I sent the following email to an accounting software group from which we rent their ‘KashFlow’ accounting software. They are part of the Iris Software group. My email is self explanatory, the above table shows how the monthly rental has increased substantially since we started with them in 2015. My email below went to customer support and I copied in 6 of their senior execs on 29 April 2021, I’m yet to receive a response. The execs email addresses on their website were cloaked as Exec1@iris.co.uk and for each of them, they had a different number behind the word exec. Talk about being a number in an organisation!
Are You Seeking Redemption?
Welsh denim entrepreneur David Hieatt (david hieatt) recently tweeted this:
“Being an entrepreneur is one of the most effective personal development programs you can ever take.”
BAM!!! Ain’t that the truth!!??
The question is, why is this so?
The short answer is because to be an entrepreneur, you have to cover all the bases. You got to get everything right.
The Tyranny of “Back to School”
Via an email 29 August 2020 by Gapingvoid Culture Design.
The stories of how university life has changed are reported in the news daily. We read stories of students being expelled, for congregating, partying, and being kids. The Washington Post reports how it was all ‘so predictable’.
The problem is that university business models are not anti-fragile, they aren’t even smart. They are based upon the way the world used to be, not the way it is, and definitely not the way it is going to be. There is a case that the current higher ed model no longer serves the interests of society, and COVID is shining a light on the hypocrisy.
One does not need a Ph.D. to know that socialization is one of the main drivers for students to attend universities. The universities capitalize on this by creating lucrative franchises that provide unity, community, and connection for their students.
Greek life, classes, study groups, student activities are all about socialization and connecting with contemporaries. For the Ivys proximity is arguable the greatest value of the education. By removing the ability to socialize, a large part of the value proposition is removed.
This is an inconvenient fact now for the higher education machine. Leadership proceeds pretending that the reality of school is simply about classes, and they are applying dictatorial, draconian tools to keep students from assembling, despite having called them back to school.
This attempt at controlling the behavior of young adults through intimidation will fail. It will fail because some of the presumably, smartest people in the land have no interest, to be honest about the reality of being a 19-year-old at college.
As Upton Sinclair once wrote, “It is difficult for a man to understand something when his salary depends upon not understanding”.
If you are, for example, Nicolas Zeppos, Chancellor of Vanderbilt University, earning $2.23 Million a year, charging students $70K for tuition, there is a large incentive to call students back to campus and pretend that everything will be okay. All one needs to do is to impose new rules that put students in the crosshairs of the COVID police (AKA Office of Student Accountability), and not acknowledge that it is all just a futile attempt to keep students from being students, and fully availing themselves of the value they have paid.
Kids will be kids and calling thousands of them back to a far-away city to do what they could have done from home, eg. watch classes via Zoom- is just a bad idea. We all know it is about business models. It is about money, and the point of this is that the culture of higher education, the archaic premise of faculty for life, all of it, needs to be reexamined, possibly burnt down, and started over.
The point is that ‘study from home’ at a reduced cost could’ve been a temporary solution for a semester. Instead, they put students and society at risk, principally because of outdated business models, and we all suffer as a result. And, even worse, kids are being penalized for being kids - having been lured back to a place where they are not safe.
Is this really the best that the brightest minds in our country can come up with?
By Gapingvoid Culture Design – Hugh MacLeod
[embed]https://mailchi.mp/gapingvoid/the-tyranny-of-back-to-school?e=e4a5a79da8[/embed]
The Chinese Chicken and the English Pig
This is a bit cryptic, but have a good look at the cartoon and see if you can make out what the Chicken’s proposal is? I came across this concept years ago when I worked in corporate life. It’s when we started doing business with China. Get it?
[embed]https://youtu.be/4aAIu8NrpEw[/embed]
Slowly, Then All At Once
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually, then suddenly.” Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises”.
What Hemingway wrote about one of his book characters, Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress says about the future of remote work (“Distributed Work”, as he calls it).
“On the distributed front, the future of work has been arriving quickly. This week, a wave of companies representing over $800B in market capitalization announced they’re embracing distributed work beyond what’s required by the pandemic:
Coinbase is going remote-first.
Facebook wants to be “the most forward-leaning on remote work.”
Twitter has allowed permanent work-from-home.
Shopify is now a “digital by default” company.
Square has indefinitely extended remote work.
Spotify is allowing work-from-home through 2021.
Change happens slowly, then all at once.”
