| Hibiscusmatters 4 March 201510

1a/20 Silverdale St, Silverdale Ph 09 4274672

www.theaccountsdepartment.co.nz

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PO Box 308 001, ManlyWhangaparaoa 0952Phone: 09 424 4684Mobile: 021 912 184Fax: 09 424 4688greg@douglasconsulting.co.nzwww.douglasconsulting.co.nz

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Orewa

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Hibiscus Matters asked some local accountants how to avoid the “end of financial year blues”.

Tips for avoiding end of Financial Year stressSteve McKinstry, HMS Group Mobile Accountant, says a little housekeeping is called for:With March upon us, now is the time to start thinking about the end of the financial year. It’s better to be prepared ahead of time so here’s a few things you can do before the end of the financial year to help minimise your next tax bill. y Now’s the time to go through and pick up everything you are legitimately entitled to claim in relation to your home office, if you have one. This includes power, rates, rent or interest on your mortgage, insurance, repairs, phone, insurance and more. You can claim a portion of these equal to the amount of your house you use for business.

y Have you been putting off painting your rental property for a few years? Do you have repairs on machinery you were planning on doing in April? If you can afford to, then now’s the time to do them. If you can bring these repairs into this current financial year, you’ll be able to reduce your next tax payment.

y If you don’t write off any bad debts

before March 31, you’ll be paying tax before you need to. So write the bad debts off now, and you’ll pay less tax this year.

y Any business, from retailers to trades people, that carry large amounts of stock will either have less stock on the shelves than they think or will have obsolete stock that needs to be thrown out. If you carry out a stock take before March 31 you’ll be able to write off this missing or obsolete stock.

Greg Douglas of Douglas Accounting in Manly Village says planning is key: y Set goals and objectives for the coming year

y Make your goals visible – write them down where you’ll see them regularly – so you can strive to achieve them

y Make the goals achievable. Set up a budget to help monitor your progress.

y Have a good accounting system to allow easy monitoring (such as Xero).

Net-working for seniorsHibiscus Coast SeniorNet is holding an Open Day on March 20 and anyone wanting to learn more about the world wide web is welcome to attend. SeniorNet offers courses and workshops to familiarise people aged 55 plus with all things related to computers, so that they feel comfortable and at ease with the technology. The Open Day takes place at SeniorNet’s headquarters at 117 Centreway Rd, Orewa, on March 20 starting at 9.30am. Info: www.seniornet-hbc.org.nz or ph 426 1509.

Hibiscusmatters 4 March 2015 | 11

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App to make life easyI don’t know about you but for me, being a business owner is a lot like being a clown in a circus, there are just so many balls to juggle. Appointments, deadlines, contracts, tasks, these balls need to be skilfully kept afloat! This ball juggling skill gets even more difficult when you have staff and/or contractors to manage as well.But I have found a solution. The days of scrolling through your last communications with staff via long email histories are now over. I have discovered an amazing online project management tool for you. It is called ASANA and it is designed for teams. Best of all, it is free.This simple yet effective design platform will help you not only set up individual projects (each project could be a client or an event, for example) but you can also set up tasks within each project. The power of this platform is you can have projects where you can invite staff or contractors to join and they only have access to that particular project. This means you can manage all your ongoing projects from running the business to working within the business.Once you have set up projects and tasks up you can then communicate with everyone who has been invited within the project. This is great if you have a business with staff who may not be in the office. Once a task is set, it sends the staff member an update to let them know a new task has been set for them.The best thing about this is it is all housed in one place and you can see the progress of all that is going on within and around your business.This Cloud based programme can sync with any device. You can have it loaded on your computer/laptop and your phone and ipad.Some of the great things you can create on ASANA are: templates for common tasks like managing clients, launching products, blog posts, handling new clients and so on. If you have a task that you know you have to do every few weeks, you can set up recurring tasks which pop up into your task list when needed. ASANA also syncs with other apps to make life easy.So if you spend a lot of time following up emails to find out where you are on a project or event, it could be well worth your while to try ASANA.

with Pauline Stockhausen pauline@socialsoup.net.nz

Digital world

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n I N T R O D U C I N G n C H A N G I N G P L AC E S

Millwater Vet Hospital St Stephen’s Second Chance Op Shop

19 Moenui Ave, Orewa same street as Countdown Phone 09 426 5407

www.orewavethospital.co.nz

Corner Bankside Road & Stables Lane, Millwater | Phone 427 9201

In the meantime – full vet services and cat boarding are available at our Orewa Clinic

MILLWATER VET HOSPITAL

MILLWATER VET HOSPITAL

Coming soon to....

