Category: Business Tips

The City of Sydney and NSW Government are planning to help small business owners bounce back from the pandemic

Posted on by Gary

Experts from some of Australia’s most established and fastest-growing companies have joined forces with the City of Sydney and the NSW Government to help small businesses, creatives, retailers, and hospitality owners bounce back from the pandemic.

The City, in partnership with the State Government, is hosting a series of nine webinars that will guide businesses on how to sell online, create cost-effective branding solutions, and use the big platforms to accelerate growth.

The Reboot 2022 Small Business Series kicked off on the 29th of March and featured experts from some of Australia’s most successful companies including RedBalloon, Shop You, news.com.au, and Eucalyptus.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the initiative will help support businesses to develop new, innovative ways of thinking and working to ensure they can prosper and grow post-pandemic.

“The past two years have been extraordinarily challenging for our retailers, businesses, and the hospitality sector and recovery will take time, adaptability, and the willingness to consider new ways of doing business,” the Lord Mayor said.

“We’ve engaged industry experts and developed a series of webinars that will help these businesses to upskill, learn and navigate a path forward in a post-pandemic world.”

With a focus on digital content skills and growing customers and brands, the webinars will provide inspiring stories and practical examples to help businesses learn, innovate and grow in 2022.

The Reboot series is proudly supported by the NSW government’s Business Connect program which provides advice and support to help businesses get off the ground, adapt and grow.

Minister for Small Business Eleni Petinos said the partnership between the City of Sydney and the NSW Government will expand opportunities for small businesses to access support through the Business Connect network.

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy, their importance in providing jobs and services to the local community cannot be overstated,” Ms. Petinos said.

“Business Connect has helped almost 44,000 businesses since the program began in 2017. It provides a network of accredited business advisors who provide expert, professional and independent advice on how to run a small business.

“With webinars on topics such as driving growth and nailing your marketing, the Reboot series is highly relevant for small businesses as they move on from COVID-19 restrictions and the challenges of the past two years, including the recent floods.”

The series includes:

Brand Building, Naomi Simson, co-founder, RedBalloon

Content that drives clicks – Lisa Muxworthy, editor-in-chief, news.com.au 

26 April, 12 pm–1 pm 

Creating content and getting your content out there is not easy. Learn to build an audience and create content that drives attention and customer conversions, which content drives the biggest click-throughs, and how to pitch to media.  

How to create storytelling content that really connects – Wayne Quilliam, Aboriginal artist, and digital creator  

3 May, 12 pm–1 pm

In a digital world, storytelling is the stuff high-growth brands are made of. To stand out, a great brand, product or service is not enough. Learn the importance of stories in the digital world, how businesses create their stories and how to translate stories into imagery and video online to capture attention. Nailing your marketing mix – Sandradee Makejev, founder, St Frock, Kelly Slessor, CEO, Shop You and Sina Klug, founder, Nutie Donuts 

10 May, 12 pm–1 pm

To drive more sales and grow your audience, the guest speakers will give advice on which channels, content, and audience growth strategies they have used for success. Learn about some of the biggest challenges they have faced due to growth as well as some of their most successful campaigns. The speakers will share insights into how to grow followers that love you, which channels should you invest in , and insights into conversion, content, and paid advertising.  

The digital word of mouth: growth with Instagram – Mya Nichol, Instagram expert and coach  

17 May, 12 pm–1 pm 

Learn the secret of the Instagram algorithm and how to grow your social media channel. With the average person spending 142 minutes a day on social media, learn tips from the expert on how to accelerate your business.  

Driving growth with online search – Kelly Slessor, CEO, Shop You

24 May, 12 pm–1 pm 

Learn about search, Google My Business, search engine optimisation (SEO), driving traffic, and generating more leads. Participants will also learn how to land on the front page of Google, use free and paid digital marketing and how to improve visibility. 

Growth hacking – Tim Doyle, founder, Eucalyptus  

31 May, 12 pm–1 pm

Learn how Australia’s fastest-growing companies are accelerating their customer base and get insights on how to effectively market your business and grow your customer base quickly. 

“There’s no better time to start a business than right now because of the access to technology and customers online,” Kelly Slessor, CEO ShopYou said.

“As part of the Reboot series, we’ll share with businesses and start-ups the wealth of information and research online that can actually help make a business more sustainable and successful.

“The series has been curated to ensure that participants can learn practical tips and have a plan or ideas they can take away and implement. This is a great opportunity to learn from and interact with some great minds who have set up or worked in small business and worked their way through the challenges to success.”

For more details on the Reboot webinar series, visit whatson.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au.

This article was sourced from a media release sent by Medianet

The 4 Types Of Influencer And How Brands Successfully Work With Each

Posted on by Gary

Influencers can be broadly split into four categories: mega-influencers, macro-influencers, micro-influencers and nano-influencers; with the differences between the four categories being so much more than just their amount of followers and how much money they command for promoting a product, service or offering on their social platforms. 

The experts at performance marketing platform Affise have analysed the four different types of influencers, looking at the benefits of working with individuals that fall under each term, whilst providing expert tips on how brands can successfully utilise partnerships and make the most out of collaborations with each:

Mega-Influencers

Mega-influencers usually have a following of at least 1 million and most often fall into the category of ‘celebrity’, with many of them being actors and actresses, musicians, reality TV stars, comedians or sports icons. The other type of mega-influencer is the social media influencer like @zoella that have worked their way to the top of the social ladder after years of connecting with their audiences and in turn, gained their own celebrity status and normally other entrepreneurial business ventures along the way.

Benefits of working with a mega-influencer?

1. Instant brand awareness

One post from a mega-influencer – especially if it’s organic content – has the ability to elevate a brand to new realms of fame, and will make your offerings a hot topic amongst followers and fans looking to emulate their favourite influencers lifestyles.