And since this article was published, it continues…
Google to Keep Employees Home Until Summer 2021
After Google, Facebook, and Twitter, Intel to allow employees to work from home until June 2021
Of course, a lot of the disruption that occurred to people we know was due to the kind of housing people had. Suddenly being told to work from home is a lot easier if you live in a big house in a leafy suburb, than if you rent say, a $3200/month, 800 sq ft sleeping cupboard in Manhattan.
And with all those newly-remote’d office workers fleeing the big city, what happens to all the service jobs that satellite them (waiters, bartenders, personal trainers, etc). And without those service jobs to gainfully employ the artists, actors, poets, aspiring filmmakers, and other bohemians, what happens to the arts? What happens to culture?
Matt’s contention (and many people agree with him) is that “Distributed Work” is the future, all the C-virus did is accelerate the inevitable.
Which is precisely what most big change does, after all. Plus ca change…
Originally published by Gapingvoid Culture Design via their email newsletter dated August 12, 2020. You can also subscribe to their email via;
[embed]https://www.gapingvoid.com/the-gapingvoid-email[/embed]
[embed]https://www.gapingvoid.com/the-gapingvoid-email[/embed]
To view 1,500+ images by Hugh MacLeod on my Pinterest got to
[embed]https://www.gapingvoid.com/the-gapingvoid-email[/embed]
Are the big corporates taking advantage of Covid-19?
Image by Wordswag - words by
You see I think they are. I started noticing this a few months ago, I believe the phone company EE was the first one. Thanks to Denise Quinlan for reminding me.
But there are many of them now and whenever there’s an advert on the telly, I listen out for the subtle words suggesting that they understand, that they are here for us, now more than ever etc. etc.
Below are a number of them, where I’ve been able to search for the ad and I will highlight the word to listen out for.
First up EE a phone company. Most of us remember Kevin Bacon from the movies? Wrong! Nowadays he’s the face of EE. And this advert capitalised on the fact that the NHS was bearing the brunt of everything COVID. So give the NHS free data and the British public will think this is wonderful and support them too by moving there. And you think we’re stupid?
Second is Lloyds Bank, well who doesn’t love a mother horse and her foal? This is not a new advert but just new wording, towards the end they say, ‘now more that ever’. What the hell!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2JlKoYI6Ro
Third up is American Express with their slogan, ‘We’ve always had your back, we always will’. They show fake scenes of people coping with lockdown situations. Unbelievable!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A15gwTFoDXs
Fourth up is a UK food chain Sainsbury’s. They try drawing on our emotions, but publicly thanking their own workers through an advert. But surely that is better done in person, in paychecks and better working conditions? It is nice don’t get me wrong, but it suggests that they are a company who value their workers more than anyone else at this time and suggesting. On their YouTube channel under the video advert it says, ‘We’d like to thank every single one of our colleagues for stepping up and helping us feed the nation.’ There’s no doubt that they should be thanked, but pulling on our heart strings is not appropriate at all!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyU72XOD3d8
Fifth up is Vodafone. This one in particular grated on me. Using all these clips, are they real? Are they fake? Who bloody knows, I just believe this takes such advantage of these horrible times for people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjfxHRuEPuE
Sixth up is Lidl, one of the German discounters who have overtaken the U.K. with Aldi. We actually shop at Lidl, so I like them, but the advert again capitalises on COVID. The overused ‘now more than ever’.
Seventh up is eBay, yes eBay!! Their slogan is ‘stronger as one’. Wow, not good. But will I stop buying from eBay, no I won’t but the feeling is not great.
There’s one more, which is Money Supermarket but I can’t seem to find their latest advert.
There is one advert that I thought was quite clever and although I don’t consume their product, I believe their approach was quite funny. They are not taking advantage of the COVID period, they are just trying to let people know that they are open again for business.
Anyway, that’s my report so far on the big brands taking advantage of COVID19 and pull on people’s heartstrings.
Michael out…
Preparing for back to normal?
I love all the promos (NOT) suggesting the business preparation and snake oil strategies for when we come out of this, as if it will be business as normal. But nobody is even remotely touching on the subject of, ‘what if we won’t get back to normal for the next 7 year cycle?’ What then?
The medical science suggests a further 6 months or longer of partial lockdown measures to prevent. potential seasonal re-emergence of #COVID19 🦠.
It’s not about business turnaround, it’s about the resilience of our minds during all this.
It may also be the end of capitalism as we know it, now this might not be such a bad thing. Public health may finally become THE biggest priority we’ve ever witnessed. Clapping and celebrating key workers is all fine and dandy but if we suppress the resources they need and reward them insufficiently for their heroic service we should be ashamed.
