Freakonomics

matthewm@madesimplegroup.com — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:02:16 GMT

Last year I read a really great book called Freakonomics. For those of you who like an interesting spin on conventional topics, this is a must read. It is written by an economics lecturer at the University of Chicago together with a writer from the New York Times and follows a series of Blog postings that the two of them made back in 2003.

Just in time!!

matthewm@madesimplegroup.com — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:07:48 GMT

Over the years, I have made connections, friendships and alliances with people from all walks of life and in many different situations and I value all these relationships as part of my ongoing business development. One person who I met recently, Mike Bird, has kindly participated in a podcast and also provided a testimonial for our company formation service. He also writes the excellent “Bloomstorm Briefing” as part of his site www.bloomstorm.com. In his most recent issue, he writes an article about “living with change” making particular reference to the subject of timekeeping.

Hello my darling!

matthewm@madesimplegroup.com — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:27:19 GMT

I suppose the biggest event of the week, even speaking as an accountant and tax adviser, has to be the postponement of the Cheltenham race festival. The budget passed by with hardly a whimper, much as I suggested in my earlier posting. Apart from the fact that it was so benign and lacking in anything controversial, you have to say that anyone with a name of “Darling” starts off at a great disadvantage.

Oh what joy!

matthewm@madesimplegroup.com — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:17:16 GMT

I don’t know about you, but whenever I look back at old photographs of my youth and innocent years(!), I am struck by a number of things particularly:- · Who is that young handsome, dashing man with all that hair. · Despite all the hair what an awful look. · How could I possibly wear clothes like that. There is absolutely no question that what once seemed fashionable and trendy so quickly just simply looks naff. Our feelings at the moment of a particular incident are so different when we look back in hindsight.

Enterprise Culture

matthewm@madesimplegroup.com — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:46:05 GMT

have been involved with the SME sector; (with emphasis on the S part) for almost 25 years and have always felt that generally, the small business in particular gets somewhat of a raw deal from government. On the one hand, they are saddled with the responsibilities of new legislation brought in because of the indiscretions of larger businesses, (Enron etc) and on the other hand, they bear the brunt of tax initiatives which were largely introduced to tackle far bigger businesses.

Batten down the hatches

matthewm@madesimplegroup.com — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:38:44 GMT

Yesterday morning, driving into the office, I could literally feel the car being battered by the strong winds and driving rain. Reports on the radio from other parts of the country, particularly the south west were of 80 mile an hour winds, trees being uprooted and general mayhem as river levels rose and the threat of serious damage rapidly grew.

More on business kissing

matthewm@madesimplegroup.com — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:13:33 GMT

In an earlier posting I wrote about the subject of business kissing and I have received some guidance from friends and contacts on this irksome and sensitive subject. Thanks to you all although I am no clearer than I was before.

Working from Home

matthewm@madesimplegroup.com — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:31:42 GMT

A recent article in The Times focused on the growing band of nomadic workers who are setting up offices in coffee shops in Britain. They have been labelled the “new Bedouin” by the media in America where the trend started in the coffee houses of San Francisco.

Money Laundering Regulations - yuk!

matthewm@madesimplegroup.com — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:26:44 GMT

Many of you will know that my “day job” is as a partner in a firm of Chartered Accountants. That means that I have an obligation to keep up with my professional education and development. Quite recently, I noted that the money laundering regulations have been changed again.

My First Blog

info@businessmadesimple.co.uk — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:57:55 GMT

Hi! My name is Simone. Welcome to my very first blog!

Having my own company has been something that I have thought about for a long time and I feel that losing my job is the sign I needed to jump out of my comfort zone and go for it. For the past 4 years I had been working in the events and marketing department of a large insurance company in London. In October 2007 learned that I was going to be made redundant. Now, I find myself thinking about what I should do next. I had thoroughly enjoyed my job and after a very short time there, came to realise that I had a knack for event organising.

This is what brought me to the Business Start-up Expo in November last year. I had decided after many long discussions with my partner, Luke that I should go into business for myself as an Event Organiser. How to do this, I did not know. But I was sure that I would find some ideas at the Expo.

I spent most of the morning gathering brochures and ideas on the many ways I was going to advertise and market my company, the websites I was going to start, the promotional gifts I was going to hand out and even the furniture I was going to buy for my office! I was slowly getting ahead of myself! I had not yet figured out the most important part – how to establish my company.

I left the expo that day and headed home to discuss all my options with Luke. I liked the idea of setting up my own limited company. This was definitely the direction I needed to take.

I allowed myself some time off after finishing up with my old job and rediscovered my love of lie-ins and cooking a proper dinner each night for Luke and I. Christmas and New Years passed by in a pleasant blur filled with family gatherings and consuming far too much food. I’m now ready to embrace the New Year by setting up my new company.

As I enjoyed working in events, setting up and organising company parties, I want my business to be a party planning one, catering for small companies and their various events. I thrived on the chaos that came with organising events, when the parties all came together after days, even weeks of planning and organising, the satisfaction was well worth the stress and all those last minute dashes to the shop to pick up extra napkins and more red balloons!

So, I have a business plan, an agent to form my Limited Company with, all that’s missing is a company name......

Any suggestions?

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