David Light Vice President of Swimming Club story

I spoke with David recently and here is his story as he told it to
me.....

I first became involved in my daughters swimming club in Western
Sydney when my daughter was 8 years old. Swimming was an easy choice,
as we were always swimming weekends at home in the pool, on holidays
at the beach and weekly swimming lessons. I always thought swimming
was a great sport and was good exercise for the kids as well. What I
did not know at the time, was my daughter was turning out to be a
natural swimmer and proving to be a very competitive one, but that is
another story for another day.

As my daughter started winning race after race surprising her mum and
dad week after week, it was inevitable that I was to become more
involved with the swimming club. I got involved firstly with
training, I took my daughter to training a couple of times per week
sharing the load with my wife, I started to assist the coaches &
trainers get equipment out for the kids, then moved onto race days,
helping with the organisation of the races and general help needed
within the club on race days.

Eventually I took on one of the top jobs in the swimming club -
unpaid of course, these are jobs of love, my daughter was winning
major carnivals now across the state, and I took on the role of Vice
President of the swimming club. I felt with so much involvement I
could add value to the swimming club and the kids. After watching my
daughter over the past couple of years grow into a competitive
swimmer I knew that I could help other kids do the same.

As the Vice President of the swimming club I had many hats to wear to
look after all my duties, communication, reporting to the board, as
well as thinking about membership, marketing and sales, events and
swim teams. One of the first major issues that occurred after I
became Vice President was one of the kids did not have the funds
required to attend one of the upcoming meets.

I knew I could impact this, and set about thinking of ways we could
raise funds for our swimming club. We had done sausage sizzles to
raise funds, we had ticket sales with prizes to the winners. Fund
raising for our swimming club was always talked about, and to me
appeared to be one of the biggest challenges we had, as funds raised
helped the kids. If we raised less funds from fund raising this only
ever impacted the kids, equipment for the kids etc. I remember
thinking about fund raising, membership, kids equipment and then I
got an idea!

I grabbed a piece of paper while sitting down in the stands watching
my daughter train, I remember the day it was one of those middle of
winter days when the outside temperature had dropped to around 5
degrees. I started writing bullet point ideas and thoughts.....then
out came an idea....what if we had a membership card that all members
could buy for 10 dollars, I could go to local companies and ask them
to advertise on the back of the card for an amount of money and offer
members a discount at the stores that advertise on the back of the
card.

Great idea I thought, took it to the committee and as they do, came
to a decision "Unless we can fund it ....it will never happen"

The Outcome was awesome,

* we raised 10 dollars for every membership card sold
* 6 local businesses were proud to be supporting the local
swimming club with discounts for members
* The money raised paid for the Magicard ID Card Printer
* Every card after this cost us 70 cents and we sold for 10
dollars
* We made the card an annual card


Swimming Club example
Magicard Printer Cost
Local Business Advertising
Members Card Membership
Total Cost
Year 1
- 2499
+1200
+1300
-1
Year 2
0
+1200
+1300
+2500
Year 3
0
+1200
+1300
+2500
TOTALS
- 2499 +3600
+3900
+4999


* Magicard Printer from $2499.00

* Local Business Advertising - 6 business @ $200 per business

* Member Card Purchase - (based on 130 members at $10 per member) $1300.00

- Note: all members over 130 members go straight into club profits



Watch a 2 minute video of Magicard Pronto and see how your sports club can generate 5k for sporting goods

Bula from Fiji

Bula

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Fiji for 9 days with my family on a short holiday. While in Fiji i got to visit Suva, Nadi and many smaller towns like Sigatoka. We stayed at the Shangri-la Resort not far from Sigatoka and a two hour journey along the coral coast to Suva. The trip i took to Suva was most spectacular traveling along the coral coast with the view out the right hand side window for almost all of the 2 hour journey.

We were also very lucky to visit several of the much smaller villages as well as several schools and the most spectacular beaches. While in Fiji we stayed at the Shangri-La Resort often know as "The Fijian". Shangri-La Resort was about 20 minutes drive from Sigatoka a bustling town growing over the past few years from tourists. Major floods in January 2009 across FIJI actually took out infrastructure including roads and bridges. Fijians though come together very quickly in times of adversity.

