary task from this angle.

Microsoft's Windows: Your PC Mate with Rufus Hound

This month TV funnyman, Rufus Hound has been on a UK tour with a difference.  He has been visiting UK cities as part of Microsoft’s Windows: Your PC Mate national campaign, continuing Microsoft’s ‘I’m a PC’ theme.

Windows 7 Ultimate

Throughout the month, Windows have been giving away PCs to the most deserving cases via Facebook and Twitter. Rufus Hound and the Windows team have been replacing unsuspecting owners out-of-date, old computers with shiny, new laptops from The Collection complete with Windows 7 and Office 2010.

Rufus’ mission has taken him up and down the country where he will play ‘PC cupid’ and ambush PC owners with a free upgrade and tech makeover using the best and most innovative PCs available today in The Collection from Windows – 22 best-in-class of the season PCs running Windows 7 across five categories, to suit the wide-ranging passions and demands of modern living.

After visiting London, Bristol & Manchester earlier this month, along with thw Windows Team, Rufus will be appearing in Birmingham on 22 November & Southampton on 29 November.

For those who know someone too embarrassed to upgrade their PC or who themselves have a PC so old  it’s not worth stealing, then get in contact with Rufus and the Your PC Mate team via the WindowsUK Facebook and Twitter sites #YourPCMate.

Leila Martine, Head of Windows UK, said:

“By tackling the anxieties and apprehensions real people have, we feel that we’re reigniting the excitement people feel for their PC.  Our research shows that for many their PC has become a style statement. Many even felt their PC says more about them than their clothes and makes a bigger fashion statement than a designer handbag or piece of jewellery.”

Comedian Rufus Hound commented:

“When Windows offered me the chance to follow in the footsteps of F9 and a paperclip I jumped at the chance. Half of the people I know have got PCs so rubbish they make Noddy’s Plod look like Inspector Morse. The fact that they want me to hand out a bunch of free super whizzy machines to the great unwashed is the cherry on the cake. But people have got to sign up on the Facebook page otherwise I have no way of knowing they need a shiny new PC. I’m not Santa Claus although, granted, we share a very similar silhouette.”

Win a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate operating system

As part of the Windows: Your PC Mate national campaign, Buzzin Media has teamed up with Microsoft to offer a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate.

Free  Competition

Please Note: this competition has now closed

To enter the competition, just answer the following simple question:

Which comedian is helping Microsoft with the Windows: Your PC Mate national campaign?

Submit your entries to comps@buzzinmedia.co.uk with the subject line: ‘Windows 7’ (other subject lines will not be entered) with your full name, address & contact number.

This Buzzin Media Competition ends on 18th December, 2011.

The editor will randomly choose one winner from the correct answers. The editor’s choice is final.

At the same time, Amazon has recently revealed that for every 100 books sold on its site, it sells 115 Kindle ebooks. Kindle allows new authors to upload their books directly, thus offering mass international distribution. As literary agent Robert Gottlieb recently warned, “Publishers are frightened to death of the e-book market, because they see the opportunity for authors that they did not have before.”

With publishers reluctant to take risks on new authors and with these new channels now available to everyone, it begs the question: do authors still need traditional publishers?
Russell Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle Content, believes that the death of traditional publishing is a foregone conclusion, stating that “the only really necessary people in the publishing process now are the writer and reader.”

Publishing a book, however, is rather more complex than just uploading a Word document to Kindle and hoping people will buy it. Whether it is e-publishing, print-on-demand or the more traditional printing and distribution model, many important processes are needed to turn a raw manuscript into something people are going to want to buy.  It will need editing, designing and proofreading prior to launch. It will also need a sales and marketing campaign behind it to attract readers. Industry specific expertise is critical for all in the process.

With this in mind, Oxford-based independent publisher Infinite Ideas has recently launched a self publishing business, Infinite Authors. Authors can access a range of publishing services in order to self publish both printed and e-books. By accessing the company’s publishing expertise authors can self publish books of bookshop quality from as little as £695. Infinite Authors offers direct access to the biggest bookselling platforms and is democratising the publishing process for authors around the world.

