A Duck And A Dream

I had the pleasure of watching arguably the world’s best magician David Copperfield live in Melbourne recently. The magic itself was awesome: motorbikes and cars were materialised on stage, a paper rose was lit on fire and turned into a real rose and of course there were ducks (well one duck at least called Webster).

Strangely what stood out for me the most though was Copperfield’s story about his father and his grandfather. Copperfield’s father won a prestigious acting scholarship (also won by Robert Redford and Danny Devito) but his father (Copperfield’s grandfather) banned him from taking it with threats of disowning him. His father acquiesced.

At the age of 14 when Copperfield decided he wanted to pursue a life as a magician his grandfather tried the same act on him telling him that performers were “bums”. Obviously Copperfield wasn’t dissuaded but sadly his grandfather never spoke to him again.

I’ve got to have such respect for someone with the maturity to determine a career path at age 14 and to overcome such obstacles to follow it. He had a dream and wouldn’t be bullied into forsaking it.

I feel sorry for his grandfather. Firstly, he’s attempted to bully two generations and has succeeded in helping one give up his dream. Secondly, he didn’t have the courage to admit he was wrong prior to his death when Copperfield had obviously proved he wasn’t going to be a “bum”.

If there’s someone around you: young, old or even yourself with a dream, what can you do to encourage it today?

And just for a giggle, here’s Webster (the duck).



To sign up to Kirsty's weekly email head to: www.kirstydunphey.com

By Kirsty Dunphey with 1 comment

Message In A Bottle

In my continuing theme of “little ways to set yourself apart” let me show you the best gift voucher I’ve ever purchased.


It’s from the Drunken Admiral restaurant in Hobart, Tasmania. These guys really know how to do little things that make people talk.Their gift vouchers come “message in a bottle style”. Their seafood chowder which is truly world class comes displayed on a printed version of the recipe, but in pirate style the secret ingredients are “burned” off it. There’s a romantic booth for two that you can book which his actually inside the hull of a ship.

They’re little things, but they get me excited, they make me want to tell friends and they make me want to come back!

What’s the “little special” about you or your organisation?

To sign up to Kirsty's weekly email head to: www.kirstydunphey.com

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

How much does it cost to make someone feel special?

My husband and I cruised through Alaska as part of our honeymoon. On this trip a fellow traveler told me that Alaska is the “cruise you take before you die” (the comment was more to do with the average age of the cruisers, not the danger level involved in trying to run on a treadmill while the ship dodged icebergs!)

We LOVED Alaska and this cruise despite the fact that we may have been the youngest people ever to set foot on the shuffleboard deck.

One of the reasons we loved it so much was because of our housekeeper Merawai. There’s a reason I still remember her name 4 years on (and it’s not just because she liked to enter our room without knocking.)

Every morning when she serviced our teeny tiny cabin she’d leave us a towel folded into a create of some sort. She’d use my glasses as props, or hang them from the ceiling.


It was systemized brilliance and gave us a giggle each and every day. It cost the company a little in time and nothing in materials and 4 years on I’m still telling people about the experience.

What could you start doing today to make someone still feel the need to rave about you 4 years on?

To sign up to Kirsty's newsletter head to www.kirstydunphey.com

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Question on purchasing multiple properties

Question (paraphrased slightly)

How does a normal person on a normal salary get to a position where they can accumulate multiple properties purchasing negatively geared properties?


Response

What a great question! And one everyone should ask himself or herself prior to starting to accumulate property.

Step 1: Work out what each property you’re looking at will cost you on a case by case basis. The best way to do this (I think) is to read Jan Somer’s investment books on residential property and formulate a spreadsheet (excel is great for this) which takes into consideration all estimated expenses (land tax, insurance, property management fees, marketing, estimated maintenance, body corporate, interest and more) and then factors in any tax and depreciation benefits and works out approximately how much that property will cost you to own per week.

