Towards Better

25/03/2026

If your a Human Service (NDIS, Aged, Mental Health, Community) and

🤝are wanting to both expand range of choices/opportunities in local neighbourhoods for people you work alongside

AND

⛽️ have your team doing less driving or fuel use (to save you and your clients $)

💬 Let’s chat with you and your team about range of opportunities and ways to make this happen

📲 Book a time for a 1 Hour Consult: https://www.towardsbetter.com.au/contact-us/

📧 Or email us to make a time: ricky@towardsbetter.com.au

23/03/2026

🔧 What’s Inside a Phone? – A Hands-On STEM & Sustainability Workshop**

I’m looking to connect with anyone who manages or leads:

• Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) or Vacation Care
• NDIS providers or disability day programs
• Youth services or alternative education programs
• Community centres
• Libraries or learning hubs

We’ve recently received 200 Cisco desktop phones that would normally end up in landfill.

Instead, through Towards Better, we’re turning them into hands-on learning experiences where participants **take the phones apart and discover what’s inside technology.**

Participants work in small teams to dismantle the phones, explore the components, and learn about:

🔹 engineering and electronics
🔹 teamwork and problem solving
🔹 electronic waste and sustainability
🔹 real-world jobs connected to technology, trades, and recycling

Sessions are interactive, engaging, and surprisingly fun – people love discovering what’s inside everyday technology.

Examples of activities include:
• Phone Autopsy – investigating and identifying components
• Tech Treasure Hunt – finding speakers, circuit boards, LEDs and more
• Engineering Challenge – teams dismantle and present discoveries
• Creative Tech Builds– turning components into sculptures or “tech creatures”

This project is part of the “200 Phones Project”, aiming to:

♻️ divert electronics from landfill
👥 engage **600–1000 participants across Townsville**
🧠 build curiosity about STEM, trades, and sustainability

Sessions can run in schools, OSHC, youth programs, disability programs, libraries or community spaces.

Typical workshop:
⏱ 1 hour
👥 6–18 participants
🛠 tools and materials supplied

💰 $150 per session
(or $250 extended workshop*with creative build activities)

If you think this could work in your organisation, I’d love to have a conversation.

📧 [ricky@towardsbetter.com.au]

Let’s open up technology and see what’s inside.

Welcoming Communities Townsville
Impact Supply Network North Queensland

20/03/2026

What do you do for work?!

A common question, a source of our identity, a source of safety, and a role that brings connection, relationships, and purpose.

With this years World Down Syndrome Day theme being “Together Against Loneliness” it seems fitting to share a post from a friend, collegue, fellow business owner, Emma, Owner & Operator of Master Shredder

Not only has Emma delivered an essential and fantastic business service to hundreds of businesses over the last 10 years, with many very consistent partnerships, but she is shifting mindsets/stereotypes.

You see, even in the year 2026, and with the best of intentions and warmest of hearts, the conscious or unconscious mindsets and stereotypes still exist about people with Down Syndrome. Such as they cannot work, can only do certain types of work, are eternal children, may never learn and grow, and thus belong somewhere else; in day programs, NDIS services, disability workshops, or the like.

Away from the action, community life, or simply hidden in plain sight with no connection beyond paid people…alone, and lonely.

So for the dozens of business clients Emma works with each week and dozens more she interacts with during work lunch breaks out, after work beers, filling her an up with petrol, going to local concerts/shows, doing the weekly grocery shop to meal prep for the week, or out at business networking events, they are seeing the contrary to the pre existing mindsets and stereotypes.

A business owner, van owner, leader, boss, shopper, networker, and most of all economic contributor.

It’s those roles (especially the work role) that bring purpose, contribution , being known, knowing others, safety and which bring all community members, with and without disabilities “together against loneliness”.

If you’re looking for great local, mobile, on site, document destruction services, hit them up: https://mastershredder.com.au

And if any of this has resonated and you want to be a part of this team see the post below and get in touch to join this great enterprise! 👇🏻📲

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17echoM1W8/?mibextid=wwXIfr

19/03/2026

I hear this from families all the time…

“It’s so hard to find good support workers.”
“They’re really nice… but it’s not really going anywhere.”
“They just turn up and ask, ‘what are we doing today?’”
“It feels like we’re doing the same things over and over.”

