Archives

  • How You Can Create a Fresh Vision for a New Year

    As the new year rolls in, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the past and set new goals for the future. A fresh vision can help provide direction, motivation, and purpose for the months ahead. Here are some tips for creating a powerful and effective vision for the new year. Don’t make last year […]

  • Developing a big vision for 2022

    Last weekend, my family and I spent the day on the water with some awesome friends of ours. We met 17 years ago when my wife used to take our eldest child for a walk in the pram while she walked the dog. There she met another woman in the same position and they were […]

  • Is it time to hand your business over to God?

    This week, my wife and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. When I look at the picture below, I am still to this day amazed at the way God works things. At the time of our wedding, I was running a few businesses and my wife was working in marketing at a large church. Just […]

  • Going through business challenges? You will get to the other side

    Eleven years ago, my wife and I watched a great new Hollywood movie that just had hit the DVD shelves called Fun With Dick and Jane. Our children were much younger at the time and so we used to tuck them into bed and our ‘date night’ was a rented DVD on a Saturday night. […]

  • As a Christian in business, the numbers still matter

    I was reading this article on My Christian Daily recently by church consultant and former Lifeway CEO, Thom Rainer, which, as a businessperson and not a ministry leader, really spoke to me. Thom refers to the importance of numbers and why churches need to keep a close eye on their numbers – both their revenue […]

  • Are you strapped in for the ride of your life as an entrepreneur?

    The life of an entrepreneur is not for everyone, but for those souls brave enough to roll the dice and chase their dream, what an exciting ride it is. The challenge of spotting an opportunity, executing it, then seeing it succeed must be right up there with some of life’s greater achievements. Entrepreneurs often become […]

  • Is your opportunity actually right in front of you?

    Many people are amazed by those who are successful in business. Many treat it like it is a science, or there is a secret code that has to be unlocked with a special key – which is only reserved for a select few. I have watched interviews on Youtube with business people, where the interviewer […]

  • How badly do you want business success?

    I come across a lot of people with pretty good ideas. While their ideas aren’t quite the next Facebook or Google, they certainly have plenty of potential. With the right mix of hard work and dedication, plus a lot of prayer, their ideas might just stick. Recently, I was at a weekend away with one […]

  • Is there a silver bullet to gaining success?

    We used to have a great staff member on our team, but he was always pressing – and pressuring – me to come up with a “silver bullet” in our business to accelerate growth. His role was made easier with the bigger our network was and thus the more traffic our websites attracted. In his […]

  • The power of a simple pad and pen

    One of the things I distinctly remember about my Dad, who sadly passed away from cancer in 2015, was his pad and pen. Every morning, while he was drinking his cup of coffee, he had a small notepad, and he would sit and make a note of every small thing that needed to be achieved […]

  • When you don’t know where you’re going, will you ask for help?

    We have a large tree on the corner of our property that at about this time of each year, it loses every leaf on it. If the wind blows from the north, the leaves land in the pool, but if the wind is from the south, then they go all over the sidewalk. The wind […]

  • Is there a powerful demographic your business has forgotten about?

    We live in a world obsessed with youth. I am sure you have well and truly recognized it. Sixty year-olds now wasn’t to look like they are 40. Those in their fifties want to look like they are in their 30s, and on it goes. More and more cosmetic companies are marketing injectables and similar […]

  • Do you have the courage it takes to be in business?

    Last summer, I dropped my lawnmower in for a service. We were having a very dry summer and when I asked the owner if it was affecting his business, I could see the color drain from his face. It had not rained all summer and not only were people like me not coming in to […]

  • The power of advertising: how are you positioning your business?

    We own a number of editorial sites, and like all publishers, we use some of Google’s ad inventory on our sites to bring in extra income. Accordingly, I was reading an article on My Christian Daily just today when two of the ads that were served up were the same – with a slight difference. […]

  • Is your life about just having enough for you and yours?

    When you think of your life and your calling as a Christian in business, what are your financial goals? Do you work to make ends meet, or do you feel a responsibility to be able to earn larger amounts of money so you can fill the many needs in your community, let alone your church? […]

  • The need to avoid greed – why Christians in business aren’t immune

    I met Melissa Caddick almost twenty years ago in an office close to the downtown precinct in Sydney, Australia. My good friend was a successful young financial planner before everyone seemed to be one, and my friend and Melissa, very bright young planners, had become partners in a boutique firm. The older firm’s owner loved […]

  • After 2020, are you waiting for things to return to normal?

    2020 was a tough year. Nobody in business will doubt that. However, as we have kicked over and into 2021, there are a lot of people waiting for things to return to normal. But what if they don’t? There is a very good chance that the business world has changed and that the world we […]

  • In business, are you a cutter or a sewer?

    I am reading an interesting book called Rise, written by one of Australia’s richer men, Mark Bouris. He is the founder of Wizard Home Loans, which was sold to General Electric for millions, and then went on to found and list on the Australian Stock Exchange a financial services company called Yellow Brick Road. In […]

  • Repetition: the key to success

    I read a fantastic book recently called The Outliers. Among other pearls of wisdom, I read about The Beatles and how they got their start in music. Back before music really became a ‘thing’, The Beatles formed their band simply as some musician friends wanting to have some fun. A local pub was looking for […]

  • Your New Year’s resolution: vow to be a decision-maker

    I am always surprised each new year how people will randomly say how the next year is going to be better than one before, or the ones previous to it. My immediate thought is, why? Why does one year automatically get better than the previous one if you’ve not really done anything different this year […]

  • Are you taking your business to God?

