Guy Levine's Blog

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  • A Funny From A Friend
  • Getting Back In The Swing Of Things
  • China Photo
  • Getting Through The Gate Keeper
  • China Antics
  • Tv Coming Soon!
  • My latest Adventure and H1 tags
  • Great Email
  • Back To The Real World
  • Magnificent 6+1 conference

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November 2005

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A Funny From A Friend

For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way
computers have enhanced our lives, read on At a recent computer expo
(COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the
auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the
computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000
miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars
with the following characteristics (and I just love this part):

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would
have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut offthe car,
restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For
some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your
car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable,
five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be
replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An illegal Operation" warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and
refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle,
turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how
to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the
same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

November 29, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Getting Back In The Swing Of Things

I have finally come back down to earth after China and my tour around the country. Last weekend I spoke at the Millionaire Mind Event with the likes of Michelle Mone and Simon Woodroffe. I had a great time but all the travelling took its toll - major burnout!

Anyway, I am back on form now. Head down and aiming for Christmas and Newyear. Not long to go now. After China, I have been booked to speak at a conference in Dubai next Feb. I cant wait, it is supposed to be amazing.

I don’t really have any major words of wisdom to share in today's posting, just wanted to get back into the swing of it!

November 04, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

China Photo

Me talking at the Global CEO Forum in Hanzhou! If you ever take a trip there, make sure you pop into the Raddison hotel and take a trip to the 5th floor.

Doingthedoinchina

October 26, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Getting Through The Gate Keeper

So I am back in the land of the living. I have only been back from China for a few weeks, but it seems like I have been home ages.

Here is a little strategy I used before I went away, that has proved to have worked very well.

You know how sometimes you go to conferences and meet the speakers or some people that are quite high profile or busy, but you really want to get to speak to them as you know they can really help your business? But often, they can be hard to contact or even take your call?

Well, this is what you need to do...Ask if you can have a photo taken with them, or take a photo of them doing their thing. Then use a photo printer - I use the Cannon Selphy, and print it onto a postcard. That’s right, it will print photos onto postcards that you can put through the postal system without them smudging.

On the back of the post card, write a little message; compliment them if possible! Also write that you will call them in a couple of days.

Now, lets pretend that we are that person - not another call from a 'wanna be', not another boring letter, but a picture, short and sweet with some nice words on the back. What are you going to do? Rip up a photo of you and through it in the bin - not so sure. If your secretary opens the post for you, what is she going to do - throw it away as junk mail - I don’t think so!

When you ring, you are instantly set apart from the crowd.

'Hi, can I speak to John please. Who is speaking? Guy Levine. Does John know what it is about? Yes, he probably has a photo of us on his desk! Let me put you through!'

Give it a go.

By the way, David if you read this (David is the person who I sent the postcard!), although it sounds calculated as I write about it - when I did it, it was just a cool idea, but when dissected - it is way powerful!

October 26, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

China Antics

Ok, so I have now left Hanzhou – which sounds when spoken more like banjo, and I am now in Shanghai. The hotel is amazing. It’s a state guesthouse. The drive way is a million miles long and the grounds are beautiful.

It is a shame that the bell boys are not as gentle with your cases as they are with their hotel. I nearly had to unleash some Kung Fu moves, as I caught one of them dragging my case along the floor…on its side. Anyway, I know that it could happen anywhere in the world! Just a shame it was my case!

The Chinese people that we have met have been really friendly and hospitable. The language barrier can be a bit difficult, but with a few smiles and fits of giggles on both sides you get round it!

I have been learning to speak Chinese and it is coming along quite nicely. I can now say a few more words. I suppose practice makes perfect.

I don’t really have a learning tip today. Just trying to keep up with my posting habit!

October 17, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tv Coming Soon!

Well, it’s now the 15th of October and I have only just got into bed! Virgin Atlantic managed to mess up my plans again by not having a car to take me to my hotel. Sometimes there is a fine line between mistakes happening, and a company looking un organised. It’s a shame as the flight was amazing.

I did my slot at the conference. I managed to say a few words in Chinese which really warmed up the crowd. Speaking with a translator was really strange as the audience would only laugh at your jokes two minutes after you made them. Oh well, I am now truly an international speaker – London, Manchester and Shanghai!

Tonight we went out for dinner to sample some authentic Chinese cuisine – I have to be honest, it was not for me, but I was with my mate Paul Birdle and we just had a laugh. And boy did we laugh. Anyway, we slipped out early, got a few beers and started putting the world to rights!

