Rhianne came to the organisation straight out of school after finishing Year 12. With the decision made not to go to ’schoolies’ and to become focussed with starting her career was the perfect start. “… Although the tempation to have a break and go to ’schoolies’ was hard to resist, the benefits of starting the job was always going to outweigh the negatives …”.

Rhianne feels that the completion of Certificate III has set her up for further achieving career goals. When asked what Rhianne would like to aim for, she indicated that running an office would be her dream job.

Rhianne mentioned that the winning formula for making a successful traineeship happen includes:

• Taking your time with understanding the basic elements of the job;
• Be prepared to make coffees and do the tasks that are considered menial or boring;
• Don’t go out partying before the first day of your job. There is nothing cool about smelling of alcohol or having the ‘night club’ stamps on your arms;
• Wear work appropriate clothing. This means no offensive logos or torn pants, midriff showing or tattoos exposed;
• Listen well and if you’re not sure about how to do a task as requested then re-ask the Manager. Rhianne believes there is nothing worse for someone who is starting out in their traineeships to do a task which you didn’t understand in the first place. It leads to you getting into trouble from your Manager and as well it can lead to a major knock to your self-confidence;
• Making time to complete all assignments;
• Don’t be afraid to make suggestions if you think things can be done differently;

With Rhianne moving from Certificate III to Certificate IV in Front-line Management, she is feeling confident and well supported by her workplace to complete it without any problems.

It is important to have good people within the business. Over the years whilst running this business, the amount of issues experienced with firstly attracting the right type of skilled people has been difficult and secondly the effort spent in keeping them for long term is equally as difficult. The realisation of my business needing a good focused young person to come in and learn was vital to the long term viability and with Rhianne’s raw talent and abilities, has in my view, turned out to be mututally beneficial. In short, The Transcription People gained a great young person whilst she continues to gain qualifications and other useful life skills that she can use within other future roles.

The following number of elements are what I consider important for people to have when employed as a trainee:

• Having good interpersonal skills;
• Turning up on time;
• Listening and asking questions when you do not understand and;
• Putting your full effort into tasks – half a job done is as good as not doing the job in the first place.

The Transcription People are always looking for bright and energetic people to join them, especially skilled proof readers and transcriptionists. Send your resume to jobs@ttp.com.au.

This post was originally posted on The Transcription People Blog – You can read the post here.

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This is one area I really struggle with. Particularly as I work from home my business is always ‘there’ and I don’t really switch off.  This has very much been the case over the past 6 months as my business has grown the whole “switching off” idea just doesn’t work. 

I have my laptop and my iPhone and it is too easy for me to check my emails and make sure I am not missing anything on Facebook and Twitter.  Even if my laptop is off my iPhone is there.  Sometimes I find myself responding to emails at 11pm on a Friday night and I have even been accused (although not proven) of checking my phone at 3am when I wake up  through the night (ok ok I am obsessed!).

I am also a mother to a very energetic two year old so the balancing act between being a mother, wife and business owner is difficult.  Generally my routine is all based around my son.  I cram as much work in when he is asleep and once again as soon as he is asleep at night. I do this so I can get everything done. And not even that, I love my business and it was I love to do so I don’t really find it work.

But the question is “when do I get ‘me’ time? Or when can I spend sometime with my partner?”

Quite simply I dont!!  And I can’t stand that. As I said I love my business and it is the reason I do what I do. But I do hate that I feel completely exhausted all the time and that I don’t have time to spend with just my husband.

So this is something I am going to work on. I am making it my mission to stop (not every night let’s not get ahead of myself here) but at least two nights during the week to ensure I get ‘me’ time and also to make time for my husband.  So that means no checking emails, no social networks and no checking my iPhone at ridiculous hours of the night.  It is going to be difficult but I am going to do it!

I would love to hear your thoughts at how you manage the whole work/life balance.

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Now, as clients, or potential clients reading this, I am sure you are running through a raft of reasons in your mind as to why it is a good idea for you to list your position with several recruiters. I am guessing the following are on
the list:

• to get as many good candidates as possible
• in case one agency has a candidate the other doesn’t
• to keep us on our toes
• to see what else is out there
• am I on the right track, are there any others?

So of course you are thinking I am about to tell you to use one recruiter only, and of course for that to be Footprint Recruitment.

Truth is, yes I do think you should have one recruiter who you have a sound relationship with as a primary contact, if that is Footprint Recruitment – excellent. But fundamentally you need to know your recruiter, feel
comfortable with them, confident in their skills and abilities and assured that they know your business and understand the roles they are recruiting for.

