Business Skills Advisors

Alan Halford is a business and management consultant specialising in working with small and medium size business. He works with you identifying opportunities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your business.

Alan is a consultant to Indigenous Business Australia®, where he uses his unique business and mentoring skills to help Aboriginal businesses reach their full potential.

Alan is also a nationally accredited mediator and knows that mediation is a cost effective method for resolving conflict in business and community.

Alison Hilton has a wide range of marketing and HR skills spanning industries including Recruitment, Mining and Government. With a focus on specific marketing areas including social networking, customer/ client relationships and sponsorship Alison is also able to assist small businesses with more traditional forms of marketing. Alison is a passionate communicator and provides support to small business in boosting their relationships with customers, staff and clients through sound strategy advice and execution.

Annelies is a business owner, advisor and a certified personal and business coach. She has a strong background in marketing, business planning and environmental issues. Annelies helps companies build and improve their business and raise environmental awareness within their organisation. Experience has shown that even small actions can reduce the impact on the environment, cut cost to businesses and can be translated into a positive marketing message.

Annelies assists with developing and implementing sustainability values and strategies in businesses in order to reduce their environmental impact whilst enhancing competitiveness. Apart from building her own business, Annelies has had an extensive career within government and industry working with both large and small businesses to implement environmental requirements and encourage the adoption of sustainable practices.

Vinnie has over 20 years experience as Manager and Director, and has successfully managed small, medium and publicly listed organizations in Australia and overseas. His career spans from metal, manufacturing, mining, finance, export, domestic retail, warehousing & distribution.

In addition to his qualifications in Mechanical Engineering (MIE Aust), MBA, and Company Directorship (GAICD), Vinnie brings a strong passion for coaching and mentoring entrepreneurs, along with his experience in commercial-critical areas such as revenue, finance, risk management, HR, warehousing, distribution and operations management.

He has helped to develop successful entrepreneurs through identifying their opportunities for business development, strategically guiding them towards devising innovative business solutions, and facilitating continuous improvements in their businesses.

Becky has accumulated over 18 years of experience across many industry sectors. As the owner and Principle Marketing Consultant of a marketing consultancy Becky has assisted many start-up and growth businesses with a wide range of marketing advise and expertise. Her strengths lie in developing marketing plans and strategies for businesses and then assisting with the implementation of marketing projects across the entire marketing mix, including; brand development, brochures and flyers, advertising and websites.

Through her own marketing consultancy Becky assists many small businesses in adopting a consistent and methodical approach to marketing which provides the businesses with real results in the growth of their business. This experience means she can apply her skills and experience in marketing to a diverse range of clients across all industries, focusing on all aspects of marketing.

Cliff has in excess of 20 years experience in the areas of Management and Performance of employees, Contracts of Employment, Occupational Health and Safety, Industrial Relations and Compliance with all Workplace Laws.

He currently operates his own consulting business, providing specialised advice and solutions to the business community. Cliff is also an accredited consultant for the Thinksafe Worksafe small business program.

Cliff’s objective is to increase business profitability by maximising the performance of your people.

Colin is an experienced Business Coach and mentor with over 20 years experience in management in the public sector, private sector and not for profit organisations as a General Manager and CEO as well as business owner. He has worked in a broad range of industries including telecommunications, education and training, building and maintenance, community and elite sport, meat and livestock, logistics and wholesale hydraulics.
Colin’s experience covers companies with turnover from $100k to $25m, in occupations ranging from store-man to CEO and he has seen many examples of what works and what doesn’t work in a range of environments. What this means is that Colin has seen and applied the winning formula in many differing situations and he is keen to share this with you.
His passions are football and family (not necessarily in that order) and one big thing he has learnt after working 24/7 for many years is the importance and rewards of achieving a work/life balance.
Colin’s involvement in business coaching stems from his work in elite sport and his own successful experiences using a business coach. This has left him in no doubt that everyone and every business can enhance and fast track their success with the assistance of an experienced and well supported coach or mentor.

