Kate O’Leary is the founder of Urban Thirst, a company which creates delicious cocktail mixes for you to make fabulous cocktails at home. Kate started Urban Thirst in 2004 after having successful careers as a corporate finance lawyer in New York and a management consultant with McKinsey & Company.

In this interview we discuss:

• How a personal need turned into an innovative business idea
• How she differentiates her product through packaging
• How she switched from law to the food and beverage industry
• Why success can take longer than you initially think
• How selling online and dealing direct with customers gives them an advantage
• Her tips for those starting out in business

Enjoy this interview with Kate O’Leary.

Watch this interview on the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website.

About the In Her Shoes series In Her Shoes is a regular video series presented by the Australian Businesswomen’s Network and BNet.com.au. Each interview features an inspiring businesswoman and her strategies for success. New episodes are released regularly. Become a Community Member for regular updates. StartUp and Growth Members get updates automatically. Become a Community Member with the Australian Businesswomen’s Network.

By Vivienne Kane, Minuteman Press Prahran

Recently, I ordered a book from a well known online book retailer and experienced a significant delay in delivery.

Navigating their online customer service facility to find out what was happening was extremely frustrating and made me more irritated by being sent an automated customer satisfaction survey before the problem had been resolved.

It’s easy to think customer service is all about when clients walk into your premises or pick up the phone. But in many businesses these days, most, if not all, interaction happens online.

If you want your customers to be happy in cyberspace, don’t fall into these traps:

1. Not responding to emails in a timely fashion. For some time-sensitive businesses, this might be within a couple of hours, for others next day. Try to put yourself in the mind of the customer – don’t leave them wondering if their message has even been received. And if you don’t have the solution to their problem immediately, at least let them know you are working on it.
2. Keeping your contact details really well hidden on your website. If you’re happy for customers to call, make the phone number easy to see. Similarly with enquiry email – have a direct link on your home page. You might also consider a Live Chat facility – this could be a real asset for service based businesses in particular.
3. No website FAQ/information section. If you’re getting the same queries over and over again from prospects and customers, give them the information before they have to ask. Develop a straightforward FAQ section, or a free eBook, to solve the common frustrations before they arise.
4. Product and service details on your website are difficult to find. Navigation around your site should be easy and clear –finding the appropriate product with all details shouldn’t require trawling all over your site.
5. Your shopping cart is poorly designed and difficult to use. There is a huge range of online purchase software now available. Make sure you choose one that’s suitable for your product or service, clear and easy to use, and which gives email acknowledgement of purchase. And have a method for the customer to contact you quickly if they have a problem.

Top of my priority list for 2012 is to fix the shopping cart on our CalendarPrint website – it’s frustrating some of our customers and why would we want to do that?

What’s on your list?

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY VIVIENNE KANE

• Why You Should Guarantee Your Service – and Brag About It
• Are you making champagne promises – and delivering beer?
• Are You Creating Cranky Customers?

By Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen’s Network

If you’ve explored our website or attended any of our events, you might think that the Australian Businesswomen’s Network (ABN) is a large organisation — but we’re not. We’re a small business, a small team of six people on a good day. And the six of us have to cater to clients all over Australia because women in business are in country towns, rural areas, urban areas and overseas. They’re not always available to come to events, so we had to make our education and information available to them.

Because of this need to make our information widely available and easily accessible, we were very early adopters of many different technologies, and now we train our community of businesswomen to use that technology.

We rely on technology because we don’t have a lot of resources.

I’m sure that a lot of you can appreciate that. We have a small team, with one of our staff actually based in the U.S. and an off-site advisory board, so we need to be able to communicate, share files and collaborate efficiently, sometimes in real time.

We rely on technology to manage our inventory. We need to communicate with our clients every week because 16,500 women rely on us to give them new information about education and resources. As a business owner, I use technology to make sure that I’m updating my skills and have the right information to run my business.

