Mindset, Learning, Collaboration

Author Archives: Kerri Bainbridge

Social Media tip 1- know your audience

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If you are new to social media or are only dabbling in Facebook you might be feeling like this topic is in the “too hard basket”. Believe me you cannot ignore it.

The best thing to do is to learn about all the ways to market on the internet because most people are searching online before they buy these days and you want to be seen by your audience. This is not a matter of reading an article and then you know it all. Markets need to be tested and you need to understand how to be effective. This takes time.

First thing to do is to define your audience or audiences

Like anything if you want to really understand it you need to invest time in yourself to do just that. If you don’t you could end up not reaching a potential market or spending money advertising on social media targeting the wrong market or no one at all.

5 things you need to know about your audience are:

Who are they?- male/ female, location
What do they do? Job, hobby etc
Where do they hang out? Instagram, FB, Snapchat, Google etc NB: If your product/service appeals to 60+ you will have a different strategy to those who are teenagers.
What do they really want? What is their problem? What is their passion?
What’s stopping them from getting it? Time/ Money, Knowledge etc

Which Social Media platforms should you be on?

To find out which audiences are hanging out where on social media you can go to websites like this where it will show you what age groups and sexes hang our where. This is a good starting point and will help you decide which social platforms you start with.  https://www.statista.com/chart/5194/active-users-of-social-networks-and-messaging-services/ 

If you need help defining your audience and deciding what platforms to be on yo can get help from us. Book some time with us and get a Digital Kickstart. Go to our services page http://anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz/digital-kickstart/

#Kerri Bainbridge

one half of the Anywhere Business Team NZ

Time management -working from home

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Kanwaljit Bakshi MP Tips on having a home office is that you can’t beat the convenience of working from home near family. I caught up with Kanwaljit at the Wild Foods Festival in Hokitika.

You cannot beat the convenience of working near your family. Kanwaljit has worked form home when he came to New Zealand from Delhi with his wife in 2001. He noted that the small business sector has many businesses working from home and this is a growing trend given the ability of those businesses to interact with there families.

Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi was born in the capital state of India, Delhi, where he gained a degree in Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Delhi in 1985 following his high-school at Guru Harkishan Public School.

He soon began his career in commerce by joining his family freight business and worked his way up to being a successful marketing manager. Having a prosperous 30 years business experience in India as well as New Zealand, he acquired expertise in diverse fields such as fashion and trade industry.

Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi married to Irvinder Kaur in the year 1989 and moved to New Zealand in the year 2001 where he and his wife considered the rising opportunities in the country that helped in growing their business and also gave a strong foundation to their two sons, Gawan and Rijak’s education. It’s a decision they always stood by.

Your feedback is appreciated.

You can follow us on facebook or on our website.

Andrew

Half of Team Anywhere New Zealand 

How to stay motivated- Motivation tips

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Jen Bainbridge’s top tip is to live your dream to motivate yourself each morning! While Jim Crawthorn motivation is to make people laugh!

I caught up with Jen and Jim at the Wildfoods Festival in Hokitika.

Jen as a mother is motivated by living the dream and getting up each morning to be able to have her family around and still have a dream job for a nationwide radio show! Being a woman is about being everything you want to be and this is the role model for her daughter.

Jim want’s to make people laugh and look at the positive things. He gets up each morning trying make people laugh and if he has succeeded in that he is living the dream.


Mike


Jen
http://www.therock.net.nz

Jen Bainbridge takes over on-air from 10:00am – midday fronting the ‘Rock Workdays’ show and Jim Crawthorn does midday – 3pm which is mainly request-based.

Management tips-Motivation

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I interviewed Lisa Martin. I asked her about what motivates her. Lisa explained that she has been motivated by the desire to be successful and strive excellence in everything she does!

Lisa’s main message is that self-actualisation can be achieved once basic needs have been taken care of. Self-actualisation is best explained as achieving personal and business success. This is best illustrated by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as follows:

Ex Wikipedia

These are basic human needs as “the full realization of one’s potential”, and of one’s ‘true self that is in essence self-actualisation.

