Chapter 15 Bad Start. Great Finish!

Greetings from rural Australia.

In ‘Idle Chatter. Does It Matter?’ I say good news travels slower than bad news.

Look at me. I’m a perfect example of that axiom. This chapter is about a so much better than expected service experience. But I don’t write about it first.

You see, those pleasure hormones kicked in so well, I didn’t feel the need to let off steam.

I write about my worst service experience first, because it’s the one that still gets the adrenalin flowing and the pressure valve rocking back and forth.

On the other hand, in my daily conversations with customers and friends, I do pass on my good experience.

When the opportunity arises.

Which is how most good news travels. When the opportunity arises.

In our house, the chores are divided. What I do, my partner, Victor Pleshev, never does. And what Victor does, I stay away from.

There’s no point in buying a dog and then wagging its tail when it will quite happily do so on its own, without help from either one of us.

Victor’s a floor man. He loves clean floors.

So the vacuum cleaner is his domain.

And he vacuums regularly, because we’re a home based business with neat and tidy as part of our register of standards.

We also have 3 rather large dogs that bounce around inside, so dog hair floating about at will, wreaking havoc with our electronic equipment, is a no! no!

Ditto for the car.

Victor baulks at sitting on car seats that have more in common with the fur coats of our dogs, rather than the manufacturers’ recommended covering.

In the last 30 years, Victor’s had less than a handful of vacuum cleaners.

A Miele that lasted for 27 years and was his best pal; and most recently, a Panasonic that blew up within 3 years.

Why not buy another Miele rather than replace it with a Panasonic?

At the time, he consulted Choice Magazine. It said that in their tests, the Panasonic performed better than the Miele. It was also less than half the price. Both very attractive to the man researching vacuum cleaners.

Unfortunately, no one predicted the motor would blow up within 3 years.

Or maybe a 27 year life span for vacuum cleaners has been drastically shortened by the manufacturers to ensure we buy more often.

I can muse about that forever and never know the answer.

When the Panasonic would no longer suck up or suck in, because it could no longer even whimper, we were faced with a dilemma.

What do we buy?

This being the royal ‘we’.

Although I don’t use the vacuum, I am included in the pre-buying stage if I can add something of value. But the final decision is always Victor’s.

He was adamant there would be no further consultation with Choice Magazine. Why? He’s not convinced longevity can be part of their testing criteria.

So ‘we’ went back to the old fashioned method of investigation.

Word of mouth.

I’ve always been fascinated by the number of women who happily blurt out to me how much they love their Dyson vacuum cleaners. At the post office, in my local IGA store, the hardware store. They seem to be everywhere in my rural community.

And it’s obvious rural men don’t discuss the pros and cons of vacuum cleaners.

This topic is strictly ‘women’s business.’

So where do men turn when they want to find out about a domestic appliance?

The internet, of course. Because it’s anonymous and ‘your secret is safe with me’ is guaranteed.

Victor likes what he reads about James Dyson himself. His story is part of their website.

He’s bonding already.

And he can’t fault anything about the benefits of the vacuum cleaner. It solves every cleaning situation he can think of. Home, car, the bloke’s shed, dog hair, copious and insidious dust from our dirt road.

What benefit does he like best?

It’s bagless!

Out here in rural Australia, retailers who stock vacuum cleaner replacement bags for anything but the latest vacuum models are difficult to find. He noticed it was getting harder to find bags for his 3 year old Panasonic.

He was sold!

Bagless with great sucking qualities. What more could he ask for?

An order is placed by telephone to our favourite retailer, David Jones in Sydney. We like them because they have great product knowledge and stand by the products they sell. If anything goes wrong, they’re helpful.

And they deliver pronto.

Two days later, the vacuum is waiting for us at our local post office in Kandos, NSW.

In great anticipation, the box is opened at 7pm and all the parts laid out on the floor. Ikea style. All that’s missing is the ubiquitous Allen key.

Then things start to fall apart when we look at the instruction manual.

No words. Only pictures and diagrams.

Between us, we have 4 university degrees and two lifetimes of problem solving skills.

Between us, we can’t fathom a thing the instruction manual is trying to show us.

4 hours later, we manage to assemble the Dyson and figure out some obscure, but necessary features, like how to convert the turbo head from carpets to hard floors.

A test run at 11pm that night confirms what everyone says.

It really sucks up and sucks in with gusto. We nickname it ‘The Dirt Decimator’.

Warranty cards are my responsibility. When sending Dyson’s back, I filled in the questionnaire and in the comments write this:

“Although the vacuum cleaner is truly better than most, I wouldn’t recommend it to any of my friends because no one I know reads hieroglyphics and therefore wouldn’t be able to assemble the vacuum without a struggle.”

I got that off my chest!

Victor blissfully vacuums for 3 weeks.

Then the turbo head stops turning.

Victor bypasses David Jones and goes directly to Dyson Australia.

Why?

Because Dyson’s website makes it easy to complain to them, 7 days a week.

Within Australia, there’s a Helpline 1800 number that operates 10 hours a day Monday to Friday and 7½ hours a day Saturday and Sunday. Outside of business hours you can contact them by email, stating your problem, and they’ll ring first thing next business day. All bases are covered.

What a plus. And how unusual is that? A company that goes out of its way to let you know how to contact them if something goes wrong.

But. The utterance on the other end of the phone call to customer service is the one you hate hearing.

“We’ve never had a Dyson come back under warranty!”

Why are we always the first, we ask each other?

To their credit, they take a different stance to Breville.

At their expense, they send a courier to our rural village to pick up the vacuum cleaner and all its accessories. And ask Victor to include a letter telling them what’s wrong.

Victor also adds a comment about the turbo head not cleaning wood floors as well as he expects. Is there another attachment he can purchase?

Their service is outstanding.

A courier picks the vacuum cleaner up within 48 hours.

After being looked at by their service department, we receive a phone call to tell us the turbo head is indeed faulty and a new head is now ours. They also tell us the date they will return the vacuum to us. At their expense.

During this phone call, I point out the difficulty we have in interpreting the instruction manual.

Customer service says they receive ongoing complaints about it. It’s not just me being fussy.

But, they explain, James Dyson is an engineer and inventor. And the manual is done in the UK, by him. They always send him the comments and hope that one day, he’ll realise his brainwave patterns are different to yours and mine.

Their empathy soothes me. I’ve had my say and they’ve given me an answer that’s not perfect, but I can live with because they agree with me.

Isn’t this the essence of personal bridge building? Two hands clasped together in unison.

The box arrives the next day.

Victor opens it and to his utter amazement and pleasant surprise, packed inside is a gift from Dyson Australia. A separate brush for cleaning wood floors.

They not only read his comments but acted upon them.

This bridge is becoming a steel structure.

The whole transaction takes less than a week. Their customer service is always about us, not about them.

Have we changed our opinion about recommending Dyson?

You bet.

But always with the qualifier. You have to get past the struggle with the instruction manual, we tell people. But it’s worth it, we reassure them.

I can hardly believe I say that!

When the discussion is about vacuum cleaners, we tell everyone how much Victor loves his Dyson.

Dyson Australia made sure our bad start had a great finish. And I’ve certainly changed my mind about their product purely because they have such wonderful customer service.

And that’s what you want. If nothing goes wrong, terrific. But if something does, you want to know you’ll be looked after promptly, listened to and treated with respect.

We love our Dyson!!

Or do we just love Dyson Australia? It’s hard to separate the two.

This Guerrilla From The Bush is no different to anyone else. Respect and empathy when dealing with me will get you everywhere.

What about you? Have you had similar good experiences?

I’d love you to post your comments and let’s see if we can help each other. Better yet, let’s have as many people as possible pitch in and share their experiences.

Take care,

CAROL

Carol Jones
Director
Interface Pty Ltd

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use.

We’ve developed markets for these 6 products without national or international retail distribution. To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com.

Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

Chapter 14 Idle Chatter. Does It Matter?

Greetings from rural Australia.

One of my favourite pastimes is eavesdropping. There’s nothing people talk about that doesn’t interest me.

And they openly talk about almost everything. Their sex lives, husbands, wives, children, love affairs, and believe it or not, their sexually transmitted diseases and the appropriate remedies. Their job, co-workers, neighbours, who’s snorting what, and their most recent good or bad experiences.

