B2B relationships can often be fleeting, even transient. But not at VIPS International – the business is continuing to go from strength to strength, with an impressive history of client retention. 

The Australian company boasts big-name clients including retail household names Estee Lauder, Nestle, Sportsgirl and Sussan, who have all been partnering with VIPS International for at least a decade.

Since taking over the company in the 1990s, executive director Douglas Dick has turned the business around, expanding to South Africa and New Zealand in recent years.

A crucial element to the success of any business is to ensure your team stays engaged and driven to achieve. Without good people, you will likely have no business. You need to be on top of your game!

Incorporating the franchises Mr. Whippy, Cold Rock, Pretzel World and Nut Shack, the Franchised Food Company CEO’s experience across business in general and the franchise sector in particular, is extensive. Stan has a deep appreciation for the challenges with which employers can be faced in providing and maintaining a desirable workplace for staff.

The savvy South African born, Australian entrepreneur offers these top tips on how to get the best out of your employees, and reminds us that most of the time… it’s the little things that count.

When Principal Partners decided to become a stand-alone business, it was to enable them to follow their own charter of independence. Jonathan Jackson speaks with Matthew Morley about how this independence allows the company to really get to know their clients’ personal and financial needs.

Approximately 18 months ago, BDO Wealth Management made the decision to separate itself from its parent BDO. This Victorian-based business was moving in a different direction, with a more holistic range of services and a rounded way of looking at client management.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves - Lao Tzu

Good leadership equates to empowerment and this is what Daryl Wright achieves each time he goes into a business to effect change. He has been doing it for some time now and he’s learnt a great deal about leadership, management and business improvement. In fact, business performance improvement has been the motivating force throughout Daryl’s career. “I did my CA in South Africa and while we all know that business is driven by numbers, real results come through a variety of management factors,” Daryl says.

Eric Bailey is a man who knows about having obstacles in life.  Now a global success, entrepreneur and businessman he never forgets what he had to overcome to escape the harsh poverty he faced as a child on the streets of South Central Los Angeles.

In fact, he now spends his time travelling Australia and the globe, teaching, encouraging and inspiring those he meets about how to handle the challenges we all face in life.

I woke up this morning at 3.30am and could not stop thinking. My brain was on overload. All I could think about was business.

Expanding a business internationally is not exactly the easiest task to undertake. It requires a lot more work than you think and some serious planning.

When a person has a big business goal, it can be all-consuming. It's a 24 hour, 7 day a week gig. And when you put that sort of effort into something, you are looking for one hell-of-a-return. I know I am!

Most entrepreneurs think about the end goal. What is it that they are trying to achieve. Then they work back from there. What steps need to be taken to achieve this goal.

To me, this is the norm, but what sets one successful person apart from the run-of-the-mill entrepreneur can often come down to a set of traits. So, what traits make a successful entrepreneur?