Business times july 2015

BUSINESS & NETWORKING: Frankston | Mornington Peninsula | Dandenong

July 2015 | $4.95 (GST inc.)

being brave a line from a song helpS to launch an enterprise

JOBS TO GO

DENMARK SEEN AS A LESSON AS TECHNOLOGY WIPES OUT POSITIONS

CAPPING RATES

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COUNCILS UPSET AT STATE MOVES TO PUT LIMIT ON RATE RISES

who/what/where

features

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ISSUE 58 / JULY 2015

FRANKSTON / MORNINGTON PENINSULA / DANDENONG

TONY MURRELL KEITH PLATT MARG HARRISON DAVID HILET MELANIE LARKE SIMON BROWN Design MARLON PLATT Finance ANITA HILET

Publisher / Director Editorial Director Sales Director Managing Director Material production / Prepress

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Columns

the jobs ahead: More than 50 per cent of jobs today are likely to disappear in the next 10 to 15 years

Social Media: Jessica Humphreys Health: Mike Ellis Markets: Richard Campbell Networking: Ivan Misner Managing: Hamish Petrie

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RATE CAPPING OPPOSITION:

Councils oppose the state government plan to limit rate rises, saying it will cost services.

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Make sure every business knows your business.

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BuSINESS

& NETWORK

ING: Frankston

| Morningto n Peninsula

| Dandeno ng July 2015 |

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A lINE fROM A SONG lAuNCH AN ENTERP HElPS TO RISE

DENMARK SEEN AS A TECHNO lOGy WIPES lESSON AS OuT POSITIO NS

COuNCIlS uPSET AT PuT lIMIT STATE MOVES ON RATE TO RISES

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COVER: Carol Campbell was inspired to launch BEIN her training college BRAvGE after she heard a line JOBS TO GO in a song about CAPPING RATE S being brave. P.12 Cover photo: Keith Platt

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Positioning for the future More than five million jobs, almost 40 per cent of Australian jobs that exist today, have a moderate to high likelihood of disappearing in the next 10 to 15 years due to technological advancements, a Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) report released in June has found.

The world is on the cusp of a new but very different industrial revolution and it is important to plan now to ensure Australia’s economy does not get left behind, CEDA chief executive professor Stephen Martin said.

Prof Martin said as part of the Australia’s future report researchers have examined the probability of job losses due to computerisation and automation.

Maps in the report show that the municipalities of Mornington Peninsula, Frankston and Greater Dandenong are likely to face job losses of more than 50%.

“This research shows that in some parts of

rural and regional Australia in particular there is a high likelihood of job losses being over 60 per cent,” he said.

Prof Martin said there will be new jobs and industries that emerge “but if Australia is not planning and investing in the right areas we will get left behind”.

In a separate analysis a PwC report states that 44% (5.1 million) of current Australian jobs have a 70% chance of being automated by technology over the next two decades.

It says jobs with a 90% or more chance of being lost are in accounting; checkout operators; general office administration; wood machinists; finance and insurance administration; personal assistants; and sales administrators.

Occupations with less than 1% chance of being affected are in medicine (doctors, nurses, midwives); education; and advertising (sales managers) and public

relations. PwC says these jobs require “high levels of social intelligence, technical ability and creative intelligence”.

It acknowledges the difficulties of predicting “the jobs we don’t yet know we need, the jobs of the future” but is optimistic “innovation and digital trechnologies have the potential to increase Australia’s productivity and raise GDP by $136 billion in 2034 and create close to 540,000 jobs”.

Two decades of change Prof Martin said the unprecedented pace of technological advancement is likely to continue for the next 20 years.

“While we have seen automation replace some jobs in areas such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing, other areas where we are likely to see change are, for example, the health sector, which to date has remained largely untouched by technological change.”

While a “culture of innovation” must be driven by the private sector, educational institutions and government, the way must be led by government “with [adequately funded]

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clear and detailed education, innovation and technology policies”.

“Currently the commitment needed to link education and innovation policy with funding is appalling compared to other countries and Australia’s industry innovation strategy is woefully underfunded compared to global competitors.

“For example, the five Industry growth centres announced last year by the federal government should be critical in driving innovation but only $190 million has been allocated over four years.

“In comparison, the UK Catapult Centres, which they are based on, have been allocated almost $3 billion over the same period.”

Prof Martin said more money was being spent by the Netherlands and Germany, while pointing to Denmark for ideas for the future.

“The Danish approach is three-pronged – greater flexibility around hiring and firing, generous unemployment benefits and substantial programs to help unemployed people gain new skills. Often these programs start before a person is even retrenched,” Prof

Martin said. “In comparison, Australia has the lowest levels of unemployment benefits of the OECD for a single person recently unemployed and often programs to assist with skills training do not start until a person has been unemployed for some time.

“The Danish model is underpinned by the same mutual obligation approach to Australia but rather than send people off on work-for-the-dole projects, it is training people with the skills their economy needs.

“The Danish policy while more expensive initially, makes long-term economic sense because it ensures people return to the workforce more quickly and with the skills the economy needs.

“It is likely some tough decisions about the Australian labour market will need to be made in the next decade; we’ve already had a taste of this with the decline of the car manufacturing industry.

“However, if we develop the right policies now, we have the potential to reduce the impact of these challenges and ensure our economy remains robust,”Prof. Martin said.

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REPORTING SAPS TIME Many small business owners worked and at weekends to meet reporting obligations, according to the May 2015 MYOB Business Monitor.

Now in its sixth year, the bi-annual national survey of more than 1000 SMEs found that 37% have to work weekends to meet end of financial year demands, with 22% working past midnight on weekdays.

“The competitive business environment and the increasing time pressures on business owners ... is relentless,” MYOB CEO Tim Reed said. “When you then add in all the additional activities that land in the EOFY quarter, the burden can be very stressful.”

The Business Monitor reveals 37% of SMEs do EOFY reporting themselves rather than outsource to an accountant or bookkeeper. Mr Reed said 58% of Gen Y business owners are turning to accountants or bookkeepers to cut the time they spend on EOFY reporting, and 18 per cent moving to cloud-based accounting.

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July 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 5 20/05/2015 8:48 am

BUSY BITES

Software prices fall Subscription prices for small business accounting software have been falling in recent months, reflecting increasing competition in the market.

Stuart Norman, chief executive officer of the Association of Accounting Technicians, said Australia has become one of the most competitive accounting software markets in the world.

Norman said software suppliers including Reckon, Xero, MYOB and Intuit QuickBooks were “competing strongly” for small business customers with a variety of offers.

He said small business BAS agents – members of his association – were best placed to advise small businesses of the merits of competing software options.

Software can be depreciated under normal software depreciation rules and cannot be claimed as an immediate deduction.

“The right choice of small business software will position businesses – irrespective of whether they are incorporated or unincorporated – to maximise their eligible deductions and depreciation under the Budget’s small business tax concessions.

In some cases these concessions apply from Budget night – 12 May 2015,” Norman said.

