Planning 10-12 weeks vacation every year. It’s still the best business decision I ever made. Listening to Dan Sullivan, founder of Strategic Coach, talking about Free, Focus and Buffer Days in July 1993 (Toronto) and, after 2 years of procrastination, taking the plunge in 1996. Sometimes doing crazy stuff (like the trip to Oman in
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So – last day on the road before a week’s vacation including a cottage holiday in West Wales. Gloucester Independent Dental today and an audience of over 100 at Cheltenham Racecourse will be treated to a very eclectic mix of speakers, including a couple of successful hairdressers, the founder of a digital advertising agency and
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Your strategy is the reason why your business exists. It is what you want to be known as the best for. Your tactics are the methods by which you intend to achieve your strategy. It is how you will do the thing you do. Your plan is the way you will deploy your tactics. It
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In his book “Linchpins”, blogger Seth Godin argues that the best way to progress in an organisation or business is to make oneself indispensable. He created a Linchpin Manifesto which I share with you this morning – a mantra that your very best team members will identify with in an instant and “the rest” will
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This question came in last night from a Practice Manager: Its staff appraisals time, my Principal wonders if you have a different approach or any ideas on this? So, on reading this, I smiled to myself at the memory of conversations in the 90’s that formed my thinking. Technology changes – people don’t change much. You
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My 16-hour stop-over at home was necessary, primarily to avoid the madness of what would have been 11 consecutive days living out of a suitcase. Interesting (at least I think so) that simply by getting back home, turning around a bag full of laundry and enjoying a cheeky glass of pre-dinner red in the kitchen,
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Yesterday’s blog post was a bit of doom and gloom, all about the recent reductions in consumer spending and a growing sense of panic on the hight street. Then along came the first interest rate rise in 10 years. It’s a good time to have low debt, to be liquid, to have some reserves and
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Last week The Guardian newspaper reported that UK retail sales in September were at their lowest since 2009, an ominous sign that consumer confidence is down in the wake of Brexit/May/Weinstein/Spacey/Fallon-gate and, on a more serious note, the tragic risks involved in walking along any high street pavement close to traffic nowadays. There is little
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The draft service specifications for the NHS ortho contracts have now been sent out. The contract size for XXXX is double my contract value. At first glance, I will either need to employ a second orthodontist, start training therapists (more space or move?) or join up with the provider in a nearby town. Typical of
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After 31 days of ColdTurkeyTober I can report an 8lb weight loss, 202 km of running completed and a general feeling of well-being that manifested itself in last Saturday’s Beachy Head Marathon – a run I enjoyed more than many in recent history. Looking back, I reached 87% of my target on nutrition and 81%
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