Posts Tagged ‘business owner’
Your health is good business was first published on Women in Focus.
Women in Focus is a recently launched website and initiative by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. It is a place for women to be inspired, informed and connected with other women in business in Australia and around the world. Angela Vithoulkas, CEO of VIVO Cafe Group, will be the Guru on the Business Beat section and will be providing weekly articles on all things small business.
I don’t tolerate my own health weaknesses very well. Yet my major business decisions, plans and moves came from either my own health crisis or those close to me. Although I also acknowledge that I have a very short memory of these milestones and always believe it won’t happen to me….
I’m sure I’ve mentioned once or twice before that I have been in business with my brother all our business lives. We have grown up together literally in the hospitality world. We know what its like to have a health crisis in business and the effect it can have on those around you. And when the one thing that you have always relied on lets you down - YOU, it’s an eye opener.
Friends and business was first published on Women in Focus
Women in Focus is a recently launched website and initiative by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. It is a place for women to be inspired, informed and connected with other women in business in Australia and around the world. Angela Vithoulkas, CEO of VIVO Cafe Group, will be the Guru on the Business Beat section and will be providing weekly articles on all things small business.
As a self employed business owner of many many years, I have gathered some experience along the way and wisdom tends to come from walking a path barefoot, strewn with broken glass. It’s almost a right of passage to have a scar or two. So the subject of doing business with friends has come up a lot. For some it’s almost a mantra “never do business with friends”. And what about doing business with family? That’s a big one and a whole other blog.
Do women find it harder to do business with friends than men? Do we always regret it when it gets too hard or we feel we are about to lose our friendship because someone is getting the better deal and we feel resentful? We have all heard of mates rates but what does that mean for our business?
Reluctant Customers was first published on Women in Focus
Women in Focus is a recently launched website and initiative by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. It is a place for women to be inspired, informed and connected with other women in business in Australia and around the world. Angela Vithoulkas, CEO of VIVO Cafe Group, will be the Guru on the Business Beat section and will be providing weekly articles on all things small business.
How often do we have the opportunity as business owners to observe other businesses’ customers from the inside out? I would be willing to bet not often. I had the opportunity this weekend.
I was MC and facilitator for an expert Wedding Panel at an expo showcase day. Apart from my all consuming day job as a café owner, I also do a lot of speaking and presenting. This time was different because I spent time with the suppliers interviewing them, and observing their customer from their perspective. It was fascinating. Read the rest of this entry »
Chicken Salad, No Chicken was first published in Women in Focus
Women in Focus is a recently launched website and initiative by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. It is a place for women to be inspired, informed and connected with other women in business in Australia and around the world. Angela Vithoulkas, CEO of VIVO Cafe Group, will be the Guru on the Business Beat section and will be providing weekly articles on all things small business.
In my business of food, I find a lot of my daily challenges pretty much sum up life as a business owner. It’s the front line of my business war that dictates my strategy, highlights my problems and often showcases dilemmas that will produce profound change or deliberate denial.
Big Boss or Little Leader was first published in The Leadership Magazine
Are these the only choices in business? Do we go into business or dream about being a business owner just so we can be in charge? For some the answer is YES. For others, if you asked this question of them they would look confused, and they would in fact be the leader you would want.
Business owners come in all shapes and sizes: big dreams, big goals, small dreams, small goals, no goals or no dreams. Some fall into a business, some carefully plan their entry and exit. And some even do it on a whim.
It’s once we are in a business and operating it that we begin to develop our style. This is where the leader or the boss is born. This is where the leader or the boss develops.
As a business owner of more than a couple of decades, I believe I have run the gamut of business emotions. I have had days where I have questioned my sanity, the sanity of those around me and doubted my business.
I have had days where a baseball bat and a shotgun looked like really good solutions. And then there are the days where you really wish you could disappear.
Why are there days like that? In my expert award winning business opinion as an owner of some 26 years; there just are. There are the moments of stupendous lows that are almost too bad to be real, yet they are. And yet we recover, move on or sleep on it. Where we think, reassess and even see the silver lining on the big fat black cloud that somehow completely pissed all over you. Sorry about the language.
It has seemed in the past (and still perhaps) that we have been quiet as business owners with regards to how we are treated by our politicians and government.
We have tended to keep our head down and get on with the job. Our job, our risk, our problems. We are almost pre-disposed to accepting what is dealt to us with little if any opposition. Interest rates going up, up and more up, banks reducing funds access to small business (when we were not the ones over borrowing), our overheads skyrocketing - power, gas, fuel, stock, wages….. When will it end?
I have been travelling around Australia since March for The Commonwealth Bank Small Business Forums with the esteemed Peter Switzer. I have had a lot of fun, learnt a lot and experienced a little peek into the corporate world. I normally do almost zero travelling, after all my business is land locked in Sydney and specifically George St. I’ve never had to struggle with packing or doing three states in two days with six flights. To suddenly become this business traveller has made me appreciate my routine at work and how glad I am to come home and be home.
People have many faces but that’s not to say that they are liars, some just present different parts of themselves at work or in negotiations or even in the day or night. Some people find it hard to blend their personal views with their business agenda and hospitality is a perfect example of that, in fact retail or sales in general as well. Take for example waiters (non gender specific); their job is to be hospitable, welcoming. They are in charge of your customer experience. When they look at you, do they make eye contact? Does their face reflect their feelings or their words? Are they sincere, going through the motions or openly bored and can’t wait to finish their shift?