Julia Palmer of the Business Networking Academy has attended thousands of business conferences. She helps people learn how to build strategic networking skills so that the cost of a conference does not go to waste.

“One of the first things we want to look at is ‘What do you need to get out of the event and who do you need to meet?’” Julia recently said at Kochie’s Business Builder’s Boot Camp in Sydney. “You can meet your colleagues and catch up with them any time, so you need to be a little bit more strategic when it comes to maximising the outcome or the value of a conference like this.

“We’ve had some amazing entrepreneurs, incredible speakers, great sessions and amazing sponsors here. If you look around, everything you need for small business is actually here, and yet a lot of people won’t maximise that. You have to say, ‘Okay, I’m here. How can I feel more comfortable and confident to actually meet these people?’ The more strategic you are, and the more tools you have, the more comfortable you get over time.”

Even shy people can learn how to maximise the value of a business conference through savvy networking, Julia explained: “I actually think shy people network better than the overt ‘card collectors’. Shy people should get very excited by this — because shy people are good at listening. I think the key thing with shy people is to arrive early to a room so that you’re not overwhelmed by walking in and seeing lots of people. If you’re there early, a lot of people actually come up to you, so it does take the pressure off a little bit. And at the end of the day, if you have a strategy, you do feel more comfortable, regardless of whether you’re an introvert or extrovert. The key is to have that strategy and get out of your comfort zone. The relationships you make at conferences help take your business to the next level, and we’ve got to keep that vision in mind.”

“I love technology. I think it’s an enabler and a great resource. However, I think we’ve become too technologically focused when it comes to networking. There’s a big presence of social media and we need to find that balance.

Julia also explained that although social media is great for networking, it should not overshadow face-to-face connections: “I love technology. I think it’s an enabler and a great resource. However, I think we’ve become too technologically focused when it comes to networking. There’s a big presence of social media and we need to find that balance. The great thing about social media is that you can use it to say, ‘I’ll see you at this conference.’ Then you’ve got to follow through with the face-to-face to take that relationship to the next level. I do think social media has a place, but I think we need to find the right balance and make sure that we don’t dismiss the face-to-face side because that’s where to really get the trust, and the deeper conversations happen face-to-face.”

Enjoy this interview with Julia Palmer!

Kochie’s Business Builder’s Boot Camp was supported by the Australian Businesswomen’s Network.

Related Links:
Business Networking Academy
Kochie’s Business Builder’s Boot Camp

By Amanda Falconer, Sydney Small Business Centre

If you think that the main thing you can learn from Ita Buttrose is how to dress well and maintain grace and poise under incredible pressure, think again.  Here are three things you can learn from Ita Buttrose about growing your small business.

As I watched Asher Keddie playing Ita Buttrose in ABC-TV’s Paper Giants – the birth of Cleo, I was literally moved to tears. What an inspiration Ita was – and is. And what a great marketing brain she has. Now if you’re wondering what on earth that has to do with growing or marketing a small business, then in just a moment I’ll tell you.

1. Know your customer

Remember when Ita was writing the first letter from the editor? She was able to be very specific about the person the magazine was for. It wasn’t just for women as one big group, it was a specific kind of woman…

“We decided that you were an intelligent woman, who’s interested in everything that’s going on, the type of person who wants a great deal more out of life, like us. Certain aspects of women’s lib appeal to you, but you’re not aggressive about it. And again, like us, you’re all for men as long as they know their place…”

2. Know your competition

Remember when it was the anniversary issue? And Ita bought a copy? Kerry Packer said why are you giving Fairfax 60 cents of your money?

Remember when Ita was fighting the anti-pornography lobby? She made sure that she knew what they were doing – in all its intimate detail. Knowing her competition was one of the things that helped her find the gaps and the difference.

3. Stick to your guns but don’t get stuck in a rut

Remember when Kerry wanted Ita to sack two people? Remember when he argued with her about the centrefold? And remember when Ita wanted to put Barry Humphries as Dame Edna on the cover? (This was a move that resulted in 250,000 copies of the magazine being sold too.)

