Today, I am reminded yet again why start-ups fail.

I met with a lovely couple a few weeks ago who wanted to open a retail store. They have a dream to work for themselves and the wife wanted to be in fashion.

They are new to the market and have never owned a fashion outlet, but they both have passion and are determined to do it.

I asked all the normal questions;

"Losers live in the past. Winners learn from the past and enjoy working on the present toward the future."
Denis Waitley.

If I look back at the past, I only see the positive influences that are directing me to the future. A fall in the park as a seven year old, taught me to be strong and that everything heals. A teacher in fifth grade that had me in tears because she dared to give me a A- on an essay, only to have to change the mark to an A once I brought it to the Head Masters attention, taught me to stand up for what you believe in. My Year 8 crush who never even noticed that I existed, taught me that not everyone is on the same page. Crashing my boyfriends new car when I was 20 years old into the garage wall while trying to park it, taught me to not sweat the small stuff.

Last night, after a good friend’s birthday celebration, I headed off to Trak in Toorak to hear Ben Hazelwood, a final 8 contestant on The Voice sing with Prinny Stevens.

They were brilliant. They clearly loved what they were doing and were coming to terms with their new-found fame in Australia. There were hundreds of fans completely absorbed by every word they sang. It was great to see.

As we stood around chatting in one of the private bars, I watched Ben Hazelwood at work. He was the consummate professional, exceptionally polite and engaging.

In every businesses life, there comes a time when you decide whether the business has 'legs' to grow further.

Marketing Eye has hit this point many times and each time we have done a situation analysis and made business decisions on where to go. Right now, we are in expansion mode with the US market firmly in our sights.

If you are in this position, think about what your Big Hairy Audacious Goal is and work out how realistic it is given your current resources and capabilities. Things to consider include;

For many small businesses, the not-so-new marketing technique of QR Codes is just another technology platform that may well be a craze.

Unfortunately, this would be wishful thinking.

QR Codes are here to stay and in 2012 small businesses will find everything from advertisements through to resumes featuring QR Codes alongside brand names sending consumers and customers to websites, video, advertisements, catalogues, contact information, product suggestions and so on.

The U-turn in Public Relations: Why the media has to change its ways.

The entire purpose of Public Relations is to communicate with the public, whether at a government, organisational or individual level. Therefore, it only makes sense that if we now all turn to our computers to talk to each other, then journalists and PR companies need to do the same.

If you mention the word ‘Twitter’ to a room of PR people, I’m sure it would generate a huge buzz of opinions. After all, it is one of the most fundamental changes in how media works today. Instead of sending out press releases, the publicist can now just send a tweet to a journalist through their twitter account with a link to a press release, landing page, video or social media experiment, and instantly have the journalists attention.

Are you the Xmas Scrooge or do you bring joy to everyone around you?
Does going to work mean that you change hats and become a negative, overly opinionated, in-your-face style manager who nags your employees into being so afraid to communicate?

Do you conjure up ways to make others miserable without even knowing it?
Are you too pedantic about detail that you lose sight of the big picture?

Denver Airport Billboard

Life is a long time and staying loyal to certain brands whether it's Heinz Baked Beans, Chanel No. 5 perfume, Nike, Tiffanys, Toyota, Ray Ban or Mokador Coffee - the endurance of brand loyalty can be a long, arduous path.

Most small businesses ignore guerilla marketing as part of their marketing mix. Why? Because most think that it's just what the big companies do.

Well, that is true most of the time, but not because it costs alot of money to do. It's mainly because their creative agencies or someone with a spot of 'genius' has come up with a guerilla marketing idea that has great potential.