2. Massive followingsYour product or brand has the opportunity to reach millions of people and potential new customers that you’re currently not able to tap into. You also have the opportunity to grow your own social followings significantly with a well-executed mega influencer collaboration, especially if you make the choice to work with individuals who share similar core beliefs and focuses to your brand. 

3. Diverse audiences 

Due to their large following, mega-influencers usually have very diverse audiences that have aligned with them for a multitude of different reasons. This allows you as a brand to connect with a totally new range of audiences and demographics through the partnership.

4. Less time consuming 

One post from a mega-influencer, although likely to cost you a significant amount of money, can achieve instant results for your brand, which makes it an appealing option for brands that want effective results but don’t have the time to put into an influencer marketing strategy. 

How to work with them?

  1. Understand the need for mega influencers – Outline the reasons behind why your brand and influencer marketing campaigns require the presence of a mega influencer. 

  2. Choose your mega-influencer wisely – If you have a particular influencer in mind, it’s important to gauge if and why they are right for your brand. You can do this by analysing their content, looking at the types of brands they are currently working with, the tone of the content they are promoting and the type of audience they are already successfully targeting with their paid promotions. 

  3. Be prepared to pay the price for a mega-influencer – Collaborating with a mega-influencer can be extremely costly, so it’s important to evaluate your budget and set a realistic cost likely to be accepted by your influencer and their wider management team who will be communicating on their behalf. 

  4. Set a clear brand objective and brief – If your mega-influencer is fully aware of your objective it will help them to post the right type of content that will create the desired message and (hopefully) results you are expecting from the partnership.

  5. Cover all areas – When using a mega-influencer the magnitude of the detrimental impact to your brand if the collaboration goes wrong is huge, so it’s important to give your influencer clear instructions on the promotion to avoid any social blunders. 

Macro-Influencers

Macro-influencers have a lower level of fame than mega-influencers but are still very popular and famous on social media with a following of 100,000 to 1 million followers. This type of influencer has usually built up their social media presence over a matter of years through continuously sharing content and building connections with their audience, a good example of this is the Mancunian style blogger @meganellaby (222k followers).

Benefits of working with a macro-influencer?

1. Large following 

A macro-influencers large following allows their message to have a wider reach and present your brand’s message to a number of potential new customers.

2. Highly professional 

Due to having built their career on the basis of brand collaborations, macro-influencers have a highly professional approach to brand partnerships, making them an ideal and straightforward choice for many brands.

3. Easy to work with 

Macro-influencers are extremely easy to work with and need little guidance as they already know what they’re doing and what’s expected of them from a brand, making the process smooth running with minimal effort required brand side.

4. Trusted 

After continuously connecting with their audience for years, their following often feel like they’ve been on this journey of growth with them and have a lot of trust in the macro-influencer and what they promote, especially when promoted content looks organic and fits in seamlessly amongst their platform’s current aesthetic.

How to work with them?

  1. Find the perfect match – A macro-influencers audience follows them solely because they love the content and community they have curated from scratch. So when collaborating with a macro-influencer, it’s a good idea to partner with one that shares similar interests and core values as your brand.

  2. Do your competitor research – Macro-influencers often promote a variety of brands and ads on their social platforms as it’s their primary source of income. It’s therefore important to do your research into the influencer you’re choosing to ensure they aren’t working with any competitor brands.

  3. Prepare your budget – Whilst macro-influencers aren’t as expensive as mega-influencers they can still come at quite a hefty cost depending on their level of fame, followers and engagement, so it’s important your budget can accommodate this before contacting any mega-influencers.

  4. Decide your goals – Are you looking for brand awareness, engagement, conversions to sales? It’s important to be clear about what you want to achieve from a partnership with a macro-influencer upfront. They are highly professional and will be very experienced in making the most out of what a brand needs, so be clear on your intentions.

Micro-Influencers

One of the most common types of influencer is the micro-influencer, an example being @BronteKingg with 53.1k followers who posts about fashion, beauty, and all things university-related as she’s the founder of @galswhograduate.

This type of influencer is a common choice amongst brands due to them being extremely cost-effective and having a more engaged and niche following. Their communities are usually smaller, at between 10,000 and 100,000 followers, but they have fiercely loyal, dedicated, and often regional followings which can benefit brands immensely.

Benefits of working with a micro-influencer

1. Affordable 

Collaborating with a micro-influencer is a more affordable way for a brand to work with an influencer, due to their smaller following meaning their collaboration costs are lower. Often, if a micro-influencer is passionate about your brand, product or offering, they will accept payment in the form of a gift.

2. High engagement rate

If you’re looking for a high engagement rate from the partnership, micro-influencers usually have a higher engagement rate than bigger influencers. That’s because they are much closer and more engaged with their audience, often responding to direct messages and comments and developing personal friendships with their ‘fans’.

3. Credible and trusted

Micro-influencers are deemed trustworthy and credible by their audience due to the majority of their content being organic and them not collaborating with too many brands, this makes them a great choice to begin a partnership with due to how authentic the content will look amongst their feeds.

4. Niche audiences

If you want to target a specific audience then micro-influencers are the gateway. They will usually have a topic or category their content falls into that their following is interested in, this can be anything from mental health, fashion, baking, gardening, home interiors, parenting or travel.

How to work with them?

  1. Establish a connection – You need to develop a connection with them before you begin working with them. Show your interest by following them on social media first and engaging in their posts as a brand before you promote your own product or partnership to them.

  1. Define the collaboration – It’s important to be clear on the type of content you want them to create, from an Instagram video to a TikTok, and that they have an understanding of who you are as a brand. 

