5 Steps to Attention-Grabbing Business Cards

By Nerida Gill, AdminBandit

A business card is not much bigger than a Tim Tam, yet this humble slip of paper is your most important marketing tool.

Given that most people glance at your card for no more than a few seconds, it has to work mighty hard to communicate your brand, skills and ability to do a job.

So here are five steps to make potential clients look twice.

Design Counts

Cards printed at home or created using a generic online template sell your business short — they’re amateur and cater for one-size-fits-all, which means you’ll never stand out from the crowd.

So choose a graphic designer whose portfolio contains business cards that “speak” to you. Brief them on your desired brand and look, then trust them to come up with the goods.

Double Your Space

What’s on the back of most business cards? Vacant space. Turn this into valuable real estate by giving potential clients reasons to remember you. Try:

• A product/service list
• Product shots
• Your tagline
• Relevant facts/information
• Special offers/incentives, or
• Industry recognition/awards.

Colour and Typeface

Colour and typeface carry emotional associations, which means your choices influence how people will perceive you and your business.

Ashleigh McIntyre’s article, “Colour Psychology for Business”, is an excellent starting point on colour, while Erik Spiekermann’s short documentary, Typomania, uses plenty of examples to explain typeface. Produced some 25 years ago for the BBC, it’s still spot on, although you’ll probably giggle at the famous typographer’s dinner suit and bow tie!

Reinvent Yourself

Business cards date, just like shag pile carpet and lime green kitchens … so review yours as your business grows and changes. Collect other cards that have “wow” factor and ask yourself why they appeal and if those elements might enhance your card.

Use Them

Even the most beautiful card is useless when left on your desk, so get yourself a business card holder, and keep it topped up and in the side pocket of your handbag (the last thing you want is to be scrabbling among lipstick and tissues for dog-eared cards).

And don’t be a business card scrooge … they’re cheap to print, so hand them out liberally, enclose them with invoices or deliveries, and arrange to leave a stack on the counters of complementary businesses.

---

Nerida Gill - Admin Bandit Nerida Gill is the creator of Admin Bandit, a web-based accounting package designed specifically to make keeping the books easy for volunteer treasurers in community groups. After winning numerous business awards, Admin Bandit is in a growth phase after recently attracting external investment. Phone: 02 6176 0030 Email: nerida@adminbandit.com.au Website: www.adminbandit.com.au Blog: adminbandit.wordpress.com volunteertreasurernetwork.blogspot.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/neridagill Facebook: See Admin Bandit’s Facebook Page LinkedIn: See Nerida’s Public Profile Member Profile: See Nerida’s Member Profile

How the @ symbol put the elevator spiel out of work.

by Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen’s Network

I’d like you to meet social media’s new identifier.

How do you introduce yourself in professional situations? Your well-honed 30-second elevator spiel could well be redundant. The new way to introduce yourself is a powerful window into your online social presence. You most powerful business card is now the @ symbol.

“Hi. I’m @cool-name-goes-here.”

Earlier this month I attended the South by South West Interactive festival in Austin Texas. The annual festival features five days of compelling presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology, scores of exciting networking events and insightful lectures on what is new and different in media, publishing and technology (and soooo much more).

A common structure at all the sessions is for a Q&A session to follow a presentation or panel discussion.

I noticed this year that something had changed about the way people introduced themselves before asking a question. A person would walk up to a microphone and rather than say

“Hi, I’m Mary Smith from Fabulous Frocks…..”

she’d say something like:

“Hi. I’m @fabulousfrocks….”

It happened time and again that people identified themselves as their Twitter handle, their digital profile.

I think this says a lot.

If I introduce myself as my @ symbol then I’m saying that if you went to @me and took a look at what I say and share, if you connect to me via my social network presence, you’d know what you need to know about me to determine if you want to stay in touch, do business, network etc.

I love this concept. It calls for us to:

• be congruent in our online profiles (What you see (read) is what you get.)
• let our online profiles ‘do the talking’ when it comes to introducing our products and services
• be better communicators

Exciting times, people!

A Must-Attend Social Media and Technology Event -Sydney- 7-9 April

I don’t know how I almost missed it but I only just found out about this event three days ago. If you haven’t jumped on board and booked your seats then do it, do it now.

Connect Now is a three-day conference on social media, emerging technologies and social enterprise.

My jaw dropped when I realised that some of the speakers in the line up who will be in Australia, LIVE and in person.  I travelled thousands of miles to see some of these speakers, and you can see them right here in Australia next week.

