Category Archives: Opinion

Frustrations 2

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So the game continues.

The company I am sort of working for continue to frustrate me.

At our last meeting the guy basically regurgitated a whole load of ideas, I had suggested in our previous meeting, as if they were his own and then kind of realised who he was talking to before sort of giving me a little bit of credit. Lordy this is going to be hard work.

The biggest hurdle we have with the business seems to be that the boss seems to think his contacts will be enough to provide lots of very well paid government conracts, even though we seen unable to get our own very simple site up and working. It’s not even a bespoke site it’s a program similar to wordpress so any halfwit can get a decent site live in a couple of hours! We as web experts cannot.

When I showed him via a simple google search that two of my hobby websites come up at the top of googles search page and his company website was not even to be seen on the firs ten pages, he did not appear too worried.

It would appear the company that offers SEO services to it’s clients don’t even know what SEO is!

So, why am I agreeing to work with them? Well, he want’s me, he told me so and the derisory amount he offered to pay me showed how much he values me (not!) as an Idea he offered me what I used to earn in two hours as a freelance as a monthly retainer! But, until something better come’s along I will use it to keep me busy and maybe get me some useful connection and of course who knows, maybe it could be a success.

My new boss does not seem to acknowledge his competitors, he did not seem to recognise the companies listed on page one of googles search and some of them looked to have their shit together a hell of a lot more than our lot. I do not know if living in a bubble will help or hinder us.

Frustration

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So, I have had my second meeting with the new company and I definitely want to work with them and he says they want to work with me. So that’s all good then isn’t it……….

Well no, you see that was a few days ago and there has been no follow up, no plan as to what is going to happen and this company that will be producing websites for others, still has not got it’s own website back up.

When I questioned the wording of the old site I was informed that it had been written by the website guy.

This is no marketing guy and his English is not very good and the written word gave a very small town feel to the site.

I am appalled that the guy that runs the company, the guy that drives the company, is not the person who seems to give a voice to the company website. I asked him to send me the wording for the new site so that I could have a look at it for him and although he agreed, almost a week later I have recieved nothing.

I am sadly not surprised by this as I firmly believe he has NO wording.When, I had my own company providing training and recruitment services, I wrote every word that went onto my website and also the map as to how each page related to the others, this was my business and I felt the website was aloud voice for us, MY VOICE.

So, It again looks as is my chance of some work is going to be a disappointment. I do hope I am wrong.

I Still Feel I Can Contribute

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It’s funny I was ready to give this site up. The reason is I have basically been semi-retired for nearly four years now.

Although I now I am interested in working again, but it’s difficult given my circumstances.

Let me explain. I have NO real qualification, I left school at 15 and went to work straight away sweeping up in a cardboard box factory, Sure, over the years I moved up various ladders (I also fell down a few snakes0 but by the time I left the UK, I had been in many roles where I was setting up and running teams, Sales, Marketing, Technical support, I have provided Business training and been given my first steps on the work ladder what I would describe as successful.

But, I am no longer in the UK, I am in Asia, and suddenly all my experience stands for nothing, I have no contacts and no record in the area. And in this part of Asia qualifications are everything.

One of the reasons these Asian countries are charging forward is that they employ highly qualified staff.

Sure, I can do the job, sure I am good at what I do (IMHO) but that means nothing over here.

So, it was quite exciting recently when my spur of the moment e-mail to a new well funded organisation over here was at least good enough to warrant them calling me.

I guess looking back that was the first step on the recruitment path, but the call came completely out of the blue and therefore I fell I did not give me best. I had hope though as the young lady on the phone said they would like to set up a meeting with me next week. Sadly, next week came and went and the next. I thought that was it, I was never going to work locally.

Then my wife met somebody who was looking for some help with marketing his company.

Luckily for me he was an American guy who also lives over here, so, we set up a meeting to see if they could use me.

It was great for me, I checked their website and form that I realised they needed help, a lot of help on the marketing side.

At our meeting it started off like a job interview and when the question of my resume’ came up, I knew I had to take control.

So, I did and I peppered him with questions, with ideas and with my thoughts on what they needed to do.

I have been in this position before, they either think you are a know it all asshole or a valuable resource that they can tap into.

You see the fact is I may have no paper qualifications but I have a mensa level IQ, a very fast mind and I am not afraid to question why things are as they are.

Well, my guy lapped it up and was ready to move forward, said he wanted me to help. Now, at this stage I took a step back, I don’t want to get sucked in to 9-5, I don;t want to be out on the road or even stuck in an office, but I do want to provide my help and ideas, So, I told him I don;t want to discuss money, I did want to help and would accept payment as and when he felt I warranted it. A risk I know, but I felt it was a fair point to allow them to show what I can do.

I felt alive, my mind had opened up again and I was writing down idea after idea.

So, let’s see how this turns out.

Stick with me

A Positive Outlook Is So Important

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I was in Singapore this weekend watching the inaugural ONE FC MMA event. This was a superbly organized first event for an organisation that fully intends to be the biggest Mixed Martial Arts show in Asia. And, they could be, they certainly have a winners attitude, all their publicity is about how big they are and how muh bigger they are going to be. They believe!

One of the fighters at this event trains at the same gym as my son and I am sure that even though he is an experienced fighter who has fought internationally for many years, this was by far the biggest event he has fought in.

He lost his fight to knockout in the second round. The sad thing was that after the fight he posted on his facebook that he had given his opponent too much respect before the fight.

