The top mistakes you could make when buying an investment property

I owe much of my financial security to real estate property investment. Having worked in real estate my whole life (well – since I was 15, so it feels that way!) it’s what I know and it’s also what I love. But it’s not for everyone.

Here are my top mistakes you could make when buying an investment property:

1. Borrowing an amount that’s going to stress you financially to repay. This is the bottom line. People’s circumstances change, you could lose your job, have a/nother child, have an extended period of vacant time, interest rates could dramatically change. Are you prepared for that and will you still be able to (comfortably) afford your investment property.

2. Not having the appropriate insurance. I call a specific landlord protection insurance a “sleep easy” policy. While it doesn’t cover you for everything it sure covers you for a lot more than your building insurance with a tack-on landlord component and is a must – especially for owners with only one property.

3. Having a property manager who doesn’t wait for the right tenants and simply puts in any old tenant. Correct tenant selection eliminates 90% of all future problems and you need a property manager who understands that.

4. Worse still – managing the property yourself. You could do your own appendectomy if you wanted to, but you wouldn’t. Many privately managed properties attract worse tenants, aren’t inspected regularly, the tenants aren’t reference checked, have leases which aren’t up to date and condition reports that aren’t adequate.

5. Don’t listen to the sales agent. With all due respect to my wonderful colleagues in the sales side of real estate – their job is to sell you the home. Confirm any rental projections of any form (projected rental price, likely tenant etc) with a specialist property manager. In the same way that I, as a property manager could tell you what your home may sell for – it’d be nowhere near as accurate / reliable and researched as if you went to someone who did that job function all day every day. 

6. Buying a property and becoming a property investor if you’re not mentally prepared for it. I have clients right now who know they’re not made for being property investors. They’ll sell their homes when the market is right for them and never look back with a moment’s regret. A property investor has to be able to have a good level of emotional distance from their investments. Own a property long enough and you will have tenants who do not respect your investment. Own a property long enough and you’ll have (even with great tenants) damage done to your investment. There will be times when the gardens aren’t done perfectly or the internal presentation isn’t up to scratch (isn’t it this way at your home at times too?) and if you drive past your investment property all the time you will see these occurrences. 

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Communication – the skeleton key?

A while back I was asked what would be the next big thing to impact on business over the next 7 years. Rather than focusing on some exciting new element of technology I found myself drawn back to communication and my answer was as follows:

Just this morning I found myself enraged at the service provided by two companies I’d dealt with over the internet. One that had taken 8 days to respond to a simple query posted on their website (one of only two ways I could ask them my question) and another that had taken over 5 weeks to perform a task they said they’d do online.

You see, the thing about this evolution of communication and the various ways that we now have to do so is that our customers know the time frames in which it should take to respond to an email, to answer a question posted on a website, or respond to a tweet or facebook comment. It’s exactly the same

With great advances in our communication media there’s an even greater responsibility for the person behind the tools to maintain the service level. Using technology does not give you an excuse to hide behind it.

For my way of thinking, the challenge to businesses eagerly embracing this evolution will be to evolve the way they provide their service to clients through these different outlets that are becoming so much more mainstream.

I’m relieved to see more and more businesses taking heed of this message already.

Take Shoes of Prey as an example. Each pair of shoes they sell online goes out with an individualized hand written note.

Imagine Cruises will happily tweet with you about your upcoming whale watching tour, injecting the same personality through twitter that they do onboard their cruises.

Zappos, another shoe retailer in the US (ok, so I may have a small shoe obsession) known for their service despite having no face to face contact with clients, have 24 hour customer service call lines to put a friendly voice behind the oft daunting process of buying something to wear online without being able to try it on. To top this off they have free returns and shipping to further add a caring factor to the service they provide.

Showing heart in all communication, expressing care even without face to face contact and building lasting, strong relationships over new forms of communication will be the challenge to businesses that want to embrace new media yet still be spectacular in the experience they offer going forward.

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

How to prepare for an award panel interview

Being a former winner of the Australian Young Telstra Business Women of the Year and also being a prolific nominator of other people in awards (I've just submitted my Telstra nominations for this year) I’m often asked what my tips are for performing well at interview panels.

