Just Twenty Eight Days Remain – Don’t Miss Out

February 2015

“It’s nearly impossible to get by on only
one pay cheque a month.
What are you doing for your
second pay cheque each month?”

 

Creating multiple income streams for a self employed business owner is a must have ………… and soon.

Even better if those extra ones are passive income streams.
[Passive means doing the work once and getting paid again and again]

Further, if you are employed, you too, can create extra income on a part time basis. Find five hours a week and you can be shown how to build an income on a part time basis.

The UK’s number one business in the sector has a low start up fee, and for a short period, it is just £50** instead of the usual £100.

To find out more, why not pay a visit here:

http://www.future-biz.co.uk

We can discuss the business over the phone and answer any questions arising – the website provided includes three little boxes to complete and I will give you a call.
[please enter your name, email address and phone number]

**Offer expires, 11:59pm on Saturday 28th February 2015.

 

“It’s nearly impossible to get by on only
one pay cheque a month.
What are you doing for your
second pay cheque each month?”

Rise and Rise of Zero Hours Contracts

Updated details here:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/briefing-papers/SN06553/zerohours-contracts

Are these contracts positive or negative in your view?

I am aware the Government proposes changes to present legislation to enable those on these contracts can take second or third jobs to ensure they earn some money.

Some already let people take extra work alongside, but not all.

Some additional points.

People on zero hours contracts, do not earn any money, unless called in to work.

As a result, a vast majority have to top up any pay with benefits already.

Also very few are earning sufficient to create any meaningful pension contributions.

Plus most, but not all, prevent people from taking a second job, to earn money.

So when they hear in the moring there is no work available that day – they are stuck.

The impact of zero hours contracts, means tax revenues are lower than expected, hence why the treasury has had to borrow extra money this year.

Great Reasons for Virtual Non-Geographic and Geographic Numbers

A virtual number is what is being referred to here is vital for some businesses, and many have lots of goodies attached.

Popular types:

0800, 0844, 0845, 0870 and 0871.

These are called Non Geographic Numbers or NGNs.

There are also a range of virtual geographic numbers too.

So my take:

1) Female working from home – you need one to provide a level of protection is this day and age.

2) Any business based at home with family – you need one to create a degree of professionalism, to stop kids answering, when you really don’t want them to.

3) Any business based at home – provides an ability to turn off from your business. I know some have garden offices or separate rooms

4) Provide flexbility – when you move, the number comes with you.

5) Provides additional features – some smart numbers can be programmed to deliver calls to lots of different locations, like a virtual switchboard.

6) Some of these numbers can be included in callers minutes, so zero charge for them to call you – the exception is 0843 numbers. Rarely included.

7) In the case of 0844, 0845, 0870 it provides a filter and ensures a better quality of call coming through. Less time wasters.

0800 numbers will come back into fashion when all mobile operaters include them in their minutes again – due to happen soon accoridng to OFCOM.

8) Virtual geographic numbers are becoming more and more popular, but the range is running out. You may find your local one has run out.

9) If you are using a phone answering service, then a virtual number is a great way of measuring the cost effectiveness of the service, since you can see how many minutes are being used.

10) Disaster recovery – just like you all do backups on your computer, this is like a backup too. For example, if you are unable to work from your premises or home for whatever reason, the number will keep working, which is why mobile phones have become very popular.

I have two case studies, where I kept businesses running after a flood and a fire respectively.

However, having just a mobile phone number could make you look a one person band. Not good when pitching for larger contracts.

And yes, I have been supplying all the above for 17 years.

To find our more, please call 0844 826 1730 or drop an email to info@combyne.co.uk

Also please visit www.go-fast.co.uk and click on For Business to see the range on offer.

Separately, if you are a regular caller to NGNs and find your costs on calls from your landline or mobile is high, please ask about our inclusive minutes deals for calls from a home landline, and equally the typical 50% reduction in call charges from a mobile, since many operators charge at 40p per minute as such a call is outside the bundle – our deal is 20p per minute.

Why do some people always struggle in being successful in business?

The subject line has been bugging me this last weekend, and I continually come back to it time and time again. I have made a few pages of notes, and tried to answer the question myself, but really have a drawn a blank.

I am aware of things like motivation being an important factor, and this includes goals, but I am now thinking there is simply something else that holds people back from success, and yes, I do accept sucess is defined differently for each person.

We have also discussed business plans to some degree too, here and on LinkedIn – a plan though as a standalone, simply doesn’t impact in such a way.

Let’s give you an example, and I am going to use the franchise model as the starting point. Some would argue this is a recipe for disaster in its own right, however, I see many people involved with franchises, who have become massively successful and financially independent, operating such a model. Even my own business is a cut down franchise, so I am writing from experience.

Person A buys a franchise, does really well. Is active in promoting it to a wider audience, attends all training provided, including sales and marketing courses, follows the system (& uses the support), and builds a successful business, and eventually buys a second and third franchise.

