YOUR WINNING TITLE IDEA GOES HERE NAME OUR E-MAG
... THE BUSINESS OF SERVING CHILDREN AND FAMILIES FEBRUARY 2016
To win a 60 minute COMPLIMENTARY coaching session p.4
THERAPY IN SCHOOL’S COOL
Register for our one day workshop on 19th March 2016. p.6
INCREASE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY
Who wouldn’t benefit from a bit more time in their life? Learn how to maximise your time and efficiency. p.10
AN INTRODUCTION TO
CATHY LOVE Occupational Therapist Coach Speaker Author
For first time readers a quick intro, I am Cathy Love an Occupational Therapist, Coach, Author and Speaker. I am the founding director of Nacre Consulting and I work with parents and disability service providers to achieve brilliant outcomes for children with special needs. I provide a range of services: • Family Service Coaching for parents to help them manage their child’s team and services • Clinical supervision to individuals and allied health professional teams • Service delivery consultation to disability service providers • Private practice coaching to business owners More to be read about all that over on my website www.nacre.com.au. Each month I write up news, useful information and pearls of wisdom for those working with children and families in the disability sector. Given that it is a rapidly changing landscape and one that is increasingly privatised there is typically lots of news to be shared.
After several terrific weeks of wandering the Mornington Peninsula’s beaches, food stores, galleries and wineries, it is back to the desk to settle in for a big year ahead. The last weeks of January provide more uninterrupted time for planning programs, updating the website, tweaking social media platforms and reviewing the businesses’ policy and procedures. Theoretically at least. It also provides the chance to meet others in the disability industry and broader small business world. You will spot their contributions as you read our new magazine. So now we have a magazine! A monster thank you to my Virtual Assistant Emma for building our first e-mag. We sure do have our L plates on, but we think we have made a great start and can’t wait to see it shape shift to bigger, better and bolder in future editions. More importantly, what do you think? Drop me a line with your comments and questions, your topics requests and don’t be shy to put your hand up to contribute some content. Happy reading.
Cathy Cathy Love Director of Nacre Consulting
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CONTENTS
05 Bring on 2016
07 Website Facelift
10 Podcasts
02 Introduction Meet Cathy Love 04 COVER FEATURE: Your Winning Idea 06 COVER FEATURE: Upcoming Workshops Team Talk Teleconference Therapy in School’s Cool 08 Feature Website Clickability 09 Bookshelf 10 COVER FEATURE: Productivity 11 Update on Modern Employment Awards HR Advice Online 12 Are you Linked In? 05 Blogs To Go With Long Tail Keywords Using niche words that are specific to what you are selling/providing.
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Private Practice Bootcamp Private Practice Rooms 13 Back Page
DO YOU HAVE A WINNING IDEA? Welcome to our new look e-mag, did you notice that it doesn’t yet have a title? Well we are stuck. Always one to outsource help I have decided to run an e-mag naming competition. Who else other than other brilliant paediatric private practitioners to dream up the perfect catchy title. Email me with your magazine title suggestion and go in the draw to win: • One complimentary 60 minutes coaching session with me • Six of my books “Becoming Chief - How to lead your child’s special needs tribe” posted to you to give to clients • The chance to see your genius ides affront my e-mag, possibly for ever • Total prize pool = Priceless Tick… tick…tick… submit your potentially prize winning ideas here cathy@nacre.com.au YOUR WINNING TITLE WILL GO HERE 04
BRING ON 2016 The year has started. For me 2016 has kicked off with unusually high levels of speaking and writing requests, new coaching clients and workshops. Amidst coping with my inbox and dragging myself back from the beach I have managed to tighten up existing business plans and create personal goals. My business plan and goals are set in June for the upcoming financial year. Just one of those habits of mine developed after years of working with accountants and business coaches. January provides me with a chance to take a midway business review, a tweak and a reminder to plan even better for the next long school holiday break e.g. Cash flow. The quieter weeks also give me a chance to de-clutter and file paper and pixel content that got left in the previous frantic months. My admin elf reduced my inbox to zero. The next step was to de-clutter my office. Five rubbish bins later and sparks rising from the shredder, I had the pleasure of physical and mental space. The effect was truly remarkable.
BLOGS TO GO WITH LONG TAIL KEYWORDS I powered through some writing and have many blog posts half baked. This is a procrastinator preventer as I find it easier to finish a write up rather than feel overwhelmed from starting from scratch. The additional value is that I can focus on the last part of the write including keywords that will attract global readers searching for specific content. There is some interesting reading about the use of long tail key words for those so inclined. Long tail key words are three and four keyword phrases which are very specific to whatever you are selling/providing. Niche words. Their success is based on the history that when a client uses a highly specific search phrase they know exactly what they are looking for and are ready to purchase. Specific multi-word phrases also tend to rank higher than single words. For example I could write using the key words ‘business coaching’, but loads of suppliers do this, the words are expensive to purchase for ratings and the competition is dense. Instead I write with the words ‘private practice coach’, or ‘paediatric private practice coach’ as this nails my skill set, value and niche. These words are also some of the hashtags I own and google word alerts that I set in order to monitor traffic. Loads to read online and fear not, I am only approaching beginner status.
