The Power of 100 Book

In the book 100 women each contribute a single chapter providing stories on how to stay focused on your dreams. The women come from all over the world and all walks of life. The women all have moved from their distinct backgrounds into business women and entrepreneurs and in all types of businesses from pet sitter to psychotherapist, from photojournalist to fertility specialist and may have gained a Phd through formal education or just have been schooled in the University of Life. What I particularly like is that each story is only a few pages long so I can read a chapter quickly as a short breaker between jobs.

In the book The Power of 100 each contributing author has included action steps that anyone can replicate. In addition they have provided free bonuses that you can take advantage of including e-books, audios, discount vouchers and even a free 1/2 hour massage (if you happen to live or visit the right place). There’s more useful content in this book than in many expensive training programs and courses. What’s more, you can get a totally free e-book version.

The author list is impressive, of course I know one intimately having been married to her for 20 year, I know of quite a few of them and have met several in my travels. I have included the author list at the end of this post. Whether you know them or not they all have something useful to contribute.

I really enjoyed what I have read so far in The Power of 100. It is styled so you can read right through or just pick a chapter a day at random to give you some motivation. These are real women with real stories and the book makes a great gift to give to a loved one, especially if you feel they could do with a little inspiring pick-me-up!

So why not get your free copy today, or if you would rather you can purchase the printed version from Amazon.

