Members Newsletter December 2021
Update from the Chair
Recently our Chair Richard Abel presented to the members of the Finance and Expenditure Committee regarding the complexities of the Taxation ‘Remedial Matters’ Bill and explained to the MP’s some of ATAINZ ‘s concerns in the legislation.
Thanks again to Terry Baucher for his assistance with the submission. We are keen as an organisation to continue to get in front of the decision makers in Parliament to share the feedback of our members. As we reach the end of the year, many of us are looking forward to a few weeks off enjoying some sunshine, BBQ’s, water activities and the odd glass of something cool. We hope you enjoy your summer break and we look forward to seeing you in 2022!
All the best,
The ATAINZ Board
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How to take time out over the holidays as a business owner - tips and tricks
The countdown to Christmas is well and truly on, and after the year of curveballs of pandemic related challenges that has been 2021, a well-deserved break is on everyone’s mind!
We all know that taking a break and getting some well-deserved R & R will help prevent burnout, decrease your stress levels, and allow you to come back invigorated, revitalised, and refocused, prepared to tackle the new year.
However, as the owner, you are generally the core of your business, making it difficult to take a break at the best of times let alone during the holiday season.
Often the logistics of organising your break can mean more stress than relaxation in the lead up to the silly season! So, how do you manage to get some valuable time off, while still ensuring your business runs smoothly over the Christmas period?
See our top tips below to implement in the lead up to your break and set yourself up for success over this period:
Let important clients know you will be on a holiday break – if the fear of losing clients is stopping you from taking a break, reach out to your VIPs to set the expectations over this period so there is no disappointment if you are unavailable.
Communicate your closure periods in the lead up to, as well as during, the close down period - You can do this by sending out an email or newsletter to your client database, turning on your out office on your emails and social media messaging, updating your social media channels as well as your service hours on your Google My Business listing.
Automate as much as you can – For those tasks that you know are coming up at the same time each month try and automate these before you go on holiday. Use social media and invoice schedulers.
Set work boundaries – If there is “must do” work that needs attention while you are away, try and set clear boundaries for dealing with these. For example, you might set aside an hour in the evening to deal with any issues from the day then leave your phone, so you are not tempted to check it again. Or you could get up early and complete any urgent tasks first thing, allowing you to enjoy the rest of the day ahead. Whatever your strategy, try and implement one so you still get to enjoy your time off.
Prepare in advance – Review your calendar two weeks before your break and plan to get the important tasks ticked off before your holiday break starts.
Hire a Virtual Assistant - who works through the holidays to filter your calls and emails meaning only the urgent ones get pushed through to you for actioning while all others still get acknowledged.
Here are some really interesting articles to read over the holidays - you can even sign up and get regular newsletters with helpful and interesting advice.
Holiday advice for business owners
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Have you seen the latest Business Transformation Webinars available through Inland Revenue?
In October Inland Revenue released their webinar series to help you understand what has changed in 2021. If you haven't had time to check them out, why not enjoy the updates over the holidays. Less distraction and more attention makes a winning learning environment.
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Why is having a professional LinkedIn profile and photo so important?
LinkedIn has become the social networking platform for professionals and business alike giving an excellent opportunity to showcase yourself, your brand, your areas of expertise, highlighting what you can offer to others and providing an easy way to build your connections – in a digital platform! LinkedIn also offers the ability to stay up to date with the latest news in your industry, connect with likeminded individuals and share updates about your business, team or what you are working on.
Your profile creates a first impression for a potential connection well before you even speak to them! It’s your first chance to convey what you are about and crucial to getting prospective clients to engage with you. Ensure your profile clearly conveys your messaging while being concise and understandable, no-one wants to read through scripts of information to decipher who you are and what you are about.
Make your profile work harder for you by using the tools on the platform to their full advantage – update your profile regularly with complete and accurate information, share news stories and blog posts on your areas of expertise that encourage others engage with you, post original content to highlight your own style and knowledge.
One of the most crucial elements in your profile is actually your profile picture - we all know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but in the age of increased social media use, increased frequency of working from home and more meetings being held on zoom, often a profile picture is our sole opportunity to make a strong visual first impression to those checking us out before having the chance to meet in person.
It is all about your personal marketing, and like it or not, people will make an impression based on your photo. LinkedIn statistics show that members with a photo receive far more engagement than those without - 36 times more likely to receive a message, 21 times more profile views and 9 times more connection requests.
Here are our top tips for setting up an exceptional and professional LinkedIn profile and getting the exposure:
- Ensure your photo is appropriate for your personal brand and vibe
- Pick a photo that is recent and reflects how you look on a daily basis
- Use a good quality image – the ideal size for LinkedIn profile pictures are 400 x 400 pixels.
- Be the only person in the picture
- Aim for a soft, natural background and avoid loud, bold colours behind you.
