ISSUE THREE
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BUSINESS
‘INNOVATION’ HAS BEEN OVERUSED - IT’S TIME FOR ACTION
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MONEY
7 THINGS (ABOUT MONEY) I WISH I’D LEARNED AT SCHOOL
TO IMPROVE DECISION MAKING
PROPERTY
5 REASONS WHY PROPERTY IS A SMART INVESTMENT IN 2017
10
Take
Amanda Gore
WITH CAROLYN CRESWELL
Shares practical and proven techniques to achieve a thriving, happy, productive workplace STEVE BAXTER Page 22
DAVID KOCH Page 16
CHRIS CHILDS Page 12
FORTUNE INSTITUTE Page 60
From the editor HI EVERYONE AND WELCOME TO ISSUE THREE OF THINK BUSINESS MAGAZINE.
FIVE DIFFERENT COVER STORIES
Same great magazine! SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH INGRID INTRODUCE ISSUE 3 OF THINK BUSINESS MAGAZINE AND PREVIEW ALL THE EXCITING NEW CONTENT
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ISSUE THREE
BUSINESS
‘INNOVATION’ HAS BEEN OVERUSED - IT’S TIME FOR ACTION
MONEY
WE HOPE YOU enjoyed the last issue and are proud to bring you another great edition, jam packed with engaging informative stories, interesting facts and figures and expert advice from our panel of contributors including some of Australia’s best business coaches, marketing experts and writers. In this issue of Think Business Magazine we are excited to bring you an exclusive interview with one of Australia’s most well respected financial commentators, David Koch. Better known as Kochie, co-host of Channel 7’s popular breakfast program Sunrise, David is passionate about helping small to medium businesses and shares some of his top tips on how to survive the first five crucial years in business. We also introduce you to “the people whisperer” Amanda Gore. One of Australia’s most sought after motivational speakers and communications expert, Amanda shares the importance of having a joyful workplace and how it can actually increase the bottom line! It’s a must read. Business mogul, entrepreneur and one of the “sharks” on Channel 10’s Shark Tank Steve Baxter shares the amazing story of how he turned his ideas into a lucrative business empire and Siimon Reynolds of The Fortune Institute reveals his top seven business-building strategies.
Simply by scanning the code on the page, using the Layar app on your smartphone, you will be transported to great video footage and extra content, adding a whole new dimension to your reading experience. Amazing! The Blokes About Town catch up for a delicious lunch at Bella Venezia to share their predictions on what key marketing trends we are likely to see in 2017 and beyond, and internationally-renowned business coach Bruce Campbell shares the top 13 things he has learnt along his entrepreneurial journey.
7 THINGS (ABOUT MONEY) I WISH I’D LEARNED AT SCHOOL
ways
PROPERTY
TO IMPROVE DECISION MAKING
5 REASONS WHY PROPERTY IS A SMART INVESTMENT IN 2017
David Koch
10
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looks back on his stellar career and offers top tips for small and start-up businesses
WITH CAROLYN CRESWELL
STEVE BAXTER Page 22
AMANDA GORE
CHRIS CHILDS
Meet Steve Baxter the multi-million-dollar start-up entrepreneur turned investor
INGRID NELSON, EDITOR
4 ISSUE THREE
BUSINESS
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MONEY
7 THINGS (ABOUT MONEY) I WISH I’D LEARNED AT SCHOOL
TO IMPROVE DECISION MAKING
PROPERTY
5 REASONS WHY PROPERTY IS A SMART INVESTMENT IN 2017
Steve Baxter
10
the multi-million-dollar start-up entrepreneur turned investor
Take
FORTUNE INSTITUTE Page 60
ISSUE THREE
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BUSINESS
‘INNOVATION’ HAS BEEN OVERUSED - IT’S TIME FOR ACTION
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MONEY
7 THINGS (ABOUT MONEY) I WISH I’D LEARNED AT SCHOOL
TO IMPROVE DECISION MAKING
PROPERTY
5 REASONS WHY PROPERTY IS A SMART INVESTMENT IN 2017
10
Take
Amanda Gore
WITH CAROLYN CRESWELL
AMANDA GORE Page 46
CHRIS CHILDS
DAVID KOCH
Page 12
Page 16
AMANDA GORE Feelin’ the love Amanda Gore shares practical and proven techniques to achieve a thriving, happy, productive workplace
Shares practical and proven techniques to achieve a thriving, happy, productive workplace STEVE BAXTER Page 22
DAVID KOCH Page 16
CHRIS CHILDS
FORTUNE INSTITUTE
Page 12
Page 60
SIIMON REYNOLDS Make this year your most profitable Siimon Reynolds reveals seven business building strategies to succeed in 2017
‘INNOVATION’ HAS BEEN OVERUSED - IT’S TIME FOR ACTION
4 ISSUE THREE
BUSINESS
‘INNOVATION’ HAS BEEN OVERUSED - IT’S TIME FOR ACTION
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MONEY
7 THINGS (ABOUT MONEY) I WISH I’D LEARNED AT SCHOOL
TO IMPROVE DECISION MAKING
PROPERTY
5 REASONS WHY PROPERTY IS A SMART INVESTMENT IN 2017
Chris Childs
shares her wealth of knowledge on all things business, money and property
STEVE BAXTER Page 22
AMANDA GORE Page 46
DAVID KOCH Page 16
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MONEY
7 THINGS (ABOUT MONEY) I WISH I’D LEARNED AT SCHOOL
TO IMPROVE DECISION MAKING
PROPERTY
5 REASONS WHY PROPERTY IS A SMART INVESTMENT IN 2017
Siimon Reynolds
10
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reveals seven business building strategies to succeed in 2017
WITH CAROLYN CRESWELL
Page 22
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4 ISSUE THREE
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STEVE BAXTER
10
e
David Koch looks back on his stellar career and offers top tips for small and start-up businesses
WITH CAROLYN CRESWELL
Until next time, we hope you thoroughly enjoy this issue of Think Business Magazine. Happy reading!
Ingrid
DAVID KOCH Developing forward thinking
‘INNOVATION’ HAS BEEN OVERUSED - IT’S TIME FOR ACTION
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STEVE BAXTER From startup founder to savvy investor
WITH CAROLYN CRESWELL
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FORTUNE INSTITUTE
Page 12
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Plus, we take a look at what’s happening around Australia’s real estate market and share some of the experts’ tops tips when it comes to property investment. As always, many of our feature stories and columns include the amazing technology of augmented reality.
DOWNLOAD THE LAYAR APP TO UNLOCK EXCLUSIVE VIDEO CONTENT IN THIS ISSUE
AMANDA GORE Page 46
CHRIS CHILDS Page 12
DAVID KOCH Page 16
CHRIS CHILDS Meet the Wealth Warrior Chris shares her wealth of knowledge on all things business, money and property
FORTUNE INSTITUTE Page 60
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IN EVERY ISSUE FROM THE EDITOR ..................................3 NEWS FYI .................................................8 TED TALKS .............................................84
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THE DEBATE ...........................................86 BLOKES ABOUT TOWN..........................90 THE WORD .............................................94 BOOK REVIEW........................................96 FINAL WORD ..........................................98
BUSINESS EDUCATE YOURSELF TO BUSINESS SUCCESS.................................................................12 THE BIG GUZU ....................................................................................................................14 WORK IN HIGH GEAR WITHOUT BURNING OUT ................................................................20 HOW TO SIT, WHERE AND WHY .........................................................................................26 “BUT I ALREADY HAVE A WEBSITE” - EVOLVE YOUR DIGITAL PRESENCE .......................28
ACCESS EXCITING CONTENT WHEREVER YOU SEE THIS LOGO IN THE MAGAZINE
3 WAYS TO KICKSTART YOUR MARKETING ......................................................................32 ‘INNOVATION’ HAS BEEN OVERUSED - TIME FOR ACTION ...............................................34 STEREOTYPES IN BRANDING .............................................................................................36 ARE YOU HEADING IN THE WRONG BRAND DIRECTION? ................................................38 4 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DECISION-MAKING ...............................................................42 THE SCIENCE OF SETTING PERFORMANCE TARGETS .....................................................44 SET YOURSELF UP TO WIN ................................................................................................50 MAKING YOUR HR SYSTEMS WORK FOR YOU .................................................................52
MAKE THIS YEAR YOUR MOST PROFITABLE SIIMON REYNOLDS FROM THE FORTUNE INSTITUTE REVEALS SEVEN BUSINESS BUILDING STRATEGIES TO SUCCEED
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FROM START-UP FOUNDER TO SAVVY INVESTOR ENTREPRENEUR AND BIG PLAYER INVESTOR STEVE BAXTER IS LEADING THE NEXT WAVE OF QUEENSLAND ENTREPRENEURS
A NAME YOU CAN BANK ON DAVID KOCH CHATS ABOUT HIS STELLAR CAREER AND OFFERS TOP TIPS FOR SMALL AND START-UP BUSINESSES
84 TED TALKS: LIFELONG LEARNING NO MATTER HOW OLD OR EXPERIENCED YOU ARE, WE ARE FOREVER LEARNING
88 FIONA SIMPSON GROWING OUR FUTURE THROUGH THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATION
MONEY $PEND IT .............................................................................................................................58 THE GOLD IS IN THE NUMBERS .........................................................................................64 7 THINGS (ABOUT MONEY) I WISH I’D LEARNED AT SCHOOL .........................................66 WHAT TO TEACH MODERN KIDS ABOUT MONEY .............................................................68
PROPERTY STATE OF THE NATION REPORT .........................................................................................70 ALTUM .................................................................................................................................72 FINDING THE RIGHT PROPERTY FOR INVESTMENT ..........................................................78 30 TIPS FOR INVESTING IN TOWNHOUSES .......................................................................80 5 REASONS WHY PROPERTY IS A SMART INVESTMENT IN 2017.....................................82
46 FEELIN’ THE LOVE AMANDA GORE SHARES PRACTICAL AND PROVEN TECHNIQUES TO ACHIEVE A THRIVING, HAPPY, PRODUCTIVE WORKPLACE
Think Business Magazine is a free publication (subscriptions available) published quarterly by Think Publications Pty Ltd ATF Profile Mag Trust. All rights are reserved and the contents are copyright and may not be reproduced without the written consent of The Publisher, Think Publications Pty Ltd ATF Profile Mag Trust (“The Publisher”). Their related companies and officers hereby disclaim, to the full extent permitted by law, all liability, damages, costs and expenses whatsoever arising from or in connection with copy information or other material in this magazine, any negligence of The Publisher, or any persons actions in reliance thereon. Any dispute or complaint regarding placed advertisements must be made within seven days of publication. Inclusion of any copy must not be taken as any endorsement by The Publisher. Views expressed by contributors are personal views and they are not necessarily endorsed by The Publisher.
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CRAIG LEVITT
Social Media Essentials ACCORDING TO RESEARCH FROM SOCIALBAKERS, THE AVERAGE BUSINESS OWNER (WITH A FACEBOOK PAGE SIZE OF 0 TO 9999 FANS), SHOULD EXPECT AROUND 28 INTERACTIONS PER POST.
Pinterest users are more likely to post certain types of content on different days of the week. The most popular categories by day are: fitness (Monday), technology (Tuesday), inspirational quotes (Wednesday), fashion (Thursday), humor (Friday), travel (Saturday), and food and craft ideas (Sunday). Hesitant to bring Pinterest into your social media marketing mix? According to Pew Research, nearly one-third of all U.S. online adults now use the platform. If you’re looking to reach women, it’s even more critical to use the platform, 44 per cent of all U.S. online females use the platform.
SOCIAL MEDIA USERS NOW EQUATE TO AROUND 29 PER CENT OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION. Among worldwide social media users, 2.4 hours is the average amount of time spent on social media activities each day.
WITH THE RISE IN POPULARITY OF FACEBOOK AND LINKEDIN GROUPS, MANY BUSINESS OWNERS ASSUME DISCUSSION FORUMS ARE A THING OF THE PAST. HOWEVER, ACCORDING TO PEW RESEARCH, 15 PER CENT OF U.S. ADULT ONLINE USERS STILL USE FORUMS LIKE REDDIT, DIGG, OR TUMBLR. OF ALL THE AREAS WHERE MARKETERS COULD CHOOSE TO INVEST THIS YEAR, 73 PER CENT SAY THEY’RE UPPING THEIR USE OF VISUALS.
Visual content is clearly an important element of social media marketing. However, according to Social Media Examiner’s 2015 report, 45 per cent of marketers say blogging is their most important content format, followed by visual and then videos.
FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, AND TWITTER probably come to mind first when you think of social media platforms. But did you know Snapchat is quickly becoming part of this elite group? With 100 million users at last count, Snapchat has grown faster than any other social networking site since its inception four years ago. Instagram has now surpassed Twitter in terms of active monthly users. At last count, Instagram had 400 million users, as compared to Twitter’s 320 million. HOPING TO INCREASE ENGAGEMENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA? Getting on Instagram may be the right move. According to Forrester Research, Instagram holds the top spot in terms of user engagement with brands.
How these businesses got their names IKEA
The initials of founder Ingvar Kamprad, plus the initials of the property and village he grew up in, Elmtaryd Agunnaryd.
NINTENDO
From the Japanese name, Nintendou. Nin can be translated as entrusted and ten-dou means heaven.
SHARP
Named after the company’s first product, the ever-sharp pencil.
EBAY DID YOU KNOW? Many of us get antsy when we don’t have immediate access to our phone, internet, or social media accounts. But did you know that Social Media Anxiety Disorder is a thing? While it may not be a recognised mental illness, I think we all know someone who suffers from its effects. This wiki describes it best: “The symptoms of SMAD are variable, but all involve a social obsession with maintaining a reputation or online persona, while ensuring that popularity and communication between parties is consistently active at all times.”
Originally part of the Echo Bay Technology Group. The URL EchoBay. com was already taken by a mining company based out of Echo Bay, Nevada.
7 ELEVEN
Changed from U-Tote’m in 1946 when new 7am until 11pm hours went into effect.
WALMART
Sam Walton, founder of Walton’s Five and Dime, needed a name for the new retail chain of super centers he was developing nationwide.
ADOBE
Named after Adobe Creek, which ran behind the house of co-founder John Warnock.
REEBOK VIDEOS ARE STILL YOUR BEST BET. VIDEOS STILL TEND TO RESULT IN THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF ENGAGEMENT (13.92 PER CENT).
Stylised form of rhebok, which is an African antelope.
LEGO
From the Danish ‘leg godt’, which means to play well.
PEPSI
Named from the digestive enzyme pepsin.
FYI SPONSORED BY:
ATARI
Taken from the Japanese word for when an opponent’s pieces are in danger of being captured in the game Go. (Not unlike the term check in chess.)
VIRGIN RECORDS
Suggested to founder Richard Branson by a friend who claimed they were “complete virgins at business”.
TACO BELL
Named after founder Glen Bell.
COCA-COLA
Named for the coca leaves and kola nuts originally used as flavouring.
MATTEL
From the founders’ names, Harold ‘Matt’ Matson and Elliot Handler.
SEGA
Shortened from Service Games of Japan, which originally imported pinball machines into American military bases in Japan.
ADIDAS
Taken from the nickname of founder Adolf Adi Dassler, went on to found his own shoe company called Ruda, which later became Puma.
STARBUCKS
Named after a character in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.
WENDY’S
Founder Dave Thomas named the company after his daughter Melinda, who was nicknamed Wendy.
NABISCO
Shortened from the original name, National Biscuit Company.
NEWS
FYI. THOUGH IT IS BEST KNOWN FOR ITS SMART PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONICS, SAMSUNG’S OTHER BUSINESS AREAS INCLUDE WEAPONS MANUFACTURING, LIFE INSURANCE, AND THEME PARK MANAGEMENT
DID YOU KNOW... IKEA ran the first commercial in the US featuring a homosexual couple. It was shown once and then pulled following bomb threats to the stores.
Half of the ownership of Domino’s Pizza was once traded for a used Volkswagen Beetle. In 1961, brothers Tom and James Monaghan bought pizza restaurant, DomiNick’s for $500. After eight months, James decided to trade his stake to his brother for the car. 38 years later, Tom sold 93 per cent of his stake for one billion dollars.
THE AVERAGE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY WILL SPEND MORE ON ADVERTISING THAN THEY WILL ON ACTUAL RESEARCH – UP TO TWICE AS MUCH MORE!
The YKK on zippers stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikikaisha. The company makes about 90 per cent of the world’s zippers in over 206 facilities across 52 countries. They not only make the zippers, they also make the machines that make the zippers. Their largest factory makes over seven million zippers daily.
Despite being a high school dropout, Dave Thomas helped save KFC. When he started working at Hobby House Restaurant, he met Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. After serving in the Korean war, Dave bought four failing KFC fast food restaurants, turned them around and sold them back to KFC for $1.5 million. With that, he started his own fast food chain, Wendy’s.
In 1999, Google’s founders were willing to sell the company to a web portal called Excite for under $1 million. However, Excite passed on the offer.
THE FOUNDER OF FEDEX, FRED SMITH, once saved the company by taking its last $5,000 and turning it into $32,000 by gambling in Vegas. The company was on the verge of bankruptcy with no one willing to give them any more loans. Smith took the company’s last $5000, flew to Vegas and played Blackjack. Today the company is estimated to be worth $25-$35 billion.
Crazy Facts! JOANNE ROWLING, BETTER KNOWN BY HER INITIALS J K, does not have a middle name, according to her birth certificate. The use of the author’s initials instead of her full name was a marketing ploy designed to make her work acceptable to boys, who actively choose not to read books by women.
Most watches displayed in advertisements are set to 10:10. According to Business Insider, this is not only symmetrical – and therefore more aesthetic – but also ensures that the watchmaker’s logo isn’t obscured by the watch hands. Apple, however, chooses to display 10:09 rather than 10:10 on all of its Apple Watch ads. We can only assume that this means that Apple is “ahead of the curve,” so to speak.
WHEN FREDRIC J. BAUR, THE INVENTOR OF THE PRINGLES CAN, DIED, HE WAS CREMATED AND BURIED IN A PRINGLES CAN, AS PER HIS WISHES.
RONALD WAYNE, ALSO KNOWN AS THE THIRD FOUNDER OF APPLE ALONGSIDE STEVE JOBS AND STEVE WOZNIAK, SOLD HIS SHARES FOR ONLY $800 AFTER 12 DAYS WORKING WITH THE COMPANY. HIS STAKE, WHICH WAS 10 PER CENT OF THE COMPANY, WOULD BE WORTH $35 BILLION TODAY WITH APPLE’S CURRENT VALUATION.
YEARS AGO HULK HOGAN missed a call from his agent to sponsor a new indoor grill who then gave it to George Foreman, who was also his client. George Foreman earned nearly $500 million off marketing the grill.
BACON AND EGGS WERE NOT CONSIDERED BREAKFAST FOODS UNTIL THE 1920S, WHEN SIGMUND FREUD’S NEPHEW WAS HIRED BY A PACKING COMPANY TO CREATE A MARKETING CAMPAIGN TO INCREASE BACON SALES. According to Wonderful Engineering, the arrow which looks like a smiling face in Amazon’s logo also represents the wide range of items available for retail by Amazon, from A to Z.
The first email spam was sent out in 1994 by the law firm, Canter & Siegel.
Japanese people traditionally eat KFC for Christmas dinner, thanks to a successful marketing campaign 40 years ago. KFC is so popular that customers must place their Christmas orders two months in advance.
FYI SPONSORED BY:
Ben & Jerry’s was originally going to be a Bagel Company. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield changed their minds when they found out how expensive the bagel equipment was and took a $5 correspondence course on ice cream making.
The T-shirt was invented in 1904 and marketed to bachelors who couldn’t sew or replace buttons.
By the time we reach age 65, we will have seen about two million TV commercials.
BUSINESS
SCAN THIS PAGE TO LEARN HOW TO COMPARTMENTALISE YOUR FINANCES INTO COLUMNS
EDUCATE YOURSELF to business success WORDS CHRIS CHILDS, ENTREPRENEUR AND THINK MONEY FOUNDER PHOTO PAULA BRENNAN
STARTING A BUSINESS IS ONE THING BUT MAKING IT IN THE BUSINESS WORLD IS ANOTHER. I HAVE ALWAYS TAKEN THE APPROACH OF ASKING, ‘WHAT DON’T I KNOW?’ FAR MORE OFTEN THAN, ‘WHAT DO I KNOW?’ THAT’S BECAUSE I’M ALWAYS INTERESTED IN GETTING A BETTER RESULT.
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IN 2017 (AMONG other things) I have set some really BIG goals around learning. No matter what I already know, I realised long ago that when it comes to business AND life, you can never learn enough. There is absolutely someone out there who will know more about a particular thing than I do. So I go in search of learning and knowledge. I’m always interested in getting a better result. There are many ways to educate yourself about, ‘What you don’t know’. Firstly, there is so much free information out there on the internet. However sometimes even I can get ‘information overload’ this way. What’s more important is being able to sort the great from the good information. Next is reading books. I have set the goal in 2017 of reading a book a week. That’s right 52 books (and that doesn’t include novels!) My objective is to learn AND implement at least one new thing from each book I read. Whether it’s the internet, a book, attending seminars or getting one-toone coaching I immerse myself in new knowledge. In my business, I coach my clients on what I have knowledge in, reducing dept, creating wealth, goal setting and mindset. Don’t be afraid to engage someone else to help you. If you can get the return on investment you are after, the cost of great advice is irrelevant. For example, why not engage a coach.
IF YOU HAVE EVER CONSIDERED COACHING, HERE ARE 10 WAYS YOU COULD BENEFIT: 1
Getting hard results – coaching can increase your productivity, and lead to bigger profits
2
Deeper learnings – coaching helps you to learn about yourself, how you’re perceived, where you can improve
3
Faster action – coaching can help you advance things faster and with greater precision
4
Self realisation and reflection – By having space to hear your own voice – to talk something through and gain perspective
5
A new awareness – of perspectives, beliefs and attitudes that may be holding you back
At the end of the day, how you move forward is up to you. What I do know is that I’m more likely to find out, ‘What I don’t know’, from someone other than me. And if I educate myself from these people who are already achieving what I want, the probability of my success increases.
6
Clarity on your values – your coach can help you get to the core of what you stand for
7
Ideas for ways to improve that you may not see – awareness of blind spots
8
Cold hard truth – Your coach will often tell you the truth in ways that others won’t
Never be afraid to ask for help.
9
New perspectives – You can get a third-party inspiration for 360-reviews and strategic planning
I have started working with Siimon Reynolds from The Fortune Institute and I am getting so much from it personally for my business that I decided to bring his team from The Fortune Institute to the Sunshine Coast on a regular basis.
