Matthew Brannelly - Shifting Focus From Revenue to Reducing Expenses

“I’ve been thrilled by the positive impact on our bottom line, as a result of shifting focus from raising revenue to reducing hidden expenses, with the expertise of Matt Brannelly. With the help of these experts, we will have saved more in a year than we would normally bring in from fundraising over the same period! While the donation dollar and raising revenue from external sources is getting harder and harder, maybe the first place to start is to look internally for efficiencies. And telecommunications is only the first area we've looked at! NFP's new income stream could be as simple as finding genuine efficiencies. The challenge is finding the right person/people with the expertise to achieve this. In my experience, Matt Brannelly has been instrumental in bringing together a group of specialists to identify efficiency opportunities and deliver real solutions.” - Deb Cottrell, CEO Carers Queensland.

FRESH PERSPECTIVES TO HELP YOU ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS

The Orbit NFP Advisory Hub connects business professionals with NFP industry leaders to share their combined knowledge of trends, issues, and opportunities.

Our team of experts works alongside your management team to achieve tailored solutions to achieve your goals. 

CLP PROCUREMENT COSTS REDUCED BY $317K pa

Background – CPL – Choice, Life, Passion is an NFP organization providing disability, therapy, employment, and aged care services across Queensland.

The Challenge – No internal procurement resource to lead procurement and contract management activities and low level of expenditure control, due to the decentralized procurement model.

The Solution – Increased transparency of procurement procedure, spend limits and approval authority and planning of procurement resources to address high-value categories. Charles Kendall also negotiated fundraising rebates and donations as part of key supplier contracts and improved contract database.

The Results – Hub member delivered $317k in annualized financial savings in addition to qualitative benefits resulting in a return on investment of more than three times.

To find out how the Orbit Hub could assist your organization to uncover cost savings contact matt.brannelly@orbitstrategies.com.au

Matthew Brannelly - How to Unleash Accountants’ Creative Streak amid Major Changes

When it comes to issues such as Lead Advisory Roles, nobody knows this better than Matthew Brannelly. He is at the forefront of this concept of ensuring that accountants revamp their style of working, which has been largely influenced by changes in how permits are issued in this sector.

Since accountants' financial advisory role to SMSF was repealed a long time ago in the year 2016, for those who are still looking forward to continuing with this role will have to do it under the watchful eye of the Australian Financial Services License, which could either be full or limited. Depending on the role taken.

Matthew Brannelly continues to say that up to recent times since the financial advisory role was revamped, not many accountants have taken up the limited side of the license. This is because ever since many accountants have been forced to reconsider their roles while others have completely refused to be dragged into this whole license issue. They have decided to sit back and watch from the periphery.

To prevent further acrimony, being one of the senior-most and respected accountants in Australia, Matthew Brannelly has taken it upon himself in seeking various ways on how this deadlock can be unlocked. This because if left unaddressed, then there will be further income losses by accountants now that one of the main sources of their revenues, the SMSF advisory role has been shut down completely. According to him, it is high time accountants got creative by creating other sources of income if they are to get out of this rut.

As for these new sources of income, according to Matthew Brannelly, the best way to go about it is by taking a proper look at the database of their clientele base and reorganizing it accordingly. This will enable them to easily identify the areas that will easily be the source of new revenue. Besides, they could be lead advisors. Through such roles, they will only take up the most important segments for their clients while delegating the rest to trusted partners but under strict supervision from them.  

Matthew Brannelly - Popular Mediocrity

Why is it that “an absence or lack of interest or concern” (apathy) is beginning to typify our culture, to the exclusion of “results brought about by resolve, persistence or endeavor” (achievement).

Australia – The Lucky Country, is now the land of the average and mediocre in terms of industrial performance.

Sporting success is great, but it has little economic value apart from increasing beer sales.

The purpose of this article is to strongly identify the fundamental problem of apathy in Australia and suggest positive corrective action. Ignorance of the severity of this problem is typical of the Australian approach of “She’ll be right”.

History could be blamed for the resource abundance provided to the early Australians. Unfortunately, this abundance reduced our competitive urge as survival was never a common problem. An over-emphasis was placed on our rural economy and, in recent times, the decline of this sector due to international forces has severely affected the performance of our economy overall. We were not prepared for this shift in emphasis from primary to secondary and tertiary industries.