Day 1–Tuesday 24 March 2020
On Monday 23rd March the UK was placed in quarantine in response to the global pandemic. Everyone was told to stay at home, apart from some basic rules for key workers and infrequent shopping trips for medical supplies and food necessities. This intervention was inevitable but probably earlier than expected. I do believe it was in direct response to many millions of people in the U.K. spending the weekend in parks and on the beaches for Mother’s Day and not taking the previous advice seriously enough.
Many people had already been isolating and taking all the previous advice seriously, but as is always true with human behaviour, many believed it didn’t apply to them. Actually probably many people are still not taking it seriously and I can share one small example in my own family!
Last night at around 8pm, my wife was called by her son, my stepson, asking to be collected from the countryside. He had cycled with his 2 friends into the countryside, about 10miles away to a quarry site, where unfortunately his bicycle encountered a puncture and of course he couldn’t cycle back.
So I went to collect him and his bike to take him back to his flat, he lives on his own. But he also needed some food, so I had to stop at the supermarket and buy a few things from there. Fortunately the supermarket was still open and I was able to get some essentials for him and also for my wife and I.
His 2 friends walked up to the car and I had to raise my voice for them to keep away from me. These 3 lads do not live together, they are not form the same household and they could have infected each other and in turn I could be infected also. Hopefully I haven’t been but the next few days will tell for sure.
I did give these 3 lads a bit of a roasting, because they definitely hadn’t taken the advice seriously and quite probably hadn’t heard the advice either the previous evening!
Apart from that event in the evening, my day was filled with a some work for a client, creating a storyboard for a new whiteboard animation project, which are featuring Gorillas! I also started a new walking routine with the dog to stay away from houses as much as possible, across fields and down a track to a water tower and because the weather has been so nice, it’s been wonderful very early in the morning at 7am. Pleased to say that I never had to cross anyone’s path.
The other project that filled my day, was helping my Taiko Drumming teacher set up his technology with the purpose of him starting virtual Taiko drumming lessons using Zoom. Zoom is probably the best technology for doing it. We just have to test a few other things before going live.
Because my work has been done from home for many years now, it definitely is not strange for me to work from home, but I’m definitely not looking forward to the prospect of lost revenue, which will inevitably be significant. More about that in my future journal posts, as I will explain why my business will likely not receive any support from the government. Quite worrying.
Be safe and stay well. #stayingaliveuk
[embed]https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-address-to-the-nation-on-coronavirus-23-march-2020[/embed]
Your wisest words inside your car?
Whoever started the craze of recording a video whilst sitting inside your car? Maybe too much noise in your office or home office? Maybe you saw someone do this and you also thought it would be a good idea?
Either way it is a method overused and over-copied.
It’s looks inauthentic, too staged and this is what you are saying to us!
I don’t have time to do this properly, I am too busy and only have time to record a quick video, in between jobs and appointments with clients. Because I’m so busy, I need to demonstrate to you how truly busy I am and the only time I have without any interruptions is whilst I have 30 seconds to pause inside my car. You should be really grateful that I am able to make the time to record a video with some free guidance and coaching, that normally you would have to pay for. My objective is to make you feel unworthy, a failure and jealous of the fact that I am SO busy.
But that’s not the intention I hear you say?
Seriously, think about it, think about how the viewer is feeling about themselves, you believe you’re doing them a favour and in fact you’re making them feel worse.
Get over yourself and stop this ridiculous practice!
Happy driving!
What do you do?
This by far is the worst question asked at networking events all over the world. I literally cringe at hearing that question. I usually answer with, ‘don’t you have a better question?’, which usually gets me a really disgusting look from the questioner.
The chances are when you go to a networking event you’ve already been agonising, on your journey there, about how to introduce yourself. In the end, when posed with that question, you’re likely to just say, ‘well I’m an accountant’. So that ended the conversation, 100% guaranteed. Everyone knows what an accountant is, don’t they? Well not really, accountants have stories too, they have clients, whose stories may interest you as a business owner and may actually reveal something about the values of this particular accountant. Nothing is certain in life, not even the life of an accountant.
How about instead of saying, ‘well, I’m just an accountant’, which is very likely what you would have said and just replace the title with your own title by the way, because that’s what I’ve heard you say. How do I know? I’ve heard thousands of people say the same thing, no matter where in the world.
