TODAY! Seminars

How Will You Be Affected By The New Workplace Safety Laws? Post 5 in the series

2012-01-30T07:36:00.003+11:00

We’re still stuck on Officers and their requirement to ensure thehealth and safety of all associated with, or potentially affected by, their organisation.

Here aresome questions you could ask about you, your fellow Officers, your PCBUs andyour workers. Do you have and does everyone:

Ensure all levels of management are aware ofWHS?
Participate in the nomination of executiveswith responsibilities for safety?
Show proactiveleadership in health and safety?
Use hazard and incident reporting systems?
Understand and follow hazard and riskmanagement procedures?
Use established systems for consultation andcommunication with workers?
Monitor and review systems of doing work?
Show effectiveWHS accountability?
Maintain apositive Safety Culture?
Participate in established WHS programs?
Maintain WHSManagement Systems that meet or, preferably, exceed the StandardAS/NZS4801:2001 and comply with all WHS legislative requirements?
Employ therequirements of any Regulation, Standard, Code of Practice, Guidance Notes, industryor system guidelines as a normal way of doing work?
Consider WHSwhen it comes to the issuing of contracts or the purchase of workplaceequipment?
Ensureconfidentiality of any personal WHS issues?
Support theresponsible management of any issue to the full extent of reaching asatisfactory outcome that meets the needs of all parties involved?
Ensure theopen communication of WHS issues?
Participate inthe development of effective WHS Policy?
Set safety as a prominent agenda item atmeetings?
Ensuring thatworkers are trained and actually competent in the roles they perform?
Provide and participate in ongoing trainingthat is generally competency based?
Provide andensure sufficient allocation of resources?

It seems a lot to ask doesn’t it? At the end of the daythough, these are probably the questions you will be asked if ever somethingdoes go wrong.

The answers you and everyone in your organisation give willdetermine any outcome that comes with those answers.

Good health and keep safe out there.

Colin

Do you like this article from MyHealth TODAY! on Mondays: Ideas and issues ongood health and safety? Feel free to share it with your friends also. Or, whynot join us for other articles on my TODAY! Seminars’ Facebook pages on Leadership, SMEBusiness, Good Health, PublicSpeaking, Networkingand LivingLife. Alternatively you can see themon LinkedIn, Ecademy, Twitter or my BlogSpot page or at Google+. This article is copyright to TODAY! Seminars (2011)and cannot be reproduced in any form without written approval of TODAY! Seminars.

How Will Right Pricing Make Your Business More Profitable? Post 5 of the series

2012-01-30T06:52:00.000+11:00

OK, now for the moment of truth – the sales budget. Thebudget that tells you where and when your money should be coming into thebusiness and whether this is enough to cover all your expenses and make youprofitable.

So, how do you create a sales budget?

Well, year one it’s called guess-work. Basically you try andpredict what products will sell in which month and how many of them you willsell.

Year two, reality sets in and you should have someindication from the sales records of year one as a guide (you do keep track ofyour sales on a daily, weekly and/or monthly basis don’t you?).

By year three you should know exactly where your sales arecoming from and when.

There are some businesses that I have worked with that canaccurately track by the day and literally by the hour when sales are coming in.The benefit here is that stock ordering and product delivery is kept to ajust-in-time framework – avoiding overstocking. Also staffing can be accuratelymanaged, avoiding the paying of casual staff for quiet times not busy times. Italso helps manage customer expectation.

So, how do you produce a sales budget?

Like your personal and business expense budgets, divide yourpage into months.

Now, here you can take two different tracks.

One is you can list every product as an individual line itemand predict how many of each you will sell each month.

This works well for business that have a great computersystem that can track a large number of line items and have the staff that canlist and update every product a company sells. For instance, a supermarket mayhave 5,000 to 10,000 individual line items on their shelves. That’s a lot ofwork keeping that list up-to-date. But they do do it. Each and every product,each and every sale is tracked and recorded. They have become so sophisticatedthat they know where and when you buy your products (and you thought thoseloyalty cards were for you?!?)

Alternatively, it works well where you have a business, suchas mine, that only provides a limited number of products or services. It’s easyto track and keep records on.

The other way, where you have a relatively large number ofproducts, is to do a sales budget based on average pricing. What I mean by thisis, instead of listing every product (say Brand A toothpaste 50g, 75g, 120g andBrand B toothpaste 50g, 75g, 120g) you bunch all like products together andaverage the buy and sell prices along with the total number of sales for all ofthose products in your sales budget (in the example above you would just listToothpaste as a line item).

Just bear in mind, this is a sales forecast budget, not astock control register. A stock control register is where you would list andtrack sales of each individual item so as to ensure you have the right stock inthe right place at the right time.

Next, against each product note its “buy” price (a variableexpense to your business) and your “sell” price. (So, what do we call thedifference?)

Once you have done this, just as you did with your otherbudgets, record how many sales you will make of each product on amonth-by-month basis.

Your speadsheet should record the total by buy/supply priceand the total sales income for each product or service you sell on a monthlybasis and give you a total of these variable expenses and sales incomes for thecomplete year for each product and a total for all products across the wholeyear.

What next?

Simply add the variable expenses to your fixed expenses togive you the Total Expenses for your business for the year and subtract thistotal from your Total Sales Income. Hopefully your Sales Income is greater thanyour Total Expenses. That’s called, in simple terms, profit. If not, it’scalled a loss.

You can even take it one step further, divide your TotalSales Income by the number of customers or sales transaction in the year tofind the average sale in dollar terms. Now ask yourself, what if you couldincrease that average sale by say 5% or 10%? You’d either make more money fromthe same number of customers or need fewer customers to make the same turnover.Something to think about.

More to come.

All success.

Colin
Do you like this article from Business TODAY!on Mondays: Ideas for achieving outstanding business success? Feel free toshare it with your friends also. Or, why not join us for other articles on my TODAY! Seminars’ Facebook pages on Leadership, SMEBusiness, Good Health, PublicSpeaking, Networkingand LivingLife. Alternatively you can see themon LinkedIn, Ecademy, Twitter or my BlogSpot page or at Google+. This article is copyright to TODAY! Seminars (2011)and cannot be reproduced in any form without written approval of TODAY! Seminars.

How Will Right Pricing Make Your Business More Profitable? Post 4 of the series

2012-01-30T06:46:00.002+11:00

Here is a question every business owner should know theanswer to: How much EXACTLY does it cost to run your business every year?

From the blank looks of many out there – no I don’t have aspy-cam, I’ve just seen too many blank faces over the years to know they areout there – that’s a question I should be asking your accountant.Unfortunately, your accountant is not running your business – you are.

For those that were able to answer that question – congratulations.

For those that couldn’t, don’t be too concerned. You’reprobably in the majority. And that’s not necessarily a good place to be. In NSWlast year nearly 90,000 small businesses shut shop, never to open their doorsagain. Yes, for many it was a choice for such reasons as retirement, moving,family, illness and death.

Far too many of that 90,000 simply ran out of money. Theywent broke. Either as a start-up that didn’t have enough establishment incometo make it or as an existing business that didn’t have the right amount of cashflow (in and out) to keep their business operating. Or a combination of both.

Another reason is that while the business may have survivedas a business, it simply didn’t provide the personal income to the businessowner and their family required to survive, let-alone live. They were personallybeing sent broke – financially, emotionally, in relationships, physically andhealth wise – by their business.

How can you reduce the risk of this happening to you?

Shock, horror, faint! Budgets!

Yes, budgets.

Why?

Budgets tellyou:

· How much you need to take home each year(personal budget);

· How much you require to establish or expand yourbusiness until such times as your business can run itself (establishment orset-up budget);

· How much you require to keep your doors open(operating budget) and (importantly)

· When and how your sales will occur and theprices you need charge for your products and services (sales budgets).

Personal Budgets

How much do you need to be payed each year from yourbusiness to survive and to live a comfortable life? These are two differentbudgets. Your survival budget is the bare minimum your business needs to giveyou – no frills, no holidays. Your living budget includes all those extras thatmake your life enjoyable.

If you were working for an employer you would demand aminimum income to work for them. You should treat yourself as an employee ofyour own business – even if you are a sole trader and not a company.

I know some accountants will argue against this, but Ibelieve that even as a sole trader (where the total net profit of the businessis considered as personal income for tax purposes), the income you need togenerate should be included as a fixed expense to the business when it comes tobudgets – just like any other wages you have to pay. After all, how can youaccurately forecast the sales income needed to cover your personal expenses ifyou don’t? Or are you going to just hope that you make enough profit?

If your business does not pay you a wage than how will youpersonally survive?

It is so simple to do. If you can use Excel or a pen andpaper, than you can do a personal budget.

On a page with the 12 months listed in columns, listeverywhere where and by how much you spend your money month by month. List yourspending in the month you spend it, not annotate spending across a twelve monthperiod. For instance, if the $600 car rego is due in June, put the full $600 asa payment in June, not as $50 per month over the full 12 months.

This way you can determine which are the heavy paymentmonths for you. Chances are though is that your business income may notnecessarily match when you need the money personally. So, with a budget you canprepare for this and maybe, as a suggestion, have the money set aside just forthat purpose.

By-the-way, list everything you spend your money onpersonally. After all, this is your budget, nobody else’s. If going to thelocal club and investing $50 a Saturday night is an important part of yourlife, add it in. Don’t forget birthday (and anniversary) presents etc.

Start here and then look at set-up costs.

Set-up or Establishment costs.

This is a really easy one (not necessarily simple). List everything you need to spendmoney on just to get your business open and to the point where it is selfsustaining. Fit-out, licences, insurances, equipment, advertising, wages –the list goes on-and-on.

And here is the really important – probably THE mostimportant – inclusion. How much will you need to have set-aside to cover yourpersonal costs and the running costs of the business until such a time as yourbusiness reaches break-even point or can sustain itself. This is part of yourset-up costs, not just your fixed expenses costs.

Just because you register a business name and open yourdoors for business does not mean you will earn enough to cover all costs. Therewill be a delay between when you open your business and it is totally grown upand looking after itself. Until then the money to pay for the running of thebusiness needs to come from somewhere. Now, where that is depends on you andyour resources.

Expanding a business. Than the process is no different. Anexpansion is almost like a new business. There may be added expenses to start,followed by a period of delay before the return on your investment is reached.

That’s why this budget is important.

