As Ireland struggles to sellotape together its failing economy, students are marching in protest in London and the two Koreas look to be on the brink of war.

This month we’ve had outrage at George Bush claiming that waterboarding torture was legal and justified, the Chinese boycotting the Nobel Peace prize because a Chinese pacifist was the winner and Burma under political pressure to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi after 15 years of house arrest.

Meanwhile the Earth continues to cleanse itself with floods, volcanoes and other natural disasters.

When I was in Malaysia training under Feng Shui Grand Master Lillian Too earlier this month we looked at the meaning of cycles of time in Flying Star Feng Shui.

1984 to 2004 was the ‘Period of 7’ – symbolised by small metal, gold, the future, the West and the young woman. Hence the digital revolution, businesses based on futuristic technology, the surge in consumerism and material wealth, the strength of America and the rise of girl power.

However in 2004 we switched to the ‘Period of 8’ – symbolised by the mountain, knowledge, The North East and the young man. Thus we’re seeing the shift in power to China and the East, the rise of young male energy to replace the weary leaders of the old paradigm, businesses based on Thought Leadership and the switch in emphasis from outer riches to inner wealth (the cave of treasure).

The shift to the ‘Period of 8’ means that Flying Star 7 reverts to its true nature – all about violence robbery and theft. Those who flourished in the period of 7 or who chased its ideals have now become the ‘Broken Soldiers’ of the new paradigm – still trying to exert their influence using threats, manipulation, anger, violence and the abuse of power, while continuing to believe that ostentatious wealth is the measure of all success.

But while the Broken Soldiers desperately try to cling on to what little they have left, a silent wave of consciousness is gently sweeping them away to create the space for a new world order to prevail. One which is about peace, love, harmony and mutual respect – and working in collaboration for the greater good.

The old economy and ways of being have been proved to be unsustainable. We now need a new way of existing on this planet.

However the status quo will not let go of their last bastions of power without a fight – hence the polarisation we are now seeing as the old order crumbles.

A revolution is underway – but it is not one of anger bloodshed and violence.

It is a silent uprising of all that is good, great and nourishing in the world.

Peace will ultimately prevail. But I fear we’re going to experience much destruction first.

Dragons’ Den has opened up a lot of  fabulous doors for me.  But one of the big downsides of being a ‘Dragon’ is people wanting to use you for personal gain.

As someone who exists to encourage enterprise, I daily tread a fine line between wanting to help entrepreneurs with genuine intent, whilst trying to avoiding being ripped off and sucked dry from those who want to take take take – and give nothing back.

One such blood-sucker is Leon Heywood, whose E2Live event was cancelled yesterday just 5 days before it was due to happen.

The official story as per the website is that the event has become ‘too big too quick’ and needs to be moved to April 2011 to ‘do it justice’.

The reality is that ticket sales have failed to materialise, sponsors have pulled out, Excel has not been paid – and key speakers (like me) have also not received their promised money.

There is of course a classic formula to creating an event.

Sign up some big names as speakers, put it in a big name venue to give it credibility, get some joint venture partners to back it (in this case charities like London Zoo), then get a whole host of other speakers on board who are anxious to get exposure – some who have been asked to pay to speak and all of whom have been asked to promote the event into their databases.

At last count there were c90 speakers – assume each has a personal database of 10k followers;  it’s an easy way to promote to almost 1million people on the strength of personal recommendation.  Apparently 4,500 tickets have been sold this way – that’s about £150k.

The final bit of sparkle on top of everything was that ALL the profits would go to Charity.

Despite everything I’ve been through in business I do still have a rather daft tendency to trust people to their word, and so back in the Summer agreed to speak at the event. I normally don’t allow my name and image to be used to promote a show until I have been paid 50% of my agreed fee, but on this occasion I agreed to give smooth talking snake oil salesman Heywood until 16 October to make that payment.

