Aussie Painting Contractor July 2020

How to Make Sure You Get Paid Top Tips from a Lawyer

Finance Tips for Business Survival

ANTI-FRAGILITY Train Ourselves to Improve

Settlement Offers How to accept it...

www.aussiepaintersnetwork.com.au

Many great careers start with a Pathway. Whether that be, beginning your Apprentice whilst still at school, or by finding an employer ready to take you on from the very start.

Become a Painting Apprentice

A painting apprenticeship takes 3 to 4 years to complete dependant on the individual student. They get paid as they learn rather than building up a debt by going to university. An apprentice learns the theory behind painting as well as the practical application of working with others on the job.

Become a Qualified Painter

After completing an apprenticeship, you become a qualified painter. You can continue working for painting companies or building companies on wages for as long as you like. Your wage should increase as you now have your qualification.

Become a Painting Business Owner

After completing your apprenticeship this is where you take the leap of working for yourself and potentially put on staff and your own apprentice. At this point we recommend that you contact Aussie Painters Network as well as other organisations and associations.

Are you running a Painting Business?

See how we can assist you in growing your business with apprentices!

CONTRIBUTORS

From the Editor

• Andrew Wallace • Anthony Igra • Helen Kay • Jim Baker • Leo Babauta • Monroe Porter • Richard Holden • Robert Bauman • Sandra Price • Vanessa Petch

EDITOR Nigel Gorman EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Hey Everyone, Welcome to the 94th Edition of the Aussie Painting Contractor Magazine.

This month Aussie Painters Network has launched the “Painting Apprenticeships” it’s a FREE job service board for painting business owners to find apprentices and people to find an apprenticeship. This is one of the best ways of all business owners to invest in their business. Contact us for more information or just simply go to the website and put in your info about the position you want to fill and see what happens.

This month’s magazine is jam packed with tips and tools for you to prepare your business for the new financial year. Get onboard and take your business to the next level by joining APN and receive the Super Special that APN are offering all new or renewing Members. There is never a better time to join Aussie Painters Network.

Till next month, Happy Painting!!

Caroline Miall GRAPHIC DESIGNER J. Anne Delgado

Nigel Gorman

nigel@aussiepaintersnetwork.com.au

07 3555 8010

Contents 06 09 12 15

18

$25k HomeBuilder Scheme Confirmed

24

Planning your business recovery IS LIKE A CHESS GAME

28

How to Make Sure You Get Paid

31

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

34

Do you have casual employees?

36

Settlement Offers HOW TO ACCEPT IT...

40

“But I Meant To Get To It”

45

The death of the open-plan office? Not quite, but a revolution is in the air

Noisserped ‘Everyone feels sad or down sometimes, especially during tough times.

Battling Through COVID-19:

Finance Tips for Business Survival Vital Signs: why ‘the marketplace for ideas’ can fail – from an economist’s perspective

Anti-Fragility as We Train Ourselves to Improve

48 49

Top Tips from a Lawyer

So how do you keep your customers?

A little bit of protection can go a long way

Industry Idiots Important Contacts

Opinions and viewpoints expressed in the Aussie Painting Contractor Magazine do not necessarily represent those of the editor, staff or publisher or any Aussie Painters Network’s staff or related parties. The publisher, Aussie Painters Network and the Aussie Painting Contractor Magazine personnel are not liable for any mistake, misprint or omission. Information contained in the Aussie Painting Contractor Magazine is intended to inform and illustrate and should not be taken as financial, legal or accounting advice. You should seek professional advice before making business related decisions. We are not liable for any losses you may incur directly or indirectly as a result of reading Aussie Painting Contractor Magazine. Reproduction of any material or contents of the magazine without written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.

Advertise with us...

1800 355 344 / 07 3555 8010 info@aussiepaintersnetwork.com.au aussiepaintingcontractor.com,au

$25k HomeBuilder Scheme Confirmed After weeks of speculation the Government has finally released the details of the HomeBuilder scheme.

The scheme is designed to prop up the residential building sector, keeping builders and tradies on the tools.

The Government grants will provide financial assistance to Australian owner-occupiers building new homes, as well as those undertaking major renovations.

Here are the basics: • How much? $25,000 • When? Building contracts entered into between 4 June 2020 and 31 December 2020 • Who is eligible? Singles with an annual income not greater than $125k, and couples with a combined • income not greater than $200k.

• What is eligible?

• New Builds – Owner occupied homes valued at no more than $750k (including land value).

• Renovations – Where the cost of the renovation is between $150k and $750k, and the existing home and land is valued at no more than $1.5m.

Owner occupied only.

Renovation restrictions

The renovation stimulus is a great idea since many tradies work on renovations rather than new builds.

But there are some fairly tight restrictions when it comes to renovations.

The $150k minimum is quite high, especially considering the means test. $150k is a big renovation for a couple earning no more than $200k.

We’re not saying it doesn’t happen, but it certainly cuts the numbers down in terms of how many people will meet the criteria.

There are also some major exclusions. Pools and tennis courts are excluded, along with sheds and garages.

According to news.com.au the renovation must “improve the accessibility, safety and liveability of the dwelling”. The Australian Financial Review adds that “any other structure not attached to the home will not be eligible”.

The grants are paid in addition to any state-based incentives that people might be eligible for, such as first homeowner’s grants and stamp duty exemptions.

What about the $50k?

Over the last couple of weeks people have been talking about figures of $40k or $50k for the construction stimulus.

Other restrictions

This was never floated by the Government however.

Aside from the restrictions already mentioned, such as the requirement to be an owner-occupier and to meet the means test, there are a few others to consider.

The $50k figure came from a proposal from the Property Council of Australia, whilst the $40k figure was proposed by Master Builders Australia.

The grants are only available to Australian citizens, and you must be an individual. This means companies and trusts are not eligible to receive the grants.

6 | Aussie Painting Contractor

What does the Government have to say about it?

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is keen to see Australians utilising the HomeBuilder grants to help keep tradies on the tools” “If you’ve been putting off that renovation or new build, the extra $25,000 we’re putting on the table along with record low interest rates means now’s the time to do it.

“This investment isn’t just about helping Australians bring their dream home to life, it’s about creating jobs and helping support the more than one million workers in the sector including builders, painters, plumbers and electricians across the country.”

“However with dwelling investment expected to decline by around 20 per cent through the June Quarter, the HomeBuilder program will support residential construction activity and jobs across the industry at a time when the economy and the sector needs it most.”

It’s estimated that the scheme will cost taxpayers $688 million, which is a pittance compared with the $130 billion cost associated with the JobKeeper scheme.

What do we think?

With building approvals dropping off a cliff thanks to COVID-19, the Government had to do something to keep the residential construction industry moving.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg say the grants will support 140,000 direct jobs and another 1,000,000 related jobs in the residential construction sector.

From what we’re hearing from tradies, there is plenty of work to keep them busy right now, but they’re concerned about what happens when the current pipeline dries up.

“The construction sector is the number one industry covered by the Government’s JobKeeper program with more than a million Australians employed across the sector.

Hopefully these $25k HomeBuilder grants are sufficient to kick people back into gear and start signing up for new builds and renovations, so they can start filling up that pipeline of work for builders and tradies again.

2020 July Issue | 7

8 | Aussie Painting Contractor

Noisserped This is an article I wrote in 2017 and taking in the fact that the world is facing a huge problem with the Covid-19 virus, I thought it appropriate to include it again.

So! Have I got your attention with the heading?

I thought if I spelt the title correctly, many of you would ignore the article and go to the next page. Why do I say this you ask? Because it’s a known fact that people who suffer from this have a problem admitting to it and don’t want to discuss the subject. It’s a health issue that affects more than one million Australians a year.

The problem can be solved, or at least reduced, if: 1. You admit to yourself you have depression and talk to someone about it.

2. Be able to recognize the signs of depression in others and either give them support or advise them who they should see.

I felt the best way to get the message out again was to leave it to the professionals and copy and paste an article from the ‘Lifeline Support’ website.

