Meet Marketing’s No-Bull Maven

Hello and welcome to the herBusiness program where we interview inspiring businesswomen and entrepreneurs.

Today’s guest is Sharon Williams, CEO of Taurus Marketing.

Sharon Williams is a pioneer in the Australian agency industry and proof a small business can influence and service the big end of town. Taurus started out of Sharon’s living room in August 1995, just two weeks after the birth of her first daughter. She is celebrating her 15th year of business.

Sharon appears on Kochie’s Business Builders as Channel 7’s marketing and PR expert and is a regular media spokesperson on broadcast media such as SBS and ABC News.

Last year Sharon also became Ninemsn’s leading SME blogger with her weekly blog ‘The Bullseye’.

In this interview we discuss:

• The role of social media in your marketing mix
• Why personal branding is more important today than it has ever been
• We also look at the trends we’re seeing in marketing and some tips and
• Give you some strategies to kickstart your marketing

Enjoy this interview with business woman, Sharon Williams.

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More About Sharon Williams

Sharon Williams - CEO and Founder, Taurus Marketing

Sharon Williams is a pioneer in the Australian agency industry and proof a small business can influence and service the big end of town. As the founder and CEO of Taurus Marketing, this year Taurus is celebrating their 15th year of business. This alone stands as a substantial accomplishment within the marketing and PR industry which was hit hard by the recession last year. Taurus has grown to service industry leaders from ASX listed QBE’s global CEO Frank O’Halloran to make-up King Napoleon Perdis.

Starting out of Sharon’s living room in August 1995, just two weeks after the birth of her first daughter, Taurus has expanded consistently year-on-year since inception, and is now one of Australia’s highest profile, privately owned integrated marketing, creative, and public relations agencies.

Sharon was instrumental in helping the KAZ Group go from media obscurity in 1995 to one of Australia’s highest profile and largest information communications technology companies. Last year, Sharon’s vision and expertise saw Taurus launch its new trademarked personal branding service TaurusProfile™ a product that builds the personal profile of CEO’s, business leaders, politicians and celebrities in order to serve business growth.

In 2009, Taurus was engaged to manage the PR and assist the social media strategies for the Bible Society’s Jesus.All about Life campaign. For the first time in the history of the Christian Church in Australia, the campaign utilized modern and traditional media through online, print, outdoor, radio, press and TV advertising to take its message to the community. The Taurus team were delighted to take this ground breaking campaign on board and the results suggested this with over 500 pieces of media coverage gained attracting over $2million worth of media exposure.

Sharon is a highly experienced and entertaining public speaker and trainer on marketing, PR, social media and business issues. Frequently speaking overseas and in Australia her presentations have won praise at conferences, expos and in-house workshops. Sharon has also been the resident marketing expert on Channel 7’s Kochie’s Business Builders, is a regular media spokesperson on broadcast media such as SBS and ABC News. Last year Sharon also became Ninemsn’s leading SME blogger with her weekly blog ‘The Bullseye’.

More recently, Sharon was invited to join both the NSW Council for the Australian British Chamber of Commerce and is also on the American Chamber of Commerce Women in Management committee.

A true testament to Sharon’s belief in a healthy work life balance Sharon is a devoted mother who lives in Sydney with her family and three children. Her love of the beach and swimming gained her an Australian Surf Life Saving Association bronze medallion and on Sunday’s you might catch her patrolling one of Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

Website: www.taurusmarketing.com.au
Phone: 02 9415 4528
Blog: The Taurus Marketing Blog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/TaurusMarketing
Member Directory Profile: See Sharon Williams’ profile

A Fashion Designer’s Planned Success - Interview with Leona Edmiston, Australia’s Frock Queen

One of the things I enjoy most about my role at the Australian Businesswomen’s Network is that I get to  interview inspiring businesswomen and entrepreneurs.

This month I interviewed Leona Edmiston, who is best known as Australia’s Leading Frock Queen.

Leona Edmiston began her career in the 1980s with her first fashion label, Morrissey Edmiston shared with former business partner Peter Morrissey.

In 2001 Leona launched her solo label with business partner Jeremy Ducker and they formed the present company. The label, entitled ‘Leona Edmiston’ is a tribute to the dress in all its incarnations.