There isn’t much that I haven’t overheard in my guise as eavesdropper extraordinaire.

And I’ve noticed that good experiences don’t travel very far. They’re talked about only if the opportunity arises.

How often has a friend rung you to blurt out, “Emily, you won’t believe the fabulous experience I just had at Harvey Norman/David Jones/The Good Guys!”

The truth?

The odds are you’ve had this sort of phone call as often as the one that tells you a million dollars is waiting for you at the lotteries office.

But, how many times has a friend called you on the pretence of saying hi, only to then harangue you with their most recent ghastly experience with a tradesman, retailer, the tax office, their sister/brother, the boss?

More than once, I bet.

Why does bad news travel faster than good news?

Because your good experience at Harvey Norman/David Jones/The Good Guys doesn’t ruin your day.

It actually enhances your day. There’s no stress, no pain, and no reason to burden someone else to seek relief. The pleasure hormones are doing their job.

Bad experiences are giant stress builders.

The adrenalin is flowing and it needs to be released. When the pressure valve starts rocking back and forth and is about to pop off, it’s time to let off that steam.

Physiologically, you almost can’t help yourself. The need to expunge yourself of your anger, your grief at being let down – yes, it is a form of grief – your disappointment, et al, is so strong, you look for an outlet.

And you do it in the most natural way known. You tell someone else about your horrible experience. Because "a burden shared is a sorrow spared."

And if they’re letting off steam about you, your company, or your products, you’re in trouble.

Because the beat of the tom-toms goes from village to village to village to village.

Regardless of the truth, mud sticks.

50% of people will always believe the story. 50% will judge for themselves. Take Lindy Chamberlain. Despite being cleared of charges of killing her baby, Azaria, a proportion of the population still thinks she’s guilty.

What can you do to soften the beat of the tom-toms?

Make sure you fix any problems your customer has immediately and to the complete satisfaction of your customer. It’s as simple as that.

By thinking of your customer first, you’re also putting your best foot forward and selflessly guarding the one thing money can’t buy. Your good reputation.

For example.

My partner is Victor Pleshev. His mother, Rita, is 81 and lives with us on our 54 hectare rural property, but in her own home. 6 years ago she decided she’d like to buy a bread maker and bake bread for us. It’s one of her ways to say thank you to us for caring for her.

In 2002, there was only one department store in my region. Myer’s in Bathurst NSW.

With her son, Victor, in tow, and after much discussion with the sales assistant, she decided on a Breville bread maker. And the top of the range. Rita only buys quality.

In 2002 she was 75 years old and although not frail, definitely not robust.

Not being strong enough to pull a plough is a problem for her and her bread maker.

When the bread’s ready, she’s never able to get it out of the bucket. She always has to ring her son and ask him to come down and do the job. And even he sometimes struggles to get the bread out.

After several months of this, Victor rang Breville to say there was a problem with the bread maker. As it was still under warranty, they asked it to be sent back to them to be fixed. The delivery to them was at our expense.

Victor was astonished to receive a call from the Service Manager to be told there is nothing wrong with the bread maker.

A discussion ensues about his mother, her age and a comment about her being more on the frail side rather than robust.

The Service Manager points out the model she purchased is unsuitable for her and acknowledges there are problems with releasing the bread for someone who is frail.

As the bread maker is still under warranty, and the Service Manager acknowledges the bread maker is unsuitable for her, Victor asks if it’s possible to replace it with a model that is more suitable for her.

Absolutely not, comes the reply. Breville isn’t responsible for customers’ not choosing correctly.

Another discussion follows about whose responsibility is it? Is it Rita’s responsibility to know what’s best for her? Or Breville’s or Myer’s?

It’s Myer’s responsibility, he replies. They sold her something that isn’t right for her. Take it up with them.

What does Myer’s say?

Not their problem.

It’s not up to us to know the physical capability of a customer. Anyway, they say, they don’t advise, they just point out the differences between products and brands.

Victor points out that at no time was it mentioned to his mother that bread was harder to get out of the model she purchased as compared to others.

Myer’s reply?

We’re not aware of that. Take it up with Breville.

Myer’s closed down in Bathurst NSW before we could vote with our feet and not make any more purchases from them. They left us with K-Mart which is now Target.

Breville?

Breville asked us to pay to get the bread maker returned to us. In the opinion of the Service Manager, as there is nothing wrong with it, Breville isn’t obligated to pay for its return.

Rita still uses her bread maker and curses it every time. What else does that do? It reinforces her resolve to never again buy Breville.

Think about that. Every week, she’s reminded by Breville!, to never buy another Breville product.

As a family, we no longer buy any products made by Breville. That’s not going to put them out of business. But when I see someone eyeing off a Breville product, I can’t help myself. I relate my experience with the bread maker. And then let the customer make their own decision.

How many times have you been the customer caught in the middle between the manufacturer/service and the retailer/service provider? And how many times have you been the loser?

Never forget how you felt. Because that’s precisely how your customer feels.

Listen to this.

Whatever the cost is to you to rectify a problem to the complete satisfaction of your customer, it’s never as great as the price you pay, when they start blabbing about you to all and sundry, and in as many public forums as possible, about how you let them down.

Read that paragraph again.

Anger and disappointment are real and palpable emotions. And the prime movers that drive people to bad mouth you.

How much would it have cost Breville to replace Rita’s bread maker? A pittance compared to the nuisance caused by an unhappy, disappointed customer and her family who look for opportunities to relate their experience.

Listen to this again. If a customer comes to you with a problem, fix it to their complete satisfaction. If you don’t, I guarantee you they’ll create opportunities to rip you to shreds.

Take it from this Guerrilla From The Bush, idle chatter always matters. And you need to know when to attack and when to give a hug. Do you?

What’s your personal experience with disappointing service? How do you handle it in your company?

I’d love you to post your comments and let’s see if we can help each other. Better yet, let’s have as many people as possible pitch in and share their experiences.

Postscript 15th April 2008

Chris White, a truly lovely customer, of TalaFarmStay in the Northern Rivers Region of NSW, had a similar problem with his breadmaker. To read his clever solution, click on Comments below.

Take care,

CAROL

Carol Jones
Director
Interface Pty Ltd

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use.

We’ve developed markets for these 6 products without national or international retail distribution. To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at http://www.interfaceaustralia.com/.

Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

Chapter 13 Opportunity Knocks Only Once? Rubbish!

Greetings from rural Australia.

When I was growing up, I was told by my parents, my school teachers and just about every adult I came in contact with that: - opportunity knocks only once.

And when it knocks, if you don’t grab this opportunity, it’s gone forever.

Do you believe that?

In a gentler era, it was assumed that you waited for opportunity to knock.

Unless you were Henry Ford, a Rockefeller, a Morgan, Andrew Carnegie. Or any of the giant industrialists of the early 20th century.

Why did people assume that these industrialists were in a class of their own and been given special qualities that separated them from mortal men in business?

They really were special, and would be considered special today, but not for their esoteric qualities, but for their ability to look for unseen opportunities, grab them and develop them. With complete disregard to their consequences.

They were ruthless and often dishonest. Their tactics coined the term ‘Robber Barons'. It was the days of the wild west of business.

Like the internet is today. No regulations and anything goes.

Their mystique emanated from their extreme wealth. Wealthy beyond the ability of normal people to comprehend. And therefore, the public enshrined them as members of a very special and select club.

Very little was published about business success in the early 20th century, and probably not many people were interested in it. The average business was still a mom and pop shop. Grocers, drapers, butchers, bakers, green grocers, coopers, farriers, the ice man, candle makers, barbers, tailors, dressmakers, shoemakers, snake oil salesmen. Businesses built on either a locally required trade or service.

The thirst for business knowledge had its awakening in the 1970’s, when the business world started to become more competitive. When globalisation was still an embryo.

This was the era of Mother England cutting its ties with Australia. Suddenly business was faced with finding their own markets, rather than just selling their commodities and products to an agent, who forwarded everything to England, and what happened after that was of no concern to Australia. Until the cheques stopped arriving.

To say business scurried to find their feet is an understatement. Consultants of every type crawled out of the woodwork, giving advice to an ignorant community hungry for information about ‘how to do’ just about everything past the production stage.

