BiziNet Magazine #76 - Nov/Dec 2015

SYDNEY - ISSUE 76 | NOVEMBER - DECEBER 2015

LEADERSHIP:

Forget Those Who Brung You at Your Peril Page 16

Top 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying a Franchise?

CHANGE YOUR Disaster P@$$W0RD5!

Recovery

Why It Should Be A Top Priority

Paula DUNCAN Page 26

Page 22

THE LADY’S NOT FOR GIVING UP BiziNet Magazine

#76 Nov/Dec’15

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Editor and Publisher: Dmitry Greku Cover Story A. Charles Smith Contributing Writers: Charlie Lynn Angry Anderson Bekir Kilic Daniel Moisyeyev Craig McCallum Bruce Gleeson Steven Brown

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The opinions expressed in this journal do not necessarily reflect and are not to be regarded as the official opinion of the editor, publisher or their agents. All information contained within this journal is provided for general information purposes only and on the understanding that none of the content herein constitutes professional advice. The editor, publisher or their agents accept no responsibility for any claim, loss or damages arising out of or in connection with any materials contained in this journal.

Readers should not rely on the publications in the journal and seek appropriate professional advice in respect of their own circumstances.

Contents Cover Story

10

Paula Duncan The Lady’s not for Giving Up A. Charles Smith

Regulars

08 16

EDITOR’S LETTER

Networking – Bella Vista Business Alliance Style…

26

DIGITAL CORNER

Disaster Recovery – Why It Should Be A Top Priority

Dmitry Geku

Bekir Kilic

LEADERSHIP

SOCIETY & LIFE

Leadership: Forget Those Who Brung You at Your Peril

32

Enough is Enough!

Angry Anderson

Charlie Lynn

18

WORKFORCE

Grey Collar Workers Need a Clear Career Path Craig McCallum

20

BUSINESS ADVICE

SMEs – Are You Aiming to Thrive or Aiming to Survive! Key Challenges

Features

24

Want Reliable Employees Who Can Do the Job, Plus Workplace Support to Boot? Who doesn’t?

Nova Employment

30

Maninoa Samoa LineUp Australia

Bruce Gleeson

22

Top 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying a Franchise?

Steven Brown

28

Separate the Professionals from the Amateurs Daniel Moisyeyev

Watch More @ bizinettv.com.au

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Introducing Our Contributors

Bekir Kilic Bekir Kilicis a Managing Director of PRO IT. Founded in 1999, PRO IT’s objective was to provide an alternative to the conventional IT support and outsource services model for banking, finance and the media industries by focusing and understanding the clients core needs, can do attitude and close client/vendor relationship.

IT support and outsource services is delivered throughout all major cities located in Australia and New Zealand.

Today PRO IT provides data centre “smart & remote hands” for many multinational organisations.

Bruce Gleeson Steven Brown Charlie Lynn Charlie Lynn served in the Australian Army for 21 years.

This included tours of duty in Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and the United States.

Charlie has led adventure treks across the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea for 21 years and has just completed his 78th crossing.

Charlie was elected to the NSW Parliament in 1995 and was the NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Veterans’ Affairs from 2011 until his retirement from Parliament in 2015. Although retired, he continues to lead treks across the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea!

Steven Brown founded Etienne Lawyers in 2003. They are best described as having an ‘International Reach with Small Firm Personal Service’.

With qualifications from Sydney and Macquarie Universities, Steven has gone on to have over 30 years in the law. With his own practice and a passion to help others succeed, Steven is a total professional, informing and educating along the way.

Steven specialises in all aspects of helping businesses to stay out of trouble and grow. He enjoys the cut and thrust of litigation and is a balanced negotiator for all alternative dispute resolution methods.

proit.bizinet.com.au

PRO IT Pty Limited p | 1300 727 553 www.proit.com.au

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Bruce Gleeson is a Registered Liquidator and Registered Bankruptcy Trustee with approximately 20 years experience in assisting SMEs and individuals in financial crisis. He is a Director of Jones Partners Chartered Accountants. As an Insolvency Practitioner he believes it is vital that stakeholders (particularly directors and individuals) get the right advice from qualified professionals on the options available to them. Bruce is passionate to ensure that directors / individuals throughout the Greater Western Sydney area have access to quality advice and solutions.

jonespartners.bizinet.com.au

Charlie Lynn p | 1300 783 303 www.kokodatreks.com

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Steven Brown p | 02 8845 2400 www.etiennelawyers.com

Bruce Gleeson p | 02 9894 9966 www.jonespartners.net.au

Bella Vista Business Alliance Coffee Morning When:

10 November 2015

When:

10 November 2015

5:30 - 7:30pm

10.00am Where:

Parramatta Chamber After Five

305/25 Solent Circuit,

Where:

TBA

eNRGy3 Business & Networking Referral Group When:

Every Tuesday

10:00 -11:00am Where:

Suite 1, Level 3,

Baulkham Hills

Parramatta

1 Horwood Place, Parramatta

Cost: FREE

Cost: $40

Cost: Free for first 2 visits

Contact: 1300 889 132

Contact: 02 9635 002

Contact:

bellavistabusinessalliance.com.au

parramattachamber.com.au

Stephen Parkins

Parramatta Chamber After Five

Bella Vista Business Alliance Christmas Party

When:

1 December 2015

5:30 - 7:30pm Where:

TBA

When:

3 December 2015

5:30 - 7:30pm Where:

Bella Vista Hotel

0401 751 420

Business Connect Breakfast

When:

3 December 2015

6:45 - 8:30pm Where:

All My Admin

Parramatta

Bella Vista

Norwest Business Park

Cost: $40

Cost: $45

Cost: $40

Contact: 02 9635 002

Contact: 1300 889 132

Contact: 02 9894 8682

parramattachamber.com.au

bellavistabusinessalliance.com.au

allmyadmin.com.au

BiziNet Magazine

#76 Nov/Dec’15

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EDITOR’S LETTER

Networking – Bella Vista Business Alliance Style…

Dmitry Geku, M. Sc. Editor and Publisher - BiziNet Magazine

What do we usually ask ourselves when considering a networking group we were invited to or an event we are planning to attend?

- What’s in it for me? Or, how will my business benefit from it?

We ran several events under the Bella Vista Business Alliance. I don’t want to judge our own networking events - let’s leave this for our Members and guests. I can only confirm that there were many new friendships and business relationships built before my eyes.

I am a huge believer in tight and close relationships. And we can’t build these when you see a particular person once every three or six months. But, how often can you go to the same kind of function over and over again?

So the challenge for us, in Bella Vista Business Alliance, was to organise different types of events with, preferably, like-minded people.

As most of our Members and guests already know, we run After Hours events every six weeks. We had great speakers like Prue

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MacSween and Paula Duncan. And we plan on hearing from more fantastic Australian achievers next year.

Over previous months we also ran two other types of events and they were superb. One was our Wine & Cheese and the other was a CEO Lunch with Jones Partners Insolvency & Recovery.

Both of those functions catered for smaller groups of business decision-makers. These occasions are very informal yet still promote business nous.

The guests at our Wine & Cheese event, all wine experts, enjoyed each other’s company for several hours, sampled delicious cheeses and tasted three varieties of wine. Only one element was missing. The person designated to lecture us about wine was not well, but we met the challenge of figuring out everything on our own!

CEO Lunch is an educational and relationshipbuilding event. The Lunch was our first time, and in my opinion could not have been better. There were some reasons for this.

First, our Guest Speaker was Bruce Gleeson, the Principal of Jones Partners Insolvency and Recovery. Secondly, it was extremely interesting. Everyone became involved in asking questions, providing comments, discussing possible situations in business and sharing their personal experiences. Thirdly, the conversation occupied over three fascinating hours after the formalities were finished. On behalf of all our guests at this event, I would like to say ‘thank you’ to Bruce and Mark Marlow,

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General Manager of Jones Partners, for such an informative session.

Any business that is planning prosperous growth will benefit from our events. They spawn rewarding relationships and provide new information which you can implement in your business tomorrow. The quality of your products and services are sure to be enhanced or simply you can be forewarned so as to avoid possible mistakes and ongoing complications in the future.