Where was I? Oh yes, instead say the following, ‘do you have 60 seconds for a story?’, nobody will say no, you’ve just told them it will only take 60 seconds, great they think and you’ve told them that you’re going to share a story and EVERYONE loves a story.
Fact, we’ve been literally hard-wired (in our brains) to love stories. After all, you’ve loved stories since you were knee-high.
So to explain what I mean, I crafted a short 60 seconds story for an accountant. His name is James Ashbrook. Made up name completely fictional, so if your accountant has this name, it’s a complete coincidence.
Have you ever come across folk that leave their business finances until the last minute? Not you of course! Well, I had this client the other day, of course their business remains nameless, but his name was James. Well James hadn’t done his business accounts for 6 months. He kept the receipts though, really great job I thought, but he arrived on my door step with a couple of carrier bags. A couple of carrier bags! And they weren’t even bags for life, they were these really old supermarket plastic bags, you know the ones I mean right? I don’t think they even make those now! Anyway I got to work and then later that day, he chased me to see how far I got! The cheek of it, but I said nothing. Then he told me he needed to submit his accounts to his board of directors the next day! It was just bad after worse all along the way. Anyway, I’m sure you don’t need to hear ALL the ins and outs. The fact is I got it done, he was happy and the great outcome was that he hired me on a permanent basis, plus has recommended me to loads of his clients and connections. Sometimes it JUST pays to go the extra mile. I don’t only think that now, I know I go the extra mile. Yes, my name is James Ashbrook and I run an accountancy called ‘The Extra Mile’, I know we’re meeting now but I’d love it if we met for a coffee and cake too. Who doesn’t like cake, right? Here’s my card!
Not difficult was it?
So now it’s your turn, write your short story, make sure you include a character, yes it can be a completely fictional character, in order to demonstrate your business prowess. Share something that’s memorable, that includes how you solved your customer’s pain points. It’s always about the pain points.
Send me your draft and I will critique it, give you some pointers and then you must practice it in front of your camera and watch it back. Keep doing it until you are word perfect. And then try it out on the unsuspecting public at networking events. You will be in the minority, so you will be remembered for sure.
Happy networking!
Is the Corona affecting your business…it will!
Corporations big and small are after growth, year in year out and then something like this happens;
“Our best guess is that the economic disruption related to the coronavirus will cost the world economy over $280 billion in the first quarter of this year,” said Capital Economics. “That would mean that global GDP will not grow in quarter-on-quarter terms for the first time since 2009.”
Is it all worth it? You decide…
🥴
Why do you need all those votes?
We all desire plenty of votes, let me give you a few examples.
Votes from our parents, to confirm we are enough.
Votes from our teachers, to confirm we are worthy students.
Votes from our employers, to confirm we make a great contribution.
Votes from our peers, to be recognised and feel like we belong to the tribe.
Votes from our friends and families all over social media, non-stop confirmation that we are loved.
Votes from our industry in the form of awards to prove that our company is among the best in the industry, in our region, in the world etc.
Why?
Everyone wants to be loved, feel good enough, feel recognised and we are constantly looking for this throughout our lives, it shows up everywhere!
Even when I’m writing this I need you to agree with me, that you can see what I’m saying is true, confirmation that I’m enough.
We are already enough, but we don’t wish to accept it.
This is the human experiment, the human drama, all of our individual stories acting out every single day, searching for approval, searching for acceptance, for love and belonging.
Look in the mirror and there you will find it all the votes you need!
[embed]https://youtu.be/eThXzUg1qQo[/embed]
You Are Enough
All your content on Social has been lost!
It no longer makes any sense to post on Social Media. What purpose is it serving you? Are you advertising or are you showing off? At some level it meets a need in you to be recognised, looking for affirmation or even looking for attention. But all the content you have posted in the past 10 years has been lost, you are not able to retrieve it, unless you are writing on a site like this or on your own blog. This will be my strategy going forward. Writing in places where a permanent record is kept, where I can download my writings, which after all are precious and I have invested time, effort and thinking time towards.
I used to be a serial networker when I first discovered the practice in 2005 after leaving…
I used to be a serial networker when I first discovered the practice in 2005 after leaving corporate life. I had been convinced that ‘network marketing’ (MLM) was the future and signed up (mug) to a project that operated in the telecoms industry called Euphony Telecommunications. Needless to say the company no longer exists. The concept was getting people cheap calls by plugging their phone into a box, which re-routed the call and you could save hundreds on your bill. I was convinced I would be the next telecoms millionaire, they promised it after all.