10
FOR ALL OF YOUR BUSINESS, MONEY AND PROPERTY NEEDS:
Improving specific skills – communication, delegation, team building, persuasion, etc.
PHONE (07) 5430 4777
CHRIS@THINKMONEY.COM.AU
WWW.THINKMONEY.COM.AU THINKBUSINESS | 13
BUSINESS
THE BIG GUZU
SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH THE TEAM CREATE A PRODUCT FROM CONCEPT TO PROTOTYPE
WORDS SAMANTHA COSTIN PHOTOS NICOLA HOLLAND
AT JUST 32-YEARS-OF-AGE GUZU CEO TIM MOBBS ALREADY HAS SOME PRETTY IMPRESSIVE ACCOLADES TO HIS NAME, INCLUDING AWARDS FOR ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR AND FAMILY BUSINESS OF THE YEAR IN 2016. BUT THE GROUND-BREAKING BUSINESSMAN ISN’T ONE TO GLOAT. IN FACT, HE’D RATHER SHINE THE SPOTLIGHT ON THOSE AROUND HIM, RECOGNISING THAT SUCCESS IS A TEAM EFFORT.
ALWAYS BE PRESENT WITH THE PEOPLE YOU CAN IMPACT THE MOST.”
GUZU HAS BEEN operating for just a few months, but the innovative prototyping company has quickly gained a reputation for it’s out-of-the-box manufacturing processes. It’s the third business venture for owner Tim Mobbs and going by his team-appointed title, ‘The Big Guzu’ has finally found his niche. “I wanted to create a company that brings people’s dreams to fruition and I’ve got to say that I’ve never been so excited before about having a job like this, where I can take an idea and turn it into a product.” Through the cutting-edge technology of 3D printing, the Guzu lab has the ability to manufacture prototypes in any form. From lighting fixtures to cups, mobile phone ideas to electrical concepts, the company is focused on making the creative dreams of its clients a reality, within weeks. “Business is more than just dollars and cents, you have to make a difference in people’s lives,” says Tim. “We recognise that we’re not the only creative people around. There are a lot of smart people out there. The thing that separates us from other creatives that have these great ideas is speed.” Tim has been a family businessman for most of his working life. Starting in his late teens as an apprentice electrician for his father’s company, Mobbs Electrical, he quickly climbed through the ranks to eventually take charge of the business before embarking on his second venture, M-Elec. “M-Elec was probably my biggest learning curve. It went from a company that was just myself creating products with my father in the shed to having
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I’VE NEVER BEEN SO EXCITED BEFORE ABOUT HAVING A JOB LIKE THIS, WHERE I CAN TAKE AN IDEA AND TURN IT INTO A PRODUCT.” around 30 staff, and I’m still the director of that.” For more than nine years, M-Elec has been designing, developing and selling innovative lighting products and is now recognised as one of Australia’s leading LED light producers. Catapulting from the M-Elec launchpad, Guzu gave Tim and the team the opportunity to diversify their lighting designs and create some of their ‘craziest, wackiest, awesomest’ products. Success could almost be his middle name, and despite the judges unanimously naming Tim ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ at the 2016 Family Business Awards, he refuses to take the glory for himself. In fact, when the limelight was shone upon him, he was quick to flick the spotlight to others. “It’s a collaborative thing, I really believe that. You can’t win these awards, especially when it’s a personal award like ‘entrepreneur’ without a team. It’s like saying I’m going to have a race in my car without the engine. People have got to drive it.” The Guzu team operates out of the Innovation Centre, a company that CEO, Mark Paddenburg says is a brilliant addition to the myriad of thriving businesses established in the centre. To have an in-house prototyping guru right at their fingertips is helping company concepts quickly become a reality.
“When I get home at 5pm, I’m there for my family, whatever they need from me, I’m there... It doesn’t matter if I’ve got multiple businesses or one. I don’t want to get to when my daughter is 14 and go, ‘Where has 14 years gone?’, I want to give her the time that she deserves.” For Tim, business is more than just making money, his main goal is to make a difference. A goal he’s already seeing come to fruition with a number of Guzu’s clients. “I love creating product, but if you can help people along the way, it’s like a double tick.” Running a business is a constant learning curve, and Tim Mobb’s is one CEO who’s experience is certainly on the incline. Constantly gleaning from industry greats, this young entrepreneur isn’t slowing down anytime soon. Guzu is presently working with companies and concepts from all over the world, turning dreams into a physical reality, and it’s only the beginning for the team of six who have already achieved so much. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.GUZU.COM.AU
TIM’S TOP THREE TIPS 1
BE FLEXIBLE
“Learn how to work with different people differently. Character profiling is one of the best things that I’ve ever learnt in business.”
2
BE PRESENT
“Focus on the here and the now. I can’t have an impact in Afghanistan right now, I’m here, I can have an impact on the people that are around me, my wife, my children, my staff.”
3
NEVER STOP LEARNING
“Always reply ‘That’s interesting’. I’ve met plenty of people that say ‘I know that’, ‘I know that’ and the conversation is very short… keep furthering yourself.”
A family man from the get go, Tim now lives with his wife and their two infant children, aged two and six months. “I am learning to get minimal sleep and survive off that,” he laughs. His biggest piece of advice for budding entrepreneurs is to always be present with the people you can impact the most. THINKBUSINESS | 15
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A name you can BANK ON WORDS INGRID NELSON PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED
YOU KNOW HIM AS ‘KOCHIE’, THE JOVIAL CO-HOST OF CHANNEL SEVEN’S BREAKFAST PROGRAM SUNRISE, BUT THERE IS MUCH MORE TO DAVID KOCH THAN MEETS THE EYE. HE CHATS WITH THINK BUSINESS MAGAZINE ABOUT HIS STELLAR CAREER AND OFFERS HIS TOP TIPS FOR SMALL AND START-UP BUSINESSES.
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HE’S BEEN A familiar face on our television screens for more than 15 years but David Koch’s career spans much further back than that. Regarded as one Australia’s foremost business and finance commentators, David is passionate about supporting small and start-up businesses. A highly respected finance journalist of more than 25 years and a selfconfessed finance nerd, the 60-year-
old guru has worn many different hats throughout his stellar career, including successful businessman, radio personality, best selling author, keynote speaker, silver Logie nominee, family man, and all around nice guy! But let’s go back to where it all began for this likeable larrikin. “My wife Libby and I had just married and I was studying accounting at university part time while also working.
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One of the students I met was married to the business editor at The Australian at the time. She and I paired up to work on a corporate strategy for a company takeover for one of the subject units and on the back of that, her husband offered me a cadetship in the business section of the newspaper. That’s how it all started really.” David’s love of business and natural talent for finance journalism saw him move quickly through the ranks and after just two short years honing his craft at The Australian, he re-located from his hometown of Adelaide to Melbourne, where he joined BRW Magazine soon after its launch in the early 1980s. At just 26 years of age, he launched Personal Investment Magazine, making him one of the founders of consumer finance journalism in Australia and the youngest editor in the Fairfax Media group. “I’ve always thought a bit outside the square, I suppose,” says David. “I launched the magazine before there was even any money sections in the newspapers. It was a real first.” David went on to launch the magazine in New Zealand before buying a financial publishing company in London for Fairfax, all before reaching the ripe old age of 30. “It was certainly unusual at the time to be so young; back then you had to be old and balding to be taken seriously, a bit like I am now,” he laughs. “At the time I used to lie about my age – I was 30 for about four years before I actually was. Somehow you become legitimate when you turn 30.” Best known for his light-hearted and entertaining delivery of what can often be a dry and confusing subject, David says making a positive difference in the day-to-day lives of everyday people is what drives him. “I’ve always seen myself as a bit of an interpreter about money,” says David. “Money is not that hard – a lot of it comes down to common sense, but the professionals dress it up in jargon and make it so complicated, it turns people off.
“When I was working on BRW as a young journo, I was always thinking how I could make a difference. All the other finance journos were older and most wrote for chief executives of major companies but I figured what was the point of informing a chief executive when they probably know more than I do… but if you can package up financial information in an easily understandable and entertaining way for an everyday person, you are making a much bigger difference. “I think of it like this: I like driving nice cars but I have no interest in what goes on under the bonnet, it bores me witless. I trust someone else do that so I can enjoy the car, and I think it’s the same with people and their money. They want to know enough so they are not conned or made a fool out of, but they don’t want to be the accountant or financial planner because they have a life, they have kids, their own jobs and they just want to enjoy the benefits.”
TRY AND BUILD MENTORS. TRY AND BE INVOLVED IN ACCELERATORS/COWORKING SPACES IN YOUR AREA, WHERE YOU CAN BUILD YOUR BUSINESS AROUND LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE. Breaking away from the conventional, David based the format of Personal Investment Magazine on the likes of Cosmopolitan and Cleo in an effort to make finance news more relatable and interesting for the reader. “I’ve always tried to present it in a way so it’s not only informative but a bit entertaining and quirky, to really break down the fear factor of money.”
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“None of the photos had people in suits and ties – they were banned. We did zip outs and sealed sections and things people were used to in magazines and it worked.” It wasn’t until he was in his mid-40’s that David made the jump to television, when after doing some finance segments on Channel 7 News he was asked to fill in as co-host on Sunrise for three months. That was 15 years ago. “I absolutely love it,” says David. “I always say Sunrise is a hobby that got out of control. It wasn’t something I planned but I have always been one to give new things a go when an opportunity presents itself. “My father had a great saying that really stuck with all of us when we were growing up. He said, ‘Have enough confidence in yourself to give something a go, but if it doesn’t work out, have enough confidence in yourself to go and try something different’. I’ve always lived my life like that and tried to pass it on to my kids.”
When he’s not entertaining us with his tongue-in-cheek presenting style, the super fit father of four and grandfather of five also runs his own business with the help of his children, who he says are he and his wife Libby’s biggest achievement. “It’s a real family business,” says David, “I have about 20-25 people working in it, including my wife Libby who is the director, my 31-year-old son who runs it and my daughters who work in it part time around their children.” And just when you think David’s schedule couldn’t possibly get any busier, he also finds time to head the Port Adelaide AFL Club as its president as well as run a youth centre in Macquarie Fields. And that’s just the way he likes it. “I love it all, I love trying to make a difference, I love building things, whether it’s footy club or youth centre. I love being involved in creating things and helping people.”
But at the centre of all the business is his beloved family, the glue that holds it all together and keeps his feet planted firmly on the ground. “We are an incredibly close family, which brings Lib and I a lot of joy and a lot of love.”
I LOVE TRYING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, I LOVE BUILDING THINGS, WHETHER IT’S FOOTY CLUB OR YOUTH CENTRE. I LOVE BEING INVOLVED IN CREATING THINGS AND HELPING PEOPLE.
DAVID WITH HIS WIFE LIBBY, CHILDREN AND PARTNERS, AND GRANDCHILDREN
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QUESTION TIME WITH DAVID KOCH Think Business: Why do so many small businesses fail within the first five years? David: One of the main reasons is not keeping on top of the numbers. Not many people go into business because they like administration. They go into business because they like plumbing or selling cars or making cupcakes or being a florist, but not looking after the figures is what let’s us all down. We need to make sure we dedicate time to focus on cash flow and the nuts and bolts of invoicing and chasing money that’s outstanding. With packages such as MYOB and Zero, it’s so easy to keep track of your money on your dashboard or mobile phone. The second big one is not having a business plan. A lot of people I talk to say, ‘I don’t need a business plan, it’s all in my head’. I always say, ‘What if you are hit by a bus and if it’s in your head, it’s not in the detail you need for your plan going forward and to be able to check back on’. It’s too easy to forget things. Doing a business plan, monitoring it regularly and following the cash is imperative. The saying goes, ‘Profile is vanity, revenue is sanity and cash flow is king,’ and that is right and determines whether you are going to survive or not. Think Business: How important is an online presence in business these days? David: For most businesses, having an online presence is essential. If you don’t have a website, you are so far behind the eight ball because so many customers now will go to a website to verify a recommendation. If they are not impressed, they will go somewhere else. An online presence that is mobile and able is essential. In terms of social media, it’s all about engaging with the customer base to build a familiarity for them to get to know you and build trust. It’s an ongoing link between you and your customers. Using social media, in many industries,
is now playing an increasingly important part. But always remember, the biggest asset of every small business is the owner. Yes, the customer is important and yes, staff are important, but the biggest asset is you, the owner. Customers want to know you – they want to know there is a living, breathing human being looking after their interests. Also, it’s on you as the owner to continually recharge your batteries. You are the cultural dynamo within your organisation and you have to look after yourself and make sure you don’t get burnt out and you are still passionate, because all that shows to staff and customers. Make sure you are not shackled and hostage to your business, and that you are still enjoying it.
Two, if you are going to try something new, have the confidence to give it a go but if you’re going to fail, fail fast and cheap. Constantly re-engineer your business, think outside the square and don’t be afraid to try new things. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.MONEYMAKEOVER.COM.AU
Think Business: What are the key things to remember for start-up businesses? David: Try and build mentors. Try and be involved in accelerators/coworking spaces in your area, where you can build your business around like-minded people. It’s the loneliest thing in the world to start a business, so if you can be in an environment with other entrepreneurs and have access to mentors, that is the key in running a start-up. I am passionate about start-ups and this new breed of digital entrepreneurs being developed here in Australia. The key is always to be in a program that can give you processes and direction with other likeminded people. Think Business: What are the biggest lessons you have learned in business? David: There are so many and I am still learning. That’s the thing, you have to keep learning and being inspired by people. Number one is always pay attention to cash flow; even really successful people can have cash flow problems.
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Work in HIGH GEAR without burning out WORDS MUFFY CHURCHES
EMAILS GUSH INTO OUR INBOX AT AN UNPRECEDENTED PACE, RESTRUCTURES REQUIRE US TO COVER THE JOBS OF MULTIPLE PEOPLE, WE SPEND THE MAJORITY OF OUR DAY IN MEETINGS, AND EVERYONE WANTS AN ANSWER ‘NOW’. WHAT’S GOING ON?
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ISN’T TECHNOLOGY MEANT to make our working lives easier? Well, yes, but in some ways it doesn’t seem to be working that way. The ease of sourcing information and the potential for making instant connection has simply heightened professional expectations of rapid response, and quite simply, it’s stressing us out. We’re often driving in the fast lane with the parking brake on and the skid marks are signs of our overwhelm. According to a survey by the American Institute of Stress, ‘workload’ was reported as the cause of 46 per cent of workplace stress, beating job security, life balance and people issues. Technology is here to stay, so what can we do to regain a sense of control over the daily barrage we’re confronted with? For once the solution is truly ‘all in our head’. Here are five brain games to play that will help you work in fourth gear without burning out.
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1
DEBUNK YOUR MYTH
Your ‘time’ myth is that thing you believe about your workload that is not necessarily true. My myth was, “No one has as much to do as I do” (the poor me syndrome), but the simple truth was, I didn’t know how to manage my time. Identify your ‘story’. What do you hear your inner voice saying that is justifying your inability to get everything done within working hours? Once you drop the myth, the door opens for a look at potential solutions.
KNOW YOUR ‘WHY’
2
When are you the most dynamic, inspired, vibrant, and energised? When do you snap through your to-do list with piercing goalfocus? For most of us, it’s when we’re working toward a goal that we value and that fills us with a sense of both purpose and passion. Examine your role at work. Are you in the right place to exercise your professional strengths, skills, and passions or are you a round peg trying hard to create a fit in a square hole? Take time to explore what gives you a buzz and work toward manifesting that kind of a role in your work life. Projects and tasks will flow and you’ll feel the stress lift.
3
OWN YOUR TIME
Empower yourself to take a stand when things move past the tipping point of being manageable. Stop being the ‘yes’ person. You can still be a supportive team player, by saying no to something that isn’t within your set of priorities as long as you contribute alternate solutions. Release the perfectionist in you. Give yourself permission to move through assignments without the level of analysis that creates time-wasting paralysis. Don’t bother procrastinating on important action items – you’ll end up carrying their weight like a racehorse with a handicap until you finally complete them. Drop the load and get it done!
PRIME YOUR BRAIN
4
It’s difficult to prioritise when we’re drowning in chaos. Program yourself to think strategically. Create a list of the key objectives of your role then create a pie chart that demonstrates exactly what to spend time on. Working on anything else is working with that handbrake on.
5
In summary – own your time, prioritise fearlessly, and know the ‘why’ behind your efforts!
TRY NEW TECHNIQUES
To up your dynamism and stress less, open yourself up to new ways of doing things. Try The Pomodoro Technique, Ken Hudson’s Blitz-It Technique, and email management best practice such as “How Harry got organised”.
MUFFY CHURCHES MUFFY@MUFFYCHURCHES.COM WWW.MUFFYCHURCHES.COM
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SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH STEVE BAXTER’S JOURNEY FROM ENTREPRENEUR TO INVESTOR
HOW DO YOU START A BUSINESS? Just start. So many people spend too much time planning to start. Once you’re into it and you cut yourself loose you’ve got no choice. Make sure what you’re doing is something people want. A lot of people do market research, don’t get carried away but do light-handed market research; asking your mum and dad whether they’d buy it is not market research, mum and dad are always going to support you, you need to walk up to a total stranger, get them to put their hand in their pocket and give you money in return for something, that will prove people want it because the strongest most valid opinion you’ll get is a purchase. Get help. There are lots of coworking spaces and entrepreneurial support networks, just get in there and talk, you rarely ever find a competitor, so I encourage you to talk lots and get out and do. You’re never going to know unless you do it.
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FROM STARTUP FOUNDER TO SAVVY INVESTOR WORDS NICOLE FUGE PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED
IN 1994, STEVE BAXTER PUT HIS LIFE SAVINGS ON THE LINE TO LAUNCH HIS FIRST STARTUP, A PIONEERING INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER. NOW, THE MOGUL IS AN INVESTOR IN 26 BUSINESSES, ONE OF THE ‘SHARKS’ ON TELEVISION SHOW SHARK TANK, AND IS LEADING THE NEXT WAVE OF ENTREPRENEURS IN BRISBANE.
BACK IN THE “old days” of dial-up modems and web browsers, 23year-old Steve Baxter made his first investment – in himself. Withdrawing his whole life savings of $11,000, Steve launched his first startup, an internet service provider, from the spare room of his Adelaide home. SE Net serviced more than 35,000 customers before it was acquired by Ozemail/UUNet under the stewardship of its founding director and now Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. “At the time, it was the opportunity of the internet, this was back in the day of dial-up modems and web browsers, it looked nothing like it does today, but it was very easy to see where it could go,” Steve says. “To me it was something I wanted to be a part of and I saw the opportunity in the technology to get into business and had a pretty firm belief it was going to be quite revolutionary, and thankfully there was a fair bit of truth to that.”
In 2001, Steve identified another lucrative opportunity and teamed with a schoolmate to launch his second start-up, PIPE Networks. Eight years later they sold it to the TPG Group for $373 million.
IT DOES COME DOWN TO PEOPLE, ULTIMATELY YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH THEM FACE TO FACE, WEEK TO WEEK, MONTH TO MONTH. YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE THEY’RE THE PEOPLE YOU WANT TO DEAL WITH, ON A VARIETY OF LEVELS” Possessing a thirst for knowledge and opportunity, Steve spent a year working with Google in California in 2008, leading a project to deliver highspeed telecommunications systems across North America.
“Google is an amazing company, it’s obviously exceptionally successful, always has been and and it’s hard to see anything in the near-term future that’s going to displace it,” he says. “I spend a lot of my time telling staff it’s all well and good to want to be Google, however if you’re undertaking the practices now that Google has – ‘20 per cent time’ (allowing one day a week for employee to spend on side projects to benefit the business) and the very free and easy way they handle their staff, you’ll probably go broke, because those guys have $120 billion a year in revenue, they can do that. So when you get your $120 billion, you too can do that. “I think it’s admirable that people want to have a company that’s transformational and big, it’s very much a force for good in most respects, but you do that from a position of strength, not a position of weakness. So a lot of the time I say it’s good to have it as something you aspire to, but in the meantime you’ve got to
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have a business, it’s got to generate revenue, it’s got to pay staff, it’s got to pay suppliers.”
to business and the skills to carry off what they claim they’re going to,” he says.
Steve has become a major earlystage investor in Australian startups, with 26 businesses under his wing, and has helped launch a host of companies boasting a total valuation of more than $100 million.
“When I say skills, it’s not always about computer and tech stuff, if you’re selling iced tea, which I have a share in an iced tea company, you need to be good at retail and selling iced tea and understanding flavours. You’ve got to have those relevant skills, that’s very important.”
So what does he look for when investing in startup businesses? “It does come down to people, ultimately you have to deal with them face to face, week to week, month to month. You need to make sure they’re the people you want to deal with, on a variety of levels – they have a really healthy and honest approach
Steve is also a game changer in the thriving entrepreneurial scene in Queensland, launching coworking community and startup hub, River City Labs in 2012. He says co-working spaces are about “engineering collisions”, and bringing
business people together, who believe they compete with each other, and instead making them realise they can be allies. “I’ve rarely met anyone in this town who competes with each other, they all think they do but when you spend a couple of minutes talking to them you realise they don’t, so get them talking to each other, sharing the experience, understanding if they can help out. Some have joined forces through that – a whole is far greater than some of the parts.” FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.STEVEBAXTER.COM.AU
SHARK TANK SHARK TANK has lead to me investing in more than I otherwise would have and then we’ve broadened the types of companies we invest in, so before I would have said we were targeting tech startup companies, now we’ve got businesses that are in other industries – indoor skydiving businesses, camping goods companies, iced tea companies. BEFORE SHARK TANK I had no idea how hard inventory was, tech startups don’t have inventory, so that has been challenging; and understanding the retail strata of Australia, given the proliferation of the Coles and Woolworths franchises is what we’ve got to work with, there are all sort of challenges getting things stocked and shelf space and orders and dealing with the various interesting terms the two big guys offer.
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WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE YOU EVER RECEIVED? I had an accountant in Adelaide who was fantastic, he was our suburban accountant when we first started, because we started out of a house. He gave me three great pieces of advice: “NEVER TREAT YOUR BUSINESS AS A CASH REGISTER” Never stick your hand in the till to go and buy a pie and Coke at lunch time, you pay yourself like an employee, you take other money out of the business as a dividend, so run it as a professional business. “NEVER SPEND A BUCK TO SAVE 50 CENTS” That was specifically related to tax time savings, just because something is cheap and it’s nearly June 30, doesn’t mean you should buy it, if you don’t need it, you don’t need it. If you’re going to spend a buck to get a 50 per cent claim back on your tax it’s ridiculous. “THIS BUSINESS IS TOO BIG, GET ANOTHER ACCOUNTANT” He helped us grow by firing himself.
