Small Office, Home Office Information

… but I just haven’t quite worked out what it is

by Stuart Livesey

Quite some time ago I started The Hervey Bay Gossip - that’s a little local news blog for people in our town. It’s never been a raging success and if I was doing it for strictly monetary gain then I would have killed it off long ago.

I certainly do get plenty of readers both here in town and from overseas but few people comment even though it has covered some important local issues including local and State elections as well as the plight of small business in this town. But all that changed on Saturday.

A home owner in our street came to the door on Friday to warn us - and every other house in the street - that the town plan was about to be altered to allow the construction of some multi-story units/flats/apartments at the end of our street.

Our street already has enough traffic and really wasn’t designed to handle the traffic that these units would generate. So I posted something about it on the Gossip and suggested than anyone who wanted to oppose the changes should lodge an objection with the Hervey Bay City Council.

Suddenly the comments started happening - I was accused of being biased, exaggerating the traffic situation and ‘being all about me’.

Not one of those who commented actually live in this street but the really interesting point is that it was something as local as traffic in just one small street that aroused all the interest. Bigger local issues haven’t raised as much interest.

I’m sure there’s a lesson there for small business - I’m just too muddle-headed this Monday morning to work out what it is.

by Stuart and Toni Livesey

You may find you have some hardware issues so it’s better to be save than sorry. Microsoft has a free Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor and the experts suggest that you should run it before trying to upgrade.

If there’s going to be a problem it will warn you.

Hat tip to All About Microsoft

by Toni Livesey

The answer is networking

Dean in America is installing a 600 egg pheasant and quail incubator this weekend but he’s worried about power outages out in the farming area where he lives.

Stuart in Australia has found the solution to storm-related power outages that have affected our online business from time to time and can provide a link to important information.

While they’re exchanging emails and blog comments about another matter the problem is mentioned - a possible solution is offered together with a link for Dean to look at. While the scale may be different the basic solution works in both situations.

It’s not a big headline moment - it’s nothing that either Dean or Stuart were even thinking about at the time - it just happened in passing but it could have a major impact on someone’s business.

You must network - whether it’s online or with the shops in the same complex as you or at the other end of town - you really must network. Even competitors can benefit from networking.

It’s a public holiday here in Australia - the day we celebrate all the things that make Australia the great country it is.

Toni and I won’t exactly be loafing today but we won’t be working as hard as we usually do. We’ll watch some cricket this afternoon - Australia takes on the Old Enemy (England) and tonight we really will throw some prawns on the BBQ (Toni has a garlic prawn recipe that is unbelievable) and have a few beers.

Right now we’re off to have breakfast at a cafe down on the beach and we’ll sit at the table where we took this shot a couple of weeks ago.

It’s a great country and we wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

Look After Yourself

By Stuart Livesey

Toni and I were talking to another couple last week who operate a small business. We were chatting about the challenges all small businesses face and they mentioned the matter of health and wondered what they would do if they both fell ill.

What would you do if you fell ill and were unable to work for any length of time?

Of course illness can strike at any time but you can take steps to protect yourself from some of those problems through exercise, limiting the amount of time you actually spend working each day and eating the right foods. But sometimes there are circumstances that can affect your health where the things I’ve just mentioned won’t be of much help.

Right now we’re in the middle of summer and our offices here at home are not air conditioned (and won’t be till next summer). The day before yesterday the temperature in my office got up into the high 30’s (around 100 F) and yesterday it was set to do the same.

Fortunately I was able to escape to the airconditioned comfort of the computer shop. While I’m never as productive there as I am here I was certainly more productive than I was if I had tried to work here in that heat.

But if you’re home office gets hot in summer and you can’t escape you need to take precautions to safeguard your health. You need to drink plenty of water, you need to set up a fan or two (I have a ceiling fan here and I sometimes bring in a pedestal fan as well), you need to take regular breaks and go somewhere in the house that it might be a bit cooler and even be prepared to have a couple of cool showers throughout the day.

Heat stroke and dehydration can soon set in and once they do your productivity will sink to zero very quickly. And the effects can last for days so look after yourself, you are your small business’ most important asset.

… it all depends

by Stuart Livesey

For a long time now Toni and I have known what the key is to small business success but we haven’t told anyone.

Why haven’t we passed this vital piece of information on to you and every other small business person out there? Because you probably wouldn’t believe us.

Why have we managed to get this far with our business when many others we know who started around the same time have folded their tents and gone? Why have we succeeded this far and not ended up on skid row (where we probably should have been by now)?

We have survived while others haven’t because of the secret to small business success.

So why did the others fail when they did all the right things and we survived when we were plagued with ill-health? Sure we did all the right things too but there were several months when neither Toni nor I could work at our full capacity so we should have failed but the secret to small business success helped us through.

So what is that secret? The secret is that it all depends.

Sometimes a small business person can do all the right things and they still fail miserably while people like us can bumble through a crisis and still come out on top simply because it all depends.

Success depends on lots of things and you can do everything right and still not succeed because sometimes it all boils down to luck and other factors that are totally out of your control.

But no one else will tell you that because it doesn’t quite fit with the message they are trying to sell you.

And while you’re thinking about what I just said wander over to Marketing is Math - it’s not just about marketing and it will really get you thinking.

by Toni Livesey

Sometimes there are lessons for small business in the most usual places

Presentation Zen is hardly the place you might think you would find a message for small business and home office people but read Garr Reynolds’s new year message and you’ll see a lesson there for you and me.

Thanks Darren and ProBlogger for pointing me to this one.

by Stuart Livesey

What Would You do With Your Small Business?

Yesterday we met an interesting couple who run a small business and are facing a very real dilemma.

They invited us around to talk to them about a website for their business. It’s a very successful business and it’s on the brink of becoming even more successful thanks to some changes in the laws governing what they do.

They really are on the verge of becoming a major force in the area that they work in and the industry that they serve is cashed up and hungry for the service they provide. On top of that is the fact that their competitors are almost non-existant and the chance of others coming into the field and competing with them are slim.

It sounds like the perfect situation for any small business to be in doesn’t it? They’ve layed the groundwork and they could cope with the expansion that would be needed to handle the work that will come in once all the players in the industry that they serve become aware of this small business and the services they provide. Finding qualified staff would be a bit of a challenge but not something that they couldn’t overcome.

So what is the problem?

This husband and wife team are in their late fifties and are thinking about retirement in the next four to five years. So do they go ahead with the website and the expansion of their business or do they just coast along with enough work to keep them going for the next few years till they retire?

What would you do in their situation?

by Stuart Livesey

These days every small business, no matter what line of business they’re in, encounters the today’s version of the mystery shopper and these guys come equipped with everything they need to damage your business if they’re not happy with what they see and the service they receive.

Here is an example of one business that was caught out by a ‘mystery shopper’. Hurricane Kohls is a lesson for all of us.

by Toni Livesey

Stuart is currently conducting a little bit of market research - in the shape of a poll - over on Aussie Motoring.

Even if you don’t come from Australia you’re input would be valuable so please take a moment to pop over and tell him whether or not the sound system that comes fitted to a new car is an important consideration for you when you’re deciding which car to buy.