kenliu.co.uk

Well it's official. The UK is on the brink of a recession and it will be worrying anyone who is in business.

One of the business development programmes I subscribe to recommends that we ignore it as it doesn't exist. Shares are collapsing, banks are disintegrating and he recommends we stick our fingers into our ears and ignore the real world...right. I unsubscribed from his programmes about ten minutes after he told us that again.

Then again I don't particularly want to listen to the doom mongers rant on about the collapse of the global economy. Hiding under your duvet doesn't help situations either, that just intensifies the recession.

What am I going to do? Well, I'm going to keep building businesses and building them fast and well. They will all make money that we plough back into the economy and we will be part of the economic rebuilding process. You can join in too :)

I've been a customer of play.com for seven years and have placed over 140 orders with them (and that doesn't include playusa)

In the few instances where things go missing or arrived damaged the play.com customer service has been exemplary and reviews (used) to agree with me.

Unfortunately I fear that has all changed.

The delivery timeframe has shot up from a reasonable 14 days to a frankly ridiculous 21 days. I have an e-commerce business and experience with Royal Mail tells me that if something sent first class in the UK doesn't arrive in a week and a half its been condemned to sorting office purgatory.

The response speed for emails is beyond terrible. I sent three emails about the missing item over a week. I still haven't received a reply to any of them.

The phone based customer services seems to be located on Mars. And are considerably less helpful than a Martian would be.

So play.com has lost me as a customer. I'm sure that it won't even register as a miniscule pimple on the gigantic arse that is their customer services but I'm at the age where complaining is pleasurable.

I'm sticking with Amazon from now on who at least respond to emails and have a funky next day delivery for a reasonable annual fee.

One of our long term projects has just launched!

The UKKU (United Kingdom Kettlebell Union) is the UK's first and only database of independent kettlebell trainers.

Being in business I find that I spend a great deal of time learning about the skills of entrepreneurship. Marketing, sales, operations...you name it, I'm studying it.

One of the recent areas I've been working on is sales. Now sales always regarded with suspicion but ethical selling is simply about informing and assisting potential clients about what you have to offer. However I'm going to open a window on some of the "dark arts" of sales.

The use of pain in sales
If you have ever had the joy of signing up to a gym you'll most likely have experienced the pain method of selling fitness. You get encouraged to talk about how you're getting fatter, less energetic, a whole heap of fun to get you emotional about your fitness state. And it works; press the right buttons, get the emotions going and you get a sale. As long as your product delivers and cures the pain so to speak, both the seller and the client win...however, I'm not really a big fan of this and the main reason is does anyone really like being in pain? Apart from those that attend certain establishments, I think not. And when the pain has gone, what is there keeping your client from leaving? Very little unfortunately, unless you crank up the fear levels again, which is a whole new ethical dilemma that we could look into. Perhaps an alternative is in...

The use of pleasure in sales
We all like to be pleased. Its actually hard wired into our physiology. Dopamine, a hormone that appears to be triggered by unexpected reward (sort of like sex when you're married), provides feelings of enjoyment. As part of a feedback loop we are naturally inclined to keep performing actions that trigger the release of dopamine; we like getting pleasure. The advantages of selling pleasure should be clear. In a fitness context you'd emphasise the benefits of training rather than emphasising the problems you are solving. Talk about the new bikini your client will fit into, for example. Being a feedback loop, consistently rewarding your client with their achievements means they have a much stronger reason to keep hiring you to get that dopamine fix.

It should be clear which side of the fence I sit on in this but as with everything in business, test it for yourself and your prospects.

Apologies for the lack of update on the business blog; things have been busy with studies and new project launches (some of which might even see the light of day)

We've got a book and DVD in production, a new fitness and retail website in development and a REPS accredited training course being assessed. I'm studying for my GP referral course and, most importantly, trying to cram in a few hours of GTA 4 as well!

How do I manage it all? Well, the blunt answer is...I don't!

I can write a book but have no clue as to typesetting, editing and publishing. I like building and maintaining websites but have no clue as to design, high end PHP or ASP programming and development. Study is good but takes hours and GTA 4...well, is just a bit too much fun for my liking.

Woo Hoo!

Passed my Corrective Exercise Specialist exam last week and still feeling a bit chuffed. I've been studying the theory for over a month and got a lot of feedback from the two day hands on workshop which put into practice all the theory.

Quite excited today as I attended the first day of the two day NASM-CES course.

One issue of concern for me, initially anyways, is the depth of knowledge covered by the NASM course and the lack of knowledge imparted from my PT course (provider remaining nameless)

I've been reading on the subject; what the NASM protocols are and the methods and theories behind them. They blow everything I've done so far out of the water. I'm very happy I haven't been doing any PT recently!

I've been happily hosting websites and getting domains registered through 1&1 for the past four years.

However, recently, the quality of support and the technical service they provide has, in my opinion anyway, slipped so dramatically that anyone who wants or needs even the slightest bit of flexibility within their web hosting plans has to look elsewhere.

After a few years of barely trying, I've managed to complete my PT course and am now a fully fledged REPS Level 3 Trainer. Woo Hoo! Only thing is there's about fifty thousand other people in the fitness industry so, using some business nous, its time to set myself apart from the rest of the crowd.

I've been practicing martial arts since 1992, only recently have I worked out the difference between my left foot and right foot so progress has been slow!

The one thing I always had an ample supply of was flexibility. Dropping into side splits, front splits were simple matters. Then I turned thirty and, well let's be blunt, it all turned shite

Being stuck behind a desk really screwed up my training; my back and knee injuries came back to tease me and cause a fair amount of aggravation.

Fast forward a few years and my lack of flexibility and mobility led me to take up yoga.

One of the things about martial arts is that leg flexibility is emphasised to an incredibly high degree yet upper body flexibility and mobility is seldom performed. A bad idea for those looking to keep in peak condition.

I've always been a bit sniffy about Yoga. Sitting cross legged, chanting and meditating doesn't strike me much as training and if that's all you do; then it isn't.

However, Yoga is renowned for developing stretchy people with calm minds and we won't mention the attractive Yoga bunnies, ahem, so I put aside my prejudices and joined a few classes at the local Yoga centre.

The link between mental capacity and physical limits
One of the main concepts that Yoga has rammed home for me is that flexibility is mainly controlled by the mind. We subconsciously hold tension in the body. Sit at a computer for eight hours and you'll feel what I mean. Likewise, couple deep breathing with stretching and you'll find that you gain greater control of your body, in terms of flexibility, co-ordination and strength. It really shows the link between the body, mind and breath. After a few lessons I've got deeper control of my body and my upper body flexibility and mobility has improved considerably.

Its even assisted my kettlebell lifting; shoulder girdle flexibility has gone up which makes locking out overhead simpler.

Overall, its been an interesting and useful addition to my training so will be keeping my downward facing dogs and table poses.