The Chain Reaction

It's not often that I attend conferences where I'm not due to speak, but something urged me to get along to the Chain Reaction event - all about international social leadership - yesterday at London's South Bank.

The attraction for me was a session entitled 'Can Entrepreneurs Change the World?' (to which the answer is of course 'YES WE CAN!') - but I was intrigued to know what the line up of Peter Jones, James Caan and Sir Richard Branson (albeit by video) amongst others made of the debate.

I often make the joke in my after-dinner speeches that Peter Jones rarely bothers to show up at enterprise events unless Gordon Brown is speaking - and true to form an unexpected bonus was the appearance on stage of our very own PM Gordon Brown.

And so we had them. Peter Jones swept in no doubt by his chauffeur driven Maybach to tell us that 'Scarcity is a real driver of innovation' and 'Am I the only one on the positivity bandwagon here?'; James Caan telling us that making money is brilliant because then you have lots to give away to charity like Bill Gates does; and then Sir Richard Branson beamed in via a pre-recorded satellite link where he was clearly sitting on the sun-drenched terrace of his holiday home on Necker Island, telling us how wonderful it is to encourage enterprise.

Finally Gordon Brown joined the debate, who reminded me of a Finance Director I used to have who arrived at every Board Meeting looking a bit shabby and crumpled, so busy scribbling notes on to a bit of a paper during the debate that he didn't really seem to be paying attention to much of what was going on, whose every bit of body language seemed to scream 'No you can't!', only to get up and tell us with as much gusto as he could muster that the UK economy was due to double in the next 20 years and that NOW REALLY IS a great time to be in business.

Meanwhile, back over here in the real world, before I set off for London yesterday morning I opened three emails all about entrepreneurs absolutely on the knife edge brink of bankruptcy, about to lose their homes, and in desperate need of my help (or anybody's help for that matter) while meantime at the weekend my own husband received a letter from his company stating that one person in his team of three at work would be made redundant this week, as a result of the tightening economy. By the way, I don't have an army of PAs handling all my correspondence, plus I go and talk to entrepreneurs around the country at business events every week, so I really do feel that I am at the sharp end of what is really going on.

Maybe I should reassure all of these people that, not to worry, in 20 years' time everything will be OK?

The only speaker who really captured the imagination of the audience yesterday was the fabulous Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, who spoke with passion about the ability of business to deliver so much more than the constricted City-lead profit expectation of big corporates, whose CSR initiatives are nothing more than a few marketing frills to attract extra shoppers. In other words the current system of capitalism and 'much to few' isn't working - not for business, not for individuals and certainly not for the environment. He would be my vote for PM (or at minimum Minister for Business) any day.

It was a great event and I'm glad I went but all of this left me a bit angry.

Real businesses currently on a knife edge don't need this patronising happy clappy rhetoric from those living in a fur lined sunshine bubble any more.

Firstly we need an urgent law which will suspend the ability of any UK citizen to lose their home until the economy has recovered. And we also need an emergency fund which can intervene to help struggling businesses re-finance in the short term as well as give them advice to help them to restructure and adapt their businesses to get back towards profitability in the long term.

And if I were involved in 'restructuring the global financial architecture' I would start with the premise that capitalism as we knew it cannot be the basis for generating future prosperity for our planet and its people.

The Boycotts

Just to let regular visitors to my Blog know that I have removed the two recent tongue-in-cheek 'boycott' posts, following today's Sunday Times article, which I think has rather taken everything too seriously.

I really don't want to cause any trouble, the point of the original post was that in business I think it is a mistake to insult women as they now make or influence 70% of all purchasing decisions.

As to Red Letter Days being my 'baby', the comment I have made in the past is that I think women tend to have much more emotional attachment to the companies they create than men. However to me my Red Letter Days era has long since passed, and while the company now owned by Peter and Theo has the same name, it bears little resemblance to the company I created.

And because so many great things have happened for me in the past few years, it would be impossible for me to wish that I was back owning or running it.

Enterprise Academy

Brilliant news that Peter Jones has pioneered a new Enterprise Academy backed by Gordon Brown, which will open in 2009.

The UK is on a journey here, and actually if we want to change the culture in my view it needs to start at the beginning of a child's education (and by that I mean from babyhood onwards), and must encompass giving our children the 'positive thinking' tools which foster self-belief, determination and drive. In my experience, if an entrepreneur has these three qualities embedded in their psyche, they don't actually need anything else.

Re-defining 'Success'

And so we have the latest publicity stunt from Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis, proudly standing in front of their shiny new gas guzzling Maybach cars (the cost of which could each feed an African village for a decade), like two pin-striped dinosaurs still churning away on the golden hamster wheel of ostentatious wealth.

