I’m pleased to say that I’ve been extremely busy with all those things, concentrating on the three most important areas of my life:

1. Relationships
2. Health
3. Finances

And as a part of my everyday work life, I have the priviledge to help businesses with their finances, as I assist them to make more money!

And I get such a kick out of it.  Whilst I started out as an HR strategist for SMEs, it seems my other skills are more highly sought after.  So I have been doing a lot of business analysis, streamlining and setting up marketing automation with Infusionsoft.  And it’s great!

Soon, I’ll be taking it one step further by launching a website to reflect my new direction, offering small and medium sized businesses in Australia services for web design, copywriting, SEO, social media, Infusionsoft setup and support, and API integration.

What does all that mean?

It’s a one-stop-shop for businesses who want to leverage the internet to grow their business, generate leads, convert more sales and massively increase their profits!

As a first step I’m inviting all my existing clients and anyone else interested to join me in a live webinar where I’ll talk about my experiences with Australian businesses, what their common issues are and what I’ve done to turn them around.

Whilst Australian business loves the web, we are also a fair way behind our US counterparts in really utilizing the power of it in the easiest way to make money.

So if you’re even mildly interested in joining me for this informative and powerful webinar, submit your details here: http://www.doublesales.com.au/

Until next time, here’s to your business success!

Aveline B.

This would all seem rather normal to a busy working parent as I am, however I didn’t believe it!!  Why?  Because homework and my daughter just don’t mix. They are not great friends.  If there is homework to be done, my daughter will find a way to get out of it or create a scene to save her from it.  It’s rather entertaining if truth be told.  So I knew when she told me about the extra homework that there was no way she’d agree to that deal – so I smelled a rat.

I decided to call a couple of her friends mums and lo and behold – I learnt that there was no such offer from the teacher, and that my daughter had simply created a way for her to stay home. She was busted!  However the important thing for me was to find out the real reason why she didn’t want to go.  So using my very best communication and negotiating skills I delicately prodded and weaved a conversation around her fears and nerves, and managed to come out the other end with an answer. Thank goodness!

It seems that the 200 metre run at the beginning of the day was expected to be done by everyone, and they had all been told that any student who stopped running or was short of breath – would be disqualified!  To make matters worse – there is a SECOND athletics day this Friday where there is an 800 metre run as a lead-in to the junior cross country run of 3km.  My daughter was not only petrified, she point blank refused to do it.

I thought about her situation before coming to her rescue, and I realised that her fears were just the same as anyone elses in life.  We look at a future goal or situation we have to go through – and the hill or mountain seems almost impossible to climb.  We procrastinate, stall, cry, flounder, back-peddle, and even deny – until we have to face what we have to face.  Yet the climb isn’t as bad as it first seems.

I told my daughter to do her best in the 200m but not to worry if she was slow.  I didn’t want to place any unnecessary expectations on her.  As it turned out, she did stop due to a stich in her stomach and was disqualified for not running non-stop.  Ce la vie.  The 800m race on Friday will have the same rules, and I’ve told her the same thing.  She’s not yet 10 and doesn’t have a fettish for running, so I’m not going to push it on her. I didn’t start running properly until I was in my 20′s so she has plenty of time.  And if she gets disqualified again then so be it.  Running just isn’t on the agenda right now.  But the important thing for her to learn was that showing up was part of her journey, and at least experiencing what it was all about.

So running isn’t her thing but she does enjoy cycling.  So what about cycling?  Tonight we were watching the Tour de France, as we do each year, and my daughter marvelled at the cyclists ability to climb up into the Alps and race at the speeds they were going.  She asked me how old the cyclists were and I replied that they were mostly in their 20′s and 30′s.  She remarked “I’d never be able to do what they are doing”.  I explained to her that once upon a time those cyclists were the same age as her, doing the same sort of things, and have just worked hard over time to get where they have.  It didn’t happen overnight.  I explained that sometimes we set big goals in the future and sports people often set them 1 or 2 years out or more!! – working diligently each day to get there.  My daughter took it all on board and seemed to understand it.  She could then see that if she wanted to race the junior marathon at school she’d have to practice a long time beforehand, and not just on the day.

This situation made me think about the businesses I work with and some of the big goals they set for themselves up to 5 years away.  It’s exciting to have goals and see what you’re working towards.  Yet just like my daughter’s situation: if it’s not realistic to run a race in a few days time that you haven’t trained for, then you shouldn’t expect a good result.  Setting goals and objectives in your life and business are important for achieving success along the journey.  Sometimes they don’t happen exactly as we plan, and sometimes they cause us less sleep than we’d like!  However they’ve got to be something that’s meaningful for us.  Just like my daughter not wanting to put the effort into running the 800m race – if you’re setting a goal that you’re not passionate about, then there really is little point in going for it.