“The right software and its correct use in conjunction with the advice of their BAS agent will help small businesses to maximise their allowed depreciation on business assets and enable them identify other tax savings…”

FRANKSTON LOOKS AHEAD TO 2031

Frankston City Council has adopted a plan that will shape the city’s development over the next 16 years.

The Frankston Metropolitan Activity Centre Structure Plan guides development, land use, movement, public realm/open space, strategic opportunities and economic/social planning and sustainability.

Council hopes it will ensure planning and building design that attracts more investment and promote high quality architecture in central Frankston.

A major focus of the plan is that Frankston remains the major retail, business and hospitality centre in the region.

The plan also: • Supports projects that promote the activation and revitalisation of city streets • Ensures that the city has adequate housing available in its centre to meet increased demand for inner city lifestyle, that accompanies business and population growth • Cements Frankston’s position as the health and education hub for the region by supporting additional health services and expansion of tertiary institutions • Meets increased demand for arts and culture by developing an arts and culture precinct.

The structure plan outlines visions for

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Frankston Waterfront, Kananook Creek, Beauty Park, Monash University, Chisholm, Frankston Hospital, Bayside Shopping Centre, the Frankston Transit Interchange, inner-city Frankston residential properties, Ebdale Hub and the Carrum Downs Industrial Precinct.

Council has asked the Minister for Planning for authorisation to prepare an exhibition of Amendment C123 to give effect to the plan.

Citizens have an opportunity to contribute to the continuing review process.

The plan is on display on the council website, www.frankston.vic.gov.au

the language melting pot Nearly two-thirds (64%) of the residents of Greater Dandenong speak languages other than English, the largest proportion in Victoria.

The Melbourne metropolitan average is 31%.

Vietnamese, Khmer, Chinese, Greek, Punjabi and Sinhalese are among the most widelyspoken languages.

Substantial numbers of residents who speak Vietnamese, Khmer and Chinese languages have limited English fluency.

The fastest growing communities in Dandenong are the Afghani, Indian, Sri Lankan, Pakistani and Vietnamese communities.

In 2012-13, 2240 recently-arrived migrants settled in Greater Dandenong – the highest number in Victoria. A third of the newly arrived residents (720) are humanitarian immigrants, largely from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iran and Pakistan.

Estimates based on the Commonwealth adult literacy and life skills survey indicate that more than one in four residents (26%) has limited English literacy.

- From City of Greater Dandenong Language and Communication Policy and Framework report.

found that 66 million to 84 million cubic metres of material would need to be dredged from the sea floor so ships could reach the site – up to four times more than was dredged in the previous channel-deepening project and causing sea levels to rise by up to 2cm.

It could spell economic and environmental disaster for the bay and the city, council stated.

nod for new chairlift Frankston City will try to reverse the fading hopes of further development at the Port of Hastings.

Council will write to Premier Daniel Andrews and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy outlining the adverse economic impact on Frankston and the region if the port remains undeveloped.

Plans to privatise the Port of Melbourne and the state Labor government’s preference for the Bay West site in Port Phillip are both hurdles for port development at Hastings.

Any lease of Melbourne port would contain an agreement by the government to pay compensation if it decided to develop another port in competition.

Cr Darrel Taylor pointed out that the state’s 2015-16 Budget ruled out further development at Hastings by declaring the port “a completed project”. The council agreed to a media campaign against proposals for a Bay West port in Port Phillip even though the privatisation of Melbourne is likely to kill off that plan, too.

Council fears environmental and economic impacts to Frankston from the Bay West plan through “significant and unnecessary” dredging of Port Phillip. Council cited a report in The Age on 10 April, 2014, about a confidential investigation of Bay West by the Department of Transport, Planning and Infrastructure that

Plans for a new chairlift at Arthurs Seat have final approval from Mornington Peninsula Shire Council.

Council late last month approved minor amendments and a landscaping plan.

The gondola-style chairlift proposal has been mired in delays and argument for years. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal upheld council’s decision to grant a permit following an eight-day hearing in November, 2014.

The skylift will follow the same route as the original chairlift, which closed down several years ago due to structural and mechanical failures. The top station of the new lifts will be closer to the summit. Permit requirements mean building has to start within three years and be finished within six.

Estimated at $14 to $18 million, the new attraction includes a viewing tower, interpretive centre and cafeteria at the top level.

Simon McKeon, head of the Arthurs Seat Skylift consortium, said the redeveloped lift would cater for the elderly and people with disabilities. The lifts will run seven days a week, as late as 10pm on Friday and Saturday. Mr McKeon said new eight-seater gondolas would provide a different chairlift experience, especially when rides were extended to dusk and after dark.

Budget tops $107m Frankston Council’s budget for 2015-16 will top $107 million, with $78.3 collected from general rates and $28.8 million from annual service charges.

The council will strike eight differential rates, including a general rate calculated by multiplying the capital improved value of the property by 0.3118%. Higher percentage rates are charged for industrial and commercial properties plus residential land that it either vacant or derelict. Farming and retirement living land is rated lower. There is a municipal charge of $148.85 and refuse collection and disposal charges vary between $132.40 and $431.30 for the year.

Mumpreneur awards St George Banking Group and AusMumpreneur Network are again recognising the best and brightest in the Australian mum entrepreneur industry.

Entries are open for 13 awards that acknowledge success in business, product development and innovation, as well as service in both online and bricks and mortar businesses. Fertile Mind Founder Christine Kininmonth, inventor of the Belly Belt, won the 2014 award.

“It was a great honour to win the top award [that] has helped leverage my business on so many levels,” she said.

Award winners will be announced at a dinner in Melbourne on Saturday 5 September. Details: www.ausmumpreneur.com.

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July 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | BusinessTimes | 7

NETWORKING gallery

1. Dandenong Business Networking met on 4 May at Dandenong Basketball Centre.

From left are Peter Helmore, of IRM, Joy Cluster, of Joy Voice, and Davis Graham, CEO of Dandenong Basketball.

2. Steven Thomas, of Thomas Services accountancy, Melanie Bray, business development officer for Dandenong Valley Job Support, and Neil AshtonRickardt, business consultant for Profit Your Business.

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3. Kim Brennan, Jessica Cirone and Aroha Langley, of Matchworks, Glen Waverley.

4. Paul Broom, of LMA, with Nick Ritchie, of Quest Dandenong.

5. Frankston Business Network held its June meeting for 150 at Groove Train, Frankston.

Pictured form left are Darren Dowel, of Harcourts Frankston, with Bridget Promm and Wayne Harris, from Hoyts Cinemas, Frankston.

6. Thomas Russell, of NAB Frankston, with Sarah Russell, event manager of Gateway Real Life, Seaford.

7. Rainer Seldger and Tania Hogan, of The Good Guys, Frankston, with Vicki Edmonds, of Divine Mattresses.

8. Noni Harvey, owner of Hair on Barclay, Emma Allitt, of EGA bookkeeping, and Brenda Robinson, of Nature’s Blend.

email marg@businesstimes.net.au if you have something to share.

