Published on the 1st & 16th of Every Month
Editor: Stephen Yap

For most business people the subject at the top of their minds has to be the state of the economy.

Today the writer returned to Sydney after a three-day sales trip to southern NSW. I spoke to many Retailers. The signals I received were very mixed.

A couple of art galleries I called on reported very poor sales of paintings, much poorer than even three months ago. One professional artist admitted that he was relieved that he was entitled to the Pension. Until a few months ago he could live comfortably on his income from the sale of his paintings.

On the other hand, I also met many gift shop owners who are quite happy with their sales. In fact, in these three days I took several good-sized orders.

I suppose the conclusion I can draw is this - more Consumers will be more conservative with their spending. Nevertheless, Retailers can still have satisfactory sales although they should not sit on their hands. They should work hard at promoting their businesses.

Your Editor

In this issue:-

1. Spotlight on a Koala Hill Retailer - The Award-Winning Royal Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne
2. Regular Features
3. Events & Gallery Exhibitions
4. Advertising Various Professions & Trades (Humour)
5. BBQ Rules (Humour)
6. On Managing Businesses
7. Double Your Business Profits, by James Delrojo
8. The Seven Deadly Sins of Small Business, by Michael Adams
9. 5 Steps to Success In Life & Business for Small Business Owners, by Keith Longmire
10. Help Your Kids Save the Planet at Christmas, by Jon Kelly

Spotlight on a Koala Hill Retailer
The Award-Winning Royal Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne

Once again we are pleased to introduce readers to another of our Customers - the Royal Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne, VIC. The Gardens Shop here stocks a comprehensive range of Koala HIll products, including stationery, greeting cards and gift wrap.

The RBG Cranbourne have won several prizes including a Victorian Tourism Award and the First Prizes in three categories in the 2006 South-East Development Architecture Awards -

Best Public Open Space (The Australian Garden)
Best Public Building (The Visitor Centre)
Best Environmental Building or Landscape (The Future Garden)

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne contain important native bushland. They are also home to a large range of plant and animal life, including rare and endangered species. The gardens in Cranbourne form the Australian plants division of the Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens. Within RBG Cranbourne is the now famous Australian Garden.

The main features of the Australian Garden are the Red Sand Garden, the Rockpool Waterway, Dry River Bed, Arid Garden, Exhibition Gardens and the Eucalypt Walk.

Some highlights of the Australian Garden are:-

The Red Sand Garden. In the Sand Garden the vast expanse of red sand contrasts with grey foliage of arid region plants.

The central Red Sand Garden blends with flat land river environment. Vegetation in this area include Albany Daisy, Kangaroo Paw, Pincushions and Grass Trees.

Rockpool Waterway The dominant tree species is the Sydney Smooth-Barked Apple or Angophora costata. Other plants in this area are Dwarf Lilly Pillies, Hibberta, the Darling Lily or Crinum Lily and the giant Gymea Lily.

The Arid Garden - Beneath small trees are lower species such as Sword Sedge, Poverty Bush, Fanflowers and many types of daisies.

The Eucalypt Walk consists of areas of woodland separated by small clearings. Feature plants include the orange-flowered Banksia burdetti, the red-flowered Acacia leprosa 'Scarlet Blaza', perfumed Boronia megastigma and Native Jasmine, Grass Trees and Cycads.

The five Exhibition Gardens highlight the many ways homeowners may use Australian plants in their own gardens.

The Gardens Shop stocks a wide range of gifts and books featuring Australian fauna and flora, including Koala Hill gift wrap, greeting cards and stationery.

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Cranbourne feature 100,000 Australian plants, including 1,000 trees, in 15 different landscapes display and exhibition gardens. Here visitors have the opportunity to immerse themselves in Australian flora, landscape, sculptures and architecture.

Untouched heathlands, woodlands and wetlands cover some 65% of the 363-hectare Gardens, giving Melbournians and visitors the rare opportunity to explore a pristine environment within an hour's drive of the city.

Regular Features

1. Find Our Typos and Errors Competition
We award two $50 prizes to the two retailers who can find the most mistakes in this issue of the Happy Newsletter.

