CEO and celebrity chef cookoff to feed people in need
January 26, 2012
On 6 February, 200 CEOs will cook with 30 celebrity chefs and feed 1000 people in need.
The CEO CookOff is a joint initiative of OzHarvest and Qantas and hopes to raise awareness around food security and one of Australia’s major social issues, homelessness and to raise significant funds for Australia’s food rescue charities, OzHarvest and Mission Australia.
Four female entrepreneurs, whom the Australian Businesswomen’s Network has interviewed for either our herBusiness podcast or In Her Shoes video series form the list of 114 CEOs who have already raised over $346,395 in donations for the event.
- Ronni Kahn, Founding Director, OzHarvest – Interview: Rescuing Good Food, Rescuing People in Need
- Rachel Argaman, CEO, Toga Hospitality – Interview: Why Culture Beats Leadership Strategy
- Lisa Messenger, Founder and Managing Director, The Messenger Group – Interview 1: Innovative Marketing. How Custom Publishing Can Boost Your Brand., Interview 2: Be Open to Opportunities. Take Risks and Jump Quickly.
- Andrea Culligan, CEO and Managing Director, Unimail – Interview: Stand Out from the Competition. Tips to Negotiate a Fair Salary.
To learn more about the event, including how you can get involved, donate or even sign up as a CEO, visit www.ceocookoff.com.au.
Business Mentoring for the 21st Century
November 24, 2011
By Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen’s Network
When I first started my business, I was 26-years-old and didn’t have a lot of business experience. I was lucky enough to have a one-on-one, face-to-face business mentor. At the Australian Businesswomen’s Network, we have taken the traditional business mentor model and brought it into the 21st century.
We offer a six-month mentoring program, MentorNet. Our program has won awards due to the way we use technology to facilitate collaboration. We have one mentor who could be situated anywhere in Australia (or anywhere in the world) and a mentoree who can similarly be in a small country town in Australia in a rural area or in a big city. Each mentor mentors a small pod of mentorees.
The program delivers not only mentoring
…but training in key business areas — and we use online collaborative tools in order to do that. Over six months, participants learn how to put together a business plan that includes finances, marketing, HR and all the core elements of a solid business plan. Further, we have an online, closed-door community that’s hosted in the cloud, where they go to read case studies, answer questions and post on their own blog about their findings.
Every two weeks, we conduct a web-based seminar using GoToWebinar by Citrix — we have an expert presenter who delivers information and interacts with the other people on the call. For example, when we enter the marketing module of the MentorNet program, the expert presenter asks participants to share their key marketing strategies.
Information exchanged in real-time
The Citrix GoToWebinar tool allows users to exchange information in real-time, link to their business websites and even share desktops. The chat function lets other participants give their impression of websites and other marketing materials. In this collaborative, interactive environment, participants can tell each other, “I’m lost when I arrive at your home page” or “The wording in this section is really complex and hard to understand.” The ability to get the input of other successful and aspiring businesswomen has been very helpful and made our MentorNet program a success.
The 2012 MentorNet program begins on 12 June. Learn more about the program. Registration is now open.
MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY SUZI DAFNIS
- What Should I Write about on My Business Blog?
- How Guy Kawasaki Enchanted Me
- Make Telephone Interviews Work: Tips for Preparing and Conducting Virtual Interviews
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Suzi Dafnis – Australian Businesswomen’s NetworkSuzi Dafnis is the Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s Community Director and Chairperson of the Advisory Board. Suzi has been involved with the network since 1995. In 1998, she took over the network from its founder and has since managed and grown the network. She remains its media spokesperson and a champion of women in business. She is also the editor of the ABN’s newsletters, author of the herBusiness blog and presents the In Her Shoes video series and herBusiness podcast.
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1 Million Women Save Summit
November 17, 2011
Join the 1 Million Women SAVE Summit Wednesday, 14 December at Sydney Town Hall (483 George Street) 9am-11:30am for the 2012 Women’s Agenda. 1 Million Women will be highlighting the power to act that we all possess to fight climate change through the way we live our lives.