Networking Galleries

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9. Frankston and Mornington Peninsula Business Breakfast at Frankston Arts Centre attracted a crowd of 250 to hear Olympic gold medallist aerial skier Alisa Camplin. Pictured are Shannon Smit, of Smart Business Solutions, Marg Harrison, sales director of BusinessTimes, and Trish Panoff, of Nichols Crowder, Seaford, 10. Francis Hempal and James Date, of Zero3, with Emmillia Riley, of Pitcher Partners, Dandenong.

11. Liz Flemming and Ian Champman, of Conecting Skills, with Suzy Oray, of Mark Clay Galleries.

12. Guest speaker Alisa Camplin with Jacki Mitchell, who was the MC.

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13. South East Water staff Martin Poole, Mark Lambert and Rupert Posner.

14. Nichols Crowder staff James Dodge, Linda Ellis, Tom Crowder and Michael Crowder.

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15. Peninsula Business Network held a meet and mingle night at The Heritage, Balnarring, on 16 June. From left are Peter and Tina Mellett and Sian Swift, from Adwords, with John Young, of Young Digital Marketing Group.

Photo by The Biz Photography.

16. BNI Mornington’s weekly meeting was at The Royal Hotel on 24 June. From left are Julia Cull, of the Centre of Psychological Health, Mornington, Jeremy Hallett, of JWH electrical developments, and Wendy Marshall, of Marshall Automotive,

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July 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 9

local government

No council support for rate capping move rate-capping have questioned the use of CPI rises to set rate increases.

They say that CPI, an index of price movements on goods and services, has little relationship to the major cost drivers influencing council expenses (namely labour and construction costs).

Also, because the CPI fluctuates and the Local Government Act requires councils to pursue rating policies that are consistent with a degree of stability, local government potentially could be at odds with its legislative responsibilities.

And councils have been quick to point out that while rate rises have been slowing, state government imposed property taxes are yielding a growing revenue.

Frankston councillors agree that services and jobs will be cut if the state government 2933

The councils are warning that reductions in expected revenue will force multi-million dollar cuts annually to community services, capital works and asset renewal.

Based on current CPI levels council charges for rates and services would be pegged at 2.3%. Council rate increases flagged this year are between five and six per cent.

Frankston City’s rate rises over the past three years have been 4.6%, 5.9% and 5.5%.

Greater Dandenong’s rise this year is 5.5%, while Mornington Peninsula Shire proposes a 5.9% jump, reportedly to accelerate debt reduction in the shadow of next year’s rate-capping legislation.

Councils responding to the Essential Services Commission consultation paper on

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legislates to limit local government rate increases to inflation levels.

Cr Glenn Aitken was reported as saying that council was already “battling to update ageing infrastructure and a cap would place this under further stress”.

Councillors voted to call on the Premier Daniel Andrews to scrap the cap.

Council estimates that rate capping over five years could reduce revenue by about $22 million.

Frankston Leader reported that a small group of Frankston residents describing themselves as “harried and stressed out” sent a petition to council pleading for a cap on rates.

City of Greater Dandenong financial modelling shows a drop in expected revenue of about $3.5 m. in the first year of capping.

A comparison of its previous long term financial plan with an assumed 2.9% cap 2942

Frankston, Dandenong and Mornington Peninsula councils are opposing rate-capping legislation planned by the Victorian government.

on rates starting in 2016-17 indicates Dandenong would face spending cuts of $3.5 m. in the first year, $7 m. in the second year and $10.5 m. in the third year.

Forecasts show the gap would grow by $3.5 million each year.

Dandenong said its only option would be to reduce expenditure on either community services or asset renewal and new capital works.

Council is concerned that capping rates will impact on its ability to deliver key future infrastructure projects such as the renewal/replacement of Dandenong Oasis and community hubs for Keysborough and central Dandenong.

CPI, an index of price movements on goods and services, has little relationship to the major cost drivers influencing council expenses (namely labour and construction costs).

Former Mornington Peninsula shire council mayor Antonella Celi said any move to cap local government rates at CPI would mean a “significant reduction in the delivery of quality infrastructure and services”.

“Mornington Peninsula Shire has had

rate levels among the lowest in the state for more than a decade, and we are committed to keeping our rates as affordable as possible,” Cr Celi said.

Mornington Peninsula Ratepayers and Residents’ Association president Alan Nelsen said rates had risen 100% over the past 10 years.

“We support the need for council rates to be reined in,” Dr Nelsen said.

Cr Celi said the last time a rate cap was applied was immediately after council amalgamations by the Kennett government during the 1990s.

Many communities around the state were still feeling the impact, she said.

local government works and services face cuts, says peak body Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA) president Sebastian Klein says councils will be worse off under a state government decision to cap rates.

The leader of the peak body of Victoria’s councils believes local government will receive lower than expected revenue in the 2016-17 financial year, when the state government limits rate rises to the inflation level.

Mr Klein said the NSW experience showed that “a loss of millions (of dollars) per council will undoubtedly affect services, infrastructure and jobs, and will pose a serious challenge to Victorian local governments and the communities they serve”.

However, the state government argues that rate capping is about cutting waste, not jobs and services.

Victoria’s Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins said the aim “is to ensure transparency and responsibility in rate increases for local residents, while at the same time promoting sustainability in the sector”.

“With the cost of living rising for Victorians, we are making council rates fair and balanced.”

Councils demonstrating community support for the way they raise and spend ratepayers’ money might be allowed to exceed the cap. The VLGA has opposed the rate capping policy since Premier Daniel Andrews made it an election promise before winning last year’s Victorian election.

Instead, the association has argued for a fairer process of rate setting, “promoting

transparency, use of good data and close community engagement”.

The argument against a blanket imposition of a rates cap formed part of VLGA’s submission to the Essential Services Commission’s (ESC) review.

“The diversity of the sector and the multiplicity of factors that impinge on the level of funding needed to ensure good community outcomes, varies so significantly across local government areas that trying to determine a one size ‘rates cap’ is ineffectual.

The aim is to ensure transparency and responsibility in rate increases for local residents while at the same time promoting sustainability in the sector.

– Local Government Minister Hutchins

“Moreover, focusing attention on a single figure, or a set of figures, has the potential to drive perverse outcomes, including setting up community (and council) expectations that might be unrealistic.

“Rate capping should apply only to revenue from general rates. Other charges including those for waste (collection and disposal), are a return on cost of service and applying a rates cap to these would force local government to conduct activities at a loss.

“The minister’s current legislative powers apply to ‘general income’ provisions

that include such service charges and are therefore unacceptably broad, cutting across sound financial management.”

The VLGA said the issue of rates generally should be considered in the context of the wider financial environment for local government.

It said rate setting could not be distinguished from issues such as cost shifting and unfunded liabilities (like defined benefit superannuation).

“Nor can it be separated from the fact that local governments, especially those in rural areas, have relatively few revenue sources available to them to meet constantly increasing expectations from their communities and from other levels of government.”

