So many requests… how the hell do I decide who to give my time and money to!

Pay it forward in spades and get the balance into your life and business. Yep I know… I can here you all saying it… there are so many needy people and organizations out there and so many requests that are placed on us to help daily so how the hell do we decipher where we want to invest our time and energy, let alone our hard earned cash.

Well I have some advice…

Firstly given that some of my best experiences, opportunities and ideas have come out of the ‘paying it forward’ environment I intend to do more, not less. The great thing about this is that you get to choose what you do and when you do it and I truly believe that paying it forward provides the much needed balance in my business and my life.

Remember, it is not always about giving money. You have something that is a lot more valuable with your knowledge and skill. There are also so many ways of looking at a request rather than becoming exhausted by it.

Consider this… we had a girl in Reefton, of all places this past weekend who presented to a group of local women around our signature style series. Sure Reefton must appear miles from anywhere and hardly worth the investment or the time and money that this presentation will take but maybe not. I mean, the Reefton women are just 3 hours from our Nelson or Christchurch stores and I can't imagine that there’s too much in the fashion stakes in their town. So maybe we can entice them to become advocates of my brand and all this started with a request from them to donate a frock to their silent auction.

In fact, given that I get approximately 3 to 4 requests a day for product and services that attach to the numerous women's events that are held throughout this country there are so many ways that I can turn these requests into opportunities to drive my brand i.e. a request for Her Magazines for event goodie bags or a frock to auction can become a return suggestion from us that we get a senior stylist to them to do a signature style series as part of their event. This in turn will enable us to collect interested attendee’s details that can be used for a myriad of uses in regards to driving our database and sales. I am always looking at how I can introduce new demographics to the brand. I will never see myself as having reached complete saturation so all of these ongoing requests simply become opportunities and interestingly enough our attendance will also add value to the event.

There are other requests as well… ones that perhaps don't have such an obvious return or present me with a pending opportunity. Like Torenzo, the 7-year-old autistic boy from Nelson. What a delight it was to have Torenzo and his Dad at our Head Office in Morrinsville for the day as he endeavoured to for fill his dream of creating an outfit to enter into one of the many wearable art competitions that are held throughout the country, supported by our capable design team.

Torenzo has finished his creation and is about to show at Hukanui… exciting times and it was so rewarding to be involved.

Another wonderful project was the creation of Sailor the Puffer Fish as the mascot for the Waikato Asthma Foundation. Sailor was designed and named by us and is now establishing a wonderful connection with the Waikato school kids and, of course getting lots of information out on how to manage asthma.

The nurturing of Kiri Nathan over the last 6 months (a very capable Auckland designer) within our infrastructure has been another fruitful project. It would be a wonderful industry if we could just see a clear way to help other designers with a hand up rather than hand out. Kiri has designed 10 fabulous evening frocks under a collaborative label that we have now made. These will start to retail within our stores from July 1st and given we have had two extremely successful launches I know these will sell well to the gain of both Kiri and myself. 

An unusual request came in last week in regards to Fiji Fashion Week. They have asked me to become involved with the designers as they prepare to get themselves show ready… to mentor and guide to enable them to show in a way that may enable business to occur outside their country. Interested? Absolutely!

I have a focus this year around working with Maori and Pacific island creatives in business and this fits the bill perfectly… Hmmm so let’s see what happens!

So many requests and they seem to pour in but rather than become exhausted by them I simply see the opportunities they may provide and encapsulate them into my business model.

Well, one more week in NZ and then I am off to the UK where I will speak in London twice before I head to Galway, Ireland to show a small fashion collection as part of the culmination of the Volvo Ocean Yacht race. Exciting times and it will be great to bring a bit of the Irish into the blog as well as uncover a whole host of opportunities… I just hope the white boxer keeps good health while I’m away.