Lisa founded GoFi8ure in 2002, after recognizing a need for efficient, accurate, mobile and on-site financial administration and accounts management for small businesses operating in the greater Wellington region.
Through Lisa’s vision and hard work, GoFi8ure continues to grow currently with 12 staff in 3 locations geographical spread around New Zealand. Since GoFi8ure ’s inception the number of staff has steadily increased, resulting in a team with a wide variety of skills. These skills, both unique and diverse, work together with Lisa’s training and unwavering commitment to her business and clients to give you more effective financial solutions.

We can help with business planning that you can motivate yourself with this.

We are always looking for comment complete the feedback!

You can follow us on facebook or at our website!

Andrew

Half of the Anywhere Business Network

Management Tips -Goal setting

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Lisa Martin

The definition of goal setting is the process of identifying something that you want to accomplish and establishing measurable goals and timeframes. When you decide on a financial change to save more money and then set a certain amount to save each month, this is an example of goal setting.

Firstly consider what you want to achieve, and then commit to it. Set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound) goals that motivate you and write them down to make them feel tangible. Then plan the steps you must take to realize your goal and cross off each one as you work through them.

Part of the planning process, business goals describe what a company expects to accomplish over a specific period of time. Businesses usually outline their goals and objectives in their business plans.

 

We are always looking for comment complete the feedback!

You can follow us on facebook or at our website!

Andrew

Half of the Anywhere Business Network

The Art of Networking

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Here are some tips for your next networking event:

  • Understand that you don’t go to networking events to be SOLD to. So, neither do others. You are there to build relationships, share information, meet PEOPLE, make connections etc. Networking is not selling.
  • Networking is 55% about what you wear, 38% about how you say stuff, and 7% about what you say.  Making a first impression by dressing the part is important then.
  • MAKE it easy for people to remember your name. Are you good at remembering names? I’m not. Make it easy for people and get a name badge. This needs to be positioned on your right above the chest because most people will shake hands with their right and looking at your right.
  • ONLY hand out business cards that are in good condition. Throw out all the ones in the bottom of your bag or in wallet. Buy a business card holder to keep them in.
  • BE excited about what you do. Don’t diminish what you do by using words that diminish it for example little, wee and small. Don’t say for example “ I have a little book keeping business.” Instead you could say “I have a profitable book keeping business” or “ I have a boutique book keeping business”
  • ALWAYS shake hands with men and women. If you have a firm handshake you may need to dial it back for some. Test it out on friends and colleagues to get it right.
  • DON’T hang around the edges of the meeting. You won’t meet anyone there. Make sure to include people if they are hovering around the edge of a group you are in. If you don’t know anyone find someone who is on their own and speak to them.
    Lastly, 87% of what you worry about never happens so go for it.

Got any networking tips? Love to hear them.

Kerri Bainbridge

One half of the Anywhere Team NZ #

Time Management tip 3

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I am continuing to be share with you from the Tips on Time Management series from people who have experience working from home.

Tip 3: TIME MANAGEMENT

“My time management tip is to collaborate with another ‘work from home’ person.

Email each other on Monday with the tasks to complete for the week.

Meet up for coffee or chat on the phone or email each other at the end of the week to help each other stay on track.  Accountability can be the nudge to completing tasks that would otherwise be shuffled to the bottom of the list.”

Anne Thoroughgood

Business Liaison

Young Enterprise Regional Coordinator

www.nmit.ac.nz/anne-thoroughgood

#Kerri Bainbridge

One half of the Anywhere Team NZ

Time Management tip 2

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I am continuing to be share with you from the Tips on Time Management series from people who have experience working from home.

TIP 2: TIME MANAGEMENT

“Make sure you maximise on the benefits of working from home by scheduling in some of these little gems into your daily time frame:
– 30 min exercise (e.g. walk the dog or do some in house yoga )
– read one chapter of your current fave book from the comfort of your armchair
– 10 min sun bathe in your garden
– 15 min meditation

And most of all, start using positive language when talking about your time management and your work. Use words that express abundance rather than lack like “I don’t have enough time for this … or I can’t fit it all in”…
Instead learn to say e.g. “My time schedule for this week is running at capacity.”