Reviewing the response of 66 councils to the ESC’s initial consultation paper, the VLGA observed that it would be difficult to develop a rate capping framework that met government objectives while respecting the range of issues raised by councils.

Among the key messages from councils was the view that a sector-wide approach must not disadvantage particular councils, whether because of existing, underlying financial status or by decisions to operate in particular ways.

Other common views were that rate capping: • Must not happen without consideration of the wide issue of the financial sustainability of local government; and • Must work to support, to the extent possible, local government’s legitimacy as democratically elected and autonomous.

July 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 11

cover story: carol campbell

f o s s e in s u b e h T

BEING BRAVE A line in a song ‘What would I do if I were brave’ resonated with Carol Campbell ... so much so that it inspired her to go it alone. Now it’s the question she puts to students at her business, Nepean Industry Edge Training WORDS AND PICTURES: KEITH PLATT

Many people turn to songs for comfort and can associate a piece of music or lyric with a particular event in their lives. For Carol Campbell one line from a song gave her inspiration and encouragement: “What would you do if you were brave?” (If I were brave, Jana Stanfield and Jimmy Scott.)

“This woman came on [while at a conference] and sang ‘What would I do if I were brave’ and I just decided to bite the bullet.”

The question, interpretd by Campbell as more of a challenge, resonated so much that it now adorns her business card. It’s also a question she poses to students attending classes at Nepean Industry Edge Training, the company she was “inspired” to start in 2009.

Having worked for government and private training providers on the Mornington Peninsula, Campbell believed there was “a huge gap” in the “level of engagement with their students” and quality of their services – “there was no enjoyment, they were dry and dusty”.

“I actually knew there would be a better way. I know that when people walk into a training room they’re as scared as hell.

They haven’t been to school for a while or the experience they had was a bad one,” Campbell says.

“I wanted to make them feel welcome when they came in, making their experience engaging and inspiring them along the way.”

The decision to establish her own training business finally came after attending a National Speakers’ Association conference

with the theme “What would you do if you were brave?”.

“It made such an impact on me that I started up my own training company.

“They say if you take one good thing away from a conference, apart from the cutlery … and I thought I’ll start my own company.”

Not long divorced and watching as her entrepreneur father suffered a terminal cancer, Campbell ran her new business from her study, hiring rooms for classes. “But we also used the lounge room on some weekends.”

“It was probably not the best time to do it [start a business] but then I thought ‘why not?’. If there’s one thing [my father] taught me, it’s tenacity.

“We always had family businesses and always worked within them, whether you wanted to or not.”

As a child Campbell helped her father (Allan Sturrock) by gluing cork heels and soles to platform shoes “before we moved onto wedges”. The owner of several businesses, Sturrock was at one time the only Australian producer of plastic mouldings and safety seals. That business was bought by the Smorgons and, some years later, sold back to some of Sturrock’s original employees.

Campbell shies away from the tag “mumpreneuer”, saying that being a mother working from home “just means that you juggle differently, just manage things”.

After “growing out of the study and the dining room table becoming the boardroom table” Campbell decided NIET needed more room, so she bought a house in Mornington “where we housed administration and resources”.

12 | BusinessTimes| Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | July 2015

The next move was precipitated by job agencies in Frankston saying they would use NIET more often if it was more accessible.

The single room she rented at 405 Nepean Highway, Frankston, is now the company’s boardroom, part of 870 square metres divided into offices and classrooms.

Since it began six years ago NIET has trained more than 10,000 students.

Campbell says she is “very in tune to what industry requires … its peaks and lows, particularly during the Christmas break” when it comes to choosing which courses to offer and will run some subjects at a minimum of student numbers.

“But there will always be a need for aged care, always a need for child care. We know those industries are continuously growing. We’ve always had ear to the ground

Growth of the company has come from the team within, we support each other when times are tough and celebrate the wins together.

as to what industry is doing. Particularly with the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) coming in and there’s a whole community sector around health, wellbeing, aged care and childcare.

“We’re a boutique RTO [registered training

organisation] but deliver exceptional training.

We’re not a Chisholm, not a $63 million business which gets $53 million funding; we’re not one of those RTOs that churn and burn, that just get numbers through the seats and, by the way, have an iPad on the way out.

Campbell says some organisations provide training that’s of no use and a qualification not worth the paper it is printed on.

“We wouldn’t have had the growth we’ve had if we were delivering what everybody is doing.

Out training comes from the heart. Our trainers want to share the information they have.”

Campbell says students, or “guests”, are taught with “dignity and empathy, we personalise it”. They can also obtain the same government study

No organisation is successful because of one person – it is those that trust, believe and honour the company values that make it successful. While we may not always get it right, I do know that the growth of the company has come from the team within, we support each other when times are tough and celebrate the wins together, NIET has a wonderful future ahead and we plan to build on the strong dedicated team we have now to create more exciting training programs and enhance the customer experience. – Carol Campbell

subsidies as those attending larger institutions. Courses range from the management, business, and health (aged care, early childhood), and hospitality areas to a “white card” (basic occupational health and safety) in the construction industry, professional development (balance work and life, workplace bullying, negotiating) to a safety course for “mobile professionals” (reducing risks when visiting unfamiliar environments).

The certificate IV in celebrancy is particularly close to Campbell who has been a funeral and marriage celebrant for some years.

She did the eulogy for her father and sees the work of a celebrant as “a gift for families”.

While wanting to keep NIET at a personally manageable level, Campbell says it is about to enter a growth phase and taking a new partner to offer courses online.

“Nothing really beats face-to-face [tutoring], but the demand is there,” she says.

As someone who likes to keep herself busy, Campbell still works as a marriage celebrant on weekends (“funerals were mainly during the week and I can’t say no to weddings because they’re so much fun”) and works out at a gym four days a week.

“I love what I do. Work is not necessarily a chore. I like to have a sense of purpose, getting through every day and achieving things.”

She took time out last year visiting Italy with friends and next year plans a trip to Canada but admits to “not being good to go away with on slow holidays”.

July 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 13

news

bus to help youth work Police youth resource officers (YROS) were frustrated by poor attendances at programs to help disadvantaged youth reconnect with the community.

Then they discovered that young people faced problems getting to programs because of a lack of transport or Myki card credit.

“Our experience, which is backed by Census results, identifies transport as a major limiting factor,” said Frankston YRO Andrea Kardos.

So, the officers working in the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula region asked Menzies Caring for Kids for help.

The Frankston-based organisation that has a history of childcare going back to 1851 has agreed to provide a 12-seater van and pay maintenance and running costs for three years.

Menzies Caring for Kids president Georgia Symmons said Menzies wanted to help organisations like Victoria Police “to make a real difference in the lives of at risk young people”.

She said that Menzies looked forward to working with police and other agencies on the project.

Over the past five years police YROs have been involved in programs aimed at reconnecting young people with the community, family and education. The programs are aimed at victims, offenders, and those at risk of entering any form of out-of-home care.

An example is Blue Light Basketball at Somerville Recreation Centre each Tuesday during the school year.

