Merry Christmas!

It’s been quite an exciting year for The Engine. As the year comes to a close we wanted to share the success and celebration of a good year. 

Activate Tamaki Makaurau Grant

The $60m business support package announced by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Small Business in October 2021 was made available to Auckland Business Owners on the 1st of December 2021. Over the course of 2022 our Business Advisors were able to help many business owners with their strategic plans, cashflow forecasting, health and safety and much more. Our wider Provider community helped to delivered websites, lead pages, videos and other collateral. The combined effort has meant that many business owners now have processes, procedures and marketing material in place to grow their businesses.

Check out our youtube playlist “Meet our clients” to see some of what our Provider community helped deliver.

Our Team

In March we welcomed Stacey Hornell as Business and Administration Support and she has been invaluable with helping to build our social media presence. An absolute super star addition to the team.  

In July Peter Cooke joined as a Business Advisor to The Engine as a Customer Experience Specialist. With a career that has spanned many industries and countries over the past 35 years Peter has a wealth of knowledge to offer business Owners. His experience gained across the banking, utility, telecommunications and insurance sectors has seen Peter develop extensive senior management and leadership skills. More recently he has specialised in customer experience leadership having been Head of CX at both Lotto NZ and EnviroNZ.

In August, Christine Rankin came onboard as a Leading Business Advisor specialising in Leadership. Christine has lead small teams to running organisations with 100s of staff. Now armed with a lifetime of experience in business, she knows leadership starts at the top.

The Engine Business Forum – Workplace Wellness

Having businesses return to these types of events was encouraging and what a turn out it was!  Over 100 businesses started their morning at 7:30am with a light breakfast & networking and finished at 2pm with a great deal of insights, connections and from what we heard satisfied bellies from breakfast, morning tea and lunch. A big thank you to everyone who came and made this event possible. We look forward to hosting more in 2023.

Our Provider Community

We welcomed Providers Jolly Productions, Fweb, Switch Copy and Newsletter Ready into our community this year. A big thank you to all their support and commitment to this community.

See you in 2023!

The Engine Team

Are you connected to your business? 

If you are going to take a serious run at building or growing a business you need to be connected to your team, your customers, your community and yourself. Take advantage to have a chat with one of The Engine’s Business Advisors who have walked in your shoes, been hands-on and built the kind of company you want to build or grow many times.

Some of what we do to help our clients grow is: 

– Introduce awareness to wellness into organisations, strengthening culture, retention and attracting talent. There is no doubt right it’s a challenging market and companies who are currently working with us are retaining their talent and attracting new talent.

– Enable work/life balance for company owners and their team. Yes it’s possible to step away from your business with comfort and have time for you and your family.

– Coach businesses on understanding the numbers and the importance of cash flow in order to make informed decisions in the business. 

– Assist businesses with restructures for growth. 

– Facilitate disputes and potential dispute agreements with clients for leases, employment issues, transaction issues, franchise and more. 

– Mitigate potential risk through proper governance.

– Coach to avoid disputes through building better business practices & disciplines.

– Assist businesses out of the risk areas with financiers.

– Build the value proposition for businesses to increase the value for exit.

Everybody wants growth, the real question is where to begin. Get the conversation started by booking a complimentary chat with any of our Business Advisors so you can get your direction set. Now is the time to be planning for your first quarter for 2023 and setting the goals and tone for the year. 

Catherine Cooke | Founder and Leading Business Advisor

Start 2023 on the right foot by booking a FREE – 30 Minute coaching consultation.

It will be the best investment you make for 2023 and beyond.

One Day Sale – Business North Harbour
The biggest one yet!

Date: Saturday the 3rd of December
Time: 9am – 4pm
Location: Albany Junior High School, 19 Appleby Road, Albany, Auckland

The Business North Harbour ONE DAY SALE, Auckland’s Biggest shopping bonanza is back bigger and better than ever. 
Celebrating its 10th year ONE DAY SALE, is a perfect opportunity to grab some great deals.