Still not sure what I’m talking about? Look at the word in a mirror. Yes, that’s right! I guess we all know someone that is, or has suffered from ‘depression’.

Maybe even yourself!

‘Everyone feels sad or down sometimes, especially during tough times. Feeling sad or upset is a normal reaction to difficult situations. But, if you have these feelings intensely for long periods of time and are having trouble with normal activities, you may be experiencing depression.

This year, many people have lost their job because of the lock-down and isolation rules. Many businesses, especially shops and restaurants have had to close down because of the lack of customers purchasing from them. Also, many couples have split up because of financial pressure and stress. All this has had a great effect of a persons’ mental state and is causing them to have a break-down and falling into depression. This year alone I personally know five people that come into this category and it is so sad.

Kate DeAraugo (Solo artist and winner of Australian Idol 2005) talking about her experience with depression.

2020 July Issue | 9

What is depression?

Depression is more than just feeling sad or low during tough times. People with depression can have intense negative feelings for weeks, months or even years, sometimes for no good reason.

If you are experiencing a number of these symptoms, you may have depression. It is very important to visit your GP or another health professional for a full assessment and to discuss treatment options.

Unfortunately, many people with depression don’t recognize it or get help. But, it is treatable and most people with depression go on to lead happy, productive lives with the right treatment for them.

Helpful tips for treating depression

Some causes of depression

Relationship problems or conflict – e.g. separation/ divorce, difficult/abusive relationship • Job loss, especially long-term unemployment • Loneliness or feeling isolated • Excessive drug or alcohol use • Having another family member who has depression • Having a serious physical illness • Changes in how the brain functions • Personality factors – e.g. anxiety, low self-esteem Causes of depression vary from person to person because of a mix of personal risk factors and difficult life events. It’s also common for people to experience depression and anxiety at the same time.

Taking steps to manage depression is important for your current and long-term health. Depression is an illness that can get worse if left untreated.

See your doctor

Talk to your doctor about how you’ve been feeling to find the most appropriate treatment for you. Your doctor can also refer you to a psychologist or other mental health professional for treatment, sometimes with a rebate through Medicare.

Talk to someone you trust

Talking to family, friends, a counsellor, minister or a crisis line, can help you develop an understanding of your situation and help you move forward. There are some very effective treatments through psychologists/mental health professionals that can make a real difference.

Look after yourself

Eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly and get enough sleep. Exercise has been shown to help reduce depression. Take time out to relax and do things you used to enjoy, even if you don’t feel like it now. When you have depression it can be hard to get motivated, but it’s important not to isolate yourself.

Be aware of your feelings Signs of depression

• Feeling sad, ‘flat’ or down most of the time (for two weeks or more) • Losing interest in activities you used to enjoy (for two weeks or more) • Feeling tired or lacking energy and motivation • Moodiness that is out of character • Increased irritability and frustration • Increased alcohol and drug use • Changes in your weight or appetite • Having problems sleeping or sleeping all the time • Feeling worthless or guilty • Feeling restless, edgy or slowed down • Having difficulty concentrating or making decisions • Thinking repeatedly about death or suicide

10 | Aussie Painting Contractor

Noticing changes in your mood and thoughts and identifying what situations make you feel good and bad can help to stop negative thought patterns.

Keep safe

You may be having thoughts about dying, that it may be better to ‘not be around’ or you don’t know how much longer you can go on. These thoughts are common when people feel very depressed. If you have these thoughts, get help straight away. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or chat to us online’.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------Jim Baker www.mytools4business.com

Available at all leading paint outlets

Winter Darkne ss

Brightest - Waterproof - Indestructible LED Rechargeable Worklights

Can It Be DESTROYED?

2020 July Issue | 11

Battling Through COVID-19:

Finance Tips for Business Survival We’ve heard this before: the COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global health and financial crisis that has caught many off guard. While the threats to human life are very real, the damage to the health of businesses is really just starting to show.

The seriousness of the disease and the lack of a vaccine (at the time of writing this) have prompted governments around the world to impose strict measures to contain the virus. These restrictions in people’s movements and the temporary shutting down of non-essential services have definitely taken a toll on businesses.

While there has been a lot of talk on how to avoid contracting the virus and how businesses can operate safely to adapt to the current conditions, this article will focus on helping you manage the financial aspects of your business to survive COVID-19.

Update your financial records.

The first step in planning your course of action in such a difficult environment is getting a crystal

12 | Aussie Painting Contractor

clear understanding of the financial position of your business-- this means updating your financial records and keeping them in order. Knowing things such as your cash position and assets that can be sold quickly will go a long way in helping you make informed business decisions. Good records build a solid foundation for a successful business. They’re also really important when applying for government grants.

Examine the financial health of your business.

Following on from the first item, it is important to get a good grasp of your business’ current financial health through a careful analysis of your books and statements.

By looking at key financial figures, you will get an idea of how your business is doing. You can see fundamental factors such as the liquidity and solvency of your business which will help you decide on the best steps forward as you deal with the crisis and the aftermath. Chat to us for help with these financial pieces.

Improve your cash flow.

Increase online sales where possible.

Preparing a cash flow forecast should give you some forewarning before issues even arise and will allow you to address them early on. By quantifying your forward bookings, forward orders, and work in progress, you will get to identify future cash flow and plan accordingly.

Survive 2020 by Managing Your Financials

A lot of businesses across the world are facing cash flow problems at the moment. You are certainly not alone.

However, the key here is not letting the problem worsen.

You can also take the following measures to boost your cash flow: • Identifying the demand for your products or services, so you’ll know where to focus on and where you can reduce stock orders • Cutting back on unnecessary expenses • Urging your debtors to pay you, negotiating on a payment scheme that will work for both of you • Seeking payment extensions or debt re-structuring • Invoicing as soon as you deliver the product or service • Seeking external investors or lenders • Taking advantage of financial support from your government

With the government implementing stricter restrictions to prevent the further spread of the virus, you should find ways to move your products and services online- if you can- and continue to serve existing and new clients.

The situation that we are in is forcing business owners to re-imagine their business and re-evaluate their business models. You’ve got to adapt and be resilient. It’s those businesses that will survive.

It’s safe to say, not many of us factored a global pandemic into our 2020 business plans. Although there is no foolproof strategy to get through what’s proving to be a turbulent 2020, the finance tips shared here should be able to give you some guidance on minimising the risks on your small business.

Want some more help? Our team of advisors love to help businesses. We’ll help you develop a plan to weather the headwinds of the coming months, while saving you time and money along the way. Contact us today and we’ll work through it together.

Sandra Price

www.facebook.com/ tradiebookkeepingsolutions/

2020 July Issue | 13

Vital Signs: why ‘the marketplace for ideas’ can fail – from an economist’s perspective There is no shortage of repugnant and dangerous ideas in the world. An age old question is whether free speech will see good ideas win out over bad.

The proposition that good ideas eventually triumph in “the marketplace for ideas” dates at least to 1644, when John Milton wrote in his anti-censorship tract Areopagitica: Let [Truth] and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?

But it was perhaps first explicitly stated by United States Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1919, in his dissent to a 7–2 ruling in the Abrams v United States case involving the first amendment right to freedom of speech.

Holmes wrote: The ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas – that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.

A screen grab of the Tom Cotton article on the New York Times

That idea was “an overwhelming show of force to disperse, detain and ultimately deter lawbreakers” as a response to widespread Black Lives Matter demonstrations and isolated outbreaks of violence and looting. It was advocated in an op-ed piece by a US senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton.

Read more: In publishing Tom Cotton, the New York Times has made a terrible error of judgment

Old though this question may be, it is one that confronts us time and again. Is it more dangerous to stifle expression of a seemingly dangerous idea, or to let it be freely expressed?

It is central to the controversy over the New York Times publishing on June 3 an idea many found repugnant.

Editorial page editor James Bennet resigned as part of the paper’s mea culpa. A champion of the “marketplace of ideas” might argue the New York Times did the right thing, or at least nothing wrong.

So what would an economist, whose job is to understand market behaviour, say?