SAVE is about living more sustainably and being better off financially and the Summit will help save you $1000 or more in 2012 by showing you how to save energy, cut waste and pollution through simple actions that you can implement in your home, transport, food and shopping.
The SAVE Summit will be MC’d be Bernie Hobbs, ABC TV and radio presenter and Kim McKay, co-author of the True Green books. Performances by Katie Noonan and Melinda Schneider and an impressive list of guest speakers, including 1 Million Women Founder Natalie Isaacs.
Watch the Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s In Her Shoes interview with Natalie Isaacs: Social Entrepreneur Seeks 1 Million Women to Take Action.
Other guest speakers include award-winning actor Noni Hazlehurst, award-winning TV journalist Helen Dalley, Youth Ambassador to the UN Samah Hadid, 7x world surfing champion Layne Beachley and Australian director of The Climate Group Caroline Bayliss. Mary Robinson, the first female President of Ireland and founder of the Mary Robinson Foundation Climate Justice, a voice for women in the developing world, will also make an appearance via video link and there will be live demonstrations, including a demonstration and recipes with Julie Goodwin, Australia’s first Master Chef.
Tickets are $25.
Read more and register now for the SAVE Summit on the 1 Million Women website.
Can Google+ break through our social media fatigue?
November 10, 2011
This week, Google+ launched its business pages which will compete with Facebook business pages as a way for organisations to manage online communities, to market and to interact with clients.
But is Google+ just one social network too many for us to manage and care about?
Last week, Chris Brogan, author of about-to-be-released book GOOGLE+ for Business: How Google’s Social Network Changes Everything was our guest on BOOKED for Lunch, the Australian Businesswomen’s Networks’ interview series with best-selling business book authors.
During the webinar (for which over 700 people registered), Chris pointed out many reasons why business people absolutely MUST start to use Google+, not the least of which is because Google indexes all public posts (your posts on the other social networks are not), giving you a lot of power behind your posts and the chance to integrate with other Google products.
Plus, Google+ has some fun features (Hangouts where you can video chat in small groups) and a better way to manage your contacts (Circles) than Facebook.
We jumped on the moment Pages launched and grabbed our page. We suggest you do the same. We use our Facebook Page extensively for business and I’m sure we will continue to — BUT that’s no reason for us not to also explore how to best use Google+ for business. (I bet you’re not lamenting that you now have a smart phone and not an old brick of a phone – technology and tools change and evolve and it’s important to keep evolving with them for your business to stay up to date.)
As Chris explained: “Google+ is more ‘open’ than Facebook, more deep than Twitter and more rounded than LinkedIn.”
And the fact that Google+ is tied to the number 1 and number 2 search engines in the world (Google and YouTube respectively) makes it a tool unlike the others.
So, there’s no time for fatigue. Register and grab your page today.
To help you make sense of it we suggest two things:
- Watch the webinar on the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website (duration 1 hour).
- Read this list of Google Pages how to guides compiled by Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop.
Here’s some comments from people who attended the live webinar:
– “I found Chris’s responses insightful and thoroughly convincing.”
– “Great ideas, which I’ll be implementing.”
– ”I enjoyed the targeted information that came out though the interview (which was conducted in real language rather than ‘business speak’”
– ”Practical tips and reconfirmation of the importance of social media.”
About Chris Brogan
President, Human Business Works
Chris Brogan consults and speaks professionally with Fortune 100 and 500 companies. He is a New York Times bestselling co-author of Trust Agents, and a featured monthly columnist at Entrepreneur Magazine. Chris’s blog is in the Top 5 of the Advertising Age Power150. He has over 11 years experience in online community, social media, and related technologies.
About Google+ for Business (the Book)
In Google+ for Business, Chris Brogan guides you through using Google+ for promotion, customer service, community building, referrals, collaboration and a whole lot more. You won’t just master innovative new tools like Circles and Hangouts; You’ll use them to generate more customers and more cash!
