Maintaining a healthy cash flow is an essential ingredient for a thriving business

Be careful out there!!

What is the best way to generate new business and leads?

…but one bad experience can drive your customers away!

…and some suggestions to address them

Are sick leave entitlements being abused? On July 24th, 2021, entitlements for employees’ sick days in New Zealand were amended and increased from 5 days

How can we improve staff retention? For the small and medium business owner, getting and retaining good staff is a major issue today, if not

With early spring in the air, my garden needed attention. I recently bought a number of trees to plant around the property and wanted to

It goes without saying that in a consultative environment, understanding the client’s business is essential.  Without it, how can you propose a solution?  But so

Support for SME during uncertain Times The Small to Medium Enterprise ( SME) sector  of the New Zealand economy makes a significant contribution to the

A Personal Journey Financial Management is not part of the school curriculum in NZ, no one teaches Personal Financial Management at the tertiary level. If

The term C-commerce has been around for a number of years, but I don’t think it’s something that most business owners are aware of or

Build a Strong Foundation for your Business With significant Local, National, and International changes to the operating, business, economic, political and commercial environment – it’s

An astonishing 1 in 3 small businesses report losing data stored in cloud-based applications. As small businesses increasingly move data into cloud-based applications, many IT

Remote Access Fraud / Scams – What Is The Impact To Victims? An oft-repeated comment in the International  IT industry underlies a huge problem that

Want to sell your Business? You have spent lots of time, effort and equity into developing your business and now you want to sell. To

How is your cash flow after the trading conditions of the last 12 months? We would all like to remember what we did to ensure

Let’s have a positive story !! We all like a good story – especially if we can learn from it, it is a local story

The phone rang. “Hello, Robin Martin from Robin Martin Business Consulting speaking”. “Hi, My name is Bart. I own a small business and it’s not

Tourism Minister Stuart Nash, on behalf of the Government, has just announced that there will be no more targeted wage subsidies for Queenstown Businesses. He

Would you design a building without blueprints? Could you build a house without plans? Would you go tramping without a map and compass? Most people

For some time now I have been increasingly concerned about the role and use of social media in our lives. Lots of media chat about

Happy New Year and welcome to 2021 As the days go by and you read the headlines about the impact on COVID-19 on people, business,

“It’s difficult out there.” “I don’t know what’s going to happen and I’m worried.” “I’ve never had to operate in such uncertain conditions.” “Everyone is

You only get one chance to create a first impression. That initial impression will set the scene for how potential customers view and continue to view your business in the years to come.

Like me, I’m sure you’ve noticed a common theme recently to catch-up conversations, that ‘…things have changed in the post-COVID-19 world’. 

Many B2B and Tourism operators have a variety of customers (activity, accommodation, restaurants, transport etc.). The building industry is full of B2B operators that need to continually manage communication with their customers.

The Coronavirus developments are bad news for many of us.

The speed at which things are developing is having negative global affects on most sectors – Tourism, Education, Business Exports and Imports, the Stock Market, Investment Plans, Journalism, International Political, Cultural Business Events and Sports Events to name a few.

Yes! Summer is finally here and it feels sooooooo good!

Following last week’s blog highlighting a number of ‘uncertainties’ that we will all face, this week, I am highlighting some of the issues ahead in 2020.

Change, uncertainty, insecurity, tension, lack of sleep – it’s all on – locally, nationally and around the world.

It is hard enough to make a decent living from owning and running an SME, without having to deal with theft, fraud, pilferage or other forms of illegal loss.

From a local perspective; Tourism, Retail, Hospitality and Building will all have different sets of key metrics that should be measured, managed, analysed, reviewed and actioned.

In the life of a Business there are times when you may want to reduce expenses.

In the life of a Business there are times when you want to Increase Revenue – take advantage of the marketplace, to counter moves by the competition or to help pay for new capital as part of your business plan – and so on.

A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) refers to the Unique Benefit that your product or service has, to enable it to stand out from the competition.

Domestic politics can affect your business – with thanks to Audrey Young, Political Editor, NZ Herald, and other commentators, I note below some current issues facing the Labour led coalition that could very well affect your business.

At the moment the media is full of information and opinion about what will happen around the world in 2019. The views cover a wide spectrum of issues that could affect your business – Political, Economic, Social, Environmental, Fiscal and so on.

Last week we talked about developing a strategic plan which is a major step towards building a sustainable business. This week we’re looking at ways to put that strategy to work and make sure it doesn’t end up gathering dust on your bookshelf or getting chewed by rodents.

“If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail.”

If you’re running a business, there’s no point in being afraid of “The Man” – the Government already knows who you are and they’ve got all the info they need about you. This makes Government agencies a treasure trove of up-to-date information and accurate, free advice.

In my last blog, I wrote about the need for quantifiable data to be able to measure various aspects of your business so you can manage it effectively.

Years ago when I lived in England I was advised to buy a house – something I’d never seriously contemplated. I wasn’t sure but out of interest I did the numbers. I was young but I’d also been advised to investigate the economics properly.

Don’t Read This Article…

Remember the fate of the cruise ship Costa Concordia? It ended up capsized on rocks off the Italian coast just north of Rome.

“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.” Oprah Winfrey Integrity is defined as

No one ever said running or owning a business would be easy. Change goes on all the time. You need to adapt, adjust, learn and

“When you are talking you are only repeating what you already know. But, if you listen, you may learn something new.” The Dalai Lama Listening