In all these instances – and there were lots more – Ita stuck to her guns. OK she did sack the art director, but even as she did that, she spoke a universal truth.

“Things change, magazines are dynamic things.”

The same is true of most business.

Just like Ita, you also need to know your customers, your competition, when to stick to your guns and stay consistent and when to evolve and experiment. If you do, you’ll have all the ingredients for growth.

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY AMANDA FALCONER

• Using a shopping list to grow your small business
• Small business growth: adding the commander’s intent to your plan
• Are you running your business like a young puppy?

By Cat Matson, Alito

I endured a remedial massage last week. And I mean endured. It was at times excruciating… where the best I could do was breathe through the pain of someone trying to take my pain away. At the end of the hour, the treatment had worked. The headache I had tolerated for two days was gone, movement had been restored to my neck and my back and shoulders felt the lightest they had felt in ages. The therapist had given me what I needed (a hard-core body work session which untied the knots in my back)… not what I wanted (a relaxing massage which would temporarily make me feel better). She boldly went where few other therapists go… she gave me what I needed and trusted her professional experience to make that decision.

As a business owner, do you give your customers or clients what they need… or what they want? Are you BOLD in your suggestions… or are you polite, agreeing to provide the solution that the customer thinks they want?

It’s not an easy task, to tell a customer what they need is different to what they want… but gee, it’s refreshing (for supplier and customer alike!). The therapist last week didn’t ask me how I liked my massage, she simply determined the best course of action and went for it, only saying to let her know if it got ‘too much.’

Tips for being bold:

1. Offer your expert opinion as expert opinion – not with excuses or diminishing phrases like ‘what do you think?
2. ‘TRUST your expert opinion. Customers pay other people to do things they can’t do – they are paying YOU to do things they can’t do.
3. Conduct a needs analysis first – ask questions that go beyond what the customer is saying they want… discover what they need. Questions that start with ‘why‘ are perfect for determining needs.

So … be BOLD – stand out from your competitors and BOLDY go where they won’t. Your customers will appreciate it.

Your turn …

When have you been given what you NEEDED by a supplier, not necessarily what you wanted. Did you appreciate the bold approach?

Are you BOLD with your clients or customers? If so, why? If not, why not, what holds you back from being bold?

MORE GREAT POSTS BY CAT MATSON

• Games Your Customers WANT You to Play
• Done! It’s time to get things finished and ‘shipped’.
• Strategy. What is it? Really.

By Yvette Vignando, www.happychild.com.au

One of my favourite magazines is Scientific American Mind. Not your typical business magazine. I read it because I am fascinated by how, why and what people think and I like to learn about the brain science behind it. I also read it because it sparks ideas for articles on the happychild website. But often the articles have a relevance to business development; this month my attention was caught by the article called “Looming Deadlines: How the pressure of a due date distorts our perception of time.”

Psychological scientists at Swansea University have found that the more complex a task, the closer the deadline ‘feels.’ The researchers conducted a variety of experiments all indicating that even when deadline dates are identical, a more complex task will always ‘feel’ like it is looming closer than a less complex task.

In small business, and especially in the start-up phase, the tasks are numerous; many of them are complex – and you are trying to complete most of them yourself. With nobody to delegate tasks to, it’s no wonder that entrepreneurs feel swamped. I have this feeling frequently. The Scientific American Mind article reports that there may be an upside to these feelings of being overwhelmed – if deadlines feel closer and more rigid for a complex task, we are more likely to pay attention to them; apparently this feeling makes us more conscientious and might help us respond better to the challenge.

So I have been thinking about how to use this information. It is definitely worth looking into systems, planning strategies and the expert advice available on how to better manage time and tasks. But it’s also important to manage the mental stress associated with the busy life of the entrepreneur. If you read Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, Crush It (which I love – and I wrote about it here ….) you could be forgiven for feeling inadequate for not staying up all night and beating those deadlines. But in fact most of us also need sleep, exercise and relaxation to keep happy and well. If you have those last three habits under your belt, then I’m going to suggest one more thing: Make the complex tasks less complex.

