Is Networking Worth Your Time?

Networking at BxNetworking

Is Networking Worth Your Time?

Networking sounds great, in theory, but is it really worth carving time out from your already busy week? Here at Bx (and Bx Networking for Business), we believe business owners stand to gain a lot from it, but what is it about networking that keeps us pencilling events into our diary all the time? Let us convince you with 5 key words.

Expertise

At networking events, you can find people who have worked in your industry for much longer than you. Through them you can hear about the progress that has been made, the mistakes not to make and insights regarding the future of your industry. It’s not all about what you can gain however, networking also calls on you to impart your own knowledge. At some point, you will meet someone else who is only starting out, then it’s your turn to impart your knowledge.

Opportunities

The more people you know in your industry and outside of it, the more likely it is that opportunities will be thrown in your direction. If you’re known as a trustworthy contact, no one will hesitate to throw you an opportunity – anything from joint ventures to partnerships and client leads could start to pop up after great networking.

Communication

Many people tend to veer away from networking events because they consider themselves to be shy or introverted, but let’s flip that perspective on its head. Being shy or a bit of an introvert is not a negative when it comes to networking, instead, the events are great opportunities to practice. It can be daunting but giving it a try and enhancing your communication skills while making great connections can hardly leave you at a disadvantage.

Reputation

After a few events, you’ll find yourself recommending your new connections to the people in your world. Suddenly, you’ve been made aware of great, trustworthy, hard-working individuals and you have no qualms about recommending them to friends and colleagues. Fortunately for you, you’re not the only one who is spreading the word; your new connections have now begun to recommend you to their people too.

Support

All of the previous benefits can be measured through the sales in your business, but there is one benefit that cannot – support. Networking can deliver you like-minded business colleagues who understand the challenge of business ownership.

Regardless of whether you benefit in one, two or all five of these areas, it’s extremely unlikely you will miss out on any of the perks. Set aside some time on your calendar for the next networking event that crosses your path, give it a try and see how your business starts to pick up pace – remember, you have nothing to lose.

Need a great place to network? Then come along to Bxponential in October. At this free event you’ll hear from John McGrath and Naomi Simson from RedBalloon, make new business connections and walk away with key resources and strategies you can implement immediately. Book your free tickets here.

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Working Towards A Positive Business Culture

Business devices and documents at the workplace, unrecognized businesspeople sharing the ideas on the background

Working Towards a Positive Business Culture

No doubt you’ve heard the words ‘culture’ and ‘engagement’ floating around, but do you really know what they mean and why they’re important in every business, not just the big ones?

Culture, like everything in your business, is guided by a set of core values. They outline what is important to you and your employees and they manifest themselves in every facet of your business. It can be slow to establish, but once it’s in place, it can take a long time to change.

Employee engagement can be measured to how connected employees feel to their jobs. Engagement is a little different, it ebbs and flows – it can be there one day, but gone the next.

Unsurprisingly, engagement and culture feed off each other. When engagement is high, positive culture can be established and enhanced, but without a positive culture, engagement tends to be lower.  

How do I know if my small business has ‘culture’?

Believe it or not, every business has a culture. Regardless of whether you’ve thought about it before or tried to work towards creating a certain kind of culture, your business has one already. Whether or not it is a positive culture remains to be seen. Use the three questions below to find a place to start working towards a positive business culture.

  1. Think of 10 words to describe your business’ culture
  2. How strong do you think this culture is?
  3. Is this culture consistent?

What should I be focusing on to develop a positive business culture?

There are many different contributors to creating a great culture within your business. The best way to start is by working on a list of core values. These values are more than just a list to put in a folder and tuck it away and they’re more than inspirational quotes on the wall. This list of core values will be the driving force behind every action you take within the business.

