All Blog Posts (783)

A company of private investigators who offer to find out who people’s partners are taking to the office Christmas party have won the overall prize at the FSB Surrey Business Awards.

NiS Member Nigel Parsons’ Answers Investigation, in Dunsfold, were named overall winners at the Grand Final held at Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands on Wednesday (November 18).…

One of my favourite networking tips is to always take your own name badge along to events.

I have several versions of mine, depending on which of my businesses I am representing on the day!  You can make a badge to print off on your inkjet and slip it into one of those plastic badge holders we get at events. I have some magnetic badges (as supplied by 4networking etc) which I put into the back of the plastic holder.

Here's one I made…

Whether you have turned your home into an inn or you’re planning to rent out your property for home or office use, there are different considerations that you need to think about before signing that contract.…

Let's face it, we all try to separate our personal lives from work.  In the office, we are expected to conduct ourselves professionally and that includes being respectful of co-workers as well as carrying ourselves with dignity.  Most importantly, we should always observe the art of being clean and clutter-free.  However, in the real world, there will always be instances where our optimistic and energetic approach to doing tasks is marred by annoying habits caused by our own…

Clients and business partners are important components of a successful growing business. They often come and visit the office and keeping them comfortable is key to establishing and continuing a good and healthy relationship.  However, nothing can be more unnerving than having to usher your business guests onto a seat with grimy looking upholstery.…

Whether it’s local or international, a music concert, a birthday party, a wedding or a trade show, we usually all love going to events.  For someone who is looking forward to going, the perspective might be different.  However, for someone hosting the event, there is a lot to…

It's a wonderful time of year, looking on the internet or browsing the glossy holiday brochures for that perfect break that has been hard earned.

Yes, we can Google locations, hotels or self catering apartments and of course airfares, but wait, please don't book straight away.....   Check with a Travel Agent and ask them for a quote too- it's always worth shopping around and of course make sure that however or whoever you book with they are members of ABTA and ATOL.

Check those…

It takes roughly ten years of training to become the captain of a cruise ship.

Once in the role, captains become the celebrity of their own ship (or in the case of a notable few, the entire fleet!), with the added responsibility of the lives of their up to 4,000 passengers being in their hands.

We’re pretty new to cruising but in the past 15 months we have notched up 4 cruises, and a…

It is a trend these days for companies to outsource the maintenance of office premises.  When doing so, companies should ensure that they hire credible contractors or cleaners that have high standards of work ethics; cleaners who will do their work even without somebody watching over them. 

Cleaners generally clean the visible areas like lobbies, reception areas, stairs and rest rooms.  But there are other areas in the office that are not thoroughly cleaned by your regular cleaners…

We all know that a testimonial is usually a statement made about your business and demonstrates how that person or business feel about your product or services. Do they Work? I know personally that when choosing a hotel to stay in I tend to visit various websites to check out the reviews and see what others have written. So the answer to the questions is YES, RPC Cleaning value any testimonial! To us it is a form  of recommendation of what we do well.

I feel it does…

Are you working towards selling your company at some stage in the future? Or are you the central figure in your company and everyone - customers, suppliers and staff come to you rather than anyone else who may work with you?



If you are looking to sell or looking to give yourself more freedom of choice about how you work, be that stepping back from full time work, or simply to put yourself in a position whereby you can take a holiday without worrying if the…

We are a start up business operating in healthcare looking to solve the long standing challenge of writing on the fly clinical notes. Look at this way - is it not strange that in this hi-tech age that we still use a steam age interface to capture information?

Steam age because the QWERTY keyboard patents pre-date the automobile patents by a number or years. The layout was actually intended to make typing slow so that mechanical typewriters did not jam. My company's [Veloscient Ltd]…

Accidents happen, no matter how careful you are.  We deal with our customer enquiries on carpet spills almost on a daily basis, however we are not always there for them so instead we leave them an informative sheet that helps them deal with the emergency; and I am happy to pass this info on to you.  

First of all, do not panic! If the spillage is a drink then get some absorbent kitchen towel and soak up as much of the liquid as possible, if the spillage is food then remove the food…

Restful mind formula

• Are you so stressed in life that you feel as if you’re losing control?
• Do you struggle to sleep almost every night? 
• Is anxiety ruining your ability to appreciate what you’ve got? 
• If so then this is the right blog for you.

There are many ways to relax and de-stress, with “mindfulness” becoming a new buzzword in this context, despite the fact that it has been taught as part of Buddhism, Qigong, Yoga…

With only 30 days to go until the end of the tax year on 5^th April 2015, now is a good time to think about talking to your financial advisor and accountant about tax and financial planning if you haven’t done so already. Some things to consider include:

• Making use of your annual allowance into the New Individual Savings…

More than just a place to clean ourselves, bathrooms are comfort zones where we can simply be ourselves and relax. This is one of the reasons why bathrooms are alternately called “restrooms”.   But this is only possible if our bathrooms are squeaky clean! 

How often should the bathroom be cleaned? Once or twice a week is good enough for residential units while it is recommended for bathrooms in commercial establishments to be cleaned at least…

From 31 January 2015, Business Biscotti, the network that made free networking avaiable across many counties in the South East (and some beyond!) will become a paid membership organisation...

There will be serious fallout from this change and we predict that lots of Biscotti Groups will see a falling off in numbers attending - some…

This article by Paul Nathanson is a great little reminder of how easy it is to lose your reputation (and customers!) through PR blunders...  

Time to take stock of the worst PR gaffes in 2014 and announce the naffTA Awards from PNPR. So, who showed the greatest skill in torpedoing their reputation?



Health

Shame on you, supermarkets! Through your poxy poultry you could fill Wembley…

If you use Facebook for business, it's well worth checking out this blog article on the b2c website by Amanda Clark...

Small business owners, do you have your Facebook marketing down to a science? Do you routinely post promotional content that generates significant visibility—and website referral traffic? If so, then that’s something to be proud of, but also…

I'm a digital content marketer helping local businesses in Surrey. I am also a specialist in digital marketing for Surrey private GP surgeries and veterinary surgeries.

I have set up a little experiment on my LinkedIn Profile to test out how effective marketing could be on this platform - thanks by the way to Keith Grover for encouraging me to use LinkedIn.

In short I've added an article with embed videos - including a video testimonial called: "…