Fixed Expenses or Running Budget

This is the last budget for this post (we’ll look at thesales budget separately). This is simple. It’s the same as your personalbudget, just for the business not you.

List all expenses, month-by-month for the whole year.Include everything.

Like your personal budget, your business running budgetoutgoings will not necessarily match-up with the sales income on a monthlybasis. But at least you’ll be able to plan for that now.

More soon.

All success

Colin

Do you like this article from Business TODAY!on Mondays: Ideas for achieving outstanding business success? Feel free toshare it with your friends also. Or, why not join us for other articles on my TODAY! Seminars’ Facebook pages on Leadership, SMEBusiness, Good Health, PublicSpeaking, Networkingand LivingLife. Alternatively you can see themon LinkedIn, Ecademy, Twitter or my BlogSpot page or at Google+. This article is copyright to TODAY! Seminars (2011)and cannot be reproduced in any form without written approval of TODAY! Seminars.

How Will Right Pricing Make Your Business More Profitable? Post 3 of the series

2012-01-29T11:44:00.002+11:00

Back again. In the previous post I showed how just placing asimple margin on your products and services may actually be leading you to aloss over the year. Simply because the money coming in wasn’t enough to coverthe money going out – despite what many businesses would consider a good cashflow (in) situation.

The question I am often asked is which is better, cuttingcosts or increasing prices.

Let’s look at these.

Cutting fixed costs. Even major corporates oftenjump quickly to cutting costs as a means to raising profit margins. Every CFOseems to love less going out. Even stock holders think decreasing fixed costsas a bonus for a business. You only have to see how quickly stock prices jumpwhenever a company announces that they are “down-sizing”, “right-sizing”,“making redundant” or in simple terms, sacking people!

But this can be such a shortsighted view of the world. Yes, where possible, decrease costs throughefficiencies. But go beyond the point of efficiency and you could have adetrimental effect on your long-term business prospects.

Say you cut back on advertising.Will this reduce the number of people coming into your business? Will customersthink you are going out or have gone out of business? Will you lose being“front-of-mind”, inadvertently raising the profile of your opposition?

Say you cut back on staff. Whataffect will this have on customer service? Will customers become frustrated andleave because they can never be served? Will staff turnover increase, addingextra costs to your business as you advertise for new staff? And with staffturnover will you suffer from the loss of ingrained knowledge and expertise –affecting your customers even more?

Or, you turn off 10% of thelights in your store as you try to reduce your electricity costs. Suddenly youbecome that little bit dingy and unattractive and customers no longer enjoy theexperience.
Yes, it’s easy to cut back onfixed expenses. But will it cost you more than it’s worth? Simply think and askyourself this question, “What impact will this have on my customers, on mysales, on my service delivery, on my long-term bottom line?”

A simple cut beyond efficiencycould be the biggest mistake you could make.

Reducing variable expenses. If you can reducethe cost to you of purchasing the products you do, great! But what if this meansyou buy a “cheaper” product that is almost the same as your currentquality product, will this lead to loss of customers as they now perceive yourproducts to be below the quality they expect from you?

Does it mean you cut back on thesize of your product or extend the time it takes to deliver a service? And, ifso, what impact will this have on customer satisfaction and referrals?

You may be able to negotiate withyour suppliers about bulk rates or loyalty discounts or supply-on-demand ordirect-to-customer (where products are sent by the manufacturer direct to thecustomer – reducing the overall costs while maintaining margins) pricingstructures.

Overall, while cutting back on costs can have a positiveeffect, cutting back on the fundamental essentials may have a greater negativeeffect, especially if it means you lose the segment of your market youshouldn’t be losing.

Often in business we refer to the 80/20 rule; 80% of yourincome will come from just 20% of your customers. Conversely, businesses willgenerally spend 80% of their time chasing the 80% of the customers who givethem just 20% of their income.

So, before considering any major change in products,services and “brand”, consider first what impact those changes will have onyour 80% income customers? Losing 5% of your top customers will have a greatereffect on your business than losing 10% of your low-end customers.

Using our example in first post, to break even this businesshas a turnover of 73,000 items at $15 which equals $1,095,000.

80% of that turnover from 20% of your customers equals58,400 items or $876,000. That leaves the 14,600 items or $219,000 from the 80%.

A 5% loss of sales at the top end equates to $43,800 decreasewhile a 10% loss of sales at the bottom end equates to just $21,900 decrease.Sure, neither is pleasant outcome, it is just that one is less pleasant thanthe other. Besides, what if you were able to increase your top-end sales byjust 2.5%? Revenue neutral!

As a business owner you have the choice of what customersyou attract to your business. The question comes down to exactly what will youdo to attract those right customers to buy from you?

And that’s a story foranother day.

Suffice to say, if you look at who your opposition areattracting to their business, ask yourself this question, “Are they thecustomers you want in your business and will they pay the prices you set forthe products, service and customer service you deliver?”

Sometimes the best thing a business can do is lose customersthat cost them more in the long run.

After all, your opposition may have the right customers fortheir business, not yours!

All success.

Colin

How Will Right Pricing Make Your Business More Profitable? Post 2 of the series

2012-01-29T11:39:00.000+11:00

Another reason why businesses don’t Right Price is they lookat their opposition and believe that their prices MUST be lower than theiropposition. The trouble with this approach is several fold. For instance:

Is your opposition pricing their products so thatthey actually make a profit anyway?
Are you targeting the exact same customers asyour opposition?
Will you provide better services and productsthan your opposition? and
Are you going to be the same as your oppositionor are you going to be outstanding?

We’ll just touch on one of them today.

Is your opposition pricing their productsso that they actually make a profit anyway?

You buy a product for $10 and sell it for $20 – you’ve madea profit haven’t you? Many business owners would tell me, “Yes”.

Trick question! The real answer is “yes” and “no”. Yes, theyhave made a profit on that one sale. But they may not have made a profit intheir business. Confused? Let me explain.

Every business has what are called “fixed expenses”. Theseare the expenses directly related to keeping the business open and do notrelate to, or are affected by, the number of products and services sold duringthe year. This includes things like rent, wages, advertising, insurance etc.etc..

Let’s say that it costs you $365,000 a year just to keep thedoors of your business open. If you sell no products you still have to pay outthis $365,000 (at this rate it won’t be for long mind you). If you sell amillion of your products you will still pay out $365,000 in fixed expenses.

The cost of actually selling a product or service is calleda “variable” expense. These only occur when we actually sell a product orservice and are in addition to our fixed expenses. Sell no products orservices, no variable expenses. Sell a million products or services, wellthat’s a million times the cost of that product or service in additionalexpenses to the business.

Here is an example of the difference between the twoexpenses. Let’s say you pay a salary and a bonus on all sales to your staff.The salary would be a fixed expense (paid no matter how much they sell) and thebonus would be a variable expense (only paid when a sale is made).

Another example would be petrol and the cost of running acar. I allocate a certain amount of budget every year to the general running ofthe car – for things like visiting clients for relationship building purposes,attending meetings etc.. This is a fixed expense. A variable expense for me isthe additional petrol it costs whenever I am paid to deliver a workshop for oneof my clients. This is a variable cost because the only time I need thisadditional petrol is when I sell a training workshop and I have to travel to thatpaid workshop.

You probably get it by now.

The difference between what I buy a product or the cost ofdelivering a service and what I sell it for is called Margin. The amount ofmargin left over from each sale is what you use to pay your fixed expenses.

Take the expenses and prices above.

It costs $365,000 a year in fixed expenses. I buy my productsfor $10 and sell them for $15. Let’s say I sell 70,000 of these products eachyear. That gives me total sales of $1,050,000. Not bad turnover for the year. Imust be profitable with that amount of turnover – mustn’t I?

Sales = $1,050,000

Cost of those sales (variableexpenses) = $700,000

Margin = $350,000

Fixed expenses = $365,000

End of year result = $15,000loss.

What if this is your opposition’s position and they aren’taware of what’s happening in their business and simply believe in putting a simplemargin on their products? In this case they’d be going broke – only slowly. So,if I see the price my opposition are charging, say the $15 and I decide toundercut them by just 50 cents, I would be a further $35,000 worse off thanthem if all else was the same. They’d probably think they were successful asthey watched me disappear from the scene.

Who’d think 50 cents would make such a big difference?

To solve this problem I can do several things. I couldreduce my fixed expenses or variable or both. I could increase the number ofsales or customers. I could increase prices. I could Right Price. Or I could donothing and slowly go broke.

I will address some of these in later posts. But right now,how many extra sales would I need to make to break even in this example ofselling at $15?

No, not 1,000 sales, even though my turnover has increasedby $15,000. I’d still be $10,000 in the red (because of an extra $10,000 invariable costs).

I would actually need to sell another 3,000 items just tobreak even.

Total sales: 73,000 items at $15 =$1,095,000

Total cost of sales = $730,000

Margin = $365,000

Fixed expenses = $365,000

Net Profit = $0

In this case, you would have to sell 73,001 items in a yearto make a profit of $5 for that whole year! At least your tax bill wouldn’t bethat big.

Now, of course, this is all put in very simple terms. Theremay be additional cost involved in getting those extra sales through the dooror savings because of increased stock purchases etc.. But enough for now.

We’ll go even further in future posts.

For now, all success.

Colin.

How Will Right Pricing Make Your Business More Profitable? Post 1 of the series

2012-01-29T11:34:00.000+11:00

Over the years I have seen far too many businessesstruggling to maintain, or even achieve, a reasonable level of profits in theirbusiness – often because they are not selling enough products at the Right Priceto the right customers to make the right profit.

I’ve have even seen businesses price their services knowingthey were making a loss on that contract or sale, in the belief that they willpick up more business as a result of “going in low”. Trouble is, an expectationonce set is an expectation that must always be met.

I have seen even more businesses just pricing their productsat a set margin, either a percentage or dollar value, that sometimes is notenough to produce the income they need to cover all the costs of running abusiness.

In my “Business Basics” and “Pricing For Profit” workshops Italk about “Right Pricing” – the willingness to price the products or serviceswe sell in our businesses at the price they should be sold, rather than justselling them at a price that our opposition sell theirs.

While initially this may cause concern in those attendingthese workshops, this changes as these business owners see the light, so tospeak.

What business owners want to know is how do they RightPrice to make a profit – or better still – a profit that will actually allowthem to enjoy the life they always planned to have when they first startedtheir business.

In this post, which will have to be a series of postsbecause of the concepts involved, I’ll simply address one of the issues we facein pricing.

