Writing, marketing and technology
This is going to be one of my (hopefully) rare curmudgeon posts. Apologies in advance. I just had an attack of the Victor Meldrews this week. I get very cross when I hear people talk about ‘passion’ in business. Either in mission statements (e.g. Microsoft: “your potential, our passion”) or in CV covering letters (e.g. [...]
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I have just launched Turbine, the easy way to take care of business admin including HR records, staff time-off, purchase requests and, soon, expenses and timesheets. (Check it out – feedback welcome!) It has been in development for a year. Here are some lessons that I have learned along the way: Turbine screen shot showing [...]
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I’m writing a new blog for Hewlett-Packard. Called Business Answers, it contains useful stuff at the intersection of business and IT. There is also a Business Answers Twitter feed. Recent posts include: Five best practices to build your brand Drinking and daytime TV: 10 myths of flexible working What parenthood can teach you about online [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]
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This guest post comes from Tim Phillips, author of the highly enjoyable Talk Normal blog. After 20 years as a journalist I started blogging about how we should “Make the Bad Noises Stop” because communicating – which after all is my job – is making me crazy. This is often how my interviews go: Me: [...]
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Freelance writing is the Stockholm syndrome erected into a profession. The terrorist holds a gun to our head and we love them for it. (Or more as a friend of mine said ‘we’re the battered wives of the media business.’) Why do relationships between writers and clients go wrong? Over-promising Too-high expectations Bad briefs Writers [...]
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In the New Yorker recently, James Surowiecki wrote: “Numerous studies have shown that companies that keep spending on acquisition, advertising, and R&D during recessions do significantly better than those which make big cuts.” I want to know if managers in big companies have any other response to a downturn apart from budget cuts and layoffs. [...]
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Matthew Stibbe is CEO of Articulate Marketing and Turbine, the easy, online way to deal with office paperwork. He edits Golf Hotel Whiskey and writes the Forbes Aviator column.
Check out my new, free eBook, 30 Days to Better Business Writing, 71 pages of expert tips and advice to make you a better writer. Available on Kindle, paper and free online.