The Benefits of Networking!

 By Roger Amir - www.Mitronics.com.au

Currently most of us are networking remotely through zoom or team meetings.

With the announcement of opening businesses up again in NSW, it is expected that from December 1st networking face to face will be back on track, compliant to regulations.

So here are 5 benefits to help to grow our networks to help grow our net worth.

 

1) Raises your business profile and builds on your business brand. 

2) Keeps you front of mind which creates recognition and awareness.

3) Exchange of leads and being a source to help others.

4) Develops long lasting relationships with key people across various industries.

5) Creates introductions to other networks which become referral sources.

 

We are all looking forward to meeting new people, along with catching up with some familiar faces in the near future. 

Leadership in Public Life - Gladys Berejiklian

Gladys resigned as Premier of NSW last week as a result of an ICAC inquiry into her dealings a few years back . Whether she is guilty or innocent (nobody is perfect) -  she has bee an outstanding example of leadership in  Public Life - and In my view, NSW is richer  for having such an outstanding leader.

I, for one, believe that Gladys would make an outstanding Prime Minister one day! 

Below is a LinkedIn Post from the Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Policy to the Premier of NSW, Armine Albandian 

Over the past few days, there has been an outpouring of support following the resignation of Gladys Berejiklian. The love for her has come from people of all backgrounds and from all corners of the country and has been truly unprecedented.

Politicians can be hard to like, and I understand why.  

Politics is obscured by process and tradition, translated through someone else’s opinion, and executed with pragmatism that seems to forever trump ideals. It is the part of politics I like the least.

But Gladys was not your typical politician.

Throughout the pandemic, she entered our lives and our living rooms, and spoke directly to us. She never stood on ceremony. Gladys told it straight and she did so while leading us through some of our darkest hours as a nation.

She was a politician we could like.

We will remember her time in public life as a high watermark for dedication, resilience and courage. That she was the first female elected Premier in NSW is thankfully, now an afterthought.

Many people have been inspired by Gladys and have asked what it has been like to work for her for more than 6 years. This is what she taught me about public service:

1.    Work harder and smarter than everyone else, be persistent and always come prepared. If you do, you will find a way through any seemingly intractable challenge.

2.    Govern for everyone. It’s your job to understand what it means to represent the views of the citizens you serve. Never take the people you serve for granted, you govern at their behest and that is the ultimate privilege.

3.    Leadership isn’t about popularity and it’s not about perfection. It’s about making the best decisions based on the available facts and then holding your nerve. It’s also about apologising when you get it wrong.

I am proud 

I am proud of the Government’s work throughout the pandemic and bushfires. I am proud of the innumerable reforms that will impact lives for generations. And I am proud of the infrastructure that has transformed the city and state I first encountered when I arrived in Australia ten years ago.

Most of all, I am proud of my dear friend, this remarkable woman, for her spectacular leadership.

Credit to Teny Aghamalian for the black and white photo!

Downloading your contacts and emails from linked in

Thanks to Josh Rockwell

Ivan’s 60th

Refundid - startup raises $3m - 6 months after being founded

It’s all about customer experience says Paul Greenberg - E-retail Veteran  - who has recently backed Refundid through AP Ventures.

Brad, Judd, Joel and Ilan have formed Refundid - whose leading product is  a fintech tool designed to cut, or essentially eliminate, waiting times for refunds for products bought online.

Refundid takes responsibility of the refund and repays the client immediately. Refundid gets paid by the retailer once approved.

It effectively provides a short term loan to the retailer!

The founders get that  trust and positive relationships, encouraging repeat custom is a key ingredient of a succesful retailer.

The plan is to have 100 top-tier retailers on board within the next 12 months, says Brad Karney…..

And then go global!!

One of the Most Motivational Talks by Arnold Schwartzenigger - have a vision - have a goal - the rest is easy

What’s the key ingredient of a successful entrepreneur?

So, You want to be an entrepreneur! 

Welcome to “Club Fear!”

It’s all about being a lifelong learner 

No university can prepare you for the life of an Entrepreneur! 

The Ingredient is Knowledge - how to get that knowledge - how to use that knowledge 

Part of the entrepreneurs DNA 🧬 is to be a lifelong learner - and eventually he/she becomes a professor of the school of hard knocks !!

Knowledge is power - and you build knowledge through lifelong learning! 

As Albert Einstein said – perhaps the most famed of all Nobel Prize winners – put it, "Once you stop learning, you start dying."

Henry Ford once said, "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young."

Staying mentally sharp and focused on identifying new opportunities involves more than just dumb luck – it is a continual absorption of new information and knowledge! 