If creating a list of values seems a bit too philosophical to get started, perhaps this list will give you some practical ideas to get started:

Physical Atmosphere

Everything from the number of windows in your workspace, right down to the colour of the coffee mugs can affect your employee’s levels of engagement. Other choices such as whether to have music playing aloud or letting each individual choose their own music through headphones; or whether to allow food to be eaten at desks or only within the break room can also affect the work environment.

Dress Code

The dress-code can be a double-edged sword. Valuing professionalism can often come at the cost of the comfort of employees, but valuing employee comfort can sometimes place your business’ professional appearance in peril. Outlining a dress code can be extremely important in ensuring your business is being portrayed in a way that aligns with your values.

Communication Styles

All businesses, regardless of how small, should outline how communication is to be carried out. If the tone during inter-employee conversations is informal, does this carry over into customer conversations? Thinking about whether this is the communication style that best reflects your business is important and adjustments must be made accordingly. Likewise, if there is a communication breakdown within your business, the damage repair could cost you. Outlining communication procedures and points of contact should be a priority to avoid mistakes and misunderstandings.

Big companies like Google, Apple and Netflix are some of the most desired places to work and their work culture is increasingly a reference point for many other companies.  

Who’s to say small businesses can’t be as desirable as those big names? All it takes is spending some time thinking about your values, the things you want to internalise and the kind of environment you want to work in.

Want to set a great culture in your business? Then come along to Bxponential in October. At this free event you’ll hear Naomi Simson from RedBalloon – widely awarded as a Great Place To Work – talk about great culture, setting values and employee engagement. You’ll walk away with key resources and strategies you can implement in your business immediately. Book your free tickets here.

 

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How The Business Game Has Changed

How The Business Game Has Changed

How The Business Game Has Changed

You could be forgiven for thinking that bigger companies are the ones with all the power in the business game. After all, they’re typically the ones with the bigger budgets and management systems to manage the risks they take and offer the lowest prices to their customers.

Today, technology is tearing up the rulebook. Instead of giving big companies all the power, smaller businesses are able to get some runs on the board, even overtaking some big names in the process. Big businesses can offer some of the lowest prices, but they make sacrifices in other areas, where small businesses can swoop in to claim victory.

Customer Connections

Big businesses can churn out their services fairly reliably and reach thousands of customers at once, but when the complaints, enquiries and mix-ups come flooding in, to whom do their customers speak? Is there a team of highly trained employees or is it a computer responding to my questions? Providing a face to the name is a huge advantage for small businesses.

Small businesses can now provide great support for their customers, purely through their phone. Smart phones have opened up opportunities to respond to work, create invoices and provide support to customers, immediately – all with the tap of a finger. With many customers choosing businesses purely based on their standard response time, this immediacy is priceless for small businesses.

Business game

Zeroing In

Providing a myriad of services to please every potential customer sounds like a great idea, but it is unrealistic. Big businesses have more resources to attempt this approach, but small businesses are just that – small! Finding a niche and focusing on it means that small businesses can deliver a select service and deliver it well, without spreading themselves too thin. This approach prioritises quality, which customers are always looking for.

Early Adopters

In the past, it was the wealthy large companies who had a monopoly on the new technologies. Now, with the Internet so widely accessible, new technologies are quickly being found and adopted by smaller businesses. Bigger companies are often very loyal to their method of getting the job done. The idea of bringing in new technology triggers immediate headaches revolving around rewriting procedures and retraining employees. Small businesses don’t have to bother with large scale retraining, so they are free to integrate innovation into their business, at very little inconvenience.

Red Tape? No thank you.

With fewer employees, smaller businesses generally already have fewer hoops to jump through, but when it comes to taking risks or exploring a new direction for the business, they can make change happen quicker. Small businesses often don’t even follow traditional business structures and without having to work their way up through several layers of management, it’s a far quicker route to speak with the powers to be to push through changes or pitch new ideas.

In the end, no matter how big or small the business is, neither of them are immune to making mistakes. Big companies have an advantage in that they are better equipped to handle the fallout of a bad choice. Through their budget and their support frameworks, they often have a cushion to fall back on.