Contestants do not need to list mistakes and typos in the articles marked with an asterisk (*).

The competition closes on 25 November.

2. Readers Letters
We welcome letters from our Retailers and we award a $50 prize for every letter we publish. Readers may write on anything related to the gift industry.

Check out the great new additions to our
Whimsies Stationery range!

Talks on Gardening, Sustainable Living & Related Topics

Venue: The Outside Bit Nursery
Koonawarra, VIC
(adjacent to the Koonawarra Food & Wine Produce Store
and Photo Gallery)
(1.5 hours from Melbourne, 10 minutes from Leongatha)
TIme: 9:30am - 2:30pm First Saturday of each month
(coinciding with Koonawarra's Market Day)

Tel :  (03) 5664 2214
Email: theoutsidebit@bigpond.com
Website: www.theoutsidebit.com.au

Morning Jewels by NSW Artist Ken Taber.
Ken Taber will participate in exhibitions at
Buderim and Grenfell
(see Events & Gallery Exhibitions)

We have selected another dozen quotations for your reading pleasure. All the quotations are interesting, we think. Many are witty; indeed, a few are profound - Your Editor

Business is Darwinism - only the fittest survive.
Robert Holmes a'Court

It's not the hours you put in your work that count, it's work you put in your hours.
Sam Ewing

Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.
Peter Drucker

My initial plan was to conquer the world, but in reality, the world is not that easy a place to conquer. I learned through the years that I had to build step by step, solidly.
Lise Watier

You have to surround yourself with people you trust, and people that are good. But they also have to be people who will tell the emperor you have no clothes.
Oprah Winfrey

Business without profit is not business any more than a pickle is a candy.
Charles F Abbot

The most successful innovators are the creative imitators, the number two.
Peter Drucker

Job enrichment has been around for sixty years. It's been successful every time it has been tried, but industry is not interested.
Peter Drucker

The shortest and the best way to make your fortune is to let people see clearly that it is in their interests to promote yours.
Jean de la Bruyere

The mass market has split into ever-multiplying, ever-changing sets of micromarkets that demand a continually expanding range of options.
Alvin Toffler

Companies, like people, cannot be skilful at everything. Therefore, core capabilities both advantage and disadvantage a company.
Dorothy Leonard

Success is that old ABC - ability, breaks and courage.
Charles Luckman

Further down this webpage we publish "General Interest" articles i.e., articles not related to Koala Hill's products, people or programs. Such "General Interest" articles are a regular feature of our fortnightly newsletter. We source our articles from Australian and foreign publications, most of the articles being written by business consultants and experts in various fields.

Most of the articles we publish are business-oriented as our readers are largely business managers and business owners. However, we also regularly publish articles on non-business topics of interest to our readers.

Publishing Convention demands that we do not edit or amend online articles we re-publish.

Consequently, you will find that we have not attempted to Australianise the many non-Australian spellings and expressions.

We also do not attempt to touch up the grammar.

The articles are for general information only. Also, please note that the Editors of the Happy Newsletter and the management of Koala Hill Crafts do not necessarily subscribe to views expressed in these articles.

Advice/suggestions given in these articles may not be relevant to our readers' particular circumstances. We recommend that readers seek professional advice before acting on any suggestion.

by James Delrojo

As the owner of a small business you often have to wear a number of different hats; manager, technical expert, marketer, problem solver and more. Which role you believe to be the "real you" will determine how much net profit your business makes.

Most people start their business in a "technical" area in which they are qualified in or skilled. They could be a builder, a chef, a musician, an inventor, an accountant, a computer wizard, a writer, or any number of other professions. Let's refer to this as being an expert.

Initially you spend most of your time working in that area of expertise but as the business grows you might find yourself spending more time in management and administrative roles.

Is it more profitable to focus on being a manager or on being an expert? The answer is neither! Your business will make the most profit if you think of yourself first and foremost as a marketer.

You are a marketer who also builds houses or a marketer who also runs a restaurant or a marketer who also plays music or a marketer who also does whatever your business entails. If you think of yourself first and foremost as a marketer and develop a passion for it then you will make every decision and take every action based on increasing your share of the potential profit from your market place.