Even an entrepreneurs failed venture is merely a learning experience for the next successful venture .  (and let me tell you - there will be many failed ventures)

A Successful entrepreneur never stop learning, from as many sources as possible. And, of course, use those learnings to their advantage.

So what is an entrepreneur ?

 "An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as an innovator, a source of new ideas, goods, services, and business/or procedures".

Generating new ideas means learning about what already exists, where there are gaps in the market and what could be done to fill those gaps.

What do the need to learn

Think about the various areas of knowledge demanded of any founder to get a startup to market:

• The actual product or service
• Negotiations
• Sales 
• Marketing
• Systems
• Branding
• Finance 
• Project management
• People management
• Time management
• Customer service
• Technology
• And the list goes on 

So - how do you learn?

Learn by reading 

What do all successful entrepreneurs have in common? They read. Lots. 

• Warren Buffett reportedly devotes around 80 per cent of each day to reading. 
• Bill Gates strives to read one book a week. 
• Mark Zuckerberg needs two weeks to read one book and share it in his online book club. 
• Oprah Winfrey selects one of her favourite books every month for her book club. 
• Sir Richard Branson might wow you with his impressive bookshelf – particularly given his well-known dyslexia.

Of the five entrepreneurs above, only Buffett and Winfrey have a college degree. The rest are dropouts.

Learning by doing

While knowledge is indeed power, it takes action to build profit. After all, actions create experience. And as Einstein famously said, "The only source of knowledge is experience."

Put simply, entrepreneurs keep learning by what they do. They put new-found knowledge into action. They use the experiences of others to trial and test their own new ideas before pursing the most favourable course.

Whether knowingly or not, entrepreneurs will keep reading, keep creating new experiences. And all the while learning.

Learning by collaborating 

Sharing ideas

Collaborating 

Leveraging off others 

Knowing where the levers are

Join a BBG Forum 

You Cannot do everything yourself - find people who can join you on the journey. Be a great leader

Because “ leadership is the ability to influence others - no more - no less” John Maxwell 

Inspired by 

Alan Manly - the CEO of Universal Business School Sydney and author of The Unlikely Entrepreneur.

How to be happy

• Live  in the now
• Narrow the gap between expectation and reality
• Be kind - treat others the way you want to be treated 
• Be in flow 
• Find something bigger than yourself to believe in

10X selling

 

The Best Referral is from your Clients - speak to them - meet with them - listen to them

Great reminder  from Ed Chan  at Wize Accountants - talk to your clients 

Accountants are busy - but most are looking for more of the right clients and are keen to grow.

One of the best sources of warm prospects are from your client base... and the best way to do that is to communicates for collaborate with them. 

It’s more than completing their work and getting them to sign their BAS or tax return.

It’s about building a relationship with them 

Getting referrals really starts with getting more face-to-face time with your clients and the best way to do this is to speak to them  about their results and not just send the completed work for signature.

Be interested in their business - and think about how you can add value by potentially referring them to someone .

Call them for a tax planning meeting prior to finishing their work and  take them on the journey instead of just completing their work and sending it to them in the post/email.

#10X #bbgforum #10Xforum #referron 

10 Strategies to Thrive and Survive in a Recession

1. To avoid losses , cut costs quickly and deeply.... unless there is a planned strategy for growth 
2. Eliminate pay increases, but retain incentives (if affordable).  It is not unheard of for leaders to request the entire company take some degree of pay cut (usually a higher percentage for higher paid employees) with reductions in their own pay leading the way.
3. Accumulate “fruit on the sideboard”  (a cash war chest)
4. Renegotiate their vendor agreements
5. Cash Flow Cash Flow Cash Flow 
6. Watch Accounts Receivable closely, account by account, and politely but crisply cut off customers who don’t pay or chronically late pay. Manage inventory and potentially delay paying creditors. Create a great relationship with your bank and shareholders 
7. Come up with creative new solutions and services, and go to market strategies and marketing campaigns which attract and address the three top concerns of decision-makers: cutting cost, reducing risk and driving Revenue.
8. Spend on demand generation. Invest more, sooner, in marketing and selling in the face of a recession than do the lower performers.
9. Leaders get  out in front of employees, customers and prospects more frequently and visibly. Make a reason to visit the other businesses in your building 
10. Your family and health is most important 

The 4 key drivers of a succesful business

From Brenton Ward 

In order to make serious headway and transform our fledgling business into a successful, profitable enterprise, we realized that we had to learn the precise drivers of a successful business. 

It took some time and research but we eventually worked out that the four key drivers listed below are behind every profitable business — regardless of the industry:

Great advice to scale your accounting practice

Great Advice from Ed Chan from Wize Mentoring  - move from an unscalable “brain surgery business” to a highly scalable “nursing or pharmacy business” - where customers can still feel the personal touch - true for financial planners and mortgage brokers as well 

Hi Ivan,

We’ve received some varying feedback from one of our recent Friday tip emails called "Increasing your prices" so here’s a follow-up email about this topic.

