Pray for Mandela - Johnny Clegg and Madiba Asimbonanga

Craig James - the Australian economy - where 2 now?

Craig James – CBA Commsec's Economist Presented at the CBA Innovation Forum for SME’s on Monday 17 June 2013. A passionate speaker, with a sense of humour!  

The state of play 

• Business is currently quiet, and people are waiting for the election.
• Why the wait ?– the reality is that the government is run by bureaucrat’s, and  financial decisions (interest rates etc) by the reserve bank.
• Massive growth going to come from India and China – we are well placed. 
• Its not all about mining… services, education, tourism, health and infrastructure will continue to drive the economy.

Why are we glum?

•  Election
•  Bad perceived Political Leadership
• We are going through “stuff”  - changing from internet and mobile – changing way we shop – retailers are changing the way we are buying
•  High $ and Australia being expensive compared to rest of world – people are going overseas on holidays – tourism has been suffering
• People have not been lending/ borrowing as much – banking will possibly not be as profitable as in the past

In Australia we are doing ok

We are one of 11 countries with a AAA rating

5.5% unemployment

2.5% inflation

State of our State Economies

Strength of states compared by 8 indicators including retail/infrastructure/ Mining/agriculture

• Mining - WA/NT - growth
• Manufacturing/Finance/ Services - ACT NSW Vic - maintaining
• Agriculture – SA and Tasmania – going backwards 

What about NSW?

• NSW growing faster than in past 12 years
• Unemployment different in different parts
• Inner West 3.5
• Northwest 6%
• Centrals West 6%

Asset Classes in Australia

Property

Home process are doing ok. Sydney  and WA increasing by 4% against an average of 2%

Sharemarket

• Volume deceasing
• USA growing
• A$ profits increasing
•  Returns matter
•  Fully franked dividends – bode well for increase in shareemarket
• People and funds are sitting on a lot of cash , waiting for things to stabilize
• Interest rates low
• A$ - now 95c - expected to go to 85c

Forecast

• Aussie economy positioned well for growth on a number of levels
•  Confidence in economy will change from negative to positive (perception)
•  Agriculture – prime position to take place with
•  Growth will come from building our infrastructure
•  Increase in Services – growth of tourism and services – with a view to increased exports
• Growth of China and India – (on our doorstep) see Hans Rosling’s video on (a brilliant video of the rise of China and India). http://bsivc.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/hans-rowling-rise-of-india-and-chinas.html
• USA is coming off low base of the GFC – Ben Bernancke looking to stop the growth – will possibly increase interest rates, USA$ will increase –

The Numbers

Economy                  2- 3%

Inflation                    2- 3%

Unemployment         5- 6%

Res Property             2- 3%

Sharemarket              5,200

A$                             92 – 95c

Once the election is out of the road – nothing will be holding us back….. bottom line – we are bullish!!

Hans Rosling - the rise of India and China's economy

Hans Rosling's analysis of India and China's economy's rise is brilliant!

the Collapse of the European Economy in 3 minutes

hmmm

Referron : How to get the Golden chain of referrals… referral...

Referron : How to get the Golden chain of referrals… referral...: I listened to a great video of Brian Tracy on referrals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoGh9yg-kVc The most effective way...

How do you make a success in your career

We are in an era of Rapid job turnover – the average worker having 14 jobs lasting 2 years or more – 5 types of jobs during ones lifetime

How do you succeed as jobs are churning?

Many people are unemployed or underemployed… 5.6% in Australia – true unemployment rate – not sure , but I would reckon close to 10% …

And a lot higher college graduates…

Here is a gem for you!!!

Be more efficient than others ….when you are at Work, work!!  People are watching you and controlling your job….. supercharge your career!

Standout amongst others… make yourself unique…

Napoleon Hill tells a story in “think and grow rich”  – John came to work an hour earlier than his boss… and left an hour longer… boss noticed this, and then started asking John to do some tasks… boss came in next day– all done! Boss became more reliant on John – boss delegates more and more…..

When John took a new responsibility he promoted himself – he made himself more valuable and got ahead in his industry!!

Work when you work and volunteer for more responsibility – become invaluable and then indispensable!!

Do you need a pop up store or a brilliant trade show stand

Andrew and Rachel at Absolute Creative were amazing!!! within a week they built the perfect stand for us... no fuss, no issues... just brilliant service.... http://www.absolutecreative.com.au/great-new-app-referron/

Facts tell and stories sell!

