One Trick Pony

In the 1800’s small travelling circuses without big headline acts or a menagerie of exotic animals were known as dog and pony shows. The very average acts on the programme were derided as ‘one trick ponies’. When I was growing up conventional wisdom said that you must strive never to be a ‘one trick pony’.…

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Worrying About The Competition

Rachael showed up for her trial as a part-time dishwasher in a local cafe, donned her apron and was sent into battle alongside Lolita. Lolita who was a fairly recent addition to the staff was worried, the manager had already had a word with her about picking up the pace at busy times. As she…

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Seth Godin On What We Need To Do Now

Seth and I got together yesterday and made this for you. He teaches me something every day and I know you’ll learn something from the insights he shares here. Seth Godin : What we need to do now from Bernadette Jiwa on Vimeo. “We’re living in a moment of time, the first moment of time…

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How To Get The Customers You Deserve

You’ve heard a version of this story before. It goes something like this. The customer leaves the restaurant a little disgruntled after a Friday evening dinner. The service had been particularly slow, his table had waited an hour for their meal and the waitstaff hadn’t nipped his complaint in the bud. His next move is…

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Something To Lose

The solitary guy who sets up shop in his garage or carves out a space at the local cafe to use as an office has nothing to lose. He can tell his friends that he’s following his passion, that it might not work but he’s giving it a go anyway. Not so easy to be…

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Why Belief Matters

Five years ago, just before Polaroids began to make a comeback, the owner of the Dublin camera store reluctantly allowed the sales rep to create a tiny, top shelf Christmas display. She spent a whole afternoon arranging then re-arranging the cameras. At last she stood back to admire her handiwork, slipped a digital camera from…

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There’s Only One Way To Get A Different Outcome

We should have known as soon as we walked in. The place was empty, not a soul in sight apart from two lone waiters who pounced. Every other breakfast place in the city was teeming with life and overflowing with plates of over easy eggs. This place was dead. We stayed because we didn’t have…

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What Don’t You Do?

It’s easy to rattle off the features of your product or benefits of your service. Which means it’s not hard for the competition to do that too. Far more difficult to stand for something and be willing to stand out because of what you don’t do. It turns out that time and again telling the…

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More Than Words

The school public speaking competition was in full swing. One after another the young and accomplished speakers stepped up to the lectern. Their opinions, convincing arguments and confidence just blew us away. The evening was drawing to a close and the audience began to fidget as the second last speaker took the stage. Before he…

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