That says so much and it is something that matters in all areas of life.

His opponent was an ex world boxing champion and although our friend was a muay thai champion, he basically had defeated himself before the fight. He gave the other man too much respect and did not consider his own experience and skills.

Mental strength is a must have in life and certainly in business. How many times have salespeople been negatively affected by fellow team members who are maybe not really doing a job they are suitable for. If you are a negative sales person do not feel the need to bring your workmates down to your level.

You must firstly throw of the negativity as it achieves nothing, what can you gain by being negative? The answer of course is nothing.

A positive mental attitude is such a powerful tool to have that people achieve much more than the originally thought possible.

Until the day that Sir Roger Bannister broke the 4  minute mile many people had tried and failed in attempts to break it. Once he finally broke through that barrier it continued to fall on a regular basis.

When records began in 1855 the time set was some 4:28, it took 90 years before it was down to 4:01.

Once Bannister beat the record in May 1954 the imaginary line had been crossed and just one month later it was beaten again by John Landy from Australia, by 1999 the bar had been lowered all the way down to 3:43.

Once one person proves something can be done, suddenly others find it easier to believe it also possible for them to achieve.

Nobody could achieve anything if they did not believe in their ability to do it.

Whether it is business, sport or life nothing great can be achieved by people who do not believe they have the ability to succeed, who allow negative thoughts to control them.

Thomas Edison one of the inventors of the light bulb recorded many, many failed designs, he never called it a failure, each failure was actually just another step closer to his final success

Of course NOBODY likes that person who tries to turn every bad event into a positive, you have to be realistic and of this world.

But for business and sport being positive is fundamental to success.

Technology – Leaving Apple and Windows Behind

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I am writing this on a Macbook, one of the old White ones, and I was going to get a new one in a year or so but then a few weeks ago Apple with a sweep of it’s wand literally overnight removed them from it’s lineup. It’s been a great computer. It travelled the world with me for a year, it has been my constant companion since I bought it back in the UK in late 2008.

I am very much into Apple, the operating system is so much better than Windows (IMHO) it just makes sense, whereas with my wife’s Windows machine I am forever scratching my head.

I like the way I can just plug a second monitor into it and work on two screens without any setting up, it just works. But I cannot justify paying the premium required to stay an Apple customer. Apple have finally priced me out of the market.

Recently when looking for a smart phone I looked at the cost and could not justify paying for an iPhone so I bought a Samsung, BUT, I bought the wrong one. I bought a phone powered by Samsungs own BADA operating system. This is a joke, the system is OK but what’s the point? A smart phone is only useful if you can get Apps for it. And the problem with BADA is the App store is full of empty shelves, it’s just like a Russian shop circa 1980.

I didn’t know, I did not do my research and I actually went out to buy a HTC Android phone and as the place I went to had none in stock I just bought the first thing I saw. BIG mistake, that’s the problem with getting any piece of technology, do you homework.

I gave up after a couple of months and gave the phone to my Son and replaced it with a Samsung Galaxy Mini, an Android phone that is inexpensive (compared to an iPhone) and it does all I need.

I found the Android system simple to use.

I had recently bought my self a cheap but very portable mini notebook by HP and once again fell into hate with Windows when I tried and failed to connect a second screen to it, and of course all the other Windows faults and annoyances came to the surface. Sure with Windows you can buy upgrades, spending more money is always an option with WIndows, how about an operating system for everybody!  You can also buy hideously expensive programs like Office which do so much that most people probably will never use a fraction of the features.

Companies seem afraid to move away from Microsoft Office which is crazy, personally I think the Mac programs, Words, Numbers and Keynote do all you need and at a fraction of the cost of Office, but then of course you have to fall into the Apple trap.

Open Office and Google Docs, offer a very good free alternative and you are not tied to any operating system.

But when it came time to buy a tablet (for my birthday pressie) my first thought was the iPad, I have friends with them and have always liked them.

So, I marched into the local Apple reseller and decision made tried to by my own iPad, oppps sorry none in stock. It seems Apple is still struggling to keep up with demand.

So, I went to another Mall fully intending to buy an iPad, and an hour later I walked out with an Android tablet!

Why?

Well, this mall has a lot of IT shops and so, we decided to look at the alternatives. The ipad was available, but we checked out the Acer store and an ASUS store. The Asus was cool, with it’s choice of using it mounted on a keyboard or as a tablet and running Android. Acer had two models an Android model and a Windows model. I did not want a windows tablet, I hate windows!!!!!!!! I wanted lots of Apps and lots of access to free apps, I don’t trust Microsoft enough, it’s a magnet for all the scallywags on the internet who want to release harmful worms, trojans whatever!

Then I thought that if I want to break away from Apple then getting an iPad would not help. So, I choose the Acer Iconia A500, an Android tablet and guess what I love it, I have all the apps I could want, it does all I need and it cost less than an iPad.

Oh and just to prove how easy it is to lose a sale, I still was undecided when I went back to the Apple store to have a another play with the iPad but the iPad’s on display were taken up by a couple of young 6 or 7 year old kids, I waited patiently but nobody in the store seemed ready to help us gain access to the machines so after a few minutes we moved back to the Acer shop cash in hand!

Sure, I am now at the mercy of Google another huge behemoth of a business, but for now I still feel they allow some freedom and the hardware is available from a range of manufacturers.

However now there is news that they are purchasing a part of Motorola, is this the beginning of the end?