As Mr Savage accurately points out in his article, if you list a role with 4 recruiters, you can not expect 100% commitment and effort from those recruiters in return. What you will get is 25% commitment, because that’s all
you have shown them.

Ask yourself this question, if you were an Accountant, would you complete a full year end on a potential clients accounts, to the most thorough and detailed level possible, if you knew that at the end of the process you would
not be paid for the job, because another accountant who was also working on the same task in competition got chosen instead? Probably not I imagine.

By having a sound relationship with your recruiter, and using this recruiter exclusively for an initial period for each position, you ensure you gain the full commitment from that recruiter, seeing them throw their full range of skills and resources at filling your role with the ideal applicant.

If, after an agreed initial period of time (which will vary depending on the position), your recruiter has not been successful in filling the assignment, and after an open and honest discussion you feel it is appropriate, then it may
be the appropriate time to approach another agent to assist with that assignment.

The final thought to consider is this; here on the Central Coast, as we all know, it’s a small world. Recruiters are effectively all fishing from the same, sometimes limited, talent pool. So by multi listing positions with recruiters you will most often end up with the same list of candidates. How does this end up?

1. With frustrated candidates getting confusing calls about the same role from several sources;
2. With some recruiters resorting to unprofessional and inappropriate screening processes in order to get the candidate in front of you first to try and secure the placement fee, with little regard to the suitability of the candidate for the role; and
3. With you with your time wasted trying to liaise with several recruiters and having resumes put in front of you which don’t fit the brief.

Your time is precious and best spent working on your business, so don’t waste it.

About the Author

Kristy-Lee Johnston is the Director of Footprint Recruitment Pty Ltd, a Central Coast Recruitment and HR Services Agency which is run by locals, for locals. Footprint Recruitment specialises in the temporary and permanent recruitment of office support, accounting and finance and professional services staff whilst providing a range of generalist HR solutions.

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CCBiz networking group is inviting the Central Coast business community to relax and build new relationships in aid of the Central Coast’s Child Abuse Prevention Service (CAPS).

The CCBiz end-of-year cocktail function on Friday, 27 November, at Ettalong Mantra Hotel will give businesses the opportunity to network in a relaxed atmosphere, while supporting a Central Coast charity.

CCBiz coordinator and owner of Nicole Hammett Business Support Nicole Hammett, said the function would be a major event on the Central Coast business calendar.

“With only weeks to Christmas, Central Coast business people will be looking to spread a little goodwill and our function is the ideal place to do it,” Nicole said.

“CCBiz networking group has more businesses joining its ranks every week, and our end-of-year charity function is the perfect opportunity to showcase the business talent we have right here on the Coast, while supporting the very worthy cause of CAPS at the same time,” she said.

CAPS Central Coast is a not-for-profit organisation offering support services for parents and families on the Central Coast for more than 35 years. CAPS aims to alleviate child abuse in all its forms, by educating and informing both parents and the public through telephone counselling, training sessions, workshops and referrals to relevant professional services.

Julie Watson from CAPS Central Coast said the charity relied solely on funding from the community, businesses and fundraising and were extremely grateful for CCBiz’s support.

“The future of the Central Coast community relies on well-balanced children of today. This cycle must be seen as a community problem. Who else will take care of these children?” Julie asked.

“CAPS is an essential service for the Central Coast. There is a need for the services we provide, demonstrated by a 15 per cent rise in child abuse every year right here on the Coast,” she added.

The Central Coast Women’s Network is a major sponsor for the CCBiz charity function. Central Coast Women’s Network is all about professional businesswomen meeting bi-monthly for a networking lunch in a relaxed, yet professional atmosphere. For more information visit www.centralcoastwomensnetwork.com.au

Tickets for the CCBiz end-of-year function are $76 which includes entertainment, canapés and drinks.

The evening also has some fantastic prizes up for grabs in the raffles, all money raised will be going directly to CAPS.

More information will be posted on the CCBiz website as entertainment, sponsors and prizes are confirmed. Visit www.ccbiz.com.au/events/ or email info@ccbiz.com.au to find out more.

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Start by thinking about why you established the business and what your goals are, preferably before the business is launched. You might be on maternity leave and want to see if you can combine working from home with looking after your child. Or, you might have been made redundant and have found there is a gap in the market where your skills lie.

Either way, it is important to have a clear goal when you start your business and this will ensure you are always working towards your desired end result. Put simply, you wouldn’t buy a two-seater convertible car for a family of five, so why invest your valuable time and money into a business without making sure it is sustainable?

Planning a sustainable business is not just about having a great logo or an animated website, but about the business’s structure and direction.

