Playing in another league
Those of you who have read my Blog in the past may have noticed that I am not a particularly sporty person, despite living in the Mecca of football (Manchester), surrounded by some of the most famous players in the world. I have never understood why relatively sane people want to manically support a bunch of foreigners, who play under the title of Manchester, nor their total adoration of these chaps running around a meadow, kicking the pretend inside of a cow into some type of fishnet.
I have also never understood the obsession with league tables. Maybe it has something to do with my chequered school career where, between you and me, I was never in the top division in relation to either sport or academic subjects.
So now the language industry has joined the obsession with league tables, which has been created by the global watchtower Common Sense Advisory. Why, after never being bothered before, am I so obsessed with making sure that we do everything we can to move to the top of the division? Again, purely between you and me, I have to admit that I felt so excited at moving up three positions in the recently updated tables! Well, of course part of it is about recognition-- and the league table gives a company the ability to benchmark their performance against their competitors.
June 1st is the beginning of the 30th year for thebigword, which I started at the same time as our recruitment business on 1st April 1980 (April Fool’s Day in many countries). Sales in that first year were £30,000 for the 12 months. Our minimum charge was £7.50 for 200 words.
Our language company was, until 2001, a really small part of our recruitment group, which we sold in 1997. By 2000 the language company’s (then called Link Up Languages) total turnover was £1m. So it is pleasing to see that just eight years later we have now finished our year with a turnover in excess of £30m. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you out there, our staff, our contractors, freelancers and of course our loyal customers, because without your help we would not have achieved this – watch this space as we continue to rise up that damned league table.
I have also never understood the obsession with league tables. Maybe it has something to do with my chequered school career where, between you and me, I was never in the top division in relation to either sport or academic subjects.
So now the language industry has joined the obsession with league tables, which has been created by the global watchtower Common Sense Advisory. Why, after never being bothered before, am I so obsessed with making sure that we do everything we can to move to the top of the division? Again, purely between you and me, I have to admit that I felt so excited at moving up three positions in the recently updated tables! Well, of course part of it is about recognition-- and the league table gives a company the ability to benchmark their performance against their competitors.
June 1st is the beginning of the 30th year for thebigword, which I started at the same time as our recruitment business on 1st April 1980 (April Fool’s Day in many countries). Sales in that first year were £30,000 for the 12 months. Our minimum charge was £7.50 for 200 words.
Our language company was, until 2001, a really small part of our recruitment group, which we sold in 1997. By 2000 the language company’s (then called Link Up Languages) total turnover was £1m. So it is pleasing to see that just eight years later we have now finished our year with a turnover in excess of £30m. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you out there, our staff, our contractors, freelancers and of course our loyal customers, because without your help we would not have achieved this – watch this space as we continue to rise up that damned league table.