I had the pleasure of attending the largest technology conference in the world this year, South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, where 19,000 attendees shared the latest technologies. I came back with so many great ideas about new technologies that can be used in small business. But so many people are not taking advantage of the most helpful technology: the basic website. For most businesses nowadays, if you don’t have an online presence, you do not exist. If I search for and cannot find you using Google or any other search engine, then you don’t exist for me.

The Internet has changed the way we communicate with our clients.

People expect us to be able to comment on what we’re doing, to collaborate with them and to acknowledge their opinions. We can’t just broadcast to them; you have to give them the opportunity to give feedback. In this way, you can co-create your business with your clients.

At the ABN, we use an online editable website to collaborate on projects, so anyone on our staff can edit it and add content on a moment’s notice, from anywhere. We use YouTube to provide training videos on small business subjects, have our own Facebook page where we provide interesting articles and community updates, a Twitter account, as well as two iTunes channels where we publish podcasts: Social Media for Small Business and herBusiness – Insights for Women in Business. We use a lot of different devices and gadgets and we try to integrate them to give our clients multiple paths to the same destination. Technology allows us to connect with clients, educate ourselves and grow our business.

At this point in history, the question is not: “Should I be using these technologies in my business?” but rather: “How quickly can I adapt the most relevant technologies to grow my business?”

Start with a basic website, then use all those other social media tools to drive traffic to your website. From there, you can start to generate new leads and then communicate with those leads.

For new users, technology may be daunting.

I’m not really a tech-savvy person, but my business goals demand that I use new technologies. When I’m confused or overwhelmed, I may outsource a project to meet my goals. So, if you’re not tech-savvy (like me), don’t let that stop you from taking advantage of all the wonderful technologies available to increase your business.

Go to Google, start researching technologies relevant to your business and you’ll eventually come across a community of individuals in a similar position, looking for the same information. That’s how the ABN has developed into what it is today!

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY SUZI DAFNIS

• Business Mentoring for the 21st Century
• What Should I Write about on My Business Blog?
• How Guy Kawasaki Enchanted Me

Jacqueline Arias is founder of República, Australia’s only 100% Fairtrade and Organic Coffee Company. Her mission is to make Fairtrade an every day choice at supermarket checkouts all over Australia.

In this video interview we discuss:

• What inspired her to quit her job and get involved with the Fairtrade movement
• Her experience breaking into a close-knit, male-dominated industry, where her goal of finding quality, Fair Trade coffee was considered an impossible feat
• How she has ensured growth by enrolling Australia’s biggest chains in her vision, in an environment were success relies on partnerships and distribution.
• How she found the courage to take the plunge, mortgage her house and risk everything, in pursuit of her mission
• Plus, Jacqueline passes on the lessons she has learned to others considering to take the risk and start a new business.

Enjoy this interview with Jacqueline Arias.

Watch this interview on the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website now.

About the In Her Shoes series In Her Shoes is a regular video series presented by the Australian Businesswomen’s Network and BNet.com.au. Each interview features an inspiring businesswoman and her strategies for success. New episodes are released regularly. Become a Community Member for regular updates. StartUp and Growth Members get updates automatically. Become a Community Member with the Australian Businesswomen’s Network.

By Alycia Edgar, Coastal Accounting Services

I’m really going to get on my soapbox, but you have to hear this. I see far too many people who have lost faith in themselves. They’ve been beaten down by disappointments, failure to reach goals and getting caught up in the drudgery their business has become.

GET OVER IT! Yes we have disappointments – I had one this month – but apart from being snarky for a few days, I’m over it and have moved on. I’m back in action mode.

Here’s the thing, you MUST be in action all of the time.

I don’t mean busy – anyone can do that. You have to be taking action towards your goals; REAL action, not just half-hearted attempts at making something work. REAL ACTION. Can you honestly say to yourself that you have taken REAL ACTION? Really? I think you’re faking it. Yes, I’m calling you out. I am tired of people giving up, saying something doesn’t work, when they really haven’t given it their all.