If I sound a little excited, it is because I AM. I get asked to endorse events all the time. Unless I’m truly convinced my community will get value from them, I won’t. When I saw this event I RANG THE PROMOTOR to congratulate them on a spectacular line up and to ask if I could spread their message far and wide. We seldom get a lineup like this here on in Australia.

While there’s a host of international and local speakers (three days worth) there are three that make attending worthwhile. I’ve seen them all present and am excited to see them again.

1. Tara Hunt – The Whuffie Factor

Tara Hunt is a true pioneer in online marketing and one of the most respected authorities on online communities —how they are evolving, how they are changing both culture and business, and how businesses must behave in order to succeed in the participatory web economy. For her work in this area, Fast Company magazine named Tara in its 2009 list of the Most Influential Women in Technology in 2009.

She’s also the author of one of my 2009 top business books, The Whuffie Factor.

I heard her speak in the US in 2009 and her work has impacted how I engage with my community.

Please, please go and see her.

2. Gary Vaynerchuk – Wine Library TV

His bio says “Gary Vaynerchuk is a 34 year old New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best-Selling author who is also a self-trained wine and social media success.  From a young age, it was clear that Gary was a businessman. etc.”

But Here’s what I say…

I saw Gary speak in Austin two weeks ago and he had thousands of people totally electrified by his passion for playing big games, for cutting through the rubbish and being your very best. He’s a no-excuses kind of guy with an inimitable energy.  And he’s a master at using at social media to grow business.

You definitely can’t miss seeing him… Australia has not seen anything like Gary.

I still can’t believe how lucky we are to have him visit. (And if you haven’t picked up a copy of his book CRUSH IT! do.

3. Darren Rowse – Problogger

Yes, he’s an Aussie and he’s probably far more accessible to us than the rest of the Connect Now speakers but if you haven’t seen Darren then take this opportunity to hear him speak. Darren is the founder and editor of three successful blogs – the most relevant for you is probably ProBlogger.net (blog tips for those wanting to make a living blogging). He connects with millions of readers each month through his blogs but also social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and regularly speaks on how to engage in the social media space.

SPECIAL ABN PRICE TO ATTEND CONNECT NOW

The organisers have cleverly made it so that you can attend 1, 2 or all 3 days of the conference. I recommend that you try and get to Day 1 and Day 2 (though if you’re in the NFP sector – definitely go along to Day 3 as well).

I’ve arranged a special price for the event for you. BUT you must email info@connectnow.net.au and let them know you are after the ABN price. (You won’t get this offer on the website).

• One day is $350 instead of $400
• Two days is $695 instead of $795
• Workshops are $250 instead of $295

I don’t see another event like this on the horizon in Australia. It’ll be a great learning and networking opportunity.  I hope to see you there.

Suzi

Here’s a link to the event site where you’ll see the entire speaker line. But, remember. You’ll only get the special ABN discount if you email info@connectnow.net.au and ask for it.

Get Ready! The financial year end is on the horizon.

By Julie Wise, Silver Owl

Like a lot of  people, you probably have just finished getting your new year resolutions and goals underway so you won’t start reviewing your finances until June starts (some won’t start until after 30 June).

For many SMEs, June is too late to consider the consequences and do anything about it.   In my corporate assignments, the first day of the last quarter signals a quantum increase in the scrutiny of actual vs. budget vs. plans.  That scrutiny takes the form of questions like ‘are you on track?’, ‘what are you doing to stay on track?’, ‘can you go better?’, ‘what risk management plans have you got?’, ‘what are you going to do to make plan?’ etc.

SMEs don’t have finance departments that act the devil’s advocate and your  accountant is going to be in demand so access is going to get difficult.  So WHEN and HOW you start to focus on your business year will make the biggest difference to your bottom line.

Here are some things you could consider starting and doing right now to ensure that the year end process doesn’t give you headaches.  Make sure you get the right professional help with any of these ideas.

Cut-off procedures

When the financial year comes to an end, it is particularly important that you have a proper cut-off point for the company’s operations. Therefore, you should:

• Ensure your suppliers provide you with the relevant invoices for all purchases and expenses for the period up to the end of June.
• Identify your work in progress or sales not yet invoiced and raise the relevant invoices for the period up to June 30th.
• Identify all of the following to confirm that they are correctly recorded:
  • pre-payments received from clients
  • prepaid expenses to suppliers
  • cost accrued for which no invoices will be received before the year end
  • stock levels at the year end for goods or work in progress

Reconciliation with clients and suppliers

It is important that your records, as well as those of your clients and suppliers are accurate, particularly if the transaction needs to be declared as part of a due diligence or compliance process.