Ivan Meisner - the founde rof BNI has been asked this question over 100 times:“In business, what is the one secret to success when it comes to networking?”
He identifies 5 secrets... each a real gem!!
Click here for full article

5 Ways to Build Trust in the Digital Age

Respondents  were presented with a list of advertising media and asked to rate their level of trust as either “Trust Completely/Somewhat” or “Don’t Trust Much/At All.” Let’s take a look at the top five most trustworthy forms of advertising and promotion:

1. Recommendations from people I know (92 percent of respondents said they trust these endorsements).
2. Consumer opinions posted online (70 percent)
3. Editorial content such as newspaper articles (58 percent)
4. Branded Web sites (50 percent)
5. E-mails I signed up for (47 percent)

See more

5 Ways to Build Trust in the Digital Age

Brisbane inner city market undersupplied

Posted on Friday, May 24 2013 at 3:54 PM Australian Property Investor

There’s a very limited supply of housing in Brisbane at present and auctions are increasing in popularity as sellers regain a more optimistic view of the market, according to one analyst.

James Freudigmann is the national manager of Propell Buyers’ Advocates and believes an analysis of market data from Brisbane shows some interesting trends.

For one, Freudigmann says one-third of all properties listed for sale in the Queensland capital’s inner city suburbs are under contract.

“To have over a third of properties going to auction is a sign that the market is starting to heat up,” he says. “Agents are taking them to auction to get exposure because of the shortage of supply of quality stock.”

Inner city houses within five to seven kilometres of the CBD and priced in the middle segment of the market are especially in demand with both homebuyers and investors, he says.

Some pundits are still describing the housing sector in southeast Queensland as subdued, but Freudigmann thinks they’re missing the mark. He has analysed property listings to prove his point.

Across 37 inner city markets, there are currently 218 houses listed for sale on realestate.com.au, he says. Of those, 77 are under contract already and 13 are actually units that have been incorrectly listed as houses.

A further 30 are priced in excess of $600,000, leaving only 105 houses for sale in that prime middle price segment, he says.

“With 37 suburbs in total, that means on average there are three houses under $600,000 per suburb.”

Of the 105 remaining, 37 are going to auction and another 33 are what Freudigmann describes as “secondary”, or less desirable than others given their proximity to main roads, train lines or even a history of flooding.

“This leaves only 31 houses for sale (and not going to auction) in these 37 suburbs in the inner city sub $600,000 price point.”

Referron: 5 Ways to Build Trust in the Digital Age

Referron: 5 Ways to Build Trust in the Digital Age: Respondents  were presented with a list of advertising media and asked to rate their level of trust as either “Trust Completely/Somewhat” or...

Referron: If you want a referral Just Ask!

Referron: If you want a referral Just Ask!: Brilliant 4 minute insight into the power of referrals!

Top 5 Viral Posts and Why They Were the Most Successful

This is such a cool article that I read, that I had to share it! what are your best ways to get posts viral?
best Ivan

by Chris Hughes

Chris has stumbled upon a secret to building fan pages ranging from 500,000 fans and above.

Why do Some Facebook Posts Go Viral While Others Flop?

1. Major Events Posts

While you might think its not good to take advantage of tragic events that happen in life, these events do happen and as owners of Fan Pages, you are providing a platform for your audience to communicate and share their feelings. With major events that happen in life people always want to share their thoughts on Facebook. As you’ll see here during the event that happened in Boston I placed a picture on one of my fan pages that had 700,000 fans on it at the time. All I did was share “We pray for the people in Boston at this time.” and shared a picture of the people from this show praying during one of their family dinners.

Duck Dynasty is a show all about family, faith and duck hunting so praying for this audience was something that was 100% accepted because its a major part of the show. However in other major events you could do things like congratulate the winner of major sporting events, send condolences if something bad happens or simply just provide a platform for your audience to share their thoughts on the subject at hand.

We’ve got to remember that Facebook is like a personal journal for the majority of people who use it. This means that they crave the opportunity to share what they are thinking at the time. Sometimes this leads to other major discussions happening on your page. As a part of Facebook’s edge-rank, the more people that comment/like/share your posts the more likely these posts will stay at the top of your fans newsfeed. This means there’s more exposure for you.


2. Click LIKE/SHARE for X on Your Facebook Fanpage

Want to know a secret about getting more people to Like or Share your content?
Have you thought about just telling your fans EXACTLY what you want them to do?
This post got over 97,000 likes… did you notice what I left as the description?

