Check Out Version Two of the Living with Wildlife website!!

The guys at Compliance & Competency Management have been working like Trojans on the Living with Wildlife website upgrade - check it out to see how well it is coming along.

You still can't buy directly from the Online Shop yet (being worked on at the moment) but everything is there for you to see and if you would like to buy anything or enquire about any courses, just go to the Contact Us page and all the contact details are there.

The Value of Networking

A successful day today - picked myself a new customer who was referred to me by staff at the Northern Adelaide Business Enterprise Centre - commonly known as NABEC.

You have heard me rave about the value of their business breakfasts in the past, but here is another reason why you should consider being a member of NABEC - it can lead to a heap of new customers!!!!

We have all spent plenty of time (and usually money) thinking of better ways to promote our businesses. Telephone books, signage, sponsorship, blaa, blaa, blaa - all with the view of getting our name out there so more customers will call.

We have all gone to a network meeting or two in the hope of meeting as many people as we can to pass out as many business cards as we can and hopefully someone who is there will need our products or services (or remember where they left our business card when an associate of theirs needs our products or services months later!!!).

And then you have an organisation like NABEC whose charter it is to help businesses with problems they may have - a perfect opportunity to let an organisation who helps other businesses know about your products and services simply by becoming a member!!!!

The new customer I met today had gone to NABEC because they were in an absolute mess with their bookkeeping - in fact one of the owners made the comment that no-one dared come near their house on a Sunday because that was her day for doing the bookkeeping!!! Nice way to spend a Sunday - NOT!!!!

After a 2 hour chat they are now very excited because they can have next Sunday off as I will be there first thing Monday morning to sort out their data!!!

All this came about because one business went to NABEC with a problem and the staff at NABEC knew of another business that could help them with their problem - WIN, WIN, WIN!!!!

Well worth considering becoming a member.

Check It Out!!!!!

Most of you who have been following this blog for some time will know that MYbookkeeping Services is also involved with another business called Living with Wildlife (Dean Allan, the owner of MYbookkeeping Services, is a Director of Balanced with Wildlife Pty Ltd, of which Living with Wildlife is a trading name).

The Living with Wildlife website has been down for some months now because it needed a total overhaul, but this morning the new Living with Wildlife website (definitely Version 1 - we are aware of the grammatical errors and the pages that need fixing, but wanted it back up so people who knew the old site could start checking out how the new one is coming along) was re-launched and we are really excited about how it has come up!!

We must thank Compliance and Competency Management for their efforts in creating the new website - it has been a big project (and this is why it is still in progress), but they are doing a magnificent job - thanks guys!!!

Make sure you check it out via this link and we would love to hear what you think.

A Great Read on Branding

Have a read of this article I received via LinkedIn that talks about the importance of branding your business either at start up or as soon as possible after you start your business.

I found the most powerful comment was the first sentence in the "Pick Your Niche" section which says "You cannot be all things to all people" .

Too often business owners, particularly in the early start-up stages of their business, say "yes" to any customer that calls and later find out that this customer takes up too much of their time (usually unpaid) because they are not in line with the niche the business is actually marketing to.

Take the time to work out your brand and niche and once you have done so make a promise to yourself to "stay the line" - it may terrify you the first couple of times you have to say "no" to a potential customer because they do not fit your niche but the long term benefits (and profitability) to your business will far outweigh a "little scare" in the early days.

It will also free up more of your time to work on the 2,367,985 things you have to do when you first start your business - thankfully small business owners have worked out how to have 25 hour days and 8 day weeks!!!!! 8=)

Christmas Ideas for Marketing Your Business

Just back from another brilliant NABEC breakfast where today we were given ideas on ways in which to set up displays for events you may be holding by Rebecca Zajac of 3 Piece Events (formally Impilo Designs).

Rebecca provided examples of really effective, low cost ideas to make your events stand out from the crowd and with Christmas around the corner and end of year events almost upon us, your customers leaving an event you hold saying "Gee wasn't that set up beautifully!!!" can only mean more business for you into the future.

Thank you Rebecca - some great ideas!!!

We also had a presentation from Bonnie Hart of TAFE SA on how to reduce the wording in notices you send out so that they are quicker for people to read. She provided an example of one business that calculated a saving of over $500,000.00 just by cutting back the amount of words and punctuation included in notices going around the business!! These types of savings are well worth having a look at.

Len Harakos of Elite Signs also provided examples of signage he can create for your business and my good friend Mick Tucker from Mick's Motorcycles Gawler was also there, so it was a great morning all round.

Here is a link to the NABEC Functions Calendar - check out the presentations they have on offer - the ideas you come away with are fantastic for helping you grow your business.

The Importance of Reconciliation

I have just been reading this article and it highlights the importance of regularly reconciling your bank statements.

It appears that the accused has attempted to embezzle money from the business account by transferring funds into their personal account.

A competent bookkeeper would quickly pick up these transactions when reconciling bank statements and could bring this type of fraud to your attention immediately.

It also highlights the benefit of using contracted bookkeeping staff instead of a permanent employee - if the person committing the fraud is the same person as that who is entrusted with reconciling your bank statements, then the crime could continue for some time before being detected.

A sub-contracted bookkeeper, on the other hand, would quickly detect any "unusual" activity and the business owner could begin investigations immediately.

Officially "Qualified"

After almost a year of study I am now the proud owner of a Certificate IV in Financial Services (Accounting) which is now hanging proudly from my office wall!!!!

The reason I was so keen to get this qualification is because the long awaited Tax Agent Services Act 2009 was passed through Parliament earlier this year to provide a Code of Professional Conduct for tax agents and Business Activity Statement services.

What this means is that very soon (believed to be around February 2010) there will be a minimum level of education required by bookkeepers before they can charge to complete Business Activity Statements for customers.

My Certificate IV in Financial Services (Accounting) now means that I will be eligible to provide these types of services, so I am chuffed!!!

Obtaining this qualification has also meant that I am able to become a Member of the Association of Accounting Technicians. This Association (also known as AAT)is still relatively small in Australia, but an Accountant friend of mine who migrated from the U.K. several years ago informed me that businesses in Britain and Europe will not look at bookkeepers these days unless they are AAT members and he envisages that the same thing will happen in Australia with the introduction of the Tax Agents Services Act.

Well, after receiving my Certificate IV, I sent off my application and yesterday received my "Welcome" package from the AAT to say my membership has been approved, so I had to go out and buy another picture frame for my Membership Certificate!!!!

A good week all round!!!!