Meanwhile, the true Ultrapreneurs (think Branson, Gates, Gore and Buffet) are busy fighting climate change, re-distributing their wealth to fight third world disease and famine - as well as rescuing beleaguered British banks.

In fact, the results of my Entrepreneurial Profiling Test show that only 4% of the 2000+ people who have taken the test since September, profile as 'Alphapreneurs' like Jones and Paphitis i.e. people who are prepared to put their desire for money and the trappings of material wealth above all else, in their desire to achieve 'success'.

The remaining 96% would of course like to be rich, but are not prepared to sacrifice everything - for example time spent with family and friends, or risking everything they possess including their health - in the relentless pursuit of money.

So my question to you this Thursday morning is: which of the two groups in your opinion is the most 'successful' ?

Life on Fast Forward

Just a quick note, firstly to apologise for not posting anything recently. The 'maternity leave' is now well and truly over and I feel as though I have been catapulted back into the fast lane.

However, just to let you know I will be both speaking and exhibiting at the Business Start Up Show at London's Olympia this Friday 2 and Saturday 3 November - my stand is number 298 so please do pop by and see me if you are coming.

Entrance to the Show is completely free and there are lots of brilliant speakers lined up - including Stelios and my good friend Peter Jones (this could prove interesting!)

See you there.

Caan Breathes New Life Into Stale Den

Couldn't help but tune into the new series of Dragons' Den last night, and I have to say I was very impressed with James Caan as the new Dragon in the line up. He was positive and fair to all the entrepreneurs who pitched, as well as being tough when he needed to be - as well as holding his own brilliantly with the other Dragons. A real professional, and a good choice on the part of the BBC who has breathed new life into what was becoming an increasingly stale format.

Glad also to see that Ms Meaden has at last invested a little of her wealth in a personal stylist and image makeover (miaow!). Her stone suit and tailored blonder haircut were so much more flattering and up to date than her previous navy pinstripe 'John Lewis Shop Assistant' ensemble.

But the highlight of the Show has to be Peter Jones' arrogant retort to the pair who were planning to launch a dating agency, and dared to invite him to use their service.

'I don't need a dating agency because I'm seriously good looking and wealthy' came Jones' reply.

Not because he already has a long suffering other half by whom he has had two children then...?

Good looking? Maybe. Wealthy? For the moment perhaps, yes. Attractive? Definitely no.

Mummy Knows Best...

Last time I bumped into Sahar Hashemi (co-founder of Coffee Republic) she surprised me by saying how much she regretted selling Coffee Republic - simply because she couldn't go into one of their branches without getting annoyed about all the changes they had made to 'her' brand, and basic things they should be doing right but which they were doing wrong. (And this is despite cashing out for what I'm sure was a lot of dosh at the time.)

Well I have to say I had the same feeling when, out of curiosity, I sent for a Red Letter Days brochure last week, and it turned up in the post this morning (only a week on, but then 2nd class post IS a lot cheaper).

First strange thing is that I only ever received one mailshot from Red Letter Days post my departure - strange for a mail order company, especially as I had made many 'mystery shop' purchases under various aliases at various addresses over the years.

Someone in their marketing department being a little over-zealous with the data cleansing perhaps? Or, more likely, a bean counter swooning at the cost of each brochure mailshot -without realising that the annual brochure mailout was the engine room that ran the marketing of the business.

So the latest (flimsy, low-budget) brochure arrives this morning in a highly conspicuous bright red envelope.

Sensible choice of envelope you may think (being called Red Letter Days and all) - but not when you consider that over 70% of purchases are made by wife for husband (or vice versa), and the last thing you want when preparing a surprise gift for your nearest and dearest is something coming shouting and screaming through the letterbox.

Meanwhile, the iconic Red Letter Gift Box (created on commission by design guru and Channel 4 TV star Richard Seymour - at a cost of £100k - and consistently rated as the jewel in the crown of the company's branding collateral in all market research), barely receives a mention, let alone the honour of a photo in the brochure.

Perhaps the bean counter got rid of that too?

You can just imagine that happening at Tiffany's can't you? New FD arrives saying: 'Why do we need all these duck egg blue boxes, carrier bags and silk ribbon packaging anyway? Just think of the money we'll save...'

Then we have Peter and Theo's cheesy faces arrogantly grinning out of the intro page crowing how great they are, quite oblivious to the fact that to this day (over two years on) I STILL get emails quite out of the blue from various ex-RLD punters going on about 'how those two nicked your company' - and therefore that to a large proportion of the target customer base (white, middle England, fortysomething, female) this display of macho alpha-maleness is in marketing terms, actually a real turn-off.