Angelika Barnes / Life Coach/ Nelson, New Zealand

Website: www.angelikabarnes.com

Like her on Facebook ABC Angelika Barnes Coaching 

Angelika is passionate about communication and bringing out the best in people. “There is nothing more rewarding for her than seeing people becoming more energised and happy, because they have taken on board new techniques to get themselves there.”

Angelika

# Kerri Bainbridge

One half of the Anywhere Team NZ

Time Management tip 1

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In this series I am going to be sharing Tips on Time Management by asking peope in the know about work from home.

TIP 1: TIME MANAGEMENT

“Before you start each day, write down a list of what you want to achieve that day; review how well you did at the end of each day. When you have mastered this, use your Friday afternoon to review your week and plan for next week bringing forward any undone ‘to do’s’ – however make sure your tasks follow the SMART rule! (Specific | Measurable | Achievable | Realistic | Timely)”

Debs Taylor-Hayhurst

“Working together to make a difference”

Business Consultant and Coach

www.successfactor.co.nz

http://www.facebook.com/successfactorconsultancyandcoaching (LIKE HER ON FACEBOOK)

Success Factor invests in people and businesses by providing them with the tools to reach their full potential through a results based service.

Debs

Debs Taylor- Hayhurst

How do you succeed in business?

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Many who work from home have other income coming into the household from a partner so the amount of money generated is not always important. If it is your sole income for example you may feel more pressure about this.

It is still important no matter how much you are making to work efficiently. This will give you a sense of achievement and purpose- Successfulness. Without goals you may spend more hours than you need to working on your business and achieving very little.

There is a tendency to feel like you can never get away from work when you work from home because it’s always there. There’s always one more thing to do. Today I want to talk about goals and planning as they will be your keys to success.

Setting Goals

If you haven’t sat down and written down the goals you have for your business, then you need to do that now. When you are selling anything it seems impossible to predict how much you will sell since you cannot control the economy or how people spend their money. But you have to start with a goal. There are many great books, websites and blogs about this so start by investing time in working out what you are trying to achieve. I recommend a few on our website.

Your goals should be SMART -Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time bound

It’s a good idea to set business and personal goals since the reason for you working from home is often motivated by your personal goals. If you need help setting personal goals you will find a free tool here.

Goal Example: It might look like this for a T-shirt business

Make $x per month selling 50 t-shirts through my online shop.

Have a Business Plan

Next you need a plan. Here’s a free business planning tool to help you get started. You now have to have a plan for making this goal come to reality. You need to know you’re your strengths, weaknesses, risks and opportunities are. You need to plan for marketing and taxes. You need to plan for production time and delivery. Once you have done this planning your will know if your goal is realistic and achievable.

Invest time in yourself every day to become an efficient entrepreneur.

Kerri Bainbridge

Collaborate, Mindset, Learning

One Half of the Anywhere Team New Zealand

Related article- Tips for Time Managment

Is it possible to have a work/life balance and working from home?

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Work Life and balance- are your goals matching what you want?

If you are like me, the idea of working from home is very appealing. Setting your own hours, no commute and time for the things that are important to me. I have worked from home for 12 years and it has given me the freedom and flexibility to work around my growing family. This flexibility has also come at cost. Finding a job that can be done from home that pays the bills (and more) is not always easy and I haven’t always been efficient with my time.

If you work from home too or want to, you might imagine that working from home means you could easily work around the kids, fit in social time with friends and family, and exercise too? Let’s look at this a bit closer at this work/life balance.

What are the distractions?

Here are just a few:

Friends wanting to catch up for coffee
Sick children
Household chores
Running errands
Paying bills
Gardening
The dog needs a walk
Going to the gym
Achieving a work/life balance

Having a work/life balance is possible when you work from home. If you are going to achieve your goals of running a successful business from home, you need to set goals and manage the distractions that some with working from home.

