As I began to write this post I received a good overview from Business Spectator on it’s thoughts on the large retailers and the online space.

The thing that I find concerning about Mr Harvey’s approach to online – is simply his inconsistency. I would be worried if I worked in his online team, that is at some point I might simply become a rounding error and find that I did not have a job.

Smart Company has already given Mr Harvey three pieces of advice on how he can improve his online performance. Namely: emphasize deals, reduce shipping time and redesign the site – all good ideas.

I see something else that is very much missing. It is leadership and vision. Gerry Harvey was revolutionary 30 years ago when he invented the store within a store franchise retailing model. One could argue he was a visionary and showed amazing leadership – and he has consistently executed the same model in many other retail brands. So why does he lack the same level of commitment to the online space?

Perhaps Gerry expects online to be predictable. This is never the case – no business is. The greatest ideas are not necessarily the one’s that fly. The Internet is a complete leveler… a tiny business can sit side by side with a massive retailer and get the same traffic. [Eleven years ago when we launched RedBalloon in the ninemsn shopping portal – we sat side by side with David Jones]

Not unlike traditional retail one needs an online reputation – and it takes years to cultivate a deep and consistent search engine presence.

Underlying all of this I would argue that it is about focus. Kogan has been absolutely single minded about his proposition – as have each of the deal sites. And they have listened very carefully to their customers ensuring that they have the right product, at the right place, at the right price.

A reality check please… I understand that revenues for the Harvey Norman Group in 2011 were $7,76 billion – did he really believe that for this NEW online business he could realistically achieve an income of $388m in the first year – that is apparently what 5% of his earnings would be.

Well Gerry has had a reality check – but for the rest of us out here in the online world we are growing our businesses steadfastly, with consistency, vision and leadership – through trial and error, listening to our customers and responding. Perhaps if he went back to the basics, if he remembered what it took to build his first store he might get the results he wants… in time.

In the begining there was just an idea

I have been asked to write a series for the Fairfax papers – these columns appear regularly in The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and Courier Mail…

The editor asked me to write something that was insightful but educational.. and he inferred entertaining too. As I thought about it I realised that the lessons learned – or things that ‘I wish I knew’ would probably the most useful… so I have republished them here – because not everyone has a subscription to those publications.

I think back more than a decade to the moment that I thought it was a good idea to start an online business. There are some things that I really wish that I had known as I set out. But then again maybe the greatest lessons are often learned the hard way. As one mentor said to me years ago “the greater the loss the bigger the lesson.” At some point however if these business lessons get too expensive – well then it’s all over really.

So let’s consider that very first moment when you think that it is ‘a good idea to run your own show’; you have read of these entrepreneurial heroes who create amazing ‘overnight’ success stories – and you think, “I could do that”.

All you need now is that idea – which will make the business simply slip into place and you are on your road to Nirvana. Ah, what a lovely dream – sorry to bring you down to earth – but businesses are 1% idea and 99% execution.

You still need that idea though; with out it you only have hard work.

I’m approached regularly by people wanting to share a new business idea with me. They ask earnestly “will it work?” My response to all these queries is always the same. “Why do you want to do it?” Working out why you want to start a business (let alone keep running it for a good proportion of your adult life) – I believe is essential to sustaining you, and ultimately the success of the enterprise.

My suggestion is if you are driven solely by financial success – think again. Great businesses solve a problems… they make life ‘easier’ – they do things that had not been done before. They make a difference to other human beings. In fact you could argue that great businesses make the world a better place.

All of the great start-ups that you can think of solve a problem. Facebook was about keeping college students connected – Google was about making the worlds information accessible – Apple, can we count the number of problems that it has solved?

So the first step on creating a viable business is to work out what problem you are solving, stated simply ‘what is your purpose’.  Even if you are already in business – you could ask yourself the same question. In fact a businesses purpose may change over time as it adapts to the market or sees new problems to solve.