Small businesses are not without their own advantage, however. While they may not have a cushion to fall back on, they are at the perfect vantage point to observe the bigger businesses, watch their mistakes and then learn from them. Small businesses might not be immune to making mistakes, but they are much better positioned to avoid them.

Long gone are the days of big businesses being at the top of the food chain, small businesses are now able to stand tall in their own right and if they make their moves carefully, they can change the landscape of their industry entirely.

Want to be a big business owner with a small business nimble mindset? Then come along to Bxponential in October. At this free event – with great business speakers like Naomi Simson from RedBalloon, John McGrath from McGrath Real Estate, and Luke Kennedy from Punchy’s Gym – you’ll walk away with key resources and strategies you can implement in your business immediately. Book your free tickets here.

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Business Expert Spotlight: Karen Dempsey ‘The Real Biz Networking’

Business Expert Spotlight: Karen Dempsey ‘The Real Biz Networking’

This blog, meets one of our experts, Karen Dempsey from “The Real Biz Networking” – to not only understand their area of expertise but to understand what it is about their mindset that makes them ‘x-ponential’.

During our Business For Life 12 month program, it’s all about connecting, learning and growing – which is why I’m so passionate about aligning the right experts and delivering world-class education to help support our community. 

Throughout the year, participants connect with like-minded people in an x-ceptional learning and networking environment, enabling a community of support and collaboration. Our experts cover every element of business: HR, IT, Finance, Sales, Marketing, Communications, Mindset, Leadership and Productivity.

 

Networking: Karen Dempsey, The Real Biz Networking.

Karen & Grant Dempsey

Karen & Grant Dempsey

If you’re a small business owner uncomfortable with the idea of networking, The Real Biz Networking Group offers a great way of learning and improving on your networking skills in a supportive, friendly environment. With meetings across Sydney and Canberra, director Karen Dempsey believes it is the relaxed, friendly culture that makes The Real Biz Networking the success that it is.

“Each member is encouraged to relax, connect and build quality, trusted business and social relationships without feeling pressured,” says Karen. Bx caught up with her to ask her a few Exponential questions:

What 4 things does a small business owner need to do to be x-ponential?

  1. Think of your business like an organisation and build a network of people whose skills you can draw on e.g. marketing, accounts, finance etc.
  2. Go with your gut – seek advice but make the decisions you believe are best for your product or service, It’s your time, money and energy you are investing, so listen to your intuition and back yourself.
  3. Don’t be afraid to fail, many great ideas have risen out of the ashes of failures. Fail fast so you waste the least time and money!
  4. Be accountable to someone e.g. a coach/board/mentor. Unless you are one of the 2% of the population who are highly driven, self-starting, burn the candle both ends people, then you need someone to check in on your progress to ensure you stay on target and achieve the goals you need to achieve.  Business is all about execution – having someone you are accountable to means you are more likely to be the person who makes it happen rather than the one who talks about making it happen.

 

What piece of advice you would offer to yourself in your first year of business, knowing what you do now?

It’s all about the money. Many people enter business thinking it will be easier than employment, that they can take time off whenever they want, they dream of the 4 Hour Work Week etc. but year one is really all about working your butt off to get cashflow happening. You need to hustle and hustle to get cash coming in otherwise you’ll be back on SEEK looking for work. Focus on the numbers and keep hustling until they work.

 

Who would you like to be sat on a 24 hr flight next to, and why?

Dame Judi Dench – at 80+ years of age, having had an extensive career as an actor I reckon she has probably seen and heard it all so she must have some fascinating stories and life lessons to tell. She has also risen to the top of an incredibly competitive, male-dominated industry, so she must know a thing or two about resilience and focus. If I could get her talking, I think the 24 hours would fly by.

 

Where would you like to be in your own business in 5 years time?

I have a real desire to work and travel domestically and internationally where I can include my kids, so I am working on some options to make that happen.