We would like to invite you to our events. More fun in your busy business life does not mean neglecting your enterprise. Rather, it’s great new connections and expanded business volume coming through your door.

Have a great day. Take care of yourselves and your clients. G

If you would like to find out more or join our happy business group, please call us now.

1300 889 132.

Membership packages start at $350+GST per annum. You will get: • Advertising package for 12 months in the BiziNet magazine • Your Company Landing Page @ BiziNet.com.au website • Three 2-minute videos hosted @ BiziNetTV.com.au • Membership rates at all our events • A lot of fun and new invaluable connections e | editor@gwpmedia.com.au

End of Year Celebrations at

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With stylish function spaces and food and beverage packages for groups of all sizes, Bella Vista Hotel has your end of year celebration covered!

Have your event with us on a Monday – Thursday evening and we’ll give you FREE room hire!

Call us today on 8884 2800 to make a booking and don’t forget to mention Bizinet to get your free room hire!

13-15 Lexington Drive, Bella Vista, NSW, 2153 P 02 8884 2800 www.bellavistahotel.com.au Find us on

BiziNet Magazine

#76 Nov/Dec’15

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PROUDLY PRESENTED BY

GWP MEDIA

Paula Duncan and Jessica

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#76 Nov/Dec’15 Nov/ Dec’15

GREAT AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE

by A. Charles Smith

Paula DUNCAN THE LADY’S NOT FOR GIVING UP

Paula Duncan AM has floored me. I ready for the interview and my first thoughts of actresses and TV stars follow a familiar path: wow, yawn, evocative, selfabsorbed, gushing, conceited, beautiful, sexy, artistic, expressive, bimbo, incoherent, intelligent, tragic, fragile, exceptional and dysfunctional.

At the finish of our long talk, thanks to this warm, intriguing woman, I swing to the beat of a different tune. What a dame!

When we finally get to speak, she apologises, sensing impatience, not one of my more attractive traits, has overtaken me. Our phone interview, scheduled for Friday afternoon cannot go ahead and her regret at my inconvenience sounds unassumingly genuine.

A bad start morphed into a better one.

Early Saturday morning, Paula is huskyvoiced and welcoming. Nearly two hours later has me frantically searching for scrap paper as she fires off a barrage of information in the denouement.

It is not long before I am gently chided for missing a joke she says breaks the room up each time it is told. Pleading in mitigation that my note-taking is several leagues astern and ashamed to admit my uptake is not all that it could be, she cuts in like a barrister on a roll, “Don’t you possess a tape?” I think she is satisfied with my lame explanation about technological discomfort, for Paula tears on again like the Flying Scotsman halfway to Edinburgh and running late.

In some respects the analogy is apt.

When her mind is set on a task, there is an unstoppable, purposeful freneticism about her. As Margaret Thatcher once famously quipped when it was suggested that a political U-turn was needed, “You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning.”

So I listen as Paula describes a life lived like a roller-coaster, save that the thrills were found reaching the apex of the arc rather than on descent.

“That is the way my life has always been; incredible highs, followed inexorably by deep lows.”

Still, there is no hint of hopping off for she has an uncanny knack of bouncing back. Over the years, there are many souls who have been thankful for her constancy.

be extolling for their abilities rather than being invited to feel sorry for rent-seekers represented by unctuous, high-priced lawyers of the Uriah Heep genre.

She has trodden the boards to the untraveled areas of human disadvantage providing a fine example to many a thespian. ‘Oh that more would do it’ I intone from her words.

Whilst at heart perhaps the little girl from the country pub, Paula sure fills that pub every time she walks in. From the age of four she was singing and dancing and wanting to be noticed. Like her mother, Paula played the piano, studied music and was prominent in school plays and concerts.

At seventeen, she auditioned for National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) but was deemed too immature. A holiday in London

Paula is well-known as an actress. The credits are prodigious. Seven Logies announce her achievements in the entertainment industry. But for her they are secondary to the Order of Australia. “But more of that later,” my query cut short, a prisoner to the former “Prisoner” star.

There is profound substance to her life surpassing mere stardom. She has stepped up to a level beyond which the stage fears to trespass. The many professional years before a live audience or in front of a camera have equipped her with tenacity and drive.

At times down, yes, but Paula never stayed there for long as if undaunted by hardship, inequity or tragedy.

Unique about this likeable, engaging woman is an indefatigable commitment to people born with profound disabilities, as well as to those who through illness and misadventure have been pushed aside.

All of these, she infers, are the ungainly, unloved and hidden ones that society should

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PROUDLY PRESENTED BY

GWP MEDIA

Group photo of all the Focus On Ability Short Film Festival winners of 2015

with her parents soon followed and, opportunistically, Paula auditioned at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

Acceptance was a great coup, but Rita and Bob Duncan’s views held sway, and they promptly repatriated her to Australia. With the LADA ticket in her back pocket, NIDA could not say, ‘no’.

She spent two years at NIDA amongst some very famous names including Belinda Giblin, John Jarratt, Angela Punch-McGregor and Andrew McFarlane.

Her father, very influential in Paula’s life, stepped in to send her to secretarial school when she parted with NIDA. He was not then a fan of showbiz and thought his daughter needed practical tools for a working life.

She quickly tired of this and went to work at Angus and Coote as a sales girl. A passion for innovation linked to artistic traits saw her achieve top salesperson status in the diamond department.

“I suggested a piano, red roses and champagne once a week and it worked!”

But theatre ever lurked in the background and she was successful in her audition for a part in, “The Pirates of Penzance”.

What followed were a succession of roles including a stint at “Number 96”, “Richmond Hill”, “Neighbours” and all the while in

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Short Film Awards

and out of live theatre. Her star was rising significantly when she joined the cast in the Channel Nine soapie, “Young Doctors”.

profile as a plain clothes police officer seemed to open doors for aspiring women detectives in real life.

“It was a marvellous experience, especially working alongside Cornelia Frances, a wonderful mentor.”

“I accepted invitations to speak at the Police Widows Association. It was a terrific experience to be part of a support network for those left behind. Certainly my role gave me the credibility to venture into topics that were often swept from view.”

But the role that propelled her into householdname stardom was that of Danni Francis in “Cop Shop”, where she spent six years.

While this was a fantastic break for her, a long-term satisfying consequence was involvement with the police family in fundraising and charity events. Her television

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First-hand exposure to disability came with her move to Sydney where she lived next door to a Sunshine establishment. What Paula saw there moved her beyond anything she had ever experienced. More importantly, she

GREAT AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE became pro-active about changing desultory lives hitherto hidden from public view.

“People were here because they were an embarrassment to the outside world. These beautiful individuals hardly ever saw daylight, experienced no privacy and little dignity.

They deserved to live amongst us and be

disabilities can be recognised for their abilities. They get so much out of feeling that they can make a contribution to the well-being of society. It is their inclusion that really counts.”

Secretarial School may have left her less than enthusiastic about pursuing such a career, but

“Would you believe that they wanted me to have a lover? And you don’t have to ask who they chose for me.”

Art followed life and vice versa, when they resumed their relationship, but it remained tempestuous. It was a time when she was riding high again and enjoying every minute of it.

“John was the love of my life,” then adds wistfully, “Still is” but they could not live together.

“Throughout these highs and the depths of you know what, my one constant was helping the vulnerable. That didn’t stop and never has to this day.”

Nova Employment CEO, Martin Wren. Nova Employment Ambassador, Paula Duncan AM,.

The Honourable John Ajaka, MLC - Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability Services and Minister for multiculturalism and ABC Tissue CEO, Ming Ly.

Paradise Beach proved to be something less than that as the relationship, “smashed against the wall” when a third party became involved.

She was hurt and angry, but professionalism conquered the pain and they continued to work together until the series finished.

The down-phase had well and truly set in.

She was forty-three, feeling it, and less than keen to participate with Richard Wilkins as co-host of a 1996 charity ball despite the urgings of family and friends.

