Business 2 Business = Human 2 Human
I am always bemused by the phrase B2B (business to business) that I see peppered across companies’ websites and associated promotional material. I assume the message that a company wishes to convey is that there is some form of exchange of goods and/or services for payment between them and some other company.
Instead what I’d like for you to consider is that a company does not do business with another company per se. These corporate entities are in fact staffed by humans sometimes consisting of a small handful and other times running into the thousands of employees.
At the most basic and fundamental level, the delivery of said goods and services may only occur when both parties agree upon the value of the exchange. However, to make this a regular event (ie repeat business = recurring income/cashflow/profits) the emotionally intelligent business owner will make exemplary customer service a priority.
If this is a given, why is it that as a business expands the process becomes increasingly depersonalized? Perhaps in the rarified atmosphere of upper management habitats the high altitude causes them to ignore the golden rule of customer service.
To illustrate:
My local supermarket belongs to a chain that makes up one half of the duopoly in Australia. Also within my local area is a newly opened shop (Red Cacao http://www.redcacao.com.au) whose owners have a vision of their customers not just enjoying a coffee with their hand made chocolates but be taken on a rather pleasant excursion into appreciating how the country of origin influences the taste, aroma and texture of the coffee and cocoa beans.
I buy my groceries from the supermarket for the sake of convenience; the level of interest and commitment seems to oscillate between indifferent and somewhat enthused depending on the day I shop.
I go to Red Cacao for a great coffee and chocolate experience.
As for practicing the golden rule, it came in the form of Red Cacao’s owners trusting me to return their glassware when I purchased their scrumptious tiramisu to take home rather than consume on the premises.
In contrast, I don’t think I would be able to borrow the supermarket trolley for a couple of days to cart my groceries home!
Hooray for the SME’s who are giving it a red hot go in one of the most competitive industries in Australia. Well done!
Jon Hegg: Neurofeedback -Training Your Brain For Success
Jon Hegg a psychologist and Clinical Director of the Brain Training Centre (Canberra, AUSTRALIA) specializes in using neurofeedback* as a powerful technique to improve and enhance human performance. Neurofeedback is a cool method that you can use in any area of your life be it in competitive sports, business or for career advancement.
Jon Hegg Interview Part1 23Apr2013
Jon Hegg Interview Part2 23Apr2013
There is a very strong correlation between how our brain functions and the tangible results we get in life. I invited Jon to explain how neurofeedback has helped his clients achieve the next level of their business or career success. In this short excerpt below Jon describes how you can train your brain to effortlessly move you in the direction of your goals.
So, if you are not getting the results you want in your career or business this may just be the missing link when you begin to understand how the different frequencies of your brainwaves in different parts of your brain influence who you are. The good news is that a significant biological component to it is under your control. In other words you can train bits of your brain that are responsible for problem solving, empathy, logic and even intuition to either speed up or slow down depending on what you need to achieve or solve in the moment.
*Neurofeedback has been shown to help children manage ADHD and other learning difficulties. Now this is a Godsend for any parent trying to raise a challenging child and have a career or run a business all at once. Reference: D. Corydon Hammond (2011): What is Neurofeedback: An Update, Journal of Neurotherapy: Investigations in Neuromodulation, Neurofeedback and Applied Neuroscience, 15:4, 305-336
Contact Jon Hegg:
Jon Hegg MA Psych, BCN
Brain Training Centre
1/12 Kett Street, Kambah, ACT 2902
Ph: +612 6296 3995
Email: braintraining@tpg.com.au Skype: JonHegg
Jules Tarrant & Hayley Wilson (Live Laugh Lead): Top 7 Secrets to Website Success
Jules Tarrant and Hayley Wilson from Live Laugh Lead (www.livelaughlead.com.au), specialize in helping entrepreneurs establish an online presence and get to that all important number one spot of page one of Google searches. We all know that being number one on Google is like getting a big free kick for skyrocketing your business.
Most entrepreneurs are busy running their businesses and don’t have time or inclination to build their own website let alone do the techie stuff to keep it up to date. And if you feel a bit intimidated by geek speak (acronyms like SEO, mysterious terms like back links etc), do yourself a favour and get Jules and Hayley to get your website rating while you get on with what you as an entrepreneur do best.
