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.

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.

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.

Business for Life Program

  • May 17, 2016

Business for Life Program

The Business For Life Program is a 12-month business growth program that will empower you to grow and scale your business, leveraging your time, sales and profits.

The Business For Life program includes:

  • Business Bootcamp Workshops– There is one 2-day workshop and five 1-day workshops, that are held every 2 months (7 days in total). These intensive implementation workshops, are run with industry experts, exclusively selected for each session specific to the focus of the Bootcamp. Bootcamps range from a variety of topics such as Marketing, Finance, Systems, Sales and more. This is the major face-to face component of the program. We understand how busy business owners are, and ensure we minimise face-to-face time, while maximising implementation. 
  • Member x-clusive Webinars & Podcasts– Gain strategies and cutting edge information in business from a variety of experts. Be ahead of your industry and listen and learn through live webinars and podcasts. Webinars and podcasts are recorded and fully accessible through our online member x-Change, where you can access 24/7. 
  • Online Member x-Change– Gain access to a vault of information, hundreds of resources, Online eLearning with hours of video and competency based training, including all live events. 
  • Networking Breakfasts– There are 20 networking breakfasts (fully paid for by Bx – including membership and breakfast costs) that you can attend through ‘The Real Biz’ networking. TheRealBiz.com.au 
  • Facebook Group & Community– The Facebook Group and Community is a private group where all experts and members communicate. Questions, set-backs and big wins are shared and the community supports and encourages. Experts gladly help with advice and support.

 

  • Monthly 1 on 1 coaching and Strategy Sessions – There are ten monthly coaching and strategy sessions. These are personalised sessions where you will be provided specific and strategic advice regarding your business.

 

  • x-pert Mastermind Weekend– The Mastermind Weekend involves intensive leadership and business training, hosted over a weekend at an exclusive location. The weekend will hosts world-leading experts and industry gurus, in an intimate setting.

 

  • Your Own Board of Directors– Run your business with your new board of directors. Your board will include 3 other members of the program, and as a peer group, you will hold each other accountable to your goals and help drive each other’s business success.

Find out more by booking a strategy call with Matt Alderton.

The Strategy Call with Matt Alderton, is a 20-minute phone call, whereby Matt will discuss with your goals, challenges and dreams for your business, and strategies to empower you and your business for success.

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.

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..

What is Networking: Work the Room the Right Way

Before I dive into the power of business networking, let me explain what networking is not: walking into a room of business owners, darting from person to person, giving away as many of your business cards as possible, gathering up as many as possible, returning to your office, then adding them all to your email newsletter list, firing off a generic newsletter and expecting a sale immediately. In metaphorical terms, that sort of networking is like piling your plate at the local ‘all you can eat’ buffet and not stopping to savour the food.

Networking is not about the number of business cards you gather, but the relationships you build. It is not how fast you can free yourself from the person you deem an unsuitable ‘lead’ for your business – but how fast you can discover how to help them. Great business networking is not measured by the dollar delivered to your business, but by the number of relationships you help others create.

I attend numerous different networking events every week. It is a critical part of our sales process and more than 35% of our clients come from networking events. As an active member of The Real Biz, BNI, the local Chamber of Commerce and the NSW Business Chamber, I consider networking to be critical to building a successful network.

Here are my tNetworkingop four reasons to network:

  1. You increase your exposure to other people like yourself, with varying levels of experience and who all share a desire to help each other.
  2. Referral sources are a significant lead generation source for most businesses.
  3. You will build strong relationships with people you know, like and trust, who you will be able to rely on for advice on many areas of business, and where to go to get support and refer suppliers for your business.
  4. It’s great to get out of your business and work on it, rather than in it, and networking is generally a great social tool.

Here are my top five networking tips:

  1. Work the room − we often get in our comfort zone and hang around the same people. In a networking environment we need to do the opposite. Meet and talk to as many people as you can.
  2. You are not in a networking environment to just swap business cards − you need to build relationships.
  3. The people in the room are not your leads. Often I see people work the room like everyone there needs to do business with them. The problem is that this is very limited thinking. Instead, build the relationship by following up the initial meeting with a coffee chat. As you learn more about the other person’s business, think how you can refer them to people you know. In turn, they will hopefully do the same. The power of networking is not as much about the person you are meeting as it is the many people they already know and network with.
  4. Have every business card saved in your contacts, connect with the contact on LinkedIn AND, most importantly, remember their name next time you meet.
  5. Be on FORM – it’s a great acronym to remind you of ice-breaker questions when you meet people. F = Family (where are you from, are you married, kids, their ages?) O = Occupation (what kind of work do you do, how did you get into it? do you enjoy it?) R = Recreation (what do you do for fun? Hobbies? M = Message (move from the informal to the formal, setting up a coffee chat, working out how you can work together).

Networking is a vital element of your marketing mix – not the only element but an important one. I also suggest splitting it into hard, soft and social. Hard networking is structured with expected referral outcomes, as in a group like BNI. Soft networking is excellent for brand and relationship building yet without the targeted expectation of referrals. The Real Biz Group offers this type of model, as do Chambers of Commerce and State Business Chambers. Social is networking though social media groups that are built online according to business interests – these can include LinkedIn groups, or MeetUp groups.

Join me at one of my networking events, The Real Biz, meets every 2nd Thursday from 8am to 10am, at Buzzbar Espresso Mortdale, and my BNI Chapter meets every  week on Wednesday from 7am to 8.45am at St George Motor Boat Club Sans Souci. There are also other BNI and Real Biz Meetings all across Australia, select the links to see where they meet.

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..

Why your Business Needs a Lead Generating Website

In the modern world of inbound, customer-centric, pull marketing, it’s incredibly important that your website is working hard for your business. For many businesses, your website will be a customer’s first point of engagement. Yet many businesses fail to take advantage of their website for nurturing customer relationships.

Statistics show that the average website will convert only 1-2% of visitors on their first time to your site. This is especially true of businesses where the sales process requires the building of trust and an ongoing relationship. So if you need to foster a relationship with prospective customers, you need to get their details.

Give me your details!

You can’t just ask customers for their details and assume that they’ll give them up. After all, everyone is busy and probably already has an overflowing inbox of promotional materials. So you need to provide something of value in exchange for that all important first name and email address – a lead magnet.

A great lead magnet is:

  • Low cost for you to produce
  • Offers quality information of value to your prospective clients
  • Enticing enough to justify providing contact details

Adding value to your website

Converting customers is all about demonstrating your value again and again until the customer feels ready to make the purchase. ConversionXL describes the process like this:website 2

  1. Capture emails
  2. Build and develop relationships via regular communication
  3. Add tons of value (way before asking for anything in return)
  4. Repeat step 3 as much as possible
  5. Sell great products

As you can see, it’s all about nurturing the customer as you move them through the sales funnel. They progress from being a lead and through ongoing engagement with your sales and marketing process, move to being a prospect and finally a customer. But if you don’t collect their details on that first visit to your website, you might never get the opportunity to foster and develop that relationship!

Frequency matters

The other important element to consider is how frequently you should contact your leads. If someone gives up their email address but is then bombarded with emails beyond their expectations, they’ll be hitting that unsubscribe link pretty damn fast. You need to figure out the frequency of contact that suits your business.

For example, if you’re a plumber, a customer is only going to call you if they have an immediate need. But you could partner with other local trades to do a six-monthly email update about your services in the area and perhaps include a special offer on standard home maintenance requirements. Other businesses with a more extended sales process might find that a fortnightly or monthly email gets the best results.  

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..

Could Outsourcing be the Secret to Accelerating Your Business Growth?


It’s a common problem that all business owners face at some point – how to get everything done in a limited amount of time without sacrificing their own quality of life. When your business is growing and you have more to do, but not necessarily more team members to help to do the work, it can be easy to become overwhelmed.

The answer to this problem is simple. As soon as your attention is being consumed away from sales and customer service, pause and think about where YOUR time is most valuable. For any business owner, that time is best spent on growing your customer base and nurturing leads. Any tasks that distract you from that focus are prime targets for outsourcing.

Outsourcing also allows business owners to manage growth in a scalable and cost effective manner. When a task – say bookkeeping – is taking your time away from more valuable tasks, but you don’t have the need for a permanent internal resource, outsourcing is the perfect interim solution to mana
ge this in-between period of business growth. After all, the cost of an employee is more than just their salary – you also need to factor in additional costs like insurance, superannuation, office space and IT infrastructure. Suddenly a contractor’s hourly rate can become a lot more reasonable! Then once your business has grown further, there may be a tipping point when it makes sense to create a dedicated internal role. Outsourcing allows you to dial this capacity up and down in a scalable way that meets the unique needs of your business.