Future posts will address more issues and their solutions.

Why don’t businesses Right Price?
I’ve found that often business people are fearful of pricingtheir products differently to their opposition because it is often believed –wrongly – that pricing is THE major consideration by customers when purchasing.While pricing is an important consideration, it would be true to say that it isRight Pricing – the price equal to what the customer is willing to pay for thequality of the service or product being purchased – that is a greaterconsideration.

Everyone will buy the best product or service they can – forthe price they are willing to pay.

The right customer for your product or service will pay nomore than they consider that product or service to be worth to them.

A business that assumes that everyone is interested in onlythe lowest price model will invariably position themselves to only service thelowest paying customer. A business that markets the Right Pricing will find theright customers willing to pay the Right Price – even if it is higher thaneveryone else in town.

Customers will pay more when they perceive that what theyare receiving is worth more.

Customers will pay less when they perceive that what theyare receiving is worth less.

And they won’t be tricked into believing they should payheaps for a lousy product or service!

A quick example. I can go to my local world-wide fast foodchain and buy their food deal for under $10.00. What do I get for myinvestment? A meat pattie of varied description, a bread bun, a bit of lettuce,some cheese slice thingy, a bit of tomato, sauce, a party hat of fries and cupfull of ice with a little bit of drink. It’s basic. It’s quick. It’sconvenient. There is no table service or crisp linen tablecloths. I might get atray with a paper serviette if I’m lucky. Does it work? Well everyday millionsof customers pay their price for this quick alternative to food.

Then there are those people who will pay well in excess of$150 for a meal. And what do they get for their investment. A bit of meat withjuz (really snobby gravy!) drizzled over the top on a blob of mashed-potato-with-a-fancy-name,a couple of pieces of under-cooked looking vegetables that are hardly enough tofill a baby’s stomach. And the drink costs extra!

So, why would anyone pay so much – especially when thewholesale price may not that much different – definitely not $140 different – betweenthe two lots of food?

And, if price is the only determinant, why doesanyone pay that $140 more for their food than others? Wouldn’t everyone onlybuy the cheapest?

No! People will pay that much more because they can. Theywill pay for the name of the chef. They will pay for the ambience. They willpay people with the knowledge to explain the food and wine. They pay so muchmore because of one little “big” thing – the whole experience that comes withthe food.

Equally important, they will even refuse to pay for ANY OFIT if the wait-staff upset their experience.

People will pay more for an experience that makes them feelspecial and adds value to their experience. People will pay far less for anexperience that makes them feel, well, ordinary – nothing that special.

So to begin the Right Price journey you have to understandwho your customer is, why they use your products or services, why they don’tuse your opposition, what value propositions drive them and what aspirationalemotions do they want to fulfil.

All Success

Colin

How Will You Make Your Network Business A Success This Year? Post 4 in the series

2012-01-27T07:54:00.000+11:00

Well, now you know how to calculate the number of people,products, appointments and contacts you need to make in order to achieve acertain target. But we never got around to deciding exactly what that somethingwas.

You’ve probably attended a hundred sessions on “goalsetting” – and that’s just this week!

I findsetting targets easy. For me it comes down to a few very simple questions:

1) What would I like to achieve in the next 5 to 10years?

2) What would I like to achieve in the 3 to 5years?

3) What would I like to achieve in the next 2 to 3years?

4) What would I like to achieve in the next 12 months?

5) What would I like to achieve in the next month?

6) What would I like to achieve in the next week?

You couldkeep it as simple as that. Alternatively, you could become even more focused byasking those questions in each of the 6 following categories:

1) My spheres of influence;

2) Health;

3) Security;

4) Personal;

5) Family;

6) My business.

Permit me to explain these.

Spheres of Influence: This area looks at those relationships we have in our lives and coversall those people outside of our family, who we deal with on a day-to-day basis.This could include our friends, associates, colleagues, bosses, authorities,club members, etc.

Health Thisarea looks at our physical, mental andemotional health..

Security: Security encompasses more than just the dollars we have in the bank. Itincludes our career, our work, our possessions, security, values, needs andwants..

Personal: This area addresses how we view our inner self. It includes such thingsas our spiritual belief, our self-belief or self-esteem.

Family: Thisheading covers those who are close to us and whom we would classify as family.These may be parents, spouses, children or extremely close friends. Those weshare our most intimate times with.

My Business: I think this is self-evident.

Asking these questions gives you a balanced approach tolife. One where every area receives equal focus, not just toady, but for along, long time.

Now, we go back one post and after determining exactly whatit would cost to achieve the things you want in each of those timeframes and,using the formula, calculate exactly what it is that you now need to do incontacts, business plans, sponsored people, active business builders andproduct turnover to make each of those dreams a reality.

Then it’s up to you. You either do it, apply the actionsneeded, or you don’t.

It’s that simple! It’s a choice! And you are responsible forthe choices you make!

On a regular basis review your results and your requiredactions. And just do it (or not)!

Ok, you may find you have to talk to more people than youplanned. Decide – do it or not!

You need to work harder than you thought you would inspiringothers to believe in themselves. Decide – do it or not!

You have to spend more hours each week actively working yourbusiness. Decide – do it or not!

You have to attend a conference or ten or attend trainingsessions. Decide – do it or not!

If you do it – great! If you don’t do it – great! It’ssimply your choice!

It’s all about choices. It’s all about responsibility. It’sabout commitment to a dream. Your dream.

Make A Difference – TODAY!

Colin

Do you like this article from Networking TODAY! on Fridays: Thoughts and ideas onbuilding an outstanding networking business? Feel free to share it with yourfriends also. Or, why not join us for other articles on my TODAY! Seminars’ Facebook pages on Leadership, SMEBusiness, Good Health, PublicSpeaking, Networkingand LivingLife. Alternatively you can see themon LinkedIn, Ecademy, Twitter or my BlogSpot page or at Google+. This article is copyright to TODAY! Seminars (2011)and cannot be reproduced in any form without written approval of TODAY! Seminars.

How Will You Make Your Network Business A Success This Year? Post 3 in the series

2012-01-27T07:51:00.002+11:00

Let’s talk money!

Do I love money? No!

Do I love what money can do for me? Yes!

As crass as that may sound, I raise this issue as I haveoften found that people have an aversion to money. They don’t want to talk topeople about potential income, they get frightened off by the talk of incomesthat are out of the ordinary, well above the average income people in jobs“enjoy” – the types of incomes I knowpeople across a range of networking companies enjoy.

Money does not excite me. I have been in vaults wheremillions of dollars were stored – and it did not excite me. It was just money.

Nor was money, I found, evil. The millions in those vaultsdid not attack me or induce me with evil thoughts ….. although!

No! Money is just a tool, a medium of exchange, that allowsme to pursue the things in life that are important to me. In this worldwe have exchanged one form of payment for one service or product supplied sinceman first communicated. A shell would be exchanged for a fish. A pig exchangedfor crops. Coins for drink. Wages for labour.

In all societies, across all ages money, or the equivalentof money, has been used to purchase those necessities and the better things inlife.

In our society it is the dollar. Want to buy a home – you’llneed about 600,000 of those dollars. Want a new car – maybe 36,000 of thosedollars. Feed a starving child in Africa – maybe a 1,000 of those dollars.Eradicate polio from the world (such as Rotary and the Gates Foundation areworking towards) – tens of millions of those dollars.

So why are people so put off by all this talk about money?

The nitty-gritty of this post is to have you thinking aboutmoney – and how much of it you will need in order to make real the dreams, theneeds, the wants of your life in the next 12 months.

Let’s say you do want that new car and, just for the sake ofit, it will cost you $36,000. What you now have is (a) a dream – the car and(b) a tangible target to aim for as income – the $36,000. Even those companiesthat incentivise with a car have dollar targets to reach first.

Now it becomes a simple matter of mathematics to work outhow many people you need in your business, doing what volume of sales in orderthat you receive that $36,000 in bonuses into your account. This is a tangibletarget to aim for.

Once you know how many people and the volume of turnover youneed in your business you can than work out how manyplans/meetings/appointments/sales you have to conduct/attend/lead in order toacquire that number of people.

Networking is the simplest business I know of. Note, Ididn’t say easy. There is a difference.

It is simple in that to achieve any level of income all youneed to do is introduce enough people doing enough purchases to achieve thevolume of turnover that gets paid a certain bonus percentage.

The more people you have – the greater your income. The lesspeople – the less income. No people – no income.

Let’s put this in practical terms. Take the car. We need $36,000in the year. Let’s say your company pays an average of 10% bonuses (I know yourcompany pays more than that, but I’m not into who pays more than who in the zoo– it’s just that my old brain can work easily with 10% that’s all).

Well to have an income of $36,000 means my business needs togenerate a turnover of $360,000 in the year. That’s $3,000 per month – atangible target to achieve.

Now let’s say your average “active” business associate placesan order for $150 per month. That means you need to have 20 “active” associatesordering each month to make the $3,000 turnover. Now you probably see why Iasked all of those questions in the first post. How many active businessassociates do you have in your downline? Now, based on your target of $3,000pm,how many more do you need?

You now have a sponsorship target for the year. In this caselet’s say you have 5 active associates. That means you need to “find” 15 morein your downline. You can do that in two ways. One is to target 15 “inactive”downline, find out what their dreams are and bring them up to speed. Secondlyyou could work to introduce those 15 into your business (another tangibletarget to aim for).

But of course, not everyone you show your business plan towill join (oh, if only it were that easy I hear you say!). Well, based on your real success rate, say 1in 5, how many business plans would you need to show in the next 12 months? So,if you need 15 and you are successful every 4 plans, that means you need toshow the plan 60 times in the next 12 months – just over 1 per week.

One more step and we are done with the planning. How manypeople do you need to talk to in order to generate 60 plans in the year? Well,if your average is that for every 10 people you talk to you get to show oneplan, that means that in this case you would need to talk to 600 people – yourfinal tangible target for the year.

We now know that we need to talk with 600 people in order toshow 60 plans in order to introduce 15 active associates in order to increaseyour monthly turnover of $3,000 in order to generate $36,000 in income just sothat you can reward yourself with your brand new car.

Of course, this is just an example and you have a whole teamto work with, not just yourself. So don’t think you have to do all of this onyour own. That’s the power of leverage.

But the formula for success, which this post is about,allows you to set targets that are real and that are aimed to give you as muchcertainty as can be given of success.

