Business Networking In Brisbane’s Bayside

Many of you who live in Brisbane, Australia, know about the Business Coffee & Chat Mornings and Business Growth Sessions I organise on the north side of Brisbane.

Due to popular request we now have a bayside Coffee & Chat Morning too. Full details can be found on the website. We meet at Victoria Point on the second Tuesday of each month and at Everton Park on the second Wednesday of each month.

If you’re in Brisbane and have a small business or are thinking of starting a business, why not join us? This is a great way to associate with other local business owners, forming lasting alliances and a strong support network. If you work from home, this is a great way to get out of the house and meet other like-minded people.

Here’s to your success in business,

Donna-Marie

The Power Of Samples II - Blue Zamboo Sample Boxes

I have previously written here about the Power of Samples as part of a business’ marketing plan. While reading the My Day Off blog I recently came across a great idea - the Blue Zamboo Sample Boxes.

For just $19.99 + postage, you can purchase a Blue Zamboo Sample Box with a selection of samples from companies such as Beauty Banquet, Dream Candles, Cool Things, Princess Chic and more!

This is a great way to trial products (and it would make for a nice gift for someone too).

Here’s to your success in business,

Donna-Marie

Should You Hire Friends Or Relatives?

As you enjoy more success in small business, or you look for trustworthy and reliable partners for your venture, it might seem logical to look to those you rely on the most in your private life; often it seems that that the right thing to do is to help those who’ve been with your throughout the ups and downs of life, or to help those who’ve helped you.  However hiring friends and family is not always a good move for you—either for you personally or for your business.  Before you commit to it, you should consider some very important aspects of working with family and friends.

Strong Personal Relationships Are Not Guarantees Of Compatible Working Relationships

Just because you get along well at home and in your personal life does not mean that you will get along equally as well with friends and family once you enter into a working relationship with them.  Often the additional time spent together becomes a strain, even for married couples who’ve been together for years.  There is definitely something to be said for time apart and individual interests for friends and family.

New roles also cause tension between friends and family that start working together. It can be very difficult for your sibling, parent, relative, friend, or spouse to respect you as a boss, and even difficult for you to feel comfortable “bossing” them, regardless of how equitable an employer you may be.

Choosing The Right Person For The Job

Something else that is crucial to consider is how well suited or qualified your friend or family member is for the position he or she will hold.  Being a nice person or a deserving person does not make you qualified for a job—experience and expertise do that.  And putting an under-qualified person in a position could be detrimental to your company; it could be a liability, too.

Ultimately success in small business will depend on the abilities of qualified staff.  If you place the wrong person in a job that they do not perform well, you could very well have no business left to support any one of you!

Preventing And Managing Disagreements And Difficulties

Managing disagreements starts with prevention.  And that starts from the very beginning of the partnership or employment arrangement.

If you are entering into a business partnership with friends or family, you must clearly define the relationship, roles, and responsibilities ahead of time.  You should draft an agreement (preferably with the help of a solicitor or legal representative) that outlines who is responsible for what, who gets what percentages of profits, what happens in the event of a disagreement or business failure, and what the rights of each of you are.

If you are employing family and friends you will need to clearly define roles and responsibilities as well as the structure and hierarchy of the business.  Construct clear policies and expectations, and hold each person accountable as you would any other employee.  Be clear from the beginning that respect is a must, and that you will expect to be treated as any other employer would be and that in return you will be a respectful and fair employer.

At its best working with family and friends can be a very rewarding experience.  At its worst it can be detrimental to business and personal relationships.  Give strong thought to whether the arrangement is workable for you, and maximise the situation by being clear and open from the start.

Here’s to your success in business,

Donna-Marie

The Difference Between Winners And Losers

“How we deal with adversity shapes our lives more than almost anything else.  Achievers usually see problems as transitory, while those who fail usually see even the smallest problem as everlasting.”

Anthony Robbins, Speaker and Author  

Everyone has their problems - I truly believe that we are never given any challenge that we can’t handle. I also believe that it is how we handle these challenges that defines who we are.

Next time you are faced with some sort of problem, try to see it as an opportunity to improve… a chance to see what you’re really made of.

Someone once told me that winners actually fail more often than losers… because winners pick themselves up and try again, then keep trying. Losers just give up.

