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The Evolution of Business Movies, Part 5: Jerry Maguire

Jerry Maguire delved behind the scenes and looked at the business side of sports. Tom Cruise starred as the title character, a sports agent whose radical idea of taking on less clients, asking for less money and focusing on developing relationships with the clientele, has him fired from his prestigious position in one of the premiere sports firms in the country.

How to embarrass yourself in front of new staff

Starting a new job is like going out on a first date. Your new employee is sizing you up. He is trying to decide whether there’s enough chemistry to write off those workplace wobbles as funny first date fumbles, or whether what they are really seeing are warnings signs pointing to worse things to come. Here are the 12 quickest ways to breach trust with your new employees.

How to be a better procrastinator

It makes a good T-Shirt but unfortunately most of us have to deal with procrastination in some way, shape or form. Either the effects of it when other people procrastinate, or silently, secretly, quietly, in our own hidden world of guilt and shame when it is us procrastinating. It’s not the sort of thing that you bring up at dinner parties.

The Evolution of Business Movies, Part 4: Working Girl

Most business films tend to feature male lead characters, yet Working Girl featured not one but two strong female characters, with Sigourney Weaver countering Melanie Griffith with a bitchy turn sure to make many a viewer grind their teeth. Both women followed several female execs on their hectic daily schedules in New York City, sitting in on meetings and taking in life as a businesswoman in a male-dominated world.

Mumtrepreneur Antonette Golikidis on promoting chemical-free infant care [PODCAST]

Antonette Golikidis is the founder of Little Innoscents, which manufactures baby skin care products that are made from wholly natural and organic ingredients. In this interview, she shares some background on Little Innoscents: how her experience as a mum has informed her business and how she strives to keep her brand sustaining the baby market.

The Evolution of Business Movies, Part 3: Wall Street

The big daddy of films dealing with business ethics and excess, Wall Street was not only a damnation of the financial sector; it also became an unintentional recruitment video for inspiring stock traders everywhere. Although it was director Oliver Stone’s attempt at saying the opposite, the film -- and especially Gordon Gekko -- are now seen as inspiration by stockbrokers who can recite the film from beginning to end.

Are daily deal sites recession-proof? Catchoftheday founder Gabby Leibovich says yes. [PODCAST]

Gabby Leibovich has established himself at the forefront of the online deals industry in Australia with two very popular sites, CatchOfTheDay and Scoopon. In this podcast, Leibovich explains the business model that he believes has allowed him to weather the GFC and pinpoints the challenges that traditional, physical department stores must now face.

Have you heard of Motivator-Hygiene Theory? It’s about separating a client’s wants from their...

Way back when I was studying for my MBA (which I never quite finished. I started a business instead), I came across an organisational psychology concept called the Motivator-Hygiene Theory which claims: “The things that satisfy and motivate us are not the same things that dissatisfy and demotivate us.”

Branding, customer service and how to handle challenges in business; an interview with...

Emanuel Perdis is the dynamic Managing Director and co-founder of Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics. He has overseen and implemented double-digit business growth for the brand, every year, for the past fourteen years, turning over $80 million a year, employing a team of almost 500 staff. In this Q&A Interview with Alex Pirouz, Perdis shares what it takes to create a global brand, why customer service has been a crucial part of the organisation's success and the best way to handle challenges in business.

The top 10 tips small business owners should consider when choosing an accounting software...

Choosing the right accounting software package is a hard task for anyone, especially small business owners. What’s right for other business owners may not be compatible with your small business. That’s why I have come up with the top ten tips you should consider when choosing an accounting software package. These are sure to make your job simpler and less time consuming, so you can get on with running your business.

The Evolution of Business Movies, Part 2: Network

Click around the tube and it is apparent that big business and TV have become inseparable. The nightly news is no longer one anchorman in a suit looking down the camera, delivering the daily doom and gloom. Production value, scandal and celebrity are now the tools used to drive up ratings, strengthen shares, and make the news profitable. Such a world was first prophesied in the 1976 classic Network.

Check out this recipe: How to make a dish of noise and influence policy...

Let’s say you’re an advocacy group. You have a mission. Your job is to affect policy, policy makers and the public. Your job is to raise awareness, or in other words: Your job is to MAKE NOISE. Here’s a recipe for a great dish of noise with an average cooking time of about 60 days.

The Evolution of Business Movies, Part 1: Citizen Kane

The brainchild of 27-year-old wunderkind Orson Welles who starred, wrote and directed, Citizen Kane tells the story of media tycoon Charles Foster Kane and how his relentless ascent to the top brings him unparalleled power but leaves him a lonely old man. What made Welles’ work that much more special was that he based Kane on the life of powerful, real-life business magnate William Randolph Hearst, who didn’t take too kind to the less than flattering depiction.

Can money be made out of electric vehicles? Heck yeah!

Contrary to popular understanding, people have been making money out of electric vehicles for over 110 years. Unfortunately there have also been bankruptcies in the electric vehicle business in most of those years.

If cash is king, here’s one way to get yours flowing…

For small businesses, there’s no question about it – cash flow is king. Unfortunately, thanks to the GFC, keeping cash flowing and preserving a line of credit is proving a challenge for many Australian businesses. According to a recent Dun & Bradstreet report, the average time it takes to get an invoice paid in Australia has risen to 53.4 days. Furthermore, many small businesses are finding it difficult to acquire the capital they need from traditional lending institutions, especially the big banks. Here's one way to get yours flowing.

Five ways to drive customer conversion rates in your stores

The scent of financial meltdown still lingers around store retail. But if you survived the crisis, it’s time to get that sales needle shifting in the right direction. There are only three ways to drive sales in-store:

Life sciences sector shines but policy gaps pose challenges to Australia’s continued innovation

Like many industries, private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) activity have suffered heavily from the global financial crisis, after peaking in 2007. PE...

Can Australian companies really afford NOT to have an online presence?

In Australia, 90% of businesses have Internet access and that access is predominantly broadband. Yet, still only 40% of Australian Businesses have any form of web presence. Here are my five top tips when building an online presence.

Mark Bouris on The Apprentice, what he learnt from Kerry Packer and why most...

Mark Bouris earned his entrepreneurial stripes founding ‘Wizard Home Loans’, a business he sold to GE Money in 2004, and Yellow Brick Road, a wealth management company, which he listed on the ASX within four years of launch. But for many Channel Nine viewers he is perhaps better known for his role as the host of The Apprentice (and, as of last night, Celebrity Apprentice), giving the US franchise -- made famous by Donald 'the Don' Trump -- a more Australian feel.

Bike Exchange CEO Jason Wyatt on getting into high gear with online retail [PODCAST]

Australia's top biking retail website, BikeExchange.com.au has rolled out some impressive numbers: 535,000 visitors every month, 85,000 database users and over 50,000 bicycles and cycling accessories sold since the site's inception in 2007. In this podcast, Leon and Garry have a chat with Bike Exchange CEO Jason Wyatt about his company's accomplishments and aspirations.
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How to zig when everyone else is zagging, with Julio De...

Why is it that some business owners appear impervious to business obstacles and upsets? In some cases, it seems that it’s the obstacles that drive certain personality types to success. In this CHEAT SHEET, we share five ways of thinking to respond to INDUSTRY, ECONOMIC, BRAND, SOCIETAL and PERSONAL shifts.

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New Zealand’s Xero eyes US IPO, further disruption as subscribers increase...

Xero recently held its annual meeting in Wellington, during which the company revealed some interesting details about its future. As has been widely suspected, the...

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