Denise Lyon is the Principal of Legendary Life Development and Training. She is a Master Life Development Practitioner in HNLP (Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Programming). For the past 15 years Denise has worked intentionally with her community as a motivational trainer to encourage innovative education and training.

Working across diverse government and non government departments that work with clients seeking employment, overcoming barriers to employment, recruiting and designing work ready programs, her Tertiary, business and community services qualifications have been utilised to the benefit of both clients and stakeholders.

Denise has proven success in enabling others personal growth and business education, through training and individual tailored coaching. Her seminars include ground breaking insight into human behaviour.

Her goal is to enhance self esteem, increase self empowerment and promote independence in her clients.

Fay has been an entrepreneur since she was in her early twenties, founding several successful enterprises and now she shares her business and marketing savvy through coaching and consulting with clients from around the world. She is committed to her own continuing education and has participated in some of the most prestigious and rigorous marketing and business training programs available today.

Fay specialises in helping entrepreneurial service professionals and small business owners get more clients and exponentially increase their profits so that they can live their dreams and achieve the business and lifestyle success they deserve.

In addition to her business training and experience, Fay is also certified as a NLP Master Practitioner and Trainer and is also a Master of Hypnosis – a claim not just anyone can make.

Fay is experienced in wealth creation through both the share market and as a property investor. She supports her husband as a coach and mentor to folks wishing to create a personal property portfolio.

In addition, she has qualifications as a Master Coach, Business Performance Consultant, Certified in Presentation Skills, Diploma in Beauty Therapy, Wellness Consultant and Fitness Instructor. An avid athlete, she has also trained and competed in numerous triathlons, including the grueling and demanding Half-Ironman.

Fay lives and works in Western Australia from her office overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Fay’s passion: To educate and inspire people into transforming their business and create their dream lifestyle.

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Glynn has a wide range of experience in mentoring and a strong background in business and finance that combines well with his flair for marketing and entrepreneurship. He has worked with a range of businesses, from sole operators to large national and multi-national companies.

Following a trade background in instrumentation and control systems, Glynn went on to complete degrees in computer based information systems and business administration, and has taught in technical colleges in the UK.

He is a demonstrated achiever with a broad base of business knowledge and skills that hve been developed in a range of industries across local, national and international markets. He has extensive IT knowledge, including excellent familiarity with information systems and business software packages.

James spent over 25 years running his own service based electronics businesses. After realising this field wasn’t  what he really wanted to do he embarked on a career shifting path which, among other things, saw him coaching soccer full-time at international level before finally deciding to find an income working on a passion of his, human behaviour.

He gained certification in Life and Business Coaching from Results Coaching Systems and worked with a leading Registered Training Organisation as a Business Development Manager and Course Coach. He is also a Master Distributor for Harrison Assessments, a work based online profiling system used for recruitment and development.

He started recruitment coaching for small to medium businesses as a result of using these assessments with his coaching clients and through this realised that many business owners know little about how to find good people in a more effective and objective way.

Jenny Parker is a woman of the world. She has had many adventures in her quest to find the beauty within self and others; including riding across the Nullarbor on a bike (the stark, treeless plain between Perth and Adelaide in South Western Australia) and sailing half-way around the world on a yacht.

For most of her working life, Jenny has been self-employed; having established a successful design business in London, England, that within less than 2 years, became recognised for its high quality products and service, whilst also establishing an international clientele. Similarly since being back in Australia (for the past 11 years), Jenny has run a successful lifestyle and health business; as a Mentor, Teacher, Writer and Inspirational Speaker.

As a successful business owner, with over 25 year’s experience, Jenny knows the value of ‘how to’ get the right balance between marketing, business development and strategic thinking, when it comes to running a business. She believes any business can succeed if, you know how to:

• sell and market your products and services
• delegate (what and when)
• provide exceptional customer relationship experiences
• create unique value propositions with value add services and products

With an Advance Diploma of Management in (Social) Entrepreneurial Leadership and as a nationally accredited Mentor and Coach, the combination of which, support Jenny’s strengths to transform businesses through the individuals that own and/or lead them.Jenny’s passion for mentoring and coaching, translates into assisting people to prosper, regardless of what field of business they are in. She facilitates individuals to be the best they can be, to succeed; by helping them build stronger relationships with themselves first, then translate that into how they relate to clients (by acquiring new and retaining existing ones).

