This week I had the privilege to attend a Master Entrepreneur workshop being run by MAW Action. The format was five round tables of us participants and twenty minutes spent with an entrepreneur who had built a successful global business and then sold it. After twenty minutes the entrepreneur would then move to the next table. Speed dating an entrepreneur was the style of it. They had all read questionnaires submitted by us so moulded their wisdom in the light of the information we had provided about our businesses. We then had opportunity to ask questions. Here are four things Brand Hoff (Tower Software) he has written across the top of his computer screen:-

• People – right people = committed and believe in what you are wanting to achieve.
• Model – win/win business model, better than your competitors
• Value – build in the company ie. brand, credibility
• Execute – build on the foundation of the other three. Do it!

Other gems from him were:

• Have monthly board meetings to look at the big picture
• Be a leading organisation in thought leadership ie. make sure people follow
• Branch into associated products
• Business plans are mostly for the owner to decide if it is realistic
• Only borrow up to the amount of receivables
• If you get a large injection of funds eg.from investor or grant, budget the amount over 24 months
• An investor brings outside eyes to the business.

After the speed dating, there was opportunity for networking and Mary Anne provided each participant with a “Next Actions” sheet based on our questionnaire answers. In some cases that involved meeting up with someone in the room. Each master entrepreneur will now commit to mentoring a participant (or two).

The information shared on the day was very helpful. Mary Anne is partnering with a large accounting firm to roll the program out across Australia. If you hear of this program in your area, take the opportunity to participate and learn from the masters who have been there and done that. I certainly have taken away a lot of practical tips to help me build Admin Bandit to be the industry standard treasurer software for volunteers in the community sector.

Here’s to volunteer treasurer software…

When was the last time you sat back and had a look at the processes in your business or community organisation and evaluated if efficiencies could be gained? Just recently, I’ve completed an Admin Systems assignment as part of my Diploma in Business. One of the reasons I’m studying this course is to provide the discipline to work on the business rather than in the business and look at business issues which may otherwise be put to one side and not addressed. We were encouraged to take a birds eye view and assess if each of the processes in the business were meeting the criteria for good operational systems. Those criteria are:-

• Supports achievement of business goals
• Integrated
• Efficient
• Effective
• Not particular person dependent
• Self-supporting
• Interdependent
• Easy to use
• Cost effective
• Accessible
• Includes contingencies/back up

It was helpful to see where improvements could be made to our administrative systems, even if in some cases it might just be tweaking around the edges or perhaps writing a formal procedure for a process rather than relying on emails. In the craziness of our business lives, perhaps it is a good discipline to run a different system through this criteria each week and make improvements where necessary or celebrate when it is working well. This could be applied in business or not for profit or perhaps to the systems used for volunteering as a treasurer. What improvements could you bring to your administrative systems?

Here’s to volunteer treasurer software..

Risk management. How much attention do you give it? I remember after the Canberra Bushfires, there wasn’t one home that I visited shortly after that where the insurance policy wasn’t out on the table. Of course there is more to Risk Management than having an insurance policy but how often do we Assess, Evaluate, Manage and Measure risks in our businesses? The topic for this next period in my Diploma in Business (through Wisdom Learning) is Risk Management. The assignment involved completing a Risk Register and preparing a Risk Treatment Plan for our businesses. This will be a great exercise for my business because although we’ve identified risks on the fly and acted to minimise the impact, this formal process will no doubt identify gaps we hadn’t previously addressed.

Have you gone through a semi-formal process of identifying risks in your business? If so, how did you go about it? What templates did you use to assist with the process? Have you had an event that confirmed your treatment of that risk worked? Please share your experiences with me.

Here’s to volunteer treasurers..

Have been flat out for 4 months to meet our self imposed deadline of getting the new version of our software to the treasurers starting the new year. As a result, have dropped off the radar in terms of networking online and offline. Life will settle into more of a routine now so have started registering to attend some networking events again. Donna-Marie Coggins blog inspired me to to get back to Twitter. I registered there long ago and haven’t done much since. The challenge is to work out how to use it effectively! Now how do I get my Tweets to show up in my status on Facebook? I know others do it but how? All this and other mysteries of the universe will be revealed as I begin to understand this I’m sure!

Here’s to volunteer treasurers..

Ted snuggling in the corner

If you’ve read the previous eulogy posts,  you’ve probably already worked out that our two puppies were very different in nature. Although Ted was a few weeks younger and also smaller than Bil, he fancied himself as the top dog. As well as a soft dog mat, they had a comfy spot between the bookshelf and the TV cabinet where they liked to snuggle in. There was room for one.

