Tennis legend Martina Navratilova, when asked about her winning ways, said "it doesn't really matter how well you are playing when you are playing well, what matters is how you are playing when you are playing badly”

I liked this.

Keeping up enthusiasm, fabulous customer service, being nice to employees, getting through the daily dross. We can’t be on fire all the time.

I think the difference between a good business and a less-than business is not about our moments of brilliance but in keeping up our (high) standards when morale is low.

I’m reading a book called Nudge. It’s by two economists (but don’t let that put you off). There’s lots of good stuff in the book but my fave so far are these:

 - We are all hopeless at filling in forms. Not because we are stupid, or the forms are hard to complete, but because it is boring and we are procrastinators. Yes!

 - More often than not the ‘default’ selection on a tick-the-boxes choice type thing is actually the best alternative.

I was amazed at this. My natural skepticism had led me to always pick something other than the default option. I have forever thought that the default option was the rip-off option. Seems I was wrong!

The examples in the book are about complicated stuff like choosing superannuation plans, mortgages, health insurance and the like. So I’m not saying you should blithely accept the default option but maybe don’t completely disregard it either.

Last week in the space of 12 hours I went to three very different meet-people events.

The first was a morning tea to raise money for cancer research. Scones, smoked salmon sarnies, tea in china cups, a raffle. We all donated prizes, we all won something and we all had a ball. Came away having definitely made new friendly contacts.

The second was a library book club. I went to talk about How to Bake a Business. The book club wasn’t really a “club” so to speak but rather a group of kitchen table tycoons who saw the event advertised. They didn’t already know each other but within minutes of meeting they were chatting animatedly, exchanging stories, swapping cards and having fun.

The third event was a cocktail-style-do billed as a networking event. It was awful. Friends who had arrived together remained in their huddle. Those foolish enough to arrive on their own were greeted with a mixture of suspicion and disdain. The guest speaker spoke for five minutes about absolutely nothing, while the event host spoke for twenty minutes mostly about herself.

Daily Juice: If you want to meet people don’t go to a networking event. Go instead to an event that has a purpose (a charity thing, an educational conference).  It’s heaps more fun and you will most definitely meet more people.

PS: Guess which of the three was also the most expensive event by far….

The idea of course is to grow a business that can manage without you, a business that at the very least let’s you go off and enjoy a holiday.  The aim should probably be a bit higher than that; how about a business that runs itself so that you can enjoy the fruits of your business...or at least take time off to have a baby.

That’s what Emma Isaacs, Chief Chick at Business Chicks has achieved. She’s built the processes, employed the right people, delegated authority…and had the baby.

Eight days after her daughter was born Business Chicks hosted an event for over 900 people. Emma was able to just turn up and enjoyed it. ( A little aside… if you haven’t been to a Business Chicks event yet do go…great fun and great people).

Don't let your business stop you from doing something that you want to do...like having a family, a holiday or a few hours off. Manage your business, don't be a martyr to it

Daily Juice: what are you doing to help your business manage without you?

PS: a tip from the former US president Ronald Reagan….Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere!

This idea is not my own, but belongs to Seth Godin (if you don’t know Seth check his blog out here: fabulous). I have borrowed the idea and I love it. You will too.

Keep a scrapbook (the real paper version) and keep it as a record of growing your business. I keep clippings from the media, invites to events, thoughts and notes in mine. If nothing else it is lovely to flick back through to get a sense of how far you have come and the highs and lows.

Daily juice: scrapbook your business

I love Jo Malone. I’m a Pomegranate Noir/ Lime and Basil girl.  Jo Malone is expensive and my guess is that the sad economy is doing them absolutely no favours.

The other day I received an email from them headlined “Enhanced delivery options and reduced standard delivery” The title is a bit of a mouthful and the email is not the most exciting I have ever received, but it’s a good example of what to do with your pricing.

If you are going to do a discount, discount delivery, add-ons and incidentals but don’t discount your product. Discounting makes your product cheap, not desirable.

“Now let me rebook you, shall we say five weeks?”

“I usually do six”

“Yes” said George holding the mirror up so I could see the back of my head “but I’m thinking your hair is in need of a spot of love, I’m thinking five weeks max….”

“I was actually thinking of pushing it back to seven…” I said lamely

The hairdresser is a great reflector of the economy. In tough times he wants you to visit more often; you want to visit him less often.

I know George is a bit pushy – a trait I usually can’t abide - but he knows how to appeal to my vanity. I’m a blonde, I’m high maintenance, and I’m back in 5 weeks.

The daily juice: what are you doing to get your customer back quickly?

If you happened to glance at a list of Kitchen Table Tycoon businesses one thing would leap out at you. The number of “baby businesses”.

We women often start businesses that cater for babies and children, probably because many of us are immersed in babies and children when we start our businesses. In fact isn’t it true that many Kitchen Table Tycoons start businesses from home so that they can earn some money, have some fun and look after children at the same time?

But is the baby business a good business to be in?

Yes according to IBIS world (they are the statistics guys). Not only are sales of baby products expected to reach a whopping $3.9 billion this year  - you only need a tiny sliver of that to have a healthy business – but also the baby-business seems to be steadfastly ignoring the Global Financial crisis.

And why is the baby-business booming? Well we just keep on having babies! And because many of us are older (30 is deemed so old when it comes to having babies…..) we –apparently -have more money to spend on our precious little darlings.

But of course the baby-business is only a good business to be in if you have a good business. We Mums are discerning. We know crap when we see it!

In my work I get to have cups of coffee with lots of people; and I love it. But like most people I’m pretty busy so, even though I would like to, I can’t spend my days idly chatting.

When I organise a coffee with someone I like to have pre-thought about something they can help me with and something I can help them with. It’s often not something very big, maybe I can intro them to a useful contact, maybe they can help me get perspective on an annoying little problem.

Whatever, I think a modicum of pre-thought shows respect for time; mine and theirs.

So this week I was alarmed to find myself in two coffee-catch ups that seemed completely purposeless. Yes it was nice to catch up but having trekked half way across town for a 10:30am cappuccino at the request of my coffee buddy I thought it was a little bit less-than when they were stunned into silence by the question “So what can I help you with?”

In case you are wondering (especially the consultants among you), I don’t ask the question so that I can sell something, I ask the question so that I can help with something. After all if there is nothing I can help with why are we getting together?

So if you find yourself on the business-coffee-circuit, make it useful, ask and answer the question “What can I can help you with”

One hundred years ago women spent 58 hours a week on household chores. Although it feels like we still do, apparently we spend something more in the region of 18.

Thank goodness for the vacuum cleaner (1913) the washing machine (1916) the freezer (1947) and the microwave (1973)!

But it’s not just that we don’t have to get down on our hands and knees to broom the floor or suffer from red-chaffed hands from doing the washing. No. These appliances actually changed the options available to women; they freed us up to go out to work. (see how neatly we spend 40 hours less a week doing household chores…methinks we spend that 40 hours at work).

And that’s the beauty of technology. It can replace the dull repetitive jobs to give us the space to work on more interesting things.

Thinking about your business: what is the number one/two repetitive time consuming job that you would like to get rid of? Now go and Google it. You will be amazed, someone somewhere has probably automated it.  Often this technology is cheap and its pay-as-you-go. Wouldn’t you rather be spending your time on the fun stuff, the important stuff, the stuff that will grow your business than business equivalent of washing the clothes?

Daily Juice: find a washing machine for your business