We apologise for the technical hitches on last nights Pop-Up TV.   
It was fantastic to connect with Alan Donegan (Co-Founder of Pop-Up Business School) who was in San Jose. (If you would like Mark Gittos to sing 'that song' then please feel free to watch Episode 4 of Pop-Up TV)
Whilst on his travels Alan has been reading a lot of books which he wanted to share with us.
In case you missed the show, I have documented the books he spoke about and why they inspired him and the main thoughts that came from last nights show.

Napoleon Hill - Think and grow rich 
For Alan, the main message here was "Thoughts become things".
How you think will be what you achieve. So if you are desperate for money you will only produce desperation of wanting money. The author likened it to wanting a partner - The more desperate you are to want a girlfriend the more desperate you will become in looking for one and the least likely you are to find your true love.

Have you ever noticed that in your life there appears to be a lot of coincidences? Are they really coincidences or do things happen as a result of your thoughts? 
We suggest you sit down with a cup of coffee and take 5 minutes to think about how you felt when these "coincidences" occurred.  
A young lady who came to Pop-Up Business School wanted to make money but it didn't know how to make it happen, however whilst on the course she began to change her thought process, she noticed that since her change in attitude she has started making money, she now has her own salon and is making progress.
Have you every wondered what is the difference between successful people and not successful people? Just remember that everybody is human, we all have the ability to be able to do certain things, so what is the difference? 
We believe it is the thought process. Try it, consciously process your thoughts, does it make a difference to your life? Let us know, we love to hear from you!  
For your body to do anything your brain has to think it first (Try scratching your head without your brain telling you to do so!)
Remember, the message that Alan got from this book was "Thoughts become things" 
What will your predominant thought become?
What thought will you turn into a reality?

Malcolm Glandwell - Blink 
This book is all about making decisions in the blink of an eye. The book tells the story of two researchers who spent hours studying each other and trying to tell what the other person was thinking in the blink of an eye. They did in-depth research trying to isolate each individual moment in the face, watching every single muscle that moved (did you know on average there are 43 muscles in the face?) as they did this they began to notice that as they started to move different muscles it changed the way that they thought. 
Facial expressions are directly linked to your emotions and how your feel 
If you look happy it will start to generate the emotion inside - Try it - How do you feel right now?

How would it make someone feel if you smiled at them, asked them how they were, gave them a compliment?
When you smile other people will smile with you
Connect with just one person you meet today - What was the response they gave? How did it make you feel?

Gary Vaynerchuck - Jab, Jab, Right Hook 
This book is aimed more at medium to large businesses.
There are plenty of platforms which are free and you can use to promote your business which are free. If you would like to know more about them come to one of our Pop-Up Business Schools, where will we show you for free how to make the most of these tools. 

Andrew Reynold - Copy this idea 
This book gives you ideas how to make money from your sofa, the beach or anywhere else 
And as a gift the author offers you a free DVD Set. All you have to do is send him £1 for postage to receive 3 or 4 DVD's and a leaflet 

When we run a Pop-Up Business School people find it difficult to believe it is free, people are cynical - But we do want to help people and the course is FREE! Check out what people who have been on the course have to say! (Testimonials)
Would you like to come to one of our free Pop-Up Business Schools?
Take a look at our forthcoming events, register your free place, bring your sense of humor a notepad and pen or a smart phone and let us help you start making money.

In March 2013 I travelled to Boston, Massachusetts to visit Harvard Business school and to have a few days break in Boston and travelling up the coastline to Maine, Portland and around.  We had a fabulous time.  Whilst we were there we heard about theBoston Pizza Tour. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Now Katie and I love Pizza, we love touring, exploring and learning about the local area so it seemed like the perfect thing for us to do!

Our tour guide was  we toured around the north end of the city or little Italy as it is know and tasted Pizza

He launched the tour in the second half of 2011 and it took off.  2012 he said was a very good year and he was flat out and in 2013 he is taking on four tour guides to work with him delivering the tours around Boston's north end.

He has used social media and local advertising with tourist agencies to grow his business and this year is experimenting with Groupon to sell more ticket to increase his online presence.

Idea #1 is start a tour of your local city and sell it to the locals and the tourists.  I have been thinking of doing one for Basingstoke for some time now!

I have a fabulous friend Nicky Kriel.  If you have read our blog you will have seen her and heard her tips on social media.  Back in December 2010 she decided to master Twitter and went on a journey learning everything she could over the next few months, reading blogs, books and putting everything into action.  She soon had over a thousand followers and was starting to teach other small businesses how to use Twitter for their business.

Over the years since she has worked for major multinational companies on their twitter strategy, she has sold her courses online via twitter and most recently she has launched her book.  I have been so impressed with how Nicky has built a business from nothing.

Idea #2 is to build a social media training business in your local area, become a LinkedIn or Facebook expert

Recently I have been buying a lot of services through www.peopleperhour.com

It is amazing what you can find on there.  I have bought logo design services, press release writing and even cartoon designing.  Yes I commissioned my own cartoon.