Be in action, real action. The type of action that makes you want to throw up, it’s so scary. Put yourself out there to potentially get trodden on. Take the chance; a REAL chance. Give it absolutely everything. And stop fooling yourself that the stuff you’re doing at your desk everyday that makes you “busy” is REAL action. Yes we have to service clients and customers, but you know what I’m talking about. That fuel left in the tank that could be used to step you up, but instead you’re keeping it for a rainy day. What’s that about? That rainy day is not coming; it’s here. Do it now. Stand on the edge of that cliff and jump – you have to take action then, it’s life or death.

If you honestly think you’re not faking it, that’s okay.

Go back into your comfort zone and keep plodding along. I’ll see you in the same spot next year, but if any of this made you stop and think at all, then step it up; be courageous, take massive action with great intensity. Make and commit to those bold, audacious goals for 2012 that leave you standing on the edge begging for something to calm your nerves. Have a drink and get back out there.

And no, taking REAL action doesn’t mean you’ll get it right all the time. In fact, your disappointments will probably hit you harder. YOU will survive. But when you do get it right, it was YOU; all you. How sweet is that?

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY ALYCIA EDGAR

• This year is nearly over… but not yet
• Take a Chance
• Stop! Let me off this train, this wasn’t the ticket I bought!

Lynette Mayne has held senior positions in large organisations all over the world. Her achievements are many and her resume extremely impressive. She has a Prime Minister’s Centenary Award for leadership in industry.

Lynette is the owner of Work Wear World, a leading supplier of work apparel to some of Australia’s largest corporations. In this interview she tells us about her transition from big business to a smaller enterprise, the challenges she has faced, skills she has drawn on, and success she has achieved.

We discuss:

• The lessons learned in corporate Australia that armed her with important skills for running her own business.
• What makes a good partnership or joint venture
• Why she’s a champion for women and the empowerment of women as leaders
• The biggest challenges she’s faced in business

Enjoy this interview with Lynette Mayne.

Watch this interview on the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website.

About the In Her Shoes series In Her Shoes is a regular video series presented by the Australian Businesswomen’s Network and BNet.com.au. Each interview features an inspiring businesswoman and her strategies for success. New episodes are released regularly. Become a Community Member for regular updates. StartUp and Growth Members get updates automatically. Become a Community Member with the Australian Businesswomen’s Network.

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:

1. Watch the webinar on the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website (duration 1 hour).
2. 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.”

Watch the webinar here.

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.

Read more about Chris Brogan.

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.

By Cat Matson, Alito

When I was younger, my mum and I used to do jigsaw puzzles in the school holidays – you know the ones – thousands of pieces, where half of them are all the same shade of blue sky or green grass and over weeks, you piece together a few more until the final picture is revealed.

Business is not that different.

There are so many parts to put together… so many of those parts that actually look like they fit… they just don’t quite… Unlike boxed puzzles that you buy in the hobby shops, it’s often hard to get such a crystal-clear picture of your business, like you get on a puzzle box, to guide how you put it all together. And unlike the puzzles I used to do with my mum, there’s consequences if you settle for a ‘near-enough’ fit rather than a perfect fit – missed opportunities, lost sales, ineffective marketing and often just a feeling of things not quite working.

So how do you pull together your unique jigsaw puzzle?

1. Recognise there are universal pieces to a business puzzle – a bit like placing the the corners and edge pieces first in a 2,500 piece picture puzzle. For example, each business needs to have a strong marketing framework, a profitable business model, an informative scoreboard and financial management system and effective and efficient process – they create the ‘edges’ of your business puzzle… how you colour it in will be different for each individual business.
2. Understand that even though all the pieces may look the same (e.g., I often found it hard to distinguish between the shades of blue in the sky), there are always subtle differences between each piece. Don’t try and take pieces from your friends’ or competitors’ business puzzles… they might look like they’re a fit… but they won’t be a perfect fit.
3. Recognise that not only is your business jigsaw not a static picture on a box, but a 3-dimensional inter-related system of pieces – a bit like cogs and wheels in a Swiss-watch. The pieces of your puzzle need to not only fit, but they need to inter-relate, integrate and synergise with each other to produce the lifestyle returns you went into business for.
4. Accept that sometimes the final picture will change before you’ve got all the pieces in place, so you need to be flexible in finding new pieces that complete the picture; the edges and the frameworks are likely to remain constant.
5. Remember, like jigsaw puzzles, building a business takes patience. Forcing a ‘fit’ might give you immediate gratification, but it will make the picture look weird in the end… so just keep moving pieces around until they all fit perfectly.