There was such a demand for the instant fix, the snake oil salesmen were resurrected.

Initially, this thirst for knowledge was confined to large business.

Small business had yet to experience the effect of a super store on every corner. This was still the glory days of word of mouth being the main source of customers.

In the mid 1980’s, I distinctly remember the conversation at a dinner party given by the owner of a small, local travel agent, musing over an ad placed by her competitor. “Business must be bad, she announced, for Adele to be advertising.”

In the 1980’s, marketing was as alien a word to the vocabulary of small business as Al-Qaeda was to the western world in 2000. And only a large business would advertise. Or a small business in trouble.

That changed for my travel agent friend when Jet Set and Harvey World Travel started poaching her local clients. She was stunned, as she assumed they would never leave her. Then along came Flight Centre.

What does she do today?

What everyone in business has evolved to doing.

Not waiting for opportunity to knock on your door, but looking in every nook and cranny for an opportunity to latch onto, and call your own, before your competitor does.

It’s hard to believe in today’s competitive environment that a mere 30 years ago a gentler age existed where a shingle hung from the outdoor rafters of your place of business brought in customers.

A few facts.

The average customer today is bombarded with 30,000 sales messages a month. It takes 8.4 sales attempts before a customer/client has any idea who you are, let alone be ready to make a decision to buy from you.

Is this business environment today so competitive that opportunities are limited?

No!

Men and women in business who have survived the early stages of slash and burn are experts at finding opportunities. And they exist almost everywhere, if you’re prepared to do some hard work and develop market niches.

The world is too big for you to be a generalist. Leave that to Big W and Wal-Mart.

But you can be a specialist.

For instance, break your product market down into segments then break it down again and again until you discover the one niche that has a need and no one is filling it.

For example.

Butterfly Releases. Fill the sky with the release of beautiful butterflies to add a unique and memorable touch to your wedding day and other special occasions.

Simply Rose Petals. Simply Rose Petals grow and supply hand-picked specialty dried rose petals for wedding decorations, spa retreats, and wedding confetti. From the family farm in Australia, Sarah and Jan send rose petals all over the world. They were the first to do this.

The Swanky Hanky. Made in Mudgee NSW by 4 Corners Designs, these beautifully made hankies have perfectly mitred corners. And boutique shops clamour for them.

Do some research on the internet. Key in a market segment and see what comes up. And look past pages 1 and 2. These are the companies that are doing well. Pages 3 and backwards might just ignite the crucial spark of imagination that opens up a whole new niche for you.

What have other people discovered that you can take to greater heights?

And remember this. Just because a company isn’t doing well in their niche doesn’t mean it’s not viable. Some companies are just hopeless at marketing.

When we first started our business, we were shut out of the retail market. To get our product established, we took the alternative route of field days and home shows, because The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover was perfect for demonstrating.

I observed another exhibitor who was a master at demonstrations.

He took a product that languished on the shelves of retailers and turned it into a multi-million dollar business by demonstrating the versatility of the product. He bought the rights to the product and after 10 years on the road, retired before the age of 40 a very wealthy man.

What can you do with your business to turn it into a treasure trove of opportunities?

As a Guerrilla From The Bush, I can assure you there is a wealth of opportunities waiting for you to uncover. But it takes effort and that’s what takes you to places you never dreamed of.

I’d love you to post your comments and let’s see if we can help each other. Better yet, let’s have as many people as possible pitch in and share their experiences.

Take care,

CAROL

Carol Jones
Director
Interface Pty Ltd

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use.

We’ve developed markets for these 6 products without national or international retail distribution. To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at http://www.interfaceaustralia.com/.

Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

Chapter 12 Are You Courageous?

Greetings from rural Australia.

One of my favourite Saturday morning programs is Saturday Extra with Geraldine Doogue on ABC Radio National.

Saturday morning, the 16th of February 2008, she was talking to Don Watson, one time speechwriter for former prime minister Paul Keating, and these days author and the expert you turn to for discussions regarding the English language.

Don’s best selling book ‘Death Sentences: How Clichés, Weasel Words, and Management Speak Are Strangling Public Language' stays on the best seller list.

As one reviewer aptly points out, “He takes up the fight against the pestilence of bullet points, the dearth of verbs, the buzzwords like valued customers, the weasel words like downsizing, reengineering, and the incessant cant that politicians speak to us and to each other in, with their clichéd, impenetrable, lifeless babble.”

Geraldine and Don were discussing Kevin Rudd’s historic ‘Sorry’ speech in Parliament on Wednesday, February 13th 2008.

The conversation ranged from the significant effect of Kevin Rudd writing his own speech and avoiding the common ‘pestilence’ of the modern day speechwriters. Avoiding words the public is weary of hearing, like ‘moving on’, ‘transparency’, and ‘impactful’.

To all who heard Kevin Rudd’s speech, it was heartfelt and genuine. Even if you don’t agree with the apology, his speech was moving and came from deep within his heart and soul and not out of the head of a third party.

The apology was a courageous move for Kevin Rudd. Not every Australian agrees with the concept of an apology. And writing his own speech accentuated that courage. Very few prime ministers write their own words.

Don Watson made a comment that can be applied to your small business.

He said countries become courageous when they do courageous things.

Those words equally apply to a business. Companies become courageous when they do courageous things.

So what’s courageous? Plucky, spirited, audacious, gutsy, bold, daring and above all, brave.

Read any women’s magazine, and you’ll read stories of everyday families leading courageous lives. Families who have children with overwhelming disabilities who have to find ways of incorporating those disabilities into a life of normality. Families who have to be brave all day, every day, just to get through the day.

Bravery in business takes a different form.

It’s courageous for a business to take a different stance to issues of morality than other businesses. It’s courageous for a business to set itself up purely to give to others, rather than giving to itself. It’s courageous for a business to defy the trend of their industry and walk a different path.

For instance.

In the 1980’s, before maternity leave became an issue, child care facilities were the hot topic. They were scarce and expensive. And most employers were completely against contributing to the cost of child care for their staff.

Why?

These companies were run by men who were the young fathers of the 1950’s. Child care was women’s work. If you want children and can’t afford child care, stay at home and look after your children. Just like their wives did.

But Lend Lease had a different perspective. Spurred on by the rise of women within their company to executive status, they opened the first company based child care centre. To much applause from women everywhere. And the brick bats and jeers from the rest of the corporate world.

It’s hard to believe, in 2008, that such a decision a mere 20 years ago was considered courageous and ground breaking. But Lend Lease really bucked the corporate system and dared to be different.

It didn’t take too long before other larger companies recognised the importance of company based child care in retaining their best staff. And today, it’s not unusual for the company you work for to offer assistance with your child care.

But I am mindful that this is not the case with all companies. But it’s no longer a ground breaking issue. It’s more a matter of what your company wants to give you in return for your services.

A business started purely for a social cause is Taylor and Khoo. It’s a fashion and homewares label started in 2002 by Kylie Taylor and Valerie Khoo for the sole purpose of helping disadvantaged orphans at the Sunrise Angkor Orphanage, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The owners of Taylor and Khoo, Kylie Taylor and Valerie Khoo, derive no income from this business. All proceeds are used for food, medicine and other basic necessities for the orphanage.

And they also give back to the Cambodian community.

Apart from raising funds for the orphanage, Taylor & Khoo helps to generate new income for Cambodian small businesses and individuals. Instead of buying from a handful of factories or suppliers, Taylor & Khoo sources its production to a wide variety of individual seamstresses, small family businesses and workshops that employ disadvantaged groups.

Both these women have full on, high profile jobs in their own right.

Kylie Taylor is group managing director of Baldwin Boyle Group, a public affairs consultancy in Melbourne.

Valerie Khoo is director of the Sydney Writers’ Centre, Australia’s leading centre for writing training. And is also editor of the Small Business Enterprise Blog for the Sydney Morning Herald.

Any business, whether making a profit for you or not, takes time, dedication and commitment. And for these two women to so selflessly give of themselves and commit themselves to the bold dream of helping a community thousands of kilometres away is plucky, spirited and gutsy.

Daring too. It can’t fall on its face. There are too many children and adults who benefit from this venture to countenance the spectre of failure. The pressure to succeed is always on.