A Leona Edmiston Frock is elegant, versatile and ageless. [I know I've owned a few over the years.]

The Leona Edmiston brand is sold in 18 signature boutiques, concession stores in Myer department stores.

Due to great success of her beautiful frocks Leona Edmiston’s label extended into a range of dresses for the little ladies ‘Little Leona’, sleepwear, accessories, her PINS hosiery, a Signature Fragrance and Candle.

In this interview we discuss:

• Why she established her fashion in a niche and has stuck to that niche
• How she keeps in touch with her customers needs and wants
• The importance of planning and working to deadlines

She also shares her three top strategies for success.

Enjoy this interview with Leona Edmiston.

More About Leona Edmiston

Leona Edmiston began her career in the 1980’s with her first fashion label, Morrissey Edmiston shared with former business partner Peter Morrissey. The Morrissey Edmiston label received significant local and international recognition and dressed a string of celebrity clients.

Leona launched her solo label with business partner Jeremy Ducker in 2001 and they formed the present company of Ducker Edmiston Pty Ltd. The label, entitled ‘Leona Edmiston’ is a tribute to the dress in all its incarnations. A Leona Edmiston Frock is elegant, versatile and ageless. The label celebrates the confident, urban woman. It exudes classic femininity, effortless style and chic, sexy sophistication.

Leona uses a variety of fabrics from her signature sleek jersey to soft luxurious silks and crisp cottons. Prints and colour blocks are a favourite. The fabrics compliment the style and flattering cuts of the Frocks, they allow for confidence during the day and sheer elegance during the evening, taking you from the ‘office to opera’ with ease.

The Leona Edmiston brand is sold in 18 signature boutiques, Westfield White city is the most recent Leona Edmiston boutique to open, and all boutiques interiors are a reflection of Leona’s personal style.

The White City boutique has a simple colour palette of satin slipper paint used with bronze mirror paneling and chinoiserie wallpaper. Frocks are positioned delicately around the store and accessories are displayed within internal wall panels. The changing room area is concealed behind a bronze mirror wall allowing customers full privacy. Red silk curtains are pulled back with vintage French tassels and a marble fire-place is positioned towards the back of the store with bronze framed paintings.

Due to great success of her beautiful frocks Leona Edmiston’s label extended into a range of dresses for the little ladies ‘Little Leona’, ‘Nighties’ a sleepwear collection, a diffusion line named ‘Leona,’ and has fuelled accessories collections including Eyewear, Heels, Purses, Leona Edmiston PINS, a Signature Fragrance and Candle.

With the addition of the London Boutique, Leona Edmiston has acquired many more devoted Leona Edmiston fans which include UK celebrities such as Jasmine Guinness, Olivia Inge, Daisy De Villeneuve, Brenda Blethyn and Kathy Lette to add to the list of previous fans such as Elle MacPherson, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Britney Spears and Kristin Davis.

Shop online at the Leona Edmiston store.

How MentorNet helped retailer Sarah Ladyman overcome business challenges

Sarah Ladyman knew that her corporate job just wasn’t right for her. She had dreamed of running her own business ever since reading The E-Myth Revisited shortly after high school. She was unhappy in the corporate world, and she knew that she wanted to work with her true passion, food.

“In the kitchen, I found a real love for food and a new appetite to please others through their stomachs!” says Sarah. “After sharing a few batches of home-made relish (made from a tweaked family recipe from New Zealand), I found that other people had an appetite for tasty, fresh, natural food, too.”

Sarah wanted to devote her time and energy to her passion. She knew that other people enjoyed her relish, but she lacked the business contacts and confidence necessary to build on her new business. Then she discovered MentorNet, a mentor program for businesswomen which gave her the information, contacts, and impetus she needed to develop a successful business from her own kitchen.

“Initially, my confidence in my product and my abilities was a huge challenge,” Sarah remembers. “Why would someone really want, let alone pay for, a little product I make in my own kitchen? Being from New Zealand, I also found that I really lacked business support and contacts here in Australia, so starting a business outside of my home country and away from my family’s contacts was difficult. I also struggled with the financial forecasting, budgeting, and planning requirements for a start-up.”

