oct 2014
L D S B U S I NE SS & PROFE SSION A L N EWS NZ
Brain Controlled Prosthetic Hand for a fraction of the price here in New Zealand
Great Southern Man
Mamas Donuts FRIDAY NIGHT Seminars... what’s coming up
EDITOR Mark Fantham . PHOTOGRAPHER Peter Skoludek
11 Steps towards an effective job search
oct 2014
IN THIS ISSUE:
6 04 LDS Business Association Board, Editor’s Note and Letter from Chairman 06 Boutique Homemade Doughnuts for the Connoisseur
2 aspire . oct 2014
8
10
08 Bear Grills meets the Great Southern Man
10 Brain Controlled Prosthetic Hand for a fraction of the Price here in New Zealand
12
12 Friday Night Seminars are a Big Hit - and there’s more to come
lds business association board Laurence Day
Ryan Harris
Chairperson
Exec Member for Finance
lkday@internet.co.nz
ryanharris@gmail.com
Jennis Lawrence
David McKay
Exec Member for Membership
Exec Member Website & Database
jennisl80@gmail.com
david@mantravision.com
LDS Business Association
Moses Armstrong
PO BOX 48164
Exec Member LDS Self Reliance NZ Country Manager
Auckland 0600 info@ldsba.org.nz
mosesarmstrong@ldschurch.org
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disclaimer
This eMag is produced by the LDS Business & Professionals Association in New Zealand. It’s and any news and opinions expressed are those of the authors or editor.
oct 2014 4 aspire . OCT
letter from CHAIRMAN How to get a
Sponsorship or Scholarship via the LDSBA The LDSBA is administering a Sponsorship Program. 1) A $400 academic scholarship in business or professional studies 2) A $400 High Achiever Sport’s Scholarship for young persons members or the church at large. Where such projects are deemed to be of value, LDSBA members will be invited to donate on a case by case basis. An example of a High Achiever Sport’s Scholarship is Alyssa Hirawani who received $400 to help with costs for her Las Vegas trip when she played for the NZ Women’s Under 18 Basketball Team. (See August Aspire issue) Next month’s Aspire issue (November) will include a Special Sponsorship article about Garth Watene’s Whaiora Projects production. Garth is making a series of 5 short inspirational movies about early New Zealand converts and members. The project has received a $10,000 sponsorship from supportive LDSBA members. HOW TO APPLY
Click here
All applicants will be required to tell us in 400 words or less the ‘why, how, where and when’ of their application. The LDS-BPA Board will then review Applications for scholarships are open now and close 31 December. Scholarships will be announced next February. Sponsorships are applied for and granted as appropriate. Regards Laurence Day
editor’s note
O
ne of the blessings of work is developing self-reliance. When you are self-reliant, you use the blessings and abilities God has given you to care for yourself and your family problems. Self-reliance does not mean that you must be able to do all things on your own. To be truly self-reliant, you must learn how to work with others and turn to the Lord for His help and Strength. Remember that God has a great work for you to do. He will bless you in your (Excerpt from: For The Strength Of Youth)
Mark Fantham Editor of Aspire eMag editor@ldsba.org.nz
Take your newsletter or website to the next level using rich content & social media Call Mark Fantham on 07 282 0201
Got a story that’s interesting about you, your job or your business? Contact me and we’ll get you in the next issue -> editor@ldsba.org.nz
Boutique Homemade
Doughnuts
for the Connoisseur
8
years ago Rachael and Rebecca, both stayat-home Mums, began selling doughnuts in their community as a way to make a little extra money. They didn’t anticipate their little moneymaker would grow into a much bigger business venture for them, now called Mama’s Donuts. They quickly outgrew their home kitchens and moved to a caravan. Today they have a caravan, a shop and a spot at the local market(s) in and around Hamilton. Rebecca explains, “We had some friends that sold donuts in Temple View at Church College during lunchtimes. When they moved to Australia, there was a gap in the market with an opportunity for someone to step into, so we did.” Mama’s Donuts started out as a hobby, a way to make a bit of extra pocket money. They thought it would only last just a year or so, but people seemed to love the doughnuts. The demand grew and what initially started out as a sideline project evolved into oct 2014 6 aspire . OCT
a steady, growing business. Although it was tough in the beginning to meet the cost of health and safety regulations, they were determined to be a success. View on a Saturday morning selling their donuts. Their secret recipe includes love and the fact that the donuts are all handmade. This makes the job labour-intensive but the donuts have a homemade appeal, which sets them apart from the rest.
“Our focus is family and lifestyle, so it really suits us to only open 3 days a week. We are currently looking to expand but we are not sure how to get to the next level without compromising our philosophy. It’s been advantageous for us to build this business slowly and not rush into expanding too quickly, and this focus has worked for us so far.” Rebecca and Rachael have had a lot of support from friends and family. Rebecca has 5 kids and Rachael has 7. “A partnership can be problematic and we were advised not to do it this way, but the upside is
we have been able to support each other if one of us has felt ill or didn’t feel particularly motivated that day,” says Rachael. “Inspiration and encouragement have also come from our awesome team of workers and our many loyal customers.” Rachael is a teacher by profession and Rebecca is a nurse. Apart from that they have had no formal education for what they do, but have learned a great deal on the job. Guidance has also come from their mentor Dean Dalton of The Dalton Plan and classic business books Dad Poor Dad and How to Win If you like the idea of delicious boutique donuts handmade fresh daily, you can get some of Greenwood and Duke St or in Temple View. You’ll also catch them at the markets in Gordonton, Tamahere and Cambridge. See their website for more details. www.mamasdonuts.co.nz Rachael Jaunay & Rebecca Cowley
Ted shows us how to cook lunch when you haven’t got a fry pan. Pictured are the actual horns from the “Bushie.”
oct 2014 8 aspire . OCT
Bear Grills meets the Great Southern Man
T
ed Stone and his wife Donna Stone share milk
near Te Kowhai in the Waikato. Ted however, didn’t start out dairy farming. He was once a for this except that he was an outdoorsy go-getter type, not afraid of the elements and hobbies back in 1982. It was typical to leave home to go fencing at 6am with his friend Rex McDonald, drive 80 km into the outback of Otago, miles from anywhere and lay down 20 chain (a quarter mile) in a day. He got paid $10 a chain, so $200 a day in the 80’s was serious money for a young guy. One day while out the back of the Maungatua Ridge, they saw a ‘bushie’ (wild sheep) and decided to kill & dress it to take and shot the 90 kg beast. It was about the size of Southland’s famous ram named Shrek. its horns, which didn’t kill but just stunned the animal. When we caught up with the sheep I put the barrel of the gun point blank onto the sheep’s head and let a shot go. The bushie’s skull was so thick it didn’t make
up the nose,” explains Ted. He goes on, “We skinned and because the behemoth had 18inch long wool. We were a bit hungry so we decided to eat the liver and kidneys. I didn’t have a frying pan so instead I heated up the organs. Yummy!” took up dairy farming at the age of 19. He could see that farming was a great lifestyle and income, but he didn’t know where to start. He asked ‘blue collar internship’ where he worked for no pay for 6 weeks. You guessed it, at the end of the 6 weeks he was Ted progressed from being a herd assistant/labourer through to herd manager then sharemilker. As a sharemilker Ted owns his own herd of cows and milks them on another farmer’s land. The income from the milk sales is split 50/50. Given that cows are worth up to $2,000 each, owning a dairy herd (average size 250 cows) represents a sizeable asset. Some sharemilkers progress through to farm ownership.
Given the average dairy farm is worth $2 million plus, owning a farm is a great retirement plan. Given the value of herds and farms, and the level of skill required to successfully obtain good production levels, dairy farming represents a serious career and business opportunity. Farming as a career option is ironically not well appreciated in New Zealand. In fact farm workers are in such short supply that we are importing foreign workers from other countries. In New Zealand many successful farmers have come from outside the farming industry attracted by the lifestyle and income. As well as a healthy lifestyle, herd and farm ownership are realistic goals. Herd ownership can be attained in 10 – 15 years and farm ownership in 20 plus. If you start at 20 years of age, you could be the owner of a successful farming business enterprise by the age of 40. If you are thinking about farming as an option, “Ted suggests you see it as a longterm lifestyle investment. He also says, “Be prepared to work physically hard and the rewards will be there for you.” Ted & Donna Stone edward_stone@xtra.co.nz
Brain Controlled
Prosthetic Hand
for a fraction of the p here in New Zealand N ormally a brain controlled prosthetic hand will set you back $30,000 to $40,000. But the good news is Mahonri Owen has built one for $340 - no that’s not a misprint.
because of various personal reasons. The United States has lots of men and women who have lost limbs in recent wars
So if anyone out there thinks
greatly from his research into
Mahonri achieved a 4 yr Mechanical Engineering degree at Waikato University and is now doing a 1 year’s Masters with his thesis in Prosthetics Research. He is also a former graduate of the LDS Launching Leader’s program and a returned missionary.
