Newcastle - Yesteryear

How things have changed! Easy to lose sight of how much our city and harbour foreshore has changed.

Newcastle railway station showing rail yard 31 dec 1930

newcastle railway station 13 feb 1956

Newcastle Railway Refreshment Room - interior showing staff behind counter

Newcastle railway refreshment room sleeping quarters

View of city council electricity and town hall with civic park in foreground Newcastle

You can find more at http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/ or purchase copies of photos you like there.

Surf House Bye-Bye

The end of an era.

This video by George McIntosh captures the feel of the time.




What do you think about the end of the surf house?

What do you think about the installation of parking meters?

The end of an era.

Ian's 365 Days Of Surfing Quest

Young Novacastrian Ian set himself a goal to surf for 100 consecutive days in a row. He's now almost at day 365 (May 29 2010) and here's his inspirational journey.

Fantastic effort!




Along the way, Ian:

• Wore out 2 wet suits
• Broke 8 boards
• Snapped 4 leg ropes
• Succumbed to 2 boughts of 'flu'
• Wore out 2 bicycles
• Sustained many puncture
• Was blown off bike 3 times
• Had countless cuts and injuries to his body.

What a remarkable and tenacious young man.



You can read Ian's story as it happened on his blog.

Ian's Quest Blog

Approach A Coach!

Following our regular #newcastlecoffee tweetup at Sprocket Roasters, corner of Watt & Hunter Streets Newcastle, Robert Watson and I will be staying back for a test drive of our Approach A Coach service.

On Friday we'll be available for you to come and chat with our coaches and get a taste of what working with a coach is like. Free! This 9 am - 10 am session is a test run for some sessions we'll be scheduling next week, so if you can't make it on Friday 21 May, call us and reserve a space for next week.

So tell your friends, and come along, and find out what coaching can be like. And if you can't make it at this time, contact Lindy on 0403 365 855 and we'll let you know what our next date will be.

If there is an interest in this, we're prepared to make this a regular event, so your feedback is welcomed!

Hope to meet you there!

Lindy Asimus @lindyasimus &
Robert Watson @drdrdr09

Photographic Exhibition A Touching Tribute

Imagine A Life Without Illness Photo Story Exhibition will open on 7 May 2010.


Please send on to your friends and help Eddy raise lots of funds for Hunter Medical Research on Friday May 7th for Mothers with Cancer.

IMAGINING A LIFE WITHOUT ILLNESS THROUGH REAL LIFE STORIES

MEDIA RELEASE

12 April 2010

Imagining a life without illness is the theme of an inspirational new photographic story board exhibition being held in Newcastle from May 7.

Newcastle photographer Eddie Cross, himself no stranger to illness following a life-changing brain injury in 2006, has put together a photo exhibition which tells the story of 10 remarkable Hunter women and their families who have battled cancer.

“After photographing mothers with cancer and sharing tears with them while creating images of love, life and happiness, I felt it was important to help them tell their stories through these photos and stories in order to educate others,” Eddie said.

“When dealing with cancer, it’s not always a happy ending and there are some truly heartbreaking stories. There is a powerful message, however, delivered in all the photographs by those who have experienced a life threatening and life-changing disease.”

All proceeds from this exhibition will be donated to the Hunter Medical Research Institute and Eddie is hoping to raise at least $5,000.

Karen Brown, one of the participants in the exhibition knows all too the importance of cancer research. Karen was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 36 and is now a passionate advocate for research.

“Without research I wouldn’t be here today. For my daughters and for every other mother’s daughters we should all pray for a cure for breast cancer, and do all we can to raise money and awareness.”

The exhibition will also include the auction of a commissioned oil canvas painting donated by Hunter artist Sophie Mill. The work is an artistic interpretation of one of Eddie’s original photographs depicting a young girl and mother walking into darkness surrounding by beautiful colours and light.

Imagine a Life Without Illness will run from May 7 – June 1 2010 at the King and Parry Gallery, Newcastle.

For further information or to view any of the stories

contact Eddie Cross anytime on:

(02) 4929 5555 or 0414 609 088

ecimages@bigpond.com

Autumn In Newcastle NSW

Social Media For Business In Newcastle

A big pat on the back for Wayne Lennan on hosting the recent workshop for select business owners introducing social media marketing for business.

Here's a slideshow of what we discussed.

Lindy asimus social media for business introduction

View more presentations from Lindy Asimus Business Coach.

