What value free?
Posted on | September 3, 2010 | No Comments
The latest edition of EN for business – an ‘entrepreneurial’ magazine (?) dropped onto my doormat this morning. It is (I read) full of all the stuff you need to know to succeed in business.
The problem I have with that is – the magazine is sent for free.
They write it – print it (not cheap – it’s a glossy) and distribute it for free – well, to me at any rate.
Now this is clever stuff and I wish I knew the secret of letting folk have a product for free. I have searched the magazine for a clue but nothing. It is full of youngish folk that have businesses that (apparently) turnover vast amounts of cash – usually in the tens of millions of pounds – annually. Strangely, the main problem that these folk have ( if you read the articles in ENfor business) is…wait for it…getting funding! Yes, the old chestnut of getting funding or, for us mere mortals:Borrowing cash by the container-load!
Yes, most of the ‘entrepreneurial’ articles are about people borrowing money to set-up a ‘pet’ business. Whether this succeeds or fails, it seems, is by the way – just something for folk to read in between the adverts! Oh, wait…the adverts…oh my gosh! Is that how they make the money to make the magazine?
Well well, I’m glad I sussed that out. Let’s see…write a load of garbage about some subject and lace it with nice glossy adverts for biggish companies…simples eh? Send the magazines out for free and bingo….blanket corporate advertising. I wish I had thought of that.
Mind you – just thinking about something won’t bring a pound or two in – you have to actually do something…perhaps that’s where the ‘entrepreneurial’ bit comes in.
On the front cover of the mag is a nice picture of the model Caprice as she’s now running her own ‘multi-million pound underwear business’. She gives a few hints and tips about doing it. But wait…that can’t be just another advert….can it? Has she paid to be in and on the magazine…my oh my I bet that wasn’t cheap!
Mmmm…..isn’t it surprising what you can learn – for free? And here’s me trying to earn a crust mending bikes…..silly me!
Road works gone!
Posted on | September 1, 2010 | No Comments
The road-works that has brought the place to a near stand-still locally has at last gone it seems.
Not long back they re-surfaced all the roads by the town-hall – another nightmare for local workers and local businesses – now they’ll have to do it all again!
Last Saturday, with the road-works in Bury, the tail-backs at our end, reached the old Three Arrows!
Bike Shop?
Posted on | August 18, 2010 | No Comments
26 Inch Car Valve
Yes it is! And we can offer a few everyday bike parts for sale by EXPRESS DELIVERY LOCALLY, if required.
Just click-on the SPARE-PARTS link at the top of the page. Nothing cheap mind – this isn’t E-Bay!
The problem we have here is that at anytime now we will be moving – so we can’t stock too much for sale. We can’t take-on many repairs too for the same reason.
Content?
Posted on | August 14, 2010 | No Comments
I watched part of Knight and Day the other night. As so many present-day ‘block-busters’ this one seemed to be a jumble of all the others rolled into one. The noise was mind-blowing. But, I suppose, the youngergen will find Tom and Cameron empathetic rather than just pathetic.
The problem for folk like Tom and Cameron is – they grow just that teeny-bit old for their (lucrative?) type-casted movie-screen, youngergen, arsenal-toting characters.
And, (as I’m ever told that ‘content’ is vital in this ageing world of the ‘ever-new’- mind-fodder-consuming virtual audience) rather than that they sink to the depths of cinematic oblivion, something ‘new’ for Tom and Cameron might just be found in the characters of Jack Morris and Inspector Marsh in ‘Where there’s a will…’ The first bit is online today.
And directly from its buried and dust-laden slumber in the darkness of our recently de-cluttered loft, comes the first bits of ‘The Lady of Holcombe’. A few missing pages deemed this be withheld for a while as they did contain the important bits that come at the end!
And there’s an Empyre update.
Well, you can’t mend bikes online.
Hi!
Posted on | August 8, 2010 | No Comments
Welcome to Condorosa!
Yes, we mend bikes here, so if that’s what you need check-out the link above. For bike parts by Mail-Order check-out the link to the right – bicycleinnertubes – ask for Mark if you’ve a problem.
If you need a special gift for someone and can’t make your mind up just what – check-out the Gifthunters link to the right.
For a little non-stop Country Music try the link to the right. Minimise the player and have Country beats while you browse…
…or take a read at a short-story or two – Empyre is really a bit of fun for Rachel & Leonie – Fans of ‘real’ Vampires I believe!
There are too a couple of links above to youtube ‘video’s’ featuring pictures of Radcliffe under snow earlier this year – with a little ‘orchestral’ music made right here.
And, for all the spud-growers there’s a ‘video’ featuring spud-plants from quite literally all over the world! With a bit of music of course.
So, sit back, light your pipe and relax a while.
Pipe of The Year 2010
Yes, that’s the pipe of the year 2010 – a smooth bent by Peterson. A snip at about £115.00p!
