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Member Spotlight

Karen Churchill, The Churchill Consultancy

Karen Churchill, The Churchill Consultancy

Karen Churchill helps her clients achieve their goals by communicating as well as possible with the people who matter to them. This can be done by ... Read more

Bree Cleal, Imageffect

Bree Cleal, Imageffect

Imageffect creates great branding solutions for small to medium sized businesses who care enough about themselves to realise that the way they pres... Read more

Sandy Naidu, OzKidsActivities Pty Ltd

Sandy Naidu, OzKidsActivities Pty Ltd

OzKidsActivities is an online directory for kids activities, classes, entertainment, events and birthday party venues. Read more

Terri Mitchell, The Profit Frog

Terri Mitchell, The Profit Frog

The Profit Frog is The ASSET and CASH FLOW MAXIMISER for SMEs, searching for cash flow problems at their source, helping create cash flow budgets a... Read more

Sarah Jenkins, SignaturePhoto Photography Courses

Sarah Jenkins, SignaturePhoto Photography Courses

Sarah Jenkins teaches half-day and 1-day photography courses in Sydney to beginners who have just bought their first DSLR camera as well as more in... Read more

Jen Clark, Jen Clark Design

Jen Clark, Jen Clark Design

Jen Clark is an experienced freelance graphic and web designer specialising in the delivery of innovative logo and branding solutions and functiona... Read more

Sharon Chim, Queen Bee Maternity

Sharon Chim, Queen Bee Maternity

Queen Bee Maternity provides stylish maternity and breastfeeding clothes for women worldwide. It helps them to feel great during their pregnancy. Read more

Maria Pantalone, Infinite Growth

Maria Pantalone, Infinite Growth

Infinite Growth works with individuals and businesses to improve their communication skills so that they can professionally present their products ... Read more

Tony Cosentino, The WordPress Guy

Tony Cosentino, The WordPress Guy

Tony Cosentino builds WordPress websites, trains businesses how to manage a WordPress site and provides long term fanatical support for WordPress s... Read more

Donna Garrett-Young, Home Building Made Easy

Donna Garrett-Young, Home Building Made Easy

Donna Garrett-Young has been a passionate renovator and builder for nearly 20 years, and is the author of the book 'Home Building Made Easy - Five ... Read more

Karen Wickham, That’s Creative!

Karen Wickham, That’s Creative!

That's Creative! provides graphic and website design services to clients right across the world. Currently Ebook Design is their most popular servi... Read more

Troy Dean, Tonto Digital

Troy Dean, Tonto Digital

Tonto Digital helps small businesses use the internet, in all its glory, to attract new customers and grow their business. Read more

Emma Wilson, Upclose & Virtual

Emma Wilson, Upclose & Virtual

Upclose & Virtual provides professional, cost effective, secretarial services for businesses and individuals throughout Australia to reduce the bur... Read more

Monika Mundell, Copywriter

Monika Mundell, Copywriter

Monika Mundell, along with her husband John, provides a comprehensive suite of sizzling copywriting services to entrepreneurs, Internet marketers, ... Read more

Emma Bannister, Presentation Studio

Emma Bannister, Presentation Studio

Presentation Studio offers a complete presentation design service, from PowerPoint Templates and Design, and Training to Public Speaker coaching. T... Read more

Banika Smee, Witjuti

Banika Smee, Witjuti

Witjuti has a range of bamboo clothing designed for yoga, travel, maternity or just lounging around. Read more

Daniel Abela, Graphic & Web

Daniel Abela, Graphic & Web

Daniel Abela is a graphic and web designer offering digital and print solutions to clients of all sizes right around Australia. Read more

Richard Jenner, The Type Shed

Richard Jenner, The Type Shed

Richard Jenner does graphic design, for any application - print, web, packaging, shop fronts, signs... anything that requires text / images arrange... Read more

Keagan York, Compass Global Markets Pty Ltd

Keagan York, Compass Global Markets Pty Ltd

Compass Global Markets can help you with any aspect of the Foreign Currency transfers and Commodity markets from corporate hedging to wealth creation. Read more

Amanda Pearce, Amanda Pearce Bookkeeping

Amanda Pearce, Amanda Pearce Bookkeeping

Amanda Pearce is an Australian MYOB bookkeeper and virtual assistant who works with small companies. Read more

