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What is the best use of my time right now?

It feels like, over the last couple of months, our previously adult businesses have regressed to toddlerhood - both requiring close supervision and producing an endless amount of todos, or rather, "should have been done alreadys" - and have found myself floundering...

Environment Design

I met with a friend this week who wants to lose a few pounds for an impending poolside holiday with skinny people, we discussed a few ideas before settling on strategy of fasting and faster dog walking. To her credit, she started...

Premortem

After many years of advising our clients in the running of their operations, we took the plunge (I maintain I was pushed) last year and took on a country pub of our own. We are proud to say that the Ostrich in Castle Acre is now just about, almost, nearly finished and...
Party Rules

Party Rules

A few years ago I was headed to a party and as a friend's place was on the way, I offered to pick them up. The party started at 8, when I asked what time I should swing by, he said 7:30. When I asked why so early (this was very abnormal behaviour to me at the time),...

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Checklists ✅

Checklists ✅

The inside of our new pub has been open for a week and with the whirlwind that comes with any opening abating slightly, it is now time to come back to one of my favourite topics, that of checklists. We have a relatively green team and a checklist is one of the most...

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The £500 blog post

The £500 blog post

Well, not this particular late blog post, rather the first one I missed a few weeks ago which means I will be shelling out 500 shells to Shell. I could blame holidays, an increased workload, family pressures, or any number of excuses but none of that changes the fact...

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The chef problem

The chef problem

Taking on a pub comes with twice as much as work as you think it would, Brexit and Covid (Brovid?) has doubled that again. Back in times when virology was something you thought your off beat cousin was into on the weekends, finding a chef was less of a burning issue....

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Do what you do best.

Do what you do best.

About 4 years ago, I was told to get out of my own way. Which was polite speak for "you are crap at running your company, get someone in who loves doing that sort of thing because you are ruining your life and any future prospects your company might have”.  I...

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Box Breathing

Box Breathing

It has been hectic in Ruckusland of late, lots of changes and life is a little more complicated than usual - turns out adding "open a pub" to your to-do list comes with a rather impressive number of subtasks. Over the last couple of years, I have been working on my...

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