Do you speak English? Communication tips for business owners. (PART 1)

As any new migrant will tell you, the inability to communicate effectively can get in the way of opportunity. No matter how clever you are, communication attempts can be thwarted by the lack of skill to communicate well and get your message across.

Communication skills are  more important today than ever before.

And, communication barriers go beyond language barriers. Let’s assume you speak English well. You may not be the next best-selling author, or Tony Robbins, but you have a decent command of the English language. You’re good at what you do and you want to grow your business.

But, nobody’s listening, nobody’s buying.

What’s happening?

Do you speak English?

My mum arrived here from Greece aged 15. She spoke no English and, like many migrants new to a country, struggled for a long time to be understood.

Some migrants, like her, moved to neighbourhoods with like-speaking people, worked in factories where their native language was spoken, mingled only with others from their own culture. No doubt their progress with the English language was slow.

Mum wanted to learn the language of her new country - to be understood.  So, when my brothers and I were in school and she finally had some time to herself, she went off to English classes and while we kids would at times giggle at her attempts at words (English is a HARD language) she persisted. She wanted to be understood. I didn’t realise, at the time, the persistence this took.

Communication today

Doing business today requires you to be able to communicate better and differently than ever before.

Technology has given us many tools with which to communicate. But the tools themselves don’t make us good communicators. The mastery of one or many, could however make you a market leader.

Over the next few weeks I’ll post about the effective use of of my favourite communication tools for business.

Here’s my position on Communication:

Communication is a skill.

It can be learned, improved, mastered. By anyone. Yes, including you - regardless of your level of schooling.

Tools do not make you good.

Communication tools like blogs, podcasts, emails, newsletters, videos, webinars, seminars etc. are TOOLS. Their use, alone, does not make you a master of them.

In my opinion:

• A bad podcast COULD be worse for your business than no podcast.
• A bad webinar COULD be worse for your business and reputation than NO webinar.

The key to more effective communication is to take action AND to get education and improve your skills. For example:

• If you’re going to blog, get some basic training.
• If you’re going to podcast, then get some honest feedback on your voice and some voice training.
• If you’re going to do seminars, then please, please, get some presentation skills.

You get the picture?

The big opportunity

Those who commit to master of their communication will win the hearts and minds of their customers, staff, allies and community.

If you’re up for the ride, then let’s go.  Next week’s post: Basic Communication Tools to Grow Your Business

Cheers
Suzi

Corporate Gift Ideas from our Members! Discounts and bonuses.

It’s that time of year. Time to shop for gifts to say thanks and show your appreciationto those who have supported you this year.

We are committed to making things easier for you in business - and this year we decided to also make it easy for you to buy gifts for Christmas. We asked our partners and members just like you to put together some specials for you for Christmas

Here is a fantastic list of 42 Christmas offers and specials from member-to-member. Save on active wear, marketing services, web design, cupcakes, children’s books, makeup, paper products, even fashion styling. You save AND you help another woman in business and fellow member. See all the specials here and Happy Shopping!

Not a member? Join now and save.

Business lessons we can learn from elephants

Last Friday ANZ held a Women in Business event at Taronga Zoo. The breakfast networking event was held at the Wild Asia Exhibit, the home of Luk Chai, the first Asian elephant calf to be born at Taronga Zoo.

The networking event (attended by local businesswomen and guests) was part of ANZ’s Be Money Confident initiative for women.

Be Money Confident ambassador, Antonia Kidman, gave a speech about business lessons we can learn from elephants.

The lessons, while light-hearted, held many truths and resonated with me.

These same lessons (and the recommendations that Antonia provided) are also very aligned with the work that we do at the Australian Businesswomen’s Network to support women.