Bil would often make herself comfortable there first but then Ted would decide he wanted to sit there. There would be a Mexican stand off as he eye balled her, took an aggressive stance, and growled at her. She would pretend to ignore him until eventually she would almost do an eye roll and slowly get up and move to another spot. She was willing to compromise for the sake of the relationship. (as an aside Ted has not sat in there once since Bil died!)

In business and in life we often come across situations where we must compromise if we value a relationship. It might be a customer, a supplier, a colleague or perhaps a wife, husband, friend or child. It is the occasions when we dig our heals in just because we were there first or want to be right it can often cause damage to a relationship. 

By being willing (even though reluctant) to move, Bil demonstrated that sometimes the relationship was more important than being first. When was the last time you compromised with a customer, or family member for the sake of relationship?

Here’s to volunteer treasurers..

Off our family room are sliding glass doors leading to the patio and where the dog kennel lives. When they weren’t chasing each other around the yard, the puppies were at the door. Ted has dodgy hips so doesn’t really jump but Bil would incessantly launch herself with quite a lot of force, at the glass doors. It made a loud noise and if we came downstairs in the dark and she did it we got quite a fright. We tried not to reward the behaviour by letting them in, as a response to the jumping against the glass. However, she showed great persistence and could continue to do it all evening if she was in the mood. Her persistence paid off, because we would relent and let them in. Although we tried to pick a time not too close to the latest jump! 

In business and in life we often face challenges and ups and downs in reaching our goals. At many times it would be easier to give up on our dreams and take the easy option. I’ve certainly found the long path to bring the new version of Admin Bandit software to the market a difficult journey at times.  On many occasions I have questioned the wisdom of continuing.

This world is overflowing with people who gave up on their desires, dreams and goals at the first sign of opposition. To achieve our dreams and desires, we need to be persistent. Napoleon Hill of “Think and Grow Rich” fame wrote “The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.”

Bil’s persistence paid off, she received her reward of coming inside.  What goals, dreams or desires have you let go of at the first sign of opposition? Maybe it is time to grasp the nettle of persistence. Would love to hear your stories of persistence in the face of opposition.

 Here’s to volunteer treasurers..

Ingrid from Heart Harmony has posted an interesting and perhaps scary blog about who owns your content on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Gmail?

Did you read the fine print on these sites when you signed up? If not, it may raise some alarm bells for you.

Here’s to volunteer treasurers..

Zoe from InnerCompass has highlighted a great video about keeping on going till you’ve got nothing left. It is a great reminder that we can sometimes give up on a project too early when if we’d stuck it out, the breakthrough was just ahead. This can be the case in a community organisation or in business (particularly microbusiness). There are many obstacles in life and sometimes it is easier to give up than to overcome. In a community organisation it could be the difficult person on the committee who blocks everything you raise as a volunteer or in business it might be the project taking a lot longer than you had planned and that time lag being out of your control. Zoe’s post highlights the importance of a good coach. The video is very inspiring.
What situations have you been where you were tempted to give up and then the breakthrough or win occurred?

Here’s to volunteer treasurers..

Ranking

Much is written and discussed about improving your website search ranking. Some businesses like Webconfs and that of Chris Thomas specialise in search engine optimisation.  Webconfs has a great list 15 minute checklist of the factors that affect your rankings.

Admin Bandit certainly found that when we turned our attention to improving our ranking for our keywords, the advice of our marketing partner Threesides made a huge difference as we implemented Todd’s advice about anchor text and keyword phrases, to name a few. We then started making sales from around Australia and even some volunteer treasurers overseas found us.

Have you turned your attention to maximising your “organic” search engine ranking? Or are you paying for Google ads for the words which could bring you to the top of the list without paying? What strategies have you implemented to improve your ranking?

Here’s to volunteer treasurers..

meeting with a mentor

Last week I mentioned my formula for an accountability meeting. A mentor (or perhaps even a coach) is also very helpful for growing your business. Fortunately, I recently met up with a local business person whom I’ve known for a while and held in high regard. She has agreed to be my mentor on a voluntary basis, much to my excitement. 

After meeting with my mentor, I’d like to share 5 reasons for having a mentor as already, only after one meeting, I can see the benefits.

1. They can look at what you’re working on (which is bound to be lots of different projects) and provide an objective opinion about what is most important. When you’re in the thick of it, sometimes that is hard to see because everything seems number 1 priority. This brings that one thing into very sharp focus and a filter through which to view all your tasks.
2. Assuming the person who has volunteered to mentor you has been in business longer than you, they can warn of pitfalls which they’ve experienced, so you can avoid them. eg. the risk associated with employing friends.
3. They can also share resources they might have come across.
4. Provides you with an opportunity to reflect on your business from the big picture perspective.
5. When you explain what you’re doing to somone else, the actual verbalisation can reveal things to you.

Do you have a mentor or coach? If so, what benefits have you reaped? If not, what is holding you back?

Here’s to volunteer treasurers..