22 SW 3rd Avenue Portland Oregon, U.S.A.

Whilst walking through the Old Town district of Portland Oregon last weekend, I saw the long queue of people out on the sidewalk and down the street.  Just as I was starting to think there was free beer, I saw an inconspicuous doorway and a sign over it saying, “VOODOO DOUGHNUT the magic is in the hole”.

I noticed the pink boxes before I took notice of the many people walking around downtown Portland.  Once again “VOODOO DOUGHNUT the magic is in the hole”.

It just goes to show how a great product presented in a crazy fun way which, in this case satisfies just about every cake, doughnut, sugar, chocolate and candy craving all at once. And it’s available 24/7.

I take my pink hat off to the creative business genius of  founders Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson and Tres Shannon.  There is not much more I an say except check it out for yourself at http://voodoodoughnut.com

My north American business adventure continues

Gary

Business coaching Brisbane, Australia

gary@garyweigh.com

The post Featured Business first appeared on Gary Weigh.

If you can’t get away from your business for a holiday, maybe you don’t have a business at all.  The majority of people who say they are in a small business are in fact self-employed.  That means you are the business and without you, there would be no business.  It also means that you have little to sell when you retire.

A real business is one which will run smoothly with you or without you.  It is also a valuable retirement asset.  Being able to take a holiday is the true test of whether you have a business or not.  If you can’t take a holiday, you are probably self-employed.

So if you want a real business, start building one.  If you don’t know how simply visit www.garyweigh.com or call Gary on 0408 756 531 and ask how.

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The post Can you take a holiday from your business? first appeared on Gary Weigh.

“Protection is critical!”

A young work-at-home business Mum with an inoperable brain tumour has less than 12-months to live.  She has no partner to support her and is unable to continue working.  She has a personal loan, two maxed-out credit cards and little cash savings to fall back on.  She relies on charity and the financial generosity of friends.

Her greatest regret is that she can no longer provide for her young children.  She is distraught at the prospect of what might become of them after she passes away.  She knows she is leaving them in poverty.

A friend asks her if she has any insurance.  She discovers that she has a small amount of life insurance through her last employer’s superannuation fund.    That will help her children a little after she has gone but is of no use to her while she is alive.

She has no Total & Permanent Disability insurance (TPD), critical illness (trauma) insurance or income protection, all of which could have helped her while she is alive.

She doesn’t know it but had she held her life insurance policy outside superannuation, she may have qualified for a terminal illness lump sum benefit in advance of the death benefit.  Benefits like this are not always available in superannuation.

Whilst financial planning and insurance advice can’t cure her inoperable brain tumour, it will solve the problem of dying with nothing; or worse, dying with nothing but debt.

For business & personal financial advice tailored to your needs call Gary personally on 0408 756 531

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When you start a new business, there are several challenges to face and money is not the most important.  When starting out, you are likely to be on your own and running your business on the total sum of your own knowledge and experience.  If you have never been in business before you could face an uphill battle.  Typical problems include:

• Still stuck in ‘employee’ thinking
• Lack of confidence through inexperience
• Lack of marketing and financial management skills
• Having to do everything and defaulting to the easy things
• No business friend or colleague to talk to or bounce ideas with

You don’t have to do it alone.  Two heads are better than one, right?  For $49.97 per month subscription, you can access MyProsperityForum where you can pick up valuable tips, ask questions, bounce ideas, or get a second opinion.

If you need more then sign up for a little business coaching just until you pick up momentum.

Business coaching Brisbane

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The post Get an online business buddy first appeared on Gary Weigh.

This is a question worth pondering.  Going bigger in business is not always better.  Your business only has to be big enough.  But big enough for what I hear you think!  Big enough to achieve the goals you set at the start.

The ideal size of your business is something that should be included in your start-up business planning.  You may not have all the answers but at least you should recognise that, with success, the problem is likely to arise.

For example, if you own a home business, the size of your house defines the physical limits of your business.  You don’t want it spilling over onto the footpath, while customers fill the street with their cars.

However, business growth is not always a voluntary decision.  After all, business is supposed to be driven by demand.  If you have something interesting to sell and people know about it, they will generally sign up.  The problem is that once you gain momentum it is hard to stop.

When you do decide to grow bigger, voluntarily or not, you come to realise that there are many interpretations of the concept of ‘bigger’.  For example, it can mean:

• More products
• More people
• Bigger premises
• More physical storage
• More digital storage
• More / bigger / better equipment
• More IT / online technology
• Replicating more of the same (franchising)

Which one is right for you depends on your needs and the needs of your business.

A word of warning!  One of the ironies of demand driven expansion is that a business can go broke doing it.  Sudden expansion can quickly drain cash that should be operating costs.

