The thick of it.

We are right in the thick of it at the moment, busy but aware of how so many of our customers are having a tough time at the moment.

Earlier in the week I met with our local chamber of commerce to discuss how we could help more businesses to save a bit of money, there are a few projects we've been involved in recently which we had a chat about. Whilst I was there I filled in a questionnaire for them from Business Link... and I couldn't help thinking whislt I was filling it out that I was staring at the reason why some businesses wont survive the year.The question - Do you know where you're going? The answer on a sliding 1-10 with 10 being the best possible and your answer being something like - 'We have a clear picture of where we're going along with a set of clear targets and the plans that will help us to achieve them'. Now I don't think there is anything wrong with that answer but it certainly doesn't fit with how we tend to do things and does that mean that we don't know where we are going? Not at all. In fact our major successes have been built on the flexibility to adapt to change and create new products hence our answer - 'Yes (we know where we're going) but we're going to explore a bit on the way'. Surely getting there is part of the adventure!

The next question was really the icing on the cake - Q - How do you ensure that everyone gets behind the plan? A - We involve everyone in the process of planning and setting targets, and allocate responsibility downwards by the implementation of those plans. OUR ANSWER - 'We only ask them (our staff) to work if they believe in our vision'. Sometimes we feel things can be complicated. The real way to get people behind your plan must be for them to believe in it. The rest will come hand in hand with that, processes wont necessary fix problems hey. In fact, who said we had a problem.

This was page 1 of about 10 so by the end I felt cleansed in the feeling that we are different, but not because we want to be, because it's what feels right. Whenever we have a hard question to ask, we just see where it fits with our values, is it Fun, is it Green and is it Honest, the rest will work itself out.

Whilst I'm here I had this picture mailed to me from this years awards ceremony this morning, we must be doing something right..

Onward and upwards we hope, enjoy your weekend!

Will

Another busy week of cargo

Do lectures film..

So I've been banging on about the Do lectures, well here's a film about it.

Amazing time, amazing friends, amazing memories.


The Do Lectures 2008 from The DO Lectures on Vimeo.

Cracking morning on the bike

Amazing

Because three miles with one crank is nothing really

Emergency fixes

Because three miles with one crank arm just hurts.

Economic climate. .

I thought I had a handle on it, people not spending money, businesses closing. . And then this week we did our busiest week ever!

Yours Truly

A friend pointed me in the way of this image he saw on the web, from the Do lectures but being used as a header on something else, it was a good week that one, pop to the sight and have a look if you haven't seen or heard it.

Will

2009.. fine times!

It’s the start of another exciting year for us, last year we really established ourselves and the three core strands of our business, this year the plan is to go from strength to strength!

We’ve got a few resolutions for this year, mostly to keep the good work up and keep strong in these tough economic times. Fortunately most of our business operations enable people to save money but we want to also make sure that our customers can make the most of the environmental benefits of our services too.

So this year will be a year of hard work and commitment to put ourselves in an even stronger position, potentially embracing expansion and further diversification but never forgetting the core values on which all of our enterprise exists, being fun, green and honest.

So what really happened in 2008?

In January we made moves to start an inner city recycling scheme.

In February we picked up our first recycling trial bags, took delivery of a new bike and delivered our 10’000th item!

In March we took delivery of a second shipping container to operate from.

In April we had our 1st Birthday!

In May it was sunny and we launched a new bike on the road, the recycling scheme took on a new dimension with the sale of advertising on the bike.

June and July saw the beginning of the high speed war that would take us from 36mph to well over 40mph!

August – Pedicargo celebrated a year in operation and 30’000 items moved! We also visited GSK to talk about what we do.

September saw an awesome staff party, cider making and of course an invite to go to the Howies Do lectures, a gathering of inspirational speakers and exciting new businesses.

October- We won a Pride of Herefordshire award!

November – We grew moustaches for The Prostate Cancer Charity and continued to work very hard in horrible weather!

December – We wrapped up the year with over 40’000 items delivered and with a recycling scheme on course to prevent over 300 tonnes of waste going to landfill in it’s first year, Pedicabs is still thriving with over 20’000 people using our service to get around the town.

So all in all an eventful year, but this year needs to be bigger, better, quicker and more importantly needs to extend the work we are doing to more people!

Exciting times…

P.s, I have a personal resolution to blog more… certainly more photos…