My purpose developed as I began to serve customers and I learned about how our experience vouchers were being used by our customers. Initially when I started the businesses in the front room of my home – what I was looking for was a lifestyle – I had two young children and I thought [naively] that I could play with my kids in the day and work at night. Until the kids challenged me one day and asked “why do we have to go to bed at 5.30?”

I did want to create a flexible work place – but that was really about ‘how’ we did business rather than ‘why’ we were in business.

RedBalloon was not the first business idea I had – but as I look back now I realize that of all the ideas I had – it was the one that inspired me, that I was passionate about, that I could see making a difference with. As I learned only last year when I did a Harvard Business course the idea was a ‘disruptive’ innovation. It brought a new product to an existing marketing delivering it cheaply and quickly – and the incumbent dominant gift retailers would not have noticed us on the horizon – coming to market (nor would they care).

If I was to pose a question for you to think about: why do you do what you do – and who will give a damn? Are you building a better mousetrap or are you changing the game of rodent management?

The world catalogued into one big 'scrap book'

This article first appeared in The Australian on 5 March 2012 – I thought I would share for those who might have missed it.

The only constant online of course is  change – just as I think I’ve got Twitter, LinkedIn and FaceBook worked out – other interactive social sites show up. My 16 year old daughter has taken herself off FaceBook – claiming that Tumblr is where it is all at… and now Pinterest has arrived and appears to be the new frontier of social media for business. There is no doubt that all the social media players are quickly moving to more image intensive platforms – [On FaceBook you can ‘scarily’ now view your entire history on the site in a visual time line] and as a business we need to stay abreast if not harness the power of what is new. In some sense we need to be a new adopter in all our communications – rather than following after something is tried and tested. Of course the list of potential social media sites does seem endless – and one doesn’t know really what is going to be the next big thing.

Pinterest is creating the biggest online buzz at the moment claiming “Our goal is to connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting…a favorite [sic] book, toy, or recipe can reveal a common link between two people…Pinterest is connecting people all over the world based on shared tastes and interests”. In its most basic form, it’s a visual bookmarking site that allows users to pin anything they find on the web that interests them. All of your likes, comments, pins and re-pins are recorded on your own profile – or, more fittingly, pin boards – thereby connecting people based on their interests rather than existing friendships or professional networks. These boards are arranged by any number of topics from gardening to technology and include subjects such as “Products I Love” and “Favourite [sic] Places and Spaces.” It’s a refreshing approach to social media – neat, orderly, uncluttered and void of those annoying flashing ads offering everything from banishing belly fat to burlesque lessons. And it’s also a potential gold mine for businesses; arming them with a tool to connect with consumers on a personal level about the things they hold dear – think hobbies, interests and passions. And you can’t just sign up – you must be invited to join and play with this exclusive new social media toy.

As marketers though we’re dipping our toe in the water, and we’re excited to see where the Pinterest journey will take us.

Businesses have already started flocking to the site in an attempt to humanise their brands – giving them a personality or bringing that personality to life. For instance at RedBalloon this is a very attractive proposition as we are an online brand and it’s often difficult to have resonance with your customers when you rarely have face-to-face interactions with them. This is incremental to our activity on Facebook and Twitter and we need dedicated people to listen, learn, look and play with all of the social networks. Real people talking and listening with real people – not pushing marketing message for the sake of it… this is NOT a broadcast media.

But Pinterest takes it a step further, allowing brands to connect with customers on a level above and beyond the product they are selling, which in turn creates a more genuine and reciprocal relationship. We use the site to share gorgeous, striking images of our experiences and our customers genuinely enjoying those experiences. And these images really are worth more than a thousand words of copy on a webpage – on Twitter they may be re-tweeted and on Facebook shared among friends, but the image carries far more weight when it’s targeting an interested audience.

