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Are you ready for race season? Listen in June Dally-Watkins Brisbane Managing Director Jodie Bache-McLean etiquette coach, sharing how to avoid embarrassment this race season.

Learn how to reject a potential lover without hurting feelings by avoiding the trend of ghosting. A jam packed episode on all things etiquette and modern day good manners.

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People often don't know what they want to gift or be gifted

Qualifying factors gifts:

• Do they Drink?
• Are they young or old?
• Do they travel?
• Are they family people?
• Do they entertain at home?

What NOT to gift

• Alcohol: with growing cultural diversity, many people may not drink
• Knives: some cultures consider a knife bad luck
• Towels: in some cultures, towels are used to cover coffins
• Certain numbers or number of items: may be considered bad luck
• Sometimes a bad gift is worse than no gift at all

What to gift

• A gift of permanence: even the nicest bottle of wine will be gone once it is finished
• Something that can sit in a marketing space will then put the company name in places where the gift is used 

Make sure the dollar you spend generates a return on investment – promotional items often end up in a cupboard or in the bin

Gifting to close deals – can come across as bribery, use caution

Gifting as strengthening customer loyalty – when done appropriately, this is effective

Bev's ABC to gifting

A: Are you kidding!? – a gift that really doesn't reflect the value of the customer and their purchase

B: Beyond ridiculous – too much money spent, feels like overkill and maybe makes the customer uncomfortable

C: Comfortable – The gift has clearly had some money and thought put into it but the client doesn't feel a need to check the price of it.

Hermetica flowers:

Is a corporate gift tax deductible?

Generally, gifting is a case by case subject.

Whether gifts are considered entertainment or not, and whether the gift is for clientele or staff, can all affect whether they are tax deductible 

How much should I spend on a corporate gift?

Bev recommends 0.02% of the selling price in real estate

Minimum of $50 per person

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What does Scott do?

• Lots of people know how to earn but not manage it
• Focuses on how to invest and multiply money
• Found the property market to be lucrative
• Went from 0 to 16 properties in 6 years

Why invest?

• Scott reached a point in his 30s and imagined into the future
• He realised that he needed to save and invest his money
• Most people don't want to give their money to an investor or expert
• It took Scott about a year and a half to understand the property market

Scott's 3 criteria for finding a mentor

• Does this person have proven results?
• Have they helped other people and been successful?
• Do they know what they're talking about?

What about debt?

• Scott says there needs to be a shift of mindset to knowing debt is not scary
• As long as an investor finds a tenant, the debt will pay for itself
• Out of his hundreds of clients, not on person has had a problem finding a tenant
• Scott says property investment isn't even a risk

Relationships with money

• Many of us have negative emotions surrounding money – sadness, guilt, anger
• We trade time for money, and circumstances sometime rid us of our time
• If we can confront our fears around money and develop passive income, we can feel safer in unforeseen circumstances

Breaking down property investment in a nutshell

• Property grows at about 6.8% for the last 25 years
• If you find a property at or above the average growth rate, you will approximately double property value every 10 years
• When you sell that property, you can then buy more debt free

How does Scott invest many people's money?

• Scott and his business partner find profitable properties
• They then make a group negotiated deal which includes speaking to developers and negotiating a deal when multiple properties are bought

Rule of 70/30

• Properties gain 70% of their value in 30% of time

Scott's Top tips

• Find an expert
• Talk to multiple people to give yourself the best chance of finding a match
• Use the internet and resources to educate yourself
• Be honest with yourself about how much you can invest
• Set financial goals
• Take action and get involved to gain that initial momentum

Links and recommendations:

Freedom Property Investors -

https://www.freedompropertyinvestors.com.au/

ELEV8 Business -

https://elev8business.com.au

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• Telum Media helps users make the right connections to achieve media coverage. It essentially offers a database of journalists in Australia, Asia and New Zealand to help PR find the who's who and contact them
  • For PR, there is pressure to find and connecting with appropriate journalists - but how can you form these important relationships?
  • A key component of PR is finding journalists who will take your stories and push them out to various outlets. But you need to consider that journalists can't be bought. They trade in news/stories and if you can provide them with great content/ideas, these strong relationships can be built organically
  • PR firms specialise in crafting these stories to share and can add value by helping you ensure the correct narrative is presented by journalists.