For those who don't know Wayne, he specialises in risk management products for families and businesses (life insurance, income protection and trauma cover etc) and has been quick to see the value in providing access to good information on the changing business environment, to his associates and business clients. The world of business is definitely changing, and as was discussed at the workshop, many businesses are noticing the change, even if they are not yet developing strategies to deal with it.

To demonstrate this change, one of the participants told me after the presentation, that his way of opening discussions with new people used to consist of networking, and setting up appointments with people he'd meet in networking situations, and meet them for coffee at a future date to run through what he does. He's finding now though, that people will take his card then go look him up on the internet and check him out before they decide if they will meet with him or not. This creates a major shift in the way that he must operate, and as he said "I'm not on the internet ... so it's like I don't exist...!" Not existing is bad enough. Being found online and not in a positive way, is another face of the same issue.

Whether we like it or not. Whether we want it to be that way or not... people are working in ways that are quite different than they were just a few short years ago.

Kudos to Wayne Lennan for taking up the challenge and sharing some insight with his business network.

Business is never going to be the same again, and all the things we knew about what 'works' is up for change.

One of the topics I covered in the presentation was the lack of ability in the Newcastle and Hunter Valley, to buy things from local companies via their website. Lots of examples where buyers with money in their hand ready to purchase locally, via a website, are greeted with nothing but blank space when it comes to finding a local business wanting to take their order, judging by the searches on Google. And yet other businesses showing up from Sydney, Adelaide, you name it - for purchases we'd like to buy from a local merchant.

This should be an issue for anyone serious about developing their business.

The really sad thing? Newcastle and the Hunter Valley could be blitzing the online world and setting the standard for business in the new world order. Our businesses could be building their sales and reducing overheads in ways that would fundamentally change they way they do business, and improve profitability (and value of the business) dramatically.

It's been said that Newcastle business isn't 'hungry' enough.

I wonder if that's true.


You can find Wayne Lennan on Facebook here

Where's The Best Coffee In Newcastle?

For all the times that I meet for coffee to network and socialise, it can be hard to pin down a favourite spot.

Our #newcastlecoffee tweetup happens at Sprocket Roasters currently, on the corner of Watt and Hunter streets, and I'd say the coffee is pretty good there. The location is good at that time of the day (7.45am) it is still good for parking, but is dismal later in the day. (What is it with Newcastle parking meters anyway? So not-welcoming for people to come into the city).

I admit I tend to prefer somewhere with a pleasant outlook (as well as good coffee) and of course the quality of the coffee is important. Which rules out the usual-suspect chain shops and in particular a rather inGlorious one which shall remain nameless and thankfully, unimbibed).

For view, I like the Starfish Cafe on Queens Wharf. Coffee is okay and the location good though not very cosy as such.

Out of town, I do enjoy a visit to the cafe at Heritage Gardens (heading toward East Maitland) for a coffee and conversation (and a great gingerbeer spider, if you have a yen).

So what's your favourite spot for coffee in Newcastle area - and what is it that you like about it?


Do share!

Hunter Coaching Network Website

Hunter Coaching Network is a collective of business, life and executive coaches in the Newcastle and Hunter Valley. I'm happy to be one of the Hunter Coaching Network coaches!

They've just launched the website and while it is a work-in-progress, should give you a headstart on understanding what we do and how we can help in your Hunter business.

We're looking for people who want help, but also coaches and Associates and corporate sponsors who would like to support the network. If that sounds like you, let us know!

What Do You Do?

Going to a lot of networking events and of course find myself answering this question quite often. Here's one answer.

I work with business owners to coach them through issues they have in their business, usually around getting better organised, implementing processes and systems, and building a vision and achieving better outcomes in the business and overall.

Often this includes review of their marketing and nowadays social media is an area that business owners either are confused about, and wary, and ignoring the opportunities to expand their marketing or dabbling without a clue what they are doing, and not clear on how to best leverage their resources.

Located in the Newcastle NSW region, I am happy to also work with people via skype and phone and email.

I am a member of BNI Tower and welcome any BNI members who would like to connect to do so.

Design Business Engineering - Business Coaching and Development
Lindyasimus.com - Personal and Business Coaching

Lindy Asimus Coaching on Facebook

Design Business Engineering on Facebook - Business and Technical coaching tips

http://twitter.com/lindyasimus

My TeamCirce Business Community
http://teamcircle.ning.com

Hunter Coaching Network profile

Cheers

Lindy

#NewcastleCoffee Tweetup Friday 7.45am - 9am

A reminder - if you've thought about looking for a Twitter meetup in the Newcastle area, then Friday's the day and 7.45am in the Newcastle CBD is the place.