So, what are your dreams and what are the dreams of yourteam? Apply the formula and you have something to work for.

Make A Difference – TODAY!

Colin

How Will You Make Your Network Business A Success This Year? Post 2 in the series

2012-01-27T07:48:00.004+11:00

Why?

Why are you doing what you are doing? Let’s face it, mostlikely if you are starting or building a business in networking, than you areprobably working in another job or have other day-to-day commitments to contendwith on top of building your business.

Unlike a traditional business, where you put in a hugeup-front investment in order to create a fulltime replacement for a job withsomeone else, most networkers do their normal day activities and then, in theirspare time, take on building what many call their “freedom” business.

That means that in those times where the normal population is,say, watching TV, going out to activities and running on treadmills, you areout there talking to people about products, about dreams and about opportunity.Well, you will be if you are actively building a business to the point whereyou have a permanent, and passive, income being generated by your networkingbusiness.

I guess you just didn’t jump out of bed one day and shout tothe world that you wanted to work 8 to 10 hours a day in your normal job andanother 3 to 4 hours a day building a business – just because!

No, I suspect that someone sold you a dream.

A dream that by building the business you are in, with thecompany you are with, you would receive enough income to do the things that areimportant to you. You found a reason to do something normal people wouldreject.

What was that reason?

The purpose of asking that question at this time of the yearis that I’ve found that, whether it be in a traditional business or anetworking business, in the busy-ness of life, or after a year where theresults maybe didn’t reflect what you set out to achieve, we easily forget whywe set out to do the things we are doing. And it is important to know why!Because without a why, there is no reason to do the extra-ordinary things wedo. And that is when people give up.

Also it’s important to ask that question because, like manythings in life, things change. Circumstances change. People change.Relationships change. Needs change. Health changes. Jobs, careers, prospectschange.

By reviewing your reason why you are giving yourself anopportunity to renew your relationship with that reason why or create a newsense of destiny by not clinging to an out-dated motivation.

So, early on in the year, what is your why for 2012?

Make A Difference – TODAY!

Colin

How Will You Make Your Network Business A Success This Year? Post 1 in the series

2012-01-27T07:46:00.001+11:00

Well another year of amazing business growth is about to start.Are you ready for it?

As someone involved in network marketing, you have probablyheard the phrase, “If you fail to plan than you are planning to fail”. ThanksDr Schuller! (One amazing man who has written a wonderful collection of booksthat everyone who wants to have an outstanding business and life should read).

But, before the planning must come the review. Why?

The review of where your business is at right here, rightnow, TODAY! is merely a reflection of the activity you put into your businessover the past 12 to 18 months. It is no good saying that you want this or thisor that from your business if you have never taken the time to analyse how youhave got to where you are; what works and what doesn’t; what activity was orwasn’t done; what contacts were or weren’t made; what functions were or weren’tattended etc.

It is no good because, without an honest review we could besetting off on the path of sameness. Doing the same things this next year as wedid the last one. Great if what you are doing is working as best as you want.Lousy if your expectations have fallen short of the results.

So, in this first post of 2012 it’s review time. The answersyou give are the honest ones you make to you. No sense in kidding yourself –unless of course you don’t really want things to be different or better. Itdoesn’t matter if you are part of Company A or Company B or Z. The premise ofsuccess in all network marketing companies is activity. Do the activity and youwill get the results.

This is whatI call Your Business Health Check:

· How many people are there in my business?

· How many people are personally sponsored by me?

· How many active Business Builders in my downline– people sponsoring and buying products?

· How many people have I personally sponsored inlast 12 months?

· How many plans did I show last year?

· How many people did I approach last year?

· How many people do I have on my list of names tocontact?

· How many of my business associates order theBook of the Month?

· How many of my business associates order the CDof the Month?

· How often do I meet with my team?

· How often do I personally go Dream Building?

· Do I know the dreams/ targets of my BusinessBuilders for this year?

· Do I chart who is doing what in my business?

· How often do I take my team Dream Building?

· How often do I follow up on retail customers?

· How many retail customers do I have?

· How many of my business associates attend AnnualConferences?

· How many of my business associates attendMonthly Meetings?

· Is my partner actively involved in thisbusiness?

· When showing the Business/Marketing Plan do Ishow it to both people if a couple?

· Do I actually know how to show my company’s Business/MarketingPlan?

· How many non-sales business appointments do Ihave in next 2 weeks?

· How would I rate my business on a scale of“hobby” – “mainly retail” – “mainly wholesale” – “occasional business building”– “part time business building” – “full-time business building”?

· How strong would I say my business is on a scaleof 0 (weakest) to 10 (strongest)?

· Am I happy with the strength of my business:“yes” or “no”?

· How committed have I been to my business in last12 months: “little” – “somewhat” – “fully”?

· How committed am I to growing my business in thenext 12 months: “little” – “somewhat” – “fully”?

· How committed am I to making my dreams a realityin the next 12 months: “little” – “somewhat” – “fully”

Revealing was it?

Of course, the obvious questions that role from your answersto those ones above are: “what do you want to be different in 2012?” and “whatdo you have to do differently in order to make those changes a reality in your businessin 2012?”

Make A Difference – TODAY!

Colin

How Will You Be Affected By The New Workplace Safety Laws? Post 4

2012-01-26T13:35:00.001+11:00

So, what are the responsibilities of Officers under the WHS Act.

Well, to put it simply, Officers must display all Due Diligence inensuring that workplaces are safe and care for the health of all workers whileat work and all others who may be affected by what happens in the workplace byensuring the PCBU complies with all aspects of the WHS Act.

Oh, and ignorance of what happens, doesn’t happen or could happento affect the health and safety of all those people in the workplace is notacceptable under the Act. Nor is the excuse, “I employ people to do that forme”.

Simply put, the buck stops here!

That means that, like PCBUs, Officers must be proactive abouthealth and safety. If you’re not than heavy fines will be applied.

For instance, and we’ll cover off penalties in later blogs, wherean Officer “recklessly” allows a breach to occur in the workplace that couldhave, not necessarily did, lead toserious injury or death than that Officer faces up to a $600,000 penalty and/or5 years imprisonment. That’s the personal penalty, not the one levied againstthe company as well!

Now that Ihave your attention, besides being a proactive person on health and safety,what does the WHS Act consider as being due diligence?

· Acquiring and keeping up-to-date on your knowledge of workhealth and safety matters

· Gaining an understanding of the nature of the operations of the business orundertaking of the person conducting the business or undertaking and generallyof the hazardsand risks associated with those operations;

· Ensuring that the PCBU has available for use,and does use, appropriateresources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks to health andsafety from work carried out as part of the conduct of the business orundertaking;

· Ensuring that the PCBU has, and actuallyimplements, processesfor complying with any duty or obligation of the person conducting thebusiness or undertaking under the WHS Act; and

· Verifying that the actual provision and use of the resources andprocesses referred to above takes place;

· Reporting notifiable incidents;

· Consulting with workers;

· Ensuring compliance with any notices issuedunder this Act;

· Ensuring the provision of adequate trainingand instruction to workers about work health and safety;

· Ensuring that health and safetyrepresentatives receive their entitlements to training and are allowed tofreely, without ramifications, perform their duties under the Act.

Notice, nowhere is “delegation” mentioned. Everything in the WHS Act is directed to everyone at all levels ofan organisation being responsible for health and safety.

An Officer is obliged to be knowledgeable. They are required toknow what is going on and that processes, procedures and systems are in placeto ensure that no health and safety issue is ignored. It requires you to becurrent with the law and changes in Regulations.

How you do that is up to you; that is one thing the Act does notprescribe. But bear in mind, this is not a do once and forget action. It isongoing. It is about creating a culture in an organisation where health andsafety is seen as important and positive. Not a constraint to trade or animpost designed by some bureaucrat with nothing better to do on a Fridaymorning.

Implementing safety as a culture can save your business money inreduced insurance premiums, higher productivity, increased retention ofvaluable staff and proprietary knowledge, better and consistent customerservice and satisfaction as customers know they’ll deal with the same personall the time and, overall, a feeling that the people who work here actuallycare about each other.

There is nothing worse than being an Officer on whose watch anorganisation loses a colleague due to a workplace incident; be it loss of lifeor permanent injury. The financial penalty is short term next to the long termknowledge that something we did – or didn’t do – caused a family to losesomeone they love and care about.

Good health and keep safe out there.

Colin

Do you like this article from MyHealthTODAY! on Mondays: Ideas and issues on good health and safety?Feel free to share it with your friends also. Or, why not join us on some of TODAY!Seminars’other Facebook pages on Leadership, Small Business, Public Speaking, Networkingand Living Life? This article iscopyright to TODAY! Seminars (2011) and cannot be reproduced in any formwithout written approval of TODAY! Seminars.

How Will You Be Affected By The New Workplace Safety Laws? Post 3

2012-01-26T13:33:00.000+11:00

Let’s get to some of the nitty gritty.

Officers andPersons Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) have a requirement underthe Work Health and Safety Act (WHS) 2011 and the Work Health and SafetyRegulations 2011 to ensure that, while the workers are at workand, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of:

· All workers engaged, or caused to beengaged by the person; and

· All workers whose activities in carryingout work are influenced or directed by the person; and

· That the health and safety of otherpersons is not put at risk from work carried out as part of the conductof the business or undertaking.

What does the term “ReasonablyPracticable” mean?

Reasonably practicable is defined asthat which is, or was, reasonably able to be done in ensuring overall workplacehealth and safety, taking into accountall relevant matters including:

· The risk (likelihood and consequence);

· What the person knows or shouldknow about the hazard or risk and ways in which they can be eliminated orminimised;

· Risk Controls (availability andsuitability); and

· The cost associated with available ways ofeliminating or minimising the risk, including whether the cost is grosslydisproportionate to the risk.

It is important here to understand that the Act clearly eliminates theexcuse, “I didn’t know what was going on” as a reason for not acting on healthand safety issues. That means that all PCBUs must be proactive in health andsafety in their workplace.

So what would the WHS Act consider as the very basics of reasonablypracticable? According to the Regulations it is:

· The provision andmaintenance of a work environment without risks to health and safety; and

· The provision andmaintenance of safe plant and structures; and

· The provision andmaintenance of safe systems of work; and

· The safe use, handlingand storage of plant, structures and substances; and

· The provision ofadequate facilities for the welfare at work of workers in carrying out work forthe business or undertaking, including ensuring access to those facilities; and

· The provision of anyinformation, training, instruction or supervision that is necessary to protectall persons from risks to their health and safety arising from work carried outas part of the conduct of the business or undertaking; and

· That the health ofworkers and the conditions at the workplace are monitored for the purpose ofpreventing illness or injury ofworkers arising from the conduct of the business or undertaking.

