One of my employees recently returned from learning to dive on Tao Island in Thailand. He told us he stayed on a beach called Taa Sak. It sounded like a very peaceful and quiet beach in an idyllic setting of coconut palms and mountain scenery. He had a deep suntan and a very bored looked on his face.

Rather than dismiss his holiday with just a few words of polite discourse, I encouraged my employee to tell us in the office about his holiday. I also asked him to tell us some details about how much it cost. This was politic on my part. I find discussing the bottom line helps to focus the minds of my employees. At first many of the people in the office were transported by the stories of spotting whale sharks and trigger fish diving; by the rich coconut laced food and by the all night parties on Sairee Beach; but, when they discovered how much money they needed to go to Thailand and do these things they soon started to value their jobs again I’m sure.

It is always good to be friendly as an office manager. It is essential to have a basic understanding of human psychology to make sure everyone is happy and doing their job to the best of their ability rather than dreaming of soaking up the sun on Taa Sak in Koh Tao.

I went home to see my parents and an old friend suggested I took a holiday in Thailand. The idea immediately took root and within a week I was on a plane to Thailand with no idea where I wanted to go, or what I wanted to do.

I hated Bangkok. The confined room, the noise and pollution reminded me of my last job. I ended up taking an overnight bus down to Khao Lak. I loved the area immediately. It had great beaches and just enough nightlife to stop boredom setting in.

The main jobs available for foreigners at the time were for dive instructors. I did my Open Water but realized it wasn’t for me. However, when the dive school heard that I had been an office supervisor before and that I could do accounts they offered me a job in Bang La On. It was just 5 minutes walk from the beach, and it was easily the best office job I’ve ever had. I chatted with customers and in my spare time I learnt Thai. It was very unstressful. When I finished at 4pm I would head down to the beach for a sunset swim before dinner.

I did that office job for a year, and it remains my favorite (if worst paid) job I’ve done.

This can partly be achieved by better insulation. This is not, however, always an easy thing to do because many modern business facilities are built from steel and light weight walls that are made in the factory and assembled on site.

A good solution is to better regulate the heating and cooling in different parts of the facility. It has to be decided which parts need what type of heating and cooling. Many areas are infrequently visited and need minimal heating and cooling. Another factor is timing. It is essential to have the heating or cooling equipment set points and on/off times to coincide with the comings and goings of the work force.

If the facility keeps the same working hours every day of the week then a good 5+2 programmable thermostat such as Lux Products TX500E can do the job fine.This model comes with swing control to stop short cycling, a temporary hold button and, most importantly for a facility, a keyboard lock out. This stops unauthorized personnel from changing the settings.

By using a programmable thermostats such as the Lux Products TX500E Smart Temp big savings can be made on heating and cooling bills. In some geographical locations the savings can amount to 30% of the total bill for the year. That means that installing programmable thermostats soon pay for themselves and then start bringing down annual running costs. That is something as a manager or a proprietor of a business that should be taken seriously in these tough economic times.

It’s always the same beach. It’s Thong Nai Pan Noi beach. It’s on Koh Phangan island down in the south of the Gulf of Thailand. It’s where I met my Japanese wife. The best of times. We try to go back every year. The locals on the beach  all know us. We never have to haggle or worry about getting ripped off. It’s as a real beach holiday should be – cheap, relaxed and a million miles away from the office, the cold weather and the pressure of work.

We went for New Year’s Eve last year. We partied all night at the Funky Buddha in Thong Nai Pan Yai. I must have drunk too much as I forgot what happened between 3am and 7am when I found myself alone standing in the sea. It was a moment to savour. The first morning of the new year and I was in paradise.

Next time I want to go in the summer. In July. The weather is really hot and that keeps many of the tourists away. Our last trip we spotted a great holiday villa in Thong Nai Pan Noi to rent. It’s called Sunrise Villa. It is only 5,000 Thai Baht a night. It’s perched on a hill behind Thong Tapan Resort and has a truly awesome view of the bay, not to mention complete privacy.

It’s thoughts like these that keep me sane when I’m working in an office.

Until the Full Moon Party became a hit on the traveling circuit Koh Phangan was a well kept secret. It was an island with lots of gorgeous white sand beaches with simple bungalows, a few bars and a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. It used to be nearly as cheap as India.

Nowadays the prices have gone up for food and accommodation on Koh Phangan (but not as much as on Koh Samui) and fewer hippies come to the island. Instead thousands of party minded young people come. They come for the Full Moon Party, the Half Moon Party, the Black Moon Party, the Shiva Moon Party and the Jungle Experience. These are all outdoor parties that are cheap to go to and let young people dance and go a bit wild all night long.

