Authentic.

Last week, on three separate occasions, I was given feedback by people I admire. Two of those were part of a formal assessment process. One came out of the blue. I respect the skills, opinions & experience of all three people. And I was glowing.

‘Exemplary’ ‘A style that’s yours – don’t ever change it’ ‘Have you considered contacting this publication’

To say I was on Cloud 9 is an understatement. And then, in that same week, I had an opportunity to speak into a few people’s lives. An opportunity to sow some seeds of encouragement, build some people up, cheer for them on the sidelines. Not to give advice, not to solve anything, but just to reassure.

It made me think that this is what the world should be like. In fact, despite of the public and not so public face of ‘trolls’ this is generally what my social media experience is like (especially with my online ‘girl mafia’). The receiving and giving of this encouragement just felt so damn good.

This week, the echo has continued .. authentic, authentic. It’s in my inbox, in my twitter feed, in my facebook timeline. Different authors, different messages, same theme – be authentic.

I’ve never really struggled with the concept. I’ve never felt a desire to try and fit in (apart from my teenage years when I just wanted to feel accepted by my peers, but that’s high school for you). But the workforce just came with a desire to feel acknowledged for what I was capable of. I never felt like I had to change who I was or what I did. So I’ve always been authentic.

Clearly, it’s an important theme though and something I need to take conscious notice of. I’ve no idea why or how it may serve me, but I’ll hold tight to it.

Be Authentic. There’s no-one else in the world like you. And that’s important. 

-SCuff

P.S. Before you go thinking how perfect I must be, I yelled at my kids today in the supermarket. Authentic also means human.

Why I’ll never have a Filing pile again.

This post is going to be short & sweet, as a grocery list is staring at me & the school pickup is also looming. Being self-employed means sneaking into the supermarket BEFORE pickup, so as not to drag two kids through it afterwards & it take ten times longer. But hey, if Seth Godin can write short daily posts, so can I (just don’t expect them daily)!

A business expert once said ‘do your filing once, each week’. Another business expert said ‘never handle a piece of paper more than 3 times’. I tried the former, and ended up with a pile called ‘Filing’ that NEVER got emptied, no matter how much I tried to convince myself that it was the perfect Friday job with some great music playing loudly.

So, I got rid of my Filing tray. And now, it doesn’t stare at me every day. Yippee!

Step 1: Clean out your vertical files. Only keep stuff relevant to that financial year (like current insurance certificates). Yes, you can scan them & keep them electronically if you’d prefer.

Step 2: Place everything else in archive storage boxes. Shred box contents of expired financial years (keep the last 7 years).

Step 3: Make sure your vertical files are organised & labelled.

Step 4: Use Ring Binders for A4 receipts with monthly tabs (split into half-year if necessary) and ring binders for bank statements & BAS return paperwork (worksheet & reports).

Step 5: FILE AS YOU GO. Yes, once a piece of paper has been dealt with & no longer needs your attention, throw it straight into your vertical suspension file or ring binder. Filing done at the cost of an extra minute.

This works for me because I hate seeing papers on my desk. The only things on my desk are things that need my attention or need putting into a reminder system so I remember to do them later (eg bills get entered into financial software & paper copies thrown into a red Bills to be paid manila folder on my desktop vertical file holder.

Getting rid of my filing pile was one of the best things I’ve ever done as it makes me feel in control. How do you handle the filing of your paperwork? Do you scan, save & shred everything or do you have a pile of unfiled papers like I used to?

-SCuffy

(not really being a short post at all!) 

Solar power & the QLD Government

When the QLD Government announced that solar power users would be paid for power that they generate, don’t use and feed back into the grid, I didn’t give it much thought. Our power bills were slightly higher than the average, running a business from home and having computers on 24×7, but the cost of a solar system was way beyond our budget. But then, we did the numbers.

We were going to be significantly better off if we drew-down on our mortgage to pay for our solar system. Our mortgage payments wouldn’t rise any higher than we were already paying plus we’d have free power & feed in payments. So, we took the plunge and invested in a 5.5kw system. We love it to bits, especially when our power bill arrives each quarter, in credit.