Here are a few tips to consider:

• Create a vision for your business: work out who your customers are, your business values and the role you want to play.
• Build a brand: create a name, logo (symbol) and positioning statement based on the above attributes.
• Get your message out: think about the marketing material you need to speak to your current and potential customers – a savvy email campaign, fridge magnets or brochures.
• Systemise: boring, yes, but have a clear administrative and operative procedure in place for all the tasks so someone else can take over seamlessly.

A key point in creating a sustainable business is to recognise that it needs to grow. So many business people make the mistake of thinking that because they are swamped with work now, it will always be that way. Put together an action plan for when the work dries up because you can’t always guarantee your customers will continue to call you. Consider a new marketing strategy or expanding your service offering.

The other part of this planning exercise is to think about your exit strategy. It may seem strange to think about the end when you are just starting out, but if you have already mapped out your plan – including your retirement or selling up to do something bigger and better – the end won’t traumatic, but more like something to celebrate.

Your planning strategy must be revisited regularly so you can assess whether you are on track and if you need to adjust anything to make sure you reach your goals.

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Powerpoint 2007 comes with built-in templates and themes however, as a small business  it is best to create your own.

So where do you start?

A template should always be created/edited using your slide master, so that when you open and edit it as a presentation the basic elements (such as your logo) of your template can’t be edited.

The best thing about using the slide master is you update everypage in one go… A huge time saver if your presentation has 50 slides.

Creating your new template

Open a new presentation, to get into the slide master view select the VIEW tab and select Slide Master option. (see Fig 1.)

Figure 1. Select Slide Master

To make changes to the template you just edit the main slide (which is the default view).  Here you can select your page orientation, colour palette, add your business logo, edit the title sizes, change the font to suit your brand, change the background and so on.

Tip: I am a big believer that less is more, so try to stick with the one colour background (white is easiest) and its best to use easy to read fonts such as Arial, Tahoma or Verdana.   You can jazz up your presentation when you add the content and animations.

Creating a new colour palette that mirrors your brand

Select the colour button, and scroll down to the bottom of the list and select the Create New Theme Colours (see Fig 2.)

Figure 2. Select Create New Theme Colours

This will bring up the New Colour Theme option, you can add in the different text/background colours, 6 different colour accents, hyperlink and followed hyperlink colours (See Fig 3.)

All you do is select the colours you would like to add into the template that match your branding.  To match your logo colours exactly select the ‘More colours’ option (you will need to know your colour breakdowns in either RGB or HSL format – a great tool to find this out is www.palettebuilder.com)

Name your colour palette and select Save.  Your colour palette theme will now show up in the drop down menu which you can select this at anytime using Powerpoint.

Figure 3. Create New Theme Colours

Tip: You can also create your own colour palette in Word and Excel.

Editing the different slide layout

Another great feature of Powerpoint 2007 is the different Slide Layouts, E.g. your basic title slide, content slide, title only slide, picture slides etc.

If you would like to make your title only slide different to your content slide you can edit the slide layouts via the navigation pane on the left hand side of your presentation.  (See fig 4)

All you need to do is select which slide you would like to edit, make the relevant changes and that will update that slide layout.

Figure 4. Slide Layouts

Creating a custom Slide Layout

If you find that you woud like to add more slide layouts to your presentation, you can do that easily.

Select Insert layout which will insert a new slide, then to add different content (Eg. Smart Art, Image, Video, bullet list) select Insert Placeholders (See Fig 5.).  You can then design your slide layout to how you please.

Figure 5. Custom Layouts

Tip: Once you design your slide, you will need to rename it.  Select the slide in the navigation pane, right click and select rename slide.

Finishing off your template

That is basically it your template is now nearly done!

Select Close Master View

Save your document as a 2007 presentation and there you have your own business template  and are free to add content and animations as you please.

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Retailers use their physical shopfronts to send an instant message to consumers, telling them about the purpose of the business, its brand and its unique selling proposition (USP). The shopfront has been designed to make targeted customers go in and buy – and a well-designed website does the same. A shopfront is usually the first experience a customer has of a store and what they see in the window will lead to an evaluation of whether they will go inside, or even buy. Your home page is the first online experience consumers will have of your business, and it will be evaluated in the same way.

Shopfronts tell a story that attracts potential customers inside the store, and your website design does the same. If a consumer likes the story they will read on, so to speak. But if they don’t, all it takes is a click and you’ve lost them. Think about a shopfront where you aren’t sure where the store entrance is, or the entrance is obstructed by a table or box, and relate this to your website. If a consumer likes the look of your home page, but it’s not clear where to go to find out more or place an order, it’s unlikely they will persist for too long. They will just find what they want elsewhere.