We’ll look at the responsibility of workers under the Act andcover the penalties for non-compliance in the next few posts.

But before then, we’ll look at the responsibilities of Officersunder the WHS Act.

Good health and keep safe out there.

Colin

How Will You Be Affected By The New Workplace Safety Laws? Post 2

2012-01-26T13:29:00.003+11:00

To get you prepared for the new legislation, here are somedefinitions that relate directly to the responsibilities that people have inthe workplace for maintaining a safe and healthy environment.

The termEmployer has been broken into two descriptions in order to give greatercoverage of those responsible for safety. The two new terms are:

· Officers; and

· Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking(PCBU).

Officersare those considered under the Corporations Act to be in a position to:

· Have a significant effect on theorganisations financial standing;

· Make, or participate in making, decisions thataffect the whole or a substantial part of the business ofthe organisation;

· Issue instructions or wishes that directors ofthe corporation are accustomed to act upon; and/or

· Act as a Director or Secretary of theorganisation.

A PersonConducting a Business or Undertaking is classified as a such peoplewith the responsibility for/of/as:

· A businesses (incorporated or unincorporated);

· A Partnership; or

· A sole trader

· Managing or controlling the workplace;

· Managing or controlling fixtures fittings orplant at the workplace;

· Managing, controlling, installing, constructingand/or commissioning plant or structures;

· Designers;

· Manufacturers;

· Suppliers;

· Importers;

· Volunteer associations where worker(s) areemployed.

Volunteer organisations that do not employ a worker orworkers are not classified as a PCBU. An example of this would be a netballclub where everyone volunteers their time and effort to run the activities ofthe club.
Alternatively, a swim club that employs a coach would becovered.
The term Employee has now been reclassified as Workers.

Workersinclude:

· Employees;

· Contractors;

· Sub-contractors;

· Those on work experience;

· Labour hire employees/ contactors,

· Trainees; and

· Volunteers.

This definition now covers those who are paid or unpaid inthe delivery of work or a service. This definition could greatly affect manyorganisations out there that didn’t provide safety training for theirvolunteers or work experience students.
It has been stated that this may mean that such things asWhite Cards (construction site safety compliance induction cards) may be anecessary requirement for some volunteer and student workers on constructionsites and workplace inductions for all.
Another definition is Others. This covers visitors,customers, patients, students etc. on a site.

Some states already have Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) and you may be familiarwith their role. For other states this is a new concept and for the ACT it’ssimply a change of name.
The role of the HSR is to act as a consultative interfacebetween the workers in a workplace or section of the workplace and the PCBUs.Their role is to primarily recognise, report and recommend compliance actionsand review the application of any reasonable and practical actions taken by thePCBU to reduce or eliminate any hazards in the workplace.

There are requirements for the appointment of an HSR thatevery PCBU and Officer of an organisation should make themselves aware of.

And finally, for today at least, there are Workplace SafetyCommittees, whose responsibility is to review, recommend and act upon safetyissues in the workplace. Again there are criteria that must be met for theinstigation of a Workplace Safety Committee.
Good health and keep safe out there.

Colin

How Will You Be Affected By The New Workplace Safety Laws? Post 1

2012-01-26T13:21:00.001+11:00

Happy and safe New Year. On January1^st, 2012, the Australian Government introduced new, nationallybinding, workplace health and safety laws that are aimed at bringing intoharmony (hence the term Harmonisation) the gaggle of existing workplace safetylaws across the different states, territories and other jurisdictions.

This may have a major impact on theway many businesses, companies, organisations, boards, directors, businessowners, contractors, workers and even volunteers approach safety in theworkplace.

Over the coming weeks we’ll look athow the laws apply in today’s workforce and the implications to businesses andindividuals for failing to comply with this new legislation.

But why have workplace safety lawsanyway?

It must be true to say that everyperson who goes to work at the beginning of their day deserves to go home tothose who love and care for them at the end of that day in the same (or as Isay often in a better) condition they went to work (oh, those hangovers!).

Notice, I don’t say employees? Idon’t say management. I don’t say public. I say everyone.

And yet every year 250 to 300 peoplein Australia go to work and don’t make it home.

Every year 5,000 to 8,000 people diebecause of long term, work related health issues. For instance, mesothelioma isjust one of those long term killers.

In addition tens of thousands ofpeople suffer long term, chronic disease or injury that affects their abilityto carry on working – affecting their ability to earn a reasonable income andto enjoy a reasonable lifestyle.

Roughly 600,000 injuries arereported every year in the workplace.

But it’s OK. After all, who caresabout safety!?! I have even been to workplaces where the staff weren’t toldthat I would be conducting workplace safety training, that it was a teammeeting they were required to attend; simply because no-one would come if theyknew what was planned.

After all, safety – YOUR safety – inthe workplace only affects you when things go wrong. Until then there isnothing to worry about is there?

It is unfortunate that we have tohave laws to keep us safe at work. For surely we just need common sense to keepus safe don’t we? Tell that to the hundreds of families that lose a loved onein a workplace incident.

The laws are there, as inconvenientas they may be to everyone, to provide a framework by which all of us can go towork and come home each day.

And aren’t you important enough tocare about?

Good health and keep safe out there.

Colin

Do you like this article from MyHealth TODAY! on Mondays: Ideas and issues on good health and safety? Feel freeto share it with your friends also. Or, why not join us on some of TODAY!Seminars’ other Facebook pages on Leadership, Small Business, Public Speaking,Networking and Living Life? This articleis copyright to TODAY! Seminars (2011) and cannot be reproduced in any formwithout written approval of TODAY! Seminars.

Who Inspires You?

2011-09-20T09:27:00.001+10:00

Let the world know who inspires you.

As a speaker, I often find myself seeking those great stories of people who do amazing things.

Of course, we often immediatly go to those "greats" - those outstanding heroes or people of history who through their very public actions and lives are easy to find. People like Gandhi, JF & Robert Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Richard Branson, Kingsford-Smith, William Wilberforce .... and the list goes on. These are what I call the headline heroes. They ispire us but not necessarily lead us to taking action.

More often than not it is someone, a seemingly insignificant person in the scheme of world events, who inspires us, not as a headline but as a person who inspires us to actually act and make our own dreams a reality.

It might be a mum, a dad, a friend, a collegue, a neighbor or just someone we hear about.

Like Dack Axselle, who as a 10 year old in 1984 completed the Richmond Virginia Newspaper Marathon in 11 hours and 10 minutes. He almost quit at the 39km mark and despite his father suggesting he stop Dack said he'd come too far to quit. Of the 831 competitors who started the race, over 400 quit. At the finish line over 1000 people waited for Dack to cross the line, long after the officials had packed up and left. After the race, the local Police Chief made the comment, "Who said there are no more heroes?"

You see Dack has Spina Bifida and he completed the whole distance on his hands.

I don't know who won that race - it may have been in the headline somewhere, but the story they wrote about was one of inspiration - of an unknown, seemingly insignificant 10 year old who defied the odds. Who makes me think, if he can do that, what can I do?

And so it is in life.

So, who inspires you?

Go on; make your dreams a reality.

Regards

ColinEmerson
TODAY! Seminars
www.todayseminars.com.au

You can also catch us onTwitter, ecademy, Linkedin and Facebook.- see the pages in the sidebar

Challenger - a challenge we should never forget

2011-01-28T10:00:00.003+11:00

Per Ardua Ad Astra - "Through adversity to the stars". That is the motto of the Royal Australian Air Force - one I was proud to wear.

25 years ago today, the Challenger shuttle exploded, killing all seven people onboard - leaving behind distraught families and colleagues and a shattered nation.

25 years on the last of the space shuttle missions is being planned.

The disaster, as bad as it was, did not stop the shuttle programme - it mearly delayed it while an answer was sought on how to make it better for future missions.

Speaking of the disaster some years later, the wife of the mission commander Dick Scobbee, June, said that he and the crew, all from different backgrounds, races and creeds, were aware of the risks involved and knew that without risks there would be no bold discovery.

17 years later - almost to the day - seven more astronauts died when the shuttle Columbia exploded on earth re-entry. Even knowing what had happened before them did not stop them from attempting to achieve the amazing.

They all had followed in the paths of others who had died in the pursuit of a dream.

Through adversity to the stars.

Recently in idyllic Queensland, Australia, we saw the shocking images of floods devastating towns and cities - of lives being lost. But we also saw images of people rallying to the needs of their fellow man - wanting to help those who had lost rebuild their future.

Mankind will always seek to rise in the face of adversity.

For from tragedy emerges triumph.

Through pain emerges strength.

Through the pursuit of a dream we achieve great things.

What dreams for you?

Per Ardua Ad Astra!

Telstra are hijacking my email name and it's not fair

2010-11-23T17:25:00.002+11:00

Anyone with a business that has a web site, would understand the importance of having your own business email address. It is an important part of marketing and brand recognition.

So why is it that businesses like mine (which is not a major corporate but a sole trader) that, in good faith, sign up to BigPond (because we need to have a carrier that is Australia wide and includes the regionals), only to find that your business email address is hijacked by Telstra?

So, instead of my clients receiving colin@mybusinessnameasanexapmple header on my emails, (the email address that appears on all my letterheads, business cards and web sites etc.), what they receive is my bigpond address details. This causes some confusion with clients.

What that means is that Telstra are, by their own policies, restricting trade of my brand because they are forcing their brand onto my clients.

Of course Telstra say it is to avoid spamming. Great, so I go buy a Telstra Business service and spam anyway! (Not that I do this but what's the difference? Could it be money?)

If I wanted to use the Bigpond email as my primary address I would have chosen to have it printed on my business cards etc.

I am wondering how other small business operators feel about this?

Am also wondering if some legal eagle could give advice as to the legalities of the situation - especially as no-one pointed this issues out at the point of sale - and isn't it incumbant on Telstra to give such details especially as the BigPond account was signed up in a business name?

One does wonder if this could this amount to a class action against Telstra?