Here’s to your success in business,
Donna-Marie

 

Helpful Ways To Remember User IDs And Passwords

Do you get sick of trying to remember all those passwords and user ids? I think I add a new one to the list every single day.

A great piece of software to help store all of these important details - securely - is Roboform. It’s free to download and not only securely stores your user names, passwords and other basic information for filling in forms (eg your name, address, company name), but once they’re stored, with just a simple click or two on your toolbar you can enter your login details for that particular site.

If you’re not keen on installing software on your computer, the girls over at A Good Sort have a great idea for how to manually store your user ids and passwords.

Here’s to your success in business…

Donna-Marie

Useful Website

Browser Shots is a great website to visit when you want to see how your website is viewed on different browsers.

Simply go to the site… type in your URL… select the browsers you’d like to get an overview of… click on ’submit’ and wait for a minute or two. You’ll get an overview of how your webpage is seen by user’s of the various different browsers.

Here’s to your success in business…

Donna-Marie

What Do You Do When Someone Is Disappointed In Your Product Or Service?

While reading the Pink Heels blog I came across a post about Jennifer’s disappointment with the Wii Fit Yoga. Reading this made me think… what do you do when someone expresses their disappointment in a product of service you provide?

Some businesses will offer a refund, others will apologise that the buyer was unhappy (note - not necessarily apologise for the product). Then, when the customer has left, they may dismiss the matter entirely.

If someone expresses their disappointment in one of your products or services, by all means do what you can to rectify the situation and build your customer relationship. But after that, don’t take it to heart nor dismiss the dissatisfaction. Seize this opportunity to learn and improve.

First, is the customer’s dissatisfaction warranted? Have other people made the same statement? Have others asked for a refund?

Then it’s important to look at how you can use this feedback to make sure the mistake doesn’t occur again (if in fact there was a mistake made) or to improve your product or service.

In the case of Jennifer’s feedback, if the maker’s of Wii Fit Yoga were to read this post, how would they react? It would definitely be worth their while to take that feedback on board and look at how they can improve the Wii Fit Yoga, thanking Jennifer for her valuable feedback.

By doing this, you are not only showing your customers that you are listening to them, but you’re also ensuring that you provide a high quality product.

Here’s to your success in business…

Donna-Marie

Friday Words Of Wisdom…

Here’s another quote that I love… and a philosophy I try to live by.

“Really big people are, above everything else, courteous, considerate and generous - not just to some people in some circumstances - but to everyone all the time.” 
Thomas J. Watson, 1874-1956, Founder of IBM

Are You Up For The 30 Day Challenge?

A few months ago my friend, Ingrid Cliff - Heart Harmony - completed the 30 Day Challenge. I was fortunate enough to share in Ingrid’s excitement (along with sharing some of the wealth of information she learnt).

The 30 Day Challenge is a free training course that teaches you the latest trends in internet marketing.

And it’s on again. I’ve just registered for the pre-season sessions and am really looking forward to starting the challenge officially on August 1st.

So… go to Ingrid’s blog post to read all about her experience and then - if this sounds like something you can benefit from - sign up and take the challenge.

Here’s to your success in business…

Donna-Marie

Do You Keep Up With Your Blogroll Friends?

This is a question raised by Elena at her EP Designs blog - some people have a blogroll list so long a kangaroo couldn’t jump over it… do they actually keep up with those blogging friends? Do they regularly read their posts and comment on them?

Well, I must admit that I’m one of those people. I don’t have all my favourite blogs listed on my blog because there’s just too many of them. And yes, I do like to keep up with them all (although I must admit, never as often as I’d like). 

Late last year I found myself really struggling to keep up with them all, clicking from one blog to another. Then I spent an hour or so and subscribed to all my favourite blogs. If you haven’t already done this, I highly recommend you do. You can use a simple program like Bloglines or Feedburner. Add all your favourites and then just log in there each day or each week. You can see all the new posts since your last visit and read them in one place. If you want to comment on anything, you can easily do that too.

Here’s to your success in business…

Donna-Marie

 

It’s All In The Location

In business, it’s often said that the ‘location is everything’… and in many cases, that can be true.

However with the wonderful technology we have available to us today, working from home is becoming more and more popular… and practical.

