The call comes in the wake of the escalating ‘supermarket war’ between the two giants, with Coles committing to cut prices on a range of fruit and vegetables while Woolworths continues to maintain its fixed low prices on similar items.

According to Food Conect founder and spokesperson Robert Pekin, “the market dominance of Australian supermarkets has meant increased pressure on our farmers to provide cheap fruit and vegetables. The result is a mass exodus of farming families walking off the land at the rate of five per week.”

“With 2012 being the Year of the Farmer, I urge Australian citizens to ask themselves who grew their food and whether those farmers were paid a fair price for their hard work.”

As farmers markets, farmer-direct enterprises (often called CSA or community supported agriculture) and local food businesses proliferate, Food Connect and CERES Fair Food are leading the charge on what could be described as new form of agri-social enterprise that supports ecologically sustainable farming practises while paying farmers as much as 40 cents in the retail dollar for their produce.

“As a result of fair farm-gate prices hundreds of farmers in Queensland, NSW and Victoria have stayed on the land,” says Pekin.

“In stark contrast, the last twelve months has seen 30 Queensland dairy farmers abandon their farms as a direct consequence of the milk price wars initiated by the supermarket duopoly.”

The jointly issued release calls on the ACCC to hold the duopoly to account, declaring that “predatory pricing practices are not only illegal, but un-Australian.”

Rural communities in decline

According to Michael Cebon, founder of ethicaljobs.com.au and formerly of Global Trade Watch), in the past forty years:

• production has doubled while the value of production has stagnated
• farming’s contribution to the national economy has plummeted approximately 90%
• farmer’s costs have doubled
• median farmer incomes have dropped approximately 30%
• farmer debt has tripled
• 45,000 farms have disappeared
• farm and rural employment has dropped approximately 20%
• the price of bread has increased at double the price of wheat
• the price of beer has increased at triple the price of barley
• the price of steak has increased 45% over the price of cows
• consumer prices for milk have increased 75% over farm-gate prices

Yet in the same period, share prices for Woolworths and Wesfarmers have increased almost ten-fold.

“With growing global concerns about food security, the ACCC and local, state and federal government need to put pressure on the major supermarkets to end a war where both farmers and consumers have been proven to consistently lose,” says Pekin.

“We call on more Australians to vote with their forks, and help to create a food system fit for the future. If we don’t act now, we risk compromising our food security and it will be our children who will wear the costs down the track.”

The same applies in just about any market, including the mobile device ‘gold rush’. It’s not the gadget makers alone who are striking it lucky — millions of entrepreneurs who develop innovative accessories for mobile phones and tablet computers are raking it in, too.

In 2011, the global market for mobile phone accessories was an estimated $34 billion, according to New York’s ABI Research and will rise to $50.2 billion this year.

Out to grab his share of that pie is Alon Tamir, a Melbourne entrepreneur who has set up a full-fledged studio with goal of designing and building exciting new accessories under the umbrella brand of Wallee.

StudioProper has just released an iPad accessory that allows motorists to mount the tablet computer on the back of a seat, instead of holding it in their hands all the way. Called the Headrest, it turns any car into an entertainment hub by attaching the mount to a car seat with a simple turn and click movement.

Entertainment hub for the car

The Headrest is crafted from anodized aluminium — just like the iPad and other Apple products — and can swing out to a central position between the two front seats, and be switched between landscape and portrait, for versatile viewing.

“Instead of uncomfortably holding the iPad in your lap in the back-seat of the car, we’ve created a perfect mount that lets you lock it into your car’s headrest. You can multitask or just sit back and enjoy the ride,” said Tamir. “The great thing about the iPad, is that it can transform into so many things. You can use it for a wide range of entertainment and productivity uses.”

Tamir says he sought to create something new in an iPad accessory market “filled with copy-cat designs.”

“So we wanted to create something new, which has never been done before. Our designs exist to make the iPad experience more enjoyable,” he said.

