Welcome to our June newsletter!

News from CEO David Baumgarten
Retail Training - looking for providers
Board members for SMEs - CPA Directors Register
Legal Tip of the month - protect your trade name
The ATO Commissioner's online update (NEW FEATURE)
Federal & State Budgets
Women Business Owners: What's the Difference?
Do you have a great business idea?
Bulk purchasing…Are you interested?
Revamp for Business Buddies
Review of May Networking Events
Membership Renewal due 30th June 2005
Serviced Offices - start the next financial year in a great location!

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Burwood Breakfast Series - next event 7th June
Customer Service and Telephone Techniques - 9th June
Australia Post Small Business Awards Official Launch - 30th June
Australia Post Small Business Awards Eastern Suburbs Launch - 5th July
Community Noticeboard - upcoming events
Networking Business Lounge

News from CEO David Baumgarten

It's been another busy but enjoyable month and my quest for knowledge of search engines continues.

This month I have learned all about blog from Peter Thorpe (Burwood Networking Breakfast) and about keywords and business phrases from member Frank Pineiro from Vista Media Group. I am in learning mode! . I now have a blog. "What the" you may say well ......stayed tuned. We are building a great team around us with workshops planned on this important topic.

I also caught up with Cedric Amoyal, Managing Director, The Contact Group, ACT. I am in the market for a new database, hence my meeting with Cedric. It is no wonder that ACT have 75% of the database market - the products are affordable, very functional and are easy to integrate into your business.

Cedric made a comment to me that when people think of business they associate MYOB with it. That great program is for when you have made the money, and a good database makes the money…. It makes good sense to me.

This month we again have lots to offer you. I can highly recommend our two Australia Post Small Business Awards launches. The first is a lunch on 30th June at the Wentworth Hotel in the CBD and the second is cocktails at Easts Leagues Club on 5th July. Both are FREE so do come along and meet our celebrity guests Peter Alexander (CBD) and Cameron Daddo (Easts Leagues Club).

In Burwood on the 7th June we have the Burwood Business Breakfast series with this month Aggie Marek from the ACCC advising us how the Trade Practices Act affects our business. Book now as places are limited.

On the 9th June we have the guru himself, Kym Illman, running two seminars on Customer Service and Telephone Techniques. Remember to ask for the member benefit price.

I also took the opportunity in May to catch up with Neredith Howarth, Marketing Manager for the Courier Group. The Courier group of companies is a foundation sponsor of our organisation and we have a number of exciting joint initiatives planned over the coming months.

Do not forget to register your business in our online Business Directory - our special offer of a free listing finishes 30th June. Have a great June!

David Baumgarten, CEO

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Retail Training - looking for providers

Some opportunities have arisen for workshops/trainers/presenters focused on the retail industry.

In particular we are looking for workshops and short courses in this area.

If you are involved in this industry or know someone please email David at david@easternsuburbs.com.au

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Board members for SMEs - CPA Directors Register

The CPA Directors Register is a comprehensive list of members - with the requisite training and experience in finance, accounting and business - who are interested in the opportunity to hold key board positions with Australian organisations, including small businesses.

The register provides a source of talent for organisations looking for quality board and board committee members, and responds to the growing need to provide greater access to CPAs with the right mix of skills and experience to fulfil these leadership roles.

The register is a free service. For details, call Anthony Cecere on (08) 7420 3135 or visit Find a Director

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Legal Tip of the month - protect your trade name

Our legal tip this week comes from solicitor Peter Townsend.

Peter advises that last week he saw a client wanting to defend his right to use his business logo. A competitor is using a similar brand and has registered the logo as a trade mark on the IP Australia Trade Marks Register, and now has the statutory legal right to use it. What should our client have done differently?

Firstly, before using the new brand he should have conducted a thorough check to see if it was the same or similar to any other business brand. He could have checked:

a) business directories, such as the Yellow Pages;
b) the internet through an internet search engine;
c) the National Names Index at ASIC (www.asic.gov.au) or the Office of Fair Trading;
d) the trade marks registry at IP Australia (www.ipaustralia.gov.au);
e) an accredited domain name registry such as melbourneIT (www.melbourneit.com.au).

Secondly, if these checks were clear then he should have protected the name by registering the logo on the trade marks register, registering an internet domain name (if he planned to have an online presence) and registering it as his company name or as a business name in any state where he conducts business.

