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APRIL 2014
Founder & Editor in Chief JANINE GARNER | janine@littleblackdressgroup.com.au Contributing Editors Melissa Browne, Nikki Fogden-Moore Kate Stone, Chris Allen Guest Writers Renata Cooper, Leonie McCarthy, Rohan Dredge Debbie O’Connor, Carol Yang ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES ads@glossmagazine.com.au EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES editorial@glossmagazine.com.au DESIGNER Melissa Aroutunian | aroutunianm@gmail.com Published By: LBDG | littleblackdressgroup.com.au MEMBERSHIP ENQUIRIES AND FEEDBACK www.littleblackdressgroup.com.au info@glossmagazine.com.au © LBDG 2014 All content in this newsletter is protected under Australian and International copyright laws. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of LBDG is strictly forbidden. All rights reserved. The greatest care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of information in this online magazine at time of going to press, and we accept no responsibility for omissions or errors.
@LBDGroup
A Message From Me Welcome to this month’s issue of GLOSS – packed with articles to inspire you to think big and then bigger again. At a recent dinner held in Sydney we discussed at length the challenge of future proofing ourselves and our businesses in terms of scaling and leveraging success in this crazily evolving world. We debated the importance of creative thinking, empowering our teams to think with an over-riding belief that entrepreneurialism is more inclusive than ever before. Entrepreneurial thinking, exploring options and questioning status quo now more than ever needs to permeate the entire organisation. By creating a corporate culture with the freedom to express, as leaders, we can encourage the asking of questions and disruptive thinking to invent new solutions to existing problems, new ways to communicate and go to market, new methods of delivery, product design and selling. Ultimately, open discussion identifies opportunities to shift business, shift thinking, shift activity to future proof results and success. This is what we do at LBDGroup – we challenge thinking, we share knowledge and insight, we explore the possibilities of what could be if only we tried. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. This last month has been a busy one at LBDG as we travelled the country hosting dinners, speaking to corporate teams, and running member workshops. I look forward to seeing some of you in April. A huge thank you to this month’s contributors. GLOSS is your forum to share your expertise and thought leadership. If you are interested in contributing please connect with me at Janine@littleblackdressgroup.com.au. Enjoy this issue and continue to… Connect ~ Inspire ~ Succeed.
If you would like to write for GLOSS, or are interested in advertising with us, please contact us via editorial@glossmagazine.com.au
A MESSAGE FROM ME
BODY & SOUL
MONEY TALKS
April Issue Contents
05 AMESSAGE FROM ME 08 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS 12 EVENTS CALENDAR 14 WHATS BEEN GOING ON THIS MONTH
16 BUSINESS BASICS: JEANS &
22 REIMAGINING LIFE - CAROL YANG
24 WHERE WE “NETWEAVE” 26 FIVE TRENDS SHAPING THE
PRICING - MELISSA BROWNE
ENTREPRENEURIAL LANDSCAPE - RENATA COOPER
18 TEN ESSENTIALS TO
28 SYSTEMS & PROCESS ARE
CREATING A BRAND - DEBBIE O’CONNOR
CRITICAL TO YOUR GROWTH LEONIE MCCARTHY
NEWS & REVIEWS
ARTICLES HOTINK
LOIS LANE LIVES
30 IN CONVERSATION WITH SUZIE
40 INTELLIGENCE, OBJECTIVITY & RESPECT: WHY ON EARTH IS GENDER A FACTOR? - CHRIS ALLEN
42 TOP EIGHT TIPS TO MOBILE MARKETING - KELLY SLESSOR
44 FLEX YOUR MENTAL MUSCLE: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE SWING WHY EXERCUSE BOOSTS YOUR SISTERS: AMY & SARA CHAMBERLAIN BRAIN POWER - NIKKI FODGEN - KATE STONE MOORE 32
35 LEAD SMALL. A MANIFESTO -
46 NEWS & REVIEWS
37 THE WARP AND THE WEFT:
48 LOIS LANE LIVES: AN APPLE A
ROHAN DREDGE
TAKING THE LABOUR OUT OF NETWORKING - KATE STONE
DAY? - KATE STONE
Contributing Editors
MELISSA BROWNE
NIKKI FODGENMOORE
KATE STONE
CHRIS ALLEN
Melissa Browne is an author, entrepreneur, business owner, and shoe & jumpsuit lover.
Nikki Fogden-Moore is all about practicing what she preaches – and what she preaches is balance. Balance between work, home and maintaining your personal best.
Kate Stone is a ghostwriter, columnist, copy writer and editor who has a passion for all things social media and graphic design. If she isn’t living in someone else’s head, she is online or onscreen, or often both together. She is determined to bring her love of the written word, presented as beautifully as possible, to people whether they like it or not.
Chris began his career as a soldier and was commissioned as an officer. He served with the Royal Australian Regiment, qualified as a paratrooper in Australia, England and France, undertook attachments to the Officer Cadet School of New Zealand and the British Parachute Regiment and deployed to South East Asia, Africa and Central America.
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She has two successful, award-winning businesses - Accounting and Taxation Advantage & Business Advantage Coaching and is the author of the recently published to rave reviews business book, More Money for Shoes. Being an accountant, she understands the numbers but as an entrepreneur understands that numbers are only part of the story. She knows what it takes to achieve results that defy the trends and create incredibly robust, successful businesses. She is a tax expert with a particular passion for seeing small business owners develop profitable, successful businesses. A regular contributor to the Sydney Morning Herald, find Melissa on twitter at @ melbrowne_ or visit acctaxadv. com.au
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She uses nature as her playground – and wants all LBDG members to do the same. “Ultimately health, vitality and getting the most out of life do not have to be last on the list. It’s about finding the best information, tools and support that suit your own goals and needs. We are here to inspire, educate and help people stay motivated, with practical tools and information enabling them to make the best decisions for long term health and wellness – My motto: CREATE THE LIFE YOU WANT” The owner of Life’s A Gym, Nikki is a motivational speaker, trainer and all round powerhouse who will help you to bring your body and soul together. Connect with her on twitter @nfogdenmoore or visit www.thevitalitycoach.com.au
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Find her in one of her various guises on Twitter at http:// twitter.com/@oskythespy, read her own writing at http:// whatkatedidnext.com.au or e-mail her at kate@webwitch. com.au if you are looking for someone to time share your brain with.
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He was engaged in humanitarian aid work for CARE International during the 1999 East Timor emergency and in the wake of September 11, 2001 became involved in Australian government protective security. After being headhunted to oversee an unprecedented security upgrade of the Sydney Opera House, he later held the position of Sheriff of New South Wales, one of Australia’s most historic appointments, from 2008 until 2012. Chris’s first novel in the Intrepid series, Defender, was self- published before being rereleased by Momentum Books with his second novel, Hunter, released at the end of 2012. Both novels rocketed to the top of the charts on iTunes and Amazon and there is a US film / TV franchise based on his novels in development. His third title in the series, Avenger will be published in 2014. Chris lives in Sydney with his wife Sarah and their two small boys, Morgan and Rhett. www.intrepidallen.com
Guest Writers
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RENATA COOPER
CAROL YANG
LEONIE MCCARTHY
Renata Cooper is a multi-faceted businesswoman, entrepreneur and angel investor. She is the founder and CEO of Forming Circles, one of Australia’s leading a social and ethical investment companies that has invested in over 100 local and national businesses, individuals and organisations since its inception in 2011. Through her angel investment portfolio, she is also the Director of iVvy, an online event management and registration software that works with Flight Centre, Westpac, Queensland Government, BMW and other leading brands.
Carol Yang is an ex-corporate warrior turned life strategist, advocate and mentor. Her purpose is to inspire women who are at a transition point in their lives to gain clarity about their life purpose; and to empower them with the right tools to chart their next path. She is the Founder and Director of Spring Forward, an innovative and unique life strategy and planning company that empowers women to get clarity on what truly drives them so that they can develop life goals and plans to live the life they really want.
Leonie has been creating systems for improving process since before she even understood that it was a ‘thing’. She specializes in working with people and businesses to improve the way they do things.
Renata is a passionate advocate for women in business, literacy and youth empowerment. In her role, Renata pioneers change in Australia through community engagement; education, mentorship and grants for small businesses (especially women entrepreneurs). One of her key accomplishments was the launch of Written Portraits, an annual national creative writing competition for high school students that reached thousands of students across Australia. Her business model is founded using tools of the 21st Century such as social media, crowd-funding campaigns and innovative thinking and the more traditional method of driving positive word-of-mouth through impactful actions. She is also an accomplished artist, living in Sydney with her husband and two children.