The industry has responded to the challenge but has not been supported by the labor market which has become highly organized, controlled and rigid. Without input price control, particularly with the labor, the Australian industry is in a non-competitive position,

Our labor force demands full employment, but not in return for a more efficient, more cost-productive workforce. In addition, the work ethic has declined through misguided beliefs of industrial immortality, the political system, and education standards.

On a more general note, we are well renowned for the “Tall Poppy Syndrome” – anyone who rised above the rest should be attacked. In fact, conforming to the norm, i.e. being average, and maintaining the status quo is the public desire for individuals. Australians seem to welcome conformity, as witnessed by the “Life Be In It Campaign” with our “representative”, Norm. Our society automatically criticizes overachievers and non-conformists because they challenge the standards set by society, for the average, by the average.

The problem is simply this, Australia (the country) needs achievement-oriented, non-conforming leaders, but society refuses to acknowledge and support, and only criticizes. Unfortunately, there are no easy solutions especially for young Australians to whom we look for the future.

Our future depends upon the training of today’s youth. We must encourage the reversal of “popular mediocrity” and aggressively support achievement, and motivated non-conforming individuals. One area of immediate recognition of this change in emphasis will be in “Work Ethics”, which is badly needed if Australia’s declining economic capacity is to be amended before we are “taken over” by the world economy i.e. bought out. The Education system must be tuned to this requirement to ensure improved standards of performance and attitude.

The development of youth is the responsibility of many areas of society, beginning with the family unit.

Most importantly it is up to each one of us to analyze our own performance and receptiveness to “achievement and success”. We must ask ourselves, if we really want success, or alternatively if we are satisfied with our present state of being. To be content is extremely dangerous, as there is no achievement if “treading water”; eventually you may sink, due to lack of forwarding motion.

We can improve, and strive for greater success by:

• Expanding and improving our skills
• Continually improving the goals set, as previous levels are reached
• Challenging preconceived limits we place on our performance
• Never be satisfied

The battle against public apathy must be fought on personal ground. We each have to become achievement conscious and keep in mind that personal success and achievement has no bounds, only the limits we place on ourselves by expectation.

With your personal achievement, I ask you to remember that –

“There is no finish line…. only the next challenge.”

Matthew Brannelly - How to Prolong the life of your Business Card

How to Prolong the life on your business card

Let’s talk about the sad, short life of a professionals business card.

It gets shipped to you from the printer. It sits in a box. Eventually, it comes out of the box and goes into your fancy business cardholder. It spends considerable time getting jostled about while living in your pocket or purse. Some cards spend months or even years living in the box and then in the case, never seeing the light of day.

Finally, in one glorious moment, the card emerges from the case. It sees sunshine (or fluorescent bulbs) briefly before it’s shoved into the pocket or purse of a different person. Sadly, it spends only a few seconds in the light, and then it’s back to darkness once again.

That night, or maybe later, the card emerges. It gets pulled out, and things start to happen. There are several possibilities for its future:

• It gets scanned and stored in Evernote or in some other repository.
• It gets read, and the info gets typed into a directory of some sort for later action.
• It gets put into a pile of other business cards and a rubber band squeezes them all together and keeps them neat.
• Or, and this is most likely, it gets unceremoniously dumped in the trash, where it ends up recycled or in a landfill.

Business cards live a sad life, and then they die. Life isn’t fair for business cards.

How to Prolong the Life of Your Business Card

That’s why some people, generous souls, try to save the cards. They do cool things like have their card printed on a poker chip or a metal plate. These kind professionals hope their cards might get retained by the recipient and stored in a place of honor. That approach likely does extend the life of the card—for a while.

Sadly, the poker chip business cards, the metal plates, the rolling paper cards, the ninja star cards, etc. all end up with their brethren. The novelty eventually wears off, and they go. They too end up in the trash.

A better approach is to incorporate the card into a tool. I was presented with a stamp duty calculator the other day by a property lawyer. His spinning calculator figures stamp duty. It’s got the lawyer’s contact info on it, and it has a disclaimer on the back (of course, since it’s made by a lawyer, right?).