Step 2: If your goal is to accumulate lots of properties, the closer to neutral and positively geared properties you can find, the better. That’s easier said than done in many markets, but I think the best way to find these properties are:
- Look at lots of properties and do lots of research
- Get a property manager (not a sales agent) to give you a rental prediction on any property prior to you making an offer
- Don’t be afraid of making cheeky / low offers. If you’re worried about offending the owners of the properties, just remember, they can always say no. But if you don’t offer them anything, they never have the chance to say yes and you usually have little idea about their circumstances or motivation.
- Revert to step one and work out your numbers (all of them including EVERY expense)! The most common mistake I find these days comes down to basic math. If you’re paying $350,000 for a property and it’s renting for $350 per week that’s NOT a 10% return!

Step 3: Talk to your account about the best entity / people to own the properties under. For you it might be in one partner’s name or in a family trust, but work out what’s going to get you the best protection and the best tax benefits. You might also want to talk to your accountant about getting the amount you are taxed at your main place of employment decreased on a regular basis rather than getting a larger return at the end of the year – this can be great for cash flow.

Step 4: Maximise your rent by:
- Finding a great property manager who will get you top dollar
- Staying on top of regular market rental increases
- Looking at ways to increase the rental return on properties (if a tenant is prepared to pay extra for different heating, a carport, new carpet etc: work out your sums!)

Unless you work towards the above steps you may find it hard to accumulate more than a couple of properties as your cashflow will be depleted. Perhaps this is why around 80% of Australian investors only own one investment property!

Now of course there are lots of other strategies, but what I’ve outlined above is a fairly simplistic strategy for buying and holding residential property long term.

Of course, this information is general and should not be construed as financial advice. Consult your accountant for information specific to your circumstances.

Kirsty

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Jim Rohn

I was so sad this morning to hear of the passing of Jim Rohn.

Watching him speak years ago in Sydney had a profound impact on me.

I highly encourage you all to hit YouTube, google Jim and look into his books and CDs.

His message is timeless and always powerful.

Rest in Peace Jim Rohn.

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Common Courtesy Creates Captivated Clients

My parents in law are presently undergoing a kitchen renovation – stressful enough at the best of times, but made all the worse by having tradies stomping muck all over their floorboards, chipping bricks into their brand new bench tops and leaving all the cupboards full of sawdust.

We spent a fair amount of time this weekend discussing the simple things those tradespeople could have done to create an absolutely captivated client who told all their friends about their service:

• Brought some tarps to cover the bench tops while they were working on the bricks
• Wore hospital booties over their boots when they walked inside (we’ve used these previously at open homes and given you end up with bright blue covered feet, they’re a prominent advert for your care)
• Brought a dust buster or vacuum to clean up after themselves

If any one of these simple acts had been done my parents in law would have been raving about them and recommending them to every one of their friends.

As my mother in law said: “it’s just one of many jobs to them, but this is our house”.

Now whether you work in a trade, or in any other field, a simple act that doesn’t take much time or forethought can often have the power to amaze and impress.

Like the real estate agent who brings a CD of appropriate music to play at her open home, or the hair dresser who offers to save a lock of a child’s first hair cut for a doting parent or the insulation sales person who sends back his quote with a dog rusk for the beloved family pet. Having just read the book about John Ilhan, founder of Crazy John’s I loved the part of the story where it detailed that Crazy John staff would program in mobile phone numbers into their clients phones (common courtesy and a great business idea – after all, if the numbers are already in there, they’re more likely to call them right!)

What can you do today to captivate and amaze?

Sign up to Kirsty's newsletter here: www.kirstydunphey.com

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

What Story Do You Tell?

Some of my favourite songs are those that are able to convey a storyline worthy of a full feature length movie in only a few minutes.

There’s the eternal Kenny Rogers (yes, I like Kenny and won’t hear anything negative about that) with Ruby don’t take your love to town.



More recently, and while it’s not as powerful as Ruby, I still love the simple and beautiful story in Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus:



And the shocking (well I found it shocking the first time I listened to it) All I wanna do is make love to you by Heart:



This got me thinking, if a musical artist can convey that much of a story line in such a compressed time, so too can a business in their marketing materials. For my money, the “about us” page on your website is the best place to start.