Orewa Vet HOsPital

24hrs / 7days55 Karepiro Dr, Whangaparaoa | Ph 424 3717

Second chance op Shop

Furniture, household goods, clothes & books • Mon–Sat: 9.30am–4pm

Brett Finlayson, known locally as Brett the Vet, has been in the area long enough to remember the days when dairy cows were among the clientele at the Red Beach clinic where he worked in the early 1980s.He purchased the Orewa Veterinary Centre from its former owner, Ivan Fuyala, 10 years ago and has built it into a community-focused practice with a loyal customer base.The centre has a strong relationship with the charitable trust Gutter Kitties, providing vet services to cats that are rescued, rehabilitated and re-homed.“We believe that every animal deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and that is at the forefront of our work, and our relationship with Gutter Kitties,” Brett says.With rapid growth in the area, Brett decided it was time to branch out and open an additional clinic, in Millwater. The new clinic, which opens soon on the corner of Bankside Rd and Stables Lane, is called Millwater Vet Hospital.Four experienced vets will share the workload at both clinics and they are expecting to be busy – Millwater Vet Hospital will be open seven days, and the vets are also available after hours, 24/7.Millwater Vet Hospital offers a complete veterinary service, including

The success of St Stephen’s Op Shop, since it moved from Manly to Karepiro Drive four months ago, has been a pleasant surprise for the church and will enable it to support more community initiatives.The new Op Shop is light, bright and welcoming. Manager Lyn Walker says when they first moved in, she and her team thought they had plenty of space to grow, but already an increase in donations from parishioners and the wider community, has seen the store fill up.Part of the reason is the location - in what has become “op shop central” in Whangaparaoa. Lyn says the store has a supportive and cooperative relationship with the two other op shops nearby – run by Hibiscus Hospice and the Salvation Army.The other reason is the hard work of Lyn and her team of volunteers who clean and sort donations in ‘the engine room’ of the store as well as serving customers.St Stephen’s Op Shop includes a big range of clothing, from baby wear to adult plus sizes, as well as electrical goods, household items, furniture, books and haberdashery.One thing that sets this store apart, however, is a small, cosy area set aside with couches and chairs for quiet contemplation, or a chat.Reverend Ian Hardcastle says that it

Brett Finlayson

surgery, Xrays, scans and consultations.Blood tests can be taken on site, with a result taking only around 15 minutes – Brett says this is a big change from the days when test results took a few days to come back from a lab, causing an anxious wait for pet owners.Brett says that setting up the second clinic involved significant outlay, including purchasing the building in Millwater Central.“We are confident that this is worth doing and that Millwater residents will appreciate having our services close at hand,” Brett says. “We want to be part of that new community.”“One thing that really stands out about the Hibiscus Coast is the number of devoted pet owners, and the care and attention they lavish on their pets. It’s what makes being a vet in this area so satisfying.”

was important that the store was not just about raising money, but that it also provided emotional or spiritual support to anyone in need.He says that the proceeds of the Op Shop will go towards a range of projects, fulfilling needs both locally and overseas.One that has particular synergy with the Op Shop is the Job Club, an initiative of Christians Against Poverty, which supports people who are looking for work. Clothes from the store can be provided to people needing something to wear to job interviews, and Lyn also plans to offer work experience as part of the programme.Funds will also go towards new projects at St Stephens, including Messy Church, and a portion will find their way to Tanzania, where the church has an ongoing commitment to assist with building work, training and teaching.

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Reverend Ian Hardcastle and Op Shop manager Lyn Walker

Hibiscusmatters 4 March 2015 | 13

n I N T R O D U C I N G n I N T R O D U C I N G

Century 21 Northern Realty Lume

8 Moana Ave, Orewa | Ph 09 477 3601 | www.lume.co.nz

Lost your marbles to Outlook recently?Do you get angry when you want to work, but your computer set-up won’t? The Internet goes down, or slows down? The egg counter on your screen stops you doing anything? You can’t share calendars? Files corrupt? The phones aren’t ringing and its not because you don’t have any customers?

