My CEO Life is the blog of Simon Baker, the ex-CEO and Managing Director of the REA Group. He is now building a new business called Classified Ad Ventures. This blog looks at real business problems and provides real solutions - ones that any manager around the world can follow and implement.
Top 10 CEO’s Who Never Went to College
September 1st, 2009
A great posting came across my desk ther other day that listed the top 10 CEO’s around the world that never went to college (uni for those in the UK and Australia). All the CEO’s are well known. Of course there is Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs on the list. However, some of the other names were a little surprising.
10 Cool New Online Tools at Inman Connect
August 5th, 2009
At the Inman Connect Conference in San Francisco Brian Boreo told the 1,500 strong crowd his top 10 cool new online tools to help any business.
Here they are …
What Was United Airlines Thinking
July 12th, 2009
The story of Canadian Dave Carroll and United airlines is quite amazing. Dave is a country singer and he and his band were on a trip with United from Halifax to Nebraska that had a layover in Chicago. During this layover the baggage handlers at Chicago’s O’Hare managed to destroy his guitar.
Now you would have thought that United would pay for his guitar to be replaced. They didn’t come to the party claiming the Dave Carroll didn’t make a claim with 24 hours. Dave was given the complete run around with United refusing to take any responsibility for the damage.
So what did Dave do, he wrote a song about his experience and that song hit You Tube on Monday last week and has already had over 2.3 million views. Check it out … oh and it is called … United Breaks Guitars.
So what do we learn from this?
Well firstly, United must have some very questionable baggage handling techniques. If you are to going to fly United, I would try to take carry-on luggage or better still, fly another airline.
Secondly, United’s customer service approach seems to be designed to say “no” – no matter how legitimate your complaint is.
Thirdly, the $3k to replace the guitar is cheap compared to the brand damage that this whole episode is causing United. And there is nothing they can do about it now. The cat is out of the bag and will run its own course. In today’s social media world, you never know how poor customer service is going to come back and bite you.
Finally, Dave Carroll and his band have made this an opportunity to further their careers. 2.3 million people is a great audience. Hopefully they will release an album soon to take advantage of their new found fame.
Oh … and if you thought United had got off relatively light? Dave and his band have 2 more songs in the works.
The Rise of the Coffice
June 2nd, 2009
In today’s tough economic market more and more people are losing their jobs and struggling to find new ones. A by-product of this new world is that more and more people are becoming entrepreneurs and starting a wide range of new businesses. Now if you don’t have a job and want to be an entrepreneur you can work from home, rent an office or join the new trend of using coffee shops and cafes as your office – the coffice!
Giving and Taking Feedback is So Important
May 25th, 2009
I recently wrote an article on one of the other blogs that I run in which I gave my view on a market and how the players are performing in that market. Now the article was meant as a wakeup call for one of those players who I thought had become a little lazy however they took it as a slight against them.
This got me thinking about how you should give feedback and what could happen if you happen to take it as it is meant.
Is Twitter a Business Tool?
May 20th, 2009
Everywhere you turn people are talking about twitter and the tweets that are flying around the internet. It is clear that people are signing up to twitter in their thousands and some people believe it can be used as a business tool – just check out the new book by Joel Comm and Ken Burge called Twitter Power – How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time.
However the question still remains is twitter a nice social media fad or can it be used as a serious business tool?
How to Become an Entrepreneur
May 18th, 2009
I recently received the following email from a reader about becoming an entrepreneur.
I want to become an entrepreneur but I have no prior business experience. I have been researching possible business products and ideas. What is the best advice could you give to people like me with burning desire to become an entrepreneur but have no prior business experience? What are the things I can do to accelerate my learning curve?
Having been an entrepreneur for a while, here are my ideas about what it takes to become one.
Launching Jobs Portal Watch
May 3rd, 2009
The team at Classified Ad Ventures is proud to announce that we have just launched Jobs Portal Watch – a sister site to Property Portal Watch.
Classified Ad Ventures Update
April 30th, 2009
The last three months have seen the Classified Ad Ventures business go from strength to strength. We now have a clear mission for mission for the business, a strong team in place and most importantly operations underway. Here is an update on the business.
As Always, Communication is Critical
April 29th, 2009
A topic that is often talked about in management magazines and books is communication. It seems that an enormous amount is written on the topic yet management time and time again get it wrong. I was chatting with a friend today about his work place and he commented that people are anxious and communications are not flowing.
This got me thinking – what are the do’s and dont’s of great communication from management to the employees.
Read more…
Latest Articles from Classified Ad Ventures Sites
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Shared Two Property Sites Relaunch.
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Yesterday |
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Shared zillow.com Turns Four.
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Posted doostang.com Raising Funds.
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Posted estatecreate.com Focuses on SEO.
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Shared BytePlay Back with Local Network.
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Posted DOL Challenge Winners Announced.
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February 7th |
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Shared makaan.com Launches Index.
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Posted idealist.org Looks for Support.
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Posted Going Local for Leads.
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February 5th |
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February 4th |
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Posted monster.com Heads for Super Bowl.
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Posted jobs.co.za Filters Resumes.
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Posted Free Website Stats from WooRank.
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Property Portal Watch is part of Classified Ad Ventures. Classified Ad Ventures helps the management teams of classified sites and their advertisers gain the most from using the internet. There are three parts to the business:
Inspire - Our consulting team works with management of classifieds portals to improve performance.
Innovate - Our incubation team develops new products and services for portals and their advertisers.
Invest - Our investment team takes equity stakes in online classifieds businesses around the world.
Classifed Ad Ventures sites include:
| Property Portal Watch | Jobs Portal Watch |
| Property Ad Guru | My CEO Life |
Classifed Ad Ventures Investments Include:
| ArtsHub | RedBubble |
| HippoJobs | HomeThinking |
| TokyoApartment | iProperty |
| Sports Passion |
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