The Headrest is not Tamir’s first iPad accessory. He previously released the Pix and Stix — a set of guitar picks and capacitive drum sticks that can actually be used on the iPad. The Headrest, fully designed and made in Australia, is available for $39.95 with free shipping around the world.

Was it Barack Obama? Oprah Winfrey? The Dalai Lama?fair

No, it was Moot, the pseudonym of 21-year-old Christopher Poole, a college student and founder of online community 4chan.org.

Not only was the “most influential person in the world”, according to TIME, largely unheard of (and still is) but so were many of the remainder of the top 21, whose first initials not-so-coincidentally spelled the words ‘MARBLE CAKE ALSO THE GAME‘.

4chan.org, if you’ve never heard of it, is a bare-bones, reliably profane image board whose users have hatched everything from Rickrolling to LOLcats. It’s perhaps influential among college students but was its founder worthy of this TIME accolade?

This is a question that even TIME seemed uncomfortable answering in 2009.

TIME.com managing editor Josh Tyrangiel said that moot is no less deserving than previous title holders. “I would remind anyone who doubts the results that this is an Internet poll,” he says. “Doubting the results is kind of the point.”

So, how did Moot win?

The simple answer is that 4chan.org used its far reaching network to manipulate the voting process. The technicalities of this precision hack can be found elsewhere.

So, why the long winded introduction to this year’s Cool Company Awards Readers’ Choice Award?

Did we get gamed?

Let’s be frank. Readers’ Choice Awards are usually conducted for two reasons.

The first is to provide readers with a voice. This is obviously a good thing. It takes the decision making process away from a few and gives it to many.

The second is to raise awareness. In our world, that could also be interpreted to mean ‘get more traffic’.

As such, we acknowledge that many award programs often end up becoming (for want of a better description) media sanctioned popularity contests. And with acknowledgement comes acceptance.

So, rather than rail against this hard fact (Oh, the inequity!), many years ago we decided to ignore our internal cynics (the ones in our brains, not just the ones in our office) and reward voters according to the effort they put in to reach their own networks.

That’s right, we empowered our entrants to promote the awards for us.

How did the voting work?

The Cool Company Awards Readers’ Choice gave Anthill readers the opportunity to vote on Cool Company Award finalists in one of several ways:

1. Tweet this post:

Use the Tweet button at the top of this page. Your tweet will say:
Congratulations [Name], Anthill 2010 Cool Company finalist!

2. Trigger a spcial media reaction: Hit “Like” or “Google+”, Disqus “Like”.
3. Leave a comment: Show your support! Share the love!

This seemed fare. And, to state the obvious, if success is built on marketing flair (even partially), ranking highly in the Readers’ Choice should bode well for the ‘cool’ company.

So, how did participants rank?

Below is a summary of our performers.

Notice anything weird?

It’s pretty common for the top two to generate more social media interactions than the remainders combined.

At least, that is what has happened in previous years.

One or two companies will usually have strong and established networks. They will have created a remarkable product (hence their slot in the ‘Cools’) and their customers, clients, family, friends and fans are more than happy to show their love.

But this year’s leadership ladder tells a slightly different story.

Our leader generated an outcome roughly five times the social media interactions generated by the entire list.

For those of us able to monitor the process, the astonishing outcome appeared to happen in a matter of days, skyrocketing this one organisation’s Like count seemingly at the push of a button.

Of course, we suspect, that is exactly what happened.

What is LeadBolt?

In less than two years, LeadBolt has become a world leader in website monetisation services via a method called content unlocking.

In essence, site users encounter a screen that makes an enticing offer; the user must engage and react to the offer in order to continue seeing the site content.

LeadBolt says ads powered by its network are generating click-through rates more than 60 times above industry benchmarks and that, on mobile, its engagement layers are pushing publishers’ earnings 100 times higher than industry benchmarks.

The company, founded in mid-2010 by president and CEO Dale Carr and headquartered in Sydney, deployed its export arms early, moving into the U.S. and Asia in July 2010, Latin America in September 2010 and Europe and the UK in January.

