My business word cloud

This is a great representation of all the key words that matter to my business life, TrueTalk and career

Try making your own cloud at Wordle its easy

Have you ever thought that time might be moving faster the older you get?

This is not an uncommon perception, most people approaching mid-life begin to notice this and the common explanation is that your perspective of time is relative to your age. i.e. a year at the age of 50 is 2% of your life whereas at 5 years old it is 20% of your life.

That is not to say that the experience of time in the present has changed. An hour or day still seems the same duration as it is happening, or perhaps that depends on your activity at the time. Perhaps the urgency of life becomes more obvious when you begin to realise you have passed your expected mid-point.

Whilst thinking about this I began to consider the idea that this changing perception of time could be related to memory, which is based on your day to day experiences. As a test I asked myself how many experiences I could remember from yesterday.

There are only 1440 minutes in a day and you are probably asleep for roughly a third of those. So a good estimate would be a range between 250 and 1000 experiences per day depending on how “special” the day was. For this example let’s assume an average is 500 experiences a day and  I am around 50 years old.  On the basis that the volume of experience is related to my age, when I was 10 times younger at the age of 5 I should have memorised an average 5000 experiences per day.

If true this would imply that the brain is working harder when younger to store all these memories and that on reflecting back over the higher level of activity associated within a period of time it would seem relatively longer.

The mathematics for this type of relationship where the rate of new memories per day is inversely proportional to your age is logarithmic (assuming there is a direct relationship between perceived time periods and the number of new memories) and given a single point of reference (i.e. 500 memories per day at the age of 50) it is possible to calculate the rate at any point in life and the number of experiences over a whole life or between any two points in time.

Based on my own example it is possible to calculate that number of experiences on the first day of life would be about 9.25 million. The first 2 years of life would account for 61 million experiences and there would be about 95 million experiences in total at the age of 80. You can see that this describes a brain development where the brain fills up with experiences very quickly in early life and is 80% full by the age of 11.

Coincidentally I came across a film about baby brain development that described how at birth only 50% of the brain is developed, that is the ‘primitive’ brain that controls basic life functions. The cognitive functions which rare located in the cerebral cortex are undeveloped and the brain cells are not connected. As the new baby experiences life new connections are made to remember that specific activity and at the same time in the first 3 months of life the baby’s brain grows rapidly adding new cells and connecting them. Not only does the brain grow but so does the rate of new connections peaking at around 14 weeks into life. 

The brain continues to make new connections based on memories and experiences for the rest of that person’s life but the rate this happens then begins to reduce, looking rather like a logarithmic chart. This chart shows how the physical aspects of the brain develop.

This is why the first 2 years of a baby’s life is so important as they effectively hard-wire most of their memory based on millions of experiences. If my theory is correct the first 2 years of life could amount to over 60% of all the connections ever made in the brain.

This theory also explains why it is so hard to remember experiences in early life, not only are your senses under developed and your understanding of life very limited during those early years but the sheer number of experiences before the age of 11 (unless you are still under 18) would make the identification of any specific experiences similar to looking for a needle in a haystack. The well-functioning brain can perhaps only cope with tens of thousands of experiences and these are prioritised based on frequency of use or more recent times.

To conclude the best advice I could give to those concerned about the remainder of their lives and to help slow down the pace of life is to experience more and pack more into your life - driving up the quantity of memorable experiences each and every day. 

gotradelive word cloud

Put 7 recent original press articles about gotradelive into Wordle.com to create a word cloud:

•       CMSWire –gotradelive Brings Its Social E-Commerce Network to US3/27/12

•       Wine Business Monthly – New Social Commerce & Commercial Trading Platform 3/26/12

•       Sourcing Innovations – gotradelive: A LinkedIn eBay on Steroids for Small Business Procurement to Groupon To 3/26/12

•       Destination CRM – gotradelive Establishes North American Presence 3/27/12

•       TMCNet – gotradelive Launches Free Social & Commercial Trading Platform 3/26/12

•       Social Sourcing Solutions – gotradelive: A LinkedIn eBay on Steroids for Small Business Procurement to Groupon To 3/26/12

•       CMSWire – gotradelive Builds a Social e-Ecommerce Network for SMBs 2/21/12

gotradelive US launch PR

gotradelive Launches Free Social Commerce and Commercial Trading Platform Beginning with California


Easy-to-Use Commerce Networking Site and Mobile App Removes Barriers Between Buyers & Sellers to Accelerate Deal Flow and Multiply Customer Connections ....read full article



gotradelive Partners with Monterey Bay International Trade Association and TradePort.org to Bring Social Commerce to California Exporters & Importers 


Combination of Social Networking and eCommerce Creates New Speed and Efficiencies in Selling and Sourcing around the World.....read full article

Already a few good write ups following interviews last week:

• Sourcing Innovation "GoTradeLive: A LinkedIn eBay on Steroids for Small Business Procurement to Groupon To."
• TMC net "gotradelive Launches Free Social and Commercial Trading Platform"
• Wine Business "New Social Commerce and Commercial Trading Platform"

Hopefully a lot more to follow soon....

Globalization 2.0 : My first blog post on ecademy

I first became aware of globalization as a phenomenon about ten years ago, when it started popping up regularly in strategic objectives handed out by corporate headquarters. However the idea of globalization isn't exactly new, it been going on for a long time, it's just that recently with the availability of the high speed internet in every corner of the world its evolution has rocketed ahead.