One of my favourite corporate about us pages is that of the recently aquired Zappos Check it out to see how they’ve incorporated testimonials, video, social networking, blogs and more.

Even on twitter where you’ve got only a few tiny characters for your bio, http://twitter.com/caseystevens got my attention with hers (although I don’t know if I agree with the ugg boots):

• Bio Yes to: Marketing, Dancing, Dogs, Pina Coladas. No to: Brussel sprouts, violence, wearing ugg boots outside

Check out this fabulous article to see a few more wacky but story filled examples:

Here’s a simple checklist for your website’s about us page:

• Does it adequately convey the personality of you / your organisation?
• What else can you do to link it to your social media output (twitter, facebook, linked in etc)
• Does it help people get to your blog (er… do you have a blog?)
• Could it link or show testimonials?
• Can it help me find your team bios?
• Is it current and up to date?
• Does it link to the other pages on your website?
• Have you missed anything “bragworthy” – awards, qualifications etc?
• Is it visually appealing?
• Is there anything on there that would make me want to tell someone else to check out that page?

Now, I’m leaving now ‘cos you just heard the slamming of the door (if this doesn’t make sense then I humbly request you start listening to more Kenny Rogers!) I’m off to work on updating my about us pages… how ‘bout you?

Also If you know of any great “about us” pages, please put them in the comments here, I’m always up for seeing fabulous examples.

To sign up to Kirsty's newsletter head to: www.kirstydunphey.com

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Would you write a reference for your boss?

This week while making an application for a new employee under a scholarship program for our new real estate agency Elephant Property (www.elephantproperty.com.au) I had the strange experience of asking two former employees who had worked with our team under that program to write me a reference!

I’m in the position of still closely following the careers of both these former staff members and I was flattered and brought to tears by what they both wrote which was fabulous (thanks Emma & Clinton) but it got me thinking, how would you feel if your last boss asked you to write them a reference?

Would it be glowing? Would it be honest? Would you even bother?

In reading “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World” by John Wood (amazing book!) one story about his former boss – Steve Ballmer (now CEO of Microsoft – stuck with me.

John mentioned off hand to Steve (arguably one of the most powerful business leaders in the world) one morning that he was planning on running the Boston marathon later that year.

The day of the marathon came and immediately afterwards John caught a flight directly to an important Microsoft announcement by Steve. After the hubbub of the announcement had died down Steve, surrounded by his entourage, walked past John and as he was passing called out “3 hours 4 minutes in the marathon – sensational” (or something to that effect). When John queried how he knew this he said that he makes it a point to know everything about his team.

To me, that’s an awesome leader and if you read Leaving Microsoft to Change the World you’ll see that John Wood writes Steve Ballmer a great reference in what he says about him in those pages.

So, would you write that reference for your current boss or are you perhaps the type of boss that would have that type of reference written about you?

To sign up to Kirsty's newsletter head to: www.kirstydunphey.com

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

What can you learn over coffee or in a weekend?

I’ve just had a super weekend. Yes there was a pole dancing party (which I bought at a recent charity auction) and yes there were cocktails, but what’s more there were two amazingly inspirational business women for me to network with.

These two women were Lara Solomon, founder of www.mymocks.com and author of Brand New Day and Kate Tribe, founder of www.triberesearch.com.au.

Now I’m a huge believer that one of the best ways to increase your own knowledge is by simply having a chat with someone fabulous. Neither of these women work in my industry, but both always have amazing insights and I can always learn something that I can R&D (rip off and duplicate – thank you Mr. Terry Watson www.terrywatson.com) into my business.

So instead of just hogging their brilliance I thought I’d share some of it with you this week and encourage you to head out and do some R&Ding of your own.

A little of what I got from Kate:
• Tribe Research has an ex staff members club where they’re invited to staff events, get an update newsletter and even get a trophy when they leave! What a fabulous way to ensure that staff members (many of Kate’s obviously leave on great terms) stay advocates of the firm and would encourage others to work at the firm in the future.
• Tribe also send business birthday cards by finding out when a company was created searching through ASIC. As Kate and I discussed at length – anything strategy like this isn’t a short term measure, you might only find out how appreciated it is after the 3rd or 5th year (or even later), but how much will it make you stand out!