• The high risk venture that is reaching out to the media
  • PR101 says that you have to convince a journalist/producer to include you in their publication BUT once you hand over idea, you lose control over what goes to air, whether or not the angle you originally wanted is used
  • Traditional newspapers and small business publications have "separation between church and state" of editorial & advertising
  • Editors create editorial direction of entire publication
  • Media tends to pump all best stories between 6am-9am to cover peak travels time, as this is when people consume content the most
  • Publication teams have 'conference times' (around 10am) when all key editors across different sections of publications decide on biggest stories of day and the angle they are going to take with these
  • Top tip do NOT call around conference time - media is too busy to deal with you then
  • Journalists need to pitch their stories & push them to their bosses at these conferences - finding the right journalist who can pitch your story is critical to getting it into publications
  • Publications increasingly looking to incentivise journalists by linking their bonuses with subscriptions after reading their articles. If you offer a story that is popular, you can cultivate these relationships

• How to create your own communications channels & what would you recommend?
  • Media now allows everyone to have a media outlet BUT not everyone should
  • You need to have an actual goal for your content marketing because fi you don't, people can tell and it is hard to create an authentic connection
  • Your content consumers should be at the forefront of your considerations and journalists act as a conduit to get to them
  • how can you actually understand who your audience is???
  • Get in their heads - not everyone has something interesting to say; every business has a great story BUT people only have time to engage in quality content - if dont have someone to identify this (in or out of house, need to find this e.g. PR agent)

• How do you gauge if something is actually interesting? - put yourself in your audiences shoes
  • Is your content actually interesting to people - you must be able to self edit or call in a professional
  • It has never been easier to distribute content on mass BUT this is a massive brand risk - audiences disengage if content isn't useful & this is damaging
  • Once you've built a channel, you have a responsibility to keep it going & ensure that the content you push out is actually relevant to your followers
  • In certain industries, there is significant legislation and risk associated with what kind of content you can push out. Consider reaching out to professionals who understand these risks

ENKE CO – If you are looking for business advisory, accounting and taxation packages, head to www.enkeco.com.au

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• Problem Andrew found was that people in certain industries would come into creativity seminars with the impression that they did not require creativity
• There are more psychopaths in corporate positions than there are in British prisons
• Micromanaging and control in workplaces puts a damper on creativity

The cookie Story

• Andrew was trying to force a creative opening for a speech he was giving
• He notices that every time his son took a bite from a cookie, he would say it looks like different things
• Andrew realised that whereas a kid is naturally creative, he was trying to force it as an adult

Creativity vs correctness 

• Went into a school to survey creativity
• When asked, kindergarten children keenly all put their hands up
• By year 12, just one child put their hand up
• The key difference was that as we age, we are rewarded for being correct and not creative

Nature of creative workshops

• Andrew says that creativity workshops do not require artistic ability
• This makes people more open to participating
• the specific type of creativity Andrew works on is the making of connections between things to help businesses
• eg: premium grease company needed customers to change grease more often. With Andrews help they made a connection to a toothbrush that changes colour when it is ready to be replaced and adapted the idea to their product

The creative class

• the creative class is a group of people whose way of thinking can greatly benefit a company
• this class is naturally attracted certain cities and countries
• to attract creatives a business needs existing talent, technology, a high level of tolerance to diversity

What does it cost to revive creativity?

• Andrew found that workshops and seminars were often boring during the day and drinking/partying at night
• He also asks businesses to consider that all the attendees have an hourly rate and will cost employers productivity
• The more important question he says is, what will it cost to not be creative?

The creativity killer

• Andrew gave talks where a boss assumed they did not require the training his employees were receiving
• When he returned, the first group presented enthusiastically, but the boss was far from open to the team's ideas
• Every group successively presented with less enthusiasm and felt less confident in their ideas

Critical vs creative

• As important as creativity is, critical thinking is also required to test creative ideas and actually make sure it works

7 creativity killers

• Control
• Fear
• Pressure
• Narrow Mindedness
• Apathy
• Insulation
• Pessimism

Top tip from Andrew

• Give up on forcing innovation until culture and mindset have changed to cater for creativity

Links and recommendations

• "Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work" by Robert D. Hare 
• 'Who killed Creativity?' Game board - https://www.whokilledcreativity.com/game-board/intro-game/
• iPad porta potty - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XHEJoPiFX8

ENKE CO – If you are looking for business advisory, accounting and taxation packages, head to www.enkeco.com.au

Creative processes

• Donald considers himself to take the DaVinci approach to art
• Van Gogh approach involves listening to feelings and impulses, Davinci approach is an attention to detail
• Just like any business plans and projects forward in the sense of operations, it's also important to plan the brands direction, and presentation

Donald's tips for businesses connecting with designers

• Use creativity and draw some visions for the design
• Make it clear what the business does, who it speaks to and where it is located
• Trying to start a logo DIY will always leave a brand better off. No matter how they go about it, this will give understanding of what the brand may or may not want in a final design.­­

