BUSINESS NETWORKING Frankston | Mornington Peninsula | Dandenong
MARCH 2015 I FREE
DENIM RULES HOW JEANS MEASURE UP AFTER 45 YEARS
DOUBTS ON PORT LABOR TURNING BACK ON WESTERN PORT
RESORT SALES OFFICE
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END IN SIGHT AS MARTHA COVE SALES REACH NEW HEIGHTS
who/what/where
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ISSUE 54 / MARCH 2015
FRANKSTON / MORNINGTON PENINSULA / DANDENONG
TONY MURRELL KEITH PLATT MARG HARRISON DAVID HILET MELANIE LARKE SIMON BROWN Design MARLON PLATT Finance ANITA HILET
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doubt on port: The new Labor government is turning its back on Hastings as a future container port. RETAILER RECALLS:
Peter Mackenzie remembers when a new pair of Levi’s sold for $11.95
Columns Networking: Ivan Misner Social Media: Jessica Humphreys Law: Jacqueline Conquest Health: Mike Ellis Markets: Richard Campbell Managing: Hamish Petrie COVER: Jules Alexander says working at Martha Cove is like being at a resort . PAGE 12 Cover photo: Keith Platt
BUSINESS
10 17 17 18 19 22 Shipping news: The state government favours Port Phillip for a new container terminal instead of Western Port. PAGE 5
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n Bizzquiz Suzie Chadwick is a co-founding partner with Cameron Colson of Frankston-based design studio Microcosm. “Drawing on a network of creative suppliers and contractors, we bring together a seamless world of creative expertise,” she says. “This enables us to work efficiently bringing projects to life and maximising return on investment.”
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accountable to our loyal client base. Tip for success ... Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing and believe in what you are doing. I am inspired by ... challenging projects. Starting something new and different gets my heart and creativity pumping. Anyone starting a business should ... carefully consider and plan their brand strategy to ensure their business goals, personality, visual identity and presentation in the marketplace are consistent and clear to their audience. Importantly, I would suggest they engage a professional firm to help create a unique, engaging and memorable visual identity to make them successfully realise their vision and stand out from their competition. We are also expert in setting new businesses up with all of the tools, templates and technologies needed so they can hit the ground running. I’ll know I’m successful when ... the Bentley is in the shop and I have to decide whether to use the Maserati or the C-Class to be driven to the chopper. My mother and father always told me ... You can’t go out wearing that! I wish I had ... more hours in the day, and night.
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In line with its pre-election commitments, the Labor state government appears to be moving away from building a container port at Hastings. Jobs have been slashed at the Port of Hastings Development Authority (down from a reported 100 to 31) while its CEO Mike Lean says the focus now is investigating the logistics associated with using Hastings as a bulk port. The port already is used to handle such bulk products as oil and gas. The authority was established by the previous Coalition government in 2012 with $110 million (over four years) to manage the Port of Hastings and plan for a container terminal. Labor - which had also backed the container terminal plan during its 1999-2006 hold on government – in the lead up to the November 2014 election 16
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BUSY BITES
consumer confidence rises
Less than a quarter of the respondents to a survey of human resource professionals say that their organisation takes routine steps to capture the knowledge of workers as they leave or retire. An HR Pulse study for the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI) reports on findings of a survey sample of 1931 respondents conducted online in November and December last year. AHRI says the study showed that with the large number of baby boomers now leaving the workforce, the potential for permanent loss of intellectual property by Australian business is considerable. Respondents to the study identified the main benefits of recruiting older workers as the experience they bring to the workplace, the knowledge they have acquired, and their reliability. Most human resource professionals in the survey believe older workers are more loyal, reliable, aware and committed and have better attendance records than younger workers.
The highest consumer confidence reading in 12 months has been boosted by the Reserve Bank’s decision to cut interest rates, according to Australian National Retailers’ Association (ANRA) CEO Anna McPhee. The Westpac Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment rose by 8% from to 93.2 points in January to 100.7 points in February. McPhee said banks passing on the reduction coupled with lower petrol prices and positive share market performances also helped confidence. She added that while these factors have also helped to turn around previously pessimistic readings of how people feel about their own finances, the latest reading indicated consumers remained wary about their employment prospects that continues to impact confidence and spending decisions.
and administrative roles, there is a gender pay gap in favour of men. The data shows that, overall, the pay gap in each manager and non-manager occupational category was higher when calculated based on total remuneration compared to base salary, suggesting women are receiving a smaller portion of discretionary payments. Research shows women face a double bind when negotiating pay whereby attempts to assertively argue their value are viewed more harshly than when a man exhibits the same behaviour, which results in women being less likely to put forward their case for higher pay. Ms Conway said employers need to conduct a like-for-like pay gap analysis to be sure unconscious bias or discrimination isn’t a contributing factor, and then develop an action plan for tackling the causes of any pay inequity.
inequality in management pays
drop fbt on child care: cosboa
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) says that latest research indicates that women in management ranks get paid less than their male peers. WGEA director Helen Conway said new data reveals for the first time how the gender pay gap exists at every level of management across the agency’s reporting population of more than 11,000 employers. “The data clearly shows women in management aren’t accessing the same earning opportunities as men. This is partly due to the fact that women gravitate to roles the market typically assesses as being of lower value.” She said barriers to the higher paying roles for women include a lack of quality flexible work, the legacy of workplace cultures built on the male breadwinner model and gender bias. Pay inequity also persists below management ranks with pay gaps favouring men in every non-manager occupation. Even in female-dominated roles such as community and personal service work, and clerical
The Council of Small Business Australia (COSBOA) has asked the government remove the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) on childcare and health services for small business employees. Chief executive Peter Strong said on-site crèches and fitness services provided by big businesses were FBT exempt, while small businesses owners and employees must pay FBT for exactly the same service off-site. This was an extra 47% that big business employees may not have to pay. “The FBT was introduced to stop the wealthy from manipulating the tax system to their advantage, but childcare and fitness is not the realm of the rich but a service for us all,” Strong said. “Removal of the FBT for small business would not have a big impact on the budget but would greatly benefit health, families, work place productivity and increase employment opportunities.”
