Using Experts

I spend quite a bit of time working with lawyers and other professionals and telling them that they need to use experts to help them run their businesses. This week I've had a reminder that I need to do this too.

The first reminder was a comment from a friend that my own web site was no longer up to scratch. My site is very simple and I had been using iWeb to author it. Apple stopped supporting iWeb some time ago, sadly, but I had stuck with it - meaning that the pages it built were not optimised for new browsers, for HTML5 or for mobile devices. I knew that there was a problem with my site on Firefox, but had been trying to pretend it didn't matter. My fried - who does this sort of thing for a living - held my by the lapels and explained (loudly) that it was no longer ok. I (finally) took his advice and re-designed the site using a new product to me - Sandvox - which has produced a new, clean, site that works well, so far as I can tell, on every platform. Let me know what you think - www.mar-aon.co.uk.

The second reminder was in connection with a charity that I chair - www.livingrainforest.com. We are re-organising the charity and giving something called The Trust for Sustainable Living prominence. My good friend at Bull Rodger offered to help us with the rebranding of the TSL identity. Foolishly I had thought that we would meet and he would draw a new logo. As I often say to my clients - it's not as simple as that. Quite rightly, he needs to understand the charity and its context and its objectives and then he will be able to design an identity that will fit us properly. The Director of the charity pointed out that I had introduced the expert and so we should listen to him.

A valuable lesson - listen to the experts. If only someone had told me earlier...