Author: goosterontheloose

Portfolio careerist - executive coach, coach trainer, parent, lifelong learner. Loves reading, coffee, Zumba, travelling (in pre-covid times) ...

Fringe Frivolities

Let’s start with the low point: ‘Gorgeous George Cabaret’. The compere, diminutive Diane in clumpy shoes, tried valiantly to lift the show (and she coped well with my companion’s heckle!) but it was a losing battle. The opening act was surreal: three Japanese men dressed like giant jelly babies, miming anyone from Marilyn Monroe to ET. So far, so bewildering. As the acts progressed (chronologically, though not always in quality terms) there was nudity, there was sleaze, there was dreadful singing. The highlight was Mabel, the winsome hula hoop woman from the Royal Mile. (more…)

Personal branding wins out

The polls are now closed, your votes have been counted and verified, and the final result is: change my website address to http://www.lizgooster.com. 59% of you plumped for this option, while 32% voted for http://www.businessclasscoach.com and 9% for other (with a couple of people suggesting I use both urls). It seems that the concept of the personal brand is an increasingly popular one and I got several comments emphasising that in providing professional services in a one-to-one context such as coaching, you <em>are </em>your brand. I guess I’m also lucky in having an unusual surname, so it’s easy for me to have a web address that is (a) available and (b) unique. I was concerned about losing the ‘business’ and ‘coaching’ associations if I switched to my name at the top of the web page, but as the more technically-minded pointed out, visibility in searches and so on depends on the content of the page, how it’s tagged and so on. Others suggested keeping both domains and this is something I will be looking into. I’m extremely grateful to all of you who took the time to cast your vote and the discussions the polls have generated, both online and offline, have been really useful in helping me think how I might develop my brand and my online presence, both now and in the future. And since I always abide by the results of my polls, look out for http://www.lizgooster.com hitting the net waves shortly!

House of Rufus

Described on the website as ‘Five nights of velvet, glamour and guilt’. (http://www.roh.org.uk/whatson/production.aspx?pid=16001), it was indeed a plush, glam, old-fashioned night of entertainment with unadorned, reverberating singing, champagne and enormous velvet curtains. Balanced up in the slips, nestling under the roof of the venerable Royal Opera House, we couldn’t help but notice that the top curtain frills were heavy with dust – so there were limits to the perfection! (more…)