Graphic designers and creative freedom

• Donald says to go by instincts and tell designers if you don't like something
• Things should take as long as they need to be right
• The takeaway is that the dynamic is different every time

Image Logo creation

- An image is almost like a miniature collection of tiles or pixels and the resolution pertains to the density and size of the tiles

- Graphic designers often use vectors, which are more like maps of coordinates rather than a fixed image

Links & Recommendations:

Fangaroo: https://www.fangaroo.com/

Fangaroo: - DIY Branding Kit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/GHVQ7VG

Barry's Bootcamp: https://www.barrysbootcamp.com/

Fiverr: https://www.fiverr.com

Canva: https://www.canva.com/create/

ENKE CO – If you are looking for business advisory, accounting and taxation packages, head to www.enkeco.com.au

• Managing director and leading facilitator at Workplace Trainwise
• Karen focuses on helping workplaces develop safe cultures – specialising in bullying and sexual harassment
• Workplace bullying and sexual harassment statistics are NOT going down in Australia – highlighting the importance of this work
• Employees bear no legal responsibility for acting to prevent workplace bullying

• Can occur in employee-employee or employee-employer relationships
• For small businesses, employers be clear about values and expectations
• Ensure processes exist such that if someone feels uncomfortable, they have appropriate avenues to communicate this – these processes MUST be known by staff
• Consider broaching workplace culture proactively – continuous communication between management and staff can help ensure everyone feels safe in the workplace
• There are costly outcomes of workplace bullying and harassment for the firm (including low morale, absenteeism, lower productivity rates and more), and mental health impacts for staff
• Employee suicide is not uncommon in Australia and the worst-case scenario of workplace bullying/harassment cases
• Workplaces often look to consultants like XXXX to either become closer to best practice or improving extremely toxic workplace cultures
• Proactive approaches to prevention help avoid toxicity becoming engrained in the culture – at which point, it can be very hard to change
• The onus of designing systems to report and manage workplace bullying is ultimately the responsibility of managers and employers. Investing in these channels can help create a positive workplace culture and protect staff. 

• Different firms have different views about dating colleagues and/or clients
• Navigating these safely requires both mutual consent and respect from both parties, and strict following of any workplace procedures (e.g. reporting relationships to HR)
• Inter-office relationships are not inherently problematic but do become complex when they end on bad terms, and when staff are of different seniority levels.
• Involved parties must take care they understand the potential ramifications of these relationships and ensure to act appropriately.

1. Proactively define the workplace culture and communicate what is and is not considered bullying
2. Before starting an employment relationship, ensure good value alignment between the organisation and employee. For example,
3. Ensure senior staff are supportive of bullying prevention methods – without their support and engagement, cultural changes can't infiltrate lower levels
4. Remember that creating a fun and supportive workplace fuels motivation and productivity – creating a win-win for ALL parties

For more about Karen Maher and Workplace Trainwise, check out www.workplacetrainwise.com.au

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• Every person has a different behavioural style. Profiling tools, such as DISC or MBTI, can show you your own skills and what you need to focus on more.
• Improving your team starts from 'diagnosing' your skill & mindset. Most senior leaders want to display confidence and communication, yet simultaneously doubt the impression they leave on others. Working on yourself allows you to better focus on what you say rather than how.
• Common signs of misunderstanding your leadership potential are not seeing the impact you have on your team or continually remaining stressed throughout work.
• Your cognitive fitness (health while working) is shaped by influenced outside of work. Separating work & life can be difficult, so recognise where you can invest your time & energy. Don't aim at performing high at everything, it can be impossible & impractical at best. Instead, prioritise what's important to you and go from there.

• Fear of Self
• Fear of Others
• Fear of Incompetence
• Fear of Ignorance
• Fear of Preparation
• Fear of Fear Itself
• For more Fear Factors tailored to you, ask the Tacticians themselves!

• G - Goals & Gains: What is the goal you want to achieve by overcoming the above fears?
• U - Unpack & Understand; What's stopping you from overcoming that fear and understand the fear behind it
• T - Tactics: What are the steps put in place to help deal with your fear?
• S - Synthesise: Reflect on the experience and feedback. Are you improving and how can we continue that momentum?
• The biggest challenge people face is attempting to see results straightaway. It takes in-depth thinking & interaction to comprehensively understand the fear that's stopping you from achieving your potential.
• Luke recommends gathering all the data that's available to reach a decision on what to do next. Look at exit interviews, your current work environment and roles around you. Have a transparent conversation with your manager and ask what they're experiencing within the team itself to see an insight into what you can do.