Cecilia Robinson announced as the 2012 Her Businesswoman of the Year

Cecilia started Au Pair Link in 2007 at the age of the 21 and has since then gone from strength to strength. Au Pair Link is now Australasia’s largest Au Pair agency and was the first Au Pair agency in the world to become licensed through the Ministry of Education as a home-based service.Now 26 years-old with her first child on the way (due in August) Cecilia’s business has grown to employee 35 individuals in eight regions throughout New Zealand.

The Auckland based businesswoman also takes the Best SME category with her vision to create the largest Au Pair Agency in the world and New Zealand’s largest home-based early childhood education provider.
"It gives me immense pleasure to recognise these women who are achieving great things in business,” Annah says. “Cecilia is an outstanding example of business leadership. Hers’ is a service for busy women who want not just a nanny but an educator too.”

The winner of the Best New Business is Sachie Nomura of Sachie’s Kitchen. Judges appreciated Sachie’s vision of creating a debt-free business that included television appearances, branded products and tours.
The winner of the Most Sustainable Business Category is Dawn Engelbrecht of Safe Kids In Daily Supervision (sKids). sKids provides quality out of school hours care to approximately 3,500 children each day from Whangarei to Queenstown.

The Her Businesswoman of the Year awards are run in association with Her Magazine; New Zealand’s leading women’s business and lifestyle publication.
The awards celebrate outstanding female business acumen and leadership within the New Zealand SME industry. Past winners have included Cilla Hegarty of NZ Tax Refunds Ltd, Brigit Blair of Linden Leaves, Peri Drysdale of Snowy Peak Ltd and, the event's current organiser, Stretton Group CEO, Annah Stretton.

The 2012 winners are:
Best New Business:
Sachie’s Kitchen – Sachie Nomura

Best SME:
Au Pair Link – Cecilia Robinson

Most Sustainable Business:
sKids -   Dawn Engelbrecht

Her Businesswoman of the Year:
Au Pair Link – Cecilia Robinson

For more information, photos and contact with the winners contact:
admin@strettonpublishing.co.nz
(07) 889 4053 ext 204

Check out Cecilia on TVOne’s Breakfast show this Saturday 23 June at 7.45am.

Employees behaving badly... Yep, they do for me as well

The six most absurd and disconcerting employment scenarios

People… they are the life blood of my business. In fact they are all that I have and are the key to my success. People, well… great people.

So let’s look at some of the incredible moments that I have had to endure and all at the hands of my team.

Yep, they all belong to retail and given that they are self-monitoring it is not unexpected…

1. We had a call from an employee that had just recently rejoined the team. She requested a morning off mid-week to get her hair coloured. Given we had no support we suggested that she that she make a more appropriate appointment outside her working hours. Problem solved… or so we thought as we heard no more. That is until we had received a call from a perplexed customer that reported one of our team was serving her with foils in her hair. Yep, ever resourceful she had encouraged the hairdresser to colour her hair in-store in the back sink… and even sold her a wrap dress during the process! Unbelievable? No… it happened!

2. Then there was the employee that had a good friend call in to say ‘hi’. Given it was quiet she decided to lock up the store and enjoy a coffee at a neighbouring café. A perplexed customer placed the call. When we called to address the matter the employee was astounded at our expectation that the shop remain open at all times during the trading day. She informed us that she was able to see the store’s front door at all times during her half hour catch up and couldn't see a problem with the door being closed. Imagine what happened that we never knew about!

3. Then there was the girl in a busy North Island mall that endeavoured to get someone to work for her so she could effect a catering obligation that she had for her own small business. With no one available she hatched a plan… walking down to a neighbouring store on the same side of the mall as us, she asked the departing store manager (who was training a new recruit) to keep an eye on our store for a couple of hours. She had also arranged for her part-timer, at completion of her day at her bank job, to come down and pull the grate down to secure the store for the night. Yep, our store ran on auto-pilot for two whole hours and I would never have known if the part-timer hadn't insisted that she was paid for a ½ hour of unscheduled work to attend to the lock up… amazing!