Carol spent more than 20 years building a successful global marketing career in leading multinationals like Procter & Gamble and The Timberland Company. She then decided to take the unconventional path of leaving her position as VP Global Marketing to take a hiatus in order to take stock of her life and figure out “what’s next”. That period of self discovery helped her get back in touch with what’s most important and meaningful for her. She is a passionate advocate for women to give themselves the permission to pause and redefine what ‘success’ means to them and their lives. Spring Forward is borne from Carol’s personal journey and her in-depth understanding of what it feels like to be at a crossroads in your life. Spring Forward’s mission is to empower you to live an inspired, purposeful and fulfilling life authentic to who you truly are.
www.formingcircles.com.au www.springforward.com.au
She has worked her way through garment production and sourcing, to project management and implementation of systems for some of Australia’s best known fashion wholesalers and retailers; she has been implementing ERP systems and working with people to improve and change process since the beginning of this century. She leads 6R Retail consulting where she has assisted businesses Specialty Fashion Group, General Pants, Webster Holdings and Black Milk Clothing on system implementations, process improvements and change.
www.6r.com.au
Guest Writers
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ROHAN DREDGE
DEBBIE O’CONNOR
Rohan Dredge is best described as a People Architect; he loves seeing people exceed their potential, through changes in their mindset and skill set. Rohan currently expresses this in three major areas. Firstly, as the Senior Minister of a significant Church in Melbourne Australia, secondly he runs a corporate practice equipping people in leadership, communication and personal growth. Lastly, in his role as a Thought Leader Mentor, specialising in speakership.
Debbie is a brand enthusiast, author of a children’s book and encaustics fanatic. She is the founder of multi award winning creative studio White River Design (WRD) and the newly launched Creative Fringe. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Debbie majored in Graphic Design and Photography from Stellenbosch University in South Africa (completing her 4 year degree in her second language, Afrikaans). Her passion has always been in branding and packaging. With design experience that covers three continents, Debbie brings a diverse range of skills to the business. Debbie is an exceptional strategist and is renowned for her creative thinking and her intuition for knowing just what the client wants, and being able to design to their needs.
Rohan’s belief is that everyone has an inbuilt purpose and magnificence, and he speaks to individuals and groups in order to draw out their potential. Newton’s Second Law states: “Everything continues at a state of rest unless acted on by an external force.” Rohan is that external force; he will show you how to leverage your leadership by increasing your influence and sharpening your skills. As a result of working with Rohan, you will be more focused, clear and engaged in your personal growth. You will do this by improving your communication skills and increasing your flexibility around how you broaden your sphere of influence. www.rohandredge.com
Debbie’s biggest bug bear is the word ‘can’t’ and lives by her ‘can do attitude’. She settled in Australia in 2000 after marrying her Australian husband, David. They now have 2 gorgeous children and spend their free time monitoring social media activity, arguing about when ears can be pierced and enjoying cuddles at bed time.
www.whiteriverdesign.com
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Business Basics: Jeans & Pricing Melissa Browne There is a common theme when it comes to almost all the business clients that I see throughout the year, and it’s pricing. Am I pricing OK? Should I put my prices up? What are other people charging? Am I making enough money from what I’m doing? And lots more following the same theme. To help you with this conundrum following is the ‘Pricing’ chapter from my book ‘More Money for Shoes’. Hopefully it will help you think differently about how you price and prompt you to question your pricing. If you need more help make sure you check out the free tools and templates at http://www.moremoneyforshoes.com.au/ shoppinglist or book into my pricing workshop at byata.eventbrite.com.au Like many women, I struggle shopping for jeans. Maybe it’s because I don’t have legs that are shaped like sticks, but I find the process of buying jeans a little traumatic.
My mum, however, is a completely different story. If she wears denim it will generally cost less than $80 and will simply be comfortable. My husband on the other hand will pay up to $150 and wants his jeans to look good, but When I do find the inner strength to embark on not like he’s trying to look like an 18-year-old. a jean hunt, I invariably find myself sitting on Another male friend has no problem with the change room floor, sweating, as I struggle forking out up to $500 for a pair of jeans that to pull a pair of jeans up and over my legs are fashion forward, while one of the girls at while they attempt to grab my thigh and ankle my office owns no denim but will pay under muscles and slowly strangle them. It’s my $50 for jeggings (jean leggings, yes I don’t strong opinion that alcohol should be served in understand them either). jean stores. It just seems necessary. So what does this jean breakdown have to When I discovered Sass and Bide jeans many do with your business? Well, my guess is for years ago and worked out they had a range the most part, the material cost (that is, the that worked for me, I became an instant denim) is very similar among all of these devotee. Because of this, I know if they put examples. However, the prices range from their price up I’d still be a convert. under $50 through to $500. So how do the companies that charge $500 get away with it?
Simple. It’s because they know their market, they’ve done their research and they have truckloads of self-belief.
or a trusted business advisor. If you don’t think you can charge more, then think about how you can add value. Or think about how you can sell the value of what you’re already doing so your customers are willing to pay more.
So what about you? Do you belong at the $50 end, the $500 end, or somewhere in the middle? Where does a business owner even start when they’re At the end of the day, there’s no correct price. setting a price? I think there are six things you Could the same pair of jeans be sold for $600 need to consider: instead of $500? Who knows? Until you trial something you simply won’t know because 1. Cost: If you’ve read the Suit chapter you pricing isn’t an exact science. Instead, it’s should be able to determine your cost per unit about knowing your market, knowing your or per hour of service. costs, knowing what profit you want to make, 2. Your competitors: Is there anyone else doing believing in yourself and having a go. You won’t what you are doing? What are they charging? get it right every time but the more you get to This is where the inner snoop in you is allowed know your market, the more times you’ll get to come to the surface. pretty close. 3. Your customers: By now you should have an idea of who it is that will be buying from you. A final warning on pricing: If you put up your If not, then head back to Understanding Your price you will potentially lose some customers. Market. But sometimes that’s OK. Let me tell you a 4. Your product or service: You need to story to explain. I have a client who we’ll call understand the impact of a change in price. Bec. For years Bec didn’t make any money from For example, if Tip Top increased the price her business and last year she finally put up of their white bread by 5c, they may lose a her prices by 25%. Bec came to see me a year large number of customers due to a market later and was thrilled because the business crowded with an identical product. On the went from no profit to a $50,000 profit in 12 other hand, I strongly suspect if Louis Vuitton months. But then Bec said something strange, increased their handbags by $500, they “Of course, the business isn’t doing as well. wouldn’t lose a single client. We’ve lost customers because you made me 5. Your positioning: Do you want to be the put my prices up.” Once I picked myself up from Christian Louboutin or the Nine West of your the floor, I explained to Bec why this wasn’t the marketplace? case. The problem was she was focusing on 6. Your profit: How much profit do you want to how many customers she’d lost and not the fact make? (A fairly important question but one she now had no credit card debt. Sure Bec had that is often forgotten.) fewer customers, but this meant she could work with fewer staff. So fewer customers, higher All this sounds great in theory, but from my prices and fewer staff now meant a profit. experience there are usually only two things that ultimately determine what price business owners Don’t be deterred by the fact you might lose set for their product. That is, their feelings of some customers. That’s because if you lose a self-worth and their levels of courage. I think it small amount of customers you’ll probably still takes a mountain of self-worth and courage to be better off. What you must do, however, is charge $500 for a pair of jeans. But some business monitor what’s happening when you put up owners clearly have it in bucketloads. your price and understand your market. So, what’s your self-belief like? What value do you place on your time and what you’re selling? Because in my experience, I find the value a business owner places on their product or service is usually a reflection of their own self-belief and often has very little to do with the marketplace. So if you think self-belief is affecting your pricing, then take another look at what you’re charging and consider whether you can increase the price for your own products and services. If you’re not sure, then ask a customer (or a sample of them)
Like the search for the perfect pair of jeans, determining the right price will involve some legwork. And just like your favourite jeans will inevitably fall apart over time, your price strategies won’t be something that are set forever. But if you put in the effort, I promise you the results (more profit and more money in your bank account) will be worth it.