Costly days off Two new public holidays will be costly for small business, says VECCI chief executive Mark Stone. His assessment follows the state government formalising a new public holiday for Easter Sunday (5 April) and the proposed new public holiday for grand final eve (2 October), which alone could cost $543m to pay many of Victoria’s almost two million full time employees not to come to work.
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Knowledge is ebbing
Just under half of all employed Australians say they’ll be looking for a new job this year. And most of those say they will consider looking for work by using online sharing economy platforms like Airtasker, Freelancer, UberX and 99designs. A survey of 1004 people in jobs by Purprofile for Airtasker reveals changes in the labour force including a shift away from the traditional 9am-5pm work day to flexibility and freelancing. “Australians are increasingly embracing online peer-to-peer platforms to find work which allows them to be their own boss and earn a decent living by capitalising on their skills, from logo design to transport to assembling furniture to even mechanical engineering,” Airtasker co-founder and CEO Tim Fung said. Survey respondents’ ranking in order of importance was: pay, flexibility to choose hours, predictability of work and satisfaction of helping others.
call for leadership, stability The Council of Small Business Australia (COSBOA) is pleading with federal pollies to show leadership and focus on the job of running the country. The group is asking the feds not to chase votes through opinion polls because “internal divisions and lack of confidence within the Liberal Party threatens to destroy the nation’s leadership”. COSBOA’s call came in the wake of the federal Liberal-NP leadership spill motion that Prime Minister Tony Abbott beat off with a vote of 61-39 against. The Canberra commentariat is almost unanimous in the view that the PM’s position remains extremely vulnerable. Back in November COSBOA was urging Victorians not to vote for the Liberal-NP Napthine government, COSBOA chairman Paul Nielsen said his members “are sick and tired of continued leadership uncertainty and policy stonewalling in the federal sphere”.
“SME owners know that a business without leadership fails; a business where leadership is uncertain fails; and businesses without a plan or a strategy and the capacity to execute it is going to fail. “ He said all federal politicians, whether in government or opposition, must put the wellbeing of the country before their personal agendas. “The country has had far too many years of policy and leadership uncertainty and that has to change.” COSBOA CEO Peter Strong said that over the past 12 months the small business community has had “the best policy focus we have ever had due to the efforts of the likes of Bruce Billson, Josh Frydenberg and Ian MacFarlane”. “The focus has been on competition policy, contract law, the performance of regulators, the future appointment of a Small Business Ombudsman, the improved franchise code of conduct, the outing of large corporates as toxic corporate partners for small business as well as a focus on fixing the vocational training problems in our country, this has been extraordinary. “We do not want to lose the focus on these issues that are so important to the social fabric of Australia and to the economy,” Strong said.
long meetings kill productivity A report by global workplace provider Regus reveals that lengthy meetings are hampering Australian workers’ output, with 54 per cent claiming this as their biggest productivity killer. This was closely followed by IT glitches (47 per cent) and traffic jams (37 per cent), as voted for by Australian respondents in a recent Regus global survey on all things productivity related. The report also showed that early starters believe they are more productive, with 51 per cent of Australians claiming that their best output is in the early morning, compared with just five per cent of night owls.
WE WON 58 AWARDS WITH 1 STRATEGY...
Sustaining motivation CEO of online experience retailer RedBalloon Kristie Buchanan has dos and don’ts for leaders who want to inspire employee performance: Don’t leave strategy and vision to the CEO. Take time to understand and contribute to the company’s strategy. You can’t motivate yourself or others if you don’t know why you’re here. Do use team meetings as opportunities to connect your work to something bigger. Talk about how your work relates to big picture goals regularly. Don’t dismiss the importance of a one-on-one catch up with your team members. Do prioritise your people, they are the engine of your organisation. Don’t criticise your staff more often than you thank them. Gratitude is easy and free. Do give recognition when it’s due. Consciously recognising and rewarding good performance is a worthwhile investment. Don’t ignore who your employees are outside of work. They have lives and responsibilities outside their 9-5 call of duty and will be more motivated and empowered if you let them bring their whole self to work. Do make it your mission to know how to get staff performing at their best. A cost-free way to determine what motivates your staff is to get to know more about them. Investigate their strengths and weaknesses. What do they invest their time in outside work? Do they have a family, or interests that this job is helping to support? Are they creative? Are they analytical? Find out what areas they require training or support. Use this knowledge to plan ahead and create practical pathways to contribute to their professional success.
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March 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong |29/01/2015 BusinessTimes |7 1:55:00 PM
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1. Peninsula Business Network held a breakfast for more than 85 at Mornington Golf Club on 3 February. From left are part of the Solution One team Ben O’Brien, Verity Walter and managing director Matthew Gordon. 2. At PBN are Stephen Groundswell, of Ethertech, with Kathy Graham, of solicitors White Cleland. 3. Women’s networking group Soar Collective met at The Winey Cow, Mornington, on 5 February. Sabrina Muller, Mind and Wellness coach, spoke about confidence building. Pictured are photographer Bianca Soso and Soar convener Jess Jones. 4. Kim Platzer and Tanya Keam, of Bat Design, at the Soar get together. 5. Kristie Drummond with guest speaker Sabrina Muller at The Winey Cow. 6. Radio Port Phillip program Taking Care of Business on Friday 13 February had as guests Barry Markoff, of ICM, and Freda Miriklis, past president of BPW International. They are pictured with presenter Jacki Mitchell and regular guest Marg Harrison, of Business Times. 7. McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, hosted business owners for drinks and a tour on 17 February. Pictured are Kylie Marotta, lawyer at White Cleland, with Mark Engwerda, director of Belmar Real Estate. 8. McClelland Gallery director Phil Jones with Tash Mathers (left) and Carrie Crerar, of Toast Magazine.
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9. Frankston Business Network sponsors met for drinks at Frankston International on 18 February before the monthly networking event. From left are Marie Myer and Barbara Poulian, of Supa Media, with Extreme Networks directors James and Tina Eling. 10. Carol Campbell, of NIET Training, with Teena Ferguson and Cath Ferry, of Statewide Autistic Services. 11. Clout Content Marketing and Frankston International Motel hosted Frankston Business Networking’s February event. From left are Michael Alf, of Your Firm, Amey Lee, of Heart Content, and Tony Armstrong, of Customer Loyalty. 12. Vicki Aiton, of Resumes for Results, and Alan Muller, of Tobin Brothers. 13. Jessica Humphreys, of Social Concepts, with Marg Harrison, of Clout Content Marketing and Business Times. 14. Federal Small Business Minister and Member for Dunkley Bruce Billson, with Sue Voss and Craig Robinson, of accountants Robinson Voss Partners. 15. Frankston International’s friendly staff members Josh Moana and Karen Dickenson. 16. Mornington Peninsula Shire’s Young Citizen of the Year Sarah Berry met Prime Minister Tony Abbott at a community afternoon tea at Frankston RSL on 19 February.
email marg@businesstimes.net.au if you have something to share.