Lessons we can learn from elephants

The elephant’s gestational period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal.	Lesson: It can take time for good ideas to gestate. Slow and steady is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s important to take the time to properly plan, since many new start-ups can fail simply because they haven’t done their homework first.
Elephants are born with fewer survival instincts than many other animals. Instead, they must rely on their elders to teach them the things they need to know.	Lesson: Finding a good mentor with experience is critical. Being willing to accept their help, particularly in the formative stages can enhance your business’s success. It also provides a way to learn business skills as your business expands. Seek out advice from an accountant, financial specialist or take advantage of mentoring programmes.
Elephants are a symbol of wisdom in Asian cultures and are famed for their memory and intelligence.	Lesson: Respect can take time to earn. Women tend to be less adept at self-promotion. In other words, we are not quick to tell other people about our achievements and successes and this has wider knock-on effects. Successful businesswomen should be celebrated and more widely promoted, not only to inspire other women, but also to encourage the business community to consider the huge potential that exists in female-run businesses.
An elephant’s skin is extremely tough and measures about an inch thick. But although tough, it is very sensitive.	Lesson: Develop your own thick skin. For many of us, criticism can be hard to bear. Whether it’s peer response, a tough economic environment or one too many rejections, every business faces situations which make it easy to think about giving in. But by learning to view these situations objectively and figuring out what you need to learn from the experience you stand a better chance of weathering the storm. And at the same time, relish your ability to show sensitivity and empathy, which can be used to your advantage.
Healthy adult elephants have no natural predators, although lions may take calves or weak individuals.	Lesson: A healthy business is the best defense. This starts with proper business planning, including a focus on cash flow. Many businesses – particularly those in the service-based sectors suffer sever paeaks and troughs in revenue. Make sure you really understand the financial demands and costs of your business.
Elephants have the ability to use their trunks like snorkels for breathing and are known to swim like that for up to 6 hours and 50km.	Lesson: Use what you’ve got! Our skills at multi-tasking and organisation can make us great entrepreneurs. Have self-belief and be prepared to recognize your success.
The elephant’s trunk may have over forty thousand individual muscles in it, making it sensitive enough to pick up a single blade of grass, yet strong enough to rip the branches off a tree.	Lesson: Know how and when to use your strength. A factor that links many successful businesswomen is their determination to succeed. Often this manifests itself in competing just a little bit harder, and being prepared to make tough decisions when the situation requires it. While having clear goals and aspirations is important, real success requires self-confidence and courage.
Elephants display a wide variety of behaviours including those associated with music, art, altruism, play, use of tools, compassion and self awareness.	Lesson: A work/life balance is important. While it can be tempting to devote ourselves to our business, this can at times come at the expense of our families or ourselves. Women are very good at feeling terribly guilty when we take time out. However, this is so important! There is no doubt taking time out of your business can be hard to do if you don’t have the support system in place with good employees, friends or family. But when we do, the benefits are rewarding. Not only do you feel more refreshed, making you a better wife, partner, mother or friend, but it helps to centre you around what is important, providing the ability to look at your business with fresh eyes.
Elephants can communicate over long distances by producing and receiving a sub-sonic rumbling, which can travel in the air and through the ground much further than higher frequencies.	Lesson: Take advantage of the communication tools at your disposal. Modern communication like the internet can help keep networking connections strong, through use of email, blogs, and social networking tools. It can provide links to like-minded, experienced business owners through mentoring programs. There are great resources available online to assist in bringing a business idea to life, or helping to broaden and grow your business skills and best of all most are free.
Elephants live in a structured social order. Females spend their entire lives in tightly knit groups made up of mothers, daughters, sisters, and aunts. These groups are led by the eldest female, or matriarch.	Lesson: As women we need to stand together and learn from each other’s skills, strength and experience Make an effort to find people who share common interests and a sense of community. Local business associations and local council networking groups offer the chance to meet other women – and gives you the chance to support and learn from each other’s experience and skills
And finally: When a group gets too big, a few of the elder daughters will break off and form their own small group.	Lesson: Women can be the driving force to create new enterprises, and explore new opportunities. Research from the UK suggests that women are more likely to be more innovative than men in their approach to business development and new ideas, which can only benefit the business community. If you have a good idea, a plan for success and the resources to strike out, then have the confidence to be entrepreneurial.

You can learn more about ANZ’s Be Money Confident initiative here. You’ll find interesting articles and resources as well as budget calculators.