STEVE HAS BECOME A MAJOR EARLYSTAGE INVESTOR IN AUSTRALIAN STARTUPS, WITH 26 BUSINESSES UNDER HIS WING, AND HAS HELPED LAUNCH A HOST OF COMPANIES BOASTING A TOTAL VALUATION OF MORE THAN $100 MILLION.
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SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH ALLAN PEASE’S PRESENTATION ON BODY LANGUAGE
HOW to sit, WHERE, and WHY THE ROUND TABLE
WORDS ALLAN PEASE
The round table, often a coffee table with wraparound seating or lower chairs, is used to create an informal, relaxed atmosphere or to persuade. King Arthur used this to give his knights equal authority. Theoretically, everyone is equal, but in practice, if someone at the table is higher status than the others, it alters the power distribution. The nearer you sit to the king, the more power you have.
DID YOU KNOW IT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAY, IT’S WHERE YOU SIT. BODY LANGUAGE IS THE UNSPOKEN COMMUNICATION TOOL WHICH CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOU IN BUSINESS. HERE’S THE LOWDOWN ON THE COMMON SEATING PLANS USED BY TODAY’S BUSINESS EXECUTIVES. WHERE YOU SIT in a business situation says a great deal about your status and can greatly influence your relationships with your coworkers. People who are engaged in friendly, cooperative conversation will sit next to each other or on either side of a corner of a table, whereas those engaged in confrontation will sit opposite one another.
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THE RECTANGULAR DESK The rectangular desk, which is usually the work desk, is used for business activity, brief conversations, reprimands and so on. It lets everyone take a ‘position’ on a subject and encourages direct eye contact.
AND IT’S NOT JUST WHERE YOU SIT, IT’S WHAT YOU’RE SITTING ON Have you ever been for a business meeting and felt overwhelmed or helpless when you sat in the visitor’s chair? It is likely that the other person had cunningly arranged their office to raise their own status and power, and lower yours. Here’s what to watch out for:
1
SIZE AND ACCESSORIES
2
HEIGHT
3
LOCATION
The height of the back of the chair raises or lowers a person’s status. The higher it is, the more power and status the person is perceived to have. How much power would the Queen or the Pope have if they were always sitting on a small piano stool? Swivel chairs have more power and status than fixed chairs, allowing the user freedom of movement when under pressure.
Status is gained if your chair is higher from the floor than the other person’s. Some advertising executives are known for sitting on high-backed chairs that are adjusted for maximum height, while their visitors sit opposite, in the defensive position or on a sofa or chair that is so low their eyes are level with the executive’s desk.
SQUARE TABLES Square tables create cooperation from the person beside you but resistance from those opposite, and when four people are seated, everyone has someone sitting opposite them. Square tables belong in canteens.
Most power is exerted on a visitor when their chair is placed directly opposite. A common power-play is to place the visitor’s chair as far away as possible from the executive’s desk, further reducing the visitor’s status. Avoid being stuck in any physical position that takes away your confidence or presence. Excerpt from Body Language in the Work Place, by Allan and Barbara Pease
ALLAN PEASE
PHONE: (07) 5445 5600 EMAIL: INFO@PEASEINTERNATIONAL.COM WEBSITE: WWW.PEASEINTERNATIONAL.COM
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“But I already have a website”
EVOLVE YOUR DIGITAL PRESENCE WORDS PAT WALSH
EVERYONE KNOWS THAT HAVING A WEBSITE IS MANDATORY FOR EVERY BUSINESS AND INVESTING IN A WEBSITE HAS BECOME A NORMAL PART OF EVERY BUSINESS OWNERS START UP CHECKLIST. BUT IT’S SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH TO HAVE AN ‘ALRIGHT’ WEBSITE ANYMORE. IF YOU WANT TO STAND OUT FROM YOUR COMPETITION YOU NEED AN INSPIRING WEB PRESENCE THAT GROWS WITH YOU, AND THAT IS USEFUL AND MEANINGFUL TO YOUR CUSTOMER.
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JUST BECAUSE YOUR business is where it is today, doesn’t mean that is where it will be in a year from now. You will grow. You might hire more staff, develop new offerings, enter a new market or expand your target audience. This growth, while exciting, can end up being quite expensive if you need to build an entirely new website every 6 or 12 months. So, how can you create a website that is meaningful to your customers and inline with your business objectives both now and into the future?
TREAT YOUR WEBSITE AS A CONTINUING EXTENSION OF YOUR BUSINESS Your website should be informed by your broader business and marketing goals and just as you continually assess and update your objectives, you need to ensure that your website is flexible
enough to both cater for and help to achieve those goals. Here’s how: • Make sure you have a strong foundation with well developed branding and a clear visual style for your brand across all channels • Build a relationship with a developer or agency who can make changes for you - its great to set up a retainer so you know you have some budgeted hours dedicated to updating your site frequently • Invest in training and build your skills so that you can make fast changes to areas of your website yourself
AGILE - ABLE TO MOVE QUICKLY AND EASILY.
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HAVING A C.A.N.I (CONSTANT AND NEVER ENDING IMPROVEMENT) APPROACH TO YOUR WEBSITE MEANS YOUR DIGITAL PRESENCE IS ABLE TO GROW AND PIVOT WITH YOUR BUSINESS AND THE NEEDS OF YOUR CUSTOMER. - NITA CHILDS
BUILD YOUR WEBSITE USING A CMS THAT ALLOWS FOR EASY UPDATES AND FLEXIBLE GROWTH You can save yourself so much time and money down the track if you start with the right technology and it all begins with your CMS. Your CMS, or Content Management System, forms the basis of your website. If you choose something flexible and robust you can start by building a solid base website, perhaps with a home page, about page, blog and a few conversion pages. Then as your business grows you can add functionality as you need it. As your business grows and your understanding of your customer’s needs becomes more sophisticated you can hand pick the functionality that is important to them and create more well defined customer journeys and sales funnels. THINKBUSINESS | 29
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advertising, email marketing and offline sales processes should all have clear pathways to your website.
CONTENT Great content is the starting point for a great website and updating content regularly is essential for both SEO and customer satisfaction. Your content should be carefully crafted around your marketing strategy. Think about keywords that your customers would use when searching for your business.
DESIGN AND USER EXPERIENCE
When designing a website, we think about how the user is going to engage with it. Is there a particular action you want your user to do when they visit your site? The best design should make navigating your site effortless.
IT’S NEVER BEEN MORE IMPORTANT THAN NOW TO HAVE A WEBSITE THAT GROWS WITH YOU. BY HAVING AN AGILE WEBSITE YOU ENABLE YOURSELF TO ADAPT AND GROW, CONSISTENLY DELIVERING A REMARKABLE EXPERIENCE FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS. IT HELPS YOU TO STAND OUT FROM YOUR COMPETITION.
WE KEEP MOVING FORWARD, OPENING NEW DOORS, AND DOING NEW THINGS, BECAUSE WE’RE CURIOUS AND CURIOSITY KEEPS LEADING US DOWN NEW PATHS - WALT DISNEY
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THE KEY INGREDIENTS FOR A WEBSITE THAT CAN GROW WITH YOUR BUSINESS MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGY Firstly get to know your business inside and out! Who are your customers and what they are looking for! Your website plan should be informed by sound strategy. Your website should be an extension of your brand and should reflect the personality and values of your brand at all touchpoints. Make sure that your key messages are clearly articulated and that your website design and in particular your homepage is focused on the benefits your customer receives by choosing you over your competitor. Build your marketing strategy around your website. Your social media, traditional
Every interaction is an opportunity to surprise, delight and engage your users! Ask yourself “what am I trying to motivate my customer to do on this page?” and make sure that the navigation and design of the site makes it easy for your user to take that action.
TECHNOLOGY AND CODE Your customers usually want a functional experience over a fancy one. Make sure that your website is easy to use and navigate and is accessible on desktops, laptops, tablets and smart phones. Bear in mind, that most of your customers are probably searching for you from their smart phones now, so this might be where you want to ensure that your build works well in this format. Where possible, your website should be built in a way that makes future additions easy and cost effective.
TRAFFIC AND SOCIAL Use best-practice SEO techniques to generate ‘organic’ traffic to your website. You can leverage social media to build awareness and drive visitors to your site. Think about splashing some cash and investing in paid digital advertising. Depending on your service offering, the results may pay off.
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ADMITTEDLY, DIGITAL IS STILL ONLY ONE PART OF THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. BUT FROM WHAT WE’RE LEARNING FROM COMPANIES AND THEIR CONSUMERS, IT’S THE ONE MOST DESERVING OF IMMEDIATE ATTENTION AND INVESTMENT. - CRAIG BOROWSKI
ANALYTICS AND METRICS Know what you want your site to do and measure it over time. If it’s not working, modify your strategy! Use data, for example, Google Analytics to inform your future business decisions.
ONGOING EFFORT Building your website is only the first step. In order to maintain a google ranking you will need to plan ahead for what you’ll do after the site has gone live. Think about the promotions, posts or content that you can add on a periodic basis. Not only will this keep
THREE PATHS TO BUILDING A WEBSITE DO-IT-YOURSELF (THE OLD DIY)
There are so many tools and services available online that will help you build your own website. If you’ve got time and you’re a bit tech savvy, going DIY may be a good option. This is the most budget friendly option and you get to make all the decisions. However, finding a template to do exactly what you want is pretty much impossible. And, sometimes it is just much easier to engage an expert. After all, you wouldn’t encourage your customers to do it themselves! OUT-SOURCING OVERSEAS
There are services where you can get a designer or developer in another country to build your website for you. More often than not, the price tag for this is pretty appealing. We’ve heard of people who have had amazing experiences with out-sourcing, we’ve also built countless sites for clients who paid for an out-sourced site, didn’t get what they wanted, and then paid again to have it done properly.
your business at the front of your customers mind, it will also ensure that Google continues to see you. Using the data you get from your Analytics, you will be able to generate new ideas to implement on your site. You can also use data around the number of visitors you have to your site and the conversion rates of visitors to leads and leads to customers. Sometimes the ROI of your website isn’t just about direct monetary income but in the increasing value of your brand in the marketplace and in the hearts and minds of your customers.
CREATIVE AGENCY
There are big and small agencies, and agencies that specialise in specific types of projects. There will be multiple people working on your project, you get access to more brains and more experience in areas such as marketing, design, web development, social media, user experience design, public relations, business development and strategy.
WANT TO MAKE YOUR WEBSITE WORK HARDER FOR YOU? LETS LOOK AT HOW USING INBOUND MARKETING CAN ACCELERATE YOUR WEBSITE’S RESULTS IN CREATING LEADS AND CUSTOMERS FOR YOUR BUSINESS 1. YOUR WEBSITE AND ALL OF ITS CONTENT SHOULD BE DICTATED BY YOUR CUSTOMER PERSONA. Get to know who your customer is and what they need. Every single piece of content on your website should aim to attract, convert, close and delight your persona. 2. CRAFT BEAUTIFUL CONVERSION FUNNELS THAT NURTURE YOUR CUSTOMER THROUGH THE JOURNEY. Using enticing CTAs (call to actions), well designed landing pages and delightful workflows to stay in touch with your customer will create a natural, comfortable conversion that helps you to build trust with your audience.
You have more continuity for your project, even if designers or developers leave, the agency will still be able to support you and answer your questions long term. Agencies have policies and procedures in place that give your project a better framework and aim to ensure that all parties get what they expect when it comes to project outcomes, billing, intellectual property rights, disputes and conflict resolution. Using an agency to build your website is going to be the most costly path to take, but at the end of the day, you get what you pay for.
INFO@WHATTHEFOX.COM.AU WWW.WHATTHEFOX.COM.AU
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Three powerful ways to KICKSTART your marketing WORDS AMANDA STEVENS
WANT 2017 TO BE THE YEAR YOU REALLY KILL IT WITH YOUR MARKETING? HERE ARE THREE WAYS TO IMMEDIATELY IMPROVE YOUR ROIMD (RETURN ON INVESTED MARKETING DOLLAR).
1
REVAMP YOUR BUSINESS PERFORMANCE DASHBOARD
AS THE PILOT of your business, what gauges and controls are on your dashboard? Without the right indicators, you have no way of determining the optimum altitude and speed to get your business to your desired destination. If you’re monitoring your business and making management decisions based on a traditional profit and loss statement, it’s time to think about a more useful, proactive set of metrics, rather than just measurement for measurement’s sake. Justin Dry, co-founder of online wine juggernaut and 2015 online retailer of the year Vinomofo, takes a unique approach to business metrics. Vinomofo is an Australian online wine brand that has set an enviable pace for other e-tailers to follow. Since its launch less than seven years ago, its sales have grown to over $50 million per annum. With a soaring online business and every conceivable report on consumer behaviour at their fingertips, Vinomofo’s management runs their business with a dashboard that might perplex most business owners.
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SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH AMANDA STEVENS MINI MARKETING MESSAGES
According to co-founder Justin Dry, they have a different set of metrics today than they did in the early days. “Many business owners measure things that they think they should be measuring, but they’re reports that don’t have a lot of depth or meaning,” he says, admitting that it was a trap he fell into in the early days of Vinomofo. “Today we track more meaningful metrics such as customer happiness,” Justin adds, explaining that there is a definitive link between that and financial return. “We know that if our customers are happy and having a great experience with Vinomofo, sales are up, average dollar spend is up and our return on invested marketing dollar is healthy.” Focusing on the happiness of customers has simplified the dashboard of metrics and given the broader team a solid focus. “If you have happy customers, everything else looks after itself,” says Justin.
OTHER METRICS TO CONSIDER INCLUDING ON YOUR 2017 DASHBOARD AND MONITOR ON A WEEKLY OR MONTHLY BASIS: Number of new enquiries Number of new customers Average dollar spend per customer per transaction Average number of transactions per customer Number of positive online reviews Social media growth/ engagement
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2
CONSIDER OUTSOURCING
Outsourcing is a touchy subject for many people and I’ve had many business owners challenge me on the argument for outsourcing. So firstly, to debunk some myths and mistruths about outsourcing:
are operating in a global 1. We economy. Regardless of whether or not your business operates beyond Australian shores, staying competitive means operating with a global mindset.
2.
Hiring offshore staff does not mean you’re taking away jobs from Australian workers. Once you explore how outsourcing can benefit your business, you’ll realise that you can afford to fill positions – part time and full time – you just wouldn’t be able to with locally based employees.
often creates jobs for 3. Outsourcing Australians. Outsourcing is not
always about cutting your wages bill and reducing overheads, it enables you to leverage resources and free your time to grow your business in new and exciting ways, which often creates jobs locally.
staff are easy to 4. Outsourced manage. By utilising the incredible
technologies we have access to, managing an offshore staff member can be as simple and seamless as having them in your business (without all the associated overheads). THERE ARE LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF WAYS YOU CAN USE OUTSOURCING, BUT HERE ARE FIVE TO CONSIDER AS A START: ADMIN AND BOOKKEEPING Having an offshore virtual assistant and/ or bookkeeper can significantly reduce your costs for low-level data entry and bookkeeping, allowing you to invest more money into marketing and growing your business. MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA Imagine if you had a dedicated marketing assistant for three days a week to help you with data entry, social media management, campaign management, publicity and even list building. For just a few hundred dollars a week, all this is possible.
3
BUDDY UP
Ever considered joint venture marketing? It’s a marketing exercise where you tap into the customer list of another business, and vice versa. For example, a joint venture might exist between a hair salon and fashion boutique, where the salon and the boutique owner might agree that each will endorse the other business to their respective customer lists in the form of a special offer. This is what’s called a two-way JV. Another option could be a one-way campaign, where you negotiate a JV promotion with another business that has your ideal client base by constructing an offer to be promoted to that database. You might pay a percentage of sales to the JV partner as a reward for access to their list or reward them in some other way.
You could even make your joint venture arrangement purely social media-based, where you both agree to a series of promoted posts on your Instagram and Facebook feeds. Or you could run a VIP night, seminar or event exclusively for your JV partner’s clients. As you can see, the format of your JV is limited only by your imagination. The best way to get started on joint venture marketing is to do just that – get started. Sit down and write a list of businesses or brands in your area that are complementary to you – in other words, they have a similar target audience. Approach them with a JV concept and see where the discussion takes you. It could be the start of a whole new customer base for you .
BLOGGING AND WEBSITE UPDATES If keeping your website and online content is costing you more time and money than you’d like, a dedicated offshore resource to manage this will cost you a fraction of someone in Australia. CUSTOMER SERVICE Imagine if you had a dedicated customer service person to follow up on orders and add that personal touch to every transaction and generate repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals. With an outsourced resource, that level of service is affordable. VIDEO MARKETING If you want to dominate social media this year, video content is a must – it is the most effective way to grow your reach and engagement. An offshore video editor makes producing professional video content quick and affordable. The best way to explore exactly what outsourcing can do for your business, sit down and write a list of all the things you do in your business that someone else could do. Once you offload all the tasks and jobs that take up your time unnecessarily, you can invest more time and money in marketing your business.
AMANDA STEVENS FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.AMANDASTEVENS.COM.AU
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“Innovation” has been overused – time for action WORDS MARK PADDENBURG
I AM CONFIDENT THAT 2017 WILL BE THE YEAR OF ACTION FOR AUSTRALIA, WHERE THERE IS MUCH LESS TALK ABOUT INNOVATION BY POLITICIANS AND CORPORATES AND A FAR GREATER FOCUS ON REAL INNOVATION OUTCOMES THAT DRIVE NEW SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFIT. WITH THIS CHANGE WILL BE A RECOGNITION THAT SMALL, AGILE ENTREPRENEURIAL BUSINESSES ARE OFTEN DRIVING INNOVATION AND PUSHING BOUNDARIES BECAUSE THEY BACK GREAT IDEAS WITH ACTION. COMPANIES OR INDIVIDUALS cannot innovate until they back great ideas with great execution, and bring value and make a positive difference in people’s lives. Innovation is a mindset and attitude that is all encompassing for successful entrepreneurs – it pervades the cultural DNA of the company. Entrepreneurship is certainly thriving on the Sunshine Coast – a fact that is recognised by demographer Bernard Salt and futurist, VC, publisher Daniel Petrie. The US Fortune 500 and most Australian corporates have already flipped their strategies to try and mimic lean startups by being more agile and customer centric – if that fails, their plan B is to acquire relevant startups for their innovation, IP, people and customer relationships. Beware complacent, arrogant incumbents – as described by Daniel Petrie, “disruptive innovation will eat your lunch”, and there are no national boundaries.
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In this hotly contested field of innovation, leadership and entrepreneurship, the Sunshine Coast has a reputation for punching above its weight as demonstrated by these facts: •
Smart 21 Award and game changer projects (being implemented – not talked about).
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Seven of 32 Hackerthon awards to Sunshine Coast entrepreneurs.
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Two United States based startup companies have moved to the Sunshine Coast making the Innovation Centre and Spark Bureau their home base for the next six months to build their business.
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After hosting the first Asia Pacific Startup Weekend (youth) in 2014, over 12 local Sunshine Coast schools (both public and private) have successfully embedded the lean startup framework into the classroom.
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Sunshine Coast hosted the first national Young Innovators Day with Stockland, Code Club of Australia and USC (December 2016).
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The Innovation Centre welcomed 21 new entrepreneurial members in 2016.
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Typefi Systems won the 2016 Small Business Exporter of the Year Award (National/State Export Awards) and has become a worldleading provider of automated publishing software.
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IDcare is a global leader in cyber security response protocols.
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Seven Innovation Centre entrepreneurs were nominated as finalists for various Sunshine Coast Business Awards including AusIDentities, Sunlife SuperFoods, Hive Haven, Italic, Innovate Media, Spare Harvest, TruTeq.
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• In 2017 the Innovation Centre will have its 15th anniversary and we’re excited to announce a new food industry accelerator program with funding from Advance Queensland and an exciting partnership with the Food and Agribusiness Network (FAN). • The accelerator program will assist up to 15 food entrepreneurs that are looking to scale their product regionally or nationally and helps them aggressively scale their business, grow their brand and develop a competitive business strategy.
•
Daniel Proctor, Founder of Student WOW Card won the Sunshine Coast Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
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USC engage lab, with expanding makerspace and prototyping capability.
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Innovation Centre secures commercialisation expert Dr Peter Isdale, AM as new Chairman.
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World class mentor panel and professional partnership are paying it forward for Innovation Centre members.
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Spark Bureau and SunCentral have partnered to build a national smart city incubator/accelerator.
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Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson is guided by a Futures Board strong on commercial acumen and now has a highly capable economic development team with runs on the board.
Is it any wonder the Sunshine Coast has become a strong destination of choice for entrepreneurs and innovators? This title will only be strengthened by the following trends: •
•
Increased numbers of resilient, home grown entrepreneurs like Schoolzine, FoodMatters, CloudDC, atmail, Concerotel and Retail Express with local HQ and a global customer base. More baby boomer entrepreneurs and corporates selling up in the capital cities and backing or
• The Sunshine Coast has an amazing entrepreneurial ecosystem and if your business needs to access the growing talent pool in the region, contact the Innovation Centre. Check out our programs and networking events and if we can’t assist we’ll direct you to the right area of expertise by completing the website contact form, visit www.innovationcentre.com.au.
investing in local startups and high growth companies. •
NBN rollout, 5G and other enabling technology will encourage more regional development centres/ telecommuting and jobs transfer to this region.
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Ten quality co-working options enticing more innovators out of the capital city hustle and grind.
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USC continues to “rise and shine” with additional capability and impactful flagship areas.
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A recognition by policy advisors that more conducive regional policy settings provide greater ROI.
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New regional funding from AusIndustry and the Queensland Government’s Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation.
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Seven high value industry sectors and game changer projects that will develop a $30 billion economy by 2033.
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Strong local leadership and a reputation for being a collaborative, innovation hub.
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The Innovation Centre is playing its part and since 2002 we’ve been home to over 165 startup and high growth businesses, creating over 720 jobs, 200 student placements and $60 million in economic value for the Sunshine Coast.
•
Innovation (new ideas successfully applied) is good for the dynamic Sunshine Coast – it helps boost and diversify the economy with increased employment, exports and a range of new opportunities.
MARK PADDENBURG
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER SUNSHINE COAST INNOVATION CENTRE INNOVATIONCENTRE.COM.AU
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STEREOTYPES in branding WORDS PAUL A BRENNAN PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED
SOMETIMES STEREOTYPES HAVE A NEGATIVE CONNOTATION AROUND THEM, WHICH CAN INADVERTENTLY REFLECT YOU, YOUR BUSINESS OR YOUR BRANDING. THIS IS WHY IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO TAKE A UNIQUE APPROACH TO YOUR PERSONAL BRANDING AND THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX WHEN IT COMES TO CORPORATE PORTRAITS. LET’S LOOK AT the definition of stereotype – “A widely held, but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.” Most individuals do not like the feeling of being put in a box. And most businesses want to be seen as unique, and don’t want people to make assumptions based on what industry they are in. So why do so many in business try to conform or visually identify themselves with the stereotypical image for their industry?