Whereas Person B buys the same franchise, is active in promoting it to a wider audience, attends all training provided, including sales and marketing courses, follows the system (& uses the support), and fails to build a successful business. They buy another franchise and fail again, eventually going bankrupt.

I can give you examples of a string of People A and People B – I meet them all the time in my business and at networking events. I expect to meet more next week at Business 2012. It can’t be about location, since I have seen businesses thrive in places, where I would expect them to struggle, and vice versa.

So what is the magic ingredient?

What am I missing?

Is there simply a type of person that is cut out for success and another for failure? And it can’t be about the business, since it is identical?

I am intrigued by this conundrum; is it simply because we are human, that these things happen?

So what is your view and suggestions for a solution?

Laurence

This was previously posted on Ecademy in March 2012, and now appears on Sunzu here with 30 comments.

 

 

Facebook are pulling the plug on free advertising

well not quite, but certainly has reduced the effectiveness of Pages Reach from 16% to less than 2%.

For many businesses that is quite a hammering.

Facebook being Facebook have offered a solution of paid advertising to replace this lost traffic and now many experts are suggesting businesses flood LI groups to continue their free advertising fix.

You can read more here:

http://topdogsocialmedia.com/facebook-organic-reach-dead/

I manage a number of LI groups and many are dead, a number of group owners will see this extra traffic as a boon, however, the challenge is this flood will look like a lot of spam.

I wonder how many other Group Owners and Managers are ready for this influx of unwanted traffic?

Separately, if you run a Facebook page, how will you counter this lost reach?

So what is your plan?

Blind Advertising versus Open Advertising

Blind Advertising versus Open Advertising.

Blind Advertising – no mention of company name
Open Advertising – company name is mentioned

I first started spending money on recruitment advertising in 1988, and that with a company called Encyclopaedia Britannica.

My budget was £100,000 per annum, so pretty decent amount to spend. I eventually moved to head office and my budget jumped to in excess of £2 million per annum.

One of the things I learnt were the benefits of both forms of advertising.

Open Adverts produced small numbers of responses, and the quality of the candidates were pretty fair. The number of responses though were just 10% of Blind Adverts.

Blind Adverts produced massive numbers of responses, and therefore our position became one of selection, sometimes self selection by putting people through training.

With lots of split testing, some 40 approved adverts of both types were approved, and they all created a ready stream of candidates.

I still split test today using various online media across different platforms and some work and some don’t. My lastest split test has so far produced seven responses in just under 10 minutes, at this rate, this is going to be one of my best tests for quite a while.

Are you looking for a job?

(with thanks to Mark Anastasi for sharing)

You might want to reconsider after reading this…

8 Shocking Facts, Quotes, & Stats about the Job Market.

#1:  A SHOCKING three-quarters of the world’s adults do NOT have a full-time job.

According to Gallup’s new “Payroll to Population” metric, only 27% of the world’s adults were employed full time for an employer in 2011 (the 2012 figure is likely to be lower and 2013 similar)

#2: The True US Unemployment Rate is 23.6% (36.7m Americans are Unemployed)

According to CNN, there are 86 Million “Invisible” Unemployed in America.

According to John Williams, an economist who runs ShadowStats.com, the true number of people currently out of work is at 23.6%. That’s a whopping 36.7 million Americans.

Whilst in the United Kingdom the figure is estimated to be 6.5 million, equating to 19.1%, which is more than double the claimed 2.52 million.

#3: “The middle class is dead. Most jobs that existed 20 years ago aren’t needed now…”

James Altucher wrote recently: “The middle class is dead. A few weeks ago I visited a friend of mine who manages a trillion dollars for one family. No joke. A trillion.

He said: “Look out the window. All the cubicles are empty. The middle class is being hollowed out. […] It’s all outsourced or technology has taken over for the paper shufflers.”

“You’ve been replaced. Technology, outsourcing, a growing temp staffing industry, productivity efficiencies, have all replaced the middle class.

Most jobs that existed 20 years ago aren’t needed now.”

#4: Technology and the Web are destroying far more jobs than they create.

“Over the past 15 years, the global economy has experienced structural changes to a degree not seen in nearly 150 years.

Put simply, the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s has given way to a post-industrial economy.

In this post-industrial economy, technology has now evolved to the point where it destroys more jobs than it creates.”

Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/labor-day-2012-future-work

#5: We are returning to Depression Era unemployment

Between 1929 and 1933, U.S. GDP fell around 30%, and the stock market lost almost 90% of its value.

In 1929, the unemployment rate averaged 3%. In 1933, 25% of all workers and 37% of all non-farm workers were unemployed.

#6: “The job-for-life generation told us that if we worked hard we’d end up with a great retirement.”

“If we stuck at that soul-sapping job, when we were 60 we could live fabulously, travel and have a whale of a time (assuming you make it that far).

Wait a minute… would those be with those same retirement plans that went down the tube in the crash of 2008? Where thousands upon thousands of regular people who had worked their whole life for the dream at the end were left stranded?”

