MENTORED BLOG

"If there’s one thing Australian small business owners have in spades, it’s an unwavering strength and resilience in the face of adversity." Recently the Mentored team travelled down the NSW South Coast to visit some fire affected communities. The Australian bushfire disaster devastated many communities, with business owners struggling to attract the normally busy levels of summer trade. Mark Bouris decided to meet with local business owners in the Batemans Bay region to ask them about their experiences, and to discover what [...]

Mark Bouris knows how hard launching a business can be, but says most people out there don't. People often compare starting up a small business to taking a leap into the unknown – or diving off a high platform without learning to swim – but realistically, if you look at the statistics, it’s more like running flat out into a brick wall. Failure isn’t guaranteed, of course, because if it was the world of business and entrepreneurship really would be dead, but [...]

Fire, flood, drought: how to rebuild your business after a natural disaster It would be easy to think the worst of Australia’s devastating bushfire season is finally over, at least for now, with most of the wild blazes that consumed towns and bushland now under control, or on their way to being contained. But the truth is that, for the tens of thousands of small business owners in the areas worst hit by the fires, or the thousands more still crippled by [...]

A common problem with small businesses is that employees demonstrate a lack of initiative, particularly where owners have strong personality types. This manifests in tendencies to ask permission or advice too frequently of a business owner. When a business relies excessively on the owner for answers, decisions and direction, it damages the value of the business. Business owners often think they need to mimic large companies to solve this problem by implementing a Rolls Royce version of decisions and authorities in the form of a [...]

If you're a business owner, then at a minimum you're going to have to be a part-time salesperson. Sales is all about performance - so having a structure that you and your team can follow will undoubtedly improve your sales technique.   Mark Bouris caught up with John Roca from Sydney City Toyota, one of the best salespeople he's ever met, to get access to John's three MUST-FOLLOW rules. They break down John’s structure that he and his team use to close the [...]

I bet you've read a hundred different blogs all talking about the same point: "How do I get more likes on social media?" or "how do I better manage my social media?" The truth is it takes time. You have to invest in learning about who your audience is, what they want to learn about and decide how much information you're willing to give away. You need to put together a schedule with categories of content that you're willing to publish about each [...]

​ The Mentor Mark Bouris recently featured on Channel 7's 'The Morning Show' to give away some of his advice for business owners. 1. ​Personal health is a catalyst for a healthy business.​ For Bouris, success starts with personal health. A keen boxer, Mark says that remaining active every day is a catalyst for him to tackle any issue with his business. "You've got to go into your business with a healthy mind - and it's about your mental health, generally," Bouris said. "I [...]

Everyone, no matter how organised they are, will know the sinking feeling. The clock is counting down to Christmas, the to-do list is growing longer, and the carols playing on repeat in every shopping centre have begun to sound more threatening than cheerful. That feeling is amplified tenfold for Australia’s small business owners, who don’t just have a personal to-do list to take care of, but also an even longer list of tasks to tick off as they try to either prepare for [...]