So, here’s what I usually tell people:

1.   Be yourself, have a personality (preferably yours).

2.   Remember they're looking for someone who will be a good ambassador for the program as well as someone deserving – so think about the brand of the awards program and how well you fit into that (presentation wise, aspiriational wise etc).

3.   Know your application inside and out for your interview and (this should go without saying) make sure it’s all 100% the truth.

4.   Be memorable. When my real estate agency was called M&M Real Estate - my application had M&M chocolates inside it, not a bribe, just something to indicate the type of service we offered to our clients in a fun way.

5.   Have a killer answer to the question: “What would change in your life if you won”.

6.     I’d recommend setting up your own practice panel of people you trust / value and preferably a mentor or two and have them ask you all the tricky questions they can think of. If it you’re going out for a business women’s award program be sure to have them throw in questions around: juggling family – balancing act / glass ceiling / advantages/disadvantages to being a woman

7.     And finally – if all else fails, just go with number 1. There’s no point winning any award unless it’s YOU who actually does it. You’ll typically be a representative of that award for at least a year (good lord, I’m still talking about some of my award wins a decade later). That’s a long time to be anybody but yourself. 

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Email is simple

(work related email that is)

If you want to be known as someone accountable, dependable and on top of their email game.

You get an email and you either:

a)  deal with it (ie: do it, delete it, reply to it)

or

b)  you acknowledge it with a time frame as to when you’ll get it done and you put some sort of reminder in place (whether it’s a diary task, putting the email into a folder, a manual note – whatever works) so that you stay accountable to that time frame.

You do not…

a)  read email

b)  re-read email later on

c)  re-read email and stress about not having done it yet

d)  accidentally file email into a “to do” folder and forget it

e)  keep the email without acknowledging it to the person you got it from

f)  re-read the email (again)

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

10 reasons you should enter an awards program today

In no particular order…

1.     Perceived Credibility – great for new businesses and great for young people in business.

2.     Free Publicity – newspapers, magazines, even TV depending on the award that you win. Winning it means not paying for it and that further multiplies point 1 - the credibility factor .

3.     Networking opportunities – win or don’t win (there’s no losing when it comes to awards) making it to nominee or finalist status gives you opportunities for networking with other amazing people both in and judging the awards program.

4.     Become more knowledgeable about your business – submitting an entry to most business awards is time consuming yes, but can also be an amazing tool to use for your future business planning and can help you get a proper removed view of just where your business sits right now and what opportunities lay in the future.

5.     Business opportunities – point 3 – network = meet amazing people = opportunities for new business.

6.     Something to put on your website / business cards / email signature or blog about– again magnifying point 1.

7.     Ability to open up other side ventures – depending on who you network with (point 3) you’ll be amazed at the business ideas that flow when fabulous people are all around you inspiring you and brainstorming with you.

8.     It gives you clients another opportunity to validate their support in you. I always love hearing that someone I support (or an organization) is being recognized by their peers or an industry award program.

9.     Fancy outfits, fun evenings, team morale – who doesn’t like a fancy evening out and it also gives you an opportunity to treat your team.

10.    You might actually win and then everything above is magnified. 

By Kirsty Dunphey with 2 comments

Antisocial media

I had to pause for a moment this week and stop our team at our residential property management agency from spamming our social media fans on facebook.

We had a couple of properties that we were super keen to get some extra interest on and we were about to start posting them to our facebook page.

Now – it’s a pretty common strategy by real estate agents – but, with the pages I “like” on facebook for real estate agencies – I’m not typically looking for a property to rent or buy and I bet most of the people liking their site aren’t either (although they may have been at some time). I want to hear about their successes, their fun stuff, their new staff, their awards and their challenges and how they’re overcoming them.

Just today I felt a super surge of pride for Paige Mycoskie whose apparel brand Aviator Nation I follow (http://www.facebook.com/AviatorNation) when she was announced as one of the best new menswear designers by GQ.

The amount of interest we garnering over at Baby Teresa (http://www.facebook.com/babyTeresaFan) about a post on our former baby models and what they look like now, or showing one of our donations overseas is a lot more than we’d get if we were just trying to “sell” another romper by posting a picture of it.

