Business Whangaparaoa, known in the early part of 2018 as Future Whangaparaoa Business Group, was very active throughout 2018 before formal incorporation delivering network events and other activities. We'd like to acknowledge and thank the following people who gave their time and shared their knowledge with some excellent presentations over 2018 -
As Future Whangaparaoa Business we held our very first network event on Thursday 30 November 2017. It was at Whangaparaoa library with guest speaker Natalie Tolhopf. Natalie is a local sales, success and mindset coach Who empowers high-achieving solopreneurs and entrepreneurs with teams, to knock out their inner critic and shift into an unstoppable level of business growth.
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Throughout 2018 we ran monthly co-working sessions at the Whangaparaoa Community Hub. Designed to have a space for business owners to come and work, in these sessions we also provided a number of brainstorming/networking opportunities as well as opportunities to seek free professional advice from a number a industries including accounting, insurance, social media support, local council matters and others. These sessions were held on the second Wednesday of each month from 9.30 am to 2.30 pm.
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We ambitiously held monthly network events, mostly at the Whangaparaoa Community Hub, throughout 2018 as one of our awareness and growth goals.
Launch of the draft Whangaparaoa Town Centre Plan. In February Business Whangaparaoa (known until December 2018 as Future Whangaparaoa Business) was part of, and instrumental in the organisation of, an event held by Future Whangaparaoa Trust and hosted by Hibiscus and Bays Local Board which launched the draft Whangaparaoa Town Centre Plan.
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We enjoyed a fascinating evening learning how to improve efficiency and reduce costs in business through technology. Raymond Wu, Business Development Manager at Maxicom: VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and Mark Broome, NZ Country Manager at ABBYY: Robotic Process Automation + Artificial Intelligence showed us just how far AI and VOIP have come in helping us run our businesses including ABBYY finereader.
Raymond Wu - Maxicom - maxicom.co.nz - VOIP Solutions
Mark Broome - ABBYY - abbyy.com - ABBYY finereader and AI systems
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It’s a jungle out there! The economy is doing great and so most of us business owners are reactively busy. In addition, we are increasingly faced with information overload, so trying to take a step back to assess what we really need to do in our businesses has become extremely difficult. At this short workshop, Sean helped attendees cut a path through the business information jungle and get to the essential parts of what any business is made up of and how to action these parts to give you a better outcome in your business.
This was a very powerful but far too short session therefore Sean has been invited to be one of our keynote workshop presenters in 2019. View details on his 2019 workshop - “Create a Market Winning Structure and Effective Strategy for Success” - 22 May to 3 July 2019
Sean Foster - Sean Foster Ltd - seanfoster.co.nz - Advisor and Business Coach, Get Clarity in Business
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We all know the importance of branding and marketing and we enjoyed an evening from three local business ladies discussing the best ways to reach your target market using your branding in print, online, visual (eg signage) and through social media.
Did you know, for one good impression in the mind of your customer your brand has to be seen at least 27 times, a minimum of 3 different times of the day, in 3 different places (eg online, signage, print, etc) and repeated 9 times! So every touch point needs to be clear, concise and brand building.
Pauline Stockhausen - paulinestockhausen.com - Social Media and Marketing Strategist and Business Coach
Sarah Carr - Linku2 Limited - linku2hibiscuscoast.co.nz - Business and Community Support and Promotion, Go Local, Grow Local ...
Karen Browne - NZ Sign Solutions - signsolutions.co.nz - A Solution for Every Sign, signwriters and advertising
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In August we were very pleased to present "An Audience with Daniel Flynn". Daniel Flynn is Co-founder and Managing Director of Thankyou, a social enterprise that empowers people to play a part in ending global poverty through simple everyday purchases. An ‘ideas man’ through and through, Daniel is a big advocate for living out your dreams, often heard to say “Impossibility is only someone’s opinion, not a fact”. Daniel was an engaging and thought-provoking speaker who left his audience challenged to take on the impossible. His talk offered a blueprint for challenging the status quo and how to turn our own ideas into reality. This event was held at Hibiscus Coast RSA. It was open to businesses and the general public and had an excellent turn out of over 90 attendees.
