Budget 2011
25% of NZ’s GDP is generated by businesses with 5 or less staff. If the government could aid these businesses to be more productive by even 10%, thats an increase of about 3-4 billion dollars in annual revenue for the country.
These businesses could each take on one new staff member, which equates to about 45,000 new jobs.
But no, they would rather give tax breaks to rugby players…
All that glitters is not gold… Part 2
In my initial post regarding an online “savings” scheme I raised my concern about the lack of return and what I would considered high fees.
You can read the original article here:
No-interest saving site under fire
Not to trash something completely before doing the figures, my initial thoughts and opinions have been reinforced base on further investigation. Had I been wrong, I would happily have retracted my previous post and come out battling for Uncle Percy, but that’s not the case.
The general media have presented some negative publicity for the organization, and I think it is justified.
Something used to counter the negativity, found on their facebook page, was that banks charged more than Uncle Percy do.
Well, I am sure at face value this might wash, but even a cursory investigation proves this is not the case.
Let’s take a generic savings account available in NZ. I’ll provide specific details in a following post, but for now, generic will do.
The common features for savings accounts that target young people are as follows:
1. base interest
2. bonus interest when no withdrawals occur in a given month
3. no monthly fee
5. one free withdrawal per month
So, what does this mean when compared to Uncle Percy’s offering. How does it stack up for someone on minimum wage, saving up for a nominal purchase of say $1,500?
Their weekly take home pay is $417.12
Let’s say they can put away $40 a week, just under 10% of their take home pay.
After around 9 months, they would have reached their goal.
This is where the arrogance of Uncle Percy’s statement the interest is insignificant is exposed.
With Uncle Percy, the savings goal will take a week longer to achieve, and cost $7.95. They make about $45 gross. (at face value, because of the scale of the combined investment, you can be assured they make a great deal more than a small deposit by an individual)
With a typical bank, the individual would make nearly a week’s regular savings in interest.
The owners of Uncle Percy may consider 10% of a week’s pay “insignificant” or “trivial”, but I am sure the individual they have just stolen it off won’t once they realize it will be far from pleased.
The business model is abhorrent and completely unethical. These are just quick figures, all be it accurate, yet is smells bad. Scale it up it becomes a serious cashcow leeching of the financially inexperienced who are their target market.
All that glitters is not gold… Part 1
“a unique and interactive savings hub designed to help you achieve your goals”
Saving for many people is a real struggle. Particularly so for young people. When I heard about a service that assisted and encouraged this younger segment of society to save, I actually got pretty excited. That someone had finally stop trying to be the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, and rewarded and encouraged young people to be sensible was something I would trumpet about to all and sundry. I am very big on personal responsibility and taking action to change your lot in life.
Unfortunately, after visiting the site, I was more than a little disappointed. In fact, disgust was closer to the emotion I felt.
I’m not alone in my disgust, as the following NZ Herald article makes clear:
No-interest saving site under fire
Let’s get this nice and simple. The service is as follows:
They take your money, they take the interest that money earns, and then they charge you $7.95 to withdraw your money.
All the hyperbole about helping you reach your goals, getting your friends and family to contribute, well, it’s just smoke and mirrors as far as I could tell. They are big on pushing social media and social networking as their point of difference over banks and building societies, but really, that’s just playing to current trends and emotions.
Looking at their site and Facebook fan page doesn’t really help this gnawing feeling that something is not quite right with this business model.
My advice to those thinking about using the service is this. Set up a Facebook Fan page or Group and invite your friends and family. Share your savings goals on those pages, and provide a bank account or paypal account for people to deposit gifts to. Because you can restrict Fan and Group to people you invite, it’s just as safe as trusting some other third party with your money.
And even better, you will earn interest, probably not pay any fees and get to share the fun of reaching your goals with your friends and family.
In my next post on this, I’m going to start comparing the various possible savings scenarios with the banks and building societies compared to this service.
The young baby screamed
The young baby screamed; his small face screwed up into a crinkled little ball. The high-pitched protest bounced off the walls, echoing. Between screeches, he took labored breaths, his little body shuddering with the effort.
