Blog

Blackburn Accounting was honored to be the Major Sponsor of the Annual State Convention for Toastmasters in Western Australia from 26-28 May 2017.
The Convention was held at the newly renovated Tradewinds Hotel in Fremantle
It was a privilege to support the very talented up and coming speakers in Western Australia.
Some of the highlights were:
• The Keynote Speaker – Gary Schmidt DTM PIP the former International President of Toastmaster International

The highlight of the keynote was The Secrets of Successful Leaders
o Building Personal Relationships
o Communication: Are you building commitment from your member/staff
o Must get buying from stakeholders
o Be a service Leader

• The Workshop presented by Phillippa Henderson on Aligning your body language with your message
o The make up of a message is
     55% body movement (confident and poised)
     38% voice (tone and pauses)
     7% words
o Power of the smile - Can you hear a smile on the phone
o Primal brain is assessing for risk and will have instinctual behavior
o Trust your intuition
o Be Confident
     Personal presentation
     Eye contact
     Inhale confidence
     Exhale Doubt
     Build Trust
     Strong Body Position

• The Workshop presented by - Lee Broomhall in learning from your life experiences in providing Authentic Leadership
That creating opportunity for all people
o Be Authentic – be yourself and know yourself
o Be Genuine – this includes demonstrating your vulnerabilities
o Draw on the experiences of others
o BE interested - listen, acknowledge and serve authentically
o Express authentically – can’t always lead from the crowd. At some point, you need to take action based on what’s in the best interest of stakeholders.
o Be your own leadership story
• We were treated to master class session by Dr. Troy Hendrickson on Leadership Strategies and Techniques

Owning and managing your own family business is rewarding. Yet it can be a stressful and lonely job. So many things to do, so many great opportunities, so little time, such limited resources, so many people, so many problems. Where has it all gone? How long do I keep going? How can I regain control? How I do pass the business on? When can I retire?

The top 12 issues facing family business:

1. Succession planning
2. Family remuneration
3. Ownership structures
4. Family creed
5. Family members not in the business
6. Non-family management
7. Bringing family members into the business
8. Resolving conflicts
9. Strategic planning
10. Financial structures
11. Preserving wealth
12. Retirement and estate planning

I believe this means doing what you say you are going to do.
Have you ever made a promise or commitment to your customer or family member and have not kept that promise?
Commitment is the basis for trust, which is the foundation of all relationships.
On the other side if you break your commitments it equates to destroying trust. We all at some stage breaks our commitments.
In order for Samurais to maintain the tradition of “honour” they must keep their commitments no matter the consequences. (Compassionate Samurai by Brian Klemmer)
The consequences of not keeping your commitments include:
• Money
• Time
• Friendships
• Health; and
• Anything that really matters


What is important is to acknowledge this failing and speak to the effect people to re-establish the commitment. All it takes is one simple telephone call.
I find if I ever break a commitment to something I have promised I will email or make a phone call those effected and speak to them and recommit.
The other thing I have done is that I have engaged in mentors and have hired employees to help deliver and meet all the commitments that I make.
Tell us what you do to ensure you keep your promises?

1. Identify opportunities for your business's growth and improvement rather than simply look at your historical figures
2. Provide idea on how to make those opportunities work
3. Help you identify your vision for the future of your business, your goals and the steps to get you there
4. Help you create a regularly updated action plan to achieve those goals
5. Show you how to better involve and build your team so they treat their work as more than just a job
6. Offer dynamic customer service training for your team
7. Offer assistance on how to convert more sales over the phone or face to face
8. Provide feedback and new ides on your marketing and advertising to generate a much better return for your dollar
9. Build key performance indicators for your business to make it run like clockwork
10. Proactively monitor your progress on a monthly basis so you can adjust quickly to maximize profits
11. Help you establish systems that allow you to take the pulse of your business better control your activities and know exactly where you stand at all times
12. Find ways to help you work ON your business rather than IN it, and so help you realize a better quality of life and give you more free time
13. Work to constantly increase your personal wealth
14. Institue strategies for the future-making your business more valuable

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