Business Essentials

As a business owner, have you let the sales process fall by the wayside? If you’re like many others, perhaps what stops you from selling is fear. Well, according to sales guru Trent Leyshan, you need to regain your mojo. Afterall, he says, sales is the lifeblood of any company. Trent is founder of BOOM! Sales and author of two sales books, Outlaw and The Naked Salesman. He outlines the three key s...

LinkedIn is one of the best social media platforms for reaching out individually to prospective clients. The problem is, insists LinkedIn expert Ty Giuliani, business owners aren't active enough to get the results. Ty shares his tips on developing a strategy and framework to establishing rapport with your market and creating business opportunities. Business Essentials Daily is produced by: SoundCa...

While discussion around mental health is becoming far more open and less taboo, poor mental health costs the Australian economy $17 billion per year. So, there’s an increasing need for businesses to provide not only a physically safe environment but a psychologically safe one. Liz Ralph is a Learning Manager at Lysander, an award-winning consultancy firm that support businesses in leadership devel...

When you find what you love and you can make a buck form it, you’ll never ‘work’ another day in your life. That’s according to Stephen Hunt, whose success stems from a $100 beer garden in his parents’ backyard to building a $100-million beer empire decades later. Stephen’s Hunt Hospitality has a portfolio of seven pubs on Australia’s east coast and employs 350 people. He explains how he has turned...

When Belinda Eden founded Troop Events, a business which provides on-demand hospitality and event staff across Ballarat and regional Victoria, she wasn’t to know that COVID was about to hit. She weathered the storm, and now that restrictions have lifted, demand for Troop has gone through the roof. As well as smaller events, like weddings or home parties, she has won lucrative larger events includi...

For those with a self-managed super fund, what happens if you become incapacitated or when you die? It’s not the cheeriest of subjects, but it’s important to plan well in advance, for your peace and that of your loved ones. That’s according to tax specialist, Michael Jones, Superannuation and Business Advisory Partner at Mazars, who details the opportunities and risks for older members of SMSFs. B...

Google Analytics can seem intimidating, but without question it should be the foundation for all of your digital marketing - monitoring and guiding you towards successful outcomes. Leigh Hanney, SEO and Analytics Specialist and Founder of DataCraft Digital, offers five ways that Google Analytics can help support your marketing strategy.  Business Essentials Daily is produced by: SoundCartel soundc...

Cinzia Cozzolino started her smoothie business almost by accident. After she started preparing delicious nutritional smoothies for her daughter, word got out. Her daughter’s friends and their mums wanted them. The local cafes and retail outlets wanted to sell them. Next thing, Cinzia found she had a very successful business selling to hundreds of stores in the Australia and overseas. She explains...

There is, as they say, a first time for everything. And that includes stepping into a leadership role. To help first-time managers, we hear from leadership expert Anna Marshall, founder of People Mastery and author of ‘On you marks, get set…LEAD!: A beginner’s guide to people leadership’. She outlines her five essentials for business leaders. Business Essentials Daily is produced by: SoundCartel s...

Online spending went through the roof during the pandemic, as consumers stuck at home relied on ordering goods that could be delivered to their door. The increased confidence and reliance in the online marketplace means that your business’s digital presence is more important than ever. So, what should you be doing to ensure you’re front-and-centre in the digital world and are serving your customer...

New rules have come into effect that may change the way some small businesses undertake recruitment. It’s now illegal to advertise jobs that pay below the minimum wage — or award — for every job. It will particularly have an impact on any business that employs workers on piece rates. While the Chair of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia, Matthew Addison, says it is a good thing,...

If you ask questions and listen to the answers, you will learn what your customers want. Selling becomes easier and you don’t have to talk so much, says sales expert Colin Pearce. Colin has been training salespeople for many years and has a bag full of tips on how to sell more, easier and faster. Talking too much is a bane for many salespeople, and it's their "overselling" which often puts people...