Twitter can be great for business owners but anyone with an interest in Twitter is welcome to come visit and meet the great people who choose to make #newcastlecoffee a regular part of their day.

Like the ditty below, sent to me via Twitter this week attests, sometimes it's just fun to be around interesting people, and to meet people you'd never have connected with otherwise.


Hope to see you there sometime soon!

Newcastle Business Directory

Some Newcastle and Hunter businesses I'm proud to support.

Newcastle & Hunter Valley
Business Associates Directory

Lindy Asimus is proud to be associated with these local Newcastle and Hunter Valley businesses. Please consider them if you are looking for services in these areas and let them know you found them on this site:

Home

Accountants

Bowling Associates Business Accountants
Compliance and Management accounting
for business owners.
Servicing Newcastle, Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie
Hunter Valley. Distance and country clients welcome

First Floor 28 William Street
RAYMOND TERRACE , NSW 2324
Phone: 2 4983 1611
E-Mail: don@bowlinggroup.com.au

www.bowlinggroup.com.au

Business Coaching

Design Business Engineering.
Design Your Business - Engineer it to Work!

Business and executive coach, Lindy Asimus works with business owners in
reviewing their business, creating systems to streamline the business and
produce policies and procedures to simplify, and keep the knowledge in the
business. Write a business plan or marketing plan and review and develop
strategies that will let you promote your business.
Get your business visible online by incorporating social media
(Facebook and Twitter), blogs and Web strategies.
Create more business with your existing clients and networking partners.

Contact Lindy Asimus on Mobile 0403 365 855
Contact Lindy by email to discuss your case.

www.designbusinessengineering.com
Servicing Newcastle, Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie, Hunter Valley
Online and internet coaching available all locations

Computer & IT

Jarvie Computing
IT Consulting Sales and Service

Specialist in onsite Small business networking. (1 to 20 employee size business)
Computer sales/service, SMB Networking, website hosting, automated remote backup.

Contact Steven Jarvie
Phone: 02 49 430318
Website: www.jarviecomputing.com.au
Servicing Newcastle and Hunter valley

General Insurance

AIIB Insurance Brokers
Business/Commercial Insurances
Specialists in insurance and review of existing
insurance packages to alert the customers
to any policy issues or pricing opportunities available.

Contact Peter Stroud-Watts
Mobile 0405 042 087

www.aiib.com.au

Servicing Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephen, Hunter Valley

Graphic Design

Psyborg™ Graphic & Multimedia Design

Graphic design, web design, interactive design, animation
press design, logo design. Specialty technical design also available.

A multimedia and graphic design studio focused on the creation of
creative and useable communication. We apply a disciplined approach
to your objective by combining an engineered structure to the creative process,
in turn developing a visual solution that resonates with your audience.
psyborg™ is particularly interested in creating rich media utilising the latest
internet technologies and constructs.

Contact Daniel Borg
Mobile 0414 914 087

www.psyborg.com.au
Servicing Global

Leadership & Executive Training

Dare2XL

Specialty: Leadership and Team Building Training, Executive Coaching, Keynote Speaking

Andrew Hughes is a Leadership Expert and Master Coach, helping businesses and individuals
develop courageous and authentic leadership patterns that produce superior and permanent
results. Andrew is an experienced and successful leader with impressive leadership credentials
in the legal industry. He is now a Director of Dare2XL and is located in Newcastle, Australia.

Visit Andrew's blog http://dare2xl.typepad.com to get great tips and mindsets that will
help you achieve the results you want in your business and life.

Contact: Andrew Hughes
Mobile: 0407 412 119

Website URL: www.dare2xl.com.au
Servicing: Newcastle, Eastern Seaboard

Live Plants For Hire

Newcastle Indoor Plant Hire

Indoor plants hire for office and home.
Also artificial Christmas tree hire and live Christmas tree sales
Hire indoor and outdoor plants on a long term, short term or casual basis.

Contact: Gai Alder
Mobile: 0421 319370 or 1800 601 334

www.niph.com.au
www.chrissytrees.com.au
Servicing: Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens and Hunter Valley

ABC Radio 1233 Engaging With Newcastle Community

Great to see Newcastle's own radio station 1233 getting with the times and engaging with the community on Twitter and Facebook.

Find 1233Newcastle crew details here

So... what can you learn from listening to our local ABC station?

