Hello again and Welcome to May!
It’s Autumn, the days are getting shorter and indoor plant stock is at its peak in terms of quality but perhaps not availability. I am sure this isn’t news to most of you. Winter doesn’t seem far away, certainly in the cool crisp Melbourne mornings and indoor plant stock will soon slow down, so a great time to be renovating jobs.
With Capital cities all open and most offices back to some kind of normal, the demand for interior plantscaping seems to be greater than it was throughout 2019 – our industry continues to grow for those of us already established and also the number of new interior plantscaping businesses seems to be growing as I look around every week at new ‘plant people’, throughout the city. Some will succeed, creating a niche, others will fail as is the fate of small businesses.
For IPA Members how do we ensure that we capture the growth in new business and avoid the statistical chances of business failure? Predictably I believe that strength in numbers through our Association, lobbying and assistance we can provide members, all help to create success over failure.
Your Management Committee is actively looking at practicable ways to help that make being a member of the association a benefit rather than a cost, albeit a tax deductible cost. The more I talk to Members the more I see how already they work together, sharing information, lending an ear and offering the benefit of their experience so the same mistakes aren’t made over and over again. The Association can play a role in connecting Members, providing educational and practical opportunities and even advice, at least on where or how to find the information we all need to run successful businesses in today’s landscape.
The Associations Accreditation scheme, as well as an excellent marketing opportunity to differentiate your business, like all quality assurance schemes, helps you to look at processes, policies and the general running of a business, helping you plan to succeed. I urge any member wanting to take the next step to talk to our CEO Elaine Tunn about the process and benefits.
Your Management Committee is looking to some new initiatives to help Member businesses, including a ‘Mentoring Program’ to help solve problems that have been solved before, just by someone else and the production of generalized ‘Fact Sheets’ to assist Member with issues as varied as Green Accreditation programs and job safety. As always we need your direct feedback to ensure we are looking at services that are relevant, not just what we think are relevant, so if you are reading this please take the time to offer at least one suggestion to your Association.
Until next month……….
Enjoy the crisp mornings and sunny days while they last!
IPA President 2021
Cameron Iddles
(M) 0418543312
info@interiorplantscape.asn.au