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      • Business & management
        January 2012

        The Unprincipled

        The Unvarnished Truth About Running A Marketing Agency From Start-up To Sell-out

        by David Croydon

        Building a business from start-up to sell-out. When I started, or at least co-founded, a small sales promotion agency called Marketing Principles in Oxford over 20 years ago, I had no idea about the dramas that would ensue, or the mixture of fun and games and pain and heartache that could be telescoped into 12 short years. I needed to get a lot of this off my chest for cathartic and purely selfish reasons, but in doing so, and in my current role as small business advisor/coach/mentor/NEC, I realised along the way that the lessons learned might be instructive as well as just entertaining, which is where it originally started. The title is taken from the scurrilous in-house ‘newsletter’ our creative department took to compiling a couple of times a year, to debunk any of our employees who… oh, just anyone who worked for us (including me). We begin the journey in 1985.  The key protagonists (at the beginning) all have gainful employment at another local agency, and on the face of it should be content with their lot.  But then this thing called ambition comes knocking, and a 12-year roller coaster ride begins. A couple of reviewers have described the content as part business handbook, part memoir, part comic novel, which makes it difficult to categorise in publishing terms.  Its style and tone of voice is what makes it unique, and it will appeal to small business owner/managers - from start-ups to established businesses - anywhere: they will recognise many of the issues and problems that we confronted along the way. So it's a personal account, but one that will resonate with anyone who has ever run a small business (or aspires to). Here's a video about the business that is the book's subject matter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2_heofh0WE

      • Autobiography: business & industry
        August 2012

        Libiya in Limbo

        Echos from Marsa El-Brega

        by Muriel Arnold

        Muriel Arnold has led a varied and interesting career which has taken her to all corners of the world. After working in Spain and as Social Secretary on the Queen Elizabeth 2 for the World Cruises (beautifully described in Tiaras & T-shirts) her next move was rather more prosaic when she found herself as a secretary working for Esso Standard Libya Inc in the Sahara desert oilfield of Marsa el-Brega. Life was tough with Colonel Gaddafi and Libyan Government restrictions and bureaucracy ruling everyone’s lives. Surveillance by Security was the norm and form-filling took up large chunks of the day. The work involved long hours and ‘home’ was a one bedroom bungalow in ‘Secretary Street’! A blow-out of an oil well deep in the desert brought drama and frenetic organisation for days while Red Adair and his team worked to extinguish it. Every ninety days Muriel was required to renew her visa which necessitated a round trip to London - which did not always go smoothly. The author has described very well the life endured by oil workers in the Libyan desert when political and bureaucratic regulations more than matched the heat and discomfort of oil production.

      • Autobiography: business & industry
        October 2014

        Lord Forgive Me, but I was a (Business) Bullshit Consultant

        by Bunko, Anthony

        When I landed my dream job I thought it would mean a life of travelling to exotic places, meeting interesting people and making lots of money. What I didn't expect was a scary rollercoaster ride full of fist-fights, muggings, kidnapping, gun chases, ghost

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