How quickly you can lose 'em
I have just bought myself a new camera and it has a much better zoom than my last one. I seem to buy a new camera ever 12-18 months, it just works out that way and I have never yet learned all the features on any of them! My kids get my old ones because I carry a camera with me at all times so they tend to get a bit knocked about.
When buying this one, I could not believe the price difference between the different camera stores. I knew exactly what camera I wanted, so I went into JB Hi FI in Sydney to buy it, but the staff member who served me was so rude that I walked out without buying it. I generally find their service to be great, but this time it wasn’t, so I walked out and bought one down the road from their competitor.
I would hate to think what my business would be like if my staff treated our customers like I was treated by this guy. Part of our philosophy at our bakery is that our staff should treat our customers with respect, and to treat them how they would like to be treated themselves, when they are a customer. Which, of course, often they are.
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Congratulations on a fantastic effort!!
WOW! What a wonderful weekend we had in Beechworth recently. The town celebrated the 130th Anniversary of the Ned Kelly Trial. The Ned Kelly weekend has been an annual event for the past 7 years but this year's was the biggest ever, with the organising committee, which is the Beechworth Historical Re-enactment Group, somehow being able to get the complete Kelly Gang armour (4 in all) be brought to Beechworth on loan, to go on display for the public for the whole weekend. This was an incredible feat to have the 4 armours together, as part of it belongs to the Police Museum in Melbourne and Joe Byrne’s armour is in a private collection, and this was only the 4th time ever that they have displayed all the armour together since the Kelly gang were caught in the siege in Glenrowan. They somehow also managed to persuade almost the entire cast from the movie “The Last Outlaw”, which was made 30 years ago, to attend the weekend. Actors such as Sigrid Thornton, John Jarrett, Steve Bisley, Gerard Kennedy and many more were in Beechworth for the entire weekend, taking part in many of the activities and enjoying being part of it all. There were massive queues at all times waiting to view the armour, which was under very heavy security, but most agreed it was well worth the wait. There was also the re-enactment of Ned’s Trial held several times over the weekend, plus many other activities and with lots of people wandering around in period costumes, it was fabulous. The Beechworth Bakery was the major sponsor of the weekend and it was great to be part of the whole event. Marty, my business partner, dressed up in a replica Ned Kelly armour and wandered amongst the crowd. He confused a few people at first, who thought he was part of the re-enactment group for the trial, but he was just promoting our bakery and our famous Ned Kelly pies. He had people lining up to have their photo taken with “Ned” and Marty made sure he was standing under our bakery sign advertising our “Ned Kelly Pies”! What a wonderful weekend, I don’t know how the committee can beat this year's event for next year, it was a fantastic effort by this very small, but very dedicated group of people….Congratulations and well done to each and every one of them!!
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Don't just take 'No' for an answer
I had an Aussie lady, named Lynda, who lives in Utah, contact me a couple of months ago. She has started making Aussie meat pies and has come up against a lot of very strict food guidelines imposed by the dept of agriculture in the USA which was preventing her from getting approval for her food labels that she is required to have on her pies so that she can sell them via her website.
Lynda wrote to me and asked if I could try and help her convince the USDA that some Aussie pies contain vegetables, as she had been unable to do so herself. So with the help of my wife Christine, we wrote a letter to the USDA to inform them that lots of our pies we make contains vegetables and quoted our website along with some other well known bakeries that listed the varieties and ingredients of the pies.
A few days a go I received an email from a very excited Lynda to say that the USDA had finally approved 6 of her pies!
It just goes to show what bit of determination and not taking “NO” for an answer can do! We all get knock backs from time to time, but the secret is not to give up, think outside the square and tackle the problem from a different angle.
I hope Lynda has great success with her “Gourmet Aussie Style Pie” venture and will have all those Americans buying her pies by the thousands!
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Risky Business
Only the person who takes risks in life is truly free. I find getting out and speaking to groups is a real risk, writing a book is a big risk in that I may upset people who I put in my book and I upset people who I leave out!
Writing blogs & articles is a big risk, as some people do not agree with my ideas/ thoughts, and I take a risk that people will judge me when I am on stage telling my story. The best way to avoid criticism is to say nothing, do nothing, and be nothing!
Talking about taking risks, here I am at 58 and have just borrowed a lot of money from the bank to invest in our business. Bl**dy hell, in my early days in business I couldn’t even borrow $10,000 from the banks…(Isn’t it funny how when you really need the money the banks generally won’t lend it to you.)