Kerri Bainbridge

Learning, Mindset, Collaboration

Anywhere Team NZ

Finding the numbers in marketing

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Find the numbers and measure relentlesly
In any business there are three core activities that it’s very very important that you understand and understand not just the activities but the numbers that sit behind them those activities are.

Firstly marketing, secondly sales and thirdly how you service and keep your customers. If you think about marketing there are activities that you will undertake, in terms of marketing,these are lead generation activities. They create opportunities for you to sell to new customers. When you think about sales there are activities and people who sell whatever it is that you do, and then when you think about customer service, again there are activities and people who look after that function as well.  Where it’s really important that you get to is an understanding of if I spend X I get Y.

Now you may be joining us from anywhere in the world but let’s just use dollars to make the point here. If you spend $100 on a marketing activity, what will the result be if you can guarantee, because you’ve studied this, that it would generate 20 new leads and that following a sales process your team could close, let’s say eight new customers, and those customers bring in five hundred dollars on average every year, and let’s say you spend $100 to service those customers, then that would be a good investment.  But until you know those numbers you really have no idea what you can spend on marketing with any sort of justifiable return on investment. If you don’t know those numbers it’s time to find them out and your accountant can help you do just that.

Video: Courtesy of Panalitix Proprietory Ltd via the Taxman Ltd. Panalitix produce these wonderful short videos. To subscribe to the Elevate EMagazine produced by Panalitix email us at info@anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz and put Subscribe to Elevate newsletter in the subject line.

Need some help?

For help to grow your buisness through collaboration with other entrepreneurs, develop a healthy life style and learn how to develop a successful business go to www.anywherebusinessnetwork.com.

This link is especially useful to those who are interested in learning about how to market online in todays digital world. There you will find a link a 30 free trial to the learning platform.

If you like books on this subject go to our shop www.anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz for the book Raving Fans by Harvey MacKay.

Kerri Bainbridge

One half of the Anywhere Business Team

Are you where you want to be?

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What are you doing ? Are you where you want to be? Why?

Have you got a business idea ? Have you done anything about getting that business off the ground?

If you have then that’s awesome. Its a hard road but with a good mindset, taking time to find out what sets you apart from the rest, what your customers think of you, giving to others and collaborating with others you will see the fruits of your labour.

We hope we can provide you with inspiration to either launch your idea or stay the course. We have an awesome Instagram campaign happening with inpiration to keep you focused. This video is a combination of some of our slides and messages.

We are passionate about Collaboration, Mindset and Learning being the keys to your success. Go for it. Live it. Dream it. Do it.

Kerri Bainbridge

Anywhere Business Network

Can you effectively communicate with people

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networkingCommunication

The ability to speak confidently is a worthwhile skill to master if you are in business.

Whether you are speaking to customers face to face, on the phone or on a promotional video you need to be able to express your thoughts and ideas in a way that best conveys your message.

If you are anything like me, making cold calls freaks you out.  I was once told that you need 50 no’s before you can expect a yes so you may as well just keep calling people as you have a lot to get through before you get your yes. Whether you have to do cold calling or just speak to customers or clients, colleagues or business acquaintances you need to be able to appear you know what you are talking about.

I have spent a lot of time getting comfortable with speaking to and in front of people.  I joined Toastmasters in 2008 so I could practice these skills, not realising there was more to speaking in front of people than just preparing and delivering a speech. Here’s what I learnt and how I use it when in my business life with customers.

1. LISTEN -I learnt it was important to listen as well as speak. How can you meet the needs of your customers if you don’t find out what they are? You might be listening on the phone, in person or receiving feedback in writing. LISTENING allows you to meet their needs. You are wasting your time if no one wants what you are selling.

2. FEEDBACK- I learnt to give and receive feedback. Like listening, feedback is an active verb and if you don’t take action it is wasted. The art of feedback is noticing the good and that which needs improving and saying it in a way that allows the receiver to understand what to do next. For example- “ I enjoyed the meal and the performance however when I went to my car it was very dark and I would like to suggest you get lighting for the car park so I can enjoy the whole experience next time. Thank you for a lovely evening. “

3.  PREPARATION – I learnt that if you say you are going to do something you should prepare to do it well. This requires practice. In my business life this means writing down what I want to say, if it is something I am going to find difficult, and practice saying it till I can say it confidently.