WE NEED TO BE AWARE OF THE AUTOMATIC ASSUMPTIONS THAT PEOPLE MAKE ABOUT US BASED ON STEREOTYPES. WHY? SO WE CAN NEGATE THEM WHEN THEY WORK AGAINST US. - Katie Konrath
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The same way stereotypes in the social landscape can have negative effects on society, in business they too can be dangerous – consumers assume that all people of a certain group are exactly the same, subconsciously putting them in the same ‘box’ and negating their true identity. This often leaves you vulnerable to being tarred with the same perceptions (albeit positive or negative) as everyone else in your industry if you continue to present yourself and your brand the same as everyone else. In this digitally social age, personality and authenticity are the keys to creating connections, so the necessity to stand out from the crowd – rather than conform with it – is the key to not only attracting people to you, but the right people to you.
PAULA BRENNAN WWW.PAULABRENNAN.COM.AU (07) 5326 1668
SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH PAULA AND HER PASSION TO CREATE UNIQUE BRANDING TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS WITH CONFIDENCE
CASE STUDY We have all had experiences with real estate agents, be it good or bad, and we have all seen the countless standard real estate snaps, where the agents are all ‘carbon copies’ of each other. Now I am not suggesting that these images do not serve a purpose, but I think as consumers we can all get a little jaded by seeing the ‘same’ images of agents on the corflute signs and in print and digital advertising. How does a consumer differentiate one from the other, when a lot can look quite similar? No matter how great your photo is, if you follow the same formula, unfortunately it may tie you to a stereotypical or preconceived view of what a real estate agent is.
So how refreshing it was to create a collection of images for Jason Mills of Ray White that really made a statement about who he is. Rather than wanting to blend in with his peers, Jason wants to stand out and goes out of his way to create opportunities and experiences for his clients that are out of the box, and for this reason, he recognised the need to visually communicate this point of difference and make a great first impression with his clients. The images speak for themselves! Think about how you present your personal brand in print, on social media and in person, so you can make sure you avoid any negative stereotypes and appropriately represent you, your business and your branding.
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SCAN THIS PAGE FOR LUKE’S INSIGHTS INTO WHY YOUR MARKETING MESSAGE MIGHT BE IGNORED AND HOW TO CHANGE IT
Are you heading in the WRONG BRAND DIRECTION? WORDS LUKE KRESTENSEN, IC PRINT
WITH SO MANY LOCAL PRINTERS, FREELANCE GRAPHIC DESIGNERS AND DESIGN COMPETITIONS PLATFORMS LIKE 99DESIGNS.COM OFFERING BRANDING, OR $5 LOGO DESIGNS AVAILABLE AT DISCOUNT SITES LIKE FIVERR. COM, I WANTED TO SPEND A MOMENT TO CLARIFY THE DIFFERENCE AND THE VALUE THEY OFFER TO SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESSES.
THESE DEFINITIONS ARE not what you will read in a text book. These are my jargon-free straight talk 'street definitions' from working alongside thousands of different business owners helping them build their brand over the last 12 years. Most clients come with a logo from one of the sources mentioned above, and usually I am able to tell if they had a logo made from an online discount marketplace, local graphic designer, or from a creative agency. So, let’s dive in and explore a few key 'working definitions' to give you, the business owner, a clearer understanding of who offers what and what factors to consider when it’s time for you to freshen up your brand.
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BRAND A brand is the market’s opinion of your company. How they 'feel' about your business and what they 'expect' when they deal with it. The key here to be aware of is that it is outside of your direct control.
BRANDING This is the business’ efforts to influence the market’s opinion of their brand. It could also be just to increase awareness or it could be to make them be seen as the most innovative business in their industry, etc.
BRAND STRATEGY Sometimes called strategic direction, brand strategy spends time looking at the most effective brand position a business should take. Why did VB start saying they are the, ‘Beer for a hard earned thirst’? Who suggested Microsoft Surface Pro change their message from, ‘We are better than iPad’ to ‘We are the only tablet that can replace your laptop’?
GRAPHIC DESIGN When you speak to a graphic designer, they will in most cases be asking for the strategic direction you want to take your brand. They will be asking ‘who’ do you want to be seen as in your market place, but will seldom ask why. They bring the visual creative to your idea. In many cases simply making your idea look good, they hold the paintbrush and you guide it.
LOGO COMPETITION Platforms like 99designs.com and DesignCrowd.com will offer a similar service to a graphic designer, but will typically spend no time getting to know your business, simply taking all the direction from you and your feedback. The quality of the design will vary depending largely on the budget you set.
GETTING YOUR BRAND DIRECTION RIGHT WILL SAVE YOU POTENTIALLY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OVER THE YEARS, SO ASK AN EXPERT AND GET IT RIGHT.
The most expensive mistake I see is when a business owner decides to do the strategic branding themselves. Typically really great at what they do, in terms of delivering their company’s product or service, they decide that they are also an expert in creating a brand that really speaks to their marketplace. They spend very little, or usually no time at all in research to find evidence that the brand direction will appeal to their potential clients, only to throw thousands, if not, tens of thousands of dollars into marketing to promote their new brand with dismal returns and then turn around and say that their marketing is not working.
Conversely, rather than just guess what your guests will want, you hire a brand strategist to look at what your neighbours are interested in, they make some calls and ask them, they look into all the recent dress up parties to see if any themes have been overdone to gauge if there is still interest in them and the level of competition for a particular party theme and determine, through evidence and research, a dress up theme that not only excites your neighbours but also appeals to a longing part of their inner child that they can't wait for your event – a pirate theme! Now you go out and get a designer to create your invitations, but they easily know from the brand strategist’s brief what is required visually to support the theme. You send out your invitations with a notice of limited guest available and the RSVPs come flooding in! Take the time to find out how your brand is being perceived in your marketplace. Look at what other 'brand personalities' exist in your category and see which of them are getting tracking with their marketing and which ones are struggling and find out why. Getting your brand direction right will save you potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years, so ask an expert and get it right.
To add clarity to all this, I like to use the example of hosting a fancy dress party. Imagine that you plan to host a party to attract all of your neighbours. Without spending any time to consider the likes and dislikes of your guests, you decide that the theme for your party will be to dress up as your favourite American presidents from the 1600s. Regardless of how great your graphic designer is and how amazing the invitation looks, you could spend thousands of dollars on radio ads, letterbox drop flyers and Facebook campaigns, but I doubt that your party will attract many guests.
LUKE KRESTENSEN
IC PRINT AND DESIGN WWW.ICPRINT.COM.AU PHONE: 1800 427 746
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BUSINESS SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH CAROLYN CRESWELL EXPLAIN WHAT IS PURPOSE AND WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT
TAKE 10 with Carolyn Creswell WORDS NICOLE FUGE PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED
CAROLYN CRESWELL WAS JUST 18 YEARS OLD WHEN SHE PURCHASED A SMALL MUESLI BUSINESS IN 1992, FOR JUST $1000. SHE HAS SINCE GROWN CARMAN’S INTO A $100 MILLION BUSINESS WITH PRODUCTS IN 32 COUNTRIES AND COUNTING.
CAROLYN CRESWELL
1
DURING THE EARLY DAYS OF YOUR BUSINESS, WHAT WAS THE BEST ADVICE YOU EVER RECEIVED?
It was from a guy I shared a little bakery space with. One day I really needed to get a delivery of nuts but I didn’t have enough money to pay for them and I was going to give them a cheque and not sign it ... that would buy me one more day. He said, ‘Just tell them the truth, put a post it note on saying, ‘I’m a bit short of money would you mind banking this tomorrow?’ That really stuck with me and I now have a big Truth painting behind my desk. Sometimes it’s not always an easy conversation, but I’ve found that’s really stood well with me through my career.
2
WHEN YOU EXPERIENCE HURDLES IN BUSINESS, HOW DO YOU OVERCOME THEM?
Sometimes people want to change the situation and they get so caught up in it. My best saying is, ‘It is what it is’, so what’s the very best I can do? Instead of getting caught up in what’s happening within my industry, with my competitor, or with commodity pricing, it’s better to think about what I can do within my power to shift or adjust this.
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3
WHAT IS THE FORMULA FOR ACHIEVING SUCCESS?
For me, it’s hiring great people, creating a great culture, having a really well thought out strategy of what you’re going to do and what you’re not going to do, and then great attention to detail and executing that strategy really well. If you’ve got your people right, your culture right, your strategy right and your execution right, you keep going around in a circle, checking and adjusting all of those things.
4
WHAT ADVICE CAN YOU GIVE YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS WANTING TO MAKE THEIR MARK?
A lot of people find it overwhelming, it’s like climbing Everest and they have this great idea but they don’t know how to get to Base Camp. I say, ‘You need to make this happen’. If it’s a food product, you need to find a food premises, make a big batch up and take a stand at the Farmers Market – what feedback did you get. The difference between an entrepreneur and someone just full of ideas is an entrepreneur makes it happen – just give it a go.
5
WHO IS YOUR MENTOR? I don’t think I’ve ever had just one mentor. I’ll often go to certain people for certain things, when I
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want to know about finance my neighbour is a CFO, or I’ve got a great friend who’s senior in the advertising industry and I’ll run an idea past them; so I’ll be more specific about the person’s skillset and what I want to know.
6
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE?
My aim is to try and get the best out of people, to nurture them, to bring out their very best. That takes a lot of effort to try and encourage, and when they’re doing something that’s great, giving them lots of encouragement. Of course I give feedback and things aren’t always rosy, but you want to make sure you’ve said thank you and you appreciate people so they can see it’s rounded.
7
WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOUR 18-YEAR-OLD SELF?
To not say yes to everything. In the early days anything that came past my desk was yes, yes, yes and I’d do everything. I was working crazy hours and I was going down paths that weren’t aligned with what I wanted to achieve. Now I go, ‘If I’m going to do that, is it on strategy for what we want to do?’ It’s about learning the art of the graceful no and being able to be strong about saying it so that you can find the time to do what you need to do.
8
WHAT IS THE KEY TO GREAT ADVERTISING?
Firstly I think it’s about great creatives, sometimes people think I’ve bought a business and I don’t want to spend money on the creative or make it good, it costs the same amount of money to run that ad whether it’s a great ad or a crappy ad. And secondly, do things differently, sometimes people try and do the same thing every time – we’ve done things like send everyone in Australia a Carman’s bar who had the surname Carman and trying to find a way of being different, having our product in Qantas aeroplanes has been great advertising for us and a really novel way to get our brand out there. Try to think of things differently and how someone’s going to perceive what you’re doing.
9
HOW DO YOU ACHIEVE WORK/LIFE BALANCE?
It comes back to the art of the graceful no, I don’t do coffee meetings, I don’t do lunches, I work four days a week in the office so I can literally sit at my desk and get through the work that needs to be done. I don’t respond to every email, I use Outlook and have taught myself quite well to use the rules so I can have things diverted to certain files and that means you can get out the door with no emails in your inbox and feel under control. We all have the same amount of hours in the day, you really need to make sure you’re spending them as wisely as you can.
10
WHAT ARE YOUR TOP TIPS FOR SUCCESS?
■ Have a crystal clear strategy and really think about every decision you make.
■ Put the customer at the centre of everything you do – you’re always serving them.
■ Constantly improve every day,
so you’re better tomorrow than you were yesterday, have constant evolution. It’s often those little one per centers that add up to something over time.
■ Treat the people you work with like another family, we spend a lot of time at work, so create a great culture.
■ Celebrate the successes, you
need to stop and smell the roses, it becomes hollow if you treat something like it doesn’t matter. Stop and be proud when you’ve had a win.
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4 ways to IMPROVE your decision-making
WORDS DR AMANTHA IMBER
MANY PEOPLE IN MANY ORGANISATIONS MAKE BAD DECISIONS EVERY DAY. POOR HIRING DECISIONS ARE MADE, PEOPLE DECIDE TO LAUNCH PRODUCTS THAT END UP FAILING IN THE MARKET, AND THE MAJORITY OF ACQUISITIONS MADE BY COMPANIES FAIL TO ADD ANY VALUE TO SHAREHOLDERS. GIVEN THAT MANY employees and managers have never received formal training in how to make effective decisions, it is not surprising that bad decisions are made so regularly. However, there is a great deal of scientific research into making better decisions that remains largely unknown and under utilised.
1
DON’T MAKE BIG DECISIONS AFTER LUNCH
Research into the topic of decision fatigue has revealed that the more decisions a person makes over the course of a day, the worse the quality of those decisions becomes. Human beings start every day with a set amount of cognitive resources, and every single decision made – big or small – eats away at these resources. As such, schedule the most important decisions for first thing in the morning, or at least before lunch, in order to optimise decision-making quality.
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DIM THE LIGHTS
Emotion is one of the biggest enemies of effective decisionmaking. A transient emotional state can lead to decisions that are overly influenced by what feels important right now, but may lead to decisions that have poorer outcomes over the longterm. To help reduce the impact of emotion when making decisions, turn down the lights a bit. Research from the University of Toronto Scarborough has shown that emotions are felt more intensely in brightly lit environments, so instead, dim the lights and by doing so, reduce the impact of intense emotions that may be clouding your decision-making.
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DON’T MAKE DECISIONS WITH PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU
4
People often default to making decisions, especially workrelated ones, with others who are perceived to be similar. The familiarity heuristic suggests humans have a preference for the familiar, and as such, often tend to hang out with and work with people who are just like themselves. When it comes to decision-making, scientists have found that we need to deliberately introduce diversity to arrive at better decisions. Research from Tufts University found that racially diverse groups perform significantly better on decisionmaking tasks compared to racially homogenous groups.
PRACTICE MINDFULNESS FOR 15 MINUTES
Many bad decisions can be related to the ‘sunk cost fallacy’, whereby the more a person is invested in something, the more psychologically difficult it is to abandon it. Research has shown that engaging in 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation actually increases resistance to the sunk cost fallacy – that is, it makes it easier to stay focused on the present as opposed to dwelling on the past.
These are just a few of the traps that prevent people from making good decisions. So the next time a big decision presents itself, be deliberate about using strategies to maximise decision-making effectiveness.
MANY BAD DECISIONS CAN BE RELATED TO THE ‘SUNK COST FALLACY’, WHEREBY THE MORE A PERSON IS INVESTED IN SOMETHING, THE MORE PSYCHOLOGICALLY DIFFICULT IT IS TO ABANDON IT.”
DR AMANTHA IMBER FOUNDER OF INVENTIUM WWW.INVENTIUM.COM.AU
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The science of setting PERFORMANCE TARGETS WORDS STACEY BARR
SOME PEOPLE LOVE TARGETS AND MANY PEOPLE HATE THEM. THEY WILL AVOID THEM, SET THEM LOW ENOUGH TO EASILY HIT THEM, AND MAKE EXCUSES WHEN THEY DON’T HIT THEM. HARDLY THE KIND OF BEHAVIOUR THAT DRIVES PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT! SO LET’S CHANGE THE ACT OF SETTING TARGETS AND INSPIRE AND COMPEL PEOPLE TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE, WITHOUT FEAR OF FAILURE OR JUDGEMENT.
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1
FRAME TARGETS AS INTENTIONS, NOT EXPECTATIONS
When targets are framed as expectations, they encourage us to hit numbers. We all know that lots of dysfunctional things happen when people feel they are accountable to hit numbers beyond their current capability. Instead, we can frame targets as intentions, and focus accountability on the behaviours of monitoring and improving performance as a whole.
2
MEASURE THE BASELINE FIRST
The baseline for a measure or KPI is the current level of performance. Historic data is essential in establishing the baseline. The baseline is not the current month’s performance; it’s an average of recent performance, to take into account the natural variability of the
measure. Knowing the baseline helps us make informed decisions about the size of improvement the target should be set for. Own source revenue can vary as much as 50 per cent, so any one month will be meaningless. We need to establish the baseline from several month’s values. XmR charts do this brilliantly.
3
SET TARGETS FOR CAPABILITY, NOT EFFORT
Targets that focus on hitting a number every month encourage behaviours that are usually unsustainable: working faster, longer, harder, or going for quick wins. Back off the effort, and performance declines. Instead targets should focus on process capability. Improve business process design once, and we get a sustainable increase in capability that doesn’t cost any further effort. www.thinkbusinessmagazine.com.au
LET’S CHANGE THE ACT OF SETTING TARGETS AND INSPIRE AND COMPEL PEOPLE TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE, WITHOUT FEAR OF FAILURE OR JUDGEMENT.
4
GIVE TARGETS A TIMEFRAME
The best way to draw targets on a measure’s graph is as a point above the date by which we want to achieve it. When we set targets for capability (not effort), then we need to allow time between now and that target date, to do cause analysis, to test improvement ideas, and to implement the chosen solution.
5
SET A TARGET TRAJECTORY
A target trajectory consists of two or three targets, of increasing difficulty, staged over time. The first is easily achievable, the second a little harder, and the third is a stretch. Sir Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen farther than others it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants”. The idea with target trajectories is the same. We see the way to the next target from the vantage point we achieve through reaching the previous target.
TARGETS SHOULD FOCUS ON PROCESS CAPABILITY. IMPROVE BUSINESS PROCESS DESIGN ONCE, AND WE GET A SUSTAINABLE INCREASE IN CAPABILITY THAT DOESN’T COST ANY FURTHER EFFORT.
STACEY BARR INFO@STACEYBARR.COM WWW.STACEYBARR.COM
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Feelin’ the LOVE WORDS INGRID NELSON PHOTOS PAULA BRENNAN
WHEN IT COMES TO ACHIEVING A THRIVING, HAPPY, PRODUCTIVE WORKPLACE, COMMUNICATIONS AND PERFORMANCE EXPERT AMANDA GORE SAYS IT ALL COMES DOWN TO FEELINGS. SHE SHARES HER PRACTICAL AND PROVEN TECHNIQUES WITH THINK BUSINESS MAGAZINE ON HOW YOU CAN CREATE A JOYFUL WORKPLACE AND IMPROVE YOUR BOTTOM LINE IN THE PROCESS.
AMANDA GORE FIRST came to my attention during a presentation she gave to a packed Sunshine Coast audience last year, about the importance of waking up to what really matters. Highly entertaining, captivating and thought provoking, it was the dynamic delivery of her message as much as the content that really made me sit up and pay attention. What’s more, I retained much of what she spoke about and continue to use some of the key tools she shared with us on a daily basis, both at home and at work. You see, Amanda is a presenter with a difference. Renowned for her ability to break down the barriers that separate people in an invigorating, action-packed ride towards self discovery, she is one of Australia’s and America’s most sought after motivational speakers – and it’s not hard to see why. During her high energy presentation, the dynamic pocket rocket demonstrates how people can reconnect to the energy and emotional layers that really drive performance, innovation, relationships, engagement and creativity in their business and personal life.
Right from the get-go, Amanda forces the audience to step outside their comfort zone and empowers them to let go of the fear of what others think or FOWOT – but we’ll discuss more about that later. “Every single thing in life is about feelings. Everything,” says Amanda. “How you feel about yourself is the single most important thing in your life. When we start to take ownership of our feelings, only then can we stop blaming others and start being responsible for our own happiness.” She says the same theory can be applied to your business and workplace. “Success in business is also about feelings – a good leader is in touch with how their staff are feeling and empowers them by making sure they feel recognised and acknowledged. They lead authentically to inspire and motivate those around them to achieve outstanding results. “Business owners need to remember that people don’t operate on rationale, they are 80 per cent emotional and 20 per cent rational.
HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT YOURSELF IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN YOUR LIFE. WHEN WE START TO TAKE OWNERSHIP OF OUR FEELINGS, ONLY THEN CAN WE STOP BLAMING OTHERS AND START BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR OWN HAPPINESS.” THINKBUSINESS | 47
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Amanda says the first step in creating a joyful workplace is changing people’s behaviour, and the importance of recognition and acknowledgement is the key topic that underpins her entire ethos. “It’s about building trust; it’s about being in tune with their moods. You have to take your time. Find a story that will touch their heart and then use that story as a metaphor for what you want them to do. I often hear people say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but I think you absolutely can. Anybody can change, and they do, but they have to want to change. Sometimes there are physiological parameters involved, but not very often.” The second step is to create the right environment. “Business owners need to create a space where people can be the best version of themselves, by providing a joy filled and fear free environment. Ruling with fear is just flat out not smart. It may work for a short time but it backfires and stabs you in the foot! Operating from a fear base is designed to destroy your business. Leaders must create a workplace in which people can be the best they can be – that is joy filled fear free. Joy decreases burnout by 125 per cent, increases productivity 37 per cent, increases sales by 31 per cent and reduces errors by 18 per cent. Who doesn’t want to achieve that?!” Amanda says helping people believe in themselves is the third part of the puzzle. “Did you know belief in your own ability is a better predictor of success than any level of skill?,” she says. “You must discover how a person feels about themselves and then recognise and acknowledge the value they bring to the organisation by being very specific about what they have done and how it contributed to the team.
“It’s the little things that make a big difference. It can be a big thumbs up or a little sticky note on their computer telling them what a great job they have done, or bringing it up at the next meeting. “Recognition is the single most important thing to everyone because it helps them feel good about themselves and what they are doing,” says Amanda. “When we are little, we have what I call lots of ‘ta-da’ moments. When little kids do ‘ta-das’ adults applaud them, so they do them all the time! When we reach about eight years of age, it becomes uncool to do ‘ta-das’ but we are still doing them on the inside! The single most motivating thing we can do is see people’s ‘ta-das’ and create a ‘ta-da’ culture!” Passionate about spreading joy and teaching people to be ‘energy igniters’ rather than ‘energy suckers’ in the workplace, Amanda says there are lots of positive ways employers can encourage staff to remain positive and motivated at work, which contributes to a happier environment, including the First World Problem Kit, which comes from an Apple Iphone advertisment “It’s basically a plastic zip bag with a straw to suck it up, a picture of a bridge so they can get over it and a cup with a lid so they can shut the full cup! When someone complains about a first world problem at work, you simply give them the kit and say take your pick! “If all else fails, you can always pull out the gratitude glasses,” she says gesturing to the huge yellow love-heart shaped glasses she carries everywhere to remind us to be grateful for all the good we have in our lives. Amanda says bosses need to also keep in mind people’s three core fears. “The three things people fear most are ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘I’m not worth loving’ and ‘I am unsafe in some way’,” says Amanda. “That’s why there is a big push from the US to create safe
THE THREE THINGS PEOPLE FEAR MOST ARE ‘I’M NOT GOOD ENOUGH’, ‘I’M NOT WORTH LOVING’ AND ‘I AM UNSAFE IN SOME WAY.” 48 | THINKBUSINESS
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SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH AMANDA SHARE HER SECRETS TO MORE CREATIVE, PRODUCTIVE, SUCCESSFUL AND HAPPY HUMANS AT HOME AND AT WORK
workplace – it’s paramount to get people working their best. “Look at the feelings of the people in your organisation. How happy are they? Assess the joy within your team. You want optimistic positive people. If they are miserable, people will move from a job that is higher paying to a job where they have more purpose and meaning. “You have to make sure they are emotionally safe; you have to make sure they are growing. You have to take
enough time to pick someone who is going to fit the culture you want to develop. You have to be the person you want them to be.” Wise words indeed, Amanda. Now, where did I put those gratitude glasses?