10
Essentials to Creating a Brand Debbie O’Connor
I recently met a business owner who, after I mentioned that I am in the creative business of branding, announced that they had just ‘rebranded’ and proudly showed me their new logo. When I started talking about other branding elements, they started to glaze over with the response of “no, I don’t have any of that, just the logo.” This is not the first time that this has happened. There are many people who are very confused about what branding is, and that it’s far more than simply having a logo. Now don’t get me wrong. Having a well designed, target focused logo is an essential element to your brand, but it is simply the foundation from which so much more is developed. Branding is not a new concept. In fact is has been done for centuries, from the Scottish wearing their distinctive kilts, to farmers who literally hot iron branded their cattle with a recognisable symbol. This quick, easy to identify system is the basis for branding. The trick is to make your brand as distinctive as possible so that you become front of mind
when people think of your service or product. Here’s a bit of branding fun. What is the first name that comes to mind when I say: Fast food? Safe car? Soda? If you answered McDonalds, Volvo and CocaCola, you are not alone. Why is this? Well, these brands have been developed to give a very consistent message to their particular target audience. So if your logo is not your brand, what exactly makes up a brand you might ask? 1. Know Your Brand Story Brands that have a good story tend to be more believable than those that don’t. People relate to stories so if you have a relevant and enticing one, you will attract the right people who will not only love and trust your brand, but they will become loyal followers and advocates. Stories are a great way to position yourself in the market, set a
culture and provide a strong message for your brand. These stories don’t have to be elaborate or over the top, in fact simple is always best. Remember to tell your brand story often and ensure that all people involved in the business know the story too and are able to tell it well. 2. Logo
work on building a more consistent image for your brand. Having a company style guide is a great way to ensure that everyone in your organisation represents the brand correctly. 4. Language and Tone
It is really important for you to know and understand the ‘personality’ of your brand. What I mean is, is your brand fun, youthful, Yes, you do need a logo. Think of the big creative, serious, adventurous, caring, sensual international companies, they all have distinctive logos. In general, the simple designs that are easy or down to earth? There are many different personalities that your brand could be – we like to reproduce across multi media such as print, to use the Brand Archetypes developed by Swiss online, silk screening, embroidery or signage are philosopher, Carl Jung. Once you know your the more memorable logos. Think Apple, IKEA, personality type, it makes it a lot easier to know Nike, Volkswagen to name a few. We often see logos that have been created with drop shadows, what language and tone to use in your collateral and correspondence with your audience. If fancy effects or trendy fonts, that don’t translate well across platforms, nor do they pass the test of your personality/brand is fresh, youthful and time. These logos land up looking terrible, become energetic such as Boost Juice, then you can use entertaining and fun words in your material. outdated quickly and immediately damage the However, if your brand and message is serious brand from a visual perspective. Remember, that like a house needs good foundations, so too such as the Roads Authority, then a more sober or thoughtful tone might be used, such as the does your brand, and your brand foundation is your logo. It is essential to get a professional who speeding advert with the doctor stating, “I wish I wasn’t in this ad.” Knowing your personality and knows what they are doing to create or evolve target audience is essential in setting the correct your logo. Your business is too precious to leave this important stage in the hands of your cousin’s tone and language to represent your brand. girlfriend’s brother who is studying design! 5. Dress code 3. Collateral What you and your team wear also directly What do I mean by collateral? This is the collection affects your brand. Having someone wearing a tracksuit and sneakers to work in an office of media from business stationery, brochures, environment is inappropriate, however if annual reports and adverts through to your you’re a personal trainer, wearing these clothes website, newsletters and signage to name a few. would be very acceptable. Likewise, if women Your brand needs to be consistently followed wear clothing that is too revealing or a man through all these areas to ensure that not only does the look stay true to the brand, but that the has constant body odour, these are issues that need to be addressed if they are not brand message does too. You need to ensure that all of appropriate. Dress code is often an area of your collateral matches so that if I were to pick up your business card, then head to your website branding that people overlook, but it is an or later see your sign written vehicle on the road, extremely important aspect as it is a visual cue that can make or break a first impression. that they would all match. There is no excuse for not keeping true to your brand image. Not having 6. Systems enough cash for a professional design is not a good enough excuse – this is your business and Having strong systems in place is critical to the it deserves to be invested in. This is the visible success of a brand. Ensuring that there is a aspect of your brand that is so vital in attracting system from the answering of a phone to the people to your service or product. To become finalising of a sale is critical to the success of a front of mind, consistency is king. Imagine if brand. I recently visited the Apple store in New McDonalds kept changing the colour of their ‘golden arches’? Everyone can do this quick test… York where I was amazed that even though it Put all of your printed items on your desk next to was triple the size of the Apple store in my home town, the process of them dealing with their your computer with your website visible. Does it customers was exactly the same. Without look like it belongs together? If not, you need to
systems in place to ensure a consistent level of service, your clients could have a good experience one visit and a bad experience the next. Document your systems and ensure that all staff are correctly trained so that the customer has a good experience each and every time. 7. Create an Experience There is nothing more enjoyable that going to your favourite cafe and receiving your coffee the way you like it each and every time. Even better is when the staff smile and acknowledge you, and even better, if you’re a regular customer, they call you by name. The simple experience of getting your coffee becomes an enjoyable one, which if executed correctly, will ensure that the customer keeps coming back. When I was in New York I visited the M&M Store – what an eye opener and a great experience too! I was able to get a cup of M&M’s personalised for my children. The staff were so happy and engaging – quick to help and had a clever way of getting customers to purchase a bigger cup of M&M’s – clapping when a customer took up the offer. The experience of choosing what was to go on the M&M’s, picking the colours and then sending them down the M&M shoot for personalising was not only entertaining but exciting too. My three friends and I all decided to purchase these over priced souvenirs simply to go through the experience and marvel at the outcome. Giving clients the opportunity to experience your brand is essential. It is worth spending time coming up with an experience that will not only enhance the customers time dealing with your company, but will leave a lasting memory. 8. Own Your Area The reality is that you’re unlikely to build a brand as big as Coca-Cola or Nike, but you may be able to build a strong brand of your area of expertise in your demographic zone. Earlier I did the fun exercise of you guessing the brand by simply stating ‘fast food’, ‘safe car’ or ‘soda drink’. These words prompted you to think of the brands that dominate these words. By building a brand in your geographic area or with your direct target audience, you too can own your area of expertise. Some brands are so strong that they have even started to ‘own’ the product area that they are in, such as cling wrap being referred to as Glad Wrap or adhesive bandages as Band Aids. This is not something that happens quickly or easily, and it means that constant focus on your main message needs to occur on a regular and consistent basis.
If you deviate or change direction you can cause brand confusion which is often hard to recover from. 9. Have a slogan “The burgers are better at…” “Lucky, you’re with…” “Have a break, have a…” I don’t think that I need to give the answers to these as they are all extremely well known and can even be answered by children who constantly hear their brand messages being repeated on TV, the radio or paper. This constant repetition of the same consistent message ensures that the slogan becomes a huge part of the brand equity. “Not happy Jan”, from a Yellow Pages advert has become part of the Australian culture while ‘Google’ has become a verb as well as being a pro noun. A slogan can not only add interest to your brand, but it may relate to a core message that you are wanting to send. Once again, spend some time working on this to get it right the first time. You don’t want to keep changing your slogan too often as this will once again cause brand confusion. 10. Train Your Team Training your team is essential in being able to maintain your brand. If everyone knows how to behave, talk and dress, the chances of the brand maintaining its correct message are much higher than if your team is untrained. Let’s take McDonalds for example, staff are trained in the systems and procedures so that even a 15 year old will be able to provide the exact same service as a 20 year old.
If you are still confused about your brand personality, story or direction, please contact award winning creative team WRD. The WRD team are branding specialists who really know how to create magic! Give them a call on 02 4732 4766 or hop online at www.whiteriverdesign. com. What is your brand personality? Try their online game at www.brandpersonalities.com.au
Think Big Dream Big Believe big And the results will be big
Re-imagining your life Carol Yang We are living in a magical age. Our life expectancy continues to improve and with ongoing medical advancements, we can expect it to improve further. In fact, Australia already has one of the highest life expectancies in the world; with combined gender life expectancy at 81.4 years, higher than the UK and USA; according to United Nation estimates. And while gender equality at the workplace is far from what we desire, Australian women today have far more opportunities to chart their own path in life than ever before. The world is truly our oyster. On the flip side, we are also working longer, whether by necessity or choice. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that the average retirement age for those who retired in the past 5 years was between 61 to 63 years for men and 59 for women; and 2/3 of people aged 45 and over intend to retire at or above 65 years of age. In addition, a survey by the Centre for Work + Life at the University of South Australia shows that women working full time are feeling the greatest pressure with dissatisfaction levels over their work/life balance doubling over the past 5 years. This trifecta of forces is driving a growing consciousness towards redefining what success means in our lives. I first touched on this in my July 2013 GLOSS article where I discussed how we could redefine success beyond the traditional measures of money and power. Quite often, this search for a greater sense of meaning occurs midlife. There is a growing social movement of people leveraging the second half of their life as another opportunity to grow and achieve life goals that may have been left on the back burner.
However, in today’s world of uncertainty and rapid change, younger adults often also find themselves navigating major life transitions causing them to re-evaluate what really matter. Caught in the hamster’s wheel of life, many of us however, are in danger of not giving ourselves the permission to hit the pause button. To stop for a moment to reassess if we are on the fast train…. to the wrong destination! Or to be proactive so that we are better prepared to handle transition points in our life no matter at what age. To have better clarity and certainty when we reach a point where we are asking ourselves “What’s next?” How to create the next chapter of your life If you were at a transition point, or seeking to redefine your personal measure of success; your journey would involve 3 key steps. Think of each step as picking up a set of tools that empowers you to move ahead - like using a map and navigation tools to guide you on your journey. The first step is a journey of self-discovery. This is a critical phase. Start by asking yourself some hard questions about what you truly want from life. In other words, what are your most important values? Not what you are expected by your (fill in the blank) to do, or need to do. What do you truly want? Are you spending your time and energy on things that fulfill you the most? Is there something you perceive as lacking in your life? It is an inspiring process of digging deep to acknowledge some truths about your life today, and importantly to get clarity for the future. Think of your values as your personal North Star, the very essence of who you are, to guide you as
you chart your path ahead. Often we are not fully aware of how our everyday actions and thoughts already reflect the values that are most important to us. After all, don’t we always make time for things that are important, and delay doing things that are less important? There are many ways to ‘peel the onion’ and one tool that I have found helpful is a set of 13 questions called the Values Determination Process. Developed by Dr John Demartini, a renowned expert in human behaviour; the questions reveal insights from looking at various aspects of your life today. For e.g. How do you currently spend your time and energy? What dominates your thoughts? What do you visualise most for your life? Going deeper to understand the ‘whys’ behind your answers is how you’ll find your values. I recommend using this tool in combination with some others to provide good a breadth and depth of insights.
down further into specific goals for the next 12 months, develop an action plan to achieve them; and identify the right resources (people, financial or physical) to enable this. Empowering you along the way Here are additional things you can do to empower you on this journey 1. Give yourself the time and space for selfreflection. This is critical especially during Step 1. Some experts call this the ‘neutral zone’ - the process of hitting the inner pause button and being open to possibilities. Personally, I have found that some quiet time first thing in the morning works best for me. It doesn’t matter when you do it. What’s important is what works best for you, and that you carve out some quiet time for reflection.