Wine Time will be participating with some super special deals. If you haven’t sorted your Christmas gifts already, Wine Time’s personalised wine and bubbles are the perfect gift to add value to your clients and keep your brand on their minds over the break.

Save the date and we can’t wait to see you there.

Zoho – Auckland Event 

New Zealand, we’re bringing you the best of Zoho.

Zoholics, an annual user conference for Zoho CRM customers and potentials, is 28 November in Auckland

As an authorised Zoho Partner Mello would love for you to join us. Zoholics brings our customers and partners together with the best minds at Zoho for a day of learning and networking. 

This is an excellent opportunity, not only to get your questions answered, but to exchange ideas and experiences with business leaders just like yourself.

Share your experiences with Zoho employees, product experts, and fellow Zoho users. Meet over 400+ people expected to attend Zoholics in Sydney—networking is highly encouraged!

Learn how to get the most out of your investment in Zoho.

Use the promo code: THEENGINE for a 50% discount on the ticket.

Provider Tips and News

Incentivising staff with shares

New Zealand, we’re bringing you the best of Zoho.

Despite some economic headwinds, New Zealand is still experiencing a tight labour market. 

Many employees are now in a position where they can “shop around” as there are more opportunities available to them.  As well as these options, post Covid employees are looking for more than just a pay cheque.  Employees now want long-term opportunities in which they can grow with a business and reap the rewards of the company’s success.  As a result, an increasing number of employers are looking at different options for staff holding shares as a retention tool.  This article looks at the different options available and highlights that careful legal and tax advice needs to be sought. 

The main reasons for staff holding shares from an employer’s perspective is to hopefully make them less likely to leave the business and contribute more when their efforts are linked to the company’s profits.  The main benefits are: 

– Assist retention
– Encourage and increase productivity with existing employees
– Offer flexible remuneration
– Attract new employees
– An exit strategy for the owners

Of course, with staff holding shares there is a lot to think about.  If staff hold shares then normally those staff will have voting rights and will be able to see a lot more financial information about the business. 

Employee Share Schemes

An employee share scheme is an arrangement where employees are given the opportunity to acquire shares in the company.  The shares are issued by the company (as opposed to transferred by the existing shareholders) either up front to the employee or the issue of the shares can be linked to certain events or performance (known as options).   

We Coach – Inspire – Provide – Facilitate – Empower – You to Grow

Most businesses don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan. The Engine are a recognised leading service provider for Business Advisory. We’ve helped many businesses like yours grow. Some of what we do is: 

– Introduce awareness to wellness into organisations, strengthening culture, retention and attracting talent. 

– Enable work/life balance for company owners and their team.

– Coach businesses on understanding the numbers and the importance of cash flow in order to make informed decisions in the business. 

– Assist businesses with restructures for growth. 

– Facilitate disputes and potential dispute agreements with clients for leases, employment issues, transaction issues, franchise and more. 

– Mitigate potential risk through proper governance.

– Coach to avoid disputes through building better business practices & disciplines.

– Assist businesses out of the risk areas with financiers.

Making new year resolutions for your business in the new year is too late. You will lose your momentum and valuable time to develop and start implementing your strategic plans. Now is the time to be planning for your first quarter for 2023 and setting the goals and tone for the year. 

Catherine Cooke | Founder and Leading Business Advisor 

Start 2023 on the right foot by booking a FREE – 30 Minute coaching consultation.

It will be the best investment you make for 2023 and beyond.

We’ve found the best client gift for you this Christmas!

 At The Engine, we advise our clients all the time about their customer journey and how you can add value to your customers. That’s why we work with Wine Time who have been strengthening brands since 2014 with their personalised wine and bubbles.

What better way to say thank you to your clients this year than with a personalised wine or bubbles that hold a high perceived value in the eyes of your customers without breaking the bank?

Wine Time are doing a special deal on their French Bubbles until the 31st of October 2022.

Inquire with the team at Wine Time to get your client gifts sorted before the Christmas rush and be sure to mention The Engine.

Contact Wine Time at: sales@winetime.co.nz or ph: 09 280 2927

Offer valid between the 3rd of October 2022 to the 31st of October 2022.

Provider Tips and News

So you want to increase your organic reach & engagement with your social media? 

If you feel like you’re not achieving the same level of organic reach or engagement you used to a few years back, it’s because you’re not!

Nowadays, it’s almost impossible to execute your social media strategy without paid ads and promotions. 

The good news is that there are other ways to utilise social media platforms and grow your organic reach and engagement with other methods in 2023.

Understanding Social Media Algorithms

Every social media network has its own algorithm. To get the most out of each network, you must understand how each algorithm works.

For Facebook, comments are king.

To encourage meaningful interaction between users, Facebook updated its algorithm to emphasise content from users’ friends and family; this change has made it harder for businesses to get their posts seen.

Meaningful interactions are categorised by things such as comments and shares. Facebook’s new algorithm considers comments a top ranking factor. When you plan your posts, prioritise content that will initiate conversation between your followers.

Twitter and Instagram love engagement

Twitter focuses on promoting content in real-time and, therefore, is less algorithmic. Having said that, the ?‘In case you missed it’ section, displayed at the top of your feed, will always display recent tweets that received the most engagement.

Engagement should be your focus. The higher the engagement, the better chance your tweet has of appearing in your followers’ feeds.

Like Facebook, Instagram is less concerned with the chronological feed and instead rewards posts with a high level of engagement.

TikTok counts views

TikTok intersperses newly uploaded videos between popular ones, then track how many people watch – and for how long – ?‘like’, comment, share and download it. To trigger the algorithm to show your video to more people, it must hit a 1 ?‘like’ for every 10 views ratio.

TikTok’s algorithm is triggered by the velocity of the engagement it receives. Simply put, if a video suddenly receives 20% more likes in a single day, it will be shown to more people. 

Bottom line

Triggering engagement should be your number one priority. The more engagement your post provokes, the better chance it has of appearing in your followers’ feeds and, therefore, the better your organic reach.

Quality over Quantity

Producing fewer high-quality and relevant posts – that will piqué your followers’ interest – is an excellent way to increase your organic reach. To do this, you must get to know your audience and understand what they like and will respond to. Your page analytics will provide some answers here too.

Quality content that drives significant engagement wins the favour of the algorithms across all social media platforms.

Read the full article for more on videos, messenger bots and how to optimise your social media profiles. 

Content provided by Provider to The Engine, Easy Social Media. 

The Lead Magnet Explained And Why You Need One!

If you’re looking to generate leads online – it’s really important that you have a key piece of content.

A lead magnet is a key piece of content that solves part of your prospect’s problem in a really concise way.

This piece of content can be in the form of a mini-training, a video or a PDF – the key is that you get an email in return for delivering that piece of content. 

You can then take those people who give you their email addresses and start to nurture them and build up that know, like and trust factor.

There are seven things that your lead magnet should do if you want it to be absolutely irresistible:

1. 1. Solves a real problem – if your lead magnet doesn’t solve a real problem that your ideal client has, or if it doesn’t give them something they really want, it won’t work at all.

2. 2. Promises one quick win – your lead magnet should promise (and deliver) one quick win for your ideal client. In other words, it should help them to easily achieve something.

3. 3. Super specific – don’t create a lead magnet about something general. The more specific you are about the benefit of your lead magnet, the better it will convert leads.

3. 4. Quick to digest – PDF checklists tend to convert really well because they are so quick and easy to digest. eBooks or lengthy reports may make your prospects feel overwhelmed.

5. 5. High value – your lead magnet should have both high perceived value and high actual value. 

6. 6. Instantly accessible – your lead magnet will work best if it is something that can be delivered right away. People love instant gratification.

7. 7. Demonstrates your expertise – when someone consumes your lead magnet, it should demonstrate your expertise. This helps turn leads into customers down the road.

The primary cause of business stress & failure is the lack of ongoing business planning.

