I was listening to a song the other day by the Australian 80’s band ‘The Flowers’ since renamed Icehouse. Some of the lyrics from that song struck a chord with me: …’it’s always cold inside the Ice House,’ …..’there’s no love inside the Icehouse. ‘ Those words resonate well with me in the same way that seeing exhorbitant charges to attend seminars and workshops by the Icehouse – an Auckland based consultancy entity governed by a not-for-profit trust (the Ice Foundation), and backed by different sponsors including BNZ, Xero, Vodafone, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand). Take a look:
https://www.theicehouse.co.nz/workshop/grow-your-financial-skills-workshop
Workshop Summary: You can learn valuable lessons about your business from your financial information – you just need to know how to read it.
This is a two-day workshop costing $1745 + GST
Other Workshops for the same duration and cost include: ‘Building a Better Business Workshop,’ Building Sales Structure and skills workshop.
$1745 + GST is an awful lot of money that could be better spent in another area of your business. There are alot of free and cost-effective online courses that staff can do through ‘futurelearn,’ ‘udemy,’ etc. I would estimate that two people’s fees would cover catering, course resources, room hire, etc. The rest is profit after wages, travel expenses (where applicable) etc, are deducted. It is always useful to ask why things are so pricey – especially if the Organisation is supported (financially?) by BNZ, Xero, CAANZ.
I wonder if any business owner completing these courses, or receiving mentorship from the Icehouse, actually got any real benefit for their business – now that we are in a Covid-19 Lockdown.
If you want to grow your financial literacy skills knowledge base, you can simply ‘google’ the information you need. The most important financial piece of information in your business is the ‘balance sheet.’ The balance sheet gives a snap shot of your current financial position. You could query how to read a balance sheet through a ‘google’ search.
Don’t be blinded by the razzle, dazzle of smooth talking marketing gurus. It is the young, the business newbie, the wealthy, women, that are part of the Icehouse’s targeted marketing campaign – and many people have fallen for it including businesses that were already successful through their own efforts. The professional development offerings by the Icehouse are no different from another Auckland based firm called ‘Business Changing.’ Their seminar fees, etc sit on the same high level threshold as the Icehouse.
Wondering why they are so knowledgeable at what they do? Some of it is experience, some training, but it’s the shared knowledge from other course attendees (from different industries), that’s doing it. Take time to carefully reflect on this – and decide whether there are more cost-effective ways of increasing your business knowledge – where you actually get real results that add real value to your business. Remember our job at Business Crisis Support NZ is to make people aware of what’s happening in the business sector. And this is what’s been happening for far too long.
Another example of an industry that lacks regulation.
No surprises that BNZ are involved.
There are going to be a lot of these events springing up, targeting the middle class, if you subscribe to the Rich, middle class and poor concepts.
My philosophy is the concept of the horizontal line and breaks people into two groups with the Educated (the people running the scheme) above the line and the Uneducated (the people attending the event) below the line.
The “horizontal line” concept you invented Lisa, is good way to illustrate the huge knowledge divide between someone offering a service in a speciality area of theirs (Educated)- to the client who simply puts their trust in that person without question – most times. We leave our malleable and vulnerable selves open to persuasion without realising it. When we desperately need something for our business – we are given reasons confirming that need. A case of ‘Tell them what they want to hear.’
Anyone can be easily led astray at any time. Therefore it is important for people to strengthen their logic, critical thinking, and deductive reasoning skills NOW, in order to make informed decisions. Easier said than done – but awareness of these thought principles, and practise, will promote clarity of thought. I speak from experience, and as Allan Cooney mentioned in his article earlier, you can only learn this from having graduated from the ‘hard school.’ We all like to think we demonstrate sound decision making, but you never know when life is going to sneak up behind you and throw you a curve ball.