Social media blew up (as did their media coverage) when portrait photographer Sue Bryce (http://www.facebook.com/SueBrycePhotographer) focused her amazing storytelling on Jill’s story of breast cancer with “The light that shines”.

And this classic “miss-take” photo of me at Elephant Property (http://www.facebook.com/ElephantProperty) garnered more likes than almost anything we’ve ever put online (when tongue in cheek said I would submit it as part of a business awards submission if we hit a target!)

If people want to be sold to  - there’s plenty of venues in which they can have that rammed down their throat. I’ve found that people respond best to social media when it’s light, fun, informative and most of all – a conversation.

How’s your conversation going?

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Too late?

This weekend I attended the wedding of a lawyer turned video games producer and an organic chemist turned pastry chef turned food writer.

 

I’m married to a police officer who has just recently turned his attention to starting his own business and to full time architecture study.

 

My father in law was a forestry worker till his 30’s when he decided to become a doctor.

 

My newest business partner in our real estate agency started her working life in hairdressing.

 

Speaking of hairdressers, one of my closest friends now also owns her own commercial real estate agency and started in hairdressing.

 

And another close friend who I blogged about recently started as a hairdresser only to successfully open two salons, become a real estate investor and is now launching into a styling business.

 

“The difference between what you were yesterday and what you

will be tomorrow is what you do today.” - Stephen Pierce

 

I’m surrounded by examples of people that bucked their “every day” and shot for their dreams. I’m sure you are too if you just ask around.

 

What’s your dream?

And before I forget - congratulations to pharmacist turned travel writing Ben (http://www.redrucksack.com/) on his recent wedding (he met his wife while he was setting out achieving his dreams). 

By Kirsty Dunphey with 5 comments

No excuses

Not feeling inspired enough: http://www.ted.com/

Not feeling like you’re learning enough: http://sethgodin.com/sg/free_stuff.asp

Not feeling happy enough: http://icanhas.cheezburger.com/

Not feeling fit enough: http://www.bodybuilding.com/guides/

The internet has made it so easy for us to get access to almost anything we want for free. Just above are links to world class speakers (free), amazing business learning materials (free), stupid but very funny pictures (free and giggle-worthy), body building and fitness workouts (free).

You know what else is free? Time. Motivation. Energy. It’s free but not always easy to make the time to learn something, to find the energy to do a workout, to find the motivation to start creating your own happiness.

We all make choices every day.

We make a choice to listen to a certain radio station in the car, when we could download a podcast that teaches us a new language instead.

We make a choice to watch the latest episode of whatever television show we find at the end of our remote or to engage in a meaningful conversation with someone who will enrich our lives.

Am I saying I never watch TV or listen to dodgy commercial radio? Of course not. But you’ll never hear me saying I don’t have time to learn. If I have an internet connection I have means, if I have 10 spare minutes I have opportunity, now all I ever need to worry about is motivation.

What’s stopping you?

By Kirsty Dunphey with 3 comments

The Impact of Little

It was a little thing she did for us - organising a dinner reservation. It was made a little more complicated by the fact that we'd asked her to do it on next to no notice. We thought she'd have little chance of making it happen given the restaurant we were hoping for. And yet, the little smile on her lips told me she'd been able to get it together. 

Louisa was on the front desk of the Quest East Melbourne when myself and 3 treasured girlfriends (and business partners) checked in for our 2 night stay. As we were pulling up I remembered that last time we'd stayed here Megan had told me that going to Press Club (George from Master Chef's restaurant)  was on her "Bucket List". It was Friday evening, 7pm, the chance of getting a table for that evening was slim I knew (and going the next night on our 2 night journey wasn't a possibility due to a pre-existing date we had with Keith Urban).

And yet, by 9.00pm in the middle of a bustling restaurant without an empty seat - we sat a table, perfectly set for 4 little friends, enjoying an 8 course degustation feast and ticking something off one of our Bucket Lists. 

Wanting to make sure Louisa knew the impact of her "little" action - we bought her a small gift and left her a card the next day explaining the power in what she'd done. It's not every day you get to be instrumental in helping someone tick something off their bucket list and in creating a night for 4 friends that won't soon be forgotten. 