Alarm bells should have started ringing when. close to that date, Heywood’s wife and ‘Chief Financial Officer’ Lavaine James-Heywood  issued all the paperwork in the name of ‘E2 Holdings’.  (Create a subsidiary so it’s easy to liquidate it.)

16 October came and went – and that’s when the bullshit began.  Some via emails, some via telephone conversations.

The bank had ‘lost’ £25k; a sponsor had pulled out; £65k had been ‘stolen’ from the company via false invoices raised by a bogus supplier.

Excel had not been paid, neither had I, yet the relentless promotion of tickets went on. Towards the end of October I asked for my name and photo to be removed from the website but by then on the strength of my involvement there was already enough of a starry line-up to convince people to come see the show – many of whom had already booked travel and accommodation.

Almost daily, I was promised that money would be coming very shortly.  Here’s just some of the emails received:

15 October:

Hi Rachel,

Just to let you know, we have transferred the money, however NatWest seem to be playing silly buggers and withholding funds when we transfer things. If the cash does not appear in your account shortly let me know so I can go and shout and them again.

Best Regards,

Leon Heywood

25 October

Rachel,
Once again I must apologies for the tardiness of your money, unfortunately a sponsor pulled out about an hour ago, due to the fact we are not on ExCeL’s website.  I am trying to sort this out, and I will get this money transferred to you ASAP. 
I will understand if you choose to take a different commitment that is not having so many ridiculous problems in paying you, and we will still honour our financial commitments to you ASAP.Best regards,Leon Heywood

29 October

Hi Rachel

Many thanks for getting back to me,

1. we should complete our reconciliation with our bank  by the end of next week  as i am sure you are aware banks don’t run at a fast pace  like we do in the business world  

2. we are  chasing sponsors for promised funds as we speak

3. Should be no later than Friday 5th November

4. If we manage to  sort out the above earlier  we will send payment to you at the earliest possible time

5. I will keep you updated on any changes on the situation we find ourselves in  

Best Regards

Lavaine

11 November

I have tried twice this week to speak with Charlie, on both occasions we missed each other, so this is why you have not been updated.

It saddens me that you feel that the reasons I have given you are “Bullshit” however I could have made a payment to yourself tomorrow. I dont understand why you are stating that you are still REQUIRED to speak at the E2. If you have lost confidence and do not wish to be involved then we can may a payment tomorrow, and ensure that the rest of your cancelation fee is paid post event, but you do not have to commit your time to an event you no longer believe in.

Best regards,

Leon Heywood

The last email in that string was in response to the threat that I would write to all my fellow speakers to let them know what was happening, as I was receiving eshots from many still pushing ticket sales hard. 

Needless to say tomorrow came – but no money – then I find out from fellow speaker Sue Stone that E2Live has been moved to April.

The message displayed on the E2Live site detailing the reasons for the shift in date is just an incredulous pack of lies!

I would urge anyone who has paid money into this event – either for the chance to speak, to have a stand at the show or for tickets to attend – to claim an immediate refund.

Lots of anger this week, firstly over the spending cuts, secondly over the bankers’ bonuses and now over how much Wayne Rooney is paid.

‘Why the hell should he be paid £millions when nurses are paid so little’ the ranters cry. 

S’not fair!

Let’s all face it.  The country is bankrupt, it’s going to take years to clear up the mess, and the fault lies in every one of us who lived beyond our means for far too long.  We spent money that never existed, we ran up £trillions in debt – and we’re now paying the price.

So, instead of blaming all and sundry, let’s start celebrating the wealth creators. 

Every £1 they create equals over 50% in tax. 

If Wayne Rooney gets paid £200,000 a week that means we get £100,000+ of it. 

If the bankers get £7 billion in bonuses that means we get an extra £3.5 billion+.

It’s all very well screaming ‘tax the rich’ but look what happened back in the 1970′s the last time we did that.  They all buggered off abroad.

We need to move away from this ‘benefits and blame’ culture into a mindset which celebrates enterprise and wealth creation. 