A little of what I got from Lara:
• Lara had just arrived back from a mansion in Beverly Hills (yes 90210) where she was promoting Mocks at a pre-Emmys event and getting amazing snaps of celebs like Jennifer Love Hewitt and Randy Jackson (American Idol) with her products. What a sensational way to create buzz and get celeb endorsements!
• Lara’s business is also breaking into the US at the moment and so we had some fab chats about drop shipping, manufacturing, PR firms and distributors. For more on this, check out her smart company offerings.

So, when was the last time you spent a weekend, a lunch or a coffee with someone you found inspirational?

Sign up to Kirsty's newsletter here: www.kirstydunphey.com

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Does Your Organisation Boo?

The air was electric as I looked over a sea of bobbing blue caps hotdog in hand. It was my first Chicago Cubs baseball game at historic Wrigley Field and I was loving every minute of it. With every crack of bat to ball my breath paused, my neck arched and I took another bite of my fabulous Chicago dog.

That day, like so many others, was not the a day for Cubs victory – but one moment definitely stood out. The opposing team hit a huge fly ball right…. out…. into centre field… home run.

All of a sudden the crowd started to boo and howl wildly. My husband asked me why the Cubs fans were showing such poor sportsman ship. Being a nerd (with access to Wikipedia on my iPhone), I knew exactly what the boos were about.

It was soon readily apparent to all Australian tourists at the game that the booing wasn’t about the home run. The boos were about the fan who caught the home run ball keeping the home run ball from the opposing team! Culturally speaking, Chicago Cubs fans throw back the opposing team’s homers and nearly every one of the 35,000 people at the game let their feelings be well known on the subject!

Now whether you agree with throwing back the homer or not (my husband adamantly states that regardless of the boo-ing, he’d be keeping that homer!) you’ve got to admit, this is a very clear indication of the culture of Wrigley Field.

Is the culture within your organisation as readily apparent to new comers? Now I’m not suggesting that you should be getting boo-ed by 35 accountants in your firm when you don’t refill the paper in the photocopier. But I am wondering how comfortable the team around you feel about pointing out when someone isn’t living up to your office culture? Does the new guy know that in your firm you reward other’s successes, you actively engage with the people around you, you say good morning with a smile each day, you don’t take shortcuts, you get your filing and other little tasks done, you treat even the most junior of staff members with respect…. And who amongst his peers will figuratively boo at him if he doesn’t?

Sign up to Kirsty's weekly email at www.kirstydunphey.com.

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Beauty and the Brain

I’ll admit it I love Jamie Durie. Here’s a man who was famous for his glistening pecks, and his ability to flip over his head while simultaneously writhing semi-naked and yet today, nannas all over Australia queue up to get his latest garden design book and my husband oohs and ahhs over (no, not his pecks) but his outdoor wall gardens. He’s moved from beauty and brawn to brains and business savvy.

Another beauty to brains example is Tyra Banks. Obviously beautiful she was making astute moves even when she was still marketing with just her beauty. When her body started to change and become fuller than the rake thin models of the day instead of starving herself to remain on catwalks she shifted her career over to a market that appreciated her increasing… er assets, the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated and Victoria’s Secret. Since retiring from modeling full time she’s shown the brain that’s also a sizeable asset in starting up Bankable Productions under which she helped create America’s Next Top Model which is now a worldwide franchise.

I guess you can simply use your beauty to get what you want a’la Anna Nicole Smith or more impressively you can leverage the connections and experience you get from your beauty and parlay that into further dealings where your brain also gets to shine.

Sign up to Kirsty's weekly email at www.kirstydunphey.com

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Kirsty Dunphey launches her new passion project: Baby Teresa

You may have heard whispers about a new project I’ve started called Baby Teresa. Now that our website is up and running I wanted to tell you guys all personally – I’ve started a baby clothing line!!

Weird right? I would have thought so too if you told me I’d be doing it two years ago! The thing that makes this so appealing to me though is that for every baby all-in-one outfit we sell, we donate another to a baby in need.

