Encouraging enterprise and innovation

I notice that people can now get a tax rebate if they invest in a business. However this only applies if they own less than 30% of the business.

This excludes the vast majority of people who decide to risk all and start something new.

If they are willing to risk their money, their home and their family in trying to start a business which will pay tax and help the rest of them, it seems unfair not to give them a rebate.

Most 1, 2 or 3 person startups fall outside these rules. But this is how many of the 4 million small businesses in the uk started, and many of the larger companies too.

So encouraging these startups to take risks is the quickest way in increase innovation and business creation in the uk.

Social media, meaningful conversations or inane drivel?

As i get older I find it very difficult to keep up with all the conversations taking place on Twitter, Linkedin, FaceBook and the like.

Occasionally I find some topic which I become involved in, but often loose interest after three or four replies.

Where do people find the time to engage in all these conversations, and do they really produce business for companies trying to grow?

I don’t know the answers to these questions, and I suspect the answer will vary according to who you are, how old, race, sex etc, etc.

However my worry is ‘Are we spending too much time discussing an issue, rather than getting right to it and dealing with the point in question?’

As well as being business people, we are also social beings as well. And communication is generally enjoyable and to some degree fun.

But is this clouding the nature of the online conversation? Are we being social and enjoying ourselves to the expense of doing business?

I suspect the answer is yes, and perhaps its only grumpy oldish men who can spot the difference….

Sometimes when I go to networking sessions I am tempted to tell someone to get to the point. WHAT DO YOU DO?

But I’m polite and let them rabbit on. The same goes for social media, except that I can walk away from my computer and make a cup of tea, or go to sleep, or go for a drive, and the person at the other end may not be aware of this.

The same goes for social media, as conversations are like chameleons changing colour, they change topic according to who is involved.

So this grumpy old man says: get tot he point, answer the questions, be brief, tell me how to do it. I don’t care what you saw on TV last night, or that your wife’s second cousin once removed was run over by a milk float. I don’t want to know…