2020 July Issue | 15

Economists and markets Now economists generally like markets.

The most celebrated result in all of economics – the “First Welfare Theorem” formalised by Nobel laureates Kenneth Arrow and Gerard Debreu – states that with the right conditions competitive markets will allocate resources with maximum efficiency.

Yet economists – especially and including Arrow and Debreu – are all too aware that markets don’t always function well in reality. Information is often “asymmetric”, such as a seller knowing more about a product’s quality than the buyer. There are “externalities”, costs incurred by third parties, such as environmental harms not factored into market prices. Plenty of markets are not sufficiently competitive.

The failure of markets for insurance, used cars and many other things has been well-documented.

Why, then, why should we have faith in the marketplace for ideas?

of the other’s customers. This kind of competition limits firms’ ability to control consumers’ beliefs.

A form of prisoner’s dilemma The cleanest formal model of competition between parties trying to control people’s beliefs comes from a 2017 paper by Matthew Gentzkow and Emir Kamenica (a former classmate and University of Chicago colleague of mine).

The “marketplace for ideas” notion holds that when there are more senders of information, more information will be communicated to consumers.

Gentzkow and Kamenica showed this is not necessarily so. It all depends on the nature of the strategic interaction between the senders of information.

Senders might be caught in a kind of Prisoner’s Dilemma, the game theory concept made famous by the movie A Beautiful Mind. It would be socially productive for more information to be revealed, but the private incentives of the senders lead to less revelation.

Ideas are not products

Read more: The legacy of John Nash and his equilibrium theory

Over the past two decades economists have been developing formal models that can speak to competition in ideas.

For example, consider two pharmaceuticals makers with drugs only they know the effectiveness of. One half of their market is customers who will only buy pharmaceuticals they believe likely to work well. The other half wants their drugs to work too, but they’ll also buy if it might only partially work.

The stepping-off point is to note the nature of competition in an ideas market is fundamentally different from competition in a product market.

With products, sellers compete for customers by setting the price for their products. As the economists Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse Shapiro put it: Two firms compete [in the product market] if their products are substitutes from the perspective of consumers. A change in the price of one affects the purchasing behaviour of the other’s customers. This kind of competition is important because it limits firms’ ability to raise price above marginal cost.

Ideas differ in the following way: Two firms compete in [an information market] if 1) they cover the same events and 2) at least some consumers will learn the facts reported by both. A change in the set of facts one reports affects the information

16 | Aussie Painting Contractor

In this case each maker has an incentive to withhold information about the efficacy of their product, even though they and the consumers would be better off if they and the rival revealed more information. It’s just like the consequences of unilateral action as shown in A Beautiful Mind.

If strategic interaction in the marketplace for ideas takes this form then competition does not lead to good arguments winning out.

Gentzkow and Kamenica show the crucial condition for competition to lead to more information being revealed is this: each sender must be able to unilaterally deviate to some outcome more informative for consumers. In the drug example, this would be each maker disclosing the efficacy of their own drug and that of their competitor.

Whether this happens in practice depends on important details about the nature of the ideas being discussed, what types of information are permissible by law, and of course whether those receiving information are rational.

In short, the answer to whether the marketplace for ideas leads good ideas to win out is: it depends.

Open discussion is not enough Just because the marketplace for ideas doesn’t always work doesn’t mean it never works. There are deeply important non-economic reasons to value freedom of speech that extend beyond how much information gets revealed.

But modern economics teaches us that competition in the marketplace for ideas is different than competition in the market for ordinary goods and services.

We should not always conclude that odious ideas will be consigned to the dustbin of history simply through open discussion.

-------------------------------------------------------------------Richard Holden Professor of Economics, UNSW

2020 June Issue | 17

Anti-Fragility

as We Train Ourselves to Improve I’ve been diving into my Fearless Mastery mastermind program, with some of the most amazing people, I’ve been introducing some key ideas for training ourselves…

These are ideas I’ve been developing in my Sea Change and Fearless Training programs, as I’ve trained thousands of people to shift their habits as well as the patterns that get in the way of our meaningful work.

Here’s the problem when we try to train ourselves to change: 1. We set out to do something regularly — exercise, meditate, write, create something, etc.

2. We fail at it.

3. Then we fall apart. We might beat ourselves up, get discouraged, and give up.

This is a fragile, non-resilient approach. Maybe we try this half a dozen times, and eventually we think something is wrong with us.

There’s nothing wrong with us. The problem is with the fragile approach of falling apart when we fail.

18 | Aussie Painting Contractor

Anti-Fragility, in Short The idea of anti-fragility comes from Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s book Black Swan: the basic idea is that many human-made systems are fragile. Something comes to stress the system, and it falls apart. Some systems are robust or resilient, which is much better than fragile.

But even better is the idea of being anti-fragile: stress makes the system stronger.

Human systems are anti-fragile — when we exercise, we’re stressing the system, and after we recover, we’re stronger and better able to handle that stress. Bones get denser with impact. Lots of natural systems have anti-fragile mechanisms built in.

We can make human-made systems more anti-fragile by designing ways that stress will make the system better able to handle stress. Failure helps the system get stronger.

Let’s look at how to apply this idea into our training — any kind of learning, habit formation, physical or mental training, anything where we’re trying to improve something.

FIXES HOLES IN PLASTER BOARD

IN MINUTES! VIEW KITS & BUY ONLINE NOW! • No bulging or cracking surface patches!

• No glue, no screws, no mess!

• Hands free, fully patented, back block system!

• Fix plasterboard holes in minutes!

.com Ph 07 3040 7239 How-To Video to repair ceilings: inflatafix.com/inflatafix-ceiling-plasterboard-repair/ How-To Video to repair walls: inflatafix.com/plasterboard-hole-repair/ 2020 July Issue |

19

2.9 ltrs/min

0.027” max tip

IT’S NEW. IT’S THE QT290.

ONLY FROM QTech. NOW WITH WarrantyPlus.

LifetimeWarranty Need a sprayer?

FIND OUT MORE

MAKE YOUR SELECTION

<CLICK HERE>

<CLICK HERE>

Ready to buy?

FIND A DEALER <CLICK HERE>

OR CALL 1300 229 757

Key ideas for Anti-Fragility Before we get into specifics for training systems, let’s look at some key ideas I’ve found to be useful: 1. Expect stress, failures, crashes.

2. Design the training system to not only be resilient, but to get stronger with stresses & failure.

3. Start by removing fragility from the system. Examples: smoking, debt, having too many possessions, or being super hurt or pissed when you get criticism or failure.

4. Take small risks often. Small experiments designed to help us learn from failure. Example: every day, I try to get better at doing hard work, with each day being a mini-experiment. I fail often, which means I learn often.

5. Embrace uncertainty, risk, failure, discomfort.

These become things to help you grow, rather than things to be avoided or complain about, or things that cause you to collapse entirely. Embrace variability, noise, tension.

6. The attitude is to always learn & get better from failure. Don’t bemoan it, embrace it and learn, improve, grow stronger. Love error. When your system gets stressed, how will it respond to get stronger?

7. Intentionally inject stress into your life – do sprints, lift heavy weights, fast, take cold showers, take on challenges, experiments and adventures.

Now let’s apply this to our training systems.

Anti-Fragile Training Systems Some ideas to use in training: 1. Do small experiments, designed to learn from failure. Small is good. Big and bulky leads to failure when big stressors happen. Instead, small means you’re lean, easily adaptable, mobile, can shift easily. For training, this will mainly apply to how we practice — we can intentionally do small experiments, small training sessions, instead of massive projects or very long sessions. Small experiments, such as training in unprocrastination by doing daily training experiments. Learn from each day’s experiment, and get better and better with time.

2. Adopt the attitude of embracing uncertainty, risk, failure, discomfort. Instead of being afraid of these and avoiding them, let ourselves push into them and get better and better at dealing

with them each time we practice. In this way, every failure, every moment of uncertainty or discomfort … becomes a wonderful opportunity to practice and get better, something to celebrate!