All my business life I have been prepared to take risks. I remember when I first came back to Beechworth 26 years ago to set up the bakery, my accountant and the bank manager said I was mad taking a risk investing in a dying county town, but luckily I didn’t listen to them... and look what happened.
Take a risk and live, don’t just exist. Turn off the TV and get into life… It’s a risk worth taking!
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Beacon Foundation…
I did a talk for the Maguire College in Shepparton recently for year 10 students, parents and quite a few teachers as part of the “Pledge Day’” for the Beacon Foundation “No Dole” signing charter. What a great bunch of kids they were, a terrific audience and I met some of the year 10 leaders…they really impressed me with how confident and well spoken they were and how they respected each other…they all did a great job on the day. All the year 10 students signed a pledge “No Dole” …it is a charter of the Beacon Foundation, which works at tackling youth unemployment. Beacon, a national non-profit organisation working in 118 secondary schools across all Australian states and territories, believes every young Australian can develop an independent will to achieve personal success for themselves and their community. www.beaconfoundation.net. These kids were an example to us all, I was also very impressed by the teachers and especially the head master, and you could see that they really cared for the kids. You can tell when you walk into any place whether they have good leadership or not….the McGuire College has great leadership…it comes from the top. These teachers are looking after our future.
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What a lovely compliment
We received the following email from a little bakery on the Eyre Peninsula, and thought it was just wonderful. So we decided to share it here: "Hello, We are a small bakery on the Eyre Peninsula who have been inspired by TOM through his motivational speaking and video. We had a fun day yesterday where we all came in our PJ'S to work and invited the customers to do the same. We had a great day with so many laughs, a fantastic day for the town and for staff moral. We are sending these pictures to you to say thank you for your inspiration and congratulate you on the way you present your business. Many thanks, we look forward to more fun days, Deb White and all the staff at Rawles Country Bake Tumby Bay South Australia
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Balance is bullshit!
People often ask me about balance in life. Well, I can tell you there was never any balance in my life for many years. In the early days of being in business, it was all about choice and I chose to build a successful business, and to do that I needed to work 7 days a week for long hours. Luckily for me, my wife Christine gave me great support and provided the kids and our home with good ‘balance’. She also worked lots of hours in the business, especially during the busy times. But she always managed to devote quality time to our children, and also our community by volunteering quite a few times to be on several festival committees etc in the early days when Beechworth was establishing itself as a tourism destination.
For me, I just worked in - and on - our business all the time. If I wasn’t baking, I was busy planning the next renovation, extension to our business, investigating new equipment, new products… I went 100 miles an hour and no one got in my way!
I often see people trying to balance all these things…business, family, community etc, and they suffer all this guilt because hardly anyone can achieve this when they first go into business. I learnt in the early days that balance is bullshit; you’re either in there - boots and all, 100% - or you won’t have a great business. It is all about choices and there is always a price to pay. (Of course, these are just my thoughts…you may already be a very balanced person who can manage building up a great business in a balanced way.)
Today, I can say I have quite a balanced life, I am still busy doing lots of stuff, but my business is now at a stage where it doesn’t need me to be there all the time. I also have a great business partner now, Marty, and some terrific managers who run the business today. These days I am a lot more involved in the lives of my kids and grandchildren, and the community, plus we have some great friends who we enjoy travelling with. There was a price I paid in the early days, but today there is lots of love & laughter in my life. It’s all about choices.
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Why apprenticeships are a smart move for everyone
One of the smartest things I have ever done was signing up to do a 4 year bakers apprenticeship when I was 16. The baking industry has been wonderful to me, but I believe that if I had signed up to be a carpenter or a butcher or a chef…whatever trade…I am sure that industry would have also been wonderful, as long as I was willing to work hard, get into my trade, boots and all, and had a great attitude.
Today we often find it hard to attract young people to take on an apprenticeship with the right attitude, and a willingness to learn and work hard - which is a real pity. It is a very creative and rewarding industry with so many opportunities available, and there are baking jobs all over the world, with the chance of becoming a master baker, confectioner or a pastry chef! Baking hours are usually friendlier compared to being in the restaurant game (no split shifts etc) which I believe is a big plus.
We are always on the lookout for people with experience, along with a great attitude, to join our team and it can be real tough at times to find them.