Vibrations rattled throughout the room. The house sounded like it was in the middle of a building site; heavy machinery and raised voices could be heard outside. It was 3am. The room was light up like it was the middle of the day.
“Jason, can’t you do something about it?” Amy, Jason’s wife said frustrated almost to the point of tears. She tried to consul the frantic child, rocking back and forth, humming gently. Her face grimaced with each of the screams, the volume painfully loud in the enclosed space.
“Enough!” Jason snapped at no one in particular. “This is going to end now.”
Jason stormed out the room, his foots steps were audible even over the ruckus outside. A moment later, he popped his head into the room looking rather sheepish.
“I’ll just put some pant’s on my sweet; don’t want to get done for indecent exposure, or scare the neighbors or anything eh!” He said, his anger hidden behind his humor.
Outside, the source of light and sound could be clearly seen. About twenty men in hard hats and fluoro vests were working on the road outside the house. Up and down the road were huge halogen lamps on pedestals. It was as bright as a summer’s day.
The young man, in his thirties, walked with purpose to the closest group of men. His agitation was obvious; his body tense and arms stiff as he marched towards them.
As he approached, the men looked up. Still out of earshot, they all laughed, a private joke lost in the noise. An anonymous man move away from the group and pointed to Jason’s bare feet, and tapped on his helmet. His lips moved, but the noise was such that Jason could not possibly have heard.
“Mate, you guys have just woken my baby up for the fifth time tonight.” Jason said angrily at the man. “Are you the foreman?”
“Sorry mister, you are going to have to leave. OSH would have a hissy-fit seeing you here in bare feet and no hard hat.” The man said, ignoring Jason’s complaint. “Until you come back in boots and get a hard hat, you can’t be here.”
“What?” Jason said incredulously.
“You have to leave, and now!” the man said firmly.
“Are you the foreman?” Jason had lost some of his steam, a little stunned by the man’s demands.
“Yeah, and if you don’t leave now, I will have to have you removed.”
“Like hell mate. You guys have been at this for hours. You’re not supposed to work after 10pm on a residential street.” Jason’s anger began to bubble up again.
“Whatever; we’ve got a job to do, and that’s all there is to it.” The foreman said unsympathetically. He chuckled, briefly looking over his shoulder at the other workmen. “Leave now mate, or there will be trouble.”
“So, how long it this going on for?” Jason asked, his temper coming to the surface. “You have been here last night, and now again tonight. It’s just not acceptable.”
“We are here until the job is done. Simple. I suggest you go home and get some sleep.” The foreman turned and started to walk away.
Jason reached and grabbed the foreman’s shoulder. “SLEEP! How the fuck is anyone supposed to sleep with this racket!” Jason’s patience was obviously at an end.
The foreman grabbed Jason’s hand and pushed him away, forcing Jason to stumble backwards, nearly falling. “Piss off, we’ve got work to do.”
“Who’s your supervisor? What’s his number?” Jason said, regaining his balance, if not his composure.
“None of your business, and it’s not going to do any good as he is gone for the night, to his bed, which is where I suggest you go unless you want to be dragged down the road.”
“What’s his name and number? If I have to stay up all night, then I see no reason he should escape the inconvenience.” Jason said.
“Look, I already told you, he’s gone, and he can’t do anything about it.”
Jason took a step forward, his face coming close to the foreman’s. “I want his fuck’n number and I want it fuck’n now!” Jason whispered so only the foreman could hear. Despite being a head taller than Jason, he took a step back.
“Okay, okay, got a pen?” the foreman said, a little shaken.
“I don’t need a pen, just tell me the number.”
“Right, it’s 022 7771515 – his name is Gisel, James Gisel. Now get out of my face” the foreman turned to leave.
“And your name, I want your name as well.” Jason’s confidence had returned.
“Hargrade, Peter Hargrade.”
“Company?” asked Jason.
“Niggen’s Construction, now piss off mate, or I really will have you dragged outta here.”
Jason turned and started back towards his house. He felt much better despite not getting immediate results. He had someone else to talk to, and they really did not know what was about to land in their lap.