  1. Create a campaign-specific hashtag – One way to run a successful micro-influencer campaign is to create a hashtag and work with a lot of influencers to promote your products using the hashtag. This is a great way to tap into a lot of different audiences and get your brand trending.

  2. Longer collaborations – When working with micro-influencers, longer partnerships are more successful than one-off promotional posts. Their audiences are more likely to engage with the promotion if they see the influencer consistently discussing your brand or product over a period of time.

Nano-Influencers

Newly recognised as an important influencer on the scene is the nano-influencer. This type of influencer is very close to the small community they have built and whilst their audience is significantly smaller than other influencers with only 10,000 followers or less, they have arguably the most engaged audience. @carlajian and @kandiewanderlust are great examples of nano-influencers that have their own niches and highly-engaged audiences. @carlajian (8,503 followers) is a mommy and wellness blogger that regularly discusses both topics on her posts, whilst @kandiewanderlust (8,129 followers) is a travel blogger that combines her love of travel with her signature pastel colour scheme that’s primarily lilac on her social platform. 

Benefits of working with a nano-influencer

1. Authentic 

Due to nano-influencers building a close relationship with their following, their posts are considered to be more authentic and trusted, making the promotions they deliver appear to be of genuine interest to the influencer.

2. Low cost 

As nano-influencers have smaller followings, they also have a lower price point for collaborations, making them a low-cost way for you as a brand to work with influencers.

3. High engagement rate

Nano-influencers have a first-hand relationship with their followers, which results in a much higher engagement rate, as their following views them almost like a friend and is supportive of their content.

4. More flexible

Nano-influencers are more flexible to the terms and conditions of the partnership you are presenting as a brand, making them easier to collaborate with.

5. Go the extra mile

As many nano-influencers are quite new to partnering with brands, they will often go above and beyond to create high-quality content that will really impress the brand they are working with.

How to work with them?

  1. Finding your nano-influencer – You can search for your nano-influencer on social platforms by using niche-specific hashtags, for example searching #nanoinfluencer followed by the word travel, to find influencers in that category. 

  2. Give more guidance – As nano-influencers are newer to partnering with brands, it’s important that you plan your collaboration in detail, defining the offer and your overall expectations from the partnership.

  3. Instagram takeovers – This allows the nano-influencer to take over the brand’s social media channel, posting stories and posts as themselves, alongside advertising the takeover on their own channel. This is a great way to generate new followers for your brand and help your brand connect with new audiences. 

  4. Convert them to brand ambassadors – As nano-influencers haven’t usually taken part in many partnerships previously, it’s a great opportunity for your brand to turn them into a brand ambassador, growing your brand and theirs together at the same time. 

Source: www.affise.com

This article was sourced from a media release sent by Sophie Clinton @ JBH

Photo by George Milton from Pexels

Forget Get-Rich-Quick. Here’s How to Get Rich Slowly But Surely.

Posted on by Gary

By Michelle Baltazar

Are you stingy or generous? 

I figured for any financial advice to be effective, it has to involve absolutely no sacrifice on my part. Zilch. Nada. I put my hand up for reading finance articles that tell me if I don’t buy that $3.50 cup of takeaway coffee in the morning, I’ll be able to save $875 in a year.

Excellent! But then I’ll be miserable for the entire year, too, so that advice ended in the bin, right next to a discarded coffee cup.

This article will tell you how to save money you don’t see. There are many ways to do that, but I’m keeping it to three based on your age bracket.

If you’re 20 and under

Tip no. 1: Honestly? Don’t even worry about it. Chances are you’re working at a fast-food chain earning about $15 or so an hour. By the time the weekend rolls in, your paycheque will be just enough to buy that t-shirt you’ve been eyeing for ages. What’s the point? Squander $40 on a t-shirt that’ll make you feel good while you’re wearing it? Or put it in the bank and feel miserable? Hey, that make-up kit is on sale… bargain!

So the tip is if you decide to live your teens with no financial compass whatsoever, you’re not alone. Besides, you’ll have your 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s to be financially responsible. So make the most of your youth while you still have it!

Tip no. 2: Alright, so you’re one of those who do want to save up. Brilliant! Use the power of compound interest. Put simply, the sooner you start saving, the better off you’re going to be.

For example, if you save about $10,000 by the time you’re 18, then you will have 100 times as much, or around $1 million, by the time you retire (as long as you make 10% per year). The calculations get complicated because you need to factor in many things, but the bottom line is that the sooner you start saving, whether it’s $1,000 or $10,000, all you have to do is let time work for you.

That’s the lazy girl’s guide to saving. Don’t scrimp. Just put money in the bank and promise yourself that you won’t cash it in until you’re in your 50s. Let the power of compound interest make you a millionaire.

Tip no. 3: Study hard. It’s going to be tough to ask you to develop a finance strategy when you’re trying to sort out your relationship strategy or ‘how to move out of home’ strategy. Studying hard means, you’ll be setting yourself up to get a high-paying job straight out of university. Or at least have more options ahead of you.

Studying hard also means you’ll be cooped up at night rifling through reams of notes instead of being out with your friends – and spending money.

If you’re in your 20s and 30s

Tip no. 1: Stop thinking of your tax return day as a shop-till-you-drop day. Put the money aside and consider it your savings for the year. Easy. When your savings hit $5,000, put it in a high-interest savings account and forget about it.

If you happen to be earning so much that you have to give the Australian Tax Office (ATO) more money, don’t worry. It just means you’ll have more money to make through tax-deductible investments or some form of salary package. But that’s the subject of another article.

Tip no. 2:

  1. Buy a property as soon as you can.
  2. Talk to your parents if they can help you.
  3. Shop around for a good home loan deal.
  4. Go on a ‘chicken noodle soup’ diet for six months for the deposit if you have to.