And that's before we even get into the detail of the content - which rides roughshod over so many of the extensive learnings from all the market research conducted over the years it would be an absolute crying shame - if it were still my company of course.

Anyway, I hope I am not starting to sound like a bitter old witch - but I can't help identifying with Sahar over this.

Women don't create companies, they give birth to them.

And no matter how hard you try, and no matter how long after they have flown the nest, they will always in some way still be your baby.

Marketing Tips #37 - 'The Art of Flattery'

I lost my PA two weeks ago.

In your world this may have been a disaster, but I've found it quite refreshing to be back in control again - in particular of all the speculative emails I receive each day.

An efficient PA will see these as intrusions to be fended off in the politest possible way (or in the case of my last PA, irritations largely to be ignored). However, as my business is now 'Inspiring, Motivating and Helping Entrepreneurs Achieve Business Success', each one is at best a customer - and at worst a small piece of market research/feedback from which, at minimum, I can learn something.

99% of these emails are pretty positive - from people telling me about their business, sometimes asking for direct help or investment or simply sending me a few lines of positive words.

But yesterday I received the following from one Fakeidee43626824@aol.com:

'losses of £4.7million and you give advice , are you sure'

In the media meltdown and hate fallout that followed the crash of Red Letter Days two years ago, I learned that the best way to deal with such messages is to use the Delete button. The cyber equivalent of a dollop of birdshit landing on the windscreen of life, these occasional 'hate mails' are almost always anonymous, sent from dodgy internet based email addresses senders and I suspect from people who have never got up off their butt to achieve anything in life - let alone experience how difficult it is to create a business from scratch and run it for 16 years.

[Alternatively it could have been Peter Jones, having a bit of fun... But I digress.]

And so the message languished in my Recycle Bin, until 40 minutes later I received the following:

Hi Rachel,

I've just been leafing through your website and I think you're a star just for taking the time to put together some useful tips for people like me to take a look at -- it's comforting to think that even hugely successful business giants like you have been through the same exhausting process as the rest of us in your climb to the top. And it's encouraging to know that we all have the potential to succeed, because sometimes, despite your very best efforts, you can start to wonder if you're really up to the task.

So thank you for your words of encouragement.

Best regards,

Marc Jardine==========================
Biznis Cards ::: Online Print Solutions
www.biznis-cards.com

OK, it's a bit OTT - and I would hardly describe myself as a 'business giant' - but once my new PA is recruited, I know where I'll be getting her business cards from.

Enjoy your day!


Rachel

The Blog is Working...

Just as Steve Clayton Steve Clayton: Geek In Disguise promised (see first post 'Blog Virgin' below), the Blog seems to be starting to work...

Scott Barlow at UKpreneur http://www.ukpreneur.co.uk/222/does-rachel-elnaugh-have-a-husband/ thinks I am hot, wonders whether I have a husband (since when did that bother most men?) and has asked me for a date, while John Crickett at eCademy http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=86577 has taken exception to my Blog about Peter Jones' new 'Tycoon' show, posing the question 'Jones vs Elnaugh: Who Do You Think is the Better Entrepreneur?'

That last one is an interesting one John, and tells me instantly that you are an 'Alphapreneur' - one of those ghastly males that is always comparing dick size and wanting to know who is 'the best'. Take my free entrepreneurial profiling test at my own website http://www.rachelelnaugh.com/m_17.asp and tell me if I am right!

But it's an interesting question though - who IS the best?

How do you measure?

Is Tesco a 'better' supermarket than Waitrose?

Is The Sun a 'better' newspaper than The Big Issue?

Is Easyjet a 'better' airline than Cathay Pacific?

All comments are welcome.

Rachel

Why Products Fail

Since writing my blog below about Peter Jones' new show Tycoon, I set up a Google Alert which has since sent me every online piece documenting - in excruciating detail - the failure of Peter's latest TV project.

When you are entrepreneur just starting out, at least you can mistakes (and there always will be mistakes!) in private, whereas we 'Celebrity Entrepreneurs' are always under the full and often embarassing glare of the media spotlight.

Although I actually feel for Peter, having been through my own very public 'media meltdown', nonetheless it did prompt me to think about what makes a great product (whether that be a TV programme, or any other creation out of which you intend to make money).

When the Dragons were first approached by the BBC and introduced to the talented producer Martyn Smith, who had been commissioned to create the concept for Dragons' Den, I think we all expected an X-Factor type show in a studio at White City.