As business owners we need to be training more apprentices, otherwise our industry - whatever it may be - won’t be able to keep up with the demand. I believe we all have to make training a priority and push harder to encourage young people to take up an apprenticeship because if we don’t invest in training, we will all pay a big price in the long run. Take the baking industry, for example. If we don’t have enough apprentices, we would eventually be taken over by big plant bakeries, where you would need to be an engineer rather than a baker… Think about it. There wouldn’t be much choice available in what ends up on your table. That’s scary!
I know for me in the baking industry, by having well trained bakers we ensure that we will have a consistently high standard and fresh product that we can deliver to our customers every day with confidence. And that is what running a successful business is all about.
Therefore I believe there is an urgent need to raise the profile of trades in all industries that train apprentices. To do this, I believe, we have to talk up our industry at all times and tell everyone how great it is and what opportunities there are. Trade apprentices get paid while they learn, and there usually are good government incentives for employers to take on apprentices, so it is a win/win for everyone!
And listen to this: I just recently read an article in the Herald Sun (Melbourne) reporting that after 10 years of extensive research they found that people who do a trade are far happier than university graduates!
We have to take pride in our chosen industry and make sure we communicate that pride. By doing that we will hopefully attract more young people with the right attitude and a willingness to have a go!
(And always remember one thing: we do live in the land of opportunity - there are so many opportunities out there when you go looking.)
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What a lucky break!!
I flew into Coffs Harbour recently to do a talk and I was on the last plane into the airport that night. I had to wait a long time for a taxi and when I finally got one, there were probably 10 people still lined up waiting behind me. I got into the taxi and I had a lady ask if she could share with me. I said no worries and so I got out and helped her with her bags and then we headed off. About 6kms down the road I started to wonder where my briefcase was, because I thought it was on the back seat. I asked the driver to stop so that I could check if it was there…no briefcase! It contained my laptop which I needed to do a talk the next morning, my camera, passport, plus heaps of other stuff. So we turned around and went back to the airport and it was in darkness, it was closed for the night. We pulled up at the taxi rank and there were 4 young guys still waiting for a cab and they were excited to see a taxi turn up, until they saw us in it. But I was real excited, because there was my briefcase still sitting on the footpath! I was lucky it hadn’t been blown up by airport security, or taken by anyone… You can be lucky sometimes!
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WHAT SECRET???
I am out there every week speaking to people from all different types of businesses, and most of them ‘just’ want me to motivate and inspire them and their staff, and to leave them some great messages that will guide them in their lives.
I do all this pretty well, as I’m always told.
But there are quite a few people looking for more than that, looking for the secret to business success.
There are thousands of books etc out there telling us what ‘the secret’ is. I have even written a book, Breadwinner: A fresh approach to business success, and at the moment I have a new DVD being produced on the same topic.
There are a lot of people out there looking for answers. And many of them are hoping to discover ‘The Secret’, the magic button that once found and pressed will make it all happen.
I don’t profess to have all the answers and my business is far from perfect, but to be honest I really don’t think there are too many secrets to business success.
I don’t have a magic formula but I do believe it is pretty simple: it’s mostly about people and leadership. Our business is 5% technology and 95% psychology & attitude.
We have to love our customers…happy customers come back. Now that’s pretty profound, isn’t it? Maybe that is one of our secrets!
Another is that if we have happy staff, we will have happy customers. So you need to keep your staff motivated, inspired, well trained & informed.
I also believe that one of the biggest ingredients of success is HARD WORK! Hard work is the price I have had to pay for my success. When I was doing my apprenticeship, I was always prepared to work hard and do more, and by doing that it opened up so many doors for me. The opportunities are definitely there if you are prepared to put in the work.
I also had a dream for a better life. I needed that vision because, as they say, you often get what you expect!
I also needed a plan because I learned years ago that you cannot drift your way to success and a better life. You need to have goals, a plan and a vision.
One of our biggest ‘secrets’ to our business success, I believe, has been that “If you wouldn’t buy it, don’t sell it”. So if we have a product, and a staff member thinks it is a bit dried out or whatever, they don’t sell it. It’s all about being consistent and empowering your people to make a decision.
When I think about it, there are many, many ways to success…but there are no real secrets. Some people have read every book written on success, but still can’t figure how to be successful and maybe never will. Success for me is being able to live the life I choose, and I choose to be a baker in rural Australia. Today I am happy where I am at.
'The Secret' is to have an attitude of gratitude.
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