Dr Sally Ernst is the Global CEO of SinoCode, a software development firm that develops and implements Microsoft solutions for the UK, US and Australian markets; and, distributes technology products back into China.

Sally-Anne also invests with her husband Lloyd Ernst, a highly successfully entrepreneur, in a number of start up businesses. They have successfully exited a number of these, including the WebCentral business - Australia’s largest hosting service, for valuations of AUD$11-60 million. Here is her blog for PATC

In a flailing economy with a dearth of debt finance, other sources of investment may enable growth, perhaps purely survival. Sharks can eat a good company in a desperate situation alive. Not taking the money can mean sudden death. So the question is:

Swim with the fishes? Or swim with the sharks?

Notoriously when the Mafia “takes someone out” they kiss them on the cheek and bless them to swim with the fishes (albeit difficult with concrete blocks weighed to their feet). In recent press, we’ve seen many businesses caught with the sudden downturn in the economy - from a 40% drop in property sales volumes, to a 40% rise in bankruptcies, to the radical escalation in numbers of companies seeking redundancy advice.

So what does a company do in hard times? Swim with the fishes while the concrete blocks of an economy under the threat of recession weighs its revenues down, or swim with the sharks and take expensive money?

Swimming with the sharks in the throws of desperation (which has a very strong scent) can see you lose an arm and a leg. However, if someone invests their cold, hard-earned cash in you, they obviously believe in you and calculate there is something in it for them. Just make sure there is still something in it for you at the other end. Read more

EVERYONE’S A CRITIC! - By relationship expert Louise Freegard

When I was asked to write a blog for PATC I jumped at the chance, and having spent the entire weekend reading the site, I bizarrely found myself buying a ticket to watch Hellboy II (thank you Glossy Wire). Now, I would never normally go for this type of film, but I thought ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’. I mean, who would have thought that a science fiction movie featuring a large red creature would provide me with blogging inspiration? Well ladies, it did.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Johann Krauss: You have one fatal flaw.
Hellboy: Oh, I wanna hear it.
Johann Krauss: No you don’t. You can’t take criticism.
Hellboy: Try me.
Johann Krauss: [pokes Hellboy] Can’t… take it.
Hellboy: [yells] What’s my flaw?
Johann Krauss: Your temper! It gets the best of you. Makes you weak, makes you vulnera…
[Hellboy punches him]

Now I’m not suggesting that every man has a temper that makes him want to punch someone across the room, but in theory I think you might get the point.
So tell me, can your man take criticism? Can you? Can your relationship take it? Read more