2. Have a circle of trusted advisors or a mentor Once you have identified what truly matters who can be your sounding board. They can and fulfills you, you can now chart your course provide a different perspective, add depth to ahead. At this point your negative self-talk starts your own insights and support you as you to take over. Ironically, despite the clarity from action your plan. understanding your values, I guarantee you will immediately begin to talk yourself out of it! That’s 3. Communicate early on with your partner only human as we have an in-built mechanism to and other significant members of your family protect us from perceived danger of the unknown, so that you can enroll them to support you as whether real or imagined. you transition to your next path. The second step therefore is to understand what fears or limiting beliefs are holding you back from creating the life you want. In general, there are 7 fears that hold people back. Most common are the fear of failure and the fear of not being good enough or smart enough. If you have ever been plagued by self-doubt, you’re in good company! Estimates show that about two out of three high achievers confess they’ve felt like phonies, despite their accomplishments - known as the ‘impostor syndrome’. One simple tip to overcome this is to be a mentor. Finding someone who looks up to you and passing on your wisdom does wonders for boosting your confidence! Again by using the right tools, you can identify your top fears or limiting beliefs and work on overcoming them. You’re now at the home stretch - Step 3. Buoyed by energy that comes from greater clarity and purpose, you can’t wait to start your next chapter. It’s now time to chart out your next course in greater detail. This is where writing your Personal Mission Statement or if you’re more visually inclined, creating a Vision Board is very helpful to visualise the life you want to have. Then break this
From personal experience I know that the journey is inspiring and clarifying; and at times confusing and scary. Yet I’m also confident that you’ll get as much value from the journey as the destination. Dig deep. Take action. And may your journey lead you to a life of purpose and fulfillment aligned to who you truly are. “Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you really need to do, in order to have what you want” - Margaret Young
Where we “netweave� Tastevin Bistro & Wine Bar:
Sydney
Tastevin bistro and wine bar combines traditional French cuisine with a modern Australian twist, offering a relaxed dining destination situated in the heart of Darlinghurst. Classic bistro dishes are prepared with the best regional and seasonal produce and matched with a comprehensive and affordable selection of fine French, Australian and New Zealand wines.
La Brasserie:
http://www.tastevin.com.au/
Situated in the lively restaurant scene of Crown Street, Darlinghurst, La Brasserie offers superb traditional French cuisine complemented by a comprehensive selection of fine French and Australian wines. http://labrasserie.com.au/
Waqu:
The Kappo dining style is a step above Izakaya style dining. It offers quality Japanese dishes served in a casual yet elegant dining environment. The Fine Dining section offers degustation menus only in the stylish and intimate atmosphere. The six or eight course menus are perfect for any special occasons, corporate functions or social gathering. http://www.waqu.com.au/
Brisbane
The Port Office Hotel:
The Port Office Hotel houses three of Brisbane’s Premier Bars as well as an Award Winning Restaurant. The Port Office Hotel is the perfect location in Brisbane for catching up with friends, entertaining clients and for all types of functions and events. The Port Office is one of the most popular Brisbane CBD Wedding Reception Venues and Functions Venue. http://portofficehotel.com.au/
Aquitaine:
Inspired by L’Aquitaine in South West France, this river side dining experience brings together a journey from the Farm House to the Champs Elysees. The contemporary French menu is based on classic French recipes and is brought to life with fresh local produce and modern cooking techniques. http://www.aquitainebrasserie.com. au/
Melbourne
The Graham:
The Graham offers sophisticated dining and their popular 7 course degusation in their a la carte restaurant. With private dining rooms, The Graham is the ideal venue for office event and private parties.
The Grand Richmond:
The award-winning dining room at The Grand serves up simple, authentic Italian food with an emphasis on both quality ingredients and value. http://www.grandrichmond. com.au/
http://www.thegraham.com.au/
Five Trends Shaping the Entrepreneaurial Landscape Renata Cooper Richard Branson said in a LinkedIn blog that 2014 is the year of the entrepreneur. Rightfully so as macro movements that have shaped economic and cultural shifts the last few years are changing our behaviours. Start-ups and entrepreneurs have benefitted from these changes tremendously and will continue to do so this year and beyond.
seeking more depth and meaning and are taking ethical responsibilities seriously. For entrepreneurs, it is crucial to identify and communicate what their business’ sense of purpose is with consumers and stakeholders. Having a sense of purpose can be as simple as revisiting the values of your company and employees to see what contribution you are making to the community and the society. Think about the ethical footprint of your brand.
Words such as risk, first-to-market and serial entrepreneurs that were previously met with scepticism are now applauded and encouraged. It is suddenly cool to disrupt the market and • Personalisation vs privacy: Social and be experimental – funding organisations are digital technologies have taken bespoke more likely to bet on your idea now. Innovators and personalisation to a whole new level. are being heralded as the boy / girl wonders Brand conversations are all about you. While of the new economy. Falling prices and global consumers enjoy personalisation, there is a markets have made it less expensive to do very fine balance between knowing them and business. Talent is more scalable and skills are infringing on their privacy. It is highly unlikely transferable. And, the technology required to that the tension between personalisation and keep companies running is available for a lot privacy will be fully resolved any time soon. cheaper than before. Entrepreneurs will have to seriously think about brand representation from both a long Here are 5 broad trends that will shape the term perspective. Those that value and treat entrepreneurial landscape in 2014: customer data with the respect it deserves will build brand value and create a more • Sense of purpose: In his blog, Branson sustainable business. notes that, “the entrepreneurs who will succeed in 2014 will need to focus upon • Collaborative culture: Almost every macro having a purpose beyond profit for their trends forecast, notes collaboration as a key business”. trend shaping the economy. From Kickstarter, Airbnb to AirTasker (who recently partnered This is more relevant now in a world where with Career One), collaborative consumption attention span is limited and products and is redefining how we do business and live our services shelf life is reduced. As highlighted lives. The internet has given us the opportunity in a Forbes article on Trends That Will Shape to radically change the way we produce value. Consumer Behaviour This Year, people are The new collaborative economy is fair, based
on sharing, mutual help and sustainability. It is crowd-sourced, open-sourced and crowdfinanced. This gives entrepreneurs – especially start-ups – the chance to: Create consumers and audiences around their passion, project or idea
b.
Collaborate with members to find solutions and create scalable business models with minimal overheads
c.
In an economy where walls of distinction between sectors are breaking, give clients cross platform expertise and more comprehensive solutions
a.
As highlighted in an OuiShare post, building a collaborative culture at your startup is a great way to enhance innovation, efficiency, and overall chance of success, by encouraging information sharing and group creativity. Collaborative economies will also give one-person empires just as much opportunity to shine as other ventures with more people. • Storytelling: Global computing giant IBM has a Chief Storyteller. Both Commonwealth and ANZ Banks in Australia have recently recruited senior journalists to manage their content. Brands across the world are taking control of content and narrating their story to the world. Self-publishing is the future of communication. Words, pictures, video and animations – they all come together to communicate not just who you are, but difference you make to lives. Richard Branson’s blog on LinkedIn received over 6,000 LikedIn shares, 3,000 Facebook likes, 722 tweets and over 600 comments – that’s just engaged readers and not including eyeballs to the article from his over 4 million followers. In a world where brand advocacy is increasingly measured by digital conversations, entrepreneurs have to become experts in telling their story to audiences. As Forbes noted, “Rather than just one story, we are seeing powerful story worlds with multiple strands of narrative on multiple platforms, allowing the various threads to permeate viewer’s lives”. Entrepreneurs need to be more proactive than reactive – especially on the digital front. Transparency, authenticity and engagement in telling stories is what separates the most admired CEO’s in the world to the worst ones.
• Support networks and communities: Accelerators, networking platforms, angel investors, crowdfunding, mentorship assistance and support organisations; there is more support than ever for entrepreneurs and startups. While in the past, the entrepreneur community and corporates worked independent to each other, big brands are realising the value of working collaboratively with entrepreneurs. Dell, Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Ernst & Young, Telstra and many others are creating bespoke activities that acknowledge and support entrepreneurs – particularly women entrepreneurs. As mentioned in a Salesforce blog, “Companies and emerging startups have realized that partnering can lead to innovating together. The net result is that corporations are gaining an early pulse of innovation trends, while startups are gaining market validation and invaluable industry connections and advice.” The playing field has levelled; opening it up for new entrants who wouldn’t have considered starting their own business previously and for current entrepreneurs to up their ante. What’s your game plan?
Systems & Process are Critical to Your Growth... Leonic McCarthy
Process cannot be enforced without good systems to enforce them and systems cannot produce good end results without robust processes in place. Want to grow? Expand to new markets? Take on another segment or introduce another product line? Of course you do. Before you do, consider what will happen if it’s a roaring success. Can the systems and processes that you have in place meet the demand? Systems and process may sound rather dull but they are the life blood of your business; delivering to customers your products or services in the best way possible. Think about the best use of your time. Would you rather… • re-enter information into three different systems, taking a days effort to fulfil an order • get on with creating new products and developing new business • spend a day at the end of the month collating multiple spreadsheets and reviewing timesheets to balance out what has been spent and billed • analyse time spent to ascertain where additional productivity can be gained • count your inventory 5 or 6 times through the process of order creation and fulfilment • ensure that inventory is where it needs to be and available to the customer in the moment of purchase?
Most of us would rather not be doing boring dull re-entering of information on the left hand side of this list. We would rather be focusing on the big picture than getting lost in reworking the details again and again.
The usual culprits Many businesses that I have worked with struggle with some or all of the following: • Entering data into more than one system (accounting, web site and inventory for example) and re-key information; sometimes this can take all day or be a whole person’s job! Boring, and not a lot of job satisfaction there… • Discrepancies between data in place A and place B (not a surprise; a natural result of point 1 really…) • Incomplete view of what is going on in the business; (further lack of surprise…) which can lead to delusional decision making. If you don’t have all the information how can you make a good choice? • Heavy manual intervention in data analysis, manipulation and presentation; this is usually when the systems that support the business don’t provide reporting at the right level of detail or flexibility • Measures that are ‘what’s available’ or ‘what’s always been measured’ rather than ‘what’s needed’ right now… so often a business builds layers and layers of things to look at forgetting to discard the measure that are no longer relevant.
Consider your own business in this light, is there an opportunity to improve? As businesses grow it’s easy to forget that streamlining processes is what leads to more growth. Consider for a moment some factors at play here… • Shoppers are incredibly value savvy; they know where and how to get the best deal; this means that your online store might be attracting visitors from down the road or across the globe. • Sellers are trying to deliver great value; so margins are under pressure. Not just the retail margin but all the way back to the producer. • When you’re trying to deliver value and margins are tight the last thing needed is excess inventory (or stock)… “Inventory OWES YOU MONEY.” The point being that unless you have negotiated some super terms with both your customers and your suppliers you have already laid out the cash to purchase the stock and it has not yet been purchased by the customer. Start small but think big! Three actionable points that will make a difference right away.
process for review of costs? For some businesses costs can fluctuate depending on the season or the mode of transport. If you can consider your costs with both best and worst case scenario in mind then you are better equipped to make decisions on the fly. A system that can show actualised costs as orders or projects are completed is one that will show you how accurate you are in estimating and where the blow outs are coming from. It’s essential to be able to clearly see through the purchase cycle what has been spent and when it is due to be paid. If you don’t have a way of tracking this critical information then you are flying blind. • Control over inventory no matter where it is Knowing where your inventory is and how to get it to your customer in the shortest time possible (at the best margin possible) is all about how accurate your information is and how visible it is to you and your team. • Do you know where your inventory is? Can you deliver it to a customer (globally) from where it is?
• As a business you now have to be ‘global ready’ Live inventory information is critical to any from earlier in your growth cycle. retail business. In accurate inventory can lead to disappointments in store or online or • Look at your most important information and alternatively items left on the shelf when they how it is gathered. Start simple. could have been sold. Remember – it owes you money! • Have you ensured that customers all enter their phone number in the same format? What Leonie will be conducting “Scale your business to about address information? the next level” workshop across the country in May. A small point at the beginning when you have a manageable number of customers but it To secure your spot book here! can be the difference between a SMS blast to specific customers and a complete failure to Brisbane 6th May communicate. The larger your list of customers 1:00pm till 4:30pm gets the harder it is to clean up these type of data Find out more anomalies. Sydney 14th May • It’s impossible to stay profitable if you don’t 10:30am till 2:00pm have a clear grip on your costs (and how they Find out more can fluctuate) and where the profit is coming from in your business. Melbourne 27th May 1:00pm till 4:30pm • Do you have a ‘living’ costing document for Find out more each product or project? Do you have a
In conversation with Suzie Hotink “Clear Complexions is about good skin health, and healthy skin is beautiful.” – Suzie Hoitink, RN, founder of the Clear Complexions Clinics
1.
Tell us a little about your business and what you do
I’m a registered nurse and I started the Clear Complexions Clinics in 2005 in response to a need in the community for a medical approach to skin conditions such as acne, sun damage, aging, scarring and rosacea. All treatments in our clinics are performed by qualified nurses and doctors. Our nurses treat clients with everyday skin conditions using the latest skin rejuvenation technologies available and in doing so, not only improve the health and appearance of their skin, but their overall confidence as well.
We currently have three clinics in Canberra, have a forth under construction and last year opened a beautiful clinic in Balmain Sydney.
2.
What’s the bravest decision you have had to make in your business?
The bravest decision I think we have made so far, and there have been a lot of ‘lump in the throat moments’, has been opening the first clinic in Sydney. Up until this stage we had three clinics in Canberra and had managed that expansion well. Deciding to enter the very competitive and sceptical market of Sydney had huge professional and personal implications for us. In February 2013 we opened the clinic in Balmain, Sydney. We had no brand recognition in that market and so we were essentially starting a new business. We had prepared for years for this move though by perfecting our systems, education processes and procedure manuals to ensure there was consistency of care across all clinics. We had to market and advertise in completely new ways and had to be innovative and adaptable. I am so very proud of the team we have in Balmain now and our hard work has paid off as we now have a busy clinic that is providing Sydney with a new approach to skin health that is being met by the Sydney press and public with such enthusiasm.
3.
What’s your vision for your business?
In the short term, we have a lot planned for this year. We have our fifth clinic opening soon and a skincare line we are developing. We have the next issue of the InnerConfidence magazine out in mid-April and are busy developing education courses for nurses outside of the Clear Complexions team.
In the long term, my vision for Clear Complexions is that we continue to open clinics in new cities and towns across Australia. We have such a unique approach to skin health that is so embraced by our clients that I have every confidence that this is the future for Clear Complexions.
4.
First thing you do in the morning?
It sounds like a cliché but I start early. My daughters are 14 and 17 and are competitive triathletes so our day starts at 5:00am at a training session. Because we have to take them, Alex and I will usually do the training too, just a lot slower!!
5.
Most inspiring quote? “The enemy of a great life is a good life”
6.
7.
Top 3 tips for women in business?
There are probably three bits of advice I would give. 1. Reciprocity - share your knowledge and experiences with others. 2. Give back to the community that supports you. It keeps you grounded. 3. And lastly, don’t be afraid to be brilliant. Nelson Mandela in his inauguration speech said “It is our light not our darkness that frightens us” and it is true. As women, we have a tendency to play down our strengths so that others don’t feel insecure around us. He goes on to say when we play small it doesn’t serve the world. If we as women want to be successful in business as well as in life, we have to be OK with being all that we can be and make no apologies for that.
What would you tell your 21 year old self now if you could?
Good Lord when I was 21, I was newly married and just started nursing. I could never have imagined this would be the journey I would take. I would tell my 21 year old self to be brave; to not run with the crowd - think differently to those around you, look for opportunities and then have the courage to embrace them. For media enquiries please contact Alex Hoitink: 0408664889 | alex@clearcomplexions.com.au clearcomplexions.com.au
An Interview with The Swing Sisters; Amy & Sara Chamberlain. Kate Stone I was lucky enough recently to interview two of the most dynamic young women I think I have ever had the pleasure of talking with – sisters Amy and Sara Chamberlain of The Real Estate Stylist. Recently featured in the fabulous renegade COLLECTIVE, this dynamic duo, who are rapidly changing the way properties are presented to potential buyers in terms of their style (and therefore saleability), showed me exactly why they have succeeded in this niche market in a relatively short time. They have an intriguing background – as Amy said they really are each other’s “yin and yang”, and as Sara added “they both had something that the other one needed”. Sara comes from advertising, which she feels has been invaluable to their business; it gave her a mixed batch of abilities which she had no idea would be so handy in a later role. Amy meanwhile was an early childhood teacher, and describes herself as “creative with a bit of craziness and unafraid of taking risks… the change I have made is from singing and dancing in front of five year olds, to singing and dancing in front of real estate clients!” As sisters, it is inevitable that their working
lives are going to intersect with their personal lives, and this was something I had to ask about – what are the pros and cons of working collaboratively with someone you are so close to? Both agreed that it isn’t all roses, because it is incredibly difficult to switch off; ; there is very little delineation between what is in the office and what is social. They are in the same friends’ network, the same family circles, and as Amy commented “it’s hard to give each other space and make sure there’s never offence taken”. She added though that what has helped enormously has been the fact that they started this business at the right time in both their lives. “We were going to start a business venture together 7 or 8 years ago, but I couldn’t stand the thought of Sara telling me what to do! Now, we are mature enough to have clearly defined roles and accountability for our own areas of expertise”. Sara agrees that the pros far outweigh the cons, due partly to “…a sixth sense, which you can only have with someone you are related to or have grown up with. Being able to envisage what is in someone’s brain creatively by the mention of a single word, or a colour – it’s invaluable”. They are able to have raw and honest conversations about how the business is developing, and back each other to the hilt if one falters, or has a crisis of confidence. She also feels that “being sisters,
we push each other to strive continuously and not rest on our laurels”, which has to happen for the business to grow and evolve.
don’t I do it for myself at y rate for three days a week?’ – but if you are going into business with that mindset, you are choosing a lifestyle rather than aiming for the stars. Be prepared to turn With the property market being extremely tight your life upside down for five years, know in your at present, and sellers very much having to pull gut what you want and don’t tell too many people out all the stops to make THEIR property ‘the to start with. There are always naysayers who will one’, their service is viewed by both as being a try to drag you down. Conversely, I firmly believe necessity, rather than a luxury. More and more in the maxim ‘don’t let flattery be your business properties are being styled to a greater or lesser strategy’. People may encourage us to do a lot of extent, and they see their sole purpose as adding different things, because they feel we have the value to the selling process. talents or capability for them – but if it doesn’t fit your base business model, keep the training wheels on.’
“We are needed when real estate is hot, and when real estate is not” says Amy. Sara agrees. “It’s like the heyday of advertising in the 80s” she says. “We are simply the early adopters in a growing industry. We ask for payment upfront, we go up against competitors with a higher quote and we win… because people take property seriously. We are not interested in ‘fluff’; we are in this for longevity, and that means no private clients and no interior design. We are meeting the demand for properties to be presented as beautifully as possible for sale”.
They have found of late that their online presence is starting to expand their business, and as Amy said (half-laughing – but I feel only half!) “it’s taking us further towards our goal of world domination! We have a big presence on Instagram, being such a visual business, and in terms of Google – well, our name says exactly what we do.” For Sara, the internet has added value in terms of their geographical reach, and says they have seen a huge shift in the last six months in terms of profile, without doing any SEO. “This can be a bit of a pitfall, as clients from the web are a bit of an unknown quantity – whereas with agents who know us personally, there is a great relationship already in place”. I was very interested to know how each sister viewed the other, so I asked them to sum up in three words or less – how do you sum each other up as businesswomen and as an inspiration to each other? They were quick to answer. For Amy, Sara is “precise, ballsy and aspirational” – for Sara, her sister is “confident, tenacious and a great visionary”.
For me? I was simply gobsmacked by both sisters. I was keen to know what advice they would offer They are smart, funny and quick to get their point to other young women wanting to strike out as across. They have creative vision stretching to entrepreneurs. They both said very strongly that the stars, and it’s matched by a canny business this is not a ‘lifestyle’ choice for them, and yes, acumen – which is not something you see very that means incredibly hard work. Be prepared often. They have end goals that are, as Sara put so to be tired, be prepared to miss out on social succinctly, “lofty, and personal, and heartfelt. We opportunities, and don’t jump in too far financially genuinely want to make a difference in real estate, when you start out – don’t take on big loans. As and see women creating their own financial Amy commented, “grow smart – have your service independence”. firmly in place for when the phone starts to ring”. I may have a girl crush. Or two. And some lofty Sara expanded on this point: visions for my own home as a result of the beautiful images on their website. “It’s very alluring to say ‘I am currently working for someone else at x rate for five days a week; why Let’s start with cushions…
The Desire to Reach For the Sky Runs Very Deep in Our Human Psyche - Cesar Pelli
Lead Small. A manifesto. Rohan Dredge
#leadsmall - when you do, big things can happen.
requires community and multiplication in the right way at the right time. Leading small is the starting point for this.
I remember holding my daughter for the very first time. Even now I can feel what it was like to hold, nurture, protect and cover this perfect little angel. She was so small, so petite, so dependant on us as parents. From well before she arrived and every day since then we have nurtured, invested and sacrificed willingly into the potential of this young lady.
Leading small is not….
It reminded me that everything significant starts small. Everything. Potential starts small. Teams start small. Movements start small. Projects start small. Lao-Tzu was right when he said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” In fact, I remind myself regularly that I am raising an adult, not a child. What starts small, given the right environment, will ultimately grow and reach their potential. That’s my role, to create the environment, establish direction, to create culture. To do the small things that make big differences. It’s time to #leadsmall. To take pressure off and replace it with resolve, direction and culture. To take control away and replace it with a tribe that collaborates and shifts the thinking of practice of others. To build a movement, a real movement,
Having little or no vision. On the contrary, you may well have a big vision. It’s the starting point that matters. Having little or no ambition. No, right ambition, right resolve, right drive have contributed to many positive changes in the world as we know it. Many humanitarian organisations have been born on the back of an ambitious program to change, eradicate or right what they considered to be a “wrong” in the world. Having little or no influence. Again, wrong. John Maxwell says it best “Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.” Paradoxically, when you lead small your influence grows in quality over time. It’s what every leader I know desires. To grow people, influence and impact over time. Then you must lead small. Why lead small? The seed determines the fruit.
We have an advertisement in Australia for Superannuation with the tag line “from little things big things grow.” What you start out with will eventually grow into a bigger version of the original seed. The expectation from an apple seed is not more apples, it’s more apple trees. The seed is the smallest, most foundational part of the whole experience determines what is produced. You only grow bigger by growing broader. This leadership principle guides my growth and progress of teams. To build UP before developing DOWN is a recipe for disaster. The strength of the foundation is directly related to the capacity of the building. Bridges have load limits for a reason. They can’t function optimally after a certain weight has been placed on them. The same is true for teams. The leadership load can only be carried by the leadership capacity. Leading small is about developing capacity in people and teams. It’s about growing bigger inside THEN out. Direction matters most. Your direction, not your intention matters most according to Andy Stanley. Not your skills, not your intent, not your passion, not your rhetoric but your DIRECTION. The place you are pointed towards right now is the most likely place you will end up. Pop Quiz. Do you want to go there? The place you are pointed at right now is the place you will end up, in every sphere of life. Evaluating direction and making minor adjustments can have major positive impacts on people and teams. Set the direction, encourage alignment. What is leading small?
small and let the results take care of themselves. It’s a both/and. When you are confident in your direction you can shape the seed that will create the result. Leading small doesn’t ignore results. Leading small just knows how to get there consistently and with exceptionally quality. Make the decision to lead a small group of people, everyday, as best as you can. Decide where you want to end up and what overarching culture you will sign up to to get there. Then, act. Two - Actions to take. Leading small does something NOW. It’s action orientated, quality focused and outcomes driven. Leading small wants to form a tribe of people who share the same conviction, it seeks to develop the capability and contribution of those people and help each leaders step into a place of presence that can shift people’s thinking and behaviour. Leadership does. It acts. It moves. It shapes. It adapts. It initiates. As you move, take the tribe with you. Co-create and collaborate. Jim Rohn summarises it best when he say “we is better than me.” Three - Outcomes to shape. Results matter. Especially to leaders. Movements that have changed the world all started small, even if they had a big vision. They all began with a handful, or even one persona that truly believed the world could be different and they had a contribution to make. Make the development of community and the multiplication of that your focus. The outcome will be directly determined by the process of leading small.
Leading small is ensuring the right leadership experiences are given to the right people at the right time. Leading small is consistently focusing on the right people and giving them the best possible leadership development experiences #Leadsmall you can. And in turn expecting they will do the When you lead small, big things really can same. Leading small is realising that leadership happen. isn’t as far away from all of us as we think it is. It can be done daily, personally, small. Leading small is having the quiet confidence that what you Editors Note: cultivate can and will multiply in the most positive form possible. Thanks Rohan for your insight! - exactly the philosophy behind LBD’s First Seeds Fund. How to lead small. http://www.littleblackdressgroup.com.au/about-us/firstOne - Decisions to make. seeds-fund/ At the pointy end of leadership is deciding to lead
The Warp And The Weft: Taking The Labour Out Of Networking Kate Stone Networking, connecting, meeting, doing coffee, lunch dates and even speed connecting – all terms synonymous with meeting others to drive skill sets, contacts and ongoing business and personal growth. Networking as we know it has evolved. It is no longer a business card swapping fest or as I once heard described – one hand to give your business card, the other to shake.
the next connection – to not miss an opportunity to spread the Word According To Mary or Mike Smith.
Meeting like-minded thinkers is absolutely an essential part of business and personal development. We all know those that seem to have made it a profession and others where the offer of a free breakfast, lunch or glass of wine will not entice them anywhere near the event – not even the offer of a free chocolate helps here!
The answer to both questions is no. And for me, the first thing to do is to remove the whole stigma associated with the actual term ‘network’ – by replacing it with a much more user-friendly nom de jour.
I asked journalist, Kate Stone, to explore this very topic and what is clearly reflected in her own opinion and that of business women is that there is a new style in town and it doesn’t have to be hard work.
I spoke to a number of fellow LBD members about their view of networking, and I think partly because they are LBD members, I got a response similar to my own view. Because we don’t do the whole ‘have card, will babble’ approach to networking. It’s very much about the personal and – dare I say it – in some cases, the profound.
I thought about this for a long time earlier this year. Does networking have to be such hard – well, work? And is it just me who views ‘traditional’ professional interactions this way?
What seems to be the best way of growing and maintaining flourishing and healthy professional An integral part of LBDG is connecting and relationships is netweaving. It’s actually a word collaborating and we have developed our own that simply popped into my head when I thought unique way of doing this and most importantly, about the way that I like to interact with other making it work to drive business. people, but I have found out that it is a term used in the US quite a bit – so much for my original But what has changed in the world of networking thinking – and it sums up all that is healthy about if anything? What are the do’s and don’ts of coming together in a productive way to learn, to making networks work for you? grow and to support each other in business.
For me, networking has always been a bit of a dirty word. It conjures up images of people standing around awkwardly, thrusting a business ‘For me, going to networking events was card at each other, giving a sales pitch and then something I viewed almost with dread when I almost scurrying off in their eagerness to make first started out in business’, Kate Sutton, the
gorgeous and talented founder of Uberkate jewellery told me. ‘And what I tended to find was that I would almost invariably gravitate to only a few people whom I could see immediately were like-minded spirits and pretty much ignore everyone else – because it was such hard work’. ‘For me, making connections has to be about the real, the genuine – about people who really care about your business and what you are trying to achieve. Networking isn’t about how many people you connect with – it’s about the quality of people you surround yourself with.’
relationships, rather than the ‘hail fellow well met’ of the wine glass in one hand, business card at ready in the other, greet and runs? From everything I have observed, and my own experience, it’s simply because we don’t have time for anything other than the extraordinary, the authentic and the real.
I’ll give you an example. I recently went to a large do that was extremely well run, very professional – everything went like clockwork, all the ‘right’ people were there – and I came away feeling as though I had spent the morning Suzie Hoitink, the incredibly savvy owner of talking about absolutely nothing of relevance Clear Complexions Clinics, and ACT Telstra to my business. Sure, I talked to some very Businesswoman of the Year, completely agreed. pleasant people – but will I hear from any of them again, or will they hear from ‘I find “traditional” networking methods don’t tend me? Highly doubtful. Because there was no to add a lot of value to my business, nor are they meaning behind what we were doing. If you really all that enjoyable’, she said to me. ‘I find want the sharp and pointy view of things, it was that I get so much more done, and feel like I am simply a large group of people who by virtue making truly valuable connections, when I am in of the fact that they are in business were in the an environment which is much more intimate. same place at the same time. The recent limited numbers seminar that LBD held, where everyone had a chance to be truly So how do we want to connect? involved and participate and find out relevant answers from great business people – that’s what Mostly behind closed doors, or in small groups networking should be about’. of like-minded individuals it seems. Doing business over coffee. Meeting in non-traditional Both of them, and in fact everyone I talked to places, like parks. Dinners where what is said about this idea, thought that netweaving was a over the entree, stays said over the entree – and great way to sum up the way we should be – and where everyone involved feels the same way. It are – connecting now. Because it is absolutely So how do we want to connect? an interplay; crossing threads of experience and know-how to make a solid piece of material which Mostly behind closed doors, or in small groups everyone in our professional circles is involved of like-minded individuals it seems. Doing in. We become closely intertwined rather than business over coffee. Meeting in non-traditional randomly contacting people whom when it places, like parks. Dinners where what is said comes down to it, we honestly don’t have much over the entree, stays said over the entree – and in common with – nor whom are relevant to our where everyone involved feels the same way. It personal and business growth, and to be fair, us is about trust and mutual respect rather than to theirs. ‘what are you going to do for me’. In fact, the driving force seems to be ‘what can we do for ‘I would rather have five amazing people that I each other‘. know I can count on to truly back me, and who understand what I am trying to achieve, than a For me, there has to be something more behind plethora of business cards from individuals who meeting people than a quickfire conversation in the long run aren’t really interested in my about how successful they are, a quick ‘we must success’, said Kate Sutton. ‘And the whole “here’s chat’ and a move on to the next person. I know my card, call me” isn’t a part of that process’. that personally, I would rather be helping to weave a small but beautiful tapestry of likeSo what has shifted so dramatically? Large minded individuals together – than being a networking events are still out there, and people loose thread who gets put in the rubbish bin definitely still go to them – why has the paradigm because I’m not relevant to a stranger’s success. become so much more about making real
Your thoughts shape your vision. You see what you choose to see.
Intelligence, Objectivity & Respect: Why on Earth is Gender A Factor? Chris Allen Within our immediate circle of close friends I’m lucky enough to know some incredibly smart, accomplished, career oriented women who manage to tackle the tightrope of work-life balance with great aplomb. Recently my wife and I attended a friend’s engagement party and I was chatting with a few of our friends, all mothers with young children, who respectively work in very different operating environments, each with very different cultural challenges. One thing that struck me most was that every one of these women had a plan for their careers. Without any reference to competition with male counterparts, their plans had not altered one iota as a result of any recent or forecast life-changing events, like marriage or children. It was very simple, from a professional standpoint, their sights remain firmly fixed on the success, responsibility, remuneration and recognition that they rightly deserve. I can relate to that. But isn’t all that a given?
Of course, it’s not. Far from it, in fact. My view has been formed by my experience as a man, one whose formative years were spent in a particularly male oriented environment – the military. We men like to think of ourselves as hunter/gatherers, unencumbered by children, hormones and high-heels. So, it got me thinking: how do professional women, with or without children, tackle the inevitability that their career paths will be mapped out for them against antiquated attitudes concerning marriage, children, emotional toughness et al? Of course, it took two seconds to acknowledge that these attitudes belong, mostly, to men. So, in my quest to explore the issue of gender imbalance in the workplace that everyone keeps talking about, I went off in search of some point of reference, some current thinking that would give me some hope that we are actually evolving our thinking away from the golden days glamorised by shows like ‘Mad Men’ .
I came across an article called ‘Moving mind-sets on gender diversity’, the result of research conducted by McKinsey & Company (mckinsey.com), which I found really interesting. Without rehashing all the findings, the thing that stands out most apparently is that changed or unchanged attitudes about gender diversity are specific to corporate cultures. The level of engagement and support by men for gender diversity will be directly reflected in the experience of women in those environments. Less ‘supportive’ (I like to think of them as less evolved) cultures, tend to prefer oldschool performance measurement tools that adhere to the ‘anytime, anywhere’ philosophy which are more likely to have impact significantly on women with children than on their male counterparts. And, not surprisingly, a lack of diversity within the leadership structure of an organisation can also have an impact, with women reporting difficulty with ‘fitting in’ to the communication and leadership style adopted by certain cultures i.e. those dominated by males. I despair when I come across this kind of research. Quite simply, if organisations are being led with intelligence, objectivity and respect, why on earth is gender a factor? When you hear that women are experiencing difficulty ‘fitting in’ due to organisational communication and leadership factors, then you know the place is being run more like a 20th Century locker room than a 21st Century boardroom. Something that comes to mind with all of these issues though, is that they still tend to assume that we are joining organisations for life. Again, this is a 20th Century philosophy, far from the reality of today. These days we are much more transient in our approach to work, much more flexible and prepared to move on to better opportunities or to take breaks from our careers for a variety of reasons. Men included. So, surely these attitudes about women taking time out to have babies and so on are fast becoming redundant? Sure, women will continue to step off the corporate treadmill to have babies, just as men will increasingly begin to take time out to be stay-at-home dads. This is an issue for families to make together about their priorities and who will be the principal breadwinner. If a woman is hell bent on reaching CEO status then she will make those necessary choices and sacrifices along the way, as is her right. Male dominated cultures that struggle to appreciate the value of a truly diverse leadership where we share the load and embrace the partnership. Visit http://intrepidallen.com
Top 8 Tips
for Mobile Marketing Advice from Kelly Slessor, Director of Bantermob. She shares her wisdom on Mobile Marketing Strategy & Implementation.
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Speed – the number one complaint we see in the app store relates to how slow mobile apps are. Getting to where you want to go on a mobile quickly is key to you engaging with a brand or organisation. Ensure your mobile sites or apps allow the user to do what they want to quickly.
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Optimise – optimise for mobile; your website, your campaigns, your social media. Make sure it all works on mobile. With more than 30% of traffic now coming through a mobile device that’s a lot of customers that you are ignoring.
Forms – In line with speed, think about the information you really need from a user. Mobile users are impatient and won’t fill out lengthy forms. Do you really need address 1, address 2, DOB etc. You can gather this information over time, but if you lose the user at the point of entry you may never see them again. 40% of users will go a competitors site if they have a bad mobile experience.
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Content – Make sure your content is right for mobile do not simply take what you have on the web and put it on your mobile site or app. Images that take too long to load or long winded marketing spiel and product information will only serve to alienate mobile consumers.
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Contact – Make your contact details front and centre, even if you haven’t optimised for mobile yet ensure that people can contact you easily. 50% of mobile consumers called a business after searching.
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Think local – make sure that your seo is optimised for local searches, 86% of mobile users have searched for local information.
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Media – 89% percent of our media time is now spent in app. Consider developing an app for your business or marketing through existing apps.
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Search – Make sure you can be found on a mobile. During the week leading up to Christmas, mobile search accounted for 53% of total Google search traffic in Australia
Flex Your Mental Muscle: Why Exercise Boosts Your Brainpower. Nikki Fogden-Moore
AVOID THE BINGE THIS EASTER - A HEALTHY APPROACH TO HOLIDAYS This month is Easter and jam packed with those cramming to fit a months worth of work into a matter of weeks, juggling school holiday commitments, deadlines and still trying to maintain your own health and fitness goals with the lure of easter eggs and family gatherings. Binging is not just reserved for food but also exercise. When we have more time we tend to cram in extra sessions and this can derail long term plans and results. Everyone starts out well, picking up fresh food tips, doing the WakeUpWorkout and feeling great for the first time in ages. So they typically think “hey, I’ll add a couple of classes to this week“, or “I can fit a double session in today as I’m feeling so energetic or I have more time“… Unfortunately what happens as we cram more into to the week, the first things to fall off the agenda when we get busy and tired are the exercise and healthy eating habits. The same thing happens when we get a few days off and try to train like a pro. I call it BINGE exercising.