Compen at last!
Posted on | August 6, 2010 | No Comments
A self-employed bod has ’sued’ a gas company for wasting his time (which is money) for about two years! The gas company settled o.o.c. for the amount he’d logged, over the two years, in phone-calls, letters and, more importantly, his time – priced at his business-rate which, for small firms is really good news.
The day before yesterday my bt line went iffy then all the phones and the ‘net went off. Nothing. And, when it all goes, you’ve no way to contact anyone. Thank heavens for a mobile – but it cost £10 to top that up to cover all the £1.50 a minute calls to our ISP in order to get bt to check the line. Meanwhile online business etc. was at a standstill. It eventually got sorted earlier today and we’re only about £20 down on the fault – which was not our fault – it was indeed a bt line fault.
We can stand this – to some extent – but the case above involved over £2,000.00p which most tiny one-man-bands can’t cover. Good news indeed!
Bank on it!
Posted on | August 4, 2010 | No Comments
Another bank reports a nice little earner for the past six months (Lloyds) and that nice Mr. Cameron seems to be getting a bit shirty about it – they MUST lend he says.
Erm, why don’t YOU lend your hard-earned old chuck? Is it a bit too risky? Or have you got none? Tough old world isn’t it?
I’m waiting to see what RBS shares are doing – when all this strife kicked-off me and a mate watched ‘em drop to 12p!
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And, Mr. Cameron wants council-housing to be on a short-lease basis. So if you’re in one and you pull a bundle you can ‘be moved on’ to Private housing or buy your own – which will allow someone struggling to live in your ex-council-house.
It sounds ok but, as ever, government policy ‘gently’ eases folk into not pulling a bundle or not so big a bundle, as you might say, rather than the more difficult option.
We’ve just sold our house! (The council are going mad!)
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Recess!!!
Posted on | August 3, 2010 | No Comments
Yes the leaders of the public-sector are in ’summer recess’ – thank gawd for that! As a result I only noticed one ‘crisis’ reference somewhere this morning! That was about their deficit.
But there’s still a few giggles about if you glean the screen well.
The beeb wannabe’s are up in arms about a move from London to Salford (which is not Manchester really – it’s Salford). The poor dears. Most of ‘em are worried about the effects of the move on their children.
Hey, don’t worry! We’ve nearly got rickets licked up here and 60% of my kids have jobs – Private Sector mind-you so don’t expect too much in the way of income from yours.
And, despite world-record rainfall we’ve got a hose-pipe ban in force and they’ve shut the canal.
They had a local referendum about ‘Congestion Charging’ and the populace, en masse, said ‘Jacqui Smith!’ So Deansgate, where your offices are situated, is always gridlocked.
Just bear in mind that £877,000,000.00p would probably run Salford for six months let alone fund a move for a few folk!
Deficits, are made of this.
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Some of the ‘banks’ that required tax-payer funding last year are finally getting back into a profit situation. It has only taken about six-months and the cash is piling-up nicely.
Meanwhile The Deficit goes on…and on…and….
….Milliband calls for a ‘Mansion Tax’……..and several folk on Housing Benefit ask for smaller pads! In their case though the council would have to pay it.
I told you there were a few giggles about – if you look for ‘em!
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At the beeb ‘business’ page(s) four very busy businessmen are featured, each with a woe-tale about trying to borrow from a bank.
Sadly, after really carefull reading of their stories, I fear borrowing will not solve their problems (it never does) but rather that they read some of my stuff!
Ask for ‘Letter Four’ – It’s expensive, but exactly what’s needed.
Here’s a link to the beeb page:
Business Feature
OK, so what’s the problem? Surely the banks are at fault?
No. I too would be reticent in making any loans in these cases. In each case the business-owner is very experienced in his/her trade but is really up against it from a business point of view.
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Financial licence?
Posted on | August 2, 2010 | No Comments
I read (again) this morning that the ‘banks’ were more or less ‘in profit’ again. They are at the moment being berated by that nice Mr. Osborne because they won’t lend any money. (mortgages, business-loans etc.)
Now me being just an old logical soul have to scratch me head over this one. If the banks are not lending anything – how the hell have they got back into profit?
Answers on a postcard please to: That nice Mr. Osborne – he’s desperate at the moment!
**HSBC have reported pre-tax profits of £7,000,000,000.00p for first six months of 2010 – ‘investment-banking’ being the main source. So, if profits are about 30% of stake-money HSBC must have initially punted £21,000,000,000.00p. So, if you apply for a measly, back-pocket change ‘business’ loan of say £500,000.00p, don’t cry if they refuse. It’s probably not worth their while to bother!**
Call me old-fashioned but when I were a lad to get money for any business reason you simply used the business – making money was the intention, not borrowing it.
