As a business owner you’ve got to be decisive, committed to your course of action, and able to communicate your intentions clearly. People like to be led and it is vital that your team is clear about what they are ment to be doing, what they have to achieve, and by when.

Every Business guru under the sun is currently extolling the virtues of social media. Even Lord Sugar is a Twitter addict. But what do you do if it goes wrong? What happens whena dissatisfied customer starts complaining ‘loudly’ online? What happens when you build a brand de-vangelist who just doesn’t like what you stand for? In this article we will look at what happens when the social become unsocial!

If there is anyone who knows how to grow a business it is James Caan. As well as being co-founder of The EBA he is a serial entrepreneur and runs his successful private equity firm, Hamilton Bradshaw. We asked him to reflect on his success stories so you can learn from his lessons.

Sometimes you have to demonstrate a sense of realism. Every time I demonstrate to people how to do something, I needed to show them the good and the bad.

Successful people do the things they do in order to get the results they want – which may not be what they want to do at that time. Self discipline is key – it’s a sacrosanct ingredient for success.