Ivanka Menken and the business of Cloud Computing, ITIL and ITSM

27Mar 2017 by Ivanka

Don’t let business travel ruin your health: How to eat healthy while you’re travelling for work. (hint: it’s all about planning)

You know that healthy eating is important. Learning how to eat healthy is a never ending quest. How healthy is your diet? Are you interested in healthy eating? Well, you’re not alone… Did you know that people are more interested in eating healthy than in eating worms? I mean.. what’s wrong with some crispy tasty fried worms, right? A quick Google search showed that many people are looking for a way to eat healthy - it’s the first thing that shows up in the drop down list when you sears on ‘How to eat’… Although I’m not sure how many people are looking for a way how to eat healthy, I did notice that there are many people also looking to eat healthy while travelling for work. And I totally…

10Mar 2017 by Ivanka

How to stay healthy at work

Building a Healthy Foundation

By now I've become convinced that I need to stay healthy at work. After all.. working is a large component of my life. Also - 'You are what you eat' has taken on a whole new meaning in the past few months. [caption id="attachment_1646" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Good thing that I love reading[/caption] Book worm in action Since I came home from hospital last July, I started reading books exploring the connection between nutrition and health. Some of the books I've read are: Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips (as well as the Crazy Sexy Cancer Diet and the Crazy Sexy Cancer Cookbook) Anti Cancer: A new way of Life (starting to see a theme here?) Forks Over Knives The China Study How Not to Die In addition to these books, I also…

06Feb 2017 by Ivanka

Health, wealth or happiness?

Building a Healthy Foundation

I was looking in the mirror trying to see the new scar on my back. Trying to turn my head so I could see where it is just under my shoulder blade. (Cirque de Soleil would be proud of me!) It still hurts from the surgery last week, but now I'm getting curious about the healing process... so I twisted and turned... [caption id="attachment_1612" align="alignright" width="225"] Here we go again...[/caption] And then it hit me... for years I've been focusing on wealth and happiness but mostly ignored my health. Not ignored... I took it for granted. Yes I admit, I was super healthy (on the outside) and fit so there was no direct reason to focus a lot on my health... much better to spend that time on my business and…

26Jan 2017 by Ivanka

Happy 2017 – Start off with clear business goals

Building a Smart Business, business, entrepreneurship

In business and in life it's important to have goals, intentions and targets. Without clear goals you will end up bobbing in the sea of life without reaching that sense of achievement or accomplishment. While this may not be true for everybody, I feel very strongly about the benefit of goals. I see it with my son. Summer holidays are over and he's back at school for grade 11. Immediately they give targets and assignments to work towards and for the first time I can actually see him being excited about planning for the weeks ahead. He has the feeling he's in control and can influence the results of his school year and that makes him happy. Setting Business Goals is vital I learned this the hard way in 2016... Prior…

09Nov 2016 by Ivanka

The day business stopped: US elections 2016

business

We live and work in a global market place. What happens across the world with the US Elections has an impact on my business in Australia. That's why I'm watching the US Elections 2016, even though I know I should be working. After all it's a normal working day - a Wednesday where I have goals to achieve and stuff to do. But like a moth to a flame I'm drawn to The New York Times and The Washington Post. Business has stopped completely.. that can wait until after the election results. Many things will change very quickly anyway. International Business The Art of Service sells eLearning courses online. The direct result of this business model is that we have clients in over 150 countries. When you have an internet…

08Nov 2016 by Ivanka

Staying healthy in the office – introducing “Oscar”

Building a Healthy Foundation

Staying healthy in the office is not as easy as it sounds. Staying healthy at home is much easier when you have your fridge filled with fresh fruit and vegetables. Now that I'm strong enough again to work I also need to think about a way to stay healthy while I'm at work. As in ... in the office. Introducing Oscar That's why I bought Oscar. Oscar is a juicer and it (he?) makes amazing juices. Super tasty and apparently super healthy for you. I try to have a minimum of two juices every day. Currently I'm working my way up to 4 or 5. Reason for the juicing is because I read about the Gerson Therapy for chronic diseases. In this therapy they recommend 13 juices (15 pound of…

05Nov 2016 by Ivanka

Building your online store in a weekend

Building a Smart Business, business

Setting up an online store really isn't difficult anymore. You can be up and running within a day - or let's say that you can build your online store in a weekend. I recently went through this exercise when I wanted to separate the Q-Linn product range from the general Horses-Store.com website. I want to be able to offer Q-Linn to a wider audience as the bras are so good - and not just for horse riding. Keeping it under the horses-store.com website would be confusing. Step 1 - Find a web address After I had the formal approval from the brand owner (I import Q-Linn lingerie from The Netherlands so it's not my own product) I went to GoDaddy.com and registered the q-linn.com.au website. I prefer GoDaddy personally as…

02Nov 2016 by Ivanka

Back to basics: Revenue is vanity

Building a Smart Business, business

" Revenue is vanity, Profit is sanity... Cash is King" Every business owner should have this etched in their brain. Or maybe tattooed on their arms or something. Whatever works for you to be constantly reminded of this phrase. I don't know who said this quote first but it is profound. And I'll tell you why: When you start out in business you set goals - some goals are Big, they are Hairy and they are Audacious. And some of those goals will be related around money (see: Business is about money). But let's be very clear about the goals you set and the type of money you talk about. Revenue is NOT money Let's start with "revenue is vanity': Revenue is the amount you charge for the products and…

01Nov 2016 by Ivanka

Back to basics: business is about money

Building a Smart Business, business

Let's talk about the elephant in the room: Being in business is NOT about following your passion. It's about helping people to achieve their goals and dreams when they buy your stuff. (products and services). Being in business is about money. Yes it sounds wrong. And it sounds cynical.. but I've learned the hard way that following your passion is costing you money. I get a little antsy when I hear people talk about succeeding in business and all they talk about is that you need to dream big and follow your passion. Yes it helps when you're passionate about your vision for the business. It helps to create clarity and focus. And I totally agree that you need to dream big, as long as you follow up with a solid…

30Oct 2016 by Ivanka

Who am I kidding?… I am too busy to exercise

Building a Healthy Foundation, Building a Smart Business

Staring into the darkness of my bedroom, lying in bed but I can't sleep. I am too busy to exercise and I feel deflated - I am so disappointed in myself.. This time I really thought I had an active day but clearly my iPhone health app tells a different story: All week I've been busy doing things for the business, but I didn't get to do the one thing that I promised was important for today. I promised to be more active and to do at least 30 minutes of activities every day. The data tell a different story - oh and before you start... I get it... I don't always have my phone with me so it doesn't count all the steps, and yoga doesn't record on the iphone anyway.. and…