Karen can be reached via karen@therealbiz.com.au and, of course, you can benefit from her expertise if you choose to become a member of our 12 month Business for Life program. Learn more here.

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Ways to Get More Sales with Social Media

Ways to Get More Sales with Social Media

The quickest way to make more sales is to work out what your customers want and give it to them. It’s like the scenario of how to sell the most hamburgers. What one thing do you need? 100% pure ground beef? Sesame seed buns? Free fries with every order? No. You need a starving crowd.

So how do you find out what your customers want? You ask and listen – and this is where social media is great as it enables you to ‘listen’ to many and find out their authentic needs. From usinSalesg Twitter to find opportunities and LinkedIn to find the names of the decision makers inside organisations, to listening to what your prospects are saying about your competitors on social media – it can all amount to a great picture of your ideal customer, what frustrates them and how you can possibly solve their problems.

An integral part of the sales process is getting to know your prospects and establishing relationships and  social media can help you accomplish this quickly and easily.

Get to know your prospects and target customers

There’s no point being on Facebook if your target customer is more likely to be found on LinkedIn. Do some homework before you choose a social media platform. Facebook is great for business to consumer sales, while LinkedIn is more business to business. Don’t discount commenting on websites and blogs either. You can really find prospects any place online where a relevant conversation is happening – it’s a case of spending the time researching where your target customer is going online to seek information and having conversations.

Demonstrate trustworthiness and credibility in relation to sales

As you engage with prospects via social media platforms, remember this. It’s about them not you. For people to like, know and trust your online persona, you need to write and comment in such a way that supports that. If you see someone online with a problem, posting a link to your online workshop for $449 that would solve their problem isn’t the best opener. Instead offer advice. Prove yourself worthy of conversation. Link to useful blog article you have written that helps solve their problem. Some of the best word of mouth consumer to business successes I have seen on social media start by someone asking for advice and other people commenting and/or tagging contacts who can help. Don’t do the hard sell when word of mouth will build your trustworthiness more effectively.

Remember, we all have a large digital footprint. People will google, stalk your social media profiles, check out what you have written, posted or commented. Be honest and authentic in it all.

Connect with and get to know people

Conduct a search on each social networking website or use a resource like socialmention.com to find people who are talking about your industry or using related keywords. Then comment on their posts, retweet them, answer a question or share something they say. By contributing to their conversation you add value to their network. It becomes natural for you to follow them and for them to follow you back.

Have a conversation

If you really listen to what your prospects are saying on social media, it shows you are willing to have a conversation rather than cold sell. Many closed doors have been opened by this simple approach. It may take longer – but it results in easier sales and longer-term loyalty. One colleague – a content writer – gains leads via her personal Facebook simply by people enjoying her posts and recognising she has a great writing style. Another shares education and advice, while another – a great networker – introduces other people into the conversations who may be able to solve problems. It may sound old-fashioned, but it’s simply showing how you can be of service and other-focused – just through a new-fashioned medium.

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Mark Bouris – lessons learnt from the road of business

Mark Bouris – lessons learnt from the road of business

Mark Bouris – lessons learnt from the road of business

When Mark Bouris took to the stage at B-xponential last month, he shared how he got Kerry Packer to invest $25 million into Wizard Home Loans in 1999.

Mark, now chairman of Yellow Brick Road, sold the company in 2004 for $500 million. After the technical terms of the deal were agreed, Mark was told by James Packer that he had to go and see Kerry.

As Mark tells it, the meeting started with Packer looking at him across his desk in silence. He then took out a cigarette and smoked it, still looking at Mark without saying a word.

When they finally started talking, Packer put three questions to him which every business owner – large or small – ought to be able to answer.Mark Bouris - Bxponential

  1. Do you fully understand the purpose of your business?
  2. Have you got enough fight to maintain your passion when things go wrong?
  3. Are you prepared to go the distance?

 

Do you fully understand the purpose of your business?