Author List

Janet Beckers: Life Cycle of a Dream with Wings
Aishah Macgill: The New Age Bookshop - The Electronic Bookstore
Aldwyn Altuney: The world is your oyster
Alison Filihia: Life is a journey, not a destination
Alisse Bradley: How To Easily Realize Your Infinite Potential In Business
Angie O’Shannessy: How I Stay Focused On My Dreams
Beatrice Burg: Persevering with Passion
Belinda Jackson: Combining Mindset & Marketing for Massive results!
Beverley Charles: What Your Mind Can Conceive You Can Achieve
Buzz McCarthy, PhDC: Love stops time and starts eternity. But how do we get it right?
Candice Hazeltine: Until I Left High School I Thought My Name Was “Don’t Be Stupid”
Carol Campbell: Awaken the possibility of freedom, and empowerment for the mind
Carolyn Dufton: How Franchising motivated me to create a dream lifestyle
Cassie Grant: Focusing on the love in my life
Cath Resnick: Giving Birth to a Dream
Charly Leetham: My $1 Million Dollar Debt Initiated The Realisation Of My Dream…
Cherry-Ann Carew: Follow Your North Star
Chris Georgopoulos: Keeping the vision alive.
Christine Hepburn: Leap Of Faith
Cinaea Dallinger: How to Keep Your Entrepreneurial Dreams Alive with Diamonds and Disco!
Claire McFee: Connect, connect; Give, give; Rewards, Rewards’
Clare Kyle: Work To Your Skills To Achieve True Motivation
Colleen Lording: When the “why” is big enough, the “how” takes care of itself when Selling…
Cydney O’Sullivan: Design A Life of Rich Rewards!
Dana Dunn: Big Dreams … Big Life … Living with Passion and Purpose
Dana Hughs: Career Creation 101
Daryl Grant: What are you doing to make a difference?
Dawn Z Bournand: Yes, you can!
Debbie Allen: Your Personal Mission Statement to Stay Focused
Debbie LaChusa: Illuminate The Path of Your Dreams With Clarity, Focus, and Inspired Ideas
Dee Britton: The Chicken or The Pig? It’s time to get committed!
Diana Vogel: Resistance, Confront and Staying Focused Through it All.
Eve Grace-Kelly: Discover Your Hedgehog
Fabe Keily: Keeping Your Sanity while Pursuing your Dream
Gabriela Rosa: How to Ignite Your Vision and Keep it Alive In 3 Easy Steps2
Helen Brougham: Women with Empowering Secrets
Jandra Faranda: Abundance Comes In A Rainbow Of Colors
Jane Hinchey: Passionate Pet People
Janelle Manton: Awakening the Goddess Within
Jedha Dening: ‘Fake it ’till you make it Life is a game’
Jenni Proctor: Changing My Mind: A journey from employee to entrepreneur
Jennie Harland-Khan: A fish, a tantrum and a choice
Johanna Baker-Dowdell: My Time to Shine
Trish Rock: A Song In My Heart
Wendy Moore: Time to Step Into the Real You
Zoe Routh: The Secret Weapon of “Bliss-ipline” In Manifesting Your Big Dream
From the Inside Flap
J P Miller: Your Money Personality
Judeth Wilson: How to Achieve Your Dreams with Ease and Speed
Judi Mason: Single Minded Focus
Judith Sherven, PhD: Extreme Life Extension
Julie McDonald: How could I keep my dream alive,
Kandee G: Success can be Yours
Karen Thomson: Are You Serious?
Kathleen Gage: Dream often and dream big
Katie McDonald: You Can Control Your Financial Future!
Kerrie Jeffreys: A Travelling Destiny
Kerry Weymouth: 3 Easy Steps To achieve MILESTONES
Kim Lambert: YOU Can DO Anything …
Kim Morris: Escape Of The Corporate Zombie
Kim Townsend: Awakening Awareness
Kirsty Greenshields: The Secrets to Creating Your ‘Magical Sparkle’
Kris Lafferty: Sweet T.E.A.
Kristi Sayles: Dream BIG!
Kylee Legge: Just Start and Don’t Stop!
Lee Martin: I am not a cockroach.
Lenore Miller: Death, Resilience and Success - a Vision for Living!
Linda Philip: Move Beyond Resistance to Your Path of Creation
Linky Muller: Fridge Magnets, Melodies and Mum
Lisa Robbins: Gorilla Glue Dreams
Lisa Taliga: How To Keep Your Freelance Dream Alive
Liz Raad: Letting Joy Be Your Guide
Lorrah Berg: Ask Quality Questions
Louise Brogan: Every Milli-second Makes a Difference.
Malissa Thorpe: Breakable Bones - Unbreakable Spirit
Maree Lipschitz: Feeling Fabulous, Frisky and Focused …
Margaret Ann Beth Saunders: Keeping your day simple and staying motivated and focussed
Margaret Sims: Give Up. Give In. No Way!
Marguerita Vorobioff: Unleash The Power Within
Marney Perna: Storm Survival Skills
Meg Ringrose: The Authentic You
Melinda Boyer: The Woman Entrepreneur
Melissa: Leap of Faith
Michele DeKinder-Smith: The Sweetness of Giving Dangerously
Michele PW (Pariza Wacek): 3 Simple Secrets to Stay Focused on Your Business
Michelle Marie McGrath: Self-love - would that change anything?
Nerida Osborne: Art of Adventure/ Adventure of Art
Pam Brossman: Millionaire Attitude
Pat Lynch: “When All Else Fails…”
Pat Marcello: Success Comes from Listening to Your Heart
Paula Tarrant: 4 Essential Principles For Turning Your Divine Dreams Into Everyday Reality
Rebecca Squires: Tough Questions Yield Big Results.
Ruth Thirtle: Staying Motivated - Less is More!
Samantha Leith: Finding Focus
Sandi Givens: Self-Imposed Glass Ceilings are the toughest
Sarah Buchanan-Smith: Treading Softly How to Keep Your Dreams Alive With Little Children
Shannon Bush : 3 Succulent Steps To Claim Your Goddess Status In Life And Business
Shelley Taylor-Smith : Create Your Own Champion GPS (Goal Planning System):
Sherri Mulconry : Life Begins Now
Stephanie Kathan : Feel Your Way To Success
Sue Henry : Toughen Up Princess!
Sue Murphy : Promoting my Dream and Yours
Susanne Ridolfi : Stay Focused and Keep Your Dream Alive
Suzie Cheel : The Art of Change: A Passion To Make A Difference.
Suzie Williams : Keeping it Simple
Tracey Thomson : Healthy, Wealthy & Wise
Tracy Repchuk : How to Start with the End in Mind

The new sockITz outlet combines twin USB powered charging outlets with an Australian Standard dual 240v power socket to allow charging of mobile devices under the new universal charging guidelines for mobile phones set to come in effect in 2012.