Is all hope lost? Maybe not. If we can show that he had a reputation in the market before the competitor registered the trade mark then we may be able to challenge the registration. A costly cure. Prevention would have been much cheaper.

TOWNSENDS BUSINESS & CORPORATE LAWYERS
Peter Townsend
www.townsendslaw.com.au

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The ATO Commissioner's online update

The Tax Office is providing a new web-based service every month - the Commissioner's online update.

The update will cover a range of compliance issues - from those impacting individual to large business taxpayers. It will also provide comment on subjects such as serious fraud and tax evasion, audits, prosecutions and debt.

The update will also expand on how we are making it easy for people to comply. We will publish the Commissioner's online update every month, however you can click on this link to go directly to the first edition: www.ato.gov.au

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Federal & State Budgets

We have issued a special newsletter on the recent State & Federal Budgets. We have made available comments from the State Chamber of Commerce and some Press releases issued by Federal Government that relate to small business.

For more details see our Budget newsletter

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Women Business Owners: What's the Difference?

In recent years significant effort has been put into increasing the profile and number of women business owners in our community.

Eyes Wide Open, a business consultancy, has launched a not-for-profit research project to reflect on the success and benefit of these efforts. The research aims to answer the following questions:

1. Are women business owners making a unique contribution to the advancement of business or is it all just political hype?
2. If women are making a unique contribution, what is it?

Both businessmen and women are being invited to participate. The questionnaire is only 1 page and can be completed online in less than 2 minutes. There are incentives for participating. These are outlined on the questionnaire.

To participate please go to: The Questionnaire

Results will be publicly available in August 2005.

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Do you have a great business idea?.

If you're an innovator, inventor,or someone with a great business idea or product that's ready for investment.....
Here's the chance to pitch your concept to a panel of investors on an exciting new TV show.....
It's a unique opportunity to secure real investment funding from some of Australia's most successful business people
For further details and application form, email your contact details to

investment—program@hotmail.com

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Bulk purchasing ….. Are you interested?

Our organisation is at the stage where we can look at a service that I have been very keen on for a long time: bulk purchasing.

The small business operator is at a disadvantage as they cannot benefit from bulk purchasing of products and thereby save on dollars.

Some of the items I am initially looking at are:

Photocopy paper
Stationery
Ink cartridges

If you are interested in joining this initiative please email David at david@easternsuburbsbec.com.au

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Revamp for Business Buddies

Our Business Buddies program is currently going through a revamp.

The focus will still be on business owners 3 years plus that need help with an issue that is a "now" in their business. We still have our team of business buddies who volunteer their time at no cost.

What the revamped Business Buddies will have is a series of workshops for Buddies & their clients to work through those common issues.

We will be recruiting a number of Buddies on Local Government areas. However this does not mean that Buddies with a certain skill set cannot assist a client in another area. In the past our Business Buddies have assisted interstate clients from their city base. Business Buddies is about sharing the knowledge, regardless of state borders.

If you know of anyone who has been in business, has some time on their hands and who would make a good listener, please TELL US and we will make contact with them.

Please email David at david@easternsuburbsbec.com.au

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Review of May Networking Events

May was a busy month for networking.

On 10th May at Burwood as part of the Breakfast Business Series, Peter Thorpe gave us an abundance of information and secrets of Marketing on the Internet. I can see part B coming soon.

We had approximately 50 attendees and based on the interest could have taken in excess of 60. Next time I promise we will get a bigger space.

On the 16th May we had the lady herself... Robyn Henderson... share with us why we must "network or perish". As this was an evening workshop at our city premises no one wanted to go home - it was supposed to finish at 8.30 pm and we finished around 9.45pm.

It reaffirmed to all those that attended that Robyn truly is the "Networking Guru". If you missed out Robyn will be speaking on 22nd July as part of the Burwood Breakfast series (see below under Dates for your Diary).

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Membership Renewal due 30th June 2005

If you are already a member of our organisation this is just a reminder that your membership renewal is due on the 30th June. In keeping with our rapid growth over the last 12 months we have revamped the levels and member benefits. See our ESBEC Membership and Clearly Business Membership pages for more details.

This year we are looking for some sponsors that would be willing to provide services on an "in kind" basis. Our needs include the following areas: