If you'd like to convert your personal account to a Page, click here. You can then migrate your personal page into a Business page by choising  1 of 6 options.

When you convert your personal account to a Facebook Page:

1. They transfer your current profile picture and add all your friends and subscribers as people who like your Page.

2. They'll also make your account's username the Facebook web address for your Page.
(No other content is carried over to your new Page, so be sure to save any important content before beginning your migration)

To avoid losing important content, facebook recommend taking these steps before you convert your personal account:

1. Download your profile (timeline) information. You can download a file that contains all of your sent and received messages and all of the photos and videos you’ve uploaded to Facebook.

2. Appoint a new group admin to any groups you manage. The account you’re converting will lose these admin rights during the conversion process.

Budgeting is a learned skill and one vital for life & business.  Now is the time to get honest with yourself.

If you currently eat out three nights a week and have take away coffee every day, you must include that in your current budget ( and be prepared to forgo it if you need to).

(image from 401K)

Usually a budget results in the realization you may be spending more that you earn because you might be relying on perpetual debt with credit cards or credit facilities. You must be able to manage and reduce any personal debt before embarking on your business.

Calculate the money you require to live on, then work out how you can reduce it. Try to limit your personal expenses, especially in the early stages of your business. You want to have enough money in your business for it to survive and grow!

Crunching numbers is a necessary evil!  You cannot skip this part.  Your financial research brings all of your ideas together and helps you establish whether or not your business is/will be viable.

There are three financial budgets you need to understand in the development of your business concept to test the feasibility.  They are:

• Start-up costs
• Operating or Running Costs
• Cost of Goods

These are combined into a series of spreadsheets (which you can download for free when you purchase our book):

• Balance Sheets
• Profit & Loss
• Cash Flow

As well as your business budgets, you need to have a personal budget.

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The proceeds of The Bizness Book go into further developing the Bizness Babes program.

Buy now - $24.95

As the owner of a business you are often faced with decisions - some more difficult than others.  I have always believed in meeting a tough choice head on, and making a thoughtful yet swift decision.  And, I stick with it and try not to worry once a course of action has been decided.  Second guessing wont help you.  And, repeat after me - sometimes, perfect enough is good enough.

Carolyn Creswell, Founder and Managing Director of Carmen's Fine Foods

Taken from our book, "The Bizness Book".

The proceeds of The Bizness Book go into further developing the Bizness Babes program.

Buy now - $24.95

The market is part of the Festival's Big Weekend event at Federation Square. The event will fuse interactive workshops, talks, demonstrations, artworks, exhibits, films and live performances.

Join in the celebrations and help accelerate the uptake of sustainable living.

'The Sustainable Living Festival is a manifestation of a commitment to healing our environment, a demonstration of diverse proposals for changing our behaviour and reducing the damaging impact we are having'. (Dr Moss Cass, Australia's first environment minister, SLF patron)

Market times:

Friday 17th Feb - 12pm to 8pm

Saturday 18th Feb - 10am to 6pm

Sunday 19th Feb - 10am to 5pm

One of our Bizness Babe graduates Seven Canaries are having a stall at the festival - be sure to stop past, say hi and check out what they have to offer!

REMEMBER: Turnover is Vanity, Profit is Sanity. I personally learnt this the hard way.  No way would I EVER think of going into business again without crunching the numbers first!

Here is an overview of previous financial posts, just click on the title and it will take you back to the original post.

What impacts on my setting price?

Can you compete with the competition price?  Are your customers prepared to pay the price you want to charge?  Are you charging as much as you can?

Why is forecasting so important?

It's extremely important for a business to do proper budget and forecast before developing new products.

Cash Flow

Cash flow is what is coming in and out of your business at any given time.  In a perfect world you will always want to have more cash flowing in than flowing out.

Number Crunching

Start with working out what it’s going to cost to set up and run your own business and then decide if you can make enough money out of the business based on the process you expect to be able to sell your goods or services for.

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

3. Follow the three R’s:

- Respect for self,

- Respect for others and

- Responsibility for all your actions.

4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.

7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

8. Spend some time alone every day.

9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and

think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

19. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.

20. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

There are 4 different Customer Buying Styles:

The Analytical Style

The analytical style, has a low degree of assertiveness and of emotional expression. People with this style focus on fact more than feelings. They evaluate situations objectively and gather plenty of data before making a decision. They prefer an organized work environment where they know exactly what is expected of them.

The Driver  Style

The driver working style, has a high degree of assertiveness and a low degree of emotional expression. People with this style know where they want to go and how they are going get there. They are good at managing tasks and results-oriented.

The Amiable style

The amiable style, has a low degree of assertiveness and a high degree of emotional expression. People with this style are responsive and friendly – but not necessarily forceful or direct.

The expressive style

The expressive style, has a high degree of assertiveness and a high degree of emotional expression. People with this style are outgoing and persuasive. They’re enthusiastic, friendly, and prefer to work with other people. Expressives thrive in the spotlight.

Which one are you?

Customers love and cherish businesses that treat them the way they want to be treated. They’ll even pay more to get good service. Just look at these statistics that prove the point.

• Customers spend up to 10 percent more for the same product with better service.

• A customer will tell anywhere from 9 to 12 people when he or she gets good service.

• When that customer receives poor service, he or she will tell up to 20 people!