From a pure marketing standpoint, Pinterest is a collection of focus groups. Try to think of a more perfectly efficient way to road test and gather feedback on a new product or idea. Can you? The site already attracts almost 12 million active users a month – women make up between 70 and 80 per cent of its members, most under the age of 45. But itgoes one step further. What an opportunity for entrepreneurial marketers wanting to target consumers in an environment designed to connect people according to the things they love and desire. Many brands are already embracing the new frontier with some success. There are examples of clothing brands running “pin it to win it” competitions, where customers have to browse the brand’s website and pin the images of their favourite outfits to win. This encourages users to interact with the site, but also visit and browse the products on the brand’s own site.

As Pinterest continues to grow and develop, there will no doubt be some great brand stories emerge, but similarly therewill be brands who do not respect the site’s raison d’etre – pushing the boundaries and upsetting users who have had yet another social space encroached upon by brands trying to sell sell sell. The site itself has loose rules around promoting products, stating “Pinterest is designed to share things you love…try not to use Pinterest purely as a tool for self-promotion”. But the creators are also keeping very tight-lipped on the subject of how they plan to make money from the enterprise, so I predict a few changes to the way the site operates in the future. I guess it’s a wait and see game for now, and I for one am intrigued to see how brands will tread the fine line between wooing customers, building relationships and selling products.

Here is a link to the RedBalloon Pinterest page

Our Customer Experience team - 'Being Real'

Another interesting question posed by The Australian – everyone is looking for the get quick rich scheme – and the reality is that there are none – unless you don’t mind a bit of hard work… here is my response to the question “How to make money online?”.

This century is all about transparency and authenticity – people want to know that you are real. But having a great product that appeals to people and will get them talking is where real success lies. I have always asked myself the question – ‘who really gives a damn?’ We might think it is the best idea ever, but really we need to get over ourselves, a bit. Sometimes when people share with me their ‘fantastic’ business ideas – the first question I ask is ‘why?’ Why are you doing this? It might be your passion but are there other people who agree – more importantly are there millions of them?

Don’t be fooled into thinking RedBalloon was an overnight success – it was two months and 4 days after the site launched in 2001 before we made our first sale! In almost ten years we have taken that number to over 1.1million experiences sold. Hard work, dedication and expelling the word failure from your vocabulary is key.

One of the biggest difficulties in running an online company is trying to connect with a customer who you will never have a true face-to-face relationship with. We try to combat this by ensuring each and every opportunity we have to engage with a customer – whether that be by phone, email or the physical delivery of an experience – ends in a great memory. In the early days a woman called me saying she was just about to purchase online with us – but she wanted to know if we where ‘real’. I answered “well you are talking to the CEO”. She responded but how do I know that, you could just as easily be the janitor (the reality was that I was the janitor too – I wore most hats in those early years). In that moment I knew that I had to build trust for my fledgling online business – I had to let people know that there was real people behind the brand. Hence with every opportunity we attend trade shows, conferences and seminars. We get out from behind the website and eye ball our customers. I personally find myself speaking at many events – this is all part of the plan to make sure people can really know us… so we are real to people…. (and it is one of the reasons for being a blogger)

Step number one in making money online is to be real, be yourself and be accessible. (Most of the promotional photo’s you see on the RedBalloon website are either of team members or were taken by team members). The next step to making money is about having a clear sense of purpose – and let people know what you stand for.

In the case of RedBalloon, it was about identifying our key audiences by considering “who would want to buy experiences” and “what sort of people want to make a difference in the lives of others”? I quickly came to the conclusion that RedBalloon would appeal to both the corporate and consumer world. Mums and dads, brother and sisters as well as businesses who put budgets aside for rewarding and recognising the efforts of their employees.