Consumers are more demanding than ever, and you only have a few seconds to grab their attention with something interesting before they will click on to another site. Creative and innovative designs are appreciated by consumers browsing the Internet. A well-designed website will encourage consumers to spend time on your site, click through to more pages and come back to check for new products and updated content. Your website design might mean the difference between someone choosing your business, or your competitor’s.

Likewise, refreshing your website design by making regular subtle changes can keep consumers interested in your site, instead of becoming bored by seeing the same elements every time they visit. These changes might be alternating graphics, a regular blog or a monthly specials page. Whatever you choose, new content will keep consumers coming back to see the changes. A website that still features the specials from six months ago will reflect very badly on your business, in the same way a shopfront displaying last season’s fashions would.

Your website design is one of the most important opportunities you will ever have to present your business in a way that highlights its difference to Successful retailers use shopfronts in the same way. Think about the Christmas decorations displayed in the David Jones and Myer stores every year – people travel just to see these decorations and the colours, designs and quality of the decorations send a powerful message to consumers about the shopping experience consumers would have, prices they will pay and the service they should expect inside.

So, like the shopfront reflecting the experience consumers will have in a store, website design offers a promise to your consumers about what they can expect from your business. Sloppy, patchy design could equal bad service and second-rate products in the minds of someone who doesn’t know the business well.

Spend a bit of time looking at your website through the eyes of your ideal customer – and be very honest about what you see. Think about how the design flows, how easy the site is to navigate, and the quality of the site content then make the necessary changes. It could make all the difference when it comes to you making the sale, as opposed to your competitors taking the sale by default.

This post was originally published on the 25th August 2009 on the Big Click Studios blog.

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I conducted a survey of business owners on Twitter, asking them what they believe their brand is. They had five answers to choose from:

• My brand is my entire business
• My brand is the way consumers perceive my business through their own knowledge and experience with it
• My brand is my identity – the visual expression of my business, ie. business cards, logo, letterhead, etc.
• My brand is my logo
• My brand is an internal view of what my business is and what it represents

The responses were interesting. 36.8% of those who answered believe their brand is made up of everything about their business and, in close second, 31.6% believe that their brand is an external perception. A fair chunk (18.4%) believed their brand is their identity, 7.9% think their brand is an internal perception of what the business represents, and 5.3% believe their brand is their logo.

While all of these answers are correct in one way or another, the most correct answer is option number two – your brand is the way consumers perceive your business though their own interaction and experience with it.

I was pleased to see a large portion of those who answered chose option number two, however the other answers lead me to believe that the lines between a brand, its identity and its logo are still being blurred. I’d like to take the time to go over the differences between the three.

Brand vs. Identity

In short, a brand is what consumers say it is. It is an external expectation, a perception of a promise of excellence (or in some cases, failure). Your brand is what your customers or clients trust, expect, fall in love with and ultimately buy.

Although particularly external, things your business does internally can have a large impact on your brand. Sending a message of reassurance, stability and consistency through your identity and marketing and performing in a way that supports that message will over time gain trust and respect to form a brand that is perceived as trustworthy, honest and worth buying from.

A brand is built over time through your identity, your messages, your actions, and the reactions from the marketplace. Your business identity however is something you have control of right away.

As mentioned above, your identity is a visual representation of the business. It’s made up of your business name, its logo, its stationery, its website, its flyers and more. Identity is something consumers can see and touch and is what presents your business distinctively and makes it recognisable. Your identity is also one of the main things your brand is developed around, so it’s incredibly important to get it right and make sure your identity is in line with your brand goals.

Identity vs. Logo

I’ve been asked many times what the difference between a logo and identity is. Some clients ask for a complete identity design while only really wanting a new logo, and other clients request a logo design expecting that it’s enough to form the basis of a memorable identity. While the two go hand in hand, the fact of the matter is what they will vary greatly in two ways: how much they cost you and what they will do for your business.

It’s important to remember that the logo is only a part of your identity. Your identity is made up of so much more than that. It contains a whole truckload of chosen colours, brand marks and symbols, themes and even photography style and will often include a style guide which all documents and materials coming out of your business must adhere to.

Many businesses will have a logo in place without giving much thought to the rest of their identity – they may have had a strong, professional logo designed but then had it slapped onto a business card that is nothing more than their logo mixed with Arial on a plain white background.