Once home, Jason went to his office. He grabbed a beer while passing the kitchen, opening as he went. Once in the office, he sat down at his desk, and picked up the phone, dialing the number of the unsuspecting James Gisel.
“Hello? Who is this? Do you know what time it is?” a sleepy voice said at the other end of the phone.
“Hi, is this James Gisel of Niggen’s construction?” Jason asked cheerfully.
“Yeah. Who the hell is this?” James Gisel sounded less than happy.
“Oh, my name is Jason, Jason Mitchell. Your company is doing some road works outside our house, have been for several hours now.” Jason said his voice calm and professional.
“So why the hell are you calling me at 3.30 in the morning?” Gisel obviously beginning to lose his patience.
“Well, you see, your guys have woken up my baby half a dozen times tonight, I can’t sleep, by wife can’t sleep, so I thought, since there is nothing you can do about it, that there was absolutely no reason you should get any sleep.” Jason was finding it very hard to hold back his laughter.
“Fuck off”
The line went dead at the other end. Jason smiled to him self and hung up. Looking at his watch, he chuckled. “Talk to you in about 15 minutes Mr Gisel.” He said to no one in particular.
What maketh the man?
I was a scrawny, nervous young lad when I got to high school.
For those from overseas, high school is around your 8th year of school through to when you leave school at around 17/18 in NZ.
Anyway, I had a hard time. The nickname for my school was Penrose State Prison. In reality it was called Penrose High School. Now it is called One Tree Hill College. The name has changed, but based on my research, the environment has not.
It was an interesting place. The main buildings were built to be an emergency hospital in times of war or disaster. Ironically the two story buildings had no elevators, just very steep stairs. Not very practical.
I was in a “new block” called Hinau. Designed as a “community” building with a very sad and unkempt garden smack in the middle; all it did was create an energy of disquiet.
What I found at Penrose was there were three types of people. Brains, Brawn and Artists.
This included the teachers by the way. I would love to catch up with Ms. Fox my art teacher who taught me that art is an escape. She would be in her late fifties or early sixties now I think. A glass of wine and a chat would be great. As would a chat with Joe and Merv.
What maketh the man? I learnt several things at this school. The biggest one was that size made no difference in battle. Sounds silly now, but I managed to worm my way out of difficult situation through words, not force. And if all else failed, I remember using tactics. For example, some deranged individual who had blood on their mind was chasing me, down off the upper field we came, through the carpark, around a few trees, through the pool area and then smash, their head and the galvanized steel gate met each other. It’s all about timing. I was nearly expelled over that incident. But he would have killed me had he caught up to me, and everyone knew it.
I learnt to look after myself despite being a scrawny, nervous young lad. Penrose was and still is a hard school. The rule was never show weakness, and never give mercy. To a degree that is what I have carried into my business life.
Amazing what early, formative years can provide you later in life.
Creativity
I honestly can’t pin point the time when I knew I wanted to be a creative person.
Looking back, I see trigger points. A unique solution to a problem, playing Dungeons & Dragons as a kid and spending more time working on the story line that playing the game, finding a unique way to layer paint, or even just playing with plaster-scene or lego blocks! Going into business, as I now see it, was “creative”, always looking for something new or interesting, better ways of doing things and throwing heart and soul into it.
My father was an entrepreneur, my siblings are all creative, although some deny themselves this joy. But it seems it is in out blood.
Now I discover, through the power of the internet, that my direct family are not alone, that cousins in Denmark and around the world are also creative.
If you are on Facebook, I suggest you pop over and take a listen to Marika Rohde She is my second cousin (or is it first cousin once removed, never could understand that stuff). A very talented young woman, who with encouragement and support can go far.
People who live only for dessert, very rarely enjoy the main course.
And sometimes a meal is like life.
Enjoy!
Employment Fine Print
“Please do not waste both our time threatening me or proffering legal advice. Your threats are risible, and you are patently not qualified to give legal advice.”
All I did was ask my ex-client to stop trying to poach my staff. Quite reasonable in my opinion.
They do note that the agreement between my company and theirs does not explicitly state that they can’t solicit my staff. They are actually correct in this. That doesn’t make their action right, nor ethical. I would go so far as calling them brigands.