So far Sammie and I at Baby Teresa HQ have donated outfits to needy babies in our home state of Tasmania and just last week we sent our first donation off to Uganda in the middle of Africa. Our eventual goal is to clothe at least one baby in every country in the world!

It’s darn exciting – and I’d love you to help us get the word out there about it so that we can help kids who aren’t as fortunate as the ones we know and love.

So… if you’d like to help here’s what can you do:

1. You could forward this posting on to any expecting or current Mums, any shops you think should be stocking Baby Teresa, any media person who you think should know about us or anyone you think might be shopping for a baby present.

2. You could join our facebook fan page here and tell your friends on facebook, twitter or in your blog!

3. You could check out our website and give us some feedback on what you like and what you’d suggest www.baby-teresa.com

4. We’ll be doing launches for Baby Teresa all over the place. If you want to be on the invite list – it’s as simple as replying to this contacting us and telling us where you’re at!

5. Finally – if you want to buy a Baby Teresa outfit for a baby you know (and in the process give one to a baby in need that you don’t know) – head here: www.baby-teresa.com/buy.php BUT - as a special offer for my VIPs – you can check out our cool special offers (only available for Kirsty’s VIPs) here: www.baby-teresa.com/vipbuy.php



What are people saying about Baby Teresa?

It wasn’t until I had my own baby that I realized how unfair it is that not every baby in the world is as loved and well provided for as my own. With Baby Teresa I get the fun of shopping for my own child, and the knowledge that I’m helping another child as well. It’s a great feeling. Bella Fountain

I’ve spent the better part of the last 3 years over working with disadvantaged children, orphaned children and children that have been abandoned and I’ve seen how excited they get about something so simple as having something new to wear. It’s the small things that we really take for granted back home. So many children over here have never ever had a single new thing to wear - in orphanages, shelters and poor families it is always hand-me-downs and not enough. Children in the Western world are such an important, treasured part of our lives. It's our culture to keep them safe, loved and to be able to spoil them! Its great to be able to give people the opportunity to still partake in that mind set while being able to benefit a less fortunate child overseas at the same time. Carrie Hesketh


And finally..

Thanks for your support as always. Obviously this is a bit of departure from what you’ve usually seen me doing – but the joy its bringing me lets me know how right it is!!

Stay fabulous (I know you will!)

Kirsty

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

The Best Applicant Ever!

In the early days of having my first real estate agency, me and my two business partners would conduct all our interviews for new staff.

We’d spend what we thought was an appropriate amount of time with each applicant – about 40 minutes in a first interview. What was strange though was that we loved every applicant, they were all the best applicant ever!

After sitting down to look at our interview process to find out why we loved everyone we found it went something like this:

• Applicant enters the room
• Applicant introduces themselves
• Myself and my business partners proceed to speak for 38 minutes about why our company is awesome
• Applicant nods politely
• We love applicant

We were just so darn excited about our company that we did a sales pitch to the person who we should have been hoping would do a sales pitch to us! When we figured this out and started letting the applicant pitch to us we had a lot more success.

We also discovered some great interview questions along the way, these are a few of my faves:

• What do you know about our company? (c’mon a simple google of your business should give them some great info here if they’ve bothered to take the time)
• Why are you leaving your current job? (as soon as anyone started to have a go at their previous boss, regardless of how justified it might have been, they’ve shot themselves in the foot – after all what will they say about their next boss? Discretion is key.)
• What would you do this situation…? (use a real tricky situation you’ve had happen at your workplace)

Depending on the type of organisation / type of staff member you’re looking for I also love:
• An in workplace trial period (maybe a day where they come and work for you)
• After this ask them what they think can be improved about your workplace, what did they enjoy, is this the type of place they can see themselves working?
• Where you can’t do an in house trial period, set them a task to do between job interviews 1 and 2 such as look at our 3 biggest competitors websites and tell me what they have that we don’t… go to this open home and tell me what we could be doing better… rewrite this piece of literature… (find a task that will give you an indication 1. of their work ethic and 2. of whether they’ll be good at the job you’re hiring them for!)