These friends have won 5 awards for their audaciousness.

2004 Family Circle Women Who Dare Awards
2005 Australian Humanitarian Awards
2005 Australia Post Small Business Awards Special Judges Commendation
2006 UTS Alumni Leadership Award
2006 Anthill 10 Coolest Companies in Australia.

Imagine winning a ‘coolest company’ award for being a giver!

All the money won from these prizes was redirected back to their orphanage.

Professions are classy ghettos. Ghettos in the sense of:- like people living together in similar circumstances. In this case, change living to working.

Accountants, solicitors, doctors, architects all embrace similar types of ethics. Their professional institutes demand a sense of cohesion about the way in which they work.

And few break that mould.

But I’ve discovered a doctor who is very courageous.

He’s actually a customer of mine. And I’m unable to use his name because he doesn’t need, nor want, the recognition.

But this is how this suburban GP runs his practice.

He abhors the over use of medication to treat patients.

For example.

If you visit him and you’re a Type 2 diabetic, he’ll prescribe the minimum of medication and prescribe the maximum of changes you need to make in your lifestyle to reduce the effects of diabetes. Such as diet and exercise.

If you’re a smoker and are experiencing smoking related illnesses which haven’t reached the stage of being life threatening, his first prescription is to stop smoking.

If you’re overweight and have obesity related illnesses, he also sends you to a nutritionist, dietician and gives you no choice about discovering the benefits of exercise.

If you have high blood pressure caused by stress, along with the minimal medication is a list of things to do to change your lifestyle to bring down and maintain low blood pressure. He prefers you to maintain your low blood pressure through exercise, diet and a more relaxed lifestyle, than by medication.

I hope you’re getting a clear picture of how this doctor runs his practice on a self help basis.

He started this when he discovered he was growing intolerant of the revolving door of patients who refused to change their personal habits to help themselves. He was alarmed at the number of patients who think popping a pill is the magic cure.

He thinks patients are over medicated and under informed about the benefits of lifestyle changes.

He’s such a firm believer in lifestyle changes being more beneficial than medication, he will no longer see a patient if he can see they don’t want to help themselves. If you have a persistent, hacking cough and want to keep smoking, that’s fine. He simply refers you to another doctor.

He’s discovered that many people embrace this ‘daring’ philosophy and his practice is now so busy, he will only accept patients if they’ve been referred to him by an existing patient.

Audacious, bold, daring and brave. And busy!!

Perhaps this is the doctor of tomorrow.

Do you do things that defy common wisdom? Do you move out of your comfort zone to achieve the results that will take you to places you never dreamed possible? What’s your ground breaking initiative that could turn into tomorrow’s norm?

As a Guerrilla From The Bush, I know there’s someone, somewhere who will discover a bold, new way of doing things. Share it with us.

I’d love you to post your comments and let’s see if we can help each other. Better yet, let’s have as many people as possible pitch in and share their experiences.

Take care,

CAROL

Carol Jones
Director
Interface Pty Ltd

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use.

We’ve developed markets for these 6 products without national or international retail distribution. To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com.

Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

Chapter 11 Emotion And Passion In Business. Are They A Good Mix?

Greetings from rural Australia.

If you’re like most men and women who start their own business, you’ve worked for other people first. And you discover very early on that there’s rarely a place for your emotion and passion in someone else’s business.

With the exception of truly special companies like Google.

If you go down the honour roll of successful businesses started by entrepreneurs, the stories are very similar.

Take Chet Holmes.

Chet is one of the world’s finest salesmen. Extraordinaire, to be truthful.

There’s nothing about sales that Chet doesn’t love to do and do it well. He’s a master at cold calling. He’s a master at giving a customer a multitude of good reasons why they should do business with his company. He’s a master of charm as well as being a master of policies and procedures.

He started out selling furniture at the age of 19. University wasn’t part of his future. He was raring to get to work and make money.

The furniture store had a bonus for any sales person who made $20,000 in sales in any month. A target rarely met. Chet made $18,000 in sales his first week.

His thoroughly researched and polished sales skills made fortunes for other companies in the Fortune 500.

And he left every one of these companies because they didn’t want any part of the one element that made him a star.

The emotion and passion within him that created the burning desire to be super successful.

Today he’s a super star in business and owns several sales and marketing companies, none of which are small businesses. He’s revered around the world as a can do practitioner who turbo charges your business with his insights and systems based policies and procedures.

Jay Abraham is another highly charged individual who’s considered to be the master of marketing for small, medium and large businesses. He’s driven by his emotions and passion to be the best. By his unshakable belief that everyone can do well in business if you just look at what you’re doing and ask yourself where the opportunity and the passion is.

Just listening to Jay speak conjures up a visual image of zillions of jumping beans inside a small container, beating at the sides to get out. His energy is palpable.

Jay’s earned wealth for himself and others by showing people how to, first, unlock the passion necessary to succeed in business.

Closer to home, there are more examples of successful businesses built on a base of emotion and passion.

Do you know Sarina Russo?

She’s a failed legal secretary. One of the worst in the world, having been fired from all her jobs because she couldn’t type and wouldn’t take instructions from other people.

Not only did she feel she was smart enough to run all the companies who employed her, she thought she was smarter than everyone who employed her.

That raw emotion of self belief has built a $70 million empire that began when she started a typing school in Queensland in 1979.

She also failed high school. Redid year 12 three times. And is now a graduate of Harvard Business School.

Today, she hosts fundraisers for both the liberal and labour governments (you can’t be too careful) and icons like Bill Clinton. And rubs shoulders with business moguls like James Packer when invited to sit on boards of directors such as Challenger.

She’s emotionally charged, quirky, has no inhibitions and conquers all within her aura with her passionate embrace of life and business.

Gabby and her sister Sheridan Simpson are the Clean Queens. A business with a distinct difference.

They’re forensic cleaners and they clean up after dead bodies. Murders, suicides, overdoses, lonely people dead for days before someone finds them.

Their cleaning tasks are, by necessity, devoid of emotion, but not a sense of humour.

On their cleaning van, next to the Clean Queens signage, is Gabby's avatar. It’s a spunky, sexy woman with red hair in a perky pony tail, ruby red lips, big hoop earrings and wearing a gold crown atop her head; while thrusting out her large breasts that accentuate a tiny waist; shown off to perfection by her crisp white uniform.

Very eye catching.

Gabby loves what she does and is passionate about her work. She wishes she’d discovered this years earlier. For her, it’s the ideal job. There’s no set routine, no 9-5 regime, no one tells her what to do and every job is different.

But it’s not for everybody. On her website, Clean Queens, Gabby lays out their criteria for employment.

Read this.

“Should you be interested in a position at Clean Queens, we would like you to consider a few of the following points before you apply.

• If you want to be a Homicide Detective - join the Police Force.

• If CSI on TV grabs you - join Forensics.

• If you want to handle dead bodies – contact the Funeral Association.

• You should have at least 4 years experience in commercial and domestic cleaning.

• This is not a 9 to 5 job. It is on call 24/7, 365 days a year.

• This is hard work, in unusual, restricted areas, in uncomfortable PPE. The odours can be with you for days afterwards.

• If you have watched all the latest documentaries on Crime Scene Cleaning, this is not a Get Rich Quick Job.

• Dealing with family members, elderly, people suffering mental health issues, disability, drug and alcohol abuse, they are all very sensitive clients.”

This is not a glamour job! Yet despite all the filth and contamination in her job, she loves what she does because “it is gratifying on completion of a job when you’ve been able to help someone in real need.”

Self belief, determination, passion, a burning desire to succeed, the satisfaction you get from helping others in need, are all emotions.

Can you envisage running your small business without them?

As a Guerrilla From The Bush, I know that love of what you do, your passion and emotions turbo charge a burning desire to be the best. They’re all part of the mix that takes you to places you never dreamed of.

What are you passionate about? What’s your burning desire that will take you onwards and upwards?

I’d love you to post your comments and let’s see if we can help each other. Better yet, let’s have as many people as possible pitch in and share their experiences.

Take care,

CAROL

Carol Jones
Director
Interface Pty Ltd

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use.

We’ve developed markets for these 6 products without national or international retail distribution. To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com.

Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

Chapter 10 Is There Such A Thing As Bad Publicity?

Greetings from rural Australia.

What is bad publicity?

It depends on the perception people have of you. And how you want them to perceive you.

If you’re Benji and Joel Madden of the band Good Charlotte, positive publicity is bad publicity. These are the bad boys of pop punk bands. Their image borders on predatory and feral. Helping little old ladies across the street is bad for their image.

Marcus Einfeld is a former judge. His car was caught speeding by a speed camera. And to avoid paying a $70 fine, he said he wasn’t driving the car. Someone else was. That person happens to have died prior to the date of the speeding offence. He’s accused of lying about who really was behind the wheel of his car.

Ouch! That’s bad publicity.

The next one is interesting.

Shannon Lush, the acclaimed author of Spotless and bearing the moniker of ‘The Queen Of Clean’. She’s an icon in the world of clean and green, thanks to the ABC recognising her extraordinary knowledge about removing stains.

She was on the front cover of Good Weekend’s February 2, 2008 edition.

She’s sold over half a million of her Spotless books and it continues to fly off the shelves at 1,000 copies a week.

I was compelled to read every word of this article so I could understand why she’s so brilliant.

According to Jane Cadzow, the journalist who wrote the article, Shannon’s father was an industrial chemist, amongst other things, and taught Shannon about the chemical composition of the objects around her and the ways in which different materials interact with one another.

Not the sort of exposure most children get to chemistry so early in life. And she loved it and soaked up everything he taught her. And went on to learn more on her own. In Shannon’s words, “chemistry is like breathing for me.”

Very impressive. And so far, great publicity.

But as the article delves deeper into the life of Shannon Lush, issues arise which border on unbelievable. Or at least highly sceptical.

She met her husband, Rick, as a result of speed dating. She went out with 600 men in 12 months, some more than once, before meeting Rick. She says she had 4 dates a day. She didn’t pay for a meal for an entire year.

She thrives on 90 minutes sleep a night. If she gets 4 hours or more, she feels like she’s drunk from too much sleep.

She lifted a crashed car up and off a neighbour’s garbage can. In front of the police investigating the accident.

And to paraphrase Good Weekend.

Shannon held a solo exhibition, renting a house and completely fitting it out with her art and handicrafts. There were 40,000 pieces that took her just on 3 months to complete. Everything from miniatures the size of a fingernail to pictures that covered entire walls. 8,000 ceramic pieces. And glass. She retiled an entire bathroom with handmade tiles. And made all the fittings for the bathroom as well.

From Spotless to breathless.

I grabbed my calculator and did the maths. 90 days times 24 hours per day are 2,160 hours or 129,600 minutes. 40,000 items is one made every 3.24 minutes. Without sleep.

Is this possible? Even plausible?

This doesn’t diminish the popularity of Shannon’s show on 702 ABC Sydney. Her devoted listeners never stop calling in with questions. And Shannon says there isn’t anything she’s come across that she can’t remove. Her popularity is a testament to this.

But what did the article in Good Weekend do for her image?

Did it change my perception of her?

Yes, it did. I’m seriously dubious about her superwoman abilities.

Is this a case of bad publicity? Or too much information?

I’d like you to tell this Guerrilla From The Bush your opinion. Is this bad publicity, good publicity, too much information, or just a case of a superwoman who’s in a class of her own?

Let’s look at a different scenario.

We’ve all heard there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Taking into account that most bad publicity is brought about by a series of events not dissimilar to Marcus Einfeld’s incident, on a grander scale, can bad publicity hurt you?

If you think not, think again.

Bad publicity has destroyed companies and people.

Think Enron. HIH Insurance. Rodney Adler. James Hardie Australia. Watergate and Richard Nixon. Monica Lewinski.

At the end of the day, when all the dust has settled, you have only one attribute in business that you take from place to place. It’s your baggage. And that baggage is your reputation.

Besmirch it at your peril.

I’d love you to post your comments and let’s see if we can help each other. Better yet, let’s have as many people as possible pitch in and share their experiences.

Take care,

CAROL

Carol Jones
Director
Interface Pty Ltd

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use.

We’ve developed markets for these 6 products without national or international retail distribution. To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com.

Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

Chapter 9 Perception Is Reality

Greetings from rural Australia.

Have you ever witnessed, or been part of this kind of conversation? You and your friend/partner/business associate are discussing an occasion you shared in common. The conversation is getting down to the nitty gritty.

Considerate Caroline says, “That person was so aggressive and overbearing, they really annoyed me”. Dynamite Joe says ‘I didn’t find that to be the case at all”. “I thought that person was just being firm and authoritative.”

That’s a simplification of a discussion. But what I’m demonstrating is that we all see things differently and therefore perception of reality differs from person to person.

Our brains process information in different ways. No two brains have the same microprocessor. We don’t buy our brains from an IT store. Our wiring is unique and this difference in wiring is what makes each one of us unusual in our own way.

Read this scenario. This is what happens when people go on job interviews and are interviewed by several people. The applicants are narrowed down, the selectors get together and discuss their perception of each person.

Perceptions differ from selector to selector. It’s the common elements that determine who gets the job. And the job goes to the person who ‘fits in’. The person who’s perceived to be the most suitable.

And have you noticed how much alike people in each company are? They’re hired because they’re compatible.

If you’re trying to score a major client, do you know how that prospective client perceives you? Many a deal’s been made and lost based purely on perception.

How many times have you heard this? “I contracted them because they just felt right.”

Perception is a package. It has an outer layer, the wrapping, and the inner core, the contents.

Both are important.

When trying to open doors, your prospect is looking at the wrapping first. If they like it, they’ll open the package to inspect the contents.

Let’s say you’re a small home based business. You have a set of skills that are valuable to large companies. Let’s say these companies are in the BRW top 100.

When these companies secure products and services at a high level, their perception of you is crucial to getting the door opened. You must be perceived to be totally professional and able to perform.

And!

To make it simple. They want to see men and women who look and act just like them.

When you’re in front of them, what’s going through their minds? What are they thinking of you? Do they perceive you as being on the same level as them?

If they don’t, you’re out of the picture.

You can have the best skills in the world, be the smartest in your field, but if you’re not presenting yourself in the same ‘picture frame’ as the client you want to secure, you’re not going to have your picture taken together.

Perception is reality.

You’re walking down the street and you see a man who’s dressed like a thug. So you assume he’s a thug. And feel threatened.

You walk down the street and you see the same man dressed in a suit. So you assume he’s a business man and you feel safe.

Neither image guarantees violence or safety, but your perception dictates how you respond to this person.

The same with potential clients. How you’re dressed, what you wear, how you speak, your presentation skills, the car you drive, your connections, all add to the perception your prospective client has of you. This is your outer wrapping.

Even though individuals differ in their wiring, there are elements in common that you can polish to suit the types of companies you want to attract. And add individual elements later, to suit individual prospects within those companies.

Why? Because you can manipulate every perception someone has of you. That’s what’s so good about perceptions. They’re all surface mounted and you can change them.

Don’t believe me? Britney Spears has lurched from virginal girl next door to the pop princess from hell.

Many years ago, a business woman left a corporate giant to start her own consulting business. In the 1980’s, before home based businesses were the norm.

She was a cracker jack at conflict resolution and could solve difficult human resources conflicts within companies.

She started with just her ambition to make it big in her field.

To attract the companies she wanted, she had to be perceived as already being successful.

So she developed her own ‘media kit’.

She already had an impressive track record in conflict resolution, so she wrote to everyone she had ever been associated with and asked them to write letters of testimonials regarding her skills. And she received enough to make a good ‘skills book’.

She had an ordinary car that she knew wouldn’t impress her prospective clients. So she arranged several appointments on the same day of the week. And she rented a BMW for the day. Why? So she’d have the right car in the allotted parking space at the company she was visiting. Do people look? Yes they do!

Her grooming was impeccable because she paid attention to details.

She dressed for the occasion. She knew her way around the garment district in Surry Hills and all her clothes were designer defects purchased at a fraction of their real cost.

Her make up, hair and nails were done by her, with techniques learned from a professional.

Her business accessories were always the best. She stumbled upon a Gucci briefcase in an op shop, and assembled the rest by buying well.