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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS TEAM TALK TELECONFERENCE
THERAPY IN SCHOOL’S COOL
It’s back and bigger than ever, best of all Megan Ingram Speech Pathologist from Peninsula Speech Pathology Service is joining me as host. This can only be a mighty fine thing.
Megan Ingram and I are presenting this one day workshop to energetic allied health professionals, OT, SLP, PT, Special Ed. and Psych who work in mainstream schools. We unpack the mistakes we all make and share up tools, tips and trade secrets for smart service delivery to schools. Last year’s workshop was a fabulous day, Megan and I loved it! Here’s what the attendees thought:
We already have tens of registrations, including a couple of large private disability service providers. They are delighted at the convenience factor for getting bespoke multidisciplinary professional development sans travel and accommodation expense. In a nutshell this program consists of ten monthly one hour professional development conversations on set topics critical to all who work with children and families. Pre reading links and questions are provided prior to each call. Calls are recorded and available for later reference. Unlike webinars it is totally interactive for questions, shout outs and suggestions. Quick, topical, convenient. Huge value, but there’s more. The program includes one free 30 minute clinical coaching session with Megan or myself. Read more and register here: http://www.nacre.com.au/event/team-talk-2016/ YOUR WINNING TITLE WILL GO HERE 06
“I particularly enjoyed...the practical ideas, resources such as books and websites and the presenting style.” “I particularly enjoyed… the strategies to build relationships, the coaching content, understanding VELS and reflecting on the challenges experienced by teachers and schools.” “I particularly enjoyed… the practical examples, the small group work and hearing experienced, motivated therapists present with passion.” Read and register here: http://www.nacre.com. au/event/therapy-in-schools-cool-2016/ Saturday 19th March 2016 - Melbourne
WEBSITE FACELIFT
As I have said before your business website is the mothership and needs to be awesome. No pressure. Following a comprehensive conversation with my Web Sherpa, I now have a clear and rather long list of everything I need to do to enhance my website. Using Skype we were both able to review each web page in real time and flip to other sites for examples of other options. This really helped me understand why I needed to make these changes. The mission critical list was devised, prioritised and wherever possible delegated. I am the queen of delegation and outsourcing. I love my IT team. However the bulk of the facelift sits with me, I need to re-write much of the content. My plan is to re-write one page at a time, utilising key words and creating niche content for the specific client reading each page. That won’t take long….just like eating the elephant... my intention is to bite off and work on a page at a time. I have testimonials to upload and hopefully videos as well. Videos are very powerful for content and SEO. Google Analytics they say, really helpful they say, I sure need to outsource this and have the reports zipped to my inbox for analysis. The learning from this process has been that allocating time on my calendar to review and work up an action plan has been highly beneficial and a habit I need to keep working on. I have diarised to review website content quarterly. I need to add to my FAQ’s as readers head for these…frequently. Websites need constant maintenance to keep them current and attracting your ideal clients with appropriate calls to action.
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FEATURE WEBSITE
CLICKABILITY I recently had an extended and energetic conversation over Japanese tea with Jenna Moffatt co-founder and director of award winning Clickability. Clickability is a new service directory that features ratings and reviews from people with disability, their family members and carers. Really, it’s like Trip Advisor for disability support services. Clickability was founded by two passionate social workers, Jenna Moffatt and Aviva Beecher - Kelk. Their team has expanded and now consists of people with lived experience of disability and those who have worked in the disability sector. Together they’re working to create a place where people can contribute to and find relevant, reliable information about disability services. Clickability launched across Victoria recently and are rolling out across NSW and the ACT this year. A Note From Co-Founder Jenna: So if you use disability services or your family member does, or if you’re a carer, advocate or support coordinator in Victoria and you have an experience of a disability support service, Clickability want to hear it! It’s with your voice and experience that others can make informed choices and disability services can keep improving. I have been eagerly watching Clickability take shape during the past year, yes I jumped in early and set up my business profile. I now have a greater understanding of what they are setting out to do and I am thinking about inviting my clients to review my service and provide feedback. As a subscription member I will be able to monitor and regulate this user feedback.
www.clickability.com.au YOUR WINNING TITLE WILL GO HERE 08
I encourage you as private practice owners to investigate this interesting service, especially if you are in Victoria, NSW and ACT. Other states, you will surely benefit from our experiences.