And above all else, hold off on the sales pitch during your interviews! (I still find that a hard one!)

Sign up to Kirsty's weekly email at www.kirstydunphey.com

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Star Struck – Creating a Buzz

It was my first time in Hollywood, I was staying just off the main strip and on our first day we took a wander to see the stars on the sidewalk and of course to go “star-spotting”.

I was in luck almost immediately. Outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre a small but determined crowd had started to gather. Like moths to a flame we joined the crowd jostling and craning our neck to see who the celebrity in the inner circle of the group was. Autograph pads were flying, cameras flashing, excitement was most certainly in the air.

After around 5 minutes of rubbernecking I was still no closer to finding out which celebrity was in the middle of the crowd. I asked the question to the excited person next to me, they had no idea. Five people later and I finally got my answer.

It was the 12th guy from Oceans 12! (The new Oceans 12 movie staring the delectable George Clooney was about to come out at the cinemas in a few months).

By this stage the crowd was whipped into an extreme frenzy with certainly over 100 people all clambering to get their taste of this “celebrity”. After around 10 minutes, we left the autograph signing mass without our autograph, but still excited to have seen a “star”.

You can imagine my surprise a few months later watching the Oceans 12 movie only to find out that there was no “12th guy” in it! It was the same original cast as in Oceans 11.

Now you can either look at this one of two ways I feel:

The first, 100 people on the streets of Hollywood were conned into thinking they saw a celebrity.

The second: 100 people on the streets of Hollywood were given a “star” sighting and something exciting to go home and tell their friends AND we can learn the lesson that it’s easy to create a buzz about ANYTHING if you think about it hard enough.

So, taking the second lesson, when your business opens its doors for trading, or has it’s 5 year anniversary, or hits a milestone, or starts selling a new product, what can you do (without lying!) to create some buzz and excitement?

To sign up to Kirsty's newsletter head to: www.kirstydunphey.com

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

A Heartfelt Apology

Sometimes I feel as though I’m one of those people that likes to nitpick. I’m so fixated on customer service and get so disappointed when it doesn’t live up to even basic standards that I’m often “whinging” about the dodgy hotel experience I had or the conference I attended that did such and such.

I almost think that sometimes I’m a little programmed to see the wrong, which is why it was so nice that a bad service experience yesterday turned into something kinda great.

I’d emailed a property manager to meet my husband at a property at 1.00pm amongst a whole swag of other things, they’d confirmed with “all done”. At 1.13pm I got a call from my husband – no-one had been there to meet him. I called to chase up and long story short, the property manager hadn’t read the part of my email about the appointment.

Her boss apologised to myself and my husband which was fine, but the thing that had me leave the experience with an uplifted feeling was her apology to me on the phone. It was heartfelt. It was genuine. She didn’t offer any excuses. She just assured me that it wouldn’t happen again and took her lumps. She then followed it up with a further email.

We’re human. We mess up. All of us (I know I certainly do!). It’s what you do when you mess up that determines how that relationship will progress.

Option number 1 is:

1. Own it
2. Convey your apology in a heartfelt way
3. Put a plan in place so that it doesn’t happen again

You easily have the power to turn a bad experience into a positive. Where you run into trouble is if you follow the dodgy conflict resolution strategy of Option 2:

1. Bury it
2. Deny it
3. Shift the blame

The next time you mess up – and we know it will happen – what 3 steps will you decide to do?

Sign up to Kirsty's weekly email online at: www.kirstydunphey.com/weekly.html

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Hidden Secrets: The Corporate Alleyways

On a recent trip to Melbourne I found myself, yet again, past dark sidling up a seemingly deserted alley way. I was in search of “La la land” a bar.

You might already know that seemingly all the very groovy bars in Melbourne are hidden in laneways more befitting a morose mugging than a civilised cocktail. It’s part of the culture and thankfully I have my Bar Secrets Melbourne cards so that I can try a new one each time I’m there.

I have to lurk in a laneway in Melbourne to manifest my mohito, but did you know in the corporate world you’ll also have to do some covert skulking?