We all have our own skills, we all have something that we find easy that everyone else find difficult.  Thing about what you could sell and then have a go selling it on www.peopleperhour.com

Idea #3 is to work out what skills you have and what you love doing and sell it online!

Alan one of the co-founders of the Pop-Up Business School is getting married this summer and he has been organising caterers!  He found Chris Matthews and his company http://www.rollingstonepizza.co.uk/

Chris build a pizza oven out of clay and mounted it in a trailer.  He now drives around the country service wood smoked pizza for his customers and they are so delicious!

Do you like to cook?  What is your favourite type of food?

Chris was inspired to start after hearing a radio show talking about starting a food business and not hearing anything about Pizza which is a food he loves. He did some research and didn't find many mobile vendors and set up his business which is really taking off this year!

Think about what type of food you would sell and how you would do it!

Idea #4 if you love food, create a mobile kitchen and start selling it to people

We had someone come on our first ever Pop-Up Business School who had a wealth of experience in retail.  He had worked in retail for years.  He decided to set up a retail consultancy and train other people and had an incredible first 6 months working for some of the biggest names in UK retail

Our very own co-founder Alan Donegan set up his business called Enjoy Presenting and runs courses for Microsoft, Pepsi and Allianz now. 

• What skills do you have that other people find difficult?
• What do you love to do?
• What excites you?
• What would you enjoy learning about?

So you have booked yourself onto a training course, maybe you have even booked yourself on to one of our workshops.  How do you prepare to get the most out of your time spent on the course?

Well with our 2 day Pop-up business School in Watford this weekend we thought we would write a blog post to help you get the most out of any training course you go along to.

Here are our 6 top tips for getting the most out of any training course or workshop you go along to:

1. Delegate - do everything you can before the event to have nothing that is going to distract you whilst you are on the course.  Delegate what you can, ask for assistance with things and bring some snacks with you. 
2. Be present - in the room, turn off your phone, concentrate on talking to the people around you and focus on the content
3. Capture ideas - bring a pen and paper a note down ideas as they come to you whilst we are doing the workshop.  During the workshop that trainer may say something that sets off a light bulb for you!  Capture that idea!
4. Arrive early -  meet the other people on the course, they are all in the same boat as you and you never know who you are going to meet and how you might be able to help them or they might be able to help you.
5. Ask questions - the only silly question is the one that isn't asked.  If you are thinking it then someone else in the room probably is too
6. Have fun - the more you enjoy it, the more pleasurable learning is the more you are going to remember and get out of it!  This one is critical.  Come along and have fun

When you get home after the course work out what are the 3 things you are going to do differently after the course.  If you have been  on one of our courses this is something we ask you do to at the end of the workshop anyway!

I hope this helps you prepare for the workshop or training course you are going on.  And we hope to see you at one of our up coming events soon!

To find out where we are popping up next check out our projects page

• What expectations do your customers have of your business?
• What expectations have you set?
• Do you do more to win a customer than to keep a customer?

A recent visit to giraffe Basingstoke has inspired this visit.  As you may or may not know our co-founder Alan Donegan loves pancakes, maple syrup and breakfast in general.

We went to the Giraffe in Basingstoke and received these incredible pancakes, they were a huge stack of fluffy perfectly cooked pancakes with a drizzle of sauce over the top.  The chef obviously took pride in cooking them.  I was blown away and loved them.  Expectations set at a very high level

I went back the next week to have more of the fabulous pancakes.  I ordered them after my breakfast burrito with anticipation and excited only to be dissapointed with three sorry looking, little floppy pancakes.  I felt let down.

I told the waitress who assured me that they were always that size.  I told her about the ones I had the time before and she didn't believe me.  Lucky I had taken the picture above to prove my point.  The manager ended up coming over and again told me that they were always the small size.  They didn't believe me.  I showed him the picture and he ended up taking my iPhone into the kitchen to discuss it with the chef. But the damage was already done.  I felt like they didn't trust me when I told them something

The manager made it up to me by saying that he would not charge me for the pancakes.

Being a pancake lover I went back again and saw the manager before ordering and he said it would be like the first time again.  So I ordered, they weren't bad but not as good as the first time.

This morning I went again and expressed my desire to have the bigger pancakes to the waitress who again told me they were all one size and proceeded to bring out tiny pancakes.  Smaller than ever.  I was truly dissapointed and couldn't be bothered to talk to the manager again.  It was obvious they didn't care about me as a customer or my desire to have a decent stack of pancakes in the morning.

Why am I telling you this story?

If I had only ever received the smaller pancakes I would never have felt this way about Giraffe as a restaurant. But they set my expectations very high with the first pancakes I received and then they have failed to deliver the same again.

What expectations are you setting right at the start of your interactions with your customers? If you don't know; ask them!

Are you living up to this expectation time and time again every time they come?

It takes a lot of effort to win a customer, so you must do everything to keep the ones you do win!

Love to hear your comments.  Please write below.