Kerrin is a Business Improvement Specialist with the past 15 years devoted to achieving ‘best practice’ in industries such as counter terrorism, earthworks, civil construction and mining.  He offers an impartial, external view of your business and will listen to you and work with you on a broad range of issues including marketing, budgeting, human resources, financial performance and systems and procedures.

With a Bachelor of Commerce and a management accounting background, Kerrin’s forte is stress testing the financial statements.  Improvements are achieved by measuring and managing key performance indicators such as sales, cost of goods sold, overheads, creditors, debtors and stock as well as conducting ‘what if’ and ‘breakeven’ scenarios.

Kerrin also has a strong passion for business improvements through developing positive and proactive team cultures.  He brings his unique knowledge and experiences to encourage and work with business owners to harness the thoughts and ideas of their most valuable asset, their employees.

A seasoned problem solver, Kerrin approaches all challenges with a positive approach and a lateral thinking skill-set to ensure successful and profitable outcomes are achieved.

Leonie is an experienced marketing and tourism professional. From 1995-2008 she was manager of the Perth Mint’s retail, tourism and visitor services.

In addition to the development of new experiences at the Mint, Leonie’s efforts in adding value to trade and consumer fairs, working with wholesalers and inbound operators to identify new product and business opportunities, and developing industry partnerships have all resulted in the Perth Mint being recognised as an multi-award winning tourist attraction.

Prior to this, Leonie owned both wholesale and manufacturing companies, and has also created a retail franchise that earned her a finalist spot in the inaugural WA Business Woman of the Year Awards. The many skills that she brings to small business include expertise in the development of sales and marketing strategies, assessment and strategic planning, marketing, and staff management.

In 2008 she established The Tourism Project Company to assist organisations to develop effective, efficient, innovative and profitable tourism and retail businesses.

Liz Flatters is a small business owner with a strong marketing background and skills in business development and strategic thinking. She has had many years experience on the boards and committees of business groups, government and not-for-profit organisations.

Liz has a Master of Business Administration and a background in sales, direct sales and marketing. Her strengths lie in business development, marketing and promotion, strategic planning, and customer relationship management.

Her goal is to assist business people to become more successful by helping them to build stronger relationships with their existing clients and by better promoting their products and services.

Maarten is an experienced business mentor, trainer, manager and owner who has a background in retail, wholesale and business advisory sectors. With over 25 years experience in running and consulting to small businesses in the automotive, engineering, FMCG, hospitality and marine sectors, he has hands-on experience and understanding of the challenges associated in running a small business.

With a Diploma of Business and a Cert lV in Training and Assessment, he has assisted numerous businesses with sales and marketing, systems development, human resource programs and electronic marketing and management. His strengths lie in identifying business performance issues and working with owners to implement business profitability and efficiency strategies.

Maarten’s passion is to use his wealth of experience as a business coach to help business owners and their businesses to be the best they can possibly be, and he looks forward to assisting business owners in the Southwest of WA.

Melissa’s key business strengths lie in her skills as an entrepenueur , innovator and creative marketer. Having  owned and operated a number of businesses in the areas of retail, tourism and hospitality she has emphathy and excellent communication skills. Working at corporate level she also understands the relationships and contractual obligations of a business owner in the highly competitive business arena.

Melissa has worked in both regional WA , Perth CBD and suburban shopping precincts with business people across a broad spectrum from supermarkets to high end fashion.

Her personal passion is food and that has led to mentoring of businesses in food manufacturing, restaurants, export produce, branding and events management.