How greedy of us. How dare we make use of a government scheme that was set up to pay us back for our power. How sneaky of us to realise that we could maximise this benefit by running our appliances in the dark hours, when the grid power cost us less than our solar feed in rebate. Didn’t we realise the impact we were going to have on pensioners and low income families? Slap on the wrist.

Are you kidding me? The QLD government sets up a solar incentive scheme and THEN blames the people that have used it? Including those who scrimped every cent out of their budget or went into debt to put in their solar systems, looking to help alleviate the pain of the rising quarterly power bill as doomly forecast?

But now: ”Energy Minister Mark McArdle concerned they are reaping benefits beyond the scheme’s intent” “I don’t believe that was the intent of the scheme and the debate must be had on who should pay what, in regards of their power bills, when you consider a large number of people pay no power bill at all,” he said.

So, dear government, what EXACTLY did you think would happen? What exactly was your intent with this scheme? Lure householders in on a good thing, then panic & change the rules when you realised you’d stuffed up? I fail to see how anyone could have missed that the solar feed in tarrif was going to lead to masses of people installing solar and knocking out their personal power bill.

So now the electricity retailers are crying poor. The total cost of solar to their network (tarrifs, infrastructure etc) is going to ruin them, so they are putting up the price of power for everybody, which screws over the non-solar owners. Yes, that sucks, and it should never have come to that. Did the retailers alert the government to the possibility of this before the tariff was approved? Did they get a chance to?

Electricity is an essential utility, like water. The government needs to decide how much it will regulate that, to keep it fair on the consumers. It can’t just jump in when it’s suitable, setup incentive schemes and not be held accountable when they have a flow on effect.

“Cabinet is debating on Monday how it can lower revenue raised by the state-owned electricity distributors, a price set by the Australian Energy Regulator.” Well, how nice of them. Where did they think the money was going to come from to pay the feed in tariffs? Not it’s own revenue stream, that’s for sure … until the whole mess reached a crisis point and they decide to look into it.

I haven’t touched on the effect that a power price hike will have on consumer confidence -> consumer spending -> business profitiability -> business confidence -> employment ->business tax income for the government. Not only will this hurt Queensland householders, it will hurt Australian businesses (both the little SMBs and the large, high power consuming corporates).

So yeah, I’m a little furious. Furious that a government could be so blind and not see that the incentive scheme would lead to this. Furious that, after playing by their rules, solar owners are being labelled as greedy and not playing within the intent of the scheme.

Dear government, please go back to high school economics, because if you didn’t see this coming, what else are you missing?

-SCuffy 

The effect of the Jolie Effect

Social media lit up with the news – Angelina Jolie had written her story about having a double mastectomy.
Journalists clambered to find a local source with the same story, to air a piece on the evening news that was a little more relevant than just retelling Hollywood news. They were quick to label ‘the Jolie Effect’ – where thousands of women will now consider this procedure if they find that they too carry a defective gene because they are now aware that it’s a viable option.

And, just as quickly – enter the haters. Or maybe that’s too strong a word. Enter the commentators. Because that’s what the internet gives us – a public forum to air our thoughts on social media, news website comments and blogs. The scale ranges from ‘good on her for going public’ to ‘big deal, where is the real news?’.

Celebrity status comes with air time. A right move, a bad move or an announcement is catapulted to the top of our consciousness because it contains a recognisable name. If I’d contacted the local newspaper and told them the same story, they may run it as a human interest piece. You may flick straight past it in the newspaper or online or maybe read it if you have an interest in women’s health or a connection somehow to breast cancer. I can guarantee you that it would not light up your twitter feed like it did with Angelina’s name.

But that doesn’t make it wrong. It doesn’t make her story any less heroic or any less important because she is a celebrity. She’s not saying she’s better than anyone else. She’s sharing her story because she knows the impact that her name has. And that in this case it might bring hope to someone else who has to make the same decision. In an industry where her looks and her body unfortunately do form a part of her screen appeal (and therefore her employability) she has admitted to having surgery.

I understand that the world if full of complicated, important issues. I understand that Angelina has gone through what many, many other women in the world have gone through, and that many other women and men and children in this world have gone through worse.

