Worth checking out a new restaurant in Whitley Bay called Unico, they’ve opened up where the old Cartridge World used to be (opposite BM Bargains). Good food and it’s currently bring your own bottle with no corkage – good times!

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It’s a trend I’ve noticed because over the last few months the girlfriend and I have used about 5 different garages. We drop off the car, don’t hear anything back and then need to give them a call. Which means opening Google and doing a quick search – nothing comes back.

It seems most mechanics are more interested in engines than email. Probably for the best but it makes finding their phone number a task.

The latest culprit is SMC Garage in Shiremoor, Newcastle. So I’ve included their phone number, address and a map at the top of this post to make everyones life a little easier in finding out how to contact this excellent garage.

A little back story -

My girlfriends car is a Ford Ka with a ghost in the machine. Over the last year things have just been going wrong consistently. First it was the alternator – we took it to a recommended garage, they refurbished the alternator and we were off on our way (£150 later). A few days later we break down. Same problem. They fix it and we go on our merry way. A few days later we break down. A new alternator was then fitted at extra cost.

During all of that (about 3 weeks) the communication was dire and we were treated like a nuisance, not a customer.

The wheel bearing was next to go and this was sorted at a different garage (my regular) where we get a hopefully honest appraisal but it’s not cheap (and an extra problem or two is always found that needs fixed).

A couple of months later the car won’t go over 4000 revs and the engine light comes on intermediately.

We take it to a different ‘recommended’ garage and the diagnosis is a faulty o2 sensor. Along with two new tyres and a wishbone for the suspension. £550 bill (this car is getting expensive). But this doesn’t fix the problem! We’re still hitting the 4000 rev mark and can’t get over it. The garage’s explanation “it’ll take a couple of hundred miles to work it’s way out”.

We then take it to SMC Garage – Rob has a look over it and at first thinks it’s the ECU (electronic control unit, in essence the computer brain on the car) and if that’s the case it’ll need to go to Ford. He spends about 30 minutes testing everything (we’d just turned up, nothing booked).

After 30 minutes we’re ready to take the ECU diagnosis and give up – Rob isn’t. He takes it inside and tests more ideas. He comes back with diagnosis. The o2 sensor was faulty and the exhaust manifold has probably been disintegrating as a result. This would be causing the car to get slower and slower and less fuel efficient over time.

He was right.

We leave it with him and a few days later it’s all sorted. An expensive bill awaits but an elusive problem fixed that another garage completely missed.

So I decide to take my car in with a list of ‘symptoms’ for them to check over. I drop it off Friday night and pick it up saturday morning.

Out of the list of 4 symptoms they’ve fixed one (plugging the radio back in) and told me the other’s – although a building problem – are too premature to justify fixing and to just bring it back if it gets worse. The exhaust sounding louder than it should is not the result of a hole but the result of a non-manufacturer one being fitted.

I whip out my debit card to pay my bill for their time and I get waved away by Lee. My mind at rest, my radio fixed and bank balance untouched. I like this place.

Einstein’s definition of insanity was “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. So let’s not be surprised that ‘Well Worth It’, a Woolworths clone in Wallsend, are having a closing down sale.

Frankie Boyle commenting on the Woolworths business model:

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You: “Hey, do you know the way to Porter’s Coffee Shop?”
Them: “Porter’s Coffee Shop, hmmm, no sorry”.

*big smile time*

You: “It’s down the street, left at the traffic lights and in front of Natwest”
You: *hand them one coffee free voucher*

People want to help people. Altruism makes us feel good and coffee makes us feel even better.

But all this rich talk comes across patronising when you have bills you can’t pay and not enough money to do so. This is where most are lacking in one distinct thing:

Good Beliefs About Money

Your beliefs about your self-worth and how that relates to the money you can earn is the number one thing which will either propel you to wealth or pull you down into poverty.

For example, I want you to write a 1000 word article on the thing you know most about. For this…

I’ll pay you £2.
No, I’ll pay you £20.
Actually, I’ll pay you £200.
Scrap that, I’m going to pay you £2000 for a 1000 word article.
Hold on. I’ve decided. I’m going to pay you £20’000 for it.

At what point did you get that gut reaction? The one that says – uugghhh I’m not worth that much. You’ve just identified one of your beliefs about money. Could that limit you at some point?

“Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves” is a childhood favourite of mine. A belief most of us carry around – a one I fought against by literally throwing away my spare change till I built a detachment from small money. A detachment from small money will make you strive to earn larger amounts.

Beliefs are a fascinating thing that not only control our reality but are our reality. Your beliefs on money will sculpt your future earning potential and therefore dictate what you can achieve and do in your lifetime.

It doesn’t matter how much money you earn if you have poor person beliefs. You’ll always find a way to be needing cash at the end of the month. Your lifestyle will move in accordance with your income and if you overspend now, you’ll overspend them. An extra £100 a month isn’t the answer. New beliefs are the answer!

I’ve been lucky to of been born with entrepreneurs for parents and too of grown up with some elders around me that could help sculpt some excellent powerful beliefs. A couple years back I did a Beliefs Workshop with Matt Hudson of Mind International (a company I now work with) that helped clean our some old programs and bad beliefs and since then I’ve taken my income levels to new heights.

If you’d like to do a beliefs course with Mind International then let me know, I’m interested in doing another and would love to get something set up with Matt. Email/facebook me!

Then came along the “Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act” which took steps to stop that kind of activity and ICANN’s policy and process for allowing a trademark owner to get ownership of a domain.

ICANN’s process typically costs $2000-3000 dollars which still gives speculators wiggle room for profit. Would you rather pay $500-1000 for a quick purchase from a squatter or go through the red-tape and extra expense? Most will go for the easy life.

But today your official website is typically the least important web presence you have.

Online marketing is about interaction.

And the easiest way to interact is through social sites. Be it facebook, youtube or twitter most social sites give you the chance to own your own customised URL. Find me on facebook at facebook.com/porter.im

Introducing, for the want of a better catchphrase – social brand squatting.

It’s not always done for profit and probably mostly done by fans but the desired social url’s are being grabbed up quickly. Out of the 72 most popular social sites the vanity keyword ‘Metallica’ is only available on less than 20%.

Metallica don’t have active accounts on all those sites. But someone has registered them – and that could create a problem. From impersonating the official brand to spreading negative press under an official moniker.

Apple have become the victim of brand squatting as you can see here:
MySpace (/apple) = DJ Apple. Brand Fail.
Twitter (/apple) = Squatter. Brand Fail.

Protect your brand over every site (even if you don’t use it) or squat on some company names late to the game and see if you can profit and collect lawsuits. I use NameChk.com to quickly see the availability over many social sites quickly and then register.

Creating sites for affiliate marketing? Social site profiles rank quickly with few links. Create a hub page on a social site to promote a product and you’ll find you can get search traffic for little effort.