Today, it serves hundreds of millions of ad in nearly 200 countries.

Advertisers include Burger King, Pepsi, Walmart, Coca-Cola and Groupon.

It’s a powerful business model and an Australian digital success srory.

But, to summarise and to (perhaps unfairly) simplify the model for today’s purposes, LeadBolt’s business is built to help monetise blogs… by selling Likes.

And what about Starlettos?

It’s part of the Anthill culture to root for the underdog.

In fact, the Cool Company Awards were, in part, developed to identify up-and-comers — businesses with unique business models, powered by innovation. All our contenders for the Cools fit this mould. (It’s the Cool Company Awards, after all — not the richest-business-in-Austraila-deadly-serious-and-humourless awards.)

And, as a fly on the wall, it was plain to see how much effort Starlettos — namely its founders, Mark Naismith-Beeley and Ilde Naismith-Beeley — put into mobilising their masses to achieve an outcome almost five times their nearest competitor (a digital marketing agency too, I might add).

Who would have thought that a small piece of plastic that could prevent high heels from sinking into grass could be so popular? (But I concede that I’m probably not the target market.)

This created a crisis of concience at Anthill HQ.

While LeadBolt is the clear Readers’ Choice winner in terms of ‘votes’, should we not acknolwedge the efforts of others who actively mobilised ‘fans’ and new Anthill readers?

Who do you think should win?

In the spirit of typical Anthillian rule-breaking behaviour, we have decided to ask you, dear readers, for one final vote. Who should win? LeadBolt or Starlettos?

And if you think this turn of events is unfair (or if you ardently support it), leave your rant as a comment below. Now vote. Use the widget below. Click and you’re done.

To enter or nominate a business visit telstrabusinessawards.com

REGISTER FOR THE FREE WEBINAR AND BONUS MATERIALS BELOW.

The habit of asking must be developed, not only in daily life, but also in business activities.

Here are just some of the wonderful things you can achieve in business if you dare to ask.

1. When was the last time you asked someone to become your mentor, business partner, or joint venture partner?

When we meet great people at networking events we often wonder if he/she wants to partner with us in a venture.

We also see successful people in the industry and wish they would become our business mentor.

The dream can’t come true if we don’t ask. And the worst they can say is no.

2. Have you ever failed to ask a warm prospect to buy?

After working hard to build rapport, sales people are often afraid of saying something wrong.

Due to fear of rejection, they don’t ask their prospect to buy.

Zig Ziglar said: “We miss 100% of the sales we don’t ask for.”

3. Do you always ask for a more reasonable deal?

Almost everything is negotiable — agreement clauses, payment terms, schedules, salary, concession prices — we just need to ask.

I managed to negotiate very reasonable terms when buying my current business. I got an 80% discount when buying souvenirs in Thailand. Did those savings happen automatically? Absolutely not.

You should be the one to initiate negotiations. If they turn you down simply move on to the next deal.

4. Do you make a habit of asking for feedback from your customers?

One of the most valuable aspects of business is receiving honest feedback and insight from customers.

Designing a product/solution without first asking your target customer is like buying a present for your girlfriend without first knowing what she likes. You’re gambling.

If you don’t regularly ask your customers’ opinion on your service offerings, brand image, or unmet needs, you have homework to do.

5. Do you ask for information from more experienced people?

Misinformation could lead to lost money, so make sure you quiz reliable sources.

The worst advice I’ve ever received was: “If you can do it or find it all by yourself, don’t ask!”

On one hand it teaches us to be independent, but why do it the hard way, wasting valuable time?

6. Do you ask for referrals from alliance partners or existing clients?

A great book that I highly recommend is Endless Referrals by Bob Burg.

The book explains the right way to ask for referrals. It’s a must-read for all salespeople and entrepreneurs. The point is that some referrals only come when we ask for them.

Don’t be shy! Just ask for help!

‘I need help’. That’s the phrase I learned from entrepreneur Domenic Carosa.

Ask for help from your staff, customer, or business partner and you will reap the benefits.

