It’s already a year since Mark Vanzo, Founder and Managing Director at SMART Business Insurance, joined EO Melbourne, and since then, he found the experience helpful to his entrepreneurial journey. “I help business owners cover their business risks and assets so they can sleep at night while working their businesses and enjoying life,” Mark describes his role.
The beauty in diversity: a mentorship experience
Learning comes from various things and in many ways, and oftentimes, how we differ from each other helps us widen our knowledge and understanding of the space we live in and move around. Such can be said for mentor Emma Duffy, Learning Director at ProActive Training, and mentee Hayden Brass, Founder and Managing Director of Zea.
Dealing with rejection in business
Member Focus Series: Graham McNicol
EO Melbourne welcomes one of the latest additions to its chapter — Graham McNicol. He is the CEO of MSP Photography and an experienced Project Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the retail industry. Graham is a strong sales professional with a Bachelor of Business focused in Human Resource Management from the Swinburne University of Technology.
How Melbourne Business Owners find opportunities in difficult situations
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” — Maya Angelou
Successful entrepreneurs get to where they are now because of their determination to reach their goals, which includes braving the odds and overcoming hurdles. The recent global scenarios in the past two to three years have been very challenging. Many business leaders have looked into finding opportunities under tough situations. But how do you do it?
How to deliver engaging and impactful presentations
Member Focus Series: Paris Thomson
Let’s get to know more about our EO Melbourne Member Paris Thomson, Founder and Creative Director of SIRAP, a content-led creative production studio specialising in film and motion content. Paris has a Bachelor of Communications in Journalism, Media and PR from RMIT and then worked extensively in television in Australia. She is proud to be an Ambassador for Future Women.
Futurist Sarah Owen talked about “Future Forecast 2024” to EO Melbourne
Trend forecaster and futurist Sarah Owen, Co-founder & Global Futures Director at SOON Future Studies, recently shared how SOON Future Studies has uncovered “the global drivers of change as well as 30 emerging trends that will help drive business decisions over the next few years.”
SOON is a futures think tank focused on human insights.Hosted at The Taboo Group, office of EO Melbourne Member Andrew Mackinnon, the "Future Forecast 2024" EO x SOON Event with Sarah Owen was attended by EO Melbourne Members, Strategic Alliance Partners and members of the SLP Forum.
How to keep your team inspired at work
The lockdowns imposed during the pandemic have pushed many businesses to manage their teams remotely. Now that restrictions are easing up and things are having a semblance of normalcy, some have embraced the “new normal” with people going back to face-to-face activities but with certain safety protocols imposed. Others still work from home, while there are others that adapt hybrid work arrangements.
Member Focus Series: Michael Lattouf
Michael Lattouf is the Managing Director of Mikado Group. Michael has over 15 years of experience in senior and executive roles in Infrastructure, Railway Signalling and Telecommunication project planning and delivery in both the public and private sectors. He is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow, and EngExec and also holds a business degree majoring in financial management encompassing both technical and commercial expertise.
Data vs gut-feel in decision-making
Mentorship: it’s a two-way learning
It was a first-time for both mentee Laiken Kerr Clarke, Director at Medisound, and mentor Catherine Duncan, COO at Matthews Steer Accountants & Advisers, to take part in EO Melbourne’s Mentorship Program and both found it enjoyable. Plus, they found the program nicely structured, which allowed them to go through their objectives for this mentorship journey.
Strengthening your 2iC as a way of strengthening your business
One of the long-term goals of many business owners is for them to, later on, be more focused ON the business rather than be IN the business. This means that they evolve from doing job execution and daily operations to heavily leaning towards setting strategic directions and vision achievement of the company. To do so, entrepreneurs have to free certain space on their plate so that they can concentrate on growing their business. This is where having an effective 2iC becomes helpful.
The beauty of mentorship: having someone focused on your growth
The EO Mentorship Program runs for 12 months where mentors and mentees have regular monthly catch-ups, which usually last for only an hour or more. But for mentees like Jeni Clift, Owner and Co-founder of Otto, those regular conversations with her mentor, Anthony Closter, Director at Urban Land Developments, were precious to her.
Managing conflicts within your business
Disagreements, miscommunications and misunderstandings are never absent in any organisation, even in business teams. There will always be varying opinions and work styles because each individual is different and you cannot always control how they respond to certain situations. But when all these arise into a conflict, how do you handle them so that the entire team is not affected and work will not be jeopardised?
The importance of innovation in business
Competition is getting fiercer, technology is advancing faster, and market preferences are leaning towards newer products and services. For enterprises to have a continuous upward curve in their performance and remain relevant to the changing times, they need to look for ways to constantly innovate themselves and consistently improve their business.
Best practices on building good teamwork while working remotely
In this era of working remotely, getting your team to stay constantly connected and build a stronger relationship and dynamics is important to keep everyone going and motivated. The big question, however, is how? What are the things you need to do to enable you and your team to work together to achieve your business goals despite the challenges and limitations of distance and time?
Taking mentorship to a different level the second time around
Mentorship is a significant factor in one’s entrepreneurial development. Having a guide along the challenging path of the entrepreneurial journey helps accelerate one’s growth, progress and momentum. The good thing about mentorship is that it can be done over a specific period or can be repeated at certain points of the journey or can be done continuously, depending on one’s need.
Corporate values and nurturing them in your business
Corporate values are important in every organisation because they provide a strong foundation for decision-making, team building, customer relations and driving your business forward. It is your company’s compass that directs you which way to go and the backbone on how to run your business successfully.
How to have continuous learning along the entrepreneurial journey
Knowledge is not static. It constantly expands. Each day always brings something new to the table, which is why growth and learning are essential parts of human nature. Continuous development builds up a person, and many leaders and entrepreneurs get to where they are right now because of their thirst for learning.