So for just a minute, can we stop comparing? Can we put down the judgement and just say ‘here is a human being who has done a brave thing’? Can we agree to support her the same as we should support anyone who has been through that, not any more because she’s famous or any less because she’s famous? Can we bite our tongues instead of spewing that women will talk with their doctor and find out about this procedure anyway, without Angelina getting into the spotlight with it?

When will we get the concept that we are important – all of us? Housewives AND celebrities. And I know you want to launch into a rant about ‘how stupid this concept of fame & celebrity is, when people are paid truckloads & marched across our TV screens for a talent that doesn’t compare to our teachers, our police, our ambulance officers.’ But right now, this story isn’t about her lastest movie. It’s about her personal experience. And that’s no less valid and no less brave because you know her name.

-SCuffy

So I cried at my daughter’s cross-country, before she raced.

Yup, that’s a big heart on my sleeve title right there. It may even come as a surprise to my loving husband who was standing right next to me. Gotta love sunglasses.

My daughter is 7. Cross country running (or any running or even walking for that matter) is not her favourite thing. She takes after her mother like that. But she loves to dance. I have no idea where that came from. So we went along to support her, cheer her on as she faced a 750m running race with all of the other Yr 2 girls.

We got to see the other years run first, individual Prep classes then Yr 1 girls then Yr 1 boys. And it broke my heart.

Cross country running spreads out kids just as life does. One child in each race crosses first. The others are near the front, in the middle or near the end. And another child crosses last. Last. Those four letters have such an impact on our self-esteem.

The school encourages equal participation. Try your best. Everyone gets a ribbon. While some may argue that this takes the competitive edge off our kids and doesn’t prepare them for the real world, there’s another life lesson lurking in cross-country running. In some areas of your life you will finish first. In some areas you will finish last, This is ok. This is life.

And bless the teachers of her school, some who ran with their classes, at the back, so they crossed last. And I’m not talkiing the fit, sporty teachers. They were saying to their kids ‘hey, we can do this, we can start & finish this, if I can – you can’. So yeah, that was partly a contributor to my tears.

The most painful part for me though was seeing the kids who really struggled and came last. Other mums had said ‘my son/daughter is stressed, isn’t sleeping, has confessed that they just don’t want to come last.’ And it took me right back to my own childhood. Because I was exactly the same. Cross country running was once a year torture. The only things that made it bearable were the support of some of my other classmates and my parents who couldn’t care less how I did in running. Or PE in general. My parents knew that my performance on the sports field didn’t define me. They knew that I was great in other areas of my life. They knew that my cross-country was not going to negatively impact my chances of success in life.

So, as a little kid came huffing & puffing, red-faced around the corner to the final straight home, and the crowd started cheering louder, even louder than they had for first place, I felt his pain .. the pain of being last. And I wanted to reach out and grab him and look into his eyes and say ‘you finished what you started and that’s what mattered. Don’t let this moment define you. Don’t let this be a measure of your self worth. You are so much more than this and you will grow up and do great things.’

I believe that exposure to competition is a natural part of life. I believe we need to show our kids that some people come first and some people come last. But I also think we need to put this into context for them. And I know our teachers and most parents do a great job of that. Our children deserve to be rewarded for their strengths, encouraged in their weaknesses and to be helped to find that beautiful, complete, whole person picture of who they are. Just as we all do.

Xero Personal – I think I love you

Personal finances – there’s an interesting topic for you.

My wonderful melancholic detailed husband has a magical budget spreadsheet that magically shows us earning more than we spend. Problem is, his lovely wife has no visibility of that when she is actually spending. And I’m not saying I’m a reckless spender at all, but my shopping volume is based on the bank account balance on that day, not any budget or forecast. 

I’ve dabbled a bit in YNAB (You Need A Budget) which also has a great iPhone app, but it’s been getting dusty for a while due to lack of attention on my part. I also couldn’t figure out how to marry up hubby’s magical spreadsheet to its structure.