• Behaviour & personality are not as close as you think. Personalities are much more dynamic than you see at first glance, and so diagnosing behaviours when recruiting is often used. Having a consistent standard of behaviours when hiring can help, although do not recruit solely on certain tendencies or likability.
• On top of being able to do the job, your team must hold some capability of cultural fit and seeing the bigger picture.
• Some people are really good at having prepared interviews, and so the structure of testing for the right person might have to change. Getting to know how the candidate works, rather than their output, over a coffee may be a better alternative to find the skills you're looking for.

• TACTICIAN - Honest Guidance | Practical Solutions | Simple Tactics
• ENKE & CO – Business Advisory | Accounting | Taxation Packages
• Matthew Hussey - "Look for what's in front of you, know what they're projecting to be" - Soraya's Love Guru

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• Plan your way ahead & roadmap for video content. Visualise the message of content you want to present to your audience, then ask yourself 'How can this message be transformed into video?'
• Appreciate the video format —> under 30s if not providing clear value to customer
• Always lead with 'Why?' What is the purpose of your content? Utilise your brand's identity to create a conversation & generate leads. Video isn't necessarily about getting sales, however it can be one of many methods.
• WOM as one of the strongest means of advertising
• The key questions for developing a strategy:
  • Budget
  • Goals
  • Where to sell

• Make sure you upload natively to every platform you want. Different websites, like LinkedIn and Facebook, format videos differently.
• Put external links to your content as a comment.
• Use relevant hashtags on your post so that your content will pull onto feeds containing similar ideas. This method can help you reach 2nd and 3rd level contacts you may want to work with!
• Post before & after work, between the hours of 7:30 - 8:45am and 5:30 - 7pm respectively, so that you don't miss reaching out to people at work.
• Be personal with your audience. Help people connect with your brand & ideas, but also understand the limitations of the platform you're using 
• Allowing people to picture themselves with your product builds a connection. associate your product with specific environments and lifestyles.

• Video content should be used to advertise & amplify everything else your firm does.
• Understand where your audience engage with content. Look at what works for other brands, and experiment with possible strategies. You won't always get it right the first time, but content is consumed so fast, that you won't need to wait long to try again.
• Create sense of consistency with your brand. Your followers are 'creatures of habit', and so people get confused when you divert too much from your overall message.
• People like to follow/be involved in something that has a community feel. Holding conversations with your audience means you are more likely to grab their attention. Trust & loyalty always beat personalisation.

Links & Recommendations

• Thomas' Podcast - Beyond the Body
• ENKE & CO – If you are looking for business advisory, accounting and taxation packages, head to www.enkeco.com.au

Stay up to date with our latest episodes Subscribe Here 

Building culture in a firm- Good culture to employees should be a set of behaviours that are seen, even when the boss isn't around. Culture and business values should transcend through all different departments/areas, into everything your business does. - Having a clearly defined mission and vision for your business can both guide current staff and be used to attract future potential staff to the firm - Create culture through finding the right employees - create your own recruitment luck by staying in contact with potential candidates that would fit in at your firm - Different types of workers need different things from an office culture. Millennials focus more on multitasking and appreciate flexibility in their working environments, allowing remote access, instant messaging etc. to complete their work. - Bosses are responsible for building different workplace environments that are inclusive and motivational for people of different generations, cultures, working styles etc. to allow your staff to do their best work. - Toxic cultures often develop from a place of mistrust and micro-management of staff

Creating and spreading your firm's values - Understanding firm values is about consulting with your current staff and adapting what the firm views as its fundamentals. Business values are dynamic NOT static - they should be constantly developed and refined. - Engrain your values into your business - it should be a part of everything from your vernacular, recruitment interviewing and even performance reviews. - "Hire character, train skill" - this mantra allows you to find people who will embrace and spread your values - Consider non-traditional interview and assessment methods, such as personality testing to understand your staff (or potential staff), how to get the best out of them, and where they should be working

Empowering staff in 3 steps: 1. Give people the freedom to do the job they were hired for. Empower individual employees and have faith in their abilities. This is especially important in small businesses, where the team is highly reliant on every person. 2.  Empower staff to help each other. Collaboration across business can bond staff together, creating a more cohesive culture and allow people to consider new ideas they wouldn't have thought of on their own 3. Empower yourself as a business owner

Culture as a non-monetary benefit? - Culture, perks and other benefits can serve as non-monetary attractors to potential employees and create loyalty from your current staff