The corporate alleyway you might have to lurk in could be:

• Knowing the right after work drinks place to network with your target demographic.

• Knowing which receptionist to turn on the charm with to get your messages delivered on time.

• Knowing what bottle of wine is the client’s favourite to ensure their repeat business.

• Knowing that promotions at your office get decided by a select few at a monthly luncheon.

There’s secret “laneway-like” world in almost every workplace and every industry. How many corporate secrets do you know? Too bad there isn’t a card that can help you out with that one. But you could try:

• Finding out where the most successful person in your industry has their after work drinks (you could even, shock horror, offer to buy them a drink).

• Charming all the receptionists at your work place (being nice to the front face of your business always pays off in the long run, they are your tie to the rest of the world).

• Ask your best client’s assistant or partner what their favourite drop is so that next time you get them a gift you know it’s spot on the money.

• Find that person who got the promotion you wanted and take them out to lunch to try and unearth their secrets (a good mohito helps with this too).

Good luck in uncovering the hidden laneways of your industry and workplace.

Sign up to Kirsty's weekly email online at: www.kirstydunphey.com/weekly.html

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

The Value of Pancake Promises

When I was about 6 years old I was at my Mum’s workplace running amok as I always did. When it was time to go I’m not sure what came over me, but I refused. I hid under tables, I ran from my Mum and I basically caused all sorts of fuss and embarrassment for her.

I then got the brilliant idea that with this newfound leverage over my Mum I’d start making demands (genius I know!) I wasn’t leaving the office until she promised me that we could go out for pancakes.

After much to-ing and fro-ing my Mum finally gave in. I’m sure I let out a yelp of delight and we left the office.

I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that, sadly, there were no pancakes that night or for a very long time afterwards.

It taught me a really important lesson though – making demands is pointless if you’re looking for a good long term relationship. Even if you are able to demand your way into what you want, the animosity created by that demand leads to ongoing acrimony.

I’ve seen it time and time again in workplaces where employees will make demands of their employer and wonder why neither party ends up with what they want. So, how about this – the next time you want something, rather than demanding it, why not show some VALUE.

If you want a new coffee machine at work, put together a quick proposal that will show your boss that it’ll give each staff member an extra half an hour in the office a day (rather than going across the road to get coffee) thus providing him with X number of extra work hours a week, that’s a VALUE.

If you want a payrise, put together a list of your VALUE (not demands) to the company. Show the improvements you’ve made in the past X months, the increase in revenue to the company, the benefit on office morale and then go to your employer with a plan for how you can continue increasing the VALUE to them.

As a child, how much better would I have been when Mum wanted to leave the office for me to say, sure, let’s go now, and by the way, is there any chance you could look at us having pancakes at some stage in the next little while if I clean my room and do the dishes as soon as we get home? Ahhh… if only I’d known!

Sign up to Kirsty's weekly email online at: www.kirstydunphey.com/weekly.html

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Put The Magic In

The highlight of every weekend I spend in Melbourne is a trip to the magic shop in Southbank. Yes, I’ll happily confess I’m crazy for the magic. I’ve always loved it. But I don’t go into this shop just to buy magic tricks.

Every time I go into this shop it’s an experience. The staff are all dressed in bow ties and when asked, or even sometimes when you don’t ask, they’ll start demonstrating their wares by performing fantastic magic tricks. I adore watching their demonstrations (they’re flawless and funny) and it’s great for business. I want to do EVERY trick they show me and I tell all my friends (and now you guys!) that they have to go into the shop.

Cost to the shop? Nothing. When the staff are busy serving, they don’t do tricks, it’s just in between customers buying. The benefit? Immeasurable I’m sure.

Now while a magic shop can literally create magic in their shopping experience, I don’t think it’s a feat beyond any business.

The restaurant Bubba Gump (based on Forest Gump) in the States did it for me by having a sign on each table that could be flipped to say either “run forest run” or “stop forest stop” depending on whether you wanted service for your waiter. I loved it so much I thought about getting my own portable version to take to every restaurant with me (it’s so frustrating to wait and wait for service!)

How will you create magic in your business today?