Bottom line: if you’re not in the habit of asking, get into the habit stat. It will change your life.

Edwin Lucas is the co-owner and Business Development Director of Digital Office Builder, an online business development company in Melbourne. One of his passions is to educate small business owners to maximise the use of online business tools in order to experience various benefits in their business including costs reduction, efficiency improvement, and business process automation. Follow Edwin Lucas on Twitter

A combination of internationally-inspired, Australian-designed and affordable garments coupled with an intelligent approach to social media and ecommerce seems to have struck a chord with Australia’s fashion-conscious women.

Show Pony has had it’s fair share of print exposure, but it’s in digital that company founder Jane Lu is seeing her greatest returns. By working Facebook and generating exposure in fashion blogs, Show Pony is connecting with its customers where they most commonly congregate — online.

With close to 33,000 Facebook fans, Show Pony uses a simple but effective engagement technique of inviting customers to tag themselves in promotional photos to win the profiled garment. Not only does this increase engagement on the page, it spreads the promotion directly to the customer’s social network through their public feed, dramatically increasing brand awareness.

In order to streamline purchasing, Show Pony has kept its online shopping experience as lean as possible. Garments come in only four sizes with no colour variations, making it quick and easy for shoppers to make a decision. Further, by focusing on moving sale items online, Show Pony continues to drive traffic to their site, while simultaneously freeing up space in their three Sydney retail stores to focus on current season stock.

It’s an approach to digital that indicates Jane Lu — formerly in corporate finance with KPMG and Ernst & Young — understands that both online and offline marketing and selling are substantially different exercises; to achieve success in the highly competitive world of fashion, you need to give the right kind of attention to both.

To check out Show Pony’s Facebook page, click here.

Show Pony Fashion Show, September 2011

The Australian-born Twitter payment pioneer has banked $600,000 in new angel capital. Pollenizer, the startup incubator, raised most of the amount from a bunch of new and previous investors.

The new investors who get a share of the pie are Tasmania-based Andrew Spykes, Lend Lease CEO Anthony Pascoe, Hitwise founder Adrian Giles and Adrian Stone of the Melbourne-based incubator Angel Cube.

Previous investors include Yahoo!7 chief Rohan Lund; Tim Howard of Vividwireless, a division of Yahoo!7; and Pollenizer itself.

Facebook push ahead

“Investor enthusiasm has been high for Pygg in a way we have not seen before and we are all very proud of the demand we have seen from an impressive array of investors,” said Pollenizer Co-Founder Phil Morle. “It signals a renewed energy in the local start-up investment community and supports our view that Pygg has great things ahead of it.”

Pygg makes small micropayments as easy as sending a tweet. Its system enables, for example, you to pay your friend for the coffee. Pygg has linked with PayPal and some Australian banks to bring in money into an account, which is then linked to a Twitter handle.

Pollenizer says the first round of funding since Pygg’s founding last year came after “positive phase one results.” The Sydneyside startup plans to use the funds for a push into Facebook, the world’s most popular social networking site.

“The success of this funding round is a great vote of confidence in Pygg’s ability to drive change in the social payments space,” said Howard, a founding investor. “Pygg is in a unique position to adapt and respond to the market — delivering a product that is people focused, bank agnostic and fun to use.

Pollenizer is a three-year-old incubator that has invested $10 million in 25 startups and made one exit worth $40 million. It has 80 so-called “web-loving entrepreneurs,” covering all aspects of a web business and its portfolio of companies includes mogeneration, Posse, 99dresses and Spreets.

Pygg on Visible Banking [Oct 2011]

That is the outlook for the cellphone industry, which has quickly grown from a nimble startup and, today, has nearly five billion users. Still, the industry resembles a frustrated teen in a hurry for further growth.

Ovum’s independent telecoms analyst Shiv Putcha says the next billion mobile connections will mainly come from “remote rural areas in emerging markets, with most users in these areas willing to invest in the right device and service combination.”