A builder who thinks of himself as a builder will build well for personal pride or to keep the customer satisfied. If that leads to more business it is almost a happy accident.

A builder who thinks of himself as a marketer who also builds will build well as a marketing strategy to gain more business and higher profit business. He will have a system in place to capitalize on the quality of work and gain referrals. He will take before and after photos to use as marketing material. He will hire workers with good people skills as well as good building skills, because he understands that everything he does can potentially build his business or break his business financially.

The business owner who is first and foremost a marketer is focused not only on cost effectively providing the customer with what he wants but also on making sure that the customer is fully aware of all the benefits he is getting by dealing with this particular business. He knows that every customer is potentially repeat business and that every customer knows other potential customers.

A business owner who sees himself first and foremost as a manager or as an expert will rely on the technical expertise of the business to generate customers. The business owner who sees himself first and foremost as a marketer believes that his primary responsibility in the business is to ensure that the business is gaining more customers and better quality customers, then to use the technical expertise within the business to service those customers' needs.

A business owner who is first and foremost a marketer will make a priority of investing a percentage of the business profits into a marketing campaign that builds the size and quality of the customer base. He will also ensure that the business is getting the best returns for each marketing dollar spent because he judges his effectiveness in the business by the growth rate of annual profits.

All self made billionaires are first and foremost marketers and all small businesses that grow into big businesses are the ones that are owned or run by people who see themselves first and foremost as marketers. I wonder how much more profit your business could generate if you became passionate about marketing.

Article Source: http://allentrepreneurinfo.com

Learn how to get rich in just 5 minutes a day with James Delrojo’s “The Busy Person’s Guide to Riches”. Go to http://www.riches.in5minutesperday.com/

by Michael Adams

Owners and executives must be leaders first and managers second. As leaders our task is first and foremost to be about doing the right things, and the “seven deadly sins,” should be on the top of your list as leadership issues you are dealing with on a regular basis. Building a small business is one of the most rewarding, but risky ventures one could possibly venture into.

Most papers on small business deal primarily with financing and risk management, which are only symptoms of the real issues. Your bank account is just the scorecard of how well you have developed your leadership skills relative to accomplishing the “right things.”

This paper will help you avoid many of the costly pitfalls of operating a small business, assuming you heed the advice. Avoiding these pitfalls will in turn help you to conserve cash, develop market share, increase sales, improve customer loyalty, increase employee retention and build efficiencies into your operation.

The “seven deadly sins” include 1) Poor or non-existent business planning; 2) Lack of a strategic objective; 3) Lack of marketing strategies and tactics; 4) Management in the place of leadership; 5) Poor or non-existent systems; 6) Failure to utilize an appropriate leadership style; 7) Care and feeding of sacred cows. Business owners and executives who do not understand them, do not have experience with them and therefore do not appreciate their impact and significance often ignore these critical leadership issues.

Thirty-five years of building and operating small businesses has taught me that most small business problems are not money problems at all, and in fact money is just an indicator that much deeper issues are at play. Beware; the market is a wicked taskmaster, these “seven deadly sins” are like small doses of poison injected into your operation by the very marketplace you are trying to conquer, and they provide a slow painful death to the naive. Here are the “seven deadly sins” in order of priority.

1) Poor Business Planning
Most small businesses do not have even a summary business plan, and of those that do, many are cookie cutter business plans built with the help of a piece of software. At a minimum a business plan should have an executive summary; a company overview with company history and it’s current status; the companies strategic objective; a description of the companies products and services; a list of the companies intellectual properties including patents, copyrights, trademarks, processes and know-how; a market analysis; a competitive analysis, which includes competitors and their market position, and their strengths and weaknesses; a marketing plan, which includes your marketing strategy, product strategy, sales strategy, and pricing strategy; your customer service plan; sales projections by product, in units, for at least three years; and finally a set of financials which include projected income and balance sheets with a Performa sales forecast.