Mark shared how taken aback he was. Hadn’t Kerry Packer read what Wizard Home Loans did, wasn’t he across the deal paperwork? Yet on the first point, Packer explained to Mark that he wasn’t just in the business of selling mortgages. He was in “the business of people’s hopes and dreams”.

“Fear is the thief of your imagination,” he told the Bx audience. “To know your purpose, to know your why, that takes away fear. It helps you learn how to market.”

Telling an audience of people from small businesses that passion is not enough is a blunt message. Your purpose, after all, is supposed to feed your passion. Many business owners and leaders in smaller businesses will rave about their passion for what they do, but Mark also highlighted the need for a bit of mongrel when it comes to business survival:

“Passion’s important. We’ve got to be excited about something. You’ve got to be at a minimum excited about it. But Kerry Packer said to me, “Son, passion’s not enough. I want to know – I know that all this stuff you’re preseMark Bouris - Bxponentialnting to me so passionately, which is going swimmingly at the moment, which is forecast for growth at this level, blah blah-blah – I know you’re presenting it passionately. But I want to know, because something’s going to go wrong, invariably something’s going to go wrong: do you have enough fight to maintain your passion?””

Mark Bouris reminded us all at Bx about having the fight inside of ourselves, to pick ourselves up when we get knocked down.

Being prepared to go the distance

You have passion, you know your purpose, and you have the fight inside to get back up. But Mark asked us, are you prepared to be tested? That’s different to putting up a fight. We all need somebody to test our hypothesis in business. “People in your office might be testing you – above you or below you or next to you. It doesn’t matter. Your personal partner might be testing you. You need to be tested. We don’t need to have someone give us the answers, we need to have someone give us the questions,” said Mark.

For Mark, his test came when Kerry Packer said: “Ok son, so what you’ve got to do, within 12 months, you must buy an influential interest – or all of – the wholesale business that funds Wizard Home Loans.”

Mark and Kerry Packer shook on it. And he had 12 months to do it. Talk about a test!Mark Bouris - Bxponential

In the end it took a flight to Amsterdam, and a long wait in the reception area of this particular Dutch bank to meet the Managing Director. Mark had no appointment, just a commitment to meet the test set of him by Kerry Packer. Here’s how he went:

“I sat there for hours and hours, and about 4pm in the afternoon he came down the stairs, and he said: “Is your name Bouris?” I said yes. He said: “What do you want?”

“I’ve got 30 seconds to tell him what I want, and I was smart enough to drop Kerry Packer’s name in there. And he said: “Listen, I’m going to be in Australia in three months time doing my rounds. I’ll see my managing director. I want to go and meet Kerry Packer.”

I thought: My God, that’s the last thing I wanted.

But they met up, and the managing director of the business in Australia, of the wholesale business said, “You’ve got a deal. You can buy 49 per cent.”

There is more – far more – to the financial deal of the story that Mark shared from the stage at Bx. But the point Mark wanted to make sure we understood was this:

“What I had was the supreme tester. And it did one thing, apart from scaring the daylights out of me, it did one thing: it got the best out of me. And in order to be successful today, in business, it’s very good to have somebody, whether you call them a mentor or a business partner – somebody to get the best out of you. Because you won’t get the best out of yourself. You never will.”

Another gem that Mark Bouris shared, that resonated with me, is a great one when the thief fear is creeping in, or you feel like you are low on the energy to fight back, get up again, be tested again?

“It’s an honour to work. It is God given and a blessing so don’t do it begrudgingly. It all comes down to your attitude.”

 

Want to learn more about how to succeed in business, from experts like Mark Bouris? Bx can help you with strategies, resources and invaluable connections for your business and pave the way for your success. Call Bx on 1300 068 229 or find out about our Business for Life Program.

 

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Business for Life: Meet the Experts- Scott Gellatly, Bollo Empire

Business for Life: Meet the Experts- Scott Gellatly, Bollo Empire

During our Business For Life 12 month program, it’s all about connecting, learning and growing – which is why I’m so passionate about aligning the right experts and delivering world-class education to help support our community.

