Thursday, 29 May 2008
Demotivation can make money
It started as a parody on all those motivational posters that litter workplaces (and yes as HR Manager I was guilty of buying them also). It then progressed into t-shirts, coffee mugs and videos. So what sort of thing can you find on despair.com? Tradition - Just because you've always done it doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid. Mistakes - It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others. Meetings - None of us is as dumb as all of us. Challenges - I expected times like this - but I never thought they'd be so bad, so long, and so frequent. Me ... I prefer the positive approach, but that doesn't mean there isn't a market for cynicism. Are you ignoring potential markets? Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: motivation, small business ideas |
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Be the change
Today I was checking out back issues of The Modern Goddess Blog and came across this You Tube Video. Apparently it was made to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Indian independence - to inspire people to discover their hidden talents and apply them to the bigger good of India. This is a great video with some solid messages for all businesses:
Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: leadership |
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Profitable alliances
| In business, forming an alliance with another company that has a similar client base to yourself can be highly profitable. The latest alliance to hit the news is Weight Watchers and Myer. Weight Watchers is opening two concession stores in Myer Roselands and Knox City, that if profitable will expand across Australia. It will be interesting to watch the development of this alliance to observe how it is approached, what marketing is put in place and the results. Small business can learn a lot from the "big end of town" with these types of trials. Have a think about what types of businesses work with the same sort of customer base as you do. What can you do to form an alliance with those sort of businesses? Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: alliances |
Monday, 26 May 2008
Modern Business Manners
| Modern business etiquette can be a challenge which is why I love this website. http://www.videojug.com/tag/modern-manners. It has all your current dilemmas solved on video from business card etiquette to appropriate workplace and networking etiquette. It also has a great section on giving speeches as well as communication tips. However, my personal favourite video is totally outside the business section and in the Party Etiquette section. It is Dance Moves - an emergency guide for men and is designed to help guys learn how to dance and not make a forthcoming edition of Funniest Home Videos in the process. Thanks to Mydayoff.com.au for finding this site for me! Happy browsing! Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: business etiquette |
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Woolworths missed opportunity
 Today I decided to try the newly installed self-serve check-outs at Woolworth's for my fortnightly shop. I had great experiences at the self-serve at Big W, so was optimistic the Woolworths system would be be as simple to use. Big disappointment! You first need a human to key you into the system (sort of defeats the purpose) at our supermarket. If you use your own green bags you totally confuse the machine, so every bag you add and remove means another human visit to swipe their card in and key your green bag into the system. I gather their is a tiny button on the first screen to use your own bags that will reduce this hassle, as our friendly assistant told us when we were half way through scanning. The technology is slower than returning library books - beep - wait - wait - wait - put it in your bag. If you move something from one bag to another in packing you need a human to recalibrate the system, if the item is too heavy for the scales under the bag (think of cans of soft drink or dog food) another visit from the human. If you move too fast - another visit from the human. If you take the bag off the scales a second before you get your three green lights as ready to move (another few seconds delay) and another human visit. They have built in so many layers to reduce shoplifting that the system is slow and cumbersome. The only place to put filled bags is on the floor for everyone to trip over unless you are in the know and bring your own empty trolley with you to fill. Ever had the idea that it would actually be faster and easier just going through the checkouts with humans on them? As someone who embraces their inner nerd and detests grocery shopping I was really hopeful that this would save time. Not with this round of software Woolies. Reading all the media releases suggests Woolies only really wants people with one or two items to use the self-serve and those with bigger shops to go through the ones with personnel on them. They have achieved their goal. I am going back to the old fashioned method until they bring out V2 of the software. That of course is until I can find a company where I can do my full shop on-line at a good price which means I can avoid supermarkets all together (ah bliss!). Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: technology trends |
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Shared offices for freelancers, self employed & kids
