Shifting Focus
by Stuart Livesey
I was talking to a chef yesterday while I was taking photos of his Aussie muscle car for Aussie Motoring. He was back here in Australia for a short period or R&R before heading back to Hong Kong where he lives and works.
He’s paid in US dollars and, in the current economic climate as the dollar devalues against other currencies, that means he’s basically taking a pay cut almost every day.
That’s something that we understand perfectly. With the majority of our clients paying us in $US we’ve been taking a pay cut too and it’s really beginning to hurt.
Fortunately we’re in the position where we can adjust our focus and pick up more work here in Australia and be paid in $A. We can even use this as an opportunity to step into a new area that has been of interest to us for quite some time.
But what would you do if the income level of your small business begin to drop?
By the way, the photos of that muscle car won’t be going up on Aussie Motoring for a few days so here’s a preview … and before you think that this is a case of nothing more than a big toy let me tell you that he paid $A30k for this car three years ago. He’s done very little to the car except lock it in a garage while he works overseas. It’s now insured for $A90k and it appreciates at about $A10k a year.
It’s a home grown Ford - I can remember being in one doing 120 mph on a country road late one night and it still had plenty in reserve. Sadly they don’t make cars like this anymore 
