I decided in 2014 that my focus was actually going to be to start to focus. I adore business - the ins and outs of it, the ups and downs - but I got a feeling in 2014 that if I wanted to really live up to the potential I think I have - I'd need to find...

By Anonymous with 74 comments

A little break

Hello my lovelies. I've been a little quiet the past couple of weeks with glaring diary notes staring at me saying "write blog!" "post blog!". And yet my pen (you know, if I actually wrote with one) is dry. I'll be back and writing more no doubt at some stage. Until then I want to thank all of you who have read my posts / books and general ramblings - especially those who have taken the time over...

By Anonymous with 7 comments

The Law of Reciprocity

The Law of Reciprocity is as simple this: do something nice for a decent person, and they'll want to return the favour.  It's one of my favourite universal laws and I see it in action all the time.  Nowhere better than this hand written...

By Anonymous with 5 comments

Exasperated or Elated the Choice is Yours

"And so I'd email them... and then 2 or 3 days later they'd call me back!" my client exclaimed, exasperated when describing another service experience to me.  We discussed at length the two key rules for communication (in my opinion).  Firstly - when a client contacts you - if you can't help them straight away - acknowledge them! A simple email back to say - hi, I got your request...

By Anonymous with 9 comments

The power of the pen

I eagerly ripped open the tiny envelope my husband had placed in my hands. It's not often we get mail sent to our house and it's always a treat to see a pretty hand addressed envelope when I'm pretty sure it contains a card.  You see, I love cards. I've just sent out a manifesto asking for no presents for my 35th birthday - which rolls around in a few days requesting a hand written card...

By Anonymous with 1 comment

Flex it up

Once a week we buy lunch for our team. Today I had a gorgeous oven baked fish fillet on a salad with rustic cut chips. Last week a gourmet burger. The week before that burritos. And so forth…. My tummy is rumbling just thinking about my favourite work day of the week. There are 8 of us, sometimes more and we ask for just one tiny special thing. We order about a week in advance. When we get our...

By Anonymous with 1 comment

The power in a letter

An amazing friend’s little boy started kindergarten today. She was, understandably, emotional, excited and overwhelmed. In watching her little man head to kindergarten – I myself find that I’ve been schooled. We’ve all had special teachers in our lives. Someone who made something clear that was previously fuzzy, someone who made us see something in ourselves we didn’t know was there, maybe...

By Anonymous with No comments

Finite

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By Anonymous with 2 comments

Inspiration comes in the most unlikely of places

I'd like to thank the pre-teen series of books called "The Babysitters Club" for helping me become the entrepreneur I am today.  For those of you not a female approximately my age, let me give you a quick rundown on the books. Basically 5 young friends start a business babysitting the kids in their local area. They market, they service clients, they come up with initiatives, they manage...

By Anonymous with 3 comments

Hate networking? Stop trying to "get"

I’ve always cringed at the thought of networking events. I rarely carry business cards, I dislike getting business cards thrust at me and I’m kind of (despite what you might think if you met my business persona) shy and would prefer to be home in my pjs and ugg boots. This week I was watching a seminar by photographer of women extraordinaire Sue Bryce (www.inbedwithsue.com) and she said the...

By Anonymous with No comments

But I don’t know where to start!

We’ve all been there – the work has slowly but surely piled up, the emails have gone unanswered, and every time you turn your head it seems you’re just being bombarded with more to add to the “not-done” pile – in short, life is out of control. I recently worked with a friend who was in just this situation and even though she knew she was rapidly falling further down the rabbit hole her issue...

By Anonymous with No comments

New project launching tomorrow - tune in for nix!

Hi All, Just a quick one to let you know my new little project http://somewherelive.com/ is launching tomorrow at 9.00am (on the East Coast of Australia) with a free live stream of customer service guru Glen Coutinho. It's going to be nice and interactive - anyone watching can tweet questions, comments, thoughts with the hashtag #somewherelive and I'll be your voice in the session (along with...

By Anonymous with No comments

Red licorice

My husband and I were reminiscing about the sorts of presents we used to get our parents when we were younger. He fondly recalled one year when he got his dad red licorice as a birthday present. He told me he couldn’t have been more excited to get this awesome gift for his dad and that he was so positive that his dad would love it. Now, knowing my father in law, I’m sure he gave every impression...

By Anonymous with No comments

Testing the Tagline

I’ve been emailing back and forth with a girlfriend in real estate who is about to get her car branded up. She’s a clever cookie – so she got her branding mock up done and then sent it out to a bunch of people to get their opinions and thoughts on what she’d missed or could change. One of my suggestions was that she needed a tag line on the rear window. Since then every car with tag lines on...

By Anonymous with No comments

How I got out of a funk

“I’m in a funk” I said morosely to my husband. He’d heard it before from me. Sometimes I just fall into “funks”. Nothing’s wrong. In fact, I’m rarely in a funk when something’s wrong (I kind of thrive on fixing problems). I’m usually just bored and lacking motivation. Hey – I’m sure it happens to everyone, and you probably have your own definition of a funk. Contributing more to my, for want of...

By Anonymous with No comments

Proof of the Proof

A girlfriend, very fabulous, very creative, asked me to proof a crowd funding idea she has for a business this week. She always has a fun spin on things and never likes to be called the CEO of a company. So she’d made up a name that had a play on her business name in the job title. Only…. I had to let her know, upon proofing her presentation, that her choice of unique job title was also slang for...

By Anonymous with 1 comment

Get Your Golden Rule Straight

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By Anonymous with No comments

Perfect is overrated

One of the greatest highlights of my life was walking out of a train station about 13 years ago. It was a cool day in January on my first ever trip overseas and the train station was in Rome. It was Colosseum station to be exact.  As I walked out of the station, the crumbling façade of one of the world’s most beautiful and iconic buildings hit me straight in the face. It was an epic moment...

By Anonymous with No comments

When to leave?

I’ve had people say I was crazy for leaving my former real estate agency when I sold my share a few years back. Since I’ve left it’s gone from being a very successful 6 agency group to the largest network of real estate office in the state. I’m so proud of my former business partner and the team he’s built and what he’s grown with the company we started. I have nothing but respect and admiration...

By Anonymous with No comments

What’s in a name?

Did you know iconic fashion chain Zara was originally going to be called Zorba – but ran into difficulties because there was a bar in their local town with the same name. So they kept the Z and improvised. Did you know Adolf founded Adidas? Adolf Dassler that is – and his nick name Adi provided the basis for the name. 3M – probably best known to you for the post its sitting on your desk right now...

By Anonymous with No comments