Launch of ‘Y K T O’

Thanks to the team at Iguana, Jason Macklow and the Chamber Team this mornings launch of the new Young Business Persons network was a fantastic event.  With over 100 people in attendance and a huge waiting list there was an amazing positive energy in the room and a strong desire to listen to one of our own young entrepreneurs talk about his journey so far.

Jason talked about ’drive’ being the key to success.  there are many people out there in business who are very capable but without DRIVE and written goals success is likely to alude them.  Depending on your definition of success of course.  He talked about the need to manage where you spend your time to conserver your energy and the need to balance between in and on your business.  What to measure and whay you measure, how you can relate those measurements back to performance.  It was a great presentation full of  good to great ideas as Jason has experienced them. 

Jason was clear about the value of team, firstly employing the right people then training them in the culture you want.  Not the culture you get by default but the culture you desire and manage to acheive.

Information to burn

It still amazes me how much information is out there in the cloud land of internet that we have no idea about and how we can be great based on international experience.

Confession – while checking out the Technorati site I came across an item from Blogging tips.com - 

‘There never seems to be a lack of opinions as to what the search engines are looking for when it comes to good seo technique, but at least one of the things that seems to have a consensus for now is on keyword density. And that general agreement is that the old rules are out in that one keyword or keyword phrase every one hundred words of text doesn’t cut it anymore with Google. Better Ways To Use Keywords Still that doesn’t mean that you want to throw the whole concept of keyword density out, but there are better ways to use the ones that you’ve got or will get’.

I suppose its about your research skills or ability to find what you vaguely think you might be interested in, not to mention the time to check out, surf, navel gaze or whatever it is to you.

Then there are concepts like ‘learning from the fringe’ – it is fantastic for me the proverbial ‘fringe dweller’ that the fringe is now the ‘in place’ for future opportunities.

BBC News item – What were we saying?

People’s health could be harmed by social networking sites because they reduce levels of face-to-face contact, an expert claims.

Dr Aric Sigman says websites such as Facebook set out to enrich social lives, but end up keeping people apart.

Dr Sigman makes his warning in Biologist, the journal of the Institute of Biology.

A lack of “real” social networking, involving personal interaction, may have biological effects, he suggests.

He also says that evidence suggests that a lack of face-to-face networking could alter the way genes work, upset immune responses, hormone levels, the function of arteries, and influence mental performance.

This, he claims, could increase the risk of health problems as serious as cancer, strokes, heart disease, and dementia.

‘Evolutionary mechanism’

Dr Sigman maintains that social networking sites have played a significant role in making people become more isolated.

“Social networking is the internet’s biggest growth area, particular among young children,” he said.

“Social networking sites should allow us to embellish our social lives, but what we find is very different. The tail is wagging the dog. These are not tools that enhance, they are tools that displace.”

Dr Sigman says that there is research that suggests the number of hours people spend interacting face-to-face has fallen dramatically since 1987, as the use of electronic media has increased.

And he claims that interacting “in person” has an effect on the body that is not seen when e-mails are written.

“When we are ‘really’ with people different things happen,” he said.

“It’s probably an evolutionary mechanism that recognises the benefits of us being together geographically.

“Much of it isn’t understood, but there does seem to be a difference between ‘real presence’ and the virtual variety.”

Dr Sigman also argues using electronic media undermines people’s social skills and their ability to read body language.

“One of the most pronounced changes in the daily habits of British citizens is a reduction in the number of minutes per day that they interact with another human being,” he said.

“In less than two decades, the number of people saying there is no-one with whom they discuss important matters nearly tripled.”

Dr Sigman says he is “worried about where this is all leading”.

He added: “It’s not that I’m old fashioned in terms of new technology, but the purpose of any new technology should be to provide a tool that enhances our lives.”

Are you connected?

What distinguishes highly successful people from everyone else is the way they use the power of relationships – so that everyone wins.  I was reading an old favourite – ‘How to win friends and influence people’ by Dale Carnegie the other day and this theme about relationships, remembering names and being genuinely interested in people was prevalent.

Then I picked up the book, ‘Never eat alone’ by Keith Ferrazzi and the beginning of Chapter one starts with a quote by Margaret Wheatley, ‘Relationships are all there is.  Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else.  Nothing exists in isolation.  We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone.’

Then when I was reading the latest NZBusiness magazine, I came across an article that talked about the death of casual networking and of businesses using networking events to catch up with friends.  Success in business today is about active networking, building positive relationships and developing trust.  Deb Bell said if perfectly when she said, ‘trust is the new currency’.

No Change

Dr Alan Bollard announcement this morning regarding the OCR is very interesting especially his comments about the lending rates.

“Although rising longer term interest rates overseas are placing upward pressure on longer term lending rates here, there is room for further reductions in shorter term lending rates,” Alan Bollard said.

In its Monetary Policy Statement published today, the Reserve Bank did acknowledge that the cuts to the OCR during the past year had passed through more than in most countries to the interest rates faced by households and businesses.

“However, it appears as though the most recent reductions in the OCR have not been passed on to borrowers to the extent that we would have expected,” the statement said.

His comments in recent days about the profit levels being posted by banks and the challenges in the economy are interesting.  What do you think?

