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Content Queen

ANNA KOCHETKOVA

Russian born Australian, Anna has been storytelling from the day she started talking. Anna was brought up on stories and fables (one of the few benefits of growing up without television) which shaped her views on life.

When Anna was 10 years old she wanted to be a Peter Pan. However, she discov-ered a video camera at the age of 13 and was certain she’d be a famous documen-tary producer. As times went on, Anna was in high school, when she decided to fol-low her dream of becoming a lawyer. Thankfully, that dream didn’t last for too long. She got accepted to one of the Moscow universities embarking on a 5 year journey or assignments and exams.

Anna’s first master degree in journalism and communications was infused with tra-ditional (and quirky) subjects such as chess, skiing, advanced math, alongside with literature, languages, journalism, logic, and many more. Her second master degree in journalism and communications was completed in Sydney (UNSW). Anna’s collec-tion was eventually topped up with a bachelor degree in business.

Anna arrived to Australia in 2008. She has been working and living marketing since. She is crazy about creating content that is impactful and achieves outstanding re-sults. She carries a selfie stick in her purse, loves cats’ videos and owns a yellow belt (yep, in martial arts).

@ T h e C o n t e n t Q

ABOUT ANNA

You are a very talented entrepreneur or business owner passionate about your busi-ness. You are a starting up tech, fashion, food, fitness or maybe finance genius. Whether you are launching a new app or opening your third office, you are here because you want to tell your story and want it to be heard.

You are really good at what you do. You provide awesome products or services. You understand that in today’s market content marketing, blogging and storytelling are a crucial part of your overall marketing plan. You know that an engaging story can grab attention catching more eyeballs than any other form of marketing.

We Are in The Storytelling Business

The problem is you absolutely have no idea how to tell your story, you dislike writing, you don’t enjoy squeezing all these writing ideas every week, you simply don’t have enough time and not sure what else you can do to improve your overall marketing. You want someone who gets it all to make your business look and sound good.

Welcome to Content Queen, a content marketing hub for busy entrepreneurs and business owners, here you can learn how content marketing works, what it encom-passes, how to utilise it in your business, see how others do it... and if you cannot be bothered learning it, we can do it for you.

CONTENT QUEEN

TOP 10 DEMONS TO FACEWHEN STARTING UP A BUSINESS

1. Fear of success. Susanne Babbel, Ph.D.,M.F.T. in Somatic Psychol-ogy, wrote that many of us have been conditioned to believe that the road to success involves risks such as “getting one’s hopes up” - which threatens to lead to disappointment. As Hugh MacLeod pointed out, success is more complex than failure, which makes it scary. Achieving success (whatever definition you give it) means dealing with uncer-tainty.2. Fear of failure. As Melanie Miller, a business coach, says, if anyone criticises your product or service you will die a little inside. This is very similar to start-up businesses never really becoming big as they are scared of failure.3. Fear of rejection. Similar to failing, even a small rejection can hurt. You feel like you have been rejected, says Melanie, if someone says no to purchasing your product or service because even though they are saying “no to a product or service” you are hearing “they don’t like me”, “they think I am not good enough”, “I didn’t do enough”, “I am not enough”. Entrepreneurs know that there are thousands of reasons why someone might not buy and it has very little to do with their own personality.4. Fear of stepping out of your comfort zone. No doubt starting your own business is not a common routine, which means leaving your comfort zone. Our comfort zone is an artificial mental boundary, which gives us a sense of security. Although the comfort zone is an artificial boundary, there’s plenty of research and science to back up its exist-ence and effects on human performance.5. Fear of having to learn so many new skills at once. According to Maite Barón, the author of the award-winning book ‘Corporate Escape: the Rise of the New Entrepreneur’, when you go into business you will have to acquire a range of skills that you most likely don’t already have. If you don’t see it as an exciting challenge, becoming an entre-preneur will seem like an uphill struggle.

6. Fear of doing the wrong thing. Nobody likes to get things wrong, but it happens, and everyone in business makes mistakes from time to time. Virtually all successful business people have had failures, things have gone wrong, and they’ve been left to pick up the pieces. The secret is, says Maite, a reputable entrepreneur coach, to develop re-silience and to rebound.7. Fear of what others will think. It’s always good to have the support of others when trying anything new. So if others think that going into business is a foolish idea, that’s not helpful.8. Fear of unfinished goods. Mark Sargent, an information technology and services’ account manager, claims that one of the biggest fears that start-ups face is that their product is not 100% ready for the mar-ket. Therefore, they hold off that little longer for release. A new product doesn’t need to be perfect to be out there, it simply needs to be out.9. Fear of the better other. Managing Director from Hello Social - a digi-tal marketing agency - Max Doyle raised another curious issue some new business owners face at the beginning of their journey. He talked about a fear of other people being better at what they do or possessing more when starting up. Max’s biggest fears were around other people having a better pitch, better office or more experienced staff than he had when he was starting up.10.Fear of the wrong time. Although fairly unreasonable, many peo-ple are worried about getting into business at the wrong time. There are many environmental factors including politics and economy which make people hesitant. People are incredibly good at reasoning their decisions, therefore you can often hear someone saying “this is just not the right time to go into business”. However, as a Chinese proverb says, ‘the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time is today’.

Starting up a new business is like sailing off on a new adventure. A lot of your future is unknown, and there are trials and errors and of course a number of fears to deal with.Apart from the unknown and the errors, fear is something we can actually deal with. Often with the help of Neuro-Linguistic Program-ming or other brain rewiring techniques we can turn our fears around and move on fearlessly.Identifying and facing your fears means you’re half way to overcoming them. Here is a list of the most common fears many people go through. If you can identify any of these, start working on them now.

The fear associated with starting a business is not irrational like a phobia. In fact, it is very rational. Thoughts many of us go through such as “What if I lose all my money?” or “What if my family won’t support me?” or “What if this is a dead idea?” can put a stop to the development of even the best business ideas. In fact, this is exactly why many great ideas never take off.The most successful entrepreneurs in the world are not afraid to take a risk. However they are not irrational. They believe their idea will work. Getting the right amount of confidence and a top notch business plan are the secrets of fearless business starters.

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STARTING UP WITH YOURSIGNIFICANT OTHERLove is amazing! Love can build cities but it can also destroy businesses. If you’re considering starting a company – even if this is your second or side business – with your spouse or significant other, make sure to run through all the potential scenarios and, of course, document the outcomes in order to avoid headaches down the track. There is a lot that can potentially go wrong. Let’s run through some of the scenarios to be well prepared.

In order to be successful together and remain together, you will have to work together and be extremely open to compromise.To start with, write your future vision. Both of you should write down what you want to accomplish. What are your goals? Where would you like the business to be in five years? When you’re done, share your notes. If your visions are similar, great! If not, you will need to create common objectives for what you want to achieve in the business. It has to be something you can both be inspired and excited about. This is a crucial step and has to be done before even thinking of your business structure or funding.A couple, who can’t compromise on minor issues such as what kind of printer to buy, is going to have difficulty resolving the many problems that will inevitably crop up as the business grows. If you constantly argue about small problems, you might find it almost impossible to decide on partnerships, investments and other crucial business decisions. It is important to set up and regu-larly review the roles and rules and, of course, follow the rules. Moreover, any business partners, especially couples, will always be ahead of the game if they commit to regularly reviewing their company’s performance during the and come up with plans for improvement.Make sure your children and homework are taken care of. Pro-crastination and distractions are especially persistent during dif-ficult times. If you are serious about your new venture, arrange a babysitter or childcare facilities, and don’t be distracted while doing business. Even if you’re working from home, you need to separate home from work in order to get your work done.If you feel like the ship is going down it is easy to just leave the

sinking wreck. This might not be the best approach. Therefore, plan your exit strategy before even starting your business. This will save you time, nerves and potentially your relationship.Money is one of the common causes of divorce. Cash flow tends to be the number one challenge for new businesses. Put some money aside so you don’t need to stress about your bills. Money saved in your personal emergency fund ahead of time will save you from problems later on. Not having to worry about money will definitely help you to get through hard times, which are almost inevitable in any business venture.Discuss how you both feel about risk taking and criticism. Men and women are incredibly different in how they handle difficult situations. Neither is worse than the other; they’re just different from one another. Misunderstanding or misinterpretation is the last thing you want to go through. Discuss different scenarios and share your feelings about them. Bringing in real life examples can assist in triggering the emotions you would like to work on. Talking to each other honestly and openly will save your business and your relationship.Deal with it and then drop it is one of the important strategies you will have to adopt in your household if you want to succeed. If something keeps upsetting you and is still unresolved, it will most likely affect your business health in a negative way.

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage,” Lao Tzu once said. However, business also requires rationality, patience and well-communicated strategies and planning. As Albert Einstein pointed out, “gravita-tion is not responsible for people falling in love,” so make sure you have both feet strongly on the ground when entering into a business with your spouse or significant other.




HOME REMODELING: DO’S & DON’TSWhen you’re remodeling your home you should really watch yourself. While some remodeling jobs can be easily achieved in several hours or days, others require special knowledge, skills, tools and extra time.Utilising your old furniture or transforming your old sink into an outdoor fountain might be not the hardest task you’ve ever performed. However, the plumbing project behind it might be worth getting a specialist for. Home renovation is a creative and exciting process which can quickly turn into a nightmare if handled unprofessionally.Home remodeling is on the rise, and so are DIY projects. Although remodeling your home yourself can save you money, it’s best to leave some jobs to an expert. If you’re on a mission to conquer home remodeling yourself, let’s look into the areas that require extra attention.

1. External painting can seem to be an easy job. Do not be fooled! In order to paint a roof, for example, you need to make sure it is clean. A roof with a smooth surface, for example galvanised iron, could be washed much easier with a broom, some detergent and a hose to wash it off after. Other surfaces might require high pressure cleaning. So if you’re painting an iron roof, you will also need to wash it with a degreaser before you start. You will need to apply two coats of suitable paint, and let the first one dry a lit-tle before applying the second one. Your colour choice is a very personal decision of course; however remember, lighter colours will reflect the heat and darker colours absorb the heat. Airless spraying or rollers is up to you, depending on where your skills are stronger. Painting a tiled roof is a different story.2. Window replacement is a seemingly small job, which can save you heaps of time and nerves if delegated to someone who knows what they are doing. Small but tricky therefore is often not recommended to be DIY-ed without some professional advice.3. Driveway facelift is a tedious project that requires plenty of math skills and patience for installation that can easily take a week when attempting to do it yourself. Hiring a professional should only take a day to complete.4. Demolishing or wall removal should never be a DIY project unless you are on ‘The Block’ and Scotty Cam is watching your every move. Beyond the risks of asbestos, lead paint dust and other hazardous materials, do you really know what’s behind the walls of your home? Gas pipes, water lines and live electrical wires are just a few of the dangers you could experience during your enthusiastic DIY hammering.

5. Electrical jobs might seem easy if you are simply moving cords around. By all means, feel free to remodel your wiring position behind the couch. However when it comes to the installation, think twice. Improper installation can cause fires and put your en-tire household at risk. You’re playing with fire while you’re doing the installation – a major electrical shock can kill you.

There are a lot of home remodeling tasks you could complete yourself without totally destroying your home and killing yourself.

1. Internalpainting,includingfurniture.2. Wall or floor tiling can be done yourself. It won’t be a very easy job but it’s definitely doable.3. DIY furniture is probably the most creative part of your home remodeling adventure. Using old furniture, painting it orreconstructing it, adding new elements or stripping it down to the basics. Whatever DIY furniture project you have in mind can be tackled on your own. However, advice from an experienced reno-vation professional would be really handy.4. Small kitchen touches including new switch plates, vent covers and towel rods that are easy to remove and reinstall.5. Add wainscoting yourself. You will basically need to purchase the wainscoting (according to your measurements)along with a coordinating baseboard and rail, and some glue or nails to put it up. Job done!

Whatever job is ahead, stay calm and carry on working. If you need quick professional advice, call renovation professionals.




GAMING IS A DISEASE ORA PERSONAL CHOICE?Modern technology and new inventions bring a lot of excitement into any society. With the pride of technological advancement comes a certain degree of disappointment when released and implemented. Computer game addiction is basically entertainment technology achievement taken too seriously. Playing unhealthy amounts of computer games or excessive gambling is one of the modern health issues caused by the technological development in the multimedia design and drafting industry.