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thatmarketingcompany.com.au March 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 9
NETWORKING
Look up, look up ... look up! I was walking along a very crowded city street in a large European city. People were walking in both directions with great purpose and direction – families, business professionals, tourists, and shoppers alike. One pedestrian, however, stood out from the rest. She was walking a bit slower, with an uneven, irregular pace, and she had her head down. She wasn’t looking to the left or to the right. She wasn’t looking around. She wasn’t even looking at the sidewalk, or her feet. She was looking at her mobile phone. She was actually texting while walking on the crowded sidewalk and she was on a direct trajectory to collide with me. “Look up. Look up. Look up,” I was softly repeating under my breath as she approached headlong towards me. She was about to run smack into me, and the sidewalk was so full that it was impossible to step out of her way without colliding with another person. I was on the verge of making my mantra, “Look up,” audible.
Dr lvan Misner*
Networking specialist
At the very last moment before crashing into me, she looked up with a completely startled reaction. It was like she was in one world one moment and then back in the real world the next. Oh, wait, that was exactly what was happening. Mentally she was not present, even though she was physically walking on that sidewalk with all of us. She was so distracted by her mobile phone, that she was just going through the motions of walking somewhere. Sometimes I am asked by young business professionals to share my advice
for reaching a certain level of success. I think my primary message surprises them somehow. Here’s what I tell them: Learn how to “be here now”. When you are working, work. Don’t spend time stressing over the things you are or are not doing in your personal time. When you are not working, don’t work! Don’t let the distractions of your professional pursuits keep you from being fully present in your personal life. It is very easy to allow ourselves to be so wrapped up and so caught up in something, that we cannot set it aside to change gears and focus on the here and now. That is what the young lady pedestrian was doing before she pulled herself out of her virtual world to rejoin the events going on around her. I’ve written more than 20 books. When I first started writing, I was a father with very young children. Because I wanted to be very present in the evenings when we were having family time together, I wrote after they were tucked in for the night. Instead of watching television or reading, for a few
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months, I wrote between 11 pm and 2 or 3 am several nights a week. When my first book was published, my then eight-year-old daughter exclaimed, “When did you write a book? I didn’t know you were writing a book!” I also travel an enormous amount. I am on the road an average of every other week each year. This made it even more important to me as my kids grew up to really be present when I was not traveling and to make time to connect with the family while I was on the road. Once I asked my high school-aged son if he felt I was an absentee dad. His answer validated my sense of having been able to “be here now” as he was growing up. He said, “What? Are you kidding, Dad? You were always around.” It’s the same concept in the reverse. When you are working hard on a project or accomplishing something demanding in your business, it is necessary to keep yourself focused on the task at hand. There are many things that can be a distraction. I have seen people become completely inept
at the job at hand because they cannot be fully present due to some other pull on them from another area of their life. My mother had an approach to this dynamic that works well for me when I want to “be here now” and there are some distractions encroaching on my ability to do so. She used to say, “Put that in a jar and set it up on a shelf. When you are done, it will still be there, and you can take it down and get it out then.” So my mantra of “Look up. Look up. Look up,” can also be a way to keep yourself in the present and really begin to “be here now.” I think you’ll find that you navigate the paths of life, work, networks and family more profoundly and with greater success in all areas. *Dr Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is founder and chairman of Business Networking International (BNI), the world’s largest networking organisation. Dr Misner is also senior partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company. Email: misner@BNI.com
CITY BACKS POKIE CAMPAIGN Greater Dandenong Council has joined other councils, the Salvation Army and the Interchurch Taskforce on Gambling in the reform campaign ‘Enough Pokies in Vulnerable Communities’. In the past year, $110 million was lost to pokies in Greater Dandenong – equal to more than$300,000 each day. Dandenong argues that the application process for pokies is long and expensive, and the rules so“grossly biased in favour of the applicant” that, in the past six years and 154 applications, only 11 were not approved. All a hotel or club needs to do is convince Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (VCGLR) that there will be no detriment to the community. That could be as simple as refurbishing their own facility to attract more customers, the council said. It can cost more than $100,000 for a council to prepare a submission and appear at the VCGLR. That figure could easily double if the council appeals the decision to VCAT.
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March 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 11
cover story: JULES ALEXANDER
resorting to the WATERFRONT WORDS AND PICTURE: KEITH PLATT
She knows it may sound like a cliche, but Jules Alexander means it when she compares working in her office to being at a resort. The upstairs floor to ceiling windows overlook a boat harbor nestled beneath a protective hillside dotted with houses. There is little wind and the moored boats are mirrored in tranquil waters. Alexander’s office is a display house built at Hidden Harbour, once part of the larger Martha Cove marina and housing project at Safety Beach. Planned as a single development by developer CP1, Martha Cove has over the years been split up and now handed to receivers who are trying to recoup money for the ultimate owners, the banks. Despite the development’s chequered past, Jules Alexander is upbeat about its future and has a growing list of sales figures to prove her point. While appreciating the scenic benefits of her office, Alexander says it is temporary and time’s running out. “I’ve got until June 2016, but I expect to be out of here well before that.” There are 78 out of 350 blocks left at Hidden Harbour, eight on the water’s edge. “I didn’t even know it [Hidden Harbor] was here when I came three years ago and there were only half a dozen [blocks] sold,” she says, glancing at a subdivision plan on the wall plastered with red ‘sold’ stickers. “There were only half a dozen off-the-water, or dry, lots sold at that stage. But the traction we got by selling more than 40 lots in that first year exceeded all expectations and then I was approached by PPB [receivers appointed after the collapse of CP1 which had sold parcels of blocks to other developers] to sell on-the-water blocks.” KordaMentha has also recently released waterfront lots. “People thought you had to spend more than $2 million to go on the water, but we showed how it could be done for under $1.5 million, including a pool and pontoon berth. That’s what’s produced the success story.”