Where every single person is empowered to take responsibility for their life and their income – and to create their own prosperity.

Instead of wasting all their energy blaming others for what’s gone wrong.

I received an email today from a financier friend of mine, whose ear is very close to the ground – particularly in the world of distressed business & corporate recovery…

Word on the street is that a wall of debt is due to collapse and an avalanche of activity in the insolvency sector is upon us.  Corporate finance is seemingly impossible at the moment from any source, distress funders are up to their eyes in deals, banks aren’t suporting and HMRCE is starting to tighten previously generous ‘Time to Pay’ settlements.

Meanwhile over in the Enterprise Sector support for start ups has been withdrawn in favour of the ’growth’ businesses capable of creating jobs in the future.  Meantime, public sector cuts throw more people on to the unemployment pile.

Unions bay for blood, strikes abound and everywhere people are looking for someone to blame.

Much as I am a supporter of the Conservative Party I can’t help but feel that this aggressive approach is a form of political points scoring.  The old corporate trick of blaming all the problems on your ‘inept predecessor’ – so the spotlight is off you, while you buy valuable breathing space trying to figure out how to get the job done.

In the meantime 30 ‘leading businessmen’ have been choraled to support what the Government is doing.  (All it seems highly paid employees of publically listed plcs)

I fear deeply for what is going on.

My own experience is that the majority of small businesses are now living ‘on the edge’.  Payments have slowed, sales are falling and everyone is holding on to what little money they have got.  Thousands of small businesses are literally treading a daily tightrope.

We have to support these businesses.

Not an artifical crutch to support failing businesses, but rather the encouragement to keep going on.

You see, the future of the economy is not in providing the security of ‘employment’.  It’s about empowering as many people as possible to step out of the ‘blame’ culture and start taking control of their own lives.

If we don’t encourage this enterprise culture, and we starve support to only the ‘growth’ businesses (and how on earth can you tell which ones those are?), we will end up with the masses baying for blood and someone to blame.

Unless we’re careful I predict that a Revolution is coming…

Lots of talk in recent days, weeks and months about whether banks are giving support to small businesses.

I’ve even been part of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Small Business at the House of Commons and heard from the heads of the banks protesting how much support they are giving.

So I decided to put them to the test – and a few months ago applied for an EFG loan for one of the companies I am involved with.

This company has been going for three years, has growth and profitability – but operates on minimal working capital. It has attracted some significant opportunities through which it can grow signifcantly over the next 12 months – but needs additional short-term finance to fund these.

All the application forms and papers went to NatWest back in May – along with last accounts, a business plan and cashflow forecasts.

So far so good – but what then followed was evasive communication, apologies that the Business Manager was too busy to deal with the case, was away, then needed bits and pieces of additional information (all of which were immediately provided).

Finally, after chasing by phone, text and email to the point where this became almost daily, and leaving numerous messages – most of which went unanswered – some TEN WEEKS later I received a curt email which said:

Your application has been assessed and regrettably it has not been successful with ourselves, I have discussed the application with my Area Director who has suggested that Equity funding may be the alternative route to explore to give the business the cash injection which is required to fulfil your projections.
Thank you for your patience and may I wish you well for the future.

Equity funding for a short term working capital requirement, forecast to be repaid within 24 months?

Just my humble opinion, but if we are to restore the economy of this country we simply can’t leave the decisions about business support in the hands of over-worked jobsworths who haven’t got the first clue about how to run a business – and who take 10 weeks to respond to a simple request.

To add insult to injury, NatWest (of which the taxpayer owns 83%) has just spent £millions on an ad campaign trying to tell us they are a ‘Helpful Bank’.

Oh, and by the way just reported profits of £1.6 billion for the first half of this year.

Just my humble opinion, but the banking system in this country is a disgrace.

I’d love to hear from you if you’ve had an experience of applying for EFG support – whether positive or negative.

Am I in the unlucky minority which the system has spat out? Or is the story the same for businesses all over the UK?