Successful Blog

Beach Notes: Advantage of a Bird's Eye View

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by Guest Writer Suzie Cheel

In any business there is an advantage to be gained in every now and again stepping away from the details of what we are doing and all our tasks, however essential and urgent, so that we can look at our challenges and the business itself from a more “elevated” perspective – a bird’s eye view.

Not an original thought, but how many of us do it? And if we do it, do we do so often enough?

The thoughts and the questions were prompted by seeing a new structure – a kind of observation platform made of scaffolding materials and a sheet of corrugated roofing – at our local beach, Rainbow Bay.

Every year about this time we have the week-long spectacle of the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro surfing championships at Rainbow Bay , or as surfers probably think of it, the famous Snapper Rocks break. The whole end of the beach, in the area surrounding the Rainbow Bay Surf Lifesaving club building, becomes a kind of instant tent city, with temporary shops, cafe, exhibition space, media center, and what appears to be a large chillout area for competitors. The event brings champion surfers, men and women, from around the world, and pumps large sums of money into the local hospitality industry.

We love it!

It also brings hordes of photographers, who set their tripods or other camera props up on the beach or on the rocks, to capture the performances of the competitors.

The observation tower at the other end of the beach is a new development this year. We spoke the other day to the guy in it, who was set up with still and video cameras, in a position commanding a totally uninterrupted view of the whole beach and looking straight down to the area where the surfers are doing their stuff over the coming days.

There is no question that he will have a better overall picture of what is happening than will his colleagues/competitors on the beach. Some of their photos and videos might be more striking than his, but he will be able to take pictures that they can’t take from the level of the beach or the rocks.

He has a bird’s eye view.

Have you been able to get a better picture of your business by stepping back and getting a bird’s eye view?

Any tips you would like to share, about how to do that most effectively?
Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh

Beach Notes: Model of Service

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by Guest Writer Suzie Cheel

Our beach notes today are inspired by the 100 year commemoration of the first surf rescue on our local Coolangatta beach, by the all-volunteer Surf Life Saving Club.

Four women – clad in the neck-to-knee swimming costumes dictated by the times – and one man – swam out to sea, to then “get into difficulties” with the surf and have to be rescued by the volunteer “lifesavers”, to use the traditional term now being supplanted by the imported American term “lifeguard”.

It was an inspiring moment, thinking not just about that particular rescue 100 years ago today, but of all the volunteers, at hundreds of beaches around the country, turning out every weekend, rain or shine, to watch over their fellow citizens and regularly risk their own safety, even their lives, to save people from drowning and to resuscitate those they can.

Not all those stories end happily, but many have over the years been plucked from the waves by these courageous men and women in their distinctive red and yellow caps and spared the fate of a watery grave. Two years ago the Australian Surf Life Saving Association estimated the number of lives saved at over 500,000.

Yes, we do have some paid lifeguards, provided by local councils, during the week and even – in our part of the country – through the winter months, at the more popular tourist-oriented beaches.

But without the dedicated service of those thousands of volunteers of the Australian Surf Life Saving Association, a cherished part of life for many Australians – “having a surf” – would become a much more hazardous pasttime.

And it’s not just in Australia. The movement started by a few people in Sydney, Australia, some 103 years ago, has spread also to other countries, including South Africa, the USA, Great Britain, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Sri Lanka, Ireland and New Zealand.

The motto of the Surf Life Saving movement? “Vigilance and Service”.

We salute the dedication and heroism of our lifesavers, past and present.

A model of service, an inspiration.

What do you say to commemorate 100 years of people serving the world?

Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh

Beach Notes: Being Prepared For Opportunity

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by Guest Writers Suzie Cheel & Des Walsh

"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity"

Seneca,Roman philosopher, (5 BC – 65 AD)

On our morning beach walks we often see surfers getting ready to ride the waves. Typically they go through a number of limbering up exercises and yoga style stretches and poses.

One exercise is swinging their arm and bodies from side to side as in the photo. So they will be ready to seize the moment when that great wave comes along and ride it as far as they can.

In business we don’t always know where opportunities are coming from. We need to be mentally flexible and alert so we can recognize opportunity when it comes and to be able to act on it decisively and effectively.

What exercises do you do to be prepared to meet an opportunity when it arises?

Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh 

Beach Notes: Would Now Be a Good time To Start on Your Dream?

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True Story from Our Local Neighborhood
by Guest Writers Suzie Cheel & Des Walsh

At Kirra beach, near where we live, there is a new landmark, the multi-storey Kirra Surf apartment building, the latest manifestation of local retailing icon of the same name.

Its history is closely linked with that of another local retailing icon, internationally famous surfwear label Billabong.