Until the last few years globalization of the world economy has almost entirely benefited large multi-national corporations, who could afford to put in place the infrastructure and organisation required to control their markets around the world.

The latest web developments like social networking and social commerce are starting to provide smaller businesses and individuals with the tools they need to operate globally. It's never been easier to 'go global' and there is a new category of business emerging referred to as the 'global small business'. Their size makes them nimble and their ability to embrace innovation quickly will be their main advantage when competing with the giant multinational corporations.

On their own a small business or even a global small business will not seriously challenge the big incumbents, who will resort to all sorts of tactics to keep control of their markets, for example leveraging their press and government relationships in support of their business interests.

Small businesses must collaborate to compete effectively and the basis of good collaboration is great communications, a common purpose and trust. Open and available global business networking platforms like ecademy meet some of the needs, but there are still gaps in the armoury especially when it comes to delivering the business, ecommerce systems that work globally are very expensive and complicated to install and outsourcing commercial processes to a managed service provider may lead you back into the arms of a large multinational, who will only be too pleased to take a slice of the precious margin.

The unashamed mention for my new business venture gotradelive is that we are helping to equip small businesses with some basic commercial tools that will help them trade more efficiently and remain in control of the process all within their own private networks.

I recently invested some time listening to the new MD of ecademy, Daniel Priestly, talking about the new direction he is going to take the business. Reinventing the 'e' in ecademy to mean 'entrepreneur' academy is inspired and I wish him well. The massive majority of entrepreneurs are responsible for starting and running small businesses and they will need all the support they can get and we all need them to be very successful. 

Successful entrepreneurs will mean a dynamic and growing small business market sector, which will drive the economy and employment forward. As SMEs represent most of the wealth generation in every country their success will lead the global economic recovery. On this basis one would imagine that support for entrepreneurs and small businesses should be at the forefront of every government policymakers' mind when they are contemplating their challenges, let's hope they are not drowned out by the vested interests of large multinational corporations.

Gotradelive Real Live Demo - Selling £50 Note

This is a genuine opportunity to bid for and potentially win a £50 note. 

The starting price is just £1.00 and the increments are set at 1p, so lets see how good the winning deal is.

This is no trick, but an honest incentive to get you to try out the Gotradelive system. 

It's only possible to offer this deal because Gotradelive is completely free and there is no transaction fee or set up fee to be paid to a third party. Its your tool to run as you want.

To place a bid all you need to do is to register your name and email address - and choose a password. 

Click here to register and bid

If you have any questions there is a brief 2 minute video introduction to the Gotradelive system on the registration page or here

Gotradelive is a new online trading platform will level the playing field for SMEs

A free online B2B trading system for SMEs could help them cut costs and boost their revenue without having to make any investment.

October 15. London. A new trading system for SMEs, Gotradelive, gives smaller businesses the trading power of bigger corporations, helping them compete more effectively and run a tighter more efficient sales operation.

This cloud based platform (explained here) provides business networking as simple to use as Facebook and really useful buying and selling tools that will add a powerful string to any commercial bow.

Gotradelive gives SMEs the capability to market their products and services more efficiently. Its features allow businesses to create an online trade for sale or tender and invite their own selected audience to place their bids. It’s very easy to use and maintains the privacy and control which is lost when using a public auction site.

Founder and CEO Robert Doughty says it gives SMEs all the advantages of the trading portals and ebusiness systems that only multinational corporations can afford. “The odds are stacked against the SME and this platform will help them compete on a level playing field. It gives them better buying and selling power within their existing markets, and it helps them find and manage new market opportunities too.” says Doughty.

Farmers, for example, are often forced to dump perfectly good stock. But using Gotradelive a farmer can quickly remarket and sell a consignment of vegetables that has unexpectedly been rejected by a supermarket, maybe just because they were ugly. Currently, finding a buyer at the last minute would have been too time consuming and the farmer would have had to bin them. But using Gotradelive the farmer can set up an online sale in under 5 minutes, contact all their alternative customers and invite them to bid for these bargains. The farmer salvages some money for his crop and the buyer gets a bargain they would have not even been aware of.

Similarly, Gotradelive can be used for reverse trades or invitations to tender. The same farmer could invite a number of suppliers of fertilizer to tender for their next requirement, or maybe use it to find a new cost effective supplier of tractor tyres.

In these cases Gotradelive brings a new liquidity to the SME sector and creates value by making new trading opportunities possible.

Why SMEs Need a B2B Trading System

1.    Global trading systems and software licenses are too expensive and complex to set up and use

2.     Consumer auction style sites are insecure and the SME loses control of the sale

3. Large consumer audience based auction portals are expensive, and fees are disproportionate to trading margins.

4.     Gotradelive is free, easy to set up and use: there are no transaction based fees and even usage costs are low given how easy it is to use

5.   The trader still makes the sale or purchase and puts the transaction through their own accounts under their own terms and conditions of business.

6.     Trade only buyers are more knowledgeable and don’t waste time – the trader controls the audience in Gotradelive

7.  Trade only sellers are considerably more trust worthy and on Gotradelive the trader manages an audience they already know.

8.      Gotradelive allows the trader to scale their business and still retain control.

9.    There is an opportunity to create an event that will act as a catalyst for action – be it a deadline for sales or procurement

10.  Gotradelive adds a vital weapon in the commercial armory which enables the SME to operate effectively in the global trading community.