If you feel overwhelmed by a series of complex tasks and their deadlines, the best approach is to think about them differently. One complex task can be divided into a number of less complex tasks with a number of different deadlines. Using this process is more satisfying as you can check off parts of the larger task and feel a sense of accomplishment as you do this. Instead of focusing on the more complex task due next month (getting your tax return documents and records ready for your accountant), you could focus on a simpler task (collating all your charitable deduction receipts) with a shorter deadline. You have less stressful ‘distorted deadline’ pressure and you are still working towards the same task in the end.

Because the research indicates that task complexity distorts your sense of time and makes you ‘feel’ as if the deadline is looming, your new approach means you’ve used brain science to improve your business. I would be interested to know if you try this strategy.

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY YVETTE VIGNANDO

• Blogging for Startups – Do You Blog?
• Begin it Now – a Entrepreneur’s Quick Guide to Procrastination
• 5 Things I Did Not Know About Being an Entrepreneur

By Lisa Murray, Revive Business Coaching

Ever wondered what style of leader you are? Leadership theory is simpler than we’ve been led to believe… conscious, unconscious and anti-conscious are the three choices every leader has.

We’ve all met unconscious leaders who are simply unaware, or worse, anti-conscious ones who deliberately create havoc! So what does it take to lead consciously?

“Consciousness is correlated to the intensity of one’s connection with oneself, with one’s acceptance of unlimited talents and abilities and the resulting expansion of one’s ability to be in communion with all things.”
-Gary Douglas

Sound a lot like the leaders you know and love?? No, leading consciously is not such a common approach just yet. Here’s five strategies I use daily in my personal quest for leading more consciously…

1. Are you asking questions or assuming?
Conscious leaders ask questions about everything so that unlimited, unexpected possibilities can show up.
Unconscious leaders ask questions that tell them only what they want to hear.

2. Are you BEing or DOing first?
Conscious leaders take time to slow down and just BE before perceiving and choosing what to do.
Unconscious leaders focus on getting things done, without BEing aware of what requires focus right now.

3. Are you allowing expansion or contraction?
Conscious leaders create expansion, allowing what is light, unlimited and indefinable to be explored.
Unconscious leaders create contraction, giving priority to what is dense and limited and keeping the status quo in place.

4. Demands or Excuses?
Conscious leaders make the demand for transformation and innovation beyond current limitations.
Unconscious leaders make excuses, keep control and allow fragmentation.

5. Choices or Decisions?
Conscious leaders make choices that move with the constant motion in the world, without a point of view or judgment about creating purposeful change everyday. They are risk-aware.
Unconscious leaders follow rules, cling to their decisions and are unaware of the changes influencing their challenges. They are risk-averse.

Conscious leaders transcend past reference points, knowing that there is no right or wrong, just the possibility of a new choice. They use their capacities of awareness to choose from all that is possible in a situation.

We can make a new conscious choice in any moment… no matter how often we fall back into unconscious leading (and we all do!!) What would it take to choose a little (or a lot!) more consciousness in your leadership approach today?

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY LISA MURRAY

• Digging Out The Gold From Your Annual (P)review
• To Achieve or Not to Achieve?
• The Risks of Starting a Second Business

By Vivienne Kane, Minuteman Press Prahran

How to lose a customer in 9 easy lessons…

1. Ignore those pushy customers who keep trying to get your attention when you’ve got important paperwork to do. And definitely don’t make eye contact.

2. Don’t stress about phone messages and emails – if they really want something, they’ll try again, won’t they?

3. Pay no attention when they say they need something in a hurry – that’s their problem, not yours. If they can’t plan properly, what can you do?

4. Tell them they’re dreaming if they think the products you advertised will all be available. They’ll just have to wait.

5. Staff morale is important, so of course they can have lunch together. Customers should know not to come at lunchtime when there’s hardly anyone to help them.

6. If the customer isn’t happy with your product or service, tell them to chill out– there are plenty more where they came from.

7. If they really seem worried, have a laugh – that should help them to get over it.

8. If they’re still being unreasonable, try raising your voice a little.

9. And if all else fails, tell them what they want to hear, even if it’s not exactly true. If it goes pear shaped down the track, that’s someone else’s problem.

