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Edition 266 – Going Local

My wife and I recently took a nine day trip to Port Stephens, three hours north of Sydney. It’s an old family holiday stomping ground from the days when our sons were youngsters and Trish’s Mum, Peggy, would join us for a week by the beach. We made the decision to venture back to somewhere we’d not spent a lot of time at since 2007 as a combined result of:

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Edition 265 – Profitable Analysis

Sadly, most people have no idea what parts of their business generate a profit and what parts generate a loss. Whilst monthly, quarterly or annual financial statements might report a Profit or Loss, all that tells you is the totality of the business performance for the period. It doesn’t actually show you how the profit is actually generated..

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Edition 263 – Peggy

Today would have been my mother-in-law, Peggy’s 95th birthday. Sadly, she passed away in March 2012, the effects of dementia finally taking her. It’s often why I’ve called the disease “the long goodbye” as it takes it’s toll on the body and the mind of the individual and the spirt of those around them. Perhaps one day, the wonders of medical science will find a solution to this condition.

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Edition 261 – Burning Rubber

The 5.0 litre V8 in my 2016 Ford Falcon XR8 Sprint has 345 kilowatts of power at its disposal or, in the old language, 462 horsepower. To put that in perspective, the Ford Mustang V8 Supercar that my team, Tickford Racing, will run in the 2021 Supercars Championship pumps out 447kw. So, the beast sitting in my garage has 77% of the power capability of a racing car.

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Edition 259 – The Fear of Success

I’ve long argued I have one of the most privileged roles of any professional, bar none. People tell me things, about their business and about their lives, that they don’t tell any other professional – not even their doctor. Sometimes, what they say isn’t all that new to me. What is surprising, however, is their honesty in being willing to admit what their foibles are, or what they can do better.

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Edition 258 – Exposed

I learned very early in my career just how detrimental to a business’ livelihood it was to have a reliance on a large client. I’d started a new job in North Sydney with a small accounting firm, lured by the promise of new and exciting work – and a reasonable pay rise.  The City based firm I’d been with were already paying me well and throwing me interesting work. Perhaps I was greedy – the offer of more was on the table and I jumped at it.

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