 

Throughout the year, participants connect with like-minded people in an x-ceptional networking environment, enabling a community of support  and collaboration. Our experts cover every element of business: HR, IT, Finance, Sales, Marketing, Communications, Mindset, Leadership and Productivity.

 

This blog, meet one of our experts – to not only understand their area of expertise but to understand what it is about their mindset that makes them ‘x-ponential’.

 

Experts- Systems: Scott Gellatly, Bollo Empire.

 

Scott Gellatly grew up in a family of small to medium-sized business founders and what he observed became the motivation to create his own business, Bollo Empire.

Scott Gellatly

“I watched the struggle to break the growth ceiling and create successful, scalable businesses. As is true for many small business owners, they created jobs for themselves and it became frustrating. I watched it impact our family with the accompanying disappointment of never achieving dreams – which can be soul-destroying when you are pouring so much time and effort into a venture.”

 

This is the WHY that gets him up each day in Bollo Empire.  “I realised that the missing key to success was systemisation. Systems empower a team to deliver for you, so you are free to focus on the strategy and growth of your business. If you think a system is too hard to build, it’s worth remembering that well-designed systems set you free. You build them once, and then watch them repeat what they are designed to do, over and over. That’s our passion at Bollo Empire. Designing systems for small business owners so they are free to scale and grow easily.”

 

It is this passion that has seen Bollo Empire recognised as the leading Podio partner globally.

Podio is a platform that enables founders of small to medium enterprises to underpin their processes, tieing together CRM, Project Management, HR and Operations together in one place. The result is complete visibility over business data, enabling more informed decision making, operational efficiency and the ability to easily delegate processes to your team.

 

We asked Scott a couple of non-systems type questions, so you get to know the person behind the skills.

 

What 4 things does a small business owner need to do to be Exponential?

  1. It’s vital to get “off the tools” and focus on strategic growth. You cannot see the wood through the trees. You cannot build a successful business if you are stuck facing customers and solving tactical issues every day.
  2. Put systems in place – turn everything you do from sales to product/service delivery into a standardised repeatable process that can be delegated easily.
  3. Use software automation to reduce time spent on menial tasks and create an efficient operation.
  4. Create balance in your life. If business comes at the cost of life (whatever that means for you) then why are you doing it in the first place?

 

What piece of advice you would offer to yourself in your first year of business, knowing what you do now?

Think scalable from the beginning. Don’t invest in anything that won’t produce a scalable business at the end.

 

Who would you like to be sat on a 24 hr flight next to, and why?

Barack Obama. He is an inspiring leader who has faced what appeared to be insurmountable challenges – yet he overcame them. I’d be fascinated to sit next to him and discover how he did it.

 

Where would you like to be in your own business in 5 years time?

I would be practicing what I preach: so in a purely director’s role, focusing on strategy and direction of business. I would also spend my time studying and creating my next business!
Scott can be reached via https://bolloempire.com.au/book and, of course, you can benefit from his expertise as a member of our 12 month Business for Life program. Learn more here.

There’s loads of tools to get your website working harder and your marketing to get results. Bx coaching can help you find the right tools for your business and pave the way for your success. Call Bx on 1300 068 229 or find out about our Business for Life Program.

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Business for Life: Meet the Experts- Kathryn Macmillan, Nine To Three

Business for Life: Meet the Experts- Kathryn Macmillan, Nine To Three

During our Business For Life 12 month program, it’s all about connecting, learning and growing – which is why I’m so passionate about aligning the right experts and delivering world-class education to help support our community.

 

Throughout the year, participants connect with like-minded people in an x-ceptional networking environment, enabling a community of support  and collaboration. Our experts cover every element of business: HR, IT, Finance, Sales, Marketing, Communications, Mindset, Leadership and Productivity.

 

This blog, meet one of our experts – to not only understand their area of expertise but to understand what it is about their mindset that makes them ‘x-ponential’.

