Articles by matjnewton

Federal Court Ruling

A seven year old boy was at the centre of a courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him.

The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible.

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him.

After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Essendon Football Club , whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

I think billboards are a general waste of money, most especially for websites.

But I’ve had an interesting thought.

The Australian outdoor advertising market has been depressed lately. Because of this I’ve noticed that some billboards are staying up for a very long time. There’s one outside Caulfield station for the Melbourne Storm which has been up for a few years now.

There’s also a tram going around Melbourne with a fading ad for G Star, a clothing brand. Whole tram advertising is obviously not that popular, and rather than spending the money removing the ad Connex have just waited for new money to come along.

I can understand why some don’t like the idea of their ad fading and looking, well, crap. If you can find a billboard that is changed semi-regularly maybe you’d be on to something.

This is from Peter Aldin, a life-coach and someone who I esteem greatly. Great Circle specialises in helping people interact more effectively with the people they lead, with their families, with their colleagues and partners.

Knowing and doing are two different things.

E.g. You may know that fuel injected engines require your fuel level to stay above quarter tank. How often do you let the level dip below that?

E.g. You know men and women are different. How intentionally you act on the information?

E.g. And you probably know the basic premise of sales/marketing that says “discover your customers and then offer a way to relieve it.” But how are you acting on that premise?

People don’t part with their hard earned dollar for the hell of it or because they think you are funny or smart or smell nice. They will pay for goods and services that satisfy the need.

This need could be simple, subtle or serious.

Simple:

• I’m hungry, where can I eat?
• I need to dress–to–impress at my big job interview.
• I’m bored with the music I already own.

Subtle:

• I wish I could get more done.
• I don’t feel at home in this job.
• People don’t seem to take me seriously.

Serious:

• My finances are a mess!
• My business partner and I are having more and more conflict. If this goes on, the whole thing could unravel.

 

And if you can find a way to uncover this and address it, then you will have gotten to first base. Once again, knowing and doing are different things. The next post will look at one way to do this in ordinary conversations with new contacts.