SAMANTHA Reece describes herself as a “tough love Oprah”.
“I say it how it is,” she said.
“I’ve had 10 staff, I ran a business for 12 years and had my two children through that time – I know what it’s like to sometimes get up in the morning and go ‘do I have to?’.”
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READ NOWBut she said winning in business was about the grind and the discipline.
“You can do something in your business but if you don’t have the discipline and you don’t repeat that discipline day in and day out, you will not be successful,” she said.
Ms Reece was in Joondalup this morning to speak about how marketing can boost business success.
The director of Catalyst to Success was the keynote speaker at the City of Joondalup’s first business breakfast forum of the year, which changed locations to the West Perth Football Club’s function centre at HBF Arena, catering for about 100 people.
Ms Reece has run her own business representing national brands and creating marketing strategies, business plans and coaching for clients, regularly talks about small business on radio and has published the self-help book Boost your company’s profits – A practical guide to smart marketing.
“So often I meet business owners who are desperate for increased revenue and profit and yet they are not doing anything tangible to create these results,” she said.
“This forum not only touched on the key aspects that can help a business boost its profits but also sought to activate these business owners’ motivation levels.
“If you want something different from your business then you have to do something different to achieve this.”
The forum also discussed some of the results from the City’s recent Business Needs Survey, which Mayor Albert Jacob said attracted 570 responses.
“These responses have helped the City to re-focus our priorities on those that support the local business community, as well as helping us to better understand the needs of our local businesses and also to inform our future activities in helping to meet those needs,” he said.
He said the recently approved Joondalup Activity Centre Plan had an objective to grow employment in the Joondalup city centre from 18,500 jobs to 45,000 jobs by 2050.
“The latest ABS census data shows job growth of almost 1,500 per annum within the City of Joondalup between 2011 and 2016,” he said.
“Jobs growth in the Joondalup city centre alone is currently increasing at about 740 jobs per annum, which shows we are on track to achieve our employment target for the city centre.”
He said this would include the State Government’s Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, which will bring more than 800 public servants to the Primewest building in Joondalup early next year.
“Celebrating the 20th anniversary of our establishment as a City on July 1, Joondalup has come a long way in a relatively short period of time and has ambitious plans for the future prosperity and sustainability of our City,” he said.
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