I’ve just been sat working in the office and caught a ‘business’ program on Channel 4 “Gerrys Big Decisions“.
The concept is for Sir Gerry Robinson to choose from two failing businesses each week and invest to keep them alive. Talk about missing the mark! You can’t compare this to Dragons Den or Secret Millionaire.
1) It’s hardly entertainment and 2) having been in the position, these are people at risk of their homes being taken from them and worse and so to be given hope and potentially to be told ’sorry, can’t invest’ for a television show is inappropriate.
The current situation in the UK is not for TV execs to make money from … turning over now! Sir Gerry could have done this privately if his motives were the right ones. You’ll see administrators making redundancies on the TV next!
I treated myself to a great book recently called The Goddess Experience-Customer Made for You. This book is just gorgeous and wonderful to dip in and out of. The book is all about what makes you happy and includes brands and expensive hotels but it also features the author, Gisele Scanlon, discussing simple things like the excitment of waiting for the ebay or amazon parcel to arrive! I agree, I love it!
Several years ago someone said to me “always work with people you like”. It seemed like a funny thing to say but I do now understand what they mean. In business we often have to deal with people we aren’t so keen on – suppliers that won’t meet delivery dates, customers who are never happy, co-workers who moan about working in the organisation or how much weight they’ve put on… it’s all pretty draining.
So, when I started Dani Saveker – Building on Strength, that was exactly what I wanted to do… build on strengths and choose who I work with. I decided to opt out of negativity and being drained and look towards getting it right (or as right as possible).
I aim to work with businesses and/or people that have strength and then help build on it whether that’s through acquisition, internal development, branding, etc.
One organisation that has done this already and is reaping the benefits of it is Hotel Chocolat. HC has been a company that I have admired and enjoyed for a number of years. I was first introduced to them when I received a box of their chocolates by post when they were still a mail order business. Their e-customer service and shop customer service is top rate.
Today, they are an award winning ‘Coolbrand’ with numerous high street stores, their own plantation and an ever evolving product range. They take great pride in their ethics and creative offering such as the tasting club and proposed hotel. I went to visit their HQ a couple of weeks ago and their staff exudes positively and simply love their company. The employees clearly buy into the brand and company so much so that they encourage them to create blogs about the company, have projects where they can present to the Board etc, are encouraged to gain diploma’s in chocolate - to me, that’s getting it right!
Have you ever bought a house and had to chase everyone on a constant basis? Have you had to call the solicitors and estate agents and felt that you may as well get paid to do their jobs? And then just as everything seems stacked against you let go and surrender… and all of a sudden it all falls into place and you move?
Sometimes the harder you fight and hang on to things the more you get frustrated and prevent things from happening. Letting go can be so powerful. It might be a failed relationship or a dream job – but once you surrender and stop fighting it seems that things work out for the best.
The effort we put into fighting against the current is lost. If you just went with the tide you’d actually get further. I know what its like to hang on for dear life, I assure you but when you finally say ‘enough’ that’s when you have real power.
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