“Mum was at the forefront, begging me to stay involved despite the heartache of what had happened with my husband.” She resolved that there would be no going anywhere near a ball with John. Then her mother had a fall and was admitted to a Sydney hospital.

“I flew down to be with her, more determined than ever that this ‘bloody ball thing’ could do without me!”

Preliminary medical assessment suggested the fall was not serious. She contacted her brothers and tried to phone famous sister Carmen Duncan about her mother’s hospitalisation.

Paula and dancers with Aloha

recognised as important members of the community.”

It was 1989 and her eyes fell upon a world of which she did not shy from being a part. Paula became heavily involved with Sunshine an organisation of enormous repute Australia-wide.

From that beginning, doors opened for children, women and men within this cohort to a diverse range of activities. Being part of these developments was enriching.

“Take the Special Olympics. It is a wonderful example of how folk with intellectual

a little learning always helps and Paula became adept at compiling business proposals to encourage financial commitment to charity.

Considerable first-up success with Coca Cola embossed the template for ongoing endeavours of that kind. Close to ten million dollars raised since then tells the story better.

Television, film and theatre engagements exacted their own demands upon her. By this time she and co-star from Cop Shop, John Orcsik were married and had a daughter.

But the marriage was considered to be over when she went to the Gold Coast to star in Paradise Beach.

BiziNet Magazine

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PROUDLY PRESENTED BY

GWP MEDIA astonishment, “This is your life!”

For some months until her fall, Rita Duncan had been working with the producer of that program, the fictitious ball being the cover for the surprise to be sprung when she arrived at the venue.

Throughout this time, despite their travails in the early nineties, she still loved ex-husband John. The constant link between the couple was always going to be daughter Jessica.

Yet somewhat quirkily, there was also his son by a previous relationship. At his mother’s request, she treated and regarded him as

“It was unbelievable. To see all those who Mum had brought together, only she could not be there.”

The Downs’ Syndrome children beamed in satisfaction. The parade of actors, actresses, friends and family applauded and the biggest surprise of all crowned her night when Carmen came on stage.

“And what a high it was but then Mum was much more ill than any of us realised and she passed away the following morning. Without Mum, this would not have happened.”

Following the death of her mother, Paula’s father was absolutely devastated. She was looking after him because his eye sight was deteriorating.

“They were extremely close and Dad was never the same after Mum was gone. He died of a broken heart.”

A seemingly unconcerned attitude pervading each sibling’s response to calls from Paula was not just puzzling, but bizarre. Warren, her accountant brother pleaded that he was too busy, it being the end of the financial year.

“I thought Carmen was in New York. My nephew answered the phone and told me she had gone to Bermuda and was uncontactable.”

Unknown to her, an elaborate conspiracy was in full swing. While she was phoning about from her mother’s bedside, other than Carmen, the family were all assembled in the next room waiting for her to leave so they could visit.

At this juncture her narrative eases to one of almost serene deliberation with Paula describing her parents individually and collectively as a couple.

“In the truest sense, Dad was a wonderful man, humble, gorgeous, a quiet achiever; Mum outgoing, ambitious and glamorous; and together, they harmonised like a beautiful duet.”

Thereafter, Paula entered another charity sphere, this time working with the Wesley Mission, part voluntary and part employed in corporate funding.

“Although I thought I knew a little about the craft, these undertakings taught me so much more about corporate fundraising.”

“Well, I was determined to cancel my involvement in the ball, but Mum would not hear a word of it saying, ‘you must go.’

I couldn’t get over it. ‘Why’, I asked?” Her mother could act a bit too!

Suicide prevention was a further challenge that captured her energies. Paula travelled widely around rural Australia seeing the tragedy wrought by this hidden scourge and the grief of those left behind.

So Paula put on the finery and looked stunning, steeling herself for the inevitable encounter with her estranged husband.

As she arrived at the entrance, Paula’s effusive welcome from Richard Wilkins was overtaken by the presence of Mike Munro: “Paula Duncan,” he said to her absolute

Whilst with Wesley, she was head-hunted by the Royal Hospital for Women. Paula engaged in fundraising for pre-natal, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and the debilitating endometriosis. She remained in her role there for seven years. It was an exceptional experience and the longstanding relationship remains.

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her own child. Paula and his mother, who suffered terribly from rheumatoid arthritis, became friends and collaborated to write a book of their individual experiences.

GREAT AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE Meanwhile there were other friendships, but Paula had never wanted to re-marry.

“Then, along came this handsome man who pursued me relentlessly. I became deliriously in love and overwhelmed by him.”

The joy of it could not be realised at the time.

“I was on anti-depressants, crying my eyes out and simply not well enough to celebrate.”

The matter-of-factness with which Paula relates the pain she experienced speaks more of the person having come through it than anything

maintains that problems should not be internalised.

“When I need help, I seek out those qualified to provide it and this has always worked for me.”

Paula is a fierce defender of the arts as a motivator for more engagement between the wider community and people with disabilities craving room for acceptance.

Grandiloquent at first blush, her take on this becomes singularly compelling on more considered reflection.

“The arts need the community and look to it for support. The community needs people like me to provide another link. If there were no high-profile people, where would those less fortunate find a voice?”

She furnishes an example of the very successful, “Focus on Ability” short film festival that is in its seventh year and sponsored by the Nova Employment organisation. The festival showcases winning entries in short films. Last year there were 180 films entered and this year another record number. Focus has spawned interest and involvement by 165 countries.

The festival involves a series of five minute films. The theme requires prospective filmmakers to, “Focus on the Ability” of people with a disability.

Paula Duncan and Jessica Five years on, disaster struck whilst she was filming Strange Bedfellows with Paul Hogan and Michael Caton in 2003.

else. The isolation passed and she leapt back into helping others much less fortunate than her. This was her best antidote to depression.

“Paul took me to one side and said it would not be wise for me to read the Sunday papers.

I did of course, and there was my husband telling everyone in the world bar me that he had found his true love in Belinda Green.”

She has stayed heavily involved with Special Olympics and is an Ambassador for Nova Employment, the organisation geared to finding work for disabled people.

The media went into a frenzy of speculation and rumour. It was a cataclysmic rejection for Paula leading her to bouts of severe depression and finally a nervous breakdown.

“I had suffered from episodic depression for a long time. But of all things, I have struggled most with rejection. It is something I cannot handle and an emotional wringer had me in its vice-like grip.”

But then an unexpected honour arrived in the midst of the lowest of lows, when it took a supreme effort to muster the will to even answer a knock at the door.

“A letter came from the Queen announcing that I had been made a Member of the Order of Australia.”

Paula brightens when any opportunity arises to speak of those she has come to love dearly.

“They simply want to be known as people who can work and be like the rest of us.”

It is more recent times and another dreadful accident. A cupboard overbalanced at home and saw her leg broken in six places. She was in the cast of Neighbours at the time.

Spending six weeks in hospital and told she would never walk again, spurred her to defy the prognosis.

“These days I’m a little less physically active and a pin keeps my ankle and leg attached, but here I am out and about as busy as ever.”

Paula has never wanted to be a burden to anyone or worry those she loves. But she

“So successful has it become that in March next year, the short film festival will be launched in New York.”

Although working with people having physical and intellectual disabilities consumes much of Paula’s waking hours, she has managed to find time to work on the forthcoming event, “Centenary of the Woolloomooloo Wharf”.

“This was the first landing point in this country for many new Australians, as they were then quaintly called, and the event will run on 6, 7 and 8 November, just a short time away.”

In 1996, “This is Your Life” told Australians a little about Paula Duncan, darling of television and theatre, mother and an unfaltering promoter of the cause of people with disabilities. She has experienced the slings and arrows of several more lives since.

Paula relives the joy of helping others with her every word. Listening to her is inspirational.

And accolades and achievements aside, there remains within her soul, a simplicity, evinced by that little girl who used to sing and dance in her parents’ country pub. G

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LEADERSHIP

The Hon. Charlie Lynn

Leadership: Forget Those Who Brung You at Your Peril The political assassination of Prime Minister Tony Abbott was highly damaging to our international reputation as Australia has now seen off five Prime Ministers in five years. Only one, John Howard, was seen off by voters. The other four, Rudd-Gillard-Rudd-Abbott, were seen off by nervous-nellies within their own ranks.