If you are unsure of how to utilise LinkedIn to its full capacity look into hiring a consultant or a LinkedIn makeover service to guide you through the setup, the do’s and don’ts and get you on your way to enhancing your profile power!
Top Tip: If you are updating your LinkedIn profile, update your ATAINZ profile at the same time.
16 EPIC things to do in Queenstown March 2022
Queenstown is without a doubt New Zealand’s most popular tourist destination and we are lucky to be having our 2022 conference there.
While you are in the area, why not put aside some time to try some of the awesome and epic things to do there! There are a lot of attractions and activities right in the heart of downtown Queenstown (or Queenstown town center.) These are things you can likely do right from your hotel without having to arrange transport at all! These are activities that make Queenstown the lively little bustling town that it is!
Here are our top 16 ideas on things you can do.
1. Ride the gondola to Bob’s Peak
2. Hop on Hop Off Wine Tour
3. Explore the Queenstown Gardens
4. Drink local craft beer with your mates
5. Drink at an Ice Bar - what an experience
6. Eat pizza at Queenstown’s oldest restaurant
7. Go outside your comfort zone and ride the Luge
8. Hop on a harness and go bungy jumping - there is no thrill quite like it
9. If jumping off a bridge is a bit too much, why not try indoor skydiving
10. Soak with a view at Onsen Hot Pools
11. Become a tourist in your own backyard and check out the Lord of the Rings Tour
12. Ever wanted to try Ice Skating? Well now you can at the local Ice Arena
13. Check out the Kiwi Birdlife park
14. Want to see everything from a birds eye view? Why not take a helicopter trip
15. Take it all in from the water with a sunset cruise
16. Most Importantly attend the ATAINZ 2022 Conference!!
There are only a handful of spaces available to attend Conference 2022, so do not miss out and register now!
Why not make the most of being in this beautiful destination. We look forward to seeing you there.
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Reigniting Your Passion
2021 has unquestionably been a challenging year for everybody with so many obstacles cropping up around every corner from redundancies or job insecurities to families separated by borders to home-schooling our children for weeks on end.
The burnout and fatigue has started to appear in many areas of our lives as we battle the stresses that have come with this year and ever so slowly the spark and passion could start, or already be, dwindling. As we move closer to the holidays and new year, we wanted to share some tips on how to revitalise your passion heading into 2022:
Find and develop what you are passionate about
What do you love to do? What do you dream of doing? Do you have a favourite hobby that you could turn into a career? Have you had to give that up to settle into a 9–5 job to make ends meet? If you’re unsure of what you want or have varied interests in several areas, consider taking a careers or aptitude test. Once you’ve identified your passion, spend time working on how you are going to pursue it.
Drill down to the root cause of your burnout
It’s easy to just so “I’m so stressed”, “I’m so burnt out” without taking the time to reflect on the WHY behind you being burnout. Once you can identify the cause of the stress you can start to investigate HOW to resolve the stress and reignite your passion!
Evaluate your progress
Regular check ins against your goals will allow you to get an early glimpse into whether the goals you’ve set are reasonable and driving you to achieve your passion, or, if they need to be altered and tweaked!
And most importantly..
Take care of yourself
It’s hard for anyone to keep up with what they enjoy doing if they are in poor health or experiencing prolonged periods of stress or fatigue.
Stress is known to deplete the resources in your body, weakens your immune system and eventually manifests itself in physical illnesses and mental breakdowns – finding an outlet outside of work to practice self-care is an integral step to revitalising your passion.
Self-care presents in many forms and can be as something as small as decluttering your workspace to as large as heading to the gym on your lunchbreaks to clear your head. Whatever your method ensure you schedule it into your day, so it doesn’t get missed.
Check out this interesting article on mental health support for small businesses.
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Christmas Deliciousness
To help us get into the festive season of spirits we wanted to share some easy but brilliant recipes and ideas for your upcoming Christmas and social events.
Love Eggnog? Why not try this delicious recipe by clicking here
Perhaps baking is more your thing? Try these absolutely yummy Gingerbread Cookies or Shortbread - they make lovely Christmas gifts also!
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Work in Progress Update - AML / CFT
We prepared a submission regarding the AML/CFT review. The contents of the submission came from members through various feedback channels including Facebook, email and the Zoom meeting held by Richard and Amie. The main point of concern for members was the questions raised in the review regarding the possibility of having the preparation of accounts and tax returns an AML captured activity.
Our members did not believe that making this a captured activity would result in an increase in detection of AML/CFT activity, therefore, the inclusion of this in the AML/CFT act would be of no benefit. Thank you to the members who provided feedback. The submission will be available for viewing on the ATAINZ website in due course.
New Look & Feel ATAINZ Website
Your Christmas gift will be launched 27.1.2022. Get those professional photos done and ready for uplift 2022!
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MYOB
Strategi
TMNZ
