Internet Power Systems

How many hours do you work?

I read a recent Blog post by Louise Barnes-Johnston regarding downing tools over a weekend in preference to, working through the weekend and getting a head start for the coming week. This topic raises the age old problem of trying to balance effectively the amount of time we spend working and the leisure time we enjoy.

Of course as an employee life used to be much more black and white. The hours of work were clearly defined between 9am and 5pm (or whatever the hours were) with the only exceptions being overtime, or the need to work late in an emergency or for an urgent or special project.

Even for the ambitious employee in today's competitive workplace there is an increased expectancy to do a lot more and with the ability to work just about from anywhere individuals are expected to respond pretty much at anytime.

So if it is tough for employees who are in good paying jobs to retain control over their 'Leisure time' spare a thought for the self employed business or small business owner. Having run small businesses for many years one of the biggest hurdles to overcome is recognising that the List of things that need doing is never ending. We often hear that if you have an ever expanding list then you need to delegate, do the things you enjoy doing, then outsource those that you don't, work in your flame so to speak... Great advice indeed... but you need the finances to be able to do this, which for many is not available, certainly in the early days of a fledgeling business... this means that for a period there is an investment of time... Leisure is inevitably sacrificed, or, alternatively, the speed of progress is reduced.

The dilemma for small business owners is so difficult to solve that we know we end up working many more hours than we should, in fact in extreme cases (like mine) the default mode is not leisure but work, and where anytime spent on leisure is considered wasted time... with the exception of sport in my case, which is essential for fitness and health.

We've all heard the message, 'you need to take time out to sharpen the saw', and it is strange how work grows to fill whatever time is allocated to it... how much work is done the week before a two week holiday, where we cram so much activity to enable us to have the break. When time is scarce or there is a sense of urgency suddenly we achieve our highest levels of effectiveness. Artifially creating these situations can often elevate us to these higher performance levels if we master the techniques.

Weekends are another issue, I have lost count of the weekends that I have sacrificed to 'catch up', or perhaps 'left' things to be done when the phone isn't ringing. OK, in our situation some things can only be done when client offices are closed, so it is evenings or weekends, but this is not every weekend. It is an illusion (I have concluded) that working over a weekend is more advantageous than taking some time out. Putting a day or two's space between the business and your thoughts, enables clarity of thinking and higher levels of energy when returning to work...

Another issue that some of us have (I know I have), is that I enjoy what I do... this can sometimes  infiltrate the thought process and seduce us into thinking... well it's not really work, so I can carry on confident that it is all ok... people laugh when I say 'the luckiest man is the one who enjoys his work, for he never has to work again'... true indeed, but 'all work and no play makes Jack very dull' too! Being a technical business most 'friends' don't really 'Get' what I do, so what they see is a guy who just works all the time... in the end you stop getting invited to things and then you're out of the game, ending up before you know it with a 'Near Life Experience'!

So what is the answer? Well I remember working in London many years ago for a Software Company and the owner of that business made it a rule, he would not work at weekends. These days were family time, and he didn't work them at all. Now the world has moved on, and we have much greater flexibility over when and where we work, but this really is a double edged sword... on the one hand the additional options we have means we can fit our 'work' around our 'Life', but on the other hand we run the risk of losing track of the hours we are working as now they are irregular and more difficult to calculate. At least with the old office days we could easily establish how much time we spent working... now it's much more of a challenge... and when running a small business, guilt over whether enough time is being allocated to the business is a huge problem.

As we see the shape of businesses change in the coming years, more and more of us will slip from employment to becoming suppliers of products and services. Businesses will grow not by taking on new staff but by collaborating over the Internet harnessing the skills and resources of others. This takes people from the mode of 'Hours being worked' to that of 'being paid for the Value add' in what they provide... in employment a task may take 8 hours, in the Supplier model it might be completed in only 4 hours due to more streamlined processes or greater levels of specialisation.

So in conclusion, maybe the answer to the quandry of Work vs Leisure time is to move the goalposts. Stop counting the hours and focus more on the tasks and who is going to do them, delegate as much as possible those things we dislike doing and concentrate on those we do. Introduce a sense of urgency with deadlines that lead us to maximise the hours we put into our projects. And a final one perhaps for just me, decide to not work weekends, be more effective during the working week, and start enjoying some time off!

One caveat to this however would be Social Networking which is actually meeting and getting to know people online... this is not work it is socialising... and if we recognise and acknowledge that this is not work, we won't be tempted to make that cardinal sin, step over the line, and start selling!

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Cloud computing spend set to Rise significantly!!

With the rise and rise of 'The Cloud' and the thin client Internet Model, more and more businesses are set to join the Cloud Revolution and the Digital Age.