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And The Adam Smith Institute – that thinky-tanky thing says that the beeb should lose the licence fee and charge as other TV companies do. They might have a point but this old thinky-tanky bod is ever wary of things government controlled – such as the beeb. They might introduce Pay-As-You-View type funding for the beeb – which, at the rate the beeb spends our cash, would render it skint and defunct within minutes. So watchout for more typical government ‘thinky-tanky’ thinking – Pay-As-You-View rates and a yearly licence fee!
You read it here first folks!
Another option – no fee at all (which would save tax-payers an absolute fortune) is never contemplated is it?
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Oh dear, that nice Susan Boyle, who can really sing, is having cash-flow problems apparently. She’s managed to get herself a nice new house (excellent Sue!) but is finding that on only £500 per week she can’t furnish it all at once.
Which really goes to prove that Private Sector life is a struggle compared to a life on benefits!
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The other day I read at some website or other: ‘How to make a small fortune in the bicycle business?’
I thought jeez, I’d better read that! So I clicked the link – it said, ‘Start with a big one!‘.
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Apparently bosses might not be forced to sack employees as the employees reach pension age – 60 women, 65 men. This is good news as I won’t have to sack meself next year!
Far from it! Me tax-allowance goes up too, so I’m told! And, do I get a pension??? Good grief, it’ll be like winning the pools!
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About twelve months back a customer at the market stall asked if I could ’set-up’ a BMX that she’d bought for her son from ASDA at Radcliffe.
No problem. Here’s a photo’ of that bike, then.
Totally re-set everything - n.b. front forks/brake...
It’s not very clear but there were several set-up problems with the bike and I wondered where the bike assembler had seen a bike so assembled.
Well, this week I was in ASDA shopping and lo and behold there were several bikes on display – set-up and erm, ready to go?
Well, no, not really, because the BMX amongst them was assembled as the photo above!
I’ve had, too, quite a few ‘interesting’ telephone-calls re ASDA bikes. But, not for me to denigrate here – I merely say, Hi ASDA, why struggle? All you need do is pick the phone up, mind you, I’m not cheap, but therein is the difference between a rideable bike and something in a box from ASDA!
A Stunt?
Posted on | July 30, 2010 | No Comments
The London ‘bike-scheme’ starts today with more than 11,000 keys already ’sold’ to potential renters of the 6, 000 bikes.
London bikes.
The bikes are rentable for £1 an hour or £50.00p for a week. Anyway I hope it works out.
Such a scheme would be unworkable in the north as 6,000 bikes going for as little as a £3 ‘key’ charge would simply mean, for local kids, FREE bikes to wreck on the local skatepark!
And boy have I seen some tasty bike-wrecks after having a bike-repair-shop close-by!
Mind you, the word is that in London folk actually work most of the time, so bike-stunting is reserved for nights and weekends!
I have strong reservations about such schemes because in the daily news I read of other ‘funded’ organisations that for-ever cost us tax-payers dear. British Airways. British Petroleum. British Telecom. British Gas. Banks….I could add shedloads more but they became so expensive they were, after much government and employee kicking and screaming, closed-down.
In this world there are, after all, stunts and stunts.
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Logging-on at the Mail this morning my tired eyes were suddenly opened by the ‘news’ that Work and Pensions guru, that nice Mr. Duncan-Smith, is to ‘tear-up’ the present welfare-system – especially Tax-Credits
Yikes, I thought, keep yer ‘air on old chuck! But I needn’t have bothered.
Rather than some real money-saving cut-backs they’re just going to phase-out the present Tax-Credit system and replace it with another. Apparently people earning up to £60,000.00p a year will be eligible to claim.
I just hope me and the other eight people that are left to actually fund this don’t mind!
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Also opening today is the London Super-Car Hire Scheme! It’s just £5,000 for a key and the cars cost £20,000.00p per day.
Already 40,000 of London’s Hedge-Fund Managers and Banking-Staff have signed-up!
Tony Hayward said, “Brilliant! It will gimme summat to do!” as he checked the nearest car for oil-leaks then hired it for a month!
Upon seeing the cars The Mayor of London said, “DOH!”
Bikes indeed!
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As I tinkered about here today I thought of the word ‘entrepreneur’ and, on a sudden impulse, put, ‘Entrepreneurial blogs’ into google.
Thousands of links came up but each had the familiar ‘.com’ suffix at url’s end and, when at the sites, money was $ and usually the sites were USA based.
I thought, mmmm…and put into google, ‘English entreprenuerial blogs’ into google. I was rewarded with stuff like,’…english-based entrepreneurial blog by (etc.)’ or, ‘entrepreneurial blog in english at (blah blah) .com’. Again the actual sites were American.
I obtained similar results for ‘British entrepreneurial blogs’.
So in the above short article about tax-credits please substitute the ‘eight’ with a ‘two’.
At one (US !?) site I noticed the initials: WIIFM. Boy, that took me back! (yawn!)