New Member MeetUps start strong in Sydney

Congratulations to members Nancy Georges, Sheryl Cole, Frances Jones, Bianca de Reus, Julie Wise and Isobel Martin who held a Member MeetUp in Sydney’s Leichhardt last week.

Member MeetUps are Australian Businesswomen’s Network member get-togethers and a way for members to meet face to face to talk business, create business opportunities and collaborate around the monthly business focus subjects and other areas of interest.

We know that members value the opportunity to get face-to-face with other members. We also know that you’re not always able to attend pre-scheduled breakfasts, lunches and dinners and that often big networking events don’t serve to provide the intimate, real conversations you’re looking for.

That’s why we’ve introduced a NEW and intimate opportunity for members to meet other members to:

• Discuss business issues
• Talk about areas of interest
• Network and build relationships
• Introduce themselves and their businesses

Member MeetUps are held all over the country and are self-managed by our members in venues and times of their choice.

How to Attend a Member Meet Up

Watch the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website for details on how to attend a Member Meet Up near you! Members will be notified as soon as these events are available. Coming late 2009.

Not a member? Join today.

Brush up your Networking skills. Check out the 30 Days of Networking posts and get started with daily tips and resources to grow your network.

Is collaboration bad for your business?

In the April issue of the Harvard Business review Morten Hansen asked: Is internal collaboration bad for your business?

Hansen’s research raises a good point about just how valuable (or not) internal collaboration can be. He says:

“Too often a business leader asks, How can we get people to collaborate more? That’s the wrong question. It should be, Will collaboration on this project create or destroy value? In fact, to collaborate well is to know when not to do it.”

Here is a link to his article: When Internal Collaboration is Bad for Your Company

At the Australian Businesswomen’s Network COLLABORATION is one of our company values.

Internally we collaborate easily because we are a small team and we lean on each other to produce results. Our staff brainstorms many business development ideas before we execute them.

I believe it is the leader’s role (whether that’s the business or project leader) to ultimately decide if an idea goes ahead based on your business strategy, available resources and what course of action will achieve results. It takes a strong leader to run with an unpopular idea, even when it has come out of collaboration and team brainstorming.

But what about collaborating with those outside of your organisation?

Hansen’s points are as relevant when thinking about collaboration with external partners.

We encourage collaboration between our community members. Most members are women business owners who can benefit from joining forces with others to pitch for business, to barter services, to provide peer mentoring.  Actively supporting collaboration fits our positioning of being a community of like-minded women who network and connect to help each other grow business.

Collaboration often works best when parties have an equal amount to offer each other.
If you’re a big fish (ie. you’re successful) in an area of business, you are more attractive to the small fish than they are to you.

For instance, I’ve never been keen to (or known the best way to) collaborate with competitors. Maybe that’s because often, when these opportunities arose, I was the big fish in the equation. I’ve had what it is that others want a piece of.

I’ve also been in the position of being the small fish in a situation (and today there are many areas where I am new/young/green and the small fish.) In these situations it’s up to the small fish (me) to find ways to provide value within the partnership.  And, through collaboration you can add mass to your ’small fish’ weight and grow.

Hansen’s point - ie. Know when collaboration is pointless and when it is not - seems to ‘hold water’ regardless of who you are collaborating with.

Kim’s Crunchy Coleslaw

A couple of weeks ago I Twittered that I was eating a big bowl of Kim’s Crunchy Coleslaw - a recipe that Kim Kiyosaki gave me that I’ve since adapted.

A few people asked for the recipe… so here it is.

But first I want to tell you about Kim…

Kim is the author of Rich Woman - a powerful book on women and investing. She’s a great role model and has been a good friend for many years. She’s one of the kindest people I know and she’s very passionate about supporting women to have financial independence.

For 10 years we worked very closely together - promoting the Rich Dad brand.

Her husband is Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki and through my previous businesses Rich Dad Australia and Pow Wow Events we worked to make Robert Kiyosaki a household name in Australia and New Zealand and in the process helped a lot of people get started on their financial freedom journey.