In my recent e-book In 2 The Clouds the Journey for Small and Medium sized businesses in clearly laid out in 7 easy steps. More information can be found on the In 2 The Clouds Web site.

This article IDC Predicts Cloud computing spending will rise explains that over the next 5 years spend on Cloud Computing is set to double to over £8 Billion... made up of a combination of Public and Private Cloud models.

Social Media - Be careful not to abuse it!

Quite funny I was having a chat with my son (20) who as you would expect has kind of grown up in his later more adventurous school years with Facebook very much part of their social scene.

As we were talking about the implications of the recent Facebook developments, (see some of them at work Here) he was admitting that he feels like the business world and 'Social Marketing' people have hijacked Facebook and that it is / was a social platform... he finds the use of it by Business people trying to flog stuff at a tangent to the initial intent of the Facebook creators...

Interesting from a 20 year old how they see it, and how they see the 'middle age' business set spoiling it... it will probably result in a new Facebook type thing which is strictly no-business emerging because I think the guys at Facebook might have the same opinion as my son... that they are being manipulated into producing a money making product... which is not what they set out to do really.

In my own opinion I see Facebook, Linked-in, Twitter as regular communication platforms, a way of both, reaching out, and connecting to find out useful things... people emerge from this huge potential 'network' who then become closer to us and with whom we can build 'proper' relationships with... I for one will be encouraging as part of our business strategy ('which is supporting SME's in the Digital Age') to hook into Ecademy as part of their evolution into the modern way of doing business. Ecademy is much more Niche, Business people supporting Business people, it should not and is not competing 'head-to-head' in the Mass Social Media arena... but is as has been said before a 'Support Environment' for the 'New growing wave' of independent business people who are responsible for their own income... i.e. have made the transition from Employee -> Employer to the new 'Supplier -> Client' business model.

Interesting times ahead!

A Humbling Social Media Revelation!

Yesterday I experienced an interesting revelation... I was giving my business partner Morris an update on how things were going here at Ogle Towers (Morris was the Managing Director of CSD (Computer Systems Development) back in the 1980's and also became a board member of the ill fated Atlantic Computers leasing company which turned over some £400 million in its hayday).

Amongst many things we were discussing my son's Role within the business. Otis is 20 years old, bright, full of life and a very sociable lad... most people like him he has a natural gift and aptitude for just 'getting on' with people.

Now when I originally took Otis into the business, we didn't really have any firm ideas of what role he would want to assume, he was not a programmer that is for sure, but perhaps support, sales, marketing perhaps, the Digital Age is right up his alley and young people are expected to know this stuff, so he would slot right in there without any trouble...

I gave Otis quite a lot of lattitude about what he did during the day, and suggested that he start digging out some forums to participate in, this is something I knew we should do but I just didn't have the time for it. If Otis stumbled on something interesting he could get me involved and I could draft responses etc... so a good way to start filling in the knowledge gap at the same time.

He stumbled onto 4Networking online as one of the best Business Forums and starting plugging away building a bit of a reputation and inevitably was invited to participate at an offline meeting... the rest is history so to say, he is now the youngest (and tallest) Group leader and runs the Hemel Hempstead meeting.

Coming back to the original story... trying to explain to Morris what Otis was doing, and why he was doing what he did suddenly brought about a bit of a revelation... I have been banging on to Morris that his view of the world from secretaries, big offices, golf ball typewriters etc. has long gone, and to be fair he did get this ages ago of course, but the change is much bigger than that I went on to say... people working from home, connected and operating remotely...

For someone who has run a traditional business with an office, staff coming in.... it takes a while to get your mind around the changes... and with my recent book heralding huge changes in the fundamental structure of the working population, and how they will all become individual Suppliers (outsourcing services) it has pushed on still further from where he was with his thinking.

One of Morris's sons works for Cisco and whilst away on a walking expedition in Scotland last weekend, Moray (Morris's son) was explaining that Cisco are working like this already... they met a co-worker for Cisco up in Scotland... the guy works from a remote part of Scotland in the bid process supporting large projects, he visits the office one a month in London stays for a couple of days and goes home.. his boss is in Sweden and the Swedish boss's manager is in California.... Fortunately Morris can see this now and Cisco are well ahead of the game, one of the reasons their profit margins are 60%... no or very few overheads compared to the old days is the success story here... Morris's son only goes to the office once a week himself.

Now it is only a question of time before this reaches deep into the SME marketplace... it won't happen over night, most business owners just can't get the shift required in their thinking and are too steeped in their 'ways of doing business' to change... but the new generation of socially mobile students are already entering the workforce and they know how to use technology to get the job done for less....

