Community and Guest blogs – We invite other specialists to write content for us that we know will help our community to learn and grow.

New Collaborative Opportunities

With our office move becoming public, I was excited to be asked to do an interview with Leisa from Dot Dash Events, as part of their Tide Talks series.
It gave me another opportunity to let more people know where we are heading off to, and what services I will be able to spend my time offering once we move.

All of us who are moving into the Mt Carmel Centre are looking forward to see what new collaborative opportunities it will create for all of our businesses.

Check out the full interview here on their website, have a read of the previous blogs and chats. Maybe even see if you’d like to feature in their future interviews!

Balance the Grind is on a mission to create a work-life balance hub focused on conversations, ideas and community.

Publishing conversations with people from different careers and lifestyles; from startup founders to CEOs, entrepreneurs to independent musicians, designers to software developers, and plenty more.
Work-life balance, work-life integration, work-life harmony; whatever you want to call it, Balance the Grind believes that work should (mostly) be calm, healthy and sustainable over the long-term.

Our Community Manager, Celia Newlands, featured alongside the many inspirational stories on their website.
Read Celia’s interview in full below, and check out some of the other amazing stories of those making flexible work a reality around the world!

https://www.balancethegrind.com.au/interviews/celia-newlands-community-manager-at-central-business-associates/

Bayside Business of the Month

I was delighted to receive the inaugural Bayside Business of the Month award last month from our local Member, Joan Pease!
Recognition for contributing to my community is really the icing on the cake. I love what I do. I thoroughly enjoy helping people to collaborate and grow their businesses. And I am so grateful to have found a strong, friendly, growing community to work within.

Joane Pease award July 2016

Hi Lorraine – Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to talk to me!
Delighted to have you as one of our first Associate Members after your company did some amazing work designing our logo, and also creating the Central Business Associates website! I am keen to find out more about your business, and let people know what motivates you. So let’s start by asking some questions about your business –

Q1: Business Name?
LORRAINE: Tinson IT Business Solutions

Q2: Your name, and position in the business?
LORRAINE: Lorraine Tinson, Director

Q3: Describe your product or service.
LORRAINE: We’re all about websites! As an online marketing and web design agency, we focus on helping businesses with commercial clients to be found by THEIR ideal clients so that they can rapidly grow their revenue.

Q4: If you had to describe your business in 3 words, what would they be?
LORRAINE: Websites and SEO

Q5: What’s new in your business at the moment?
LORRAINE: Things move fast in the digital world, and it seems to be moving faster all the time. Website designs are big and bold. Tiles are in – think Windows 8 – which also inspires another design trend – flat. Flat is minimalistic, clean and 2 dimensional – say goodbye to drop shadows. In SEO, it’s all about content and things have been very busy with ‘Mobilegeddon’.

Q6: Why do you do what you do? What made you start, and motivates you to continue with, your business?
LORRAINE: We love helping businesses navigate the world of website design and SEO. The technical side of websites and SEO can seem like rocket science, we love working with businesses to understand what they want from their website and then develop a solution that will help them meet their goals.

Q7: Where’s your favourite local place for coffee, tea, or your favourite tipple?
LORRAINE: We are so lucky to have some really great coffee shops around, it’s hard to choose. Jimbo’s and Manly Cafe are always high on my list.

Q8: You’ve forgotten your partners/mothers/BFFs birthday – where’s your ‘go-to’ place that you can guarantee a successful purchase?
LORRAINE: Jenny McNamara Furlong @ Jmac-art, my go-to lady more and more. Jenny has some wonderful ideas, buying artwork doesn’t need to cost a fortune.

Q9: What was your main reason for signing up with Central Business Associates? What does it mean to you?
LORRAINE: There is a great sense of community in our area and there are so many small businesses, it’s great to be part of something that brings these businesses together.

Lorraine, thank you so much for chatting to me today – it’s great to find out some more about your business, and I look forward to finding ways we can collaborate and help each other out in the future!