If an author self publishes, he can expect to make a profit of 30% of the cover price of his printed book and 70% of the retail price of e-book sales. By comparison most conventional publishing contracts give the author a royalty of 10% of net receipts. On a £10 paperback that can be as little as 35p a book. On an e-book the author may receive 25% of net receipts (although e-book royalties do vary greatly) which may generate £1 per sale. By self publishing, however, authors can put their books up on all e-book platforms including Amazon, Google, Kobo, Sony and Apple and have physical copies available through online retailers and wholesalers. So self-published authors now have direct access to quite literally millions of readers the world over.

Tim Moore, Marketing Director at Infinite Authors, explains:

“Mass consumer channels such as Kindle offer authors unprecedented direct access to their readership. Our sister company Infinite Ideas has had huge success in generating viral campaigns for key authors. Some of their titles have had in excess of 100,000 downloads. We know how to generate interest and we share this expertise with our self-published authors. For a very small investment authors can now publish their own books internationally in multiple formats.”

Moore continues: “In traditional publishing two-thirds of sales take place in the months before Christmas. For the e-book market, the busiest sales are from Christmas Day onwards because this is when people who have been given e-readers as presents begin to download books. This offers authors huge opportunities to sell substantial quantities of their books direct.”

UK sales of digital book products grew by 20% last year, according to the Publishers Association. Yearly sales now stand at 180m, around 5% of total book sales. With the latest generation Kindle selling for a mere £89, the gap between the author and the reader will continue to decrease. Infinite Authors aims to bring authors and readers closer together by providing real publishing expertise to help authors bridge that gap.

Many businesses simply don’t care about keeping the best in the industry which is why they will never end up attracting the top workers in the specific niche they are trying to compete in. One of the key parts of keeping employees happy is to have an office that they can actually work in and more importantly, enjoy working in. Here are a few tips in making the office as perfect as it can be.

Listen To Your Employees
One of the very best things you can do almost immediately without putting any money into renovating the office is simply to get every member of staff into a room and have an open forum on what the company could do to improve the work environment. On many occasions you will find that the quietest people of the company are often the ones with the greatest ideas so consider an open forum as well as an anonymous submission box. Take what everyone says seriously and at least make sure you discuss some of the suggestions with other senior members of the team.

Get Some Fun In
There is nothing worse than being forced to sit around your desk at lunch because there is nothing to do, so how about getting something that employees can do at lunch in?

This can range from anything from a simple darts board to a whole room devoted to games consoles and televisions. The bigger you go the better the reaction and the more likely you are to keep employees that are half decent. For example, in the office that I work in we have a darts board, pool table and a games room that is fit with a Playstation 3 and an Xbox 360!

Place To Eat And Relax
On top of having an area where employees can have a bit of fun during lunch and after office hours it is also worth installing a kitchen area with seating and even an area with a few sofas so people can just sit down away from their desks for five minutes. Not only will a kitchen area provide a fridge for people to store their lunches it should also provide an oven so employees can have a cooked lunch (at least a microwave).

If you really want to treat your employees then why not agree to fill up a beer fridge on a Friday so they can have a drink after a long week at the office. It is also worth considering a company fruit bowl that is free to employees and of course free tea and coffee.

Do all of these things and make sure you regularly listen to ideas provided by employees and you will be well on your way to the perfect office.

The author loves all things office and cannot wait to move into his new offices to rent office.

As well as his high profile work with these monsters of rock, Bernie Torme is a talented songwriter and recording artist.  we spent some time exploring:

1. How the creative process works in music and how that translates into businesses looking to innovate
2. How working with rock stars with massive egos has a parallel lesson for people attempting to lead creative / precocious people
3. Presentation, performance and impact
4. Improvisation and creativity in music and business
5. Dealing with conflict and trouble at work – Rock’n'Roll is an excellent arena for learning such skills
6. Parallel lessons from the music business for business leaders

These days Bernie divides his time between his recording studios and work with his band GMT.  He is also available for business events and conferences where the audience get to interview him on a range of topics alongside cameo performances of his work if required.

On stage Bernie is a mighty force to be reckoned with.  Yet, in the pub, he is a great raconteur with fantastic insights and stories about the crazy world of rock’n'roll.  Contact me here or via Musical Experiences if you would like to book him for an Academy of Rock experience!