BOOKSHELF My bookshelf over flows at the moment. Cheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In, women work and the will to lead” has been a favourite. As the COO at Facebook she sure has stories to tell and thoughts to share. I enjoyed her thoughts, insights and suggestions about women working in leadership roles, particularly in the ‘c suit’ positions. Her network of colleagues and resources is incredible. Sad to read her passionate words in the light of her partner’s untimely death last year post publication. An impressive read.
Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why, how great leaders inspire everybody to take action” has snuck back into my hands. Lovely to have time to jump in and out of his chapters and ‘top up’. The second chapter titled The Golden Circle is a favourite. It outlines the importance of knowing why you do what you do. Essentially clients buy why you do what you do, rather than what you do. So relevant to our disability industry and the way we promote our services. On a different vibe I have lovingly revisited and drowned once more in the divine humble paperback “The Parents’ Tao Te Ching. A New interpretation” by William Martin. I suspect I have written about this previously. No apologies, it’s lucious. ‘The book is a collection of ancient poems about parenting adapted for modern times. It sits on my desk always and provides me with many a moment of clarity.
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PODCASTS
PRODUCTIVITY I have recently reviewed several productivity blogs all with the view to getting more done with less fuss. While I still cannot shift to being a morning person, at all, ever, she says, while typing away in the silent hour of midnight, there are many common themes running through the productivity gurus content. Here are a few that spoke to me and I regularly use: + Journal your ideas, all of them, all of the time. I call this my ideas book, all my thoughts land in one place. I don’t have to worry about forgetting stuff and it leaves space in my brain for other often more operational things. Evict the impulsive post it note. Journaling is a daily task for me with a longer writing wrap up on a Friday morning.
Oh my goodness, I am the last person on the planet to finally listen to Serial by This American Life. It’s so sensationally engaging that I got quite sunburnt as I listened intently. On a more of a business and motivational note I have been listening to Mia Freeman in her podcast No Filter. She conducts the most exquisite conversations with people that we all know. Her conversation with Rosie Batty found me pulling my car over.
+ Write your next day ‘to do’ list the night before. This ensures flow on from your current activities and prevents derailment of work in progress. + Allocate a realistic length of time to tasks. Book these tasks into your diary. Use phone alarms, hour glass timers, music tracks, whatever it takes to stick to time on task. + Complete the toughest tasks first, many say before breakfast + Taking a nap every day, exercise every day, hydrate continuously. + Don’t eat at your desk + Step away from tasks that are doing your head in. Revisit with fresh energy and perspective. + Sync your calendar, email and tasks across every device
The Customer Centric Show has also featured high, along with my ongoing love affair with Ronsley Vaz’s Bond Appetite and Tim Reed’s Small Business Big Marketing. My podcast training was a blast. Huge thanks to those of you who got in touch and are keen to jump on Skype for a recorded chat for my pending podcast series. Looking forward to it. Shouting out to other private practice owners who are keen to share their stories, no need to fess up your trade secrets, but I truly believe we have a huge amount of talent in the room and some sharing up can only be a good thing.
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+ Turn off notifications such as new mail alerts for new mail, social media responses. Reduce distractions. + At the end of the day, pause, check over your notes and applaud what you HAVE achieved. What are your personal private practice productivity hacks?
UPDATE ON MODERN EMPLOYMENT AWARDS Thank you to HR Advice Online for their first content contribution to our e-mag. Some of you will have met the knowledgeable Cheryl Disher at the Paeds Private Practice Forum in Melbourne last year. This is tricky territory and expert information and advice is critical. Please let me know any specific questions you would like the HROL team to answer in future publications. In this month’s edition HROL are covering the Update on Modern Employment Awards. What Award is my business covered by? Do you have an Enterprise Agreement for your business? I pay over the Award so therefore the Award doesn’t apply These and many more questions relating to pay and conditions are frequently asked of our HR hotline team. So let’s address these for you. Firstly, a bit of background As part of a formal request from the Australian Government, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) commenced the award modernisation process in 2008. By the end of 2009, the AIRC had reviewed more than 1500 awards and created 122 industry and occupation awards. These Awards commenced on 1 January 2010, with most including transitional provisions to phase in changes in wages, loadings and penalties over a five-year period. Effective 1 January, 2015 these 122 modern awards were fully in effect. Australian businesses are all covered by the Fair Work Act 2009, the National Employment Standards and potentially a Modern Award or Enterprise Agreement. Some businesses are award free, however there are still minimum pay rates and conditions that apply for all Australian businesses through the National Employment Standards. The annual minimum pay rates are set around June every year and come into effect from the first pay period on or after 1 July each year. This is known as the National Minimum Wage Order and is set by an expert panel of the Fair Work Commission. Enterprise Agreements – are agreements made between a business and its employees about terms and conditions of employment. An agreement must provide for an employee to be better off than the minimum award conditions that would have applied.