“It’s like having a personal trainer for your business.”

Now Sarah’s company relish this delivers healthy, tasty, saucy preserve products to addicted customers across Australia and New Zealand as well as the U.S. and U.K. Sarah’s passion for healthy food has developed into a thriving company with a registered brand and trademark, an ecommerce site, and a devoted following. Using local, fresh Australian products, Sarah makes natural, gluten-free, home-made quality relishes with innovative flavors such as “Beetroot Apple n Orange” and “Balsamic Red Onion ‘n’ Lime.”

“The MentorNet program, my mentor, and my pod members all helped me overcome my initial challenges,” says Sarah. “I found the interactive environment to be open and nurturing, which grew my business confidence as well as my business network. The business planning and financial chapters within the course covered the main areas with which I struggled by giving real examples of cash flow forecasting, templates, and business case studies.”

“To have a mentor to hold you accountable for tasks you’ve promised to complete is highly motivational,” Sarah continues. “Especially for particular tasks you keep putting off. You can’t put off your mentor! It’s like having a personal trainer for your business.”

“Peers in your pod group also help motivate you. Like you, they are trying to learn as much as possible and improve their business. The more we put into it, the more each of us got out of it. Overall, the program provides a motivating platform for anyone in business as it promotes success, builds knowledge, and nurtures networking.”

MentorNet provided Sarah with the tools she needed to set realistic goals and the newfound confidence she needed to actually achieve those goals. The program transformed Sarah’s start-up idea into a profitable business. Sarah says that the perspective provided by MentorNet “made my goals bigger, more aggressive, and in line with my business plan.”

“I’m a bit of a control freak,” laughs Sarah. “So it’s no surprise that I enjoy making the decisions and being the boss of my business! I like the accountability and freedom I get from managing my own creation and ultimately the flexibility to basically do what I want. It’s very empowering,”

Sarah also enjoys empowering other businesswomen. “I enjoy telling my story to others to hopefully give them the inspiration to do something for themselves too. Relish this. Relish me!”

If you’re ready to get out of the rat race if you’re ready to relish yourself and your freedom register for MentorNet now.

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Unhappy in the corporate world Sarah Ladyman left her IT/Marketing job to take some time out to trial an ‘allaboutme.com’ approach. She fell into the kitchen and found a real love for food and an appetite to please others through their stomachs. After sharing a few batches of home-made relish with friends and family, she began looking at the possibility of taking relish to market…literally. So combining her passions to empower (and feed) others with fresh, tasty, saucy stuff, she created relish this.

Recently relish this. has grown from a ‘foodie experimenting in a kitchen’ to saucy relish products delivered and devoured across Australia and NZ (some jars even hiding in luggage and sneaking into the US and UK!).

Website: www.relishthis.com.au
Blog: www.relishthis.com.au/blog

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Not sure if you’re MentorReady? Apply for a free 30-minute business consultation (normally $95).
Use coupon code: CONSULT to get this valuable session for free.

Let your passion drive your actions this year

How do you bring your passion to work, and keep it there? We spend a lot of time in our businesses. For many it’s our primary focus. But what do you do when the passion leaves? How do you bring your passion to your work and keep it there? Janet Bray Attwood, author of The New York Times bestseller - the Passion Test shares strategies in this interview.

I read Janet’s book - The Passion Test - two years ago and the ‘test’ is a way to keep me on track with keeping passion in my business and my life. It’s a simple but powerful process that you can use to ensure that your actions are driven by your passion and that you make each day alive with what you love.

In this interview we discuss:

- Why clarity about your passion helps you create exactly what you want
- The role of passion in team engagement
- Why connection to your passion is an important ingredient to business and personal success

Enjoy this interview with Janet Attwood.

Join the Australian Businesswomen’s Network community to get monthly podcasts with inspiring businesswomen.

A passionate business. A passionate life.




Welcome to this Interview with An Entrepreneur

In this interview we discuss:

• Why clarity on what you’re passionate about helps you create exactly what you want
• The role of passion in team engagement
• Why connection to your passion is an important ingredient to business and personal success

Enjoy this interview with Janet Bray Attwood.