This was the outer package that formed the perception that she was equal to the class of customer she wanted to work with. And because the wrapping was what they expected to see, they opened the package, examined the contents and knew she was more than capable of helping them.

25 years later she’s based in London, the proprietor of a substantial consulting business employing 25 men and women, with clients throughout Europe.

She was my neighbour when I lived in Balmain.

Her drive and ambition were palpable and she knew the importance of perception.

How many times have you tried to attract a client, only to realise they didn’t perceive you to be ‘one of them’?

Get into the heads of the people you want to do business with . If you have the skills they need/want, find out what you need to do to change their perception of you. It is within your control to change how people perceive you.

One of the best ways to be embraced is to emulate your prospect’s mood. If they’re serious and stuffy, so are you. If they’re smiling and happy, so are you. If they’re frowning and worried, so are you. Adapt your body language to theirs.

They don’t want to see ‘different’. They want to see ‘compatible’. That’s how to start to be perceived as being ‘one of them.’

You can’t be all things to all people, but you can be significant to some people of your choice.

Who do you want to attract? Study their professional image. Look at the type of people they choose to work with. And work out how you can ‘fit in’ and be ‘compatible’ with the perception they have of who they want to work with.

Always remember that people do business with people they know, like, trust and have confidence in. Perception is everything.

As a Guerrilla From The Bush, I’ve learned that anything is possible.

How have you adapted yourself to get your foot in the door of clients you want to attract?

I’d love you to post your comments and let’s see if we can help each other. Better yet, let’s have as many people as possible pitch in and share their experiences.

Take care,

CAROL

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use.

We’ve developed markets for these 6 products without national or international retail distribution. To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com.

Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

Chapter 8 Take Action Or Die A Slow Death From Starvation

Greetings from rural Australia.

Now that you know the importance of loving what you do, what are you going to do with what you love?

Nothing happens if you don’t take action. You have to do something to make things happen.

It’s one thing to love your craft, but you want to make money from it, don’t you?

Taking action is the second most important element of your guerrilla arsenal. This is what starts to bring your customers through the door and money into your till to pay the bills.

Who wants to know about you? Where do you have to go to get noticed? What do you have to do to get something going?

Today. Not tomorrow.

There are a plethora of websites and learning facilities to point you in the right direction. Look up your market segment on Google and it’s awash with opportunities.

But many people in small business are still stuck in a rut. Because taking action is so much harder to do.

I sit in on teleseminars from all over the English speaking world. It’s not unusual for me to be up at 2AM, dialling in on Skype to listen to yet more information about how to improve my small business.

The Question and Answer segments are revealing. 99.9% of small business owners who ask questions all suffer from the same affliction. Procrastination.

This is another common affliction. Gonna do! When I have time, I’m ‘gonna do’ this.

This is the excuse people give when they know they need to get off their derrières and do something.

Yes, yes, I’m 'gonna ring' that company, next week, 'when I have time'.

Sound familiar?

There is no, ‘when I have time’. There’s only ‘YOU MAKE THE TIME’.

Sometimes we’re too scared to take action. We get paralysed with fear that what we’re doing isn’t right. Sometimes we just don’t know what to do.

But remember this. If you don’t take action to make something happen, you’re starving your business to death.

Another reason we don’t take action is our expectations are unrealistic.

For instance, in today’s overloaded with information society, it takes 8.4 approaches before a potential customer has any idea as to who you are.

When do most people give up?

95% of small businesses down tools after the first approach. Less than 5% go on to make the 9th approach and score a victory.

And these courageous and persistent men and women are refining their approach with every attempt. They’re not sending or phoning with the same material every time.

They’re modifying it a degree at a time, to keep it fresh and to make sure they’re getting noticed. And they’re learning as they go.

And brushing off the rejections. Rejections are part of being in business. Accept them and keep moving forward. You’re not going to please everyone.

With that sort of persistence, someone is going to ask you to back off. And of course, you will. You don’t want to be a pest.

But listen to this. This is the reward for taking persistent action. By the time you’ve made your 9th attempt, probably 40% of the people you’ve contacted will become a customer. Maybe not immediately, but I promise you, they will eventually come on board. Or recommend you to someone who will.

Why? Because you’ve given them time to get to know you, like you, feel confident in you and trust you to do business with.

How perfect is that?

And the 95% who didn’t persist with taking action are slowly starving themselves out of business.

No one said being in business was easy. It’s not. Lauren Bacall is famous for her comment about old age. “Old age ain’t for the faint hearted”. And neither is business.

Procrastinating and not taking action is the biggest reason a business fails. To be successful, you have to do something every day to make things happen.

No one is immune from procrastination. But I’ve put a system in place to make sure I give it the brush off when I think it’s rearing its head.

When I know I'm deliberately putting something off, that I know I can do, I ask myself a series of questions.

1. What's my intention? In other words, why am I doing this or why do I
need to do this?

2. Will doing this take me closer to my intention?

3. What do I need to do to get this done? In other words, what actions
do I need to take to complete the task?

4. When I finish this, will I be closer to my goal, or further away from
it? (Repetition never hurts!)

5. Is what I need to do, right now, too hard? Probably not.

6. So why aren't I changing the hour I’m in now?'

Every time I go through this sequence, I do the task and it gets me closer to where I want to be.

It hasn't failed me yet.

If I have a challenge, where I'm not sure I know what I'm doing, I ask
myself a different series of questions. They are:

1. What's my intention? What’s my goal? Why do I want to do this?

2. To do this, what skills do I need?

3. What skills do I have?

4. What skills do I need to learn or acquire from someone else?

5. What policies and procedures do I need to put in place to make this
happen?

6. What can I do right now, to change this hour, and start making things
happen?

Have you heard of changing the hour?

It’s a great concept. You can’t change the hour that’s just passed, but you can change the hour you’re in now. Just simply by doing something, now, that will take you one step closer to your goal of being a success in business.

All success comes in small incremental steps. “Take it by the yard and it’s hard, take it by the inch and it’s a cinch” is an American saying, but very true.

What will you do right now, to change your hour?

Being a Guerrilla From The Bush I’ve learned that changing the hour is crucial to my success. And yours too.

Tell me what you’ve done to change your hour and move your business forward.

I’d love you to post your comments and let’s see if we can help each other. Better yet, let’s have as many people as possible pitch in and share their experiences.

Take care,

CAROL

To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com. We’ve developed markets for 6 products without national or international retail distribution.

The Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover, Roadworks Apron, Log Lugger, Travel Bug Shoe Bag, Mr Chin’s Laundry Bag and Sweet Shoo are all simple solutions for difficult problems. And every one is a joy to use. Have a look and see for yourself.


Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

Chapter 7 Do You Love What You Do? Volume 3

Greetings from rural Australia.

Perhaps you didn’t quite believe me when I said that when you love what you do and you nurture that love, it will take you places you never dreamed of.

So I'm going to rev this up to maximum torque.

Who is Jamie Durie?

Is there anyone who hasn’t heard his name?

He started his career as a buffed male dancer in the late 80’s dance group Manpower. His life in Las Vegas was everything a young man could dream of.

Except he tired of it.

And came back to Australia to pursue his true love. Gardening.

He enrolled at the Ryde School of Horticulture and sopped up everything he could learn.

He also has a characteristic in common with all successful people. His optimism and belief that everything is possible. He has this in spades.

Several years ago there was an article about him in Wealth Creator Magazine. Like all of us, he has his dark days. He’s lost several million dollars in deals that weren’t put together as tightly as they should have.

He has a teenage daughter, Taylor, who still lives in Las Vegas with her mother. Although he’s very much a committed father, he’s still separated from his daughter.

No one’s life is perfect. Mega successful people have just as many crashes in their lives as you and me. But their belief in themselves and their ability to pick themselves up and put that life back together, is what takes them to where they are.

Jamie is the first to admit that he’s where he is more by good luck than by good planning. Don Burke spotted him and gave him his first break when Don asked him to appear on Backyard Blitz, which is a Don Burke production.

And Jamie's certainly not an overnight wonder. He's spent close to 20 years fanning the flames of his passion.

Now he’s Oprah Winfrey’s gardening buddy and who knows where he’ll go from here.

