Thoughts on Business

I’ve never published a price list. Every project is different, with different complexities, skill challenges, competition to be overcome, and potential rewards for the customer. It is very difficult to have a one-size-fits-all approach to pricing in that scenario. Instead, I spend a lot of time understanding the customer prior to a proposal, the objectives they have, and how much time and commitment they have to working alongside me to achieve those aims.

About ten years ago, I had a conversation with a marketing consultant that I’ve never forgotten. They told me they hated their profession now. When they first started, marketing was about creativity, ideas, and design. It was about finding clever ways to stand out and connect with people. But over time, they felt the profession had changed. Everything had become about data, analytics, and measurement. Dashboards had replaced sketchpads. Spreadsheets had replaced instinct.

One of my plans this year was to make more videos and publish them on my Life Led Business channel. The first thing I did was curate all my existing videos, including my ‘On the Road’ series and, of course, the ‘Life Led Business’ clips from last year. This totalled over 150 videos and more than 15 hours of footage. These are all available free to watch on the Life Led Business channel. I then decided what the next series would be - The Art of Money Getting by P. T. Barnum.

At over 150 pages, this new book by author Elliot Forte covers choosing the right strategy, improving user experience and conversions, SEO techniques that work, online advertising, email marketing, social media, and using collaborations to drive growth. We will be crowdfunding the publication of this book in 2026 and are inviting a limited number of advance readers to access the completed text early. If you’d like to receive a PDF copy before the public release, simply enter your email address below and we’ll send you the advance edition.

This blog was prompted by a recent interview I gave to a Master’s student researching the impact of AI on marketing. Like many, I find myself balancing the remarkable opportunities AI offers with the genuine concerns its rapid adoption raises for businesses and, consequently, society. The conversation unexpectedly pushed me to articulate thoughts on ethics, opportunities, and risks that I hadn’t yet fully expressed. I want to share them with you.

In October, I was fortunate enough to be invited by my brother to Dublin, and one of the activities we did together was the Guinness Storehouse brewery tour. As well as being a masterclass in having a good time (!), the tour was also a masterclass in marketing, and in the history of marketing. This article shares the highlights from that trip down marketing memory lane and the stories behind those iconic advertising campaigns that people of a certain age (mine!) know so well.

There have been many turning points over the years, but two stand out: the Brexit vote and the Covid crisis. By 2016, Business Think had grown into a consultancy brand, specialising in strategy development and coaching. We worked with both private clients and publicly funded contracts and were strong at securing support schemes for customers. We were often the most prolific lead generators for these schemes. The Brexit vote changed everything overnight. 

In August, I made the decision to move internet service provider for our hosting services. More than one hundred businesses rely on Business Think to host their websites, manage email, and provide technical support when required.

What is the most difficult project you have ever undertaken and had responsibility for?

Over the past few weeks, we’ve worked on a variety of marketing projects across areas like advertising, email, SEO, and ecommerce. Each one has offered useful insights and small wins that may be relevant to others as well.

In this blog there is a short round-up of what we’ve been working on - along with a few suggestions that might help improve your own marketing setup.

One month from now marks the 25th anniversary of starting my Business Think (although it’s had a few names changes since then!). I left full-time employment and launched the business on 19th August – my birthday. I could talk for days about those first two years. I was so naïvely positive. I believed every promise – often well-intentioned and sincere – made before I started, which never came to fruition. I had no idea how hard it would be. I’ve never been as stressed as I was in those early years. It took a long time to realise these important truths about business. 

After nine happy years working as an Associate Lecturer/Tutor at the University of Plymouth, I have chosen to take voluntary redundancy, effective from 31st July. During my time at the University, I had the pleasure of working with hundreds of students and some of the smartest, most committed individuals I’ve ever had the good fortune to meet. I taught on the Apprenticeship Degree in Professional Services, where I was responsible for developing the learning materials and delivering teaching for the Strategy and Finance, and Marketing and Sales modules.

Having built e-commerce websites for clients using most platforms (including Joomla and even plain HTML going back 20 years), I always find myself telling people that Shopify is the best platform for generating the most online sales. That’s based on experience and observation rather than science, so I asked ChatGPT to provide some evidence to support the claim... here's what the robots 'think'!

Many business owners spend months (or even years) chasing high-ranking positions on search engines, only to find themselves outranked by industry giants. Competing against Amazon, eBay, or the biggest name in your sector is like trying to win a marathon against a professional athlete. It is almost impossible to beat the big players in the marketplace using search engine optimization tactics.

Is it better to nurture a universal view of a single purpose or many? This made me think of one of the business theories I teach at the University of Plymouth: perceptual mapping, or positioning. This theory is based on the premise that the reality of what you think you do and the strengths you have is actually a fiction in your own mind if your target audience doesn't share that belief.

Navigating a business through challenging economic periods demands a different approach to marketing and sales. Based on years of experience helping businesses through challenging periods, here are practical steps to keep your business steady and ready for better times.

Five new videos have been uploaded to the latest Business Think blog this month, and they’re free to watch. These videos cover the following topics:

• Staying Focused on the Bigger Picture
• Power and Influence: The Stakeholder Matrix
• All These Numbers Mean Nothing: Life Goals and Business
• Come Back When You Have a Business Card: Being Kind in Business

One of the perks of working with a variety of business customers is that we learn as much from them as they do from us. This month, we discovered a great Shopify app that simplifies managing a referral network, known as affiliate marketing. We wanted to share this with both aspiring and current Shopify users. 

Unlike regular monthly updates, these emails are automatically sent based on specific actions, like visiting your website. They're personalised and timely, helping you increase sales, and communicate more effectively. This is a proven way to make more money from your mailing list.

Our free guide outlines the best email automation flows you can implement, tailored to various marketing goals.