Business Brain Food

This week we find out how Dean Salakas built up his company, the Party People from a AUD 500,000-per-year business with 3 employees to the powerhouse it is now, turning over AUD 4m per year with 40+ employees.

You might know Dean from his appearance on the Aussie entrepreneur TV show, The Shark Tank, where he actually turned down a AUD 400,000 offer for a share of his business, The Party Store. Dean learnt a lot from the experience and shared some great insight with us.

See below for some of Dean’s best advice:

**  Don’t throw everything at online. In retail, online sales currently account for 6-11% of overall sales, and at current growth rates it is forecast to be only 20% in 10 years.

**  However, you need to be good at both online marketing and conventional marketing. A lot of people start their buying journey online but end it in the store.

**  Plan plan plan! If you don’t have a long-term plan, when you hit a problem it’s harder to cope with it.

**  Understand your cycles. In Dean’s case he has to plan for the spikes in demand around dates like Halloween and Christmas… what are your spikes in demand?

**  Learn how to talk investors’ language. If you want your business to grow to a serious degree you’re probably going to need outside investment, but if you don’t fully understand what they want, you won’t get their money.

**  If you’re a small business with ambition, be prepared to do everything. You won’t have the resource to outsource the majority of your tasks.

**  Dean’s quickest path to growth is to master your marketing.

 

In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn:

**  Is digital so important for retail?

**  The benefits of being open to change

**  Dean’s incredible journey

**  Why Dean turned down a AUD 400,000 offer on Shark Tank

**  The best strategies for raising funding

**  What didn’t work for Dean

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

**  Ben’s Business Exceleration conference. Special VIP offer here

**  Dean’s Party People website: http://www.thepartypeople.com.au

**  The Business Brain Food Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessbrainfood

**  All previous BBF episodes & show notes can be found at http://www.businessbrainfood.com.au

**  Twitter: https://twitter.com/bfewtrell

 

Call to action:

Dean made his business, the Party People, grow exponentially with some very simple common-sense business methods. Listen to him!

Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that!

Until next time, have a profitable day!

Cheers,
Ben Fewtrell
(02) 9111 5000

Direct download: BBF157_Building_Australias_largest_retail_party_supplies.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00pm AEDT

We have a first on BBF this week.. a man who is a certified professional organiser. Who in business doesn’t need to be organised? Joshua is well worth listening to because not only is he a professional organiser, he is the director of global community at Evernote: one of the most popular business apps in the world. Joshua is so organised he even uses Evernote to list his favourite burger joints around the world!

See below for some of Joshua’s best productivity advice:

**  ‘Busy' doesn’t mean ‘productive’. Do not aspire to be busy! When judging the quality of your output, concentrate on whether you get done what you want to get done - nothing else.

**  Apps can be great for productivity but it’s important to define what your problem is before you jump in and get an app. Doing it the other way around can make you even less efficient.

**  Learn to say no. You can only truly succeed in your time management if you say no at the right times.

**  When assigning tasks to others, there’s no substitute for good old-fashioned conversation. Dictating tasks and deadlines to people can be easily done with today’s technology, but it is a bad habit.

**  Document your processes. Only then can you delegate properly.

**  With any new tool/app, you don’t need to know everything it does. Just take a small everyday task and use the tool/app to help with that, and build from there.

In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn:

**  Why productivity is important for small businesses

**  The definition of productivity

**  How modern technology has helped/hindered efficiency in business

**  Time management

**  Delegation

**  The inner workings of Evernote

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

**  Ben’s free business planning template can be downloaded from http://www.maxmyprofit.com.au

**  Find Joshua on Twitter here

**  Find Evernote on Twitter here

**  The Business Brain Food Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessbrainfood

 

**  All previous BBF episodes & show notes can be found at http://www.businessbrainfood.com.au

**  Twitter: https://twitter.com/bfewtrell

 

Call to action:

We’ll leave our very own Ben to give our inspirational message this week: “If this conversation with Joshua doesn’t inspire you to get organised, then nothing will!”

Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that!

Until next time, have a profitable day!