Jules Alexander at her resort style Hidden Harbour office overlooking the marina at Martha Cove.
“Not all lots are sold, but we’re setting a record pace.” Alexander’s assertions are reinforced by new houses dotted around the harbour. She has “been in” real estate for 20 plus years and sees her strengths as “house and land packaging”, naming some of the nearly 20 developments she ‘s been involved with across the Mornington Peninsula. “Not too many of us specialise, but I project manage subdivisions [under her consultancy company R J Alexander].” At Martha Cove Alexander is working for Belle Property (which also publishes Belle Property Magazine) the licensed agent for Hidden Harbour. Her role extends to building liaison, marketing and sales. Belle in turn has been hired by receivers KordaMentha, one of three companies overseeing the sale of land at Martha Cove on behalf of the banks, which took over ownership after the collapse of the original developers. “The main thing here [at Hidden Harbour] is to sell the land, although we’re also offering a one-stop shop in that we can arrange house plans and designs, source builders, conveyancing, finance and
12 | BusinessTimes| Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | March 2015
solicitors if needed,” Alexander says. “Many people are time poor so we offer this to take out the complications. We can source everything, from arranging finance to landscaping”. Waterfront lots range in price from $585,000 (700 square metres) to $700,000 (970sm) and the dry lots $199,000 (256sm) to $350,000 (552sm). The design of the marina at Martha Cove includes four “fingers” or points – Brindabella, Ragamuffin, Sovereign and Helsal – with berths and housing lots. Brindabella, handled by yet another receiver, is yet to hit the market. “For a long time there were misconceptions about Martha Cove and it took a proper marketing strategy to change that. People needed confidence of a return and we put that confidence back. “The marketing here was too fragmented and I came in with a fresh approach, treating it like any other estate.” Despite the wide marketing campaign, Alexander says most buyers live within 25 kilometres of Safety Beach. “Attitudes have changed, and people are saying they wished they’d bought here three years ago. R P Data statistics show an
increase in prices.” She says 80 per cent of sales are to owner-occupiers “with just a handful of investors and holiday homes”. Alexander has been among investors who have bought and sold at Martha Cove. Although the various sectors at Martha Cover are in the hands of different receivers, they are “working together and being strategic in their marketing”. Expressions of interest will be sought for the one remaining major parcel of land, which includes part of the marina and residential and commercial land. Alexander and her husband Ross have four children and run the Happy Days shop at Sorrento. “We decided to open a temporary pop-up shop, but that was five years ago,” she says with a smile. Happy Days – a “gallery shop hybrid” – sells a variety of goods, including imported jewellery, homewares, furniture, art, clothing, “the unusual, really”. Describing herself as a “social chameleon”, Alexander says her professional background “is varied”, including running a modelling agency and marketing time share properties.
March 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 13
TRENDS
Shoppers using phones as instore buying aid Global market researchers GfK is saying an international survey reveals that four in 10 shoppers worldwide are using their mobile phones to compare prices while shopping inside a store. And while in the store four in 10 are contacting friends or family for advice, while more than a third are taking pictures of products they might buy GfK comments that online shoppers “are famous for having instant access to price comparisons at the very moment of making a purchase - but now ‘bricks and mortar’ shoppers are bringing this behavior instore”. GfK asked mobile phone users in 23 countries what activities they regularly do on their mobile phones while inside a store. The leading behaviors are comparing prices and contacting a friend or family member for advice (at 40% each), followed by taking pictures of products that they might buy (at 36%). Half of global shoppers, aged 20-29, compare prices online while inside a store.
With significant numbers of shoppers being online while they are inside shops, bricks-andmortar outlets need to respond. – Adrian Hobbs, Managing Director, Online Pricing, GfK.
Globally, men outweigh women on using their mobile phone inside a store to compare prices on a regular basis, standing at 42% and 37% respectively. The most active age group is shoppers aged 20-29, with nearly half (49%) saying they regularly do this, followed by those aged 15-19 and 30-39, both at 45%. Adrian Hobbs, Managing Director of Online Pricing Intelligence at GfK: “With significant numbers of shoppers being online while they are inside shops, bricksand-mortar outlets need to respond. “Having a close and real time eye on the pricing of online competitors and reacting quickly are now key success factors for physical retailers, as well as those online. “This is especially true for retailers in regions such as Asia and South America, as consumers here are most active in using their mobiles while in a store.”
Aussie thumbs up to ‘local’ suppliers Almost half (46%) of Australians say that buying local is the best way to strengthen the economy, according to Westpac’s latest Australia Day report. The report also found that fruit and vegetable shops, restaurants, cafes and pharmacies are the most popular shops for buying goods locally. Nine in 10 people surveyed felt loyal to at least one business in their community and spent an average of $237 a month on locally made products. “Strong community relationships are important to Australians and more than
14 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | March 2015
two fifths … say they shop at local businesses because they have built up relationships with the owners,” Westpac’s Danny John said. He said 43% of people said they would pay more for local goods and services, while 19% of Gen Ys (20 to 34 year olds) promoted local suppliers through social media, such as Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Mr John said the “builder” demographic (69 plus) regularly went to their local shops with 70% saying they like the personal service.
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hastings development
HASTINGS PORT IN DOUBT UNDER LABOR GOVERNMENT s s
5
Labor’s platform, not its policy, and the Premier Daniel Andrews has committed Labor to only delivering on its policies. One of the first clues to the change of direction for the port development authority came early in the New Year when Mr Lean cancelled the 5 February meeting of the PORTicipate “community and engagement network”. Mr Lean, in an email to the group’s members, said they would be told about the authority’s “future program as soon as it is practically possible”. Executive director of the Victorian National Parks Association Matt Ruchel urged the government to “take a deep breath, properly assess all options and ask do we need another container port”. He said existing ports – Melbourne, Geelong or Portland – should be expanded instead of developing Bay West. Mr Ruchel said mega ships would never come to Melbourne. “It doesn’t make any sense. We have a population of five million, so where is the demand for them to come?”
