Last week I crossed a grim line in the sand, and there is no going back.

A story that goes to the heart of how you staff your business, how to find good staff, and how to make sure they stay there.

I recognise most of you don’t want to hear this, but I have a tip on how to lead a happier and more productive life.

Be happy about paying tax.

I’ll just pause as thousands of high-income earners squeak and splutter, and tax accountants take offence at me questioning their entire existence. But hear me out.

This week, a new Mac laptop that copied all the files from my old one. Except the music library.

So all I had was the cursed free U2 album from 2014.

It's still there after nine years. A record by a band that will appeal only to the 50+ white people demographic. 

Every business has these strange legacy things that are invisible to you because they're just part of the furniture.

But customers can see them.

Time for a cleanup.

The other story I refer to in the chat. Old'n'Dirty Syndrome: 13 things to banish from your business 

The blog turns 5 today!

My partner correctly points out I am extremely bad at acknowledging my own achievements.

So this week, an interesting peek behind the curtains of our business and what all this stuff I talk about delivers in commercial terms.

And a few tips on doing anything difficult every week for long periods.

I became a long-term loyal customer of an expensive shop purely from one line the owner told me the first time I went in there.

That approach allowed the store to flourish when all around them are closing down.

Original story (and picture of the green floral shirt) here: https://ianwhitworth.net/how-telling-the-truth-kept-one-business-alive-while-all-around-them-went-under/

Now you have a business, you want to build revenue and it seems the answer is sales. What do you do? Because odds are, deep down you don’t identify as a sales person.

That's fine, most of us feel the same.

Here's how to work around that and still bring revenue through the door.

This week, some Cruella de Vil-level evil from a large employer desperate to not pay their 700 casual staff properly.

And why these greedy measures don't actually save your business money.

Original stories from the Australian Financial Review:

Inside the workplace deal that denied 700-odd casuals penalty rates

Hospitality exec faces police referral over sham penalty rates deal

We're not pro investors but we do the odd angel investment in startups.

There are two Code Red alerts that make us run away as soon as we see them.

If you can drop these two habits, your strike rate will improve.

Businesses have never seemed as similar as now. You think you're unique and cool, but through the eyes of customers, you're probably indistinguishable from your competitors.

The sameness is about to go to galactic levels, as new AI tools crank out endless content from the same commands as everyone else.

This week, how that approach will destroy your profit margins.

And the one thing you need to do to steer clear of that trap.

Link I referred to:

WARNING: mild swearing is back! The specific toddler who used to listen to the blog has stopped now, and it's too time-consuming to put the frog noises in so be warned.

It’s been fifteen years. How do we finally realise the value of this beast we’ve created? 

Everyone would like to know what’s our exit plan, and what are we going to do with all the money?

This week, I can answer that.