The increase of engagement in the virtual world, especially among younger citizens is phenomenal. This leads to many peo-ple being diagnosed with gaming addictions – playing too much is officially a disease. However, how do you distinguish between a playful afternoon and a destroying addiction?Although science manages to diagnose people with gaming ad-dictions, there are no official diagnoses. However, there is a com-monly agreed on list of symptoms to look for when identifying an addict.When children or teenagers spend too much time in front of the blue screen killing monsters and terrorists it often affects their school grades because they lose focus and interest. Additionally, their family connection might weaken due to the lack of interest. Adults often struggle with work; and their productivity decreases when they get carried away with building Rome or solving virtual puzzles. One of the most noticeable symptoms is disconnection with their usual engagements such as sport, social commitments or family events; avoiding home, school and work commitments.Gamers often stay up late to continue playing their games. Com-puter games are often overly engaging, which makes the players ignore time of the day, tiredness or even hunger and thirst.This alarming behavior can result in addicts hurting themselves. Not enough sleep, dramatic lack of nutrition due to poor eating habits, disconnected relationships, neglected commitments and

many other consequences are often blamed on graphic design-ers creating virtual worlds where many kids and adults often get stuck in.However, as well as junk food, tobacco or alcohol, gaming is just another fad which is in demand among people with addictive per-sonalities. Many argue that it is a free choice for everyone wheth-er to expose themselves to a virtual world or ignore it. There are as many people who are bored with computer games as there are gaming junkies.The creation of virtual realities is a valuable technological achievement which made architecture, building and construc-tions much easier than it was for example back in Ancient Egypt. Gaming is a smart business decision of entrepreneurs who were quicker than others introducing alternative reality for everyone interested in escaping the current one.


Kemnor Sure Group is a MEPF (mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire) services coordination and draft-ing services company that provides quality services to many tier 1 and 2 contracting companies, as well as smaller design and construction companies.

MOST UNUSUAL YET POPULARCOSMETIC SURGERIES


Getting virginity back is probably not a surprising procedure anymore. However there is another interesting surgery called hymenoplasty which is basically re-shaping women’s outer lip to improve G-spot sensation.

If intimate body parts do not require any work to be done, eyes can now be changed permanently, the color to be precise. Intraocular implants are designed for it. The surgery involves a lot of risk and initially was meant to be performed for people having problems with their sight. However as it often happens in business world, this procedure has been adjusted by a beauty industry offering permanent color change for anyone who does not want to deal with contacts.

For some women it might be not an issue but many ladies master their perfection at any age. Earlobe reduction or enhancement is another popular procedure which is ques-tioned by many. Ear lobes get longer as you age but carry on wearing heavy earrings. Injectable fillers, such as Juvaderm or Radiesse, can give an immediate rejuvenation effect to the earlobes that may last as long as a year.

Many people are trying to get rid of fat by approaching differ-ent cosmetic surgeries. While they are fighting extra fat in their bodies, others are injecting it in their bums. Buttock implants are made of fat, removed from other body parts and used to make bums rounder.

Nipple removal is another unusual and yet popular cosmetic procedure. For any extreme body modification enthusiasts’ nipple removal is one of the most popular plastic procedures. Although the surgery is painful, bloody and useless the interest is growing and especially male patients keep coming back for more.

For many people plastic surgery is a part of their life character. Some people want to look like Barbie doll and others like Vam-pires. The beauty industry is always here to meet the demand offering appropriate services. Vampire teeth implants require pulling out the original teeth and getting fake implants surgically inserted into the gums.

Some people really struggle living without a twin brother or a sister that get Look-Alike plastic surgery which is basically com-prehensive cosmetic surgery for anyone really wanting to look alike their best friend.

Nowadays, plastic surgery is one of the main streams in the beauty industry, nothing surprises doctors or observers any longer. Sometimes surgery is the only way to fix injury or a defect but sometimes it is going over the tops. People say that plastic surgery is addictive and many patients never stop on one procedure coming back for more.

No matter how ridiculous each new surgery we think is, the beauty industry continues to surprise us every day; now even offering pet’s plastic surgery.

Refine Cosmetic Surgert Clinic

Refine Cosmetic Surgery Clinic pro-vide cosmetic procedures in a highly professional service in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.


FOUR TURNING BACK TIMETECHNIQUES: BREAST LIFT

Very large and heavy breasts (with or without implants), fare skin with significant sun damage, often smoking, stretch marks, large weight gains and losses, not wearing a bra, severe medi-cal illnesses and certain underlying medical problems can force breasts to lose their firmness with time. Breast feeding can also make breasts softer losing their shape and sometimes volume. Although volume can be enhanced by augmentation or breast implants, sometimes breast lift can be enough.

Although time is constantly ticking, many women keep looking for the anti-ageing spell. Nobody has invented one yet; however there are other options to freeze youth for a little longer.The results of breast lift will vary depending on the kind of lift you require.

There are four major types of breast lift:1. So called, lollipop lift named after the lollipop-shaped incision made from crease of the breast vertically and surrounds the nip-ple. Not everyone needs such procedure; however women with low hanging breasts would most likely require this type of lift.

2. Another option is crescent lift which is also known as donut lift. These types of breast lift are least invasive. It requires circular or crescent cut around the nipple areola, removing some skin around and repositions the nipple higher up on the breast. It is a perfect option for women with asymmetry between nipples or breasts.

3. The most effective procedure is full breast lift or also known as anchor lift which leaves a scar around areola. The procedure if highly effective for larger breasts women who would also prefer to reduce in size in order to cease pain and back pain.

4. Finally, circumareolar lift, or benelli lift is similar to donut lift however the difference is that when the cut is completed, the skin is purse-stringed to tighten it. The procedure is often used in cases of less severe nipple asymmetry.

Everyone is looking for the best results with least scaring and discomfort. Although it is almost impossible to have ideal outcomes, it is definitely important to have individual approach to each single case in order to enhance the results, bringing discomforting conse-quences to minimum or none. Always get a professional advice before choosing the surgical procedure. Only a certified professional can identify the type of breast lift you need.

Mastopexy or a surgical mammoplasty procedure is designed to raise sagging breasts. Lifting breasts often adjusts their shape, counter and size, enhancing the look and the feel. Breasts lift can also fix a nipples position problem in certain cases, forcing it to point forward again, restoring a youthful and healthy appearance.

Refine Cosmetic Surgert Clinic



BREAST ARGUMENTATIONLOCAL PROCEDURE VS MEDICAL TOURISM

Nowadays when doctors are pushing many new techniques and materials for, for example, the fat grafting which means cutting belly and bottom’s fat out to use as breast implants, custom-ers must be careful with what they agree on. Some novelties might be highly beneficial whereas others plane dangerous. With 16,000 breast augmentation jobs performed all over Australia last year, more and more women are swinging towards getting breast implants.

New approaches such as fat grafting or potentially risky conse-quences are least of your worries if you are leaving your body in highly professional hands of skilled surgeons. However many women go on holidays and get breast augmentation performed in Thailand, India, Borneo, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The horrify-ing stories of young women getting infections during procedures overseas are only getting darker. Many women almost died try-ing to save money on cosmetic surgery, ending up spending thousands of dollars more that what it initially costed hoping to fix the disfigured work of unqualified foreign doctors. Going on holidays and fixing breasts’ problems for less than half a Sydney surgeries’ price sounds amazing and would have been great if it was true. Going on holidays hoping to get breasts implants done cheaply might cost you your life.

Australian surgeons are highly regulated. It will take years for anyone to become a plastic surgeon in Australia only after a completion of professional training and hours of observations working shoulder to shoulder with senior doctors. Many women don’t even know that if something goes wrong overseas, they are rarely in power to rectify their problem. Australia has no jurisdic-tion beyond its boarder.

Unfortunately overseas doctors often perform so known cheap version of many procedures including face lift, breast augmenta-tion and many others. As a result, the work is often either per-formed poorly or not even finished properly leaving patience alone tackling the consequences themselves.

Breast augmentation is a delicate procedure which requires skills and experience as well as equipment and medication. About 1 per cent of implant patience experience complications during or after the procedure which can be fixed easily in most cases. However it is often neglected by overseas doctors who are luring patience offering lower prices and exotic holidays experience in one package.

Do not be deceived, look after yourself and always consult with accredited professionals. Feel free to visit our FREE consultation to discuss your situation <ph number>.

It is rather psychological than physiological to decide on breast augmentation. Many professionals suggest you start asking yourself questions before your proceed researching about various boob jobs. From the moment you decided to go ahead onwards, you ought to conduct an extended research in the industry. At the end of the day, it is your health and you want to make sure that cos-metic surgery will only enhance your living.Refine Cosmetic Surgert Clinic



HEALING POWERS OF TRAVELLINGFor all the ‘Eat Pray Love’ followers, there are three healing travel destinations: Italy, India and Bali. Many people attempted to find new meaning in life, stuffing themselves with pizza in Italy, practicing yoga in India and getting drunk in the comfortable resorts of Bali.

All jokes aside, travelling does in fact have healing powers. Leav-ing the comfort of a familiar environment and your own house, to explore a new place surrounded by an unusual snowy moun-tains’ panorama, a lazy sunny beach picture or a chilled rain for-est adventure can be daunting for a lot of people. However, this kind of stress is good for us.

There are many reasons travelling is good for us, including im-proving your geography skills to developing better problem solv-ing ability when getting lost in Bangkok. Travelling often assists in expanding ourselves. As soon as we are away from our comfort zone, we start finding new ways of dealing with uncomfortable new culture. We develop new skills and capacities while trying out different approaches in different situations.

For some people, visiting a new country means satisfying curios-ity and finding a new meaning in their lives. It often enhances self-confidence as we get better navigating on a foreign land. For everyone not being able to follow instructions well and conquer task after task, travelling is an amazing healing tool teaching how accomplish all of these difficult things.

Apart from developing skills, we thought we’d never have an op-portunity to do – like learn a new language and culture, we also meet new people. How can that be healing? Humans love to so-cialise. We often surround ourselves with many friends and rela-tives to feel secure, loved and to be able to share our thoughts and feelings. Meeting new people often brings new beginnings, new points of view and opinions. It will give you new perspectives on already known experiences or unknown facts. If you happen to be between jobs, relationships, universities, countries or any-thing, meeting an absolutely different person can open a whole new world of opportunities.

For everyone travelling as volunteers to Third World countries, helping children from poor villages to get through the school, sav-ing gorillas from being slaughtered or researching the number of tigers in a particular area, travelling is a remedy for anything whether it is a lethal disease or having mild depression.

Do not forget that travelling always finishes with some great stories we love sharing with our relatives and friends. Our freshly gained experience can trigger someone else to do something different, including travelling or choosing a different university or accepting a new job offer. Bringing a new experience home can often be useful for all the beloved ones and people around you. Travelling is something everyone should do. Travelling has healing powers for anyone sick, sad or seeking new adventure.

Most experienced and much-loved student and youth travel company. Antipodeans abroad is specialising in volunteer work overseas, gap year programs and educational travel.


ELEGANT TIPS FORSUCCESSFUL BUSINESS WOMENNowadays women often hold much more powerful positions in the workplace, conquering mainly male business industries. For those who still want to remain fashionable in this masculine world, the fashion industry has adapted its practices to facilitate this change in the business world.

While many in the business world dress in black and grey suits, women can prefer slightly more relaxed fashion choices. Some professional business women prefer to keep up with men and often fill their wardrobes with black. Business looks often differ from level to level within one company. Interestingly, managers, both males and females, prefer dark blue colours to be perceived as more serious and focused people. People one step lower in the employment hierarchy might have a slightly more colourful dress code.

In regards to accessories, men often have one or two expensive accessories on their persona often to demonstrate their status: cufflinks and a watch. For women, it is a case of less is more, women look more professional with less dangling accessories on them. It is generally accepted to have one or two almost un-noticeable pieces. However an elegant watch and diamond cuf-flinks would also suit any business woman.

Keeping your look fresh and tidy and keep your office inviting! Pleasant colours, new furniture, company merchandise etc. are always to your benefit. Make people remember you. Many busi-nesses are now getting their brand on everything including pens,

water bottles, calendars and personal planners. Do not restrict yourself with business cards only, be creative!

