Go out to where the customer is
Imagine a UK high street with all the shopkeepers standing outside their shops speaking to people as they walked by trying to persuade you to come in and look around their shop, all done in a pleasant non threatening way. Having just come back from Turkey where I found nearly all the shopkeepers were eager to talk about their businesses, they knew they had six months to make their money. It made me think isn't this alot like the UK retail industry where there are key dates in the calendar such as christmas where much of their turnover is delivered. Of course the UK high street is very different to Turkey, for starters you could be arrested in the UK for obstruction or the UK shopping mindset don't like to feel pressurised in their buying. I thought it would be interesting to see retailers get out of their shops and talk to potential customers walking past.
In this same frame of mind I've been trying to find some work for my 14 year old son who driven by his desire to earn money is asking me what can he do. Reflecting back on what I did at his age , working in a kitchen washing pots or stacking bottles in a pub before opening time. But can I find him anything , can I hell, there's something called Health and Safety which ensures a 14 year old child is subjected to nearly zero risk in what they do, I don't beleive this is the best for my son as I'm comfortable for him to cat grass knwoing if you touch the blades you'll lose your fingers (because I've told him so) or to move plants around a garden centre and not stab himself with bamboo poles or cut his fingers off with a pair of scissors , just like the pair at home which again I've told him how to use safely. Or maybe we're afraid he might be press ganged into a "sweat shop" made to work five hours a day for something less than the minimum wage sewing footballs together or packing salad.
This made me think about the reason for this and have come to the conclusion that the government laggards are making jobs so risk adverse that the only people able to do them will be the aged population, which with no state pension will need to work to keep fed and warm.
Oh yes ,you've probably thought of a paper round which has to be riskier than most jobs cycling around a village in the early hours on your own. But maybe marketing is the right job for him as he couldn't do much worse than some of the "marketing" we all see and hear every day.
