Victoria leading the way with Women in Business

At the Girls in Tech Catalyst Conference in Melbourne today, Melbourne innovation Minister, Philip Dalidakis, said that there should more women in leading technology roles. 

Statistics show technology startups founded by females tend to “last longer than male-founded businesses, and they’re actually more successful both in terms of revenue and profitability” say Dalidakis

In the 2014 election, now premier Daniel Andrews pledged that 50% of new board appointments within the state government would be women - and today - this has been achieved! 

There has recently been a Victorian women’s delegation to China led by Minister for Women Natalie Hutchins to promote trade between women of both Countries. 

This initiative comes on top of strong investments already made in promoting and supporting women in business in Victoria. Including $1.4 million to promote women’s self-employment opportunities and business skills.

Bottom line - by having women on your leadership team is great for business!

What do you think?

16 Gems from Jeff Bezos

Great find from Des Whyte - www.expertential.com

1995 to 2015   July, 2015  Amazon was 20 years old with a $200B valuation

 

Now in less than 3 years, May 2018  Amazon’s 2018 US$760b ………..so increased by $500b+

 

Maybe we should pay attention to what Jeff has to say.

 

1.       On making people pay attention:

'You can have the best technology, you can have the best business model, but if the storytelling isn't amazing, it won't matter. Nobody will watch.'

2.       On strategy:

'We've had three big ideas at Amazon that we've stuck with for 18 years, and they're the reason we're successful: 

Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.'

3.       On innovation:

'I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.'

4.       On pivoting:

'If you're not stubborn, you'll give up on experiments too soon. And if you're not flexible, you'll pound your head against the wall and you won't see a different solution to a problem you're trying to solve.'

5.       On Pricing:

'There are two kinds of companies, those that work to try to charge more and those that work to charge less. We will be the second.'

6.       On new ideas:

'There'll always be serendipity involved in discovery.’

7.       On progress:

'If you're competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering.’

8.       On growth:

'All businesses need to be young forever. If your customer base ages with you, you're Woolworth's.'

9.       On Marketing:

'In the old world, you devoted 30% of your time to building a great service and 70% of your time to shouting about it. In the new world, that inverts.'

10.   On empowering a team:

'I would never say no to something the team wanted to do, but I might say yes to something the team didn't want to do. You want there to be multiple ways to get to 'yes' because you want to encourage risk-taking.'

11.   On choosing slim profits:

'Your margin is my opportunity.'

12.   On complacency:

'A company shouldn't get addicted to being shiny, because shiny doesn't last.'

13.   On developing company culture:

'Part of company culture is path-dependent -- it's the lessons you learn along the way.'

14.   On haters:

'If you never want to be criticised, for goodness' sake don't do anything new.'

15.   On motivation:

'I strongly believe that missionaries make better products. They care more. For a missionary, it's not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense, but that's not why you do it. You do it because you have something meaningful that motivates you.'

16.   On choosing friends:

'Life's too short to hang out with people who aren't resourceful.'

Best piece of advice from Mark Cuban

Great piece of advice from Mark Cuban :- 

Nice is one of the most valuable assets that every company or individual has - in a world where you are going to get a new gig every couple of years - being nice makes your value proposition go through the roof - people deal with people that they “know like and trust” #trusts #gigs #individualization #klt #bbg

See full interview wit Amy Jo Martin http://amyjomartin.com/whynotnowmarkcuban/

Never stop learning

learning continues forever. You should always strive to learn something new and expand your current skill set. This will push you to continue to grow and develop

You should always strive to learn something new,and expand your current skill set. 

Expand your knowledge by following your interests. 

• Take an online course on a topic that you’re curious about. 
• Find a mentor in another work discipline to pass along their wisdom and a different point of view. 
• Join or create a peer group and learn from each other. 