• You could ask for extract from their records containing information regarding your joint transactions. This will allow you to compare their records to your own and identify any errors or misstatements.

Profits are Likely

If you’re forecasting a profit, you may want to start thinking about the implications of the result. For example:

• Do you have any past tax losses to be utilised?
• Will your cash flow situation allow you to meet your tax obligations?

You may be able to legitimately reduce your levels of profit by:

• ensuring your accruals are indeed reflected in your results
• incurring extra expenses – especially ones you have been delaying
• identify potential bad debts and make the necessary provisions – if you do write off bad debts don’t forget the GST adjustments
• ensure all of your fixed assets have been depreciated correctly in accordance with tax legislation
• review your list of disallowable expenses. Some of them maybe due to a lack of supporting paperwork. You have time now to put some effort into requesting the full invoices from your suppliers

Losses to date

You’re forecasting a loss for the year so you may want to start thinking about the potential business implications of the result. For example:

• Is this expected because of your business stage?
• If not, can you fix the loss situation for the longer term?
• How strong are your cash reserves?
• Are your creditor levels much greater than your debtors?

You should start reviewing your results in depth with a view to identifying areas of improvement and taking corrective action.

You may be able to legitimately increase your levels of profit by:

• Ensuring any services rendered or goods delivered are invoiced before the year end
• Delaying expenses planned until after the first of July
• Ensure that investment items are capitalised as an asset on the balance sheet rather than treated as current expenses

Once you’ve done this work you need to keep a vigilant eye on your budget and cash flow forecasts over the coming weeks and days.

Plan for next year

Even if all of the above is in good order, these disciplines always help you reflect on your business performance.   Here are some steps you may want to take to improve on your performance:

• Prepare the budget for the coming year
• Review your credit terms with suppliers and customers and make changes if required
• Arrange credit facilities with your bank if you anticipate cash shortages
• Reduce costs on areas identified as excessive in the current year
• Implement new internal control systems to address weaknesses identified

Don’t be an April Fool!

April 1 started the last quarter of the financial year for majority of Australian businesses – that was 5 days ago!  This is the best time to prepare for the end-of-year.

---

Julie Wise - The SilverOwl Julie has over 25 years in business operations, strategy and performance improvements. She is an accredited Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an alumnus of the Institute of Executive Coaching. She established The SilverOwl specifically to help businesses with their strategies and operational efficiencies. With Julie’s wealth of experience, and network of associates, The SilverOwl provides access to a vast range of business performance solutions and experienced professionals. Julie is on the Australian Business Women’s Network Advisory Board and the NSW Committee for the Australian Women’s Archive Project. In Jan 2010, she joined the Fred Hollows Foundation. Email: julie@thesilverowl.com.au Website: www.thesilverowl.com.au Twitter: www.twitter.com/julie_wise LinkedIn: au.linkedin.com/in/juliewise Member Profile: See Julie’s Member Profile

The Fallacy of Managing Time

By Cat Matson, Alito

There’s a saying ‘we teach what we most need to learn’. Well, I’m going to confess this couldn’t be truer when it comes to me and ‘time management’. I find myself constantly complaining about ‘not having enough hours in the day’ or wishing for another few (actually, make that 24) hours in every day.

Nevertheless, I KNOW, categorically KNOW there is fundamental paradigm flaw in most approaches to time management. So this article isn’t about better ways to schedule, prioritise or use your diary. Instead, it’s about a different way of thinking about time.

First up, here’s a number.

86,400

What do you think it represents?

It’s the number of seconds in a day. 24 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds = 86,400.

At the stroke of midnight, every night, we are ‘granted’ another 86,400 seconds to use.  If we put a dollar sign ($) in front of that figure we’d feel rich. If we put a dollar sign in front of it and then realised someone was going to put that amount into our bank account EVERY DAY we’d feel extrememely rich.

But instead, we’re all running around complaining of being ‘time-poor’.

Yes, time is a non-renewable resource – once it’s gone, it’s gone. You can’t ’save’ it in your ‘time bank’ to use the next day … whatever you don’t spend in a day is wiped from your balance at midnight and you start again fresh.