That career-cage deal isn’t looking so hot now.” ―  Marianne Cantwell, ‘How To Become a Free-Range Human’

#7: “Workers over 50 are the new ‘unemployables'”  http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/26/news/economy/over-50-unemployables/index.html

#8: “Young people in bankrupt western nations […] society is going to force-feed you a rubbish sandwich. Higher taxes, more debt, fewer prospects, and a much lower standard of living await you.”

“University graduates are forced into lowly jobs such as cleaning lavatories. Youth unemployment in the Euro area stood at 22.6% in July. In Spain it rose to 52.9%.” ― Source: The Evening Standard, 20 September 2012

So, what is the solution? –> Think like an entrepreneur. Add more value.

Simon Black says: “The average Korean works 1,000 hours per year more than the average German. Here in Thailand, people who don’t have a job simply create one for themselves– selling fruit on the streets, fixing flat tires, whatever they can do to trade their skills and labor for income.”

Finally, I want to leave you with this quote from Robert Kiyosaki’s book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’…

“Most people work very hard, for little money, clinging to the illusion of job security, looking forward to 3-week vacation each year and a skimpy pension after 45 years of work.

If that excites you, go for it. […] Most people never see the trap they are in. Every morning, they get up, they get ready, and hurry out to work. Do they look happy to you?

Why do they do it? Because everybody else is. […] Every day they wake up with this fear gnawing at their soul. They rush off to work, hoping that a pay cheque will kill the fear.

Money is running their lives, and they refuse to tell the truth about it…”

So if you recognise this and are based in the United Kingdom, it is worth exploring this business and creating your own future and control your cheque:

http://www.future-biz.co.uk

Telecom plus Plc delivers again through photosynthesis

One of my friends spotted this and thought I would share it too:

This has to be one of the best reports I’ve read on the company. Even a non finance guy like me can understand it! I love the quote “Telecom Plus isn’t a normal utility, it’s not even a normal growth company, its more like a robust house plant, growing through photosynthesis and the odd sprinkling of water. And neither the sun nor rain get switched off”.

http://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/news/telecom-plus-both-weird-and-wonderful

For people looking to create new income streams, then the following is of vital interest, since it shows the potential profit for team members, which are called Independent Distributors.

“Over half of new sign-ups (55%) come in as Gold members, those taking at least four of its five services (gas, electricity, home phone, broadband, mobile), and when it gets them through the door, they tend to stick like flies to paper, churn down to just 1.2%.

What this means is that average revenue per user, or ARPU, rises on a seemingly unstoppable tide, jumping 14.5% to £1,363 last year. That’s nearly 200% up in 10 years and makes the £190 ARPU in its first year back in 1999 look laughably minuscule.”

I can write from direct knowledge, since I have been involved in the business since 1997, and the ARPU referred to above is so on the money, if you pardon the expression. :o)

And the future is looking brighter and brighter, as more people hear about the award winning services and customer care.

To find out about becoming involved in the business, this link will tell you more: www.future-biz.co.uk

If you are in London on Monday 3rd June, then there is a massive presentation taking place in the evening – details here:

http://super-cop-london.eventbrite.co.uk

Update: Tuesday 4th June – what an extraordinary evening. Over 500 people came along to the event last night. Clive Leach and Robin Brooks were in stunning form as they presented the business to the assembled numbers. It truly was standing room only and the attendees were educated and entertained by two stars in our successful business.

O2 closes call centres

An announcement that appeared in the Daily Telegraph this week shows the pressure the main mobile networks are under financially as they go the outsourcing route again to India and South Africa.

Unfortunately, it is simply the user that will suffer in the long run as call waiting times increase.

More here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/10087909/Capita-plans-to-close-O2-call-centres-and-cut-thousands-of-jobs.html

The article also says:

Meanwhile, a Capita call centre in Cape Town that already handles a small proportion of O2 customer service will be expanded from 200 staff currently to 660 in 2015. A Capita centre in India offering support via web chat will also be expanded as part of plans to discourage customer calls, known as “contact deflection”.

Overall, it is planned that the staff of more than 5,800 worldwide currently serving O2 customers will be cut to fewer than 3,000 at the end of Capita’s contract in 10 years.

That is quite a frightening cut back in service levels.

Whereas Telecom Plus here in the UK is more than doubling is HO footprint and customer care staff to cope with ever more increasing demand for its range of award winning services.

This growth is reflected in the record share price delivered this past week as The City continues to sound its approval. http://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/news/telecom-plus-both-weird-and-wonderful

The range of services on offer to both the business user and home user continues to deliver value for money. More here: www.go-fast.co.uk

A further comment can be found here on the impact of the year end results:

http://wp.me/pae1W-8L

Topping up your knowledge with Alex Jeffreys

Here on the second day of the Marketing with Alex near Heathrow Airport.

More good information and reinforcement of ideas previously learnt. Alex is a good speaker albeit hung over from a late night with his Inner Circle.

There is a gentle buzz in the room.

Alex has a number of his clients here, plus all his staff from the office in Wales.