The reasons for the brutal assassination will be revealed in the fullness of time as each player in the game reveals their version for their own posterity. In the meantime those who have known Tony Abbott personally can only wonder how a man of his calibre could fall victim to the forces that brought him undone. He had the intellect, values, compassion, humility and physical stamina for political greatness. So where did it all go wrong?

There has been much speculation about the influence of his Chief of Staff, Peta Credlin.

Some say the fine line between protecting her Prime Minister from the demands of his backbenchers and isolating him from them was often crossed. The micro-management of Ministers and the centralised vetting of staff recruitment obviously caused considerable resentment.

Credlin’s tight political management style also seemed to neuter Abbott’s natural character.

He is genuinely warm, friendly, engaging and has a great laugh. Unfortunately what the public saw was an awkward, guarded and largely humourless political apparition on the daily news. This was obviously a scripted reaction to the relentless personal attacks he had to endure from his Labor opponents, the unions, and their acolytes in the ABC and the Fairfax press. Their strategy to denigrate Abbott at every opportunity commenced early in his political career because they were well aware of his political potential.

Government is a big, big beast driven by an insatiable 24/7 news cycle that now includes smartphones, watches, cameras, iPads and drones that feed a myriad of social media outlets. Minor glitches and gaffes are quickly amplified into damning headlines which simply reinforce preconceived political notions. Tight scripting is therefore an essential strategy in the daily quest to ‘stay on message’. Finding

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the right balance between natural and scripted character is almost mission impossible in today’s environment.

Political leaders ignore the old adage, often attributable to U.S. President Ronald Regan, that you should ‘dance with the one who brung you’ at their peril. In today’s environment this means those who supported you in the preselection process; voters, community/business leaders, local reporters in their electorates; and the leaders of every lobby group in the country for those who achieve the highest office.

But most importantly a Prime Minister in Australia must satisfy the diverse egos, ambitions and insecurities of elected MPs who sit in their Party Room. Rugged pre-selection processes in both major parties ensures there are no shrinking violets among them. Leaders must therefore remain cognisant of the fact that while voters will decide which political party will govern in Australia it is the elected MPs who will decide who will be there leader.

After the Prime Minister is confirmed by his/her MPs in the confines of the Party Room he/she must seek to strike a delicate balance between State, factional, gender, coalition and marginal seat representation in the appointment of Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries and Committee Chairmen. Some who miss out will either work harder to get a guernsey next time or begin the plotting process by aligning themselves with a contender more likely to look after their self-interest next time round.

While political leaders rely on a factional system to keep most ambitions in check this did not work for Abbott because some of the dissidents were conservatives. The only conclusion one can draw at this stage is that they were either taken for granted, ignored or isolated by the Prime Minister’s office. Only time will tell.

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During my time in Opposition in the NSW Parliament I experienced a couple of leadership changes within the Liberal Party.

These involved serious factional plays and much ego-stroking among those who did not have a factional home but held the ‘balance of power’ in such situations. After the coup had been resolved I was struck by how quickly the new leader was confined to their bunker and surrounded by a new praetorian guard.

This is obviously an essential part of the process as the demands of such high office are invariably greater than the time available to meet them all. The job of the Chief of Staff is to sort the wheat from the chaff as every spiv in town tries to beat a path to the leader’s door.

We later saw that one smarmy dealmaker breached the protective barriers of the leader’s office and brought down a Premier! The stakes are very high in what is the biggest game in town.

Leaders who get caught up in the hubris of their new role risk becoming victims of the political process. Backbenchers who once had free access to their colleague for a yarn over coffee now have to make appointments. Egothrusters will always find a way to the leader while those who respect the new priorities of their colleague will give them space and bide their time. Their respect should never be taken for granted by the leader or their praetorian guard no matter how close they were prior to the change.

Mutual respect and collaboration between a leader and his/her colleagues will assist in weathering the inevitable political storms and the ebb and flow of polls. Those who forget ‘who brung them’ will do so at their peril. G

For more topics and to contact Charlie Lynn, please visit www.charlielynn.com.au/blog.

Best kept secret in the west Sit back and relax at Lilys Restaurant Bar and Function centre this summer.

After undergoing a multi million dollar renovation, the venue now features an outdoor deck, alfresco dining area, Kids Playground and a relaxing terrace.

Not only did the function rooms get a make over, the packages and menus have been updated to match the new style as well.

One of the things to try this summer is Lilys new tapas menu . Created by Lilys experieced chefs, the menu includes heaps of snacks that are easy to share and super tasty. And to go with the tapas, you can order an impressive and elegantly constructed cocktail off the new cocktail menu.

It’s busy at Lilys Restaurant, Bar & Function centre and with Christmas around the corner the function rooms will be filled with people celebrating the end of the year.

If you haven’t booked your staff Christmas party yet, now is the time! It’s a great way to reward staff for their hard work throughout the year.

To really end the year with a bang, choose one of Lilys Christmas packages. If it’s a deluxe seafood buffet, a winter wonderland themed room or a karaoke machine added to the party, your Christmas celebration won’t be boring at Lilys Restaurant, Bar & Function Centre.

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5 Quinn ave, seven hills | www.lilys.net.au | 02 8818 5555 BiziNet Magazine

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WORKFORCE

Craig McCallum, Director Marketing and Media, TAFE Western Sydney

Grey Collar Workers Need a Clear Career Path The distinction between blue and white collar roles has long been recognised broadly in the community. Now a third collar category has emerged: the grey collar.

Experienced in either technical, trades or service roles, grey collar workers are aspirational, wishing to progress their careers by building on their existing skills and experience.

Take for example Jared, a carpenter who has the technical skills and qualifications to undertake his job which would broadly be recognised as a blue collar role. Jared has performed well in his job, working hard for his employer who would like to recognise his commitment and potential by giving him opportunity to transition to a supervisory role.

The additional skills that Jared would require in this role could be problem solving, leading a team, negotiation, conflict resolution and IT skills. Once he has these skills, he could cross over to other roles which could be underpinned by his technical knowledge as a carpenter, or he could transition into other roles where his transferrable skills come to the fore. We would consider him a grey collar worker.

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Another example of a grey collar worker is Natalia. She found work in hospitality and decided to pursue it as a career, enrolling in a qualification in supervision and then a diploma in hospitality. She gained a lot of valuable experience in this at TAFE and is now managing her shift at a popular local restaurant.

Grey collar workers often experience a block to their careers in moving to supervisory or managerial roles. This block is due to a need for formal qualifications or transferrable soft skills such as project management, leadership, communication and IT. Historically it has been difficult for these workers to gain these qualifications and skills due to the nature of their work schedules and the cost of full qualifications.

Our recent survey of businesses within Greater Western Sydney (GWS) revealed that this is not only a problem to individuals. It is also affecting

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employers, who are struggling to recruit to the more senior roles within these industries.

The Greater Western Sydney Skills Audit which we conducted in association with Western Sydney Business Connection earlier this year surveyed 456 businesses. It revealed that managerial roles made up 30% of the unfilled roles in GWS. These roles took almost twice as long on average to recruit to and also had the highest number of unsuitable applicants.

Demand for grey collar workers outweighed supply by 10%, the highest discrepancy of any of the collar colours.

One of the possible ways of supporting grey collar workers which we have been looking into at TAFE Western Sydney is breaking up qualifications into relevant chunks. These partqualifications are designed to be affordable and allow employees to quickly fill up the gaps in their knowledge or skills to make them

employable. These could be ‘skill sets’ pulling together units from an existing qualification which, if desired, could be later built on to achieve the full qualification.

We are in discussions with employers and industry to find out exactly what it is that they are looking for in their employees so that we can adapt training to suit.

The great news in the short term is that the NSW Government has listened to these concerns and has opened up a way for workers to access free training in part-qualifications in what they term ‘targeted priority’ subject areas for the remainder of 2015.