Offenders from Frankston Children’s Court, residents of DHHS residential accommodation, disengaged youth, community volunteers, police and other youth services arrange the basketball as an engagement opportunity.

The DHHS residents are invited and express their intent to attend, but rarely show, said Andrea Kardos.

“When asked about the reasons, they say that no worker was available to drive them, and it’s too hard to get to Somerville by public transport.

“As a result they are not engaged.”

Kardos said that the mini bus would ensure the young people’s involvement in activities.

Policewoman Leading Senior Constable Ingrid Ebert with Kevin Johnson, board member Menzies Caring for Kids, at the hand over of a mini bus that will ferry disadvantaged youth to programs run by Victoria Police Youth Resource Officers and community groups.

sick of negative news Frankston councillors have had a gutful of how the media portrays their city.

They are taking their concerns to the Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and the Australian Press Council.

Cr Glenn Aitken convinced fellow councillors to ask the commission and the press council to investigate what he termed “the negative aspect of sensationalist media coverage which stigmatises entire communities”.

He cited the “unacceptable branding of the Mt Druitt community (through the screening of the SBS documentary Struggle Street and repeated attacks on the reputation of Frankston”.

“It is not a fair go and in fact entirely unAustralian to target or witch-hunt more vulnerable sectors of any community.”

Cr Aitken said that “portraying a tainted representation of an entire postcode or municipal area artificially slants the greater public perception of a place or a people”.

“The net result of this type of coverage, which appears to be irresistible by some mainstream media to secure ratings, is that it permanently damages reputation and civic pride for entire communities.

“This places even greater hurdles in front of these communities in trying to create better lives for themselves and in turn costing local area governments very

14 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | July 2015

significant amounts of ratepayer dollars to redeem their standing in the public perception.”

Cr Aitken said he was looking to the two bodies for some recommendations, “including legislation if required”, to end the “damaging stereotyping of communities”.

frankston nod by racv Frankston has received a welcome hand-up from the RACV: its July issue of RA magazine carries an article on the bayside city titled ‘Great catch’.

It reports that “Frankston is no longer the end of the line: it’s where the fun starts.”

Proudly Frankston president Alan Wickes was quick to comment: “That’s our town – superb article.”

The article by Harriet Edmund covers places to visit and where to eat.

Edmund writes that “thanks to the opening of EastLink in 2008 and Peninsula Link in 2013, Frankston is more easily accessible, and it’s shedding its once dubious reputation to become a bayside hotspot. The bucks are starting to stop here.”

Read the article online at: http://www.racv.com.au/wps/wcm/ connect/royalauto/home/travel/australia/ victoria/the-wedge/things-to-do-infrankston-royalauto-racv

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contributions

AN APP TO MAKE CONNECTIONS A free app to connect people with the same interests is about to be launched by Mornington Peninsula residents Daniel Charlesworth and Joel Anderson Called ‘Fan’ the app is scheduled for launching this month.

Charlesworth and Anderson thought of the idea for Fan a year ago and have been working on it ever since.

Fan is designed to connect people with the same interests, but its point of difference is the app’s ability to identify similar geographic locations.

Available all over the world on both IPhone and Android, Fan is a simple, quick way to meet like-minded people in your area or anywhere in the world. The app gives users control over what kind of people they would like to meet.

“We frequently meet new people, but rarely do they have the same interests and passions”, says co-founder Daniel Charlesworth “Fan has the capacity to change the way that people network socially. Instead of searching your way through online community groups or forums, Fan will match you in seconds with people who share your interests close to home or farther afield.”

The Fan team has a crowd funding campaign where people can help them with their goal of spreading Fan around the world.

They have committed 10% of all funds raised to www.

New app Fan founders Joel Anderson and Daniel Charlesworth

beyondblue.org.au to support efforts to help people suffering with depression.

If you can help, check out: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-fan-app/x/11011405#/ story At the end of June with just a few days left, the crowd funding was going slowly.

Charlesworth and Anderson said Fan will help people make new friends, new connections and networking will be easier.

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16 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | July 2015

three digital tools you need now

*Jessica Humphreys operates Social Concepts, a social media consulting business. Send questions to Jessica@socialconceptsconsulting.com

fifo eases the squeeze An operator in the agricultural Industry felt the sqeeze when one of its major customer’s changed payment terms from 14 days to 30 days end of month.

The seemingly minor change in fact put a lot of pressure on the company’s cash flow.

Because the company was fully funded, their bank was unable to help.

In the meantime the business required a funding solution to get on top of the tight cash flow situation.

Fifo Capital helped by purchsing their sales invoices, advancing funds so they could grow their sales over the following six months.

“The client was very happy with us, after being referred to us by another financier,” said Fifo Capital’s Sav Neri.

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In the digital age we rely on Jessica Humphreys* technology to assist us in a number Social media consultant of different ways. The programs and services we have at our disposal are Accounting is endless, which is why it can be hard to cut through the clutter and find the typically rather tools that work best for you. boring, but Billcue We share some favourites below: has a little bit of a 1. Asana personality with Asana is a productivity platform their friendly that cuts out the need for endless captions in the emails. It’s all about teamwork and provides you with the opportunity to evening reminding you to ‘Relax and collaborate and share information with one another in a flexible space. grab a beverage’.

You can create tasks for yourself or your teammates and create shared projects. Projects and tasks come with the ability to comment.

This keeps the conversation isolated to one location. Asana also allows you to upload attachments. It has a fantastic free version, as well as premium options.

2. Billcue Billcue is on online Australian invoicing and accounting platform. It’s affordable and super simple to use. Accounting is typically rather boring, but Billcue has a little bit of a personality with their friendly captions in the evening reminding you to ‘Relax and grab a beverage,’ as well as their ‘green’ stats that let you know how much paper you are saving. Billcue also has a 30-day free trial.

3. Google Drive Google Drive is a cloud storage service that provides you with the opportunity to store documents, videos, images and files online. You can also use Google Docs, Sheets and Forms and share them easily with others. Google Drive provides you with up to 15GB of free storage. If you exceed this you can purchase additional storage.

July 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 17

health

Tension and our vital energy “Why am I so tense?” a friend asked the other day. “Actually, what even is tension? Is it stress? I don’t feel stressed but my neck is so tense!”

It’s a fair question, because “tension” doesn’t fit readily with most Western conceptions of illness and disease and so our explanations for it can be somewhat inadequate.

For biomedicine, it tends to fall somewhat outside the comfort zone, because tension is not a substantial thing.

We can’t extract it from our body and put it in a bottle so as to investigate its properties. We can’t see it with a scan, or quantify it with a blood test; we can’t surgically remove it.

Even so, nobody would argue that it’s not real. It’s completely real to the person experiencing it. We can feel it when we touch their tense muscles. The difference between a tense muscle and a slack one is unmistakable. We can see its effect, too, in the observable tone of muscles and the person’s posture and demeanour.

So while we can’t put it in a bottle and run it through all those scans and tests, we can experience and assess tension using our senses.

And the thing is, we need to have a certain amount of tension; we can’t function without it.