The biggest party on Koh Phangan (and indeed in South East Asia) is the Full Moon Party. It’s only $3 to enter. Drinks are reasonably priced and the experience of partying with 30,000 other people on a beautiful beach all night and then watching the sunrise over the ocean the following morning is an unforgettable one.

The next biggest party is the Half Moon Party. This party regularly draws about 2,000 people. The evening starts with a live band called Moscowfish who play acoustic and wistful triphop songs. They are followed by a house DJ accompanied by live African drumming. From midnight the music is all psy-trance.

The Half Moon Party is held in the jungle near Ban Tai village. At separate locations in the area the Shiva Moon Party, the Black Moon Party and the Jungle Experience are held once a month. These are all trance music parties. On the beach at Ban Tai the resort called Ban Sabai has day parties after all the major parties.

Finally, in the summer there are parties in the jungle next to a waterfall near the northern village of Chaloklum. This is the Paradise Waterfall Party. Again it is mostly Koh Phangan’s version of trance music that is played.

It is only at the Full Moon Party that you can hear other genres of music such as RnB, drum and bass, rock and pop. The band at Half Moon Party is the standout performance for all those interested in original music. The prevalence of trance DJs in Koh Phangan is slightly disappointing. It seems that Koh Phangan is trying too hard to emulate Goa.

On the plus side these parties are held in great locations. Moreover, in Koh Phangan you are never far away from a beach fringed with palm trees. When there isn’t any party going on most of the beaches of Koh Phangan are idyllic havens that are far more beautiful and friendly than the commercialized beaches of Koh Samui.

If only Koh Phangan parties could show a bit more musical variety they might foster a more creative atmosphere to the island. Instead Koh Phangan has a reputation for drunkenness and illicit substance abuse. In a way Koh Phangan has become the Ibiza of Asia, only much better value.

One retail outlet that really has its inventory management down to science is Walmart. It’s amazing how they maintain their margins while still selling things so cheap. This is due not only to their preferred pricing arrangements with suppliers, but also to their sophisticated inventory management software. That company has continued to do well in the economic downturn. Personally I don’t shop there because I am a high-level manager. I prefer to do my shopping at more sophisticated outlets. All of my suits are from Brooks Brothers of course. You won’t find me wearing an off-the-rack suit from JC Penney’s, that’s for sure. I keep my tailor busy.

Anyway, back to my friend who manages the retail outlet. Lately he’s been selling one high-margin item – vaporizers. Since he started stocking them, many people have come into the shop and asked for the best vaporizer. Apart from that, he also sells various furnishings for the home. One item that was a popular seller throughout the fall were fire bowls. The sales of are slowing down a bit now during the winter time. So the store is getting some rapid inventory turns on those. ‘Inventory turns’ is a sophisticated term that those of us in the business world use. If you don’t know what it means, I would recommend you go and Google it. Speaking of good businesses, Google is definitely one of them. Have you taken a look at their financials? Their net margins are consistently above 25%. It’s all advertising revenue too, from people clicking on those little ads. I’ve heard that you can also get your website ranked highly in the normal Google search, but I personally don’t know much about that. If I was going to do that I would just outsource it.

Why I’m a Stressed-Out Businessman

I have a lot of stress in my life at the moment. We’re going through a prolonged period of change at work, which means we need to adjust the way people are managed, make some difficult decisions about who stays in the organisation and who should be invited to leave, and arranging new accommodation for the entire workforce.

As facilities manager, the accommodation problem rests squarely on my shoulders. It’s a weighty problem to wrestle with because it affects the lives of so many people. Depending on where we end up, some staff will have a longer commute to work each day, which might cause any number of complications with child care, transport arrangements, not to mention the extra cost of fuel which is trending ever higher these days.

In addition to the personal implications for people working for my organisation, the choice of which facility I eventually decide on can impact the bottom line and the very survival of our business. If I go for a prime location, this will cost big bucks and could make our operation less viable economically, whereas if I go for a cheaper option, this will inevitably be further away from our customers and will be lacking in prestige. It’s a tough decision.

How my Dog Relaxes Me

With all this stress in my life during the working day, the last thing that I or my family need is for me to bring the worry and fretfulness of the workplace home with me. It’s bad for the health and bad for the ambience of the household.

So how do I relax?

I spend some time with my dog. This makes me feel better in a number of ways:

My Dog is Always Pleased to See Me

No matter how grumpy I am when I return from a hard day at the office, my dog is always pleased to see me. It’s as if I’ve just come back from a year at sea with the Navy. It doesn’t matter to my dog whether I’ve been away for a month or even for 5 minutes, each time I walk back into the room, he’s all wagging tails and eager to be petted.