The twin USB sockets are perfect for charging current mobile phones, including iphones, ipads, ipods, other mp3 players, GPS navigation devices, cameras etc. With sockITz your device plugs straight into the USB socket on the power point and leaves the two 240V plugs free for your normal home appliances so you no longer do you need those bulky charging transformers. When not in use the ports are concealed by retractable dust covers.

The sockITz outlet is a direct replacement for the standard Australian single or double power point. It does however require a qualified electrical contractor to install it for you.

Has your household got multiple iphones or ipods? Kids always taking the chargers? Always searching for the charger? Solve the battle and replace a few of your power points with sockITz for the kitchen bench, bedside the bed, in the bathroom or office.

Twin 5V USB outputs. 1x 5V max 1A, 1 x 5V max 2A

Coming early 2012. Contact Canberra Electrician for more information.

My daughter, Rhiannon (aged 15), has been asking Santa for some Skull Candy headphones. We tried to order some from the Skull Candy website without any success. Last Friday I heard an ad on the radio for the Harvey Norman store in Fyshwick, ACT. They were going to have a head phone sale and demonstration the next day. As a dutiful “Santa Proxy” I let my daughter know and so the next day the family and I trundled off to the store.

We arrived around 11.45 am and found the store quite busy. In particular the ipod/mp3 area where the headphones were being displayed was jumping. There was a DJ pumping out the latest and there was a number Harvey Norman staff and representatives of a couple of headphone available for us to speak to.

We first spoke to someone from “Beats by Dr.Dre” who asked us what we were looking for. Rhiannon spoke about what she wanted and we determined that these headphones were well outside our budget. The nice Dr.Dre rep understood this and he was happy to tell us all about their range with no expectation of a sale. He then introduced us to a Harvey Norman staff member named Richard. He told Richard what we were looking for and what Rhiannon had spoken about.

Richard then took us over to the Sennheiser rep to look at their range. Richard and the Sennheiser rep both took time to listen carefully to Rhiannon’s requirement. They mentioned that should we purchase a set of Sennheiser headphones over $100 we would go into a draw for a set of Sennheiser earbuds. I flippantly remarked that if we won them I would cut one ear phone off for my use (as I am completely deaf in one ear). Rhiannon continued talking to with the Sennheiser rep in order to choose which set of headphones she wanted Santa to bring.

While we made our final deliberations, Richard and the Sennheiser rep conspired to provide us a bonus. As we chose the headset to buy Richard handed us a set of Sennheiser earbuds that had been brought in by the rep, saying they were a set for Dad to cut-up (I have always wanted a high quality mono set of earbuds). This was certainly a suprise and really made the experience we had as a family at Harvey Norman Fyshwick far exceed our expectations.

I would like to thank Harvey Norman Fyshwick, and in particular Richard who provided such great service and advice for the experience. Santa knows exactly what Rhiannon wants (if she continues to be nice), I finally get to have a quality mono experience (if my wife’s desire for the free earbuds does not supersede mine) and we all left the store happy. Congratulations Richard and Harvey Norman Fyshwick.

As a last hoorah on the theme of an ex-EzyDVD franchisee I decided to see how many bricks and mortar stores still exist. I was not particularly surprised to find that there are now only 10 stores left. So in the two years since the original franchisor went broke 48 stores have shut. Very sad for those other franchisees who have lost out.

Anyway this is my last post on EzyDVD.

Since I got out of EzyDVD I have completed my electrical apprenticeship in just 3 years, wining “CIT Most Outstanding 3rd Year apprentice” in 2010 (CIT - Canberra Institute of Technology) and run my own electrical company, AES Technology. We are an electrical company with a green bent, specialising in Solar PV and energy efficient LED lighting.

