Events

Being a business owner involves a mix of risk and reward.  Without a certain appetite for risk, most business owners would instead be happily employed in someone else’s business.  But of course where there is risk, the worst can happen.

The prudent director is mindful of the risks inherent in his or her business – and takes appropriate steps to mitigate these by good planning and forethought.  This is the topic for the April Business Owners Forum event in Albany.

We are not talking here about risks that are commonly insured such as fire, theft, public liability and loss of a key person.  Rather, this event will focus on those risks that fall entirely on the business to identify and manage ahead of things going wrong.

There are a wide array of things that can go wrong for businesses – and risks to one business might be irrelevant to the next business.  But there are patterns – and there are usually good strategies that business owners can put in place to mitigate the effects of these risks.  The objective of managing risk is to ensure your business is protected when things go wrong.

This event will be held at the BNZ Partners facility on Constellation Drive, North Harbour at 5:30pm on Thursday 18 April 2013 – and will run through to 7:30pm on the night.

Here are the panellists for this event:

Selina-Jane Trigg.  Selina is principal of law firm Family Law Results, based in CBD Auckland and Papakura.  She has specialised in family law for 16 years – and is a self-described “Family Law Geek”.  Selina’s work includes advising clients on avoiding the risks to their businesses in the event of  death or separation.  High on the list of bad news she has to deliver to her clients is that their family trust is not the protection they thought it was!  Selina will entertain, inform and frighten.

Roger Hatrick-Smith.  As a consultant, Roger’s experience spans operations, supply chain, management and support processes.  He has provided strategic, business and financial advice as leader of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneurial and Growth Markets Group and its Transaction Advisory service line in New Zealand.  Roger is Chief Financial Officer at the IceHouse, and will share some of the insights from his journey at this event.

Keith Ward.  Keith is a business man who has had some successes and some challenges.  Keith ran Recycle Boutique, owned Maggazino and was one of the founders of the Breakers, but came unstuck with a perfect storm of unrelated events.  He has truly walked through the shadow of death and has spent some time in the care of the Official Assignee.  Keith’s story is a valuable one to all business owners.

 

As always for Business Owners Forum events, this session will be free of charge and completely free of sales pitches from the supporters or the panelists.  And there will be pizza, beer and wine to lubricate quality discussion.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly – alternating between Whangarei, Albany and Newmarket venues.  This event will be repeated in Newmarket on 15 May.

If you’d like to attend this event, email Fraser Hurrell before the end of 16 April.  And if you’d like to be included on the invite list for future events, just add your contact details in the box to the right.

Back in 1965, Bob Dylan wrote the song “Its alright Ma, I’m only bleeding” – the lyrics of which have morphed into the oft repeated business cliche “If your business is not growing, it’s dying”.

Although overused, this statement is generally true.  We live in a finite world where growth is necessary for survival – but also a world where we cannot all grow.  Generally one business’ growth comes at the expense of another business.  Your clients and customers have only so much to spend, so they will collectively spend it with you or with your competitors.   Typically businesses grow until they reach a constraint that the directors cannot or will not move past.  And then they decline with their share of the market eroded to businesses that are not hampered by the same constraints.  Maybe quickly – or maybe over many years.

So why is it that some businesses grow from strength to strength while other seemingly similar businesses are in terminal decline?  How can you identify the constraints that are facing you or your business?  What are these constraints?  How can you manage and move past these constraint?  What happens if you just can’t?  What is the experience of other business owners?

For those business owners with an eye to the future who are concerned about these questions, the 20 March Business Owners Forum will be a must-attend event.

This event will be held at the BNZ Partners facility at 330 Broadway, Newmarket, Auckland at 5:30pm on Wednesday 20 March 2013 – and will run through to 7:30pm on the night.

Here are our panelists for this event:

Fraser Hurrell.   Fraser is a Chartered Accountant and a director of Elevate CA Limited.  He meets with many business owners every year, and the question of growth is high on the agenda of most of these meetings.  Fraser will share some of the insights from his cleints’ experiences – and some of the themes around what tends to go right or wrong with their best laid plans.

Michael Masterson.  Michael has served as CEO of some high growth companies such as SalesForce NZ – and one or two who possibly shouldn’t be named at the opposite end of the growth continuum.  He knows the critical ingredients for growth – and the factors that contribute to a downward spiral.  Michael’s informative and entertaining story will strike a chord with business owners.

Grant Hewson.  Grant has a history in the grow-or-die FMCG industry in both New Zealand and Australia including Unilever, SC Johnson Wax, Lion Nathan and Baxter Healthcare.  Grant is now owner of Accomplish, which as an accounting software provider operates in a highly competitive environment where to stop growing means to fast lose market share. 

As always for Business Owners Forum events, this session will be free of charge and completely free of sales pitches from the supporters or the panelists.  And there will be pizza, beer and wine to lubricate quality discussion.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly on the third Wednesday or Thursday of the month – alternating between North Harbour  and Whangarei venues – and from March 2013 also in Newmarket.

If you’d like to attend this event, email Fraser Hurrell before the end of 18 March.  And if you’d like to be included on the invite list for future events, just add your contact details in the box to the right.

“If your business is not growing, it’s dying”.  I’m not sure whether it was Bob Dylan or TJ Sullivan whos words were adapted into this business cliche – but it is oft repeated in business literature.

Although overused, this statement is generally true.  We live in a finite world where growth is necessary for survival – but also a world where we cannot all grow.  Generally one business’ growth comes at the expense of another business.  Your clients and customers have only so much to spend, so they will collectively spend it with you or your competitors.   Typically businesses grow until they reach a constraint that the directors cannot or will not move past.  And then they decline with their share of the market eroded to businesses that are not hampered by the same constraints.  Maybe quickly – or maybe over many years.

