Articles

Passion and commitment drive million-dollar web success story

It's the classic dot com tale. University friends launch an internet-based company armed with little more than a hunch.

That was 1997. Skip to 2010, and Web Drive has gained 18 staff, lost three founding directors, narrowed its focus to web hosting and has grown into a company that turns over $6 million a year.

Managing director Daniel Williams admits there were some hard lessons learnt early, such as the downside of mixing business with pleasure - which saw the three directors move on. read more

Firms sharing ideas

Stiff upper lips are being cast aside as Northland business grabs chances to achieve best practice and get into exporting. An event last Thursday may prove that hard times are encouraging businesspeople to share experiences and learn from each other. Representatives of a large number of city businesses attended the free private sector seminar advertised with the catchlines "the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts'' and "Northlanders supporting Northlanders''. The half-day seminar was organised by Ken Wilson, a former community project development officer with Enterprise Northland and now representing Advantage Business in Northland. The company provides business advice from experienced practitioners to owners and managers of growing businesses in the $1 million to $20 million size... read more

Never say Never

A mixture of hard work and dedication are key ingredients to Kevin Jury’s success. His Auckland-based business, Jurant Distributors Ltd, has been running for just over 20 years and seems to keep on growing. This is because Kevin is an opportunist and grabs any offer that comes his way with both hands – “We never say never”. Jurant Distributors deliver eggs, milk and various goods and foods around the North Island, concentrating on the Auckland and Waikato areas. It holds two major contracts; one with Farmer Brown and the other with Goodman Fielder... read more

How to survive an economic downturn

The smartest Kiwi small business owners have been thinking about what kind of impact a dip in the economy will have on their companies and are considering all of their options.

According to Gerald Delany, a director at Auckland business consultancy, Advantage Business, each business owner will deal with a flattening of the economy slightly differently, depending on the specific industry that they are working in... read more

On your side

There’s an old saying that goes ‘behind every great sports team there’s an equally great coach’ – and the same can be said about businesses. Today there are not many people who will attempt to start-up or indeed grow a business without the support of a third party advisor. ‘Who’s your mentor?’ has become a standard question in networking circles... read more

Coaching your staff to maximise sales

10 ways to improve beauty therapy clinic performance.

Make sure you have the right staff! No, really – you’d be
surprised how many clinic owners hire people who aren’t very
interested in the business side of beauty – they just like doing the
job and want to collect their weekly pay packet without having
to think, or be challenged by the role. So, make sure you use a
proper recruitment, interview and selection process that will give
you a therapist with a bit of fi re in their belly... read more

Risk taking never entered their minds

Ask most successful businesspeople how they achieved their dreams and
many will answer that they took risks.

However, risk-taking never entered the minds of husband and wife team Jamie Miller and Giselle Trevezant, owners of the 2006 Lewisham Award winning Mint Kitchen in Newmarket... read more

Helping firms reach their potential

Established in 1988, Advantage Business is one of the country’s largest independent 100 per cent New Zealand owned non-franchise advisory groups, serving large corporates, medium and smaller businesses.

It has offices in Albany, Wellington, Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga and Napier and plans to eventually cover the country... read more

Ride off into the sunset

Many of New Zealand’s ‘baby boomer’ entrepreneurs are approaching retirement. According to business brokerage Tabak 40 percent of business owners aged 50 to 60, owning around 300,000 businesses, will be looking to sell within the next five to ten years. Amazingly, very few of these individuals have any formal plans to get out of their business... read more