Every day in your life you'll have the power to do little actions - you might never know which one of them has had a huge impact, but don't forget that they have that power! 

PS - a day later I got this email from Louia's boss Natasha: "Just wanted to say a huge THANKYOU! You're words really had an impact on Louisa & she called me last night at home just so she could read your card to me. Just a little reminder for her that what may be so simple to her can mean so much to someone else."

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

The Blue Cave

I spluttered in the water, clutching at the pool noodle which had been thoughtfully provided to me. The waves weren't strong, but what was ahead of me was, in short, terrifying. 

I watched as my husband bobbed along like a motor driven cork and dipped down, below the cliff face and into.... nothing. Moments later he popped back out and I could tell from the look on his face that he knew this was going to be a challenge for me. 

Behind the cliff face, so the tiny boat driver had told us was a cave, the Blue Cave. Only, to get there we had to dive down under the cliff face, through the water, from the blazing sunlight and into complete darkness trusting that we would pop up into the cave.  

Now, by way of full disclaimer, although I did get my Scuba qualification last year, I am afraid of putting my head under water and also, of fish (curious given I'm a Pisces). Being 6 months pregnant made me a little more wary (although perhaps more buoyant), but, I doubt I would have felt much more confident at my fighting best. 

I was determined though. I hate letting fear stop me from living. Clutching my husband's hand, he promised he'd hold it and guide me through. We swam toward the cliff face and dipped down, how far I'm not sure, too far I'm told! Half way through my husband let go of my hand. His plan was to push me through if I needed it - only I hadn't been informed of the plan, and panicking I turned tail and swam back to the light. 

On my second go down, hand held (no pushing required) I swam from the light down, down, down and through... into what appeared to be total darkness and popped up into something that can only be described as magnificent. A cave, hidden to those who aren't shown, lit by a single shaft of light from a hole above the cave. Silent, calm, amazing. Beautiful blue clear water lapped at us and we were the only two people in the cave - our own beautiful Valentine's Day moment on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu. It had been described to me as an almost spiritual experience and it's certainly one I'm glad I didn't let pass me by because of a little fear of the unknown. 

Every so often in life - to get to somewhere magnificent and memorable you have to venture into not only uncharted, scary territory, but also into a place where the destination can't be seen and, is often, beyond our imagination. Many won't dive. Many will try and turn back. Some will make it through regardless of how many goes it takes them and they'll experience their own Blue Cave moment. 

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Sense of Urgency

In sitting here wracking my brain about the best angle to take in writing this blog the best analogy I could come up with for “urgency” was spice.

Now I may not be the best cook, but even I know that adding spices, herbs, flavouring of any kind to a dish is essential. Too little and the dish is bland, too much and you’ve overpowered it. It’s a balancing act. 

So too is knowing when to treat something as urgent.

Without any sense of urgency in the workplace, you convey a dispassionate attitude to your peers and clients that can often be mistaken as one of not caring.

Too much urgency and you’ll burn out, you’ll be a horror to work and your focus will suffer without direction.

So how do we get the balancing act right.

Well – first you’ve got to figure out what in your job requires urgency. For someone in my field (a property manager) something that requires a “sense of urgency” might be an application on a property that’s vacant, maintenance relating to lack of heating or a water leak, a new business enquiry or a customer complaint.

Secondly – you’ve got to be able to act with a sense of urgency without losing your professionalism. There’s no point understanding sense of urgency and when the time calls for it – if you can’t work at your optimum level as soon as a situation goes from “normal busy” to “urgent”.

Thirdly – you’ve got be able to prioritise/delegate and communicate around whatever is just under urgent (or has been pushed to the side by urgent) so that when the urgent matter is dealt with, nothing important has been missed.

I’ve often reflected on that old adage that I’d rather work any day with someone with the right attitude than the right capability – but I’m going to add this right up there onto my list.

I would rather work with someone who understand when to light a fire, when to hop to gear and when to snap into “sense of urgency” mentality than someone who is cool, calm and collected at all times.

When do you require a sense of urgency?

