Author: media

Investing time and focus in creating a business plan is one of the most valuable activities you can undertake.

Creating a well-structured business plan will give you direction and help your business become a success. A business plan provides a roadmap for your business’s future and is essential to attracting funding.

A business plan is vital for securing finance

If you’re seeking finance for your business, a business plan is an essential document to help you convince lenders and investors that you should be taken seriously. Whether you’re new to business or have been operating for years, lenders and investors will only risk their time and money if they are convinced your business will be successful and profitable.

Your marketing plan is also a crucial part of helping you to attract funds.

A business plan provides a roadmap for success

A complete, thoughtful business plan is one of the most valuable tools in helping you reach your long-term goals. It gives your business direction, defines your objectives, maps out strategies to achieve your goals and helps you to manage possible bumps in the road.

A business plan gives you control of your business

Business planning can seem overwhelming and time-consuming, but many successful businesses look at it as an opportunity.

The planning process helps you learn about the different forces and factors that may affect your success. If you’re already in business, it helps you to step back and look at what’s working and what you can improve on. Instead of worrying about the future, a business plan helps to give you a sense of control over your business and your livelihood.

Writing and researching for your business plan gives you the chance to:

• learn about your industry, market and competitors
• write down exactly where you are in the market and where you’re headed
• identify challenges you may come across and work out strategies to avoid or overcome them
• understand your business finances, including managing cash-flow and determining your break-even point
• set specific goals, timeframes for achieving them and how you’ll measure performance
• make sound business decisions that focus your activities, maximise your resources and give you a competitive edge.

It’s important to have a business plan, but it’s just as important to keep it up to date

A business plan is not a document you create once and store in your bottom drawer. It’s a living guide that you should develop as your business grows and changes. Successful businesses review and update their business plan when circumstances change.

Set yourself a reminder to review your business plan regularly.

If you have a team in your business, holding brainstorming sessions is a good way to benefit from their knowledge – it ensures you’re all on the same page and that you get their support.

You don’t have to start with a blank sheet of paper

To write an effective business plan you’ll need discipline, time and focus. Although the process can seem challenging, it’s very rewarding and gives you a sense of control over your business.

You don’t have to start with a blank sheet of paper. Our Business plan template and guide were created by experts to help you secure finance and achieve your business goals. It gives you a clear and concise process to follow.

Own an iPad or Android™ device? Download our free business planning app, MyBizPlan, now!

Today’s announcement by the Federal Minister for Justice, Michael Keenan, that all new psychoactive substances (NPS) will be prohibited from import unless importers can prove they have a legitimate use, will see the creation of hundreds of mobile drug labs and secret production houses start up around the country.

Sex Party President and Eros CEO, Fiona Patten, said the Minister’s media release was very thin on detail. “Will the bans be based on pharmacological mimicry (like Qld and SA) or on psychoactivity (like NSW)? If based on ‘mimicry’, then will they only apply to LSD, MDMA and cannabis as suggested in the new laws (ie sertonergics and cannabinomimetics) or also to other drugs like GHB, amphetamine etc (ie GABAergics, adrenergics, etc)?

She said that the new laws would radically change the supply chain for NPS in Australia. “Bans on imports do nothing to address the desire and the market for drugs at home” she said. “If they can no longer be bought in from overseas, there are plenty of chemistry graduates who have the know-how to produce these new synthetic psychoactive substances within Australia. The federal government may have just inadvertently opened the door to a massive new drug problem”.

Ms Patten said that regulation would be far more effective in controlling NPS and cited the release of new statistics by the New Zealand Star Trust group last week that showed that during 2013, while it was legal to sell approximately 30 NPS in that country, illicit drug offences declined by 22.7%. Paul Glue, head of psychological medicine at Dunedin School of Medicine (NZ) said that “Since the Bill was enacted, we have seen fewer hospital admissions and emergency presentations associated with the use of synthetics”.