Additionally, from 2016, eligibility criteria for accessing government funding for vocational education and training has been opened up so that it does not exclude those who have qualifications equivalent to a Certificate IV or higher.

We are also able to work with employers to customise training which meets the specific needs of their business. Upskilling your staff and offering opportunities for progression is a

great way to improve the productivity and the loyalty of your employees. It can also be a way of making the training more efficient as we can deliver the training onsite and use examples from your workplace.

TAFE NSW - Western Sydney Institute (WSI) p | 02 9208 9304 e | craig.mccallum8@tafensw.edu.au www.wsi.tafensw.edu.au

I invite employers to contact us to discuss their current and future training needs and to be a part of what is an ongoing dialogue about skilling the workforce of the future in Western Sydney. G

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BUSINESS ADVICE

Bruce Gleeson, FCA – Principal, Jones Partners Insolvency & Business Recovery

SMEs – Are You Aiming to Thrive or Aiming to Survive! Key Challenges As an Insolvency Practitioner, I get an invaluable insight regarding the key challenges and differences that enables some SMEs to thrive, as opposed to those that are simply aiming to survive. It my experience, those that are aiming to survive will in many occasions not make it. As harsh as such view may seem, a major reason that this occurs is due to not having the right “attitude”. SMEs face challenges that all businesses commonly face, however these challenges at times are not properly considered (by way of a plan – be it formal or informal) and/or responded to in the best manner.

True it is that SMEs may not either initially or at other times in their life cycle have access to the same level of resources (human, technological or financial capital) that larger businesses have, but those with the right attitude about: • Correctly identifying the market they are seeking to sell into and re-positioning as necessary; • Correctly resourcing (through efficient use of technology) and evaluating the manner in which they produce or deliver their product, even if heavily reliant on personal services; • Strong administration and inancial management; and • Conscious re-investment back into the SME, will be the ones that successfully work through the challenges and come out the other side.

SMEs (or small to medium enterprises) are vitally important to the economic health of Australia. What is an SME and why are they important?

• An SME can be generally considered to be businesses that employ between 1 and 19 people with a turnover of up to $100 million; • In Australia, there are approximately 1.2 million SMEs which represents over 96% of all business and approximately 33% of Gross Domestic Product (“GDP”); • Approximately 93.5% individuals employed

by SME’s in Australia are employees of a business with less than 20 individuals; and • Of the approximate 10,000 corporate insolvencies that occur nationally each year, about 80% are SMEs. Many challenges faced by SME’s are relatively common and are not (to the surprise of many SME owners) simply unique to their business.

The following challenges are by no means

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exhaustive, but represent 3 of the most important challenges that determine whether or not the SME will thrive or survive: • Leadership/management skills cover a very wide spectrum. No one knows everything, however SMEs need to be reflective of genuinely what skills they bring to the table and what they don’t – and don’t sugar coat it. This coupled with undertaking the same analysis with present employees may aid in determining whether the relative strengths and weaknesses are across the areas of sales, marketing, production, administration/finance and research. It may be that an SME cannot have employees across all categories initially, however work what you do have (and indeed need initially) and develop a plan to move toward the full compliment.

Also understand what the SME may lack initially or at other times can be covered by the selective use of external service providers – for example suitably experienced professional advisors like accountants who can assist with determining issues such as working capital requirements and pricing of goods/services to be profitable.

Successful leaders or management also know when to carefully listen to other business stakeholders and when to take action. Those that fail to listen do so at their own peril.

• Undercapitalisation – is typically when a business does not have sufficient capital to conduct normal business operations and pay creditors. Frequently the business is not generating enough cash flow or is unable to access forms of financing such as debt or equity. This can occur at the start of the business or at other intervals during the life cycle.

Having enough start-up capital is frequently

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problematic, but what should be known quite clearly from inception is what’s required in funding to cover the initial commencement and on-going costs in the first year.

Don’t unnecessarily skimp just to make the equation work – know realistic costs and what you need to sell your product or service at to be profitable. Forecast profit and loss and cash-flows should be prepared before a decision is even made to start the venture – it is better to make the informed decision that perhaps it may not work from the start and avoid putting the family home on the line (from a security perspective) rather than just going off somewhat blindly. Also make sure that such forecasts include paying Taxes (ie GST / PAYG and SGC) on time!!!

If some level of bank finance is required, know clearly what the terms are and what other security has been given and that where possible related parties not involved in the business refrain from providing security / guarantees – unfortunately this is something that I see occurs too often. Equally if the bank is providing funding solely on the basis of residential security (ie the family home) consider the structure of the loan and whether it may be more beneficial for a shareholders loan to be made to the SME with a security interest taken over the company’s assets at the time of the advance. A lawyer with appropriate commercial and insolvency expertise will be able to assist with such consideration.

Such position elevates the related party in an insolvency event ahead of other unsecured creditors.

It is during the initial and early part of the life cycle when an SME is most likely to struggle and potentially become insolvent – so take care to regularly review forecast positions with

BUSINESS ADVICE actuals and importantly be pragmatic about work flows, managing debtor and creditors days so where possible the mismatch does not unnecessarily cause cash-flow challenges. If you need help reach out to a professional for such guidance as these costs should have been factored into your start-up costs anyway.

Importantly – don’t treat the business monies as yours. This may sound simplistic but happens too regularly. The use of shareholder or director loan accounts can be misused as a substitute for not paying the company taxes. Sure SMEs directors/ business owners are entitled to remuneration, but not simply at the expense of failing to provide for the above taxes.

• The impact of shareholder disputes or family relationship breakdown Shareholder disputes can be made easier if a plan of action is in place before you enter into business with a friend, a family member, a business angel etc. Shareholder agreements are quite powerful as they set out what each shareholder has contributed, how the assets are to be broken up in the case of an intractable dispute etc. However, please ensure that they are properly drafted by a lawyer that is familiar with the particulars of the SME and that you

simply haven’t acquired one from the internet!

Quite often when two friends go into business one might supply the capital, the other the expertise. If you can’t get along how is this to be dealt with if there is a breakdown?

Where a family relationship breakdown occurs between the shareholders of an SME, ie husband and wife, this can bring down what might otherwise be a viable business or might lead to the downturn of a business as the shareholders are not there with a common purpose.

In either scenario, unless the parties seek to reach an amicable commercial resolution, in my experience significant value is destroyed in the SME. SMEs are much more vulnerable to material changes in valuation than other corporates, for example a Big Four Bank or Telecommunication Carrier. The unfortunate reality is that shareholder disputes and family relationship breakdowns occur. It is important that all parties obtain relevant professional advice to understand their position, but additionally be pragmatic and commercially focused on a resolution. In my experience the Net Position (ie after payment of professional advisor costs) is sometimes ignored at the expense of the Gross Position.

Running an SME presents both enormous opportunities, but also challenges along the way and can be emotionally taxing for the owners. Having the right attitude is critical – and an important part of this is a PLAN. Have you heard “those who fail to plan, plan to fail”. Part of that plan should be to have the access to suitable professional advisors that understand your business and can genuinely add value.

There are many great Australian SME stories and we need this pipeline to continue. If you would like to discuss your position at all, please give me a call as we continually work with a range of professionals in financial services, accounting and legal. G

Jones Partners p | 02 9894 9966 e | bgleeson@jonespartners.net.au b | www.brucegleeson.com.au www.jonespartners.net.au

BiziNet Magazine

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BUSINESS ADVICE

Steven Brown, Etienne Lawyers

Top 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying a Franchise?

Many people see money to be made from owning your own business. While this can be true, money and rewards come from hard work.

Of those who have the notion that a business brings you wealth, many people have the idea that in franchising a lot of money can be made with minimum effort. This is a serious misconception. As with any business, the person in a franchise system that works the hardest with the right goods and/or services, profits the most.

The advantages of franchising The advantages of franchising to a franchisor include: 1. Payment of a sign on fee; 2. On-going franchise fees; 3. Larger advertising budget from the contribution of all of the franchisees’ advertising contribution fees; 4. Reduction in middle management costs; 5. Savings from workers compensation, lease, employee salaries and over outlet operating costs; and 6. The benefit of the enthusiasm of the franchisees being owner operators receiving a profit on their efforts and not just being employees.