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A Union may be involved in the negotiation of an Enterprise Agreement. Modern Awards – there are 122 Modern Awards which are fully effective from 1 January 2015. Which Award, if any, a business is covered by is determined by the type of work the individual does and/or the industry the business is in. Businesses can be covered by more than 1 Modern Award with the Award being determined by the majority of the work that the individual undertakes. For example a building and construction company employs carpenters as well as administration staff. The carpenters are covered by one award (Building and Construction) and the administration staff another award (Clerk’s Private Sector). The changes for 2015 Annual Leave Loading Annual leave loading – a loading of 17.5% payable when at the time the employee takes annual leave is fully effective in the Modern Awards For those employers already paying above the Award, the Annual leave loading can be absorbed into the hourly rate/ annual salary, provided that this has been communicated in writing and the employee is no worse off than the minimum award rate plus the 17.5% annual leave loading. If your business is currently paying the annual leave loading at the time the employee takes annual leave, you can continue to do so. If you have an Enterprise Agreement, the Enterprise Agreement may take precedence over the award provisions. Please get advice on this before assuming that is the case. From the Blog Desk at HR Advice Online. www.hradviceonline.com.au
ARE YOU LINKED IN?
PRIVATE PRACTICE ROOMS
Paed Private Practitioners Australia Group on Linked In is open to you all. I have a renewed and solid gold commitment to posting worthy content on here and keeping totally up to date with it. Come and join and more importantly come and contribute to the online conversation. There will be much more content this year, again I promise. Joining the group is only two clicks away.
PRIVATE PRACTICE BOOTCAMP
Unfortunately this event was cancelled for February. Logistics fell against us involving Tennis, Grand Prix, speaker availability and the last straw was an IP agreement I had to sign with a large organisation. As many of you will have heard me say, “Don’t Panic Plan”. It is still on the cards for a two day event, perhaps a conference, somewhere fabulous, with wine… later in the year.
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Do you have beautiful private practice rooms? I recently blogged about this topic and it has created a bit of interest on Linked In. I have also received private emails requesting my advice on setting up private practice rooms. Skype, video and floorplans await me which is very exciting. I have visited many clinic room set ups over the years and certainly established a few of my own. It is fantastic that we are talking about this as your beautiful clean clinic rooms directly represent both your personal and your business brand. Our clients are now very experienced and sophisticated, they know a smart and well organised practice when they see it. My blog contains suggestions and considerations for all private practice owners. Here’s the thing, it’s worth getting advice and measuring up before heading to Ikea. You may like to take a read of the full blog on my website or Linked In profile: http://www.nacre.com.au/are-your-private-practicerooms-beautiful/
And from the experts Not branding an interior space can cause confusion or doubt for a customer, and even for the employees, especially if your website or work is known for a certain quality, and then your interior environment contradicts it. When a customer visits a properly branded space, they will make a positive judgment about the business, possibly prior to knowing anything about your work or product. Lynn Baker Ascent Architecture and interiors.
Next month’s edition will include: Maximising Facebook Launch of my private practice teleconference coaching program How to boost your Linked In profile to all star status
I hope you have enjoyed our soon to be awesomely named publication. Our intention is for it to grow up to be Australia’s go to resource for private practitioners who work with children and families. The plan is to present relevant content that we all need in our day to day business lives such as managing people, understanding legal obligations, harnessing social media, marketing, website content, business coaching and the list reaches around the corner. To reach this lofty goal we are seeking loads of feedback, warts and all. Let us know what you’d like to read about, would you like to contribute your private practice story, let me know here: cathy@nacre.com.au
Thank you HR Advice Online for their content, I look forward to pestering you with more questions supplied by readers. Thank you Clickability for an update on all that you do and why you do it. Your service is disruptive as they say, and your energy is inspiring. YOUR WINNING TITLE WILL GO HERE 13
The value of newsletters
As many of you know I am the founding director of Nacre Consulting. A cool business with an unusual name. Nacre is the natural process of a little seed, held in an oyster shell whist it grows, layer by layer, into a brilliant unique pearl. This process takes time, special conditions and forces of nature. And so it is true for ourselves and for the children and families we serve. More about my clinical supervision, parent coaching, teaching and private practicing coaching services on my (soon to be facelifted) website: www.nacre.com.au
If you are curious about my specialist private practice coaching services you are most welcome to get in touch, find out more and experience a 30 minute complimentary session: cathy@nacre.com.au Have a terrific few weeks everybody. See you in March.