3. Do weekly reviews — use them to learn, adjust & continually improve. Each daily experiment should be logged — how did you do that day, what went well, what got in the way, what can you learn & adjust going forward. Then take a little time to review each week, and use the data to learn and adjust. This is the kind of structure we need to use the stress in our lives to grow.

4. Use accountability & support. Report every day or every week to people, so that they can support you, hold your feet to the fire, help you see your patterns that are getting in the way. Reporting to other people helps us to learn from our mistakes and failures. Having a group support you also gives you a net that you can fall back on when you fall, so that you don’t have to completely collapse.

5. Build in redundancy. If you have a single point of failure, it’s easy to collapse when things go wrong. For training, I recommend having multiple ways to be held accountable, multiple reminders and checkins/reviews. These might seem a little tedious until we realize they are making us more likely to stick to our training.

6. Reduce things that make you more fragile.

Smoking makes you more fragile, as does unhealthy eating. What makes our training more fragile? Complaining, resentment, and similar negative thinking habits. While we might not be able to avoid these completely, we’re going to try to reduce them, to improve our overall resilience and antifragility.

7. Intentionally inject stress into your life. We don’t want to only put ourselves in comfort, because it trains us to be fragile. But too much stress & pain can cause us to be destroyed (burnout, depression, etc.). So we want to give ourselves just enough stress that we can handle and grow from it. Regularly. So training is to put ourselves into uncertainty & discomfort regularly, when we have the capacity to handle it, and then let it help us grow. Stress, recover, grow.

2020 July Issue | 21

8. Be kind to yourself — but overcome your tendencies.

Beating yourself up doesn’t help. It only makes you more fragile. It is tremendously helpful to learn to be compassionate with yourself. That said, it’s easy to let yourself off the hook. So it helps to bind yourself, when you’re in your best frame of mind, in a commitment contract. Tell people, “If I don’t meditate every day this week, I owe you $100.” Or something like that; it doesn’t have to be money.

Don’t let yourself make the training or challenge easier for anything in the coming week — you can only change your training for days that are further than a week.

9. See opportunities in everything. It’s an anti-fragile idea to take advantage of opportunities.

When good opportunities arise, be able to take advantage of them. For training, it’s good to learn to see opportunities to practice in everything, and then take advantage of those practice opportunities as much as we can.

Leo Babauta

a successful ‘simplicity’ blogger and author from California, the creator of top 25 Blog

The portable, inexpensive method to prevent paint waste-water polluting the environment.

22 | Aussie Painting Contractor

Questions to Ask Ourselves With those things built into the system, it’s good to ask ourselves questions such as: 1. What are the things that are making me (or my business) fragile? Smoking, unhealthy foods, negative thinking, inability to receive feedback, too much debt, too many possessions, etc.

2. What is mission-critical that would cause me to fail if it failed? How can I create redundancy there — have 2 of them? Can I create a Plan A, B and C? 3. What kind of support network can I create (or do I have) that can help me recover quickly when a stressful event or failure happens?

4. How can I optimize for the worst case instead of the best? Not try to be in comfort all the time?

5. How can I see an opportunity in every difficulty?

I highly encourage you to build these ideas into whatever training and self-improvement efforts you’re taking on!

Are you looking for a Painting Apprenticeship?

Find out how...

Are you running a Painting Business?

Grow your business with apprentices!

2020 July Issue | 23

Planning your business recovery

IS LIKE A CHESS GAME

For many business owners and individuals this year’s tax return is going to be like no other. The Covid-19 lockdown and collapse in revenue for some businesses meant that they had to find strategies in a hurry to ensure their survival and chances for recovery.

several moves ahead to stay in front. This requires intimate knowledge of your business performance and critical numbers

At an individual level, a change in income can affect family allowances and the like, which all have an impact on your tax return in the end.

Let’s have a look at some of the impacts these changing circumstances could have on how your business assets could contribute to this.

Business owners who’ve had to severely curtail their operations may have experienced a downturn in jobs and revenue that could have a massive impact on their tax liability during this and the next financial year.

The construction business generally has a high use of tools and machinery that are subject to depreciation of their asset value over time. In the last few months, the construction industry was lucky to be able to continue to operate during the Covid-19 lockdown. However, with the big “R” word now being mouthed by politicians, we know there will be tough times ahead.

When you think about it, it’s a bit like a chess game.

You need to think about not just the next move, but

24 | Aussie Painting Contractor

Why your assets and good will matter

There are ways to manage this from an accounting perspective. For example, when assets are becoming idle for a long period of time, this is considered an internal indicator of impairment and can have tax implications.

Further indicators are • Evidence that economic performance is worse than expected; • Plans to dispose of an asset; • Plans to restructure.

Due to the temporary interruption of operations and potential ongoing uncertainty, an immediate decline in demand and reduction of profitability can be expected. This will undoubtedly affect how you use your assets.

One of the biggest assets your business has is good will which you’ve built up over the years with your customers and providers. That’s why it’s the right time now to look at all your assets and also start engaging with your customers and providers to find out what’s changed in their world. Things could look very different for your customers post-Covid-19 and you might need to rethink how you deliver your services and what kind of products in order to meet the needs of your customers in the future.

Remember to also include reviewing your supply chain and talk to providers what could be done better in the times to come. Hope is not a Business Plan If you think you’re already going well with the measures you’ve taken to ride out the Covid-19 crisis and hope for the best, think again. Unless you’ve given serious attention to how your business has been performing before, during and after easing of lockdown measures, you could go down a path that has unintended negative consequences. Covering your bases is essential.

A planned business recovery is much better than an uncontrolled situation where you simply react to the next crisis engulfing your business.

Here are some suggestions on what to focus on: • review the existing financial administration systems and processes • review your asset structure • check your critical business numbers to assess your current profit margins • review and analyse your last 3 Profit and Loss Statements • identify possible tax minimisation strategies • develop a customised Business Recovery Plan to get your business back on track • develop a customised Tax Plan to minimise your tax obligations and increase cash flow in this and the next financial year • examine your business situation to establish if your business qualifies for any financial assistance from the government, including grants or refinancing plans offered by banks • set short term goals in your Business Recovery Plan to guide your recovery steps • conduct a product or service market analysis to identify new opportunities • develop a marketing, operational and financial plan specific to your business recovery Last but not least. I wouldn’t be true to my profession if I didn’t mention cashflow forecast and budget and expenditure tools. These are by far the most valuable business tools I know.

If you are stuck and need help with a complete review of your business financial health, call my office on 3399 8844. You can also visit our website at www. straighttalkat.com.au and complete your details on our Home page to request an appointment.

Please Note: Many of the comments in this article are

general in nature and anyone intending to apply the information to practical circumstances should seek professional advice to independently verify their interpretation and the information’s applicability to their particular circumstances.

Copyright © 2020 Robert Bauman

2020 July Issue | 25

Aussie Painters Network have developed the tools for you to assist you to become more profitable.

Once you join you will get to pick your gift of choice from the list in the images below.

Join and become a member today to get $200 worth of Welcome Gift!

All these for only $137 ALL FOR ONLY $150/YEAR

PLUS GST

JOIN NOW AND BE AN AUSSIE PAINTERS NETWORK MEMBER TODAY!

How to Make Sure You Get Paid

Top Tips from a Lawyer Cashflow is more important than ever right now and you really need to make sure you get paid for every single job you do. You simply can’t afford to be complacent.

these deposits. This also depends on the nature of the work, whether it is commercial or domestic contract and the contract price.

The most important thing right now is to be clear with your customers about how and when you will get paid.

You need to review your Terms of Trade/Terms and Conditions and your Payment Processes to make sure they are tight enough.

Consider whether you can charge for your work in stage payments.

If you don’t have any written Terms of Trade you need to get some NOW! How else do you expect to get paid for the work if you have no enforceable contract with your customers?

There are a number of different ways to ensure that you have a better chance of getting paid. Here are some suggestions:

Consider different payment structures

• Charge in Stage Payments

If you can reach agreement on charging in stage payments make sure you get agreement in writing. I can’t stress how important it is to keep a paper trail.