So today I had a look at Xero Personal, knowing that it supported Australia bank feeds. And hey, so far so good. Here’s what I’ve learnt so far:

• Importing my ANZ account & credit card transactions was pretty easy & quick.
• Creating my own spending categories was pretty easy too, except you can’t rename the default categories AND you can only create 20 new custom categories. This was a pain when I want to separate out different kinds of insurance (for example) and required a bit of creative reshuffling of both the default accounts & our own magical spreadsheet. For example, I created a Mortgage category and I’m using the Housing category for repairs, gardening stuff, furniture etc. Not ideal but it will work.
• Categorising transactions was pretty quick too, but I bumped into a few Xero tricks. The imported transactions are grouped by name, which is hopeless when they display as ‘ANZ Internet Banking Funds Transfer’. You can go into the detail of each to see further payee details AND you can rename them to suit. You can then also start typing the first letters of a previously used name or category to pop up the right one, instead of using the category scroll bar.
• Credit card payments (when your credit card is also added as a bank feed) are put in the Transfers category, so they don’t end up duplicating the spend for the actual item, purchase.
• Goals are actually budget goals which can be set per week, per fortnight, or per month in each category. It’s extremely scary to add dollar figures to these then see how much income you actually need each month.

 I know have to add any debts or other credit accounts (eg hire purchase agreements) and start using the thing. Fortunately it also has an iPhone app, plus the bank feed will automatically suck in the new transactions each day & suggest their categories.

I’ve yet to touch the Plans & Reminders, but that’s on the to do list. I’ve also given hubby his own login so he can see everything I can (is that a good thing??).

Being hosted ‘cloud’ software, you don’t need to backup anything on your own computer, but I’m yet to find out how you could actually get your own backup or export of the data if you wanted it. I’m nervously guessing that my data will stay locked inside the software & I’ll lose access to it if I decide to stop paying for it (or end the trial) and I’d also bet that I can only rely on Xero’s own data centre backups. Yes, I’m sure they have an impressive backup & recovery strategy, but they wouldn’t be the first data centre to go belly-up and have backup issues. But that’s just the IT geek in me that likes to have some control in keeping my own data safe.

With a 30 day free trial, this software is definitely worth playing with. 

Truths from the campfire

1. Delete Candy Crush. It’s a time-wasting distraction.
2. Social media is very anti-social. It’s ok to embrace a community of like-minded people in cyberspace, but not at the expense of the people who are actually in the same room with you.
3. Use Facebook & Twitter for sharing life moments with and engaging people, not for living every moment alongside.
4. Your phone has the ability to turn the data connection off. Use it.
5. Fresh air is underrated. Go outside more.
6. Campfires are hypnotic, calming & warming.
7. BE WHERE YOU ARE.
8. Live your life with purpose & a plan, but roll with the punches too.
9. Stop just wishing.
10. Play with your kids.
11. Food is fuel.

-SCuffy

 

On going backwards and forwards, and things that are free.

I can’t say that today was the best & the worst of days. I’ve had better (read: wedding day, birth of two healthy girls etc), so it wasn’t really a red letter day in that respect. And I’ve had worse (money, rental stress, money, dog dying, money), so it wasn’t really a day to cry either. But it certainly did ride a roller coaster. I’m hoping this is a sign that it ended happily & I got off the ride safely, because I’m here writing a blog post & listening to Florence + The Machine (MTV Unplugged 2012) in glorious Logitech quality.

Let’s start by going backwards. Remember that new chapter in my life I started writing? Well, it now has a full stop and we’re on the next page. It brought me some new skills, grew an incredible friendship & has opened up opportunities I didn’t have before. For that, I’m grateful. I just get to stress about money a little more again. Que sera, sera. We’re blessed to be able to meet the mortgage, put fuel in the car & food in the cupboard and live in the paradise that is Queensland. Blessings, see?

Today I got to dive into a full website content review & update & I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It helped that the content held the passion & knowledge of another dear friend but it really was just my kind of work. Geek girl heaven + marketing WIIFMS galore!

And my Inbox delivered a surprise bill. Crap. But this will be worked out over time.

So overall I think there was an emotional equilibrium, though I may still be trying to convince myself of that.

