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Where do you get inspiration from?

Over the course of running my Grateful in April campaign, I’ve been inspired (and humbled) daily by the thoughts, expressions and honesty of the people taking part.

People are unbelievably grateful for everyday things that most of us take for granted.

How often are you thankful for the legs and feet that carry you around? For being able to access clean drinking water and fresh food? Being able to operate your business in a country that enforces transparency? For your own health and wellbeing – and that of your family and friends? Read more

I was recently at a family BBQ enjoying a beer and a sausage in bread when I was asked the following: ‘Hey mate, you work in computers(sic), what’s all this Cloud computing stuff about?’

Now, being the families resident ‘computer nerd’, I’m often asked computer related questions (either that or cartoon related questions). Usually the questions are along the lines of ‘should I buy a Mac’ or ‘why isn’t my email working’. Most can be fairly easily answered with a paint-by-numbers answer, but this one required a bit more effort. Effort that by the end of the conversation – which only ended because if we didn’t stop talking, all of my auntie’s awesome trifle would’ve been eaten without me getting any – still could’ve been delved into a lot more.

This ‘Cloud computing stuff’ question became a 45-minute discussion about a bunch of seemingly unlinked topics – business, computers, iPhones and iPads, MYOB, the Patriot Act, Russians; the list went on and on. Read more

Disclaimer: this post actually isn’t for you. This article is for that one person (or multiple people) you come across online that doesn’t seem to have a filter for what information should or shouldn’t be shared to the public. I urge you to share this with them. It’s for their own good!

A few months ago a friend of mine was having a lot of trouble getting a job. She’d been to university and achieved all the qualifications required to land a great job. She’s very personable and pretty, and can do the job as good as anyone who works in the industry. But application after application she was bombing out for some reason. It was getting her down almost as much as it was baffling her as to why.

So we decided to do a Google search on her name to see what came up. First result – Facebook profile.  Read more

The LiveAccounts websites found at liveaccounts.myob.com.au and liveaccounts.myob.co.nz are being retired, with all the content moving into the main myob.com.au and myob.co.nz websites. We’re doing this to consolidate all the information about our products and services into one location, making it easier to find.

To assist in this transition, we’ll be redirecting key locations on the old websites. That means if you try to visit liveaccounts.myob.com.au, you’ll automatically be taken to its new home, myob.com.au/liveaccounts. As a bit of housekeeping if you have bookmarked any of these old locations, you might like to update them with the new location. Read more

Turns out spreading yourself too thin can actually cause you to become, well, the opposite of thin…

I recently discovered a horrifying side effect of being extremely busy. Like many business owners, I was spending long days in front of the computer, lots of time on the phone and many hours frantically driving from meeting to meeting. The result? While I got a lot done, my waistline suffered the side effects!

It’s easy to see how – too much time sitting, grabbing unhealthy snacks on the run because I was too busy to plan to feed myself properly and not enough exercise all contributed to stacking on some unwanted kilos. Read more

Five seemingly small things that will make a big difference to the way you use AccountRight

Recently I have had the opportunity to spend time with our Seminar Presenters on the upcoming AccountRight Masterclass seminars, and had got an in depth look at the newest version of our much loved AccountRight software.

It took me back to the day we released Premier version 12, the whole interface had moved away from a grey background to the current white look. Most of the clients I spoke to thought it looked great, and while a handful thought it was too ‘bright’, they generally appreciated the cleaner, sleeker look. Read more

Between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube, there’s so many social media pies that small business owners feel the pressure to get involved in.  Daily commentary tells us constantly why it’s the best way to reach out to new customers and build relationships with current ones,  and I don’t blame business owners for feeling slightly overwhelmed – after all, you’ve got a business to run in between all those tweets and likes!

And just to add more to your social media to-do list, the newest kid on the social media block is having a moment in the sun, posting some incredible growth figures.  Pinterest, once a niche network loved by brides-to-be has just blown Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined out of the water for referral traffic in January. Read more

Happy Super Bowl Monday! (or Sunday, if you’re in the US)

Much like the AFL Grand Final in Australia and the Rugby World Cup Final in New Zealand, the match that stops a nation is currently playing out in lounge rooms and bars across North America.

Last year, a global audience of 111 million people tuned in to watch the Green Bay Packers storm home over the Pittsburgh Steelers, with an estimated 10% of those watching from outside of the US.  (and the preliminary figures for this year indicate that we might be on track to reach the 120 million mark.)

Read more

Kodak made photography accessible to the entire world. For over a century, if you took a photo then you likely took it using a Kodak product. Just like Google, Microsoft and the inventor of Velcro, they created a product that changed the way the world operated forever.

Kodak sold cheap cameras and expensive film – that was their business model and it worked for 120 years. Unfortunately on the 121^st year, that business model was no longer viable. Less than a fortnight ago, Kodak filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

But where did it go wrong? Read more

It’s no surprise that the start of every year is usually the time of greatest employee turnover for any business.  Fresh from a break and full of New Year resolutions, many employees are motivated to think about their careers, and whether their current role and organisation is the path to success.

Replacing an employee can be an expensive exercise – not only in dollar terms, but also in lost intellectual property, customer relationships and skills. Read more