I especially love their abundance mindset (there are more than enough opportunities for everyone) that permeates every facet of their business (watch this excerpt below).
These ladies cannot help themselves when it comes to giving free and money making suggestions to their clients. Frankly, I would pay above the going rate to have them in my corner helping me grow my business.
Download and listen to the full interview:
Jules Tarrant Hayley Wilson Interview Part1
Jules Tarrant Hayley Wilson Interview Part2
Beverly Flaxington: Seven Steps to Hiring and Retaining the Right Person
An organization will only function like a well oiled machine when we have the right people for the right jobs. Sounds logical but the stats don’t lie. According to the Dept of Labor, 50 percent of all employees leave their job within the first six months of being hired. 
And in a recent survey by Right Management 86 percent of employees polled said they plan to actively look for a new position in 2013 (http://www.right.com/news-and-events/press-releases/2012-press-releases/item24318.aspx).
To say that the correct candidate selection process for a specific role is crucial is an understatement. So why does the recruitment process go so wrong sometimes.
Beverly Flaxington a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA), hypnotherapist, and career and business adviser explains in her latest best seller Make Your SHIFT: The Five Most Powerful Moves You Can Make to Get Where YOU Want to Go how to get it right so that it doesn’t end in tears but instead increases the bottom line.
Beverly Flaxington Interview Part1 5Feb2013
Beverly Flaxington Interview Part2 5Feb2013
In this short excerpt Beverly shares a tip on how to deal with a difficult boss!
Find Beverly at http://www.
Meet Victoria’s best boss who gave his staff a $15m bonus: This is how you do it Mr CEO
I love when a boss gets it that his most precious assets are his employees. 
Ken Grenda is on such boss. His tips on how to be a great boss should be compulsory reading for any aspiring CEO
A MELBOURNE boss has stunned his staff by giving them a staggering $15 million gift -the ultimate pay-off for their hard work and loyalty.
Workers at bus company Grenda couldn’t believe their good fortune when surprise bonuses averaging $8500 were paid into their accounts – with some staff receiving as much as $30,000.
“A business is only as good as its people, and our people are fantastic,” he said. “This is to recognise that. We have had people here who are second generation, and one fellow in the same job for 52 years.
Grenda bus driver Heath, with the company for just 10 months, received less than the average bonus, but was dumbfounded by his windfall of around $850.
“Some employees were calling their banks assuming it was an error,” he said. “Good bosses are hard to find and Ken was a very good boss, one of a kind.”
By Elissa Doherty Herald Sun February 01, 2012
Three tips for maintaining your equanimity at work
Maintaining your equanimity, composure and internal sense of balance is a skill than anyone can develop.
I call it a secret weapon of the successful who seem to be able to navigate their way through an office environment that is studded with booby traps and minefields cunningly disguised as work colleagues; from the hypochondriac who painstakingly documents and broadcasts their every ache and pain (and bodily functions) to the angst ridden determined to share their life story and every other possible combination in between.
Our external world mirrors what goes on for us at the subconscious level. We attract into our immediate environment people and situations that remind us of what we focus on most within ourselves.
Ask yourself as you are reading this, what has been ticking over in your mind today. Was it a pleasant and happy conversation or encounter with another person, or was it you wishing you had the last word in an argument. Our best comeback lines are usually after the fact, sad but true.
Do you also notice that the same incident plays on high rotation in a loop fashion in your head, much like background muzak in a restaurant? It is just barely noticeable but it is there, insidious isn’t it.
So, the three circuit breaker tips I suggest are:
1) Check in on yourself
By that I mean, pause regularly during your work day and breathe; yes literally notice yourself breathing in and then gently exhaling. This is designed to slow down brain activity for 20 seconds, long enough for you to pay attention to your body instead of rushing headlong to meeting external deadlines.
This 20 seconds can be the difference between having a productive day or having a tense exchange with a co worker.
2) Eat your lunch away from your desk or work station
Being the office burning martyr will not get you a medal; removing yourself physically from your desk even if lunch is 20 minutes allows your brain to recalibrate.
Great for problem solving because it gives you time to mull over the facts (as you chew your food) without consciously thinking about coming up with a solution.