4. One of the more serious had to be a crime committed by a manager where she took cash layby payments to supplement her weekly income. The initial layby would be created and entered into the POS System as per our policy but subsequent payments, when made in cash, were adjusted for against the customer’s copy of the layby documentation only. They never made it into our system and subsequently when discovered there where hundreds of laybys that the customers had picked up but they remained unpaid in our POS system. Total theft estimated to be around 70k as it took place over a five year period. Yep, serious fraud!

5. The next was an interesting burglary that occurred in one of our stores where the thief was only interested in the hidden cash box that, according to the manager, contained several weeks worth of bankings that she had failed to take to the bank. Hmm one can’t but wonder, when we had a policy of banking each and every day why so much cash was in the box!

6. Then there was the irate customer who rang Head Office to complain about the slow make service that was being offered by one of our store managers. She had taken her money and offered to make one of our obis (wrap belt) for a woman as she didn't have any stock… and apparently nor did head office! Nice little side earner for her. Pity she wasn't able to meet customer expectations re. delivery.

We have had so many lost key and store lock out incidents that it defies logic. Keys thrown out with rubbish at the end of a day, lost in underwear, girls who get to the loo and lock themselves out of stores or in back rooms.

And so the list goes on…

So what do I do when faced with one of these scenarios? Yep, I used to get so challenged but not any more. I simply deal with the issue and ensure the we implement changes and systems so that it can never happen again!

To err is human and it’s possibly a good thing that my team do not clone me. I do however shudder to think of how much I don't know that goes on in my retail and Head Office environment…

But then I guess I just have to believe ‘what you don't know doesn't hurt!’

Hang on… help is on its way. I’ll be there as fast as I can?

Yep, it’s still tough out there and I for one am totally perplexed as to why we haven't just turned a corner on this terrible recessive trading environment that we have all been battling for so long. Trade is worse than it ever was when we were sitting in the middle of what is now known as the ‘GFC’. 

Look at all the problems with Spain and Greece and yep, they are right. Their expected bailouts will not help stimulate their broken economy. They will simply wipe Government debt so the whole vicious cycle starts again. It’s about change and doing things differently.

It truly is time for so many countries to wake up to the way in which their governments are endeavouring to balance the books. Money-in needs to equal money-out and as with any good business, there will be some things that we simply cannot afford.

I have heard so many people talking to a zero cost budget. Yep, they can’t increase their sales so they simply stop spending. I’m sure there’s many of us looking at this.

Sure it’s always tough at this time of year. I liken it to the birth of my children… I distinctly remember being pregnant with Edward, my second child and thinking ‘this child birth thing isn't hard’. I can’t even remember that there was too much pain. Yep, I'd decided delivery really was a walk in the park… not! 

Halfway through Edward’s birth, experiencing extreme levels of pain, I remembered ‘yep, it really was a bad as they say… if not worse!’ Giving birth bloody hurts.

The message then…

So does trading in June and July in New Zealand and now we even get to experience Australia's pain. Last week one of our competitors in Launceston went into a 70% off sale. Really… what’s the point of being in retail if all your new stock heads out at 70% off?

It is different out there. These are new times for retail and if you’ve attended any of the many presentations that banks have been running lately you will know that the way we retail is set to change drastically over the next few years and all because of the internet.

Just look at the many causalities that it has already left in its wake… the retail music industry for one and many say that the booksellers are not far behind. Apparently Amazon will now print a single book for any one wanting to buy the works of a newly published author. Gone are the days of having to commit to 500 printed copies just to get your dream and vision started.

Perhaps it’s just the semi luxury spend that has gone west at the moment. I was out at one of my favourite restaurants last week. It was a Thursday night, town was seething, parking was at a premium yet there was only 3 to 4 tables of two occupied. Unheard of and they are so great at what they do. The food, the service, the ambience… yet it doesn’t seem to matter. It almost seems the better you are the harder you fall in some cases. 