Your Terms of Trade will need to set out what each stage of the work involves and then make it clear what the payment expectations are associated with reaching each stage.

You will also need to reserve the right to suspend services if you are not paid for any of the previous stages.

• Change your payment practices

This may be harder with existing customers with existing payment terms but you need to think about this with regards to new customers.

• Get some Money upfront

If you currently work on 60 day payment terms for example you may need to consider changing this to 30 days or less.

But just be aware that there are different rules in each State and Territory regarding the amount of

Again, make sure this is documented in writing.

Getting a large deposit or an initial payment upfront obviously mitigates your loss to a certain extent.

28 | Aussie Painting Contractor

Have a well drafted set of Terms and Conditions Your Terms should include as a minimum the following clauses: • Price The price you have agreed for the services needs to be clearly set out in your Quote /Terms • Payment Terms How payment can be made (e.g by credit card, PayPal) and when it is to be paid.

De discipled about your invoices • You need to have a system for invoicing and follow it ..

• Map out all stages and billing timeframes for each job • Make sure invoicing is done regularly (at least weekly) • Diarise all payment due dates

Without this, how could you claim payment is late if there was no written agreement about the due date for payment.

• Have a system to contact clients with friendly reminders as soon as they are due for payment

• Ability to charge interest on late payment

• Set overdue reminders

In order to be able to charge interest you need to include this right in your Terms, stating the rate of interest and how it is to be calculated.

• If the customer is not responding to you contact a lawyer to assist you with a letter of demand.

• Debt recovery costs It costs money to pursue a debt and you want your non-paying customer to pay any debt recovery charges you incur. But there is no right ‘at law’ to collect these fees and so you must have a clause which states that you have the right to engage debt collection services for the collection of unpaid and undisputed debts.

• Termination provisions Consider adding various different termination provisions setting out the circumstances in which you can terminate the agreement without being in breach.

For example, where your customer fails to pay an invoice by the due date.

• No liability for delay Especially in light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic it is more important than ever to include a Force Majeure clause in your terms – this should provide that you will not be liable for any delay or failure to perform your obligations if the delay is due to any circumstance beyond your reasonable control.

If you need help with your terms and conditions, works contracts or any other commercial legal issue please do not hesitate to contact me. Mention this article for an Aussie Painters Network Discount!

2020 July Issue | 29

50 YEARS A HOUSE PAINTER

This book contains 36 topics of industry related knowledge and information which will help you in the way you operate your business.Topics under headings of; Business Checklist, Staff, Marketing and Sourcing Customers, Professional Behavior, Successful Operation and Looking Ahead.Highly recommended by Jason Osborn, Dulux Business Development Executive as; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;A very easy interesting read, that combines industry facts and great topics.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

www.mytools4business.com

30 | Aussie Painting Contractor

ABRAHAM LINCOLN In past articles you may have noticed that I love to base them around either song titles, well-known sayings or quotes from famous people. For example; two of the articles I wrote about from song titles were, ‘Personality’ by American black singer Lloyd Price and ‘Keep the Customer Satisfied’ by Simon and Garfunkel. To me these are key factors of winning jobs and getting repeat work. The saying, ‘Happy Wife (Client); Happy Life’ is another example of good customer relationship and again, getting repeat work and also, referrals. Then there was the article I wrote making a reference from Napoleon Bonaparte (French military leader and Emperor; 1769-1821) who quoted, ‘If you want a thing done well, do it yourself’. This is sometimes true (maybe even most times) and I must admit, I have been guilty of this thinking too. This behaviour will get you nowhere in your business. You have to learn to allocate work to your employees and not to always rely on yourself to do everything.

Another article was titled ‘The Elephant Tether’. This is how an elephant is trained not to escape from its restraint, even though it may only be a rope that’s tied around one leg.

I questioned the reader then, ‘What was holding you back in your business?’

Now I want to base this particular article around one of my favourite quotes by Abraham Lincoln. He was the 16th President of the United States (from 1861-1865) and he quoted, (in one of his many speeches while in office), ‘You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time’.

(For this article I’d like to change the word ‘fool’ to ‘please’).

I am a true believer of having happy customers. If you can’t ‘please’ 50% of your customers, then you shouldn’t be in business. If you can only keep up to 75% happy, then you should look at seeing where you are going wrong and improve on that percentage. 75%-95%, try a bit harder.

My goal has always been, and what I strive for, is 99.5% to 100%. You may think that this is an impossibility and ‘why’ should you worry about keeping everyone happy.

To answer that question, let’s firstly look at how you have been attracting work.

2020 July Issue | 31

When you initially started in business I can assume your first jobs would have come from family, friends and relatives. I feel I can safely say also, that this would have lasted for about 6 months, and if you were lucky, maybe 12 months until work ran out (there is a limit of how many friends and family members a person can have). Then, as you were not quite established in the market place, you would have had to attract work from paid advertising. This could have been either from Google, media, signage and mailouts, etc. But, as we all know, paid advertising can cost a lot of money. I know many painters that are paying out between $500-$1,000 a month on ‘SEO’ and ‘Pay-Per-Click’ alone. If you estimate you could receive 50 calls in a month and out of that 50 you could get 20 acceptances, this will calculate to a cost of $50 per accepted lead on a $1,000 advertising spend ($1,000 divided by 20 = $50).

There is an old saying that, ‘You have to spend money, to make money’. I get that but, if you can keep your advertising expenses down as much as possible, then excellent; it’s a ‘win-win’ situation.

But how can I do this?

Every business wants repeat customers and customer referrals. Why? Because it doesn’t cost anything for the referral. It is essential to hold on to every customer you do a job for. The one thing you don’t want is for them to call another contractor because they weren’t happy with you or they had lost your details.

Also, a happy client that you have worked for will at one point, recommend you to another person. One particular client of mine referred me to 16 people that led to 12 acceptances. These jobs alone added up to just under $213,000. They then forwarded my name to their friends and family.

32 | Aussie Painting Contractor

Quoting for past clients and referrals will also give you a much higher success rate in winning the quote because they know the quality of your work and that they trust you. For example: If you normally have a success rate of 30-40% on a cold call, you will most likely have a 60-80% success from a referral. A past client should give you a 90-100% success rate. Look at it in the way that every time an existing client calls you to do more work, or refers you to someone else, you are saving around $50-$150 in advertising costs for that quote alone. Over a twelve month period, it would potentially save you thousands of dollars, which is money that can be put towards something else.

So how do you keep your customers? How do you stop them from calling another tradesperson in the future? The answer is: GOOD CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP. Keep in contact with them. Phone them a few months after you finish the job to make sure they are happy with the completed work. Maybe there are a few areas that need to be touched up as they may have damaged something while shifting furniture or putting pictures back on the walls. Offer to go around and fix it up at no charge. If it takes you one or two hours, so be it. They will remember this gesture and keep you in mind for the next time. Make contact with them every few years letting them know you are still in business and if you could be of any assistance for any other work. Sometimes a client can lose or misplace your contact details, so this is more of a reminder to them. Free maintenance checks are also good for keeping in touch, especially if you have painted any clear coatings on exterior decking or timber substrates. These areas need constant looking after and generally require re-coating every 12-24 months otherwise deterioration will occur. You can also offer a gift voucher to them if they referred you to someone and the quote was accepted.

This is all good customer relationship and the best part is, it doesn’t cost you anything. Just a phone call or an email.

Remember: Your present and past clients are your future clients.

Strive to keep them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Jim Baker

www.mytools4business.com

Come and share your painting ideas! facebook.com/groups/aussiepaintersnetwork/

2020 May Issue | 33

Do you have casual employees Employers of casual employees need to urgently review the employment contracts and the parameters under which your casual employees are employed. A number of recent decisions made in the Australian Federal Court and in the Fair Work Commission outline how the courts view casual employment and its not in keeping with how a vast number of Australian businesses employ casual workers.

Firstly, lets look at the decisions and what the consideration for employers are.

