After the gold rush.....

Greetings.

And of course welcome back-as always it’s good to see you.

Given that last week is the first full week many of us will have worked in a while, hopefully you paced yourself well to get yourself through the week.

This week’s words of wisdom are dedicated to Neil Young, a musical icon of the 1970s, whose album ‘After the gold rush’ inspired these thoughts. You have been told previously that Cicero seeks and obtains inspiration widely.

Now you might think that Cicero can at times be a wee bit behind the times. You would be wrong. Cicero can get down there with the kids, man, when it is needed. He does have his finger on the pulse of the zeitgeist. And he does understand the cultural mood of the nation.

To prove it he has been following with rapt interest the machinations of Cheryl Cole over the past few weeks-would the nation’s sweetheart follow her mentor Simon Cowell to become a judge on the American version of X factor or would she pledge her troth to ITV. Of course she went for the Yankee dollar. And who can blame her.

But there are interesting parallels here with the dot.com boom of the late 1990s and the Yukon Gold Rush of 1897. And few other learned authors could link those three events.

Can anyone remember who won the first ever version of X Factor? Nope thought not-for the record it was Steve Brookstein. And whatever happened to him? And whatever happened to Shane Ward or Leon Jackson, also winners of X Factor?

The point here is that it’s not the show winners who are the real winners. No the real winners are the likes of simian-like Simon Cowell, our Cheryl and even the Irish leprechaun, Louis Walsh.

Now think back to the dot.com boom.

In this it was not the dot.com entrepreneurs who made the money, with a couple of notable exceptions. Indeed most of the eye ball chasers with flawed business models and preposterous valuations soon crashed and burned. No the real winners were the IT firms who flogged them the servers and the networks and the consultancy services, or the lawyers, bankers and accountants drawing up IPOs, or the people who set up sandwich businesses servicing Silicon Valley, Glen or Vallee.

And what does this have to do with the Yukon Gold Rush in 1987, almost exactly 100 years previously?

As you will be aware the discovery of gold in the Klondike river in the Yukon sparked a frenzy of gold rush immigration and gold prospecting with thousands flooding into the area in the mad search for gold. A bit like X Factor in many ways but without the tears and telephone polls.

And just like X Factor most had their hopes for fame and fortune dashed and came away disappointed.

In the Yukon the real winners were not the gold diggers but the spade sellers, the bar owners and the hookers. In other words it was those servicing the prospectors who made the real money. The parallels are uncanny.

So what kind of business are you in? Are you a spade seller or a gold digger?

And so this week’s moral lesson for anyone in business, don’t try to be the next Alexandra Burke but aim to be Cheryl Cole. It is always more profitable and more sustainable for a business to be a spade seller than a gold digger. And if you are looking to establish an entrepreneurial business or if you spot the next economic bandwagon and want to jump onto it, look to do so as a spade seller. We cannot guarantee it will make your fortune but the odds will favour you.

Is it only me...but why do these people think they need more money just for doing their job?

Now you might have missed this piece of ground breaking news this week but Network Rail have reached agreement that their workers will be bribed to ensure industrial harmony with a pay rise around 10% over two years and extra shift payments during the Olympic Games. In addition no staff can be dismissed during the games period and disputes will be fast-tracked or suspended until September.

No wonder the T-Rex dinosaurs at the RMT called this ‘a good deal’. You reckon. If such behaviour was seen in the playground the pit bulls of the RMT would be disciplined for bullying.

And you know who is going to jump next onto this gravy train-the train drivers, the guards, the porters (do we still have porters or is that beneath us these days?) and of course the good old tube drivers. All will look to be bribed to do the jobs they are paid to do in any event lest they threaten to strike and cause untold disruption and misery.

And who at the end of the day will foot the bill for this level of bribery-us, the long suffering tax payer and commuter. Surely such munifence is against the Bribery Act.

Given this example by quasi Apparatchiks no doubt other Apparatchiks will threaten to withdraw their labour through the Olympics unless they are paid off. And meanwhile those of us charged with only growing the economy will continue to see incomes and living standards squeezed but will carry on uncomplaining. We know our jobs are not guaranteed and under-written by the State-or should that be the taxpayer.

Now it might only be me but could someone please explain why these Rail Terrorists think they should be paid significantly more for doing exactly the same job they were paid to do in the first place. Will they be undertaking increased responsibilities? No. Will they be taking steps to reduce costs? Course not, don’t be silly. Or will they be finding ways to increase income? Now you are just taking the Michael-income, what is that?

So why exactly are they being substantively more? I think we deserve to know.

Have a great week.

Sis felix. Et sis fortunatus.