Well we survived hurricane Dean. A few lessons for any business person here.

1. Get a generator, you cannot work without power. Even in the absence of a storm you can be without power for some time.
2. Check a good Hurricane tracking map regularly.
3. Do as much work as possible before it hits.
4. Let all your international clients know you will be having problems for the next week or so
5. Expect your local clients to rebook times, they are in the same boat.
6. Be flexible and remember someone is worse off than you.
7. Don't expect to be on your PC or preparing presentations etc for the next week, see number 1.
8. Buy a bottle of rum, put your feet up and relax, as when the power is on you'll be working twice as hard to catch up.

Dean has gone and we were a lucky island, fortunately Dominica does not get many hurricanes. I was realy impressed about the way people checked up on everyone before and after and how quickly people were out and about with cutlasses and chainsaws.

Customer service award to DOWASCO the water company, they got our water back on exactly when they said they would after Dean. Its refreshing that a utility monopoly acts as if it has competition and cares about its customers. Also the set staff targets and expect staff to achieve them, managers to assist staff in achieving them and celebrate high performance........radical.

Money, Money, Money

OK, Here is a universal business truth, unless you get paid upfront expect to wait for your money. Often its not a unwillingness to pay, its a payment process problem, it takes ages to draft, approve and get cheques signed for payment.

Be strict about payments and don't fall for the smile, however always remember to be nice as money is very tight and cut some slack to the small guy, his cash flow is always critical and he may not be able to pay you until he gets paid. Sometimes just sometimes a little bit of consideration goes a long way.

If you are visiting the Island, stay at Caribbean Sea View Holiday Apartments, The company is taking over its management for 5 months in September due to the absence of the owner.

Anyway I am off to play with my new e-learning design software, unfortunately its raining so I cant watch the sunset, but the rum is still so good.