Instead we were sent to a desolate warehouse in one of London's less safe suburbs, sat on mis-matching chairs in a bleak set and had no real instruction on what was about to unfold.

But when the first series of Dragons' Den was aired back in January 2005, it was clear just from watching episode one that the BBC had a hit on their hands. Although it was quite raw and the entrepreneurs weren't brilliant, to me that first series was by far the best - it had a great energy; the Dragon egos had not become bigger than the Show itself and the entrepreneurs were truly desperate for funding and support - not just after a free primetime TV ad.

In short, Martyn Smith threw out all conventional TV wisdom - and took the risk to create something briliantly innovative and original, which would change the way business TV programmes were conceived forever. And the BBC has been milking the formula relentlessly ever since (in fact, some would say the cow has long since run out of milk).

The reasons why Dragons' Den was such a success are exactly the same reasons why Tycoon - and many other products like it - failed.

Playing safe and following what others have done before may seem like a solid option to achieve success, but in business it is actually often the riskiest approach you can take.

Peter Jones' New Show 'Tycoon'

I tuned in to last night's much hyped new ITV business series 'Tycoon' with much anticipation.

Not only am I an avid fan of the new breed of TV business shows, but also having known Peter Jones 'before he was famous' - when we filmed series 1 of Dragons' Den back in 2003 - I was interested to see how he had developed in his role as 'celebrity entrepreneur'.

But minutes in, as we were flown over the City of London in the opening credits and then had a street level view of his shiny new Bentley arriving outside a disused warehouse-type building, it became clear that we were destined to endure a lowest common denominator formulaic pastiche of The Apprentice meets Dragons' Den.

Jones has selected 6 would-be entrepreneurs to take part in the show, each trying to build their business in a 10 week period working in an open plan office, under the scrutiny and 'guidance' of Jones.

The problem with the show is that it quickly becomes apparent that Jones hasn't a clue about brands or marketing, constantly misguiding the businesses in his charge.

Thus we see the 'Gardening Girlies' being encouraged to re-brand to something more 'attention grabbing' - and then being heaped with praise for coming up with the new identity 'Sod Women'. Personally I can't think of a brand name more likely to alienate what is predominantly a female, middle England target customer.

Similarly, vodka juice girl was given a slating by Jones for her attempts at finding a name for her product - citing 'Death' cigarettes as a great example of an attention grabbing brand (yes, those were the fags launched in 1991 by the company which was in liquidation by 1999). She finally resorted to grabbing passing joggers on the South Bank for their suggestions.

Back to the warehouse office and Jones has summoned everyone to a meeting to discuss their progress. The Gardening Girlies, sorry I mean 'Sod Women', have arrived in navy pinstripe suits wearing ties - only to receive more praise from Jones for showing so much progress under his guidance. No doubt in a future episode they will arrive having undergone a complete sex change, only for Jones to coo 'Congratulations ladyboys, the penny has finally dropped with you that only men can be successful in business'.

Finally, Jones heads down a pier for a showdown with vodka juice girl - plus the inevitable threat of a sacking - when what she really needed most at this point is some friendly guidance from one of London's big branding agencies.

This is where I think the show was so disappointing compared to, say, the brilliant Mary Queen of Shops (BBC2 Thursdays 9pm). In that series, Mary Portas not only points out where the businesses are going wrong, but then really gives brilliant hands-on guidance - by bringing some of the top fashion professionals in to help show how it should be done.

As the show progressed, while Jones' teeth got whiter, his cufflinks got bigger and the Bentley got shinier, Jones personality got thinner and thinner. By the end of the epsiode I was left feeling that this was simply another TV vehicle for his now monstrous sized alpha male ego.

The penny finally dropped when we saw the last frame and realised that the show had been created and produced by Jones' own TV production company Peter Jones TV. Like his Max Clifford co-client Simon Cowell, Jones clearly sees TV production as his latest way to make some much needed money.

A quick peek at the latest Phones International accounts shows why the diversification is needed - £4million profit on £186million sales is a nice business to have, but hardly puts Jones in the 'Tycoon' bracket of a Branson, Dyson or Sugar. Especially when up the road at Red Letter Days (the business I started, which Jones acquired out of administration in 2005 in a flourish of 'I'm-a-Dragon-and-I-know-a-Great-Business-Opportunity-When-I-see-One' publicity) has just filed a loss of £7.1 million.

While the TV route may have worked for Simon Cowell, sadly I don't see the same happening for Peter. While the idea for the show was great, the execution was lousy, and as one of Britain's supposed new breed of business leader, Jones just doesn't have the X-Factor.