Running a business without a plan is like going on a road trip to Wellington and ending up in Coromandel.  Planning is ongoing, not a one-off and should be part of your working ON your business strategy.

Staying in the trenches can help you be a great leader but every boat needs a CAPTAIN who knows where they are going, constantly reviews the weather pattern and is agile with the plan to get to the destination.

It is not acceptable to say I’ll start planning in the new year.  When the new year comes you would have lost a good run to the start of that year.  If you need capital the banks work more favourably with businesses that plan ahead.

You don’t know what you don’t know. Clients we work with are disciplined through having agreed action plans and accountability – that is our role.  Surround yourself with Experienced Business Advisors and a community that can spot the blinds spots and help you achieve your business growth for the coming year.

Now is the time to get started for the new year not in the new year.

Catherine Cooke | Founder and Leading Business Advisor 

Book a free business planning session with any of our experienced Business Advisors. 

Spotlight – Introducing Wine Time

Best Corporate Gift Idea Ever!

Create your own personalised wine and bubbles gifts sure to impress your valued customers! We help businesses strengthen customer relationships and promote your brand with quality personalised corporate wines that wont break the budget, yet hold a high perceived value in the eyes of your customers.

Special occasion? This is the ultimate gift idea – Upload your business logo, any text on your personalised wine and order. Our personalised wines look beautiful, taste beautiful & the process is easy! Excellent for Birthdays, Christmas, Corporate Gifts to Customers with massive WOW-FACTOR.

Provider Tips and News

Budgeting as an SME – Walker Wayland

Small business budgets are empowering. They give you the knowledge and insight to eliminate wasteful spending and get to profitability faster.

When setting a business budget, you need good numbers. Don’t guess at what’s coming in and what’s going out. You could be making assumptions that just aren’t true. Take the time to look into your accounts and dig out the real figures. It might sound like hard work but it’s worth it.

The numbers that matter when setting a budget

So what are the key figures to consider when setting a budget? Rather than looking over large sets of numbers than can blur into one, keep in mind the following financial reports:

• – Profit & Loss report
• – Balance sheet
• – Trial balance

Profit & Loss report

This report tells you at a glance whether you’re making money or losing it. To do that, you’ll subtract your expenses from your income. To help you get started, talk to your Walker Wayland Accountant.

Income (revenue)

How much money are you generating from sales of your products or services? It helps to break these into:

• – recurring income – regular and reliable revenue from client retainers and contract work
• – expected income – a forecast of what your business is likely to earn

Expenses (costs)

How much money are you spending on business costs such as staff, raw materials and marketing? As with income, it helps to break these into:

• – recurring expenditure – your monthly payments for rent, utilities, payroll and so on

It can be easy to overlook some of the costs of doing business. To help capture them all, consider the following issues:

• – Depreciation – business assets, such as computers and equipment, lose value as they get older, and should be counted as a cost
• – Overheads – make sure you don’t overlook fixed costs such as rent or energy (eg, electricity, gas, transport fuel)
• – Payroll – the total cost of employing your staff including insurance, taxes and benefits
• – Debt repayments – regular outgoings to repay loans or other business investments

If you have more revenue coming in than costs going out, you’re making a profit. If it’s the other way around, you’re making a loss. A loss is okay in certain situations but losses aren’t sustainable over the long term.

Read the Full Article for more information on Balance Sheets and Trial Balance.

Content provided by Provider to The Engine, Walker Wayland. 

How do I delegate my to-do list? – Strictly Savvy

Want to get some tasks off your to-do list, but not sure HOW to delegate when you’ve always done it yourself?

We were very excited to host our first Forum for 2022 on Workplace Wellness.  Having businesses return to these types of events was encouraging and what a turn out it was!  Over 100 businesses started their morning at 7:30am with a light breakfast & networking and finished at 2pm with a great deal of insights, connections and from what we heard satisfied bellies from breakfast, morning tea and lunch.

Allely Estate and their sister company WineTime sponsored this event and we got to hear from their Director, Peter Cooke, on his journey from corporate to business and the benefits of WineTime impressing guests and customers with their personalised wine. 