WorkPac v Skene [2018] FCAFC 131 (Skene) Skene was employed by labour hire company WorkPac as a ‘fly-in, fly-out’ worker at a mine in central Queensland between July 2010 and April 2012. Each January he was given a 12 month rotating roster of 7 days on, 7 days off.

Skene’s employment contract classed him as a casual employee who would be paid a flat rate that included ‘ a loading in lieu of leave entitlements’. His contract provided for no leave entitlements and termination could be enacted with one hour’s notice.

34 | Aussie Painting Contractor

?

In making their decision in 2018, the Full Court of the Federal Court determined that Skene was not a casual at law on the basis that his hours of work were clear, predictable and set 12 months in advance and that for it to be deemed a casual employment then there is ‘no firm advance [and reciprocal] commitment to continuing and indefinite work according to an agreed pattern of work’. So basically, there must be: • No set pattern of work • No firm commitment for the employment relationship to continue from either party – the employer or employee.

• The ability of the employee to refuse shifts • A degree of uncertainty, irregularity, unpredictability and intermittency in the patterns of work.

It was also determined in this case, that the inclusion of the loading in lieu of entitlements contained in Skene’s contract was not specific enough and as such couldn’t be used to offset the entitlements owing.

Skene was entitled to back pay of his annual leave entitlements at his normal hourly rate.

Chandler v Bed Bath N’ Table Pty Ltd

In this case, Chandler was employed as a casual sales assistant at Bed Bath N’ Table for a period of 8 months before she was dismissed. She then lodged an unfair dismissal application. Casual employees are not automatically entitled to claim unfair dismissal unless they have completed either a 6 or 12 month minimum employment period (depending on the size of the employer) AND they can demonstrate they have a reasonable expectation of continuing employment on a regular and systematic basis.

Due to the size of the business, Chandler only needed to have completed 6 months employment, which she had, so the focus was on whether her hours had been regular and systematic. In making their decision, the full bench noted: • Chandler worked three to four shifts each week with no break in weeks worked • The days the shifts were on varied as did the duration of her shift – sometimes three hours and sometimes eight • Chandler was provided with a roster one month in advance and had to provide her availability to work for that roster in advance • Once she advised her availability to work, she was expected to work that shift and she also had to be available to work ‘blackout periods’ in peak trading times.

The full bench determined that whilst the number and the duration of her shifts varied, the was regularity in that she had worked at least 3 shifts per week for 32 weeks consecutively. Her monthly roster also meant that there was predictability in her employment.

Chandler was deemed not a casual employee and was able to proceed with her unfair dismissal claim.

WorkPac PTY LTD v Rossato [2020] FCAFC 84

The most recent decision is WorkPac PTY LTD v Rossato [2020] FCAFC 84. Instead of appealing the earlier Skene decision, WorkPac proceeded with the Roassato case in the Full Court of the Federal Court.

The Rossato case was similar to Skene, in that, Rossato was employed as a casual on a mine site in a drive in / drive out capacity. He was employed for specific projects and had worked in various mine sites but had completed six consecutive contracts of employment with WorkPac. He was also provided with his roster in advance, sometimes up to 7 months in advance. The

difference in this case was that even though Rossato’s employment contract or payroll didn’t expressly identify the casual loading rate, WorkPac was able to demonstrate that Rossato was paid a higher rate than the rate for permanent or casual employees as prescribed in their EA. WorkPac asked the court that if Rossato was deemed to not be a casual, then their overpayments to him should offset any amounts owing. The court rejected this notionon the basis that the employment contract still didn’t expressly separate the loading amount, nor did it allow for overpayments to be used to offset any underpayments. WorkPac was ordered to back pay Rossato 3.5 years of annual leave, personal leave, compassionate leave and public holiday pay all at his normal rate of pay.

Key Considerations for Employers

Having to back pay casual employees leave entitlements at their higher casual rate is obviously of significant concern for many employers. The key consideration for employers then is to mitigate their risks going forward.

Employers of casual employees should: • Ensure their employment contracts expressly outline how much the casual loading is and what it offsets • Include a clause stating that if a casual is deemed not to be a casual then any overpayments paid to them can be used to offset any amounts owing.

• Regularly review the pattern of hours worked by your casual employees. If there is regularity in the days or hours worked, then consider offering them a permanent full or part time position.

• Be aware of when your casual conversion clause comes into effect. Under the Building and Construction General On-site Award it is six months.

• Ensure that your formal and informal communications around your casual employment arrangements are in line with the true meaning of a casual which is that there is no certainty of ongoing work, employees can refuse shifts and that there is no regular or systematic pattern of shifts.

If you have concerns over casual employment contracts, please reach out to Vanessa from HR Maximised on 0418 190 106 or vanessa@hrmaximised.com.au

2020 July Issue | 35

Settlement Offers HOW TO ACCEPT IT...

I recently had two clients (let’s call them Jason and Peter) who were both offered a settlement deal by their debtors. Contractors Debt Recovery had made adjudication applications on behalf of both of them, and the offers had been received once the debtors had read the case against them. It was clear that they could not produce any valid reasons not to pay my clients.

One client received a letter from the debtor’s solicitor offering full payment within 14 days on the condition that the application be withdrawn. The other client received a phone message from his debtor offering to ‘work it out’.

I discussed the matter with both clients.

Jason wanted me to withdraw the adjudication application as he felt he was sure he would get his money within the 14 days. I was not so confident, but as the letter came from a solicitor it held a bit more water.

So Jason agreed.

course included a ‘no payment, no withdrawal’ rule.

Peter got his money. Jason is still waiting, and faces starting the payment claim process from scratch, or commencing winding up the debtor.

Why the different outcomes? The difference lies in control and power. Peter maintained his position of power and controlled the manner in which he accepted the offer. Jason relinquished his power, and didn’t control the process.

When you get an offer from a debtor to pay, you need to follow these 6 steps.

WHY – should you accept the offer? Are there other pressing reasons why you would entertain an offer?

Perhaps there are other business or personal reasons that are best served if you settle quickly for as much as you can get. This is really for you to decide.

Peter asked me if he should call his debtor back, but he really didn’t feel like talking to him. I advised Peter to fax his debtor a request to put anything he had to say in writing. He did so, and sure enough Peter also got a written offer to pay the whole amount on the condition that the application be withdrawn.

If the offer is an insult, then you will probably want to keep the pressure on. As a general rule, if you’re not being offered at least 70% of what you are owed, it’s a joke of an offer and I’d keep fighting. Your debtor clearly wants to avoid a fight if he can, which is why he’s made an offer in the first place, so keep going.

But this is open to each individual circumstance.

I advised Peter to prepare a letter outlining the conditions under which he would accept the offer, which of

WHO – is making the offer? Don’t negotiate with someone who is not authorized to make payment offers.

36 | Aussie Painting Contractor

LEAD KILLS Find out if the things around you are safe for humans and pets.

Buy your DIY- Sampling Lead Test Kit/Lab Analysis Lead Kit Lead Groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lead Test Kit are the only ones available in Australia.

Even LOW level of lead is HARMFUL CLICK HERE for videos on How to use the sampling kit For donations, CLICK HERE This Lead Safe World Project of The LEAD Group, aims to achieve a lead safe world by 2041

You take the samples and send them to Sydney Analytical Labs.

www.lead.org.au 2020 July Issue | 37

DO

YOU

HAVE

AN

Apprentice?

Aussie Painters Network has partnered up with different RTOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s depending on your State or Territory to provide an exceptional quality, convenient experience for employers and apprentices.

We work closely with employers and their apprentice with access to thorough, easy to use, online training resources, combined with onsite tutoring and hands on simulated work environments in our custom built Painters Training Wheels.

We can come to you, on your site, with

Painters Training Wheels!

Anywhere/anytime they can get online.

We can provide individual guidance with any theory online or practical concepts on the job.

aussiepaintersnetwork.com.au Call : 1800 355 344 or 07 3555 8010

Often you will strike a deal with someone who has been playing with you, just to see how low you will go. Then when you accept the offer, you are told that that person was never authorized to make offers.

This can happen if your debtor is a large company where you might be dealing with project or site managers. Are you sure these guys can make settlement offers on behalf of the company?

