Lead by Example – Note to SELF

In bathrooms, boardrooms, buses, bagel shops, and everywhere else, we all need to imagine a little girl following us around, repeating everything we say and everything we do. Think about all the things you want for yourself and your daughters, granddaughters, and girls everywhere – and teach them by living it yourself.

Nell Merlino in
“Stepping Out of Line: Lessons for Women Who Want It Their Way in Life, in Love and at Work (Broadway)

What a quote.
What a reminder.
What a fact, worthy of that constant consideration

Are you living it?

Self_Employed exceeds 2 million!

There’s a growing movement afoot…are you a part of it?

The latest from the Independent Contractors of Australia

* The latest labour force survey released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (June 2008) shows a steady increase in the number of self-employed people. The number of self-employed people in the community is over 19% of the workforce. That¹s 2.03 million people (2008) up from 1.9 million (2004).

It¹s also clear that as people mature they gravitate toward self-employment. 50% of the self-employed are aged 35-54. 28% are older than 55. This could predictably result in larger numbers of self-employed as the workforce ages. For ICA’s full commentary on the latest ABS figures click here

* Three further ATO links to help prepare for the end of the financial year (on tax deductions, business seminars and rental properties) can be found on their news page

What aCE talentNET will be offering to help 2009 kind to you… YOUR AdvantEdge

…as featured in this months AdvantEdge.

What we do…
For those of you who wish to find more work, we actively continue to source projects in a shrinking market.
For those of you looking to build a business, then we are prepared to teach you everything we know, and more …yes, that’s right!

What we are in the process of doing…
We have been in discussions with a technology driven DIY version of a Corporate Talent Agent, with the view to being able to offer ALL consultants and consultancies both a DIY service and a full service (like aCE talentNET). We will be rolling out full details as they come to hand, just as soon as all is finalised.
Think of this great initiative as another “feather in your marketing bow”!

We are also revisiting our affiliate program, smartening it up and rolling it out again, in its newly improved format.
Think of this great offering as another “string” to your passive income generating bow!

As as mentioned previously, we are also looking at setting up a forum for consultants to avail as they choose to. We will also investigate how we can open up keynote speaking opportunities, as this is what you’ve asked for. But it will take a little longer.
We will however be able to be really clever and tie it in with the coaching and mentoring. Quarterly get-togethers will also offered, together with access to a list of preferred Insurance suppliers, and the ability to download the latest in book summaries and audio offerings.

We will be setting up an internet based coaching and mentoring program that will be specifically about developing you as a savvy and sought-after consultant. In time, assuming we’ve done that development properly, then it will manifest itself in (provided you have put all that you will understand into practice) you having more of your own work than you’ll possibly be able to manage (won’t that feel good!), and that you in turn will be coming to us for assistance with resourcing consultants to help you deliver.
All of this amazing development will of course come at a price, which we endeavour to keep as fair and reasonable as possible. Details to follow.

As for the aCE talentNET website, the new version is already up and running, with further enhancements to be added on route. There is a dedicated consultant section, which will undergo significant improvement as more features are developed and are ready to incorporate over the coming months.

We will keep you informed of all initiatives as we go, via announcements in the Professional Edge and the AdvantEdge. Not part of our talent NETwork?
go to the website and join up www.acetalentnet.com.au

What else you can be doing…
Learn the Secrets of Emotional Resilience
Our FR*EE Gift Offer – Two Tickets Worth $1,790!

happy consulting!
Denise Hall
Executive Director – Business
www.acetalentnet.com.au

Frugality is the new Black…

I really like where Bernard Salt for The Australian is going with this article.
And I suspect, so will most mothers as it resonates around the values stuff that we would like our children, and in turn all those around us quite frankly, to not only understand but to demonstrate…

Especially when sometimes we feel like we’re the only ones trying to live and breathe such a message. As we have all come to realise at some point or other, sometimes consistent role-modelling can be tough!

THE media has gone into a frenzy in recent months tracking the minutiae of recession trends evident in consumer spending.

“Lipstick sales are up” because women are spending on small indulgences rather than on complete outfits. “Hemlines are down” because women are more conservative during a downturn. And my favourite, “Men are reverting to beards” because they don’t have to buy razors.

Others (well, me) are talking of a new morality that is underpinning consumer behaviour: green is not just good for the environment, it is good for the soul. All of a sudden, conspicuous consumption is shameful and frugality is honourable… read on

and whilst on the subject of what is good for the soul… so to is travelling. I’ve often thought of putting a hit list like this together myself, but hey when someone beats you to it (namely Ben Groundwater from The Age), and their list is very similar to yours… then I only need supply the link!

Australia’s been built on a tradition of pinching the best stuff from other countries and claiming it as our own (Russel Crowe aside). We’ve stolen other people’s food, we’ve stolen their drinks, we’ve mastered their sports and claimed their bands.

So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with knocking off a few more gems.

When you travel, you tend to notice certain things and think to yourself, “Why don’t we do that in Australia?” Here’s a list of some of those things. I say we give them a shot.

1. Siesta (love this one)
2. Self-service bike hire (we really like the fold-up bikes, and the many SMART cars on the road)
3. No ties
4. Sharing food
5. Autobahns
6. Drinking laws
7. Beachside bars
8. Singing
9. Philandering world leaders (not sure about this one!)
10. Island time

for more details, and/or to make comment…read on

Should Women Marry for Love or Money?

An interesting question I think…
What? I’m not jumping up and down on the spot saying “you have got to be joking!” I hear you cry… well no I’m not actually.

As discussed in the Age this morning (for love or money?), there is some merit in raising this question, if it suits you to do so. I for one can not and have not ever been able to seriously go down this path, but hey, horses for courses I say, and here’s why…

1. Most marriages for love don’t last (and good luck to those that do).
2. Many women, once on their own, are not well equipped to earn their own money.
3. It worked in Jane Austens day, why not now? Although you’d want to be able to do your own choosing of prospective suitors surely. After all, not all things historical are outdated.
4. If you can combine love and money, all the better!

Flippancy aside…
what I do know is that of the many women I meet (who claim to want to build a business and be in charge of their own destiny etc etc); if they found themselves in a situation where their cashflow stopped all of a sudden… they really don’t know how to start the cash flowing again in an kind of hurry. Or if they did, they know even less about how to make it work around the life they want to have with their children/family. And that’s a very scary prospect.

So maybe marrying for money takes care of all that!
assuming you’re looked after in the will that is…

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