Global Favour Bank thriving in credit crunch

Just returned from a week on the road, gauging the opinion of local authority chief executives in the Midlands, to discover that my favourite bank is thriving in these troubled times. The Global Favour Bank (GFB) is the one that we all make deposits in, every time we help someone out, and it gives us credit every now and again when we need a bit of support. 

On my way back home, I thought I'd take a little detour and pop in to see some friends who are converting a barn.  I spent a thoroughly enjoyable day and half with them, shovelling sand and levelling concrete. By October, they should have brought a grade two listed barn back into use and created a new wonderful home. 

Conventional banks usually take 3 days to clear a cheque, about a week to sort out a loan and almost a month at times to open a business account. GFB turns things round a lot quicker. What should I find when I get home but a lovely new desk chair, donated by a rugby playing colleague, who took pity on me after seeing me on the TV sitting on a totally inappropriate piece of furniture whist typing out invoices. 

GFB - The bank that likes to say "Here you go mate."

Instant Post-Awayday Action - just add water

Chuffed to bits today. One of the first clients for Gauge Opinion Ltd was a group of local councillors in North London. They asked me to facilitate an awayday for them, and fortunately, as local government still has a few quid kicking around in spite of the credit crunch, there was a modest fee involved.

I always really enjoy facilitating awaydays. There can be a real buzz in the room when you get people out of their normal environment and they realise that they actually quite like working with each other. The only problem is that there is always a bit of a risk that, after a fun day, everyone goes back to the office and falls back into their old habits. 

Not so, my lovely North London councillors. The first of four media stunts that they planned during the day, appeared today, first as a facebook photo album, then as a website news update, and no doubt later this week will find there way into the local papers and perhaps on the local TV News.

I'm also looking forward to launching another client's website tomorrow. It's for a firm of independent financial advisers who have managed to identify a niche insurance market that they are working really hard to serve. Its really encouraging to see a small company in a tricky sector deciding to invest in growing their business. The whole team seem to be getting involved in the project now and people are showing new talents - including an eagle eyed proof-reader who has sent me a very long list of changes for me and to work through tonight. Fortunately that's the day time for our web designer in Singapore. But still, its back to work for me now.