When the Job Dies, Try Going it Alone

Last week Tommy Gordon was officially made redundant. But Gordon is not sitting at home wondering what to do next. He has already started a venture – a business dealing in natural-history curiosities. In partnership with a world-renowned collector of everything from mammoth tusks to birds of paradise Gordon plans to build an inventory of pieces to sell through the art dealer and to provide a bespoke service to collectors. “I was never particularly happy doing what I used to do,” said Gordon. “But they were pretty good to me in terms of a redundancy payment so I decided to use the money to do what I had always really wanted.”

Gordon is not the only one using redundancy money to start a business. All over the country, new start-ups are springing forth, the brain-childrenofentrepreneurs who see the recession as an opportunity. That view is shared by Jim Surguy, who specialises in corporate development. “ Start-up costs are much lower, technology is cheaper and there are a lot of talented people who are out of work and so are more reasonable about salaries. ” And, he added, recessions have always produced successful businesses – such as Tesco and Revlon in the depression of the 1930s and Microsoft in the recession of the 1970s.

So what do you need to succeed? Getting the product right is vital, and the markets to consider include anything to do with the overfifties – from travel and holidays to entertainment. “They have more time and more disposable income – and it’s a quickly growing part of our population,” said one expert. Then there are the buzz industries of energy saving and climate change. In boom periods, people get sloppy and pay lots of money for rubbish, whereas in times like this, technology that saves money is what investors want to invest in.

Any areas to avoid? Forget food retailing, keep-fit or gyms and home interiors – all these industries are suffering. And don’t forget the practical elements – enough cash and some good management people. Entrepreneurial brains aren’t always the best at managing. Is it worth studying for an MBA? Many seem to think so. According to statistics courses across the country have had an increase in applications. At a Business School in London applications for some courses have gone up as much as 60%. They even have a full-time professor of entrepreneurship who focuses on teaching the skills people need to start a new venture. Even for those who aren’t starting up now, but are already running small companies, the recession can be a good thing. Will Holloway started a goody-bag supply. Although he admitted he doesn’t expect this year to go so well, he is adamant that the recession has been a good thing for his company. “We’ve been able to move to better, cheaper offices, and having a bit more time has enabled me to make the company slicker,” he said. “We’ve cleaned up our database, redone our website and sent out press releases. This time last year we were frantically busy and earning good cash, but I never had time to do anything like update the website. We are not going to do the same amount of business as we did last year, but we are trying new things, such as more targeted promotional campaigns. It keeps us on our toes. ”

Going solo, meanwhile, could even lead you to full-time employment. That’s what happened to Damien Lipman, when he set up a firm to provide assistance to wealthy individuals. He spent several months organising the busy lives of the very rich, doing everything from setting up work rotas for household staff to interviewing potential personal assistants. At lunch he got chatting to his neighbour about what he did. She happened to be the CEO of a hedge fund and promptly offered him a job. “I was quite happy doing what I was doing, said Lipman, I was chasing contracts. Now I do a similar thing, but in-house.”

L. Denyer. The Sunday Times

Practicum 10.11

Translate the italicized parts of Text 10b into Russian

Practicum 10.12

Practicum 10.13

Practicum 10.14

Account for the most natural pattern of communicative behaviour in the suggested settings, rely on the Evading & Being Vague strategy

-Tommy Gordon and his business partner discuss their future plans with the art dealer;

-the full-time professor of entrepreneurship at the Business School in London is delivering a workshop dealing with up- and downsides of entrepreneurship at a time of recession

-Will Holloway and an IT-designer are discussing the firm’s website

-Damien Lipman is discussing his future occupation with the CEO of the hedge fund

Practicum 10.15

Practice Evading & Being Vague and Pushing for an Answer strategiesin the following situation

A young ambitious female, a managing partner in Ernst & Young’s office and chairperson of the International Business Association, being the first Russian and the first female to hold the position, is granting an interview and evading the questions concerning her first employer when she, as a law student, joined an accounting firm; her private life

 

III. Communication Practice

Brainstorming

A team of spinners are coaching a celeb before a talk show (currently facing declining popularity against a looming third divorce threatening joined custody over the children on multiple grounds: drinking, excessive clubbing, adultery & womanizing) to rely on Evading & Being Vague strategies

PROGRESS TEST 10 (part 1)

1. Explain what is meant by:

buzz industry; call-out charge; disposable income; hedge fund; legal or courtesy car cover; switching car insurance

2. Review the communication strategy of Arranging the Arguments in the Logical Order:

An entrepreneur, a former BP manager who left the oil giant 9 years ago, launched Healthcare at Home, which administers chemotherapy to people in their front rooms, being a guest of a talk show, shares his experience and encourages people to start their own business (tips: high delivery standards are key to building the thriving business; using staff nurses instead of agency workers and surrounding yourself with the right people will help you; knowing where you want the business to go is equally important; committing yourself wholeheartedly is the only way to succeed; start with looking for gaps in the market).

3. Review Evading and Being Vague communication strategy in the settings to follow:

In a telephone interview commander of the American military in the Pacific confirms the US had about a dozen medium- and heavy-lift military helicopters on standby in Thailand, ready for military operations, he evades the issue of the US interference with the local conflicts

PROGRESS TEST 10 (part 2)

PART 3. TALKING SCIENCE