The advantages of franchising to a franchisee include: 1. Right to use an established and known trade mark; 2. Right to use the goodwill of the existing franchise operation; 3. Participate in increased buying power of a group; 4. Use a proven business system; 5. Receive training on manufacturing, preparation skills, accounting, business controls, marketing and merchandising and management; 6. Assistance in managing employee relations, setting of wage standards and employee training; 7. Access to initial and on-going market research from the franchisor and the fellow franchisees; and 8. The franchisee is an owner operator not an employee.

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Two main reasons why franchises fail Taking up a franchise on paper seems to have a lot of benefits and is suitable for anyone, but is it? The Final Report of the Beddall Franchising Task Force (December 1991), gave as two of the six main reasons for franchise system failures as: • Poor Franchisee Selection; and • Greed.

The Beddall Report concluded that one of the major weaknesses of franchising to date was poor franchise selection.

Another main cause of franchise failure was the greed of franchisors. Instead of franchisors seeing their income from a win – win with the franchisees, too often, franchisors see their income not from the long term receipt of royalties where the franchisor benefits from the growth and success of the franchisee, but greedily seeking excessive up-front fees or taking excessive on-going royalties, depriving Franchisees of working capital.

An ounce of protection is worth more than a pound of cure Etienne Lawyers has 35 questions for you to consider before buying a franchise but the initial Top Ten Questions to ask yourself are: 1. Will your franchise be taking a considerable amount of your time away from your family?

2. If so, how do you feel about that?

3. Is your family enthused about the franchise?

4. Will you enjoy working with them if they will be employed in the franchise?

5. Have you the skills to manage and supervise employees?

6. Do you have the necessary capital resources for working capital?

7. Can your lifestyle accommodate you making financial sacrifices should the need arise?

8. Are you emotionally prepared to work long, hard hours?

9. Do you have the character traits or

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background to succeed in owning a business that is constrained by rules and systems not of your making?

10. How much do you want the business to reflect your own individuality?

As you can see most of the ten questions are about you. The reason for this is that empirical research reveals that those better suited to franchise ownership are ex-military, public servants and middle management personnel of large organizations. The reasoning behind this is that those people have succeeded in these backgrounds have the right traits of adhering to the operational guidelines of a franchise system whilst being able to introduce within those guidelines innovations and new ideas. A person who wants to have their business reflect them, true entrepreneurs, find succeeding in a franchise system difficult; if not impossible.

Entrepreneurs are the franchisors not the franchisees.

Don’t rely on your own answers.

When considering a business venture, be it a franchise or not, don’t be afraid to seek advice from a number of your family and friends to get their answers to the questions, to see if you are fit to buy and run a franchise or start your own business. G If you need further assistance Etienne Lawyers can provide both legal and commercial advice on what you should do. Our first phone consultation is Free, so pick up the phone and ask to speak with one of our skilled lawyers about your legal questions today 02 8845 2400

Etienne Lawyers p | 02 8845 2400 www.etiennelawyers.com

Gain more customers in your business To help your business reach its full potential join Bartercard and get new customers every day‌ who keep coming back.

Billy Moore Rugby League Legend

Download the free eBook 8 ways to attract new customers Scan the QR code or visit: go.bartercard.com.au/bizinet 1300 BARTER (1300 227 837) BiziNet Magazine

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FEATURE

Want Reliable Employees Who Can Do the Job, Plus Workplace Support to Boot? Who doesn’t?

This year Nova Employment will assist over 800 jobseekers into work across a number of industries, including administration, hospitality, horticulture, retail, warehousing, aged care and childcare.

Nova staff take the time to listen to the needs of prospective employers to ensure only the most suitable potential employees are put forward for the advertised role and the specific workplace. Matching jobseekers to jobs is what we do well. It makes sense to place the right person first time.

It makes sense for the employer – the worker starts off productively and you avoid the palaver of going through the recruitment process again.

It makes sense for the job seeker – who starts confidently and continues with as much or as little Nova support as they need to perform their job to your satisfaction.

So smooth is the process – from strategic recruitment all the way through to tailored postplacement support – that many employers come to us for all of their recruitment needs.

Jacqui Norris, Office Manager from Red Back Pest Control came across Nova when she was advertising for telesales position. She says, ‘At first I was a little sceptical but Nova staff visited and I found they really knew their stuff.

That was nearly four years ago and Guy is still working well!’

The reasons she recruits through Nova are many. ‘Nova staff are always super supportive of both myself as the employer, and the employee. They never take sides, and are always honest in their assessment of any situation. If a Nova-placed staff member is not working out, they don’t try to convince me to keep them on. We discuss the issues, see if they can be resolved, and then take the right action. They’re my first stop for employees. I don’t use any other agencies.’

Nova CEO Martin Wren believes that about half the people receiving the Disability Support Pension (DSP) could and would work tomorrow, given the choice. Nova believes in the innate capacity of job seekers and, with appropriate training and support, guides them to work in a role they are truly capable of.

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NOVA Employment client James is now working fulltime at Glavcon Smeaton Grange

A young man named Lathon enjoyed the fruits of this attitude. With Asperger’s Syndrome and anxiety, Lathon came to Nova from another Disability Employment Service (DES), which had him working as a car detailer for eight hours a week. Apart from not liking car detailing, when his subsidy expired his position was terminated and his previous DES weren’t interested in finding him another position.

After debriefing his previous experience and listening to Lathon’s employment goals, Nova found him a job working 30+ hours per week at Shearwater Marine. He loves the work and his employer is very happy with him. As well, the position no longer relies on a subsidy.

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According to Martin, people with a disability are an untapped resource for both local employers and the economy in general. His catchcry is, ‘We make taxpayers!’ G

Nova Employment p | 02 8818 7700 www.novaemployment.com.au

BiziNet Magazine

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DIGITAL CORNER

Bekir Kilic, Managing Director, PRO IT Pty Limited

Disaster Recovery – Why It Should Be A Top Priority Simple mistakes can lead to costly business disasters. Every day on the news we hear about the next recall or outage that leads to the need for public relations to clean up the mess. More often than not, the damage is too great to overcome and that company which suffered the IT disaster is unable to recover.

Short for disaster recovery plan, DRP is a plan for business continuity in the event of a disaster that destroys part or all of a business’s resources, including IT equipment, data records and the physical space of an organization.

The goal of a DRP is to resume normal computing capabilities in as little time as possible.

Planning for the unknown and unlikely can be difficult but having enough funds to implement an IT disaster recovery plan can seem close to impossible. Often companies are faced with more pressing issues to their business than something that may or may not happen, or so they think, which is why we hear about these stories on the news quite frequently.

But how unlikely is it that an IT disaster could happen to your company? With the combination of natural disasters, hardware failures and human error, the reality is that data loss is only a matter of when, not if.

IT Hardware or device failure. While modern IT hardware is fairly resistant to failures, most devices fall far short of a perfect track record.

No one is immune to hard disk or internet connection failures. While it can be costly for your company to eliminate any single point of failure in your IT infrastructure, it is the only way to ensure that a hardware failure doesn’t interrupt your service or cause data loss.

The less expensive and more sensible option would be to have your data backed up regularly.

Ideally, and more cost-effective than building your own facilities, would be to outsource your IT infrastructure to a managed services provider. This eliminates any capital expenses while ensuring the strictest protection from service interruptions due to IT infrastructure failures.

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Similar to IT Hardware, humans are also not perfect. They make mistakes. Have you ever accidentally saved over a word document or had your computer crash before you could save an important file? It happens to the best of us. Even the most cautious can forget a step in an important process causing data loss or the wrong data to being entered. While very common, these mistakes can often be the hardest to prevent and correct.

Creating a series of incremental online data backups let you easily restore your files to an error free state.

Having redundant firewalls, anti-virus, and anti-spyware software can ensure that security breaches are protected against if one were to be accidentally disabled or a port accidentally left open. Often times the most important way to prevent human error is in process improvements and quality insurance activities.

Checking and double checking is often the best remedy, with online backups as a safety net.