Not breaking from my habit, here is my key tip. I was interviewed for Chinese TV and radio – my talk must have been good! I was also interviewed for Internet TV. This is cool. With some simple technology and a www.youraddress.tv you could have your own TV station too. Trust me, its coming. Why not get ahead of the game. I will be talking more about this soon.

Off to sleep for me now!

October 15, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)

My latest Adventure and H1 tags

This post is quite me centric! If you just want the tip – read the last paragraph!

Well, in the true spirit of Guy, I have been handing out business cards with a new website address on which points people to a page which has nothing on it. Oh well, what can I say; I’m to busy making my clients money!

Anyway, I’m sitting on my flight to shanghai. This is the first time I have flown first class long haul, and I never want to travel anything else. With Virgin, you kinda sit in your own pod with TV, reclining armchair which happens to flip into a bed and you are surrounded by a plethora of beautiful women pandering to your every need! I say!  Ok, so this post is self indulgent, but come on – if anything has ever inspired me to earn more money, it must be this. I don’t ever want to travel anything else, but at what it costs I will need to focus!

What’s also nice is that while ordering a cup of tea (well you can take the boy out of the north of England, but you can’t take the northern out of the boy!) I was given a mini box of very nice chocolate truffles from Rococo Chocolates, which is owned by a lady who was part of an audience I spoke to in the City of London a few weeks ago – if you ever want to taste these amazing chocs – http://www.rococochocolates.com! 

Ok, so the purpose of this trip is to speak to about 600 Chinese CEO’s about the Internet, but before I get there, I should really finish of my website – so Dreamweaver loaded, im off to finish it.

Oh, here is one good little tip which may sound a bit techie, but if you don’t understand it, you can always speak to your techie! The search engines love it when you classify your text, and they really love it when you use a H1, a heading one tag on your pages, but heading tags look really ugly, but you can use CSS or cascading style sheet to modify the way they look. Problem solved. Anyway, that’s what I am doing now – writing multiple headlines with my keywords in them to test, and them putting them into my HTML pages.

Hopefully I will have time to update you from my trip!

October 14, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Great Email

Last week I recived the best email I have had for ages.

My email newsletter, which you can sign up for at http://www.guylevine.com starts, 'from the desk of Guy Levine.' This is what a reader had to say!

Guy,

I am writing to tell you something which is happening in your absence that I think you should know about: Your desk is writing letters to people!

I hate desks which do this. We entrepreneurs need to come down very hard on over-aspirational furniture. This was only a short letter, but you know how these things start . . .

Keep the faith.

Signed: A Well-Wisher

Brilliant!

October 12, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Back To The Real World

After a great Friday night and Saturday with Peter Thom (no p) son, I am back at home with the better half. I came back early from this event as with going to China next week, I wanted to spend time with the better half. Next time I am going to have to take her with me!

The day I was talking we heard some great tips from Will Kintish - http://www.kintish.co.uk. What this man does not know about working a room doesn't need knowing. His best bit is how to look at the different types of people and groups of people in the room and know which ones you can approach, and which ones you should stay away from and avoid making a fool of yourself!

We also heard from David Hughes, Managing Director of Nightingale Conant Uk. He was talking about direct mail and how to put together a direct mail pack. The funny thing is that it is so similar to the Internet, that he could be an Internet Guru too!

So to sum up, if you were not there, you missed out, but there is another one in March, and I will be there!

I am posting some photos so you can see our antics! I have to rush now, as by weekday I am an International Public Speaker, but by weekend I have been asked to wash the kitchen floor.

The photo's are Will Kintish working the room, Sharon Thomson - Peter's Wife, Ettington Chase where we were staying and Peter David Hughes and myself - a rouges gallery!

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October 09, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Magnificent 6+1 conference

I'm currently sitting in Peter Thomson's seminar listening to his opening talk. Already people are scribbling notes like paper is going out of fashion! I'm going on next so I am starting to get excited.

One key skill that Peter has told us about is called Rapid Repeat. This helps you to remember information. You basically repeat everything silently in your head, after the person that you are listening to. It may seem strange but try it. It really makes you focus!

Hopefully, I will have some time to give you some other tips a bit later on!

I'm actually sitting next to the managing director of Nightingale Conant Uk. You can check out their site at http://www.nightingale.com. Anyway, I better sign off and pay attention. Anyway, here is a photo of our Host!

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October 08, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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