I know that the only sales we can generate on our internet platform at the moment are the extremely cheap ones. Yep, dresses at $50 that once graced the racks of our flagships stores are being snapped up even with a ‘no exchange or refund’ disclaimer.

We have had to look at our retail model constantly and reinvent. Whether it be creating in store events, inviting women in for one-on-one styling sessions or attending others events and contributing via a small body shaping presentation. These have been the live saviours that have enabled us to talk to those that have yet to be converted to the Annah.S way. Every day I awake and my first thoughts go to how we can retail differently and drive that bottom line. To remain the same is to die! 

I have looked long and hard at the clothing collections that we are creating. All the items in here need to be beautiful and commercial. There can be nothing that enables the point of sale objection. Make it easy to say yes… wrap that for me… and add the obi and the flower please.

It’s all about how we give our women that very needed permission to buy. And speaking of selling… where have all the great retail girls gone? They say there’s high unemployment out there… well most people I talk to, including myself are unable to secure the right people to drive our business models. I for one am extremely fortunate as I am surrounded by women that love my brand and have huge abilities on the retail floor but my planned growth means that I am always looking for more… where are you all girls ???? 

So I guess I will just hang on as I know that August isn't too far away and this should all be over… although it doesn't make it any easier.

I will however be refocusing all my energies on knitting the stuff that makes the money and that has got to be good for us in the long run.

Let’s hope the rest of you that also put such wonderful products and services into the market can hold on as well. In the words of one of my superstar girls, Angela in our Christchurch store, in an attempt to bring some logic to this retail drought… ‘I think they are all saving up to buy firewood’. Well let’s damn well hope so! 

Surely there's no calories in a daiquiri cocktail that's made with 100% real fruit

There is something deliciously wonderful about knowing that in just one week you will be lying on a beautiful pacific island… especially whilst you sit watching the rain pour down at the end of a very long Sunday afternoon in Hamilton.

Destination: Aitutaki - a special little island off the coast of the mothership, Rarotonga. I have been fortunate enough to head there every year for a week of R&R over the last four years but this time there is a difference… the kids are coming with us!

I must say I was a little nervous when I broached the subject with my long suffering partner, Tony as kids on holiday will always dilute the attention that he gets and given that most of the year the company robs the rest of my time it would possibly not be unfair for him to be a little apprehensive.

The day arrives and we travel seamlessly to the Auckland airport. The kids are already there so we check in and board our plane.

We arrive on time, connect to the Aitutaki flight and land as the sun sets and the rain and wind pelt in. We endure it all wondering what changes we will notice from our last visit.

The ‘no fights on Sunday flight’ campaigners (island elders) form our first welcoming crew still holding court at the entrance to the airport. Given they have held this posy for the last three years I wonder if their crusade will ever have a happy ending. We arrive at the hotel to warm greetings of recognition, are shown to our bures and the holiday begins.

First stop is to sample the new Pacific Resort chef and his menu… not too bad at all but as always, first night fever saw us order far too much food and bloated stomachs and an early night became the result.

The next day the rain continued to pour and we endeavoured to unwind but were naturally disappointed in the weather. “This place is so different when the sun shines I assured the kids”.

The day passes… more food… more wine but I am reviewing the book April Looses It (April Ieremia’s 30kg weight loss journey) so have started to think about what goes into my mouth; possibly not the best choice for a holiday read. Thankfully I have now moved onto Two Seats Left: The Contiki Story by John Anderson (a great read with a sad ending to boot).

Day Two and the sun is shinning. We leap out of bed under the instruction of Sam to do a bike/ mountain ride and walk (it’s all about getting into credit for a day of decadence). An excellent start though maybe ambitious for me, a pilates queen from way back. The rest of the day is exactly as we intended with too much sun, long lunches by the pool and laying plans for the evening meal.

A quick review of the other food options on the island via the internet and we decide the Rarotongan property on the other side of the island was to be our Tuesday dinner spot; after all, the over water bures we found while doing our research certainly signalled extreme luxury so surely the food and ambiance would parallel.

