Posts

Why You Have Eaten Insects Without Knowing It

Image
If you answered none you’re kidding yourself because it is perfectly legal for food manufacturers to include insects (and worse) in your food. To be honest it would be difficult to make bulk food ingredients 100% pure, some impurities are bound to be in there and insects will be one of those impurities. Wheat flour has an average of 150 or more insect fragments per 100 grams and ground thyme has an average of 925 or more insect fragments per 10 grams. So although you may not be eating a huge amount each day, over a year all those fragments add up. According to entomologist Marcel Dicke from Wageningen University the average person in the west eats up to 500g of insects annually through processed vegetable-based products and foods dyed with insect derivatives. Putting that into context, 500g is half a standard bag of sugar! But thinking positively those insect fragments are not going to do you any harm, I know because I've been eating several whole insects and survived the expe

5 Great Tips for Your Job Interview

Image
Today I welcome Magda Tomaszewska to my blog. Magda is the owner of CV World in Stirl ing and is a Certified Professional CV Writer and Career Coach. She specialises in guiding people to build careers they really want and deserve. As part of her service Magda provides job interview tips, advises on interview questions and answers and how you should handle those job interview questions. So before you send your next job application listen to Magda’s 5 Top Tips on how to have a successful interview. Tip number one . Present the best of you. Remember the first impression is a lasting impression. Look smart, professional and do something that puts you in a great mood before your interview. Be confident, positive, motivated and smile. Tip number two . Mind your body language. 55 percent of your communication is your body language . Remember to use open gestures, maintain eye contact and build rapport with your interviewer. Come across as someone they would want to work with. T

Network effectively at business networking events

Image
Today I welcome Janet Torley to my blog. Janet is Chairman of Federation of Small Business - East of Scotland and owner of Events for Business , the event management specialist for business to business. I first encountered Janet at the 2012 Lanarkshire Business Show, one of many business and networking events she has organised across Scotland. With countless hours of networking experience and a bulging contacts book if anyone can give good practical advice on how to network it has to be Janet. So here are Janet's five top tips on how to network effectively at business networking events.             Networking can and should be really simple and really enjoyable and my top tips are very, very simple. Number 1 : Just do it! You might find the idea of walking in to a room full of total strangers daunting but go on, put an event into your diary and just go. Number 2 : Before you go make sure you have enough business cards. Take twice the number of business cards

5 Great Tips To Improve Your Communication Skills

Image
 5 Top Tips for improving your communication skills  Jill Simpson is a trainer and coach from DEVA Training in Kilmarnock. She helps clients communicate their message to customers, colleagues and others by helping to remove the barriers to communication and improve their verbal communication skills. GreatCommunication skills are important in every aspect of our daily lives and it is also true for our business lives. So without further ado here are Jill Simpson’s 5 Top Tips for great business communication. One . This might surprise you but shut up and listen. It has often been pointed out that we have two ears and one mouth for a good reason:   by really listening you start to understand the other person’s point of view, and when you understand you are far better placed to put across your own position. Listening helps you communicate more effectively whether you are selling to customers, managing your staff or negotiating with a supplier. Two . Asking open question

5 Great Tips For Your New Business

Image
  Tony Couch from isCompliant is a former Business Gateway business advisor who has helped many people who wanted to know how to start a business but needed top notch business advice. Tony knows only too well how many of those small business ideas fail within the first few years of starting so he agreed to share his insights on how individuals starting a business can plan for long term success by putting quality at the heart of their small business ideas. One . Apply the concept of “excellence and free from defects” to your small business ideas. Gain the customer satisfaction, trust and enhanced reputation that will follow. Enjoy the confidence that repeat business brings, relish recognition for quality and benefit from the rewards. Put simply - Strive to deliver the best product or service for your customer that you can. Two . Let customer focus drive your small business. Demonstrate regular improvements by using your awareness of your client’s requirements, developm

5 Great Tips To Improve Your Copywriting Communication Skills

Image
    Today I welcome Charlotte Fleming to my blog. Charlotte is a copywriter from Great Copy , a business based near Forfar in Scotland that provides copywriting and proof reading services for business websites and brochures. I would echo a lot of Charlotte’s advice, although I mostly write for the spoken word in radio & TV commercials and online video while Charlotte writes for the written page. We got together to help with your written communication skills. So here are our five top tips on copywriting for your website, brochure and online marketing newsletter. One . Remember it is written English and not spoken English. Spoken English has developed short cuts to allow people to communicate quickly with friends and colleagues. If you write as you speak it will look very odd on the page and potentially put off or annoy some of your readers. Please remember you are writing copy that is to be read. Two . Remember your audience in your copywriting and that your aim

BT's G.fast technology to deliver 500Mbps ultrafast broadband to most homes

Image
Copyright: / 123RF Stock Photo   While some of us are still waiting for the arrival of superfast broadband BT’s CEO, Gavin Patterson, has announced plans to introduce ultrafast broadband using G.fast technology. Patterson said “ The UK is ahead of its major European neighbours when it comes to broadband and we need to stay ahead as customer demands evolve. G.fast will allow us to do that by building on the investment we have made in fibre to date. It will transform the UK broadband landscape from superfast to ultrafast in the quickest possible timeframe. ”  Early tests have shown that G.fast has the potential to deliver significant speed increases from existing and new fibre street cabinets. This means the technology can be deployed more quickly than previously thought. Two pilots will start this summer in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire and Gosforth, Newcastle. G.fast will help BT deliver ultrafast speeds of up to 500Mbps to most of the UK within a decade.