After falling out with friends and family who did not want to support me, they’re supposed to be your warm prospects in MLM by the way, I needed a new strategy. And hey presto business networking was it! I was introduced by someone, no idea who and I’ve never forgiven them either, to join BNI. Another mistake. Pay a big amount for a substandard unhealthy breakfast and pretend that you can give business to lawyers, printers, will writers, insurance brokers, accountants and financial advisors. They clean up at these events, because, well, every business needs those services right? Wrong!
This started my decade of being a serial networker and apart from the odd bit of loose change, I never made any substantial business from them. So I changed my approach and outlook.
I see networking events as places where I can build relationships with like-minded people. I have actually made some really great friends for many years now and I did get some business from them and ‘some’ is the key word. I am grateful of course I am, but it’s never long term sustainable business. It’s just that they wish to be nice to you.
I see networking events as an opportunity to learn from others and use any tips that I may pick up for my own personal and growth. I go to see what I can give and not what I can take. I go to listen to the people I meet instead of touting what I have to sell. Invariably I strike up a better connection with someone when I let them speak first and I ask questions to uncover their story. After all people’s stories are the most interesting part of who they are.
And that’s why I was inspired to start my own podcast ‘Share Your Story’. You can listen to it here; stayingaliveuk.com/podcast.
But, nowadays I see so many networking pundits, my new name for the organisers of networking events, spouting on about what you might be missing out on and the potential business you are losing by not attending their events. I like meeting people because working on your own can be a very lonely experience but there’s nothing better than being in the office, getting orders and working on your own projects because at the end of the day it pays the bills.
Networking costs on average £5k per year for most businesses. Be interesting to note what your ROI would be on that.
I wrote an article on this very topic back in March 2013 if you care to read it; https://www.stayingaliveuk.com/blog/2013/03/does-business-networking-deliver-sales
There is a questionnaire too, so feel free to complete it here:
http://styin.me/networkingresearch2
Have I been cured of my networking addiction? After a long while of not going to any events, it slowly creeped up on me again, like some virus. I must confess my amount of networking has increased to a level that I’m questioning myself yet again.
These are the events I have been known to attend regularly:
Tech Wednesday — It’s an evening event so I convinced myself it doesn’t interfere with my day. Silicon Canal — Another evening event and I did the same with that one. Maker Monday — Oops another evening one. Fiverr Community — Oh my god another evening one and the same excuse! Actually I haven’t been attending the Silicon Canal and Tech Wednesday events for quite a while because of other personal interests, like Taiko drumming and Yoga, so maybe I’ve only been going to two events per month after all. Not too bad then.
But then I am being told across Social Media that I’m missing out by not going to Phoenix Lunch, Gem Media Lunch, Coffee & Natter, Chutney & Chat, Cereal Network and many many others. The ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO) brigade is well and truly at work and it does take a lot of effort to stop being persuaded to go to all of these events, spend a fortune on expenses and lost productivity.
I’ve decided on just one networking event per month and that will be in the evening and it will be based purely on who the speaker is going to be at that event. If they don’t grab my attention, I’m not going. There you have it, I’ve decided.
So now, just breathe Michael…
Give Way!
There is a great line that originated in Star Trek in connection with an alien race called The Borg. ‘Resistance is Futile’.
So what does it actually mean?
The refusal to accept or comply with something. Incapable of producing any useful result; pointless. So “resistance is futile” means that refusing to accept what is happening is pointless, and you should just give up.
In fact when you push your hand against mine, what do you feel?
Resistance!
Whenever you push against something that can push back, you receive resistance. Ever felt you could never win that argument? You got it, it was resistance. So what do you do, keep pushing and keep getting resistance? Probably not, it may actually be quite debilitating for you.
I was sitting in my car one evening at around 10pm, waiting to give someone a lift and ahead of me in the darkness was a road sign and the sign seemed huge to me and the words beamed out at me, sharing with me a huge message and the message was ‘Give Way’. It’s the British version of the ‘Yield’ sign in the USA, that’s why I included both in the image.
So what did I take away from this?
Giving way doesn’t mean being weak, it doesn’t mean giving up, it just means allowing what is. Sometimes it’s tough to do this and allowing things to just be. We and I’m including me in that have been told throughout our lives that you have to take action, you must do something if you want to achieve your dreams, nothing else will happen unless you do. But when you move into a space of allowing, into a space of yielding/giving way, the right things may just come your way.
Less resistance allows for better outcomes.
Happy giving way!
Are business awards fake news?
