Why Working With Your Loved One is a Great Idea

Why Working With Your Loved One is a Great Idea

/in , , , /by

My partner and I registered our business name not long after we went on our first date. We’d been close friends for a while and connected through our shared interest in travelling and a yearning to escape the 9-5 grind.

Luckily, we found entrepreneurship at the same time that we found each other, and since then our business and life partnerships have developed very closely alongside each other. For us, our business opportunity presented itself in the form of ecommerce. Now, three years into our business journey together, we have established a small empire of stores that provide us with income and more importantly, the freedom and time to spend more of our days with each other.

So what exactly are the benefits of building a business with your loved one? I think there are many and I’ve compiled a simple list of some of the best ones below:

●  Shared values and beliefs – Being on the same page as your business partner is essential and given the amount of time that couples spend together means that it is highly likely that you share some very similar core values and beliefs. These will make all the difference if (and when) the going gets tough and will help you to make better decisions when moving your business forward.

Read more

Keeping Computer and Network Safe for SMEs

Keeping Computer and Network Safe for SMEs

/in , , , , , /by

We’ve all heard of the most recent cyber attacks; Ashley Madison, David Jones and K-mart to name a few. What many people haven’t heard is that in 2014, 60% of targeted attacks hit small and medium businesses1.

So why don’t we hear about the smaller scale incidents? In Australia, it’s not mandatory to report cyber attacks. To avoid reputational tarnish, customer dissatisfaction and the chance of repeat attack, it’s no surprise that most businesses choose to stay quiet.

Not only does being a small or medium business make you a greater target, the consequence is also greater than that of a large enterprise. According to research from the Ponemon Institute2, the cost of a cyber attack costs SMEs $755 per capita, more than double the $282 per capita that larger organisations get struck with. And according to a different study3, 60% of small organisations go out of business within 6 months of a data breach.

Read more

Why You Shouldn't Be Disappointed After a Startup Failure

Why You Shouldn’t Be Disappointed After a Startup Failure

/in , , /by

The quality that best characterizes business owners is passion; it sets the engines of entrepreneurship rolling with the proprietor behind the wheel. It’s the same passion with fuels the drive to attain his purpose and achieve his vision. But every business venture starts out as an idea. Entrepreneurs will always believe they have stumbled across the “next big thing”. Passion turns to excitement until reality puts the entrepreneurial dream in its proper perspective.

Statistically, entrepreneurs who start a new business are already at a disadvantage. As you’re reading this article; in the United States, 1,569 new businesses are starting out. Of those 1,569 new businesses, 1,520 will close down by the end of its first fiscal year. The failure rate of start- ups is universal; in Canada for every 397 new businesses that start every day, 375 will declare bankruptcy by the end of the year. According to Small Business Association, more than 50% of all small businesses will shut down five (5) years from the start of operation.

If your business is a start up with unprofitable operations, you should not be discouraged because failure is part of the process.

Read more

Working with Family Members

Working with Family Members

/in , , /by

My husband and I purchased our company, River City Trees, when our youngest son was only 1 year old and have been working together ever since.  When we first started working for ourselves Bart was in the truck full time and I looked after the office.  Since then we have managed to grow our business, starting with Bart getting out of the truck in 2012, to now where we only go into the office three days a week.

The first family member we employed was our daughter. We have been fortunate to have her work with us while she is going through university, which has greatly benefited both of us as it has given her a great insight into how businesses run (she is studying Marketing at QUT) whilst she is helping us. She also recently converted our Operations Manager into a son-in-law who has now been working for us for 5 years.  Our son who is completing grade 12 in 3 weeks time has been doing a School Based Apprenticeship throughout years 11 and 12 in Arboriculture, which has given him the opportunity to work 1 day a week within our company and grow his skill set. As of next year, he will start working with us full time.

Read more

Secure Your Business From Data Breaches

Secure Your Business From Data Breaches

/in , , , , , /by

Identity theft is increasing on a global scale, with financial information and client records considered foundational data for cyber criminals that indulge in this practice, whether for strict financial gain or use in fraudulent transactions. The normal practice is that harvested data is used to create other accounts (such as bank, email or other) or indeed continue using existing accounts but changing passwords to prevent legitimate access.

Small to medium enterprises obviously store both financial and health information and are prime targets for hackers. In August 2014. These criminals do not care about your business information but focus more on your personal details such as date of birth, address, etc., using them for services or credit applications.