4. POWER OF THE PAUSE- I learnt not to be afraid of the PAUSE. This was hard in the beginning. I unconsciously babbled to fill the silence. When you watch confident speakers, they are not afraid to take time to think about what they are going to say next or simply add a pause for effect. This often has us hanging on their every word. In my business life I can confidently ask a client, to give me a moment or that I will call them back when I have the answer they seek.

5. OFF THE CUFF- I used to hate networking events. I would stick close to people I knew which totally defeats the purpose of going to a networking even. I practice speaking in front of my club on all sorts of topics and have learnt techniques to help me when I know nothing about the topic. This skill is helpful when you need to make small talk at a trade show or networking event. It can also be helpful when waiting for a client or other members of a group and you have to pass the time with others waiting.

If you want to be a confident speaker it takes practice. Joining your local Toastmasters group will help you do this in a supportive environment, you can learn at your own pace, talk about topics you are comfortable with and meet new people.

 

Kerri Bainbridge

One collaborator of the  Anywhere Team NZ

Mindset, Collaboration, Learning

Think Big

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Video: Courtesy of Panalitix Proprietory Ltd via the Taxman Ltd.

When I ask a business owner “what’s your plan for next year: how much do you think you can increase your sales?”  typically the answer is a small number like “five percent to ten percent if we do really well that would be a great year.”

But what I find is when you really understand the numbers most businesses can achieve much more than they ever thought possible and to do that it’s really important that you understand the numbers for your business.

First of all think about how many customers you have in your business.

Secondly, think about how many times those customers buy from you.

Thirdly, think about the average spend when those customers

If you increase each of those numbers by just ten percent your sales would increase by over thirty three percent and that’s a quite a dramatic number.

And if you broke those down into those three areas, a ten percent increase is certainly doable in many businesses.  So if you’re doing a million now you increase those three numbers -customers transaction, frequency transaction, value – by ten percent each you’ll go to 1,100,000 and in many businesses you know a lot of that would drop straight to the bottom line.

What I suggest you do is talk to your accountant to understand your numbers, what the dynamics are of your business in terms of those numbers and then plan together to increase each of those numbers by at least ten percent and then go and enjoy the rewards of that.

To subscribe to the Elevate EMagazine us at info@anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz and put Subscribe to Elevate newsletter.

Need help?

If you dont have an accountant contact us and we will help no matter where you live (the digital world will make it happen).

Kerri Bainbridge

One half of the Anywhere Team NZ

Collaboration, Mindset, Learning

www.anywherebusinessnetwork.com

Marketing, Sales and Service

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Video: Courtesy of Panalitix Proprietory Ltd via the Taxman Ltd.

In any business there are three core activities that it’s very very important that you understand and understand not just the activities but the numbers that sit behind them. Those activities are
firstly marketing, secondly sales and thirdly how you service and keep your customers.

If you think about marketing, there are activities that you will undertake in terms of marketing.  These
are lead generation activities they create opportunities for you to sell to new customers.  When you think about sales there are activities and people who sell whatever it is that you do.  And then when you think about customer service again there are activities and people who look after that function as well where it’s really important that you get to is an understanding of if I spend it I get Y.

Now you may be joining us from anywhere in the world but let’s just use dollars to make the point here if you spend $100 on a marketing activity what will the result be if you can guarantee because you’ve studied this that it would generate 20 new leads and that following a sales process your team could close let’s say eight new customers and those customers bring in five hundred dollars on average every year. And let’s say you spend $100 to service those customers then that would be a good investment. But until you know those numbers you really have no idea what you can spend on marketing with any sort of justifiable return on investment.  If you don’t know those numbers it’s time to find them out and your accountant can help you do just that.

Panalitix produce these wonderful short videos. To subscribe to the Elevate EMagazine email us at info@anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz and put Subscribe to Elevate newsletter. We were pleased to share another of the Panalitix video with you today.

