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October 17, 2011 by Julie Stanford Leave a Comment

Is business a dirty word?

Too busy to read this? Listen to Julie on SoundCloud instead. She’ll soon put you to sleep…

This morning, I’ve been pondering the nature of business (as you do). Prompted, for the most part, by the recent news that the UK energy providers are raking in the profits (up by 733% we’re told) and Vodafone are paying just £1,400 tax on profits of £3.5bn*.

It’s no wonder that some people hate business. It feels lately that every newspaper we open, radio or TV we turn on, or blog we read, regales us with stories of corporate greed, hidden profits and backroom deals.

But — and it’s a big but — we risk confusing the vehicle with the driver. [Read more…]

May 3, 2009 by Julie Stanford Leave a Comment

Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down

OK, OK. You need to be past a certain age to get the reference to Weebles. They were a 1970s toy which had a heavy base. When you pushed them, they wobbled… but they never fell over.

I was talking the other day to a business friend, Ben. He likened me to a Weeble (and I’m hoping it’s my resilience he was referring to!).

Ben and I were discussing just how resilient business owners have to be to cope with the daily pressures of running a business. I started thinking about the number of very large orders of our Essential Business Guide we have been asked to quote for over the past years. [Read more…]

October 3, 2007 by Julie Stanford Leave a Comment

Independent retailer realities

We’ve just come back from three days in Birmingham. We were at the Convenience Retailing/International Forecourt Trader show at the NEC. The show’s organisers, William Reed had invited us to run their Business Solutions area for the show’s visitors. The area was really brilliantly laid out, with great branding and plenty of space, and the William Reed staff were fantastic. It was all very smooth-running and professional. [Read more…]

January 21, 2007 by Julie Stanford Leave a Comment

Changes to your business website and email footers

It’s been in every business newsletter recently, but just in case you didn’t see it, there have been important changes in the Companies Act which came into effect on January 1st 2007. These changes require that certain information needs to be put onto business websites and email footers. Companies failing to do this are in breach of the Companies Act and risk a fine. (Great, eh?)

From now on, every company must list its company registration number, place of registration and registered office address on its website (this information is already required on business letters but must now be added to websites, order forms and electronic documents, including email invoices). [Read more…]

January 1, 2000 by Julie Stanford Leave a Comment

New ways of learning… but let’s not throw away the old

I’m currently researching new online software for e-learning.

We want to add another dimension to our workbooks and worksheets, so being able to offer readers the ability to complete the material online is exciting. Online stuff is certainly great, it’s interactive, brimming with video and flash animation and audio files, and I enjoy looking at new ways of helping people learn about business, but…

…I hope that nothing will ever replace books. I suppose I would say that, currently being a publisher of printed books, but I’m also an avid reader and there’s something about holding the book, turning the page, reading into the early hours; about the intimacy and relationship between book and reader, that a web page simply can’t replace.

Or am I just embarrassingly old-fashioned?

Move over Kindle; I’m in the middle of a cracking paperback.

Is business a dirty word?

Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down

Independent retailer realities

Changes to your business website and email footers

New ways of learning… but let’s not throw away the old

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