 

Experts- HR: Kathryn MacMillan, Nine To Three Employment Solutions

 

Kathryn has more than eighteen years of experience in recruiting and managing staff. She is a specialist in the field of business administration, small business management and bookkeeping. With an in depth knowledge of many industries and their varied recruitment needs, she and her team can structure your HR so it works to help free you from compliance and employment contracts. Yet more than that, she is passionate about small business, growth and community and the force behind the St George and Sutherland Shire’s Biggest Business Morning Tea. We asked Kathryn a couple of non-HR type questions, so you get to know the person behind the skills.

 

1) From your area of expertise, what four things does a small business owner need to do to be Exponential?

Working in the HR space, I’ve seen so many personality types who succeed. There’s notKathryn Macmillan one type of personality, but there are traits I see over and over. These are:

Be resilient – never give up, even when you feel hopeless. It’s that resilience that delivers on goals.

Think outside the box – it’s a well-worn phrase but there are plenty of people happy to stay in the box, so look outside of it.

Always believe in yourself – sometimes that can be hard (see my point about resilience) but, no matter how large a team you build, you are always going to have to remember to believe in yourself first.

Don’t listen to the dream takers – you are the sum of the seven people you hang around with the most. Choose dream supporters and champions around you, as well as the ones who give you the real and honest reality checks. But never settle for people who will say you can’t do it.

 

2) One piece of advice you would offer to yourself in your first year of business, knowing what you do now?

We can be so impatient! Especially now as technology speeds our world and flow of information up. I’d tell my one-year old business self: slow and steady wins the race.

 

3) Who would you like to be sat on a 24 hr flight next to, and why?

My husband because he is the best person in the world to travel with, or perhaps Shakespeare – how did he know so much about Italy – did he really write all the plays? Or possibly Leonardo da Vinci – why did you only paint 16 paintings and do you know I intend to see all 16 before I die? I’d love to know who was the model for David.

 

4) Where would you like to be in your own business in 5 years time?

I am blessed with a great team. So I’d like to be contracting back to the business once in a blue moon!
Kathryn can be reached via http://www.nine2three.com.au/ and, of course, you can benefit from her expertise as a member of our 12 month Business for Life program. Learn more here.

There’s loads of tools to get your website working harder and your marketing to get results. Bx coaching can help you find the right tools for your business and pave the way for your success. Call Bx on 1300 068 229 or find out about our Business for Life Program.

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Making the Most Out Of Education Events

Making the Most Out Of Education Events

If you are attending any self-development or business education events such as the upcoming B-xponential, the key to success is making sure you take responsibility for getting value from the experience.

At education events, the ‘a-ha’ moments can surprise you.  The most interesting, informative and educational moments may not be spent in the sessions themselves: sometimes it’s in informal interactions with other attendees.

The lectures, talks, and panels might providevent heroe some new ideas, but can be one-directional, and you can get the slides or books by the speakers later.

Yet the unique, personal, and insightful conversations you have can only take place with other people and can only happen at the event, which means you need to invest time in connecting with other people.

Also, ensure you contribute and participate. Ask questions from the  floor of the speakers or panel if you have the opportunity. Make notes of any ‘lightbulb’ moments in your event guide or – for maximum efficiency – use a tool like Evernote to set up digital notebooks, snap screenshots of the speakers’ presentations, and import direct into the application. It means all your lessons and ideas are in one place and you’re not scrambling around with loose notes. You can also snap business cards into Evernote too, so you can track who you connect with at the event.

Some events, like B-xponential, offer follow-up sessions with experts. You typically have to pay extra to attend these but it can take your learning to whole new level, as well as keeping you surrounded, motivated and inspired by a like-minded cohort.

 

Plan ahead.

A day before the event, sit down with the proceedings and the small guidebook or agenda that they often provide you with. Go through with a pen, and mark anything that looks interesting. If you find things that sound cool but vague, flip open the proceedings and check them out. Circle all of the sessions that look interesting, and if two or more occur at the same time, flag the one you want to go to first.