So if you are not sure if the offer is coming from a senior enough person, ask them for written confirmation that they are duly authorized to negotiate a payment settlement on behalf of the company. Advise them that you will only consider an offer once you have such confirmation in writing.

WHAT – are they willing to pay for? This is the business end of the deal. How much are they offering? Often you will have a gut reaction to the number once you see it.

Go with that most of the time. If an offer is reasonable it is generally better to accept it and save yourself the time, stress, and cost of a much harder fight.

I would stress here that this applies to ‘reasonable’ offers. Most of the time you will get pathetic offers that your instinct will immediately reject. Often there will be vast slabs of work (often variations) that the debtor will not pay for, instead offering payment for some tiny item of contract works. That is the time to push forward with your adjudication, payment claim, or other recovery process.

The golden rule here is DO NOT MAKE A COUNTER OFFER. If you are offered $30 000 payment on a $100 000 debt, don’t suggest that you will accept $70 000.

This is a road to nowhere, as your debtor will never accept your counter offer.

Remember, your role is to accept offers. It is your debtor’s job to come up with one that you will accept.

That means that you continue your adjudication or recovery action right up to the time that money hits your bank account. If you relinquish this power, you can kiss your money goodbye.

WHERE – will payment be made? Again this is another aspect of controlling the process. Where do you want the money to arrive? It may come to you by couriered cheque. Or a cheque may be sent to your lawyer’s office, or to your office. This step only applies to payment by cheque, but you must define where the cheque will be sent, and advise your debtor accordingly.

HOW – will payment be made? This is the most important aspect of control, because you need to confirm that you have actually been paid before drop your recovery action.

Today there are many ways of moving money around: Most of the time you would accept payment by either cheque or direct transfer into your account. Remember that if you accept a cheque it MUST be a bank cheque. Offer to pay your debtor for the cost of the cheque in order to make it easier for him to comply.

If you can’t get a bank cheque out of him, then you will only consider payment to be made on the clearance of the money, NOT receipt of the cheque itself.

Or you could provide account details for a direct transfer. Evidence of this will be an online receipt. But be careful. I have seen one of these faked using liquid paper and a photo copier. So again only consider payment to be made once you can see the cash in your account.

This will usually be a day after the transfer.

So have a go at writing an offer acceptance letter incorporating all the elements above, and preserve your power, and control the process. Anyone can make offers. It’s your job to turn them into cash.

WHEN – will payment be made? This is the time to impose some control. When you have accepted an offer, the worst thing you can do is relax because ‘it’s finally all over’. This is when it can all go south. When you have a figure you can live with, you need to define when it is due for payment. And I mean ‘when’ precisely. That means a day and time.

This is a crucial step because by imposing this rule you can test your client’s credibility. If they hesitate at any kind of a deadline then you know the offer is not real. They may offer another deadline that you can live with, but make sure that your power is intact.

Anthony Igra

For more great articles and video information about dealing with payment problems go to

www.contractorsdebtrecovery.com.au or call us on 1300 669 075

2020 July Issue | 39

“But I Meant To Get To It” Business owners are busy and even with the best of intentions, there are things we meant to do, that we just never get around to. Failure to do some of these things can cost you a small fortune and be disastrous.

Here are some friendly reminders.

Death and taxes: Facing our mortality is never easy but death is inevitable for all of us. Remember, your death is already a tremendous ordeal for your family, so don’t put further stress by being unprepared. Failure to have a will means the government and bureaucratic processes will prevail. Also, if you have not updated your will in the last 5 to 10 years means it may be out of date. If you have small children, a custody directive as to who will take care of them in the case of both spouses death is also wise. A living will is also in order. Powers of attorney are complicated documents and should never be taken lightly but is your business covered if something happens to you? Being in a coma in the hospital is bad enough but losing your business while you are asleep because no one can sign checks or take care of things just adds to the disaster.

Hire a professional. Get some advice and make sure the basics are covered.

40 | Aussie Painting Contractor

Consider funeral preplanning and payment. It can be a wonderful parting gift for your family.

Prescription lists: Do you have a prescription list in your wallet and readily available? If you have an adverse reaction or are in a car accident, such a list could save your life.

Physical: No matter what your age, set a doctor’s appointment and have a physical. Finding out your vital statistics may save your life.

Offsite computer backup: It would astonish you how many contractors have a manual back up system, think they are covered, crash and have not backed up the system in several months. It is not a question of if your computer system will crash, but when. It is important to have a backup system you don’t have to remember to copy. And it also is important to make sure it works and you can restore the data. Systems have to be restored offsite. Even if you put a disk in a fireproof cabinet, the heat of a fire will destroy the disc. Also, what happens if thieves take all of your computers and also the fireproof cabinet because they thought something important was in it?

Estimating help: If you are the only person who can measure and put together a job and something happens to you, you are going to be out of business once your backlog disappears. If a key employee can do a takeoff, you can advise them on how to mark up the job. Have your spouse or office call me and I will offer some guidance but I am not a technician and I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do square footages or count units.

Document what you own: Have a fire or disaster and it can take forever to count all those missing items and you probably never get it all. With digital photos and videos, it is extremely easy to video tape your office, shop and home. Make a note to do so once a year and make sure the information is kept offsite.

Open cabinets and doors to take photos of what is inside. Just takes a minute and if you ever need them, they are a godsend.

Safety program: Put together a simple safety program and have access to a safety consultant. If someone falls and dies on one of your jobs, it is too late to start thumbing through the yellow pages to find someone to help guide you. Make sure you have safety log books and follow the appropriate systems.

By the way, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t assume if you use subcontractors you are exempt from safety issues. Hire an expert.

Make annual retirement contributions: Contribute to some type of IRA and start early. Countless contractors I encounter think one day that they will sell their business and use the proceeds for retirement. Contracting businesses are hard to sell. Putting all your money into trucks, buildings and other business assets may not be the best long term strategy. Try to balance your wealth. If 5k a year was put in an IRA at age 19 and the return was 5%, you would have over

1.3m at 72. Compounding returns on investments is a wonderful thing but you have to start early and look to the long haul.

Review your insurance: Have a business professional review your insurance. Remember that the purpose of insurance is for disasters not fender benders. Yes, it is expensive but the lowest price may not be the wisest choice. Good business insurance agents are detailed folks who look closely to make sure all the loop holds are covered. Are you insured if an employee has an accident in their vehicle on company time? What about theft and embezzlement? Are you insured if you have a spill into a waterway and have to pay for clean up? What is your liability cap? Working on a 5m house is not uncommon and having an accident that burns it down is easier than you might think.

Electronic bank theft protection: Were you aware that many of the consumer laws that apply to personal banking may not apply to your business account. Have your banker put in writing that if someone hacks into your account, they will cover it. You may be surprised at the response.

I am not trying to be a worry wart but you must be a realist. A little bit of protection can go a long way to protect your loved ones and all those things you have worked to build up.

Monroe Porter

is president of PROOF Management a firm that teaches seminars and runs networking groups for painting contractors.

www.proofman.com

Phone: 13 25 59 Fax: (07) 3877 2285 sales@quickally.com.au

ALUMINUM ACCESS EQUIPMENT

10 YEAR Manufacturer’s Warranty

Supporting the trades of Australia with Quality Aluminum Products

AUSSIE PAINTERS NETWORK

E-LEARNING PORTAL Advanced Estimating Course for Painters - $250.00 Quoting Off Plans Calculating Overheads Hourly Rates and Labour Costs Tendering and Contracting Financial Management for Painters - $150.00 Basic Book-keeping Interpreting Financial Reports BAS and GST Marketing a Painting Business - $150.00 Effective Social Media Web-sites and Marketing Plans Starting a Painting Business - $150.00 Business Structures Workplace Health and Safety Legal requirements Contracting Painters WHS Management - $120.00 Risk Assessment Handling Apprentices Industry Specific SWMS and JSAs Relevant AS/NZ Standards and Codes of Practice WHS Management Plans Effective Customer Service - $150.00 Maintaining a Professional Image Closing the Sale and Following Through Quality Assurance

Painters Safety Induction Course - $20.00 Hazardous Materials Working at heights Electrical safety Manual Handling Spray Painting Safety Lead Paint Safety Lead Paint and Asbestos Awareness Course - $90.00 Testing for lead paint Encapsulation Painting Asbestos Containment and Clearance Chemical Stripping Painting Contractor Business Management - $800.00 Customer Service Financial Forecasting Managing Employees Marketing Resolving Business Disputes - $150.00 Create a Dispute Resolution Procedure Understanding the Security of Payment ACT COVID-19 Infection Control Course - $39.00 (Payment optional at end of course)

Business Continuity Plans Hygiene procedures Preparing your workplace Self-isolation procedures Risk assessment templates

THE DEATH OF THE OPEN-PLAN OFFICE?