What do you think?

Does running your business feel like piecing together a giant jigsaw puzzle? Do you take the time to get the right pieces or are there a few ‘forced fits’ making an awkward picture?

MORE GREAT POSTS BY CAT MATSON

• The Problem With Online Engagement
• But It’s Not Fun Anymore
• First Things First

Five would-be entrepreneurs have been selected to progress to the final stage of Nokia’s In Hindsight competition – a nationwide search that will help one up-and-coming Aussie entrepreneur get their business idea off the ground.

ABN’s Suzi Dafnis was one of three judges to whom the top five finalists presented their idea and pitched their business concept and viability. Suzi and the other panelists (Chris Carr, managing director Nokia and Jaimie Fuller, CEO of SKINS) spent time providing important feedback and evaluation to the finalists pitches.

    Chris Carr (Nokia), Suzi Dafnis and     Jaime Fuller (Skins)

The top five were chosen from a shortlist of 100 entries for their original business idea and convincing pitch and are now in the running to win AUD$10,000, a Nokia smartphone and coaching and advice from Jaimie Fuller, CEO of global sportswear clothing company SKINS.

It’s now the public’s turn to nominate their favourite business idea. Videos of each entrant can be viewed and voted for on Nokia Australia’s Facebook page.

The finalists are:

• FindMeQuick™ is a business idea developed by Nimrod Klayman that uses radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to help track lost property at school
• My Genius Tutor is an online platform created by Adam Jacobs that connects students with expert tuition in real time
• Open  Shed is  a  peer-to-peer  rental  website  set up by Lisa Fox and Duncan Stewart where  Australians  can  rent  each  other’s  belongings, helping people to live more resourceful and sustainable lives
• Sylvia Lee wants to launch a new self-named fashion label that offers both ready-to-wear women’s clothes and custom-made couture garments
• Uncommon Ground is an idea by Krissy Crawford for an online store that stocks women’s shoes in sizes 9 to 14 targeting fashionable females frustrated with the lack of on-trend larger size shoes

“Each of the finalists was inspiring and represented the average small business owner – full of energy, enthusiasm and a big vision. In the end, we had to decide whose business seemed to be the best thought-out and viable. All had merit and the public will help decide the winner. I encourage you to watch the videos and to vote,” explained Suzi Dafnis.

The winner will be determined by a 30/70 weighting of the public Facebook vote and that of the judging panel. Voting closes on the Facebook page on the 16^th November and the winner will be announced shortly after.

We wish them all luck as they enter this second part of the competition!

By Nerida Gill, Admin Bandit

© Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com

I’m not normally a fan of reality TV, but Keeping Up with the Kardashians intrigues me — this family embodies the luxury Californian dream… A-list parties, private jets and shoes worth the average monthly mortgage repayment.

The show seems ridiculous… these people seem to spend their days doing nothing but pouting for photo shoots, shopping on Rodeo Drive, lounging by the pool and squabbling over dinner.

That, however, is just a surface appearance — the reality is that the Kardashians are a brand, cleverly designed by “momager” Kris Jenner, and their show is simply “a 30-minute commercial,” as daughter Khloé Kardashian Odom told the Hollywood Reporter.

Four years of “commercials” and three spin-offs earned the family $65 million last year, endorsing everything from perfume and incontinence pads to cupcakes and diet pills. Kim Kardashian, the most famous of the “klan” even earns up to $25,000 to mention a product or business in a tweet!

What is a brand?