| Here is a brilliant concept for freelancers and self employed people. The trend overseas is to share office space and facilities such as meeting rooms, faxes, printing and filing on a low fee basis. Nothing too new so far. What Cubes and Crayons do is add in a childcare centre, where the freelancer or self employed person can book their kids in full-time, part-time or casually while they use the shared office space. People pay a membership fee to join and then pay for child care as needed. Unfortunately Cubes and Crayons are only in the California, but what a great concept! It is looking at the trend of home based businesses and adding value to that niche through fulfilling services that can't be easily found from home. Some enterprising person needs to trial the idea in Australia. Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: small business ideas |
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
10 New Rules for 21st Century Business
 My colleague Dean Bleasdale posted on his blog 10 new rules for a 21st Century business. They are a great summary of things to do to achieve maximum personal productivity. 1. I take lunch everyday and do something unrelated to work. For example, I get out of the office and take a walk, listen to a relaxation CD, write in a journal, or visit a friend. 2. I work reasonable hours. On most days, I arrive at _____ and leave by _____. 3. I schedule "breathing room" every day so I can step back, re-evaluate my priorities and be sure that I am working on what really matters. 4. I do whatever it takes to create a healthy work environment. I keep my office free of clutter and if necessary, I use a clean air filter, full spectrum lighting, and I keep a reserve of bottled water nearby. 5. I have an "Absolute Yes" list for work (a 3" x 5" index card with my top five priorities listed in order of importance) and I refer to it often. 6. I train myself to consistently look for ways to delegate work in order to empower others so I can honour my Absolute Yes list. 7. I hire only highly competent, talented people to support my efforts. 8. I ask family and friends to honour my work time by eliminating non-essential personal calls and interruptions. 9. I coordinate my work schedule to remove distractions and interruptions. For example, I design blocks of uninterrupted, focused time and I only check voicemail and e-mail twice a day. 10. I stop taking on more than I can handle. When asked to take on a project, I check to be sure that I can complete the assignment without suffering or sacrificing my self-care. What other rules do you think need to be added? exuberantly yours Ingrid Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: small business ideas, time management |
Monday, 19 May 2008
Be different in your industry to stand out
 Many small businesses try and fit in with what the "big boys" are doing. They work hard at adopting the same attitudes, approaches and strategies. But what if the big boys have got it wrong (or at least got it wrong for some largish niches within the industry). Anne from Beauty Banquet talked about the movie "The Devil Wears Prada" and how the movie is very true to life in the beauty industry. Unless you wear the right labels, drive the right car and are seen in the right places you don't fit in. But what about the large bulk of women whose budget is more at the Target/K-mart end of the spectrum? Target has recently started embracing the concept of labels for budget conscious people and are reaping the financial rewards. They very rightly saw a niche that wasn't being served - and promptly set out to fill it. Anne is an image consultant that doesn't blink at adding in Millers clothes to your range if appropriate - a great niche. Another colleage of mine Margaret Sims specialises in image for over 45. Both have chosen smaller niche's that were not being serviced within a larger niche. Many small businesses can fill the niches the big boys leave behind - and make tidy profits as a result. What is your small business niche? exuberantly yours Ingrid Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: small business ideas, small business niche |
Sunday, 18 May 2008
Tweets for Today
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Intelligent whiteboards
On 14 May this year Bill Gates unveiled the future of whiteboards. Most people who have been to my office know I can't function without a whiteboard as I love the interactivity and immediacy of a whiteboard. It is one of the best tools we can use to help sort out precise word flow for someone looking for a tag line or vision statement - as people can get intimately involved in the process. This advance is quite an exciting step forward. It reflects the trend of blending technology with the human touch factor - making technology easier to use. You don't need to push buttons or use special tools - just use your fingers. It is still at prototype phase and a few years off production - but Bill, my order is waiting for when it is released on the market! For your products - how can you increase the human touch factor? How can you build ways for people to physically interact with your product rather than just observe? exuberantly yours Ingrid Heart Harmony We put your business into words Labels: small business ideas, small business trends, technology trends |
Saturday, 17 May 2008
Everyone needs a make-over
