Governments (politicians) and regulators are struggling to deal with the global platforms of Google, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram and the like.

If we ask you to explain disruption how will you reply? There is every likelihood that you will think of tech – Uber, Amazon, Tesla, Netflix, FinTech, the internet of Everything and 5G among others.

Most Australians working today, running businesses, start-ups, buying (multiple houses) or investing have only experienced good times. Low interest rates, cheap money and a lifestyle funded on a credit card, resulting in the highest personal debt in the nation's history.

As a Business owner, you put a large amount of time, energy, and money into building a successful business. Your aim should not only be to provide yourself with an income, but to grow the business into an asset that will have future value.

An effective organisation-wide compliance program will result in an organisation being able to demonstrate its commitment to compliance with relevant laws, including legislative requirements, industry codes, organisational standards as well as standards of good corporate governance, ethics and community expectations.

Why can some people maintain consistently higher sales levels than others? Ask any good salesperson and they’ll probably say they’ve got a system for selling. They ask particular questions, have certain answers prepared, implement strategies for customer relationship-building, and use tools and techniques that add value and build trust with customers.

The key to really good time management is disciplined planning. The advantage of planning your time in advance is that it allows prioritisation of tasks and correct focus of activities.

People are important to the success of a business, whether it is a small business, where it operates almost like a family environment, or a larger business where cultural fit becomes more important. A quality team doesn’t happen by accident and while improvements can be made over the years, there remains a strong emphasis on getting it right at the start.

Consider for a moment why people choose to buy your particular product or service from your specific business. What do you think the reasons are?

Business today is made transparent thanks and no thanks to online sentiment. Customers are relying on online reviews to make purchasing decisions. The current top 5 review sites are Google, followed by Facebook, Amazon, Yelp and TripAdvisor.

Everyone likes to feel important. People love interactions that leave them happy, valued and understood. What’s more, people remember the interactions which reward them in this way – and they share these experiences with people they know. Delivering exceptional customer service is your key to winning and keeping your clientele.

Among the most valuable assets of any business is a well-developed (and up-to-date) database. While many companies focus on growth through new customer acquisition, in reality it costs roughly ten times more to win business from new customers than it costs to convince previous customers to buy again.