Local transport arrived and took us to the other side of the island; a small ferry reminiscent of the Cooks Beach vessels met us and shipped us to our destination on the small island. Excited at the prospect we raced up the beach but disappointment hit… the place had an air of 70’s Cobb and Co. Not great! And having vowed never to eat bad food or wine no matter what we all turned tail reversed the journey and headed back to the Pacific Resort.

The next day the weather was excellent. The kids went snorkeling and loved every minute on their outer island trip; lunch included. We however soaked up as much sun as we could and thought about doing some work but the elevenses won out as they pretty much did every day.

The following day the rain poured in sideways like nothing I have ever seen before on this island. We seconded to the bures, watched movies and read hoping that this extreme weather would not continue as forecasted. Not to be beaten we had hotel transport take us to the Koru Cafe for lunch; another favourite that didn't disappoint.

The bad weather subsided so the next day was fantastic. We were onto the loungers and back in love with our island; one that we had fallen severely out of affection for with yesterday. The day passed in a very similar fashion, broken with a journey by push bike to try the local fish and chips… big mistake! ‘Payless’ possibly doesn't conquer up great fish and chips but the place was clean enough and we wanted authenticity, so we ordered. A parcel of small fish bites soaked in pasta and potato salad (island style) was the result… not great but then another experience to chalk up on the Aitutaki belt.

The fine weather also saw the return of the mandatory morning exercise and a short bike ride then a climb to the top of the mountain to get the heart rate going. This was all lead by Sam with her newly acquired love of boot camping (after five days of this I may have to up-the-anti in the pilates class as I loved the feeling of achievement that went with it!)

The last night saw us head to Tupuna; a very proud little local restaurant (given their latest review in the island’s Escape mag) that we have given mixed reviews before but wanting to introduce the kids to the whole Aitutaki experience out we went for our last dining experience on the island. There was another option but the thought of the fundraiser and the umu at the local chef’s house just didn't do it for us. The kids loved the space and the food didn't disappoint so a great final night enjoyed by us all.

There’s something very special about this place. Sure a lot of the locals live a subsistence life… in fact, it was heartening to such very little patronage at the local takeaways on a Saturday night. I guess they just cook better at their homes but with very little money the locals appear to live a contented life. Crime seems non-existent; we didn't even lock the bure and there seems to be a genuine like of the tourist. We had so many friendly waves and greetings as we ran around on hotel bikes across the island.

The preparations for John Keys visit in July are well under way. They have even resealed the runway on the island… let’s hope he doesn’t arrive on a Sunday and have to witness the placards, as mild as they are.

Pacific Resort Aitutaki has become the one thing that I must do for myself each year and each year the resort just keeps improving without having to change too much at all. I guess I’m just getting better at relaxing!

Annah

Going dry for Dry July

Photos supplied by Chris Miller

Anyone who knows me knows there are few things I appreciate more than a great glass of New Zealand made wine.

Over my 50+ years on this earth I have become a, you could say, connoisseur of fine wines but I regret this love has possibly become my detriment.

For the month of July (31 days, 744 hours, 44,640 minutes to be exact) I will be putting aside the pinot noirs, sauvignon blancs, cabernets and my newly rekindled connect with the legendary Mateus Rose, for a very good cause.

Dry July directly benefits adult cancer patients with real and tangible change by providing funds to create better environments and support networks for patients and their families. The project also raises awareness of drinking habits and the value of a balanced healthy lifestyle.

In support of my sacrifice, any contributions you may be able to offer would be greatly appreciated.

My profile page link should you wish to make a donation and leave a message of support is:
https://nz.dryjuly.com/profile/annahstretton

Life is too short to drink bad wine, so true...  and I work too hard so my wine cupboard or the environments I choose to eat at and socialise in always sport a good cross section of NZ reds. If they are not great then it's a bonus as I get to have an alcohol free day! Here's hoping I don't run into any temptations next month!