So why is it that some businesses grow from strength to strength while other seemingly similar businesses are in terminal decline?  How can you identify the constraints that are facing you or your business?  What are these constraints?  How can you manage and move past these constraint?  What happens if you just can’t?  What is the experience of other business owners?

For those business owners with an eye to the future who are concerned about these questions, the 21 February Business Owners Forum will be a must-attend event.

This event will be held at the BNZ Partners facility on Constellation Drive, North Harbour at 5:30pm on Thursday 21 February 2013 – and will run through to 7:30pm on the night.

Here are our panelists for this event:

Fraser Hurrell.   Fraser is a Chartered Accountant and a director of Elevate CA Limited.  He meets with many business owners every year, and the question of growth is high on the agenda of most of these meetings.  Fraser will share some of the insights from his cleints’ experiences – and some of the themes around what tends to go right or wrong with their best laid plans.

Chris Vincent.  Chris’ resume includes 13 years working for the Westpac Banking Corporation, 6 years in the Merchant and Investment Banking Sector, managing the turn round of struggling companies including acquisition of companies that had gone into receivership.  Chris has 19 years in the manufacturing environment and for the last five years has been CEO of RPM International.

Dean Young.  Dean is director of Brave Day – and a member of the Entrepreneurs Organisation of New Zealand.   He has dealt with high-value clients his entire career, both as a corporate dealer and a money market dealer in the 1990s and in the insurance industry since 1999.  Dean will share some of the insights from his journey.

As always for Business Owners Forum events, this session will be free of charge and completely free of sales pitches from the supporters or the panelists.  And there will be pizza, beer and wine to lubricate quality discussion.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly on the third Thursday of the month – alternating between North Harbour  and Whangarei venues – and also in Newmarket starting March 2013.

If you’d like to attend this event, email Fraser Hurrell before the end of 19 February.  And if you’d like to be included on the invite list for future events, just add your contact details in the box to the right.

 

Divorce or separation can have far reaching or fatal consequences for your business.  Typically shares in the business are matrimonial property – and their value will form part of the pool of assets to be divided.     This can result in a forced sale of the business, financial strain as funds are borrowed to settle the martimonial separation – or even the possibility of an unintended new shareholder.

When the business is owned by a husband and wife, this can be bad enough.  But when there are other unrelated shareholders involved, the consequences can ripple well beyond the separating couple.

So how serious an issue is this?  What can be done to protect your business from the effects of separation?  How can you protect your business from the consequences of the divorce of one of your fellow shareholders?

The bad news is that once a relationship is on the rocks, it is probably too late to put structures in place to protect the business.  But the good news is that with some careful thought early on, it may be possible to divorce proof your business.

This is the final Business Owners Forum event for 2012 – and will be a must attend for mum and dad business owners as well as those in business with unrelated shareholders who may have their own future relationship difficulties. 

This event will be held at the BNZ Partners facility on Constellation Drive, North Harbour at 5:30pm on Thursday 29 November 2012 – and will run through to 7:30pm on the night.

We have assembled a quality and interesting panel for this event:

 

Selina Trigg.  Selina is Principal at legal firm, Family Law Results, she is a member of the NZ Law Society Panel of Mediators and also the current Chair of the Collaborative Law Association of NZ.   As you can imagine after 15 years practicing family law, Selina has seen it all – and has some invaluable advice for business owners who might wish to divorce proof their business.

Hans Otto.  Hans has a powerful story to tell.  Hans started property developing in his late 20’s building a business that constructed over 1,000 homes over a twenty year period.  Today, Hans is an undischarged bankrupt – partially as a result of the consequences of a messy divorce.  There are some things Hans will do differently next time – and Hans will share some of these at this event. 

To be Confirmed.  The third panelist for this event is yet to be confirmed.

 

As always for Business Owners Forum events, this session will be free of charge and completely free of sales pitches from the supporters or the panelists.  And there will be pizza, beer and wine to lubricate quality discussion.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly on the third Thursday of the month – alternating between North Harbour and Whangarei venues.  This is the final event for 2012, but look out for the 2013 schedule soon.

If you’d like to attend this event, email Fraser Hurrell.  We now cap numbers at 60 to avoid an over-full house, so first in first registered.  And if you’d like to be included on the invite list for future events, just add your contact details in the box to the right.

A final thought:  Less than 2% of business are affected by fire each year but 35% of marriages end in divorce.  How well protected is your business?

 

Resolutions made on new years day are famous for not making it past January.  To increase the chances of those business resolutions sticking, now is the time to start planning – identify exactly what it is you want to achieve next year, and to distil this down to tangible and measurable action plans.

This is the topic for the final Business Owners Forum event in Whangarei for 2012.

Of course no two business owners will have the same set of circumstances and issues that they wish to address for 2013, but we will work through some of those that we have been hearing loud and clear from our clients over the past few months – and open discussion to the floor.

This event will be held on 15 November at the Elevate CA office, Level Four, 35 Robert Street, Whangarei from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.  

On the panel for this event will be the three directors of Elevate CA – Rebecca Brennan >>>, Fraser Hurrell >>> and Dean Subritzky >>>. 

As always for Business Owners Forum events, this session will be free of charge – and full of practical content and useful discussion from the other business owners in the room.  And there will be pizza, beer and wine to lubricate quality discussion.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly on the third Thursday of the month – alternating between North Harbour and Whangarei venues.

If you’d like to attend this event, email Fraser Hurrell before the end of 12 November.  And if you’d like to be included on the invite list for future events, just add your contact details in the box to the right