You may recall my last blog about getting on the phone and making cold calls - with exceptional results.

Well, we actually held the seminar last week, which was also really the launch of our new business Pure Bookkeeping. The outcome we were looking for from the event was to sell licenses to the Pure Bookkeeping System at the reduced price for our launch of around $4k. We had 12 people along on the night. Of those 2 had already bought the system, 2 were partners and one was an employee of Deb's, so we had seven prospects. A good rule of thumb for these sort of nights is to convert one in four, so I said to Deb that two sales would be a good result. So how did we go?

How much do you work for? What's your real pay rate?

Turns out last month I worked for $18 an hour.

Here's how you calculate it. Take your after-tax after-super pay at the end of the month - the money that actually hits your bank account, or your pocket so-to-speak. Subtract everything you spend in a month as a result of running your business (or doing your job). Travel costs, clothes you buy, coffees you wouldn't otherwise have, lunches you buy, dry cleaning, the drink you need at the end of the day because you need to unwind etc. Everything that you wouldn't spend if you weren't working. That's your actual pay.

I've just come home from a couple of weeks in Bali. It was a perfect holiday. No phone, no computer... Lots of beautiful sunrises and sunsets, bungalows on the beach, walks through the rice paddies, old and new friends, and outrageously cheap (we hired a car for AU$12 a day). Lots of time to just be and time to think.

As I was sitting looking over the ocean in our little bungalow on the beach I thought to myself 'I could get used to this'.

I was at an internet marketing workshop in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago, and had the opportunity to have our website critiqued by a few internet gurus in front of the whole workshop.

The very first thing we say on our website is "LYB has unique methodology to ...". The response from the workshop facilitator was "so what". His response was eloquent in its simplicity. His point was that people don't care that we have a unique methodology - not yet anyway - they want to know what's in it for them, how will it solve their problems.

Last week Melbourne had its hottest heat wave on record - three consecutive days above 43 degrees Celsius - and I had my first ever business coaching session in a swimming pool.

It was very cool - pardon the pun.

I caught up with Fabrice last night. Fabrice is a good friend of mine who works for Accenture - a large consulting company where I worked a lifetime ago.

A little while back I told him a bit about what we are up to with Love Your Business, and gave him a new business card. On the back of the card (as well as on our website and email signature) it says the more we love, the more we thrive.

Last night Fabrice told me something very cool.

Persistence. The cornerstone of all success. The stories that inspired me most out of the Olympics were those of persistence.

Only a couple of years ago Steve Hooker had an irrational fear hurtling himself three stories into the air on the end of flexible fibre glass pole. Actually ... he had a completely rational fear. Nonetheless it wasn't a very useful fear if you are an Olympic pole vaulter. For months he couldn't get off the ground. He didn't give up. He kept training. He got help. He saw a sports psychologist and hypnotherapist. He got himself into a position where he had one jump left for the gold medal. As he said, the equivalent of kicking for goal in the grand final when you're five points down and the siren has sounded. He nailed it - and he's now an Olympic champion.

My sister in law sent me a link to an organisation called Kiva (thanks Kim) - and I have to say I'm very impressed. I think it's a phenomenon ... and its all about love and business. Although not in the way we are used to.

Kiva is a website that allows people to make micro loans to individual borrowers in the developing world. Forbes says "Kiva mixes the entrepreneurial daring of Google with the do-gooder ethos of Bono."

Over the last week I have had some profound coaching sessions with my clients and it never ceases to amaze me the power of nurturing. In the old realm of business 'nurture' is rarely spoken of. It may be referred to loosely as a preferred employer, caring for the people in the business and looking after staff. But is that really the same as nurturing? Does nurturing have a place in business at all and how can it help my business to thrive?

Here is Priscilla with our recent Australian Achiever Award for excellence in customer service. Priscilla is accountable for service in our business - so it is her job to make sure that our customers are delighted, and hence it's her award.