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said it now favoured a new container terminal at “Bay West”, on the western shores of Port Phillip, closer to Geelong. The change in tack for the use of the Port of Hastings could seriously affect the economies of Greater Dandenong, Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula. Each municipality has in one way or another factored the port’s growth into its future, with Frankston publicly saying it was most suited to be the port’s administrative hub. Land has been set aside for use as an inland port at Lyndhurst, south of Dandenong. Real estate agents have for years predicted increased property values and jobs growth on the back of the port development. The Dan Andrews-led government says
Infrastructure Victoria will assess the state’s future port needs. Meanwhile, since the scrapping of the Iron Monarch which used to regularly come to BlueScope Steel, the number of ships using Western Port has dropped to 50 a year in the past three years. The port authority’s website defines its role as “responsible for managing existing trade at the Port of Hastings through the port management agreement with Patrick Port Hastings”. It will be “working with the government to assist it in implementing its ports policy”. In its Project 10,000 – Victorian Labor’s Transport Alternative report, the party said it would “seek independent expert advice from Infrastructure Victoria about the viability of Bay West as an alternative site for Melbourne’s second container port … Address the logistics needs of the state, including future bulk capacity at the Port of Hastings and Port of Geelong”. However, the document is regarded as
16 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | March 2015
contributions
facebook’s new call-to-action buttons Facebook pages are an important Jessica Humphreys* destination for business owners and Social media consultant Facebook is always looking at new ways for people to interact with businesses. Its latest offering is the new call-to-action (CTA) buttons that sit within the framework of the cover photo. There are seven buttons to choose from: Book Now, Contact Us, Use App, Play Game, Shop Now, Sign Up and Watch video. These buttons can direct people to a specific destination of your choice and help align to a business’s goals. These CTA buttons give businesses with a Facebook page a fantastic opportunity to drive traffic towards a specific location – these should be utilised. Before you rush ahead and set up your CTA button, think about which button is most appropriate for your business and which CTA aligns with your overall business goals. Do you have an online shop? If yes, maybe you need the ‘Shop Now’. Is one of your primary objectives to grow your customer database? Then ‘Sign Up’ is the most relevant. Now that you’ve decided which CTA works best for you take a step back and look at the design of your cover photo. These CTA buttons sit conveniently within that design, providing you with the additional opportunity to highlight the CTA. For instance, if you are promoting an online sale you may want to align your cover photo design to reflect this with a sign saying ‘Shop Now’ with arrows pointing to the CTA button. Our special promotion this month is a cover photo design to incorporate a CTA that makes a statement. Contact us: Jessica@socialconceptsconsulting.com and quote #BTM to receive a cover photo for only $75.
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*Jessica Humphreys operates Social Concepts, a social media consulting business. Send questions to Jessica@socialconceptsconsulting.com
importance of a will for separated families
* Jacqueline Conquest is a lawyer, accredited family law specialist, and collaborative lawyer. She is founding principal of the firm Walls Bridges Lawyers, 1140 Nepean Highway, Mornington. Phone 03 59 770 680.
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BY JACQUELINE CONQUEST* The importance of having a will in place cannot be underestimated. There are many legal ramifications of not having a will that the general public is not aware of. One such legal ramification is demonstrated by the following scenario: A single mother and her child aged 14 die in car crash. Legislation deems the mother, as the elder of the two, to have died first. If the mother has a will the Wills Act (Vic) applies and the child is deemed not to have survived the mother. The Mother’s estate passes to the next beneficiaries in her will. If the mother does not have a will the Wills Act (Vic) does not apply. The child is not deemed to have predeceased the mother. The mother’s estate passes to the child. As the child does not have a will and dies intestate the child’s estate passes to the father. The result of the above scenario is that by not having a Will the Mother’s estate unintentionally passed to the child’s Father. This outcome may have the separated mother rolling in her grave if she did not feel so favourably towards the child’s father.
March 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 17
health
Climate heat on politicians I know there’s a rump of skepticism on climate change, and I’m first to advocate healthy criticism because most of what we accept as fact today turns out to be bunkum tomorrow, but the inescapable fact is that 2014 was the hottest year on record. Furthermore, 13 of the past 15 years have been the hottest 13 years in traceable history. It’s been more than 100 years since a record was set for the coldest year. But nevertheless, enough influential voices continue to argue that this is evidence not of change but of variability, that our ecosystem naturally produces such extremes and will correct itself over time. Sometimes science makes such a virtue of its open-mindedness that it gives too much oxygen to fools. But I suppose there is a small chance they are right. According to mathematics being bandied about online, the odds on 13 of the past 15 years being randomly the hottest on record – that is, not due to a trend but to pure chance – is 27,000,000 to 1. That’s right, the chance that our present extreme weather is due not to human activity but to natural cycles is one in 27 million. So yes, there’s a miniscule chance that the skeptics and their dog whistlers in politics are correct. But what if they’re wrong? Can we take that chance? What is the responsible thing for a government to do here? Even if you don’t want to believe what the science is saying, or to take inconvenient measures the price of which might include your own personal power, playing politics with this issue does not strike me as being overly responsible. It’s not exactly “adult” government, or leadership. Surely serious precautionary measures are called for – just as a hedge against the overwhelming probability that you are wrong. (And especially if such measures could substantially repair your budget problem too.) I’ve written before about the way governments pursue “growth” as the answer to everything – as if the achievement of continual expansion is both desirable and sustainable. The god of growth trumps everything.