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.AMANDAGORE.COM
BUSINESS OWNERS NEED TO CREATE A SPACE WHERE PEOPLE CAN BE THE BEST VERSION OF THEMSELVES, BY PROVIDING A JOY FILLED AND FEAR FREE ENVIRONMENT.”
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SET YOURSELF UP TO WIN WORDS CRAIG LEVITT
DO YOU HAVE UNFULFILLED DREAMS? WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET MORE OUT OF YOUR LIFE? MAYBE BETTER RELATIONSHIPS, BETTER FITNESS AND ENERGY, A BETTER JOB, A PROMOTION OR EVEN MORE WEALTH. DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU REALLY WANT? AND, WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE FOR YOU TO DECIDE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT?
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SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH CRAIG LEVITT SHARE HIS WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE ON SETTING GOALS TO CREATE REAL RESULTS IN YOUR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE
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I HAVE DEVOTED the last 15 years of my life to finding out my own answers to these questions. And I’ve discovered you can achieve any goal you want, if you are committed to doing what it takes to work towards it. There is a path to what you want, however, it requires consistency. It requires you to create the time to invest in yourself. Some people want change but don’t want to work for it. If you want results on the sporting field, you have to train. If you want results from university, you have to train. If you want results from anything, you have to train, you have to practice, you have to keep doing the little things that will create results. Real results that will stick around. If you want an extraordinary life you must set yourself up to win – and it starts with setting goals.
TO WRITE OR NOT TO WRITE? All motivational ‘gurus’ and success coaches agree that goals should be written down. Why? •
It forces you to clearly define what your goals are
•
It frees up room in your mind to take your thinking to the next level
•
It incorporates all three learning techniques and stimulates creativity
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The act of writing a goal down in is a very powerful motivator
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Writing down goals forces us to avoid being vague
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Goals ‘held’ in the mind are more likely to be jumbled up with the other 50,000 thoughts per day that the average human being experiences
•
Most experts agree goals should be carried around with you all the time
The world’s most successful people agree that what you ‘get’ by achieving your goal/s is not as important as what you become in the process.
A HISTORY OF GOAL SETTING The first empirical studies on goal-setting for team and self-achievement were performed by Cecil Alec Mace in the UK way back in 1935. In the mid-1960’s, around 30 years later, Edwin A. Locke began to examine goal setting and continued research into goal setting for more than 30 years.
Locke borrowed the idea for goalsetting from Aristotle’s concept of final causality. Aristotle hypothesised that purpose or desire can cause action. Locke researched the impact goals have on human activity refining his goalsetting theory and establishing a positive relationship between clearly identified goals and performance. Today the concept of goal setting has been accepted as standard in all models of success theory.
THE TRUE RESEARCH ON GOALS In 1953, Harvard released its MBA Goals Study - you know, the one that people quote that claims that after 10 years the 3% who wrote down their goals earn 10 times as much as the other 97% combined. It remains an unproven theory, however, in 2007, Dr. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor at Dominican University in California, did a study on goal-setting with 267 participants and it had some tangible results. •
She found that you are 42 percent more likely to achieve your goals just by writing them down.
•
Sharing your goals with a close ‘confide’ is proven to increase the chances of you achieving your goal.
•
This increases further if you then send weekly progress reports to your friend.
Want to be successful in achieving your goals? Follow these 5 steps:
1
KNOW WHAT YOU WANT/BE SPECIFIC
It’s amazing how many people I meet who really can’t verbalize what they want.
2
BE CHALLENGED
3
GET EMOTIONALLY COMMITTED
the more difficult the goals the more effort you put in so setting challenging goals leads to higher performance.
make your goals important to you and attainable. The more emotionally attached to the outcome the more motivation.
4
REVIEW PROGRESS REGULARLY
tracking progress towards your goals builds motivation and commitment.
5
BREAK (CHUNK) TASKS DOWN
manage the actions towards big goals by chunking them down to more ‘bite-sized’ tasks. Achieving smaller tasks creates a winning momentum.
CRAIG@THINKBUSINESSDEVELOPMENT.COM.AU THINKBUSINESSDEVELOPMENT.COM.AU
CRAIG LEVITT
THINKBUSINESS | 51
Making your HR systems WORK FOR YOU BUSINESS
WORDS MICHALLE FAULKNER
WHEN WE DEVELOP OUR BUSINESSES WE PREPARE A BUSINESS PLAN, AND INCLUDED IN THIS PLAN ARE OFTEN KEY AREAS WE CONSIDER IMPORTANT TO OUR BUSINESS SUCH AS OUR FINANCIALS AND A MARKETING STRATEGY, A SWOT ANALYSIS (STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS) AND RESEARCH CONCERNING OUR TARGET MARKETS AND COMPETITORS. HOW MANY OF YOUR BUSINESS PLANS INCLUDE THE HUMAN ELEMENT OF YOUR BUSINESS? Most common workplace issues that arise are managed easily with the support of a human resources system. Clear and well defined systems, policies and procedures, including regular performance appraisals or assessment
INADEQUATE INTERNAL SYSTEMS IN RELATION TO HANDBOOKS, MANUALS, POLICIES OR POSITION DESCRIPTIONS THIS SIGNIFIES THAT: New teams haven’t been given adequate instruction in how business is done and what the expectations are, which is counterproductive to the goal of engaging a high performance driven team.
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of performance of your team members are the vital conduit that enables your team to meet or ideally exceed your expectations as well as their own. When I’m discussing a basic platform of HR systems with clients, I like to keep things simple so we talk about using an HR wheel (essentially a base model that flows together). It’s the interlinking key components used simultaneously which form a great solid foundation and basis for success of a planned system – let’s just call it ‘Michalle’s wheel’. Here’s the catch however. The key components are inter-dependent or codependent. If you remove just one of the key areas of the wheel or fail to consider or include it, the wheels of the system might just literally fall off, pardon the pun. Common workplace issues can often be linked to either one of or a combination of the key areas of the wheel failing at some point in the process, as set out below.
Roles aren’t clearly defined, leading to conflict, breakdowns in communication and potential performance or disciplinary issues amongst team members. Inefficiencies and poor time management are inherent in the workforce, as team members perform tasks to any standard rather than following a focused and productive manual provided by the business which guides each member of the team to work efficiently and timely. There are no reporting mechanisms to measure performance against targets.
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NO RECRUITMENT OR SELECTION PROGRAM
THIS CAN LEAD TO: The employment of team members who don’t have the skills needed and aren’t suitable to the business, resulting in staff turnover and employment costs. Uncertainty and confusion around selection criteria for roles when recruiting. Poor marketing techniques when trying to attract team members in areas of skills shortages; An inability to assess potential team members for roles. A lack of procedure for conducting a professional interview process – the potential new team member is checking you out at the interview and assessing whether or not you are the best company for them to work for, so you want to present professionally to them as well.
Having a consistent approach to performance management provides opportunities to address problems in the workplace, generating effective solutions to these issues in a comfortable and safe environment. By not having a regular performance management program in place, a business may be unable to provide evidence to prove it has actively worked with team members to ensure they are treated fairly in the workplace. When there is a conflict in the workplace or a breakdown in communication, systems can be a guiding light in facilitating conversations. Being able to bring the conversation back to an agreed standard or procedure, instantly removes some of the potential for emotive responses and can be an excellent tool in diffusing potential conflict situations. Having those tough conversations with employees about failing to perform to the required standard is certainly challenging. Some managers and leaders detest having to hold these discussions and often fail to truly communicate the real issues through fear of hurting someone else’s feelings.
NO INDUCTION PLAN OR PROGRAM
IF THERE IS NO INDUCTION PLAN OR PROGRAM, THIS MEANS: The team has not been provided with adequate instruction on how the business operates and what the expectations are – this can potentially lead to workplace disputes and employee disengagement. The business is at risk due to inadequate policies and workplace boundaries which should have been implemented to ensure that teams are safe and working to a best practice standard. There are no standardised systems, which indicates there is no way to measure efficiencies and no evidence trail. There is no consistency in the message being provided to team members on ‘how we do it here’.
Rather, when provided fairly and in the right and appropriate manner, constructive feedback actually helps the team member to grow and learn within their work environment. Funnily enough, your team members actually thrive on knowing what they do well, but respect feedback also when they need to improve. An unclear or ambiguous directive as part of a performance review is never helpful. In fact, it’s again, one of those counterproductive measures that leaves your team member feeling confused and deflated when they leave the meeting. A lot of employees tell me they get very frustrated by their employer’s or manager’s lack of constructive feedback. They do genuinely want to do well in their roles and they are not naïve about their own strengths and areas of improvement. They know that there are quite possibly things that they could improve upon. Most are willing to work on their own personal development and will work consultatively with their leaders to come up with solutions on how they can improve.
NO ONGOING TRAINING OR DEVELOPMENT
Training and professional development are vital to ensuring that innovation occurs regularly and ongoing improvement is an acknowledged quantity in the business. Failure to provide training, whether internal or external is guaranteed to leave team members feeling frustrated, potentially bored and less engaged than providing them with regular development opportunities.
NO REGULAR OR CONSISTENT PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
By having no regular or consistent performance management regime within a business, there will also be no standard platform for providing constructive feedback to employees to improve performance and output and to reward, praise and recognise team members’ achievements. A successful performance management process is one that supports the workplace culture and is accepted and valued by the team.
MICHALLE FAULKNER
PHONE: (07) 5443 6022 EMAIL: MICHALLE@EASTCOASTHR.COM.AU WEBSITE: WWW.EASTCOASTHR.COM.AU
Definitely worth planning for your People Investment! THINKBUSINESS | 53
Experience our series of EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS MASTERCLASSES At EastCoast Human Resource Group we believe that people investment coupled with sound and compliant employment relations are essential for any business owner,
MASTERCLASS SERIES
supervisor, manager or CEO in successfully, ethically and profitably achieving the business goals, outcomes and results. Committing to invest in your people is to provide yourself, your senior management and supervisors, with high level practical skills and expertise to improve your business performance. In making your training investment wisely we know, that it is essential to choose the most in-depth and value added training available. Join Heidi Bishop in a series of Employment Relations Masterclasses to learn more around employer responsibilities and obligations under the Fair Work Act. Designed for Employers, HR Managers and Supervisors these Maroochydore based classes can also be held on site.
½ DAY WORKSHOPS Employment Relations 101 (2 part workshop) This interactive program will guide participants through the relevant employment legislation and guiding principles in relation to the engagement and commencement of an employee. Participants will also grasp compliance obligations to mitigate risk and discover the benefits of effective Employee Relations management.
Everyday HR Conversations This interactive program will provide participants with the skills, tips and tools to hold everyday individual conversations to address ‘people’ related issues. Participants will gain confidence to appropriately approach conversations with employees to address everyday issues such as emerging patterns of lateness, absenteeism, lack of motivation, ‘attitude’ and other sensitive matters.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT HEIDI BISHOP
heidi@eastcoasthr.com.au I 07 5443 6022 54 | THINKBUSINESS
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Workplace Investigations (full day workshop) Provides participants with an understanding of the investigation processes and the underlying key principles involved in a robust, fair and objective investigation. Participants will gain tips, tools and processes to ensure their investigation framework is efficient, credible, thorough and holistic. Participants will also explore investigation protocols including – particulars of complaint, terms of reference, template letters outlining the investigation process and guidelines for support people, arranging interviews, interviewing parties, note taking, collating and assessing evidence, making findings, defining recommendations and drafting an investigation report.
Managing Workplace Behaviour and Risk Provides participants with the broader spirit and intent of legislation covering standards of behaviour in the workplace. Participants will gain an understanding of what discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and bullying behaviours potentially look like. Participants will also explore strategies to mitigate risky behaviour, create a healthy compliant culture and apply early interventions to address risky behaviour.
Managing Mental Health in the Workplace Provides participants with key principles, processes and skills related to managing mental ill health in the workplace. Participants will explore strategies around privacy and confidentiality considerations, mitigating possible adverse actions or discrimination, identifying reasonable adjustments as well as early interventions and performance management.
Mitigating Unfair Dismissal Provides participants with an understanding of the key points combined with the spirit and intent of procedural fairness when terminating an employee. Participants will gain an understanding of the importance of having systems and policies in place (and adhering to them) when managing non-performance, disciplining or terminating an employee.
Recruitment & Selection (2 part workshop) Provides participants with the background knowledge, tips and tools to undertake a fair and credible recruitment process. This program will explore the important preparatory steps involved once a vacancy arises within your team and up to conducting the actual interview.
See the workshop calendar online:
www.eastcoasthr.com.au/training THINKBUSINESS | 55
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Six warning signs YOUR LEADERSHIP MAY BE FALTERING WORDS MICHELLE GIBBINGS
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SUCCESSFULLY LEADING A TEAM ISN’T EASY. THE BEST LEADERS RECOGNISE THIS AND UNDERSTAND THERE ARE OFTEN BETTER WAYS TO DO THINGS AND ARE ALERT TO THE WARNING SIGNS THAT SIGNAL THEIR LEADERSHIP MAY BE FALTERING. SO WHAT ARE THESE WARNING SIGNS TO LOOK OUT FOR?
1
UNWILLING TO CHANGE
It’s easy to get stuck in your ways and to see the traits that got you to your role as the skills and capability that will carry you forward. However, in a world that is constantly changing success requires leaders to embrace the notion that successful organisational transformation, requires not just change for those around them, but personal change for themselves. Successful leaders are open to change and to trying new things and to thinking differently.
2
SMARTEST PERSON IN THE ROOM SYNDROME
The downfall of many great companies can be traced to the hubris and arrogance of its leaders. Having a fixed mindset, the leaders close themselves off from feedback and feel they have nothing more to learn. Seeing themselves as the smartest person in the room they believe there is nothing more to learn and so are unwilling to listen to others. Successful leaders know there is always more to learn, and they don’t have the sole mandate on good ideas.
3
SURROUND THEMSELVES WITH SYCOPHANTS
While surrounding yourself with “yes” people may make life easier in the short-term, it doesn’t create long-term, sustainable business outcomes. Seeking out the differences of opinion is critical, because it is this diversity of thought that aids ‘out of the box’ thinking. Similarly, it is often the person with the dissenting opinion or probing questions who generates the unique perspective and who can see the missing piece of the puzzle.
4
6
PLAY FAVOURITES
People are acutely aware when leaders treat people differently. How you allocate resources and rewards, and recruit and promote people is noticed. If the way you do this is perceived as unfair it will tarnish your reputation. Successful leaders recognise that each person is unique and therefore has different needs. They strive to bring out the best in each person, and do so in a way in which people feel valued and respected.
WON’T HIRE PEOPLE SMARTER THAN THEM
Everyone knows the criticality of getting the right people into the right roles. However, leaders can be uncomfortable to hire people who are smarter than them for fear it will show them up in some way. However, successful leaders know that they can’t do it alone. They look for team members to complement and enhance their leadership and capability, and to help them execute their vision. As Jim Collins, the author of From Good to Great said, “Great vision without great people is irrelevant”.
5
ONLY WELCOME GOOD NEWS
When only good news hits your desk it’s time to worry. If people hold off telling you what’s really going on, it’s a sign they don’t trust how you will react to bad news. It’s important to welcome all types of news – even news that is difficult to hear. Not only is your reaction a test of your character, it sets the standard for what happens in the future. If you shoot the messenger, next time an issue arises, you’re less likely to find people willing to alert you to it.
MICHELLE GIBBINGS
FOUNDER OF CHANGE MERIDIAN MICHELLE@MICHELLEGIBBINGS.COM WWW.MICHELLEGIBBINGS.COM
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MONEY
WATER WITH STYLE When it comes to water filtration systems, BIBO is the ultimate game-changer. This innovative, stylish new benchtop water dispenser provides instant filtered and purified water at the perfect temperature – chilled, ambient and boiling – at the touch of a button. An advanced filter system also eliminates potentially harmful bacteria and viruses, meaning you can say goodbye to bottled water, the kettle and the filter jug. It’s the perfect solution for homes, offices, boardrooms, reception areas, staff rooms and conference rooms. RRP $1295 Stockists: The Water Shop and www.bibowater.com.au
FANCY FEET THE PEN IS MIGHTIER The written word can have a beautiful impact on the world and even more so when it’s written with the finest of writing instruments. Mont Blanc is famous for its luxurious pens. This Miles Davis Fountain Pen is honouring one of the most revolutionary and influential jazz musicians of all time – Miles Dewey Davis. The Au585 solid gold nib is engraved with his silhouette and ensures that any transcribe is inked with the finest artistic quality. RRP $1350, Stockist: Mont Blanc, www.montblanc.com
Made from the rarest and finest wool, FALKE’s vicuña socks are a true luxury for any foot to slide into. The “fibre of the gods” is obtained from the Peruvian vicuña. Its fine, dense wool was valued as the rarest and most expensive in the world and was reserved for the highest nobility and the church, even in the time of the Incas. FALKE is the first clothing manufacturer in the world to produce legwear from this high-quality wool. They’re so exclusive that upon ordering, a pair will be designed specifically and personalised for your feet. RRP $1235, Stockist: FALKE, www.falke.com
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SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH SIIMON IN ACTION
Make this year your most PROFITABLE
WORDS SIIMON REYNOLDS, THE FORTUNE INSTITUTE
THE RACE IS ON. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF AUSTRALIAN ENTREPRENEURS ARE HOPING TO MAKE THIS YEAR A FABULOUS ONE FOR THEIR BUSINESS. UNFORTUNATELY MOST WILL FAIL AND JUST HAVE ANOTHER ORDINARY YEAR. IF YOU WANT TO BE ONE OF THE FEW THAT SUCCEED MAGNIFICENTLY, IT’S VITAL YOU FOCUS ON THESE SEVEN BUSINESS BUILDING STRATEGIES.
60 | THINKBUSINESS
STOP WASTING SO MUCH TIME ON THINGS THAT DON’T INCREASE INCOME
GET SUPER CLEAR ON THE TWO THINGS THAT MOST BRING IN MONEY
Shorten the meetings. Don’t take every call. Work away from the office two days a week. Do anything you can to allow you to focus on what really counts – bringing in customers.
Of all the stuff you do in a month, what two activities really bring in money? Most entrepreneurs are simply not crystal clear on the answer to that question.
1
At the Fortune Institute, we coach entrepreneurs from all over Australia. Time and time again we see entrepreneurs doing busy work all day long, but doing precious little to actually bring in the mulla. Get serious about generating income. Think about it all day long, and build your work day around that goal.
2
As a result, they don’t do enough of those two crucial income producing activities. Sit down and take a few minutes to work out the answer, then write that answer on a sign that you can see all day long. That way you’re more likely to keep coming back to those priceless two actions that make you most of your money.
www.thinkbusinessmagazine.com.au
WORK ON MASSIVELY INCREASING YOUR DESIRE
3
Too many people start coasting and taking it easy once their business is doing okay. Big mistake. Maintaining an attitude of hunger and desire is vital if you want to make your company great. When you have strong desire, you attract more clients. When you have strong desire, you focus more. When you have strong desire, luck tends to go your way. Don’t minimise the importance of personal desire for business success. Work daily on increasing it and everything will change for the better.
4
INCREASE YOUR INNOVATION
How much new stuff are you trying? The sad thing is, most entrepreneurs do very little experimenting. Incredibly, a lot of business owners do pretty much the same things for 10 or 20 years! Because they don’t innovate, they keep getting the same mediocre results, year after year.
CONSTANTLY ASK: WHAT IS THE HIGHEST AND BEST USE OF MY TIME?
5
Amazingly, very few people have ever asked themselves this. Yes they vaguely know what are useful things to do at work; but they aren’t crystal clear about what really, really matters. Here is a list of activities that commonly increase the revenue of companies: • Calling potential customers. • Emailing/mailing potential customers • Staying in touch with potential customers • Creating ads to promote what you sell • Finessing your sales presentation • Testing different marketing techniques
7
WORK OUT YOUR TIME TRAPS
What are the low value things you are doing that are taking up much of the day? And who are the people who are stealing your valuable hours? Together these constitute your time traps that are reducing your income, slowing your business down and limiting how wealthy and successful you become in your life. Unless you take the time to observe and analyse your days and identify these insidious time wasters, you are doomed to average achievement levels. How can you stop certain people interrupting you? How can you reduce average meeting times?
• Contacting old customers
Can you schedule an amount of time each day to focus on what’s really going to move the needle for your company?
• Developing new products and services
Can you do your email in two or three blocks each day?
• Studying how to grow your business faster
Only when you make new rules and restructure your week so that you’re spending large amounts of time on truly important activities, will you take your company to the next level and start making really big money.
• Getting PR for your business
• Improving the performance of key staff There are more of course, but if you were doing just the ones above, your company would be making wads of money.
6
FOCUS ON OPTIMISATION
Another key area you need to focus on is optimisation – making what you already have work better. Most entrepreneurs do very little optimising. If something is working okay, they tend to just leave it. But you could be making twice as much money if you just started optimising what you’re doing – changing a headline, finessing a sales presentation, improving what your staff say on the phone, etc. These are all easy things to do but can colossally increase how much money you make.
SIIMON REYNOLDS FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: THEFORTUNEINSTITUTE.COM
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BUSINESS
6 Simple steps to MASSIVELY IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS WORDS SIIMON REYNOLDS, CO-FOUNDER THE FORTUNE INSTITUTE
SOMETIMES BUILDING A HIGHLY PROFITABLE BUSINESS IS EASIER THAN IT LOOKS. WE OFTEN THINK THE ANSWER TO GROWING OUR COMPANY IS WORKING LONGER HOURS AND DOING MUCH MORE WORK, BUT IN MY EXPERIENCE COACHING HUNDREDS OF BUSINESS LEADERS AND ENTREPRENEURS ON GROWTH, IT’S OFTEN THE REALLY SIMPLE, EASY STEPS THAT MAKE THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE. WITH THAT IN MIND, HERE ARE SIX SMALL THINGS YOU CAN DO, THAT TOGETHER WILL MAKE A HUGE IMPROVEMENT TO HOW FAST YOUR COMPANY GROWS.