While in Fiji with my family i also had the opportunity to visit several customers including Land Transport Authority (LTA) in Suva and Radisson Resort on Denarau Island. The day i left for my meeting with Land Transport Authority (LTA) i had to get up at 5.00am to get my taxi at 5.30am from the resort to Sigatoka town. My Taxi driver was excellent providing me with sensible and important information about different options for transport to Suva from Sigatoka town. He explained to me not all bus drivers were the same. My 12 seat minibus left at 6.00am and we were on our way to Suva.

I got to sit next to a lady who was from a village 5 minutes from Sigatoka with 6 children. Her day started at 5.00am to catch the minibus at 6.00am to Suva for work daily, arriving home to her family after 8pm each night. We spoke about local markets, schools and talked a lot about kids, i always thought i worked hard and long hours but you cant help but feel for the effort involved with this lady to get to work and home each day.

I arrived in Suva around 8.15am we made what seemed like 30 stops along the way as people got on and off the minibus. The Minibus held 12 people including the driver and amazingly as one person got off another got on keeping the bus full the entire way. Without telephones and internet taking bookings the bus managed to stay full.

In Suva i met with Ulai Taoi from UTECH. UTECH with Managing Director Ulai are the Distributor in FIJI for Kyocera Photo Copiers http://www.utech.com.fj, Magicard Secure ID Card Printers http://www.utech.com.fj/card_printers and recently CS Timeclocks and TNA5 Time and attendance software. Ulai is working closely with our company as the local contact in FIJI giving Fijian companies local people to talk to for installation and support. I went with Ulai and met with Etuate C Korol (Chief Executive - LTA) and his team at Land Transport Authority (LTA) before heading to a local cafe for some curry lunch before heading back to catch my minibus home for the day.

You can contact Ulai by email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text35811 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call him on 0679.330.52.55 / 330.50.95

The next day i was lucky enough to be able to visit Denarau Island where our customer Radisson Resort FIJI is, Take a look for yourself at this awesome resort. Denarau Island is the largest integrated resort in the South Pacific covering 600 acres. Denarau Island Map. Imagine being able to stay at one Resort but have 7 more resorts and Hotels to choose from when thinking about dinner. Only 20 minutes from Nadi International Airport With a golf club, tennis courts and its own port this island is one i will visit again in the future. Denarau Island is also the gateway to Mamanuca Islands only a few klms away. Famous islands like Castaway Island and the most beautiful Mana Island.

I met with management from Radisson Resort to discuss the recently installed employee time management system and was lucky enough to be given a tour of the resort including the recent and most spectacular sunset lounge with a view only meters to the ocean and all the time in the world to watch the sunset over the Mamanuca Islands.

While in Fiji i remember seeing a time clock on the wall in a grocery store, all the numbers of the clock had dropped to the bottom of the clock, the hands on the clock were also gone so you could not tell the time. Across the middle of the face of the timeclock on the wall behind the checkout I read the following "who cares". This sums up Fiji and many stories around the saying Fiji time. Nothing is rushed everything is relaxed you could not wish for a better place in the world to visit for a refreshing break.

We visited more schools, beaches and villages over the last few days of this visit as well as played tennis, golf, swam, snorkeled and even went deep sea fishing about 15klms off the coast. I will be coming back to Fiji again real soon.

If you would like to talk with me about your company or would like to meet with me on my next visit to Fiji please let me know and i will meet with you.


vinaka
Peter Morrissey

Magicard Release New Printer

Magicard launch new Magicard printer: The Pronto
Pronto ID Card Printer - A single feed colour ID Card Printer

Magicard, one of the worldwide leaders in ID Card Printer Systems , announces the launch of the "Pronto", a compact and secure single-feed colour ID card printer for instant personalisation of cards. The new Pronto addresses key retail, education, hospitality and recreation customers who require high quality card personalisation and affordable visual security.