Not quite, but a revolution is in the air

“What will it take to encourage much more widespread reliance on working at home for at least part of each week?” asked Frank Schiff, the chief economist of the US Committee for Economic Development, in The Washington Post in 1979.

Four decades on, we have the answer.

But COVID-19 doesn’t spell the end of the centralised office predicted by futurists since at least the 1970s.

The organisational benefits of the “propinquity effect” – the tendency to develop deeper relationships with those we see most regularly – are well-established.

The open-plan office will have to evolve, though, finding its true purpose as a collaborative work space augmented by remote work.

If we’re smart about it, necessity might turn out to be the mother of reinvention, giving us the best of both centralised and decentralised, collaborative and private working worlds.

CULTURAL RESISTANCE Organisational culture, not technology, has long been the key force keeping us in central offices.

“That was the case in 1974 and is still the case today,” observed the “father of telecommuting” Jack Nilles in 2015, three decades after he and his University of Southern California colleagues published their landmark report Telecommunications-Transportation Tradeoff: Options for Tomorrow. “The adoption of telework is still well behind its potential.”

Read more: 50 years of bold predictions about remote work: it isn’t all about technology

Until now.

But it has taken a pandemic to change the status quo – evidence enough of culture resistance.

2020 July Issue | 45

In his 1979 article, Schiff outlined three key objections to working from home: • how to tell how well workers are doing, or if they are working at all • employees’ need for contact with coworkers and others • too many distractions.

To the first objection, Schiff responded that experts agreed performance is best judged by output and the organisation’s objectives. To the third, he noted: “In many cases, the opposite is likely to be true.”

EXPERIMENTS IN COLLABORATION Interest in fostering collaboration has sometimes led to disastrous workplace experiments. One was the building Frank Gehry designed for the Chiat/Day advertising agency in the late 1980s.

Agency boss Jay Chiat envisioned his headquarters as a futuristic step into “flexible work” – but workers hated the lack of personal spaces.

The COVID-19 experiment so far supports him. Most workers and managers are happy with remote working, believe they are performing just as well, and want to continue with it.

PERSONAL CONTACT But the second argument – the need for personal contact to foster close teamwork – is harder to dismiss.

There is evidence remote workers crave more feedback.

Read more: Informal feedback: we crave it more than

ever, and don’t care who it’s from

As researchers Ethan Bernstein and Ben Waber note in their Harvard Business Review article The Truth About Open Offices, published in November 2019, “one of the most robust findings in sociology – proposed long before we had the technology to prove it through data – is that propinquity, or proximity, predicts social interaction”.

Less impressive inside: the floor plan for the Chiat/Day building in Venice, California. MIT Libraries, CC BY-NC

Less dystopian was the Pixar Animation Studios headquarters opened in 2000. Steve Jobs, majority shareholder and chief executive, oversaw the project. He took a keen interest in things like the placement of bathrooms, accessed through the building’s central atrium. “We wanted to find a way to force people to come together,” he said, “to create a lot of arbitrary collisions of people”.

Waber’s research at the MIT Media Lab demonstrated the probability that any two workers will interact – either in person or electronically – is directly proportional to the distance between their desks. In his 2013 book People Analytics he includes the following results from a bank and information technology company.

The atrium of Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California, Jason Pratt/Flickr, CC BY-SA

Be Waber, People Analytics: How Social sensing technology will transform business and what it tell us about the future of wok, FT Press, 2013

46 | Aussie Painting Contractor

Yet Bernstein and Waber’s research shows propinquity is also strong in “campus” buildings designed to promote “serendipitous interaction”. For increased interactions, they say, workers should be “ideally on the same floor”.

BEING APART How to balance the organisational forces pulling us together with the health forces pushing social distancing?

Of course, to do anything like this in most offices will require a proportion of staff working at home on any given day. It will also mean then end of the individual desk for most.

We know COVID-19 spreads most easily between people in enclosed spaces for extended periods. In Britain, research by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine shows workplaces are the most common transmission path for adults aged 20 to 50.

This part may the hardest to handle. We like our personal spaces.

Read more: As coronavirus restrictions ease, here’s how you can navigate public transport as safely as possible

We’ll need to balance the sacrifice of sharing spaces against the advantages of working away from the office while still getting to see colleagues in person.

We’ll need new arrangements for storing personal items beyond the old locker, and “handover” protocols for equipment and furniture.

We may have to get used to wearing masks along with plenty of hand sanitising and disinfecting of hightraffic areas and shared facilities, from keyboards to kitchens. Every door knob and lift button is an issue.

But space is the final frontier.

It’s going to take more than vacating every second desk or imposing barriers like cubicle walls, which largely defeat the point of open-plan offices.

Offices will also need to need more private spaces for greater use of video conferencing and the like.

These sorts of collaborative tools don’t work well if you can’t insulate yourself from distractions.

But there’s a huge potential upside with the new open office. A well-managed rotation of office days and seating arrangements could help us get to know more of those colleagues who, because they used to sit a few too many desks away, we rarely talked to.

Shutterstock An alternative vision comes from real-estate services company Cushman & Wakefield. Its “6 feet office” concept includes more space between desks and lots of visual cues to remind coworkers to maintain physical distances.

Read more: Vital Signs: rules are also signals, which is

why easing social distancing is such a problem

Read more: Goodbye to the crowded office: how coronavirus will change the way we work together It might just mean the open-plan office finally finds its mojo.

Andrew Wallace

Program director of Interior Architecture, University of South Australia

2020 July Issue | 47

The The Industry Industry Idiots Idiots

48 | Aussie Painting Contractor

IMPORTANT

Contacts

Aussie Painters Network aussiepaintersnetwork.com.au

Ph. 0430 399 800

National Institute for Painting and Decorating painters.edu.au

Ph. 1300 319 790

Australian Tax Office ato.gov.au

Ph. 13 72 26 / Ph. 13 28 65

Award Rates fairwork.gov.au

Ph. 13 13 94

Fair Work Building & Construction fwbc.gov.au

Ph. 1800 003 338

Mates In Construction matesinconstruction.com.au

Ph. 1300 642 111

Workplace Health and Safety Contacts Comcare WorkSafe ACT Workplace Health and Safety QLD Victorian WorkCover Authority WorkCover NSW SafeWork SA WorkSafe WA NT WorkSafe WorkSafe Tasmania

comcare.gov.au worksafe.act.gov.au worksafe.qld.gov.au vwa.vic.gov.au workcover.nsw.gov.au safework.sa.gov.au commerce.wa.gov.au/WorkSafe/ worksafe.nt.gov.au worksafe.tas.gov.au

1300 366 979 02 6207 3000 1300 362 128 1800 136 089 13 10 50 1300 365 255 1300 307 877 1800 019 115 1300 366 322

actcancer.org cancercouncil.com.au cancercouncilnt.com.au cancerqld.org.au cancersa.org.au cancervic.org.au cancerwa.asn.au

(02) 6257 9999 (02) 9334 1900 (08) 8927 4888 (07) 3634 5100 (08) 8291 4111 (03) 9635 5000 (08) 9212 4333

Cancer Council Australia ACT NSW NT QLD SA VIC WA

2020 July Issue | 49

Choose 1 (one) from these 4 packages!