We all loved Peter’s rounding up of how his focus is on happy employees = happy customers.

Catherine Cooke, our Founder and Leading Business Advisor of The Engine got to tell the audience of her own journey personally and in business with success & adversity.  While she has helped 100’s and 100’s of businesses nationwide as a Business Advisor her key pearls always were “know who you are and use it to your advantage”, “delegate to elevate but don’t abdicate” as well as 10 words “if it is to be it is up to me”.  Catherine also gave away her 3 trade secrets for marketing and branding across the event too.

The event had great Keynote Speakers such as Charlotte Lockhart – 4Day Week Global who champions ‘Working less is our future. The 4 Day Week conversation, together with flexible, reduced hours work, has reached the tipping point. We are excited to be leading and supporting the journey for 100’s of businesses around the world with our Global Pilot Programme.’ Charlotte was talking about paying your staff 100% for 80% of their time and how we borrow our Employees from their lives so we should be looking for the balance between keeping your business, clients and people happy.  We were really intrigued by the contents of their book, written by Charlotte’s life Partner, Andrew Barnes that presents a radical, convincing case for a sustainable, profitable future in which we work less, but are more productive, engaged, and satisfied.  A wee break to morning tea had attendees with an array of more cuisine from the Chefs along with an opportunity for more networking.

After morning tea we had 3 of our clients on the couch discussing their Business Journey from Kelly Young, Co-Owner 9Round Albany, discussing the benefits of having a Business Advisor in your business, to Sarah Donaldson and rebranding her business Fitworks Health and the koru meaning on her new brand, to Curtis Stowers and the creation of his new business with his wife Monica Moore, Conference In A Box that brings incredible speakers to Events – speaking of which we had the most amazing hour from 3 speakers he will be offering – the ladies from Organised Chaos.

Following the couch we got to hear from sought after Tony Alexander which was not only insightful but had the audience laughing with his comedic delivery.  Tony has a way of drawing the audience in, however his insights provided an order of calmness to all attending to hang in there, we may be seeing a peak and a drop by the end of the year in interest rates. 

It was a working Buffet lunch as the audience got to hear from the ladies at Organised Chaos who each individually spoke and performed. From Julia Grace  who introduced us to the theory of lizard, mouse and monkey brains.   You see when stressed out brains are offline brains, we are all on a wellbeing spectrum and we can always get weller, when we are mentally unwell.  That we’ve all had those moments of thinking we are pulling the handbrake and find ourselves flying back in the seat as we have just lowered the car seat, not pulled the handbrake. As we are usually the last to know we are unwell she cautioned never book flights under pressure – you may end up somewhere else! And last but not least what an incredible voice and heartfelt version Julia sang and strummed with her guitar for the song True Colours.

Next up was Christine Rankin who came back from the most awful public office treatment to working with businesses on transformative leadership.  That when facing extreme adversity, we need to lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way!

And if we thought we had been truly inspired Monica Moore took to the stage with her hilarious props of cardboard boxes and encouraged us to change our world, change our stories, and FLIP your thinking – FLIP = find life in problems. We strongly recommend you look to buy Monica’s book – Buy the Damn Dress which is not only hilarious but has practical tips for you to practice.

The Engine Specialist Provider Business Community and Sponsors kindly donate $7000 + in prizes from branding, copywriting, tax reviews, a legal review, wine, more wine … and more that were won on the day.

Gift bags were also distributed to all attendees with flyers from 9Round Albany, Fitworks Health, Sassy Mamma, WineTime and The Engine along with yummy chocolate from Rapt about Gifts and NZ organic rub from It’s Organic Darling, pads and pens by The Engine, Walker Wayland & Martelli McKegg.

If you would like to connect with any of the Keynote Speakers: 

– Tony Alexander – Leading Economist

– Charlotte Lockhart – 4DayWeek Global

– Christine Rankin, Julia Grace and Monica Moore – Organised Chaos