What to outsource

Essentially, you should consider outsourcing any function that distracts your attention from sales and growing your business. Here’s a list of a few ideas to get you started:
– Bookkeeping
– Graphic design
– Data entry
– Rostering and payroll

– Email and calendar management
– Social media management
– Marketing

Depending on the skill set required, you can find excellent outsourcing solutions both within Australia and internationally. There are a number of websites, such as Upwork, that can connect you with a range of freelancers with different skills, as well as companies that specialise in managing these relationships for businesses. As well as searching online, don’t forget to asOutsourcingk your network for any recommendations and referrals.

10 tips to successfully manage outsourcing relationships

1. Define what you want to achieve and the required skills and resources

2. Know your desired results
3. Complete due diligence: ask to see portfolios and samples, check references and so forth
4. Know your budget, but don’t select only on price
5. Clearly communicate expectations – use written contracts to document scope of work and expected standards
6. Set realistic timeframes
7. Regularly monitor performance and set agreed performance milestones
8. Ensure copyright for any original work, such as design work, writing, computer code and so forth, is passed on to your business upon payment

9. Get legal advice to protect your business from any wrong doing by contractors
10. Start with small projects and increase the scope when your outsourcing partners have proven they can satisfactorily deliver

Have you used contractors to outsource non-core business functions? What benefits have you experienced as a result? If you are reluctant to outsource, what are the concerns that are stopping you? We’d love to speak about how we could help your business to improve its performance. Call Bx on 1300 068 229 or find out about our Business for Life Program.

5 Must Have Apps for Start-Ups

5 Must Have Apps for Start Ups

Technology and Start-up Businesses

When you are starting a business, it can be hard to know which tools will help your business to thrive, yet still be affordable. The great news is that there are many tools which are robust in functionality and low in cost – or sometimes even free – that will give your business the right foundations right from the start. Start-ups are most successful when they use technology to help scale their business fast. Here’s a rundown of some of Bx’s favourite tools and apps to help you structure your business and that will scale with you as your business needs shift.

1. Quickbooks Online

Every business needs to make and receive payments, and the right accounting software can streamline that process. At Bx, we love Quickbooks Online as it has pricing packages to suit varying business requirements and you can upgrade functionality as your business grows. Quickbooks Online makes it easy to generate quotes and invoices, and with the mobile app you can instantly upload expense receipts on-the-go. By connecting your bank accounts and credit cards, Quickbooks Online makes it easy to get an instant view of your finances – and all business owners know how valuable that is.

2. Asana

Asana makes it easy to allocate activities to team members and track projects from start to finish. By clearly outlining responsibilities and next steps, everyone knows what they need to be doing and by when. Asana helps business owners to see the status of projects at a glance and reduces unnecessary meetings.

3. Google Apps

With bucket-loads of functionality, Google Apps is worthy of its own post. Collaborating on documents and managing version control is made easy by sharing files on Google Drive. For word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and more, Google Apps makes working in teams a breeze and saves huge amounts on software licensing fees. As well as Google Docs, Google Apps includes email, calendars, video conferencing, intranet functionality and more. There’s also an ever growing number of third party add-ons to investigate.

4. Secret Server Online

Secret Server Online is a powerful password management tool. It allows businesses to create a centralised, web-based repository of passwords and assign various levels of user permissions to team members. It creates and stores strong passwords, and can also be used to securely store sensitive data such as credit card details and product license keys.

5. MailChimp integrated with InstaPage

Email marketing remains a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. An important tenet of email marketing is that you should be able to trace where traffic has come from and measure the success of your campaigns. MailChimp provides excellent email management functionality that is easy to use, while InstaPage makes it easy to create landing pages to direct customers to. Used together, they provide a cost-effective platform to get the best results from your email marketing campaign. Make sure you upgrade from the free version (it’s about $10 per month) to take advantage of the automation features.

The next level?

In time, you might find that your business outgrows these tools, and we can help guide you in choosing new apps once that point is reached.
The right technology can make a massive difference to your business – what tools do you love? Let us know if you agree with our picks or if you have different favourites. If you are struggling to get the right technology to help your business scale, we’d love to help you out. Call Bx on 1300 068 229 or find out about our Business for Life Program