Even though I spelled it wrong, it still generated that many likes. I asked a question which led to a few hundred comments and said “aClick LIKE for Sadie and Phil!!”

It’s like “Its a ME Mario!” in the Super Mario games, but a little improved.

Instead of trying to hide the fact that you want people to interact with your fan page, just be honest with them. Tell them that you want them to comment on your picture, to share it with their friends and to click that “Like” button to prove that they do actually like the content. It works wonders when you tell people exactly what you’d like them to do.

3. Ask questions to make Facebook Posts Go Viral

Questions are engaging. They get people to actually do something when they’re otherwise just aimlessly browsing pictures on Facebook. I can admit that I’ve lost myself many times just browsing random pictures on facebook and realize I’d spent at least an hour without doing any real work, not commenting on anything and only clicking “Like” once or twice that whole time. I know for a fact that I would have taken more action if pages would be a little more engaging with me.

This is a post about one of the characters on the show and I had a picture of White House 2016 in the picture with the question “What do y’all think? Good idea/bad idea?”

It’s an open ended question and I let people know that its okay if they think its a bad idea. People just want to be heard and I’m providing a platform for them to be heard. Over 3,600 people commented on this along with almost 11,000 shares and 59,000 likes.

What do you think that would do for your page if you had interaction like that? Would it help your page grow more?

This strategy works great when you have pages that have an emotional attachment to something. When people are emotionally invested in an idea or concept, they love to talk about it. Providing them with this platform to talk about it grows a community of active people who will eventually buy from you.



4. Using Quotes Posts on Facebook Fan pages

Check out this quote. It’s pretty generic, right?

But can you disagree with it? I posted this 3 hours ago (from the time I’m writing this post) and it’s already been shared over 5,700 times with 14,000+ likes.
Finding quotes that are related to your specific topic helps to increase the amount of interaction you will get, but having these fairly generic quotes from time will resonate with a percentage of your audience.

….and you never know, someone on your fan page may need to hear something to help them have a better day so you are doing a good thing for your audience. From time to time I’ll share some posts that are all about positivity and love because I enjoy spreading that type of message with my fans.

5. Like Vs Share When Posting on Facebook

These posts can be extremely fun.

You might be curious…what do I mean by Like vs Share?

Well look at this.. here’s two examples of times I’ve done this.

Creating images like this is super easy to do and guess what happens when you have these “little competitions”?

You’ll get a TON of comments, Likes and Shares. By doing tests like this you can find out who or what your fans like more and this shows you exactly what people want. You can then take this feedback and share more pictures related to whichever performed best.

You can also use a strategy I share in the FB Fanpage Method for creating ads that lead to new likes on your Fan Page for less than a penny using this research.

By providing the option for people to choose, you are going to have some people commenting and replying on other peoples posts which will improve the interaction on your page and get a more active following.

Investor home loans hit five-year high

AUSTRALIAN PROPERTY NEWS

Posted on Tuesday, June 11 2013 at 4:05 PM

Investors are coming back to the market place, with loans for housing finance on the rise.

CommSec reports the value of home loans taken out by investors rose by 1.1 per cent in April thanks to rising rents and falling interest rates.

“Tight rental market, state government grants for home builders, a relative lack of new homes being built and low interest rates are attracting investors,” CommSec chief economist Craig James says.

“First homebuyers are still reluctant to buy homes, preferring to rent instead. Fortunately second and subsequent homebuyers are active in buying and building homes together with investors.”

The number of new owner-occupier housing loans rose by 0.8 per cent in April, after a 4.8 per cent lift in March – the strongest gain in four years. The proportion of first homebuyers in the market rose from a near nine-year low of 14.2 per cent in March to 14.3 per cent in April. Fixed rate loans rose from 18.4 per cent of all loans to 20.6 per cent in April – also the highest level in five years. The average home loan across Australia stood at $301,800 in April, up 2.6 per cent on a year ago.

“The housing market is in recovery mode,” James says.

“The good news is that low interest rates and government grants are serving to boost new construction. Interestingly, it’s not the first homebuyers that are embracing the opportunities; rather they’re relying on investors to get the new houses and apartments built.”

2 key reasons why startups fail

DFJ Esprit's Nic Brisbourne breaks down Paul Graham's 18 reasons why startups fail and recommends using them as a users' manual to success, especially the delicate balance of raising too much or too little capital.