Calm colours, accepted lengths, less accessories, tidy office and couple of contemporary pictures in your office will assist any woman in her business goals. Men can be more focused on ac-tivities rather than presentation. Therefore women are ahead of the world with their creative approaches.

Female business unique fashion is all about presentation. While female managers and CEOs are trying to earn their place under the sun they might as well use their entire artillery. Stay function-al while practicing fashion and comfort in your office by adding landscape photography, writing boards, enough stationary and do not forget to de-clutter the space.

Nowadays women are almost as powerful in workplaces as men are, so play hard but remain elegant and fashionable.

Australia’s major publishers and distributors of calendars and diaries.


SPECIAL CARE FORYOUR SPECIAL ONESSome elderly people, especially if they’re sick, are often lonely and even depressed. If you don’t want to consider putting your el-derly relative into home care, you might want to think about other options so they get the care they need.

To start with, if you don’t live together and can’t visit very often, it can be a good idea to get a professional carer’s help. Those people are trained to accompany elderly people. It might be an excellent idea if you live too far apart but want to make your el-derly relatives’ days brighter.

However, if you moved in back with your parents to look after them or if you live close to each other, you will need to learn how to communicate with elderly people. To ease their sadness they simply need to talk. Let them speak up, share their thoughts, complain about the weather, re-tell war stories and anything that will bring the sense of belonging. If there are other people in your parent or grandparents’ home, teach every single member of your family to communicate better. The ones who are being looked after also need your teaching hand. It might be slightly harder than teaching the rest of the family. Older people often have less learning or understanding ability, lacking perfect hear-ing or seeing ability. Gather all your patience and love together to help them.

But it’s not only talking to them that you need to think about. Often, especially if sick, your elderly parents or grandparents re-quire a special diet and medication cycle. You need to make sure they are getting all they need and in time. Most of the time, older

people’s lives depend on aged care services or relatives. There-fore, you want to decide if private home care or your help is the best for your older relatives. Sometimes, convalescent care can offer better assistance, sometimes relatives is the only accept-able one. Nursing assistance and medical care are often better performed by professional carers and doctors rather than rela-tives.

We all know how aging affects the care we give. However, if you’ve decided to devote a lot of your time to look after the older members of your family, be prepared to be highly reliable. Older people often cannot take care of themselves. They can some-times be clumsy or careless and easily injured. Make sure you provide a safe environment and always offer your hand when re-quired. Most likely, you will still need to take older and especially sick people to the doctor for checkups, or to get new prescrip-tions. Although you might believe you are fully capable of taking care of your older relatives you still need professional expertise from time to time. If you choose to take care of your beloved ones make sure you take the full responsibility for it as well.

Better lifestyle and peace of mind for you and your loved ones.

Kate Cares assist the elderly and incapacitated in community, by providing them a little extra help and managing their everyday tasks, so they’re able to live independently in their own homes longer.


BEST HOME EXTENSIONS IDEASTO INDULGE YOUR CREATIVITYPeople often outgrow their current dwellings and become eager to expand their homes. While planning your home extension you can let your imagination go wild. However before rushing into builders’ shops and warehouses to get fancy mosaic tiles, expensive stone or windows frames, make sure you obtain the necessary documentation including building permits and notifications to comply with the local regulations.

If legally you are ready to extend there are many creative options for your home. Each singleidea would require different approach. For example if you have high ceilings, the extra spacecan be converted into an attic or even a room. This loft conver-sion is a great option for space expanders. You could also triple the size of your home by adding a top and bottom floor on to your existing double story home or simply adding it to your single story home to create a split level which will allow you to even add an extra bedroom upstairs.For people uncomfortable with heights, you could look into build-ing a basement. It is a perfect storage space which also could be-come the coolest room in the house during the summer scorch-ing days. Why not to convert it into a gaming room?

Home extensions are a great opportunity to build an extra bath-room or a shower room or both. Your partying friend’s relatives with little children could all stay overnight. Make sure your extra bathroom is located cleverly enough to avoid plumbing issues.Think bigger! A self-contained extension is a valuable addition to your home. It can be a part of the main house or build separately like a granny flat. In case of the grand extension you will need to think of a bathroom, a kitchenette, a bedroom, a living area and possibly a laundry. This is a giant playground for all the design and building enthusiasts.

It is often recommended to match the materials to remain consistent throughout the entire dwelling. However it is totally up to you if you decide to express your creativity and combine porcelain wall tiles with natural stone tiles creating wicked ornaments or even decide to get every window painted in different colour. Home extension is when you can have it all!

Stylish and affordable tiles retailer in Sydney & Newcastle, NSW.


GET ROWED:HOW ROWING BUILDS UP YOUR STRENGHTGetting a boat, even an inflatable one, is not just for fishing and romantic evenings on the water but is also a great exercising tool. Rowing is a good way to improve your fitness by enhancing your endurance and upper body strength. However, when you start to do any rowing fitness, make sure you know what you are doing to avoid unpleasant injuries. You’ll be on your way to getting larger forearms, stronger shoulders and a chiselled back. Get some tips on how to row safely and get your desired outcome.

Needless to say, rowing is not just a strength exercise but definitely an aerobic type of activity. While rowing, you increase your heart rate, burn calories and over time lose weight. Regular rowers are generally very fit, toned and lean people whether they row out in nature or in a gym.Go and find yourself a boat if you are up for rowing, or explore your gym’s equipment for stronger arms, shoulders, legs and back.

On the Lake.Before you begin to row, depending on where and what you are rowing in, there are many details to consider. If you are on a lake and taking your inflatable beast out, you will need to pay attention to your environment as well as your technique. Also, make sure your boat is safe and you have all the necessities aboard in case of emergency.

In the Gym.If you hit your local gym for a good rowing work out, you need to familiarise yourself with the rowing equipment. Learn how to use it so you do not hurt yourself, or ask professionals for help.Rowing gets all of your muscle groups involved. You need to move your arms, legs and torso systematically in order to row properly – therefore it is not just an upper body work out. Basi-cally, you need to be seated with your legs out in front of you and your arms holding oars. As soon as the correct position is taken, you then need to pull back in order to simulate a rowing motion. Press your legs forward and arch your back as you work your shoulders. Now repeat the motion of bringing your arms back for-ward as you bend your legs.

Why Should You Row?Rowing involves almost all of the muscle groups, therefore it tones and strengthens all of them. The burning pain during row-ing is your first indicator that it is working. Most likely, arms and shoulders will be the first areas to start hurting. Don’t worry! This is how they get stronger. Rowing on the water might be slightly different – people often get carried away when working out in the wild and do not even notice any pain until they relax. In the gym, the burning feeling is most likely to last throughout the entire workout.

Island Inflatable Boats is an Aus-tralian owned manufacturer and distributor of Australia’s favourite inflatable boats.


SHOULDER EXERCISES FORSPORT-RELATED INJURIESSports injuries are no fun for anyone and they’re obstacles on our way to healthier living. Although injuries are destructive and often painful no matter how healthy you are, sportsmen and women find it especially difficult to cope with injuries due to their constant engagement in sport. Having to lie down and stop exercising is often a hard decision for any semi-professional or professional sports-man or woman.

Injuries:Since shoulder joints are the most mobile joints in a human body, they are potentially very unstable. Therefore, shoulder in-juries such as dislocation are very common. Shoulder disloca-tion is an injury that’s often described as a shoulder “pop out” because it literally pops out from its initial location. It needs to be placed back as soon as possible in order to avoid complica-tions. This is where you’d need a physiotherapist to help you get back to your normal life quicker.

The rotator cuff is a very important group of four muscles and tendons that surround the shoulder joint. It provides us with movement and stability and therefore, tearing a rotator cuff can cause a lot of pain and often requires surgery to fix it. Recov-ering from shoulder injuries might require more rest rather than movement; however it will depend on the situation. The treating physiotherapist will design the most suitable exercise program following any surgery or injury.

Sometimes shoulder exercises require small weights to create resistance and strengthen the muscles around it. The weights can be increased as you continue doing these exercises over a period of time. When you use weights, it is often useful to divide your shoul-ders into muscle groups and target each one separately for better results.

Exercises:Shoulder exercises are focused on two main problem zones and try to build flexibility and strength. Many people complain about tight shoulders which often disables them to perform every day activities. Stretching can help loosen the muscle around the stiff joint in the shoulder, which will help to release it from disabling discomfort.

Stretching is generally focused on your shoulder flexibility; whereas muscle development (or building) is required for better strength. Humans must focus on both equally in order to sustain healthy shoulders, to recover from or avoid any injuries to the area.

How Can I Stretch My Shoulders?1. Bend over until your hands are dangling in front of you towards the ground2. Perform small circles with your hands, allowing momentum to rotate the arms

This is the simplest and safest shoulder exercise widely recommended in order to improve your shoulder strength and flexibility with-out potentially harming yourself. But, don’t do this if you have a serious injury! You must seek advice and help from a physiotherapist about what exercises will work best for you.

Physiotherapy services focus on sports injuries.


COOL YOUR HOUSE DOWNWITH ROLLER SHUTTERSRoller shutters serve many useful purposes in your homes: they provide security, insulate your home during winter and enable you to control the amount of sunlight and heat you want in the house. Roller shutters are shutters which are mounted on the top of your windows or doors, covering the area when required. They are typically made of metal and come in a variety of colours, so they can be chosen to suit your existing colour schemes and decor. They’re very easy to use and most are remote control operated.

How do they work?Once they’ve been installed, roller shutters can help you to cool your house down on the scorching hot days of summer. Shutters are usually injected with polyurethane and they become thick walls that protect the house from over-heating. And if you think your current shutters require an upgrade, we offer a 24 hour roller shutter repair service for your convenience.Roller shutters allows you to control the amount of light you want in your home, so you can adjust ventilation and overall atmosphere. Installing roller shutters in Sydney also helps to protect your furniture and carpet, which can fade away with time due to the amount of sun in Australia. Harmful ultra-violet and infra-red lights are no longer a concern when windows and door barriers are installed.

Save some money!Since roller shutters look after the heating and cooling of your home, you can start saving money on your electricity and gas bills. That means you’ll have more money left over for fun things, like a family holiday or even a new TV. If you’re considering a new air condi-tioner for summer or even a heater for winter, think about the external part of your house and how it affects the temperature inside instead. It’ll help your bills and the environment in the long run and these are very important things to consider.

It’s getting hot in here!During the bush fires in summer, many homes in Australia are in danger. Many houses get some sort of damage, either from being burned by fire or just from smoke or heat damage. Roller shutters in Sydney keep the glass in your windows safe, and prevent heat and ash from getting inside.Protecting your home is one of our main priorities. We like to make sure that you have control over the temperature inside and that you’re completely comfortable at all times. Roller shutters allow you to control how much light or heat comes into your house, in an environmentally-friendly way.

Contact Talbot Auto Doors about installing new roller shutters in Sydney, or if you need your existing ones fixed or updated. Become more environmentally-friendly today!

Automatic door and gates ser-vices.


WHY IS A BLOCKED DRAIN SUCH ASERIOUS PROBLEM?Your toilet, shower, bathtub or even a sink can become your worst nightmare when they’re clogged. The accumulation of waste can cause blocked drains, and this can often be responsible for a majority of health hazards.

A blocked sewer will often present itself as an unpleasant surprise if you don’t look after your drainage. Blockages build up very slowly over time and they’ll leave you guessing about when the problem will finally strike. A nasty smell is usually the first sign. So if you do notice this and it doesn’t go away after a short period of time, you should get it checked out. Blocked sewers can be very serious.They can cause floodsFirst of all, blocked drains can easily cause floods in your home when you’re in a rainy season. Flooding can potentially wash your entire house away. And, although it’s not as bad as flooding, mould can be the result of blockages. Mould isn’t really a matter of a life and death but it can ruin your carpet, walls, and clothes and even affect health if it’s not taken care of. Mould can also cause allergies and similar reactions to poisoning in some people.

The smell is bad enough – but the gas can also be harmful!The gas that comes from sewers can be life threatening. Blocked drains caused by household waste produce methane, carbon di-oxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxides – these gases are very dangerous to humans. They’re not usually a problem, and they’re simply washed away when your pipes aren’t clogged, but if blockages are left untreated it can be very serious.