Kerri Bainbridge

One half of the Anywhere Business Team

Mindset, Collaboration, Learning

For tips and tools for being in business www.anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz 

3 Reasons to go mobile with the Google App Calendar

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3 reasons to use the Google App Calendar:

  1. I always have my phone, so I will always have my diary and contacts which means I always have their contact details
  2. Automatic sync between PC and smart phone, and its easy to make changes on either PC or smart phone
  3. It is linked to Google Maps so I can find my clients easily.

One of the things I blogged about recently was challenging you all about how well you stored your important data for appointments, files, and client information. I suggested you store your electronic documents and client information in the cloud. I personally use Dropbox and Evernote and when it come to my diary I am using the Google App Calendar.

If you think about it, in an emergency you are not going to grab paper files and you may not have time to grab your computer. But you will grab your phone.

The reason I like the Google App Calendar is :

  1. because the PC version syncs to my smart phone,
  2. I can share this calendar with colleagues or family if I need to,
  3. I can print it from my pc and on my phone I can even link it to Google Maps so I can find my clients

You can see my demonstration on the video HERE.

I would be without it. I can Go Anywhere, Be Anywhere.

 Kerri Bainbridge

One half of the Anywhere Team NZ

Collaboration, Mindset, Learning

What are the implications of an ageing workforce for you?

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Older workers will have a profound effect on the labour market as aging will affect the size, characteristics and possibly the productivity of the workforce. 

I recently heard of a woman in her 50’s being asked by a recruiter “how long was she planing to live?”. Apart from it being discriminatory and very inappropriate, it highlights that many who are 50+ are seeking meaningful employement and that workplaces just havent considered the implications of this. I believe there are so many “young” people” in recruitment that they just cannot imagine being 50+. In fact you dont need to be 50 + to experience this kind of discrimination in the workplace. There are so many poeple entering the workplace who are young and want flexibility they expect that everyone does. There has been a definate shift in the last 10 years from a feeling of security in a job to feeling like you just need to accept you will change jobs often. Regardless of this trend there is an aging workforce upon us and they will need to be accomodated because they will make up the bulk of the workforce. On the flip side those in this age bracket will need to think about marketing themselves differently and working differently.

Aging workforce stats

HRINZ had this to say on their website: “The New Zealand workforce is greying, becoming more female, and will stop expanding by about 2030. Older workers will have a profound effect on the labour market as aging will affect the size, characteristics and possibly the productivity of the New Zealand workforce. The aging of the New Zealand population will raise a number of labour market issues that have important implications for policy development, service delivery and the way organisations operate in the future.”

Judith Davey, Victoria University Professor writes “Decreased fertility means that fewer young workers are entering the workforce, not enough to replace retiring baby boomers (AIM, 2013). Skills shortages are emerging in many OECD countries (Callanan & Greenhaus, 2008). Van Dalen, Henkens, and Schippers (2009) found that employers in several European countries perceive shortages of labour as one of the main labour market challenges for the coming decades. In a speech in May 2013, the Minister for Social Development pointed out the New Zealand trends. By 2030, more people will be retiring than entering the workforce. The workforce grew by about half a million from 2000 to 2010 – but the projected growth for the next decade, is only 190,000. ”

She goes on to say “Firms which understand the implications of population ageing will be better placed to address its challenges. Llewellyn and Chaix-Viros (2008, p. 5) concluded that “the age-related workforce changes that lie ahead are among the most significant changes to which companies will have to adapt.” Successful adaptation will require investment in human capital and knowledge management in mixed-age workforces (Lissenburgh & Smeaton, 2003). ” Making Active Ageing a Reality

Why do older workers stay and how will it impact business?

I was recently at an ACC Health and Safety Expo in Nelson and one of their speakers spoke about the implications for business of an ageing workforce. Leonie Wallwork, Partners in Change, talked about the aging workforce and her message was:

·  Employers need to prepare themselves for an increase in older workers

· Talent is ageless. Become and age friendly employer.

