Ho ho ho… yes, it’s that time of year again!

Don’t know where you’re reading this but it’s December in Auckland and the weather is wonderful – long hot days and warm nights – I’m definetly in my happy place. Roll on Xmas, New Year and summer holidays – can’t wait to be out on the boat soaking it all up!

As usual the end of the year seems to come at us at great speed, no sooner is it October than the ‘Xmas’ talk seems to start and people seem to be getting prepared and starting their wind up so much earlier.

I’ve got to that time of year again, where the plans for the next year are being put in place and I’m getting excited and already looking forward to getting stuck back in to Venus post my summer break.

So what have I been up to since you heard from me?

Over the last month I’ve spent a lot of hours on Zoom, and out and about, POWER RAVEing with members – and I’m loving it! So wonderful to learn about so many of you personally and get a good understanding of your business. Lots of ideas swirling around, lots of opportunities and suggestions and lots of help and introductions provided. Sometimes the difficulty knowing so many of you is knowing that you don’t know one another – I see opportunity and possibility everywhere for our members – you just need to get to know one another!

If anyone wants to book a POWER RAVE and have a business development session with me I’m only to happy to help as much as I can – drop me an email. I generally do these on a Tuesday, as I also need to get to meetings and get other stuff done as well!

I’m very happy to report that over the last month we’ve managed to integrate our Membership system with Xero. What does this mean for you as a member? In the past you got a reminder out of our system a month before your membership was up for renewal, followed by a call from your Regional Manager, who then processed whatever you wanted to do.

Moving forward you will get a reminder with an invoice one month out. Your Regional Manager will still ring and check in with you to see how things are going, and if you want to change your term (it will be based on your previous term) and then voila – off we go!.

As a lot of you renew it was a way of making things easier all round, cutting down some paperwork and making sure Xero was as up to date as possible. We have requirements to provide information to the Charities Commission and Board on a regular basis so now instead of bringing that together from three sources we can get it all out of Xero!

Loyalty Plan and Payment Plan are still extremely popular with one and all and as they are also being managed via Xero, they can again ensure we reflect financial accuracy!

Venus Training Academy

Venus Business Essentials went live on 6 November and… WOW… what an amazing response we’ve had – THANK YOU!

Venus Business Essentials is all about the foundations you need to have in place to run your business. We’ve put this together to help you with your business plans, sales plans, marketing plans and financial plans – what’s the saying ‘failing to plan is like planning to fail! This programme is great to take yourself through whether you are either starting a business or even if you’ve been running a business for a while. It’s amazing how sometimes we get so involved in our businesses we ‘can’t see the woods for the trees’. Our businesses are continually changing constantly so revision is a pretty good business development strategy!

Our introductory offer is now over but it is still really good value at $97.00 for Venus members and to non Venus @ $147.00.

Jen Myers, our Venus Academy Manager and I are finalising workshops and programmes (i.e., sorting dates/venue’s etc) and will have that calendar out to you shortly. Anyone who I’ve POWER RAVED with I’ll also be in touch with personally in the New Year.

Venus Academy workshops are $195 for those on 6 month memberships and $162.50 to those on twelve month memberships. ($325 for non members).

If you are keen to look any workshops or programmes get in touch and we’ll work out a payment plan for you to ensure you can do exactly what you want/need to do, as well as manage your $!

We also have our Growth Programme kicking off in March and our Business Management kicking off May/June – if you’re interested in either of those and want to find out more information get in touch J

Remember, the best investment you can make is in yourself!

Venus Networking

Well it’s that time of year again. We’ll all be taking a wee bit of a break, but it’s also a great time to review and plan, when the pressure is off, the phone isn’t ringing and your email has hopefully gone quiet. Venus Summer School will be winging it’s way to your inboxes every Monday in January starting 6 January.

It is brand spankly newly rewritten and consists four modules that will help you review the year that was, and plan for the year ahead. Jen Myers, our Academy Manager, features in the video’s talking about each of the modules and there is a FB page for you to join and share if you so wish. Here’s the link : https://www.facebook.com/groups/VenusSummerSchool/

Have you done a networking plan for 2020? what do you want to achieve from your networking? Put a plan together – you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve! Remember we’re here to help and to facilitate as much as we can, use us. We want to support your business growth and development as much as we possibly can.

If you haven’t done a POWER RAVE and/or a networking plan with and need some help drop us an email and let’s get one sorted. No point in re-inventing the wheel!

Think about who you can collaborate with in the new year, who do you want to be introduced to, who would you like to meet, what sort of professions do you work alongside.

Think also about visiting other groups and RAVEing outside your group.

Think of your group like your house, it’s where you live and know people the best. It’s a good idea however sometimes to step outside your comfort zone, go outside the front door and in to the big wide world – you never know what you’ll find!

For those of you who haven’t participated yet Power Hour and Member Success workshops continue to be popular – this is a great way to network with the wider network. We also run these via Zoom so it’s a great introduction to others, from the comfort of your own home/computer, outside your group and possibly even your region.

You are also more than welcome to join the Venus Virtual group as a guest – this group meets once a month via Zoom.

Free Month

October and November have been really busy for us with lots of guests registering and lots of new faces in Venus. Feb-April will see a repea, it’s is a really busy time for us. If you know anyone who is thinking of joining get them to register to make sure they don’t miss out on the spot/group they are wanting for the new year.

We want to grow the network for everyone’s benefit. Think about the women you do business with, the women you work alongside, how about inviting them along?  The more of us that there are, the more we can support, encourage and motivate one another, step up and run amazing businesses. You and your business will benefit from the community as it grows in the form of a month added to your membership,p to thank you for the referral, when they join.

Inspiring Business Women

Why be the best kept secret in business – we want the world to know you exist!

Inspiring Business Women is a way to promote yourself and your business to the wider network. We feature these each Wednesday on all our social media (FB regional and national pages. Instagram and Linked In), they get good attention from members and members of the public alike.
By filling one of these out you run the risk of being seen by potential clients or businesses that you could collaborate with.

Fill in the link and tell us all about you and your business!

And finally…

On behalf of the whole Venus Management team I want to wish one and all a very Merry Xmas and a happy New Year.

I want to take this opportunity to personally thank you for the contribution you’ve made to Venus,  during 2019. I love seeing you supporting one another and seeing your businesses grow and develop – it’s the magic ingredient! You are what makes Venus special, and what makes the work I do so worthwhile. The dream for me was to have a community of women working together for everyone’s benefit, tick – all I want to do now is grow our community, so we can help more women in business.

How can you help? Whether you’ve been in Venus 5 minutes or 5 years you have something unique to contribute to this community – you. Your continued support of Venus as a member is exactly what we need to help us help whomever we can. The skillset, business and life experience each of us brings is what is important and what helps. If you know a woman who is running a business that she wants to grow and develop she needs to get involved in Venus.

Support us –  tell everyone who will listen about our wonderful community, invite them to get involved. By doing that you’re not only helping Venus, you’re helping yourself.

Once again thank you, Merry Xmas and here’s to us all rocking 2020 BIGTIME!

Carolyn

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