 

Plan to be social.

Even if you are an introvert, it’s worth stretching yourself. By making  initial connections, you’ll be able to jump in on some conversations and meet more people. If you can get into the right mindset, you can have a lot of fun socialising and sharing between different groups.

 

Relax.

You will learn much better by having fun and enjoying the people I’m with. You can’t do that if you are fixated on getting to every session on time, or not staying out too late, or trying to achieve any specific objective.

By  relaxing and enjoying your time away from the office, you will be more open to new ideas and approaches for what to do when you  get back.
The primary reason to attend such events is to learn. It’s your job to figure out what kind of environment and state of mind you need to be in to best facilitate that objective.

 

There’s loads of tools to get your website working harder and your marketing to get results. Bx coaching can help you find the right tools for your business and pave the way for your success. Call Bx on 1300 068 229 or find out about our Business for Life Program.

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Strategies to Solve Stress in Small Business

Strategies to Solve Stress in Small Business

When you become a business owner, you no longer have one single job description. Instead, especially in the early days, you can be working lots of roles. With them come unforeseen challenges, often out of your control. As a result, stress can creep in – for the sake of your health, your business and your loved ones –

One way is identifying the common stressors so you can address them proactively – like the miners who relied upon the canaries to alert them of methane or carbon monoxide in the mines. The canary would die before the levels of the gas reached those hazardous to humans. In the same way (but not risking any of our feathered-friends) you need to identify your stress hazards in advance, be self-aware and manage them.

 

Stress for Business Owners Can Include:

A lack of control

We deal with customers, suppliers, late payers, government red tape, paperwork, team members, cash flow…the list goes on, and often it can feel as if you have little to no say. To help manage this, consider accepting that not all decisions will go your way and aim to have a positive outlook when they don’t. Appreciating your wins and accepting what you can’t control can help calm frustrating situations.

Reacting too soon

Often people react to situations without actually taking actions to better support them. Reactions are often emotionally driven and do not effectively support business decisions. To help ease the urge to react to something, take time to listen, analyse the situation, consider multiple responses to it and breathe. If it’s a good decision today, it will be a good decision tomorrow.

No time to do it all

Firstly, define what “doing it all” means. In all likelihood, what you want to get done couldn’t be achieved working 24/7 anyhow. So be kind to yourself. Acknowledge you can only do so much in one day. Accept that your health – including sleep, exercise and eating habits – contributes to your overall professional performance, allowing you to better manage your day-to-day stresses. Budgeting time to work out, allocating certain hours for family and / or friends only and choosing not to check emails during certain hours of the day are all proven ways to help manage a busy workload and eliminate stress.

Cash Flow

The largest small business stressor is cash flow uncertainty: what sales are coming in, knowing that bills and employees need to be paid. The first step is to look at improving systems and structures so you can feel more confident in your cash flow: shorten your receivables period; identify payment disputes fast; maintain great customer relations to minimise such disputes; look at ways to take payments up front; and watch your accounts payables closely.

Other small business stressors include

  • isolation and lack of social supportmatt Alderton, Bx, Business fr Life
  • presenteeism where you continue to work even if you aren’t well, because if you are away the business doesn’t happen
  • long hours which may be even a bigger problem than in the corporate world
  • blurring of boundaries between home and work
  • business failure, which also carries a suicide risk

Systems and support go a long way to easing the stress burden on a small business. I recommend joining a business group where you can meet other owners and discover they are battling their share of stresses too. Often it is the ‘business success’ mask we assume when things are tough that can cause the greatest damage. That’s why at Bx we are so passionate about building a community of business owners who can learn and grow together through their shared experiences.  

There’s loads of tools to get your website working harder and your marketing to get results. Bx coaching can help you find the right tools for your business and pave the way for your success. Call Bx on 1300 068 229 or find out about our Business for Life Program..

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