Device is key to further growth

However, the next base of users demands a “distinct hierarchy of expectations” that phonemakers and service providers may not be able to immediately meet.

Users want “durability, problem-solving features, versatility and connectivity,” says Putcha, lead author of the report titled, “Strategies for the Next Billion: Devices.”

“However, while connectivity is highly desirable, it is generally unaffordable, challenging to use and impractical for most users in rural and remote communities,” he adds.

The problem with the next billion derives from many factors. Potential users in remote areas and villages typically don’t have access to basic infrastructure or utilities. Consequently, even though they are aware of the transformative potential of mobile phones and are eager to invest in a convenient device.

It is almost clear that the wannabe users will primarily buy entry-level and feature phones. Yet they have high expectations of the device, especially when it comes to device charging solutions. This is because, even though mobile phone battery life has improved considerably in the last few years, access to electricity in remote and rural areas has not. So, users need to factor in the cost of recharging devices into their total cost of ownership or value.

“The business of charging devices is progressing, and several charging solutions are already available from device vendors, NGOs, and startups. These can be standalone accessories designed exclusively for mobile phones, or appliances that provide electricity for multiple functions such as lighting as well as charging a mobile phone,” says Putcha.

Ovum’s report also noted the sharply rising popularity of smartphones among existing cellphone, even in emerging markets. However, Ovum doesn’t expect average selling prices to fall quickly enough for smartphones to be a viable option for the majority of users in the next billion.

In 2005, Steve Jobs said, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” In 2010, Derek Sivers said, “The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader.” Today, we share the wisdom of Steve Carell’s Michael Scott, from the US version of The Office.

Watch and listen carefully. These inspirational words will change your life. Maybe.

The Office: Inspiring Quote

THE WEBINAR, 2 FEBRUARY 2012

BONUS MATERIALS

• Tools Summary PDF
• Creating WorkWiki Tutorials
• Content Leverage System Video

Before you flub your company’s finances, check out new Melbourne-based online marketplace Vumero.

Vumero – a mix of ‘numero’ and ‘value’ – pairs businesses and entrepreneurs with financial professionals, freelancers and other sum-savvy advisers.

Vumero is the brainchild of CEO John Persico, COO Johann Odou and CTO Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin. The trio developed the online marketplace to overcome some of the “pain” they themselves had experienced in the financial services industry.

According to Persico: “We often felt that the late night culture instilled in the financial services industry could be avoided if people learnt to work smarter as part of the Work 3.0 movement – including recycling knowledge, collaboratively learning and accessing an available network of resources on demand.”

Vumero also aims to address the barriers that exist between them what have financial know-how and those whose idea of tackling tough sums involves taking off their shoes and socks.

“In many ways we have created an ODesk-style business – dedicated to the finance industry.”

Vumero’s goals for the future

Having launched in December 2011, after just nine months’ planning, Vumero has two primary goals over the next 12 months: to build a quality library of Excel spreadsheets and financial model templates, and to educate businesses on the benefits of posting finance tasks to world-class finance professionals.

“Vumero truly believes that all global businesses can make great financial decisions if they have access to the great professional capability and resources.”

“Everything from reviewing a complex financial model, preparing a cashflow forecast, managing inventory levels to valuing your online startup,” Persico says.

“[Our] long-term vision is to become the world’s most trusted and value-adding global professional services marketplace.”

Which comes first, the chicken or the spreadsheet?

Just to keep things interesting, Vumero has effectively launched two marketplaces on the one website – a document repository and a freelancing community – “which introduces a few additional strategic and operational complexities,” Persico says.

“A major challenge with any marketplace is to understand ‘chicken and the egg’ interplay and responsiveness between buyers and sellers.”

“Building credibility and trust within the finance industry requires open feedback, transparency and authenticity. The Vumero team remains focused on maintaining the quality of spreadsheets and financial models and upholding a strong value-adding community of financial analyst and financial modelling professionals.”

“We also help ensure credibility by maintaining a quality rating system, independent verifications, secure Escrow processes, effective dispute resolution, transparent user profiles and strict confidentiality procedures.”

