How can you:
* Bring you more freedom and fulfilment in your consulting life?
* Create new revenue streams and increase your income?

LAST CHANCE to be part of the aCE talentNET Global Consultant Study...

There are two reasons why you should take this survey.
1) To have your voice heard and ensure you get what you want from aCE talentNET
2) To save yourself the time and energy of having to do much of what you currently do solo.

We greatly appreciate your feedback. It will directly impact the creation of valuable new products/services for you. It is after all ultimately about increasing your bottomline, and how we can assist you in doing that.

It will take 15 minutes max. to complete.
The study will be available for completion until 30 November 2008.

If you, and/or colleagues, are not yet part of the aCE talentNET community, we invite you to do so by registering as a consultant via the web site.

Regards

Denise Hall
aCE talent NET | Executive Director - Business BTD MIMC
www.acetalentnet.com

How can you:
* Bring you more freedom and fulfilment in your consulting life?
* Create new revenue streams and increase your income?

Initially, by being part of the aCE talentNET Global Consultant Study...

For this inaugural annual study, we are inviting all consultants to share how aCE talentNET can continually work on new products and services to help you and your consultancy, that will not only:
* Bring you more freedom and fulfilment in your consulting life
* Create new revenue streams and increase your income
and also:
* Make you a recognized expert (or even celebrity) in your field
* Make growth, marketing and lead generation easy (and even fun)
* Build a large community of loyal fans around your brand

aCE talentNET plan to launch a number of new products and services throughout 2009.
BUT FIRST, we need your input. This will help us continue to develop products and services that will best serve your needs.

There are two reasons why you should take this survey.
1) To have your voice heard and ensure you get what you want from aCE talentNET
2) To save yourself the time and energy of having to do much of what you currently do solo.

We greatly appreciate your feedback. It will directly impact the creation of valuable new products/services for you. It is after all ultimately about increasing your bottomline, and how we can assist you in doing that.

Click here to commence...

It will take 15 minutes max. to complete.
The study will be available for completion until 30 November 2008.

If you, and/or colleagues, are not yet part of the aCE talentNET community, we invite you to do so by registering as a consultant via the web site.

Regards

Denise Hall
aCE talent NET | Executive Director - Business BTD MIMC
www.acetalentnet.com

How can you:
* Bring you more freedom and fulfilment in your consulting life?
* Create new revenue streams and increase your income?

Initially, by being part of the aCE talentNET Global Consultant Study...

For this inaugural annual study, we are inviting all consultants to share how aCE talentNET can continually work on new products and services to help you and your consultancy, that will not only:
* Bring you more freedom and fulfilment in your consulting life
* Create new revenue streams and increase your income
and also:
* Make you a recognized expert (or even celebrity) in your field
* Make growth, marketing and lead generation easy (and even fun)
* Build a large community of loyal fans around your brand

aCE talentNET plan to launch a number of new products and services throughout 2009.
BUT FIRST, we need your input. This will help us continue to develop products and services that will best serve your needs.

There are two reasons why you should take this survey.
1) To have your voice heard and ensure you get what you want from aCE talentNET
2) To save yourself the time and energy of having to do much of what you currently do solo.

We greatly appreciate your feedback. It will directly impact the creation of valuable new products/services for you. It is after all ultimately about increasing your bottomline, and how we can assist you in doing that.

Click here to commence...

It will take 15 minutes max. to complete.
The study will be available for completion until 30 November 2008.

If you, and/or colleagues, are not yet part of the aCE talentNET community, we invite you to do so by registering as a consultant via the web site.

Regards

Denise Hall
aCE talent NET | Executive Director - Business BTD MIMC
www.acetalentnet.com

as featured in the "Inspired" magazine, Autumn/Winter 2008
by Fran Molloy

For former management consultant Denise Hall, the flexibility she needed as a mum has become the key to her success; her business is based on supplying talented consultants, who work as ‘free agents,’ to organisations who need their skills for a short-term project, often in project-based fields like organisational development and training.

She channelled her inner entrepreneur and with another mum as business partner, established aCE talentNET. With her extensive experience as an international management consultant, Denise could have had her pick of top executive positions; but she felt that, as a single mum, she needed a certain level of flexibility, and that is difficult within a large corporation.

Now, she works about 25 hours a week – during school hours – and is able to earn a good income, while keeping an active role in
parenting her daughter.

“You don’t have to bust a boiler to make it work,” she says, adding that she sees many parents caught up in inefficient work settings
that waste the time they could be spending with their children.

Efficiency and responsibility are key to making her business work – and her team is not bound by office hours. “We structure our
days around what needs to be done – the work to be done is addressed rather than the hours that need to be filled.”

Technology helps to make most of Denise’s work location-independent – and she has a lot of trust and respect for her team of co-workers.

for the full article... read on

with thanks to trendwatching.com

While endlessly fantasizing about The Next Big Thing in the wondrous world of consumerism can be inspiring, execution beats everything. Which is why an easy-to-apply trend like the rising importance of perks and benefits should be on your radar this month and beyond.

Consumer infatuation with perks and privileges isn't new. For years, airlines, hotels, credit card companies and private banks have been cleverly rewarding their most valuable customers with surprises, status symbols and convenience.