Michael Ellis*
Chinese Herbalist
It is not exactly adult government, or leadership I am reminded of a small supermarket company about 25 years ago. It was trying valiantly to compete against the big chains, but kept running into debt. Every time it went to the bank, the advice was, “Just buy another supermarket.” Today it’s a big supermarket chain. Just with a bigger debt. But back to global warming. The reason I am inclined to rant is that Chinese medicine takes a big-picture view of global warming that makes far more
18 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | March 2015
sense than most blathering on the topic. One of the things Chinese – like Western – science came to understand about the human ecosystem is that it takes energy from outside the system – the power of sunshine, in the form of food – and transforms it into substances inside the system – such as blood, fluids, muscle and fatty tissue, hormones – all of which have a dual nature. They can remain as substances, doing their job of cooling, lubricating and nourishing, or they can be converted back into energy and expended. Many of these substances need to be stored – in the various glands and storage areas of the body – and some indeed are precious and should be used only sparingly (like, for instance, sexual fluids, or bone marrow). These ones, Chinese medicine thinks of as being stored deep in the body, something analogous to the underground roots of a tree. When these deep, stored substances are discharged injudiciously, or are prematurely converted for energy, there are direct consequences for health. The main one is this: we get dry and hot. We suffer symptoms like hot flushes, difficulty sleeping or relaxing, irritability, thirst, weight loss, and so on. Eventually we collapse, having burnt out those “essences” meant for deep nourishment but expended before their time. This is analogous to what is going on in the world. Humans are extracting stored reserves of potential energy from deep in the ground … and burning them. So what happens? Naturally, the earth heats up. To think that global warming might not be the consequence of this practice – and that the ecosystem will simply adjust to return to a state of equilibrium – flies in the face of a fundamental, observable, logical law of nature. A 25 centuries old natural science and the overwhelming majority of Western physicists arrive at the exact same conclusion. Global warming is real, and it won’t fix itself. Politicians who put their personal self-interest ahead of that reality deserve our contempt. *Michael Ellis is a registered Chinese herbalist in Mt Eliza. Visit www.mtelizaherbal.com
MARKETS
Tumultuous times. BHP’s profit falls by $5.1 billion, 700 staff are laid off at its coal operations in Queensland, copper is weak, oil has halved. Write-offs by Santos, Fortescue and many lesser miners and mining support companies are eating away at our commodity exports, the big gear that supports debt servicing. Fortunately there has been no panic this time. The broader market now appears within striking distance of 6000 for the Index, a record. This expresses either great confidence in the flexibility our managers or perhaps a wilful blindness, a refusal to recognise that the world is not what it was. First, some applause for the flexibility. As iron ore fell 50% more than year, both BHP and Rio managed to slash costs. Despite BHP’s 47% fall in profit, cash-flow only fell 10% and dividend rose marginally. Rio did even better with only a 9% fall as volume rose. Both companies had been working for several years on cost reductions like ore driverless trucks controlled from Perth, but investors with a wider view might pause and consider the implications. Two of our important companies are focussed on more production of an item whose price will inevitably fall lower as they produce more of it. It is another form of the China strategy. China has made itself the factory of the world, but added so much capacity it is now deeply in debt with a pervasively polluted city and rural landscape. Symbolically at least it says a great deal about BHP that it removed its Newcastle research department. It was considered a
Richard Campbell* Stock Analyst
non-contributing indulgence. The idea was that BHP could buy any technology it want when needed. In an accounting sense that sounds entirely practical, but companies are not simply balance sheets, but aggregate will, imagination and ideas. If that was not the case we could run them entirely by computers. They could be driverless too. Basically that is what China did. Its strategy was to become the factory of the world and make anything cheaper by producing at greater volume. It was an employment strategy, not a value-adding or wealth strategy and now we see the consequences. Each province sought to out-do the other in cement, steel, solar panels or whatever the industry. Most industries now have 30-40% over-capacity as a result, but that surplus capacity cost money. The aluminium industry’s debt is around one trillion and profits last year were $20 billion or .02%. Some China finance experts believe interest payments are absorbing 70-80% of all new debt. Roughly one in four dwelling units is empty. Industrial parks were built nowhere near highways or rail. Entire office precincts were built without pre-commitments as the objective was construction, not meeting identified need. There is much that is commendable in
China. The trains run on time, service can be excellent, quality can be high, but its manufactures have stalled. Costs are rising as off-shore owners from Citzen Watches to Nokia and hundreds more withdraw production back to Japan or Taiwan or send it to cheaper Vietnam or India. Meanwhile, groups like Hancock Mining are still building iron ore export capacity. By September it plans to start producing 55mtpa to add to supply. What can you say? Fortunately we are not a one trick pony. The recent results season produced a dozen or more substantial profit gains from health care companies, communications, IT and similar service sector specialists. The slump in the $A caused by the slump in commodities acts as an automatic stabiliser and offers fresh incentive for investment. There are far too few to support a resurgent, more intelligent Australia, but three point the way. Select Harvests is producing almonds, one crop China doesn’t over-produce. As California, the world’s dominant almond grower runs out of water and remains in severe drought, it is well placed. Another has technology to help clean up China’s heavily polluted rivers, lakes and ground water. A third makes nonpolluting electric scooters in China. Sales to 30 countries are rising, but China’s demand is the key. The mayor of Beijing said only a month ago that Beijing was “unliveable”. If ever there was evidence that simply producing stuff is self-destructive it was this extraordinary, heart-felt comment. * Richard Campbell is Executive Director of Peninsula Capital Management, Tel. 9642 0545. rcampbell@peninsulacapital.com.au
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March 2015| Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 19
A RETAIL TALE
Back when Levi’s cost just $11.95
Peter Mackenzie remembers 45 years of retailing in Frankston as he hands over Jac n Jean to new owners.