One of the best decisions I made was buying my first property at age 24. I wasn’t ready, but circumstances forced me to sign the dotted line. You don’t have to be 100% sure that you can afford one. Even if you’re only 70% there, the rest will work itself out. The key thing is that property prices, on average, double every seven years, so even when house prices are high, they can only get higher.

Of course, given the housing prices are down right now, you could wait a while until they hit rock bottom. You could save tens of thousands if you got the timing right, but all that waiting might make you change your mind. Mortgage boots today or tomorrow is no less painful. Just bite the bullet and see the fruits of your labour in seven years.

Tip no. 3: Have at least one business failure under your belt. If you look at BRW Rich200, a list of the country’s wealthiest families and individuals, you will notice one trend: most are not rich through inheritance but hard work. One thing most of them have in common? Bankruptcy at some point in their career or at least one business venture that failed before they struck gold.

Your 20s or 30s are the best time to dream big because even if you fail, you still have time to recover and pursue something else. If you leave it any later, you might not be foolish enough to brave the odds. Nine out of 10 businesses fail, but the one business that does might just put you on the Rich200.

If you’re in your 40s and 50s

Tip no. 1: Check your super. In the early 90s, the government introduced a new law that requires all businesses to set aside the equivalent of nine percent of their worker’s salary in a so-called superannuation fund. The rationale at the time was that millions of Australians weren’t saving enough for their retirement, and their future pension might not be enough for their needs. Not enough for a country that rates itself as first-world.

While you may regard super as ‘invisible’ money because you can’t get your hands on it until you retire, it is ‘real’ money. More importantly, the government has introduced new rules last year which give people better tax rates and more money (under a so-called government co-contribution scheme) if they divert their savings out of their savings bank account and into super.

The tip? Find out if you have one or more super funds and merge them into one account. Check the website of your current super fund to find out more. You’ll cut down your fees and have more savings come retirement.

Tip no. 2: Check your super. This is not an error. It’s worth saying twice because statistics have shown 90 percent of people don’t bother. Do two things: find out your superannuation account balance and find out if you have one or more super funds.

Your decision to ignore this advice can make the difference between watching polar bears aboard an Alaskan cruise or watching polar bears at Taronga Zoo.

Tip no. 3: Stay away from ‘get rich quick’ schemes. Statistics show that those in their 40s and 50s are the main targets of con artists simply because many baby boomers have ‘lazy’ assets lying around. This could mean the main home, investment properties, or shares inherited from working in a company. Many would also have tens of thousands in the bank just waiting for an ‘investment’ home by this time.

In the last two years, many Australian investors have been caught out by the collapse of property companies such as Westpoint, which promised much higher interest than its rivals. It turned out the company was using the money from ‘new’ investors to pay off the ‘old’ investors. It didn’t help that some financial planners were getting a lot of commission for recommending the company to their clients.

The lesson? Don’t squander your life savings on investments that sound too good to be true.

Money tips for all ages

Managing money is complicated. Studies show that the Australian tax system could be simplified. Superannuation is too complex to understand. Saving money is difficult when there are many products to choose from, and fraudsters are only too eager to con you.

Against that environment, there are three things you can do to get rich slowly but safely:

  • Let ‘time’ do all the hard work.
  • Buy an asset as early you can and, as unexciting as it sounds.
  • Find out more about your super.

Oh yeah, don’t max out your credit card. But who am I kidding?

Source: The Australian Filipina

The 4 Most Vital Elements To Know About Online Marketing In 2022

Posted on by Gary

Let’s face it, online marketing is always evolving. There will always be changes in the manner that people make transactions through the Internet, which means that online marketing can also change along with it.

In order to go along well with the possible changes in the virtual marketing procedures, you must know the essential elements that are guaranteed to lead you to a successful business endeavor online. The following are the most vital elements to know about online marketing for an efficient business venture online.

Market knowledge

Prior to endeavor online, you should first know your target audience. The moment you have effectively learned who your target market is, it will be easier to start for you at that point. Once you already identified the market that you will deal with, it will improve your chance of learning about the marketing strategy that you will use in your business. Market knowledge is the foundation of any marketing technique whether doing an online or physical transaction.

Responsive website

A responsive website is composed of images, videos, and other important elements of an operational website. Your site should have a series of capturing leads that can help you gain potential customers that you might not be expecting at first. A website can be compared to a virtual brochure wherein you will have a catalog of your products and services. Having your own website will surely help in establishing a good business identity for your business.

Content

Your content means a lot in online marketing. In most cases, a business can easily be identified through its content which is why it is necessary for you to come up with high-quality content. Internet marketing is a broad area in the virtual world wherein you are most likely to encounter a series of competitors in the same niche as yours. A business has a higher possibility of getting known in the market because the content is easier to contribute online.

Quality design

Aside from the fact that you need to have quality content for your site, it is as well essential for it to have a creative design to attract potential customers. A good design for your website is a great investment that will give you higher chances of increasing the number of your audience. You should make it to a point that you invested in quality design to make it more comfortable for your customers to deal effectively with you. Paying attention to great design is a way for you to arrive at the best results for your business.

Learning about these elements of online marketing is the first step towards a successful marketing plan over the Internet. Making money online goes on a careful procedure in order to increase your sales at the end of the day. When you work on each of these elements, you will be able to produce more sales and revenue by the end of the year. In this case, you can call your business truly a success.

Photo by Canva Studio from Pexels

Future-Proofing Australia’s Workplaces And Cities From COVID-19 Requires Fundamental Cultural Change

Posted on by Gary

Managing an ‘open Australia’ will require a re-evaluation of the way we design our cities and workplaces according to an expert panel convened by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) and sponsored by GSK Australia.

