Search Engine Sensation

Business and Pleasure!

If you read the last article you will know that we enjoy spending time in Dalyan, Turkey! Dalyan is a small town set on the river next to ancient rock tombs.

 

We try to get out there 2 or 3 times a year as we have invested in a holiday apartment there.

 

We let the apartment out and have so far had it full each season.  I guess this is because we run this like a business.

 

The company that built the apartment maintain it and the grounds throughout the year and also take care of the cleaning in between guests’ visits.

 

We have a contact in Dalyan who’s business is car rental and airport transfers. 

 

We have everything in the apartment to make our guests stay as comfortable as possible and we take care of the marketing and bookings ourselves.

 

Like any business it’s all about having the right people and good communication and having people in place who can sort things out when they don't go to plan.

 

We have excellent feedback from our guests and already have bookings and enquiries for next summer.

 

http://www.searchenginesensation.com/team.asp

 

Claire 

Abandon Ship!

A friend recently asked me to be her canoe partner in a challenge to canoe the Caledonian Canal. We were to canoe 60 miles over 4 days from Fort William to Inverness here's what happened…..

 

After spending months training for the event we joined the group of walkers who were to travel with us. They walked the Great Glen Way while we canoed down the lochs.  A bus followed us along the way carrying all our gear from hostel to hostel.

 

It was hard work but fun with fantastic scenery and very liberating!  We kept our moral up by singing and having a bit of a laugh along the way! The weather on the first two days was kind to us, but that would change!

 

Things changed dramatically when we got to Lock Ness – we were all a bit more nervous as we knew it was a lot bigger and more open than where we had been.  More like the sea really but we soon got used to the new conditions and made good progress although there was a slight breeze developing. 

 

After a while the breeze got worse and soon developed into a 25mph wind blowing head-on into us.  There were waves with white caps, pretty scary especially when you are at the front.  We fought to try and stay head on – we knew that if we were side on we would capsize and the current would take us!  We couldn’t afford to miss a stroke either!

 

It was getting pretty dangerous!

 

I quickly came to the conclusion that we should get out and the rest of the team agreed – there was a log cabin on the land next to us it seemed like it had been in the same position for 10 minutes – therefore we must have been in the same position too.  We just weren’t going anywhere!

 

The guys in front pointed to a pier up ahead.  But none of us could make it and we docked up nearby on a remote pebble beach and made plans to get back to civilisation.

 

A parallel can be drawn here with the business world - you need to be able to make good decisions quickly and make the necessary change, as factors change! Going on the same course doing what you have always done could spell disaster. You need to read the ‘climate’ and adjust where necessary even if it means pulling out, dropping a contract or changing direction completely.

 

Of course having the right people around you who listen to each other and are supportive is also crucial.

 

Click here for more on this subject http://www.searchenginesensation.com/team.asp

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Claire

 

Going Down!

Well what can you say – no one likes to see TWO north east teams going down from the Premier League to the Championship.

 

Even sadder to see it all go down to the last matches of the season - if Hull lose and Newcastle draw this would save them from being relegated! etc 

 

Far better to have a tight team who play consistently well throughout the season.

 

Looking on the bright side – now it’s time for a good clear out and to build a new team that will hopefully get them back up there.

 

Similar to business – it’s all down to the people, good management who bring out the best in their staff and of course an excellent team who always do their best consistently!

 

Read more on teams within businesses http://www.searchenginesensation.com/team.asp

 

Claire

Football is just good business - at least off the pitch

I don't know a great deal about football, but hopefully I know a bit about business and it makes sound business sense to delegate and then allow those you whom you delegate to get on with the job.

The minute that Mike Ashley appointed Dennis Wise and Tony Jiminez as London-based directors of football for Newcastle United (a club based around 280 miles from London) that Kevin Keegan was put in an impossible position. How could he build a team as he wished when those with Ashley’s ear were working to a different agenda altogether?  Keegan is (or was) at the sharp end, so he was surely in the best position to make these critical decisions.

Ashley’s gripe about Sam Allardyce was always ‘I didn’t hire him’ well Mr Ashley, YOU hired Keegan, so why not stand by him and let him get on with the job – at least for a season or two, if he comes good, great, if not, then make a decision then.

If you are in business then hopefully you can learn from this.  Delegate, stand by your directors, managers and colleagues and let them do what they do best.

Dave