Talk to Lume about how we can keep your computers, phones and Internet running as smoothly as possible.

IT | Telecommunications | Technology | Management Services | Networks | Servers | Desktops

The natural choice for Voice and IT on The CoastNORTHERN REALTYLicensed under REAA 2008

EXPERTS IN ALL AREAS of REAL ESTATE ANd hERE To ASSIST wITh ALL of youR REAL ESTATE NEEdS whEThER SELLINg, buyINg oR PRoPERTy mANAgEmENT.

CENTuRy 21 NoRThERN REALTyShop 3, 12 Silverdale Road, SilverdaleDonna a’Beckett | 021 237 9487 | 09 426 0422

CENTuRy 21 AgENTS.SmARTER. boLdER.fASTER.www.CENTuRy21.Co.Nz/SILvERdALE

CALL uS oR PoP IN foR A fREE mARKET APPRAISAL

Each office is independantly owned and operated: Licensed under the REAA 2008

The Real Estate business is about making connections – not only between buyers and sellers, but also with other professional organisations and the community.Agents need people skills and empathy as well as a competitive streak: Century 21 Northern Realty co-owner Donna a’Beckett says listening carefully to what people say they are looking for, and then showing them something that ticks those boxes is key.It sounds easier than it is. In the current market there are a multitude of keen buyers and listings are in relatively short supply. It is therefore impressive that even before Century 21 Northern Realty opened in Silverdale St last month, its agents had several sales under their belt, as well as a number of rentals.Donna puts success in Real Estate down to hard work, networking and enjoying working with people – skills she also called upon during 11 years as a Police constable. This included a stint in Orewa, and during that time she forged strong links between the rural community in Rodney where she lived and the Hibiscus Coast and North Shore where her four children were at school.The shift to Real Estate was a leap of faith, but one that paid off. Before long, she was working for Ray White at Premier level. “People think of it as a sales job, but it’s also very community

Lume assists businesses with IT and phone systems, which places its head very much ‘in the cloud’, however at heart it is a down to earth organisation whose motto is simply ‘to help people’.Lume has been helping businesses, large and small, with their IT for around seven years and has customers all over the country. While it’s possible for a business like this to operate from home offices, owner Richard Cheeseman says opening an office in Orewa was essential – and not just because most of the five staff live on the Hibiscus Coast.“Being here has given us room to create our culture as a company,” Richard says. “The office grows Lume’s presence locally and allows for information to be shared face to face. However high tech a business is, customer service is best when you have a conversation.”This attitude of information sharing is also extended to Lume’s plans to form a technology hub. The offices in Moana Ave have room for expansion and Richard says he hopes that people such as graphic artists and web developers will consider trading a home office for a base with Lume. “We are keen to hear from anyone in the technology industry, including start ups and people finding their feet. There will be strength in numbers if we can all work from a single base.”He says most of Lume’s customers are looking to ensure the technology

Donna a’Beckett

orientated and involves helping people through what can be a difficult and stressful, as well as exciting process,” Donna says. “We make the experience as relaxing and positive as possible.”It makes things easier that among the team of five agents working with Donna is her son Andy, who is also a co-owner of the business. Extended family have also helped get the business underway.The latest technology is incorporated, including bright LED lights to illuminate property listings in the window and an interactive screen in reception where clients can research properties online. Donna says where an agent makes the difference is finding properties that come up before they even go on the web. And, of course, those people skills. “We are open to working with other agents to make sure we get properties seen by as many potential buyers as possible.”

Richard Cheeseman

they are using is fit for purpose. Some may be having problems with their email or phone systems, or looking for more affordable options than a server upgrade.Around 75 percent of Lume’s business is cloud-based, as the cloud is now all pervasive in business – Richard gives the example of programmes such as Xero, Office 365 and anti-virus services. “Email, phone and accounting systems can all be run from the cloud and accessed from your laptop or tablet.”The initial consultation often takes place over a cup of coffee and is free.Seminars and meetings are held around the oval boardroom table that Richard, who is a qualified engineer, built himself in his workshop in Army Bay.He and wife Sue do a lot of volunteer work on the Coast, and Richard says that helping people comes naturally.“Technology is what I know most about, so I use that knowledge to help people. That’s it in a nutshell.”

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