Finally, here’s Bernie playing a solo with his band GMT:

Peter Cook is the Rock’n’Roll Business Guru, delivering exceptional corporate events and keynote speeches that blend business and music.

AC/DC start a concert as if they are already on the encore.  What would happen if you started your meetings as if they were all over before they started?  With difficult decisions taken, staff energised, excited and engaged about their part in the business?  It’s a different approach to the anti-climax approach to business meetings.  Let’s look at another deeper lesson from AC/DC with powerful implications for business.

Before I get into trouble here, let me say that I love AC/DC’s work, having first seen them in 1975 at Gravesend Woodville Halls, when I was just inches away from Angus Young and Bon Scott.  Life was never the same…  But, in my opinion as a musician, AC/DC’s success lies in the fact that they have not really innovated to a great degree.

More or less the same three chords arranged in a different order over 35 years, with a classic sound that has kept people coming back for more of the same.  Slightly harsh you may say?  Well, what I mean by this is that AC/DC have not switched genres – they have not ‘done’ Country and Western, rap or dealt with space themes such as David Bowie.  This has given them immense success from people who like their consistency.  What Tom Peters calls ‘sticking to the knitting’ has served them very well indeed.

AC/DC’s album ‘Back in Black’ was the 2nd highest selling album in history, after ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson.  So, what has this to do with business strategy?

In business, whilst it pays to have a strong culture / brand such as Ryanair and Ikea, when the market changes, a very strong culture can fail to adapt.  We saw examples of this with Sony, who did not spot downloading because they had a record company and Marks and Spencer, who lost hold of the market and refused to take credit cards for many years with disastrous consequences.  So a strong culture and unchanging brand and business offering CAN be a route to commercial success, but companies ALSO need to learn how to adapt and become a true learning organisation if they are to survive and thrive in a turbulent economy.

We looked at Prince in the previous blog as someone who has adapted and largely kept his audience base, even though he has probably tested their patience to destruction.  Companies such as Toyota, Nokia and Skoda have also been successful at maintaining a strong culture whilst adapting their offer to meet new customer needs.  So the smart money is on being a creature of habit whilst also remaining nimble and flexible to respond to your audience, customers or marketplace.

We’ll be exploring more parallel lessons in business and music in our forthcoming book “Punk Rock People Management – A no-nonsense guide to Hiring, Inspiring and Firing staff”.  Get your free copy of the book by writing to me here.   We will be exploring high voltage performance in the context of leadership at the 7th International HR summit event in Athens, Greece on October 20th following on from Dave Ulrich.  For now, it’s back to the DC!!!

A recent statement from British Gas stated the energy supplier, one of the largest in the UK, will be increasing the cost of gas by 18% and electricity by 16%. This is the second increase from British Gas in the past 12 months and follows a 7% increase in prices last December.

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne dismissed a report in The Sunday Telegraph that said the UK is facing some of the highest energy costs in Europe.

Furthermore, the Sunday Telegraph article suggested the government were planning to offer UK energy providers a higher-than-normal fixed price for electricity generated from nuclear power and wind farms, which would result in costing consumers more.

The hike in British Gas prices will undoubtedly be followed in the coming weeks by other UK energy suppliers and so it is down to the individual to look for ways in which to save money on business electric business and other utility bills.

Many companies offer a small discount for quick payments.  Depending on your bill a saving of 3% or so may not look much but if you multiply the saving across all your accounts then the monthly saving can prove to be worthwhile; and for companies not offering a discount or fast payment incentive, consider changing to ones that do.

Another way of saving a small amount on each bill is to set up payment by direct debit.  All companies prefer direct debit accounts with regular paying customers as it decreases their costs.  So it is only right for those companies to pass on the saving.  Again, if your current utility supplier isn’t offering you a reward for helping to keep their costs to a minimum, look to switch supplier to one offering a better customer service.

For electricity and gas bills, if you have access to the internet you may be offered an incentive to undertake and email your own meter readings.

Finally, many energy suppliers now offer both gas and electricity to both domestic and business customers; and by way of an incentive to get more of your business many companies will offer you an annual discount to provide you with a dual service.

Times have never been more difficult especially for sole traders and small businesses, so every little bit helps; and the savings you make that make over the course of a year may not seem so miniscule after all.