Australia has had its fair share of data breaches. In 2012, ransomware (software that locks down a computer until a ‘ransom’ is paid using an untraceable digital currency such as Bitcoin) was used to compromise the operations of a Gold Coast medical centre.

Luckily, with a little knowledge and some forward planning, you can protect your medical practice from most of these data breaches. I say most, as even large enterprises are successfully breached by highly skilled hackers on occasion and few servers can continue operation if thousands of hackers launch a simultaneous attack.

Read more

Top Tips when Working with Family Members

Top Tips when Working with Family Members

/in , , /by

A number of business owners employ family members in their business. It is great to have a business where you can give work to family but is this a good idea and how do we ensure it doesn’t hurt our relationship?

Family can be our greatest strength while at times our worst nightmare. When we are in business what is the best way to ensure our relationships remain healthy while family is employed?

If you have other employees it is important you do not show preferential treatment to your family member undertaking the same job as staff. If the family member is not pulling their weight then staff duties are escalated due to your family member and this may cause animosity with other staff.

Read more

How Well Do Australians Protect Their Online Security and Privacy?

How Well Do Australians Protect Their Online Security and Privacy?

/in , , , , /by

Ever seen your hipster mate on Facebook gush about how talented Justin Bieber is? We’ve often laughed at friends who’ve had their social account hacked as part of a harmless prank. But is this a symptom of a wider problem? Perhaps there are many of us who are leaving our social media accounts vulnerable to much more sinister attacks on our privacy and security.

Melbourne based SEO agency Optimising conducted a recent survey to attempt to find out how educated Aussies are when it comes to protecting their online social profiles. The team surveyed 853 adults across the country earlier in 2015 and asked respondents whether their profiles were public or private, if they’d had their data or personal information shared against their will, as well as their knowledge of some common privacy related technologies.

Read more

Data Security In The Age Of The Mobile Worker

Data Security In The Age Of The Mobile Worker

/in , , , , , /by

The brave new world of increased mobility means work is an activity rather than a destination. Employees can work from anywhere in the world using mobile devices: they can even choose, manage, and use their own devices in many cases.

This carries enormous benefits to businesses as employees become more productive and available. However, it also creates risk because these devices and the data that resides on them may not be adequately secured, so sensitive company information may be compromised. Organisations must take measures to protect business information on mobile devices.

Using mobile devices comes with new concerns around securing and protecting company data, especially when it comes to storing and transmitting information. When employees use mobile devices, they often also use public cloud services like Google and Dropbox to store documents and information – and these are often beyond the visibility and control of the IT department. As a result, businesses need to consider ways to ensure maximum security for mobile workers that access, share and collaborate on work and documents over mobile devices.

Read more

Five Tips for Running a Business That Doesn’t Take Over Your Family Life

Five Tips for Running a Business That Doesn’t Take Over Your Family Life

/in , , , , /by

Running a business is challenging at the best of times. It’s not all lunchtime meetings and evening client drinks. And when you have kids, there are even more considerations on the table. Having run my own digital marketing business for seven years, I’ve identified the things that help to make me and my business successful. Here are my top five tips:

Be clear about your vision and purpose for the business as well as your personal vision and purpose

If you have a clear goal and direction you’re going in, it’s easier to take purposeful steps to get there. If you want to have a good work life balance, to spend quality time with your kids, maybe building a billion dollar business that requires 60-70 hours of your time each week isn’t the best idea after all.

Read more

Mother-daughter Businesses Share Their Secrets to Success

Mother-daughter Businesses Share Their Secrets to Success

/in , , , /by

The relationship between a mother and daughter is often complicated. But some women choose to add a further dynamic to the mix, by starting a business together.

Jillian Intini and her daughter Casey Bryden began working together four years ago designing and manufacturing modern sun parasols for their business Sunbella.

“For us, it was a natural progression,” Says Jillian.

“As a nurse I was seeing skin cancers on a lot of women and I had the idea to design a sun parasol. At the same time Casey left her marketing job to have a baby, so we started brainstorming together and bouncing ideas around.”

“Our little family business is now bigger than we could have imagined a few years ago. We sell online, through retailers, we wholesale, hire and offer corporate branding options.”

“We’ve landed some large corporate deals with Peroni and the One & Only resort and there are some exciting opportunities coming up for us this year. I would not be doing this without my buddy by my side, plain and simple.”

The recently launched Willa In Spades brand are another mother daughter duo, with Amanda Wearn designing and her mum Beth King sewing each piece in the collection.

Read more