I experienced some strange business behaviour this January. It’s February now so I’m sure business behaviour will be back on track. Small Business is all about learning. The big lesson I’ve learnt recently is never to assume anything in business. Instead, try and employ contingencies to manage expectations and outcomes. Here are a couple of [...]

I’m not sure exactly what is supposed to happen at Christmas but it is important for customers that their goods and services are delivered by Christmas.  Now that is fine when there has been plenty of notice, maybe a bit of upfront payment and no pressure.  However……. there is a Christmas madness that takes over [...]

Last week I was lucky enough to travel to the small town of Yarram which is approximately 3 hours south of Melbourne in Gippsland.  My impressions of the town was that it was a really energised and interesting place.  I was surprised that a population of just 2,100 was creating such a buzz.  I then [...]

What makes people Line up for 30 minutes to get into a store that is not having a stocktake sale? Pay a member joining fee to be able to purchase at the store? Spend a lot of money to supposedly save money? Answer: Costco I considered this phenomenon beyond my comprehension.  Then it struck me [...]

Sounds a bit crazy I know particularly if you are a one person band, but when you get sick how does your business cope? How do you manage your customers? How do you manage your recovery? If you are like me and many other business owners out there, we don’t have time to get sick [...]

One of the smartest questions for business owners to ask themselves is; have my customers been affected by the global economic crisis? If the answer is no then fantastic nothing to panic about (unless you want to add more stress to your life then fill your boots!) If the answer is yes again don’t hit [...]

All businesses undertake marketing activities.  At the very least they get business cards, a brochure, a website, maybe they undertake advertising, direct marketing campaigns or other targeted promotions.  Increasingly businesses are finding that even their best marketing efforts are not achieving results. Over the next couple of weeks I plan to highlight a range of [...]