But his overriding passion in life is gardening. He has the drive and the ambition to be better at it than most. And to keep learning and nurturing and pushing the boundaries of the envelope.

Combine that with his natural charisma, eternal optimism, heartbreaking smile, and his ability to say yes when opportunity comes knocking, and you have success oozing out of all his pores.

Handsome and buffed isn’t a prerequisite for success.

But love of what you do is.

Peter Cundall is the antithesis of Jamie Durie. He's 80+ years old. With a body that's seen hard work in his days. But that twinkle in his eyes shows you how much he's in love with what he does. That love has turned him into Australia's foremost gardening icon.

He’s the idol of every man and woman who’s ever aspired to having a successful vegetable garden.

Is there anything Peter Cundall doesn’t know about vegetable gardening?

His delivery catches your breath. He’s so in love with his subject, he can’t speak quickly enough to get the words out to tell you everything he wants you to know. He wants to share all his knowledge with you. And he loves doing it.

It shows on his face and in his mannerisms.

Jamie Oliver's accomplishments for a young man under 40 are breathtaking.

Jamie was an apprentice chef to Gennaro. And could have morphed into just another good chef. But Gennaro saw a spark when he realised Jamie possessed a deeper and more abiding love for food than anyone else.

And became Jamie’s mentor and a life long friend and critic. The two together are like an old married couple who can't live with each other and can't live without each other.

Jamie exhibits a tendency to be grumpy and irascible, and you either love or hate him, but he lives, eats and breathes food. He’s clearly obsessed with the benefits of fresh food that's cooked simply.

He also likes things done perfectly.

And he never stops doing the impossible.

His push for better food in British schools went straight to the desk of Tony Blair.

His Fifteen restaurants, which are all a registered, non-profit charity, have given street kids a new chance for a better life.

This is where love of what you do can take you.

Not everyone aspires to achieve fame and fortune at this level. It's hard work and you have to be very careful and mindful of your image. You lose your private life, which can be hard on your family.

But you do aspire to achieving success in your business. And you can’t achieve a high level of success without loving what you do.

What do you love about your business? What can you grab with both hands and turn into an obsession? What do you love that motivates you to get out of bed every day and go for it?

Find that spark, nurture it and you’ll discover that it will take you places you never dreamed possible.

As a Guerrilla From The Bush, I know that anything is achievable.

What are you going to do today to ignite a spark into a flame of passion?

I’d love you to post your comments and let’s see if we can help each other. Better yet, let’s have as many people as possible pitch in and share their experiences.

Take care,

CAROL

To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com. We’ve developed markets for 6 products without national or international retail distribution.


Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

Chapter 6 Do You Love What You Do? Volume 2

Greetings from rural Australia.

Loving what you do does more than release the pleasure hormones of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine into your system.

It creates a state of well being that makes you attractive to other people.

Have you ever wondered why some people draw you in like a magnet?

Next time you’re attracted to someone you admire, observe what you’re feeling. What is it about that person that’s switching you on?

You’ll probably realise that it’s their self-confidence, their posture or stance, their sense of authority based on their depth of knowledge, their bright and sparkly ambience, combined with a sense that all is right in their world.

That’s what attracted me to Jill Weeks of Lifestyle Matters.

We met several years ago when she rang me for a book she was researching.

She and her husband Owen are experts on how to approach your retirement. But this isn’t boring, technical information that you can download from any website.

This is hands on knowledge they acquired when they took a year off and travelled around Australia to find out what people over 50 were doing. Where were they retiring? And what did they really do when they retired?

Owen Weeks started out as a financial planner. He built up a business that was so successful, he was made an offer he couldn’t refuse by the William M Mercer Organisation.

He spent 6 years still attached to the company, but in a very changed role.

He went from hands on business owner interacting with his clients, to an Executive Manager in their ivory tower, staring at spreadsheets and all the other day-to-day management and reporting minutiae that large organisations seem to think add value to your day.

He missed the fun he had when it was his business. And most of all, he missed interacting with his clients and writing books to help them.

Jill is a teacher, trainer, author and aided in her insights by her major in psychology. She and Owen complement each other’s skills.

When Owen said let’s drop everything and travel around Australia, she leapt at the opportunity.

They both have an intense curiosity about what happens when you make your decision to retire, relocate to a destination, and put down new roots. Do you thrive? Or just survive?

These aren’t answers you get from a questionnaire.

These are answers you only get from travelling from place to place, talking to people and observing the dynamics that are in play. This is more than statistics. This is getting into that person’s skin and looking at their retirement through their eyes.

They travelled to more than 200 destinations when researching their book.

And that book ‘Where to Retire In Australia’ is a bestseller.

Because it’s not only about places to retire.

Its focus is precise.

If you moved to Mudgee NSW, what could you do there to make an income, if you decided you didn’t want full retirement? What does Mudgee have to offer someone over 50? What kind of a community is it? Would Jill and Owen recommend it as a retirement destination?

Their love of the subject has turned them into experts and celebrated speakers.

Organisations like accountants, financial planners, banks, and human resource groups, who offer services to the over 50’s, clamour for their knowledge.

They educate these groups on what the over 50’s are doing, what they want from these organisations and what affects people over 50.

These are the baby boomers and they’re still big business.

And this couple can speak about any facet of this age group. Nothing escapes them.

Jill and Owen have a long list of topics they’ve written about.

Pursuing Your Passion
Things To Do Over 50
7 Things Smart Retirees/Seachangers Do Before Moving
You and Your Partner's Retirement
7 Tips To A Successful Lifestyle
Future Trends you Cannot Ignore
Refire! Don’t Retire.
There’s more!

Jill and Owen’s love of their subject took them down the road to success. They were the first people to do Lifestyle books in Australia.

Find something in your business that you love to do! Develop it, nurture it, and in time, it will take you places you never dreamed of.

If you love what you do, taking action is natural.

As a Guerrilla From The Bush, I appreciate what Jill and Owen have achieved. They’ve put in lots of hard work to get where they are. Nothing is easy. But was it really work? I think their business is very much a labour of love.

What do you love to do in your business that you can develop and nurture and turn into an asset?

I’d love you to post your comments and let’s see if we can help each other. Better yet, let’s have as many people as possible pitch in and share their experiences.

Take care,

CAROL

To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com. We’ve developed markets for 6 products without national or international retail distribution.


Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

Chapter 5 Do You Love What You Do? Volume 1

Greetings from rural Australia.

There are two concepts to embrace, that are well within your power to do, which will turn you into a powerhouse of energy and turbo charge your business.

Love what you do.

Take action.

Hard to believe, isn’t it, that two such simple concepts can do so much for you.

Do you love what you do? Do you love any part of what you do in your business?

If you don’t, you’re in big trouble. Because loving what you do is what gets you across the line when the going gets tough. It’s what sees you through the darkness when things start to stall.

Physiologically, your body is a chemistry set. Every time you do something, you’re sending messages to your brain in the form of neurotransmitters. They give instructions to your brain to either release or suppress particular hormones.

When you feel fear, your brain releases adrenalin. To give you the energy boost you need to fight – or ‘flight’- the situation.

Adrenalin is a stress hormone. And too much adrenalin without the opportunity to burn it off with flight, creates unchecked, increased heart rate and feelings of anxiety.

If you don’t love what you’re doing, I have a feeling this is how you feel most of the time. Isn’t it?

When you feel depressed, your brain suppresses the hormones that add vitality to your life. The hormones we’ll talk about below that put a zing in your step.

When you love what you do, your brain is releasing dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine into your system. Exactly the same hormones that are released when you fall in love.

These are the pleasure hormones. It’s a chemical cocktail that gives you a natural high.

Winning the lottery, scoring your first big sale, the birth of your child are all occasions when these hormones are raging through your body. You love life and every day is a blessing.

You can tell when people love what they do. They speak with enthusiasm. They find a reason to take action. They have a vitality about them that’s almost like an aura.

And they can’t help but be successful. Their love of what they do keeps them at the coalface, constantly chipping away, until the light at the end of the tunnel appears and bathes them in sunshine.

This isn’t a fairytale. Everyone has dark days.

Thomas Edison did more than 10,000 experiments before he perfected the light bulb. But during his gloomiest moments of self doubt, his passion for his work motivated him to do one more, and another one, and one more again, of those 10 thousand plus experiments.