Here are some other important suggestions and facts related to business planning:

• Less than a third of small business startups have a business plan
• A business plan does not have to be incredibly detailed for operational purposes
• It should be a work in progress updated on a periodic basis
• Particular attention should be paid to the marketing plan
• A business plan is part of the first fifteen percent of the business development process which will assure the last eight-five percent will go smoothly
• The executive summary should be written last, after the rest of the plan is in view.

2) Lack of Strategic Objectives
A business strategy is made up of carefully crafted words making up templates, which in turn act as filters through which all planning, tactics and decisions are passed through before implementation. A strategic objective is therefore, a business strategy developed to guide an organization in meeting business objectives. A strategic objective is developed from the owner’s vision, passion, core competencies and values for the business. Contact Emerald Business Services or go to our website for a worksheet you can use to develop these critical business development tools.

3) Lack of Marketing Strategies and Tactics
Marketing strategies govern the development of tactics, which in turn provide the actions items contained within your planning process. The most important aspect of your marketing plan is the development of promotion strategies and tactics, which feed your promotion planning and provide you with sales forecasting data. The promotion plan should also detail costs and anticipated unit volume so you can set priorities and provide sales forecasting data.

4) Management in the Place of Leadership
So why is leadership so important in growing a business? Because leadership is about doing the right things, management is about doing things right . In many ways, it is leadership that will grow your business from a sales and a stability perspective, and management that will make, or keep it profitable. Also, consider that the best companies focus ninety percent of their attention on external issues, not internally , leadership is primarily a focus on the external issues.

5) Poor or non-existent Systems
Most people think of computer systems when they hear the word “system.” But in the since it is used here it means all systems, including the system you use for selecting the right employee, for decision making within a department and so on. One of the more telling statistics in this area is the fact that ninety-four percent of all task or project failures are system failures2. Some of the more common reasons for system failure include:

• Islands of automation verses integrated systems
• Absent or non-existent policies, procedures and user manuals
• Poor training.

6) Lack of Development of Leadership Style
Developing leadership ability has a lot to do with understanding the type of leadership required at different stages of your company’s development. There are at least six different leadership styles identified to be effective at different stages of a company’s development including; Visionary; Coaching; Affiliative; Democratic; Pacesetting; and Commanding Understanding which leadership style to employ has been found to significantly increase the effectiveness, growth and heath of the companies in which leaders utilized multiple styles. Just as important is the understanding of what a leaders personal profile is. Armed with these vital bits of information a leader is equipped to pursue the right leadership style for the task at hand.

7) Care and Feeding of Sacred Cows
I do not have a statistic on the amount of money, time and energy expended on the sacred cows lurking in American businesses, but it has to be staggering. This list details some of the types of sacred cows you can look for in your business.

• The way we have always done it
• The product or service you keep pouring money into because you just know it will take off and be your future, (these are almost never accompanied by market research or even a promotional plan)
• Resistance to growth through change
• Idleness within the ranks, some experts believe ten percent of the poorest performing people should be let go each year to make room for people with fresh insights and ideas
• The company airplane, automobiles, and other perks, which drain company recourses
• The dead weight relatives and friends of the family who would be better off elsewhere, act as distractions, and add nothing to your bottom line
• The “expert” that no one can live with, who holds a noose around the companies neck in the form of some expertise or an unwritten code of loyalty.

You could call this business “101,” however, most of the issues developed in this paper are rarely taught in schools, much less heeded. These “seven deadly sins” can impede your company’s ability to successfully navigate through the turbulent waters of business development. If you do not understand all the issues summarized in this paper, do the research; find a business advisor to help you navigate these storms, you owe it to yourself, your business and the people who count on you.

Conquering the devil in the details is what management is about, concurring the “seven deadly sins of small business” is what leadership is all about. The beauty of developing top-level leadership skills is that there is no downside, only opportunity for growth in both your business and your personal development. Leadership is what the entrepreneurial spirit is all about.