Cheers,
Ben Fewtrell
(02) 9111 5000


What a great guest we have this week - there was so much absolute gold that came out of the conversation. Our guest is Annette Densham (AKA “The Publicity Genie”) who has a great insight into how small businesses can market themselves, having worked with numerous clients across Australia and having started out on the other side of the fence as a journalist. She has also pioneered the award-winning “Genie Lamp 3-wishes program” which has helped revolutionise the way startups get their place in the media.

See below for some of Annette’s best PR advice:

**  Public relations is everything you say and do - not just in the media.

**  People don’t do business with businesses, they do business with people, so your all-round message is vital.

**  Work out your key messages: What do you want people to know about you? What do you do? What solution are you offering? Only then should you think about what specific communication channels to use.

**  Keep it regular - it’s all about being consistent and persistent.

**  Don’t just talk about yourself on social media. You need to consistently give people value.

**  PR is like planting a seed - it must be consistently nurtured.

**  Think about being a guest contributor to relevant media.

**  When writing a media release, remember ‘the inverted pyramid’. Put your most important information at the top.

 

In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn:

**  The importance of PR for small business

**  How much time you should dedicate to PR

**  The law of reciprocity

**  How to use keywords to your advantage

**  How to plan your PR activity

**  The definition of pro-active media

**  How to use Google alerts

**  How best to approach journalists

**  Repurposing content

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

**  Ben’s free business planning template can be downloaded from http://www.maxmyprofit.com.au

**  Visit Annette’s website here and take up her offer of a free 15-minute PR consultation

**  The Business Brain Food Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessbrainfood

 

**  All previous BBF episodes & show notes can be found at http://www.businessbrainfood.com.au

**  Twitter: https://twitter.com/bfewtrell

 

Call to action:

As Annette says, “there’s no room for modesty in small business!”. Listen to the show and follow her advice….. don’t be shy!

Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that!

Until next time, have a profitable day!

Cheers,
Ben Fewtrell
(02) 9111 5000

 

Direct download: BBF155_How_to_get_your_slice_of_the_media_pie_with_Annette_Densham.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00pm AEDT

What a thoroughly interesting man we have on the show this week. Morris Miselowski has made it his business to predict the future, but there are no crystal balls and tarot cards here….. Morris is a highly qualified professional, renowned the world over. He’s worked with the likes of KPMG, Ford and Microsoft, helping them to anticipate changes in technology and human behaviour.

We were very lucky to spend an hour picking his brains about the next big things and how every business can brace themselves for rapidly changing marketplaces.

Read on for some of Morris’ top tips on future proofing:

**  You must constantly take time out to think ahead. You owe it to your business and you owe it to your clients.

**  However outlandish your new idea for a business may sound, if you can find a clear human need for it, you should go for it.

**  Keep an eye out for incremental changes you can make to your day-to-day business. It’s better to do this habitually than to leave it too late and be forced into making monumental change for the sake of survival.

**  Think about business strategy first and then look for the technology to make it happen. Don’t let the new technology dictate to you.

**  Forget about the perfect long-term solution. In this day and age the ‘solution’ you need is something that enables you to grow and adapt to change.

**  Nowadays your business will be one of a myriad of choices in your marketplace, so you have to learn to adapt, otherwise you will lose more and more market share.

 

 

In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn:

**  Disruptive industries

**  Centralised service provision

**  “the drunken Saturday night experience”

**  How best to cope with change

**  The impact of Artificial Intelligence

**  How google is positioning itself to collect human data

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

**  Ben’s free business planning template can be downloaded from http://www.maxmyprofit.com.au

** Go to Morris’ website and find a whole host of resources, including his free-to-download magazine, “Future Curious”

**  All previous BBF episodes & show notes can be found at http://www.businessbrainfood.com.au

**  Twitter: https://twitter.com/bfewtrell

 

Call to action:

What Morris says about the death of the perfect long-term business plan really is worth reiterating. Think long and hard about the way you plan your future business, and make sure you bring it into the 21st century!

Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that!

Until next time, have a profitable day!

Cheers,
Ben Fewtrell
(02) 9111 5000

 

Direct download: BBF154_Predicting_the_future_of_your_business_with_Morris_Miselowski.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00pm AEDT

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