Don’t you slip...Apart from being smelly and unhygienic, blocked sewers can cause slippery hazards in your shower. A blocked up drain allows soap scum to build up on the floor, preparing a dangerous surprise for you. The soap scum is thicker than water and will not go away while you are in the shower. It’s expensive if you don’t detect it earlyFinally, fixing blocked drains will cost you more time and money than routine maintenance and checks will. Most emergency plumbing calls are closely-related to blocked sewers, burst pipes and blocked toilets due to the negligence. Whether it is your home or an office, don’t make plumbing your worst nightmare – get your local professional to check your sewer before it becomes a serious problem.

If you do have a blockage and need it fixed, contact us at any time! We’ll have a plumber out to you to fix it as soon as possible. Even if you just want to check there’s nothing lurking below the surface, we can help. The plumbers at Killara Plumbing are available to help with any problem, any time. Call us on 1300 367 292.

Plumbing services.


CONSUMERS LOVE VIDEOSOnline users love pictures. Customers love pictures. Pictures are engaging, interesting and form the best portrayal of a product.A moving picture, or video, is even better. Since the creation of a device called the“wheel of life” or “zoopraxiscope” in 1867, we have formed a love affair with motion pictures. If you are still not sure about it, you will be pleased to know that YouTube counted more than 112m unique viewers in the U.S. alone in Jan 2011. (Video saves the eCom-merce stars)Nowadays, with the rapid growth of social media, videos have become one of the greatest means of connection with customers. A website can build a rapport with its audience by using appropriate and well-composed videos posted in blogs, on Facebook pages, on websites etc.Video gives any business a feel of being more personal, more real, and more accessible for customers. It is in fact a powerful tool in earning customers’ trust and promoting brand.

Professionally-produced video content drives higher levels of sales. (comScore Study Finds Professionally-Produced Video Content And User-Generated Product Videos Exhibit Strong Synergy in Driving Sales Effectiveness) According to the video solution provider Invodo (Video Statis-tics: The Impact of Video) video increases sales conversion rates. For example, usage of demonstrational videos which are very popular among customers increases the chance of purchase up to 144% (Gain Consumer Confidence with Product Videos).

Video attracts traffic through SEO and social networks, and increases consumer engagement (comScore and Facebook Release Research Paper “The Power of Like 2: How Social Marketing Works”). However as it happens with bad publicity, bad video can damage your brand. Make sure your business video demonstrates your expertise, assists you in becoming memorable, differentiate your product or service from others on the market and also keep viewers entertained. Your customers want to enjoy the information they find as well as be entertained by it, while finding answers to their questions.

Videos are most likely to be shared, liked, downloaded, and posted; in other words, repeatedly consumed. This is an opportunity for businesses to spread their brands fast and cheap. When well produced, videos captivate and engage viewers because it takes less energy and effort to watch a video rather than to read a description.

Consumers increasingly shopping online (Let’s go shopping ... online 2011); therefore e-commerce is one of the most successful although highly competitive business structures. Video re-creates the experience of getting recommendations and help from in-store staff. E-business, in fact can now bridge the gap between live and virtual experience, making customers more comfortable with online shopping and helping e-commerce to blossom.

Clearly, online businesses benefit from video content in its virtual stores. It is also relatively cheap. ROI is rising while video production costs are falling. (8 Reasons Every Ecommerce Site Should Get Serious About Video)Thus, with reasonably small human assistance, videos can increase e-business’s competitiveness and also create a better shopping environment.Remember, quality is one of the most important elements when composing a video. Online users do not stay long on the page with a boring or useless content.

There are some tips to consider when designing e-commerce product videos:Show your product/ service in use. This is an effective way of eliminating your customers’ doubts. Similarly to reviews, video testimonial or “how to do” manual video provide people with more confidence regarding the product / service.

Sell the benefits. You video can become a sales person outlining advantages of possessing the product or using the service you are offering. For example, an interview with someone already using it. Such videos look natural therefore lacks the feel of being commercial.“How-to” videos are helpful for more complex products. Instructional video helps customers to make sense of having the product. It might be not necessarily one product but rather a category or a certain classification. Additionally, “how-to” video will attract products’ researches who are still browsing around, investigating about the products and services. (8 Reasons Every Ecommerce Site Should Get Serious About Video).Finally, Google likes videos too (Google Loves Web Video for SEO). In fact, it prioritizes sites containing videos. You have a great opportunity to optimise the videos you are posting on your sites. So use it. Do not forget to mix your SEO valuable videos with images, news, maps and other mediums for a better chance of ranking.

Online Marketing Solutions

CONTENT QUEEN | ARTICLES | PAGE 19

OSTEOPATHY AND ITS BENEFITS TOYOUNG CHILDREN AND EXPECTANT MOTHERSWith an increasing acceptance for holis-tic approach towards achievingmental and physical wellness, osteopa-thy is gaining recognition in Australia.But is it a new concept? Well, the an-swer is No. The practice can be tracedback to 460-370 BC. For many centuries people have been practicing manualmanipulation to treat a wide range of problems. However, modern osteopathy was essentially born in the 19th century with Dr Andrew Taylor Still, an Ameri-can physician. Osteopathy is a holistic approach towards achieving a healthy body where the musculoskeletal system is the center of good physical health. Osteopathic treatments are based on the principal that the structure and func-tion of the body are unified and inter-related; hence, osteopaths assess a person’s whole body to detect the cause of a problem, including bone structure, body posture, occupation and lifestyle. Osteopaths are well versed in human anatomy and physiology; and use thera-peutic manual techniques to assess, di-agnose and treat a wide range of medi-cal conditions.Along with many other medical condi-tions like injuries and body pains, os-teopathy is particularly beneficial for pregnant women as well as young chil-dren. Now, you might wonder if oste-opathy is a safe treatment for pregnant women, given the fact that it involves a lot of ‘hands-on’ treatments. You should not forget that a woman’s body under-goes several physiologic and structural changes during pregnancy; and osteop-athy has been proven as not only a safe but an extremely gentle way of helping women adapt to those

changes. Osteopaths use the most ap-propriate treatment techniques to max-imise the safety and comfort for the mother as well as the growing baby in the womb.Osteopath Julia Redfern, a Clinical Pi-lates Instructor and Certified Infant Mas-sage Instructor with additional postgrad-uate study in Obstetrics, Paediatrics, and Pre & Post Natal Pilates, sees a wide range of conditions that can ben-efit from osteopathic care. With a spe-cial clinical interest in helping improve the health of babies and children, she provides osteopathic care for all as-pects of women’s health, including treat-ment and advice for pregnant women and new mums. Apart from the physi-cal changes, many other problems like back pain, pelvic girdle pain or instabili-ty, swelling, carpal tunnel syndrome and fatigue start raising their heads as the pregnancy progresses. Your osteopath can advise you on pelvic floor and other exercises to help with the optimal foetal positioning and gentle stretches to as-sist with any muscle pain or discomfort.Osteopaths also help women achieve and maintain optimal spinal and pelvic alignment to accommodate for the pos-tural changes that occur during preg-nancy and improve flexibility in the pel-vis and abdomen to prepare them for a healthy delivery process.Osteopathy does not only help new mums to recover from the whole pro-cess and regain body strength after the child birth, but also help their toddlers and young children. Yes, there might be many reasons for your toddler or a young child to see an osteopath today.

One of the major parts of the growing up for children includes growth of bones, muscles and development of postures. This process is long and requires at-tention as early as any signs of oddity are detected. What are these signs? The early signs in infants may include delayed or abnormal crawling or walk-ing patterns, suckling difficulties, flat head, constant crying etc while in the older child, signs of concern may in-clude back pain and headaches, grow-ing pains in muscles, joints and bones, postural problems including curvature of the spine, walking difficulties or foot pain and/or sporting injuries.

When it comes to babies and children, safety and gentleness is as important a concern as in the case of pregnancy. Os-teopaths take extreme care and conduct a full medical history and examination of babies and children before carrying out any treatment. All the potential causes or contributing factors for any sort of abnormality are checked along with any biochemical restrictions or abnormal movement patterns and other milestone checks. The treatment plan may include a few simple sessions with an osteo-path to address any dysfunction and to review related progress. If need to be, osteopaths may also refer for any other specialist treatment or therapy along-side osteopathic treatment.

Osteopathy Australia (formerly AOA) is the peak body represent-ing the interests of osteopaths, osteopathy as a profession and consumer’s right to access osteo-pathic services.

CONTENT QUEEN | ARTICLES | PAGE 20

NEVER LOSE YOUR PADDINGTON

Thousands of children all over Australia are now losing their sleep over a cute and cuddly, fictional character coming from children’s book, Paddington Bear. The modern Paddington Bear has now taken a new look appearing on the big screen, making it way to Australia in time for Christmas.

The original author, Michael Bond based Paddington Bear story on a real teddy bear he noticed on a shelf in a London store near Paddington Station on Christmas Eve 1956, which he bought as a present for his wife. The bear inspired Mr. Bond to write a story. In 10 days, he had written the first book.

A beautiful story of a lost bear at the Paddington train station inspires a number of enthusiasts. London Paddington Bear hunt, for example, took place in November when 50 bears were re-leased onto the streets of the capital. Try and find 50 cute and cuddly teddy bears on the busy and crowded streets of London. Thankfully, the world is full of helpful gadgets helping us find heartwarming bears.

First Great Western, a British train operating company, has launched a campaign in time for Christmas which allows people to look through a series of online images of lost teddy bears, left on carriages and platforms, to see if their toys have been found. There are dozens of mug shot type pictures showing the cuddly bears in details including their height, weight, the date where they were found and at which station. What an adorable way of reuniting Paddington Bears with their owners.

There is also a Facebook community of Lost & Found teddy bears helping children to find their fluffy friends. The obsession is undoubtedly growing inspiring people to create helpful tools bringing the Lost and the Seeking together. Christmas is all about finding things whether it is uniting with you family or re-ceiving presents. It is, of course, devastating to lose your favorite toy or a memorable item especially during such a merry time. However it happens.

People will always lose things. It is inevitable to leave something behind when in a hurry, misplaced or unintentionally dropped. Mr. Walshe services 200 buses at one of the Sydney’s depots, managing about 8,600 lost items each year, usually things like documents and drivers’ licenses, something small but of greater value. Managing and disposing of lost property is a big issue for NSW’s public transport and airports.

Therefore, Sydney Trains introduced an online system to make it easier for commuters to be reunited with the thousands of be-longings they leave behind. It is reassuring to know that all sta-tions will now have access to a database recording every item lost and found. The commuters can now see if their property has been handed in and where it can be retrieved.

If only Paddington Bear had an access to the modern technol-ogy, he would have never gotten lost to begin with.

Thankfully, no more bear will now be ever lost again. In fact, not only cute and cuddly teddy bears are now safe from never being found but any valuable items. A smart and quirky company called IdTagIt has come up with an amazing solution for the left behind toys and lost items. The smart bunch there designed a little tag which you can easily attach to your items with the purpose of tracking it back in case of loss. Each tag has a unique ID code which connects you to your possessions, so if you don’t want the hassle, expense or tears over losing things forever, you can just stick a digital tag on them. I am sure the Paddington Bear family would now want one, just in case.

BEAR AGAINLost and found experts.

idtagit exists purely to help people recover their lost property from any-where in the world; in the simplest, fastest and most affordable way possible.

CONTENT QUEEN | PRESS RELEASES | PAGE 21

FUNDING4BUSINESS LAUNCHESIN AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND

funding4business connects business borrowers to lenders and investors directly, by matching investing and borrowing criteria, which then allows businesses and investors to negotiate the terms and conditions of the loan or investment at mutually acceptable interest rates and repayment terms.

With the funding4business peer-to-peer marketplace there are no banks, no middleman and no hidden fees.Listing in funding4business peer-to-peer marketplace for investors and for businesses seeking loans is simple, quick and free.

Since the GFC, Australian and Kiwi businesses have struggled with access to affordable finance from the major banks. Consequently, it’s been difficult for businesses to obtain funding to develop and expand their enterprises. Similarly, retail investors and self-managed superannuation funds have been unable to find safe investments that provide a secure and reasonable return on their funds.

Peer-to-peer investing has changed all this, by allowing lenders to achieve better returns on investment funds, while potentially offer-ing lower interest rates for borrowers. Investors choose the risk they want to take, with the borrowers with whom they feel comfortable.Since the soft launch of funding4business in Australia in August 2014 the marketplace value has increased by approx $500,000 per month with a current value of $3,500,000.