And underneath that… there’s something deeper (which I also hear):

– “I’m not confident they know how to help build friendships”
– “I don’t think they know how to find a volunteer role or real opportunities”
– “There’s no clear goals or progress”
– “Things start… and then stop”
– “Workers come and go constantly”
– “It feels like they’re just ticking boxes”
– “I wish they had more training”

And the truth is…

A lot of independent and agency support workers care deeply.
But many have had very little structured ongoing training (beyond the compliance items), no real practice model, tools, or resources,, and limited support to develop their skills over time or learn the right mindsets and ways of working to make progress.

So what you end up with is:
👉 Good people
👉 With good intentions
👉 Delivering very average outcomes (or actually stagnating)

We think families deserve more than that (and so do their loved ones, the community, the taxpayer).

You deserve support workers who:

✔ Have the right mindsets, dedication to learning and growth
✔ Want to rely on more than 'independence' and 'choice' to guide them
✔ Know how to set meaningful goals
✔ Can build skills over time
✔ Look for real opportunities in the community
✔ Support friendships, not just paid time
✔ Understand how to move things forward; not just maintain them.
✔ Have structure, direction, and professional confidence

That’s why we’ve created the
Support Professional Standard – Level 1 Foundation

This is not just “training”.

It’s a practical pathway that helps workers:

– Understand how to actually use NDIS plans
– Write goal-focused, outcome-based notes
– Build skills in planning, reflection, and progression
– Think beyond activities → toward roles, relationships, and contribution
– Deliver support that leads somewhere

For families and coordinators:

If you’re tired of:
– starting over
– re-training new workers
– or feeling like nothing is progressing

This is for you.

For support workers reading this:

If you want to:
– stand out
– feel more confident
– actually know what you’re doing
– and be the worker people ask for by name

This is for you too.

📩 If you want to learn more or book a time to chat:
👉 https://www.towardsbetter.com.au/book-a-discovery-call/

09/03/2026

💛 Who will care for our children when we’re gone if they can’t care for themselves?

As Deirdre Croft faces the end of her life, she’s on a mission to ensure her son is looked after when she’s gone. No paid service can truly care for someone in the way a family member, friend, co-worker, neighbour, or partner can.

The most powerful part of Raising Richard is when Deirdre talks about mobilising a circle of support—people who aren’t paid to be there, who have known Richard for years, have been there for him, and will continue to be there. She creates a legal entity of these people, whose only allegiance is to Richard, ensuring his care is real, personal, and lasting.

This is a beautiful reminder that care isn’t just a service—it’s relationships, love, and community.

Watch Raising Richard here:
🎥 https://iview.abc.net.au/show/australian-story/series/2026/video/NC2602Q005S00

Learn more about using all your resources for a good life:
💡 https://www.towardsbetter.com.au/for-individuals/use-all-your-resources-for-a-good-life/

04/03/2026

💡 Want to know if someone can really deliver? Ask them:
“What tools, processes, or frameworks do you use to get from where you are to the outcomes you promise?”

If they say:
❌ “I don’t have any” or “Everyone’s different, it’s hard to say”…
🚨 Run for the hills.

Or… send them our way for some training & professional development. 😉

Hashtags:

04/03/2026

💰 $10 Tasks Your Accounting, Bookkeeping or Finance Firm Will Thank You For 💰

If you run a small–medium accounting, bookkeeping, or finance firm (3–20 staff), you know the pain: repetitive admin drains your high-value staff’s time.

📊 Why this is a sweet spot:

Accounting, bookkeeping, or finance firms generate constant paperwork:
• Client files
• Invoices & receipts
• Compliance records
• Financial spreadsheets

Often, partners and senior accountants end up doing filing and system clean-up themselves. That’s time that could be spent on higher-value work.