The topic of mummy & daddy working came up in the car with my girls. Once again I explained about all the ‘stuff’ that we have to pay for, which is why we work (just nice & general here, nothing to scar my 3yr old for life). At the end of that list, I said ‘what do we do or get that’s free, that we don’t have to pay for’? And so we started … breathing.  Smelling. Hugs from our family. Baking together with food we already have in the cupboard. Laughing. Reading books we already have or we borrow from the library. Sunrises and sunsets. Rain. And now I’ve reviewed this list I’m adding ‘solar power’!

Are the best things in life free? Too right they are! So it’s time for some free deep breaths, some free sleep and a free brand new morning.

-SCuffy

Logo not appearing on invoice – Unleashed software / Xero

We have a client who uses Unleashed Software for inventory management and invoicing. It integrates with Xero. They called us today to say that their company logo was appearing on some but not all of their computers, which are a mix of Macs & PCs in different locations & countries.

Wary of the old ‘Quicktime & Myob’ trick, that was the first thing we asked them. The second thing we asked gave us the answer though – in the instances where the logo was not showing up, they were using Google Chrome to access the system. Once they launched Internet Explorer instead, the logo appeared fine.

I can’t find anything on their public website that lists support browsers or versions, but I have contacted their twitter account to ask them about this. The moral of the story is ‘If in doubt, try IE!”

 

Customer Service – you are doing it right!

Wow, another chance to write a non-ranty blog post! I love it!

With Miss 7 at home on school holidays, I’ve been running some errands with her in tow. Today I had two great examples of customer service from the most unlikely of places – the Family Assistance Office and Westpac bank!

1 – Insider tips from the Family Assistance Office

After submitting a Medicare refund claim in person, I popped across the room to talk to someone about a Family Assistance claim I’d submitted a month ago. The actual submit process was great – it was all done online and,  as I’m already a client, they’ve got all of my details on file already. No need to visit a service centre. But while I was in the neighbourhood, I just thought I’d check up on it. Robyn at Strathpine confirmed that it was in the system waiting for someone at their end to action it, and I didn’t need to do anything else. She said if I hadn’t heard within 2 weeks, to phone them. And then she leaned forward and gave me an inside tip “Phone the call centre & leave your mobile number for a callback, don’t sit on hold in the queue. Don’t let your phone leave your side for the next 24-48hrs. When you see a Blocked number calling, answer it. Our number is always blocked & we don’t call back a second time if you miss us. That will save you having to come back in here on the school holidays with your daughter.”

Oh my gosh. I’ve been let in on the secrets of the Family Assistance Office because, wait for it .. it will make my life easier. Are you sure this is a government department? Can someone please promote Robyn, quick?!

2 – Let me help you

Needing a copy of a missing credit card statement that was no longer appearing on internet banking, I phoned Westpac who directed me to the form on their website I’d need to fill out and drop into a branch. Good service right there that met my expectations and enabled me to prefill the thing instead of doing it once I was at the branch. Dropped the form into anyone in a Westpac uniform, not at my home branch, which happened to be Scott at Strathpine. Scott actually said that if I had a minute, he’d check his system to see if he could pull up the statement. No such luck, but bonus points for trying and he assured me he’d get the form faxed to Cards right away.

Now you know what normally happens here, right? You wait three weeks and nothing happens until you phone the branch & they find an envelope that’s been waiting there for you for two weeks that no-one called you about. Ah, not this time. The very next day, Scott phoned me to say that Cards had faxed back my statement directly to the branch, and since he had my email address on the form, was it ok for him to scan and email it to me. Was it ok? Too bloody right it was! He actually put two and two together and thought ‘I can save my customer the inconvenience of having to come back into the branch’. Scott is now my favourite person in the entire banking industry and I’m transferring my massive wealth to be under his management (just as soon as I’ve amassed said massive wealth).

So listen up Telstra, Vodafone and every airline ever. Just because you are a big brand with a shocking reputation doesn’t mean you can’t have fantastic employees who actually act like the customer is worth taking care of. Us customers might actually enjoy that, stay with your brand & recommend you to others! Imagine that!

-SCuffy