WHAT IS BETTER, PASSION OR EXPERIENCE?

Lord Alan Sugar

To start up a business, which is more important ingredient for a successful business to flourish?, Passion or Experience?  


Wikipedia defines passion as an emotion applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing, an INTENSE EMOTION, compelling feeling, enthusiasm or desire for something. A person is said to have a passion for something when he has a strong positive affinity for it.  Love and Passion for something are often used synonymously. 


Experience on the other hand is defined as a general concept that comprises of knowledge of or skill in or observation of something or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event.  People who have gained enough experience in your field of work, are often referred to as experts.


*Do they carry same weight, is passion as good as experience? 
*Can a person reach the same result by having either or is one likely to be better at reaching the final result? 


Take for instance Mr A, who opens a Barber shop because he actually loves cutting hair and thinks that he can earn a earning out of Passion. His passion to barb is an emotional force that opens his mind to every aspect of cutting, so, he will seek out answers to questions, make and challenge every negative situation - even when all logic tells him to give up.  His passion is the life-blood of the business so he will make his decisions based on his gut feelings and intuition.

Miss B on the other hand opens an estate agent business because she has a 5 year experience working with an estate agent. Out of an experience from the past, Miss B amassed knowledge which forms the basis of her instinct to make future decisions and directions.  It does not always determine that it is right or they any good, it just means that Miss B has spent a lot of time doing it.


So what happens when after both Mr A and Miss B both become successful in their fields?


Often times, Mr A and others who started their business out of love usually continue in the field while Miss B and similar business owners often venture into other line of business out of either achievement, success boredom or even business going out of "fashion"  


Having both passion and experience is a starting point and ingredient for a successful business.  Ask yourself if whatever business you are hoping to venture into is worth your time and effort and not just because everyone around you is going into it.  However, in the absence of both, either one is better than none.


written by Chantle White

FIVE TOP Employer RESPONSIBILITIES

There are many one-man businesses out their that are growing and looking to expand and employ staff.    At this stage, be aware that there are a few responsibilities required by the Law as well as general ethical responsibilities required of you towards your team to make sure they are happy, well looked after and fit for the job.  

1. First, you must check that your staff are eligible to work in the UK. If they’re not, you could be fined £5,000 per person. As a small business, that will be a high price to pay.

2. Once you are sure of your employee eligibility, you  must create a safe environment both physical and emotional aspect for your staff to work in. You are required by Law (HSE Publications) to ensure your staff can do their job safely and you must take out employer’s liability insurance.

3. Ensure that your employee gets a written statement of employment within two months of starting. This can either be a contract or a statement and set of policies covering the date they started work, their salary, hours of work and holiday entitlement, your policies on sick leave and pay, and pension availability, how you or your employee can terminate the job, and what disciplinary procedures are in place.

4.You must avoid discrimination in recruitment, advertising and selection procedures. Your business can be taken to an employment tribunal by someone who believes that they did not get the job due to discrimination. Avoid asking for personal details that are not related to the job, such as their race or marital status instead,  at recruitment stage, clearly state the skills the candidate needs and the tasks they will perform. 

5. You should also pay your staff appropriately.  The National minimum wage rates from October 2010 

For adults aged 21 and over is £5.80 - £5.93 per hour. 

For 18-20 year old is £4.83- £4.92 per hour and 

For 16-17 year olds is £3.57 - £3.64 also per hour.  

The government has also accepted a recommendation from the (LPC) Low Pay Commission to introduce an apprentice minimum wage of £2.50 per hour.

Employees are not expected to work for more than 48hours a week which includes overtime. 

There are many other responsibilities but getting this five right will benefit the business enormously. 

For more info go to www.direct.gov.uk/

Written by Chantle White

Hot Topic - Do Women Make Better Bosses Than Men? www.insidesuccess.co.uk

A leader is a person that influences a group towards the achievement of a goal. Men and women have lead and still lead in different ways. Who makes a better leader is a matter of a personal opinion arising from experience. Take for instance, the currently running BBC program, the  Apprentice aired Monday nights on BBC1 at 9PM and followed immediately on BBC 2 is one of the entertaining program that makes good viewing documenting how both genders handle leadership roles.

The Apprentice is edited for entertainment purpose so we see a lot of the female contestants moaning and crying and both genders panic under pressure but watching it gives an insight to how gender rates, of cos, every week, there are winners and loosers. We see how some tasks are easier for women than men and vice versa. Many factors are taking into consideration and leadership should be judged on individual merits.

Rewind to, say the 30s, industries and organisations used to be seen as masculine or male dominated, mainly with centralised authority division of labour, expertise, specialisation, principles, rules and regulation but society have come of age..

Fast forward and emerging organisations are more relaxed with growth in female leaders due to collaborations, empowerment, interpersonal relationship and interdependence that are unavoidable today.