So, the new focus of this blog will be more along the lines of current happening in my life rather that all that baggage. I hope you find future posts of interest.

Looking through the “Visit our Stores” section I counted only 18 Bricks and Mortar stores left. 17 of these are Franchisee owned and only 1 is company owned. When EzyDVD went into receivership last December there were 58 stores including 32 owned by Franchisees. So what has happened to all the stores?

15 stores that were franchised in December 2008 are either closed completely as is in Canberra, or have jumped ship to another Franchise Chain. In my post of January 10, 2009 I speculated that a buyer of the EzyDVD chain may have been more interested in the online arm of the business that the physical stores and a nearly 70% reduction in the number of stores would tend to support that thought.

I hope for the sake of the Franchisees that they have been picked up another franchise group, as if they folded due to lack of profitability then they may be in a world of hurt.

Bidding starts at just 99 cents so get in quick. Auction Ends 8 PM 11 March 2009

I spoke to a friend who lives over near Belconnen and they said that the store there closed down last Wednesday. It seems they closed for Stocktake and then took the stock. There was no closing down sale as far as I can tell so it looks like the franchisee just packed up and left.

The franchisee in question has, as far as I know, a couple of stores in South Australia, maybe one in Victoria. I wonder if they are still operating.

According to reports, EzyDVD went into receivership with debts of $18 million. According to Ferrier Hodgson’s Press Release, “the group purchased the EzyDVD brand and online business, the franchise network, as
well as stock, plant and equipment and 11 company-owned EzyDVD stores.” Other reports say that FEG paid $10 million for the assets of EzyDVD. This would appear to leave a $8 million hole yet to be filled.

While EzyDVD was under the receivers control, people who had EzyDVD Gift Cards were told to lodge a claim with the receiver and that they would be listed with other unsecured creditors. I think that with the $8 million deficit unsecured creditors would have little chance of seeing their money back via that avenue.

So where is the money that customers paid for the Gift Cards with? To answer this we need to look at how the gift voucher systems work. When we opened our EzyDVD stores in 2003 there was no plastic “Gift Card” system for EzyDVD. What we had in stead was a gift voucher system that was printed off and recorded at the point of sale (POS) terminal in store.

What this means is that when a customer bought a gift voucher from us say for $100 we banked the money in our (franchisee) bank account. The amount of the gift card was shown as a liability in our accounting records. When the gift voucher was used in store at a later date, the voucher was recorded on our POS as a payment and the liability in our accounts system was removed. What was good for us at the time was that the gift vouchers (like the current “Gift Cards” had an expiry date. Inevitably a percentage of Gift Cards purchased were never redeemed. This meant that when the gift card expired we (the franchisee) kept the money. (The expiry period was 12 months from purchase, but generally gave customers 12 months grace)

This process is common amongst businesses and it is possible for unredeemed gift vouchers to be worth several thousand dollars per year. Free money for their franchisees… not on their game plan… Introducing the EzyDVD Gift Card.

The EzyDVD Gift Card system is similar to the multitude of Gift Card systems available today. What they are designed to do is remove the ability of a franchisee to make a bit of extra profit from unredeemed Gift Cards and put that money in the pocket of the Franchisor. These Gift Card systems are usually operated by a third party company. The Gift Card in most respects is the same as a debit card. When a customer buys a Gift Card the money is deposited in a special account to be held until the gift card is used or the card expires (12 months from the date of purchase). When the Gift Card is used, the money is taken out of this account. The EzyDVD Franchisee does not have the money paid to them for the purchase of the Gift Card.