It’s not like a disorder that we either have or we don’t; every muscle of the body is in some state of tone, ranging from hypo (lack of tension) to hyper (excess tension).

If they have no tone, our muscles are too weak and fail us.

So tension is on a continuum; at one end is laxness—lack of tone—at the other is extreme tension (a cramp, for instance).

Chinese medicine explains all this in terms of “qi”. If a muscle lacks qi, its function is weak. But if it has too much, it becomes tense.

I’ve written about this term “qi” before; it often gets translated as meaning the “vital energy” that flows through living systems, and has been a bone of contention with Western health science, which finds no evidence for it.

Such issues can be simply problems of translation, or semantics, so a quick definition. According to Chinese thinking, our bodies are composed of three “treasures”. These are firstly jing—

Michael Ellis*

Chinese Herbalist

And the thing is, we need to have a certain amount of tension; we can’t function without it. substance (all the physical stuff of the body, including the tissues, the blood and fluids)—secondly qi (let’s call it energy), and thirdly shen—the mind.

Sometimes the three are given as “body, breath and mind” (although this is overly simplified, as qi is more than just oxygenated blood).

This idea of the body as being equal parts substance and energy is entirely logical. In our aerobic metabolism of food into fuel, and conversion of fuel into stored substance, our bodies are constantly converting one into the other.

It is the way of the universe: matter and energy in a constant dynamic, one becoming the other. (To be really accurate, matter and energy are opposite faces of the same thing; but that’s for the column on yin and yang).

Really, the suggestion that there is no such thing as “qi” is unscientific.

Qi is just as real as the tension in your

18 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | July 2015

neck muscles. In fact, as Chinese medicine sees it, tension is a stagnation of qi movement in the muscle layer. It becomes stuck for various reasons, one being when the blood loses its “flowability”. Instead of propelling the blood as it should, the qi accumulates, which we then experience as tension.

An extreme example of that is what happens when we become dehydrated and get a cramp, when the reduced viscosity of the blood due to its loss of fluid reaches a point where the qi can no longer push it through a muscle, and the qi stops— dramatically.

The way to resolve a cramp is either to drink water, which restores blood viscosity, and to stretch the compromised tissue (which helps blood move through the contracted tissue and allows the qi to resume normal movement).

A crucial relationship in the muscle layer is this one between our muscles and our blood. The suppleness of our muscles, their ability to work and recover, depends completely on the supply of quality blood.

Blood provides the raw materials for metabolic activity and cell repair, and removes the metabolic waste products.

If it is not nourishing muscles adequately, they become prone to injury and unable to repair the micro-damage caused by activity.

Furthermore, the composition of the muscle itself changes. Muscle is a dynamic tissue, continually being built up and broken down, and if blood is inadequate, the fibres contract.

This in turn makes it harder for blood to flow through them and produces that accumulation of qi we are calling tension.

Quite a few factors influence this whole qi-blood-muscle equation, not only the viscosity of the blood but also emotional stress (because it impacts on qi), environmental factors like exposure to cold (which hampers blood), and even, as the physios are quick to suggest, postural factors (which may reduce blood flow to particular tissues, or stress some muscle fibres).

If that all sounds complex, well that’s the human body for you.

So to my friend’s query about his neck tension, the short answer is, “Because your qi is stagnant.” The longer one is: “It’s complicated.” *Michael Ellis is a registered Chinese herbalist in Mt Eliza. Visit www.mtelizaherbal.com

MARKETS

High gains in niche food supply When the “eastern young cattle indicator” broke records recently it didn’t rate headlines, but in rural Australia it was a fairly big deal.

Richard Campbell* Stock Analyst

It is tempting to say that rural business is now in a sweet spot with the $A weaker than a year ago and demand for our clean and green food on the rise, but the reality is more complex and as much to do with global supply issues as growing demand.

It is similar with honey. The immediate cause of bee numbers falling globally is parasites – largely the varroa mite – but in the background is climate stress and intensive cultivation. If it is too warm bees give priority to “air-conditioning” the hives over honey collection. This applies to Capilano’s growers as well and so far their operations are varroa-free so Capilano’s honey output and margins remain strong despite large areas of drought.

In the case of milk solids, there is a similar story. Bellamy has had a stunning performance largely from smart marketing as it segmented baby formula and A2 has done a similar thing in focussing on a particular type of milk protein and breeding cattle to suit. Only a year after expanding from New Zealand to the ASX

* Richard Campbell is Executive Director of Peninsula Capital Management, Tel. 9642 0545. rcampbell@peninsulacapital.com.au

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Ag prices relative to input costs have been weak for many years as many other producer countries raised volume, used subsidies and also improved their marketing and efficiencies. Rather than being a leading innovator as per our own myths, Australia has often just kept pace, but as the beef price hints there are changes afoot. It is striking that the best performers of the past six to nine months are not big names like BHP, Woolworths and CBA, but obscure rural listings like Select Harvests, Capilano, Bellamys and Websters. These are all up 50-200%.

It is tempting to say that rural business is now in a sweet spot with the $A weaker than a year ago and demand for our clean and green food on the rise, but the reality is more complex and as much to do with global supply issues as growing demand.

In Select’s case its almond groves compete with Californian growers who have been producing 80% of the world’s almonds from the San Joaquin Valley. Its rich, fertile soil, cool winters and warm, dry summers are ideal for almonds, but California’s great central valley was a desert before irrigation made it the USA’s major source of fruit and vegetables. This intense production of dozens of crops is reliant on the melt water of the Sierras but an intense four year drought and a contracting snow season now means water is scarce. Growers have resorted to aquifer pumping to keep trees alive, but this fossil water is nearly exhausted and millions of trees threatened.

it is examining a bid proposal.

The news lifted it 20%. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that bulk milk and milk powder is a sure fire winner. The Free Trade Agreement with China is not all that free. Tariffs fall but over a decade and competition inside China is intense. It is certainly true that Chinese mothers and grandmothers are paranoid about local milk after widespread injury and infant deaths from melamine adulteration, but the high shelf prices for trusted brands may not last. Competition from New Zealand, the US and Europe is intense and local suppliers are discounting sharply. Murray-Goulburn will bring a strong business to the market when it lists, but whether investors want to be locked into a global commodity like milk solids is another matter. Free trade is not necessarily fair trade.

For those still looking for large niche gains such as achieved by Select Harvests or Capilano, they could consider a relatively newcomer, Seafarms Group. The former CO2 has acquired prawn farms in Queensland and improved breeding and growing methods to produce at a rate of 1500 tons a year and is planning sales of $1.5 billion from similar N.T. farms by 2020. The prudent investor would not rush in, but also consider the much improved science of fish genetics, feeding regimes and hygiene which have transformed yields.

But it should be noted that Seafarms is not aiming for Asian markets, but on reducing our dependence on imported, poor quality prawns.

PM_BusinessTimes_QPH_Ad2.indd 1

July 2015| Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 19 1/06/2015 3:50 pm

networking

Three essential questions to ask As a time-strapped businessperson, how do you figure out the networking events to attend and the ones to ignore?