Women are more emotionally intelligent as opposed to men which proved valuable during the boom years when productivity was high, new businesses emerged and old ones got better. A new generation of career women is born and for this reason men, who were held high for their hard skills abilities are now told that that was not enough when it comes to leadership.

Let us know what you think, do leave your comments.

Written by Chantle White

Can BlackBerry PLAYBOOK compare to Apple's IPAD?

Blackberry soon releases its Playbook developed by (RIM) which will compete with Apple's Ipad and hopes to be the leading tablet computer. Both playbook and Ipad are similar so comparing the two products is inevitable.  As Ipad is the first to bring out the new product, customers usually warm and reward the original innovator and similar product ie the playbook might have a tough time getting notice by the consumers.  


So is blackberry playbook any better than apple's Ipad or just a clone?


At first glance, Play book looks like a clipboard, portable and light weight ; 7 inch screen makes it easy to carry and maneuver compared to the Ipad which is 9.56 inches.


In terms of performance and features, BlackBerry Playbook looks to be an absolute beast. The Playbook is designed to capture all the functionalities of the ipad and at the same time, offer the productivity of a notebook computer. 


BlackBerry Playbook also has multitasking capability over Ipad. The tablet computer can run multiple programs at the same time, without having to sacrifice speed and performance; a feature the ipad is severely lacking in. The powerful processing power makes the product ideal for both casual use and work and comes at a much lower price than the Ipad.

It is likely that Playbook will retail at a lower price than Ipad,  it might get a larger share of the market force because pricing is a major incentive for a lot of customers who will find it affordable to replace their laptops especially while on the move.  

Written by Chantle White

Never Again Tim Campbell (Bright Trust Ideas)

Never Again with Tim Campbell (Bright Trust Ideas)

Can you give me 5 things that you learn t that you would never do again when setting up a business?

“That’s hard because everything we have done to date has got the business to where it is today.  So even if it hasn’t worked ideally or it’d been a mistake. It enable us to get to where we are now”

I wouldn’t going in to a business pitch without fully researching the company I’m pitching to. You have to make sure you are fully aware of who your audience is.

I wouldn’t hire people based on one person’s impression. I’d rather hire for attitude rather than skills.

I would never go into a business that pleased other people and didn’t please me. You got to have passion about what you are doing with your business idea.

I’d never not engage a lawyer or account as early as possible. Get those people on bored as early as possible.

I’d never think I knew everything.

For Full interview log onto www.inisdesuccess.co.uk

Never Again With Ruth Badger (Apprentice)

Never Again With Ruth Badger (Apprentice)

Never try to launch a business whiles you have so many other things going on because a business  really needs a lot of time, attention and focus in the first ix months in order to get it launched. Now my business launched with a a success but only because I worked 24/7. 

Never buy too much stock. In my office there is stock of printed stationary of 2006. I’m a very commercial woman, instead of actually going out there and ordering what I needed in order to keep the cost down. I ordered thousands and thousands of bloody letter heads and compliments slips from 2006 its now 2009. They have all my old address on and I’ve moved offices twice since then. So we use it as scrap paper now. What a waste o money 

Never take staff that are readily available – When I launched my business I took staff that were readily available in order to recruit. Instead of actually taking the time, again this is a time issue. I sought of made a knee jerk reaction with my staff. Which means in the long term two of them I got rid of and replaced and one of them took a lot of time management. So they actually took resources they wouldn’t have taken if I had made the right decisions in the first place. 

Never bank with just any bank. I would have been more picky about who I bank with. I actually still with the same bank but I put a majority of my money else where. When I actually sat down with my strategy, I wrote down simple list of things I needed to do. And went into the comfort zone of banking privately instead of looking commercially across to see who has the best deals and what they would actually offer me. 

Never launch with a bog standard website. What I actually did is went out there with a bog standard brochure website. And if I would have had the time again, I would have invested more time getting closer to my web because obviously website activity is massive.

www.ruthbadger.com

www.ruthbadgerconsultancy.com

www.ruthbadgeracademy.com

Log onto www.insidesuccess.co.uk for full interview

Never Again With Peter Jones (Dragon)

Never Again With Peter Jones

I always say never have regrets, but you put me on the spot

I would never give credit to a business I don’t know, I would have needed to have done some research behind them, to understand that they are going to pay me.

I would never employ anybody directly that is not passionate, determined and enthused about the role.

I would never discriminate. I very open. It’s about the person for me. I don’t care even to as far about the background. All’s I want to know I’m dealing with someone that’s passionate & enthused and wants to make a difference in life.

I will never ever give up

I will never stop being driven to seeing other people succeeded and give back to the people that deserve it or need help

For full interview Log onto www.insidesuccess.co.uk