Yes, we are a business, and a key objective for a business is to make a profit. We make no secret of that. But some recent research from Travis Carter and Thomas Gilovich* really cemented that we’re on the right track with what we are do here at RedBalloon – to change gifting in Australia and NZ forever with meaningful experiences, because we believe that the most important gift is the gift of shared experience. The research showed that it’s not wealth that causes happiness, but what and how money is used that contributes to our sense of well being. The more aligned a purchase is to ‘shared experience’, the greater the sense of happiness. This deepens relationships. Interesting that the research tells us that we adjust our memories over time to ‘edit’ the bits we did not like about the experience – and we only remember the good bits – whilst the luster of a material gift will continue to fade over time.

Another critical ingredient to being profitable is not to waste money. When I started the business at home I used second hand computers, shared resources and did almost everything myself (except cut code). Whilst it might not have been the most professional or best return on my time – it meant that every dollar earned was invested in growth – rather than administration – and that we made a nominal profit from day one which could be reinvested. (RedBalloon is completely self funded) My philosophy has not changed. You do need to spend money to grow (no-one has saved themselves into growth), but the reality is that most business growth comes through building unbreakable customer relationships. And to get unbreakable customer relationships you need people who are completely committed and passionate about what they do. So a dollar invested in your people is worth far more than splashing money around on expensive bill board advertising. Advertising has a place – but it is to remind people of the relationship that they have with your brand… not to create a relationship. It takes people to do that.

So to make money online is very much about knowing what you stand for and sharing the story – having a fabulous team who share a deep commitment to a sense of purpose. The purpose simply cannot be ‘to make money’ – making money is to business what breathing is to life – it is essential, but I didn’t wake up this morning just to breath. I remember years ago when I worked in a professional services firm and the partner said something to the effect of “work harder make me more money and one day you could be here too”. Very uninspiring. If you are in business just to make money then the road is likely to be far harder, than being in business to do something to make the world a better place.
In summary

1. Be real
2. Sense of purpose
3. Invest in people

* Carter, Travis J and Gilovich, Thomas, Enjoyment of experiences and possessions

My colleague Phil, Having a great time at work - AND being a great Mum - it is possible to have it all

Last week I was posed the question by the Australian newspaper “what are the difficulties of being a digital woman?” I share with you my response which appeared in full in the paper on Monday 29 August 2011.

“Being a women in the business world (online or offline) is very normal to me – but I am kind of like an Ostrich with my head in the sand. I don’t really know what I miss out on – the rugby games or the beers after work that I don’t get invited too. When I read studies[1] that give the principle reason for gender inequality in leadership positions and pay as employers discriminating against women for “simply being female”,  it’s clear that something needs to change. And I believe that this has to start at the top – we need role models. More women on boards and in executive roles would be a first step.

This is a community issue – not a women’s issue. One thing we need to consider is “why do women choose to leave the workforce?” – I know I did – because when I had children I wanted more flexibility – and in the senior marketing role I held – it just was not possible. Women may choose to leave the workforce for life style reasons, parenting, or simply that they no longer want to work endless hours and not be appreciated. The result of thethousands of reasons of why women leave the workforce has resulted in more than 50 per cent of women over the age of 45 have less than $8000 superannuation – as a result women will be dependent in their old age, either to a partner, family or the state.

Something must be done. Flexible work places might be a start, and tax deductions for childcare.

I’m glad that at least now there is 18 weeks parental leave. But I think there is a bigger issue. Parenting is an eighteen-year job, and that’s being conservative! What are we doing to support parents for the next two decades? Paid parental leave isn’t the answer to encouraging women to return to work. It’s what we do to make childcare accessible and available to people all the time, without prejudice, whether it’s a mother, father, foster parent or guardian. I understand that women are more likely to leave the workforce after the birth of their second child…

One of my colleagues with young children who works part-time at RedBalloon and freely admits that she is a far better wife and mother because she is able to work, contribute and exercise her creative brain with her peers each day.

RedBalloon thrives because of its great team. Part-time roles, the flexibility to work from home or take time-in-lieu are not ground-breaking or innovative on our part. Yet the spirit in which all these are offered may well be. Right now I am on the hunt for child care places close to the office. Everyone’s contribution here is valued equally as highly, no matter the hours they work, or whether they are working virtually.