So the fallacy is that it’s manageable. It’s not. Every 60 seconds another minute passes, every 60 minutes an hour passes and every 24 hours another day is over. No ’saving’, no ‘buying’, no ’slowing’, no ’speeding up’. It’s a measurement unit – that’s all.

So for me, it’s not about ‘managing my time’ … it’s about effectively ‘using’ my time. What am I putting into each hour of my day? Just as I make a purchasing decision every time I hand over a dollar, what is the ‘time’ decision I make about ’spending’ this moment of time?

‘how do you want to spend your time today?’

At first this concept can be a bit confronting – notions of a finite resource having to be ‘invested’ in most effective and efficient way possible. But for me it’s actually liberating (when I remember to think of time this way). I choose to live my life the way I do – husband, two kids, own business, regular time at the gym, spending time with friends, directorships and community involvement. If I complain about ‘not having enough time’ then I’m complaining about something I can’t change. If I instead ask myself ‘how do you want to spend your time today?’ then I’m empowered to consciously choose how I ‘invest’, ’spend’ or just ‘use’ that time (but not save it … ).

So with that in mind … ’spend’ the remainder of today being aware of how you ‘treat’ time. Are you constantly trying to ’stretch’ it? Do you ‘complain’ about it running out or wishing you had more? No right or wrongs here … just realise that even the most successful people in the world had exactly the same amount of time as you do each and every day … 86,400 seconds. The question is … how did they use it?

---

Cat Matson - Alito Cat Matson ignites the performance of small business owners, their teams and ultimately their businesses through a range of robust mentoring, coaching and education programs. She is a strong advocate for practical, pithy and ‘real’ business advice and loathes the ‘one-size-fits-all’, ‘you-too-can-be-widely-successful-if-you-just-follow-OUR-system’ approach taken by many ’so-called’ business experts. Cat runs Alito with her husband Keith who provides synergistic and smart accounting expertise to their clients who enjoy having streamlined business advice across all key areas. When not working, Cat enjoys spending time with her two young boys and reading interesting business books and biographies. Phone: 07 3289 7055 Email: cat@alito.com.au Website: www.alito.com.au Twitter: www.twitter.com/catmatson Facebook: www.facebook.com/AlitoFusion LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/CatMatson Blog: www.alito.com.au/blog Member Profile: See Cat’s Member Profile

New Tool: Tungle – An easy way to schedule meetings (and save time)

I’m sure you know the drill. Back and forth stream of emails and calls to find a time that suits two or more people.

Sometimes the time it takes the schedule the meeting takes longer than the meeting itself will take.

I came across this great free tool at South By South West. It’s called Tungle and had the CEO, Mark, tell you about it in his own words.

Watch the video.

Tungle helps you to:

• Schedule meetings easily and remotely using a web interface
• Pick your own url.
• Put the times you want to be available in the system.
• Share your schedule with others and let them choose from the available slots.

You get to sync the schedule with your calendar.

It’s free and saves time (and therefore money).

Try it out here.

Hope you like it.

ATO Seeks Input from ABN Community Members

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is seeking advice about ways it could better support small business.

Key Relationships Manager and Project Officer for the ATO’s Supporting Small Business Program, Tony Watkins, would appreciate ABN community members’ response to the following question:

“Is there something that the ATO should be doing better to support small business?”

Any members who would like to provide input are invited to email Tony directly via freehelp@ato.gov.au . If there are any queries, Tony can be contacted on telephone (08) 7422 2518 or mobile 0427 940 250.

People wishing to find out more about the Supporting Small Business Program can obtain further information from the dedicated SBAP internet site.

Is Good Help Really That Hard to Find?

By Kristy-Lee Johnston, Footprint Recruitment

We’ve all been there, either as business owners or managers, we are trying to find the perfect person for that critical vacancy in the organisation. Despite a great offer being available a reliable and competent staff member seems nowhere to be found.

So what’s the problem? Are people’s work ethic, commitment and values really not what they used to be, or are our expectations as an employer becoming too high for any applicant to possibly meet?

Are your expectations losing you the best applicants for your job?

Whilst there are obviously valid arguments to be made on each side of the equation, as a Recruitment firm we are seeing more and more often employers coming to us with a list of requirements that even their most ideal applicant could not meet. It seems more common now than ever than employers are less willing to train, expecting more bang for their buck from their staff and wanting to get it all at a bargain price. Now clearly this generic statement does not apply to all employers, but even to those great firms who are more realistic and flexible than most – are your expectations losing you the best applicants for your job?