Paul Graham just published an essay which details eighteen reasons startups fail. As he points out, somewhat tongue in cheek, an exhaustive list of reasons why startups fail is actually a prescription for success, and therefore a very big ask. That doesn’t stop him trying though. And who better to have a go?

The whole essay is worth reading, but for those of you that don’t have time I’m going to pull out two of his points.

Firstly, Graham makes the point I have heard him say many times now, that by far the most common reason for startup failure is not making something users want. The eighteen reasons that follow are, in a sense, sub-reasons. Every time I hear this I make a mental note to myself make the question ‘how do you know users want what you are building?’ more prominent in our due diligence process, because at the end of the day if you build something people want then you are generating value and that means your company will most likely be worth something to somebody, even without a business model.

Secondly, I want to pull out a couple of quotes from reason 13. Raising too much money. I’ve said many times now that raising too much money can kill your company just as surely as raising too little money. It’s a counter-intuitive point and Graham explains it well:

The problem is not so much the money itself as what comes with it. As one VC who spoke at Y Combinator said, “Once you take several million dollars of my money, the clock is ticking.” If VCs fund you, they’re not going to let you just put the money in the bank and keep operating as two guys living on ramen. They want that money to go to work. At the very least you’ll move into proper office space and hire more people. That will change the atmosphere, and not entirely for the better. Now most of your people will be employees rather than founders. They won’t be as committed; they’ll need to be told what to do; they’ll start to engage in office politics.
and:

Perhaps more dangerously, once you take a lot of money it gets harder to change direction. Suppose your initial plan was to sell something to companies. After taking VC money you hire a sales force to do that. What happens now if you realize you should be making this for consumers instead of businesses? That’s a completely different kind of selling. What happens, in practice, is that you don’t realize that. The more people you have, the more you stay pointed in the same direction.
My general advice for startups is to keep their burn as low as possible until they reach product-market fit at which point they should raise a Series A to accelerate growth. When raising money they should raise enough to get 6-9 months past the next meaningful value milestone. Graham lists value milestones as working prototype, launch, and then significant growth.

What are people saying about referron!

Wow!! This is such a cool video of the launch of Referron!!!

Top 32 Quotes Every Entrepreneur Should Live By

by Tanya Prive, Contributor Forbes (I had fun putting pictures to names!!)

The nature of being an entrepreneur means that you fully embrace ambiguity and are comfortable with being challenged regularly. 

Choosing this career path is completely irrational because the odds of succeeding are dismal, but most succeed because of their unwavering belief, laser focus on delivering and persistence.

Starting a company is a riveting roller coaster of emotions with tremendous highs and at times, difficult lows, but one thing that always helps me through the ups and downs is to connect with some of the greatest minds. Below are just a few of my favourite quotes:

1. “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
- Peter Drucker

2. “Winners never quit and quitters never win.”
3. “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.”
- Vince Lombardi

4. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
- Steve Jobs

5. “My biggest motivation? Just to keep challenging myself. I see life almost like one long University education that I never had — everyday I’m learning something new.”
- Richard Branson

6. “Every time you state what you want or believe, you’re the first to hear it. It’s a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don’t put a ceiling on yourself.”
- Oprah Winfrey

7. “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.”

 8.“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
- Bill Gates

9. “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” 
- Warren Buffett 

10. “One of the huge mistakes people make is that they try to force an interest on themselves. You don’t choose your passions; your passions choose you.”
- Jeff Bezos

11. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
12. ”Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration.”
- Thomas Edison

13. “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
- Albert Einstein

14. “As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.”
- Donald Trump

15. “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
- Winston Churchill

16. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

17. “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”- Mark Twain

18. “If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.”

19. “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.”

- Napoleon Hill

20. “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”
- Bill Cosby

21. “Success is not what you have, but who you are.”

- Bo Bennet

22. “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t so you can spend the rest of your life like most people cant.”

- Warren G. Tracy’s student

23. “To win without risk is to triumph without glory.”
- Corneille

24. “There is only one success- to be able to spend your life in your own way.”
- Christopher Morley

25. “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
- Albert Schweitzer

26. “What is not started will never get finished”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

27. “When you cease to dream you cease to live.”
- Malcolm Forbes

28. “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
- Jim Rohn

29. “The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake- you can’t learn anything from being perfect.”
- Adam Osborne

30. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
- John C. Maxwell

31. “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”
- Ralph Nader

32. “Choose a job that you like, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
- Confucius

What are some of your classic quotes?