So we need leadershipfrom the top, from government and with more women on boards. How do we create truly family-friendly workplaces? Many women are missing out of the non-critical, yet still beneficial, aspects of work – the seminars, the conferences, the networking events, the breakfasts – because who is going to do the childcare and get the kids to school?

It’s important to recognise that it’s not simply a women’s issue, it’s a community issue and one that needs structural economic reform. We’re number one on the planet in terms of educating women in tertiary institutions – yet the participation rate ofthose women in leadership roles is dire. Simply, we’re not getting the return out of our highly educated people because these women are not able to easily contribute back to society, no matter how much they wish to.

We can’t all run online businesses so we can have the lifestyle, flexibility and fun we need to fulfill on the varied roles we play – as parents and business leaders.”

[1] National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM)

Meet the brand...

It seems that lately I am being approached by many people who are asking a similar question, “How did you do it?”.  Obviously I write this blog so that I can share what I have learned which also means that people can dip into what they think is relevant for them whenever they choose.

My initial reaction when people ask “how did you do it?” Is that it wasn’t ‘I’ … it was ‘we’. I have been fortunate that I have surrounded myself with great people all completely passionate about our vision and committed to what we are doing.

If I was to take ownership for one thing … it would be that I did bring to the start up RedBalloon a corporate background in marketing. When I started the business I was completely passionate about building a brand online. Which was no insignificant task back in 2001 because the internet was in it’s infancy. My marketing background had taught me that to create a brand is to build relationships – and being online we didn’t have the opportunity to meet our customers in person..  So in response to the question “How to build a brand online?” I responded for The Australian newspaper with these three lessons:

1. Don’t hide. It is like any other relationship – people want to get to know you. When I am buying online I like to know who is behind the business – I cannot stand those ‘about us’ pages that say nebulous things like “we are the greatest solutions provider blah blah blah”. Many years ago in the early days I had a woman phone saying I’m just about to make a purchase on your web site – “how do I know you are real?” I responded” I’m the CEO” and she retorted “But you might be the janitor for all I know”. The irony of course was that I was the janitor too.

The principles behind building a strong and enduring brand remain the same whether online or offline. It’s all about building great relationships – with your customers, your suppliers, your clients and especially your employees as they’re the greatest brand ambassadors you have! Shared experiences create and strengthen relationships.

2. People create brands – brand reputation is about who you associate with. Online it is important to hang out with a good crowd. It is important to know who , how and where any links or advertising might appear. Brand association is critical online – in exactly the same way as a retail store – you want to know who your neighbors are. It is the same online.

3. Brands are built in the hearts of our customers and employees through the relationships they have with that organisation. Every touch point adds or detracts from that relationship, because a brand is not advertising, but how people experience and feel about an organisation. It is the people they meet, the stories they hear, what they see on social network sites that form opinions about a business. People question if they can trust or believe the story. And it is no different in building an employer brand.

You have to listen to your customers, clients and employees so you can deliver a positive experience every time they engage with your brand.  At RedBalloon we also know that a high level of customer service starts with happy employees who are more willing to go the extra mile to ensure a positive customer experience every time, and that’s why our company values are fundamental to everything we do. Each and every “RedBallooner” lives the values of integrity, generosity, leadership, having sense of humour and fun, and probably most poignant given our growth and position in the Australian gifting landscape, being a little dog with a big dog personality!

This is why employees are the new customers. Each employee has a voice (and could be a personal publisher). As such it is up to leadership teams to stay vigilant and committed to the employee experience – because that will mirror the customer experience, and ultimately the brand itself.

So the reality is that building a brand online follows similar principles to building a brand offline – it is all about relationships.