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY VIVENNE KANE

• What happens when your product breaks?
• How “Better than expected” could be your new normal

Vivienne Kane - Minuteman Press Prahran As the owner and operations manager of Minuteman Press Prahran, a franchise print supplier, Vivienne works with small business customers every day. She runs the business, and their online specialty division CalendarPrint, with her husband Nicholas and their talented staff. With a customer base which often has little experience in buying print, Minuteman Prahran’s point of difference is making the process as painless as possible. Vivienne is a strong advocate of clear and reliable communication as a key tool in winning and keeping customers. She started her professional life as a Speech Pathologist, and enjoyed a variety of roles in administration and community groups before establishing Minuteman Press in 2000. She has three Gen-Y adult children, is an almost an empty nester, loves travel and is a member of two book clubs. Phone: 03 9510 4700 Email: vivienne@minuteman-prahran.com Website: www.prahran.minutemanpress.com Facebook: Minuteman Press Prahran Member Profile: See Vivienne’s Member Profile

By Amy Lyden

I was fortunate enough to win a scholarship for a leadership program for leaders in the not-for-profit sector recently. It is only a three-day program over six months, but after the first day I have already realised the impact that this program can potentially have on my performance as a leader.

The man who runs the program, Andrew Meilke of Meikle Files Black has researched leadership and elite human performance extensively. He has interviewed thousands of leaders and top performing individuals in their fields, including Nelson Mandela, Carl Lewis, Layne Beachley and Dr Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate.

We examined the concept of a “Strong Mind” – what it means, who has it, how to train one. We looked at Elite High Performance. Many things come to mind when I think of what an effective leader looks like: strong, driven, determined, principled, resilient and committed to their values, unwavering.

There is also one key thing that all effective leaders and high performers share: focus and the ability to stay ON TASK. After thinking about this beyond the day of training, I realise it is central and critical to success.

We were introduced to a model – simple, yes, but boy has it stayed with me this week. The model looks like this:

Front and centre is the TASK (for example, writing a six month activity plan for your business). It is important to CLEARLY DEFINE the task.  Then there are useful related processes or URPs (these are positive activities that bring you closer to completing your task – e.g., getting feedback from others in your business, brainstorming, etc.) and DISTRACTIONS (negative – these are activities that take you AWAY from your task – phone calls, facebooking, other people’s “emergencies” and drama).

I am suggesting that EFFECTIVELY MANAGING DISTRACTIONS is the key to being a more effective leader.

There are four techniques one can use to manage distractions:

1. Stamp it out or destroy. Don’t give in. Don’t even acknowledge it or think about it. Like a fire that has started, react quickly by stamping out the flames. Don’t even think about it.

2. Ignore it. “Black box” it. When the distraction is rearing its ugly head, put the concept into the “black box” for later. For example, a marathon runner may have a tag in her top that is rubbing and hurting her. She puts it away (the thought of it) until after the race.

3. Let it in. By acknowledging the distraction you are allowing it to be in the space with you. You don’t have to do anything about it, you are merely aware of it.

4. Use the distraction to keep you on task. Turn it into a useful related process (URP). This tactic is effectively used by former freediving world champion Tanya Streeter. Tanya uses the adrenaline and nerves she feels before a competition to help her move into a quieter state of mind and slows her heart rate down to about 15 beats per minute. You can train your mind to do anything and she has mastered equating nervous energy to pure internal focus. How might you use a distraction to assist in completing a task?

The key to mastering distractions is not just a matter of simply ignoring them but choosing the most appropriate method to manage that distraction. It is about being strategic about your potential distractions.

This week I have been very aware of how distractions often win out in my life. The cost of this is that the task doesn’t get completed (or not on time) and I go off track. And ultimately, I don’t achieve what I have set out to do. Then the damaging self-talk comes in, bringing me down, and into playing a smaller game. By reminding myself of this potential undesirable outcome (the price), I am motivated to do better.

I will now be focusing on mastering the minimisation of distractions.

