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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

Sorry ladies, I’m going to focus on the men here, mainly because I’m a guy and that’s what I know.

You know that old saying?

You never get a second chance at a first impression.

Clichés are clichés because they’re often true.   It’s really important that when you dress – and I’m not just talking about a formal client meeting here or a job interview.  I’m addressing the whole activity of relationship building.  When you need to speak to someone to get advice or arrange an introduction, or pitch for new business the best thing to do is to wear a suit.  You may not want to wear a tie but, you know, it’s probably better to have a tie than not. Read more

A guy goes to an airline counter and checks in for his flight. He asks if one of his bags can be sent to Melbourne and the other one to Perth.  Definitely not, is the answer. “Why not,” he asks – “you did that for me last week”.

Okay, so maybe it’s a joke, but it was not much of a laughing matter for me recently when I flew to Sydney and my luggage didn’t follow.

While at dinner awaiting a call from the airline to see if they had located it, our waitress accidentally tipped an entire cabbage salad over me – soiling my only outfit. 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

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

The Port of Auckland industrial dispute has been monopolising the headlines for the last few weeks, and the storm around it shows no sign of easing anytime soon. With large-scale protests, accusations of the leaking of worker’s details, physical intimidation, countless legal challenges, and sympathy strikes throughout New Zealand and Australia, the two sides seem further apart than ever.

The problem is, with our economy still recovering, exports struggling, a major city we need to rebuild, and businesses all over the country looking for certainty, New Zealand simply can’t afford to have our largest port bogged down in a quagmire like this. Read more

With the busy lives that we lead it can be so easy to fall into the trap of going hell for leather at work and simply not paying complete attention to what we are doing.

Here’s an example of what can happen when you don’t concentrate properly when replying to emails at work…

Minutes ago, I sent a quick note out to my database to advise when tickets would be on sale for an upcoming event.  Read more

How do you come up with something new to write about frequently enough to build a successful blog? As blogs become more common, so too does the problem of blogger’s block: that awkward moment when you feel as though you’ve run out of things to say.

Coming up with enough material to write a weekly post is a big challenge for many people – so unless you have a background or passion for writing, be careful about the frequency you commit to. 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

I’m assuming, if you’re reading this article, that you’re an accountant or at least working in the industry in some capacity.  Let me ask you a question … “As an accountant what is the most important thing you do for your clients?”  Over the years I’ve been given any number of responses to this question.

Some say, “Keep my clients safe & compliant”.

Others say,  “Make their lives easier”.

While many say, “Get them a big tax refund”.

However, the most common response I receive to this fundamental question is, “to add value”. Read more