The panel discussion, Proofing against future pandemics, focused on how health, smart cities, and resilient workplaces will inform Australia’s success as we learn to live with COVID-19.

David Fitz-Gerald, GSK Australia and New Zealand Head of Human Resources said building resilience into the workplace requires a change in culture.

“GSK is known as an innovator in medicines and vaccines. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted us to take further steps forward as an innovative workplace,’’ said Mr. Fitz-Gerald.

“It prompted us to find new ways to support our people to thrive. We have applied a new philosophy of ‘flex-pathy’, providing our workforce with ‘maximum flexibility’, coupled with clear and consistent communication. This philosophy was embedded while also ensuring a sustained focus on our company goals.”

Mr. Fitz-Gerald also said that companies that apply lessons from the pandemic will reap the benefits when it comes to attracting talent in competitive labour markets.

“Looking to the future, we created a framework, called ‘Performance with Choice,’ which is brought to life in our culture, not in policy.  We encourage our people to have open conversations to identify ways of working that support their performance and their team and to feel safe and secure knowing that this flexibility is available to them.”

Panellist Malcolm Smith, Australasian Cities Leaders, Arup, said that re-evaluating our approach to the way we design our cities for work, education, and leisure will be important in the management of pandemics in the future.

“Cities are not just about physical structures, they are representations of our social and economic aspirations. When we have our cities disrupted, it affects all of those aspects. We need to understand re-integration of those aspects as we come out of disruption and model new scenarios with the lessons we’ve learned,” said Mr. Smith.

“This includes seeing an increase in local trends, provision of services, and changes to the composition and concentration of city centres. This has consistently played out in the pandemic as we saw inequitable access to open space across the world.”

“We now have the digital capacity to monitor the impact of disruption and its social effect on our cities – and we need to use it. We need to model our cities for multiple-use scenarios and have a conversation about making this a requirement for city design, like some countries in Europe.”

Panellist Jeff Connolly, CEO at Siemens ANZ, emphasised smart technology as a critical lever to address the global challenges of pandemics.

“We used to be bricks and steel only, but now we’ve got fully intelligent buildings and infrastructure. Pandemics require the real-time response that technology can provide, helping us to address the challenges of future pandemics,” said Mr. Connolly.

“At the start of the COVID-19, we used a lot of preventative measures with some of them proving unnecessary later. This was all because our environments were not designed to contain a virus-like COVID-19. We now have an opportunity to use smart technology so we can design these environments with purpose.”

“Digitalisation is at the heart of the solution. Smart technology is already being used in purpose-built locations like the National Gallery of Victoria. Solutions like increased filtration, UV lighting, and ionization mean we’re able to address the challenges of the disrupted cities we now live in.”

Today’s discussion was facilitated by Dr. Mel Miller, partner of Deloitte Access Economics, and was the second in a series of three sessions that focus on Australia’s post-pandemic future.

The next “Pandemic to Endemic” panel discussion will be held in February 2022.

This article was sourced from a media release sent by Medianet

Photo by CoWomen from Pexels

Private Debt Market Expected To Double By 2025, According To Industry Experts

Posted on by Gary

From a ‘fringe’ asset class to nimble backbone of Australia’s booming non-bank and construction sector, the growth of Australia’s private debt market has been nothing short of phenomenal over the last decade. And it’s not gone unnoticed globally, with US fund management giant Apollo Global Management taking a 50% stake in a local non-bank lender Max Cap this month.

“It’s certainly a sign the sector is coming of age,” says AltX Co-CEO Nick Raphaely, who founded his alternative investment platform in the aftermath of the GFC. “Investors no longer question whether the asset class has merits – they are more interested in whether the deal matches what they’re looking for in terms of risk and return.”

And what they’re looking for right now is yield.

“When we think about our mandate, our first job is to protect capital for worth clients, and in a low-interest environment they are happy to dedicate a significant proportion to private debt because it has a reasonable return,” says Nick.

Investors in this asset class can earn up to three or four times what retail investors might get on conservative fixed-income positions. For wholesale clients who can manage semi-liquidity, private debt deals, and fund structures are very attractive.

As Director of KPMG’s Debt Advisory Services, Matt McKenna has seen what he calls a “significant” emergence in private debt over the past 5 years, and non-bank lending. “Increasingly, we are seeing alternative pools of capital fund our clients’ transactions, as they seek greater levels of flexibility than more traditional financing arrangements can provide,” he says.

“From an investor perspective, there’s also limited cash returns in the current interest rate environment. So we’re seeing investors seeking out the yield they’re missing in aspects of their portfolio through other asset classes, which includes private debt funds.”

Rapid growth post-GFC

Globally, private debt is projected to increase 11.4% annually to $1.46 trillion by the end of 2025. According to Preqin, Australia’s private capital market offers one of the most attractive risk/return profiles globally, and assets under management rose steadily in 2020 to a record $77 billion.

“We estimate the commercial lending market is around $300 billion, and non-bank lending is about 10% of that,” says Domenic Lo Surdo, Joint Managing Director Stamford Capital. “I think it could easily double in the next five years.”

As one of Australia’s leading commercial brokers, Stamford Capital has seen a steady shift in borrower appetite to work with non-bank lenders. “It’s all about speed of execution and flexibility, as well as capacity to deliver on terms outside where banks are able to trade,” Domenic says.

The private debt market was effectively decimated by the GFC when government-guaranteed bank deposits ended the traditional debenture model and foreign banks exited the market. So how has the new non-bank sector grown so quickly?

“Australia has a limited number of large banks, and they can never cover the entire commercial lending landscape – they would simply be over-concentrated in one asset class,” explains Nick. “But without debt funding, the bricks and mortar of Australia simply wouldn’t exist.”

