by Matthew Stibbe on August 2, 2010
3.2 million people in the UK fall for mass marketed scams ever year – around one person in every fifteen. Swindles cost the public £3.5 billion every year. The OFT conducted a report to investigate those who had been conned and concluded that: 20 per cent of the UK population could be particularly vulnerable to [...]
by Laura Connell on July 21, 2010
The economic downturn brought about a boom in mid-career gap years. The so called “sabbat-packers” took unpaid leave and did something adventurous thousands of miles away from their recession-struck offices. The idea behind “sabbat-packing” was improve your quality of life by getting away from your job. But does it work the other way round? Can [...]
by Matthew Stibbe on May 17, 2010
The last week has seen the beginning of a coalition government in the UK. For me personally, it has seen the start of two new client relationships and the renewal of an older one. It seems like a good time to think about what makes relationships work and how to ensure that each marriage is [...]
by Matthew Stibbe on April 28, 2010
Like most writers and entrepreneurs, I have a bulging to-do list. It’s like a bottomless cup of coffee; it stimulates, comforts and raises blood pressure all at once. My to-do list runs my life. I manage it on Outlook and via my iPhone with TaskTask. It is the epitome of the “do something” approach to [...]
by Matthew Stibbe on March 22, 2010
Online applications give me a competitive edge. I want to be a ‘big little company’ with the same (or better) IT capabilities as the biggest of my clients. I try to make the maximum use of online applications because they let me deploy new capabilities quickly without adding to my IT or admin burdens. This [...]
by Matthew Stibbe on March 8, 2010
I’m reading Max Hastings Finest Yearsand there’s a lovely quote in there: “An Englishman’s mind works best when it is almost too late.” It’s the same for writers. But I wonder why? This is a slightly different problem from the one I discussed in November which involves doing stuff at the last minute because a [...]
by Matthew Stibbe on February 10, 2010
Nearly every business has a website and we all know that Google (and to a much lesser extent Yahoo!, Bing and other search engines) help people find products and services they want. The challenge is to make sure that when people look for a business like yours, they actually find your business and not a [...]
by Matthew Stibbe on February 9, 2010
Why is it that when I am busy, I am also more productive? I mean that I get more done in an hour when I am busy than I do otherwise. How come you get more efficient at doing something the more you do it? Even creative tasks? Why does work always take longer than [...]
by Matthew Stibbe on February 2, 2010
I used to make computer games and back then we had a saying about project management: ‘you can have any two of fast, cheap or good.’ It’s a choice that most people don’t want to make. Fast Most clients have a schedule: a campaign deadline, a business plan commitment, a product launch. Usually this is [...]
by Matthew Stibbe on February 1, 2010
Ambitious journalism student, Alex Cooper, introduces us to Teeline Shorthand with his debut guest post for Bad Language. In this article I will go through the basic structure of Teeline Shorthand, a brief history and some tips for learning it along the way. Teeline was invented by James Hill in 1970. It is aimed at [...]