| All businesses need to regularly review the words on their website for maximum impact and clarity. Heart Harmony is no exception ... it is sort of an occupational hazard for us as we are always tweaking our words. But this week's make-over has been at the extreme end of the scale. We have totally redone our home page - adding in a video of yours truly (I am now Queen of Java coding!), as well as running the ruler over every other page on the website. We have changed the title of our newsletter to "Words from the Heart" to better reflect the newsletter content and added in a stack more articles to our article library. Check out the changes - we would love to hear what you think! Just go to www.heartharmony.com.au Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words |
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Wii Fit (Part 2)
| Remember how I talked about my kids getting into Wii Fit? Well I finally jumped on today myself when the kids were at school. Who knew exercise could be fun! It also helped that I totally blew my kids highest scores on the hula hoop out of the water (not that I am competitive in any way) and that my Wii Fit calculated age on my fitness was 9 years younger than my real age (it is nice to know that I am younger than my birth certificate says). I promise I will return to normal business blog posts tomorrow ... but today I am off to beat the highest score on downhill slalom. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: wii marketing |
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
Give a cheer for small - medium business in Queensland
| Last night Penni (one of our Heart Harmony writers) and I attended a small business reception at Parliament House. Anna Bligh, our State Premier mentioned that 95% of people employed in Queensland were employed by small-medium businesses. (Makes my Employee Manual for Small Business even more relevant when you look at those statistics). It was great to see so many diverse small businesses at the reception and it was also brilliant to catch up with a number of our current and past clients who were also there. We met some great small businesses with unique ways to reclaim water, retaining wall specialists, property developers, cosmetic manufacturers, printers, aviation experts and speakers. We also met a great business that teaches kids and adults the basics of fishing - what a great business to be in! They took their hobby and have turned it into a thriving business. Many times small business doesn't realise the impact it makes on the community. One employee here, another there all adds up to a significant total. We are the powerhouse behind our local communities and the economy. Today stand up and be proud of the difference you are making to your community. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: small business entrepreneurs |
Monday, 12 May 2008
Making fitness fun for kids
We have all heard of the stats about the growing obesity problem with our kids. On the weekend I bought a Wii Fit for the kids. I admit I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but was willing to give it a go. I am now a raving fan - my kids spent an hour each day playing games including downhill skiiing, hula hoops, yoga, moving bubbles down a river through their balance and taking part in step classes. Even the jogging turned out to be quite fun for them (and yes they worked up a sweat and enjoyed it). Given my kids are not sporty and will find any excuse to avoid physical activity this was a huge win. My only criticism (and it is a very tiny one at that) is that the activities are definitely designed more to the female market rather than male, so if you have teenage boys you are not likely to get them onto Wii Fit for any extended period of time (only the soccer game seemed targeted to the boys). This is a very clever business idea from Wii - taking an issue (weight), combining it with a trend (the increase in people interested in getting fit) and mashing it with a computer game. I suspect this will sell like hotcakes and the other major games companies will need to move to embrace the trend of fitness based interactive gaming. Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: wii marketing |
Sunday, 11 May 2008
Brilliant Product Packaging - Carman's
 One of my favourite clients, Shirley, put me onto the Carman's range of muesli. Yes the products are great but what I love most are the packaging. Each package gives you a brilliant lesson in marketing.What makes it so great? With the muesli bars box you get the Carman's story - not a glossy hype version, but a warts and all story by Carolyn Creswell the Company Founder. There's drama as you hear about her losing her job when the business was to be sold, the love of her parents who gave her the inspiration to buy the business (for $1000), the early year challenges and the success of today (all in 3 paragraphs). You also read about the charity they support and what specifically Carman's do to support their charity. There's clear instructions to how to tell a friend, the product ingredients and where they are sourced from, a thank you to people who refer friends as well as information about their products and healthy eating for kids. Their company philosophy is front and centre of every package. On the porridge box you get a great story about Carolyn's Grandpa and how they took turns making porridge with him in the mornings. You also get some oat trivia as well as a recipe for an oat face pack as well as instructions for cooking (with a twist of humour) and offers of free bag seals. There's no photos, box design is quite basic but you do get to see the products in all their glory with a see-through cut out section. I can't tell you what's written on the Muesli range boxes (yet). It is sad I know but I will be buying the full range just to read what's on the boxes! Analysing all of this there are great ideas any business can learn from Carman's.
Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words PS: Happy Mother's Day to all the mums out their (and the carers who also take on the mum role). I hope you celebrate and enjoy your day. Labels: small business marketing ideas |
Friday, 9 May 2008
Business Ethical Dilemmas
| Business ethics is one of my passions. Ethics is a very gray area, with answers sometimes not as simple as they first appear. Ethics is something that you explore through discussing cases in your workplace and working through all of the pros and cons of a decision before making your final decision. So here is a real life ethical dilemma to work through. One of your top regular clients calls you with a huge rush job. Income from this job is about double your regular weekly income - but they can easily afford the bill. You can fit it in with a few late nights and still keep your other work under control. As you start to research the job you realise that the job is wrong for the client and that it will not get them the results they are looking for. Do you a) keep going b) ring the client and talk through your research recommending they cancel the project (and lose the income in the process). In answering this think through the reasons for your decision. I look forward to hearing your thoughts Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: business ethics |
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
Telstra Business Woman of the Year Award
| My wonderful friend and colleague Donna-Marie Coggins from Jacaranda Business Support Services has just been nominated by one of her clients for the Telstra Business Woman of the Year Award. Congratulations Donna-Marie - you truly deserve the nomination! You stand in great company and prove small business owners can make a massive difference to lives! Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: rewards and recognition |
Green handbags
 We all know the trend is towards more ecologically sustainable living - which is why I love this product. Solar panels in handbags! Noon solar is just one of a number of handbag manufacturers that include a light flexible solar panel on the side of their bags. Just pop your handbag by a window during the day and you get enough power to recharge your ipod or mobile phone. No more flat batteries. How cool is that! These designers have taken a traditional concept (handbags) and turned it on its head! To think I was excited a few months ago to find a handbag that had an external pocket for my mobile, one for my PDA and an easy access compartment for my business cards for networking. Where can you turn a design idea around in your business? Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: small business ideas |
Monday, 5 May 2008
BBC Psychology Quizzes
| If you like learning more about your brain here are a stack of quizzes on the BBC website. You can learn the connection between your personality and the art you like, is Wednesday red, can you spot the fake smile and a stack of interesting other little things to take up time you could be using on work. Enjoy Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: personality tests, psychology |
Sunday, 4 May 2008
Managing Customer Expectations - Lessons from a festival
| Every year for the past 7 years I have taken my kids into the annual Buddha's Birthday celebrations at South Bank in Brisbane. This was our favourite festival in Brisbane, with great cultural displays, exhibits, fabulous vegetarian food and a strong experience of the Buddhist faith. Every year the kids made wishes, took part in candle offerings and bathed baby Buddha to help them experience and understand different faiths. Each year the festival grew in size - with a greater range of experiences on offer to match the increasing numbers of people through the festival. This year we noticed something different from the moment we walked in - only a fraction of the usual glowing orange lanterns decorated South Bank and the main entry arch was missing. The cultural aspects were down to a few token sections with very limited interaction (and the fireworks moved nights without announcement from a Saturday to a Sunday night). The festival felt flat - not just for us but for other festival goers. Most people who attend go every year and have expectations on what the festival is all about. We still have no idea what happened this year to cause it to shrink by half. This is similar to any business. Customers are happy when their expectations are exceeded, but when there are sudden changes without warning, and a decreased level of service then you lose your regular customers. Some things you can do if you have to cut back on your service, product range or other offering is to communicate these changes clearly and openly to your customers. As long as you explain "why" people will generally accept the changes. It is only when there is silence there is a problem. We will still check out the festival next year, but with much lower enthusiasm on the part of the kids. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: customer expectations, customer service |
Saturday, 3 May 2008
What is the impact of what you are saying?
| Often in business we personally know the impact of our product on people's lives and we expect other people to fill in the blanks themselves. We talk about the features of our product (it has 10 widgets) without talking about the what that means for the customer (which means you can mow your lawn in half the time with less hassle). I was talking with Liz Cattermole, Milk 2 Sugars from my Chamber of Commerce and she was telling me that all our videos only have a realistic life of about 10 years. "Yeah, so what" I thought ... then she made the comment "That means all those videos you have of your baby's first steps, ultrasounds, special moments in your life are slowly fading away and soon will be gone unless you transfer them to DVD now". Now that got my attention. Liz is right - many of us have shelves of video memories that due to the design of the tapes are now breaking down, which means that the next time we go to watch them we may only end up with snowy pictures or shadows of memories. Liz understood that people like me need help "joining the dots". She explained simply and powerfully in a way that I could get what her service could do for me. When you talk about your service or your product do you stop at the features or the description? Take some time to convert that to deeper meaning for your customers. Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words Labels: features and benefits |
Thursday, 1 May 2008
Creative strategies to build links
| High value links to your website affect your page rank on search engines like Google. If you are on the front page of Google you get more visitors than if you are on pages 2 onwards. One interesting linking strategy was discussed in Jenni's Papercraft Designs Blog. She reviewed a site called Living Creatively which is giving away 6 advertising packages over 3 months valued at $5000 for people who link to the Living Creatively site (and no I am not entering as it is not my target demographic). The other cool thing they have done is make linking easy through providing simple buttons to put on your website - all designed to make linking a breeze. Can your website do with a boost of links? Have you considered a competition (run in compliance with all of the appropriate local laws) to help you do this? How can you make creating links easy for your potential link partners? Until next time Ingrid Cliff Heart Harmony Putting your business into words. Labels: internet marketing, link strategies |