What techniques work for you? How do you deal with distractions?

Now, on to my next task .

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY AMY LYDEN

• Celebrating 100 Years of International Women’s Day with Unity Dow
• The Paid Parental Leave (PPL) Scheme — Now that we’ve got it (yay!), who should administer it?
• Focus on the Common Threads That Bind Us – International Women’s Day – 100 years

By Catherine Pritchard, Radiance Healthcare Centre

A cup of your favourite coffee in the morning is an absolute must for many, but how much is too much?

Caffeine can keep you awake. We all know that, but why? One reason is because caffeine likes to hang around in your system. If you have a coffee with 200mg of caffeine at 3pm, there will still be 100mg of caffeine in your blood stream 6 hours later at 9pm making it difficult for you to get to sleep. The reason you can’t get to sleep is because caffeine interferes with adenosine. Adenosine is produced in your brain and is vital to the process that helps you get to sleep and to enjoy deep sleep.

If you have that desperate need for a coffee in the morning before you can function, consider that your body is trying to tell you that there is more going on than meets the eye. You are meant to wake with lots of energy! All of us! If you aren’t bounding out of bed in the morning, then consider that instead of a caffeine hit, your adrenal glands might need some TLC. Stress and juggling many balls in life greatly impacts our adrenals and the production of cortisol which helps us have energy in the morning. Unfortunately, drinking lots of coffee to compensate for a stressed out adrenal gland will fatigue it even further. Consider nutrients like Vitamin C, B5 and herbs like Liquorice and Rehmannia to nourish your adrenals and dramatically pick up your energy without a coffee in sight! You can actually have your adrenals tested through a salivary hormone test for cortisol.

The news on caffeine, however, is not all bad. Some research points to caffeine benefiting weight loss and increasing dopamine, a neurotransmitter in your brain that is responsible for you experiencing pleasure.

When it comes to caffeine, it’s all about balance. Ensure you add up all your caffeine sources. You can be having more than you think you are! Despite 200-300mg/day being given the green light, there are other schools of thought that believe this amount is too high. Having one coffee per day, ideally in the morning, should satisfy those that love coffee whilst ensuring that your body is functioning optimally. However, if you do suffer from anxiety and insomnia, you should avoid caffeine altogether.

Caffeine content

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY CATHERINE PRITCHARD

• Eight Ways to Minimise Headaches
• Kick start your year with a healthy, scientific detox
• Surviving the Silly Season – 10 Healthy Tips

By Kristy-Lee Johnston, Footprint Recruitment

10 tips to a more organised and successful, recruitment project

When I meet with clients who typically manage their recruitment processes in house, there is typically one common factor which affects their ability to manage a successful and efficient recruitment project – organisation. As managers in business, you are busy! In small business in particular, you are often wearing many ‘hats’ simultaneously and are consistently time-poor.

So when you decide to recruit in house, you figure you’ll somehow ‘squeeze it in’ to your already overloaded calendar.

Getting organised before you start can help make sure you manage your ‘recruitment time’ more effectively, don’t find yourself drowning in applications and get the right result – faster! Here are my top 10 tips to getting organised for a successful recruitment project:

1. Know what you want
Spend some time getting a job description together, reflecting on where this person fits into your existing team and what experience you need them to have. Having clarity about exactly what you are looking for and which aspects of this you are willing to be flexible on, creates decisiveness and focus.

2. Check your calendar
Don’t run an ad when you know you won’t be able to look at applications for 3 weeks – by the time you get to them, all the good applicants will be taken and you’ll have to start again. Make sure you will have time to screen and interview applicants in the few weeks following the running of the ad.

3. Targeted campaigns
Unless you want to be bombarded with applications who are on the large part unsuitable, make sure you advertise in the right place for where your applicants will be looking. Do your research, check the publications and talk to colleagues and associates to ensure you’re hitting your target market.

4. Clear, specific and realistic advertising
If the ad you place is vague, general and leaves too much to the imagination, you run two risks: firstly, your ideal applicant may not apply or secondly, everyone applies and you find yourself wading through potentially hundreds of unsuitable applications.

