Today's Thought   "As a kid, did you ever look at the back of your toys to see where they came from. It wasn’t Santa’s North Pole I discovered, but more often Hong Kong. Later it seemed to be Taiwan and more recently - if my Children’s toys and gad...

Today's Thought   "To really grow your business, accessing new markets is crucial to many firms. So what’s your market? To whom and where do you sell your goods and services? Do you export? It’s surprising how few businesses in Northern Ireland do.

Have you stopped for a minute to consider how much you now rely on your digital technology? - For example, yesterday I processed dozens of emails and turned to Google on countless occasions for speedy information.

What is an Entrepreneur? Is that you? Is it someone you know? - Who do you picture when you hear that word? Richard Branson? Lord Sugar? Or perhaps Peter Fitzgerald from Randox. - But they weren’t always that big.

Have you ever sat through the credits at the end of a TV programme or film and counted the number of people involved in the production? - It’s not just the number of people that’s always surprising, it’s the range of job titles - many of which we prob...

Remember when people used to comment on the number of cranes in the Belfast Skyline? If ever there was a sign of a changed city, and a changed economy, this was it. The crane numbers did certainly indicate a big growth in construction activity and ther...

What’s the fundamental purpose of business? I think we nailed our colours to the mast on that question when we decided to call this programme The Profit Margin. Businesses need profit to survive. Not only that,

How many times a day to you ask Google something? Do you use credit/debit cards and a super-market loyalty card? Do you use a smart-phone, and if so, do you carry it around with you? - Have you ever really considered the digital trail of information y...

In 1900, the global average life expectancy was just 31. Today it’s 70. In Northern Ireland it is even higher - for women here the average life span is 81 years. Though as one scientist explained to me, we live in some of the strangest times in human

You don't get what you deserve-you get what you negotiate, as the old adage goes. It would be handy to be able to read other people's minds, but it's not possible. So how do you get what you want from people? How do you negotiate? You don’t have to b