Just some of the things that you'll find:

Quiz Challenges
Local weather
Traffic updates
Petrol price updates
Local heroes
Events
Sports coverage
Treasure Hunter!- A mad real-life treasure hunt that listeners help to solve each Saturday morning.
Talk back, and more are just a part of the way that Novacastrians get to discuss local affairs and share stories.

And now you can follow the fun on Twitter

Here's a sample - "You Knew You Grew Up In Newcastle, When..." Listener's reminisce!

Business Building 2010 Workshop

I was fortunate to be invited to assist with a business workshop held at Charlestown last week by Richie Williams of Pride Coaching. What a great opportunity for the businesses attending to review their goals for their business and plan their approach to improving their business outcomes in the year ahead.

There will be more workshops planned for the months to come, so if you have not had a chance to attend yet, keep it in mind for the workshops in the coming months.

Here is a video of some testimonials from the December 09 workshop!

New dates for upcoming workshops will be posted but if you'd like more information, contact Pride Coaching on 02 4948 0093 rwilliams@pridecoaching.com.au
(Mention this blog!)

Newcastle + Coffee + Twitter

#Newcastlecoffee Tweetup is a regular feature for the people on Twitter to get together early on Friday mornings in the CBD.

Here's a video of our own Gordon Whitehead aka @The_Git on a visit to a Sydney sister-group.


You can find out details on future meetings, by searching Twitter for #newcastlecoffee for updates and to meet the regulars.

Here's A Nod To The Winter Olympics

Google's Snow Mobile.

Sometimes Life Is Short.

Sometimes Life Is Short.


Building a business is one thing. Protecting what you build is
a part of good business - and good thinking.

From time to time people will say, "I don't need life
insurance". And sometimes its true. But not often.
The fact is, that only you can determine if you, your
family, or your business, needs you to have life cover.
Professional advisors can and will assess the risk to
which you and your loved ones are exposed.
Then ultimately it is something that you decide for your
reasons. Some of those will be practical;  things like
economical protection and to make sure that even if
something unexpected happens…it won't be the worst
possible thing that might have happened. And some of
the reasons you might decide to take out life cover will
be just silly reasons, things you might not even be able
to put your finger on … but it will feel like the right thing to do.
For you see, things like peace of mind, and
being able to sleep at night because you know
that no matter what - everything will be taken
care of, makes a whole lot of sense to some people.

The whole point of risk management, is about
determining your current position and addressing
the "What If" issues that can happen to us all.
Each individual will have a totally different situation
from every other person, depending on their relative
financial positions and family make up. As well as
their different priorities of what is important in life.

This is true for individuals and families, but equally as
important when considering your business.
The needs of the family and the needs of the business
will be quite separate and distinct in many cases.


If you can answer Yes to these questions, you may not
need insurance right now…
Consider:
  This is real.
                  This is now.
                                This is you.


~  "I Died Today."  ~

 Would These Answers Be Yours?
My family has a nice home that will always be theirs. They own it free and clear of debt. They are secure knowing they will never have to worry about keeping a roof over their head.
There is plenty of money in the bank right now to give my family income to live on from the interest, without needing to touch the capital

There is other money set aside to take care of schooling and wedding expenses for my children.

There are no debts owing either personally or in the business which my family has to worry about.
There is money available for my family and for my business to keep going while they are waiting for my insurance to pay out.
There is plenty of money available to cover my funeral expenses without financial stress.

Naturally you will have other questions that you think of in addition to these.
So...How did you go?
Does your family and your business have the resources they need now, to bring to life the goals you planned?
Look closely at your own personal risk exposure and discuss it with an advisor who will help you assess your situation more carefully, or if you would like to review your present cover. And make sure your family's wills, powers of attorney are up to date to ensure that your wishes are carried out.

Lindy Asimus
Business Coach
Mobile: 0403 365855
lindyasimus@gmail.com
www.lindyasimus.com
www.designbusinessengineering.com
If you'd like to know more about me, visit
Australia's Marketing Mentor

Contact Me

Actionbites Blog Creating A Customer Service Culture

--- @ WiseStamp Signature. Get it now

Just added this to my website. New businesses will be added over time.

If you're looking for services in the Newcastle or Hunter Valley
these businesses come with my recommendation. They are great
at what they do, and will treat you with the respect that you deserve.




Newcastle & Hunter Business Associates Directory

#NewcastleCoffee Tweetup on Radio!

ABC Radio catches up with the gang.
Listen to the podcast here.

Join us every Friday 8am - 9am
Check Twitter for venue.


See you there!
@lindyasimus