As time poor business managers who wear many hats each and every day, the thought of training a new staff member at times seems frustrating and if you can avoid it by hiring someone with the experience then why not? The answer is simple, and it comes down to the age old adage – hire for fit and train for skills.

Hiring staff with all the qualifications and skills in the world will not make them the ideal person for your role, above all they need to share the values, visions and missions of the company and fit in with the rest of the team. Trying to find someone who fits the values PLUS possesses all the skills and experience you need can, in many cases, be thousands of times harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

So what’s the answer? Bite the bullet and put your priorities in order. List out what are the essential versus desirable criteria for the position and be ruthless, unless it’s ESSENTIAL it shouldn’t be on that side of the list. An example might be:

Essential:

• Must have their own vehicle because we are nowhere near public transport
• Has an Accounting degree (only add qualifications into your essentials list if they can’t do the job without it)
• Must have demonstrated abilities to learn new tasks quickly
• Has strong computer skills (if they can use most standard systems well they will almost certainly pick up your in-house one without any problems)
• Must understand the principals of Marketing and PR
• Has experience in a Customer Service / Account Management role
• Can provide two verbal references of ex-managers (so you can call and check all of the above)

Desirable:

• Has previously worked in the advertising industry
• Possesses experience using MYOB
• Can type at 55wpm
• Has worked with our three major clients recently

As you can see, many of the things on the desirable list could quickly creep into the ‘essentials’ list and make your life that bit easier. If there are applicants in the market who meet all of your desirable criteria – fantastic! But the reality is, the longer your list, and the more out of tune it is with the candidates in the market the longer that position will sit vacant, ultimately losing money for the business.

---

Kristy-Lee Johnston - Footprint Recruitment Kristy-Lee Johnston is the Director of Footprint Recruitment, a Central Coast based Recruitment and HR agency which is run by locals, for locals. Kristy’s background includes 10 years in Recruitment, as well as 10+ years in a broad range of other customer facing sectors. She possesses Post Graduate qualifications in Psychology, as well as a Masters in Human Resource Management. Kristy is passionate about bringing something unique to the recruitment sector in her local area and wants to see all businesses make the most successful staffing decisions they can. Phone: 02 4367 5500 Email: kristy@footprintrecruitment.com.au Website: www.footprintrecruitment.com.au Twitter: www.twitter.com/footprintcc Facebook: www.facebook.com/footprintrecruitment LinkedIn: au.linkedin.com/in/kristyleejohnston Member Profile: See Kristy’s Member Profile

Welcome to this issue of Women in Business

This month I had the great opportunity to attend the world’s largest new media and tech conference – an incubator of cutting-edge technologies. Over 10,000 people attended sessions hosted by first-class thinkers in social media, new technologies, new thinking, content strategies.

I also had the chance to meet one of my favourite podcasts hosts, Aliza Sherman – aka – The Digital Marketer who I’ve interviewed for this week’s newsletter. Watch the interview here.

Also in this issue…
Tips for marketing on a small budget
How the MentorNet program’s marketing module was the salvation for one business owner

… and lots more.

Click here to read our current newsletter.

Enjoy this issue. Please let us know your thoughts, and add a comment here.

What is your superpower?

In his newest book Linchpin – Are You Indispensible? marketer Seth Godin asks: What is your superpower? (He explains that your superpower is not your USP, it’s not your ’strength’ or your ‘core competence’, it’s that about you that tells me how you can help me – or how I can help you. It’s the unique talent that you choose to develop.)

In the lead up to International Women’s Day I was invited to speak to a group of young business people at CBS Interactive. So, I posed the “What’s your superpower?” question to them (along with letting them know that it was okay to NOT know what you want to be when you grow up – I’d left home at 17 and didn’t have a tertiary education but have worked long and hard to improve my skills, encouraged them to try lots of different things that interested them – telling them I assumed that they HAVE a rare gift, that if they chose to share would make them very happy and make a big contribution to others – and I invited them to dare to lead).

Something I said seemed to stick. I heard, from the lovely woman who coordinated my presentation, that over lunch that day, they talked about what they thought their super-powers are. That made my heart sing.

In Linchpin, Godin says:

“The ’super’ part and the ‘power’ part come note from something you’re born with, but from something you choose to do and, more important, from something you choose to give.”

Choose today.

Warmly,

Suzi

P.S. If you haven’t yet signed up to attend the free webinar with Seth Godin on 23 March at 12.00pm AEDT, here’s a link. I hope you’ll join me.

Next Page »