1
FIND A RICHER CUSTOMER
What product could you offer, especially for wealthier clients? Strangely, people who are wealthier are often easier to sell to than those who are struggling financially. Opening the wallet doesn’t hurt as much. But if you don’t have something good to offer this richer style of customer you are leaving huge amounts of money on the table. Remember also that a more expensive product usually means much higher margins for you, so while your revenue may increase say 20 per cent with this new upscale product, your profit at the end of the year may be much higher.
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2
DEVELOP A CONTINUITY BUSINESS MODEL
One of the most effective ways to quickly build your profits is to design a service or product that is continuously delivered. If you sell a service, this is usually achieved by selling a monthly retainer for ongoing work. If you sell a product it’s by getting customers to sign on for monthly or quarterly re-orders. In the case of the latter, it is remarkable how you can turn almost anything you sell into a continuity model. Look on the internet and you’ll find highly successful monthly continuity models for clothes, gifts, advice, socks, meat, wine, DVDs, events and hundreds of other categories. What could you offer that is delivered monthly or quarterly? This kind of recurring revenue is a mega opportunity to not only lift your revenues but keep them high year after year.
3
REACTIVATE OLD CLIENTS OR LEADS
I have seen two of our business coaching clients (a builder and a tennis academy) get lucrative orders within hours of sending an email to their old list of leads/customers. Think about it. Many of these people are still interested in what you offer, they just need to be reminded that you offer it. Reactivating your old enquiries and clients is one of the fastest ways of all to make your profit levels zoom. Be sure to do it every six months.
RE-ACTIVATING YOUR OLD ENQUIRIES AND CLIENTS IS ONE OF THE FASTEST WAYS OF ALL TO MAKE YOUR PROFIT LEVELS ZOOM.” www.thinkbusinessmagazine.com.au
4
DO SOMETHING TO GROW YOUR CUSTOMER BASE BEFORE 10AM
You know how it goes. You have wonderful intentions to work on your sales and marketing but the urgent problems of the day soon take over and all of a sudden it’s 6pm and another day has gone without doing it.
5
INCREASE THE SPEED AND INTENSITY OF YOUR DAILY WORK
Start acting with genuine urgency. If you usually have staff meetings that last an hour, do them in 30 minutes. If you get into work at 9am, get in at 8am. If you usually do five sales calls a week try doing five every day.
There’s an easy way to fix this incredibly costly problem: work for an hour on sales and marketing as soon as you come into work each morning. Just one hour will make a massive difference to your company’s growth over three months – but it must be done each and every work day.
Then instill this sense of urgency into your staff and your key suppliers. So that everyone who works with you knows they have to lift their game higher than ever before.
The best way to make it occur is firstly to diarise it and secondly to inform your staff (and if need be your clients and suppliers) that you’re not available until 10am each day. If you don’t do these two things my experience with coaching hundreds of entrepreneurs is that it won’t work.
6
WORK FOR AN HOUR ON SALES AND MARKETING AS SOON AS YOU COME INTO WORK EACH MORNING.”
Acting with urgency and great desire will massively change your results for the better.
You need to increase the amount of meetings you have with people who can buy. And you need to create more reasons why somebody should buy from you – make them more offers, create new products or services, announce special short term discounts etc. If you reach out to a lot more people, with lots more offers and reasons to buy, you will inevitably get a lot more sales. NOW IT’S UP TO YOU. I’ve now given you six highly effective strategies and can virtually guarantee that if you make them a central part of the way you operate, you will see a remarkable lift in your sales
ASK FOR MONEY MUCH MORE OFTEN
If your business is not growing quickly, a common reason is you are not asking enough people to buy from you, often enough. There are numerous ways to ask for money in a business: You need to focus on bringing in more leads – via advertising, PR, joint ventures or the telephone.
SIIMON REYNOLDS FOR MORE INFO VISIT: THEFORTUNEINSTITUTE.COM
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The ‘GOLD’ is in the NUMBERS WORDS MATT MALOUF
“UNDERSTANDING YOUR NUMBERS IN BUSINESS IS ESSENTIAL TO YOUR SUCCESS!” WHILE THIS STATEMENT RINGS TRUE AND IS SIMPLE, IT OFTEN ELEVATES STRESS LEVELS IN MOST ENTREPRENEURS I WORK WITH. YET, IF YOU STUDY SUCCESSFUL AND FAST GROWING BUSINESSES, THE LEADERS ALL HAVE A HANDLE ON THE KEY METRICS OF THE BUSINESS.
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I BELIEVE THE heart of strategic business decision making is data, irrespective of the size of your business. Data can provide insights that help you answer your key business questions (such as, ‘Is my marketing effective?’ ‘How can we improve customer satisfaction?’ ‘How many leads do we need to meet our sales quota?) Data leads to insights; business owners and managers can turn those insights into decisions and actions that improve the business. This is the power of data. This reminds me of a famous quote by Peter Drucker that says, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it”. Think
about it, if you can’t measure something, and know the results, you can’t possibly get better at it. A simple example is if you are trying to lose weight – if you don’t step on the scales, how will you know if you are succeeding or failing? Now when I talk about the numbers I’m not referring only to your financial numbers (i.e. revenue, expenses, profit) I am referring to all data in your business. You see all the activity in the major areas of your business lead to a positive or negative result in the financial data. You need to choose which Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you are going to track and then create a simple system to review these numbers consistently.
www.thinkbusinessmagazine.com.au
DATA CAN PROVIDE INSIGHTS THAT HELP YOU ANSWER YOUR KEY BUSINESS QUESTIONS You also need to ensure you are measuring a combination of leading measures and lagging measures. Leading measures are like inputs, they measure the activities necessary to achieve your goals. As the name implies, these indicators lead to results, they come first. Leading indicators can be hard to measure, but they’re easy to directly influence and describe how to achieve your goals. Lagging measures are like outputs, they measure the actual results. Lagging indicators show the final score of your strategy and/or efforts. These metrics are easy to measure, but hard to directly improve. Most likely, your primary KPI – where you’re going – falls into this category.
HERE ARE SOME NUMBERS I RECOMMEND YOU INCLUDE ON YOUR DASHBOARD: FINANCIAL METRICS •
Revenue
•
Net promoter score (NPS)
•
COGS/COS
•
Customer retention rate
•
Gross profit
•
Customer profitability score
•
Fixed costs
•
Customer lifetime value
•
Net profit
•
Customer turnover rate
•
Cash
•
Customer engagement
•
Accounts receivable (debtors)
•
Customer complaints
•
Debtor days (debtors/revenue x 365)
•
Inventory
•
Inventory days (inventory/COGS x 365)
•
Accounts payable
•
Cash flow
SALES METRICS •
Lead response time
•
Open opportunities $$$
•
Conversion – multiple levels
•
Quotes/proposals sent
What you need is a dashboard. An effective dashboard can serve many purposes. It can:
•
Lead quality
•
Closed sales
•
Average sale $$$
■ Help business owners define what
•
Cost per sale
is important
KEY CUSTOMER METRICS
Long and short is start with a few key metrics that you measure – ask yourself if they provide enough information for you to make strategic decisions – if yes then you are reviewing the correct numbers, if no then add the numbers you need to make strategic decisions and add these to your dashboard. Start now and watch the improvements.
■ Educate people in the organisation about the things that matter
KEY EMPLOYEE METRICS
■ Set goals and expectations for specific individuals or groups
■ Help business owners sleep at night
•
Revenue per employee
•
Employee satisfaction index
■ Encourage specific actions in a
•
Employee engagement level
•
Employee churn rate
■ Highlight exceptions and provide
•
Average employee tenure
•
Absenteeism
■ Communicate progress and
•
360-degree feedback score
•
Time to hire
■ Provide a common interface for
•
Time to train
•
Training return on investment
because they know what’s going on timely manner
alerts when problems occur success
interacting with and analysing important business data
MATT MALOUF THE FORTUNE INSTITUTE WWW.THEFORTUNEINSTITUTE.COM
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THE 7 THINGS (ABOUT MONEY) I wish I’d learned at school… THAT WOULD HAVE MADE ME A MILLIONAIRE BY THE AGE OF 25! WORDS CHRIS CHILDS, ENTREPRENEUR AND THINK MONEY FOUNDER
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www.aboutbusiness.com.au
1
WHERE TO GO FOR ADVICE
Most people go to a bank for advice on the right bank accounts and loans to have. A bit of a laugh really when you consider their profit margins. It’s like asking the mouse where to put the cheese! I wish I had been taught to ask someone who has money the best way of handling it.
2
CREDIT CARDS ARE LIKE FAST CARS
A fast car driven recklessly is dangerous, but treated correctly it isn’t. Credit cards are the same. Most of us just use them to help the banks, but you can turn the tables and use the bank’s money for free and use your money to reduce your interest. This secret could have saved me thousands!
4
YOU CAN MAKE COMPOUND INTEREST WORK FOR YOU OR AGAINST YOU
5
DEBT CONSOLIDATION CAN BE YOUR BEST FRIEND OR YOUR WORST ENEMY
6
THE POWER OF SEPARATING YOUR LIFE FROM YOUR INVESTMENTS
7
DON’T ASSUME A HOME LOAN IS A LONG TERM DEBT
Saving to buy something instead of borrowing can halve the price you pay for most items. This sounds boring to us in this ‘have it now’ world, however, compound interest working for you instead of for the loan company saves you thousands. I wish someone had told me that ‘interest free’ isn’t free at all. The interest has been tacked onto the price – ask for the ‘cash’ price and see.
3
MORE ORGANISED = MORE MONEY
It is a fact that if you get organised with your money, you have more of it. Bills get paid on time, you don’t waste precious money on fines, fees and overdue payments, and you make your money work for you instead of against you. A cash management program accelerates your debt reduction and wealth creation.
IT IS A FACT THAT IF YOU GET ORGANISED WITH YOUR MONEY, YOU HAVE MORE OF IT.
Consolidating credit card and consumer debt onto your home loan can reduce your repayments each month and lower the amount of interest you pay. I wish I had been told to use this extra money to then reduce the home loan much faster, and not fall into the same trap again and again – burning up precious equity that could have been used for investing.
There are 1.7 million people in Australia who invest in property, less than two per cent get to five properties or more. Why? They don’t keep their personal and investment money separate. I wish I had have learned the key to successful investing and stress-free living was to keep these sides quite separate from each other.
I wish I had been taught that a home loan doesn’t have to be a stone around my neck for 25 years, or best case, if I paid weekly or fortnightly, 17 years. What most people don’t know is that handled correctly, a mortgage should be paid off in five to seven years just by doing your banking differently.
FOR ALL OF YOUR BUSINESS, MONEY AND PROPERTY NEEDS: PHONE: (07) 5430 4777 CHRIS@THINKMONEY.COM.AU WWW.THINKMONEY.COM.AU WWW.CHRISCHILDS.COM.AU
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SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH NICOLE SHARE WHY SHE IS PASSIONATE ABOUT GETTING AUSSIES MONEY SMART.
What to teach MODERN KIDS about money WORDS NICOLE PEDERSEN-MCKINNON
INTERNATIONALLY-RENOWNED MONEY EDUCATOR AND TELEVISION FINANCE COMMENTATOR NICOLE PEDERSEN-MCKINNON TRAVELS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY DELIVERING HER SMART MONEY START FINANCIAL LITERACY PRESENTATIONS IN HIGH SCHOOLS. HERE SHE SHARES HER SEVEN LESSONS TO TEACH MODERN KIDS ABOUT MONEY.
68 | THINKBUSINESS
TEACHING KIDS ABOUT money used to be as simple as: “This is the pay envelope with our cash for the week.” These days credit and debit cards, internet banking and even transacting via mobile phone mean money has become almost invisible to children. Add to that technology traps like unexpected in-app purchases and unfathomable mobile plans, and parents face a big challenge raising modern money managers. These are the seven vital lessons to impart if your children are ever to fend for themselves financially.
www.thinkbusinessmagazine.com.au
EVEN THOUGH YOU SELDOM SEE MONEY, IT DOES DISAPPEAR
1
Everyone has a finite amount on which to live and play. Key is to make it stretch as far as possible, and have a little leftover for later. TOP TEACHING TIP: Use food as a pay proxy and from a young age. For example, with chocolate and money, you have to carefully decide how much and how quickly you consume, because it’s very sad when it’s gone. Especially when yours is gone before anyone else’s.
PLASTIC IS NOT FANTASTIC – UNLESS IT’S PRE-LOADED WITH CASH
2
To a child, it can look like a real-life fairy tale to flash a card and magically take home anything you want. But a big credit card bill at the end of the month is positively evil. TOP TEACHING TIP: Remember you are your child’s first experience of debt and spending, so always model good credit card behaviour. Buy only what you set out to and explain there is either money saved onto the card or you will repay what you spend before it costs extra in interest (do you like the way I assume that’s the case?).
3
TABLETS ARE NOT JUST FOR MINECRAFT
How are your precious progeny to know when you are head down, brow-furrowed, that you’re not gaming but banking? TOP TEACHING TIP: Always talk through what you are doing. And consider paying pocket money into a deposit account from an early age so children can watch both their game scores and bank balance tick up online. It might even encourage them to get competitive about interest rates.
4
PLAN TO NOT MISS OUT
It’s crucial to think ahead to what you are going to want and need in any given pay period because, as we’ve established, money is finite. TOP TEACHING TIP: My pocket money challenge. Give your kids the option to have $10 a week pocket money or $40 a month. They’ll presumably choose $40 a month and then spend it in a week, learning quickly – albeit painfully – to make money stretch. The ‘challenge’ for you is not to cave in and give them extra when they can’t go out at the end of the month (that could even pre-dispose them to debt dependency).
5
CHILDREN ARE VIEWED AS ‘FAIR’ FINANCIAL GAME
More than 50 consumer protection agencies around the world have now united in a fight against smartphone and tablet apps that mislead kids. Yours need to understand that companies prey on children’s psychology and competitiveness – to get to the next level, to advance more quickly – to keep them spending money. TOP TEACHING TIP: Micro-payments on/in apps, games or music can do maximum damage. Set any parental restrictions you can and keep a tally with your child of their spend. If they transact on the internet, also ensure they know sites need to be secure (with a ‘https’ prefix and a padlock in the bottom corner).
6
WAITING WORKS WONDERS
Today’s money world takes our built-in instant gratification bent – you’ll recognise it in your child’s superfun, ‘I want, I want’, meltdowns – to a whole new level. An important learning is that alternative, delayed payoffs can be far greater and even more satisfying. TOP TEACHING TIP: Target a family goal like a big trip to California’s Disneyland. Then every time your child spies something shiny or yummy at the checkout, give them the option to buy it for them or save the equivalent for a splurge on Disneyland merchandise. Push actual coins or notes into a piggy bank or deposit them in the bank with your child (online is fine), and keep an incentive chart of their ‘savings’ on the wall.
7
STASH CASH FROM AN EARLY AGE
This one is really the key to comfort: tiny changes made early enough make a massive difference. TOP TEACHING TIP: Drive home the dollar advantage of putting some money aside to keep your child focused. A dollar a day of pocket money invested from, say, age 10 becomes more than $100,000 by age 50 (at an annual return of eight per cent). Better still, only $14,400 of that is from their savings; the rest is ‘free money’ courtesy of the investment. Imagine where you’d be today if someone had told you that.
REMEMBER YOU ARE YOUR CHILD’S FIRST EXPERIENCE OF DEBT AND SPENDING”
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT: WWW.THEMONEYMENTORWAY.COM
NICOLE PEDERSEN-MCKINNON
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PROPERT Y
STATE OF THE NATION REPORT: WORDS TERRY RYDER, DIRECTOR, HOTSPOTTING.COM.AU
THE VARYING CONDITIONS IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS CONFIRM THAT THERE IS NO ONE MARKET IN AUSTRALIA, BUT MULTIPLE SCENARIOS DRIVEN BY LOCAL ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. MELBOURNE IS NOW THE CAPITAL CITY LEADER ON PRICE GROWTH ACCORDING TO MOST RESEARCH SOURCES, BUT HOBART, CANBERRA, BRISBANE, ADELAIDE AND SOME MAJOR REGIONAL CITIES ARE POTENTIAL CHALLENGERS IN 2017. PERTH, DARWIN AND REGIONAL CENTRES ADVERSELY IMPACTED BY THE RESOURCES SECTOR ARE THE MARKETS THAT CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE, BUT THERE ARE SIGNS THAT THE WORST HAS PASSED.
VICTORIA
NEW SOUTH WALES
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
MELBOURNE HAS OVERTAKEN Sydney as the leader on price growth, according to most research sources. The Melbourne market–in terms of sales volumes–has passed its peak but remains resilient, and prices are still rising in many market sectors. But the greatest impetus is now being found in the outlying areas where affordability, jobs nodes and good infrastructure are the key factors. Locations where this is occurring include the Epping precinct, the Sunshine precinct and the Casey LGA.
THE VAST MAJORITY of research data depicts a Sydney market that has passed its peak. Sales activity has dropped significantly in the past year and the growth in the city’s median house price has evaporated, according to all research sources except one (which has been discredited by the Reserve Bank).
ADELAIDE HAS MORE suburbs with growing sales activity than any other city. While Sydney and Melbourne’s sales activity has dropped markedly in 2016, Adelaide’s sales volumes continue to rise.
The strongest market with the greatest impetus now is the City of Greater Geelong. It’s a busy market, driven by its affordability relative to Melbourne, a strong local economy and a water-based lifestyle. Geelong currently ranks as one of the top five markets in the nation in terms of sales volumes and potential for price growth.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of solid markets in regional NSW, including Dubbo, Orange, Wagga Wagga, Wollongong, Newcastle, Coffs Harbour and Tweed Heads.
The Sydney market remains resilient though, and I don’t expect any major price decline. Some parts of metropolitan Sydney remain buoyant, led by Penrith.
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Adelaide is also showing the strongest investment value among the five biggest Australian cities, according to a report by Performance Property Advisory. It says Adelaide has underperformed in recent years but a range of indicators suggest the city is moving into a strong growth phase. These indicators include housing affordability, favourable demand and supply factors, a major rise in infrastructure spending, strong investment value including attractive rental yields, a rise in overseas migration, and a significant lift in foreign investment in residential property.
A RECENT SURVEY OF INVESTORS NATIONWIDE FOUND THAT 50 PER CENT RATED BRISBANE THE BEST LOCATION TO ACHIEVE FUTURE CAPITAL GROWTH.
“
THE SYDNEY MARKET REMAINS RESILIENT
WESTERN AUSTRALIA THERE ARE SOME emerging indicators that the Perth market may have touched bottom. I await further data to be sure, but I don’t expect Perth to fall much further.
NORTHERN TERRITORY DARWIN IS NOT the weakest market among the capital cities, but it is close to it. Perth outscores it in terms of high vacancies and decline in rents and prices. But there’s no doubt Darwin is in the depths of the downturn. Like Perth, Darwin rose, thanks to the resources sector and had standout growth in rents and prices in 2011-2012 and the early part of 2013. It got particular impetus from the $30 billion Ichthys gas development, but once the considerable impacts of this massive enterprise had worked its way through the economy and property markets, there wasn’t much following behind. Sales levels across Darwin are now at their lowest in five years and, without major investment projects on the horizon, it’s difficult to see what will inspire recovery. Possibly the recent change of Territory government, after a landslide election result, may inspire something positive.
ACT THE CANBERRA MARKET has undoubtedly improved in 2016. There’s evidence that rents are rising and that prices have shown moderate growth – and the city now has one of the lowest vacancy rates in capital city Australia. The extent of the price growth depends on which research source you prefer, but several indicate growth of 7 per cent or higher in annual terms for houses. The apartment market is showing smaller numbers, having recently recovered from a period of oversupply.
QUEENSLAND TWO OF THE MOST upwardly-mobile markets in Australia are Brisbane’s coastal bookends: the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast. Both these coasts are being boosted by strong local economies, major spending on infrastructure and highly-active construction industries. The outcome is a big increase in jobs, and arising from that, a rising demand for real estate accommodation. The Sunshine Coast rates more highly at present because despite being a smaller city, it has more suburbs with growing sales activity than the Gold Coast does. The Sunshine Coast is being driven by over $20 billion in infrastructure and real estate developments and offers plenty of affordable real estate at good rental yields. The Gold Coast has a busy real estate market, with infrastructure spending being a big factor as well as high-rise construction, which is creating lots of jobs. The 2018 Commonwealth Games is providing some of the momentum. However, investors are urged to avoid the high-rise markets, which are heading for another bout of oversupply. As the Queensland economy improves–boosted by rising commodity prices, a strong tourism industry and a revival in population growth–Brisbane may start to deliver more in the way of price growth. A recent survey of investors nationwide found that 50 per cent rated Brisbane the best location to achieve future capital growth, while only 11 per cent favoured Sydney.
Recent improvements in commodity prices have added to optimism in Perth. The Western Australian economy is highly dependent on fortunes in the resources sector and rising prices for iron ore are a promising sign that recovery may happen. But in the meantime most of the numbers portraying the Perth property market are negative. It continues to have the highest vacancies among the state and territory capital cities by a wide margin, with a 10 per cent-plus decline in rents for both houses and apartments. Regional centres in the south that are not directly impacted by the mining industry are proving to be more resilient, but there are no signs of growth anywhere in the WA property market.
TASMANIA THERE HAS BEEN a significant improvement in Tasmania’s economy and it has received positive reviews from a range of analysts, including CommSec and Deloitte Access Economics. The state’s tourism industry is delivering record numbers and other sectors, such as agriculture and construction, are strong, with record amounts being spent on infrastructure across the state. Hobart is starting to produce solid growth in prices and there is also evidence of good growth in rentals. Hobart’s great appeal is that it has the lowest prices, tightest vacancies and highest rental yields among the capital cities. One forecaster, Simon Pressley of Propertyology, has predicted that Hobart will lead the capital cities on capital growth in 2017. Elsewhere in the state, Launceston and Devonport are worth considering.
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MAROOCHYDORE
CEMENTS ITS STATUS AS SUNSHINE COAST CENTRAL
Maroochydore is both the central commercial area of the Sunshine Coast and a highly-rated residential suburb, especially for apartments with water views. It has the region’s largest retail complex, Sunshine Plaza, where a major $400 million expansion is underway. Through the expansion they are adding another national anchor tenant to its impressive list, while increasing specialty stores and the cinema complex, overall creating thousands of jobs. The recently reinvigorated Ocean Street entertainment precinct and refurbished Big Top building provides a vision into the future of Maroochydore’s sophistication, with an array of dining options, bars, cafes and entertainment all providing abundant business and employment opportunities.
