When I interviewed 2012 Young Entrepreneur of the Year Sam Hazledene, I asked him about his strategy for growth.  This is the guy who built the largest medical recruitment company in Australasia from scratch in a few short years.  He told me that he’d grown organically, starting out with just himself and his wife travelling the country trying to convince hospitals to use…

Here is another extract from Liber8 Your Business, the soon to be released must have hand book for every small business owner.  In this chapter I talk about the importance of being a visionary, starting with a concept called ‘The soccer game of life”…

“Earlier in the book I talked about successful people having an ability to see their success ahead of them – and…

So the book is written… yes, it’s finished and off to proof reading next week.  Yipee!  One year and two months in the making.  That’s approximately three hundred 5 am starts, 70,000 words and a heck of a lot of late nights.  It ain’t no breeze this book writing thing.   But it’s done, my editor is happy (so far) and it moves onto the next stage.

Now we are…

Recently I interviewed Shane Bradley – former owner of GrabOne and founder of new online retailer pet.co.nz.  Shane’s top tip for small business owners was this: “if you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough”.  He told me about his first business, which went under due to bad debts.  It was humiliating and humbling he said.  To go from being a big shot to a big nobody…

I’m currently looking at my investment portfolio and deciding how much of my wealth I want tied up in businesses… my own and others.  Investing in business is a high risk strategy as so much depends on the people running the business and their understanding of what business really is.  I’m always on my soap box about small business owner operators needing to grasp the basics of what makes their business valuable.  I know what I think, but I wanted to see if other business experts think the…

Why do people get into business for themselves?  When I present to business groups I often ask people why they decided to start a business.  The answers are always the same.  To be my own boss/to be free to choose how I work/I’m good at what I do… so why should I line someone else’s pockets/I’ve got a great idea, I know it will work…

The reality of owning your own business is that it is hard work, it is high risk, it takes its toll on your time, your pocket and your energy.  In the…

My lovely client Bridgette (from Village PR in Tauranga) told me the funniest story about a tennis game she played in Fiji recently.  The parallels to and lessons about business were clearly apparent to us both so I just have to share it…

Bridgette it turns out is a bit of a gun tennis player, or at…

I remember a conversation I had with my friend Melissa Clark Reynolds many years ago.  She probably won’t even remember it.  We were standing in the changing room of the local swimming pool centre at the time.  Melissa had just sold her first business to Southern Cross and I was still mid way into the building…

In the business world, clients mean money.  Have no doubt, a buyer will pay a premium for what they perceive is more money.  A buyer will look at your clients and ascertain the value of your business to them on the basis of the average spend and longevity of your clients.  They will look to find a way to…

A business buyer will pay a premium for a business they feel sure will run without its owner. Unless you are planning to sell a concept or a leveraged business model (business models for exit are covered in the Liber8me programme), you are going to need people in your business to help you grow.   If you do it…

Reading Tim Ferriss The 4-Hour Work Week at the moment.  Am about to adopt one piece of advice as of Monday.  As Tim points out email is the greatest single interruption in the modern world.  How many times have you sat down with your to do list for the day only to find its midday before you’ve finished answering…

I love great business models.  Here’s a simple one, yet technically so right on many different levels. 

It’s Nespresso, maker of coffee machines.  My mum in UK has one and I fell in love with the taste of the coffee and the simplicity of the making of said coffee every morning when staying with my mum for…

Having been interested in an article posted on Facebook about the lack of women seeking and gaining investment capital, I feel inspired to make a commentary on some characteristics that can both make and break women in business.  I’ve coined the phrase ‘womentrepreneurs’ as merging words to…

I think Bob Dylan said it best, “The times they are a changing”… and ironically this fundamental truth hasn’t changed. Change is inevitable, I’m sure you are aware of it yourself… how fast things are changing these days.  Just look at social media, just when you think you’ve got the hang of Facebook and Twitter, someone comes up with Pinterest and you’ve got to start learning all over again!

This is just an example of clever people, backed by…

FINALLY back from my holidays… 6 weeks in total… where on earth did September go???  So back to posting business tips for all of you who appreciate a daily morsel of practical business advice.   This one is a goodie and absolutely crucial if you have a team of people around you.

Rituals are the glue that holds the culture of an organisation together.  They are the things that you do together as a team on a regular basis.  The rituals of your company become the elements that give your…

I’m currently looking at my investment portfolio and deciding how much of my wealth I want tied up in businesses… my own and others.  Investing in business is a high risk strategy as so much depends on the people running the business and their understanding of what business really is.  I’m always on my soap box about small business owner operators needing to grasp the basics of what makes their business valuable.  I know what I think, but I wanted to see if other business experts think the…