Mastering your marketing message

How do you stand out from competitors? After all, it’s the ultimate goal – to differentiate your business in a way that builds engagement and brand loyalty. Well, sales and marketing guru Tom Poland may just have the answer with his marketing message formula. He says your message needs three elemen…

A tutorial on success

If you need a quick energy boost, or to restore your faith in the new generation, just spend a few minutes with Michael Black, the Founder and CEO of Success Tutoring — a business he started in high school. Now in his twenties and with the company established across Australia, he’s looking at inter…

Holiday cheer and watchouts

It’s not called ‘the silly season’ for nothing. The end-of-year party is meant to be a time to celebrate and recognise a job well done. But a well-meaning reward could turn into a legal nightmare, warns Business Lawyer Tracey Mylecharane. When you add free-flowing booze into the mix, your business …

A bright idea for workplace mental health

With so many wellbeing and mental health support apps in the market, could some of the more traditional self-help apps be limited in their offering? For Founder of SafeWatch™, Shane Muller, the answer is yes. For him, the focus should be on the human component of care. Which is why he developed th…

Taking the hype out of AI

Are you suffering from AI FOMO? There are so many potential benefits from adopting artificial intelligence, but is it just hype? Aaron McEwen, Vice President of Research and Advisory at global research network, Gartner, gives a grounded, down to earth assessment. He discusses the potential benefits…

Cleaning up the competition

Simone Tsigolis saw a gap in the home-cleaning market: time-poor and exhausted families returning from overseas trips. That was just before Covid hit. She then pivoted her high-quality cleaning service, Jetlag Remedy, and has seen sales soar beyond $3 million. She puts it down to the quality and de…

Holiday retail strategies

The small business retail sector is collectively holding its breath ahead of this holiday shopping season. The economic indicators don’t look good. So how about some practical advice to keep your head above water? CEO of Fifth Dimension Research and Consulting, Lyndall Spooner, shares achievable st…

Digitisation is big business

The convenience of listening or reading almost anything from your hand-held device is convenient, simple and it’s big business. Steve Potash is CEO of OverDrive, the largest distributor of ebooks and audiobooks to libraries in the United States. OverDrive began in the mid-1980s by digitising refere…

Adapting to the insurance crisis

As if the economic situation for small businesses wasn’t bad enough, an enormous number are now facing closure due to soaring insurance costs. Sometimes it is seemingly not available at all. Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Bruce Bilson, addresses the burden of rising insurance cost…

Not such a happy holiday season

There are indications that this holiday season will be far from a happy one for many small businesses. With Australians feeling the pinch from inflation and rising living costs, Deloitte's 2024 Holiday Period Survey reveals a tightening of consumer spending, with 90% of consumers planning to stay h…