So... back to Otis... I suddenly realised that what I was attempting to do with Otis was what Morris has been trying to do to me... he was pidgeon holing me with his thinking and trying to advise and guide from his information base which is out of date... I was trying to manage and organise Otis based on my knowledge base... and although I am up there with the understanding... on a day to day basis I still focus on what he is up to, output and completion of tasks that need doing...

I now realise that messing around on the forums (as I call it) is work... he is creating more interest in what we are doing by being active on this and other social platforms than I am using more conventional strategies...

Dare I say it... without Otis ignoring my vain attempts to control what he does (one of the benefits of working for your father... you can get away with stuff) he has forced us into using online Social media to promote our brands... people really like him (and hopefully me too) and of course this has opened up nearly all of our current opportunities... Far from being a new employee with little of no contribution, he is in real danger of ousting me as the top salesperson!!

The revelation was that I had become like Morris, trying to control and manage things in the way I'd learned to do business in the 1980's... where actually the business world has moved on from where my thinking was... I spotted this which is lucky (and by accident), but now I recognise it then I no longer see connecting and using Social Media as a threat to productivity, far from it... it is the inevitable merging of Leisure and Worktime... and so long as the customers are looked after and we keep growing the business then I am more than happy!

Where is the Political Vision?

I listened to the 'Great Political debate' on ITV and quite frankly there was little new thinking on offer... the same old debates about Education, Health and Policing, the massive debt we have as a country and the timing of halting the spending which we can ill afford....

Here is a manifesto according to Chris Ogle, one that provides a platform for us to take our businesses into the 21st century. It is getting our country working and taking responsibility for our income that is absolutely necessary. Let us thrive and grow using the new technologies that are emerging and reduce costs radically whilst meeting green initiatives and making much better use of our resources.... so how?

Communications

We immediately install Fibre Optic cable down to 50 metres from every house in the country... funded by a reduction in new road spending and diverting projects that are to do with moving people about... lets not move people about, lets enable them to be more effective where they are.

Encourage and provide the services in every major town to educate and train business people to take advantage of electronic methodologies for doing business. Meetings, Coaching, Services, communications, education can all be done online. This will reduce costs for business, reduce the amount of travelling, speed up journies for lorries and those that have to drive as there will be 20% less vehicles (the target) on the roads... this will reduce wear and tear and make roads last longer, as well as burn less fuel!

By reducing travel we can accelerate our programme to meet Green environmental emmission targets. Money saved can then be spent on more important services that are not to do with transporting people around which is very 20th century.

Once the above is established we then create a society which is much more concerned about the place in which they live and work as they spend an increased amount of time there... we also remove the huge economic pull of London and the South East because it becomes much less relevent where people are located, making every part of the UK equally attractive economically... this gives individuals the choice of where they would like to live and increase the popularity of more remote locations perhaps reviving some lost 'settlements' and no doubt create 'disconnected retreats' for those who want to escape 'the Matrix' for a while...

These policies give rise to much greater dissemination of responsibility and local management and devolve control from government and would further reduce costs and allow more funds to go towards the most important services... a big revolution in the presentation and engagement of Democracy is required, why have we got three almost complete, highly expensive management teams fighting to run Corporate UK? and two of them just sit around moaning, whilst we're paying them... we don't do this in our businesses, we haven't got three teams prepared to 'give it a go' why are we doing it here? ... I know why, the same reason we resist changing things in our own businesses.... 'we've always done it that way'... these systems were put in place when there wasn't even a telephone... why are we still operating these outdated concepts... we're in 'the arena of science fiction' in today's high speed Digital Age... surely there is a better way to operate democracy... we haven't got out of the box leaders, we've got followers and we're following them... !!

Sponsoring and promoting the small business and providing the core backbone electronic infrastructure was a missed opportunity in the 1980's... we need this right now... bandwith is the currency of our future and if we don't make the investment now... other countries will take up the challenge, be more bold than us and be first to the market....

We have a real opportunity here... why is it that no one sees this? we have a chance to put the 'Great' back in Britain... sadly we're introvertly thinking about our chess game.... actually we're not even playing the right sport anymore!

Have you played the Social Jigsaw game yet?

Here is how to play....

1) Take a white sheet of paper
2) Draw a column for each of the past 10 years
3) Write down all the different services you have used (you need a good memory)
4) Then ask where did the service provider come from, warm referral or cold search
5) Count up the totals for each column
6) Work out the percentage of the total for Warm referrals and thats your score!
7) The higher the score the bigger your network!
8) Share the game with others!

Example below .... (click image for larger picture)

Are you an Optimist or a Pessimist?

An email from Nicola Cairncross of the Money Gym over this weekend referring to the definitions of, and difference between, optimistic positive thinking and those that are pessimistic or negative...

