This is what we are here to avoid - Debt & Suicide

A rare glimpse of daytime TV a few days ago led to these extreme stories of what BFA is aiming to help people avoid. The impact of such terrible actions has long-reaching affects for family and friends who are unable to fully understand the mind-set of victims of failure in business or debt-related circumstances

http://www.itv.com/lifestyle/thismorning/more/debtandsuicide/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7759118.stm

See also
Contemplating Suicide Due To Job Loss. Don't do it, here's how to cope:
http://www.the405club.com/post/535769726/contemplating-suicide-due-to-job-loss

Failed job hunt ends in overdose at 21
Times Online
Daily Mirror

A Positive Outlook on Failure - Every Little Helps

From recareered.blogspot.com

Why Employers Look For Candidates Who Have Failed

When I first heard this as a recruiter, I asked the hiring manager to please repeat themselves.
Later I learned that many savvy hiring managers often look to hire someone who has failed at a past job or project.

Ok, everybody out there that has hidden failures on their resume, raise your hand …

I was intrigued as I heard more and more hiring managers seek those who have failed at something, because it’s counter intuitive. And based on the number of people out there with their hands in the air, most candidates don’t realize just how valuable failure is.
Read more...

140,000 UK firms on the rocks as recession keeps biting

More than 140,000 UK firms experienced ‘significant or critical’ financial problems last quarter, according to insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor – a 6% rise on the previous three months. With the unemployment figure also expected to hit a 14-year high this week, and a think-tank suggesting that the economic gap between UK cities is getting even wider, one thing is abundantly clear: even if we do technically emerge from recession soon, we’ll be feeling its effects for a while yet...

Read more at ManagementToday.com

UK risks becoming 'bankruptcy brothel'

BRITAIN is in danger of becoming the "bankruptcy brothel of the world", it was claimed yesterday, as furious creditors prepared a landmark legal challenge over the country's largest pre-pack administration.

Read more at Times Online

How do you recover from the dark places of business failure?

My business failed in August 2009 and I keep getting told that all the best businessmen and entrepreneurs fail at least once. Having read a few bio's of entrepreneurs, I don't doubt that is true but what I don't understand is how they do it.

Is it to do with

* age

* money

* family & friends

* skills

The answer will no doubt come back as "All of them and none of them - it's to do with YOU" but what makes up YOU surely affects how you can recover. Looking at my situation, I don't see how I am going to be able to recover

* no property

* no access to other finance

* coming up to the big half-century

* pending bankruptcy

I have resigned myself to having to get a job but with very limited career prospects due to a thin, wide range of skills, I'm not looking forward to where that will end up.

I know I have a lot to offer but can't see where and how which leads me into very dark places.

The Entrepreneur and the Employee

I was alerted to the following "heated debate" on LinkedIn recently:

Top 3 Excuses Sales People Give To NOT to Work for Commission Only

So here I am trying to build a commission only sales team for our web development startup company. I must admit that such task has never struck me to be a daunting one. In fact I used to find most sales people energetic and willing to give just about an...[Read full article and comments on LinkedIn here]

If you are not signed up to LinkedIn, you can read the original article and less heated comments here

Although the article is related primarily to sales agents, several important points are raised in the responses relating to mindsets of the entrepreneur and the employee.

For a serious business blog, the comments in the discussion are incredibly "passionate" to put it politely, ranging from one word answers to insulting name calling to reasoned analysis. I can fully understand the originator's position and I am still coming to terms with the damage that employees can do, having been subject to multinational corporate bullying in a sole director "one-man" company. Ultimately, I know that I am to blame for having employed the people in question and trusted them, only to realise that my whole business model was wrong but that knowledge doesn't necessarily make it any easier to accept.

My comment on the discussion thread was:

My business failed for many of the reasons that seem to underpin the originator's frustrations and IMHO, he is looking at the wrong branch of the people tree.

What he seems to be seeking are partners with an entrepreneurial mindset, not people with an employee mindset. To get someone to invest mind/body/spirit in the way he wants, he needs to look for people with enough financial resources and belief in his business to allow themselves the "luxury" of working for future rewards with all the risk etc that is entailed therein.

Whether
1. he is prepared to do that
2. his product/service is unique and competitive enough to attract such investment
are questions only he can answer via personal examination, quality market research and a comprehensive interview process... or possibly a visit to the Dragon's Den!

Credit crunch and entrepreneurs

Current market instability is impacting on all aspects of the economy, from the banking and finance sector reporting losses, to consumers becoming more cautious about spending. With the credit crunch rarely out of the news, there are now indications that it is starting to affect entrepreneurs and smaller business bosses.

Read more at http://www.smeweb.com/economy/features/credit-crunch-and-entrepreneurs.html