Thirty-five years ago, in 1973, Kirra Surf did not exist and Billabong was just getting started.
The now very wealthy founder of Kirra Surf, Peter Turner, tells with some amusment the story of meeting for the first time the now also very wealthy Gordon Merchant, founder of Billabong.

Turner was working in a local surf shop, now long closed, and as he says, a young guy had walked into the shop trying to convince them to stock a new pair of board shorts Ð or ÒboardiesÓ as we call them here. The young guy was Gordon Merchant, , then eking out some income from what was basically a two person operation, himself and his wife. Merchant was selling surfboards and swimwear out of his station wagon.

As Turner tells it, Merchant “came in with three new pairs of boardies that he wanted us to stock.”

“He had written on the label: ‘Billabong, since 1973’ and I said “Mate, it is 1973” and he just looked at me and said “Well, you’ve got to start somewhere.”

Four years later, Turner took the young guy’s advice and opened Kirra Surf.

In March 2008 Billabong acquired Kirra Surf!

One story, one young man with a big dream inspiring another, two multi-millionaires.

Do you have a dream you’ve been putting off
till it’s a good time to start?

Would January 1, 2009, be a good time to get moving?

And if you share your dream and your decision here,
then someone can tell your story years from now.

Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh wishing everyone an abundant 2009

Story Source:http://rewarddevelopments.com.au/_assets/57-23-02-2007-15-12-23.pdf

Beach Notes: flipflop

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When Does Flexibility Become Flipfloppiness?
The Business Owner’s Challenge
by Guest Writer Des Walsh

The picture I took recently of an abandoned pair of flip-flops prompted my thoughts today on what I regard as one of the most serious challenges business owners face today.

The challenge of balancing flexibility and openness to change with the need for consistency in what we do and how we present it. 

Because if there is one thing all of us know about doing business in the 21st century it’s that we have to be flexible and adaptable. The business environment, the economy, the global political environment all change rapidly and with developments, twists and turns that leave even the most respected commentators and pundits scrambling to catch up and re-interpret, re-explain what they thought they had nailed just a few months ago.

If you are not flexible and adaptable you can look forward to the kind of future once arranged for themselves by buggy whip makers who saw the new-fangled vehicles we now know as cars going by and said “Won’t last. Give me a good pair of horses any day.”.

Equally, a business owner can overdo flexibility, with constant changes to the business model, the product or service on offer and the marketing message. Although the market can often respond to novelty (and especially in some industries, toys for instance), the market can also punish businesses that don’t know or are unable to communicate coherently what they really want to be, what need they are trying to meet or what they stand for.

But it can be confusing and even unnerving when the external environment is changing very rapidly, massively and unpredictably.

Right now, for instance, what is the small business owner to do when captains of industry, government leaders and seasoned observers give every sign of not knowing which way is up, or even whether indeed there is an up anywhere in the offing?

Well, we probably need to have a Plan B (which assumes we already have a Plan A). We definitely need a risk management strategy.

And we definitely need to be flexible.

As long as we don’t become so flexible that we do not develop or sustain any consistent vision and coherent, persuasive message about who we are and what we offer, to meet specified market needs.

We have to find a balance, in the long term and also on a more immediate basis, between being so consistent that we are too rigid and miss opportunities or threats and being so flexible that we come to be and be seen as master practitioners of flipfloppiness.

If you agree that finding that balance is a challenge, I hope you will share with us what guiding principles or rules you use to be the Philippe Petit of 21st century business.

Des Walsh

Picture “flip-flop flipped” Copyright Des Walsh 2008

Beach Notes: Waiting for a Wave

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by Guest Writer Des Walsh

At the southern end of Rainbow Bay beach, where we walk most mornings, is the world famous Snapper Rocks surfing break. Usually, and on any day of the week, there are plenty of surfers to be seen there. Sometimes most or all of them stay away, whether because the surf is too choppy or, as in the photo here, it is just flat.

But even when it is flat there are likely to be a few hopefuls, waiting for waves that, for all the casual observer can discern, are just not around at that time.

Looking at the picture this morning or three surfers waiting for a wave with none in evidence, I’m thinking that part of me actually likes the idea of people being hopeful, whether of a wave to make my surfing day, or some new business coming out of the blue and making my annual income look much healthier. I’m basically a perennial optimist.

Then my brain kicks in and suggests that if I don’t do more than wait and hope, I’ll be like Charles Dickens’ Mr Micawber, a man who owed much and earned less, and who lived in hope that something would “turn up”.

And in the business context, given the parlous state of the global economy, it’s probably even more foolhardy than usual to be just living in hope of growth, or even survival. It might be boom times for receivers and administrators. For the rest of us it’s a time to get really focused and take systematic action. Indeed, 2009 looks like being a year to test us all.

Something might well turn up, but just hoping for that is probably a recipe for tears before bedtime.

What’s your tip for a way to ensure good business in 2009?

Des Walsh