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Janet Attwood | The Passion Test

As an expert on what it takes to live a passionate life, Janet has presented her programs as a featured speaker all over the world with such luminaries as, His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Sir Richard Branson, Stephen Covey, Lisa Nichols, and other top transformational leaders.

Through Healthy Wealthy nWise, the top online magazine they co-founded, Janet and Chris have created a major powerhouse in the self-development world.

Twice a month, Janet hosts Healthy Wealthy n Wise’s, “Passions of Real Life Legends” series and interviews people who are at the top of their field on what it takes to live a passionate, fulfilling life. Her guests have included such legendary names as Jack Canfield, Stephen Covey, Byron Katie, Tony Robbins, and Rhonda Byrne creator of The Secret.

Janet is a founding member of the Transformational Leadership Council, a group of world class trainers, authors, coaches and speakers that Jack Canfield, the co-author of the Chicken Soup Series, put together after taking Janet’s Passion Test.

For her ongoing work with homeless women and youth in detention centers, Janet received the highest award for volunteer service in the U.S. from the President of the United States, The Presidents Volunteer Service Award.

Web: www.thepassiontest.com, www.janetattwood.com , www.healthywealthynwise.com, www.enlightenedalliances.com

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What does it take to build a successful business? Access to Quality Information

Catherine “Cat” Matson knows what it takes to build a successful business. Cat and her husband own and operate Alito, a boutique consultancy firm that provides guidance for small and medium size business owners. Alito offers consulting, education, mentoring, accounting, and event planning.

Cat realised that quality information pertaining to business was difficult to find: “Access to quality information - both from an education perspective as well as a mental stimulation perspective - was a huge gap. I have high expectations about the information I receive. I have an MBA and have had access to some of the pioneers in the personal development industry. So I was (and still am) constantly disappointed by the mediocre, one-size-fits-all, rah-rah style books, seminars and workshops that are touted as ‘the solution’ to business owners.”

“Many of the other networking groups I’ve attended were filled with people running a hobby and calling it a business,” Cat Matson, Alito

Now when Cat needs access to quality information, she turns to the Australian Businesswomen’s Network (ABN). Cat finds that she can easily connect with other members of ABN (unlike the people at some other business conferences). The businesswomen of ABN offered valuable information, resources, ideas, and stories.

Cat is particularly fond of the educational webinars presented by ABN. “And the exposure I’ve received recently through the ABN has been a lovely bonus,” she adds.

Here’s how Cat discerned between networking groups for the most relevant business information.

Cat Matson’s successful consulting experience ranges from the nuts and bolts of business such as HR, administration and operational processes to the less tangible aspects such as motivation and company culture. She has achieved exceptional results in helping clients to develop effective teams and profitable operations without losing sight of the human aspect of their business. Cat is as comfortable advising on high level strategy issues as she is on the critical aspects of a successful business such as attaining, training and retaining employees to creating the right corporate culture and work environment.

In addition to her comprehensive experience, Cat holds a Masters of Business Administration with specialisations in Strategic Planning, Entrepreneurship and Marketing. She also holds a Diploma in Small Business Management, a Diploma in Training and Development and a Practitioner’s Certificate in Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

Website: www.alito.com.au
Blog: www.alito.com.au/blog
Twitter: www.twitter.com/catmatson
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AlitoFusion
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/catmatson
Member Directory: Cat Matson

Business Success Comes From Managing Human Resources

What is the biggest mistake people make when hiring? How can a small business, with limited resources manage their human resource needs? Award winning business owner Phoebe Lane of PKL is this month’s featured entrepreneur.

Welcome to this Interview with An Entrepreneur

Phoebe Lane is both the Managing Director and majority owner of PKL, a specialist office support recruitment agency which she established in 1995. Founded in a tiny shared office on Macquarie Street, Phoebe has successfully grown PKL into a national operation employing 39 permanent employees across Australia.

In this interview we talk about:

• What’s the biggest mistake people make when looking to recruit the right person for their business
• How can a small business, with few resources best manage human resources as their business needs change
• Managing resources is hard for many businesses, especially for small businesses. How have you managed resources to maintain growth in the business?

Enjoy this interview with Phoebe Lane.