During 2013 there were no recorded deaths from NPS in NZ at the same time as 3,764 people died from tobacco use. The New Zealand government collected $42 million in taxes from the sale of regulated NPS and 3.5 million packets were sold. There were 12 positive media stories and 2,843 negative ones on the topic during 2013.

Ms Patten said the proposed regulatory regime invested unworkable powers with the ACBPS to determine if a substance had a ‘legitimate use’ and that it was unfair to allow the agency that seized the NPS in the first place to then consider whether or not that decision had been correct. “Many common herbs like Damiana have a psychoactive effect”, she said. “Will they be banned? And what is a ‘legitimate use’ anyway? Is the importation of a weak NPS as a healthier substitute for tobacco or alcohol, a ‘legitimate use’?

Ms Patten said Australia was about to break into the scenarios and storylines of the highest rated TV show of all time – Breaking Bad. On one level the TV show was a ‘morality play’ about a high school chemistry teacher, Walter White, who is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. He turns to a life of crime producing methamphetamine from a mobile laboratory in the form of a caravan, in order to ensure his family is looked after when he is gone. On another level, the program offers policy makers a compelling and fascinating account of how the prohibition of the new illicit drugs makes organized crime rich and casts misery on average families. Ms Patten strongly advised policy makers to watch the first series before escalating any prohibition on illicit drugs.

She said the negative impacts and dangers of NPS had been overstated in the Government’s Regulatory Impact Statement with little or no evidence produced. There had been little research done on the actual health impact of NPS. On this note she said she was concerned that the Alcohol and Drug sector had not been consulted and possibly were not aware of the RIS.

“The size of the market for synthetic cannabinoid-type products alone is estimated at more than $600 million in Australia”, she said. “If other NPS and individual purchases made via the internet are included, then that figure could be as much as a billion dollars. Considering the size of the market for these products it must be assumed that the vast majority of consumers do not suffer any significant negative health effects.”

Ms Patten said that the solution to the emergence of the New Psychoactive Substances was to legalise an old one – cannabis.

Museum of Brisbane’s latest exhibition will showcase the majesty of Moreton Island with new works by Archibald Prize-winning artist Euan Macleod from 4 July to 12 October 2014.
 
Euan Macleod: Moreton Island will showcase a group of acrylics and oils by the eminent painter, comprising new works commissioned by the Museum.
 
Venturing to Moreton Island during the year to create a number of en plein air (painting in the open air) studies and oils for the exhibition, Macleod’s richly textured works explore the sublime and fragile ecosystem of the area.

Museum of Brisbane Director Peter Denham said it was an honour to have Macleod create new works for the exhibition.

“I have been in discussion with Euan about an exhibition at the Museum for a long time and I am thrilled that we have finally been able to work together. His dense and textured technique has really captured the atmosphere of the Island, transporting you right to its sandy shores,” Mr Denham said.

“Euan’s work is also the perfect companion to our other current exhibitions The River – A History of Brisbane and The many lives of Moreton Bay.”
 
From his visits, Macleod said he was intrigued by the diversity of the Island.

“My work is about the figure in the landscape and how it interacts with that landscape. The combination of the two and how the figure charges the landscape really attracts me,” Mr Macleod said.

“The other thing that attracted me were the wrecks, which seemed like a decaying, dark, emotional element of the Island. And they are quite strange, quite a surreal counterpoint to all these people and their water sports.”
 
Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, Macleod moved to Sydney in 1981 where he has lived and worked ever since. He is a regular visitor to Brisbane.

Macleod has received many prestigious awards including the 1999 Archibald Prize, 2001 Sulman Prize, 2009 Tattersall’s Landscape Prize and 2009 Gallipoli Art Prize, while his works are held in many public and private collections including National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Euan Macleod: Moreton Island is part of Document, an ongoing series of exhibitions at Museum of Brisbane that uncovers how artists, photographers and observers view and record Brisbane’s landscape, history and culture.

