Couple of things that caught my attention this week.
Inflation has gripped the nation again. Only this time it is not just the UK it is a worldwide thing.
Globalism, connected markets have all conspired to make us pay more. Sure, there are issues with fuel security in most countries, as politicians have taken time out to focus on other things instead of solving the problems we face.
At some point elections will be about solving these problems instead of populism or whatever you want to call it then.
No matter what issue you look at, the environment, education, health it’s all out of sorts. For one can’t believe that I am the only one who feels a little bit out of sorts at the moment .
Given the political situation here in the UK, and the entire economic situation little seems to be making sense.
For those of us running a business we have seen quite a large number of changes over the past few years. Even if you ignore the lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Administration, taxation — everything is more complicated.
From a marketing perspective the big social media platforms have continued to clamp down on the views and opinions that they don’t like and we are seeing more censorship than ever before.
Those producing content that doesn’t quite fit the narrative or if you are running Facebook advertising for your small and medium-sized business…
Then, all of a sudden you find yourself with a ban or even a shadow ban.
Let’s say you were using Google or Facebook or Twitter to run your ad campaigns and that was producing thousands of pounds worth of sales every week. Then suddenly, banned or shadow banned. Your content was effectively removed from the networks.
Everything comes to a stop.
The business model you thought you had, the plans you thought you had for your long-term future have all been changed.
Because a handful of individuals in one of the large tech firms decided, for some reason. That your content, your business no longer fitted in with what it was they wanted.
Appealing against these bans or blocks are impossible.
This means that we will need to look at other ways of doing business if we are to achieve a solid and reliable future.
Now this is possible but we have to get a little bit old school with the systems and processes. And we have to start to use the automation and technical side of things that the internet brings us.
This is what I call Natural marketing,
It is the way we have always done business in the past. On a one-to-one basis. But using the leverage that technology brings us.
Once you start to get these systems working for you you will never have to worry about posting on a social media platform ever again. In fact you can use the social media platforms for extra leverage rather than being reliant on them.
The same applies to your money, we have seen in recent weeks the government applying sanctions against Russian individuals.
And we have seen governments around the world, notably the Canadians seizing assets just because some people made a decision to support something the government didn’t agree with.
Their assets have been frozen. Bank accounts have been locked and money seized pending appeal.
If you think on any level this is the right way to go about dealing with the people that no longer support you then you are part of the problem, it is not the way that we are used to doing things in the modern world. Nor the way we have evolved to treat our population.
But if you’re worried about the future of your money then just be aware, as we have seen with Russian individuals (and for good reason) their assets frozen but if that was you, how would that be acceptable.
In Spain for example if it’s not unusual to have your personal bank accounts frozen because there is a query over your tax bill, not that you are proven to have done anything wrong, but just in case you have.
So this is happening all over the world isn’t unique to Russians or Canadians.
But also we now have mandatory savings in relation to pensions. The government is forcing you to pay money into your pension schemes and your employer to do the same.
It’s called auto enrolment.
No I don’t have a particular problem with this but there is absolutely nothing stopping the government changing legislation at some point in the future to block access to those pension funds for yourself or for them to tell you exactly how and when you can draw down on those benefits and what you can spend them on.
For example with the planned changes in relation to cryptocurrencies and the digital pounds, you could have a carbon credit attached to your spending. Which means that spending will be monitored and you might be blocked from making a particular purchase.
If your health records are tied in with your spending wallet then you could find that alcoholics can’t buy booze or diabetics can’t buy sugar. Some of you will argue that is acceptable, but is it the sort of world you want to live in.
This is why having skills as well as money in the bank is equally as valuable.
At the moment we see a squeeze on incomes and inflation in the system which is likely to be around for a few more years question, if you had additional skills you could be trading those at the marketplace for more money this kind of solves one problem.
You can find out more on money trainers.co.uk and if you would like a workshop at your place of work or some consultancy with your business, then get in touch.
Contact Richard Smith