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Ten years ago…

I joked tonight to a girlfriend that my goals have changed from when I was younger because then I wanted “all the money”, I wanted my real estate agency to transact “all the real estate”, I wanted to travel “all the time” and to “everywhere”.

I’m mid way through compiling a book on my story along with others based on our current definitions on “having it all”.

I know 10 years ago my definition of having it all was really different to what it is now.

Then:

I wanted all the money

Now:

I want enough money so that I don’t ever have to worry about “the money”

Then:

I wanted to transact all the real estate in all the locations

Now:

I want a smaller business focused on providing an exceptional experience and setting news standards for the style of work quality and environment we provide (and I certainly don’t want to manage all the real estate!)

Then:

I wanted to spend every night in a different hotel room in a different city of the world.

Now:

I still want to travel – a lot – to exotic destinations. But I also love my own bed, I love my environment. I want to supplement my life with exciting travel adventures - not constantly being on the road.

Then:

I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a parent, I was just sure that if I did I wanted it to be a conscious informed decision.

Now:

As much as my choice to have both of my children (I’m pregnant with my second right now) was conscious I realize that you can never be fully informed on what the experience will be like until you have it! And now my I so desperately want to be the best mother I can to my kids, while also still maintaining a strong sense of who I am in addition to being their mother.

How are your goals different from ten years ago?

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Resigned to the Resignation?

Your valued staff member tells you they’re leaving. You’re horrified. It’s like a break up and you didn’t see it coming.

It’s not you, it’s them. It’s family. It’s money. It’s to leave and save the world. It’s to follow a new career path. It’s conflicts with workmates. It’s to go back and study. It’s because they’re not being challenged. It’s because the role isn’t what they thought it would be.

The reasons they may give you for their (in your opinion untimely departure) are endless. Confusingly – the real reason may be something different all together!

The simplest solution is when the answer they tell you is money based, and you’re able to match the competing offer. So you’d think. But happy staff members don’t just uproot their entire career based lives for a little more money. There’s usually another reason more deeply imbedded.

What I find interesting is what many employers trying to stop the situation from happening default to assuming it’s a monetary motivation. When all else fails – throw some more cash at the person.

Which is great… unless you get a person whose primary motivation isn’t money. Then not only do you lose a staff member, but you’re confused as to why your strategy didn’t work, and they leave confirmed in their decision that you didn’t understand who they were as a person.

So what are some other answers?

Well – you could try and find out what motivates your team already? There will be some that are really dollar driven and monetary incentives and bonuses will work a treat to keep them happy now. There will be others that will adore your new initiative to let them take a day off each year to work in a charity or to have time off to donate blood. There’s those who you will keep forever with a kind word. Who are your team? What can you do proactively to make their journey with your company the best it can be?

By Kirsty Dunphey with 3 comments

Speaking on Success

One of my fabulous, inspirational, successful, wonderful girlfriends just left my house. Embarking on her first speaking gig tomorrow we spent the last hour going over her talk and embracing all the amazing-ness that is her.

What I find especially funny – is that she’s not even sure if the organization that’s having her speak tomorrow has gotten it “right”. By that – she knows they want someone to come and talk about their success, but she’s not sure if she fits the bill!

Let’s see… she’s a multiple business owner, at the top of her field in two disciplines, she’s an award winner, a property investor, an amazing mother, a dedicated wife and she’s about to journey into yet another passion of hers very soon taking a big leap into the unknown.

In short – she rocks.

And she baulked at the idea of them even putting her down as a “business woman” on the program.

Her story tomorrow, for those 40 women lucky enough to hear her will be real, honest, engaging and inspiring and as much as they deserve to hear it – she deserves to tell it. Thank you for inspiring me Cathryn – love you! 

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Better the devil you know?

Short of being a classic hrm… debatable – let’s say memorable Kylie Minogue song from my childhood – I was reminded of this saying this week when I heard of someone who had been made an offer to change workplaces.

The dollars were being offered in abundance, the appeal was clear.

Only – what else comes with the dollars? It’s hard to tell from an offer made on a piece of paper. What’s your new boss going to be like when you have an issue or conflict or need guidance? How are you going to interact with your new workmates? What clientele will you be inheriting to deal with?