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CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW WITH PHOEBE LANE

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About Phoebe Lane and PKL

Phoebe Lane is both the Managing Director and majority owner of PKL, a specialist office support recruitment agency which she established in 1995. Founded in a tiny shared office on Macquarie Street, Phoebe has successfully grown PKL into a national operation employing 39 permanent employees across Australia.

Phoebe’s primary focus is developing the company’s business and financial strategies to maintain manageable growth and to ensure effective service delivery. As part of her role, she leverages industry trends, develops new geographic markets, identifies potential targets and forges industry partnerships to facilitate PKL’s long-term success. Phoebe created PKL to provide the marketplace with a much needed workforce solutions partner that operates on the time-honoured principles of honesty, integrity, trust and accountability.

Phoebe’s company, PKL is the only national agency that focuses specifically on office support recruitment. It is considered one of the larger employers of consultants specialising in this sector. PKL currently has an annual turnover in excess of $17 million.

Phone: 02 9232 4980
Website: www.pkl.com.au

Technology Diva’s Top Tech Tips for Your Business




Sonja Bernhardt is a serial technology entrepreneur and one of Australia’s best known women in IT. In fact, she’s been recognised in the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame (Silicon Valley 2005).

She’s the CEO and Director of award winning business Thoughtware, a company that develops governance, risk management and compliance software.

She’s passionate about her industry and has since 1997 encouraged others (especially women) to take up a career in technology or to adopt technology in their daily use.

In this interview we talk about:

• whether technology has helped or hindered us as business owners
• what the biggest opportunity technology presents for small business
• why you MUST being active online
• how she has grown a multi-million dollar business with a decentralised team of staff

We also give you a couple of great resources, including the details of websites where you can access free tools to allow you to make better use of technology in your business.

Enjoy this interview with Sonja Bernhardt.




Thanks for listening.

Suzi

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More About Sonja Bernhardt:

Sonja Bernhardt - serial technology entrepreneur, arguably Australia’s highest profile women in IT.

• CEO and Director of award winning ThoughtWare, developers of governance, risk management and compliance software i.on my
• Featured in the Australian Government publication “Women Entrepreneurs - 18 Inspiring Tales of Small Business Success” (2007)
• Founder of WIT - Women in Technology
• Co-Founder of AWISE - Australian Women in IT and Science Entity
• Innovator behind the sometimes controversial - but always ground-breaking and effective - campaigns to raise awareness and encourage girls and women into technology careers
• Screen Goddess IT Calendar 2007, IT’s Million $ Babes Awards and Doing IT Around the World.

Sonja is passionate about her industry and since 1997 has consistently encouraged others to either take up a career in technology or adopt technology in their daily use through a multitude of career, role model, mentoring and board readiness programs that Sonja has been primarily responsible for designing and managing In addition she is the innovator of some high profile, high impact non traditional girl and women in technology activities.

Sonja holds three management and information technology related degrees:

• Bachelor of Arts majoring in abstract algebra and psychology (University of Qld Australia- 1987)
• Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management (Qld University of Technology, Australia - 1989)
• MBA (Masters of Business Administration) (Queensland University of Technology, Australia - 1992)

In addition she is a Certified Developer of Enterprise (CDE) and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management. The first and currently only Australian inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame (Silicon Valley 2005).

In addition to WiT and AWISE Sonja has held and continues to hold a string of impressive board and executive appointments held locally, nationally and internationally. To mention a few:

• International Taskforce for Women appointed regional coordinator for the Global Women and Technology Asia Pacific regional centre.
• Judge on the internationally respected Anita Borg Institute Social Impact Award Committee (2009).
• Member of Australian Federal ICT Summit Advisory Group - this group reported directly to the Australian Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
• Member of the Business Higher Education Round Table (B-HERT) - science & technology careers taskforce
• Foundation member of GIDGITS (Girls Into Doing Great Information Technology Society) Steering Committee
• Appointed to the prestigious Government ICT Ministerial Advisory Group, this group reported directly to the Queensland State Minister and provided IT policy advice.
• Steering Committee member - “Skilling Cape Communities” technology training & education for indigenous communities
• Overall Chair of the Australian Judging Panels for the Asia Pacific ICT Awards
• Judge in the prestigious National “Secrets of Australian IT Innovation” Competition

She is known for her obvious enthusiasm, visionary leadership, intelligent rational thinking and business acumen. The Australian IT industry and her peers recognise her as an action oriented results achieving role model who consistently delivers benefits through her innovation, leadership, pioneering achievement and collaborative contribution to the development of the technology industries.