Develop your business plan, establish strategic objectives, establish marketing strategies and tactics, lead, build effective systems, utilize more than one leadership style and kill the sacred cows in your business. It might be the only thing that keeps you and your company from becoming another dreadful statistic.
--------------------------
1. Inc.com article “Most Entrepreneurs Start with . . . No Business Plan”
2. Demming
3. Peter Drucker
4. Allan Weiss
5. Goleman
6. Keeping everything the same and expecting things to change is at least one definition of insanity
7. Call us at (619)985-0799 for a free consultation

Article Source: http://allentrepreneurinfo.com

Michael Adams Ideas and Strategies for Business Emerald Business Services, LLC P.O. Box 1875 Ramona California 92065 (619)985-0799 United States website: http://www.emerald-business-services.com/

by Keith Longmire

Everyone wants to succeed in life. As Small Business Owners you want to succeed in business. No one starts a business of any sort wanting to fail.

Yet the sad fact is that 80% of businesses will fail in the first 3 years of operation.

So what can small business owners do to ensure your success?

Luckily these five simple (never confuse simple with easy), tried and tested steps dramatically increase your chances.

1. Vision

It might seem like management gobbledigook or newage psychobabble but all the evidence is that developing and articulating a vision for your business and life is a major key to success.

Take time out. Really think about what you want from your business and life.

Write it down.

A vision statement should not be long - it doesn't even have to be in words. If you think graphically then capturing your vision graphically could be just what you need. You are striving for a short, to the point description of where you want to be in 1, 2 and 5 years time.

In addition to your financial vision you need to ask yourself some questions:

What will our major products and services be?
What will be our target market?
Will we be market leaders, followers or niche players?
What will our unique competitive position be?
How will we 'know' our ideal customer?
How will we be perceived by our customers?
How will we promote your services to our customers?
An old Japanese Proverb says,

"If you aim at a tree and fall short, you may only hit the ground. If you aim at the sky you may hit a tree."

Make sure you don't set your targets too low.

Just before leaving the subject of 'Vision' - the number one key small business owners achieving your vision is to communicate it widely. Make sure you tell your family and friends. Make it a central pillar in corporate literature. Include it in job descriptions.

The more you communicate your vision the more you demonstrate your commitment and the more likely you are to succeed.

2. Set Out Your Goals

Success means something different to us all. A self-made businessman worth millions of dollars would be thought successful by most. But if that businessman only rarely sees his family, never gets to play golf and spends all of his time on airplanes or in some exotic sounding (but usually antiseptic) hotel, is that really a success? Would that businessman think his life a success?

Possibly, possibly not.

But if that man had set himself goals for his business, private and social lives he at least has some way of measuring his achievements.

Your vision is all about 'what' you are going to achieve. Goals are about the stepping stones to achieving that vision.

Before starting on any endeavour - set your goals.

Make sure your goals are specific enough that you know when you have achieved them. "I want to make lots of money" is weak. "I am going to make $100,000 next year and $200,000 the year after" is much stronger.

The more specific and well articulated your goals the greater your chance of achieving them.

Don't forget to include your private and social goals. Many rich people complain that they have all the freedom that money can buy - but money can't buy the time to enjoy what they have earned.

An old boss of mine from my days in corporate consultancy once observed, "You can't buy back the years of your children's lives". He's right.

Make sure you know what real success would mean to you.

3. Plan, Plan, Plan

If the number one key to success in retailing is location, location and location, the number one key to success in business is plan, plan, plan.

Remember the 5 Ps success model - Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. (When I was taught this in the military there was a 6th P - for the sake of a mixed audience I have left this out. Use your imagination - you'll guess what it was :-))

If you've done your goal setting you know what you are going to achieve. The point of planning is how you are going to do it. Break each goal down into constituent steps needed for its achievement. For each step decide what, who, where and when it is to be done.

Be realistic and make sure that every step is achievable in the time set. Be prepared - when you plan-out all that you need to do, the amount of work can be daunting. Better to know this up-front than sale merrily into a venture only to find it is a huge monster that is going to take you a lifetime to kill.

4. Action Counts

I've seen some beautiful plans. Highly researched, well thought out and presented. I'll talk to a business owner and they'll say, "We've got a plan" and pull it out of the bottom draw of a filing cabinet somewhere.

"So, why aren't you using it", I'll ask. Nine times out of 10 the plan was produced to obtain funding. Lot's of really good work is done but once the money is obtained the plan is put to one side and ignored.