Although Vumero only launched a month ago, the company’s happy to share useful nuggets with other aspiring online marketplaces.

“Start simple. Understand the price and demand elasticity between buyers and sellers in your chosen marketplace. Never forget why you are creating a marketplace. Get your hands dirty. Focus on the ‘big trends’. Network widely and aggressively.”

And that’s not all.

“Mistakes are awesome if you learn from them. Demand excellence in everything you do. Measure everything. Even the things you can’t measure are super important. Always thank all your loved ones for all their encouragement and support.”

And finally…

“Have lots of fun.”

What is Vumero?

Businesses make this mistake time and time again: their customers buy from them but they never get their details. Then they just sit around and hope and pray that they will remember them… that somehow the “exceptional” service they have offered will keep them coming back for more.

You may not realise it but all that hoping does is cheapen the value of your business.

Where is the value in your business?

When you buy a business, what is it that you are buying? Where is its value? It could be:

• The equipment. (Just go to any auction site to see how “valuable” this is.)
• The team. (Would you have employed them?)
• The goodwill. (It’s all about goodwill. And what is goodwill but a bunch of customers that already buy from the business?)

Imagine for a second the difference between the following two statements if you were buying a business. Which would you pay more for?

1. “Well we do about $21,000 per week.”
2. “We have a database of 5,475 active customers, whom we market to once a month. This brings in $21,000 per week on non-promotional weeks and $29,000 when we run a promotion.”

Most buyers will be looking for the sure thing and are willing to pay more for it.

So where is the value in your business? It’s in your list of clients or customers.

If you haven’t got a list, you better start building one now.

Four Steps to Building a Client List

Step 1: Work out roughly what you are planning to send them. Is it to: Inform them, Educate them, Amuse them, Offer something to them (Promote something)…?

Step 2: Work out how to ask. “Hey, from time to time, we have some really great specials that we let our existing clients know about. Would that be something you’re interested in?” (Suits retail.)

Or: “Hey, we have tips and tactics that we send out to our clients regularly so they can [save money|make money|add your benefit here]. Would that be something you’re interested in receiving?” (Suits business-to-business.)

Step 3: Create something to collect the details on. Put a form together. Make sure you ask for full details, remember e-mail and mobile/SMS. Have a computer system to put them in. At worst Excel or e-mail, at best a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system.

Step 4: Do something with it. Send out an e-mail newsletter, post out a new product offer, ask for referrals, or send them a birthday card. There are hundreds of what you can communicate to keep yourself in the front of your customer’s mind.

Get moving: your profit is waiting out there for you.

Don’t wait for business to call your phone or knock on your door, go out there and get it!

Steve Smit is a business coach with Reality Consulting. He works with business owners who want to increase their take home profits and work shorter hours. For a free copy of his “Business Accelerator Pack” visit www.realityconsulting.com.au or please email stevesmit@realityconsulting.com.au.

Image by Garry Knight

As mentioned, this video really got my head spinning. It begins with one logical and familiar example of outsourcing (creating content for a website) and then takes the process to the… wait for it… EXTREME!

(Because Pete’s an outsourcing ‘extremist’, see?)

It references a Market Samurai product called Article Samurai. While I’m personally not familiar with the tool, I do appreciate the importance of content creation — if you have a desire to build an online community, improve your website’s visibility in search engines or simply want to position yourself as an authority.

Content Leverage System

YouTube is now the world’s second biggest search engine, with over three billion videos viewed daily and 48 hours of video content uploaded every minute.

Join Internet video and search guru Jim Stewart as he reveals the 5 critical steps for creating and delivering web videos that stand out without breaking the bank.

FREE WEBINAR

When: Thursady, 23 Feb 2012, 12-noon
Where: At your laptop, Mac or PC!
Cost: Complimentary*

Click here to register.

*By registering, you are agreeing to allow the data collected to be shared with the sponsor of this event, Citrix GoToMeeting. Anthill will not share this data with any parties not involved unless indicated.