The Australian, Entrepreneur: FAIR-TRADE COFFEE A lot of companies are selling Fairtrade products at a different price to free trade products and pocketing the difference, Ed Charles reports SOME companies are exploiting the fair and sustainable certification schemes by charging over and above the premium they pay for Fairtrade coffee beans and boosting their own profits. Getting to the [...]

From The Australian, Entrepreneur: BOUTIQUE ROASTERS Unique blends stand out from the crowd, writes Ed Charles IT’S a typical Melbourne location, an old warehouse off the main drag of Clarendon Street in South Melbourne, better known for its brothels than its beans. If it wasn’t for the smell of coffee roasting you wouldn’t even know St Ali was in [...]

From The Australian, Entrepreneur: An online questionnaire can help employers sort the chaff from the grain when it comes to recruiting workers, writes Ed Charles | September 28, 2007 THE internet is a wonderful thing for job hunters. Once an online resume is created, it can be sent almost effortlessly to as many potential employers as the [...]

From The Australian, Entrepreneur: The independence flowing from having your own business can come at a high price, Ed Charles discovers | August 31, 2007 MEN work longer hours than women, and self-employed men work longer still. The problem for the entrepreneur is to take control of the hours worked. “The self-employed just work a lot more and [...]

From The Australian, Entrepreneur: Blogs save time and energy, writes Ed Charles | July 27, 2007 THE hype over blogs focuses on gossip and radical politics. What many people miss is the power of the blog as a marketing tool for small business and an alternative to e-newsletters.  BUSINESS BLOGS • workingsolo.com.au • blog.completepotential.com • trevorcook.typepad.com • www.benjaminchristie.com • www.nobledentist.com.au/blog/index.php • www.frankteam.com.au/blog • blog.nowhiring.com.au • www.barrett.com.au/blogs/suebarrett • lukegoodwin.blogspot.com Blogs offer superior features to static websites, sometimes cost [...]

From The Australian, Entrepreneur: Travel broadened the mind for an adventurer who is into cleaner motoring, writes Ed Charles | July 27, 2007 IN starting a business or achieving anything in life, timing and chance play as large a part as passion. For Daniel Epstein, a lifelong environmentalist who recently returned to Melbourne after living in San [...]

From The Australian, Entrepreneur: CANBERRA IS CUTTING SOME OF THE RED TAPE TO REDUCE THE BURDEN, ED CHARLES REPORTS TAX isn’t the simplest of subjects and for many entrepreneurs or small business it is an annoyance that gets in the way of business. But now the tax office seems to be finally acknowledging that it is anything but [...]

From The Australian, Entrepreneur: Ed Charles | July 27, 2007 THE home office is often thought of as an oasis outside office politics, an ideal space without interruptions, but the reality is that there might be more distractions at home. For people who have kids (or partners), their grubby mits can get over everything. Even though a home office [...]

The Australian, Entrepreneur: Victoria Angove continues to push her family’s heritage further, Ed Charles reports. BEING the fifth generation of family to enter a business founded in 1886 doesn’t preclude Victoria Angove from being entrepreneurial. At the age of 29 she is charged with developing the Angove’s wine company’s international markets to diversify export risk and build sales, [...]

BRANCH OUT TO SURVIVE By Ed Charles From The Australian, Entrepreneur: AGRIBUSINESS Finding new ventures can help grape growers improve their profitability, writes Ed Charles THE lot of the winegrower is one of feast or famine. After years of bumper harvests and over-capacity, there’s a drought. While this will address the supply imbalance, says Mark McKenzie, executive director of Wine Grape [...]