OUT SOON: Order your copy today.
Alycia Edgar Helps Business Owners Reach ‘Systems Nirvana’
November 10, 2011
Member Alycia Edgar is making the news with her business program Bizfficiency.
Systems can be the making of a small business, but without them everything falters. When it comes to driving their businesses, some owners can be the roadblocks.
As a small business owner and innovator, Alycia Edgar knows this situation very well, but she also found the solution and created the Bizfficiency program to help others achieve complete business systemisation.
The five-week Bizfficiency – Discover the Business of Business teleseminar series reveals the secrets behind business efficiency, based on techniques tried and tested by Alycia herself.
“I run my business using a number of different systems that all work together to drive efficiency and productivity, making me a much better – and happier – business owner. I have reached systems nirvana and want to share my tips with others,” Alycia, who created the award-winning small business accounting system Bookzkeeper, explained.
Bizfficiency graduate Kelly Exeter from Swish Design said she now understood the need for firm systems in business after completing the program last year.
“Creating these systems allowed me to outsource all the jobs I hated the most and freed me up to spend more time doing what I love, and that is being creative. Being creative makes for happy days,” Kelly said.
“In fact, I have applied many of the principles I learned from Alycia to my everyday life and am now using that increased productivity to free up time to spend on myself and with my family, rather than to just ‘do more stuff’. This has given me a better quality of life, and if I am honest, has made me a nicer person!” she added.
Using her own experiences as a small business owner who struggled to keep all the balls in the air before systemising with great results, Alycia launched Bizfficiency with a free call on 2 November 2011.
The series starts on 8 November and covers a different aspect of system implementation every week:
- Weeks One and Two – Personal Productivity System
- Weeks Three and Four – Marketing Systems and Client Systems
- Week Five – Financial Systems, Strategy and Measurement Systems
“Small business owners who commit to systemising their operations now will start 2012 ready to thrive, because they understand the link between their business goals and financial numbers and are armed with productivity tools to drive that success,” Alycia added.
The Bizfficiency program includes five weekly teleseminars, checklists and templates for $397.
For more information about Bizfficiency visit www.bizfficiency.com.
To find our more about Alycia Edgar go to www.bookzkeeper.com.au and www.numbersarelife.com.
Alycia Edgar is one of our herBusiness bloggers.
Enjoy these great posts written by Alycia:
- This year is nearly over… but not yet
- Take a Chance
- Stop! Let me off this train, this wasn’t the ticket I bought!
- I don’t know enough.
- What can you achieve in 90 days?
- Can you care too much about clients?
PayPal releases news of online purchasing trends
October 19, 2011
By Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen’s Network
Buying online is not only on the increase, the way we buy is also changing. At a 700-strong breakfast yesterday morning, PayPal released the results of a recent study on the monumental changes seen in online commerce in Australia, where merchants and consumers are harnessing new technologies to connect in new ways.
Buying incidence and frequency
The report, “Secure Insight: Changing the Way We Pay” was developed in conjunction with Forrester Research, Nielsen and the Australian Centre for Retail Studies and explores the factors influencing Australia’s boom in online commerce.
Powering the growth in online commerce is the increasing prevalence of smartphones, with ownership of Internet-enabled phones currently at 65 per cent of the total handset market in Australia. Now accounting for two out of every three phones sold in Australia, smartphones are disrupting both the traditional and online retail environments. Australians are heavy users of mobile phones to transact, with PayPal Australia seeing mobile payments on a steep trajectory of 430 per cent year on year. (I got my iPhone 4S yesterday and am thrilled with it, by the way.)
As transactions begin to take place in new environments, PayPal’s report reveals a changing attitude amongst consumers when it comes to making payments. According to the research, consumers feel the choice of payment method is not theirs to make, with retailers restricting choices. Regularly having to switch between payment methods depending on the product they are purchasing, 40 per cent of consumers desire a simpler payment solution.
