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A warm Melbourne Business Network welcome back to 2009
We are all back into the swing of our business lives and lets hope we all have a productive and successful 2009.
Melbourne Business Network has also launched into 2009 with a bang. We have a big year planned with some great events coming up.
John Stock has been President of the Association for 3 years now and what a fantastic and successful reign it has been. Unfortunately, John has been asked to accept more work duties in his paid J-O-B, which he felt would restrict his ability to continue as President.
At the last Committee meeting, John tendered his desire to step down as President and requested that I take his place until the up coming AGM in May. The Committee voted to accept John’s request, but he graciously accepted, (with gentle persuasion), to take on the position of Vice-President/Treasurer.
With the devastation that we have seen here in Victoria, I’m sure each of us has been touched by the sorrow and pain that the bushfire victims have endured. How do you recover from such tragedy? It’s not an easy question to answer and I hope that most of us never have to seek that answer, but for those of you MBN’ers who has personally suffered, or who have had someone close involved, our thoughts and support are with you.
The year past will have tested many of us in our resilience and we must all remember, that something good often results from adversity. While some businesses have had to adopt recession strategies, others I know have boomed over the last 8 months. Remember, it is not how far you fall, but how far you bounce back.
So, what can each of us do to help us bounce?
I have been reading a lot about previous recessions and what businesses did and how they performed after the economy recovered. Interestingly, most took some form of “recession proofing”, maybe some staff cuts or the tightening of discretionary spending, but most of the businesses that came out the other side “booming” were the ones who saw the “downturn” as an opportunity. In the words of Albert Einstein, “in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
So where do we find opportunities? Well that is for the open minded thinkers amongst us! Opportunities exist all around and the winner will not be the one who thinks of the idea, but the one who implements it! Lets all pray for those who have lost their homes and possessions in the fires and recession, that they can look for those opportunities and bounce back, bigger, better and stronger than before as I’m sure we can all do in our business lives as well.
One of the most vital components of staying positive and focused in your endeavour to “bounce back”, is the support you receive from family and friends. Having been retrenched from a previous job, (a job considered by many to be a job for life), I quickly learned who my real friends were. The support I received from my good friends and family had me up and running in a matter of days, and it was not very long before I was back at the wheel, (or control column in my case).
These relationships we form are critical to our success and the more we learn and understand how they affect us, are something that we all can benefit from. This month, we are lucky to have Stan Alves, sharing his knowledge on how these relationships we form; benefit us in our business and personal lives. This is a lesson not to be missed and I am looking forward to seeing you all there. Places are filling fast, so don’t miss out. Book now before all the seats are gone.
Click here to book on line, www.melbournebusinessnetwork.org.au.
We have a big year planned with many events, especially a big and entertaining Melbourne Day debate. Ask anyone who attended last years debate how the stomach muscles were at the end of the debate after an hour of constant laughter!
I look forward to meeting each of you at our up coming events and to continue the great work that the Melbourne Business Network Committee has achieved.
We look forward to seeing you at our breakfast next week, but for now, in the words of the great Donald Trump; “If you are going to think; you might as well think big!”
Have a good Melbourne Business Network week.
Regards
Dave King
President
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