“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the

My last post was an illustration of entrepreneurial opportunism – having the mindset to recognise and take up chances when they come knocking. However, as I (or, in fact, Thomas Edison) said at the end

Lots of opportunities come knocking if we are receptive (i.e. we have built a door). The trick is to recognise them (i.e. hear the knock). Then you have to decide whether or not to open

This year’s Real Estate Symposium Dinner is on September 18th. As always, this event is an opportunity for the key providers of home buying and selling services to look to the future and discuss how

Back from an extended holiday and I am still smarting from the World Cup – even though it ended nearly three weeks ago.  I think it was receiving sympathy from my German neighbour the morning

Firstly, congratulations to Geeks — not all geeks everywhere but our technology partner — Geeks Ltd — who won the 2014 Queens Award for Enterprise in Innovation last month. Apart from the fact that we

Some of you may have seen the April Fool we published in Today’s Conveyancer last week (https://todaysconveyancer.co.ukvirtual-conveyancers-a-solution-to-the-staff-recruitment-crisis-cms-14087). Of course, it was a bit of fun — even if the anagrammatic Olaf Lipor did not agree!

Smash the Machine? The whole fracking debate has got me thinking about how we fail to embrace the opportunities that new technologies bring. The fracking protesters seem, to me, to be a combination of modern-day

Is it a sad indictment of our society that “Selfie” — a digital self-portrait — is the Oxford Dictionary “Word of the Year” or am I just a curmudgeon (my candidate for 2014 btw)? I

  At 6:30am last Monday morning, at the peak of the St Jude Storm, I was strapped into a seat on a plane taxiing into an 80 mph headwind.  With no fuss whatsoever it accelerated

Is the Help to Buy scheme good for the market?  The purpose is clearly to stimulate demand — albeit artificially through a temporary measure designed to make borrowing easier. However, while volumes are still much

When the old boxer returns to ring for one last fight — many of us wince.  We see a deluded individual trying to recreate past glories and we know that he is doomed to humiliating

Last Thursday I hosted the Real Estate Symposium dinner and it was a great success. Some of the economic medicine dished out with the wine by the excellent speakers — Jonathan Davis and Michael Coogan