Big mistake. Taking action is the only thing that counts.

Every successfull business I have looked at has clear, current business, operational and marketing plans. It doesn't matter whether your business is offline or online. It's taking action that delivers the results.

5. Another 5 'P's to Success

Passion - You have to believe in what you are doing. No where is this more obvious than on the internet. You can spot the 'me-too' advertisers in a second. The people who succeed are the ones in have passion, who truly believe in what they are doing. Do something that you love.

Push - No matter how good your plan you have to provide a big push to get it moving. Your plan inevitably involves change. Achieving change takes effort. Think of it as if you were trying to move a boulder. To get that boulder up and moving takes a lot of muscle and effort. Once it is moving though it becomes much easier.

Persistence - Getting started is relatively easy. Afterall, you are all fired up with energy and enthusiasm at that time. Few things worth achieving happen over night. Instead, there will be problems, hold-ups and frustrations. Don't allow yourself to become disillusioned or demotivated. You need persistence.

Patience - Results don't happen instantly. Allied to persistence you will need some patience.

Profit - OK, OK it's trite. But follow the steps here, gear yourself to provide these 5 Ps and you will succeed. In business, profit is a measure of your success.

No one can guarantee your success whether in life or in business. But you can dramatically increase your chances of success through these five simple, very well established principles.

The question is, "WILL YOU"?

Article Source: http://allentrepreneurinfo.com

Keith Longmire helps small businesses grow rapidly through online marketing. His website, Breakthrough Business Growth is packed with ideas and solutions to make any business grow.

by Jon Kelly

The gift giving spirit of Christmas time creates a flurry of cheerful and colorful presents, lights and ornaments every year which helps one enjoy this special time of the year. Unfortunately, some of that holiday cheer eventually ends up in the waste paper basket after the presents have been unwrapped and the decorations have been taken down. This year, consider giving a Christmas gift to the planet by making it a point to conserve and recycle. An Earth friendly Christmas is especially appropriate for children, who will enjoy saving the planet while crafting lovely holiday gifts and decorations.

Wrapping paper and Christmas cards are indispensable when you want to create a merry holiday experience for your family and friends. Many people use these paper products only once and then throw them away, where they contribute to the amount of waste on the planet. Some people try to recycle as much of the wrapping and packing paper as possible, along with cards, cardboard boxes and other paper products. But even recycling isn t always the best choice for the environment, and reusing these materials at least once before recycling them will help toward helping the Earth.

By reusing wrapping paper can seem like an obvious way to reduce holiday waste, but there s no need to stop at simply folding up this year s paper to use next year. On the morning of Christmas, while the kids are still in the right mood for cutting and shredding the wrapping paper, let them tear and cut up several different sheets of Christmas wrapping paper and then tape the pieces randomly together to create sheet of Christmas collage paper. If you need to make the process simpler, a leftover piece of plain packing paper can be used as a base to which the kids tape or glue the festive bits of Christmas wrapping paper. When having done this, the children will ensure that next year s wrapping paper is both environmentally conscious and artistically unique.

There are a number of easy ways to reuse Christmas wrapping paper and cards, and children will be fascinated by the variety of decorations and flourishes that can be found on some types of Christmas cards. Many store bought cards now come decorated with durable, sturdy trappings such as gold or silver foil, puffy snowmen, lace, ribbon, glitter and even pieces of colorful plastic. These decorations can be pulled off or cut out of the paper part of the card and glued to cardboard backing to create handmade ornaments for next year s tree. To use this year s Christmas cards as next year s gift wrapping paper, let the kids cut out interesting images and sections from their Christmas cards this year and store the pieces away. Next year, let the kids choose their favorite finds from the old cards and glue them onto wrapped presents or fancy gift boxes. With a little bit of imagination, you can make a Christmas tradition that s creative as well as good for the Earth, imparting environmentally conscious lessons to your kids along with the holiday spirit.

Author Resource:- Jon Kelly is a published author who writes articles on a variety of diverse subjects. This includes articles about Christmas and Christmas decorations. If you would like to get more information and ideas about Christmas Time. Please visit: http://www.greatchristmastime.com/

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