Rosia Bay Ltd

When is the last time you consulted your business plan? If it's been filed away since you opened for business, you may be missing out on a powerful tool - one that is useful at all stages in the life-cycle of your business. Regularly reviewing and updating your business plan is a valuable exercise. An up-to-date business plan provides you with a snapshot of your current position and can help you develop a road map for future growth. It can also help you stay focused on your goals and objectives, adapt to changing market conditions, and inspire your employees. If you're starting a business, a business plan can help you: Test the viability of your idea Sell your idea to lenders and investors Clarify your objectives and set goals for the future If you're growing your business, a business plan can help you: Discover opportunities for change and growth Secure the financing you need to expand Assess your performance against the targets you have set If you a...

Social media campaigns are a crucial part of raising awareness – for new products, new services, and new businesses, too. But knowing you should develop a campaign is worlds apart from knowing how to make it happen. One of the most important elements is to have a plan – and to make sure part of that plan is to create shareable content. If you can create a message that goes viral, your customers (and anyone else who is interested) will help you get some of the hard work done. Spreading the word is always a challenge, but if done correctly, social media campaigns can help make this happen. Encourage people to share when they visit your website Some social media sharing starts outside a social media site. For example, if you write about a new product release on your website, make sure you include sharing buttons people can click on to share on the most popular social media sites. People won’t automatically think about sharing your content, but if you nudge them in the rig...

You never know what to expect when you land in a foreign country for the first time, particularly when you are about to live there for a period of time. I always find the immigration hall a good measure and Australia did not disappoint. After passing my passport to the immigration officer, he checked the screen and said "welcome to Australia mate" You wouldn't get that at Heathrow or New York. With the Commonwealth games, and Brexit soon to follow, the UK is looking towards trading partners it can grow with. As a Commonwealth Country, Australia has always been on the map so to speak, its distance is certainly one big disadvantage, but there are many more reasons that outweigh that small factual technicality. One of my roles now looks at how the UK can create trading relationships with Queensland and in particular the Gold Coast, but on a bigger scale, how can the UK and Australia bridge the travel distance and become a closer trading partner. Certainly the direct flight...

Being the owner of a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) has some very clear benefits. You will have far more flexibility compared to larger companies, meaning you’re able to adapt more quickly to any changes in the market. Your team will be more tightly knit – having quite possibly worked in the same small office space for several years. And, perhaps most important of all, you'll be relying on returning customers, which generally means you prioritise service, and are likely to have a great relationship with the people who use your business. On the other hand, none of that matters if you're unable to make the figures work. Sure, you might have an extremely loyal pool of returning customers, a friendly and productive office atmosphere, and an enormous amount of potential – but if you find you’re struggling to break even, then your business is not going to last long. So the question is this: how do you make the difficult transition from a struggling SME to a s...

Depending on your experience, the thought of listening to a speaker could recall memories of nodding off as someone launched into the second hour of their speech. Conversely, it may recall an altogether better and more inspiring experience of someone who knew how to engage their audience and capture their attention. Everyone would prefer the second scenario, but what makes a good speaker? What makes people focus on a person’s every word? Many good speakers share commonalities, regardless of the topic they are speaking on. Here are some of the main elements. They are aware of their audience Have you ever listened to a speaker who clearly loved the sound of their own voice? They’re not inspiring, are they? The best speakers look outward and engage their audience by being aware of their interests, hopes, and fears. Whatever topic they are speaking on, it is targeted at the audience. The idea is for the audience to leave feeling better than they did when they arrived. ...

Most financial institutions, be they Banks, Private Equity of High Net Worth individuals like a business plan that presents a lot of information in as few words as possible. The following business plan format, within 15–20 pages, is all that’s needed. Many business plans also fail to visually present well, people get lost in the importance of the substance of the plan, they forget about the visual impact ... don't. The visual plan is the first contact and whilst the content must be credible and written well, don't forego a great plan for poor presentation. Company purpose  - Define the company/business in a single declarative sentence. Don't mistake this for your mission statement, your elevator pitch or your exec summary, simple one sentence based on fact. Executive summary  -  This is your elevator pitch, a couple of paragraphs giving a broad outline of your business idea and why its going to work and more importantly why its worth investing in. Problem ...

Whilst Chair at Vistage, I facilitated meetings for my CEO members as an added value service. The success and positive feedback from this activity led me to investigate and understand the use of this professional service. It is, I guess not surprising that few businesses use the services of a professional meeting facilitator, yet the benefits and value has proven to be significant for so many reasons. Leaders who are charged with creating and executing a strategic vision have found the presence of a well-qualified facilitator essential to keeping participants objective, open, creative and, above all, on track. By using an experienced facilitator you will almost certainly accomplish more in your meetings, delve deeper into critical issues and resolve them much more robustly. People who have attended meetings hosted by a facilitator also talk about leaving with a stronger sense of cohesiveness, stronger sense of participation and a greater belief that they accomplished something...