Branding may be powerful, but it’s also one of the most confused “buzzwords” around. This is because brands are intangible — they’re not objects you can pick up — instead, they’re perceptions, reputations, personalities… and good ones are so pervasive that many people aren’t consciously aware they exist, let alone that they’ve been devised in a boardroom.

Think of Coca-Cola or denim jeans, for instance, which have represented “cool” for decades or Glad Wrap, which is so all-pervading that most of us use the name to refer to any type of plastic cling product.

A brand is simply how people perceive you (whether a business, product or service)… the characteristics or values that spring to mind when they think of you. It’s not to be confused with marketing or advertising, but it is one of the tools in the marketing toolbox and it is something you can compellingly influence.

Now that we know what a brand is, how do you create one? Three steps: research, define and build.

Research your brand?

Before you can create a brand, you need to know not just who you are, but also who your customers (current and ideal) are.

To work out who you are, ask yourself:

• What are the qualities of my company, product or service?
• What are my core values?
• What is my company’s mission?
• How do I want to be seen?

You find the answers in your business plan… this is a good time to put the kettle on, sit down for a couple of hours and read/revise this document.

Next, analyse your target market:

• Who is your target market?
• Where do they live?
• How do they currently perceive you?
• How can you attract them?
• Who else is competing for their attention?

Knowing your target market takes more than guesstimation… as the most successful businesses demonstrate, it’s often a matter of careful, formal research. Magazines are sticklers for surveying their readers and Vogue Australia is no exception. As you can see in their advertising specs here and here, the magazine has sourced externally audited circulation and readership statistics and has categorised their readers by the classic demographic indicators of income, education, occupation, age and sex.

A tip: give customers an incentive to do your survey… a “thank you” gift or entry into a prize draw.

Define your brand

Use your research to write two paragraphs, each a biography, as if you were creating a character for a TV show. Start with the easy one, the one about yourself.

Then write one for your target market, picturing the ideal person who buys your product or service. You may need to ask yourself a few more questions:

• What does this person need and want?
• How does he or she want to be seen?
• What drives them?
• What do they aspire to?

Getting back to Vogue Australia, I’d describe the magazine’s ideal reader as a professional female, aged 20-49, who loves fashion and appearance, is savvy and discerning, wants to keep up-to-date and has a high, disposable income.

You may find you actually end up with four biographies, two reflecting reality and two that outline your future ideals.

Build your brand

Aligning your “personality” with your customer’s is the cornerstone of a successful brand and that “personality” must be reflected in everything you do, own or produce.

Appearance, or visual identity, is the most obvious way to communicate your brand to your target market. This includes:

• Logo
• Stationery
• Product packaging
• Website and email
• Marketing materials
• Dress code
• Signage
• Sound and smell (not visual, I know, but still part of appearance)

Actions, or customer service, are another way… this is the “human” part of your business and includes how you:

• Answer the phone
• Respond to queries
• Deal with stress and conflict
• Meet deadlines
• Run meetings
• Treat your staff

And finally, you need to engage with your target market and the community as a whole to get your brand “out there.” This includes:

• Using social media (including leaving comments)
• Blogging
• Writing press releases
• Search engine optimisation
• Networking
• Speaking at events
• Taking on roles with industry associations
• Giving back through philanthropy, sponsorship and volunteering

In all these things, if you want to gain loyalty and trust, you need to communicate your brand to your target market in a way that is honest and believable.

Back to the Kardashians

Some people scorn reality stars because they’re famous for doing nothing, but that’s actually not the case at all — the top echelon of reality stars, like the Kardashian family, are famous because they have water-tight branding strategies, which, as you know from the above, requires considerable effort.

So next time you’re caught watching a reality show, don’t feel guilty… these “personalities” and the people behind them have worked hard to gain your attention. Besides, you’re not watching trashy TV; you’re undertaking important branding research!

MORE GREAT POSTS BY NERIDA GILL

• Are You Responsible? How Small Business Can Give Back
• How to Dress to Communicate Skill and Success in Business
• Business Insurance: How to Prepare for the “What Ifs”