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The post To grow big or stay small? first appeared on Gary Weigh.

As we live longer and work less, reliance on superannuation alone to provide an income in retirement looks increasingly bleak. Time spent in retirement or at least away from full time work could be up to 35 years.  For many people, time in retirement will equal or exceed time at work.  Financing such a time span will be an enormous challenge, even for the financially astute.

It is hard to imagine anyone being content to stay home for three decades or so.   Retirement should mean that work is replaced by enjoyment of life.  Committed time at work should be replaced by free time at home.  Regular employment income into the retiree household should be replaced by alternative income streams.

In retirement, discretionary spending can rise significantly.  It is a time for trips, holidays, pastimes and generally having fun.  Unfortunately, poor health and the need for aged care can add other significant layers of expense.

For most Australians, the traditional retirement income streams include a pension from a super fund, supplemented by the Age pension via Centrelink.  For the greater majority that won’t be enough.  It may be necessary to build other passive investments and to consider an active investment, such as a business.

However, older people need to be careful that a new business started later in life is not labour intensive.  Nor should it occupy every waking moment.  For those who want to travel as well, it needs to be flexible enough to operate from anywhere in the world.  Therefore, it must have a strong commitment to portable computer technology, instant online communication and internet marketing.

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The post Designing a prosperous retirement first appeared on Gary Weigh.

10 lame excuses for not saving money:

1. I’m too busy to think about it
2. I have nothing left to save
3. I have too much debt to put money into savings
4. I intend to live fast and die young
5. I want to enjoy the here and now; I might not be here tomorrow
6. I’d like to save money for a rainy day but it hasn’t rained in months
7. I’m too young; I’ll do it later when I’m old
8. I’m old now; it’s too late to make a difference
9. I save thousands each year and the tax man takes it
10. I don’t need to save because I’m planning on winning the lottery

For quality business coaching Brisbane call Gary on 0408 756 531

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The post 10 lame excuses for not saving money first appeared on Gary Weigh.

1. Stop watching the evening news.  It is the same each day; all bad news apart from the standard kitten rescue story; more crime, more scams, more accidents; more people killed and injured; politicians still scrapping; share market going up or down; and the value of the dollar still fluctuating
2. Think about what you would do if it was your job to research and present the nation’s good news.  For a start, you would have to turn off your police CB radio and stop following ambulances.  Secondly, you could look past today and lengthen your time frame from a day to a month.  Thirdly, you could appoint yourself as the researcher and editor of “Monthly Good News and Innovation”.  There is plenty of good news and positive stories out there.
3. Quit short term thinking.  Nothing worthwhile is ever going to happen in a day.  It is the daily routines that inhibit lateral living
4. You must get out of the house or the office; that’s where the rest of the world is.  It is also where all of the opportunity is.  Join a club, go walking, play a sport; do something different (and enjoyable) to kick start your emergence from the rut
5. Start seeing the world through different eyes.  Do some travel, learn new skills and meet new people outside of your normal group, and even outside your home town, state or country

The post Do different to see different first appeared on Gary Weigh.

Gary Weigh

When I first read bullying story, I was gobsmacked.   This is hard to top!

“This is about a sociopathic office bully called Colin.   Affectionately known as ‘Col’ by his legion of enemies, Colin was a senior manager in a prominent service company who could be best described as a boorish and obnoxious pig.   When introduced to a new employee, he would simply look up from his desk and tell the new incumbent to “get f***ked”.  Nothing more!  Colin thought accessing private information and calling an employee’s home phone at 2.30am to ask the whereabouts of a file was hilariously funny.   He would then proceed to harass and bully the sleepless employee next day. 

Fat and balding, and obviously with a house full of concave mirrors, Colin also fancied himself as a lady’s man.  To make him look tougher and more rugged, he rode a Harley Davidson bike.   To complete the delusional self image, he strongly hinted at being a Vietnam veteran even though he is too young by a decade. But undeterred, he would phone a male employee’s home at what he thought was bedtime for the express purpose of chatting socially with the employee’s wife.  Does he remind you of the loser would-be spy from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie ‘True Lies’?”

Keep sending them in!

The post This bullying story is hard to top first appeared on Gary Weigh.

Talk about closing the door on a bully boss.  After putting up with her boss’s harassment and manipulation for too long, a fed up worker evened up the score card.  The bully boss had swung his body around the corner from her office into the doorway of the office next door.   Unfortunately, he was still gripping the door jamb of the office he had just exited.  It was never established whether Ms. Fedup saw the bully boss’s fingers in the door jamb or not, but she simply walked over and closed her office door – hard.  Oh my … what a terrible accident!  He couldn’t flip the left hand bird for quite a while.

The post Another workplace bully story first appeared on Gary Weigh.