The Importance Of Robust Business Modelling – A Lesson From Retailers

Since the New Year it has been very disappointing to hear of several well known and long established retailers in Norwich going out of business.  Clearly the trading environment both before and after January 1st has been very difficult.  Before January the market was very competitive, highly price sensitive, and demand for good deals was high because customers knew of VAT rate increases to come. Small independent retailers were often faced with trying to compete with nationwide or sometimes global chains with demonstrably greater purchasing power.

After 1^st January things really seems to change as customers felt the full force of higher fuel and energy prices, higher VAT, high food prices on commodity items, and sadly often some job insecurity within the home.  In the background inflation continued to rise at a faster rate than salaries or wages, and many home owners know in the back of their minds that their mortgages will only cost more in the future.

It seems to me that all of this makes it a very difficult trading environment.  I am very sure it is much easier to say than to do this, but it does seem to me to only reinforce the importance of understanding ones business model, sticking to it robustly, and adjusting critical resources accordingly.  Small businesses and independent retailers clearly don’t have the buying power of national chains or internet retailers, but they are very flexible.  They can change the levels of resources they have and the customers they choose to target to meet the climate they trade in.

It is easy to ignore the challenges the environment puts to businesses and to customers, but it at the peril of the business to do so.    In difficult trading times it is more important than ever to rigorously understand the business model, understand the constraints it places on the business, and most importantly translate that into tangible practical action that protects the business.  Not easy, but essential none the less!

Is it ethical to charge for CMS when it is driven by WordPress?

Over the last couple of years I have learnt a lot about building web-sites and seo techniques to raise the profile of a web-site once you have it. One of the most important factors is content and keeping that content fresh. With this in mind I can see why people would want a web-site that has its own content management system so that they can regularly update information, add news, and fresh content as and when they have it. This all seems sensible to me.

I personally love using WordPress. It is very flexible in terms of layout, what you can add, how you can adjust images, the look and feel of posts, and then on the more technical side how you can optimise posts for seo purposes and for easy navigation within your site. It’s also very easy to use and requires no technical knowledge. Another thing that is great about WordPress is that it is FREE, or open source and people call it. You can host a blog on the WordPress web-site in which case the domain name will be yourdomain.wordpress, or you can download the software and install it on your server. Once you have done that you can even receive updates without having to do any technical stuff at all.

The reason why I mention this is that recently I have noticed several software developers offering low cost web-sites which have a full content management system. When I look at these, I realise that actually what they are offering, is a slightly customised front end to WordPress (which is free). Now if a company says “we take free / open source software called WordPress – design a front end for you – and there you have a web-site” and charges a price accordingly I think this is fair and transparent. But what about if a company uses WordPress, changes its name to something different, and then charges you a price, is that fair or transparent?

Open source software is often cutting edge and able to give as good a solution as expensive software. The people who write the software and develop it are not motivated by cash, but by having the credibility of saying “I wrote this, and look how many people are using it”. I do think that the people who have created this kind of software, perhaps without earning a salary for doing so, deserve a fair deal and recognition for their work. So, if your content management system looks like this, then it is almost certainly WordPress.

If everyone knows this, then I think you are probably using a great product, but if you haven’t been told this, perhaps you should ask your web-developer why not? And if you are buying a new web-site, don’t be afraid to ask, what am I paying for, who has done this, where does it come from, and why?

Collaborative Coaching

I like this phrase! I heard it a couple of weeks ago and started looking into the subject. The basic notion is a group of people convened to help someone tackle a problem. A group of people with different backgrounds and different skill sets, but all focused on helping someone solve a problem, move something forward, or answer a question. Where does the coaching come in? Well you don’t have to do it just once, the group can be reconvened at any time to review ideas, developments and progress, and secondly the group is asking open questions, without prejudice or preconception in order to give an independent view and perhaps provoke thoughts and feelings that would otherwise go unnoticed, undiscovered, and not considered in the journey.

As the opportunities for personal development get bigger and bigger the area of coaching is an interesting one. Quality is important; you must choose a coach that is right for you on many levels – perhaps intellectually, socially, and in experience, etc etc. Chemistry is important – you must be honest with your coach and feel comfortable to share anything and everything. I think a coach should be objective, impartial and balanced. I have often been sceptical of substituting reading and structured learning for these softer personal development tools, but I do think they can be a useful part of someone’s toolkit.

To find out more about the specific Norwich Business services I offer, visit my Saturday Kitchen page!