Michael has a 40+ year career in the Banking and Finance sector within the Perth metropolitan and country regions of WA. His experience spans the whole gamut of the banking/finance industry. General Banking, Treasury/Funds Management, Corporate/Commercial Banking, Credit Control and Loans Management are all areas of which he has intimate knowledge.

For the past 11 years, Michael has been operating his own consultancy business with a view to assisting viable businesses. His focus has been on business planning, financial forecasting, cash flow management and mentoring/coaching aspects.

The numerous industries with which Michael has intimate knowledge include:

• Retailing
• Manufacturing
• Horticulture and nursery
• Mine site rehabilitation
• Earthmoving
• Landscaping
• Transport
• General contracting
• Cafes and restaurants
• Accounting and bookkeeping services
• Building contractors
• Training
• School bus contracting

Michael’s passion is to equip business owners via skills transfer to enable them to advance their business, become more profitable in their venture and to assist in ensuring that good corporate governance and prudent business management practice is maintained.

Philip is a highly experienced Lean and Six Sigma professional, with many years in senior management and training roles.

He is dedicated to the principles of quality, continuous improvement and customer satisfaction. Philip also guest lecturer at many universities and specializes in strategic management, quality systems, new product development and marketing.

Companies planning on implementing lean business system as a culture change program can rely on Philip to show the way and pass on his significant experience – both at the shop floor and strategic management levels.

A freelance marketing consultant, copywriter, industry trainer and ebook writer, Sherryn partners with entrepreneurial business owners planning to increase their profits through planned marketing activities.

Her knowledge is drawn from 25 years managing state branches for national/multinational corporations and consultancies from market research, mining equipment and electrical consumer goods – to philanthropic marketing, arts administration and community partnership brokering.

She works in two distinct markets.  With small business owners running out of time and energy to market themselves, and with SME’s ready to outsource their marketing to avoid the overheads of a marketing manager.

Since establishing her consultancy in 2001, Sherryn also delivers marketing workshops/mentors on Curtin University’s Centre For Entrepreneurship Unit Growth Programs and the SBDC’s BiZFiT Program, and served on the executive committee of the Melville Cockburn Chamber of Commerce for 2 terms.

With a series of marketing CDs and Ebooks available online, she also presents DIY marketing workshops 3 times a year in Perth and prepares a free monthly newsletter full of simple marketing ideas for time poor business owners.

Recently named one of 20 entrepreneurial women in AIM’s Management Today Magazine, she has been featured in the West Australian Business News, is a published  “Success Story” on the SBDC’s website and was recognized as a “Woman of the Year 2010” with the Women in Business WA Network.

Sue is an accountant who has had extensive experience owning, managing and accounting in a variety of small businesses in regional and remote areas.
Sue has a wide range of practical accounting and business skills including financial forecasting, budgeting and strategic planning. This includes the development of business proposals from concept to start up, business planning, facilitation of financial proposals and applications, business management training and providing business licensing and business registration advice. Sue also delivers mentoring services and training in business management including MYOB, QuickBooks and other accounting and forecasting software packages.

Sue specialises in the areas of Accounting, Business/Strategic planning, Workplace Training and Human Resource Management. She is looking forward to working with you in your business environment.

Tracy Teo is an seasoned business owner, manager and consultant who offers over 15 years of business management and consultancy experience, primarily in the child care and education sectors, both in Australia and overseas.

With number of formal qualifications, including a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and a Master of Training and Development, coupled with her extensive business experience, Tracy is a popular speaker at national and international conferences and particularly enjoys this aspect of her career as she feels it helps her give back to the business community by sharing her experiences, insights and observations. This willingness to ‘give back’ is a key factor in her decision to offer her services as a business mentor.

Tracy is passionate about supporting her local business community and the general community at large, and feels that her hands-on experiences of establishing and running her own small business and her strategic business knowledge and consultancy experience, can assist other business owners with ideas and strategies that will allow them to reach their full business potential. Tracy looks forward to working with her business colleagues to achieve their goals and objectives as part of the business mentor program.