Here are three easy – and essential – questions you need to answer in order to create a plan that will work for you.

Who are my best prospects?

You’d be surprised at the number of business professionals who can’t clearly define their best prospects. Most of them either reply “everyone” or give some other vague description that sounds good on the surface but doesn’t offer specifics. This is why business professionals so often find themselves running all over town trying to attend every networking event on the calendar.

Since serial networkers don’t have time to follow up immediately with the people they meet, they often don’t see results in the way of increased sales. So, they throw up their hands and wail: “Networking doesn’t work for me” But as a smart, enterprising businessperson, you already know that networking works. It’s just a matter of developing a strategy that connects you with the right people and allows you the time to properly follow up with them.

Some people aren’t even sure what their “ideal prospects” look like. It’s easy to go back and take a look at your past client list. Who are your very best customers?

What industries are they in? How long have they been in business? Are your customers businesses or consumers?

I know the owner of a vacuum centre who provides a good example of how this works. You might be thinking that his customer is anyone who needs a vacuum cleaner, but not really. This entrepreneur would say that his ideal customer is a woman with children or pets (or both) who likely lives in a very nice neighborhood and drives a Lexus, BMW, Mercedes Benz, or Infiniti. She is most concerned with the health of her family and a quality product, not someone shopping for a bargain basement deal. Why is it important to be this specific? Because if he tells you to send him anyone who needs a vacuum cleaner, does anyone come to your mind right now?

Probably not. But if he says you should send him busy women with kids and pets who drive luxury cars or SUVs, a particular person is more likely to pop into your head.

Dr lvan Misner*

Networking specialist

Once you’ve put together a profile of the people you’ve worked with in the past, pick up the phone and run it by a few trusted friends and colleagues. Those who are close to you often have insights into patterns that you tend to overlook because you’re busy with day-to-day operations. Once you get that nailed down, you can go on to the next question.

Where can I meet my best prospects – or people who can introduce me to my prospects?

Networking doesn’t mean just hopping into the car and attending the next Chamber of Commerce event. Yes, the chamber and other business associations are excellent means of finding and meeting new prospects, and we recommend them as a great starting point. But as your business evolves and you begin targeting specific niche markets, there are other venues that fall outside typical networking events. And that’s the kind of out-of-the-box thinking we’re going to discuss here.

Generally speaking, if you’re trying to meet more small business owners, you’ll want to spend time at your local Chamber of Commerce, a local business association, or with a referral group. Not only do these groups have exactly the type of audience you want to meet, but also with referral groups, there’s typically a system in place that helps you and helps others to get more referrals for you.

If your business is geared more towards consumers, then getting involved with your kids’ events – little aths, Scouts and Guides, or your church’s youth group – is another good way to meet the right people.

If you’re that real estate agent who wants to meet first-time homebuyers and people interested in moving downtown, you’ll probably find more prospects by networking at downtown events. It doesn’t matter which event, as long as it’s being held in the centre of the city. That should bring you into contact with people who might be thinking about moving out of

20 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong |July 2015

their apartment and into a house. Also, look for networking events likely to be attended by young professionals, since these are the people most likely to be living in an apartment while accumulating the disposable income to buy an apartment or home.

Who, exactly, do I want to meet?

Most people are not well connected in any practical sense. However, even accomplished networkers sometimes fail to realise that they’re closer to a much-desired contact than they imagine. The principles behind making the right kind of connection can be summed up in the simple adage “You don’t know who they know.”

The idea is that the greater the number of networks you’re connected to, the greater the chance that there’s a short chain of contacts between you and anyone you’d care to meet. All you have to do is recognise that fact and ask a few people a specific question or two. The answers will either put you in direct contact with a prospect or lead you in the direction of the networking events you need to attend.

Even if you can’t name the specific people you want to meet, the better you can describe them, the greater the chance that you’ll get to meet your ideal contact.

The secret ingredient in this principle is specificity.

The way to meet the unknown contact is to be as detailed as possible without being too exclusive. You can do this by starting your question like this: “Who do you know who…” You complete the sentence with specifics: “Who do you know who is a new parent?” “Who do you know who belongs to an organisation that builds houses for the homeless?” By asking for a particular kind of contact, you focus the other person’s attention on details that are more likely to remind him of a specific person than if you asked, “Do you know anyone who needs my services?”

Finally, remember that it’s important to surround yourself with quality business contacts, since the best way to your ideal contact very often is through someone you already know . *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

CONTRIBUTIONS

A guide to aged care transition

BY DEAN KITCHIN* Decisions about arranging aged care often need to be made quickly and during times of high emotion. The decisions are complex because of the way they interlink and the consequences of getting them wrong can be significant.

This guide sets out the standard process and key decisions that must be made: ACAS assessment An assessment is a requirement before entry into a government-subsidised aged care home. Approval for care is dependant upon an assessment.

Income and assets assessment The Department of Human Services (or Department of Veterans’ Affairs) conducts an income and assets assessment. Those entering care must provide financial information if they wish to have fees and charges subsidised by the Australian Government. The assessment determines the level of government support – the accommodation payment and the contribution (if any) towards the means tested care fee.

Find a suitable aged care placement Deciding on the best available room requires considerations about health, family, religion, finances and lifestyle choices. Where a person lives has a strong impact on his or her happiness. This is even more important to those in care who spend almost all of their time in a place that becomes their new community and key health care provider.

It is important that those entering care – or their representative – fully understands the obligations and rights that sit within the resident agreement. These agreements explain costs and services applicable to entry, exit and any other fees.

Financial, legal and property strategy The real complexity arises from the interacting nature of decisions around funding the aged care accommodation payment and fees.

Other considerations include the nature of the assets, obligations and income, plus current entitlements before choosing a refundable lump sum payment (RAD) or a non-refundable daily payment (DAP), or a combination of both. The funding of

accommodation payments often involves the realisation or restructuring of assets (either the client’s or those of a a future beneficiary), which leads to many estateplanning issues. We will see more blended families in the future and that will only add complications to these decisions.

Most often it is the family house that is sold to fund the accommodation payment and ongoing fees. Like any property decision it is important to appoint the right agent for the property, present the property in the best way and choose the right campaign. Independent support is available to protect the interests of the family.

It is important that those entering care – or their representative – fully understands the obligations and rights that sit within the resident agreement. These agreements explain costs and services applicable to entry, exit and any other fees.

In addition to the accommodation payment, aged care fees include a basic fee (currently $664.86 a fortnight), plus a means tested care fee (up to an annual cap of $25,528.71 with a lifetime cap of $61,268.92). The means tested caps are indexed. Additional fees for extra services (such as choices in meals, pay television, daily papers etc) sometimes apply. We are also now seeing another daily fee/contribution akin to a sinking fund payment within some facilities.

To state the obvious, aged care is not cheap. In summary, the best aged care funding solution needs to have regard to your cash flow, government entitlements and your financial and estate planning objectives. *Dean Kitchin is General Manager of Ninox Advisory. Ninox is a niche advisory firm integrating property, legal and financial planning advice to maximise outcomes for the Seniors Living market. Email: dean.kitchin@ ninoxadvisory.com.au or Phone 1300 064 669.