This makes a pleasant change from some of the characters I have to deal with at work. Many of these folk try to avoid me or complain and moan to me when they see me. But not my dog, he’s always a sight for sore eyes.

Take the Dog for a Walk

I love taking my dog for a walk in the evening. It freshens me up, blows away the cobwebs and takes my mind off my worries. Not only am I getting a change of scenery and some fresh air, but I getting some much needed exercise and enjoying the company of my old friend.

I Groom and Pet My Dog

Studies have shown that stroking and petting a dog significantly reduces levels of stress – both for the human giving and for the dog receiving the attention. It’s a form of bonding.

There’s nothing that relaxes me more than sitting in my favourite armchair with my dog on my lap, watching a good film and striking the dog and sipping a large glass of red wine. Pretty soon my troubles have gone.

Once a week I groom my dog, which involves a wash with some specially formulated dog grooming products followed by a towel drying and a brush of the coat. This keeps his fur nice and clean, smelling great and crying out to be stroked.

This little routine is what I look forward to every day upon my return home and is what serves to mark the end of the working day and the beginning of my relaxing leisure time. I have no trouble sleeping after unwinding in this way (unlike some of my colleagues who complain of sleepless nights at the moment), and awake the next day feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead.

I’ll bet that got your attention didn’t it? Guitarists are not generally known for their business acumen, right? No, mostly we hear about them throwing TV sets off hotel balconies or trashing their rooms for fun.

Well, it may surprise you to discover that many famous guitarists are actually very astute in the field of business and I can offer some reasons why this might be the case. All in the name of fun you understand, none of this is scientific fact, I just thought I’d lighten things up a little with a change of pace on the blog.

Guitarists are Typically Better Educated

In my experience, guitarists tend to be better educated than their fellow band members, certainly better than the drummers I’ve played with, that’s for sure!

Let’s take Brian May as an example here. Brian is the guitarist with Queen, one of the most successful rock bands of all time. He may have gone a bit soft in recent years and become more interested in saving badgers and foxes than making fans’ ears bleed with the sheer awesomeness of his guitar playing, but he deserves his place in the rock and roll hall of fame, no doubt about it.

So it may surprise you to learn that he is in fact an astrophysicist with a PhD from Imperial College? Well, you shouldn’t be surprised because the study required to excel in the guitar not only exercises the fingers, but also the brain.

The possibilities on the guitar are endless. You have 6 strings, each with up to 24 frets that can be (literally) pressed into action to give a huge number of potential notes, and that’s before you even think about bending the strings to alter the pitch. It takes an able mind to make sense of all those options and mould them into good music.

Guitarists Need a Good Head for Business

This is as true today as it ever was. Without a head for business, you’ll be taken to the cleaners by the record companies, the agents and everyone else who wants to take a cut of your earnings as a musician. With the rise of the internet and the decrease in the reliance of musicians on the record companies to get their music published and distributed, big business is taking a back seat to innovation and the rise of talent over commerce.

A great example of how bands can empower themselves by making radical decisions in how they run their own businesses is Radiohead, who took the decision in 2008 to give away their latest album.

It was a great tactic and operated on the basis of inviting donations from those wanting to download the album. Loyal fans would pay perhaps quite a lot as a way of thanking the band for the music they have enjoyed during the band’s career; others could choose to pay as little as 45 pence, which only just covered the credit card handling fees.

By far the biggest benefit of this tactic, though, was the free publicity that the unusual distribution model generated. That alone would have paid for any loss of revenue suffered because of people downloading after making the minimum donation. Genius!

So, the evidence is clear. Guitarists are better at business…fact!

Why not take up the guitar yourself and see whether the benefits translate into improvements in your own business acumen? I can highly recommend a free website called, Guitar Instructions, where you can find all the information you’ll need to get you started.

Give it a try! You might even enjoy it.

Bamboo as fuel

Bamboo charcoal is a great substitute for normal charcoal. Trees that are used to make charcoal typically take 60 to 100 years to reach maturity. Using such slowly renewing resources for fuel and removing natural habitat (and thus speeding up loss of bio-diversity) makes bad environmental sense. Using bamboo charcoal is the obvious option. It gets just as hot as normal charcoal and it is a smokeless and odorless fuel ideal for BBQs.

Bamboo as pesticide and fertilizer

Bamboo charcoal can be broken up and mixed into soil to provide a natural and organic pesticide and fertilizer. It is full of nutrients that are necessary for healthy soil. Moreover, bamboo charcoal is anti-fungal and antimicrobial and thus is capable of repelling bugs and other pests. Some Japanese farmers have started using bamboo charcoal instead of chemical fertilizers and have seen 40% increases on yields compared to crops without any fertilizer inputs.