Peter Mackenzie has been running his own company for 45 years. Here, on the eve of handing over the reins to a new owner, he looks back to 2 June 1970 and the opening of his Jac n Jean store in Frankston. So it was off to Frankston with a radical, inexpensive shop fit-out, lots of help from mates, very favourable trading terms from suppliers I had built relationships with at Myer ... and a silly name, Jac n Jean – short for jackets and jean. We thought we would change that as soon as we came up with a better alternative, 45 years later it’s still there. To the strains of Jimmy Hendrix, the Rolling Stones and Creedence Clearwater Revival belting out from an old reel to reel tape deck, we opened with minimal stock. Looking back, our official opening was
hilarious. We had the fabulous Issi Dye – hot property in 1970 – and an obscure band called Thursday’s Children all packed into the tiny store. I really thought I was on my way. Month one takings were $1100 on the staggering rent of $65 a week and the average weekly wage around $75. Levi’s denims were $11.95 and cords $9.95. I was really struggling. Fortunately, things changed pretty rapidly and around the latter part of 1971 business really kicked on. Remember, this is still pre-Bankcard or any other credit cards so cash was the only form of transaction apart from the odd cheque. Early in the 1970s secondary schools softened their stance on school uniforms and we jumped into supplying students with Levi’s cords, Navy for Frankston High, brown for Karingal High and bottle green for another school, but the name escapes me. This deal meant we were selling an average of 100 pair a week out of our tiny 37 square metre store together with the
20 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong |March 2015
emerging “emotionally driven” purchases of denim – Levi’s 501 shrink to fit: one inch waist, two inches in the leg, usually carried out sitting in a bath. Amco Jeans was a Sydney-based company and was at the forefront of the Aussie market, an amazing product and fantastic maketing. US brands such as Lee and Wrangler were gaining in popularity along with other local brands such Blues Union and Faberge. Although we never lost sight of our denim roots we were fortunate to get into a lot of trends very early, again through the network I had built up. One such item was “treads”. These were tyre-soled sandals with brightly coloured plaited uppers. Customers simply traced their foot on a brown paper bag, selected colours, paid a deposit and waited up to two weeks for their individually constructed masterpieces. I hope no one here wore those as I may be liable for their orthotics bills. Around the mid 1970s business was really firing, we even had to have security
me a sweat shirt. The girls went nuts. We also packed the store out on the Friday night with the legendary Don Scott, what an era that was. Up until the mid-1980s the business showed very healthy growth. However, I was becoming bored with retail and Amco invited me to do some overseas work looking to source new products and innovative fabrics. The trips were fantastic, taking me to the US, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan. I was hooked and started investigating the possibility of operating on behalf of international brands. I managed to secure two extremely exciting roles both with established UK labels Easy Jeans and then Pepe Jeans.
I must admit that over the last decade I have found retail hard work. I believe when you are employing staff between the ages of 17 and 24 you are faced with a whole new culture and mindset. My international involvement and dealing with major retailers across Australia saw me kind of lose focus on my retail business during the late 1980s. When the so-called redevelopment of the Frankston CBD under its various names, Quayside/Frankston Town Centre/Bayside Shopping Centre was underway, we very nearly hit the wall. For two years the only foot traffic was construction guys in hard hats; it was a very trying period, especially for my wife, Lynn, who was struggling to keep the business afloat while I was swanning around the globe. The 1990s saw many changes in both
retail and manufacturing, major shopping centres were only interested in multiple store retailers, independents were starting to feel the strain as they had limited buying power, margins were getting squeezed. Banks tightened up and sent a good number of businesses to the wall. I also believe clothing lacked excitement as brands became more cautious and predicable and retailers were also playing it safe. On 1 July, 2000, the introduction of the GST led to consumers tightening up and us becoming unpaid tax collectors. I must admit that over the past decade I have found retail hard work. I believe when you are employing staff between the ages of 17 and 24 you are faced with a whole new culture and mind set. I am sure anyone employing that demographic will understand me. We employ around eight staff at our store and work hard to develop a professional young team whose members care about the business and customer service. We stress that with the added competition of the online business, customers must enjoy the experience of shopping in our store. In March, 2013, we relocated to Wells St after being a tenant of the Bayside shopping centre for 20 years. Talk about getting out of jail. Perhaps we won’t go any further with that. As I near the end of my career in the denim business I look back at the amazing experiences I have enjoyed, and the fabulous people I have met and worked with. Not bad for a boy who was asked to leave Frankston High at a relatively young age. Many say I have been lucky and perhaps that’s correct. I say good luck is where preparation meets opportunity.
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on the door during peak times. There was no late night shopping, Saturdays we closed at midday and Sunday was truly a day of rest. These shorter trading hours created a real buzz in the store and that was the reason we had security, it simply got so busy the store become dangerously overcrowded and of course you know what that led to: more people queuing to get in. Whatever happened to that era? In 1976 I made my first overseas trip to monitor trends in clothing, merchandising and marketing. What an eye opener. I travelled to the Unites States and saw many new concepts, including people having breakfast meetings in restaurants. That will never catch on back home, I thought. How wrong. During this trip, one of my colleagues decided to get into the denim business, but not in the traditional market because it was just about owned by the national and international brands. He decided on the contemporary approach to his jean brand, East Coast, produced in Footscray. It was simply a licence to print money for both the manufacturer and the tight band of retailers they permitted to sell the label. Throughout my career I have never seen an independent brand achieve so much success. During those heady days of the 1970s some of the promotions were amazing, including travelling road shows with top bands at the Frankston drive-in, the Little River Band at Toorak College, prizes where we took customers to dinner with Darryl Braithwaite and Sherbet, just to name a few. In 1980 Jac n Jean celebrated its 10th birthday with appearances by James Reyne from Australian Crawl, which cost
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March 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 21
MANAGING
Avoiding the need to apologise When things go wrong, some form of damage is done and expectations are not met, everyone appreciates an apology from the person or business that let you down. While every apology can be a valuable learning opportunity, the very best outcome is to avoid the creation of any future need for an apology at all. Over the past few months, I have had far too many occasions when I have been offered an apology for some damage to my property, myself or my plans. On every occasion, some forethought by the other party could have prevented the issue, but the real question is whether they responded to ensure that they learnt how to prevent a recurrence of the same issue. In our increasingly litigious world, it is difficult for individuals and businesses to admit fault as this usually means that they are more clearly liable for compensation for any damages caused. Think about vehicle recalls that are far too slow, imported berries that cause illness and property damages or injury caused by inattentive drivers. In every case, the accountable party is torn between doing the right thing and admitting fault, versus trying to blame others, thereby minimising their consequential costs. In a couple of recent boating accidents, the accountable parties blamed the weather: “ the wind gusted just at the wrong time”. Obviously, the wind strength varies all of the time, so any competent boater should expect that a gust will arrive at any time and hence they should plan for this in determining how to complete a safe manouvere. So, how can you learn from incidents that result in an apology? This question can best be answered by learning from the safety professionals. They treat not just every injury as a learning opportunity but, increasingly, they also look to near misses or non-injury incidents as well. Every injury is investigated to determine its root cause and identify changes that will prevent recurrence. Usually, remedial actions are determined with timelines and accountabilities. Using these techniques, injury rates in most well run businesses are always improving. What would happen if apologies were treated using these same techniques? When someone in your business has to offer an apology to a customer, a supplier, or a workmate, could you treat this as a