Business like Budget

Like any business when the market gets tight, we have to tighten our belts.  Not many people enjoy this reality.

 While this first Budget of the new Government does a good job at addressing debt, it also reassures by ring-fencing expenditure on the fundamentals of health, benefits, education and law and order.

The Budget still manages to find $7.5B to address critical roadblocks in the platform needed to build productive capacity – roading, broadband, research and development, along with curbing unnecessary regulations such as in the RMA. The ultimate success of this Budget will be seen by what specific follow up action is taken to re-point the country towards more investment, innovation and improved productivity. 

Having addressed the debt side of the ledger, we need now to urgently turn our attention to incentivising businesses to invest, get into exporting and grow our income.

Networker of the Year

It was great to have Deb Bell – a serial Networker – presenting to members last night.  What was amazing was when she asked me how many members we had and compared that to the number in the room.  Less than 10 percent of members were represented and as an international speaker on Networking she was blown away.

She spent time de-mistifying Networking and talked about the need to make a heart personal connection rather than just collecting cards.  The most important component to the process is following up – not the collection of as many cards as possible.  Following up within 48 hours is the key, she explained, to forming a positive relationship.

It’s all about connecting and compared with international business people NZers are rude.  We ask people what they do rather than find out who they are.  Deb presented the accronym F O R M as a remindered for people when networking – F – Family, O – Occupation, R – Recreation and M – Motivation.  She suggested asking about what people do for recreation first arriving at occupation last to form a meaningful relationship.

Deb also talked about being clear why you are attending Networking events – she used the accronym I AM , I for Intention, A for Attention and M for Memorable.  Be clear about your intention, pay attention and be memorable.

Great tips for such an important component to business growth. 

Networking is the new currency for today’s economy!

If nothing changes Nothing changes

When I talk to business owners there are two groups – those who are waiting for the recession to end so they can get back to normal and those who are looking hard at their business, triming the fat that may have creapt into the business processes and looking forward to the end with optimism and excitement.

I prefer to call use a different term for the financial situation – I prefer ‘correction’.  I don’t believe we will be back to what we are used to for some time, if at all.  That means taking stock of the external factors, restructuring and making new plans to maximise the opportunity.

When I walk down Victoria street I am amazed at the state of some of the buildings, commercial shop fronts that look very ramshackle.  The sort of places that are only likely to be inhabited during lush times.  Something has to change to invigorate the appearance of the CBD and this time its not the Council’s responsibility.

I recall a statement made at an investment seminar, it went something like this, ‘ if your investment is not performing as you expected it to when you invested then it is time to sell, waiting seldom acheives your initial expectation.

Maybe its time to be more business like?

Be careful what you wish for

Four years ago the Commercial sector was wanting;

Lower interest rates,

Lower house prices,

A lower exchange rate, and

Lower priced energy.

We got what we wanted and we call it a recession – should we be more careful about what we wish for?

Interestingly it depends on how you preceive things and how big a picture we view.

CBD BID

The tall pony tailed gentleman that spoke out against the common thought that parking is the issue for people not shopping in the CBD – I guess that’s me.  And yes no matter which way you slice it – service, product and price are the drivers for sales.  Remembering of course that only certain parts of the community are looking for your particular product – it’s about how you build your brand through great products and excellent service and how you maximise communication with your target market that increases your chances of sustainability.

Enough of the theory, although it is very valid, the CBD retailers have spoken and given a strong mandate to Council to approve a targeted rate for the CBD Business association. CONGRATULATIONS for taking a positive step towards increasing the vitality of the Hamilton CBD.

Year two of the V8’s and from my perspective a successful event – greater levels of communication, changes that made a positive difference, large numbers of patrons in the hospitality precinct and positive comments all round.  The energy in the city felt like Mount Maunganui at Christmas. 

Talking about positive energy, it was a huge three days we had hosting Jo Seagar in Hamilton.  We had such a blast with the odd canapé and chocolate truffle.  It was one of those opportunities where with a little fore thought we were able to facilitate community benefit.  We invited Jo to speak to the Business Women’s network (BWN) and through her role as ‘Ambassador at Large’ for Hospice it was great for the Chamber to be able to contribute to the community.  Jo spoke passionately about goals and action to the BWN and two days later after a few hours in the kitchen presented a high energy cooking class to a group of ~250 at the performing arts centre at Southwell school.  Great facilities, excellent tips and a fun and fulfilling time was had with the all of the monies raised going to hospice.  I love this work.

As part of the ongoing research and development of appropriate strategies we have attached a link to a survey commissioned by BDC and developed by Sukh Deo, Senior Lecturer, School of Business, Wintec.  Sukh is also a business mentor for Business Mentors NZ.  Please take the time to complete the survey so the right strategies for Hamilton and Waikato can be developed for the benefit of our businesses.

There is an invitation on the table for two or three businesses looking to do business in Nigeria to meet the Nigerian High commissioner from Canberra at an informal dinner on Tuesday 19^th May.  If you would like to meet the Nigerian High commissioner please call the Chamber on 07 8395895.

Recent reading – ‘The Goal’ by Eliyahu M Goldratt.  ‘Who moved my Cheese’ ( for the 10^th time) by Dr Spencer Johnson.