Then in 2000 my partner PJ and I moved to Arizona (and moved into Robert and Kim’s old house) which became our base in the US.  PJ and I started Rich Dad’s Seminars and for 6.5 years promoted and produced Robert’s personal finance seminars all over the US.

So… Kim and I have shared many meals - on planes, hotel lobbies and publicity tours.

More than that though we have shared many successes, joys and tears, holidays, Thanksgivings and Christmas’s.

We don’t have a lot of contact these days, since I moved back to Australia, and I miss her.

Each time I have this coleslaw it it reminds me of her.

Here’s the recipe (adapted):

Salad:
1/4 red cabbage finely shredded
1/4 white cabbage finely shredded
1 x carrot grated
1 x fistful of slivered almonds (slightly browned in a pan with a little oil)
3 x green onions finely chopped
1 x packet of 2-minute noodles (Australia) or Ramen Noodles (US) - chicken flavour

Protein:
You can add a can of salmon, tuna or, if you’re lucky enough to be able to find it (and I haven’t been able to in Australia) a can of chicken.  (Aussies.. trust me it’s lean and healthy and great on salads and I have no idea why it’s not available here. If you find it, let me know!) OR you can add grilled chicken, salmon (yum!) or any meat (though I don’t think red meat works as well as white), cut into bite-sized pieces.

Dressing:
1 part olive oil
1/2 part red wine vinegar and 1/2 part white wine or balsamic vinegar
chicken flavour sachet from noodles

Mix all the veges together in a bowl.
Add the slivered almonds.
Add your choice of protein.
Make the dressing.
Break up the noodles (I do it under a paper towel with the palm of my hands or you can use a rolling pin) til they are very small pieces. Add them last.
Mix the dressing (you can be more liberal than I’ve been here) and mix it all up really well.

I’ve made this salad on many occassions for bbq’s and parties and people tend to love the crunchiness that the nuts and noodles add. I make it often as a quick meal.

Hey, let me know if you try it out.

Wisdom. What is it?

Wisdom - what is it?  This clip features some big names, and some bigger names talking about wisdom.

I liked this quote: “You can’t get to wonderful without going to alright”.  

Nice. 

Watch it and see what YOU think.

What makes one business woman more successful than another?

I was having lunch with Naomi Simson of Red Balloon Days today. She’s charming and alive and we’ve been trying to get together for a long time to ‘chew the fat’ (or the salad as it turned out).  

I was congratulating her on being one of only two women whose businesses appeared in the recent BRW Fast 100 and we got talking about why some women are able to build big businesses while most don’t.

We didn’t solve the question, but we’re on a mission to find out and to empower more women to cross the line when it comes to bigger profits and more success in business. 

We DID agree that we’ve found two things in common to the successful women we know:

1. A love (No. A passion) for learning and education

2. Surrounding ourselves with people that expect more of us than we do

So, what so what is that you’re doing next to improve your skill as a business owner?

and, 

Who are you surrounding yourself with. Is it powerful, positive people who are going places?

If not, then start a list. Describe the types of people you want to hang out with. Who are they? What are their values? Why would they want to hang out with you?

You’ve got four minutes to save your business.

Justin Timberlake and Madonna took on the question of whether they could save the world in four minutes. Could you save your business in four minutes? Could you imagine doing anything at all that is productive, in four minutes?

For the last month my gym has had a few of us taking part in a 30-day ‘Tabatafest’ - a challenge to do an intense exercise for at least four minutes day at full exertion. e.g. pushups, situps, squats etc, within a particular round-system. I took it on as a challenge and what I found was that four minutes a day made a big difference. The number of repetitions I could do at day 30 was a whole lot more than what I could do on Day 1. I felt stronger and healthier.

So, the challenge got me thinking. What business muscle could I strengthen if I gave it just 4 minutes a day?





Join the Groundswell

A month ago a friend, Anne Bartlett-Bragg, who’s a wiz in the area of social networks recommended this book to me.

I’ve read it, listed to the audio book, and am totally in love with the concepts that the writers/researchers open up. Great examples of how companies are taking advantage of the growing groundswell of social technologies.

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