CUT POWER BILLS BY A THIRD IN JUST A FEW MINUTES

ERM Business Energy sales manager, Peter Bennett.

If someone said it may be possible to cut your power bill by up to 30 per cent in just five minutes, you’d be forgiven for being a little sceptical.

The fact is, though, many electricity customers are unwittingly paying much more than they need to just because they are on standard retail contracts paying their energy retailer’s full published rates.

Australia’s fourth largest electricity retailer, ERM Business Energy, estimates that businesses in the Mornington Peninsula area may be collectively paying more than $4 million a year more for power than they should be.

“You’re most likely paying too much if your business has a standard retail contract with AGL, Origin or EnergyAustralia and you haven’t compared rates with the competition in the past year,” according to ERM sales manager, Peter Bennett.

“The good news is it’s easy to fix because with ERM Business Energy, our pricing is simple and competitive. For example, in 2014 a small business on the Mornington Peninsula that spent around $8000 a year on electricity and was on an AGL standard retail contract, would have been more than $3300 better off if it was on ERM Business Energy’s fixed rate market retail contract for the same period,” he said.

Gone, too, are the days when switching energy retailers was cumbersome and time consuming: “It now takes less than five minutes to sign-up online with ERM Business Energy and we’re so confident businesses will stay once they make the switch, we don’t charge exit fees.”

Call 134 376 or visit ermquote.com.au for details.

July 2015 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 21

MANAGEMENT

Having fun at work Business leaders strive to create productive workplaces where their people will contribute their very best to implement business strategies and achieve business goals. All serious stuff, so what has fun go to do with this?

Firstly, it is important to define fun in this context, both in terms of what it is and what it is not. Workplace fun has to be appropriate in the business context and certainly not do damage to any individual.

It must be inclusive, respect diversity and not be gender biased, racist or sexist. It must be a positive outlet for human emotions and should help to relieve work stresses. It must add to the creation of a positive work culture and not detract from the reputation of the business or any individuals. I made a substantial mistake when I first started talking about having fun at work, when it was discovered later that several of our people had interpreted “having fun at work” to justify their playing of computer games in the wee small hours of night shift.

Being clear about your definition of fun will certainly help to avoid later difficulties.

As in most things, business leaders have to start the process by demonstrating that they have a sense of humour and are willing to use it in the business context.

This does mean that they need be any less professional or focussed on the business.

It just means that their style of interaction with their people recognises that humour is a wonderful human emotion that can greatly motivate people and contribute to team building in an inclusive culture.

Managing stress levels in an organisation is clearly the leader’s job. Their normal tools of challenging goals and tight timelines can greatly add to stress levels, so having some techniques to reduce stress levels will help the leader to optimise organisational stresses. Stress is optimised when there is sufficient pressure to perform without compromising quality or relationships, but not too much pressure to the extent that people become frustrated, demotivated or disengaged.

This does not mean that the leader has to be a clown or a stand up comic, but it does mean that they need to be able to see the funny side of situations and to be prepared to enjoy sharing stories, particularly selfdeprecating ones, with their people. This will set the scene for everyone and will

Hamish Petrie*

Business consultant

As in most things, business leaders have to start the process by demonstrating that they have a sense of humour and are willing to use it in the business context. licence them to share their fun within their team. A lot of leaders are naturally serious people who struggle to find humour in their lives and having fun at work can be a huge personal challenge. These people simply need to recognise that this is their personality and be prepared to endorse, publically, the concept of fun at work and let their organisation do the rest. One of the best ways to introduce some humour into a work context is through the use of cartoons. Nearly every presentation will benefit from an appropriate cartoon inserted into an otherwise serious topic. It can act a break point in a presentation and can often capture the essence of a topic in a memorable way.

Fun is a precursor to the emotions of happiness and excitement. Fun requires both the head and the heart to interact together to create the sense of enjoyment that we all love. At work, these experiences can reduce stress, stimulate creativity and reinforce important aspects of the business.

Customers are a critical foundation for every business and having some fun with customers can really help them to fall in love with your business. In the retail sector, this can be easy through the way that your people interact directly with customers.

You and your sales team can find novel and topical ways to greet customers and to ensure that they leave your premises with both their product and a smile. Your objective should be to give your customers

22 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | July 2015

an experience so enjoyable that they want to go home and tell their family and friends.

This is also the best advertising that you can ever get. I once equipped a sales manager with a rubber chicken and asked him to pull it out of his briefcase and bang it on the table when the negotiation was getting too tough. He came home with the contract but left the chicken with the purchasing manager who wanted to use it himself.

Boredom can be a great de-motivator so introducing fun to work can help stimulate and encourage your people. Having meetings in different locations like outdoors in good weather, or in a coffee shop, can help make specific meetings more impactful.

Doing things differently will always help to provide some excitement and sense of fun.

Trust is a critical component for your people to have fun at work and it needs to work both ways. They need to be confident that they can behave more freely without the risk of appearing to be unprofessional.

They need their leaders to be role models who set behavioural standards and walk the talk. Genuine leaders will look for continuing feedback from their people about how much they are enjoying their work.

We all enjoy being respected, being recognised as individuals and valued for our efforts. People will contribute the most at work when they have proactive leaders who recognise this and have a sense of fun that they use appropriately to bring out the best in their people.

Action Planning Questions: 1. Have you defined the meaning of fun for your workplace?

2. Do you have a library of business cartoons that you use to illustrate important points in presentations?

3. Have you equipped your sales team with the knowledge and tools to have fun with customers?

4. Do you regularly do things differently to help to overcome boredom in your people?

5. Do you have a process to collate feedback from your people on how much they are enjoying their work? *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 2015

VOIP EXPLAINED

BY JAMES DATE Sales Director, Zero 3 Communications VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) allows you to communicate by voice both internally and externally through your data connection.

It can allow you to reduce your telephone bill and manage your telephone system more efficiently.

When to go VOIP? - Proper consultation leads to effective and reliable call quality - Ensure your business is NBN ready - Benefit from improved internet speeds

- If you want to reduce your telephone bill.

What to look out for?

- Slow internet speeds and poor voice quality - Old telephone systems may not be compatible - Fluctuation of internet speeds For details, call Tim Arvanitis, 1300 01 03 03 or tim@zero3.net.au

NEW AT UFIRST Janine Harrison joined the sales team at Ufirst Real Estate early this year after it opened its Main St Mornington office in late 2014. UFirst also has an office in Nepean Highway, Frankston.

Harrison says that matching people to property is her passion. Her priorities are getting the best possible price for vendors in the shortest possible time while making it a stress free experience. A lifelong Mornington Peninsula Janine Harrison resident, Harrison is on the Peninsula Business Network Group Committee (currently on the sub-committee to organise the Rosie Batty fundraiser, Resilience in Business) and a member of Mt Eliza Business Network Group.

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