Sign up to Kirsty's weekly email online at: www.kirstydunphey.com/weekly.html

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Feedback – why, when and how?

I recently published a blog based around an inappropriate text message that my dentist had sent me. I said in the blog that I wouldn’t be letting the dental surgery know that I wasn’t happy with the text. Many thanks to all the people who wrote to me regarding this blog (and for the various dental referrals I received!), but there was one lady who seemed pretty upset with me for not taking my complaint to the dental surgery. She said something to the effect of why vent in a blog when you could go and get the situation resolved.

There are many reasons I blogged about this instead of going to the dental surgery directly, the first being that it’s my personal preference not to provide feedback when I’m not asked.

You give me a feedback form or a questionnaire and I’m usually the first to fill it in. I LOVE to provide feedback (both positive and constructive) and I adore writing testimonials when I’ve been provided with a sensational experience.

BUT – I no longer provide constructive criticism to a business unless I’m asked for it, or unless I’m actually making a complaint about service. Why? Well, I used to give constructive feedback for many years and was increasingly disappointed to see my feedback not implemented.

I’ve now come to the conclusion that businesses that want feedback and want to implement it will usually ask for it. I do so in my own businesses, which is why, as an example, any of you that have trialled www.reallysold.com, had a property managed through www.elephantproperty.com.au or have purchased one of our books at www.unleashedknowledge.com will have received a request for you to complete a questionnaire based on the experience.

Also – I’m kind of a nut. If I gave feedback to every business I saw that could be improved, it’d be all I’d do with my life and my friends would refuse to ever go to another restaurant, bar, spa with me again!

So my questions to you today are: Do you want feedback on your business? If so – how are you giving your clients an opportunity to provide this?

Also, whenever I make mention of a business that’s done something I don’t love in a blog. It’s not to vent. It’s not in the hope that someone will read that blog who works at that business and will change their wicked wicked ways. And you’ll rarely see me list their name (unlike when I see a business that’s doing something positive).

I write because thousands of people might read the blog and if one business is doing something in a certain way you can guarantee they aren’t alone. I write in the hope that there’s a reader out there who sees the article and checks the text messages their business sends out, or puts a new feedback system in place etc and that something positive comes from that article.

Now, don’t even get me started about the hotel I just stayed in… ok, that one might be more of a vent! I’ll save it until I’ve found a lesson that I need to learn from that experience!

And as always, if there’s ever any feedback you want to give us about our newsletter, blogs or books, what you enjoy or don’t enjoy, please head to www.kirstydunphey.com/contact.html and write away. While I can’t guarantee we’ll implement everything, we do read it all and take your feedback on board.

Sign up to Kirsty's weekly email online at: www.kirstydunphey.com/weekly.html

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Book Review - Lessons of a Lipstick Queen: Finding and Developing the Great Idea That Can Change Your Life by Poppy King

A little jumpy but a heart felt read

Let me preface this review by saying that, growing up an aspiring young female entrepreneur in Australia, Poppy King was my first and for many years my only role model. Her influence on me was profound and to this day she remains one of the “5 people I’d invite to any dinner”. As you can imagine then when I saw her book on the shelves I jumped at it straight away. I’ve always wanted a greater insight into the “Poppy story”, what went so well and also what went so wrong. Let me get the parts I didn’t like out of the way straight away. The book was a little too Americanised for me. I get that it’s being published in America and is predominantly for an American readership, but this little Aussie thought it strange to hear examples about Thanksgiving that could have just as easily been examples that would be relevant world wide. The voyeur in me also would have liked a bit more of an insight into exactly what didn’t work in Poppy’s business partnership, it was mentioned but forgive the pun “glossed over” a little. I also found that the “her story” parts of the book jumped about and were a little difficult to follow sequentially. That aside - did I enjoy the read? Yes. It was written from the heart, by a real person and by someone that’s obviously had to go through a whole heck of a lot in her journey from being the media’s darling to being raked through the mud. Will this book change my life: probably not, but there are some great nuggets in there for any aspiring entrepreneur.

To sign up to Kirsty's weekly email head to: www.kirstydunphey.com

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments