Posted by Fiona Powell | Sep 11th, 2007

What do you stand for?

Branding (and Employer Branding for the HR profs) is a big deal these days. On some level every business has a brand (intentional or not) but now business owners and leaders are beginning to understand what it means and how their brand impacts on their customers’ perception of the company, right through to attracting employees that will ‘fit’ with the organisation. Business leaders are looking for ways to...

Posted by Fiona Powell | Sep 11th, 2007

Anita Roddick – an inspiration

I was saddened to hear of Anita Roddick’s death… she was certainly a role model for me as I grew my business. I pulled out my dog eared copy of “Business as Unusual – the triumph of Anita Roddick” and reminisced over the story of Anita’s journey and of her pioneering philosophy on doing business, and the impact these had on opening my eyes to the bigger picture of entrepreneurship. Even now, when I’m...

Posted by Fiona Powell | Aug 29th, 2007

being self employed means….

 Pulling a sickie is easier to get away with but harder to fit into your schedule You can no longer drink the most expensive wine at work parties simply because the  boss is paying for it Working through your lunchbreak is a necessity, not just a way to grease for a payrise You know even before you get to work if your boss is in a good mood or not You’re no longer part of the ‘public’ when...

Posted by Fiona Powell | Aug 27th, 2007

Why did you want to have your own business?

Apart from wanting to be my own boss, work my own hours, knock the world off its axis, make a difference, be in control of my destiny and potential, I wanted to have my own business… so I could get a dog. And I did and I have. Georgie even had her own credit in the Her Business magazine as ‘office dog’ (a credit shared with my sister’s dog, Gus). Amidst stressful deadlines, cashflow anxiety...

Posted by Fiona Powell | Aug 23rd, 2007

geeks are sexy… and blog tips

You gotta love the internet… our radio alarm clock is tuned to RadioLive talkback so we are woken every morning to the sound of Marcus Lush chewing the fat with callers about topical, sometimes inane, subjects… the other morning I caught part of a brief interview call about Facebook and the social networking phenomenon. I wanted to follow this up further as I was thrilled that online communities are finally...

Posted by Fiona Powell | Aug 12th, 2007

visit entrepreneurette.com

At entrepreneur-ette.com we’ve added a new membership level… now you can register for free for a preview of some of the benefits of full membership for a limited time… like your own goal blog and access to group and site forums. You can upgrade any time to full membership and you’ll then be assigned to a council group, which is like a business development programme, brainstorming group and...

Posted by Fiona Powell | Aug 12th, 2007

let's be real

Anthea Paul is the author of the stunning Girlosophy series of books and has been touring New Zealand talking to young women. As a mentor wannabe for the Future Leader’s Programme I had the opportunity to meet Anthea and hear her inspiring message: Perfection myth: You are real – the photos of women in the glossy magazines are not. Here’s proof. The whole marketing machine is designed to make us feel...

Posted by Fiona Powell | Jun 26th, 2007

women inspiring women

The Future Leaders Programme is an inspiring mentoring programme for our young women who show leadership potential. Young women enter the programme in Year 10 and remain on it for up to five years. Each young woman is assigned a mentor, and the student sets her own individual goals, and co-creates her own development programme with her mentor.  Mentors are supported and trained while students have a number of...

Posted by Fiona Powell | May 21st, 2007

the role of you

As a business founder you start out ‘doing’. You’re the one making the sales, making the product, doing the GST return, setting up a database system, creating a website… tea lady; you name it; you’re it. Then the business (hopefully) grows and you start (hopefully) delegating or outsourcing some of your workload. This is where lots of us become unstuck. If we’re a...

Posted by Fiona Powell | May 14th, 2007

good idea vs commercial idea

I attended an interesting seminar recently that challenged your business idea; was it just a good idea or was it a commercially viable business idea? The acid test is whether a venture capatalist will give your idea the time of day… or not. But even they get it wrong; they wouldn’t have backed Sam Morgan of Trade-Me for example. One particular VC was prepared to back a company that produced a slimming...