· Employers need to assess, reassess and assess again to make sure the work people are doing is appropriate for their skills, experience, physical capability and well being of the worker.

Leonie outlined reasons why older worker stayed and the top risks for have hiring and retaining an older workforce. She said those 65+ stay in the workforce for 3 reasons:

1.   Choice

2.   Necessity

3.   Fear

The top risks for hiring or retaining an aging workforce are:

· Loss of talent -ie If the over 55s leave how will you replace them? Do you know how many you have already in your workforce?

· Loss of knowledge- i.e. What knowledge would walk out the door with them if they leave?

· Reclining productivity- There is little relationship between age and productivity. Engagement is what is important. How can you engage the older workforce? What incentives will appeal to them? Will you need to redesign their work?

·Compromised health and safety well being- It’s a myth that the oldest workers have higher injury rates. The highest rates for time off work is in the 30-54. Highest number of injuries reported are in 20-29yr. General well-being affects all workers.

·Damage to reputation- Treat people well is good for retention and your reputation. Your employees and their families are your potential customers. Assess your benefits and risks of your current workforce. Injuries to workers cost your business in time, reputation, money and morale of your workers. Talent is ageless.

What can you do if you are hiring ?

  • Assess your current workers – can they do their jobs safety, now and in the future?
    Its really important that you have a handle on the benefits and risks associated with workers you have currently. What age ranges to you have? What capabilities do you need them to have for the job they do? When you have this data you can then do an assessment to find out whether they are at risk in their current position and what the implications are of this person staying on in this role to do the job safely. This should be part of your task analysis and risk assessment process and review.
  • Involve your workers and find out what they are experiencing and any issues they feel may come up in the future for them (future planning).
  • Examine your Retention and Recruitment implications
    This has implications for your recruitment program as well. What talent and skills would you loose if your older workers leave? How can you accomodate them elsewhere or change the way they work in order to retain this. Ask yourselves-What am I doing right now to ensure they want to stay and see a future with this company. When recruiting new employees you need to consider the skill and experience of those applying but also the physical needs of that person to do the task. Could you change the hours, change the workstation, get someone else to do part of the job that the new person may not be able to do… don’t let age be a barrier.

What are the implications for you if you are 50+

I have blogged on this before. We need to consider alternative work options like working for yourself, contracting and casual work. In this case your hourly rate will be higher and our hours will changeable. You might work hard out for 3 months then have a month off between projects. It could be exciting but you have to set up good business systems, do some financial planning, marketing or your skills and learning what it is you are really good at. The hardest question I had to answer was “what are you passionate about? ” You need to find the answer it and this will drive everything you do. 

You dont have to do it alone. We are Anywhere Business Network want you to feel you have a place to go to get your mindset in order, people to collaborate with and a place to find out and learn about what you dont know.  Check out our website and social media feeds.

Kerri Bainbridge

One half of the Anywhere Business Team

Mindset, Collaboration, Learning

For tips and tools for being in business www.anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz 

Related articles and sourced information:

5 steps to addressing the ageing workforce challenge

https://www.hrinz.org.nz/Site/Resources/Knowledge_Base/A-H/Ageing_Workforce.aspx

Judith Davey supplied me with her articles referenced here. More articles by Judith Davey please email her on: Judith.Davey@vuw.ac.nz

Do you have any raving fans?

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Video: Courtesy of Panalitix Proprietory Ltd via the Taxman Ltd. Panalitix produce these wonderful short videos. To subscribe to the Elevate EMagazine produced by Panalitix email us at info@anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz and put Subscribe to Elevate newsletter.

Raving fans! What is a raving fan. Well, its a customer who is loyal to you and your brand who will not only consistantly buy from you but tell others about you.

One of the top questions you you need to ask yourself if you are in business is “why sould a customer buy from me” and “why would they choose my business”. There has been lots of research on this and looking at why do customers change their vendor or supplier and not choose to stick with you. Yes, a persentage of people will leave because of price or the product is better somewhere else but that isnt the number one reason. The statisitcs consistantly show that (70%) the number one reason why customers leave a businesses is the perceived lack of interest or in difference to them. That they dont care.