But as we move towards a consumer society that’s based more on experiences, on status stories, on the ephemeral—and in which, for many, time is now the only true scarcity—expect perks and privileges to become an integral part of every B2C industry and sector.

We’ve dubbed this trend PERKONOMICS...

PERKONOMICS: A new breed of perks and privileges, added to brands' regular offerings, is satisfying consumers’ ever-growing desire for novel forms of status and/or convenience, across all industries. The benefits for brands are equally promising: from escaping commoditization, to showing empathy in turbulent times. One to have firmly on your radar in 2009.

read on...

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...
You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and
how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was
going to make it and wanted to give up, She was tired of fighting
and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one
arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with
water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil.
In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs,
and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit
and boil; without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the
carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and
placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed
it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what
you see.'

'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots.
She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the
daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell,
she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The
daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then
asked, 'What does it mean, mother?'

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same
adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot
went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being
subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The
egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its
liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its
inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique,
however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed
the water.

'Which are you?' she asked her daughter. 'When adversity knocks on
your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a
coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but
with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my
strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with
the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup,
a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened
and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I
bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot
water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water
gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like
the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and
change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and
trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another
level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a
coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to
make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope
to make you happy.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of
everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along
their way. The brightest future will always be based on a
forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of
your past failures and heartaches, whether they be personal and/or business and career.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was
smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

May we all be COFFEE!!!!!!!

Caution: Four-Day Workweek is AN Answer, Not THE Answer|
posted by Cali Yost for FastCompany.com

Everyday there’s another story extolling the virtues of the four-day workweek, or four, ten-hour days, as the answer to our energy problems. In fact, last week CNN devoted an entire segment to the Utah state government’s mandatory four-day workweek which began August 4th. Before the four-day workweek gains more steam as the answer, I want to urge caution. It is an answer, but not the answer.

The distinction is subtle but very important.

The typical problems with one-size-fits-all, four-day workweeks are already starting to crop up (see USA Today and CNN), specifically:
1) Some work probably does have to happen on Fridays
2) It’s very hard for people with dependent care responsibilities
3) It’s very hard for people who have a long commute particularly those who use public transportation.
4) The hours don’t always match when people work best which impacts productivity.
5) Finally, it’s probably not going to have that much of an impact on overall “carbon footprint.”

keep reading...

Certainly from our experience, it's not just about a prescribed four-day workweek scenario, but rather the emphasis needs to shift to a "designed" workweek, where all parties are looked after in the arrangement.

And yes, it is doable. I can cite many a working arrangement, where the focus is on "outcomes focussed" results, as opposed to the tradintional "hours worked" focus. There is many an entreprenurial mother for example who is designing her life around what needs to work for her and her family... as it should be.

Where does your working life fit in?
What changes would you like to make?

Overview
Whether independent contractors can split income with a spouse and claim business-like tax deductions has been an ongoing tax debate in Australia for many years. A Federal Court decision on 5 December last year (2007) has brought more clarity to the issues.

The Federal Court has upheld the position of the Australian Taxation Office that two independent contractors---one working through his own company and the other working through his discretionary family trust---did not pass the results test under the Personal Services Income tax laws. This means that all income earned by the two independent contractors will be taxed as if it were their personal income. They will not be able to split their incomes with their spouses or claim business-like tax deductions.

Some will claim that this is a disaster for independent contractors and for the status of independent contractors. ICA does not share this view. In fact, the Federal Court's decision is strongly consistent with the position that the ATO has taken for a long time. Those who predict tax 'disaster' for independent contractors are making comment based on outdated views of the tax laws---laws which have been changed under the PSI rules.

In fact, the Court's decision does not change access to business tax deduction for most independent contractors, nor does it alter the capacity to split income legitimately with a spouse for many independent contractors, depending on their circumstances.

The following points are relevant:

• Many tax lawyers and accountants have often argued that income can be split with a spouse by working through a company or discretionary trust structure. The ATO has always been wary of such arrangements and has made it clear that such arrangements could be subject to investigation and possible rejection.
• Tax structuring through companies and trusts has been the basis of allegations in the past that some independent contractors access tax deductions to which they would not ordinarily be entitled. These allegations were investigated by the Ralph Review around 2000.
• The Personal Services Income tax laws were introduced to address this allegation and to create some clarity for independent contractors.
• The PSI rules were largely successful in creating clarity with one exception. That exception was for company and trust structures.
• In 2006, the ATO released a ruling which stated that it would normally accept income-splitting for independent contractors structured through partnerships. It stated sensible reasons for this.
• In 2003, the ATO announced that it would conduct a test case programme through the courts in relation to company and trust arrangements. ICA supported this test case programme. The December 2007 Federal Court decision is the first outcome of the test case programme of which ICA is aware.

ICA's conclusions:

• Individuals: The case doesn't affect independent contractors who operate on an individual basis.
• Partnerships: Independent contractors who work through a partnership are unaffected and should normally be able to split income with their spouses.
• Companies/trusts: Independent contractors who work through companies or trusts need to be careful about splitting income, retaining profit and claiming many business-type tax deductions.

For more information visit www.contractworld.com.au