Every business that’s looking to grow understands the importance of formulating a plan.  But, how should they create one? Entrepreneur Roy Osing has developed a strategic game plan that asks you to answer some simple questions. How big do you want to be? Who do you want to serve? And, how can you compete and win? Unless traditional business plans, Roy’s formula is simple, focused, action-oriented...

Australia looks unlikely to fall into a recession, though we will experience lower growth. That’s the prognosis of our regular economics commentator, Melbourne University Professor Neville Norman. Professor Norman says the Reserve Bank will continue to lift interest rates into 2023 due to what he calls a “robotic” reaction to the sort of inflation the bank may not actually be in control of. And, w...

Do you feel as if you have too much on your to-do list, both at work and at home? There are not enough hours in the day, and you’re constantly thinking about the next thing. Mindfulness is becoming a well-known ability to navigating all that chaos. Customer service expert, Jaquie Scammell achieves mindfulness through meditation, which helps her with calmness, clarity and happiness. She explains ho...

Australian law has changed when it comes to secrecy provisions in employment contracts, and it’s something all business owners and managers need to come to terms with. It’s now illegal to include any secrecy provision in new employment contracts. The chair of the small business peak industry body, the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA), says it’s unlikely the new law will d...

How would you like to be on the front page of the paper without having to pay for it? It starts with having something to say. Nicole Ashby's heart was racing and her palms were sweaty when she first spoke on radio about the impact of a fly-in fly-out workstyle on the families left behind. That was the first of many hundreds of media interviews she performed as Founder and Director of FIFO Families...

This year’s Australia Day holiday fell on a Thursday. Some employees around the country saw that as an opportunity to take a sickie, and have an extra-long weekend. But, other’s were genuinely ill. As a boss, how do you know if someone’s being legitimate? Karen Gately, CEO of Corporate Dojo, says it’s important to have open and honest conversations, in person. Employers should have policies in pla...

Failure isn't something we should avoid at all costs – on the contrary, failure is a powerful force on the journey to success. Entrepreneur and key-note speaker, Gabe Zichermann, says if you don't feel the fear of failure, then you're not pushing yourself hard enough. In other words, fear often indicates you're on the right track. Business Essentials Daily is produced by: SoundCartel soundcartel.c...

The huge amount of Optus and Medibank customers data that was hacked by cybercriminals made headlines across the country. But, they’re just two out of the thousands of breaches that occurred in 2022. How does your business stand up to data risk? Lawyer Tracey Mylecharane says business owners need to establish they’ve taken reasonable steps to protect their customers’ data. She says the Optus fiasc...

Breaches of cyber security cost Australian small businesses $29b last year, and with about 60% of firms at risk, the industry’s peak body is moving to do something about the problem. The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia chair, Matthew Eddison, says the new cyberwardens program will help stop the criminals. Business owners will be able to nominate themselves or a member of their st...

Apple worked hard to keep things simple - we see it every day in its products and its success. From the man who named the iMac and who was integral to Apple’s ‘Think Different’ marketing campaign, Creative Director Ken Segall spent 12 years working with Steve Jobs and experienced first-hand his obsession with keeping things simple. Ken wrote about it all in his book ‘Insanely Simple: The Obsession...

Imagine being able to free up valuable time from responding to customers and staff. Well now you can, by using a new and powerful language generation tool, called ChatGPT. The implications for business are endless, and we’re only just now learning how much of an impact it will have in our lives. Our favourite futurist, Steve Sammartino, explains ChatGPT’s ability to understand and respond to natur...

It appears artificial intelligence will soon render the annual staff performance review extinct. One company is harnessing its powers to generate real-time, objective feedback for employees to empower them at work by boosting their confidence and exposing their blind spots. In this episode, CEO and Co-Founder of software development company OnLoop, Projjal Ghatak, describes their new product, enab...

What’s worse than having people talk about you behind your back? In a business sense, it can be worse if nobody’s talking about you at all. So, if you want your brand spoken about, it’s best that you control what people say. You can do that by telling your own stories. These days more and more businesses are discovering the powerful benefits of brand storytelling. Gabrielle Dolan is a business sto...