So how much is this worth to a Franchisor? Let’s say that each store sells $1000 a week in gift cards. That is $52,000 a year. Let’s say 5% of gift cards are lost or otherwise not redeemed, $2,600 per store. At the time of going into receivership EzyDVD had 58 stores in the chain… 58 x $2,600 = $150,800

Of course this example could be wide of the mark, but you can see why a franchisor may want to operate a gift Card System this way. Now let’s consider FEG position on the EzyDVD Gift Cards. Say each store sold $1,500 per week in gift cards in the 3 weeks up to the receiver halting the sale and redemption of the cards, and that none of these cards were redeemed. 3 x 58 x $1,500 = $261,000. This is a substantial amount of money to come up with little hope of getting the money back. But is it a small amount to pay to win back all those disgruntled EzyDVD customers? And if they chose not to honour the Gift Cards, how will those customers feel about EzyDVD’s new stable mates, Video Ezy and Blockbuster?

It looks like 15 of the 26 company owned stores that were open at the time EzyDVD went into receivership have closed or soon will be. The remaining 11 company owned stores will move over to the Franchise Entertainment Group who manage the Blockbuster and VideoEzy groups. As for the 32 franchised stores, there seems to be no news announced regarding the mechanics of the transfer and how it will affect them.

The article goes on to say that the EzyDVD warehouse in South Australia will close with the loss of about 30 jobs. I would speculate that the EzyDVD online sales machine will continue to operate as before, and it would seem that the Franchise Entertainment Group will not in the short term alter the operation of the bricks and mortar stores. I do wonder, however, what will happen longer term. At Tuggeranong Hyperdome, where one of the EzyDVD stores that I owned is located, there is a Blockbuster store in the same centre. It will be interesting to see how the stores will maintain difference in sale offerings as one would expect the purchase prices offered to the “two brands” will be the same.

I also wonder how the current EzyDVD franchisees have fared over the last month or so since the announcement that EzyDVD was in receivership. I spoke with a friend the other day who shop regularly at EzyDVD and he said that some stores were not taking Sales Orders or Lay-Bys With all the issues like these along with the impact of EzyDVD Gift Cards not being honoured this must have had a detrimental impact on customer good-will towards the stores.

Anecdotally, I have heard that customer patronage and hence sales in some EzyDVD stores has dropped off. As it happens we are now approaching a very quiet time in the DVD sales front. My experience of sales in the weeks leading up to “Back-to-School” time is that they are dismal. Despite the large amount of money my wife and I lost in our time as EzyDVD Franchisees I do not envy any current franchisees. At least when we made the decision to bail out in 2007 there was someone to buy us out, even for the pittance they paid. I would imagine the any franchisee who goes under now may have a much harder time of it.

What ever happens now, I wish them luck.

Even if a buyer has been found, this does not mean smooth sailing for those franchisees. As it seems that some of the losses incurred by EzyDVD were due to poorly performing Bricks and Mortar stores, it is possible that a buyer could buy the company just for the online arm of the business. If this is the case the buyer may not honour existing franchise agreements. So buyer or not - what now for the EzyDVD franchisees?

It is likely that the franchisees do not have the capacity to put together the type of back-end support system that is required to run a business of this nature. It is certainly unlikely that they have the capacity to go it alone as independent DVD retailers, particularly as they are all in major shopping centres. The overheads required to come to terms with up to 100 or more new releases per month, as well as scores of promotions across multiple suppliers would be crippling.

If the franchisees are left high and dry by these events their only real solution is to get on board with another franchisor. This presents a difficulty however, in that there is no other DVD only retail chain in Australia. Signing up with another franchisor may cause conflicts with their current lease terms. Our leases stated that the Use of the Store was for retail sales of DVDs. This would on face value exclude the inclusion of selling CDs, or changing the store to a sales and rental model.

Another issue with moving to a new franchisor is re-branding the stores. While they may be able to continue for a while with their current fit-out, in time complete a full refit to the new chains format wouild be required. This is a very expensive exercise. Not only would the franchisees have to cease trade for the refit time (or trade from a temporary location) they have to pay for the removal of the old fit-out, and design and installation of the new. This process would take two weeks or more and could easily cost in excess of $200,000.

This is certainly not a position I would like to be in, especially if I was one of the people who bought their franchises in the last 12 months or so.