Trish is an experienced small business owner, starting her first consulting company in 1980. Since then Trish has founded and run a number of successful business ventures in IT and Business Consulting, wealth creation, network marketing, event management, online retailing, online membership, education delivery; and web site marketing and development.

She is a systems specialist who excels at looking at issues and creating order from chaos. As an IT and business consultant she designed and implemented financial management systems for organisations in the construction and building products industries, for both small and large companies including: Sigma Pharmaceuticals, Boral, Wesfi, Cullity Timbers and Factors WA . She has also implemented maintenance management systems for mining companies: Kaltails, WA Mineral Sands, Forrestania Mines, Greenbushes Tin, and large scale manufacturers of building products: Boral Contracting, as well as bulk grain handlers and transport divisions of bulk building product suppliers: Boral Transport, Boral Tyres,.

Trish enjoys helping people to define their goals, both personal and business, and then facilitating the process to put the steps in place to achieve them. She has attended a wide variety of personal development courses which has allowed her to set goals, define processes required to achieve them and create a lifestyle that involves working from home (with a view of the Southern Ocean) or from a virtual office when she is travelling. As well as owning her own web site development and marketing business, Trish also invests in and develops property, manages her own share portfolio and actively participates in a small investing group.

She has professional skills and training in town planning and has recently completed a postgraduate degree in law. She is an avid fan of the QuickBooks software suite, having been a Quicken Accredited trainer for 5 years and a user of the product since 1996. Trish is a project manager and risk manager, with skills and experience in a variety of situations during her professional career and has recently completed further training in both of these areas. She is convinced that training and education provides the edge for business success and is the factor which will create the advantage and leverage to enable your business to succeed. Her company, Virtual Synchronicity has recently won the 2010 Albany Chamber of Commerce and Industry Runner Up for the Small Business Development Corporation Home Based Business Award.

Trish also volunteers as a Board member for a number of not-for-profit agencies and is a paid advocate for mental health consumers.

Of Swiss origin, Ulrich Kunzmann has had some 30 years of extensive experience as a Senior General Manager within the international hotel and hospitality industries.

Ulrich has been awarded “Best Hotel” in both Malaysia and at the Burswood Resort Hotel, and he was involved in the opening of a number of major properties.

The job of a successful Hotel General Manager ranges from a great amount of “attention to details”, to the establishment and implementation of major strategic goals. An intimate knowledge of the function of all the various departments and their fluent cooperation and integration are also important.

Additionally, and among many more appointments, Ulrich was the Vice Chairman of the Western Australian Tourism Council, and he has served as a judge for both the “Gold Plate Awards” and the “WA Tourism Awards” on many occasions.

He looks forward to sharing his vast experience with you.

Working in partnership with inspirational business leaders, Vesna is passionate about creating business strategies that foster ‘best employer’ cultures that attract, retain and engage the best fit employee talent.

In her capacity as a business Adviser, Vesna mentors business owners and entrepreneurs in how to implement sustainable and socially innovative strategic ‘people and culture’ initiatives that deliver a real point of difference to your ‘brand’.

Vesna can assist you in ‘how to’:

• bring your brand to life
• create a ‘values and people’ centric culture
• engage the diversity of your employees (including the Gen Y, Gen X etc.,)
• add ‘brand’ value by creating a more sustainable and social responsibility business
• improve (triple bottom line) business efficiency that’s good for profits, people and the planet

Vesna’s approach is creatively intuitive and strategically holistic by nature, whilst grounded in over 18 years of foundational skills and experience across disciplines such as organisational development, cultural change, human resources, learning and development, employee engagement, talent management, executive coaching, (corporate) social and environmental responsibility and (social) entrepreneurial leadership.

Currently Vesna is completing her Masters in Social Ecology and a Diploma of Sustainability. She is a member of the Insight Foundation, Pachamama Alliance (Be the Change, Change the Dream Symposium), Women’s Business Network (WA), Society of Sustainable Business and Alliance for Sustainable Wellbeing.