In essence an Optimist is someone who sees the glass half full not half empty, someone who focusses on the good in everything not the bad... an optimist will look at a situation accept the good elements, analyse the bad things and then see how by applying different processes can triumphantly turn those negatives into positives.

Optimists don't notice when the rain falls... they know we're closer to a sunny day... it can't rain every day right? The Optimist doesn't worry about a 'no' they know that they are nearer to a 'yes'... optimists... are they deluded? aren't they just painting a fictitious view of life to escape from the realities?

Well perhaps they are... so let us look at the Pessimist... the pessimist sees reality, they understand that it doesn't rain every day but today it is raining, and how do you know it won't rain everyday into the future as well? Pessimists see the 'no' decision as perhaps a rejection of them as a person as well as whatever it was that was on offer... what if everyone sees it the same way? nothing will ever move forward. Pessimists look at the reality of life, they don't dress it up to be something other than it is. Pessimists use terms like... well knowing our luck this will happen or that will fail... Sods law... it might have worked this time, but you wait and see what happens next time...

So here it is... if we share the pessimist's viewpoint then we must also subscribe to the belief that what we get is what life dishes out... good or bad it happens to us... the Optimist on the other hand is projecting how they think it will be in the future... they are in effect manifesting a better future... with such a positive outlook and working optimistically with a smiling face, they are likely to enlist the support and help of others around them who like to 'hang' with this energy source... and perhaps influence the desired outcome... well you never know do you?

Think about who you are attracted too? ... someone moaning and complaining all the time? ... or someone who helps blow away the troubles and deliver a brilliant ray of sunshine and optimism into the darkest of days??

Here's a better question... which one are you?

Are you sliding into Obsolescence?

There gets to be an age in everyone's life where the 'younger generation' are doing things that are 'on the face of it' contrary to the way you see the world. New gadgets, new approaches to life and behaviours that are at a tangent to the 'way it was' when we were going through the stages of their lives.

I know how my grandparents marvelled at my understanding of latest technology, even how unphased I was with the concept of a remote control and yet to them this was the most amazing piece of 'life altering' technology that they had encountered! No need to get up to switch over the television channel !!

Now this continual evolution of life presents us with two choices... to continue on the gradual decline and get further and further 'out of touch' or to continue our learning and discovery for as long as our health and mind permit.

I know which I choose... the world is changing... it is not the same place it was 20 years ago, and we are about to embark on the most radical set of changes probably ever experienced by Humans in terms of the way we interact with each other... the basic fundamentals of meeting, knowing, liking and including people in our circle of friends isn't and won't change (very probably) but how we do it definately will...

If you are struggling with Social Media, the concept, what it all means? and what the impact of it is going to be? ... read this book Know Me, Like Me, Follow Me by Penny Power .. AND if you RUN AND MANAGE A BUSINESS read that book, then read this book 'In 2 The Clouds' which clearly lays out a strategy for Businesses to rip through the Digital Revolution and emerge successful on the other side.

Mobile Technology, iPhones, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ecademy, Twitter all represent part of a whole new world, for the younger generation it is second nature, to stop ourselves becoming obsolete very quickly we must be the same... this won't happen overnight... however there is an enormous amount to learn... the time to TAKE ACTION if your haven't already is RIGHT NOW!!

Nobody to a Somebody?

I received an email today from a good friend who picked up on a post from someone who had considered they had gone from a 'Nobody to Somebody' and thanking the people who believed and supported them when they were in the wilderness ... one has to question the thinking behind those words...

It is very often the reaction we see in others about ourselves that determines how we internalise our own beliefs about ourselves... validation and acceptance by others... we are all guilty of it at some time in our lives are we not?

To know that you are great, and to work on being the best that you can possibly be with the tools that you have been dealt with and the skills we decide and choose to pick up along the way, has nothing to do with anyone else does it? (ok perhaps with the exception of the educators we meet along the way)

... getting that message to people is often the biggest challenge... because like when we run a business... we have put ourselves out there in the firing line and exposed ourselves to being gunned down. We have stuck ourselves on a pedestal and accepted responsibility for what we are doing and where we are... no one else is to blame, they are our decisions, and it is us and us alone that determines where we end up!

Most of us who run businesses will recognise the fear, excitement and adrenalin we experienced when 'going it alone' for the first time in our businesses... but the reason we are so fearful is because we are conditioned to be part of the masses... to blend in... to be accepted... it is a truth that all progress is made in humanity by those that did not conform! If you find yourself going in the direction of the masses, then stop... very likely you are on the road to nowhere... the road to success and freedom is smaller and a damn site less crowded... but is where the big rewards are to be found in every aspect of our lives.