James shares his insights into RedBalloon

We are fast approaching RedBalloon’s tenth birthday, with that it mind I wanted to check in with the team ‘What does it mean to you to be a part of the RedBalloon story?’ The answers were delightful and insightful… but this particular answer from one of the newer RedBallooners is very worth reproducing in whole.

If you were to ask the similar question in your organisation, you too could get a great insight into the ‘mood’ – think of it as a ‘culture check’.

R Recognised. Continual recognition day to day has been very important in my short time here. Knowing that all my efforts are acknowledged, appreciated and are of value to the business in achieving the goals we collectively aspire to, gives myself and everybody a huge sense of unity in where we are heading.

E Experiences! Such a unique trait to my role and being a part of my story is fulfilling so many dreams for so many people. Not many people I know can say the consequences of their daily tasks will live in the memories of others forever!

D Dynamic. I am buoyed by how I can personally contribute to our visions and challenges for the future. If I want to make a suggestion of change or improvement, the big red door is always wide open. All that is required of me, is imagination.

B Belief. Having the people around me who are not afraid to get out there and make things happen because they believe in the cause. No objectives are too big, because where there’s a will, there’s a way. We are all role models.

A Aspiration. Reaching the One million milestone and the ‘RedBalloon Story’ I believe is directly attributed to the investment in the people along the journey. Being a part of an ever improving, expanding organisation who actively encourage personal development and achievement will, in my mind, only motivate the story into achieving even bigger ‘hairy audacious goals’ in the future, and it feels good to be a part of that.

L Love. For what we do and how we work.  To me the story is based up a culture of passionate, driven people, which can only have a ripple effect on each other and associates alike.

L Learning. The story of the RedBalloon journey is anything but one dimensional, and the opportunities for learning to benefit myself and company co-inside with the RedBalloon ride. Only limited by the wind in my sails.

O One-on-one. Anyone involved in the RedBalloon story can approach anyone at anytime. Two heads are better than one! Be it personal or otherwise, it is well practiced and there is always someone I can to turn to.

O Opportunity. Seizing the opportunity! The story for me has told me to not be afraid in grasping an opportunity. Flexibility in my role is great and I can go about that how I like, which permits outside of the box thinking. Which reminds; “Most people think inside the box, great visionaries think outside the box, geniuses don’t see a box!”.

N Next steps.. the future

James R…. Corporate Team

Does this mean Ernst and Young will be getting a call asking them to cease and desist in their global entrepreneur award, and spin off publications? And I had to laugh when I discovered that E&Y actually did receive a letter from the publisher back in the late 90s.

The global Entrepreneurs Organization of which I participated and received much benefit from the organization – with it’s 7,500 members world wide… has nothing to do with the Entrepreneur Magazine – does this organization have to change it’s name?

Now, I’m no expert on trademark law, but Mark A. Lemley, a distinguished professor of intellectual property law at Stanford Law School says, “Trademark law doesn’t give anyone the exclusive right to common English words, much less all variants of those words.”

The latest attack has been on Daniel Castro, founder of EntrepreneurOlogy, who has also filed a federal lawsuit against the publisher. Good on him for standing up for the rights of entrepreneurs everywhere to use the term entrepreneur.

There is the obvious irony of a magazine making its advertising bucks and writing articles to support entrepreneurs, leveraging its resources to attack businesses using the word entrepreneur. (Biting the hand that feeds you).

@LizWiseman

Plus this sort of behaviour is so UNentrepreneurial. Being entrepreneurial is about being nimble. About moving fast and embracing change. Not being a bullying behemoth.

Surely it must be a publicity stunt – well I for one have no intention of reading the publication. I’ll stick to Inc. and Harvard Business Review for my US fix on business.

Q1: You say on your website that “life is the sum of our experiences, not our belongings”. So can we have some thoughts on another sort of experience, the experience of buying a home to live and raise a family. What can you tell us about your experience of the first home you purchased?