5. Have dedicated application procedures
Know how you want to receive applications and make it clear in the ad that this is what applicants need to do. If they can’t follow the procedure you set out in the ad, they probably aren’t your perfect employee anyway. For example, you may like to have applicants forward resumes and questions to a dedicated careers@ e-mail address – that way you aren’t constantly interrupted by applications arriving.

6. Schedule time
Set aside time in your diary each day to reviewing applications – and stick to it. If you don’t have any applications to review that day, not a problem: you now have a spare 30 minutes on your hands.

7. Checklists
Using pre-prepared checklists is a great way to organise your processes prior to starting a recruitment exercise. You can tick off each step as you go.

8. Standardised Forms
Having standard phone screening forms, interview questions and application forms ready to go before you start means you have a consistent approach across all candidates and you aren’t going back and forward because you have forgotten to ask something.

9. Auto E-Mails and Letters
A few days after making applications, candidates will start calling and e-mailing wanting progress updates. By having systems in place, such as an auto reply e-mail saying, ‘we have your application, thank you, we will be in touch in XX timeframe’ will avoid the constant disruption of calls and e-mails.

10. Enlist Help
If you know you are not going to have time to run the project properly, get help. Even from within your team, you may be able to ‘share the load’ a little with things such as responding to candidates questions. By having this system set up, and knowing who’s doing what, will take the pressure off your time throughout the process.

MORE GREAT POSTS BY KRISTY-LEE JOHNSTON:

• Getting the Most from Staff Performance Reviews
• Recruitment and Selection Tools. What to use when.
• Managing Parental Leave

By Cheryl Hayman, Hayman Strategy

In order to create brand loyalty, a brand or business must break consumer habits, help them acquire new habits and reinforce those habits by reminding consumers of the value of their purchase and encourage them to continue purchasing those products or services in the future.

The image surrounding a company’s brand is the principal source of its competitive advantage and is therefore a valuable strategic asset.

Loyalty marketing is specifically aimed at building a strong continuing commitment to your brand, rather than just brand awareness. It suggests rather more influence and involvement from a consumer.

There are 6 components which I recently came across and which I think have enormous and wide reaching applicability.

1. Fame
2. Leadership
3. Emotional Affinity
4. Rational Affinity
5. Difference
6. Price

If you can garner “fame” then you are the most popular and most salient brand in the marketplace, but this is unlikely to happen immediately unless you truly pioneer an untapped area. Beware however, that even if you are “first in,” don’t assume fame will follow. You still need to demonstrate all the remaining loyalty-building components above.

Leadership is awarded to your brand if it sets trends and is able to grow in popularity. If you become the brand other brands try to emulate, or if you are the ‘port of call’ for the media or whoever your relevant advocacy groups are, then you have the leadership quality required to enforce lo

yalty.

Emotional Affinity is exuded through your warmth of character, your tone, the image you project and personality. It provides your brand with engagement at a ‘heart’ level with your consumers and works to lock them into their association with the brand.

You also need a Rational Affinity: the ‘head.’ The balance between how much ‘heart’ and how much ‘head’ depends on your brand, your industry or marketplace, and the tangible and practical attributes you have on offer.

Your point of difference must be linked to a direct benefit that meets the “what’s in it FOR ME” criteria that underlines all strong brand loyalty relationships. It may work on an emotional or a rational level, although it is ALWAYS important to ensure that there is a rational benefit of some sort that is defining and differentiating for your brand.

Price is self-evident, although it is usually more about Value. If you can develop and cement the previous characteristics into your brand then you will have strong loyalty and as long as the price is appropriate and relevant for the marketplace, this should not be the most important attribute for your brand.

Recently I heard an interesting expression: “Losers make decisions; Winners make commitments”… we can all think of brands that meet these criteria, consider them against your own brand and decide now whether your brand make that winning commitment and succeed.

MORE GREAT POSTS BY CHERYL HAYMAN

• Tip No. 2: Out-Step the Competition
• Tip No. 1: Remember ‘AIDA’
• Passion for the Experience