Here is an audio interview I did with ABN - the Australian Businesswomens Network. In the interview I talk about the Basic Business Recipe, how to manage (not cut!) costs and some thoughts about getting your business to work better. Much of what I say is covered in the book. So if you've not bought the book yet, listen as a taster. If you have bought it you might like to hear this short snappy version.

You don’t have to have a big business to have a great business.

What would make you happier? Enticing people to become new customers or loving and nurturing the ones that you’ve got?

Which is better? 100 customers who pay their bills, keep coming back and love what you do or 1000 customers who are hard to manage and ambivalent because you are so busy loving everyone else?

Sam's cupcakes are the best because Samantha making them for you, not 2000 others

Sharon's yoga is the best because she's working on your pose, not filling 100 classes

Are you happy being small? Tell us about your business

I’m reading a book called Nudge. It’s by two economists (but don’t let that put you off). There’s lots of good stuff in the book but my fave so far are these:

 - We are all hopeless at filling in forms. Not because we are stupid, or the forms are hard to complete, but because it is boring and we are procrastinators. Yes!

 - More often than not the ‘default’ selection on a tick-the-boxes choice type thing is actually the best alternative.

I was amazed at this. My natural skepticism had led me to always pick something other than the default option. I have forever thought that the default option was the rip-off option. Seems I was wrong!

The examples in the book are about complicated stuff like choosing superannuation plans, mortgages, health insurance and the like. So I’m not saying you should blithely accept the default option but maybe don’t completely disregard it either.

Last week in the space of 12 hours I went to three very different meet-people events.

The first was a morning tea to raise money for cancer research. Scones, smoked salmon sarnies, tea in china cups, a raffle. We all donated prizes, we all won something and we all had a ball. Came away having definitely made new friendly contacts.

The second was a library book club. I went to talk about How to Bake a Business. The book club wasn’t really a “club” so to speak but rather a group of kitchen table tycoons who saw the event advertised. They didn’t already know each other but within minutes of meeting they were chatting animatedly, exchanging stories, swapping cards and having fun.

The third event was a cocktail-style-do billed as a networking event. It was awful. Friends who had arrived together remained in their huddle. Those foolish enough to arrive on their own were greeted with a mixture of suspicion and disdain. The guest speaker spoke for five minutes about absolutely nothing, while the event host spoke for twenty minutes mostly about herself.

Daily Juice: If you want to meet people don’t go to a networking event. Go instead to an event that has a purpose (a charity thing, an educational conference).  It’s heaps more fun and you will most definitely meet more people.

PS: Guess which of the three was also the most expensive event by far….

In my work I get to have cups of coffee with lots of people; and I love it. But like most people I’m pretty busy so, even though I would like to, I can’t spend my days idly chatting.

When I organise a coffee with someone I like to have pre-thought about something they can help me with and something I can help them with. It’s often not something very big, maybe I can intro them to a useful contact, maybe they can help me get perspective on an annoying little problem.

Whatever, I think a modicum of pre-thought shows respect for time; mine and theirs.

So this week I was alarmed to find myself in two coffee-catch ups that seemed completely purposeless. Yes it was nice to catch up but having trekked half way across town for a 10:30am cappuccino at the request of my coffee buddy I thought it was a little bit less-than when they were stunned into silence by the question “So what can I help you with?”

In case you are wondering (especially the consultants among you), I don’t ask the question so that I can sell something, I ask the question so that I can help with something. After all if there is nothing I can help with why are we getting together?

So if you find yourself on the business-coffee-circuit, make it useful, ask and answer the question “What can I can help you with”

One hundred years ago women spent 58 hours a week on household chores. Although it feels like we still do, apparently we spend something more in the region of 18.

Thank goodness for the vacuum cleaner (1913) the washing machine (1916) the freezer (1947) and the microwave (1973)!

But it’s not just that we don’t have to get down on our hands and knees to broom the floor or suffer from red-chaffed hands from doing the washing. No. These appliances actually changed the options available to women; they freed us up to go out to work. (see how neatly we spend 40 hours less a week doing household chores…methinks we spend that 40 hours at work).

And that’s the beauty of technology. It can replace the dull repetitive jobs to give us the space to work on more interesting things.

Thinking about your business: what is the number one/two repetitive time consuming job that you would like to get rid of? Now go and Google it. You will be amazed, someone somewhere has probably automated it.  Often this technology is cheap and its pay-as-you-go. Wouldn’t you rather be spending your time on the fun stuff, the important stuff, the stuff that will grow your business than business equivalent of washing the clothes?

Daily Juice: find a washing machine for your business

Oh busy busy busy day, so many things to do, so many distractions. That’s why I love this:

 "Perhaps the very best question that you can memorize and repeat, over and over, is, “what is the most valuable use of my time right now?”"

-    Brian Tracy (1944-), Canadian Self-help Author

Another take on it which works for me is asking in the morning "what is the most valuable thing I can do today for my business?". At least that way you get one important thing done to move your business in the right direction!

Here's a clever little way to get more done. Pick three things to do before midday, and do them. The guys at Harvard looked at winning teams and found that those that were winning at half-time had more energy to go the distance. Try it, it works!

Normally I listen to music rather than books when I go for a walk, but I am a woman, I make exceptions. And so last week I found myself, after discovering both audible.com and a particularly must-hear-now book, striding along to the sound of a gravelly American.

The reason that I would not normally countenance listening to a book while walking (or driving for that matter) is that I read a lot of non-fiction and, rather annoyingly, I simply find it impossible to read without making notes. It’s a little like having a nervous twitch, the more I try not to make notes, the more I do.

So although I was willing to give it a go (if only to save time by exercising brain and body simultaneously) I thought I would find the listen-and-walk scenario deeply frustrating; especially as I deliberately didn’t take a notebook and pen with me. Thought it might have looked rather odd.

Anyway, the whole thing was fantastic. I can’t remember much of what the gravelly American said, but something must have been useful, for by the time I got home I had worked up a whole new concept for a business piece.

So I’m going to carry on taking the gravelly American on walks with me, if just to get my brain thinking creatively. And nyway, I can always listen to him again, at home with a pen in hand.

Ideally you would arrange all the stuff on your computer in logical files so you can find it.

Ideally you would back up daily or weekly.

Ideally you wouldn’t get your computer stolen.

It didn’t happen to me but it did happen to my friend Jude yesterday. So after commiserating with her I dashed home to back up. Well it’s taken me all day to reorganise my files into something that resembles a useful order and then to do all that boring backing-up.

But it’s done

Daily Juice: Note to self; save logically and back up