This property is suitable for self-managed super funds.
The Sunshine Coast has an extremely proactive council with major ambitions for the region’s economy and lifestyle. This approach has benefited the Sunshine Coast already with major increases in employment and population over the last 18 months. An unprecedented level of private and public investment has amounted including business YOUI’s planned multi-million-dollar office development to accommodate 3000 staff. The core of the regional council’s plan is the Principal Activity Centre (PAC), which will form the new Maroochydore CBD on the former Horton Park Golf Club site. “This major development, which will be delivered over the next 25 years, will provide a mix of residential, commercial, retail, civic and community uses to create a thriving and vibrant business district and city centre,” Mayor Mark Jamieson says. The PAC was approved by the State Government in July 2014 and construction on the first phase, consisting of civil works and roads, began in 2016. The development is expected to create 10,000 jobs over 20 years. Maroochydore’s central location places it only 15 minutes from the Sunshine Coast Airport, which will undergo a $350 million upgrade, adding international and domestic flights, translating to hundreds of extra jobs and potential increases to the tourism and transport sectors. The nearby and newly constructed $2.3 billion Sunshine Coast University Hospital along with the neighbouring private hospital is a monumental project for the future of the region, and together these will be at the centerpiece of the evolving $5 billion Oceanside Health Hub, supporting thousands of workers and businesses. Against this background, Maroochydore has one of the strongest property markets on the Sunshine Coast, which currently ranks as one of the nation’s leading growth markets. One of the attractions of the Maroochydore apartment market is the low vacancy and high rental yields on offer. According to Australian Property Monitors, the median rental yield for Maroochydore apartments is a tick under 6% gross.
FOR LIVING A city coming of age Foreshore sits in the most desirable location of a region that leads the country in modern urban planning – in finding the ultimate work/life balance. The masterplanned new town centre was conceived around the existing lifestyle that has made Maroochydore famous, and is based on the central values of the local culture.
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BOOK REVIEW
INVEST OR LIVE
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Blending the indoor and outdoor with style and ease • Perfect northerly aspect • Expansive balconies blur the line between indoor and outdoor living • Generous storage unit for each apartment’s car park • Convenient study nook or recess in most apartments • Landscaped BBQ area • Elevated pool area that’s both secure and private • Secure parking, access and intercom • Spacious, private courtyards to ground floor apartments • Entertainment areas built for al fresco dining • Native landscaped outdoor spaces • Low body corporate ARTIST IMPRESSION ONLY ARTIST IMPRESSION ONLY
2 & 3 BEDROOM APARTMENTS ON MAROOCHY RIVER For more information call Jack, Dan or Troy on 07 5451 1080. THINKBUSINESS | 75
BOOK REVIEW
SUNSHINE PLAZA SHOPPING CENTRE 8 MIN
NOOSA 30 MIN TWIN WATERS 7 MIN
COTTON TREE BOUTIQUES & CAFES 8 MIN
OCEAN STREET DINING & ENTERTAINMENT 7 MIN
BRISBANE 1 HR 23 MIN
THE SPIT MOOLOOLABA SEAFOOD EATERIES & DOG-FRIENDLY BEACH 11 MIN ALEXANDRA HEADLAND BEACH 9 MIN
SUNSHINE COAST UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL 16 MIN
‘SUNCENTRAL’ CBD 10 MIN
AIRPORT 7 MIN
UNIVERSITY 15 MIN
FOREFRONT
This is one geographically blessed location … Mooloolaba
Central and desirable …
11 min
Noosa
30 min
Foreshore is spectacularly
and directly connected to
Brisbane
moored on the sands of the
the style and vibrancy of the
Sunshine Coast Airport
7 min
iconic Maroochy River, linking the
Maroochydore City Centre.
Sunshine Plaza
8 min
Ocean Street precinct
7 min
pristine hinterland to the see-
1h 23 min
At Foreshore you’re as
Alexandra Headland
connected as you want to be.
University Sunshine Coast
15 min
A home right at the heart of
This is Maroochy style at its best
University Hospital
16 min
a vibrant waterfront precinct,
– a signature blend of coastal
Bruce Highway
15 min
just minutes from boat ramps
chic, urban convenience, and
National bus network
In front
and world famous beaches,
relaxed riverfront resort living.
National rail network
20 min
through waters of the Pacific.
9 min
PHONE 07 5451 1080
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WWW.FORESHOREMAROOCHYDORE.COM.AU
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A vision of light Introducing a vision of timeless Sunshine Coast sophistication and a whole new benchmark in connected riverfront living. Foreshore is an exclusive enclave that consists of two and three-bedroom boutique apartments perched on the pristine Maroochy River – where open space architecture brings azure water and golden light together seamlessly in the Sunshine Coast’s most desirable location. The north facing aspect catches the Coral Sea breeze as well as the uninterrupted, never to be built-out, panoramic view across the river with picture-perfect Mount Ninderry as the backdrop.
Take a look around Foreshore 1. Download the LAYAR app from the App Store or Google Play on any iPhone, android or tablet.
2. Open the LAYAR app and scan this page to watch the Foreshore video.
www.foreshoremaroochydore.com.au
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PROPERT Y
FINDING THE RIGHT property for investment WORDS JACK CHILDS
WHEN YOU HAVE DECIDED IT’S THE RIGHT TIME TO CONSIDER INVESTING IN PROPERTY, THERE ARE A NUMBER OF THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW.
THERE ARE 1.7 MILLION Australians who own investment properties, however less than two per cent of these (that’s less than 37,000) own five or more properties. That’s because they don’t always choose the right property or know how to manage them as their portfolio grows.
There are some key factors involved in choosing the right property for investing and these include undertaking the right research and market analysis and following best practices when it comes to property acquisition.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT PROPERTY When it comes to choosing the right property, you will need to ask yourself;
· Population movements
· Have you done extensive research on locations and developers?
· Demographic changes
· Are you sourcing the properties at the right time and in the right location?
· Supply and demand
· Have you chosen the right properties to maximise growth and yield? Property research is like a jigsaw puzzle, you only have to be missing one piece and the puzzle is incomplete. If you really want to ensure you make the best decision you will need to look at:
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· Employment and economic growth · Infrastructure spending · Rent and yield variations · Timing · The development design · The property value If you want to find properties in areas with high rental yields and future demand to ensure you get the highest possible rental returns, you will need to be able to analyse relevant data from all of these sources to locate the next
hot spots and stay ahead of the market. This means you can then secure an investment property in the right location at the right time to maximise future capital growth and high returns. And don’t forget to check to see if your potential investment property will suit the specific demand of renters in the area, making your investment stand out from others on the market. Now that’s a lot to consider for the average person. And that’s why often it is best to go to someone who already has experience in property investments to point you in the right direction or even do all of this hard work for you.
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MANAGING YOUR PROPERTY ACQUISITION Let’s say you have done all of this work and you have chosen a property. How do you then go about the specifics of the property acquisition? You need to know how to:
· Check that the planned finish and fittings for your investment are relevant to your needs
· Negotiate with developers to get the very best price
· Know the approval steps for the progress draws for payment
· Assure that colour selection and fit out is suitable for your property
· Keep the developer on track with the build · Ensure a fixed price construction contract that can only be varied with your authorisation · Keep up to date with everything you need to know through the whole process.
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Now that you have an investment property, you need to decide how you are going to manage it. The best way is to appoint a property manager. The property manager should be able to give you advice on property law, your rights and responsibilities as a landlord – as well as those of the tenant. The property manager will also help you find the right tenant, conduct reference checks and make sure they pay their rent on time. They’ll also take care of any maintenance issues.
After reading this, you will probably start to realise why so few property investors in Australia are able to grow their portfolio to five or more properties. Property investing may seem like a great idea, however like any wealth creation investments including shares, funds management or others, it’s always best to ensure you have expert advice to help you achieve your goals.
JACK CHILDS
PHONE 5451 1080 JACK@THINKINVESTMENTREALTY.COM.AU WWW.THINKINVESTMENTREALTY.COM.AU THINKBUSINESS | 79
PROPERT Y
30 tips for investing in TOWNHOUSES WORDS MICHAEL MATUSIK
TOWNHOUSES ARE A GREAT ALTERNATIVE TO MORE TRADITIONAL DETACHED HOUSES OR MUCH SMALLER APARTMENTS. BUT LIKE ALL HOUSING PRODUCTS AND INVESTMENT IN GENERAL, THERE ARE SOME WHICH DO BETTER THAN OTHERS IN PRICE GROWTH AND RENTAL RETURN. HERE ARE MY THIRTY TIPS FOR BETTER TOWNHOUSE BUYING.
LOCATION
1. 2.
PAY ABOUT 10 PER CENT LESS THAN THE PRICE OF A TRADITIONAL OLDER DETACHED HOME IN THE IMMEDIATE AREA.
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3. 4. 5.
Stick to middle-ring locations, typically 5km to 20km from the GPO. Stay close to major transport routes – rail first, then major roads, then busways. Best if within a 10-minute commute to major employment nodes – hospitals, universities and major retail. Good if adjacent to regional open space, with some destination/ lifestyle facilities, retail within a short walk or quick commute. Many townhouse occupants (especially tenants) work in trades, retail, health, education and tourism – they need cars. Parking is important.
6. 7. 8. 9.
Owner resident profile is often first home buyers or older ‘downsizing’ buyers, but increasingly couples with young children – so they spend a fair bit of time in their homes. In general, target suburbs with ageing demographics and declining household size. Look for elevated sites in locations with external grid patterned streets. Well landscaped locations.
about 10 per cent less 10. Pay than the price of a traditional older detached house in the immediate area.
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DUPLEX ARRANGEMENTS ARE FAR BETTER THAN LONG ROWS OF TOWNHOUSES. THE FEWER SHARED WALLS THE BETTER.”
SITE LAYOUT
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Stick to smaller projects, less than 50 within the complex. Best, too, if there are smaller precincts within the overall project. Limited facilities – better to have some real useable open space, with BBQ/covered areas than a fancy pool, tennis court, gymnasium and the like. Low body corporate fees are important. Wide enough internal roads, with easy circulation points, to manoeuvre a family-sized SRV. In short, two-way driveways. Duplex arrangements are far better than long rows of townhouses. The fewer shared walls the better. More internal light; better ventilation; more private outdoor space plus less next door noise.
INDIVIDUAL DESIGN
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
A variety of building setbacks and slight change in internal road delineation is better than everything being straight.
7.
Secure letter boxes and garbage corrals at the entrance/s of the complex.
8.
Visitor car parking allocated in small clusters throughout the project.
9.
Several landscaped nodes throughout the complex. Combination of old school with modern technology i.e. brickbased ground floor treatment with high quality lighter weight material for the second storey.
Three bedrooms; 2.5 baths (one being downstairs WC) and two cars, with one at least in a secure private garage. Galley kitchen with bench space to seat three people. Kitchen, living, dining downstairs and bedrooms, bathrooms upstairs. Dining area needs to seat four adults. Master bedroom needs to house a king-sized bed, the other bedrooms a queen. Open plan downstairs living with good natural light and flow through ventilation. Covered patio space with private open space, living area and kitchen all facing north, where possible. Master bedroom has good robe space and ensuite (with double vanity, shower and operable window). Shower over bath in second bathroom. Dedicated study area or MPR, often best on the second level. Separate laundry (best not in the garage) with good storage provision. Carpet in bedrooms and upper storey, tiles elsewhere. Polyurea floor finish in the secure private garage.
to living area. 10. Air-conditioning Ceiling fans in all bedrooms and on patio. Little wasted space. Internal stairs are hidden from main entrance. The higher the ceilings, the better.
MICHAEL MATUSIK
FOR MORE INFORMATION: PHONE (07) 3368 2878 WWW.MATUSIK.COM.AU
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PROPERT Y
FINDING THE PERFECT investment property portfolio A GOOD PROPERTY PORTFOLIO SHOULD INCLUDE A MIX OF PROPERTY TYPES AND AREAS. NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE STARTING OR YOUR SITUATION, AGE OR EXPERIENCE, BALANCE IS IMPORTANT TO HELP YOU MAXIMISE YOUR PROFIT AND MINIMISE YOUR RISK.
WHAT DOES A BALANCED PORTFOLIO LOOK LIKE? For some investors, this could include owning properties in different geographic areas and in south-east Queensland alone this could mean Brisbane, Toowoomba and the Sunshine Coast. A balanced portfolio can also be a mix of new house and land, units or townhouses, existing houses or offthe-plan units or townhouses. Units and townhouses may meet inner city requirements where house and land could be uneconomical. In some markets house and land may deliver the best return. The type of property is often less relevant than its appeal to tenants, its cash flow or its capital growth potential.
CAPITAL GROWTH VERSUS RENTAL RETURN Capital growth properties are those that grow in value over time. Ideally, you want properties with long-term historical growth of around eight per cent per annum on average, meaning you could potentially double your money within seven to 10 years. Properties that have achieved strong long-term growth are often located in inner-city areas and high
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population growth areas with strong infrastructure growth. Cash flow properties or positive geared properties are those that are earning you enough rental income to cover the mortgage. These properties tend to have a high gross yield of around seven per cent. While you’re making a loss in the short term the rental income from the property will increase in the future when the property turns positively geared. As an investor your ultimate goal should be – a property portfolio that pays for itself each month, while also growing in value.
BUYING NEW VERSUS OLD After years of experience, and making enough mistakes myself, the most important thing I have learned is to buy new not old. There are quite a few reasons for making this decision – one of the most important is the huge difference the tax benefits can make. The maintenance costs are close to non-existent, as the builder is responsible for correcting any faults for six years. Newer properties are also generally well presented with an appealing design and high quality tenant-ready features.
COMPARING EXPENSES AND RETURNS It’s always interesting to compare houses versus units and townhouses. Houses seemingly have less cost compared to units or townhouses due to the latter properties having Body Corporate fees, however there is a maintenance component not factored into houses that is allowed for and covered in Body Corporate expenses. Council rates are also calculated differently for the different property types. All have their benefits and we generally find that over time, costs and returns are often equal.
DOING THE RIGHT RESEARCH Research is key in identifying the best property for your portfolio. Property types should match demographics and the area e.g. units/townhouses may not be required in smaller regional markets, where house and land on the other hand may have strong demand. The majority of investors don’t do enough research, or worse still, get incorrect information from the huge amount of data available online. It is vital to know what is happening with infrastructure spending, demographics, employment, economic growth and supply and demand, to name just a few.
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Five reasons why property is smart investment in 2017
1
SAFE AS HOUSES
2
TAX BREAKS
According to research by AMP, Australian property has increased in value at a rate comparable to the share market since 1926 – an average of 11.4 per cent per annum, despite a succession of wars, disasters, recessions and crisis.
There are huge advantages to having a tenant and the tax man pay off your investments for you. In some case, even the most conservative property can turn into a cash flow positive wonder after tax breaks. Let’s look at a few: Depreciation – one of the most underrated and overlooked tax benefits is depreciation, which works best when you build or buy brand new. On a $500,000 property, depreciation can vary between a $10,000 and $25,000 per annum tax deduction. Claimable expenses – using the right account means there a number of things that could be claimed that are often overlooked, including stationery, travel and computers. Negative gearing – if your investment initially makes a loss instead of a profit, the loss is considered tax deductible. However, note that any tax deductions here are a bonus and should not be the purpose of your investment. Superannuation – self-managed super funds (SMSF) are becoming popular, giving people more control over their investment choices including purchasing property.
3
SECURE GROWING INCOME IN RETIREMENT
4
YOU CAN USE LEVERAGE
Moving towards retirement, the biggest positive about investment property is that it continues to grow; therefore your income in retirement will grow. And rents also increase leading to long-term increasing income in retirement.
Using other people’s money to make money is one of the biggest benefits of investing in property. Banks will lend up to 90 per cent of the value of a property meaning a $50,000 investment can change into a $500,000 investment. And the great part is you will earn, in the above example, 11.4 per cent on the whole amount. e.g $50,000 x 11.4% = $5700 $500,000 x 11.4% = $57000
5
PROPERTY IS FLEXIBLE
Given the flexibility of property, no matter what your financial aims, you should be able to find an investment strategy to suit your needs. For example, if you have time, it’s the best way to build a retirement nest egg given it is historically proven to deliver capital growth.
FOR ALL OF YOUR BUSINESS, MONEY AND PROPERTY NEEDS:
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FOR ALL OF YOUR BUSINESS, MONEY AND PROPERTY NEEDS: PHONE (07) 5430 4777 CHRIS@THINKMONEY.COM.AU WWW.THINKMONEY.COM.AU WWW.CHRISCHILDS.COM.AU
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OPINION
talks:
lifelong learning
NO MATTER HOW OLD OR EXPERIENCED YOU ARE, WE ARE FOREVER LEARNING. CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO HEAR HOW YOU TOO CAN ADOPT NEW SKILLS AND BROADEN YOUR KNOWLEDGE.
SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH ERIN MCKEAN’S TED TALK DIRECTLY ON YOUR PHONE
ERIN MCKEAN: GO AHEAD, MAKE UP NEW WORDS! In this fun, short talk from TEDYouth, lexicographer Erin McKean encourages (cheerleads) her audience to create new words when the existing ones won’t quite do. She lists six ways to make new words in English, from compounding to “verbing,” in order to make language better at expressing what we mean, and to create more ways for us to understand one another.
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SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH EACH SPEAKER’S TED TALK ON YOUTUBE
TIM FERRIS: SMASH FEAR, LEARN ANYTHING From the EG conference: Productivity guru Tim Ferriss’ fun, encouraging anecdotes show how one simple question, “What’s the worst that could happen?” is all you need to learn to do anything.
JOHN GREEN: THE NERDS GUIDE TO LEARNING EVERYTHING ONLINE Some of us learn best in the classroom, and some of us ... well, we don’t. But we still love to learn – we just need to find the way that works for us. In this charming, personal talk, author John Green shares the community of learning that he found in online video.
JOSHUA FOER: FEATS OF MEMORY ANYONE CAN DO There are people who can quickly memorise lists of thousands of numbers, the order of all the cards in a deck (or 10), and much more. Science writer Joshua Foer describes the technique, called the memory palace, and shows off its most remarkable feature: anyone can learn how to use it, including him.
JEAN-BAPTISTE MICHEL + EREZ LIEBERMAN AIDEN: WHAT WE LEARNED FROM 5 MILLION BOOKS Have you played with Google Labs’ Ngram Viewer? It’s an addicting tool that lets you search for words and ideas in a database of five million books from across centuries. Erez Lieberman Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel show us how it works, and a few of the surprising things we can learn from 500 billion words.
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THE DEBATE OPINION
FOR THE AFFIRMATIVE:
two-year-old daughter, it is very easy to see that my daughter could already rule the world with her determination and will. Whereas, my son is much more passive, very ‘go with the flow’ and more than happy to follow her leadership. I was very similar to my daughter; from a very young age I had all the children in our neighbourhood lined up and joining me in whatever project I had devised. This could be anything from a fundraiser to car washing for Christmas money. I would recruit new kids on every street I passed encouraging them and motivating them. At the time I was called bossy, now looking back it was the start of my path to becoming a leader.
NATALIE TINK OWNER COAST TO COAST MEDIA
I BELIEVE THIS is a multifaceted debate because quite honestly it is a little bit of both. Now stick with me here, because I know a solid debate requires no fence sitters. In my opinion I believe leaders are born, however what they do with those gifts is really dependant on the life path they take. I have a seven-year-old son and a
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As I matured and was thrust into the workplace, I quickly decided the type of leader I wanted to be – a working one. I learnt from on-the-job experiences that leaders who gave orders and refused to get their hands dirty were not respected and things quickly fell apart at the seams when any trouble occurred. I firmly believe leaders are born, they have a desire from a young age to lead and to motivate and encourage, with a confidence to take the bull by the horns and get things done.
from a very young age you can see their little minds developing and the leaders already starting to emerge. I believe you can teach a person to be a better leader but they do need to have the complexities of leadership available within themselves to begin with.
I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT LEADERS ARE BORN, THEY HAVE A DESIRE FROM A YOUNG AGE TO LEAD AND TO MOTIVATE AND ENCOURAGE, WITH A CONFIDENCE TO TAKE THE BULL BY THE HORNS AND GET THINGS DONE.”
Often when I see my kids play at the park or at a birthday party, I sit back and watch how all the children interact. I think
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GREAT LEADERS:
ARE THEY BORN OR ARE THEY MADE?
FOR THE NEGATIVE:
ANNETTE SYM FOUNDER SYMPLY TOO GOOD
MADE LEADERS LEAD BY EXAMPLE, GAINING RESPECT THROUGH THEIR MOTIVATION AND DRIVE FOR SUCCESS.”
Great leaders are first, great followers. It is through their hard work, passion and commitment that they become leaders. A made leader often comes from humble beginnings. They arrive early, finish late, put in the effort and do the time. They work the hours and get to know everything there is to know about their industry, their trade and their people. It all begins with a purpose and an unobstructed vision for the end goal. What many see as a risk, they see as an opportunity. Made leaders lead by example, gaining respect through their motivation and drive for success. They take pride in their position and stand confident as they strive to achieve greatness. They have learnt over time when to lead but also know when to listen and when to learn. Made leaders build people up. They have an ability to connect with an employee yet negotiate with a CEO. They’ve learnt from the leaders who have walked the path before them. They create environments that nurture and strengthen their team and realise, as one, they can only achieve so much, but as a team, they can achieve anything. Leaders aren’t always born, they are made. They don’t tell you what to do, they show you how it’s done.
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OPINION
GROWING OUR FUTURE through the BUSINESS OF EDUCATION WORDS FIONA SIMPSON PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED
WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES ON THE SUNSHINE COAST YOU MAY NOT ALWAYS MAKE A LINK TO HOW THE EDUCATION SECTOR IS HELPING OUR REGION TRANSFORM AND GROW FUTURE JOBS. THE STATISTICS ARE fascinating, with 9.2 per cent of industries being directly involved in educational and training services which is larger than our construction sector (8 per cent).The biggest sector is the health and support service industry which makes up 15.3 per cent of Coast businesses compared to the state average of 12 per cent. With our natural beauty here on the Sunshine Coast and great lifestyle, it’s easy to see why so many families want to call the Coast home. However, people still need jobs, services and good education for their children and all of these are coming together in a serendipitous way that bodes well for confidence in the future. I was so lucky to grow up here on the Coast because my folks saw huge opportunity in this stunningly beautiful area and moved their young brood here. I know that a large part of their decision was based on their children having access to schools and universities. The schools were good and while universities were a bit down the road in Brisbane in those days, my parents had a vision we would have our own university on the Sunshine Coast one day and played a part in seeing that happen. The Coast has grown up a lot since I was a barefoot kid at Yandina Primary School and so has our education sector. The University of the Sunshine Coast is now 20 years old, and is a jewel in our region’s crown with some pretty impressive graduates and expanding courses. The handful
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UNIVERSITY OF THE SUNSHINE COAST
of state high schools and private schools from my childhood have grown and vocational education is diverse and accessible. More Sunshine Coast high school leavers than ever before gain post school qualifications right here on the Coast. What does this surge in first-class educational opportunities mean for the Coast and those who want to grow their businesses, whether they are directly involved in education or not?