So what are you doing to create a remarkable experience. What are you doing to create a difference rather than a perceived indifference. This video gives you some simple littele things you can do to create that loyalty you need to retain customers and ones who will altimately tell others about you and be a raving fan.

Need some help?

For help to grow your buisness through collaboration with other entrepreneurs, develop a healthy life style and learn how to develop a successful business go to www.anywherebusinessnetwork.com.

This link is especially useful to those who are interested in learning about how to market online in todays digital world. There you will find a link a 30 free trial to the learning platform.

If you like books on this subject go to our shop www.anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz for the book Raving Fans by Harvey MacKay.

Kerri Bainbridge

One half of the Anywhere Team NZ

Future of work for Generation X

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Future of work for Generation X

As a gen x, I think because our parents are baby boomers we are influenced by their beliefs….work hard, stick with what you know, be loyal, think of your family…. When in fact we haven’t in fact been offered such security from our employers. We have been through restructures, mergers, redundancies, centralization, decentralization and the introduction of technology that we were not prepared for in a school and had to teach ourselves to use. Many of us are on our 5th career change and are highly qualified. I myself have 2 degrees and another qualification but what I want is freedom and flexibility from the 9 to 5. I am tired of juggling family and work. Why?

This generation has the highest rate of broken relationships than previous generations. Not everyone it seems is willing to work on a relationship in order to provide their children with a balance that comes from a two parent household. It seems people of my generation (gen x) think they “don’t have to put up with anything they don’t want to”.

What has been the cost?

Gen Y and the Millennials (some of us waited to have kids)are our children. We have shown them they have lots of choices and don’t have to do anything they don’t want t and there are always choices. I think it became apparent to me when I heard myself say..” it’s up to you Alex, you can carry on with that behavior or loose you iPad time”. The choice is about winners and losers in this case. He can’t win but he has a choice. So now he is 11 he gives me choices…” If I do this can I have iPad time?”

So how does this affect the future of work?

We have bred a generation of self-centered individuals who know about trade offs. They love technology, because we gave it to them, and they know what it means to be anywhere and be able to do anything if you are connected to the Internet.  You can find anything, talk to anyone and get information about anything from anywhere. This is how they will experience work. They have spent years discussing what the Internet is teaching them, forming opinions, finding out what is possible, and like us they will be determined not to be like their parents. They are tired to the trade offs. They are in charge now… or will be.

What can we do?

As a gen x, I am exhausted, I have been raising my son on my own for 12 years. Trying to work around him and have changed careers so many times I have no sense of what a career is.  I have spent time pursuing careers that have been unforgiving to people of my age with no experience and a qualification.

So now, I have unskilled myself in the latest digital landscape, joined a community of people online who are in the same boat and are there for each other. I have spent a long time working from home, alone, but I don’t like working alone so I have a business partner now. We work remotely as we don’t live in the same town. We have online meetings, email, text, skype, Facebook….. whatever it takes. We each have our strengths.  It works well. I won’t be left behind in this ever changing digital world. I won’t bury my head in the sand and say “ I don’t understand it, I am afraid of it, so I won’t use it” .

So, what you can do Gen X is pick yourself up and do what you know how to do and learn to survive change again. Change your mindset and collaborate with others, some will be just like you. You may need to meditate, you may need the help of a life coach or you may need to consider a new study option.

Whatever you do, make sure it is a positive step forward. No one will do it for you but it’s time to find out how you can fit into the changing future of work.

Get started today

  • What can you do that can be outsourced to businesses, and not just where you live? What skill gap can you fill?
  • What digital skills do you need, that are holding you back?
  • Do you need help and who can do this?
  • Are you mentally ready for change?

At Anywhere Business Network we can help with heaps of free resources on our website. We have motivational tips for you, business tools and recommendations, we are just like you. We would love to share your journey.

Kerri

One Half of Anyhwere Business Network

www.anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz – lots of great tips for getting started with business

info@anywherebusinessnetwork.co.nz – sign up to newsletter