So how well you communicate and establish relationships with your customers is the essence of customers service. This relationship doesn’t have to take a long time – it can often happen in an instant. (it certainly pays to please)

One of our Bizness Babe graduates, Signed, Sealed Delivered put together something really cute this week for their wonderful customers just to say "THANKS".  Little things like this make a HUGE difference.  Just always remember to treat the customer the way you'd like to be treated.

We've talked about Pinterest quite a lot, but they say you need to hear/read things multiple times before you actually 'hear' them!  So are you on Pinterest?

We are now on Pinterest! go check out our boards - follow us and we'll follow you back!

Not sure what you use Pinterest for?

Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard. It lets you organize and share all the ace things you find in your life.  You can browse pinboards created by other people. Browse and discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.  Every time you are on the internet you can pin things that shout out at you.  A girlfriend and I would like to open up an ice cream/coffee shop so I have created a board specifically for that called, "Our Shop". One thing I have learnt is that you just have to believe that you can make your own business - if you are passionate and are prepared to work hard - the SKY is the limit.

One of the tasks we get you to do in your first week of the course is a 'mood board'. You create your own 'mood board' by sitting on the floor with a heap of magazines, some scissors, glue and texta's. Creative visualization is SUCH A POWERFUL tool.  Pinterest makes it easy as to compile all that inspires you by making it part of your internet ritual!

We are really new to Pinterest but will be updating weekly, we would love to share with all our babes (past,present& future).  If you need an invite to join pinterest, leave us a comment and we will get onto it!

(taken from Bikram Yoga Bayside)

The Founder of The Karma Soap Company, Felicity O'Donohue is a Bizness Babe Graduate.  Her company is, The Karma Soap Company. Handmade soap made with love!

The Karma Soap Company’s Handmade soap story is a simple one. As a single Mum to two energetic boys, Felicity O’Donohue was not only looking for a work-at-home business opportunity, she also wanted to minimise the impact her business could make on the planet. After all, it was her boys who would inherit her legacy.

Felicity found the answer in goats milk soap. After dabbling in handmade soaps as Christmas gifts for family and friends, Felicity realised she’d discovered the perfect recipe for her at-home-business. With lots of research and then a little more, The Karma Soap Company was born, delivering handmade soaps that are free from additives and packed full of fresh goats milk.

1. What are the 3 key things you learnt from the BB course?

* I learnt a lot of 'names' in the course. A Lot of things i was already implementing within my business, I didn't know what it's technical name was and why i was doing it!!

* Financials was awesome, yet so scary to do. I'm a numbers gal, but wholly dooley i wanted to hide under the desk a few times.

* I also had to ask myself a lot of questions about my business and target market i hadn't even thought of, still trying to perfect that one!!

2. How did the BB course help you?

I think just being accepted into the BB course gave me an immense self confidence boost! The course helped me understand the business mindset and can now dissect things the way any business person would. The course was really the first networking event i had ever really attended. I am still in contact with all my BB's and chat to some weekly for updates. I believe if you want to 'do' something you need to surround yourself with like-minded people or your never going to get the support and encouragement you need and desire.

3. What would you say to someone who was thinking about applying to the course?

If your thinking of applying for a spot in the BB course, I'd say STOP THINKING AND GO DO IT!! It is such a valuable course and have had so many amazing opportunities arise since doing the course. Go get em' you'll love it!!

find Karma on facebook

________ The Karma Company soaps look good enough to EAT!!!____________

A working mother of 2 boys, Sky-Lee enjoys the girly change of pace from her usual hectic active lifestyle. While she never thought she would end up working within the wedding industry, it is certainly a career path that she is more than happy to follow. Who doesn't love a good wedding!

Sky-Lee shares some of her Bizness Babes experience with us:

1. What are the 3 key things you learnt from the BB course?

* I learnt that business is a funny thing, success is not instant, it is a long term commitment.

*  Accounting is not so fun.

*  Never under value your product.

2. How did the BB course help you?

BB course helped me put some creative perspective into the marketing of my business and gave me some direction for which to take my business.

3. What would you say to someone who was thinking about applying to the course?

If a person was searching for a course like this, I would not sit around and 'think' about applying, I would definitely tell them to apply because it brings a lot of insight into the business world. It is smarter to gain as much knowledge as possible before committing to something that may not be viable.

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We are now on Pinterest -- click on the P and go to our boards - follow us and we'll follow you back!

If you need an invite to join pinterest, leave us a comment and we will get onto it!

From Section One - Bizness and You

Why do you really want to go into business?

Being clear about your motivations will influence the way you set up and run your business, and will help you stay focused as your business grows.

It’s important to capture how you feel right now, as this helps you create a vision of your business. Your vision helps to form your goals and can keep you on track.

Think about where you want to be in three to five years time. Imagine what it feels like, what it looks like, how it smells and tastes. (Vision Boad/Pintrest)

Try to be as specific as possible about what will define success for you, as we are all different. The more concrete you are about your dreams, the more likely you are to succeed.

If you want to start a business to spend more time with the kids and in three years time you find yourself working 24 hours a day and growling at them, then you haven’t achieved your vision and you need to refocus your energy on making a change.

If you desire to run your business from a beach in Tahiti and the closest thing you get to Tahiti in the first five years is your screen saver, then you need to have a long hard look at your business to see if it’s ever going to get you to that beach.