Thought for the day: Achieving and winning

2010-06-22T12:54:00.002+10:00

In any race, although only one person will win, there are others who will achieve their personal best; something they have never done before in their life. More than likely each of them will have strived to do the very best they could on the day. Because of that they are all achievers.

Yet so often, they are made to feel the very opposite. You only have to look at newspaper headlines when a major sporting star doesn’t quite “make it” to see this as true. Let’s face it, they achieved the best result they could on that day, under the circumstances they were forced to face.

And that is all that can be asked of anyone. Including you!

It doesn’t matter if you end up wearing the gold medal normally placed around the neck of the person who wins the event.

It’s the gold medal that you place around your own heart in recognition of your own efforts, after giving your very best on the day, and achieving the result you did, that counts.

In the movie “Cool Runnings” (1993; Walt Disney Pictures), actor John Candy portrays the coach of the first Jamaican bob-sled team to compete in the Winter Olympics. As the main event approaches he is asked by the captain of the team, “What’s it like to win the gold medal?”

John Candy replies, “You’ll know when you cross the finish line but remember, if you’re nothing without the gold medal, then you’ll be nothing with it.”

Being first isn’t that important. Striving to be first, being there, competing, refusing to give in - is. And, whatever the result you get from giving the best that you can on the day, it is a result. And because you have achieved a result, that makes you an achiever.

Exert from: How an Ant Ate an Elephant – The Process of Achievement. Copyright 2001: TODAY! Seminars.

Go on; make your dreams a reality.

Regards

Colin Emerson
TODAY! Seminars
www.todayseminars.com.au

While you're here, why not complete the survey?

You can also catch us on Twitter, ecademy, Linkedin and Facebook.

Leadership - A matter of respect

2010-06-21T14:01:00.002+10:00

There are two types of respect given to leaders: the respect of their rank (or position) and the respect of the person.

Respect of rank is a given. Rank describes the position of an individual in the hierarchy of an organisation. You salute/recognise the rank/position even if you don’t know or respect the individual.

Respect of the person is something that is earned. This respect takes time to develop and comes from really getting to know the person behind the rank/position. It is gained through the example set by that individual’s actions and behaviour.

The true leader knows it is what they do and how they do it that will earn them the real respect of the team.

They know they have to work to gain this respect and that it is not automatically given. They know it is what they do and not the work of others that generates this respect. They understand that reputation counts for little and that what they have done in the past is nowhere near as important as what they do now and in the future.

They know that true respect for them as an individual can only be given voluntarily and not forced from their team.

They understand that the traits and behaviours they display as a person, their own characteristics, personality and integrity are what will lead their team to respect them.

Importantly though, they understand the difference between being liked and being respected. To the true leader, respect is more important than being liked. They are willing to be disliked for what they do.

It is sad to watch when the leadership of a country, of a business, of a community or group openly disregard this important principle of leadership and focus instead on leading by fear, falsehoods and media/people manipulation. Far too often our leader today are asking us to respect them while displaying little in the way of earning that respect.

Yet, there are great leaders out there. Some are well known, but more often then not, they are just ordinary people in ordinary roles - not even leadership - who, through their actions, through the qualities they display, earn the respect of those around them - at work, at home, in schools, in hospitals, in services, in business, in community groups, on the sporting field or anywhere else where they give of themselves.

Wouldn't it be good if we let those people know that they are respected?

It might just encourage others to be great leaders themself!

Go on; make your dreams a reality.

Regards
Colin Emerson
TODAY! Seminars
www.todayseminars.com.au

ReWhile your here, why not complete the survey?

You can also catch us on Twitter, ecademy, Linkedin and Facebook.

Thought for the day

2010-06-18T09:09:00.003+10:00

I am often surrounded by dreamers; people who have a vision of the great things they want to achieve in life. Nearly as often, I find myself sharing space with someone who struggles to believe in anything other than not believing in the possibility of anything.

Lewis Carroll understood this when he wrote "Through The Looking Glass" (a children's book that every adult should read). He understood that there are humans who need to believe in the impossible. Take the following between Alice and the Queen;

"I can't believe that!", said Alice.

"Can't you?" the Queen said in pitying terms. "Try again, draw a long deep breath, and shut your eyes."

Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said. "One can't believe impossible things."

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

It's not believing in the impossible that stops people from achieving great things, it is believing that the impossible IS impossible that stops us.

One of the great dreamers of our world was a man called Walt Disney. How much joy has the impossible dreams he brought to life brought to this world? It is best expressed in the words of Jiminy Cricket:

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true

Go on; make your dreams a reality.

Regards

Colin Emerson
TODAY! Seminars
http://www.todayseminars.com.au/

You can also catch us on Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook.

Thought for the day

2010-06-17T09:57:00.001+10:00

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something I can do (Edward Everett Hale) - I wonder what opportunities to do we will find TODAY!

International Day of Mourning - Part 2

2010-04-29T13:07:00.002+10:00

Yesterday I was MC at the UnionsACT International Day of Mourning. For those who don't know, IDM is a day where we remember those who have lost their lives on workplaces worldwide.

Below is the address given by the Reverend Gordon Ramsay from the Kippax Uniting Church. I am publishing it in full - but in this simple address is a major message that none of us should ignore.

There is a simple quote in a book that is common across 3 major faiths -
In Islam the book is known as Zabur,
In Judaism, it is known as Tehilla,
In Christianity it is known as Psalms
and the quote from the book has been taken by 4 people
who themselves have their own spiritual following around the world - U2

For many years, when U2 ended a concert, they would sing a song
drawn from this common heritage from across many faiths,
they would invite the audience to join in
and then leave the stage, with the audience continuing to sing.
The quote was very simple:
“How long?”

As we gather here to observe International Workers Memorial Day
there is something deep within each of us –
whatever our faith, religious or cultural background may be -
that is called to join in the cry.
“How long?”

We are here because we have lost family, friends and colleagues
to incidents in the workplace and we feel numb
And in our numbness we want to cry out
“How long?”

We are here because we have lost family and friends
to incidents in the workplace and we feel numb
And in our numbness we want to cry out
“How long?”

We are here because our colleagues have been injured and killed
and we feel an emptiness and an anger
that workplace deaths in Australia have increased since 2004
not just in overall numbers, but even in the rates of deaths
and in our emptiness and anger we want to cry out
“How long?”

We are here because we are part of a worldwide community
and we are aware of unsafe work practices –
such as the recent Chinese mine flood -
that result in the deaths of over 2 million workers each year
And in our solidarity with people across the world,
we want to cry out
“How long?”

International Workers Memorial Day is a day that should not be needed.
In this day and age there should simply be no need
for us to be gathering so that there would be better action
to guarantee safe work practices – especially in Australia and in the ACT.
We know that it is simply not good enough

And International Workers Memorial Day is a day that is absolutely essential.
It reminds us of our common humanity
and that we share an obligation to each other to move beyond “How long?”
To “This is long enough!”

It reminds us that in the discussions regarding people at work
we are not talking about “human resources”
in the way we talk about “Material resources” or “financial resources”
We are talking about people – with parents, partners, children and friends

International Workers Memorial Day reminds us that as a community
the cost of ensuring safe and secure work place and practices
is always less than the cost of the injuries and deaths that occur.

Let me quote briefly from a statement from my own tradition – the Uniting Church in Australia:
We believe that all human beings are created by God and are intrinsically valuable.
This means that all people should be treated with respect.
Respect also involves the conditions we offer PEOPLE at work.
When we ignore occupational health and safety standards,
we are not merely breaking the law – we are denying the value of human life.

And in that vein, let me finish with a reminder of just why
the International Workers Memorial Day is so necessary:
because we are here to stand together in the grief of the families and friends
who have lost loved ones.

We are here to hold their hands, to offer a shoulder to lean on
and to provide emotional and material means of support
to those whose hopes, dreams and plans in life
can never be realised in the same way now.

We pause,
we remember,
we offer our love, our dedication and determination.

To the question “How long?”
The answer will always be: “For as long as it takes”

Gordon Ramsay
28 April 2010
Canberra ACT

International Day of Mourning

2010-04-27T20:55:00.003+10:00

Tomorrow I will be MC at the UnionsACT International Day of Mourning (IDM) ceremony.

For those who don't know, the IDM is an annual event that is aimed at remembering those people who have lost their lives in the workplace in the last 12 months.

Every year in Australia, between 200 and 300 people go to work in the morning and don't go home that night - they die on the job. That doesn't include the 5,000 to 8,000 people who die because of a long term work related illness, disease or other illness or the 600,000 people injured while on the job each year.

And that's just Australia. Imagine how many people world wide fail to go home each day to those they love and who love them because of a work related death or injury.

As a business operator I believe that every worker (and yes, bosses are workers too) deserves to go home each day in the same condition (if not better) that they went to work in.

As a practitioner in the world of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) I am saddened that this attitude doesn't always apply to other people - and it's not just bosses, but workers also who have a lousy attitude to workplace safety. For instance, I recently conducted a session on safety risk assessment for an organisation and, to ensure their staff turned up for the session, they told the staff it was a team meeting and not an OHS talk.

So many people believe that safety is just a matter of common sense. That's like believing that every other driver on the road will never speed, always indicate and never do anything stupid in order to keep you safe. The only thing about common sense is that it is not that common (thanks John Laws).

Safety at work is about being SAFE at work. That stands for Spotting the things that could cause you injury or death, Assess the level of potential risk and injury, Fix the problem by either eliminating or reducing the risk and Evaluating the outcome, has it worked to make you safer?

It means you taking care of you - in order to make certain that you are the one that goes home each night to the ones who love you.

So on this International Day of Mourning take care and be safe in the workplace (and your home); look after your friends and those you love. And, maybe, spare a minute to think about those families who won't welcome home the one they love tonight.

Be safe out there!

Colin
TODAY! Seminars
http://www.todayseminars.com.au/

Who wants to be an executive or a manager?

2010-04-26T22:26:00.005+10:00

Recently it was reported that women are safer drivers than men.

Now, before I go any further, I know that there are some people who won’t get beyond that opening line before wanting to comment.

But please, this IS NOT a story about women versus men as drivers – so read on – the main point is at the very end.

Although I do like this joke:
“A young lady was driving through a built-up area at about 70 kph when she noticed a motorcycle policeman on her tail. She increased her speed to 80 kph but the cop hung grimly on her tail. She put her foot down and pushed the car up to 90, drawing rapidly away from her pursuer.