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SUNSHINE COAST...IS A JEWEL IN OUR REGION’S CROWN.”
This sector has been one of the most transformative in the last two decades, not only as an attractor to parents who choose the Sunshine Coast to raise their children and relocate their jobs and businesses here. It has also deepened and added value to the Coast’s economic base with a more diversely trained workforce and businesses which link directly into the research and global connections of our university. A fortuitous combination of all three sectors – education, construction and health – is currently boosting jobs in an unparalleled way on the Coast by way of the $1.8 billion Sunshine Coast University Hospital, opening in April 2017. Our new hospital, together with the university, present opportunities in spades for brilliant new jobs, and higher level health services will be available to people closer to their home. Critically, this helps local people access higher education (or tailored professional development) to turn lifelong learning into economic outcomes and see more of these jobs based on the Coast rather than having to work in a capital city. Instead of being daunted by talk that the average Australian will have 17 jobs over their lifetime, with five different careers, we can have a “seize the day” attitude and embrace the opportunities on our doorstep. Lifetime learning, whether it’s through formal professional development or a questioning mind that seeks better solutions, is part of that journey of growing better businesses. Hats off to the University of the Sunshine Coast, which years ago recognised the need to help business succeed, and established the business incubator at the Innovation Centre. My vision for the Sunshine Coast being known as the leading region for lifestyle and health isn’t a pipedream, it’s good business. And a growing education sector adds immense value to the businesses that the Sunshine Coast is nurturing and staffing. FIONA SIMPSON IS STATE MEMBER FOR MAROOCHYDORE WWW.FIONASIMPSON.COM.AU
THINKBUSINESS | 89
OPINION
MARKETING - trends and predictions for 2017 WORDS INGRID NELSON PHOTOS JASON HAY VIDEO ADAM ERBACHER (THE FILM TREE) VENUE BELLA VENEZIA
“YOU CAN’T SELL a secret” … it’s a catch cry often used in the marketing world and one that perfectly sums up the importance of telling the world about your product or service. The heart of any business success lies in its marketing, without it your business may offer the best products or services in your industry, but none of your potential customers would know about it. While trends come and go, the role of marketing remains the same, to raise awareness of your brand and ensure a unique selling proposition. Needless to say the explosion of the digital arena and social media has played a huge role in how we market our product or service and finding a perfect blend of traditional and new media can be a challenge for business owners. To find out more, I caught up with the Blokes About Town over a delicious lunch at Bella Venezia, Mooloolaba to get their take on the role of marketing today, how it’s changed over the years and how they see its role in business as it evolves in the future. Joining me for lunch was Matt Jones, media and communications officer with Tafe Queensland East Coast; Adrian Painter, operations manager with What The Fox Creative; Bryan Cooper, marketing manager, Star Noosa Realty and entrepreneur and owner of DownTown Burger Bar Nambour, Cameron Scott.
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THIS ISSUE I CAUGHT UP WITH A SAVVY BUNCH OF LADS, EACH WITH AN IMPRESSIVE BACKGROUND IN MARKETING AND ADVERTISING TO DISCOVER THEIR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN THE DYNAMIC INDUSTRY AS WELL AS CURRENT TRENDS AND THEIR PREDICTIONS FOR 2017.
TRADITIONAL MEDIA VS NEW MEDIA, WHERE DO YOU SIT? adrian: New media is changing the overall media landscape, as new media allows businesses to target ads more specifically to consumers based on their age, gender, marital status, etc. It also allows businesses the ability to track what these consumers are doing and how they end up on your website. New media allows us to get this data and analyse our target audience. bryan: Radio was going to kill newspapers, television was going to kill radio, the internet was going to kill television. Each new medium appears it finds its place within the marketing mix based on appropriateness and effectiveness of delivering the right message to the right target. The internet has been great at some things, but, with the exception of specific ‘yellow pages’-type applications like Uber, Wotif, Trivago, realestate.com etc it has not been so successful at building brands. It’s hard to think of a car, a chocolate bar, a beer or a burger chain that owes its brand image entirely, or even mostly, to the internet or social media. Digital marketing companies have not helped themselves by promising results they have not been able to deliver and then covering up by blatant cheating. Many
advertisers have no idea whether they are communicating with humans or robots, meanwhile hundreds of millions of people around the world are now using ad blockers to escape a digital deluge of mindless marketing. cameron: I believe a healthy mix between the two is essential. However, I have found new media provides a better ROI (return on investment). New media allows our business to understand what each customer costs us in marketing. matt: They work hand-in-hand with each other. It’s incredibly important to use a blend of media channels to effectively reach and engage with audiences. For example, new media is cost effective and allows us to really narrow our focus and target specific groups of audiences/customers, while traditional media can reach a broad range of people and can be worth the extra spend when trying to build a brand. Personally, I love both and use them quite independently of each other. I wake up every day, grab my phone and scroll through my social media newsfeeds for a quick snapshot of what’s going on in the world. But, to me, nothing beats the look and feel of a beautiful glossy mag or sitting at a café in the sun with coffee in hand relaxing and reading a newspaper while the world passes by. www.thinkbusinessmagazine.com.au
MATT JONES
HAS THE MARKETING ROLE CHANGED SINCE YOU STARTED YOUR CAREER? adrian: The role of marketing has not changed; the core objective still remains the same in the importance of a unique selling proposition. However, the role of the marketing department has changed, as they now need to become a media and education department. The marketing tools have changed and this has shifted our initiatives; we now need to encompass content that attracts customers and places them on a journey to convert and consume. You need to use the tools of technology to their advantage, for example, your entire business has to change to accommodate the use of social media. This also impacts your marketing spend in light of free Facebook and Twitter profiles.The basic rules of marketing have changed because we as people have changed, we are no longer passive consumers, our expectations are higher, our attention span is shorter and we expect products to make our lives more meaningful. Plus the buyer has more power, we are more in control; and we decide when, the consumer will call you, they do not want to be called. bryan: Well if it hasn’t, it probably should have because I started as a copywriter in advertising in the mid 1960s and I don’t believe the
ADRIAN PAINTER
CAMERON SCOTT
fundamentals have changed or need to. Good marketing communication is still about understanding the difference
THE BEST ADVERTISING AND THE BEST MARKETING TODAY CAN STILL BE SUMMED UP IN THE THREE WORDS I LEARNED MANY YEARS AGO – RELEVANT AND UNEXPECTED. between stimulus and response and applying the rules of slow learning and fast forgetting. The best advertising and the best marketing today can still be summed up in the three words I learned many years ago – relevant and unexpected. Many marketers don’t seem to know these objectives or appreciate that the most important of those words is AND. Because if your communication is relevant but predictable no one will pay attention. And if it’s unexpected but irrelevant it won’t matter whether people pay attention or not. I can’t count the number of times I have listened to respondents in focus groups describe ‘ads they love’ in minute detail, only to later discover that they had absolutely no idea what the product or the brand was.
BRYAN COOPER
cameron: I believe it has. Branding for the sake of branding was really important 10 years ago. With the arrival of social media and new advertising avenues, we have seen a shift in the value for money and the ability to directly market to a specific group of people. Therefore we don’t push a brand over a large blanket of people, but instead really narrow and focus our marketing material. matt: Absolutely. There were only four Ps in the marketing mix when I first started (product, price, promotion and place) and now there are about seven! Additionally, mobile devices have changed not only how we do business, but how we live. Social media influencers now rival traditional brand ambassadors and paid digital advertising is trying to put TV, radio and print advertising on the heritage listing. WHAT’S THE RIGHT BALANCE BETWEEN BUILDING BRAND AND TACTICAL MARKETING? adrian: Branding is strategic, marketing is tactical. Marketing unearths and activates buyers. Branding makes loyal customers, advocates, out of those who buy. A brand will help encourage someone to buy a product, and it directly supports whatever sales or marketing activities are in play. Marketing
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OPINION
may contribute to a brand, but the brand is bigger than any particular marketing effort. The brand is what remains after the marketing has finished. bryan: Impossible to say without knowing your history, your industry, your product, your competition, your place in the market, your budget and lots and lots of other questions. But if anyone else has a simple one sentence answer I am prepared to pay for it! cameron: This is such a hard one, because every business is different and every market is different. For us, we brand material within the shop but we use tactical marketing to push our brand out there. matt: How long’s a piece of string? Finding the right balance is crucial to staying relevant today, tomorrow and long into the future. But customer markets are extremely competitive and are constantly changing, so it can often be hard to find the sweet spot. Consequently, I follow a simple recipe: review the marketing mix regularly, measure and track results, look for opportunities, and adapt as required. Carefully assessing current customer behaviour and attitude, where the best prospects are, and where your competitive difference lies will help position your brand for success. WHAT ONE NEW MARKETING SKILL WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE? adrian: Inbound marketing – CRM certified. bryan: I would love to be able to instantly produce real statistics to demonstrate that ‘facts and figures’, which often become accepted as reliable data, are little more than opinions, or have been heavily massaged to match preconceived ideas. cameron: I think we are all chasing the ability to foster organic material. This is something I am trying to understand and develop more within myself.
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matt: HTML. While I’m familiar with it, we’re old friends, but I’m by no means a ‘hardcore coder’ who can scroll through lines of code to find out why my website isn’t behaving like it should be. I know to leave that to the pros; the people who live in the matrix. WHAT’S YOUR BIG MARKETING PREDICTION FOR 2017? adrian: My prediction is an increased focus on customer experience. Customer experience is the heart of marketing and we need to embrace customer-centric philosophies to create effective marketing strategies and positive digital transformations. bryan: There will be lots of stories about the death of marketing, or the demise of digital, or the end of television, or the rebirth of brands, or about how some new trend will change everything – it won’t!
SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH LIVE FOOTAGE FROM OUR BLOKE’S LUNCH
BRANDING IS STRATEGIC, MARKETING IS TACTICAL. MARKETING UNEARTHS AND ACTIVATES BUYERS. BRANDING MAKES LOYAL CUSTOMERS, ADVOCATES, OUT OF THOSE WHO BUY.
cameron: I believe there will be a narrowing of the existing marketing channels. Making it harder to create good content, which generates organic reach. However, I think technology in marketing is shifting towards being able to capture a larger ROI on marketing dollars. This development will lead to business getting more accurate ROI projections before they even start marketing. matt: As Pokémon Go exploded onto phones around the globe and booted people off the couch and into the community, expect brands to put more time and energy into exploring the use of augmented reality in their marketing toolkits. Pokémon Go demonstrated two things: that users/customers are open to the idea and are thirsty for more; and that marketing professionals saw the powerful earning potential and are probably already hard at work trying to bring the next cutting edge campaign to life.
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Bella Venezia Restaurant I’ll admit I am a sucker for Italian cuisine, so when I discovered my lunch date with the Blokes about Town was at one of the best Italian restaurants on the Sunny Coast (as voted in the Australian Good Food Guide, 2017) I was a little bit excited to say the least and boy did they live up to their reputation on the day of our visit. Operating from the same prime location on the Mooloolaba Esplanade since 1983, the popular a la carte restaurant is one of the longest established Italian eateries on the Sunshine Coast and it’s not hard to see why. Upon arrival the lads and I were treated to an array of delicious dishes to sample before ordering our main meals including juicy Mooloolaba King prawns with aioli and tomato salsa, crumbed risotto balls with brie cheese and mixed herbs (arancini), antipasto semplice, a selection of cured meats, pickled and marinated vegetables, homemade preserves and warm homemade bread and Coffin Bay oysters.
We were spoilt for choice for mains but I couldn’t resist the Moreton Bay bug spaghetti. Cooked to perfection, the white flesh melted in your mouth, served with zucchini, leek, chilli and seafood bisque it was some of the best I have eaten. Sticking with the seafood theme, another popular choice on the day included the spaghetti al fruitti di mare, featuring local Mooloolaba prawns, Cloudy Bay clams, squid, local cherry tomato , fresh chilli, basil white wine and olive oil, bellissimo! Other delectable dishes include fettuccine alla carbonara, pulled pork risotto and diners can also choose from a selection of gourmet pizzas and non pasta dishes. Kiddies are also catered for with a bambini menu and the list of desserts is simply divine! Do yourself a favour and drop in! You won’t be disappointed. FIVE & DIME BURGER BAR 20 AERODROME ROAD MAROOCHYDORE BELLA RESTAURANT PHONE:VENEZIA 5479 5946
95 MOOLOOLABA ESPLANADE,MOOLOOLABA PHONE: 5444 5844
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Is upskilling
and training needed
FOR CAREER PROGRESSION? CHRIS LEWIS IMODA GROUP DIRECTOR
I BELIEVE UPSKILLING and training for career progression has merits, but it will only get you part of the way there. Other more important factors are; a positive attitude, eagerness to learn and grow and an optimistic outlook. Combine these traits with upskilling and training and this will give you the edge over other candidates vying for possible promotions. The other key aspect that is often lost on many people is that we are all salespeople, every day we need to be selling our business, selling the advantages of our services and products and selling ourselves, it doesn’t matter what your current job is, you need to make every customer or human contact a positive one, you never know when the next opportunity may arise and your future employer may be standing right in front of you. Go out there, upskill, get more training, learn more, but also, show a willingness to learn more to enable you to earn more. 94 | THINKBUSINESS
DR RETHA DE VILLERS-SCHEEPERS UNIVERSITY OF THE SUNSHINE COAST SENIOR LECTURER IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT
WE LIVE IN a knowledge economy, where what you know and what you can contribute in your workplace determine how well your employer does in a globally competitive marketplace. The world of work has changed rapidly in the past 20 years. Job security, promotion based on seniority, and coasting without updating your skills are out. The workplace is uncertain and requires flexible employees who take control of their destinies and are skilled to use new technologies. Employees who don’t update their skills will fall behind and limit their career progression. Upskilling covers the whole gamut of learning, from dayto-day new skills on the job to doing formal courses or degrees. For those who want to get ahead in their careers, this is a no-brainer.
PAUL ANDERSON TEAM ANDERSON CO-FOUNDER
I BELIEVE THAT upskilling and training is essential for career progression, growth and more importantly, career satisfaction. From the employee’s point of view, training and upskilling are vital in maintaining interest and desire to move forward in their chosen profession. If they can see a career progression path from this training, it helps build their motivation to grow, expand and give much needed job satisfaction. Secondly, employee training and upskilling not only provides benefits to the individual, but also to the business. Regular training and upskilling are worth the investment because building up the skills within the business will effectively help grow the business. Training can also compliment a person’s existing skillset to help them grow into the next role. Employees who embrace training acquire a valuable point of difference to make the leap to the next level. I am a strong believer in letting your team grow and flourish, keeping them engaged through training and upskilling and hopefully, end up taking my position. www.thinkbusinessmagazine.com.au
The Word SIX EXPERTS IN THEIR FIELD IMPART THEIR OPINION AND KNOWLEDGE
JOHN EASTHAM CRICK AUTO GROUP CO-OWNER AND CEO
FOR ME THIS is a bit like asking ‘is water is needed for plants to grow’ or ‘is the pope Catholic’? The answer is, of course. In many areas of society, it is assumed career progression happens through loyalty or longevity, and in practise this does happen – to a certain extent. However, for true and significant career progression, you need to get better at what you do, do more of what you do, or get some new skills. Not everyone wants career progression and there is nothing wrong with that, but my advice to anyone who does is to discuss it with your boss and ask what you need to do to get the progression you are looking for – then decide if you are prepared to do what it takes. The other aspect is to be with a company that is growing, they have more opportunities for career progression, whereas in stagnant companies, you have to wait for someone to retire or leave for a position to open up.
JUDY REYNOLDS OPENING GATES FOUNDER
YES – HOWEVER, UPSKILLING and training is no longer directed or defined by the employer, it is self-directed by the individual in a very intentional way. The individual now asks, ‘How will I progress the plan I have for my career?’ ‘Who will enable this plan to play out and over what time frame?’ Feeding intelligence and engaging in lifetime learning is an essential part of maximising potential. Building on strengths and leveraging intellectual capital is part of that process. It is an intentional personal journey and may mean a transient experience across a variety of employers and environments. There is a shift away from a cookie cutter career plan developed by an employer, towards a bespoke career plan designed by the individual, in the context of the individual’s whole life plan. The employer must ask, ‘How do we become more relevant to you and your plans AND enable the vision we have for the business to turn up?’ Alignment brings energy, creativity and conviction – all conducive to both personal and business success.
ADRIAN RAMSAY ADRIAN RAMSAY DESIGN HOUSE OWNER
ON-THE-JOB training is essential to create team culture, as well as filling industry-specific knowledge gaps. While each industry has its own genre it doesn’t mean everyone does everything the same way, so on-thejob training brings employees in line with your culture and needs. This is important when interacting with suppliers, other businesses and of course customers. There is a saying by Laurence J. Peter, “Managers rise to the level of their incompetence”, which says there is value in finding your level of incompetence and having the team play under that level, where they are best suited. The only way to break through this scenario is to keep educating, as training – either formally or environmentally, is the only way to take people forward. Although a tertiary education certainly isn’t the be all and end all, often it’s not a good indicator of passion, talent or dedication, although it does show ability to finish projects and deliver a level of quality, which is important. THINKBUSINESS | 95
BOOK REVIEWS
Reading to MOTIVATE & INSPIRE LEARN WHAT NOT TO DO TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS BY MATT MALOUF
The Stop Doing List gets you off the treadmill of unproductive, frenetic activity, and sets you on the path toward growth. Running a business has never been easy, but today’s nonstop 24-7-365 world makes moving forward more difficult than ever before. Plenty of resources can show you how to make lists, create schedules and manage your time, but they all seem to expect your time to be 100 per cent devoted to work – not only is that no way to live, it’s no way to grow. Instead, try doing less. This book shows you how to stop wasting energy on tasks that don’t move you closer to your goals, so you can focus on the things that do. You’ll identify your own ‘Stop Doing’ list, and learn a systematic and practical way to eliminate, automate or delegate these tasks so they never end up on your to do list again. You’ll discover your personal path to business success, develop a winning mindset and forever change the way you run your company – and along the way, you’ll gain the freedom, energy and time you need to take back your life. Author Matt Malouf has helped businesses around the globe – from $20M+ corporations to start-ups – achieve their growth objectives. Now, he shares his proven strategies with you: it’s not about doing more; it’s about doing what matters. • Find your inner genius and use it to grow your business • Switch your mindset to one of success • Attract, train and retain the people you need • Make lasting changes to the way you think about your business If it seems like the more you do, the less you achieve, it’s time to stop and breathe. Get smarter about growth and start developing The Stop Doing List.
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WANT TO KNOW THE INSIDE SECRETS OF SOME OF THE BIGGEST BUSINESSES AND MOST SUCCESSFUL LEADERS? HERE IS A COLLECTION OF SOME OF THE BEST INSIGHTFUL READS.
By KEVIN KELLY
By GEOFFREY G. PARKER
Synopsis: An optimistic road map for the future, showing how the coming changes in our lives – from virtual reality in the home to an ondemand economy to artificial intelligence embedded in everything we manufacture – can be understood as the result of a few long-term, accelerating forces.
Synopsis: A practical guide to the new economy that is transforming the way we live, work, and play. Uber, Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, PayPal – all disrupted their markets when they launched. Today they are industry leaders. What’s the secret? They are are built on platforms: two-sided markets that are revolutionizing the way we do business.
By JAKE KNAPP
By MARTIN LINDSTROM
Synopsis: Three partners at Google Ventures share a fiveday process for solving tough problems. Business leaders face big questions every day: What’s the most important place to focus your effort, and how do you start? What will your idea look like in real life? How many discussions does it take before you can be sure you have the right solution?
Synopsis: Hired by the world’s leading brands to find out what makes their customers tick, Lindstrom spends 300 nights in strangers’ homes observing every detail to uncover their hidden desires and the clues to a multi-million dollar product. It will enthrall enterprising marketers and anyone with a curiosity about the endless variations of human behavior.
By ANGELA DUCKWORTH
By CHRIS ANDERSON
Synopsis: As the daughter of a scientist who frequently noted her lack of “genius,” Duckworth describes her early eye-opening stints in teaching, business consulting, and neuroscience, which led to the hypothesis that what really drives success is not “genius” but a unique combination of passion and long-term perseverance.
Synopsis: Since taking over TED Talks in the early 2000s, Chris Anderson has shown how carefully crafted short talks can be the key to unlocking empathy, stirring excitement, spreading knowledge, and promoting a shared dream. Done right, a talk is more powerful than anything in written form.
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FINAL WORD
FINAL WORD BRUCE’S TOP 13 LEARNINGS FROM THE ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY
BRUCE CAMPBELL IS AN INTERNATIONALLYRENOWNED BUSINESS COACH WITH AN EXPERTISE IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP, BUSINESS STRATEGY, MARKETING, SALES, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS, FOREIGN EXPORTS AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT.
1. ASSUMPTIONS
Assumptions are the root of all stuff ups.
2. EMOTIONS
As emotions go up, intelligence goes down. Always have multiple non-emotive people to give you feedback before pulling the trigger on large decisions.
3. ADVICE
Be careful of who you take advice from; few people are truly qualified and eating their own cooking.
4. SIGNATURES
Be wary what you sign. When the ink dries, you are committed and there’s normally small print.
5. SILVER BULLET
There is no ‘silver bullet’ in business. People who suggest there is one are normally trying to sell you something.
6. BRIGHT LIGHTS
Most business owners would be a hell of a lot richer if they would just focus on one outcome, rather than chasing all the bright lights on the periphery.
7. PROMOTION
Never promote team members only on loyalty, having the correct skill set is vital for success in a position.
8. DEBT
Debt amplifies the outcome, both good AND bad.
9. PLANNING
Business owners who refuse to plan ultimately stunt growth and development.
10. START-UPS
Business start-ups are tough.
11. KNOWLEDGE
Your learnings and actions to date have got you to this place but will rarely be enough to get you to the next place. The amount of business knowledge correlates to business growth.
12. ABDICATION
Abdication is like throwing a football at someone when they’re not expecting it. Delegation is teaching them to catch it first.
13. BUSINESS FIT
Owning a business is like running a marathon, it takes time and fitness to finish the race.
BRUCE CAMPBELL ONLINEBUSINESSCOACH.COM
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