Domenic says there were no non-bank lenders operating in construction funding immediately after the GFC. “With policy and regulatory constraints on the banking sector, the private debt market has evolved to include new entrants, different products, and a growing appetite for risk. And as it matures, the price gap between the bank and non-bank capital continues to compress.”

Stamford Capital’s 2021 Debt Capital Markets Survey highlighted the intensifying competition for deals amongst non-bank lenders, with two-thirds of respondents expecting non-banks to increase construction lending activity.

Domenic says Stamford gets calls every week from new private lenders and is very careful to only work with those who will keep delivering certainty through a project. “There are opportunistic players, very short-term in their thinking. We only want to work with those who will still be around in 10 years’ time.”

Matt agrees, saying “it almost feels like every week someone is calling me from a new credit fund… while we expect the borrower demand for private debt to continue to expand, at the same time I expect to see a level of consolidation on the supply side given there are so many alternative capital providers chasing similar opportunities.”

The hunt for yield

While demand for capital has remained constant, it’s clear the supply side of the equation has taken off. “There’s a huge amount of liquidity in the market at the moment, looking to find a home,” says Matt. “Even private equity houses, which have traditionally focused on acquisitions and equity investments, are establishing credit funds to deploy excess capital into other asset classes on behalf of investors.”

“Money goes where it’s treated best, and money is getting a lot of love in private real estate debt these days,” notes Nick. He’s seeing investors funding single deals through platforms like AltX, or through funds. SMSFs and super funds are turning more and more to this asset class. Listed vehicles are also raising debt capital on the ASX.

“This will only lead to further growth and market participation,” he says.

A recent survey of AltX investors indicated that 56% intend to increase their allocation to this asset class over the next 12 months.

“Investors we speak to want to feel comfortable if they end up owning the asset,” says Nick. “And real estate is very easy to understand and clarify risk around. People tend to be a lot more patient with this asset class because there is a certain outcome.”

Matt agrees the structural protection of real estate debt is a plus for investors. “There’s a lot of familiarity with the underlying asset class, and whether it’s residential or commercial real estate investors have a better understanding of the mortgage security.”

Nick says institutional interest in private debt is an indication this asset class is at a tipping point.

“It’s like any cycle: first to engage are the early adopters, then investors with bigger cheques who want to wait and see, and eventually the institutional money arrives when it’s fully proven. We’re now fast approaching the third wave.”

About AltX

AltX (www.altx.com.au) is a market-leading alternative investment platform. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Sydney, AltX provides bespoke access to alternative income-generating products which have traditionally been inaccessible to individual investors.  AltX has funded in excess of $2bn of transactions since inception with zero loss of investor capital.

This article was sourced from a media release sent by Medianet

Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels

4 Home-Based Business Ideas That’ll Let You Work From Home

Posted on by Gary

By: 

With the rise of home-based business opportunities as a result of the pandemic, more and more people are discovering ways to become entrepreneurs with their businesses based at home. Generally, if you’re resourceful enough, you can easily start working on your business ideas from home using your existing space and means. People create many types of businesses to operate from home and we’ll cover some of the most popular ideas here:

Virtual / In-Person Teacher

  • Music teacher: teach an instrument such as guitar, violin, or piano. Plan to offer your services on different teaching platforms and offer private lessons as well as group lessons.
  • Dance teacher: teach modern dance, ballet, or ballroom dancing. Offer different types of schedules for kids and adults. It is important you have all the proper equipment so your online lessons look highly professional.
  • Art teacher: teach drawing and illustration, painting, or sculpture. Define which are technique you are best at and create a schedule of all the different hours available you have.
  • Language instructor: teach Spanish, Chinese, Latin, or French. Be sure you completely dominate the language you are planning to teach.
  • Tutor: Tutor either elementary or high school students in subjects that you are degreed in, such as math, English, or chemistry.
  • Yoga instructor: teach virtual yoga and meditation techniques.
  • Blogging: Whether you decide to become a blogger and create new and rich content there are many ways to make money blogging. Creating your own blog can be a different and fun activity where you will be able to experiment with your creativity.
  • Freelancing photography: Consider the type of photography you want to do and what are the most popular requirements needed from your potential clients.

E-commerce Seller

You can operate an e-commerce company from your home. You can purchase products in bulk and sell them online. You’ll partner with a warehouse where your products will be shipped from. You can also perform all services related to e-commerce and expand as you need to. When choosing products, consider how much space you’ll need to accommodate this type of operation.

Homemade Products

Many home-based business owners sell products that they create, such as:

  • Candles: A candle company may be the best business for anyone passionate about wicks, soy blends, and achieving the perfect scent. You can offer soy candles, scented candles, beeswax candles, paraffin candles, and more.
  • Baked goods: Bakeries have been around for a long time, but recently they have grown in popularity. Entrepreneurs have taken their cakes, cupcakes, and cookies from home and open regular bakeries and restaurants, and even franchises that make. Creating cupcakes, artisan bread,  cookies, wedding cakes, and more could be a great way to start.
  • Jewelry: Making people’s personalities come alive through jewelry is a very fulfilling creative pursuit. Think about creating beaded bracelets, necklaces, earrings, rings. etc.
  • Essential oils offer many opportunities for creativity and reward. Own a business or buy wholesale oils to resell on your own.
  • A lot of people know how to knit, but it’s generally considered a new fad or lost art. It’s not clear to them how to make money with it. You can start by creating hats, scarves, mittens, or sweaters.