3) Remind yourself of what is important in your life
Keep a motivational quote on a 3 x 5 card by your computer as a reminder that you have a choice about how you are going to feel today; you choose how you wish to respond to your present circumstances.
Just reminding all you good people that I have a website devoted to mindset and financial freedom if you are wondering where some of the interviews have gone. Please head over to
Rhiannon Rees Interview: The Courage To Live An Ordinary Life
I am very blessed to have access to many successful people where I get to ask about their journey to financial success. However, it is not often that I am inspired and amazed at their personal stories to the degree that I was when I spoke with Rhiannon Rees.
She is a business coach, humanitarian, entrepreneur, mother and author of “How to Climb Mount Everest in Sandals-The Courage to Live an Ordinary Life”.
Rhiannon shares her challenges of dealing with childhood abuse, a dysfunctional family, a brother’s suicide, a toxic business partnership, the surprise that comes with finding a cross dressing husband (in her lingerie), and living in a tent with her one year old son when her marriage disintegrated.
Most people would be forgiven for taking the default position of do nothing and be nothing should this have been their circumstances.
What was fascinating was Rhiannon’s mind shift that involved reading over 400 self help and psychology books and Adlerian therapy that dragged her from the precipice to living her dream life. Being ranked 4th Best Business Coach in the World for 2010 by Action Coach is fitting peer recognition.
Listen to what this heart centered entrepreneur with a whole lot of wisdom (and love) has to share.
Should you be inspired by her words and energy and want to know more, head over to http://lovelivingthedream.com/coaching/
Julie Steelman Interview: Sales is Not a Dirty Word
Julie Steelman knows a thing or two about selling; by choosing to see her sales role as one of giving overwhelming value and service to her clients it has made her debt free and allowed her to retire (at a very young age) to tropical Hawaii.
If you want proof, how about being able to generate $100 million in sales (this is not a typo) from clients such as Apple, Microsoft, Toyota, CBS Sony and Universal Pictures.
And this is when most people are struggling to make commissions and targets.
In her new book “The Effortless Yes: Get the Sales You Want and Make All You’ll Ever Need”, Julie shares her “a ha” moment after the very lean first two years in the business.
Her Road to Damascus moment can be summed up in one sentence, “It’s not about you, it is about the customer”.
Julie Steelman Interview (unlinked)
Julie’s advice: “Get over yourself because it is not personal; you’re here because you have something unique to give that can make someone’s life a lot better”.
Can’t argue with that kind of logic.
So if you have been finding the whole “selling” thing awkward, uncomfortable and downright icky (a technical term in the sales game), do yourself a favor and invest in Julie’s years of wisdom and practical know how-NOW!
Find Julie Steelman at:
http:// www.juliesteelman.com
Dr Xenia Ioannou Interview: Her Inner Journey to Wealth
Dr Xenia Ioannou is a millionaire property investor, businesswoman, wife, mother and author of “Your Inner Journey to Wealth-A Guide to Developing a Millionaire Mindset”. 
Together with husband Angelo they founded Alexa Property Group with Real Estate Sales, Property Management, Acquisitions, Research, Education under this extensive company umbrella.
My interest in conducting these interviews has always been to uncover the motivation that spurs a person to become successful. Speaking with Xenia about her own experiences to creating wealth was akin to finding a huge nugget whilst prospecting.
Xenia Ioannou Interview (unlinked)
When a guest so honestly shares the challenges that turn up and more importantly how she overcame these challenges, well that is pure gold.
Xenia’s message is simple, “Take responsibility and don’t be a victim”. Equally important, “Find mentors and associate with like minded people who want to succeed”.
You can’t argue with that direct kind of approach that dare I say harks from her time as a medical research scientist.
Is it paradoxical that someone trained in analytical, scientific evaluation methods can point to an individual’s mindset as the determining factor for success (or not)? Let’s just say that the person most adaptable wins.
What this should mean to you dear reader is that within each and everyone of us is the potential to becoming successful and creating lasting wealth. So, are you ready to step up?
Xenia, to her credit has made it her personal mission to help every person who desires financial freedom by providing the necessary education they did not get at school.
Please go to her website to download Chapter 1 of her book.