Mahonri’s passion is to make his hand project intuitive. The hardest part is for the hand to understand signals from the brain using sensors and force feedback loops but he is
When Mahonri was asked what he might do after the hand project, his reply was, “My supervisor wants me to create exoskeletons which will be targeted at the aged and rehabilitation.”
His project involves making a hand with the functions of power grip, key grip, ball grip and pinch grip. The hand is controlled by a microprocessor, which then connects to the neurological interface via nerve endings. Mahonri wants the hand to be able to be used by people that are victims of war and accidents. He estimates that worldwide, around 40% of lower limb prosthetics are rejected by the wearers aspire .. OCT oct2014 2014 10 aspire 10
by April next year.
It’s intense work but Mahonri is driven by the passion to help his fellow man. “It’s not the possibility of riches that drives me. In fact that kind of thinking just gets in the way at the moment,” he explains. Mahonri served a proselyting mission for the LDS church in South Africa, and is now married with a young baby and considers himself a
towards Mahonri and/or his project, he would be thrilled to hear from you.
You may have seen examples of exoskeletons in militarytheme movies where they are used to lift heavy loads and also shoot high caliber shells. Mahonri however, wants to make them so ordinary people can use them in a domestic situation to improve their lives by way of rehabilitation, independence and self respect. We wish Mahonri all the best in his endeavours going forward. Mahonri Owen mahonri.owen@gmail.com 021 2595 349
price
FRIDA
Sem
a bi
A
s part of the SelfReliance Program the LDSBA has started the Friday Night Business Semina Series again. The most recent series was held in Hamilton over three Fridays on How to Beco an Entrepreneur.
We had 25 people attend the seminars and there wa a real mixture of attendees including one less-active and one non-member. The seminars provided practica information with whiteboa instruction that explored concepts and terms that many in the group needed Laurence Day, who ran the seminars, has since been contacted by several attendees who have requested an unbiased
they are considering to market. Laurence said, “I w oct 2014 12 aspire . OCT
AY NIGHT
Next FRIDAY NIGHT
minars
Seminar
ig hit!
m,
ar t
ome
as s,
e al ard
was
very pleased with how the seminars went and particularly with the number of people who were interested to stay behind after each seminar to talk and ask questions.”
Start Your Own Online Business
It was also a great way for LDS Entrepreneurs to meet each other for networking purposes. A number of people took the additional opportunity to ask questions of guest entrepreneur
Oct 31st - Your Idea to Millions
Ray Allen and Bob Belbin.
If you want to attend seminar is free (to all). If you wish to continue it’s free to LDSBA members and it costs $70 p.a. to become a member, or $40 if you are a student. Call Mark Fantham on 07 282 0201 or email me at editor@ldsba.org.nz for more details.
HAMILTON Oct 24th - The Basics The 10 Key Advantages of Online Businesses A Business Plan for the Digital Era Nov 7th - How to do Online Marketing How to get from where you are to where you want to be
R
ob Belbin has been running an online publishing business for more than 15 years called Summaries.com. In addition to being able to give you a great overview of the opportunities that exist in the digital business landscape at the present time, he can detail how others have succeeded and why they have failed. “This is the perfect time to take an idea and turn it into a viable online business,” he said. “I believe you can start an online business with as little as $100 and turn it into a opportunities are incredible.” This three-part lecture series is for people who have no
experience in online business. We start with the basics and then build from there “The great thing about the opportunity to build an online business is; you can immediately sell into the global marketplace. There is no disadvantage in being located on the other side of the world to your customers.” This is a handson seminar series where you can ask questions and bounce ideas. READY TO START YOUR OWN e-BUSINESS? The practical portion of this seminar includes giving you help to do start a business online right now. It only costs about $100 for domains and web services to get you up and running.