Until he reached the moment when - there was light!

I’ve seen first hand how love of your craft makes people glow.

Penny Stevens and Rob Ingram of Awarehouse Communications in Cobbora NSW are long standing friends.

Penny Stevens is a powerhouse publicist. She’s the force behind the publicity that makes the Schools Spectacular we see every year on the ABC such an outstanding event.

Rob Ingram is a renowned and well respected wine and food journalist.

Rob also has another identity. He’s the Country Squire for Australian Country Style magazine. My call to Australian Country Style confirms what I suspected. That Rob receives copious quantities of fan mail for his articles.

Rob’s Country Squire Page is a labour of love. And it shows with every article. He keeps us informed about Penny, The Chosen One; Barney the Retriever, his second love in life; and the locals in his extended community out in the bush.

Talk to Rob about the Country Squire, and his face lights up, his talk is animated and he softly chuckles about the goings on in his community. The pleasure cocktail is flowing through his body.

Penny is an edgier person than Rob. Not as laid back. But down to earth and firmly grounded about what matters in life.

Penny and Rob relocated to their country home on a permanent basis in 2006.

The local community admires Penny’s prowess as a publicist. So they approached her to promote the Dunedoo Open Garden Day in October 2007.

There was one major problem, though. Only one garden was fit to be open. All the other regulars were decimated by the extended drought. But the garden organisers thought Kylie’s garden looked terrific and they should go ahead.

Penny put everything she had into this project. She mobilised magazines, newspapers and even got Reg Kidd, The ABC’s garden presenter, to be there on the day. Everyone was talking about the Dunedoo Open Garden Day.

500 people came to visit Kylie’s garden. The day raised $10,000 for charity.

And Penny’s jubilation produced a chemical cocktail that kept her on a natural high for days afterward.

This is what happens when you love what you do.

You figure out how to convince the public that it’s worth their while to drive from far and wide to visit one garden.

You figure out how to convince Reg Kidd from the ABC that it’s worth his while to appear on the day to talk about one garden.

You figure out the angle that’s most appealing to the magazines, newspapers, radio and TV so they publicise your Open Garden Day event featuring just one garden.

A lesser publicist would have walked away from this. But Penny loves what she does and couldn’t resist the challenge.

There’s more than one Guerrilla From The Bush and we’ve all learned that anything’s achievable.

What do you love about your business? All you need to do is identify one element that really switches you on. And then turn that into an asset that you can grow with, capitalise on, and use to move you forward.

I’d love you to post your comments and let’s see if we can help each other. Better yet, let’s have as many people as possible pitch in and share their experiences.

Take care,

CAROL

To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com. We’ve developed markets for 6 products without national or international retail distribution.


Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.

Chapter 4 How Important Is Price?

Greetings from rural Australia.

How important do you think price is to your success?

To some buyers, it’s everything.

For a business, one of the easiest routes to take is to sell on price. To always be cheaper.

But let me tell you now, for a small business, this road is paved with misery. Because your customers have no loyalty to you other than how cheap you are. As soon as another business is cheaper, they’re no longer your customer.

One of the hardest routes to take is to sell on quality and added value. And have that reflected in your price.

But once you learn to sell on your added value, you attract a different class of customer. These customers are discerning, loyal and know that there’s not as much choice amongst quality as there is for cheap.

Businesses in the service industry have a better understanding of this than businesses that sell a product.

Apples aren’t always the same when choosing a solicitor, accountant, doctor, dentist, therapist, personal trainer, etc. Their personalities, their knowledge and their reputation are all part of the mix when you make a decision. And the pros in the service industry are fully aware of this and know how to present their differences in a favourable light.

Plus you seem to have more of a gut feel about what feels right when discussing your needs with them. It really is a case of who you like and trust, before who fits your pocketbook, when making your choice.

Products are not so clearly defined. It’s harder to sell the added value. Because sometimes you’re not truly aware of what your added value is.

Take book stores.

They have a really tough time now competing with the mega stores like Big W and Borders. Although Borders is no longer opening new stores, they have a substantial number of existing stores still operating. Small, independent bookstores are closing with unprecedented regularity. As are chains in regional centres.

When I arrived in the bush in 1992, my largest regional centre, Bathurst NSW, had Angus & Robertson, Dymocks and the ABC Books. Only the ABC is left standing. With Big W as a backup.

And where to buy is sometimes a hard choice for customers to make. Why should someone pay $10 extra for a book at your store, when they can get it so much cheaper at these mega stores?

Sometimes the difference is in the subtlety of the offering.

Abbey’s Bookshop is a successful bookstore in Sydney. It’s been a family owned business since 1968, when it opened its doors. And they pride themselves on being Australian owned and independent.

They’ve also got their mix right.

They specialise in history, science, philosophy, classics and crime. And they stock the entire range of Penguin Classics. As well as being a general bookstore.

They have 40,000 titles in stock. Not on their database, but on the floor. For you to choose from today.

And they have a backlist of hard to get books you can order from. From publishers throughout the world.

How many titles does Big W have? From my observation, only a limited range of books. Will they order books in for you? No, I don’t think so.

Abbey’s provide excellent customer service through their information terminals located at the front of their store and other information and service areas located throughout the store. And they have visible staff manning the store. No running down aisles, looking in nooks and crannies, for a sales assistant.

You don’t want to visit the shop? Order by phone. They have 8 separate phone lines so you rarely get a busy signal. And an 1800 number for out of towners.

Want to order online? They’re not hard to find. Key in book stores on Google Australia. They’re in 6th place.

They apologise for the fact that not everyone who works at Abbey’s can be an expert at everything. But they assure you that all their staff have a strong interest in at least one of their specialisations, some are even degree qualified. And they offer friendly, knowledgeable service.

This is outwitting your competitors with chutzpah.

And yet another example of the power of the personality that’s running the business. They’re a family owned business that puts their customers first because they know first hand the value of their customers. If money isn’t coming in through the till, the family doesn’t eat.

Does price matter here? If your customer is a bookaholic, I don’t think so.

And the book market in Australia is substantial. Hugh Mackay, Australia’s social biographer, recently wrote that per capita, Australians buy more books than anyone else in the world.

Borders and Big W are run straight from a textbook. Do this, do that, but not this and not that. They have no flexibility, so they can’t deviate from the rules. They all look alike, and although they certainly provide adequate service, they can’t come close to offering the hands on, personal service, coupled with the extensive knowledge about their range of books, that Abbey’s does.

You can do the same. Scale it down or scale it up. But look at where your competitor is vulnerable. Look at the things they can’t do that you can. And go in with your best tactics to outwit them. And make sure everyone knows the difference between you and them.

That's how you sell your added value and command a premium price. No, it's not easy. It takes courage. It takes patience. And a strong belief that there are customers out there who want your added value. And believe me when I tell you that they're there, and they'll find you, if you're promoting yourself in the right place.

That's another subject. Promoting in the right place.

Yes, I’m definitely a Guerrilla From The Bush and I’ve learned so much about outwitting retailers. My $39.95 Fitz Like A Glove™ Ironing Board Cover competes every day with a $4.00 product. Yet I’ve taken 90,000 customers away from the large retailers. And so can you.

What do you do that’s different? Or, what can you do now that’s different? Every large company is vulnerable somewhere. Think about it and take action to implement a guerrilla tactic that will reap you new customers. Many of them are there for the taking.

I’d love you to post your comments and let’s see if we can help each other. Better yet, let’s have as many people as possible pitch in and share their experiences.

Take care,

CAROL

To see what we’ve achieved, click on our website at www.interfaceaustralia.com. We’ve developed markets for 6 products without national or international retail distribution.


Read the story of how our business began on The Ironing Board Cover Lady. No sales hype. Just a down home story about how we started our business on the dining room table of our rural property, driving on ‘L’ Plates, without an instructor.



A comment about LinkedIn. If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, when you click View Full Profile, you’ll be asked to join. It’s free and the option is yours. There are benefits to joining. Once you’re a member, you can key in the name of any person you do business with. If they’ve taken the trouble to complete a Profile, you’ll be able to assess their background, their capabilities and the calibre of person they are. You might be, as I am, often pleasantly surprised. So go have a look.