I had the priviledge to speak at the Schmart Conference for PMP Limited last week in Melbourne and Sydney.  I was also priviledged to be amongst speakers who are 'cutting edge' on thier area of expertise from twitter with Scott Stratten to ad agency with Rob Belgiovane. 

There was much debate about twitter, facebook and other forms of social media.  As the only people presenter at the conference, I was left wondering if this was here to stay.  When we had myspace, we thought it was the best thing since sliced bread.

Just as I thought pacman in the 80's growing up was the best game ever!  Now my 17 year old stepson tells me its COD.  I am sure that this impression will continue to change as technology advancing.

We do need to remember that although it is essential to keep up with technology, it is still operated by people and unless we have people who are passionate about technology learning and applying that to our business and personal lives, it wont go anywhere.

Do you use technology you dont really understand?  Why do you use it?  Does someone tell you to?

I have been told to use twitter or else my business will be affected.  So I found myself using something I didnt really understand and found that I was wasting so much time on it.  Unless technology has a strategy, you are wasting your time. 

Do you waste time?  Do you have a strategy for tech in your business?

When emails came out, we loved them.  Now most people I know hate emails and how time consuming they are.

Would love to hear from you on this debate.

I got a call to meet up with a man called Adam Price a few weeks ago.  My assistant set up a meeting and I got to meet him yesterday.  As he told me about his story of how he turned (literally) his life around, here are some of the tips I took away that can be applied to you. 

1. He disbelieved what people were telling him that he was not going to live.  He checked with himself and a resounding I am supposed to live came back.  He listened to his inner being.

2. He listened to Louise Hay non stop for 30 days.  Louise Hay is a global master in healing your body through your mind and wrote one of my favourite books 'you can heal your life'.  Listen and read about people that have already done what you are trying to do.  This can be in business or in your personal life.  

3. Adam got focussed on a ritual each day - what he did and has since he got better.  For him it includes a gym session and regular meals each day.  Whatever it is you are trying to do, you have

I was riding my bike into work today and decided I would take the shortest route to work - most direct.  As I was on the busy Darby St, I felt unsafe with all the traffic going into work so decided to take the street parallel to Darby to avoid traffic.  After a few minutes of riding, I then cut back into Darby St.

I realised that I have had to take the longer path in business juggling a young family at the same time for the last few years.  There are great opportunities that present themself all the time in business and although if my focus was just business, I would stick to the shortest route to get there.  The path that I have often had to take is like my bike ride - safer option and then cut back in and get back on track. 

Being a person like many of you who wears many hats - business hat, mum hat, wife hat, daughter hat and the hats go on, its about enjoying the bike ride however long it takes.

How do you handle family distractions in managing business strategy?

In the film I watched last week, a large piece of real estate was left for the family that George Clooney starred in.  All the family wanted to sell so they could make fast cash but they appeared to appreciate its meaning and real value.

I made a list of all the things I have done for free. In some instances, there was a real purpose of doing a free presentation.  This may have been purely altruistic to help a charity for example.  Other times there has been a pure commercial reason - to get the word our for what business stands for and create potential clients.  But to my surprise, more than half had no thought given to this.  This really frustrated me and I need to change this.  Get clear why I am doing each presentation and if it has no meaning, then letting it go.

in 2011, we bought a day spa business.  The same thing may apply here.  When someone buys you a voucher and although that is great for sales, are we really creating a customer long term?  I believe that the person that buys the voucher or treatment for themselves will come back if they value it.

Do you give away things for free?  Do people value it?  And if so, how?  What are you going to shift?  Let me know your thoughts?