Suddenly she saw a garage up ahead and with a squeal of brakes she pulled up in the forecourt and dashed into the ladies' toilet. Five minutes later she emerged to find the motor-cycle policeman waiting for her. With a sweet smile she said, 'I bet you thought I'd never make it in time.'

Now that’s something I couldn’t get away with!

But back to my main point.

The statistics show that women have far less accidents than men on the roads. Now, the raw data would support this. For instance in 2008 there were 516 men and only 178 women killed on Australian roads. The raw stats would indicate that women are nearly three times safer than men on the road.

Now again, this IS NOT a story about women versus men as drivers – so please read on.

However, the raw data for another survey, conducted by me, shows that 100% of people who eat potatoes die! This is irrefutable. But does this mean that potatoes are bad for us? The raw statistics would suggest so.

So, are they entirely accurate in the way I’ve presented them? Of course not! We all know it’s broccoli that’s really to blame!

For accuracy’s sake, in looking at the statistic on driving I would be inclined to ask the question, “When you compare the number of kilometres travelled and the time spent on the road, are the statistics still comparable?”

Why would I ask this? Well, consider this scenario: Driver “A” travels 50,000 kilometres per year and Driver “B” travels 10,000 kilometres. Driver “A” has two accidents and Driver “B” has only one.

On the raw stats, Driver “A” is twice as likely to have an accident as Driver “B”.

Yet over distance travelled it could be argued that Driver “A” is actually 2.5 times safer (one accident per 25,000km travelled as compared to one in 10,000km travelled).

Which figure is right? Well both of them!

Confused? So am I!

But wait and I’ll confuse you even more!

The point of this argument so far is that statistics can be used to prove almost anything you want to prove.

Now here is where I digress to the main points of what I want to say.

a) People should be given roles based on their ability to do the job; and

b) Everyone, regardless of gender should be paid at exactly the same rate for doing exactly the same job; and

c) People should not be given a role simply based on some magical statistical formula that may, by it’s very nature, be biased and therefore, discriminatory.

What has this got to do with driving statistics?

Well another recent newspaper report stated that women are under-represented in executive roles and there are far fewer women in senior roles than men in senior roles.

Now, that is the truth.

While women make up 44.5% of the Australian workforce, they hold only 10.2% of the senior executive roles and represent only 6.5% of the management in the wings (2010 The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) Report).

How have the media reacted? The demand has gone out that women should hold more of an equal number of senior roles as men.

I wish there were more women at the top. The representation of women at senior levels in corporations is abysmal. And, frankly, so is their pay!

But instead of looking at the raw data, should we not be asking the question, “what percentage of women actually want to take on these major roles?” first before taking action?

Why? Well let’s say that only 10% of women want to take on these senior roles (for whatever reason) than 10.2% actual representation would seem pretty spot on. However, if 50% said they want to take on these executive roles, than we have a distinct breakdown of representation, which must be addressed.

After all, should we not be putting the best person, male or female, into the role? But shouldn’t we also be putting someone in the role who actually wants to be there?

So, finally I get to the real real point.

What percentage of women want these senior roles?

Conversely, what percentage of men want them? After all, who ever said that all men do? In fact, through my coaching work, I have found that there is a growing number of men who want less responsibility and more time away from work.

Which leads me to the survey; “Do you want to take on a management role”

This survey is broken into a male and a female response area.

The responses for each are:
• No, no management role at all
• No, no senior/executive management role
• Yes, a junior/ mid-level management role only
• Yes, a senior/executive role

We’ll publish the results soon.

Go on; make your dreams a reality.

Regards
Colin Emerson
TODAY! Seminars
www.todayseminars.com.au
You can also catch us on Twitter, ecademy, Linkedin and Facebook.

Don't hand-feed a turkey

2010-01-13T00:43:00.005+11:00

Hi everyone, am enjoying a few weeks on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland; sunny, blue water & 30 degrees C (well someone has to do it!).

This morning I was awoken by a tremendous noise - the neighbour to where I'm staying was feeding a flock of 20 or so wild Brush Turkeys. They were really enjoying their feed of bread and scraps. I thought what a great person, hand-feeding them and helping them survive.

Speaking later to another local though about the experience they commented on the fact that such feeding was actually harmful to the turkeys as they couldn't actually digest the food they were being given properly, meaning they could die a painful death.

Another issue is that the turkeys were becoming reliant on the food they were being given.

Finally, attracting such large numbers of birds into one area was actually causing the ecosystem of the surrounding area to be destroyed, which meant that other animals who relied on this vegetation were being driven out and were dying as well.

All round, what appeared to be a good act of humanity was actually having disastrous results.

And isn't that like some relationships?

Hand-feeding

How often have you observed a relationship where one person hand-feeds the other one, never really letting them be as free as they are supposed to be. They think they are being kind, but what they are actually doing is creating a reliance on themself that is so strong the poor person receiving the "help" becomes doomed because they can never act on their own. They learn to rely on the judgement of the feeder.

What was meant to strengthen actually weakens.

One partner in a relationship handfeeds the other partner, checking every movement, determining every decision. A manager checks their staff's work, never giving them full ownership of the decisions they make. A teacher directs a child how to draw a flower, correcting them constantly to conform to the teacher's view of what a flower should look like, rather than letting a child discover for themselves the brilliance of their imagination.

Trust

Sometimes the hardest thing a hand-feeder can do is let go and trust. Trust, that the other person will do what's right. Trust, that they will make a decision that's correct. Trust, that the person I employed is capable. Trust, that mistakes can be made; and in the mistakes is the seed to greater growth.

Reliance

Handfeeding creates reliance, and in creating a reliance the hand-feeder, rather than reducing their workload, actually increases is; often creating a rod for their own back.

Let's face it, as a leader, if you can't trust the people in your team to do the job they were employed to do, than you shouldn't have hired them in the first place!

A Billion Dollar Leader trusts their people while a manager manages their staff.

Ricardo Semler must be the ultimate example of a Billion Dollar Leader who trusted his people.

At the time Semler took over his father’s Brazilian shipbuilding supplies business, SEMCO S.A., in 1980, it had started to struggle and looked like it was in real trouble. What Semler did then was absolutely revolutionary in the field of management. He handed over the running of the company to his people. Totally and completely. He trusted them to do what was needed in order to turn the company around.

Not only did the company become extremely profitable and successful, but Semler’s leadership techniques became a case study for blue chip companies such as IBM*.

SEMCO grew from a $US4m company with 90 employees in 1982, into a $US212m company with over 3,000 employees in 2003 with a growth rate of up to 40% per annum, making it one of Brazil’s leading businesses.

Semler was so successful in his leadership style that one day he arrived at work to find he no longer had an office! His team had decided he didn’t need one and they needed the space for some more important function in the process of making the business more successful.

How many managers would trust their people enough to hand over complete control of their area of operations to those very same people?

Not that you have to do so in order to be a Billion Dollar Leader, but isn’t that what trust should be about? That the people you place in your team have what it takes to make success an everyday word?

So why is it that so many managers feel it necessary to micro‑manage the people they have employed and then try to do the job those very people were hired to do?

Growth

The Brush Turkeys I saw were destroying the environment they and other animals relied on, simply because far too many of them had gathered in one spot.

A manager who hand-feeds or micro-manages their teams create an atmosphere in the workplace similar to what the turkeys had done – it is destructive.

Staff want to be respected for the job they are doing and the lack of trust is a sure sign of a lack of respect.

I’ve seen such management skills destroy a growing business simply because the staff didn’t want to be there any more.

The same thing can happen in any relationship.

Trusting people to do the right thing, to be the best they can be and providing them support to be just that, will gain the type of respect that not only reciprocates the trust given, but often exceeds it.

The question a Billion Dollar Leader asks is, “How do I show I trust my relationships?

If you are someone who finds they hang onto the reigns too tight, just ask yourself, “What have I really got to fear in showing trust in this person?”

Usually the answer is, “Nothing!”

After all, the people in your life can’t all be turkeys!

Let us know what you think on trust (and while you’re at it, why not complete the leadership survey on the sidebar of this blog?)

All success.

Go on; make your dreams a reality.

Regards

Colin Emerson

TODAY! Seminars

www.todayseminars.com.au

You can also catch us on Twitter, ecademy, Linkedin and Facebook.

* You can read his story in the book “Maverick” by Ricardo Semler, published by Random House Business Books.

I just won $150,000 - You think I'd be happy!

2010-01-08T11:53:00.009+11:00

I opened my mail today and there was this beautiful flyer from overseas that enticed me to accept the two, free, scratchy "lucky draw' tickets that had been enclosed with the flyer promoting a wonderful holiday destination in the Pacific.

Can you imagine how surprised I was to find that one of the tickets had won me second prize of $150,000 in the draw? Provided, of course, that I supply them with certain bank details and pay any taxes and fees from winning this prize upfront!

The Federal Police are now looking at how they can use these surprise winnings!

Based on my experience in previous lives as either a bank manager, financial consultant or security consultant (just three of many such lives that I have had), it never ceases to amaze me of the ability of people to separate themselves so easily from their money by accepting such scams. I suppose Steve Martin summed it up in the movie "Leap of Faith" by saying "thank God for suckers".

Even last night, on one of the local TV current affairs programs, there were several people who were bemoaning the fact that they had been ripped off; and we're talking in the tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars each. That's not chicken feed.

So why do people get ripped off and let themselves be fooled so easily? Simple, I think, it's easy. It's easy to hand over money in the belief that someone is going to do miracles with it, either in the form of far higher returns or amazing services. But whatever happened to "due diligence"; doing a bit of hard work and checking the facts before handing over the money?

Let's face it, if you were giving someone ten's of thousands of dollars you'd check out the facts first wouldn't you?

The scam I received in the mail, yes, they sink to a new low level and are using snail mail and not just the Internet, was obvious in some ways. First, the spelling mistakes - and I'm a terrible speller and they were still so obvious. Secondly, I was being asked to depart with my personal details and money in order to receive my "prize".