And if you do decide to change workplaces, are you able to transition in a way that’s both fair and reasonable to you and your goals and ambitions and to the people who’ve previously employed you? To quote another oft used saying – will you burn bridges as you go?

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Can you take it on the chin?

I think you can tell a lot about someone by how they handle criticism. Today at work I sent an email out to everyone because we’d had three similar instances handled poorly in the one week.

The first reply from one staff member (even though we’d already personally spoken about it and she’d already apologized) was to again apologise.

My reply: “It's not just you - that's why the email went out to everyone”

Again – she reiterated her apology and that she felt bad and would make a new day of it tomorrow.

My reply (in knowing the message had sunk in and trying to lift the mood):

I get stuff wrong pretty much every day.

Which means I learn stuff pretty much every day.

Which means pretty much every day - I'm more awesome than I was the day before!

Her reply:

You are such a star! You have an amazing way about you of wanting me to be the best I can be just to make you proud and see I am learning from my mistakes. 

Thank you, Thank you.

What more could I ask for? The message hasn’t been lost. She’s taken the feedback well. She’s called me a star (ok a little flattery will get you everywhere). But most importantly she’s understood that we all make mistakes (me very much included) and that if we get feedback on how to get better it’s so we can learn from our mistakes. 

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Fired for being fat

I fired myself this week – for being too fat.

Fat might not be the right word. I’m predominantly larger in one area – at 21 weeks pregnant it’s no longer a secret to anyone who sees me that I’m rapidly creating an exciting new addition to our family.

Which I’m so over the moon about.

And yet – I caught myself being chastised by a former staff mate and friend over the Christmas break for admitting to hiding my growing belly from new people I encountered at work.

How ridiculous she told me – in this day and age that you feel the need to do that. And the more I thought about it the more I realized how much effort I was putting into thinking about how to disguise my pregnancy.  Each morning I’d dress for work and wonder if I arched my back this way, or wore that, or didn’t get seen from that angle or breathed in deeply if it was obvious to the casual observer that I was pregnant.

Why? Because part of my role involves pitching for new business for our property management company. At each pitch I always explain that our company policy is that at least two people look after every property – so no client expects to only deal with me every day for an eternity, but yet I still felt the need to hide and hunch even though I’m not planning on going on leave for 4 months!

It’s taken me a while or so to get my head around writing this blog and I’m still not exactly sure the message I’m trying to get across (sometimes I just write and see if it comes to me as my fingers type).

I’ve got two opposing counterpoints running through my brain.

The one that fired me from that role of the job (pitching for new business with clients I don’t have a personal relationship / referral to) this week – because who wants someone who’s clearly pregnant and going to be having time off from work soon to pitch for their long term business.

And then there’s the one that knows that I’m actually significantly better at my job since having my first child.

Since my two year old bundle of flurry, wonder and chattering glory blew into my life I’ve:

·       Become more organized – and that’s a lot for me, because I was pretty organized before hand, but that old saying about if you want something done, give it to someone busy has never been more true.

·      

I’ve become better able to prioritise, distance myself and see the big picture of what’s really important and not focus on minutia as much.

·      

My ability to counteract for my own shortcomings through systems has gone through the roof. I discovered about mid way through my first pregnancy that “baby brain” wasn’t something ludicrous my pregnant friends made up (made readily clear when I missed three appointments in a row because my old system of simply remembering them no longer worked) – so ever since then I just put two back up systems in place for every meeting and haven’t missed a single one.

·      

And not that it directly relates to me pitching for new business – but I know I’ve become a better employer to the mums who work with me. In the same way that I’ve always said someone who is an investor themselves makes a better property manager, someone who is a working parent is better able to understand the unique and beautiful complications of wanting to be a great worker and a great parent.

So where does that leave me? Well it leaves me with still well over 3 months left to work. An amazing team that will look after every client while I am on leave after the arrival of bub number 2. It leaves me questioning my decision to fire myself, but not quite ready to rehire me – yet. And it leaves me wondering what I would do if a property manager clearly pregnant pitched for my business – with me knowing I’d want a long term relationship with them.

What would you do? 

By Kirsty Dunphey with 9 comments

Imitation or Theft?

