MBF President Update October 2025
- Micro Business Forum
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 24 hours ago
Alison Carroll is MBF's New President
What a great few weeks I have had as the new President of the Port Macquarie Micro Business Forum. I would like to thank all the committee members from last year for all their hard work and I am looking forward to working with them in the coming year as the President.
Small Business Month 2025
October is Small Business Month, so it is very important to us here at MBF. This year we decided to do something a bit different and ran a Mini Expo to help all our members to promote their businesses. To help get the word out as to what we were doing Veronica Lind and I went on the local radio, twice. That was really interesting, I have never been on the radio before, and it was fascinating to see how it all works behind the scenes. A big thank you to Veronica for arranging those visits.
Watch these radio interviews below
Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend the Coffee Connect for October, which we held at The Sandbar in Camden Haven, as I was working. But I am looking forward to attending in November – it’s always on the 2nd Thursday of the month – when it will be held at the Ruins Café at Lake Innes Shopping Centre. This is a free event, just come along – you pay for your coffee. It’s a great way to meet other small business owners, make connections with people who understand where you are coming from and maybe even learn something new that could help your business. You never know unless you come along. Each month we try a different cafe, so you can check out our website to see where we will be.
The Mini Expo was deemed to be a great success by all who attended. It was wonderful to see so many of our members displaying their businesses. As a visual person I found it a great way to see exactly what people do, and I will certainly be following up with some of them to make further use of their businesses.
Upcoming Events
At our next Forum – held on the 3rd Thursday of the month – I am really looking forward to listening to Ed Lopez, the Director of the Bella Brain Institute, talking about Rewiring for Success – How neuroscience can transform your business Performance. Ed was our President last year. The depth of knowledge within the Micro Business Group is just amazing. I have learnt so much whilst I have been a member of the group, and I am looking forward to working with some amazing people over the coming year.
At our first Forum on the new year in February, I am really looking forward to listening to Lyn Richardson, from Rosewood Environmental, talking about “Finding your Niche”, something that is so important if your small business is to succeed, in what can be a difficult environment. Look out for the event registration.
Join MBF Now and Get Bonus Months Free
MBF memberships run on a calendar year, ending in December. But if you join in the 4th quarter of 2025, your membership will be valid all the way through to December 2026, that means a few extra months at no additional cost!
Now’s the perfect time to become part of the friendliest business group in town and enjoy all the member benefits through next year and beyond.
Back to Basics
We have learnt a lot over the past year about marketing, the use of AI for small businesses and resilience. This has all been very informative. This year I am looking at ways that we can “Get back to Basics”. How often have you contacted a business, left your details and not heard back from them. Or you have been into a shop, and the assistants are talking to each other and ignoring you – that’s if you can find someone to help you. Customer service is vitally important, and whilst many businesses are excellent at it, we can all learn a few tips on how to do things better. A simple tip that I learnt from a talk given by one of our members, Mark Wilson, The Leadlight Guy, was to use my name when first talking to a customer, what a difference it made! Something so simple and easy, but transformative.
The Micro Business Forum, is here to help, so why not come along to one of our events and meet us, we are The Friendliest Group in town. Hope to see you soon.
Alison Carroll
The Turmeric Lady at AC Healthy Solutions
President, Micro Business Forum