Hamish Petrie*
Business consultant
In our increasingly litigious world, it is difficult for individuals and businesses to admit fault as this usually means that they are more clearly liable for compensation for any damages caused. learning opportunity and have the same reporting and follow-up processes? That way, you will make apologies visible within your organisation and will then be able to assess the real, but usually hidden costs, that are attached to each and every apology. The other parallel that can be identified from safety professionals is to categorise incidents according to their risks, such as severity and likely frequency of occurrence. This means that fatalities are always treated differently to first aid injuries, although often the potential of an incident could have been far worse that the actual injury. Apologies can also be graded from business-threatening, down to short delays in the timing of delivery of your product or service. Developing a structure to analyse apologies according to their potential severity, frequency of recurrences and business impact will go a long way to prevent the need for future apologies. Like injury reporting, apology reporting should be visible at the most senior levels in your organisation, such as at board level, or senior executive level. For example, Toyota has been the world’s most widely regarded car manufacturer for the past decade or more because of its sophisticated production systems, but it has lost huge credibility because of its slowness to understand, accept and address problems that led to fatalities and injuries around the world. Instead of being quick to accept responsibility, apologise and learn from customers’ feedback, Toyota waited far
22 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | March 2015
too long, thereby allowing seemingly small issues to grow into major global reputation problems. Many businesses do keep a “complaints register” where negative feedback is recorded and actioned. This process can capture learning opportunities where customers provide negative feedback about your product or service. While these may result in an apology, the concept of recording and acting on apologies can be broader and extend to parties other than customers. In all of these cases, the objective should be to turn the injured party into a supporter of your business rather than an open critic. This can be difficult to do, as there are often real business process changes that are required to ensure that there are no future recurrences. For many reasons, the more senior the person handling the issue, the more likely it is that they can both placate the injured party and authorise internal changes to prevent recurrence. One small business owner that I interviewed recently stated that he always handled complaints personally and it regularly created positive turnarounds in attitude when the injured parties realised that it was the owner of the business that called to address their issue. Overall, there are rich improvement ideas behind every apology and the establishment of a method to highlight and investigate them can really help your business move towards the ideal world, where apologies are no longer required. Action Planning Questions: 1. Do you have any system to identify the number of apologies given to third parties by your people? 2. Do you investigate each apology to maximise your learning so that you can prevent a recurrence? 3. Do you have a system to record and analyse the risks attached to each apology and include this in reporting at your most senior level? 4. Do you have a complaints process that included involvement of the business owner? *Hamish Petrie had a 37-year corporate career including 25 with Alcoa Inc. His latest position was VP People and Communications for the Global Alcoa Corporation based in New York. He can be contacted at hamish@nitroworld.net or on 0404345103. © Hamish Petrie 2014
TIPS FOR GETTING OUT OF THE RED AND INTO THE BLACK Fred Schebesta, a self-styled online business guru, says getting out of debt doesn’t have to be a year-long exercise, although extreme measures may be needed to get back in the black. The co-founder and director of www.finder.com.au has tips to help fine-tune your balance sheet: Scrutinise recurring expenses Take a look at your recurring expenses and determine what you need and what you can do without (monthly subscriptions, phone usage). Resist a phone upgrade and mobile phone contract and opt for a pre paid bill. Earn more money Make the most of the share economy by doing odd jobs on Airtasker. Look at jobs on Gumtree, rent your room or house on Airbnb, offer your skills on Expert360. Skinny rocks Skipping one meal a day can save dollars and help your waistline. Having a bigger portion at brunch (between breakfast and lunch) can fill you up for longer and it means you
are having one meal not two. Ditch the big brands When Apple releases its latest product, resist being the first with the latest technology. Stop thinking about the latest car, gadget, holiday, watch or clothes. Don’t buy take away You will be amazed at how much money can be saved by preparing your lunch (or brunch) each day. Cooking at home is healthier and often tastier. Declutter Sell anything in that you no longer use or need. Put up ads on Gumtree or have a garage sale. Ditch the coffee At $3.20 a regular coffee, even if you only have one a day, you can save more than $60 a month by giving up coffee (based on a five-day working week). Quit the gym There are so many ways to exercise that a gym membership quickly becomes superfluous. There are plenty of tips and tricks online.
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jessica@socialconceptsconsulting.com www.facebook.com/socialconceptsconsulting www.instagram.com/socialconcepts
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March 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 23
CONCEPT ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNS & SCALED DRAWINGS WWW.KITCHENANDHOMECONCEPTS.COM.AU
A Voice For Business
76 Reid Parade (PO Box 428) Hastings VIC 3915 P 03 5979 7744 F 03 5979 7944 e info@businesstimes.net.au
To the Business Owner
AVAILABLE AVAILABLE AT AT TELSTRA TELSTRA BUSINESS BUSINESS CENTRE CENTRE MORNINGTON MORNINGTON DOT (Digital Office Technology) and DOT (Digital Office Technology) and BIZESSENTIALS business bundles BIZESSENTIALS business bundles TM TM
New fixed broadband customers get: New fixed broadband customers get: 3 months free access when you stay 3 months free when you stay connected for access 24 months connected for 24 months That’s a minimum of $240 off That’s minimum ofup $240 off reliability A greatadeal backed by great A great deal backed up by great reliability
Telstra Business Centre Mornington 7/1 Mornington - Tyabb Road, Mornington, Telstra Business Centre Mornington 3931 7/1 Mornington - Tyabb Road, Mornington, PH: 39311300 692 874 PH: 1300 692 874
POSTAGE
PAID
AUSTRALIA
Corporation Limited ABN 33 051 775 556.
2798
THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW: DOT: Credit equal to 3 months free access charge (excludes hardware). If you cancel early you may have to repay a portion of the credit. Minimum $2160. three free months access charge free for new fixedIfbroadband phone Minimum cost $1739. THINGS YOU NEED TOcost KNOW: DOT:BizEssentials: Credit equal toFirst 3 months access charge (excludes hardware). you cancelor early youcustomers. may have to repay a portion of the DOT and BizEssentials services available in selected locations. Spectrum and TMfixed are trademarks and ® registered trademarks Telstra credit. Minimum cost $2160. BizEssentials: First three monthsThe access chargedevice free for new broadband or phone customers. Minimumof cost $1739. Corporation Limited ABN 33 051 775 556. DOT and BizEssentials services available in selected locations. The Spectrum device and TM are trademarks and ® registered trademarks of Telstra