Why I Bothered To Tell This Sorry Story
If you found this useful, please help other people find it by hitting the "StumbleUpon" button here:
Monday, 21 January 2008
If you found this useful, please help other people find it by hitting the "StumbleUpon" button here:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Ian - with all due respect, when you began this blog, you had far more to think about than actually planning it.
And remember - when you're wishing you'd paid most of your debts off that many limited companies wouldn't have bothered paying any of them.
I can understand why it is difficult to write the blog though. You want to help people who are in trouble still, but constantly thinking about business failure is negative for you.
Remember, there are many other things you can cover too.
How do business decide whether to liquidate, or to try to turn the business round.
Who are the best places to help?
What happens when you are served with a bankruptcy petition. And how trustworthy are these companies who call you, trying to persuade you to start the company in another name and go bankrupt?
What are the pitfalls and dangers to look out for? What is the difference between declaring bankruptcy yourself, or a customer bankrupting you?
And how do you begin again? Is it straightforward? What limitations are there on the Directors and the new company? Is it easy to open another bank account? Do you have stories of others who have done the same too?
There are lots of questions that your readers would like to know the answers to.
OK...I love the blog, but I believe you hit a randomizer button on this one.
It is Your Blog. Your Journey. Your Life.
Enjoy when things are getting better, learn when they get tough. Accept that this is your journey... :)
Cath - thanks for that - some good ideas of what to cover. Having read blogs for a while, and looking at the stats for "delving" into a blog, I realise that not many wil go back to the stuff I did do on those things.
Maybe it's time to do that.
Racer - thanks for that. You're right. I shouldn't worry too much about any structure and plan. Just tell it as it happens.
Hi Ian - I know what you mean. It is quite difficult to find some of the older posts. I have seen me struggle to find particular old posts that I am looking for on my blog.
Maybe eventually you could switch the blog onto a wordpress theme - then you could put a section of favourite posts or something so those ones are seen. It's quite easy and it's free, but you'd need to put it on another domain.
I could show you how. Or I'm wondering if Barbara has a tutorial on this.
Ian,
I commend you for being so brave to share your journey. However....it is time for you to (my favorite saying here) "Let it go!
The past is past. You did your best. Now, it's time to concentrate on your new and exciting endeavorer.
I agree with Catherine, this blog could easily take on a new personality....helping others by providing resources for rebuilding a business. There would be tons of subjects to blog about.
I also agree, changing your platform to WordPress could make for easier navigation. Unfortunately, although it appears to be an easy process, I started out with WP, and am not sure how to convert. You did mention you had someone helping you on your other blog. By checking with on the WP home page, I'm sure a search for "converting a blog to WP" would result in the answer you are looking for.
BTW: I appreciate you joining me in welcoming a new blogger each week, and leaving a comment on Natasha's blog. I'm sure it made her day.
Barbara,
Twas a pleasure to join you in your worthy goal of giving new bloggers a lift.
I do believe I've let go. And there's a fine balance between NOT repeating mistakes, and your gut feeling.
Recently, we've all felt a twinge of "not again" when faced with growth.
You do have to selectively and critically assess the situation.
Depsite the twinge, we're happy to take the plunge again and take on a little growth at a time.
We could arguably take on 2 or 3 more people in the very near future.
However, I think instead we'll invest in systems first and look for efficiency gains there. Systems are usually a one-off cost (luckily mainly in time because of our skill-sets), whereas a new member of staff is always a risk.
Will they be right?
Will they blog during the day and thieve time from you?
In our last company, we grew with variable levels of work which was fine while the spiral was ever upward.
This time though we're relating it to contractual income so it's sustainable and not subject to downward trends in demand.
There is of course a danger that contractual income can dwindle.
But the quality of what we're doing is really good. That mitigates it to an extent.
So I'm happy to continue with the lessons and advice for those who find themselves in this situation.
But I hope I've been far more positive of late!
Hi Ian,
You know, it really sounds like this time you're doing it differently. Instead of hiring another person (which becomes like a family member you feel responsible for), you are asking yourselves if that's the right thing to do, at this time.
Fortunately, you're in a position to outsource some of your work, and by doing that, although it may cost more, you are avoiding potential problems.
It's kind of like something I recently heard about shopping in our economy that is "unstable" (to say the least). The person being interviewed said, "Stop and ask yourself, "do I really need this, or can I wait"". Often we become impulsive, and later regret our decisions, for whatever reason.
I really think you are on the track to great success.
Thanks Barbara. It's reassuring to hear! I think it was Hunter that recently asked people to start listening to what people say about them more.
Maybe this is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy?
I'm brain-washing myself, but really believing things will turn out well now I hear people like yourself saying such kind things!
Ian, as others have said, when you started this blog you had a lot on your mind. I look at my blog as a work in progress and it has to change as I change and grow. I too have a lot of incoherent ramblings on my site, many which reflect my frazzled mind that day.
But what I do know is that I am slowly growing as a person, my blog is changing with me and I still have a lot of hurdles to face. My blog gives me a chance to put it out there in the public eye for help, support, sympathy, critism, etc. As I "grow" I hope my blog grows.
Use your blog as catherinel suggested, to answer those questions your readers might have.
And I like the new layout!
BB
Post a Comment