Founder & Managing Director funding4business

funding4business the new peer-to-peer lending marketplace has launched in Australia and New Zealand and is the only platform designed to provide business loans, start-up seed and equity funding, and crowd-funded business loans to Aussie and Kiwi enter-prises.

An open and transparent P2P marketplace.

Aussie businesses can source af-fordable business loans from willing lenders at mutually acceptable rates and loan terms.

CONTENT QUEEN | OTHER | PAGE 22

THE EVER GROWING DIGITAL MARKETING INDUSTRY

Could you be the next Don Draper of digital marketing? Have you ever watched a YouTube pre-roll advertisement, received a newsletter, or was targeted by a sponsored ad on Facebook? If you have noticed any of these, you’ve experienced digital marketing. Digital marketing is all forms of marketing which comes to us through our digital devices. We are accessible through multiple devices thus targeted by digital marketers as we move through the internet or play with our smart phones. Digital marketing goes where consumers are.

1973: THE BRIEF HISTORY OF DIGIT-AL MARKETING. Digital marketing is a very young but strong phenomenon. The digital age started to emerge throughout the 1970s and 1990s; there was practically no dig-ital marketing before that. Television advertising and radio broadcasting have been the two first digital marketing ‘start-ups’, of course. Digital marketing has been on steroids since, growing and expanding, enter-ing the age of wearable technology, with devices like the Apple Watch and 3D-im-mersion goggles. The increasing demand in everything tech and mobile, digital marketing is no doubt a growing industry. According to Alice Manners from IAB Australia, 2014, interactive advertising expenditure ac-counted for a 34 per cent share of the to-tal Australian advertising market.

2015: THE CLOSING GAP. With the increased spent on digital mar-keting and demand to constantly improve data collection, analysis and consumer reach new techniques have evolved try-ing to cut through the noise of the digital world. As a result, digital marketing is becoming more complex. The new so-phisticated digital marketing tactics de-mand people with more experience and

knowledge to help businesses execute outstanding campaigns. This requires a sophisticated skill set. Where digital marketing has become the cornerstone of many businesses’ promo-tion, a curious trend’s emerged. In Aus-tralia and around the world, 37 per cent of marketers feel like they don’t have the skills required to analyse and understand the vast amount of data crucial for a suc-cessful digital marketing campaign. IT professionals have always been the technical support of a business whereas marketers have been filling in a more creative space. Finally, IT and marketing have come together to create a new set of skills called digital marketing. The clos-ing gap between the two traditional pro-fessions enables outstanding marketing results for many businesses of the future. Hays suggest that the emerging IT and marketing have already created a large number of new jobs in the digital space and will continue growing into the coming years.

2020: THE NEW 150,000 DIGITAL JOBS. Previously, most digital marketers have had to learn their skills on the job, as this area has been largely ignored by educa-tional institutions. At the same time, Seek.com.au have seen a steady increase in

the number of digital marketing positions since 2009. As the industry expands, being infused with more data analytics, technological development and innova-tion, the amount of positions is only ex-pected to grow into the future.

Nick Deligiannis comments “Digital mar-keting is a big area of jobs growth. As the technology and marketing worlds in-tegrate, mobile optimisation will continue to be a significant priority for businesses. Mobile strategies will move beyond sim-ply having a responsive site or mobile app, and focus on mobile-optimised con-tent and social media marketing as well, which will fuel jobs growth for suitably qualified and experienced candidates.”

Digital marketing is being defined by the rollercoaster of new ideas, innova-tions and developments and, indeed, is a young trade. It has changed the face of marketing and advertising. It has changed the way businesses handle their exposure. It has created a new skill set demand; and new 150,000 digital jobs are predicted by 2020. Is this trend developing too fast or are you ready to be the next Don Draper of digital marketing?

ON THE LOOKOUT FOR BRILLIANT MINDS


& LOSERS OF THE GOOGLE MOBILE UPDATE?MOBILEGEDDON: ARE THERE WINNERS

No, mobile phones are not taking over! It is, in fact, the grand release of the Google’s new SEO algorithm hit on April 21, which has prompted this rather drastic name from writers, marketers and programmers alike.

So why is it Mobilegeddon?The algorithm runs for mobile searches to prioritise mobile-friendly search results over non-mobile friendly search results. That is, sites that have been made or designed to be mobile friendly or optimised will appear higher up in search results, while non-mobile optimised sites will appear lower. A site’s level in a search result works on a variety of different qualities, bounce-rate, mentions elsewhere, key-words, etc. at a basic level, Google has added another quality to be tested, related to usability.

How does the algorithm work?The algorithm functions when Google designates sites as mobile friendly, according to a variety of different qualifiers including:· Large enough text so visitors don’t have to zoom in or scroll hori-zontally· Easily clicked links with a touch interface· A layout optimised for smartphone screens

Why is this important?For a number of reasons, first and foremost, many websites are not mobile-optimised or even mobile friendly. This can make a mas-sive difference to websites traffic, when according to SmartInsights, 80% of smartphone users access the Internet on their phones; and for online mobile research 48% begin their search on Search En-gines.

So what are the Upsides and Downsides?From the perspective of smartphone users, Google and business-es, there are few downsides as well as unexpected benefits.For the smartphone user, this update helps make sites more read-able on the Internet. It encourages businesses to improve their de-signs moving on to mobile friendly websites. Considering 50-60% of Internet searches are now on mobile, there is a growing need for mobile-optimised sites across the web.

For Google, the upside is a little bit more complex. With current An-droid, Gmail and Chrome systems, Google has begun offering real time notifications. Encouraging users to migrate to mobile-friendly sites on Chrome, and away from native apps, allows Google to record the full search history. This is then used for paid targeted

advertising.For businesses, there is an obvious downside if your website has not yet been designated mobile friendly, which according to Merkle/RKG, 46% of Fortune 500 companies and 29% of the top 500 re-tail sites haven’t. However there is an unexpected upside for busi-nesses to be aware of. Between 2012 and 2014 The Integer Group and M/A/R/C Research found that, the percentage of shoppers us-ing mobile devices to make purchases rose from 25% to 35%, and shoppers spend only a “couple of minutes”, from seeing a product on a mobile device to purchasing it.

What is the impact? Initially, it’s not going to be all that much, as mobile phone users access similar sites to computer users. Over time however, non-mobile optimised sites will begin to drop in search engine ratings, as mobile searches become more dominant and the click-throughs for mobile-optimised sites rise. Similarly as 50-60% of searches happen on mobile phones, this has an impact on the discovery of sites over the long term, as more easily read sites rise in Search Engine ratings and are shared.

So how do businesses stay relevant?In some industries, this is going to be more relevant than others; large well-known brands and businesses aren’t going to have as much trouble as they are well-known and there are more searches specifically for their brand name. However small businesses like coffee shops, restaurants, clothing stores, accounting firms, etc., will suffer from being number 1 in the Google Search, or number 10.The main issue is a lack of mobile friendly websites satisfying Google’s conditions. A simple problem with a relatively simple solu-tion - create a mobile friendly site, which satisfies the conditions. There is even a better solution – go responsive. The premise of the update is to prioritise mobile-optimised sites for mobile users, which is not only a logical decision but an easy one. It is time for non-mobile friendly sites to update or move over. The increasing sites usability and visibility, is not only convenient, but contributes to mobile purchases and sharing. Thus, it’s time to em-brace the Mobilegeddon and review your business’ digital designs and operations.


WHAT IS IT AND WHY DOES IT WORK FOR YOU?INBOUND MARKETING:

There is a type of marketing we need to talk about. It’s all around us, on our phones, in our emails, on Facebook. Every day we experience it, we notice it, and we love it. It’s time to talk about inbound marketing.

So what is Inbound Marketing, really?In marketing, we have both beasts - inbound and outbound mar-keting. Outbound marketing focuses on going after clients that are putting content in front of customers as much as possible. This can range from cold-calling to television advertising, even YouTube advertising, which makes customers watch something they aren’t necessarily looking for, on the off chance, they might want to buy a car, or remember they need life insurance. According to 360 Leads Australian companies rank social me-dia and outbound telemarketing as equal top performing lead generation channels; while other countries preferred outbound telemarketingInbound marketing is much more subtle and focuses on custom-ers coming to the business for information or content. That is generating interest in business’ own site and online hubs, which leads to purchases. Seth Godin commented “Real permission [marketing] works like this: if you stop showing up, people complain, they ask where you went.” We live now in a world where people can search for their own answers and over 90% of people begin their online search for a product or service using a search engine.Where outbound marketing is more traditional, inbound mar-keting is showing amazing potential in the space. According to HubSpot’s 2014 State of Inbound, the number of marketers who had a greater ROI in 2014 than in previous years is significantly larger than those whose ROI fell in 2013.

How do we generate interest?You might be asking yourself how we generate interest and there are many ways to do this. The most sought-after concept is constant viral marketing however; most inbound marketing will reach a much smaller but desiring audience. Our techniques for this include SEO, helping to put business content in front of consumers, so they find it when they search for it. We also have content creation, which takes the idea of advertising and turns it into something people want to share and pay attention to. Content is seen as the key to success by 70% of the 414 who participated in the ‘B2B Marketing Outlook’ study. From blogs to videos to podcasts, content creation is about consumers actively taking part in the buying process. This sounds a lot like content marketing…It does, and you could say inbound marketing and content mar-keting are inextricably linked. 95% of Australian marketers use content marketing, according to Content Marketing Institute. Content marketing is obviously about creating content, from blogs to articles to videos; however that content could be used both in an outbound or an inbound context. To generate interest, both inbound and outbound content marketing can be beneficial.So where does that leave us?With inbound marketing, we focus on clients coming to the busi-ness, and making that process as smooth as possible. It is about being easily found and the go-to business for a par-ticular problem or with a need. Inbound marketing is about fix-ing needs which already exist and directing the market towards businesses that solve the problems.


HOW TO CREATE A BRILLIANT CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN.FIND YOUR PROJECTS LIKE A PRO:

No, mobile phones are not taking over! It is, in fact, the grand release of the Google’s new SEO algorithm hit on April 21, which has prompted this rather drastic name from writers, marketers and programmers alike.

According to Forbes, the crowdfunding industry was worth $5.1 billion at the end of 2013, up from $2.8 billion in 2012. With such an extraordinary growth rate, the question on everyone’s mind is, how do I get involved in the action?Crowdfunding is a relatively simple premise, individuals have an idea they’d like to finance, and they use a site like Indiegogo, Kickstarter or RocketHub, to put their idea out to potential ben-efactors. There is a set goal amount of money and time limit for raising it. Some ideas offer percentage return on invested money, while others offer rewards, or opportunities based on amount invested. Overall, the idea is incredibly clever, but it doesn’t always work out as magically as you’d think. According to Kickstarter only about 40% of projects are successfully funded and 12% of pro-jects never receive a single donation. So what’s going wrong?

The FundersTo answer this question, let’s look into major examples. Amanda Palmer, in 2012, raised nearly $1.2 million with an original set goal of only $100,000. A major part of the success for this cam-paign was network connections - Palmer had a base of fans that funded her campaign. Crowdfunding is a great way to finance projects but with the basis of connections through social media, business associates, mentors, family and friends, they are far more likely to succeed. With a set of dedicated customers, fans and followers, what’s next?

The Original IdeaHaving an original and innovative idea, something that appeals to your crowd, that is, an idea that people want to see succeed. Break-through technology like the 3D Doodler, allowing peo-ple to draw in 3D, was a very successful campaign that raised around $2.3 million. Offering an idea that people want to finance is very important.

The Marketing CampaignMarketing your campaign to the fullest potential is integral to a successful campaign; you could have a brilliant crowd and the greatest idea, but if no-one in the crowd knows about the idea, you’re out of luck. Often it isn’t just the case of starting at launch day, successful campaigns work hard in the months beforehand speaking to their crowd about the project and once the funding has started, reaching out to get traffic to the page with schedul-ing tweets, guest blogging, emailing, etc.