The Niktionary Definition: Binge Exercising: Exercising with vigour, for long periods of time one hit and then not doing anything for a couple of days or weeks afterwards. Over zealous agenda filling with exercise that cannot be sustained. Cramming all your exercise into one or two sessions a week or madly doing as much as you can within a short period of time. If you want to make the most out of the extra time this Easter period and set some great habits up you can sustain, then think about using the break away to discover new fun activities and enjoy moments rather than over fill your agenda. Creating the best body and best life for you is about daily lifestyle habits rather than massive changes that you cannot sustain. Gradually replacing old habits with new positive healthy ones, planning with the 1% rule (see below) and planning your agenda each week ahead of time that fits fitness, wellness and ‘ME’ time in as a part of your routine, not an after-thought. Using the holiday break to sit down and map out your goals and routine can be ideal.
It is SO important to build a routine that fits seamlessly into your life - that you can carry through during the busiest times. Keep it simple, short and effective and you’ll never look back. Here are my 5 tips on building healthy living seamlessly into Easter break and beyond these are all things you can continue to do after the holidays and beyond: 1. Get up at least 15 minutes earlier than any family commitments to do the WakeUpWorkout or some form of movement, stretch or even a quick fresh walk around the block. If you are away somewhere nice - head out for a walk or run and kick start your morning with some fresh air. 2. Combine your morning coffee or juice with a walk there and back. Build this time in, have some favourite tunes and use it as a form of exercise by picking up the tempo and making it count. 3. Schedule your agenda each week with 4 core elements a) FAMILY/FRIENDS (1 moment at least), b) FITNESS/FOOD (planning the farmers markets, meals, snacks, 14 minute fitness sessions each day = 1% of your day! – at the bare minimum of time) c) WORK/ ADMIN/PLANNING d) ME time . For tips on this head to my podcasts. 4. Scheduling ‘ME’ time. A moment each week for at least 45 minutes where you can just sit, plan, reflect, think about what’s coming up and take time to calibrate with no distractions. Call it training for the soul. Time for your creativity, vision and calibration. 5. Book an active session with a friend or family member. Use the break away to do your longer cardio based activities or exercise time you can do without rushing and make time each day. Build in a catch up with family and friends around something active. Book some activities this holiday you can do as a family or with friends. It could be walking, running, cycling, stand up paddle, hiking, beach walks, trying a new class or anything as long as it’s active. Combine wellness and fitness with social and you won’t even realise you’re working out. Notice nothing in there mentioned 5 x long 1 hour workouts…this is fine if you are in the routine and/or training for something, then keep up the great work.
The top tips above are targeted at those of you who have great intentions but never seem to sustain the healthy active living as it peaks and then drops off. By making healthy living a part of daily life in small incremental elements you will start to build up more time and make more positive choices without feeling like you are giving things up. As entrepreneurs we need to balance our own vitality with that of our business. It should not be last on the list. My challenge to you this Easter period is to think about your month as a whole. To use family days for longer and fun exercise activities that can involve your family or take this time out for yourself and enjoy the peace and quiet when you can. The message is not to forget the small moments you have going as a regular routine on standard weeks. On a final note while you are on the journey to being your personal best take pride in your appearance and celebrate weekly milestones. Share your plans with friends, choose flattering clothes that are comfortable to move in and make you feel good as well. Enjoy the time you are building your best – this is just as important for your mindset. For questions and comments don’t forget you can leave me a message via email nikki@ thevitalitycoach.com.au or share your daily ‘fitspo’ with me on Instagram and twitter - just tag @nfogdenmoore. Remember small steps can create massive lasting change. You can absolutely do this! Happy Easter - enjoy the balance, serenity, fun and active living approach.
News & Reviews
Featured This Month BOOK: Packaging a Punch by Gwen Blake. Packaging is the #1 marketing component for your brand and can be the difference between a product success and failure. This book will guide you through establishing a brand. http://www.boxerandco.com.au/packaging-a-punch. html
NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH: Human Incite is in the business of “giving insight” into how to align team behaviours and build great workplaces. It also gives insight into the leadership rituals that will improve performance by getting people working on what matters most “right now”. Check it out at: www.humanincite.com.au
WEBSITE: Narratively, named one of TIME’s “50 Best Websites of 2013,” is a platform devoted to original, in-depth and untold stories. Narratively avoids the breaking news and the next big headline, instead focusing exclusively on untold, human-interest stories—the rich, intricate narratives that get at the heart of what a place and its people are all about. http://narrative.ly/
Lois Lane Lives: An Apple A Day? Kate Stone
“A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.” - A.A. Milne, Winnie The Pooh I stumbled upon a realisation recently about something I thought had disappeared from my way of life forever, and it’s been a huge shock – actually, it was the first of many shocks that my system was to suffer from as a result of this first clanger. I… Deep breath here Have rediscovered the inherent need for, and value in… Regular. Exercise. There. I’ve said it. Exercise is not the work of the Devil, but is in fact something essential to a healthy mind and happy spirit – this is in addition of course to its intrinsic value for a fit body, rather than a couch dwelling monster potato which is where I have been happily categorising myself for quite some time. Admittedly, said couch spud status was not something I readily embraced, but was thrust upon me as a result of ill health. It’s hard enough getting up the energy to attack a keyboard, let alone a boxing bag, when every cell in your body is screaming ‘I want to go to SLEEP’ on a continual basis. Once upon a time, I was extremely fit – really, really fit. As in, run around on a netball court four times a week, come home and play a couple of sets of tennis fit.
These days – well. Let’s just say the spirit is willing, but the flesh is both weak and filled with flab (and several tonnes of chocolate). Which again brings me back to the shock value. I have not worried about my weight in a very long time – I was in what most people would see as the enviable position of struggling to put on weight, rather than trying to keep it off. Sadly, about four months ago the Gods of All Things Good decided I’d had enough fun running around in size 6 frocks, and hefted on some kilos. Not only has this affected my energy levels, but naturally it has affected my self-esteem as well.
Six years. SIX. YEARS. By the end of the match I felt as though I may have suffered a small stroke. I am pretty sure it occurred somewhere in the second quarter, between passing to the Goal Attack and mentally writing out my Last Will and Testament. I was not just red in the face, but had a far deeper hue - I didn’t need to sing the opening bars of ‘Smoke On The Water’ for people to play Guess the Band – my visage would have told you the story. My legs ached. My hips and knees (the reason I was not supposed to be screaming ‘pass it to ME!’) were about to break into several chunks of horror. And I felt the best mentally that I had for a very, very long time. If you are reluctant to get moving, or always find that you have something better or more important to do – family, friends, or that dreaded spectre work – take my advice (again, not something I would normally suggest).
Don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating being skinny for skinny’s sake. What I am saying is that being a size you are not used to being takes its toll on all areas of your life, including your psyche – especially when you have to do emergency wardrobe additions. Wallet, brain and body were not happy, and so I had to bite the bullet and make some changes. And for me, because I am totally undisciplined and lack the ability to exercise alone, this meant a team sport. I am strictly speaking not supposed to set foot on a netball court. This was the advice I was given quite a few years ago, and it was good advice; great, even. But I am afraid that as of last week, I completely ignored said advice – and stepped back onto a sprung wooden floor to play my first game in six years.
In the words of Nike, Just Do It. There is a reason why you need to exercise. Your body needs it. Your brain needs it. And most of all, your spirit needs it. Whether it’s Pilates, Power Walking or jumping in the pool, taking that leap of faith in your own physicality will make a massive difference to your life. And save serial wardrobe issues.
CONNECTION. COLLABORATION. NETWEAVING. BUSINESS BUILDING. A VOICE. A VISION. A COMMUNITY. CHANGEMAKERS. GENEROUS. THOUGHTLEADERS. HONEST. AUTHENTIC. SUCCESSFUL. UNIQUE.ENTREPRENEURS. PROFESSIONALS. FEARLESS. OUTSPOKEN.
“We Don’t Network, We Netweave”™
LBDG is about community. It’s about business leaders and entrepreneurs collaborating. It’s about creating sustainable, leverageable and successful businesses. It’s about netweaving connections, knowledge and insight for results. JOIN US
Members of the LBDGroup are cross functional and cross industry. Lawyers, bankers, marketing and PR professionals, media, mining, construction, designers, jewellery, fashion, philanthropists, non-for-profit, human resources, fitness, health and well-being, property, sales, speakers and authors to name but a few. And with a fabulous mix of corporates to own business it is the quality of conversations that we have that make us so different. JOIN US We offer three levels of membership for women that are committed to building their businesses, to fast track their growth and to ensure that they are surrounding themselves with the best in the businesses. BLACK, DIAMOND and PLATINUM membership levels are designed to offer increasing one to one mentoring and group mentoring and business education and training. Depending on where you are in your journey there is a membership level that’s right for you “Janine has an enviable drive and motivation that is not only infectious but so supportive & constructive. It is so very refreshing and admirable to see someone turn their passion in to reality and back it up with such determination to bring like-minded, talented & intelligent women together.” Prue Thomas Group Marketing Director- Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge & Glue Store - Australia
“Janine Garner is an inspiring visionary who brings together like-minded people to pursue and attain professional goals. Janine is a confident and warm person, and her skill of collaboration is impressive. The Little Black Dress Group is a brilliant source of knowledge and expression for business women and Janine is the keystone to its success.” Kath Creel Marketing Director at Impact AV Australia
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