A1: I bought my first home [flat] before I was married – back in 1988 had saved the deposit over 3 years. It cost $80,000 – which was a lot of money. Interest rates shot up to 16% – ouch. It was so hard financially that I had to take in a border and I could only afford to eat at home, I lived on boiled eggs. There was an upside to all this hardship however, when I sold the property a several years later, the price had gone up and I had created a small nest egg that was the deposit for the family home. In some ways that property was like forced savings.

Q2: One essential belonging is having a roof over your head but reaching that goal can be very stressful. With continual mortgage strain, do you think a new experience, family fun or bit of indulgence can provide some relief?

A2: Good times don’t have to cost a lot – and it is important to balance hard work and determination with joy. A fun thing to do is to create the family dream list – things that you want to do or experience together as a family. So whilst you are paying off the mortgage you are still planning and looking forward to other family activities. One of my favorite sayings is ‘Even if you are on a diet you can still read the menu’ – it is important to imagine, dream and plan. Have some small things on the list – and make sure you do them.

Q3: What are some experiences you could recommend for these people, to help them with mortgage relief or give them more quality in their family time?

A3: Children don’t want to be entertained – they want your time and listening. Shared experiences are the basis of all relationships. Having everyone in the kitchen cooking the meal, or everyone researching the family holiday means that everyone has a voice. [The family that plays together..] Giving someone a gift of something they have always wanted to do and sharing that joy creates fabulous family connection.

Q4: You were a winner at the National Telstra Business Women’s awards, we have a large female audience and the results of our recent survey concluded that females are the most active online seekers in the home loan market. What words of advice could you give these women who maybe trying to juggle a career and/or motherhood as well as a home?

Q4: There is no right answer – we all just muddle through the best we can. Each day with a family and career is a day of logistics and planning. My trick is just to be truly present at what ever I am doing in that moment. If I am with my children then I am in their world and playing their games. And it is the same at the office. It is not the quantity of time that we spend with our family it is about our connection with the moments we have.

Q5: Your favorite experience?

A5: How could I have a favorite - That would be like choosing between your children. There are perfect experiences for different moments. Sometimes you want to put people out of their comfort zone – other times you want to pamper them or give them a treat. That is why RedBalloon has more than 2,500 different activities. There is something for every occasion and personality – the easiest thing is to use the gift finder.

Presenting to 150 fifteen year old girls is probably one of the tougher gigs that I have had. Not helped by the fact that my daughter said just before I left home… ‘Don’t be embarrassing – and they really aren’t interested in all …

I looked at these young women and thought what would I have liked to have known all those years ago? I showed them a photo of my girlfriends and I at the same age. This started the conversation – instead of a mother, CEO and old woman – they now saw that I too had started my journey in the same place they are now.

I shared with them about the difference between accountability and responsibility. I gave them vivid examples of leadership versus management. But more than anything, I wanted to leave them with the message of persistence. Of not giving in.

I’ve met people throughout my journey – all of which have added to who I am now. Even the most horrendous manager taught me how I did not want to be. I said: “When I’m running the show it will be different.”

Entrepreneurs are like clown punching bags – we keep getting dealt a blow (we never know where from) but up we get and keep going. We never give up. There is no option of when should I quit. We have only one way forward – towards achieving our purpose.

Our purpose engages others in what we are up to. It is the people around us that will make it happen (as my colleague Megan said to me yesterday – “I’m the detail in your devil”). Persistence is a key ingredient. And being passionate about what we do everyday is a given. (Going into business just to make money is not very inspiring to anyone).

These young women were eager to hear my story, and had many questions. But I left them with one thought. To follow their dreams single mindedly, that it is wonderful to bring our femininity to whatever we choose to do… (we don’t need to act like blokes). That by the time they are my age I would like to see that the public company boards in Australia are representative of the communities they serve.

Perhaps some of the young women I met today, will be part of that amazing revolution yet to take place in the board rooms of Australia (I just hope we don’t have to wait 30 years to see it happen).