Here are some tips I learnt over the years to avoid being ripped off:

If it looks to good to be true, it probably is: the president of some far off country dying and leaving a fortune, an interest rate return way over and above the market rates, investment properties offered online with guaranteed lifetime rental returns, carbon emission trading schemes that offer mega dollars in return for a small investment - should make you suspicious. I'd actually ignore them.
Don't depart with your money until you have checked out all the details: use every means you have to check out the credentials of the people you intend to do business with, before giving any money over. And no, the Internet is not a sufficient check. After all anyone can have a good website with amazing looking credentials, titles and referral contacts. That doesn't make them real. Lawyers, Accountants and other business investigative groups can help you with this.
Take away the emotion of the moment: if it's good enough today, it will be good enough tomorrow. Too often people let their emotions, their "gut feeling" determine their investment decision making - certainly act, but act prudently and step back to give yourself time to seek independent advice from several trusted sources. You may not like what you hear from them, you may even choose to ignore them, but at least you have an independent opinion to help;
If you can't afford to loose it than it's probably a bad idea. I have seen people lose their life savings virtually overnight, in one case it was actually that. There is nothing wrong with taking a huge risk, if you can afford to lose your money. I take risks, I even advocate others taking risks; for without risk there is no advancement. But some investments scream at you not to do it - it's just too risky. There is always a safer risk for those who can't afford to lose; and finally (for this blog);
Watch out for small account payment requests: this is an easy one for businesses to get caught with. Accounts receive a proper looking invoice. It's only for a small amount; maybe up to a $100 or so. They request payment. You can't remember what it is for, the invoice is probably a few months behind the reported delivery time. Or accounts don't check it and, after all, it's such a small amount, it gets paid. It only takes a thousand businesses to pay a small invoice in order for a thief to make a good living. Check all accounts your not certain of;
Don't give out personal banking details. Amazingly people are so trusting at times they will hand over their bank account numbers, security access code etc to some one they hardly know. Simple rule: DON"T! Banks will not ask you for your security access code online - thief's will. Far too often people would come to the bank wondering why their accounts have been stripped of money after giving over their security code to someone or visiting a "ghost" bank web site (it looks real enough) after being asked by their bank to update their account and security details in an email. I even refuse to use my credit card online, even though I do online business. I use a Visa/ MasterCard debit card and transfer the exact amount I need into it from my main account prior to completing the online transaction. That way, even if someone does get my card details, there is never any money in the account.

While these things seem so "common sense", the level of temporary loss of such common sense means that every year, businesses and ordinary people are ripped off to the tune of millions of dollars.

Report scams and scammers to the authorities. And always remember, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Shame about my $150,000 - looks like I'll have to work for it now.

All success.

Go on; make your dreams a reality.

Regards

Colin Emerson

TODAY! Seminars

www.todayseminars.com.au

You can also catch us on Twitter, ecademy, Linkedin and Facebook.

2010 - Making it a great year for you

2010-01-06T12:13:00.002+11:00

2010 – one week in and already I bet some of those New Year’s resolutions are already broken by some.

One of the good things about this time of year is the chance to set some targets for the coming twelve months; something to aim for. For me it’s a busy time as I work with friends setting targets and preparing for coaching them in their businesses and personal areas throughout the year.

For those who struggle with goal setting (not a term I personally like) here are some tips that might help you in your journey to achieving the things that are important to you.

1. Set the target: Sounds like a no brainer, but how can you aim at something unless you know what it is you’re aiming for?

Family (those closest to us);
Health (emotional, physical, mental);
Security (work, $, future etc);
Personal (self education, personal development, spiritual); and

2. Focus on the TODAY! not the big picture: Once you know what it is you want to achieve simply ask yourself each day - "What is it that I can do, right here, right now Today!, given everything that is happening in my life right now, that will allow me to take one step closer to my target" _©

By focusing on the Today! we concentrate on those small, achievable steps rather than the one large, sometimes frightening, target we want to achieve. We focus on what we can do.

For instance, one of my targets is to run 10km in 50 minutes by the end of the year. Fact is I won’t be able to run that speed for a while. In training, some days I will be able to get close while on others, because of various reasons, I won’t even get within cooee. But each day, my target is to do the best I can on the day – even if that means I’m slower today then I was yesterday.

The secret of this approach is to just do the very best I can do each and every day.

It also means that I don’t beat myself up for not achieving my ultimate target, but allows me to recognise that I did achieve something – which is the third step.

3. Recognise your achievements – every day: One of the things I seen most people do when chasing a dream is to forget to recognise their achievements and to focus too much on what they didn’t achieve (how depressing!).

At the end of the day, instead of looking at what you didn't achieve, look at what you did do - after all, if you have done the very best you can on any given day then that's all that can be asked of you - recognise it as an achievement.

The people I coach all write down their achievements in each of the 5 Areas_© every night (I also get them to do this at the end of each week and each month). That way they have a constant reminder that they are Achievers and are working their way towards their bigger targets.

This approach is so much better for our self-belief than focusing on what we failed to do each day. And it doesn’t matter how small the step is; it’s still an achievement.

After all, one small step each day of the year in one Area of Life_© will place you 365 steps closer to your dream at the end of the year and that’s got to be better than no steps at all.

4. Review – am I on track?: The final stage is to look at what I’ve achieved and assess what it is I need to do from this point on to reach my bigger target.

The minimum I do this is monthly as this allows me to set the target for the next month.

From there I can set the weekly targets. From there I’m back to step 2, the daily targets.

All success in 2010.

Go on; make your dreams a reality.

Regards

Colin Emerson

TODAY! Seminars

www.todayseminars.com.au

If they are good for you, why are they banning them in the USA & Europe?

2010-01-05T13:30:00.004+11:00

You know it's that time of year, you know, lack of death, taxes and political news, when a headline on page one of a capital city news paper attracts no-one's attention on talk back or other media - or is it that I'm just a "sad-sack"?

The Canberra Times last Saturday (02 January) ran a front page story on how the USA and the EU are banning "Harmful chemicals in plastic toys, fire retardants, cosmetics and non-stick cookware", yet in Australia our authorities have assessed these same chemicals as having little or no known evidence of being harmful. In other words, they're not planning to take any action at all.

In the past 12 months I have trained over 500 Federal, State and Local government Health & Safety Represntatives in chemical safety. What shocks them most, several even said it seriously scared them, is that so little is really known about just how (un)safe the chemicals we use in the workplace and at home are. Most people assume that what we use day-in and day-out is safe.

Every year thousands of new chemical compounds are released onto the market with little, if any, full safety assessment completed. Our authorities are so undermanned that they rely mostly on the manufacturers to tell us how safe their products are. (We did that "successfully" many years ago with the tobacco industry!)

The Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), which every chemical producer must have for every chemical compound they produce, are supposed to tell us how safe the product is to our health. There are two problems with this self assessment of safety: (a) the MSDSs are often reliant on limited health research material and (b) are for that compound only.

One example of this is for a common household surface cleaner available cheaply at any supermarket. The MSDS sheet for this compond states that "Available data indicates that this product is not harmful (either for skin contact or inhalation).

Now they are correct when they say this of course, with the provision of the term "available data indicates". The trouble with chemical exposure though is that it can take decades before the effects are measurable - just look at asbestos - and these chemicals can be designed and released on the market within months; so much for research!

So how safe is a well-informed person buying this product (after all the MSDS indicates it is safe) when the Federal Government's October 1996 161 page NICNAS report for one of the main ingrediants for this product, something called 2-Butoxyethanol, states, amongst other discovered acute effects, "chronic effects on blood, kidney and liver" and "ready absorbption through skin"?

One of the substances listed as being banned in The Canberra Times article are phalates, these are the chemical compounds that give that "new car" smell people love. They are also found in cosmetics, children's toys, hair sprays and other personal care products.

So how safe are they? A 2003 Mt Sinai School of Medicine report indicates they are known to cause birth defects in male reproductive organs. CDC reports in 2000 and 2003 link phalates to DNA damage to sperm, as does as does a 2002 report by Rozati et al.

How bad is this really to us? A 1998 Monash University report indicates that"one man in 25 is sub fertile". A 2000 report from Denmark gave figures of roughly 30% of 19 to 20 year old men having sperm densities so low they are likely to impair fetility, while a 1992 report by Carlsen et al reports a 40% decline in sperm count over the second half of the 20th century.

Strangely that is the same half of the century when household chemical production really took off. Am I being paranoid?

So, as someone who talks to hundreds of people each year about this, what can we do to reduce our exposure to these products? Simple, but not so! You can't avoid them totally, but you can read the labels and shop around for products that don't contain these potentially harmful chemicals.

Secondly, give your body a fighting chance. Does your diet, yes diet, support your body in getting rid or fighting the effects of these chemicals in the body? There are things you can do.

Thirdly, for the radical minded, lobby that the Federal government in following the USA and Europe in banning these products, after all we don't mind following when it puts the lives of our youth at risk on the front line. Why not when trying to save them on the home front?

Yours in Safety

Colin
TODAY! Seminars
www.todayseminars.com.au

Does your boss manage or lead?

2010-01-04T13:19:00.000+11:00

Question: Is your boss a leader or a manager (or a bit of both)

Since time immemorial people of all races, creeds and social standing have followed the call of great leaders.

Nations have risen from nothing or have been conquered; seas have been sailed in voyages of discovery into the unknown, or for trade; people have given their lives or been given life; ideas have been acted on and history made—all at the behest of a great leader. King Richard I, Queen Victoria, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, “Weary” Dunlop, Sir Arvi Parbo all names synonymous with strong, positive leadership.

Conversely, acts of cruelty, deception, war, death, destruction, atrocity, famine and murder have been carried out by people following a leader who has led them on the wrong path. One only needs to recall the names of Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin, and Jim Jones of the Jonestown mass suicide infamy to see that the charismatic qualities of a great leader can be used for ignoble purposes.

In today’s world, corporations have been born and destroyed by the implementation of qualities and ethics endorsed by the leaders of those companies. Names like those of Richard Branson, Lee Iacocca and Bob Ansett stand out against their ethical opposites such as Bernard Ebbers, Kenneth Lay and Christopher Skase.

Many books, thousands of words, have been written in order to describe the illusive characteristics that make a leader great. Anyone wanting to know how to be a great leader can borrow them from any local library. Libraries are filled with biographies of great leaders – biographies that expose their actions, their achievements and their skill at making the impossible possible.

Yet somehow, when it comes to leadership in the workplace we seem to have missed the point of what makes a great leader great. So often the qualities that make a leader even mediocre seem lacking in business and the community in general.

Why, with all this information available to us, is that so?

I believe that in the corporate world we have simply confused the principles of managing people with the principles and the qualities of great leadership! For years we have been conned into believing that good management skills equaled good leadership. The truth is that good management skills makes you a good manager!

But what do you think? Let us know through the survey as to what ype of leader you have.

http://www.todayseminars.com.au/