A typical DRP has several stages, including the following: • Understanding your organisation’s activities and how all of its resources are interconnected.

• Assessing your organisation’s vulnerability in all areas, including operating procedures, physical space and equipment, data integrity and contingency planning.

• Understanding how all levels of your organisation would be affected in the event of a disaster.

• Developing a short-term recovery plan.

• Developing a long-term recovery plan, including how to return to normal business operations and prioritising the order of functions that are resumed.

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• Testing and consistently maintaining and updating the plan as the business changes.

“A key to a successful DRP is taking steps to preventing the likelihood of disasters from occurring, such as using a hot site or cold site to back up data archives”.

Conclusion: Save Money, Save Time, Save Your Business. Develop a Solid IT Disaster Recovery Plan. No business is invulnerable to IT disasters, but speedy recovery due to a well-crafted IT disaster recovery is expected by today’s ever-demanding customers. Too many businesses fail because they were ill prepared for an IT disaster, even when a simple solution like online backup could have easily saved them. If your business hasn’t thought about developing an IT disaster recovery plan yet, it should be on the top of your list of priorities.

Your business and customers demand it. G

proit.bizinet.com.au

PRO IT Pty Limited p | 1300 727 553 f | 02 872 4 3311 www.proit.com.au

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BUSINESS ADVICE

Daniel Moisyeyev, B.IT, GWP Media

Separate the Professionals from the Amateurs If I was to pick an industry that is most heavily polluted by amateurs and con artists, it would be the triad of web design, SEO and social media/online marketing. There are only a few industries that I can name that are affected by a plague of self proclaimed experts that manage to breed much like rabbits.

This may sound rather odd and unreasonably harsh, but it is a very serious problem and causes much grief to qualified professionals in said industries that have to deal with the fallout, false expectations and bad perceptions on a daily basis.

Why is this the case?

In terms of the web design industry, this is a relatively new phenomenon that has developed at the same time when social media networks gained ground and various open source Content Management Systems (CMS) started becoming popular.

To find the answer, you have to look to the time of the dot-com bubble, i.e. the turn of the century when the world wide web started gaining ground as a legitimate content delivery platform. You will find that entering the Web Design & Development industry was a very difficult affair.

Development of any kind of a website required intricate knowledge of web-specific scripting languages and technologies, solid understanding of the the processes that underwent behind the scenes and hours spent doing analysis, design, coding and testing.

Development shortcuts were not readily available. Almost every website built at that time was tailored to a particular business and required a high degree of competence from the professionals that were hired for the job. It also meant that web design and development was a fairly expensive exercise as good professionals were hard to come by and commanded a premium.

Fast forward to today, and we have a much different landscape. Open source content management systems have drastically lowered the barrier of entry to the industry.

As the industry no longer requires significant technical expertise to enter and has no formal qualification requirements that weed out the amateurs, every man and his dog is now a web designer, SEO and online marketing specialist!

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This effectively lowered the image of the industry and drove down both the price and quality to the bottom. A good parallel could be made by comparing the web development industry to law – imagine the mess that would occur if you could start a practice without formal qualifications?! While some industries such as law, accounting and real estate have barriers that have resulted in a certain standard of service, the web design and development industry does not have this luxury.

The paradox with these developments in the industry is that the content management systems commonly in use today are far more complex to customise and extend – and require even more specific development skills than earlier custom websites. The amateur web designers that use the freely available open source systems, basic themes and templates to put business websites together do not have the technical expertise and experience to develop a proper working custom solution for your business – hence if your business requires anything beyond a basic website, you are out of luck.

How can you spot the amateur/con artist from a true qualified professional with experience?

background may have their own content management systems to demonstrate and sell, while amateur web designers will opt out to use ready-made and open source content management systems.

Professionals will rarely throw around random buzzwords for extra credibility. They do not push services to take advantage of hype in the market place, such as social media marketing.

Social media marketing is heavily pushed by new entrants in the web design and development industry due to an established false perception in the market place that it is a “free” or “low cost” marketing solution – hence an easy sell to a potential client.

And the most important distinction is that all professionals in the IT industry hold tertiary qualifications – such as Computer Science, Information Technology or Software Engineering. These qualifications are quite difficult to obtain. G If you are interested in web design and development for your business, please get in touch with us. We can handle a complete range of smaller websites to higher end projects with custom transaction systems and payment gateways.

It’s not difficult to separate the amateurs from professional web designers and developers.

Professional web designers and developers are always focused on delivering a solution that is tailored to your specific business. The web design and development is quite similar to a software engineering life cycle – it is a very thorough process that involves a lot of attention to detail.

Developers

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with

a

software

engineering

GWP Media p | 1300 889 132 e | daniel@gwpmedia.com.au www.gwpmedia.com.au

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Nov/Dec’15

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Maninoa Samoa

FEATURE

Talofa Lava - Welcome to Samoa

Samoa which is situated in the middle Polynesia with Hawaii to the north, Tonga to the south, Fiji to the west and Tahiti to the east, is often called the Heart of Polynesia or the Teasured Islands.

Either way Samoa will fill your heart full of treasures of welcoming, friendly, smiles, warm exotic days and nights, filled with wonder and memories that will last a life time. For the surfer you will be asking yourself “What took me so long to discover this paradise?”

Despite that fact that Samoans are believed to be amongst the first people in the world to surf back many hundreds of years well before English Navigator Captain James Cook journaled surfing in Polynesia on his travels of discoveries in the late 1700s.

Yet it has only been in the last fifteen years that Samoa has really been put on the map of as world class surfing destination?

It is always hard to say that one was the first to surf a new break or claim discovery rights of a new surfing destination. It seems that someone always beat you there? Never the less I was very privileged to have had my first trip to surf Samoa back in 1990, where without a doubt we surfed places for the first time.

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Not much if anything at all was know about the surf there then and only a handful of hard core modern day surfers would have ever had the joy of surfing one of Samoa many world class uncrowded surf spots. Back in 1990 there was only a few waves that could be surfed due to poor roads, boats or service.

There was no internet back then and only one or two locals in town that sometimes surfed.

I was invited to Samoa by a very good friend that I often surfed with in Australia, he invited

me to come after a Samoan friend who lived most of his life in Australia was going there to visit family for the first time. Robert Mauu told us that we had nothing to lose by taking our boards. A surfer himself Rob has asked family back in Samoa if there were any waves there and they said “Yes”.

Our first trip was full of long walks through jungles and super long paddles out to the reefs with no idea of what we might find or might find us? Sunburn, dehydration our regular companions yet we knew that it was only a matter of time before we found our next favourite surf break?

#76 Nov/Dec’15

by Wayne Ryan

Paradise found

To this day I will never forget the feeling of being taking to this perfect palm trees lined white sandy beach with pristine lagoons, warm blue sky, beautiful native red flowers, gentle offshore breeze with a insane 4 to 6 right and left hand surf peak only 50 metres through the lagoon and wait, With no one out! At that moment I rushed to get my board ready before any other surfers come and I

was gently told to chill out and relax. There are no surfers for over a thousand miles and their will not be for at least a few years! I have arrived in Surfers Heaven.

Travel 25 years forward in time to today, unlike the early days of hit and miss, limited access to surf breaks, Samoa has in braced surfing and with surf camps and resorts like Maninoa Surf Fales set up to specially cater for surfers and their families. It’s now all too easy.

Maninoa Surf Fales which is Samoa’s first surf camp was founded in the early 1990s.

The owners saw how hard it is to come to Samoa and find waves, even today without guides, boats to get to the waves and local knowledge and understanding Samoan culture it would be hard and or very time

consuming and expensive. Maninoa Surf Fales saw this and set up to take the all the hassle of surfing Samoa. “We set up Maninoa to help surfers have a safe, fun, friendly, cost effective surfing holiday with real Samoan culture and share our world class waves and Paradise found,“ said Tara Gorter from Maninoa.

Maninoa area is above all things location, location, location! Maninoa is on the south coast of Upolu and built in the jungle next to two other resorts. 50 minutes drive from Faleolo airport and 30 minutes straight over the scenic mountain to capital Apia.