In this email, I explained the difference between a Business versus a Practice and the concepts of "value-based pricing".

To further delve into this topic, let’s break down the 3 types :  

1. "Brain Surgery" type Practice where the owner does the majority of work himself/herself and his/her income is limited to the hours in the day (not scalable) often to earn more, they work very long hours and a slave/prisoner to their Practice, unable to take time off because without him/she doing the work, the work doesn’t get done and his/her income ceases.

An Ordinary model that relies on Extraordinary people who are hard to find and difficult to scale. Often "burnout" is a common complaint. Owner dependent

To earn more money he/she needs to increase their rates and justify it by calling it "Value Pricing". Suited to unique service offerings. Only has a P&L Return and no Balance Sheet/Goodwill value  

2. "Nursing or Pharmacy" type business provides a very personal service but anyone can do it as long as they are trained to give really good personal service. This business model relies on Ordinary people who are abundant to source.

Clients are willing to pay more for that personal touch. Highly scalable and not owner dependent. An Extraordinary model that relies on Ordinary people. Has both a Balance Sheet/Goodwill value and a P&L Returnsince it’s based on Systems and teams to deliver great services  

3. "Supermarket" is a volume business and it's very competitive and competes on price so margins are very low and need to be super-efficient.

The one that makes the most money is the"Nursing or Pharmacy type" because of its ability to scale. Staff are easier to find as it’s not "highly skilled" and clients are willing to pay more for personal service.

In the Nursing/Pharmacy type business, you increase your income by increasing the size of the business versus increasing the size of the fee as in a Practice.

It’s the difference between buying your Medication at the supermarket (no service and low prices) or paying more for your medication from a Pharmacy where you can get advice and personal service.

Or after an operation, you need Nursing services and the patient is willing to pay more for the personal attention, and often the costs are paid for through private health insurance

The Tax Compliance business falls into the "Nursing/Pharmacy type" client because it’s highly scalable and the government drives the business to us since it's illegal not to lodge an annual tax return.

It relies on running the Business efficiently but one has the opportunity to turn it into an investment that pays a passive income without your direct involvement (giving you more choices in life) as long as you have the systems and staff to do the work.

Systems and procedures and formal reporting lines are required.

There are enormous benefits to this:

1. Your income is not limited to the hours in the day. In fact, it's unlimited because its highly scalable
2. You are no longer a prisoner of your practice and you have more choices in life.
3. Tax Compliance is an annuity income stream since it's illegal not to lodge your tax returns. Annuity businesses have both a Balance Sheet/Goodwill value and a P&L return versus Brain Surgery Practices only have a P&L return and no Balance Sheet/Goodwill value
4. If the Business is working hard then the owners do not have to. The harder the owner is working the less the Business is working. Businesses are working at optimum when the owners have zero charges on the clock and the staff is fully chargeable
5. Potential to turn your business into an investment that works without you and pays an EBIT/ROI of 25%pa or more (after Owners wages).

Hope that makes sense.

Ed Chan (bio)
Founder / Chairman (WIZE Mentoring)
Founder / Non-Executive Chairman (Chan & Naylor)
w: www.wizementoring.com
Sydney l Melbourne l Dublin

Business Builders Group: Professional service firms are being rocked to the...

Business Builders Group: Professional service firms are being rocked to the...:   The business model of professional service firms are being disrupted to the core! It's foundations are being rocked. From accounting, ...

It’s all about the Qs

Professor Gary Martin writes a great article in business news about IQ EQ MQ BQ and AQ 

great article in business news

EQ and IQ is being bandied about in all leadership courses 

IQ - intelligent quotient - it’s what you born with - can’t really be taught . It’s how smart you ate ! 

EQ - Emotional Quotient - is how you behave - and understand and manage your emotions and how you behave to and with others 

Professor Gary  Martin shares AQ, MQ and BQ to the mix 

Adaptability quotient / ability to adapt - Grit, resilience, mindset and mental flexibility are all important attributes that underpin an individual’s AQ. ()

Moral quotient (MQ) - knowing right from wrong - and having the ability to take responsibility for one’s action and understand  and accept consequences: 

MQ is  an essential ingredient to succeed at work and in life more generally.

Body quotient - BQ is about how you manage your body or the ability to notice body sensations, listen to them and respond in a way that respects the body’s needs.

I reckon LQ is pretty important - Likability Quotient - tha ability to be liked is a key skill - that can also be learnt!

What other Qs can you think of ? 

!