It was pouring rain but I made it to the venue on time. Hot coffee and a very friendly group of people were gathering in the ‘Red room’ of course.

Jo Hassan, the Coach, was ready for us… to give us 2 thrilling days on how to get a life, in the real sense of the word.

The process is well written out, the examples given during the course are very practical. There is a fair bit of interaction and sharing experiences and morning tea , lunch and afternoon tea are coming around just when you are ready to have them!

Just check the news indicators, and decide for yourself.

• Retail sales down in Australia, Europe and USA
• Interest rates are highest in over a decade.
• Share market falling, NAB, ANZ, Suncorp
• Property values continuing to fall.
• Kelvin.Davis's blog
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• by Kelvin.Davis

Tim Ferriss has trouble defining what he does for a living. Depending on when you ask this controversial Princeton University guest lecturer, he might answer: 'I race motorcycles in Europe', 'I ski in the Andes', 'I scuba dive in Panama', 'I dance tango in Buenos Aires'. He has spent more than five years learning the secrets of the 'New Rich', a fast-growing subculture that has abandoned the 'deferred-life plan' and instead mastered the new currencies - time and mobility - to create a new way of living. Why wait a lifetime for your retirement when you can enjoy luxury now?

Once again the biggest concern for Australian businesses in the new year, is locating and retaining staff.

A survey by Hudson recruitment firm of 7000 employers found 44 per cent of Australian employers believe staff retention & development will be their top priority again during 2008. While this challenge has remained the number one issue for four years, it now encompasses even more businesses.

The second major challenge, according to the survey, is attracting suitable candidates, rising from 15% in 2004 to 29% of employers for 2008.

Businesses often place themselves at risk of losing control if they outsource the wrong skills.

A new study commissioned by LogicaCMG, has reinforced the fundamental approach of retaining "key skills" and competencies in their "in-house teams" while outsourcing lower level tasks. The study titled "Building Core Retained Capabilities" was prepared by Leslie Willcocks, professor of technology, work and globalisation at the London School of Economics. http://www.logicacmg.com/

The research identifies patterns of organisations that prioritise short term cost reductions with a resulting number of outsourcing projects losing control with inadequate service, and constant renegotiation due to a lack of strong internal leadership and project management.

As organisations integrate Nearshoring & outsourcing methodologies into their business plans, retaining key skills in-house they achieve a strategic competitive advantage.

If you need to employ a person your choices have increased!

Knowledge is power so read now to learn your options.

The number of Australian migration visa options has changed from two (2) to ten (10).

Due to the high demand for these forms, fact sheets and your business choices, we have provided the documents within this blog together with a simple explanation of each form. Reference the Australian Government Immigration Web Site. for more details and references.

Thankyou to everyone that attended the presentations. It was great to meet you.

A special thankyou to all those who helped us get organised and ready for the presentations. It was a learning experiance for the team and myself.

This was the first time that,

• Greymouse Education presented at an event and
• Greymouse released the Nearshore services to the business community

It was a special moment for the Greymouse team and one we shall remember.

The beginning of the twenty-first century will be remembered, Friedman argues, not for military conflicts or political events, but for a whole new age of globalization - a 'flattening' of the world.

The explosion of advanced technologies now means that suddenly knowledge pools and resources have connected all over the planet, levelling the playing field as never before, so that each of us is potentially an equal - and competitor - of the other.

In business you need to be aware of the changes happening around the world and how it can impact your business.

Sometimes these changes create opportunities and other times it closes the window of opportunity.

Changes can come from a range of areas, just consider;

• Political and legal changes (including government policy changes)
• Social, attitudinal and demographic changes
• Macroeconomic changes (state of the economy)
• Technological developments (constant change)
• Global market changes (global shift and internet delivery)
• Environment changes (climate change - eg, lack of water)

These areas can often overlap and changes in one area can often have ramifications in other areas.

Are you looking for oursourcing success with a win-win result?

Want to know the secrets to successfully outsource a task?

The fear and uncertainty with changes can scare almost anyone creating a nightmarish picture of possible outcomes. I have seen these feelings including, scared of loosing employment, business closing, tears or worse ... relationship failures from the perceived collapse.