However, there is a little trick to dealing with larger, better funded companies that can normally squash small businesses like a bug in court. Just don’t take them to court.
Although you may not be able to go after the client, you can, except in very rare circumstances, go after employee for breach of restraint of trade and also likely breach of good faith. It is very rare that events where an ex-client tries to snap up staff of a former vendor just “happens” out of the blue. It is usually planned well in advance.
Lost opportunities are a serious risk to a business, especially a small business. How much is an employee worth? Certainly much more than their salary, or even their contract value to the former client.
My rule of thumb in this is 1.5 times their annual salary plus the value of the contract they were working on.
For most staff, that would be bankrupting.
The relationship between employer and employee is one of trust and good faith. Despite many unionists believing all employers are bad, it is simply not so. What needs to be remembered is who is providing the opportunity and taking the risks.
I would really like to hear others opinions on this.
Dealing With Mr. Big
Masters. They are everywhere. We work our lives through a series of encounters with them. Regardless of whether you are a person in power, sometimes your life will collide with a master, and how you deal with that encounter determines the rest of your life.
I call them Mr Big. Usually somewhat of an artful dodger, they are a curious creature. They have made their way through life trampling on those less intelligent or people in positions of perceived weakness. Like many predators, they are looking for the easy kill, and will often back off when they meet resistance.
If they are hungry, they will persist with their offensive. Even when injured or against an opponent with either strategic or tactical advantage they continue their assault. Their hunger for victory supersedes their desire to live. They will continue their offensive.
In history it has been seen time and again. Great generals have fallen based on their egocentric judgments, poor advice and sheer lack of comprehension that others may have a better grasp on tactical situations.
This is nothing new to me. Having been self employed for a decade, you encounter this sort all the time.
The best defense is not, as the adage goes, a good offense. With Mr Big, this just fuels their fire.
Focus on what makes them weak, which is usually lack of support by their brain washed cronies.
Most Mr. Bigs surround themselves with contracts, lackeys and lawyers. They are their steam, their energy source and more importantly their structure.
Chip away at this and even a formidable Mr. Big can fall. Bring them down to your level, typically when it comes to resources they have more, so remove them through careful (or sometimes rough and harsh) maneuvering.
Never acknowledge Mr. Big is better. They are not. They are usually honor students of the School of Backstabbing and Skuldulkery.
Stick to your guns. The mightiest predator falls to a stalwart defense. Don’t bow to their false superiority. Hold to your ethics and honor and you shall win.
Marketing -101 (what not to do)
Using a blog for marketing can be fraught with risk if poorly managed. What can be an excellent form of engagement with potential leads can also turn into a big negative for marketing initiatives.
The adage all publicity is good publicity is not really something to aspire to with your web site, and if you run a blog or public forum as part of your business site. Having defined goals for your web site is important, as is identifying it’s primary purpose. For example, most technology businesses should have a single goal. Generate prospects for the sales pipeline.
I recently read a corporate blog that had good intentions, but lost the plot a little in their implementation.
Getting feedback from leads is important, but do need to be carefully managed. On this site, it was clear they were happy that people were starting to engage, with some nice feedback. There was a definite feeling of excitement.
However, then the train got a little derailed. They referenced a blog post that gave them a fairly good review, but it was not glowing. That opened up a few comments at both locations that were mediocre at best.
Other than the self promotion, there doesn’t appear to be any positive feedback, so really, this doesn’t wash well. It smacks of desperation rather than confidence.
Then the real bad feedback came in, and they allowed this to be a public reflection of their product.
They presented information provided by leads that indicated that their product was “not very good”, and that it was “unstable”. That is not what blogs or public forums are there for. That is strictly for private forums or email support, where absolute control can be maintained.
You really have to wonder how it is that a company like this is willing to allow this sort of commentary on their own blog. I could understand in a support forum where they already have people’s money, and are dealing with unhappy clients, but out in the public view?
Why is this up in people’s faces? It does not help with marketing. It shows a complete naivety of the management and marketing staff within this company. I’m sure they have taken very expensive advice, but the reality is they have failed marketing 101.
They have however got Marketing -101 with honours.