The Campaign ItselfThe campaign page is a pretty big indicator of success, and many projects can definitely fall down here. A well-made, inform-ative, and engaging video is key in keeping people interested, boring videos will increase bounce rate, while false information will turn people off completely. The video can double the funding to your project. Breaking down the cash flow is also important. You don’t need to provide precise prices but a breakdown of the funding and where it’s going will really help funders trust your project.The funder’s rewards are another sticking point, interesting and worth it, money off retail price, behind-the-scenes tours, person-al calls and emails, limited edition versions of the funded item, gift bags, and so on, are all inventive and great ways to motivate donors to finance the project rather than passing by. Finally, personal work pay off, the more work complete before release, increases chances of success, having working proto-types, and something to show donors. Similarly a personal cam-paign that connects to donors, and offers a unique opportunity is attractive.

Crowdfunding is not the magic bean of growth for companies, but it can be an incredible tool with a sensible and well-imple-mented business plan.


TOP 10 PHOTOS PEOPLE LOVED TO SHAREThere is a type of marketing we need to talk about. It’s all around us, on our phones, in our emails, on Face-book. Every day we experience it, we notice it, and we love it. It’s time to talk about inbound marketing.

“I whip my hair back & forth” says Emma Murdoch with her energizing image to The Press.

It’s a natural feeling to enjoy pictures and photos. Visual content on a website or blog can really set your business apart. What you show is what your customers will believe. We’re not just saying that, it’s science. Psychologists have long established the fact that visual cues help us to retain and retrieve information. The human brain processes visual information 60,000X faster than text. Words are much more abstract than images, meaning it is much harder for the brain to retain them. Visuals are concrete. They are easier to retain. Did you know that 63 percent of social media is made up of images and nearly 66 percent of updates on social media are visual content? Imagine social media was nothing but text! We’d be back to the days of newspaper classifieds, boring and dull. Fortunately, there are loads of amazing brands out there telling their stories visually. Our clients value the ever-growing value of visual content marketing. So we value them. Our clients have reaped tremendous results for their businesses by utilizing visual content marketing. When customers share pic-tures, they share a part of their lives with us. Let’s take a look at the top 10 photos people loved to share in 2015.

Shuttlerock is the social platform for your business. It enables brands and agencies to build deeper, more meaningful connec-tions with their audience.

1. The Press: flip that hair back & forth.Taken on the sandy beach at Kaiteriteri, this photo was part of the Canon Kiwi Summer Photo Com- petition. It sums up the pleasures of life. Let your emotions go crazy. We live once, so scream and shout and flip that hair back & forth.In a recent study by DemandGen, 86% of buyers expressed some level of desire to access interactive/visual content on demand. User-generated visual content is the most beneficial sort. No matter how stunning your website images are fans can always out-perform you by sharing their moments with your products. In the modern era of visual content marketing, friends trust our opinions like never before.According to Salesforce, visual content builds trust and naturally motivates people to interact with content. As Emma’s photo received 5509 votes, 277 comments, and 3280 shares, its likely many people are now booking their holidays to Kaiteriteri right now!


2. Lake Wanaka: in a perfect world.In a perfect world, everywhere would have lakes, mountains, rivers, wineries, excellent dining and endless activities in an ever-changing seasonal landscape. In a perfect world, we’d all live in near excellent dining and endless activities in a beautiful seasonal landscape of lakes, mountains, rivers and winer ies. This perfect world would have many regular visi-tors, who would come from far and wide to admire the beauty and take pictures. The pictures would then end up on social media and be tagged #Utopia and #Lake Wanaka Lifestyle Reserve. As tweets with images receive 18% more clicks, 89% more favourites and 150% more retweets (Buff-erapp), this stunning photo from “InstaMeetWanaka” by Lizzy Gadd caught our client’s attention. And that’s right! We want to sit on that rock too. Lizzy’s photo is captivating, inviting us on an amazing jour-ney. Such is the charm of photos; they can take you from your reality to a perfect world in a second. Lake Wanaka’s scenery is one of nature’s epic masterpieces, as Lizzy’s early morning self-portrait shows. This great photo received 32 votes and 3 shares, inevitably including it in the top 10 loved images. It is a privilege!

A Himba woman bathes within her smoke filled hut in Namibia

3. ProGear: it’s all in the eyes.Finding an online library stocked with pictures that are of high quality and available to use for free can be a daunting task. In fact, don’t look for stock photos. Create your own! All you need is that one picture worth 1000 words and taken with great equipment, of course. This absolute favourite of the team, is from ProGear’s “Portrait” album of 57 photos. A picture which doesn’t need high level critique to be picked up as one of the best by people, with 56 votes, 9 com-ments and 63 shares. It’s all in the eyes. They speak those thousand words. It is almost impossible to free yourself from their quiet contemplation. The beauty of this photo lies in its simplicity. Do you see pain? Or do you see relief? Whatever the image conveys to you, it doesn’t leave you empty. Chris McKay captured this great moment with his Canon 5DIII on 3 Feb 2015. We are inspired to share with you.

4. Ezcosplay: who are you today?We all have a secret desire to be a superhero or a princess or a millionaire. Many secretly wish to dress up as their favourite characters from TV, movies or comic books. This is why Ezcosplay is incredibly successful; and we are proud to be a part of their story. This colourful image from the 530 photos in the EZcosplay Fan Album 2015 is all we need to remind ourselves - life is a bouquet of colours and characters. Ezcosplay fans dare to take their metamor-phosis to a whole new level. This picture takes us back to childhood, when we were free to choose who we wanted to be. Visual content is great at helping people feel they belong, they are a part of something and they are in a great place. 40% of users online will provide better and more favourable responses to visual content, than other plain and text-based context (Hubspot). This visual media is often responsible for our new experiences, new purchases and helps us decide to come back for another go!Ezcosplay makes many people’s dreams come true. We are now bringing it to you. Thank you Odinia Cosplay for your Honey Lemon - Big Hero 6 image with 1151 votes, 23 comments and 396 shares! You made it into the top 10!


5. Opera Queensland: The Adventures of Figaro.One of Australia’s major performing arts companies, OperaQ serves Metropolitan Brisbane and re-gional/remote Queensland through the development and presentation of opera projects that reflect their core values of Excellence, Community and Adventure. This great photo of audience members is one of 101 photos from “The Adventures of Figaro”. The opera is a high-energy, colourful riot of Spanish art. Performers sing, dance, act and play their way through a 90 minute version of Rossini’s much-loved piece. These children were truly consumed by the performance on March 20 and it gives us a cuddly and optimistic feeling. The Adventures of Figaro is a fast-paced, vibrant work performed in English. It is perfect for opera-lovers and new comers alike. This image shows the brilliance and life of the piece – a vibrant and entertaining experience making it one of the best clients’ photos of the year with 83 votes.

6. Cuba Dupa: life is like hula hoops.CubaDupa is Wellington’s new, vibrant street festival revering the epic creative spirit of Cuba Street and the Wellington community. Back in March, the CubaDupa Street Food Festival offered over 50 food experiences – served on the streets from restaurants, cafes and bars. Looking at this photo, isn’t it life at its best?!Brian Scurfield captured the event on Instagram leaving a contagious caption: #ElectricGrooveRider watching a #performance by #HoopHooligans at the #CubaDupa #Street #Festival in #WellingtonAll the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players, Shakespeare said. When we are not performing, we sit back and watch others perform, with 102 great photos from “CupaDupa by Night”.This carnival photo is so much more than a monochromatic frame. The gothic charm of this image makes it one of our best client’s photos of the year.

7. University of Canterbury: on the other side.“And this is what happens when you put photographers in front of the camera 📷 📷 “shares EmmaHargreaves. University of Canterbury, “UC Now”, has got an uncanny freshness about their 1267 images. The recently graduated photographers, now on the other side of the camera, give this photo a raw yet professional appeal.The confident and natural smiles show they are ready to take on the world. This visual made it to our Top 10 list with 618 votes, 8 comments and 263 shares. It tells a story about a wonderful jour-ney and excitement in beginning a new life outside the University walls.This image conveys their achievements, making us inevitably want to smile. University of Canter-bury is aware of how images make people feel and they want to make sure their fans and newcom-ers feel love, trust and inclusion. Are you already signing up for the next year?


8. JUCY Rentals: can’t you smell the autumn? One brand that knows ar?cles with images get 94% more view than those without (Zabisco) is Jucy Rentals. A well-known and successful car rental and campervan hire company; Jucy is all about adventures and explora?on. They are a true expert in visual content marke?ng and their fans love sharing snaps of their adventures.We are absolutely in love with this picture from #JUCYWorld. It takes us to a land far away from the office. Can’t you smell the autumn in the air? Can’t you hear the cows rumble? Don’t you feel the urge to run up the hills? Living in the moment is priceless and thankfully Anamochilera shared their experience with Jucy receiving 1091 votes, 39 comments and 278 shares and now making it to the favourite 10! Life is a beau?ful adventure. And Jucy depicts and displays the simplicity and joy of a life full of travel. When customers share their pictures, they also share a memorable part of their lives and journey. And we are thrilled to be a part of it.

9. All Blacks New Zealand: pride and hunger for action.From “All Blacks from around the Web”, this has to be one of the best photos of the year. The gal-lery itself has 3084 photos. This beau?ful black and white picture of an interna?onal friendly match between Rugby Canada and All Blacks New Zealand is our favourite.Sport is an amalgama?on of passion, spirit, cultures, ci?es and people. With all eyes are on the field, this photo reminds us of what we have in common - pride and hunger for ac?on.The image was ini?ally shared on Flickr by James McFarlane who also ler a cap?on:“Taken with: Canon FTb SLR Taken on: Kodak Tri- X 400 Developed in HC-110 Dilu?on-B Scanned with: Epson V500 (EpsonScan, Photoshop CS6)I took a good old roll of TriX down to the Rugby pitch to watch an interna?onal friendly between Rugby Canada and All Blacks New Zealand. I was cheering for the All Blacks!”Visual content marke?ng is a great way for fans to share their stories in a public arena for com-mentary and sharing. “All Blacks from Around the Web” is one of those communi?es, and this photo received 1 vote, 8 comments and 89 shares!

10. Mount Vernon: a girl in a red scarf.This photo was shared by George Washington’s Mount Vernon, one of 5905 photos in the “Let’s See Your Mount Vernon Photos” campaign. It enchants us with its high royal quo?ent. Mount Vernon is one of the most popular historic estates in the USA, with an average of one million guests visi?ng each year. Anyone can take a good celebrity shot or be caught photobombing.With this kind of photo, we love to read our viewer’s cap?ons, giving meaning to the subject’s emo?ons and gestures. Nancy Guzman posted this great shot on Instagram receiving 569 votes, 9 comments and 149 shares. Even though she didn’t take the photo, Nancy is an ac?ve par?cipator in this story as she is in the photo. Yes, on the right, the girl with a red scarf.The rich heritage combined with the royal charm and the meaningful gestures of Prince Charles in the photo makes it humorous and absolutely irresis?ble; hence it is one of our favourites. If only your fans could snap a photo like that when visi?ng your brand.


TEACHING OUR KIDS ABOUT MONEYYOUNG FINANCE:

We live in a world that is run by money, and since the 2008 GFC, many people have been asking, what went wrong. How can we, as a society, make a change?

Besides creating more stringent regulations for banks, we can help ourselves by teaching our children the basics of finance. Learning the basics of money management, can help children avoid debt later in life. At the end of the day, our children are our future and we can make it better!

Money habits have changed over time and money importance has only grown stronger. Back in 1965, we lived a slightly different life, treating money differently. Most money was kept in a bank, which was only open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. If you needed money and didn’t have any at 5:10pm on Friday, you had to wait until Monday morning to get cash from the bank teller. What a nightmare!

Things have changed a great deal since then, with the arrival of credit cards, debit cards and ATMs in the 80s and 90s. Then more recently in the last 15 years with online and mobile banking entering our lives - most people don’t often visit a physical bank. Approaching 2016, we have all these things, and it’s so easy to spend money with the 24 hour access not only to money, but to online shops and services.

MoneySmartAU ASIC claims that ‘ today money is invisible’ which of course imposes challenges as well as advantages. Teaching our children about money early will help avoid later financial debts.

Money habits are established young, according to MoneyAsYouGrowUp by the age of 5; children can understand the concepts of money. By the age of 10, most children can understand interest, price comparison and basic budgeting. Children learn spending habits, whether they are taught or not.

This might appear not particularly important until we consider that according to ASIC, 36% of young Australians with credit cards, don’t pay the full balance each month and their average amount owing is $2,477.

Projecting forward to later adulthood debt, this is a serious problem. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, average house-hold debt in Australia is now $79,000 per person or $1.84 trillion and over the past 25 years, household debt has increased nearly twice as fast as the value of household assets.

Teaching young children the basics of budgeting is a key to limiting later financial debt and helping money management. Having money management skills will not mean that everyone is financially successful; however, it does mean that debt management and money skills are far better.

Financial advice for women by women.


AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS WOMENTHE TOP 5 SELF-MADE

Most lists that talk about Australian business women, often give a lot of attention to people who inherited their business or large sums of money. Today, we’d like to talk about some of the women who made their own money and their own success in the Australian Market.Vicky TeohVicky Teoh and her husband David came to Australia from Malaysia in 1986 and founded a company, Total Peripherals selling computer hard-ware. In the early 2000s, Total Peripherals became TPG, and moved into internet services. TPG first appeared on the ASX in 2005 after a reverse take-over of Tel-emedia. TPG currently has revenue of around $724.5 million, providing internet services to 671,000 people making it the second largest in Aus-tralia. In a recent interview with the Financial Review, David Teoh commented the goal was to own the entire broadband supply chain from underground cables to in-house wires.While David and Vicky Teoh manage TPG, Vicky Teoh and her sons also manage and build start-up companies, selling clothing, books, property and so on. There current start-ups include Brand Table, Elle Tassy and Oscar Wylee.The family is shockingly private, with few to no photos of them published; David Teoh says he wants his privacy respected.

Leslie GillespieLeslie Gillespie completed a degree in Teaching, not the most condu-cive to becoming millionaires, however together with her husband Roger Gillespie; they have managed to create an amazing franchise. Leslie Gillespie spent 10 years teaching before marrying and having a child with Roger Gillespie. Roger’s family was already involved with bak-eries and they wanted to strike out on their own. In 1980, they started their own chain of bakeries, Baker’s delight, with partner Gary Stephen-son. In 1982, the couple bought out Stephenson and continued expanding. By 1988, they owned 15 bakeries, but there was a problem, each subse-quent bakery was reaching lower profits. Luckily, around this time, there was an influx of franchise-based brands to Australia, like KFC. Baker’s Delight became a franchise, and the Gillespie’s never looked back. Now, The Baker’s Delight has over 700 franchise bakeries between Aus-tralia, New Zealand and Canada.

Janine AllisYou might know this next woman from her spot on Shark Tank Australia’s recent season, however her original call to this list is an amazing one.Janine Allis’ name is next to several companies, under her parent com-pany Retail Zoo, however her main success is Boost Juice. Allis first founded Boost in 2000, living a hectic lifestyle with kids, and a husband in a high profile position. Janine puts a lot of her success down

to her mother who has been looking after her children enabling more spare time for Janine. She pooled the $250,000 for the first Boost Juice from friends, who she says believed more in her than herself at the time.Boost’s success can be partly attributed to the idea, a new concept to the Australian Market, says Allis, who got the idea on a trip to the US, seeing their juice bars. Currently Boost has over 400 stores in 13 countries, and has delivered $2 billion in global sales.Salsa’s Fresh Mex is the parent company Janine founded together with Geoff Harris, founder of Flight Centre.

Charlotte VidorCharlotte Vidor and her husband Ervin immigrated to Australia in the 1960s from Poland and Hungary. As soon as they arrived to Australia, they created the Toga Group in 1963, and the first Medina apartment opening in 1982. It was founded in property management, construction, design and funds management, and currently operates 70 hotels across Australia, New Zealand and Europe. The Toga group currently comprises of the Medina, Adina, Vibe and Travelodge brands with about 10,000 apartments and estimated turnover of $285 million. In 2013, the company signed a deal with Singaporean Far East Company, as such, they have recently completed a rebrand to TFE Hotels (Toga Far East Hotels), employing over 3000 people.

Catherine LivingstonePerhaps Catherine Livingstone is an amazing businesswoman. After completing an Arts degree with honours majoring in Accounting at Mac-quarie University, Livingstone joined Price Waterhouse as an accountant. After a few intermediate roles with Nucleus from management to Chief Finance Executive, she became CEO of Cochlear Pty Ltd. Cochlear is most well-known for its’ creation and distribution of Cochlear implants. Under Livingstone’s guidance, she floated the company for $125 million in 1995 on the ASX, and when she resigned in2000, Cochlear were ex-porting to 50 countries globally.Besides these roles, Catherine Livingstone has also held various chair positions. From 1998 to 2006, she was director for Sydney Institute, the chair of the CSIRO from 2001-2006, Independent Voting Director of Mac-quarie Bank and Macquarie Group from 2004 until 2013. Her current roles are numerous but probably the most prominent is the Telstra chair, a position she has held since 2009. Overall, Catherine Livingstone’s successes add up to an impressive ca-reer so far.

Financial advice for women by women.


HOW TO CREATE A BRILLIANT CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGNFIND YOUR PROJECT LIKE A PRO:

According to Forbes, the crowdfunding industry was worth $5.1 billion at the end of 2013, up from $2.8 billion in 2012. With such an extraordinary growth rate, the question on everyone’s mind is, how do I get involved in the action?

Crowdfunding is a relatively simple premise, individuals have an idea they’d like to finance, and they use a site like Indiegogo, Kickstarter or RocketHub, to put their idea out to potential ben-efactors. There is a set goal amount of money and time limit for raising it. Some ideas offer percentage return on invested money, while others offer rewards, or opportunities based on amount invested.

Overall, the idea is incredibly clever, but it doesn’t always work out as magically as you’d think. According to Kickstarter only about 40% of projects are successfully funded and 12% of pro-jects never receive a single donation. So what’s going wrong?

The FundersTo answer this question, let’s look into major examples. Amanda Palmer, in 2012, raised nearly $1.2 million with an original set goal of only $100,000. A major part of the success for this cam-paign was network connections - Palmer had a base of fans that funded her campaign. Crowdfunding is a great way to finance projects but with the basis of connections through social media, business associates, mentors, family and friends, they are far more likely to succeed. With a set of dedicated customers, fans and followers, what’s next?

The Original IdeaHaving an original and innovative idea, something that appeals to your crowd, that is, an idea that people want to see succeed. Break-through technology like the 3D Doodler, allowing people to draw in 3D, was a very successful campaign that raised around $2.3 million. Offering an idea that people want to finance is very important.

The Marketing CampaignMarketing your campaign to the fullest potential is integral to a successful campaign; you could have a brilliant crowd and the greatest idea, but if no-one in the crowd knows about the idea, you’re out of luck. Often it isn’t just the case of starting at launch day, successful campaigns work hard in the months beforehand speaking to their crowd about the project and once the funding has started, reaching out to get traffic to the page with scheduling tweets, guest blogging, emailing, etc.

The Campaign ItselfThe campaign page is a pretty big indicator of success, and many projects can definitely fall down here. A well-made, inform-ative, and engaging video is key in keeping people interested, boring videos will increase bounce rate, while false information will turn people off completely. The video can double the funding to your project.

Breaking down the cash flow is also important. You don’t need to provide precise prices but a breakdown of the funding and where it’s going will really help funders trust your project.The funder’s rewards are another sticking point, interesting and worth it, money off retail price, behind-the-scenes tours, personal calls and emails, limited edition versions of the funded item, gift bags, and so on, are all inventive and great ways to motivate donors to finance the project rather than passing by.

Finally, personal work pay off, the more work complete before re-lease, increases chances of success, having working prototypes, and something to show donors. Similarly a personal campaign that connects to donors, and offers a unique opportunity is at-tractive.

Crowdfunding is not the magic bean of growth for companies, but it can be an incredible tool with a sensible and well-implemented business plan.


BREAKING INTO THE MARKETPLACEAUSTRALIAN DEBT SOLVERS:

The Low-DownOnce upon a time Australian Debt Solvers came to us seeking advice about how to launch into the Australian marketplace. Starting from scratch, with zero clients and zero business, we knew we had some work cut out for us. By providing them with a solid digital marketing strategy and support, they have experienced unprecedented growth within the solvency sector. And we’re proud as punch.

Stellar Growth & ExpansionIt all began with a small, yet worthwhile investment of a Google AdWords campaign. Targeting search keywords such as ‘cheap business liquida-tion’, this digital strategy started out modest, yet focused. So with a SEO strategy backed by some of our most brilliant minds, Australian Debt Solvers experienced rapid and unprecedented growth during their entry stage.

Within 3 months of launching into the industry, Australian Debt Solvers were delivering an ROI that was 4 times their initial investment. Gee Wizz! For a start-up breaking through barriers to entry, that is something to be gold-framed.

Combining display remarketing and Google advertising has been a gold mind for our dear Australian Debt Solvers. We helped re-direct and de-liver leads after their customers had left their website - it proved to be a catalyst for our proposed digital marketing strategy. First tangible results revealed themselves within the first 3 months which is the minimum time-frame for a good AdWords campaign.

We helped Australian Debt Solvers optimise their online presence not just in terms of SEO but also with respect to content and usability. Our proposed changes to their website strategy made a real impact on con-version rates, and significantly improved their page ranking on Google. 4 months and going strong. Australian Debt Solvers have now tripled their budget. And of course, this resulted in some fierce retaliation. I mean, who wouldn’t be turning green with envy over this kind of suc-cess? Yes, that’s right. Competitors began launching distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) in the attempt to interfere with the services of their web host.

But, this didn’t stop Australian Debt Solvers from continuing their growing journey. Shortly after, we expanded the campaign to reach all major Aus-tralian cities, and now Australian Debt Solvers are experiencing global opportunities to operate in New Zealand, and potentially in the UK.

What We Discovered: Challenges & RecommendationsAustralian Debt Solvers rely on visitors calling or making enquiries through their business website. Interestingly, our findings indicate that phone enquiries outweigh email enquiries by 3 to 1. This presents chal-lenges in the sense that it can be difficult to pinpoint and measure, which search phrases are leading to conversions. In response, we have requested for customer service representatives to ask the customers what search terms they used when conducting the search. We believe this helps us with about 50% of the calls. Whilst we acknowledge that not all of these answers are bulletproof in terms of accuracy, this does help us optimise the campaign towards even higher conversion of approximately 6%.

So when Australian Debt Solvers came to us and admitted they were “flustered” by the amount of leads we were providing them, we couldn’t help but blush.

According to the ASIC, 10 000 Australian businesses enter into some type of external administration each year. Understandably, this can be a heartache for many business owners.

Thus, Australian Debt Solvers have been positioned as the most cost-effective option in Australia, and this has served as their unique selling proposition. However, this pricing strategy was soon matched by their competitors. In response, Australian Debt Solvers lowered their price once again, and they are now a cost-leader experiencing increased de-mand for their services. However, we believe this is a risky strategy to pursue, as competitors may continue to engage in a ‘price war’ where cost is continually re-duced. Thus, we have advised that Australian Debt Solvers include con-tent marketing into their overall strategy to further position themselves as a leader within business solvency. This will help build brand equity and a diversified strategy to ensure they have several areas of differentiation.

We are thrilled to see the measurable success and growth that Austral-ian Debt Solvers have achieved in recent months. With some revision to their digital strategy and pricing structure, we know that a bright future awaits them.

*Ah, proud mum moment. Did you find this blog helpful? We’d love to hear from you! Follow us- TwitterLike us- FacebookNetwork with us- LinkedIn


WITH THE HELP OF MODERN TECHNOLOGYHOW TO AVOID “HOME ALONE” DRAMA

The Christmas fever seems to be spreading all over the world making some people happy and excited and others stressed and worried. With the anticipated merry spirit, Christmas also comes with arguing couples, overly excited children and run away pets.

If you haven’t watched ‘Home Alone’ yet, it is the perfect time to watch it now. Briefly, ‘Home Alone’ is a 1990 American Christmas family comedy film of an eight-year-old boy who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation. I can’t blame them - they have a good dozen of family mem-bers and none of them can stay steel for even a minute. It took Kevin’s family the entire movie to find the child who meanwhile went through many dangerous adventures. It is, indeed, a movie. However children or pets often get lost, they wonder away or even run away and usually there is nothing we can do.Some parents chose stricter discipline, others even use a leash but none of that is of any use when your child is already gone.

It makes me wonder what happens to our personal belongings during stressful seasons if even children often get left behind. Laptops, keys, documents, iPhone, USB sticks, suitcases, jewel-lery - you name it – often go missing when we are in a hurry and not minding things carefully. Losing a child is no doubt an awful experience; however losing your iPhone with a giant bunch of personal data can be reasonably stressful as well. Whether it is your baby, a pet or a thing, you want to keep it close by.

