So it looks like some interesting thing s are happening with that fiasco about the host company as apparently they had an ownership change. The first thing that came to my mind was how I can easily see that there are probably hundreds of other people who are experiencing a similar ordeal. Result, the image and reputation of the company is probably very low at this point to many. That just made me wonder if it wasn’t simply better for the new owners to just start a new business identity from scratch as opposed to taking over this one.

This isn’t exactly a global powerhouse brand like say an Apple or Microsoft. I guess another way to think about it is if there was a corner store that you bought which had a not so good reputation to a large chunk of the community as well as some bad debt is it wiser to turn that business around using the same structure and image? Or is it better to close that business down start from scratch with a new identity?

Unless your brand is truly that recognizable, if you are acquiring a business like that I would think that it should be treated more as you acquiring their resources and property. It doesn’t seem worth it to try and repair an existing brand if there is a large list of problems that were inherited.

I was watching the Oscars last night and as many people probably know the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” did incredibly well and also won the best motion picture award. One of the main impressive facts about the movie was that it was made with a budget of only about $15 million. Compared to a movie like Batman The Dark Knight which had a budget of $180 million, it just makes it seem very impressive.

It’s often like that in business too I’d say. Very often people will tell you that it is better to under promise and over deliver something which is better. That way, people get more excited and tend to use that fact to give you more credit.

The easiest way is with deadlines I’d say. For example, if someone asks you how long to do something it’s generally good to over estimate the time a bit to give you some breathing room. That way too, when you finish earlier than quoted everyone usually gets super excited over that and your efforts look even more incredible.

There was this fitness business I was looking at that dealt with teaching people a specific sport and like most places they offered a pricing package. Interesting thing I noticed though that throughout its site they were actually pushing some kind of diet product as part of their curriculum fee. I recognized this product from all those Internet advertisements too.

These types of things usually leave a bad taste in my mouth. It’s almost like a school where they force/pressure you to buy some kind of health product which people can do without. Not only that, some of them say you have to buy it as part of the curriculum which is border line unethical I’d say.

In my opinion, the only true way to introduce supplement products of this fashion for a business that is trying to sell a product to its client base is to simply present it while demonstrating how it has helped them. Attaching it to your service in a forced way though just screams money grubber for the most part I’d say.

Example, imagine a gym where for a membership they charge you for the facilities as well they put in the price of these multi vitamins on top of it as part of the “package”. I would think the better thing to do would be to keep the membership separate and simply just demonstrate/showcase how someone in that gym has benefited from it. Usually a better buzz and credibility can be created that way too in terms of getting demand to actually buy the product.

While I’m sure any business would want to make an extra dollar anyway they can, reputation is one of those things that can’t really be bought back afterwards and so techniques like these should be avoided I’d say.

In a few weeks time I will finally get the opportunity to formally shine the light on a person in regards to his actions when it came to a business agreement and how he has gone through extreme lengths to try and mislead everyone around him. To make it more interesting, he actually had a lot of “accomplices” to help him carry out his deeds. A big reason in spending the time and energy to do this is that it will help others too as I know for myself if someone I was associating with business wise had this shady past that he has been intentionally covering up that harmed others I would personally like to know.

Now this was kind of interesting as one person told me people generally don’t care about what happens between certain groups of people as long as the person didn’t do anything to them directly. I was thinking this is kind of true when it comes to just personal petty things, but if it was business related and you are in some way associating with the person in some kind of business capacity wouldn’t you be interested in it?

For example, let’s say a person now works at a company as he went through the interview process and they loved him. Thing is, he misled everyone about his past history with a former company such as he fabricated his position/role with the business. As well, he actually stole money from them or did something severe that harmed the business and somehow got away initially and was nowhere to be found. Not realizing these details, he gets hired by the new employer.

It turns out that he is like an angel with the new company though and when asked why he left the previous company he says things such as they weren’t treating him well and all that. Now let’s say for some reason the old company finally catches up to him and they take action to recoup the damages and such and of course in doing so that would expose the person’s past. So thinking about this as the third party person, in this case the new employer, would you want to find out all the details about the person’s past or would you feel that since he hasn’t done anything wrong with you currently that this is simply between him and the other business?

I would personally be kind of surprised in situations like these if one simply turns a blind eye to it. If you think about, even from a business perspective that shows that there is a huge risk that there could be a repeat in some form happening to them sooner or later. Who’s to say the person isn’t just playing the same act with you too?

As a result, I usually always like to talk to a person’s past associations directly just to get a true feel on what they are really like. In my opinion, the way they treated others in the past may not be my business directly, but it’s only wise to know what you are dealing with I’d say. Especially if there is some kind of monetary transaction involved, I’ll be the first one who would want to know as much as possible about the person’s past dealings to help prevent any unfortunate surprises.

I was having an interesting conversation yesterday about business in general with another gentleman. It was an interesting contrast as I’m personally not the type of person who say hangs out at bars to mingle with people whereas he mentioned that he had actually met a lot of good contacts this way and it is in many ways his lifestyle.

We then started to talk about our personal experiences on whether we found that more people tend to do business with you because of your personality where they can relate to you like a friend or if demonstrating your knowledge and track record is more effective. While like anything it is always to have a good balance, it was kind of a fun conversation as we kept throwing “what if” type of thoughts to each other.

For example, for a person that is too outgoing does it prevent say more formal high figured people from wanting to speak to you? Likewise, does being too professional prevent you from getting your name out there faster as there are more casual people in existent than can spread the word about you faster?

In general, it seemed like we were both in an agreement that by being more socially involved in more pubic gathering activities you tend to acquire more personal leads/contacts whereas if you are one who focuses more on say an identity and its reputation it tends to bring more people directly to you. Realistically though, you do need both in the big picture I’d say.