    Business is tough, the economy is about to go through an interesting phase and so there is a lot of uncertainty in our world at present. As a Christian in business, are you bringing your business before God? Do you find a time each day to just stop and sit with your Creator and give […]

  • Want to be a success in business? Don’t forget this.

    As more and more of the workforce moves towards the gig economy and we see a much larger percentage of people strike out and start their own businesses, the first thing most people think of is the business idea itself, then quickly followed by generating sales. After all, you cannot succeed in business if a) […]

  • Are you praying for new opportunities?

    Opportunities exist everywhere. The question is: are your eyes open to new ideas and opportunities? Recently, my wife and I purchased a new property as an investment. A day after signing the contracts, we received a call from the agent’s ‘concierge’ department offering us landlord insurance on the property. They had made their commission on […]

  • What’s the next play in your business?

    My wife and I had three children very close together. Consequently, when they were little, we ended up buying piles of DVDs to keep them occupied – and us sane – on those long days before pre-school and school. At the time, the kid’s group our kids loved the most, The Wiggles, made the majority […]

  • When they zig, you zag

    Some years ago, there was a book written by Siimon Reynolds, a legend of advertising, titled, ‘When They Zig, You Zag’. The entire point of his book was doing the opposite of what the crowd is doing. Right now, we are right in the middle of Covid and this is the perfect time to do […]

  • When you have everything – but nothing

    I recently watched the ‘Filthy Rich’ series on Netflix about Jeffrey Epstein. While what he did was disgusting, and at times hard to watch, I was more intrigued in trying to understand what would drive someone of his wealth into the seedy lifestyle he lived. As I watched the series, I honestly felt terribly sad […]

  • Alibaba billionaire founder’s advice that might just help you

    I was sent the video below by a colleague recently. My days are very full and I often don’t stop to watch these sorts of videos, but for some reason I did. Jack Ma is no ordinary guy. Forbes states that his net worth is just shy of $50 billion. Just overnight, I read that […]

  • The danger of jumping before you’re ready

    In Australia, right now, I have been following the story of a rugby coach who is in all sorts of bother. The quick story is that a few years ago, he had a stellar season with the side he was coaching and he won the rookie coach of the year award. He caught the eye […]

  • Because vision is where it all starts

    For a long time, I have been a major admirer of Sir Martin Sorrell. While you might not know his name, you may have head of advertising agencies like Ogilvy, or Young & Rubicon. And if you haven’t heard of them, then simply switch on the TV and watch for the major brands’ advertisements. His […]

  • The difference between being poor and being broke

    Just recently, I watched a fantastic movie on Netflix about John Paul Getty called ‘All the Money in the World’. Towards the start of the movie, Getty’s son, Paul Jr., who was estranged from his father, told his wife that they couldn’t afford something because they were poor. She was quick to respond, “We’re not […]

  • Why you can be sold out for God – and a success in business

    The church has been sold a massive lie – and sadly, most of us have believed it. Some years ago I was on a conference call with a band that we were going to take to Australia for a seven stop music tour. One of the band members said to me on that call, “From […]

  • Are you ready for the rise of the gig economy?

    It’s coming to a town near you. In fact, if it’s not here already, it won’t be far off. We’re talking about the gig economy. Do you remember back in the old days when we were all encouraged to get in with a company where we could be there for life? Do you remember when […]

  • COVID-19 is the perfect time to get your business in order

    I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a lot of spare time in my life. Between working, going to church and chasing around four children, there is not a lot of spare time. And that is not necessarily a good thing. When we’re racing around and chasing our tales, we are so busy […]

  • Like Rupert Murdoch, you may be asking, ‘Who Moved My Cheese’?

    I have read with interest recently that Rupert Murdoch wants Google broken up because they are too big and powerful and their online advertising is severely damaging his company’s revenues. I had to double-check that this is the same Rupert Murdoch, pictured above with ex-wife Wendi Deng announcing the acquisition of MySpace. He has built […]

  • How to turn a disadvantage into your greatest advantage

    I am reading an amazing book called Chase the Lion, which was given to me by my pastor. Don’t you love it when you have a big-thinking pastor who is daring you to chase a lion (roughly interpreted to chase something bigger than you believe you have the skills to otherwise achieve)? In the book, […]

  • Are you on the lookout for opportunities?

    I recently watched a fantastic documentary called ‘The Secrets of Coca-Cola’ and it was a remarkable look at how this massive company got its start in the soda business… after he removed the cocaine from its recipe. Coca-Cola’s history is fascinating. It is the story of how a brown liquid that only made $50 (£39.25) […]

  • It’s not how you start, but how you finish

    Over the weekend, one of my sons was hand picked to attend a junior surfing camp with around eight other kids.  Held at the high performance academy of surfing, three top coaches were in attendance, two of whom are former professional surfers. As you can imagine, there was a lot of excitement for the kids […]

  • Being prepared to hustle applies to Christians, too

    I’ve been a Christian in business my entire working life, and in that time I have had to learn what part I play in making my life and career work, and what part God plays. Over 25 years in business has taught me that God in my work space is really only as good as […]

  • Wise advice from a Christian billionaire

    OK, before you start reading this, I need to break the news to you that I am not the billionaire here. The billionaire is someone else and I am just telling the story. My wife is currently doing a Dave Ramsey Bible Study plan. You know Dave Ramsey, the finance guy who encourages Christians to […]

  • Achieving your dream… one step at a time

    I started to notice the messages coming into my inbox. My email account kept announcing message after message being sent to me from Linkedin. Wondering what was happening, I logged in to Linkedin to see what all the fuss was about. It turns out hundreds of people were sending me messages, congratulating me on celebrating […]