Interesting Insights
Here are some of the insights and comments (from the many presenters and the panel) that I found interesting:
- QR codes make non-traditional venues (e.g., a bus shelter) places where you can now transact (just scan the code and go!)
- New platforms, e.g., daily deals sites, bring new opportunities to transact (both from a computer and via mobile).
- Generally, there are now MORE ways that people can buy – but merchants aren’t necessarily accommodating this change.
- A customer today is more aware of your product or service when they come to you than ever before. Generally, they have researched you, compared you to your competition and are ready to transact – if you make it easy for them,
- More than 10% of Paypal’s transactions are via mobile.
- The average expected growth rate, as reported by Aussie online retailers, is 30% in the next year (How fabulous!)
- Coupon businesses reduce the risk of purchase with low prices and money-back guarantees.
- Cudo CEO says coupon businesses address two needs: 1. Unsold capacity and 2. Customers want to try new things.
- Multi channels are used to research and decide on a purchase (We also post the process to social networks as we go.)
- When it comes to social media, larger companies are more likely to stick to traditional media, whereas (because of the low cost of entry), smaller businesses are more likely to use social to market.
Meandering path to an online purchase
Understanding the barriers that customers need to overcome to transact can give you an advantage over competitors.
- 39% of consumers using their phones for product or services research.
- Cash is still king for most smaller purchases. New landscape sees people prefer fewer, more consolidated online payment options (for ease) – men mainly
- How are consumers deciding WHICH payment method to use? 1. Security 2. Price. Mobile payments PERCEIVED to be less secure by some.
- A hungry lean self-starter online retailer is probably doing better than high street retailers (due to being flexible and nimble).
The best question posed:
Are you making it easier for customers to do business with you? Or are consumers using tech to make it easier for themselves?
Also, “People on social media are a community of interest. Be relevant.”
— Colin McLeod, Australian Centre for Retail Studies (ACRS)
What I took away:
Merchants: It’s time to recognise consumer needs have changed and to adapt accordingly.
Here is a copy of the full report.
Entrepreneurial Qualities: Lessons from the Life of Steve Jobs
October 17, 2011
By Nerida Gill, Admin Bandit
© peitrozuco.com
The recent passing of Steve Jobs, the inventor and entrepreneur behind Apple and Pixar, at the tender age of 56 reminds us not just how young computer technology, but also how much an individual can change the world.
In 1984, when I was singing “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” into my hair brush, drooling over Tom Selleck in Magnum PI, and discovering lycra (aerobics with Jane Fonda, anyone?), Jobs and his pal Steve Wozniak had just released the first Apple Mac, the grandparent of all our IT gadgets today.
Jobs was a controversial figure, as seen in the dramatically mixed responses to his death — some obituaries have hailed his charismatic leadership and brilliant sales technique, while others have slammed his erratic personality and perfectionist tendencies.
Whichever you believe, Steve Jobs had powerful entrepreneurial qualities, which make a valuable lesson for those of us trying to make our mark in small business.
Seek knowledge
Jobs was still in high school when he started going to after-school lectures at Hewlett-Packard. He may have formally dropped out of college in 1972 after one semester, but continued taking non-assessment classes in subjects as diverse as calligraphy and from 1975, attended meetings of a hobbyist group called the Homebrew computer club.
These activities may seem minor, but they resulted in life-changing opportunities and relationships, including a summer job at Hewlett-Packard, where he met Steve Wozniak, as well as relationships with future Silicon Valley high rollers.
Even that calligraphy class proved useful — without it, Jobs once said, our computers would have only one typeface and font!
Think outside the square
You may not think the hippie era and IT have a lot in common, but Jobs’ desire to learn about life took him to India in 1974 at the age of 19, where new experiences gave him a fresh perspective and a new way of thinking. Apart from converting to Buddhism and developing a penchant for bare feet, he came home with:
- A desire to change the world
- A belief in simplicity, which meant focusing on what is important
- The ability to say “no” in order to maintain that focus
Choose your people
“Many hands make light work,” the saying goes and Jobs knew he needed specialists, people with skills beyond his own, to make Apple a success. He first showed a flair for putting his ego on hold and choosing a team to deliver results as an employee at Atari, not long after returning from India. Offered $100 for each chip he could remove from the arcade game “Breakout”, Jobs offered Wozniak half the reward to do the technical work.