It is also possible to plant bamboo next to land destined for cultivation. The bamboo improves the water retention of the soil and helps to aerate the soil better.

Bamboo for cleaning

Bamboo vinegar is a by-product of producing bamboo charcoal. It is a very useful liquid as it is both slightly acidic and antibacterial. As with vinegar it can be used to clean floors, surfaces and windows. Bamboo vinegar is a non-toxic substance that is safe to have in the home and that does not pollute water supplies. It is also possible to use bamboo vinegar to sterilize such things as baby equipment.

Bamboo for flooring

If you do a search on the internet about bamboo flooring you will no doubt come across detractors who believe bamboo flooring is not as hard as hardwood flooring. The truth is that strand woven bamboo flooring has a Janka Hardness Rating of 2,500 pounds force making it as hard as oak and is more than hard enough to be used as flooring. Strand woven bamboo flooring looks like hardwood flooring and performs just as well as hardwood flooring. This makes it a good green alternative to hardwood flooring.

Bamboo as medicine

Bamboo charcoal soap uses the high absorption capabilities of bamboo charcoal to draw out dirt from the skin’s pores. It also doesn’t leave a film on the skin so that the body’s natural oils can moisturize the skin. This makes bamboo charcoal soap ideal for treating acne.

Bamboo vinegar is famed for drawing poisons from the body. In Asia it is popular to use bamboo vinegar foot patches to detox. They are placed on the feet overnight and removed in the morning. It is a simple way to detox the blood.

These are just some of the amazing ways that bamboo can be used. Bamboo is simply a resource too good to not be used. The more society can use bamboo the healthier the future looks.

Under the old system of accounting the bottom line consisted exclusively of income minus expenses. It was this model that decided whether an enterprise was successful. Under the Triple Bottom Line three indices decide the viability and profitability of an activity: they are ‘people, planet, profits’. With this breakthrough things such as green interior design suddenly made sense.

People

‘People’ refers to promoting design that makes the environment healthy for people. In terms of green interior design this means choosing flooring and window treatments that don’t allow dust mites to breed and cause allergic reactions. It also means avoiding paints, thinners, cleaning products, carpet backing, glues, furniture polish that contain harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde, acetone, chlorofluorocarbons and benzene that cause respiratory problems, cancer and reproductive problems. Under the Triple Bottom Line it makes sense to invest in bamboo flooring, zero VOC paint etc. as it saves hospital bills and keeps people healthy and productive.

Planet

‘Planet’ refers to what most people think of as environmentalism, namely promoting products and practices that stop pollution and resource depletion. Naturally, as we are part of the planet what is good for the environment is also good for us. We need clean water and clean air just as much as other fauna and flora. It makes good sense to use earth friendly detergents or soap nuts for laundry washing. Phosphates in normal washing detergents are causing huge floating algae blooms in rivers and seas that are suffocating marine life. Using vinegar, baking soda and lemon instead of strong acids and alkalies are less toxic for both people and the planet.

One of the greatest man-made problems besetting the planet is climate change caused by high carbon emission levels. These are caused by a variety of causes but especially by humans burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas to generate electricity. Products such as digital programmable thermostats, CFLs and LED lights that are approved by Energy Star help to improve energy efficiency and thus reduce carbon emissions.

The planet is also faced with crisis caused by resource depletion. Fresh water sources are being stretched. Already agriculture uses 66% of the world’s fresh water. Although humans need only 13 gallons of water a day the average home in the USA uses 260 gallons a day. Green interior uses low flow showers, faucet aerators and grey water recycling to conserve this most precious of resources.

Similarly, the world’s forests are being chopped down at an alarming rate. One way to stop this is to recycle and upcycle by using reclaimed hardwood flooring. Another method is to turn to renewable resources such as bamboo, coconut and water hyacinth for flooring, furniture and household products.

Profit

The notion of ‘profit’ remains in the Triple Bottom Line. Many things that are good for the environment are good for the finances. For example using a digital programmable thermostat can reduce heating and cooling bills in a home by 30% or $700 a year. Another example is compact fluorescent light bulbs – they last 8 times longer than standard incandescent light bulbs and use 75% less electricity. Changing just 5 light bulbs in the home to CFLs can save $100 a year. Also solar energy costs money to install but turns a profit over a few years. It also reduces carbon emission.

The same is the case for better home insulation or green roofs. They cost money initially but soon turn a profit in terms of savings on heating and cooling bills. What is good for the environment is often also good for the bank balance.

So it can be seen that people, planet and profits are inter-connected not mutually exclusive. Using the Triple Bottom Line, sustainable design and green interior design makes sense for our health, for the health of the planet and for our finances. Looking at accounting in this way is the only way to secure a future that is healthy and sustainable for our children and grand children.