Karen Churchill, The Churchill Consultancy
Bree Cleal, Imageffect
Sandy Naidu, OzKidsActivities Pty Ltd
Terri Mitchell, The Profit Frog
Sarah Jenkins, SignaturePhoto Photography Courses
Jen Clark, Jen Clark Design
Sharon Chim, Queen Bee Maternity
Maria Pantalone, Infinite Growth
Tony Cosentino, The WordPress Guy
Donna Garrett-Young, Home Building Made Easy
Karen Wickham, That’s Creative!
Troy Dean, Tonto Digital
Emma Wilson, Upclose & Virtual
Monika Mundell, Copywriter
Emma Bannister, Presentation Studio
Banika Smee, Witjuti
Daniel Abela, Graphic & Web
Richard Jenner, The Type Shed
Keagan York, Compass Global Markets Pty Ltd
Amanda Pearce, Amanda Pearce Bookkeeping
Marketplace

What say you?

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Do you take on friends/family as customers?
 



HomeWork smartProblem solving

Work smart | Problem solving

Running your own business means you are likely to face many challenges, so it is essential to develop good problem solving skills. Which problem solving strategies you use will depend on both the nature of the problem and the way you like to work.

In this section we focus on different problem solving strategies and provide tips on developing your problem solving skills. If you feel on your own when it comes to problem solving, perhaps you should read Paul J. Morris’s article on using a ‘Board of Personalities’.


Picking up when plans fail

26 Apr 11 | Robert Gerrish

We’ve just had to pull the pin on our live event in Melbourne for this year and we’re not happy about it. Here’s how we intend to pick ourselves up. Read more

Comments: 22

Disaster recovery: Coming back from the brink

21 Mar 11 | Johanna Baker-Dowdell

My business almost folded after I suffered a head injury. But this isn’t a ‘poor me’ scenario; it’s a disaster recovery story about how it made me stronger, wiser and happier. Read more

Comments: 14

How sleeping with my web host averted disaster

08 Dec 10 | Amanda Gonzalez

Thanks to a close encounter, I’ve recently learned that failing to plan for success can be more harmful to your business than you think. Read more

Comments: 18

Knowledge sharing: A helping hand

05 Oct 10 | Jayne Tancred

It takes guts to ask for help, but swallow your pride and take the plunge and you’ll be blown away by the willingness of others' to be involved in knowledge sharing. Read more

Comments: 28

Are you a necessity or a luxury business?

10 Aug 09 | Robert Gerrish

If there’s one group of soloists who’ll definitely have noticed a change in business enquiries in recent months, it’s those in the ‘luxury’ business. If that’s you, it’s time for a necessity makeover. Read more

Comments: 20

Business survival skills: Five tips

11 Dec 08 | Trish Weston

Rebounding from a Really Bad Day is essential for the soloist, so here are some business survival skills to make bouncing back easier. Read more

Comments: 11

Problem solving: brainstorming on your own

07 Oct 08 | Zern Liew

In response to an earlier article on problem solving, Heather Smith asked me how I brainstorm on my own. So here’s an overview of the brainstorming process and techniques I use. Read more

Comments: 7

The solution to small business challenges

09 Jun 08 | Robert Gerrish

One of the questions we set our 1,770 respondents in our 2008 Understanding Micro Business survey, had to do with the three biggest small business challenges we are faced with. Here’s what we discovered, along with my solution. Read more

Comments: 26

Problem solving model: Four phases

08 Apr 08 | Zern Liew

Here is an overview of the problem solving model I have used successfully over the years. There are four key phases, each requiring a different set of skills. Read more

Comments: 6

Problem solving skills: Why support is better than advice

08 Apr 07 | Kath O'Sullivan

Have you noticed how many 'fixers' there are out there? These are the people who can’t wait to give you advice at the first sign of any uncertainty. But can someone else really have answers which will make your life perfect? Read more

Comments: 6

Problem solving skills: Ten ways to stimulate creativity

14 Nov 06 | Justin Zachan

Business at its most simple level is about solving a customer's problem, which takes creativity. So we need to keep our creative mind alive to develop our problem solving skills. Read more

Comments: 7

Problem solving strategies: Using a Board of Personalities

27 Aug 06 | Paul J. Morris

When soloists need advice, what problem solving strategies do they use? It is often tempting to seek the advice of fellow soloists. But are they necessarily the best people to ask? Perhaps a 'board of personalities' will give us a more holistic view. Read more

Comments: 4

 

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Small Business is Australia's fastest growing sector – this business community site was created for those running a small business of one to five people. Here the solo and micro business owner will find small business forums, a small business directory, free resources, help, tips and advice on: starting a small business; working smarter when working from home; effective small business marketing; small business networking; the solo psyche; staying balanced as a small business owner; small business technology advice and small business finance tips.

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