Services

You may base your business on providing services to customers either in person or online depending on the services you offer, which might include:

  • Makeup tutorials: Teaching how to properly use makeup and providing some confidence tips might be a loving activity, not only for you but also for your potential clients. Even showing how to apply lashes properly would be a great way to get started.
  • Dog walking: Taking care of furry babies and just having a long walk outdoors could definitely bring you great benefits.
  • Personal trainer: While training for your own personal goals, you are also helping others to achieve theirs.
  • Virtual assistant: if organizing and scheduling your day is a passion of yours, you should definitely offer these services to people that don’t have that same passion or patience as you do.
  • Clients of personal shoppers usually buy clothing and accessories for themselves. A personal shopper may work directly for a client or their stylist; other personal shopper employment is available through boutiques and departments stores.
  • Housecleaner: This is a great opportunity if you are passionate about cleaning and decluttering. These services have a high demand.

A curious fact, Recently India has become the hotspot for foreigners for starting an Indian Subsidiary and Ebizfiling is a one-stop solution for a Company Registration in India by a foreigner. Know the benefits of starting a business in India.

Home Office Essentials

When developing your business, you’ll want to create a home office where you can ‘set up shop’ and manage all the important aspects of operating your business. Here are some home office essentials to consider:

Good Lighting

Be sure that you have good lighting so that you can work without straining your eyes. You may want to have better overhead lighting installed by an electrician. Or, you can add more lamps to the space to ensure that you have great lighting even on dark and dreary days.

Adjustable Desk

An adjustable desk is ideal for a home office. You can use your desk for various tasks that may be related to your business.  A standup desk is also a great feature if you’re concerned about fitness. You’ll burn more calories by standing up to work.

Comfortable Furniture

Try to invest in a quality ergonomic office chair. You’ll be spending a lot of time in your home office, so be sure to have comfortable and supportive furnishings for yourself and anyone else who may be working with you. You may also need filing cabinets, a workbench, or other furnishings related to the type of work you perform.

Decor

Office decor may not seem essential, but it can enhance your mood each day. Remember, your office is your place of work. Decorate it in a way that inspires and motivates you to be productive. Although you don’t want to add much in the way of clutter, some thoughtful decorative pieces will add personal warmth to your office.

Plants

House plants can make your home office feel cozy and welcoming. However, that’s not all. Many houseplants feature air-purifying properties. Add plants to your office space like aloe vera or spider plants to keep the air smelling clean and fresh. Consider plants of various sizes to add a dynamic look to the space.

Equipment

You’ll likely need basic office equipment and may require other equipment or gear related to your products or services. For instance, if you perform sewing services, you will need a high-quality sewing machine. Typically, you’ll need office equipment such as:

  • Computer or laptop
  • Internet (consider business internet service) pocket wifi could also be a great option.
  • Business Phone
  • Printer
  • Copy machine
  • Headphones
  • Adding machine/calculator
  • Postage scale

These are just a few ideas. You’ll need to brainstorm to ensure you have all the equipment you need for your operation.

Quiet Space

When laying out your office, be sure to choose a space with an adequate room as well as an area where you can work without interruption. If you live in a bustling household, you’ll need a place where you can work without distractions. A quiet space away from children or the television room would be ideal.

Office Bar

Although you can always visit your kitchen, you might want to create an office bar where you have a coffee maker, healthy snacks, and even a small refrigerator to keep water or other beverages cold. This way, you can keep your work items separate from the household’s supplies.

Use these tips to create your home business. Be sure to give yourself adequate time to address each aspect of your business’s development. Once your business is up and rolling, you’ll also want to consult with an accountant to ensure that you understand your tax obligations.

Source: Porch

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

5 Proven Ways to Recover From Stress and Being Overwhelmed

Posted on by Krissy

2021 has been a stressful year across the board. Even if you think you’re good at dealing with stress, there have undoubtedly been times this year during which you’ve had to use every trick in your book. And if you’re not good at managing stress, there have undoubtedly been times in which you’ve been desperately seeking an outlet for those overwhelmed feelings.

You’re in luck because this article will furnish you with some useful tips and tricks to help you relieve some of your mental strain.

Nourish Your Spirit

If you’re feeling stressed, a good way of easing your troubles away is to connect with yourself. Spiritual pursuits, like meditation or prayer. Both of these practices can help to increase your sense of self-awareness, diminish feelings of anxiousness, and shift your focus off of your worries and onto something higher than those worries, like yourself, or your deity.

Exercise

This one may seem tricky if outside stress-compounding factors such as anxiety, depression, or physical limitations make the idea of exercise or activity seem daunting. But keeping active doesn’t have to mean high-intensity fitness training at the gym or even organized sport. Take the dog for a walk. Mow the lawn. Watch an exercise video online and move or stretch along. Certain scientific studies suggest that regular physical activity may have similar effects on mental health as antidepressants due to the encouraging production of endorphins, the brain’s neurotransmitters that help to mitigate stress.

Do Something You Like Doing

If you’re a writer, write. If you’re an artist, create something new. If you’re a musician, play. If you’re a sportsman, head outside. If you’d rather binge watch TV, there are a plethora of streaming services to choose from. Any constructive hobby is a worthwhile pursuit and can go a long way to giving you a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction.

Get a Pet

If your life circumstances allow, having a furry friend can help with stress relief, as certain studies have shown that taking care of a pet can help to lower the blood pressure that stress can raise, and decrease levels of cortisol, a hormone sometimes caused by stress, and even make a person feel less lonely.

Unplug from a Busy Life

Sometimes, you simply have to escape, and that’s okay. Work will be there when you come back, and so will the news. Spend time with friends or family – or time alone – uninterrupted by your day-to-day activities. Taking a break from an otherwise busy life may also include a social media hiatus. You might find that the more you disconnect from the pressures of everyday living, the more you connect with yourself.