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery right? Heck – I even talk about the concept of “Rip off, expand and duplicate” in one of my books.

As an example TOMS shoes (http://www.toms.com/) was one of the first companies to pioneer the “one for one” concept. For each of their pairs of shoes you purchase, they’ll also donate another to a child in need. TOM’s founder Blake Mycoskie has openly stated that he hopes others will copy the concept – and his wish has been granted, there have been numerous one for one organizations spawned world wide (I’ve even partnered to set up my own directly inspired by TOM’s – Baby Teresa – www.baby-teresa.com)

BUT – there has to be a difference between being inspired and blatantly ripping another person’s idea off.

I walked into a Sketchers shoe store the other day and noticed a shoe design remarkably similar to the very distinctive “TOMS” shoe. The name of it: “BOBS” and the concept “one for one donation”. My first thought, given how identical the similarities were, was that Sketchers had partnered with TOMS which I loved, but then the closer I inspected the packaging the more I found no reference to TOMS. A little online searching and I found the scathing negative publicity Sketchers had received for so blatantly ripping off another, smaller organisation’s fabulous idea. To make it worse, Sketchers, one of the largest shoe companies in the world underpriced TOMS and then also initially launched with a two for one donation.

So, there’s inspiration and then there’s direct copying. One is flattering and aspirational, the other is blatantly uncool.

So what’s are some ways to be inspired, without stealing?

1.              My number one tip - look outside your own industry! Take inspiration from great service given to you at a hotel and work it into your hair dressing salon. See the poor service you receive at XYZ plumbing company and figure out how you can do the opposite in your retail store.

2.              When I wrote about Terry Watson’s R&D (Rip off and duplicate) concept – I wrote RED (Rip off, expand and duplicate). If you want to incorporate a great idea into what you do – EXPAND on it, take the brilliance and make it better, stronger, sharper, more efficient. In short, make it your own.

3.              Reference your inspiration or even go to them, where appropriate, and discuss how you’ve been inspired and get their go ahead to continue with the concept.

And how about how to stop yourself from being copied? That’s harder still. The only real answers here are to be clear and consistent with your innovations – in many cases like TOMS v BOBS the public support will lean towards the original innovator. Short of that – when it’s a smaller innovation and not your entire business concept – keep on innovating!

And in closing if your innovation is just a cheaper price,  remember the old “We fix $6 haircuts story” (google it if you don’t know it!) 

By Kirsty Dunphey with 2 comments

Focus on your strong or not so strong points?

I recently wrote a post on “focus” and the massive impact focusing on one or a few specific areas of your business (or life in general)! can have.

But what to focus on? In the post above we chose to focus on something we were already good at – hoping to get exceptional and we had phenomenal results.

If you focus on something you’re weak at –

·      You may need a bit more mentoring / guidance on HOW to achieve your goals given that it’s something you’re not so strong at

·      You’ll still see a good result (one would hope!) – but it might just take you from a weakness to something you’re ok at – so there may not be the same hype or excitement level from your team

·      You may rule out something your competition can use against you (as opposed to creating something worth shouting from the rooftops)

So what to focus on? My honest opinion – go with a strength or a weakness, it doesn’t overly matter, just choose something you can see a decided improvement in and then FOCUS! 

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Get it done

I wrote this post a while ago entitled Successful people finish stuff (http://blog.kirstydunphey.com/2012/10/successful-people-finish-stuff.html) and it reminded me when I was doing a speech last week of my all time favourite technique for making myself (or anyone!) finish “stuff”.

So… here’s the steps:

1.     Figure out what you need to finish (or start and finish!)

2.     Grab your credit card

3.     Find a trusted friend (and by trusted, I mean someone who will be mean to you if it’s for your own good).

4.     Write down on a piece of paper the following:

I <<insert your own name>> need to complete <<put in here the specific task you need to finish>> by <<insert date>>. If I do not I hereby give permission for <<insert trusted advisor’s name>> to take my credit card details listed below and buy <<insert the name of someone you don’t like or an organisation or political party you don’t like>> something fabulous to the value of <<insert a dollar amount that makes you squirm>>.

And voila – provided your task is possible, so it shall be done. 

By Kirsty Dunphey with 1 comment