Join us at our next forum www.bbg.business 

The Power of Your BBG Network

Great post by Toni Fitzgerald 

I remember when I first started working.   Anything my boss asked me  "could I do xx'  I always enthusiastically said 'yes!'   Even if I didn't have the foggiest clue what he was even talking about.  My first task simply became ringing around my friends and colleagues looking for help, from someone who did know.    Often, none of my inner circle could help, but were more than happy to introduce me to a friend, or friend of a friend, and voila… I could get the task done.

It was experiences like this over those first working years that taught me the power of networking and collaborating and of having a group of people willing to help out, without them needing to line their own pockets.

Being a part of Business Builders Group (BBG) from the very beginning, I have seen this in action again and again.  And the absolute highlight for me has been in extending the tentacles of a network across international borders.

Recently a Sydney based friend of mine needed to make a high profile connection in Singapore… and just did not have a starting point.  He was arriving in town with a vague plan.  I looked on the BBG website and found, yes, there was already a chapter established in that country! 

Using Referron, I referred my friend to the  leader of that chapter Mr Allen Pathmarajah, who helped him connect with the right people. The problem was solved, and a strong appropriate friend and business connection was established.

"The gentleman I met through BBG is just the perfect connection, he has a wealth of experience and an entirely appropriate background to guide and further  assist and connect me"   I was told upon my friend's return to Sydney.

Dale Beumont's BBG Gala Breakfast

Great commentary by Tony Jacobson tony@avantco.com.au - Guru and  Business Mentor 

Dale Beaumont gave an outstanding presentation at the BBG Gala Breakfast in April. It was an incredible event where all attendees learnt a fortune, had the chance to network with likeminded individuals and were also served a wonderful 5 star breakfast. 

These are some of my main takeaways from the event:

1. One of the main points that was driven home was that every business person should have a coach. Just think Federer, Messi, Rory McElroy, even though they are at the pinnacle of their games, they all still have coaches. 
2. 85% of Aussie consumer are on FB 
3. There are 1 billion views on YouTube daily and it's become the 2nd biggest search engine in the world after Google. 
4. Gen y is 25% of the workforce — technology needs to be embraced in order for your business to stay relevant.
5. There are amazing software platforms which enable your business to keep up to speed and differentiate itself from the rest of the pack:

• Playcelet - Great images to customise for your products.

• GIF images - Movement in emails and on websites lead to a 12% increase in “stickiness”  

• Snippy - Makes a short link to content that you share. Now you OWN the link and traffic is redirected back to your website.

• Headline Analyser - Tests headlines in emails using algorithms that test their effectiveness. It offers suggestions and word replacements and a handy score tracker shows how much better your headline gets as you implement the changes. The improved headlines is also picked up much more effectively by the search engines.

• About.me - Fastest way to get website for a business owner – You need to be found by google and own the first page. The website is mobile, tablet and web enabled. 

• • Shakr - Video is essential. At Shakr you can find 3000 pre-made video templates - takes two or three minutes to make brilliant videos which are becoming ever more essential for essential (duplicated) for ecommerce.

• A Good company intranet is essential.  Google sites offers a superb free product. What you can upload is endless in terms of increasing productivity. For example, new staff spend first day watching videos off the intranet and therefore save many valuable hours getting up to speed in the induction process. It uses google search technology making it easy to find and access all the stored information.  It also enables you to lock down certain departments so only the required staff members can gain access. 

• Implement a task management software such as TEAMWORK. Email is no longer a productive method for managing complex projects. It only costs $6 per staff member.

• Using an intelligent CRM is critical. Look at Hubspot, infusionsoft and bitrix24.

• Snagit -  Snagit is a screenshot program that captures video display and audio output. Originally for the Microsoft Windows operating systems, recent versions have also been available for macOS, but with fewer features.

• • Dialpad - Offers a secure, enterprise cloud phone system, business VoIP, toll free numbers, cloud PBX & integrations with G Suite & Office 365.

• • Fiverr - The world's largest online marketplace for freelance services, beginning at a cost of $5 per job performed, from where it gets its name.

• Re-marketing is critical.