The calculator looks cool, it’s functional, and it serves as a business card in addition to being useful to this lawyer’s ideal clients… real estate agents.

Is this tool going in the trash? No way. In fact, it’s likely to sit out on the desk, waiting to get used. It’ll be sitting right up front where the prospective client can see it and so that his co-workers, visitors, and others can see it as well.

This lawyer has found a way to turn his card into a keeper. Can you do the same?

Let a Strategic Advisor Matthew Brannelly Take Care of Business for You

Matthew Brannelly is the founder and key strategic advisor for the non-profit making organizations. Through his own company, Orbit NFP Hub, he works tirelessly to ensure that these particular organizations can continue with their operations as usual. Not-For-Profits organizations normally have very tight budgetary allocations, hence, they must dispense of their expenditure prudently. What Matthew’s company does is together with that organization in question, is to come up with strategies on how to manage their finances and operations.

Through customized strategies, Orbit NFP Hub helps not-for-profit organizations to formulate solutions that will help steer them in the right direction. The second strategy that they employ is to teach these organizations on ways to cut down on their expenditure, and thirdly, finding ways on other viable revenue options for sustainability, offering them professional advice along the way.

They can achieve this by understanding their areas of strength and weaknesses and capitalizing on each of them for better performance. This is what Matthew Brannelly does best. By connecting these organizations to some of the best available practices in various industries. This eventually leads to reductions in costs of doing business, new avenues for income, and other important efficiencies.

Matthew Brannelly Brisbane’s experience spans over forty years. And has collaborated with grass-root based community organizations, his company, known as Orbit NFP Advisory Hub, the need for proper advisory techniques and solutions for complex problems. The only way that organizations get to move forward into new frontiers, is when they are open to change.

What the Matthew Brannelly led team does is get down to business by working with the relevant management teams for organizations. They will first start by analyzing its operations, expenditure records, including other equally crucial areas, before giving their verdict known through a preliminary report. After the preliminary report, the Orbit NFP Advisory Hub team will then give out a report pointing out specific areas that need improvements as well as providing solutions on the same.

Therefore, Matthew Brannelly and his team do not come to replace or take over from anyone. Rather, they step in to offer permanent solutions to a problem.

Matthew Brannelly interview with Rod Tiley

Foundation Chairman of the Board was well known young business identity Matthew Brannelly who prior to this was the Founding President of the Brisbane Junior Chamber of Commerce.

Taking Strategic Management a Notch Higher by Matthew Brannelly

Matthew Brannelly is one of Australia’s most renowned Strategic Advisor to the Not For Profit Communities. What drives him most is the belief to rise above self in order to serve others better. This is simply adding more value to other people’s lives first, and not expecting anything in return for services rendered. His main focus is working with the Not for Profit and Commercial entities, assisting them where necessary in the reduction of operating costs in many areas.

Mostly in the Not For Profit sector, Matthew Brannelly’s fundamental objective is hinged on ways on how to help these organizations thrive through the introduction of the most efficient and workable solutions by reducing their expenditure significantly, while at the same time, improving on the areas where they are not performing well.

Earlier on, Matthew Brannelly Brisbane had established that most Not For Profit organizations have fixed budgets NFPs operate on very tight margins. Hence, after such realization, he went on to establish the Orbit NFP Hub. This company works closely with the management for the charities and Not For Profit entities to help them achieve their goals through customized solutions, which guarantee immediate impact in any organization.

The tailor-made solutions will also decrease operating costs. Key among them energy and telecommunications. In addition, Orbit NFP Hub through the creation of new revenue streams, and best-practices. Thanks to the best available expert advice in key business areas. His vast experience of more than thirty years has taught him that in most instances, complex more often than not, can be solved amicably by simple solutions.

Orbit Hub is also tasked with providing commercial sustainability to many organizations through its subsidiary division, Omega Solar and Batteries. They provide the clients with services such as a holistic approach to energy efficiency, a premium solar system designed for your needs by their team of professional engineers, fully maintained with back to base monitoring, the manufacturer warranties on their panels, and inverters stretch up to 25 years. By this, customers can rest easy knowing that their interests are well catered for.