Achieving success quickly like a sprint race isn’t common, because success takes time.  The Tour de France riders train all year for that race and they know exactly what the cost and effort involved is to take part.  It doesn’t always ensure success at the end in Paris, though.  In life it’s important to set little goals that are achievable so that we get a sense of accomplishment and inner worth.  Almost like making a trail of breadcrumbs to reach a bigger prize through the woods.

As you embark on another day of life, work, study and living – think about the little things that you can mark off your to-do list that will keep you on track.  What is the marathon that you are running, what is the ultimate prize you’re working towards?  And if you have a running race coming up that you’re not prepared for – don’t expect wonderful results.  Preparation and dedication are the only ways to get there.

What I love about this guy is his passion and energy for life.  He’s always so buzzed and positive, and he infects everyone around him with his happy vibes: I love it!

So anyway, we were chatting and catching up on the goss – “what’s been going down, dude?!” – and I shared with him our adventures of moving to Brisbane and how we’re settling in.  We started talking business (he’s Managing Partner of a privately-owned Advertising Agency) and I was telling him how things are going here in Brisbane and the success I’ve had since I arrived.  Talk moved quickly to the economic downturn and how that may affect our businesses.  My friend loves giving advice (and I love hearing it from him) and gave me some true gems of wisdom to help me angle my business offering in the future.  After that he said to me some very wise words:

“Keep it simple Ave!”

This single statement can be applied across all facets of our lives.  We over-complicate it with fears, concerns, thoughts of the past/future/unknown, other people’s issues, and a bunch of stuff we have no control over.  Yet if we all sat back for just a few minutes a day and adopted a zen-like approach to our life and kept things simple, imagine how much better we’d feel!

In our everyday working life there are a zillion things that appear to add stress or confusion to our day.  How we handle it is completely up to us.  If you’re a Business Owner you’ve got even more pressure on you!  And the buck stops with you, I know.  So rather than try to not worry about everything you’ve got to do (which is almost impossible), how about keeping things simple and only dealing with the things that you SHOULD be doing as the Owner?  Leave the other stuff to the people who are responsible.  Delegate.  Outsource.  Re-align tasks.  If necessary – downsize.  Focus on your core business instead of everyone elses.  Allocate time to invest in your staff (remember that they are the ones who make you money).  And most importantly – allocate time to invest in yourself.

Here’s to a productive and calmer week, keeping things simple:)

Yay!

My daughters response to moving here to Brisbane isn’t uncommon.  When you look at it from an experience perspective, as adults we constantly are faced with change and challenges that are beyond our control.  How we respond to them is completely our choice.  As a 9-yr old however, we are largely still in our own selfish emotional world and require our parents to guide us and help us through the pain.

But as an adult, we don’t have that buffered experience!  We have to battle on our own, facing challenges and conquering the bumps on our own, with whatever tools and knowledge we have to get through it. And if you’re like me – you’re way from perfect and often fall over, getting bruised and have to get up and brush yourself off.

So when it comes to running a business, we are faced with the single biggest challenge of all: making money.  However we often come across events or situations that are beyond our control and very hard to deal with.  Often we are dealing with the unknown.

Add to this the complexity of managing staff – and a lot of business owners just throw their arms in the air in frustration!  I see this every day and it is part of the nature of Australian businesses.  So the key is to be able to manage the unknown as best you can, manage staff so that it isn’t a chore or a stress, and of course – to make money.

I’ll talk in more detail next week about the challenges of managing staff.  But for now, suffice to say that if you’re struggling with managing staff AND find the time to work on your business – you are not alone!  AND there is a simple solution to save your sanity.

Have a great week.

Aveline

Moving house can be incredibly tough for so many reasons, andwe’ve all heard different stories from people about their dramas and what they’ll “never do again”!  But for me this move went incredibly smoothly and it wasn’t until a week after we arrived that things went pear-shaped.  See, I have a 9-year old daughter who is outgoing, creative, expressive and deeply emotional about her passions and friends.  And of course I’ve just moved her 150km away from her beloved school and friends, which (for a 9-yr old) is the equivalent of ripping her heart out, one slow moment at a time.  Moving her into a new school in a different education system in a different state – has been like moving her from Russia to Fiji.  Ouch.  I think I underestimated the impact on her and how difficult it may be.  I always have seen her as resilient and strong – much like myself – and so I took it for granted that she would be okay with the move.  How wrong could I be?  My daughter hates her new school, her new life, our house, and has already crafted a plan for us to move back so she can go to high school with her friends.  I am simply the “evil mother” who has caused her pain.

So I have a lot to manage right now.  I’ve learnt the meaning of “take it one day at a time” over the last couple of weeks.  It’s a very powerful mantra to follow when things seem to pile on top of our shoulders and we don’t know how to deal with them.  Breathing slowly also helps immensely.

So as I navigate my family challenges, build up my networks, grow my business and make new friends in a new area, I’ll be also trying to have some time out for me.  But of course, just taking it one day at a time