Samoa Surfing

FACTS FILE

s Samoa is an endless summer with air temp average 28 degrees and water temp 29 degrees. s Samoa has good surf all year round. s Bring your own board and equipment. s Samoa is not recommended for beginner surfers, good intermediate to pros will love it. s Most surf breaks in Samoa are reef with only a few beach breaks.

Maninoa is blessed with perhaps the best waves in Samoa and for that matter some of the best in Pacific, if not the world. “Straight out the front of our Fales is the World famous Coconuts a perfect right and there are over 15 other breaks within a 15 minute boat ride from Maninoa including Boulders left hand point, Stevie Wonders, Pebbles, Sala’s Funky Town, AJs and more. Boulders and Coconuts where rated in the top 100 waves in the world in a recent surfing magazine,” explains Tara.

Maninoa’s friendly staff will make your trip to Samoa easy. Once you arrive at Faleolo Airport, you will be picked up and transferred to Maninoa where your traditional beach front fale (hut) or your apartment awaits you.

Your boat is parked out the front metre from

you fale, and both western and Samoa harty meals are served. Between surfs there are plenty of things to do including, snorkelling, fishing, canoeing, water falls to swim. There are bars and restaurants with plenty of goodness and Samoan entertainment to keep you happy.

So what are you waiting for? Go see Samoa before every one does. The staff at Maninoa are waiting to share the waves, friendly culture and a sunset cocktail after a hard days surfing awaits you.

For more information about Line Up’s surf travel packages, surf coaching and surf retail.

Please contact us: 02 9971 8624 or visit: lineup.com.au

s Samoa only has about 40 local surfers and love to share their waves. s Samoa is a very laid back culture and Christianity plays a massive part of their culture. s All surf spots and beaches are part of the village and or owned by someone, and is part of the Samoan custom to ask for a fee to use their land. Please honour their request. s Most surfers that travel to Samoa stay in a surf camp or resort. sS amoa is only just over a 5 hour flight from Sydney or Brisbane, 3 hour flight from Auckland, 6 hours from Hawaii. G

BiziNet BiziNet MagazineMagazine #76 #76 Nov/Dec’15 November / December

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SOCIETY & LIFE

Angry Anderson, AM

Enough is Enough!

In all honesty I have not been able to come up with a clever title for this article, rant, tirade...call it what you will but no clever title to get us started!

Those of us who are old enough can cast our minds and memories back to 1976 when the movie Network came out starring among others, the late and great actor Peter Finch.

happening again or maybe worse still, it’s still happening!

The rest of you can Google it.

So then comes that scene. The scene that the movie has become famous for; the scene that has risen to cult status and has became the cry for all those who arrive at that same place which promotes our hero to utter, no to yell, to call out in anger, frustration and torment those wonderful words,

In the movie, Peter Finch plays a man who despairs at the situation that he now finds himself in. He is frustrated, depressed and therefore angry at what he sees as the hopelessness of his personal and working life.

He sees his personal world and the world at large as being worlds of chaos. He sees that he is surrounded by depravity, injustice and stupidity and feels the futility of not being able to do anything to change it.

He sees himself as helpless to change the wrongs he sees around him and the wrongs he sees that are pervading the society he lives in and for that matter the whole world.

He looks at his world and sees starvation, crime, the erosion of long held morals. He sees wars being fought, started by a government he has put his trust in. For what? For some self interested gain which he struggles to understand let alone justify.

The world, his world, is going crazy, going down the toilet, going to hell in a hand basket.

It`s a world where little, if anything, makes any sense any more, where right is no longer right, where wrong is no longer wrong, where the peace and comfort that comes from knowing where you stand and where you fit in, no longer applies.

It`s a world where some are trying to convince the rest that the principle of going about your life in a peaceful and purposeful way, obeying the law and paying your taxes, entitles you to a simple and orderly life, is somehow now all wrong and that he is wrong to even think so.

Anyway I digress, sorry.

“ I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more!”

As a prelude to those fabulous lines he says, as part of his tirade, “I’m a human being god dammit! My life has value!

Well so does mine and so does yours and so did Curtis Cheng’s!

I don’t know about you but I’ve reached that point where I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take this any more!

I’m done with the false god of political correctness! Not that I ever was a devotee.

I’m done with the lie of politically correct multiculturalism!

Curtis Cheng was the personification, the success if you like, of how and why multiculturalism, in it’s proper application, can and does work.

He embraced Australia as his home and a home for those he cherished most, his family.

He chose to raise his family in Australia, in the Australian way, knowing that if he did, his culture, his religion and and all that comes with it would be respected and honoured because that is the Australian way.

A fair go for all.

Sound familiar? Well it should because it’s

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#76 Nov/Dec’15

He brought truth to the proposition that you give so you can receive; where you bring something to offer as well as expecting something in return.

A place where you treat your host with respect and consideration, asking “how do I fit in here?’ and thus receiving respect and consideration from your host.

You do not enter your host`s house and demand that they move all their furniture to suit your needs. You do not tell your host that the food they lay on their table isn’t good enough for you. You do not demand that your host send their children outside because you find the sound of their laughter too noisy. In fact as a courteous visitor you demand nothing!

You are grateful for all or anything that you receive because you are entitled to nothing that is not offered.

Police chief Andrew Scipione said, while honouring Curtis Cheng, “Curtis’ life reminds us that life is fragile. It also reminds us that we are together responsible for the type of community we create. If a positive is to be taken from recent events, it is our collective realisation that our way of life, the freedoms and protections we enjoy, are not unassailable. They need to built, maintained and defended!”

Yes! I say, Defended! Curtis Cheng was murdered by an Islamic terrorist, a terrorist driven to kill in the name of his religious, cultural and political ideology, that being Islam.

A gentle, kind, caring, decent man, a husband, a father, a son and brother to us all. He was an innocent who died at the hand of a politically, religiously demented, deluded teenager who had been twisted and deformed by an evil ideology that can no longer be the Elephant in the room.

An ideology that can no longer be tolerated by us in this country.

That political, religious, cultural ideology is Islam!

I will never forget the mothers and fathers who supported their vile offspring, telling them and therefore all of us that “those Aussie sluts deserved what they got because all Aussie girls are sluts.” We should have learnt then and there but we didn’t!

Or at least, to be fair, a growing, festering, filthy, version of it.

Let me say this before I go any further, I am not nor have I ever been an enemy of the individuals who practice the Islamic faith. Muslims who behave in a peaceful manner are not my enemy but I am an enemy against the radical practice of Islam and any and all who practice Islam in that way; those who oppose my way of life here in the land of my birth, my home,our country Australia.

And to all the Lefty Leftard apologists that want you and I to somehow feel guilt or some form of responsibility for the pollution and demonizing of that boy, go @#*@ yourselves because I do not, will not, will never take any responsibility for his actions.

And to all the so called moderates who now want even more consideration from me and the collective we, I ask where is your consideration for me and mine? Where was it while you sat on your hands these lunatics were taking control of you and now you and I have to somehow deal with the products of your inadequacy, your indifference and your cowardice.

Apart from some wonderful exceptions the majority of the moderates have done little or nothing to stop the spread of this evil amongst their ranks. These are their children not mine.

I will never forget those monsters who prowled the streets to prey on young Aussie girls, pack raping them because they were taught that they could.

If the real moderates want understanding, consideration and tolerance from you and I then they damn well better start earning it because, apart from a brave few, I have not seen enough of what they have done or will do to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

That is not to say that there are no moderates that want to live harmoniously among us because there are but we need to see them, hear them and know that they are worthy of our support, respect and consideration. These things you earn. They are not an entitlement.

I was brought up to not be a whinger and I don’t like whingers.

Moderates, historically speaking have never stood up to or opposed radicals for fear of retribution. I understand their reluctance but do not criticise me or mine if we won’t roll over and bow down, as you have, to these monsters in our midst.

I’m as mad as hell and I’m not gonna take this any more!

Yours as ever, Angry.

G

angrymarketing.bizinet.com.au

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#76 Nov/Dec’15

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