Thankfully, most of us live in a technologically developed world which allows us to find much easier whatever belongs to us. Kevin wouldn’t have been home alone for too long if his parents used a digital tag, for example, attached to his phone, piece of clothing or a toy. I am not suggesting to spy on your children; however take some extra measures during stressful Christmas preparation time, for example, or a birthday party or in a crowded shopping mall. Whether it is your 3 year-old, a fluffy Chihuahua or a full of sensitive information iPhone, you can prevent them from vanishing forever.

The IdTagIt gadget is almost weightless, barely noticeable and doesn’t require Bluetooth to work. Small but powerful James Bond style toys are now available for worrying parents, frequent (or starting up) travelers (for business or pleasure), pet lovers and simply anyone wishing to keep their belongings close to them. We are all guilty of leaving things behind from time to time. It is inevitable and let’s be honest an everyday battle for some.

I know the way to avoid the ‘Home Alone’ drama this Christmas and I am definitely tagging all my valuables including my part-ners, potentially, this holiday’s season.

Lost and found experts.



BRAND AMBASSADORS USINGHOW TO PROMOTO YOUR BUSINESS WITH

Passionate brand advocates can provide marketing on steroids.On a social web they boost sharing, enable crowd sourced mar-keting and they do it for free.They are your online tribe of brand ambassadors….Brand ambassadors are people, customer advocates and fans who represent and talk about your brand with passion. If they are also passionate about your brand then that can provide power-ful crowd sourced marketing that can amplify brand awareness.Because they love your products and services…You should make sure that they have conversations in front of as many potential customers as possible.

Bigger can be better.

Those conversations can be offline and online. The social web has made the online role more powerful and sometimes even viral.When you need an authentic promotional boost, you need to rec-ognize and leverage your brand ambassadors. This can be done with visual content marketing that includes incentives, tools and technology that can multiply your brand awareness.

People like to buy from peopleIn the past, businesses have enlisted logos, symbols, key col-ours and slogans to build their brand awareness. However, with the instant gratification demands of Gen Y and the “always on” expectations of Gen Z, there is so much more to successful brand marketing than a catchy jingle.User-generated content, which predominantly includes photos, videos and tweets, is the most powerful tool you can use to har-ness and maximize the influence of your brand ambassadors. By leveraging the wealth of visual content your brand ambassadors are generating, you can transform a simple hashtag into a digital “call to arms”.

Traditional brand ambassadorsUntil recently, brand ambassadors have largely been celebrities who were paid to endorse a brand. The formula is simple- get

someone with a public profile to wear, be photographed with or mention your product, and a spike in sales should follow.Celebrities like Kate Middleton and Emma Watson can send re-tail sites into overdrive as the masses scout for certain covetable items. The Dutchess’ $50 (USD) black-and-white spotted mater-nity dress sold out on ASOS’s site only minutes after she was published wearing it.Emma Watson increased the scarf sales of Crumpet, a British knitwear company, by 62 percent in just three weeks after being snapped wearing one of their designs.But what about if you are a smaller business, who cannot afford to shell out for royalty, or even C-grade celeb? Without blowing the whole year’s marketing budget on a five minute celebrity endorsement, you can transform your consum-ers into powerful and relatable brand ambassadors through the influence of visual content.

Fans love talking about brands they loveBecoming a brand ambassador is often an accidental outcome for many consumers in today’s digital era, whose natural instinct it is to collect, curate and share their experiences. It is up to you to decide how to market your business with your brand ambas-sadors’ visual content.Brand ambassadors espouse the brand value you guarantee to deliver to your customers. Your job is to then help them find oth-ers like them, offering them a platform where their needs are placed front and centre. With today’s consumers more inclined than ever to collaborate, you cannot afford to not have their voice designed into every phase of your business’ functions.

Let them sell your productsDo you remember Avon?The direct-selling cosmetic brand Avon operates almost entirely on the basis of brand ambassadors. To buy their products or even gain access to them, you need to know a brand representative.While many companies are unlikely to adopt this exact business model, we can learn a great deal from this style of marketing.

VISUAL CONTENT MARKETINGHelping business and personal brands with digital marketing including social media with Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, You-Tube and Search Engine ...


This type of marketing is incredibly effective because the sales message does not come from a corporation, it comes from fam-ily, friends or co-workers; people we trust.

According to a recent Nielsen survey, 84 percent of those sur-veyed ‘always’ or ‘sometimes’ take action based on personal recommendations. Further still, 70 percent said they took action because they followed someone’s recommendation online.A candid endorsement from people who do not directly repre-sent or work for your brand is truly valuable among your potential consumers and future fans. A genuine recommendation from a friend instills not only confidence is your brand but confidence in the consumer’s decision to pick your brand over one of your competitors.

In today’s noisy and overcrowded marketplace, you need to be nimble and responsive to consumers’ needs. You need to moti-vate your consumers to design not only your product but your brand’s message with you.

Rather than seeing your advertising strategy as a one-way street, create an environment where your consumers want to talk to you, and even better still, want to talk to others about you. What better way to get the conversation started than by leveraging your brand ambassador’s visual content. Remember, a picture speaks a thousand words.

Excite your ambassadorsAccording to VisionCritical, 43 percent of social media users have purchased a product after ‘Sharing’ or ‘Favoriting’ it on Fa-cebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Whether it is the trend-setters or trend-buckers who character-ize your target market, visual content is a hard to ignore me-dium through which your advocates are already spreading your brand’s message.

In order to excite your potential brand ambassadors, you need to create a campaign which will drive their desire to share with friends, followers and onlookers.

Campaigns can start with simply ‘Liking’ or ‘Following’, usually in exchange for new product updates and competition announce-ments. You can then prompt your consumers to share photos, statuses and videos associated with a your brand’s keywords or hashtags through a ‘call to action’, prize incentives or instant rewards. Further still, have your customers upload a photo of them redeeming their prize or enjoying their discount across their

social networks while tagging your company or using your official hashtag.

With user-generated visual content becoming more authentic and more trusted than any corporate content, it is time to place your brand in the background and your consumers’ real-time ex-periences in the foreground.

3 practical tips on how to market with visual content

1. Offer Discounts and PrizesMarketForce reports that 79 per cent of people say their primary reason for ‘Liking’ a company’s Facebook page is to receive dis-counts, with a further 81 percent saying they are influenced by what their friends share on social media.

By routinely offering discounts and promotions on your social media channels in exchange for ‘Liking’, ‘Sharing’ or upload-ing, your brand will grow its reach ten-fold via a series of mouse clicks.

Make it easy for your consumers to share their involvement with others – both online and offline. Promote relevant hashtags and reach out to thank those that participate in the contest will trans-form your consumers’ entries into unique, memorable brand en-gagements.

Gatorade’s ‘G Challenges’ The ‘G Challenges’ campaign run by Gatorade generated im-pressive results. With an AFL grand final weekend for four up for grabs, the campaign gained significant traction within the first few hours of launching. Gatorade asked their customers to film, tag and share a series of AFL footy challenges over the course of six weeks. Entries came in thick and fast.

A selection of these entries were then republished by Gatorade across their social media channels and rewarded with weekly prize packs, sparking positive consumer conversations across Facebook and Instagram. By employing a simple marketing strategy, Gatorade were able to transform the AFL amateur on the local playing field into an online brand ambassador via one simple upload.

2. Reward Them With RecognitionDeveloping a close relationship with your brand ambassadors is a vital ingredient to a winning marketing strategy. Today’s con-sumers crave self-validation and it is your job to leverage this need.


Identifying key influencers and “shoulder tapping” them with rec-ognition will inspire others to follow suit. If they ‘Share’ a photo, thank them for it. If they leave a comment, reply to it. Develop a fun and reciprocal relationship between your brand and your consumers.

If you validate their efforts, you’ll encourage consistent invalu-able user-generated content which can then be republished and repurposed to grow your reach and increase your engagement. Superette’s #Superstyle

The #superstyle campaign run by New Zealand fashion retailer Superette is a great example of identifying, recognizing and lev-eraging keen brand ambassadors. Superette’s followers used the hashtag #Superstyle on Instagram to see their photo added to an online gallery and social community on the company’s web-site.

The beauty of this campaign is in the simplicity and impact of user-generated content. Superette runs the social hubas an ‘al-ways on’ activity, constantly collecting up-to-date and visually stunning content. They launched the social hub with a contest, with the winners announced on Superette’s blog.

Recognizing and rewarding your contestants’ active participation is a key step to maximizing reach. Help them to help you. Up-grade your consumers into brand ambassadors with incentives, such as being showcased on your site’s social hub, and they will spread the gospel of your brand in real time, to real people, to give you real reach.

3. Provide a Platform to ConnectWith the organic reach of Facebook decreasing, it is imperative for businesses today to find alternative ways to engage with their consumers.

Providing an attractive and user-friendly platform, which looks and feels like part of your website, is a no-brainer. Forget static images and staged brand advertising, with the right tools you can build your own media channel using user-generated content. In turn, you’ll attract more visitors to your website, have them stay longer, increase your conversion rate and grow your email database.

Again, it is a no-brainer.

JUCY World

One business that is choosing to bring their content home is Jucy Rentals. A car hire and rental specialist with locations across the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Jucy have chosen to own the relationship they have with their customers.

Collecting content from promotional hashtags and direct upload, Jucy’s dedicated social hub has become a place for globetrot-ters and intrepid travellers alike to share their inspirations and be inspired. Priceless images of Jucy campervans parked up next to world landmarks and against breathtaking vistas are uploaded every single day to the platform.

By repurposing this content across their official channels and e-commerce pages, Jucy have developed a fantastic strategy for encouraging brand ambassadorship by placing themselves at the centre of their customers’ conversations.

The media landscape has changed and there is a huge oppor-tunity to grasp. With the right tools and technology, you can em-power your consumers to not just speak about but become the voice of your brand.


WITH THE HELP OF MODERN TECHNOLOGYHOW TO AVOID “HOME ALONE” DRAMA

The Christmas fever seems to be spreading all over the world making some people happy and excited and others stressed and worried. With the anticipated merry spirit, Christmas also comes with arguing couples, overly excited children and run away pets.

If you haven’t watched ‘Home Alone’ yet, it is the perfect time to watch it now. Briefly, ‘Home Alone’ is a 1990 American Christmas family comedy film of an eight-year-old boy who is mistakenly left behind when his family flies to Paris for their Christmas vacation. I can’t blame them - they have a good dozen of family mem-bers and none of them can stay steel for even a minute. It took Kevin’s family the entire movie to find the child who meanwhile went through many dangerous adventures. It is, indeed, a movie. However children or pets often get lost, they wonder away or even run away and usually there is nothing we can do.Some parents chose stricter discipline, others even use a leash but none of that is of any use when your child is already gone.

It makes me wonder what happens to our personal belongings during stressful seasons if even children often get left behind. Laptops, keys, documents, iPhone, USB sticks, suitcases, jewel-lery - you name it – often go missing when we are in a hurry and not minding things carefully. Losing a child is no doubt an awful experience; however losing your iPhone with a giant bunch of personal data can be reasonably stressful as well. Whether it is

your baby, a pet or a thing, you want to keep it close by.

Thankfully, most of us live in a technologically developed world which allows us to find much easier whatever belongs to us. Kevin wouldn’t have been home alone for too long if his parents used a digital tag, for example, attached to his phone, piece of clothing or a toy. I am not suggesting to spy on your children; however take some extra measures during stressful Christmas preparation time, for example, or a birthday party or in a crowded shopping mall. Whether it is your 3 year-old, a fluffy Chihuahua or a full of sensitive information iPhone, you can prevent them from vanishing forever.

The IdTagIt gadget is almost weightless, barely noticeable and doesn’t require Bluetooth to work. Small but powerful James Bond style toys are now available for worrying parents, frequent (or starting up) travelers (for business or pleasure), pet lovers and simply anyone wishing to keep their belongings close to them. We are all guilty of leaving things behind from time to time. It is inevitable and let’s be honest an everyday battle for some.

I know the way to avoid the ‘Home Alone’ drama this Christmas and I am definitely tagging all my valuables including my part-ners, potentially, this holiday’s season.

Lost and found experts.


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