Probably…
This question comes up regularly for me and when I received the following message twice in two different social media inboxes, I am convinced they probably are.
Hi. I feel honoured and humble that I have been nominated for ‘the Most Inspirational Person of the Year Award’. The winner is selected by the public and the public vote is now open until 20th July. I would be grateful if you could please vote for me.
Please click the link and it will take you to the voting page then select, ‘the Most Inspirational Person of the Year Award’ and vote for me. Please ask your friends, family and contacts to vote for me too. Thank you for your support.
I was especially astounded with the last sentence.
Ask friends, family and contacts!
What?
Not only are you asking me to vote for you, when I have totally no idea if you are in fact ‘The most inspirational person of the year’ and then you ask me to get my friends, family and contacts to vote for you too?
You really can not be serious, can you?
Totally serious, this is how business awards get awarded. Get yourself nominated and then go after your connections and beg them to vote for you.
I will never believe another business award again. In fact I’ve never believed them or taken part for this very reason. In fact I know of organisations that will even ask you to fill out a questionnaire to nominate yourself. Nominate yourself and then collect votes.
So I have concluded that business awards fulfil two needs, number one, the organising event or organisation needs more publicity for themselves and number two the actual individual needs more publicity for themselves. Basically they both need more recognition and appreciation from the public. In a word they need more love.
By getting complete strangers to vote for you, it actually is no different from wishing that people clap, like, comment or heart your content.
As humans we will never self-actualise on the basis that we’re always looking for something outside of ourselves.
My wish for the awards business is to start awarding teams, not individuals, not for the good they do in society or our communities but for the good they do for themselves. Teams that have successfully reinvented themselves despite the hardships they’ve had to endure in years gone by. Real hardships not some made up award category like ‘The most inspirational person of the year!’.
Just be ‘The most inspirational person of the year to yourself’ and avoid needing other people’s endorsement to say so.
Happy voting!
Look at me 2
As I said in a previous article I call myself a straight talking Dutchman and often find myself giving feedback to members on LinkedIn who ask to connect to me. It’s always meant with the greatest intention and often it can come across as being critical. So I’m sticking with the theme and want to go a little bit more in depth on this.
By far what I witness on social is self-congratulatory language, especially LinkedIn.
Someone recently commented on a blog of mine, where I asked the question; ‘Employee! Do you see any value being on LinkedIn? The last sentence in his comment was:
‘The contributors are smug. It’s like Facebook without the jokes. It’s a breeding ground for envy. It isn’t healthy to spend your whole life comparing yourself to other people.’
Initially I felt like he might be attacking me and I because his language was quite direct and very very honest, maybe it wasn’t a good thing to approve the comment to be shown on my blog.
Seeing as I hardly receive any comments on my blog and after reading his comments a few times, I concluded that actually there is a lot of truth in his statement. People are smug on LinkedIn, it is a breeding ground for envy and people do compare themselves with others.
One of the bits of feedback I give is on people’s profile photos. See, I believe they need to look professional, a head and shoulders shot, produced by a professional photographer and when I see folks with their kids, drinking alcohol, being on holiday, on a stage, showing off with a headset microphone or anything else equally at home on Facebook I say NO! Sort out your profile photo, you look ridiculous. Judging again!
Often people come back to me and say, well I’m not doing so bad and I have more connections then you after all’s who are you to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do. Not exactly those words, but pretty much the same.
I do believe social has become all about ‘look at me’, look how great I am, look at my achievements, if you don’t hire me either as an employee or as someone to solve your business issues then you are off your head, because actually I am the best thing you will ever find on here. I see no humbleness any more and don’t even get me started on the videos and adverts people post. Yuk!
Happy social networking!
Crooks
Just been watching the Netflix mini-series ‘Dirty Money’. Wow I was astounded how many so called legal crooks steal money from us.
Of course most of it covers companies in the USA, but Britain didn’t come off scot-free with the HSBC money laundering on behalf of Mexican drug cartels and terrorist organisations. They only got a $2 billion fine and nobody went to jail, despite the fact that thousands of innocent people died, either by being killed or died because of drugs.
Each episode basically told the same story, which is our greed for money.
Millions and Billions of dollars are changing hands on this planet illegally and most of us are the victims. In essence if we are kept poor and needy, sick and in fear, we won’t make any noise. This is exactly where governments want us.
So ensure that companies always need to strive for growth, which means they have to continue to sell to us consumers, who need to keep buying and stay in debt. That way they can continue to exercise control over us.
Conspiracy theory? Oh yes indeed…
Happy buying!