📝 Employer Needs (Often Unmet):
• Scanning & attaching client documents
• Cleaning up shared drives
• Petty cash reconciliation
• Data entry for financial reports
• Maintaining expense trackers
• Standardising admin templates

💡 Tasks That Fit Beautifully:
• Maintain petty cash ledger
• Scan and process invoices
• Create Excel reports & charts
• Digitise archived financial records
• Develop reusable spreadsheet templates
• Track expense comparisons
• Archive client documentation

🎯 Skills Needed:
• Comfort with numbers
• Accuracy & attention to detail
• Excel confidence (pivot tables a bonus!)
• Confidentiality
• Consistency & reliability
• Focus

✅ Why It Works for Customised Employment in Accounting, Bookkeeping & Finance:
• Work can be broken into 3–4 hour contained blocks
• Quiet office environment, ideal for focused admin and back-office tasks
• Minimal customer interaction if positioned as back-office support
• New tasks can be added gradually over time, such as additional data entry, scanning, or spreadsheet tasks
• Structured and predictable tasks build reliability and confidence
• Incremental skill development, e.g., Excel, financial data entry, compliance tracking, or document management
• Tasks have clear, visible outcomes, so progress and contribution are easy to measure
• Supports workflow and frees up senior staff, allowing accountants and bookkeepers to focus on high-value work
• Portfolio-building opportunities, e.g., digitising archived financial records, creating reusable templates, or producing reports
• Flexibility across multiple functions: finance, compliance, admin, and reporting

💡 Small tasks. Big impact. Free up your experts to do what they do best.

📩 Interested in setting up a customised employment role for your firm? Send us a message today and discover how small tasks can create big results!

02/03/2026

The Independent Support Professional Standard™

A structured Foundation pathway for sole-trader (“Independent”) NDIS Support Workers who want:

✔ Audit-ready systems
✔ Goal-focused documentation
✔ Clear service agreements & invoicing structure
✔ Confidence reading participant plans
✔ Stronger referral credibility (More Referrals)
✔ Professional identity beyond “gig worker”
✔ A framework for supporting valued roles, community connection & meaningful lives (Better Outcomes)

This includes:

– Curated NDIS compliance modules
– Applied practice modules (reading plans, writing case notes, pricing rules, and beyond)
– 8 core professional ready to use templates
– Manual review before certification
– CPD tracking
– Professional Mentoring sessions
– Digital badge + verification listing

This is an operating system for independent practice.

Many independents come from diverse backgrounds and, even with a Cert III, receive very little structured professional development or guidance on what strong, goal-focused practice actually looks like.

So I’m opening 12 Founding Member places.

Founding Members:

• Lock in the foundational rate of $15/week ($780/year)
• Receive the full Level 1 Foundation Pathway
• Be recognised as Founding Members
• Get additional mentoring access in the first 6 months
• Help shape the professional standard

After the first 12, pricing increases.

This is for independent workers who:

– Work 15–30+ hours per week
– Plan to stay in the sector long-term
– Want referrals and to be trusted by participants, families, and Support Coordinators
– Want structured systems
– Care about community inclusion and real participant outcomes
– Want to move into higher-trust, higher-complexity work

If that’s you, comment “FOUNDING” or send me a message and I’ll share the details.

This is not a hype launch.

It’s the beginning of a professional standard for independents.

Ricky
Founder & Principal Community Development Worker

26/02/2026

Around your office… who actually does this work? Or does it just get pushed aside?

🏢 In most office and admin settings, there are dozens of small but necessary tasks that quietly sit in the background.

No one owns them.
They get squeezed in between “more important” priorities.
Or they simply don’t get done.

Things like:

📂 Filing and organisation
• Sorting and filing paperwork
• Archiving old files
• Scanning documents
• Renaming and organising digital files
• Data clean-up in spreadsheets
• Updating contact lists
• Shredding confidential documents
• Labelling folders and boxes

🛎 Front-of-house support
• Restocking brochures
• Tidying reception areas
• Preparing visitor packs
• Refilling water stations
• Organising waiting room materials

🧾 Light admin tasks
• Data entry
• Proofreading simple documents
• Formatting reports
• Preparing name tags
• Printing and assembling manuals
• Envelope stuffing and mail-outs
• Sorting incoming mail

📣 Marketing support
• Posting pre-written social media content
• Uploading blog posts
• Taking product photos
• Organising image libraries
• Updating website bios
• Creating simple Canva graphics
• Monitoring Google reviews and flagging responses

Individually, these look like “small” tasks.

Collectively, they drain hours from senior staff who could be focused on $100+ per hour work, costing your business thousands of dollars every month in lost productivity. Or worse, they don’t get done at all.