For many, working from home is the ideal choice. While this sounds great at first, it’s not always practical and not everyone is disciplined enough to do this successfully.

To decide if this is a suitable option for you, first consider:

• The age of your children, if you have them (this may work for or against a home-based business)
• How disciplined you are
• Whether you have enough space
• How your family feels about this
• What the Council regulations are
• If you will be employing staff and if so, if you are prepared for them to be in your home
• Whether you will have customers visiting and if so, can you suitably maintain your home? Do you have enough parking available?
• Whether you will affect your neighbours
• Whether you will have any hazardous chemicals on the property or excessive noise
• Whether you will be creating extra waste and if so, how you will deal with that
• What implications this will bring regarding security issues, insurance, clients visiting after-hours
• If you’re renting your home, will your landlord allow you to run this business from home?
• Do you need to be easily seen by customers or can you operate ‘virtually’ – over the internet/mail?

Mind you, just because things don’t look 100% rosy once you’ve been through this list doesn’t mean working from home is not an option for you. If you can’t have customers visiting for some reason, you may choose to offer a free delivery service, making sure you factor this cost into your pricing. Cafés are also great place to arrange meetings.

If you decide that working from home isn’t for you, make sure you read more information on how to choose the right location for your business, including things you should be sure of before signing any lease or contracts!

Here’s to your success in business…

Donna-Marie

New Marketing Start-Up Kit

Diva Promotions have just launched a great marketing tool for small businesses… The Start-Up Marketing Kit.

This kit will guide you through the basics of knowing who you are marketing to, right through to creating a marketing plan to attract genuine customers to your business.

For a limited time only it’s available for just $22… I’m not sure how long it will remain at this price though.

Plus, you can request a free sample chapter so you can be sure that this is helpful for your business. Just click on the image below.

Here’s to your success in business…

Donna-Marie

You Too Can Be The Change

I love to hear stories of how average, ordinary people do the most amazing things. You know… the rags to riches stories or the singer who becomes an overnight success (after 10 years of struggling to be heard!). To me, they are inspiration that any of us can achieve our dreams.

Here’s a really encouraging video I’d like to share with you… a video that shows how the efforts of just one small person can make a huge difference. 

Quoting from The Modern Goddess’ blog post, Be The Change:

“In celebration of India’s 60th year of independence, the Times of India launched an initiative to inspire the search for hidden talents in everyday people. Among the results is this two-minute video, “Tree,” which has become an anthem for India–and is a must-see for all of us.”

I encourage you to visit this post and watch the video.

Here’s to your success in business…

Donna-Marie

A Way With Words

A dear friend of mine, Leonie Featherstone, has just published a fantastic book, A Way With Words… Release the Genie Within.

If you’ve ever found yourself staring blankly at the inside of a card, wondering how to put your thoughts and feelings into words… then this is the book for you.

Leonie has filled this book with verses for us to use when we’re writing inside cards… from birthday wishes to christening; moving house to bereavement; even words to say ‘thank you’ for friendship or guidance. Plus, there are lists of verbs and adjectives at the back of the book to help you to change some of the words in the suggested verses to something that seems more appropriate for the person you are writing for. Leonie’s thought of everything here!

The best thing about it for me is that they’re the type of words that I can see myself using.

If you’re interested in this book, please email Leonie. It’s only $19.95 (AUD) + $2.50 for postage and packaging of one book in Australia. It makes a great gift idea too.

Here’s to your success in business…

Donna-Marie 

What Environment and Friends do You Choose?

“Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them.” 
W. Clement Stone, 1902-2002, Author and Businessman

Keeping these words in mind, what sort of business environment will you associate with? What business associates will you ‘hang out’ with? I’ve chosen to associate myself with other inspired, motivated, happy business people (and friends) who are not afraid to dream big, put in some hard work, take risks and make things happen!

Here’s to your success in business,

Donna-Marie

Attitudes of Different Industries

There’s an interesting post on the Beauty Banquet blog about Bitchy Fashion, where Anne shares examples of fashion snobs. And apparently, the way that the fashion industry is portrayed in the movie The Devil Wears Prada isn’t far from the truth.