A mother of three - a son (1984) and two daughters (1982, 2003) - and grandmother of two. Sonja bases her life and all activities on a reality and reason based philosophy.

www.thoughtware.com.au

Marketing Powerhouse brings Purpose and Passion to Brands




Amy Smith is the Managing Director of Jenny Craig Australia/ New Zealand.

Interviewing her was like speaking to a kindred spirit… and I think you’ll enjoy our conversation.

Amy believes that anything is possible - and when you have Amy at the helm, that’s probably very true.

Managing change and giving organisations a sense of purpose, vision and momentum is her passion. She’s done that through building strong brands that connect with customers and grow businesses and revitalising tired cultures. Amy loves getting both businesses and people in touch with their strengths and helping them to unleash their full potential on the world.

Amy started her corporate life in Australia at Telstra, then moved to London in 1993 where she worked for just over a decade running creative advertising agencies and building brands such as Sony PlayStation, Virgin Upper Class, Nike and Revlon, and finally, Honda.

She was one of the pioneers in the UK to harness the best creative minds and found a global movement called We Are What We Do, whose purpose is to encourage lots of people to do small actions – environmental, behavioural and ethical – that result in big, positive change in communities and the work place.

In her role at Jenny Craig Australia, she is on a mission to lead Jenny Craig into the future with confidence.

She is a passionate supporter of women and as a single mother of two children aged five and six, is in touch with the realities of juggling the demands of a career and family.

In this interview we talk about

• Work as a place of transformation and spirituality
• Why being relevant to your market is the most important part of managing a brand
• How are you going to enrich the lives of your customers?
• Why collaboration is important but being consensual can lead to problems

Thanks for listening.

Suzi



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More about Amy Smith: Amy was an integral part of a small team behind publishing two books in Australia on behalf of the movement, Change the World for Ten Bucks (1 in 66 Australians has a copy and in 2006 it won the Prime Minister’s Award for the best example of a charity and business working together for positive change) and more recently in 2007, Change the World 9 to 5, which addresses how we can work happier and healthier, bringing her creativity and passion for this movement.

Amy’s love for Australia and the birth of her second child saw her return to become the CEO of JWT Australia/NZ where she once again became the custodian of the world’s biggest brands, including Ford, Nestlé’s Kit Kat, Kimberly-Clark Kleenex, Unilever’s Lipton and Kraft, for whom she created the Little Vegemites Aussie Reader program, supported by the Government’s Little Big Book Club, whose role is to encourage literacy in schools all over Australia for under six year olds.

She has contributed numerous articles and columns to trade and marketing press on topics such as risk-taking in business, how to connect with consumers, building magic brands that stick and more recently, the use of magic and logic in business to grow revenue. She has appeared on 60 Minutes to present the challenges faced by working mums and has done a number of television appearances to support her two books. She speaks regularly on the subject of change, how to build businesses through creativity and marketing to women.

Now sixteen months into her role as the MD of Jenny Craig Australia, she is on a mission to lead Jenny Craig into the future with confidence.

She is a passionate supporter of women and as a single mother of two children aged five and six, is in touch with the realities of juggling the demands of a career and family. Amy is on the board of The Australian Childhood Foundation, working to prevent child abuse in Australian communities. www.jennycraig.com.au

A Recipe for Business Success - Meet Julia Bickerstaff




Julia Bickerstaff shares how to manage your business costs, the basic recipe for business success and how to free your business up (and get you out of the day-to-day).

Julia Bickerstaff’s expertise is in helping businesses grow profitably. She is the founder of two businesses; The Business Bakery and Butterfly Coaching, and a former partner at Deloitte. In this interview Julia shares: how to manage your business costs, the basic recipe for business success and how to free your business up (and get you out of the day-to-day).

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