• Only 2% of ecommerce transactions take place on the first contact. 

• Only 3% of ecommerce transactions take place on the second contact. 

• 5% of ecommerce transactions take place on the third contact.

• 10% of ecommerce transactions take place on the forth contact.

• 80% of ecommerce transactions take place on the 5^th to 12^th contact 

• The Speed of your website is critical if it is to rank highly in a Google search. If your website is slow, google will reject you. Make sure you optimise the speed of your website. 

For more information get your hands on a copy of Dale’s book “Secrets of top business builders exposed”. It’s a great read and a treasure trove of wonderful ideas. 

Tony Jacobson

CEO

Avant-garde International Consulting Group

0403499126

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyjacobsonaus/ 

The #1 Way To Improve Engagement on LinkedIn

Great article by John Nemo - Li Le in Guru 

You need to find ways to engage your ideal clients and prospects in 1-on-1, personalized conversations using LinkedIn invites and messages.

John calls it  context for connection -  a great way to starting these new relationships and discussions - find commonalities to spark discussions with new connections.

Inbound Invites + Engagement = Success on LinkedIn

Be sure to build your LinkedIn profile in a way that helps your ideal clients and customers understand who you are and how you can help them, and if you’ve included the right keywords inside your profile, you’re going to see a steady stream of inbound invites from people wanting to connect to you on the network.

To enable you to get a steady stream of “inbound invites” you need to create  a “client facing” profile.

John has an amazing Template  use this copy-and-paste LinkedIn profile template that includes some of his favorite phrases, keywords and formatting tips.)

An inbound or “Received” invitation on LinkedIn is ideal, because that means someone else has taken the time to “find” you on the platform, look at your profile and send an invitation wanting to connect with you personally.

It’s akin to a WARM REFERRAL!

Sometimes, these inbound invites you receive will include a personal note from the person about how he or she found you and why he or she wants to connect.

But more often than not, you’ll just see some inbound, generic invites sitting there once you click on the “My Network” tab at the top of your LinkedIn page.

Follow These Steps to Filter your Inbound contacts 

(Not on mobile) First, click on “My Network” at the top of the page. That will pull up all your inbound or “Received” invitations from people who want to connect with you.

Next, click “Manage All” in the top corner of that “Invitations” area, and you’ll be brought to a new page that allows you to utilize the different filters I’ve mentioned.

The filters are laid out in boxes above your “Received” (or inbound) LinkedIn invites to connect. Simply click on the box you want to filter by (“All Invitations,” “From Your Company,” “From Your School” or “Has Mutual Connections”) to sort the list of inbound invites accordingly.

The Power of Context

Imagine seeing someone who went to the same school: business/university / festival  as you has just sent an invite to connect. you have a commonality that you can connect with! 

Find the hook!

You can now easily accept the person’s invite, and then fire off a personalized, 1-on-1 message asking about his or her experience at your school as an icebreaker.

Here’s a sample message you could use after accepting an invite  that seems to work for me 

Hey [NAME] – thanks for inviting me to connect!

I noticed you are a (profession) and work at (business) and we have (nunmber of mutual contacts)

why not join me as my guest for breakfast at our next breakfast forum... and start connecting and collaborating with people that I know like and trust. 
Join me as my guest at (your bbg breakfast forum link) I look forward to putting a face to a name.
Looking forward to learning more about you professionally and how I can help you out!Best Ivan ps.. Click link to view my profile and connect with me on referron https://members.referron.com/bsivc. If you update your profile on referron, you will create your own virtual business card. ppshave a look at our weekly blog https://paper.li/bsivc/1372196625 

Find the icebreaker -  based on a few different filters, and that context for a conversation is where the magic begins to happen on LinkedIn.

Messaging Magic

Make sure you spend time formulating a series of great intros and conversation starters - having an inbound request for a connection is like a warm lead! 

Don’t lose it! 

Be sure you have a system to spark new conversations when others are inviting you to connect!