I’ve never really been involved in the fashion industry so I can’t comment on that. However I have come across other industries or specific companies where the general attitude of workers within that industry/company was not something I felt comfortable around.

In one instance, I was writing freelance articles for a popular women’s magazine. When speaking with an editor one day, I told her about the bad day I’d been having. It was one of those days where one thing after another goes unbelievably wrong… like something out of a comedy show. I wasn’t telling her because I wanted to whinge… I was telling her because in hindsight (late that afternoon), it was hilarious! So funny in fact that she wanted me to write about it.

However, she wanted me to add this and change that… but it was still to be portrayed as a ‘real-life, true story’. Some of the things she wanted me to say I’d done were things I would never, ever do. When I mentioned that, her response was that “…you should never let the truth get in the way of a good article.”

Well, that sort of summed up my experience with them. I was trying to report ‘the facts’, yet they were constantly asking me to exaggerate and push the boundaries of ‘truth’. I never wrote that story… and I never wrote anything else for them. I decided that I couldn’t lie for the sake of readership. Creative writing would be a different story (pardon the pun), but when reporting facts, I want to stick to the facts.

Although writing for this magazine would look good on my resume, I wasn’t prepared to fit in with the general mentality of the staff that I dealt with. I sometimes wonder… if I had kept writing for them, would I have begun to adopt their attitudes? I think probably not. Knowing me, I suspect that I would have been the quiet rebel… the one who tried to show everyone else at that company that integrity and honesty will work wonders too.

Whatever industry you’re in… here’s to your success in business,

Donna-Marie

How to Make Money While You Sleep Seminar

Last weekend I attended a fantastic 2-day seminar on the Gold Coast. It was the How to Make Money While You Sleep seminar organised by Brett McFall, as part of his promotional tour for his new book of the same name.

Brett has an amazing gift for teaching what he knows and always shares practical, useful information. Plus, he always over-delivers on content… and always lives up to his promises.

I know a lot of regular readers here are based in Melbourne… and guess what? Brett’s just announced that he’s heading to Melbourne soon. He’ll be there on 21-22 June and there is only a small fee, which is donated to a worthwhile charity. You can get the full details at Brett’s How to Make Money While You Sleep site.

For those who can’t make it to the Melbourne seminar, check out his book here - you can even get a free sample chapter.

Ethical Dilemma

My dear friend, Ingrid Cliff, posted an interesting question on her Heart Harmony Blog.

Ingrid lays the setting for a hypothetical business dilemma and asks for feedback on what her readers would do - whether they would make the choice to look after their customer’s best interests or the option that suited themselves best financially.

What I found interesting is that Ingrid mentions that the feedback to this post has been one-sided - most readers would do what they felt was in their customer’s best interests. Yet when she posed this very same scenario to a group a few years ago, the answers were fairly evenly split 50/50.

So… have people become more ethical over the last few years or does the difference in responses lie elsewhere?

If you have a minute to spare, visit Heart Harmony’s Business Ethical Dilemmas post and leave your feedback.

Here’s to your success in business,

Donna-Marie

May Madness

It’s May Madness at the Business Mums Network.

Every year, Business Mums Network run a special promotion for the entire month of May. These offers - some products heavily discounted, others with great bonuses - are not just from Business Mums. There are a whole series of businesses who have joined in the promotions.

Business Mums are offering a huge saving on subscriptions to The Business Mums Magazine (a fantastic magazine, full of practical information for parents running a business, and edited by Yours Truly).

Plus, there’s plenty more offers such as:

• Nuvo Maternity will give free express delivery AND a discount on purchases
• Australian Expo is offering a discounted annual booth
• a great offer from multimediART when you sign up for www.My-Shop.com.au

Here’s to your success in small business…

Donna-Marie

Telstra Business Award

I recently found out that one of my long-term clients nominated me for Australia’s prestigious 2008 Telstra Business Woman of the Year Awards.

When I look back over some of the amazing women who have won this award in previous years, I can’t begin to imagine that I would win it. However I am over the moon by the fact that someone else thinks I deserve it.

I am truly  honoured to be nominated. This, to me, is a reassurance that I’m doing things right and an encouragement for me to continue helping others to successfully establish and manage their own business.

Thank you.

Here’s to your success in business…

Donna-Marie