This budget friendly printer produces secure colour or monochrome cards. Its compact and efficient design boasts simple operation, first rate performance, quality printing and HoloKote visual security at no extra cost per card. A choice of 4 standard security watermark designs is selectable via the driver.

The Pronto is a light weight printer, just 4.4 kg which makes it very portable. With its compact and aesthetic design, the Pronto ID card printer resides very well on any counter or desktop.

Thanks to its intuitive operation with a simple 3-color LED status indicator, a USB interface, and plug & play Microsoft Windows 2000, XP and Vista® compatible software drivers that provide compatibility with most applications, customers will love how easy the Pronto is to set up and use straight out of the box.

It demonstrates Magicard’s commitment to manufacturing robust printers and making secure card printing affordable.

The Pronto is now available through Magicard Australia and offers a Two Year Warranty.

For more information please call Magicard Australia 1300 800 077

A look at Magicard's Solution to Id Card Security

New HoloKote FLEX™ watermark – Flexible visual security without the cost

Magicard’s HoloKote FLEX takes ID card security to a higher level. Your custom watermark can be as large or small as you want it. Your logo is programmed into a HoloKote FLEX Custom Key, a secure encrypted memory card which plugs into your Magicard Rio 2e, Tango 2e, or Tango +L printer.

The key benefits of HoloKote FLEX are:

• Custom visual security without the high cost and long lead time of special holographic laminate or UV films. Your Magicard printer does the job, placing the watermark on your card using standard consumable ribbons.
  
• No ongoing additional printing costs. A modest one-time set up charge gets you a custom HoloKote FLEX key within days, holding your encrypted logo. That’s it. You can then print as many cards as you want with your custom design.
  
• Secure – your design is guaranteed to be unique.

“HoloKote FLEX is an enhancement of the popular HoloKote watermark security that thousands of Magicard customers have used to secure their ID cards.” said Andy Matko, Magicard Business Manager. “While the legendary HoloKote, available only on Magicard printers, uses a repeat pattern on the card, HoloKote FLEX is …. Flexible! It offers an excellent alternative to costly holographic laminates and is truly secure because your HoloKote FLEX logo cannot be copied.”

Let the Tax man pay for your Id Card Printer

30% Government investment tax break incentives for small business stops June 30th 2009

We are all experiencing the current conditions and there have been multiple stimulus packages provided to date to help keep Australia moving away as apposed to towards a recession. Even Harvey Norman is in on the act advertising his stimulus package for customers.

The federal government announced in early February a special 30% investment tax break to help stimulate investment in capital equipment. We should all take advantage where we can of this opportunity.

The Government has not confirmed full details but they have provided sufficient information to allow you to plan to take advantage of the government stimulus package.

Under the proposed tax break a business can claim an extra 30% tax deduction for new assets, or upgrades to existing assets for capital investment undertaken between December 13, 2008 and June 30, 2009 and install prior to 30 June 2010. For assets purchased between July 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009 a reduced incentive of 10% still applies.

To take the biggest advantage you need to purchase prior to 30th June 2009, you need to turn over less than 2 million dollars and purchase equipment valued at more than $1000. Large business can claim the allownace on purchase of assets over $10,000

Some Examples

A small business with turnover of $1,800,000 pa requires a new Magicard Enduro ID Card Printer valued at $3,500. Under the proposed tax break they can claim an additional $1050 in deduction for their 2008-09 tax return.

A larger business with turnover greater than $5,000,000 requires a new Magicard Tango 2e +L double sided ID Card Printer with Laminator option valued at $11,500 Taking into account the proposed tax break on offer they can claim an additional $3,450 in deduction for their 2008-09 tax return.

By taking advantage of these government offers you are gaining the following

• Being a part of the countries recovery and stimulation
• getting products at discounted prices
• increasing your companies productivity
• getting ahead of your competitors that don't take advantage of this offer.

Remember to take advantage of this you need to fit in with the following government deadlines

• Acquired or ordered between 13th December 2008 and 30th June 2009
• Installed & ready for use by 30th June 2010
• For assets purchased between July 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009 a reduced incentive of 10% still applies