Museum of Brisbane is open daily from 10am to 5pm on Level 3 of Brisbane City Hall. Free entry.

EVENTS 
A program of events will accompany the exhibition, including artist and curator talks, exclusive viewings and workshops. Bookings are necessary, for more information visit museumofbrisbane.com.au.
 
HIGHLIGHTS
 
Friday 25 July, 1pm
Free
Exhibition talk: Euan Macleod on Moreton Island
Join artist Euan Macleod as he discusses his work and the process through which he created the paintings in the Moreton Island exhibition.

Saturday 26 July, 10am-5.30pm
$55
Workshop: Figure in landscape
Take part in a hands-on masterclass with artist Euan Macleod and paint en plein air (in the open air) with the artist on the picturesque cliffs of Kangaroo Point. This is a unique opportunity to participate in a workshop with the well-known painter, who rarely leads classes anymore.

Sunday 29 September, 11am
Free
Curators Talk: The art of Moreton Bay
In conjunction with the exhibition The many lives of Moreton Bay and recently commissioned work featured in Euan Macleod: Moreton Island, explore the individuals and artists who have recorded Moreton Bay with Museum of Brisbane Director, Peter Denham.

Sunday 12 October, 2pm
Free
Curators Talk: The art of Moreton Bay
This is the final chance to have a unique Moreton Bay experience and discover the individual artists who have recorded Moreton Bay who are currently featured in the exhibitions The many lives of Moreton Bay, and Euan Macleod: Moreton Island. Presented by Museum of Brisbane Director, Peter Denham.

In the lead-up to NAIDOC Week, Australia will see a new special 50 cent coin enter circulation to mark 50 years of ongoing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research and collection of information which has assisted our country in becoming more knowledgeable about its people and cultures.

The coin was officially launched last week by the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon. Tony Abbott MP in the company of AIATSIS Council Chairperson Professor Mick Dodson, AIATSIS Principal Russ Taylor and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, the Hon Steven Ciobo MP.

The 50 cent coin specifically marks the 50th anniversary of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Institute (AIATSIS).

“AIATSIS is an organisation that has dedicated half a century to ensuring that Indigenous cultures are preserved, and continually valued and respected,” said Royal Australian Mint CEO Ross MacDiarmid.

“NAIDOC Week represents an invaluable time for reflection, where Australians take time to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and I personally will also take this opportunity to do just that,” said Mr MacDiarmid.

“The advantage of circulating coins is that they allow for greater awareness and recognition which will last longer than a week – every time someone looks at their change they are reminded of the story behind the coin.”

Featuring an element of the AIATSIS logo, the shield is derived from the boomerang totem of the Gu:na:ni (Kunjen) people from the Mitchell River region of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Two million of these special circulating coins are to be distributed in the coming weeks.

A special colour printed collectable coin with the same design has also been crafted to capture the true essence of the shield and is available for purchase retailing for $13.50 from the Mint’s eShop https://eshop.ramint.gov.au, Contact Centre on 1300 652 020 or in store at the Royal Australian Mint, Deakin.

What difference could an extra 2 hours in your day, make to your business?

Are you staying ahead in your industry or is your business technology making you a dinosaur?

No matter what business you’re in, you need to adapt and evolve in your business evolution or become extinct.  Do you remember when you first learnt how to use email? And where would you be without it now? The best way to have the advantage over your competitor,  is to get to the finish line first yet still maintaining your professional integrity.

At this event, you will learn:
– simple technology that allows you to access your office anywhere
– techniques you can immediately adopt into your business to save you time
– inexpensive ways to protect your website
– methods to stay on top of a busy workload

DID YOU KNOW: On average, professionals spend up to 37 percent of their work week checking emails (that’s roughly 13 hours) — many of them unnecessary ones.

This Free event will be held on Thur 27 July – 5:15pm for 5:30pm start at Smartnet Computer Services, 28/8 St Jude Court, Browns Plains, QLD