A Final Word

Taking care of your mental health is important, and even more so in these unprecedented times in which we live. And now that you’ve seen some ways to help combat stress, hopefully, you’ll be able to fight against it even harder.

Home Loan Repayments 101: How To Make Home Loan Repayments As Easy As 1-2-3

Posted on by Gary

A home loan is one major type of loan you will probably ever have in your entire life.  Having said that, managing a home loan would be a tedious task to accomplish every month; especially that you still have to deal with other equally important expenses.  However, there are certain things you need to be conscious or aware of in order to manage your loan home payments in an easy way.

Before applying for a home loan, you first need to formulate a strategy on your financial plan in order to successfully manage your home loan repayments.  In other words, you have to make it fit right into your monthly budget.  This way, you can make necessary adjustments ahead of time just in case some problems occur. 

Needless to say, home loans are quite a big deal; thus, it may take a big chunk out of your financial plan.  And, it is some sort of a necessary evil to deal with every month.  However, it is equally important to take note not to miss a single payment to avoid future complications and penalties.

Make your first repayment as soon as your home loan has been approved.  This will take off a big chunk of the amount from the principal even before the interest accumulates.  With this in mind, the amount of your repayment will be much lower than you have anticipated.

Coordinate with your financial institution that you prefer paying fortnightly instead of monthly.  This way, you will speed up the process of your repayments because you end up paying the equivalent of roughly 13 instead of 12.

If you have an extra monthly income that you earn from a bonus, then, it would be wise to make additional repayments.  Do this on a regular basis and you will end up reducing the cost and duration of your home loan.

Once your loan repayments will lower down due to a decrease in the interest rate; then, make sure you will not lessen your repayments.  This way you will be making a monthly extra repayment which will make you pay off your loan sooner and eventually save you money.  And, the best thing about this strategy is that you are not affecting your monthly budget because you are still deducting the same amount of money from your financial plan.

Another tip is to make arrangements with the financial institution to have your monthly income directly deducted by the amount of the home loan repayment.  This way, you will be assured that your financial obligation on your home loan will not be jeopardized.  Also, crediting companies would prefer this kind of payment system and would even give incentives—in the form of reimbursements or diminished interest rates—to their clients for timely repayment.  You can have the rest of your monthly expenses charged from your credit card with an interest-free period. 

By and large, if you are always alert with the financial movements of your monthly budget and linking them to your home loan and daily expenses; then, you will be assured of a successful and easy way of dealing with your home loan repayments.

Card Payments In Australia Are Expected To Rebound And Grow By 8.3% This Year

Posted on by Krissy

The Australian payment card market, which has been on the rise for the past few years, registered a slowdown in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic with reduced consumer and commercial spending. However, the market is expected to rise by 8.3% in 2021, forecasts GlobalData, a leading data, and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s Payment Cards Analytics, the value of card payments registered subdued growth of 0.8% in 2020, much less compared to 5.8% in 2019. With improving economic conditions and vaccination programs gathering pace, the card payments market is set to rebound and reach A$749bn (US$577.3bn) in 2021.

The value of card payments is forecasted to grow further and register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.6% between 2021 and 2025 to reach A$967.9bn (US$746.1bn) in 2025.

Sowmya Kulkarni, Senior Payments Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Australia has a developed card payment market with a strong payment infrastructure and high consumer preference for electronic payments. Australians are prolific users of payment cards, with a high frequency of card payments at 185 times per card in 2020. While the card payments market was affected in the short-run due to the pandemic, it is expected to rebound and continue its growth trajectory from 2021.”

The growth in card payments will be supported by the rising usage of contactless cards and e-commerce payments. The use of contactless cards is on the rise as even smaller merchants are now insisting on non-cash and contactless payments amid hygiene concerns arising from COVID-19. To support this, the limit for contactless card payment was increased from A$100 (US$77.08) to A$200 (US$154.16), effective April 2020.

In addition to physical cards, payment via mobile wallets with stored debit and credit cards are also gaining prominence in Australia. According to the Commonwealth Bank, as of March 2021, over 40% of the bank’s debit and credit card contactless transactions were made via mobile wallets.

In addition, the drop in overall consumer spending during the pandemic has been offset by a rise in online spending, as wary consumers are staying home and using the online channel. Payment cards are the major beneficiaries of this as they are the most preferred tool for e-commerce payments in Australia.

Debit cards are the most preferred card type for payments, accounting for 58.5% of the overall card payments value in 2021 while credit and charge cards account for the remaining 41.5% share.

The share of credit and charge cards segment is on a constant decline over the past few years due to the changing consumer attitude towards credit card debt, and the growing prominence of alternate financing options such as buy now, pay later. The reduction in consumer spending amid the pandemic also adversely affected the segment with credit and charge card payment value declining by 10.7% in 2020.

Ms. Sowmya Concludes: “While the COVID-19 pandemic hampered the growth of payments market in the short-run in Australia, it is expected to grow at a robust pace over the next four years, supported by the gradual economic recovery, a rise in consumer and commercial spending and high contactless adoption.”

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

FYI

  • Quotes are provided by Sowmya Kulkarni, Banking and Payments Senior Analyst at GlobalData
  • Information is based on GlobalData’s Payment Cards Analytics, which provides deep insight into the key trends in the global payment card market covering 73 key markets.
  • This press release was written using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research, and in-house analysis conducted by GlobalData’s team of industry experts

About GlobalData

4,000 of the world’s largest companies, including over 70% of FTSE 100 and 60% of Fortune 100 companies, make more timely and better business decisions thanks to GlobalData’s unique data, expert analysis, and innovative solutions, all in one platform. GlobalData’s mission is to help our clients decode the future to be more successful and innovative across a range of industries, including the healthcare, consumer, retail, financial, technology, and professional services sectors.