Slightly delayed diary of a small business owner

Slightly delayed diary of a small business owner

I’ve just had the website redone. It is amazing. Potential customers, it appears, can access it more efficiently than the old one.

This is exactly what I asked for, and furthermore exactly what the designers said they would do.

Has anybody come across this concept before? I think it’s revolutionary. Consider, for example, you call up to order some paper for your photocopier. The livewire at the other end of the phone asks you what you want. You explain. They send it to you and when it arrives it is, in fact, the paper you wanted. Better still; the accompanying invoice is actually for the amount you expected. I see a vision for the future.

Anyway, in case you can’t tell, for the past six weeks I’ve been feeling (and being) let down by a series of small errors and inadequacies. Occasionally a problem presents itself to you in the form of a spade across your forehead. You can duck or you can fight back. It’s the little niggly things that wind me up.

The solution, of course, involves never letting anything get to this stage. Ensure people do what they said, and ensure they were aware that what they said entails a little responsibility for completion of a task. I think because I tend to give people some leeway in their behaviour, I find myself in this situation too often.

Regular readers will know that Ross Campbell is the general manager of Bristol-based gym The Exercise Club

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