In the end, Atari paid the pair just 14% of what they earned, but had inadvertently introduced them to the third founding member of Apple, Ronald Wayne, a fellow employee.
Wayne may have left Apple only two weeks after it started in 1976, but, 20 years older than Jobs, he gave the company the maturity to start up.
Become an innovator
Innovators have the unusual gift of foreseeing and setting trends — they can see what their market needs when the market itself sees no gap. And this was one of Jobs’ key skills.
Let me give you a bit of history….
Not that long ago, computers were command-driven; that is, the user sat in front of a screen and typed text-based instructions to get results. For example, you typed the words “erase” or “save” to get your computer to do these things. Talk about fussy and time-consuming… no wonder only “geeks” used computers!
Then a division of Xerox developed a system called “graphical user interface” (GUI) which allowed the user to tell the computer what to do by using a mouse to click on icons, navigate through windows, scroll through menus and check boxes.
Sound familiar?
Xerox didn’t see the potential of their innovation, but Jobs did and he was the first person to apply it to the personal computer, the Apple Mac.
So as you go to the next web page, send an email, write a report, play Solitaire or download photos from your camera, think of Steve Jobs… who made computers accessible to everyone and allowed us to get a lot more done with a simple click of the mouse.
MORE GREAT POSTS BY NERIDA GILL
- Keeping Up With Your Brand: A Reality Lesson from the Kardashians
- Are You Responsible? How Small Business Can Give Back
- How to Dress to Communicate Skill and Success in Business
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Nerida Gill – Admin BanditNerida 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.
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How Guy Kawasaki Enchanted Me
October 10, 2011
Two weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Guy Kawasaki for the second time. The first time was two months ago when he was my guest on BOOKED for Lunch, a webinar series that features the world’s best business book authors.
This time he presented and hour-long webinar on how to enchant with Social Media.
Guy is obviously an influencer. His 400,000+ Twitter followers, 60,000+ Google+ followers and the Enchantment page alone has 29,000 ‘likes’. He speaks around the world, had 10 books and mixes with the who’s who of his industry. In fact, I’ve had the opportunity to hear him speak live twice, in the USA.
Guy partnered with us on these webinars to promote his latest book — Enchantment — to our receptive and knowledge-thirsty community.
He was a terrific presenter – very generous and not at all salesy. Then, he offered our listeners the chance to get a free book with purchase of his Enchantment book AND an autographed cover for their copy of Enchantment. As you can imagine, THEY were enchanted by the offer.
(You can get the same deal if you like. The details are below.)
I’m enchanted
I was a fan before we worked together (having read Guy Kawasaki’s books and seen live presentations) but here is why I’m now enchanted:
- Guy’s communications with me and my team have been timely, personal and clear.
- His follow-through has been impeccable and while he is very relaxed, he is completely clear about the outcomes he’s after and his purpose for doing what he does. This makes MY job that much easier.
- He’s also appreciative and inclusive.
Writing a book about Enchantment calls you to the task to be congruent with your message. And he is.
No God Complex
I’ve worked with many speakers and authors in my career. I had an events business for 13 years and I’ve been involved with speakers and authors for 16 years with the Australian Businesswomen’s Network. My world revolves around partnerships and relationships – as most of our lives do!
Some ‘speakers’ definitely have a ‘God complex’. Often it’s the ones that are not as good as they think they are. Many do not. Like Guy, they don’t have a chip on their shoulder or need to act special or be treated special.
I’m still (maybe it’s naivety) surprised when communications are sloppy, people make agreements and don’t keep them or they are difficult to contact or relate to. It’s just plain unprofessional and unnecessary.