These are what I call $10 tasks. Necessary, repeatable, valuable. But not the best use of your $100‑an‑hour people.

The opportunity?

Bundle them.
Systemise them.
Turn them into a clearly defined, part-time role.

This is where customised employment works exceptionally well. Structured, repeatable tasks become meaningful jobs while freeing your team to focus on high-value work that actually drives revenue.

If you looked honestly at your week, how many hours are being swallowed by work that someone else could own and how much is it really costing your business?

25/02/2026

“They’re too disabled to work.”

It’s something I hear often.
And it’s something that quietly lowers expectations.

Work doesn’t have to look traditional.
It doesn’t have to be full time.
It doesn’t have to fit inside a job ad.

When we raise expectations, new possibilities open.

In my latest video, I talk about why no one is “too disabled” to contribute — and introduce two powerful approaches:

🔹 Micro Enterprise – turning interests, skills, and passions into small, tailored self-employment opportunities
🔹 Customised Employment – matching a person’s strengths to real business needs

When we shift from “What can’t they do?” to “What can they contribute?” everything changes.

The real question isn’t Can they work?
It’s Have we been creative enough to discover how?

🎥 Watch the video No One Is Too Disabled to Work | Raising Expectations
https://youtu.be/ObaBoYk6rEE

⸻

If you have a loved one aged 16+ and you’re thinking:

✨ They have interests we could build on
✨ They have skills or talents that could become something more
✨ I don’t want to navigate this alone

I offer Micro Enterprise consulting sessions to explore possibilities together.

These sessions can be funded through NDIS Capacity Building (Finding & Keeping a Job).

You don’t have to have all the answers.
You just have to be willing to raise expectations.

If you’re ready to explore what’s possible, send me a message or book a session.

Because expectations shape outcomes.

24/02/2026

❌ Think Customised Employment is just about “getting a job” — for the Job Seeker — or “finding applicants” — for the business?

Think again.

Customised Employment (CE) isn’t about filling a vacancy or sending resumes. It’s about matching the right person with real business needs — creating a role that benefits both the Job Seeker and the employer.

From a Job Seeker perspective:
• “I just want a job” → CE helps them uncover their strengths, contributions, and the conditions they need to thrive.
• It’s not about any job — it’s about the right fit where they can succeed and grow.

From a Business perspective:
• “We just need applicants” → CE identifies unmet needs, bottlenecks, and tasks that could be done more efficiently.
• It’s not about generic hiring — it’s about creating a role that adds real value to your business.

⸻

How it works:

1️⃣ Discovery – Understand the Job Seeker’s interests, contributions, and conditions for success.
2️⃣ Job Development – Explore your business (with permission!) to design a role that meets real needs and matches the person’s strengths.
3️⃣ On-site Job Support – A Job Supporter helps your team train and support the person, fading out once everyone is confident.

No resumes.
No generic applications.
No hard sell.

Just a motivated person, matched to business needs, with support to succeed.

Even if you’re not hiring right now, a conversation could uncover opportunities you didn’t know existed.

☕ Let’s grab a coffee and explore possibilities:
📞 0447 574 600 | ✉️ ricky@towardsbetter.com.au

23/02/2026

🌱 Turning Life Skills Into Paid Work 🌱

For those currently connected with Life Skills Queensland or Unique Partnerships for early learning/discovery support

What hands on skills do you enjoy most?

• Working with your hands
• Cleaning and detailing
• Using Hand Tools
• Engines, Automotive, Welding
• Sanding, painting or prep work
• Brick or block work
• Outdoor and irrigation tasks
• Practical, physical work

We are currently in conversations and completing needs analysis with businesses in:

Car Detailing
Sanding, Painting and Prep Work
Brick and Block Laying
Irrigation
Fabircation
Automotive/Tyre Fitting

This is a great chance for all around collaboration.

The goal is simple.
Take real hands on skills people are already learning and enjoying, and turn them into customised employment pathways and meaningful paid work.

Not a program.
Not busy work.
Real tasks. Real contribution. Real wages.

If you or someone you support would like to explore how their skills could grow into paid work, reach out.

Let’s build roles around strengths and create valued positions within local businesses.

Message or comment below to start the conversation.

Call now to connect with business.