Daniel Flynn - Thankyou - thankyou.com - Thankyou is an Australian social enterprise. From the sales of its water, body care and food products, the company donates funds to safe water, hygiene and sanitation programs, and food security programs in 16 countries.
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We also ran an evening workshop by Treena Salthouse and Aspen Bruce on "Under Pressure: Strategies for Success". Being in business can be very stressful. The hands-on nature of many small to medium businesses places high demand on a business owner’s time and wellbeing. This can lead to burnout & anxiety and impede your business success. The ladies offered strategies to deal with the pressure, be more productive and reduce the overwhelm.
Treena Salthouse - Savvy at Business - savvyatbusiness.com - Virtual Assistance, Office set up, social media management, websites and business planning
Aspen Bruce - Baldry + Sanford - baldrysanford.co.nz - Accountancy and Business Planning, Get the life you want through better business
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Over September to November we ran a series of 3 x CV workshops aimed at both helping Mums and others back into the workforce after giving birth or an accident/injury, and also for school leavers. The series was as follows -
Facilitated by Anwen Robinson of CareerMum.
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This workshop was presented by Tara McGowan from 5 Star Admin. With over 20 years of experience in creating efficiency for businesses of all shapes and sizes throughout NZ, Tara showed us some great strategies to implement quickly in our businesses to gain time and increase profit. These included task management and delegation, overcoming interruptions to your day, tips for great planning, managing a busy workload, strategic focus and business tool hacks. We also came away with some great practical tools to use!
Tara McGowan - 5 Star Admin - 5staradmin.co.nz - Administraton and Finance Solutions, Helping Your Business to Shine
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In October we were very priviledged to enjoy a short workshop by Becky Carr of BizBriefcase, Behaviorist / Master Trainer and consultant in Extended DISC. Have you ever said the same thing to two people and received two totally different reactions? Wouldn’t interactions be so much easier if people had a label on their forehead telling us what they were…? Lucky for us there’s a simple MAP that can help us with exactly that. Becky gave us the framework to take a lot of the guess work out of developing good people skills and creating better relationships both in the workplace and out. We learnt strategies, in this small introduction into the world of Extended DISC, to help reduce conflict, improve productivity and relate with others more effectively.
Becky Carr - BizBriefcase - bizbriefcase.co.nz - Maximising the performance of individuals and teams
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Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a proven business tool and compass to help guide businesses along the path to success. During the selection process for any software solution, you will make a decision on whether to host the solution onsite or in a Cloud environment. The decision is not always easy and sorting through the facts can be as elusive as finding a needle in a haystack.
Mitch and Shirley helped clear some of the myths and confusion around what are the best things to look for in a CRM system to suit your own particular business.
Mitch and Shirley Weimer - ACT Today - acttoday.co.nz - Specialists in flexible CRM systems, Grow your business with our help
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Also in November we held a business breakfast inviting mothers in the workplace to a round table discussion. The focus was on starting a conversataion, listening to business perspectives and sharing insights and knowledge on the business opportunity of attracting and supporting mothers in the workplace.
This event revealed many great incentives around flexible working hours and conditions, job sharing and incentives to support mothers returning to work but needing flexibility. It was very well attended including some larger local businesses represented including Snowplanet and Pak n Save, Silverdale.
Facilitated by Anwen Robinson of CareerMum and Sarah Carr from Business Whangaparaoa.
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Other events we supported or facilitated in 2018 included being one of the 3 key organisers of the inaugural "A Very Coastie Christmas" on 9 December and now held annual by Future Whangaparaoa Trust and supporting The Repair Cafe organised by Hibiscus Coast Zero Waste and held at Whangaparaaoa Community Hub on 3 November.
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Monthly meeting of the Business Whangaparaoa Executive Committee. Held on the second Thursday of each month in the side room at The Archer from 4.30 pm to 6.00 pm If […]
Join Business Whangaparaoa and Forty Thieves co-founder and owner; Shyr Godfrey. From selling at Farmers Markets to supplying over 450+ stores nationwide and 3 main export markets, Shyr shares how Forty Thieves started and its journey over the past 7 years. She dives into the importance of a strong […]