And it’s bad for business.
Thanks Guy. It’s been a pleasure.
Suzi
Special Offer for Enchantment Readers
GET A COPY OF THE BOOK
Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions
Get your own autographed copy of the Enchantment book cover by Guy here when you purchase the book.
Order your copy of Enchantment from Booktopia today and save 15% off the retail price.
ENCHANTZEN
When you buy a copy of Enchantment, save your proof of purchase and Guy will send you a promo code so that you can download the eBook version of Presentation Zen for free. Find out more here.
About Enchantment
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Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and ActionsEnchantment n: 1) To charm, delight, enrapture. Enchantment is Guy’s tenth book. In it, he explains how to influence what people will do while maintaining the highest standards of ethics. The book explains when and why enchantment is necessary and then the pillars of enchantment: likability, trustworthiness and a great cause. The next topics are launching, overcoming resistance, making enchantment endure and using technology. There are even special chapters dedicated to enchanting your employees and your boss. Finally, because there are times you may want to resist enchantment, there’s even a chapter about how to do this too. If you want to change the world — or even part of the world, this book is for you.
Here’s what the experts are already saying about Enchantment:
Photographs and testimonials courtesy guykawasaki.com. |
Import Export Show Set to Support Thousands of Small Businesses
September 8, 2011
Starting to import or export? Expanding your business? Exploring new overseas markets?
Come and visit the Australian Businesswomen’s Network at the Import Export Show in Sydney next week!
The Import Export Show is Australia’s only full scale exhibition and seminar program dedicated to showcasing the entire spectrum of services and support available to assist importers and exporters with their international business engagement and development. This information-packed event has something for SME importers and exporters at all levels.
The Australian Businesswomen’s Network team will be onsite at the show, and would love to see some of our members making the most of this free exhibition.
I will also be facilitating a workshop on Marketing Your Way to International Success, on Thursday 15 September, as part of the learning program.
Purchase tickets 15% off with code IEXABN11.
For more details, please visit the Import Export show website.
See you at the show!
P.S. Let us know if you’ll be there. We’ll be doing some interviews about their business and would love to include any ABN community members.
Steve Jobs, leadership, passion and other details
August 26, 2011
Yesterday’s news of Apple’s Steve Jobs stepping down as CEO of Apple has rocked the business and technology world, and frankly – my world too. Though not entirely unexpected, as he’s been unwell much of the year, the timing of the news was surprising and – as I’m sure you’ve seen, the news is all about him today.
I want to share with you a short reflection and two stories that have come out in the last 24 hours — not from news media speculating what Apple shares will do but two stories from others who’ve chosen to share their feelings about Jobs’s resignation.
I’ve been a Mac user for 20 years this year. And, while I love technology I’m really not a real geek. The only reason I am so technical is that Apple products are so easy to use. I love is that I can do my work, my play, connect, relate, share my passions on the devices that Apple has created, under the leadership of one Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs - iPhone 2007 Launch
I had the great pleasure of being at the iPhone launch in San Francisco in 2007 and seeing first hand one of Jobs’ compelling, perfectly-timed and passionate presentations. (Yes, really – there was a day that we were without our iPhones. These ARE better days).
His immaculate presentation skills and sense of drama aside – I remember that day a lot because we (well, the guys in our group) had lined up like groupies from 4.00am in the cold morning, amongst thousands of others who were there for the chance to get a first-come, first-served seat at this annual keynote presentation which saw Mac addicts come together. So, at 6.30am my girlfriend and I joined the guys and we waited another few hours before the keynote started.
What surprised me was that – here I was, a mature businesswoman, lining up as though I was back in my teens waiting for a Prince Concert to start. It was however, a memorable day that I still cherish as a really great experience.
I want to share with you two stories from yesterday. Both touched me, in different ways.
1. This short piece by Seth Godin about Jobs
I’m sorry to see him to step down. I’m worried about his health. I’m thankful for the many gifts he has given me.
Suzi