The problem with this is that there is usually little or no consistency with the design of your documents or stationery. Little things like font choices, spacing and size will have a negative impact on that all-important thing called consistency, which helps build your brand.

So now that you know the difference between a brand, a brand identity and a logo, what makes up your brand? What actions can you take to improve your brand and is your identity effectively supporting what you want your brand to be?

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The way to make sure your media release grabs the editor’s attention – and isn’t filed away with the other hundreds of releases received – is to make it newsworthy.

This is difficult to define as newsworthy means something different to everybody, but bear in mind your release will not be considered unless it is of interest to readers. This means promoting your local connection if you are targeting local media, giving your opinion as an expert on a trend for industry-specific media, or tailoring a product launch release to appeal to a certain section of the media, such as fashion or pets.

Here are some tips for a great media release:

Like a newspaper article, the introductory paragraph of a media release must contain something that interests the journalist. This is called the “hook”. The first paragraph must contain as many of the following as possible: who, what, where, when, why and how. If the introduction is longer than one or two sentences (across three lines of text) try paring it down and put the remaining who, what, where, when, why and how points in the second paragraph.

Write in an inverted pyramid style, ie the most important points are in the first paragraph, followed by the second most important and ending with the least important. This way your media release can be edited from the bottom to fit without losing your message.

Write short sentences and keep paragraphs to one or two sentences.

Make sure you quote someone – yourself or another person relevant to the topic from your organisation – so the journalist can include the quotes in the article. This gives the story a voice.

Do a spelling and grammar check and get someone else to read the media release before you send it out to ensure it reads well and makes sense.

Keep the body of the media release to one page if possible.

Put the words “Media Release” at the top-right of the page with the date underneath.

Add a memorable headline underneath the date so your media release stands out. Keep it to one line and write as a sentence, not in upper case. The headline should be in bold font.

Ensure you include contact details at the bottom of the release. There must be at least a name, title, phone number and email, but it’s also good to include an after-hours number or alternative contact and website address. This ensures the journalist can contact you if they want further information or would like to do an interview.

A company information paragraph, called a “boiler plate”, is not necessary but is useful to add at the end of the media release. This usually includes information about when the organisation started, what product or service it provides and where it is located. It is similar to the “About Us” page many company websites have.

Template Media Release Date: Day Month, Year Headline Introduction: stating who, what, where when, why and how.

Body paragraphs following inverted pyramid style, with quotes. Contact details with at least name, title, phone number and email. About the organisation (boiler plate)

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1. Write Down Error Messages EXACTLY

This is a really important habit to get into. It’s probably worth going to one of the back to school sales and buying a 2c exercise book to sit next to your computer. When an error message pops up write down the date and time, and the exact message. Often this message will only appear rarely, but if it starts to come up more often, you will need to let your computer guy know. With it all documented in a book, you will be able to tell your computer guy how long the problem has been going on, and with the exact wording they will be able to find the solution much quicker and easier. Make sure that you write down the entire message, as there can be messages which are worded similarly, but are actually very different problems.

2. Make a list of what you want looked at

Just the same as going to a doctor, you are quite likely to forget what you wanted looked at when your computer guy arrives. If you write a list, then you can give it to them, and they can look at the list and put all the pieces together for a full diagnosis. Often what you think may be the main problem can just be a symptom of a larger issue, and without all the information it may be missed (eg. Telling the doctor that you have indigestion and forgetting to say that you have chest pains occasionally too)

3. Don’t wait until your computer completely dies

Too often we find that people ignore error messages for many weeks or even months, and it’s not until the computer won’t start that they call us out. This is not the most cost effective solution, and can often lead to losing all of your information that you had saved on your computer, and many hours of repair time. If you start to think that something may be playing up on your computer, that is the time to call, and your computer guy may be able to give you a simple solution over the phone, or simply come out for a short visit. It is also worth considering regular maintenance for your computer. Just as you send your car to the mechanic regularly, regular check ups for your computer can help to ensure the healthy running of your system.

4. Back Up, Back Up, Back Up

I cannot stress this enough. If you have valuable files on your computer, such as business documents, your baby’s first smile, or great-grandma’s last family photo, you really need to back them up. The simplest and easiest way to do this is with an external drive, that you can back up to every time you finish working on your computer. This will ensure that if some freak accident occurs, you should still be able to recover all those important files. It is also probably worth considering keeping two back ups, one you keep onsite in case anything goes wrong, and one (such as a CD) with the truly irreplacable files that you keep at your parent’s house or a trusted friend just in case something dreadful such as fire or flood strikes.

If you follow these few steps, your computer guy will be able to do the work that your computer needs in as little time as possible.

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