Mike Boyd

This is a great post by Carlo at StartupLaunchr that I just had to share…

What kind of business should I start?”

Most aspiring entrepreneurs ask this very question during the beginning of their journey into business. If you are like most people, the idea of starting your own business probably involves a restaurant franchise, a coffee shop, or a retail store of some sorts (such as selling clothes or books). Or, if you’re a little more in-tune with the times, you’ll be thinking of starting a technology company of some sorts and hoping to secure some venture capital funding.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with these types of businesses. However, if you’re a first-time entrepreneur (and likely, you are if you’re asking this question) these businesses are a bad idea to start with. They are very risky, take a lot of start-up capital, and you’ll most likely end up doing 12-hour work days, 7 days a week. Even more so, you are betting your most important resources (time and money) on an unproven strategy.

Instead, I challenge you to think of your first business as a pet project of some sort. Something that you are passionate about, and don’t mind spending a little bit of money here and there. You’ll never “fail” — you’re simply learning.

And to maximize your chances of success with your business, here are 6 rules you should follow when you’re launching a new business.

You should solve a certain problem for a certain group of people.

Instead of thinking about business ideas, successful entrepreneurs think about problem-solving for a select group. Look to answer the question, “how can I solve THAT problem?” when brainstorming for business ideas. People are more inclined to buy when they’re in a state of looking for a solution to their problem. It’s much easier to sell the cure instead of the prevention.

Preferably, you should be a member of that particular group to TRULY know what solutions you can offer them. After all, you can’t REALLY know what sort of problems pregnant women have if you’ve never been pregnant yourself, can you?

You should be able to test the demand for your product prior to launch.

Do not create a product and hope to create a demand for it once it’s done. Ideally, you should be able to launch a dry-test before you spend valuable time and resources developing the product. Set up a salespage and launch an AdWords campaign and see how many people “purchase” your product. Don’t take their credit card information of course; simply say you are sold out and will contact them once you’re fully stocked again. Additionally, you can also list the item on eBay and pull down the listing in the last minute.

You should be able to get it up and running as quickly or as cheap as possible.

You don’t have the capital, nor the resources, to build the next PSP or iPod just yet. If you attempt to build something that huge and this is your first time going into business, your chances for failure is very, very high. Once your dry test proves successful, you should be able to quickly capitalize on the demand even if that means starting out with half a product (half a product, NOT a half-ass product). It’s perfectly acceptable to start small for now, and get bigger as you progress.

You should be able to outsource a bulk of the work.

Not being able to outsource is a common syndrome for would-be entrepreneurs. They insist on doing it all themselves, then burn themselves out in the process. Don’t be cheap, and outsource activities. Think about this as a wise investment for your business. There are plenty of entrepreneurs who have launched entire businesses on the Internet by outsourcing everything, even product creation.

You shouldn’t be working on trivial things when you can save days or weeks of work by simply paying someone else to do it. So if web design or programming isn’t your strong suit, find someone on Elance who can do it cheaply. Focus your efforts on marketing and selling your product.

You should never buy anything that isn’t required until you’re making a profit.

Did you know that you only have to double a dollar 20 times before you turn it into a million? Take $1 and double that to end up with $2. Double that to end up with $4. Double that to end up with $8… By step 20, you would’ve made over a million dollars.

Of course, that’s easier said than done. The lesson here is to take the profits you’ve earned and reinvest it back into the business. Until you’re making a profit, do not spend on unnecessary things like coffee mugs with your logo on it, new desks, office rent, etc. Before you buy anything, first ask yourself this question: will the business crumble tomorrow if I don’t get this right now? If not, put it in the backburner and move on.

You should be able to scale the business.

This is perhaps the most important rule of them all. After all, you’re starting a business, not getting a job. The end goal for your company should be that it functions without your presence. Your business should function in the same way whether you’re selling 10 or 10,000 products. Be the police officer on the side of the road who steps in when needed, instead of a toll booth which all cars need to pass through.

It’s no secret to those who know me personally that I drink A LOT of coffee, some say too much - I beg to differ…

“I really like coffee.
Actually no - I don’t.
I LOVE COFFEE.
Is this SO bad?”

Since gaining the opportunity to undertake professional barista training in my last ‘real world’ job (yuck!), I have come to truly appreciate fresh espresso coffee in its many forms. With the growing negative media coverage of drinking too much coffee I decided to do a little research about the GOOD things about coffee and reassure myself that I will survive this enjoyable habit.

A very brief coffee history:

• From the energising aroma of a morning espresso, to the smooth cappuccino between friends and the sensuality of a white chocolate mocha on a lazy weekend, coffee has come a long way since its discovery by an Ethiopian goat herder in 1100BC
• Arriving in Italy in the early 1600’s
• and to Australia with the First Fleet in 1788, the art of coffee making continues to be perfected to individual tastes with cultural influences.

For a beginners guide to the wide variety of flavours and roastings available, five of the most popular coffee varieties include:

1. Espresso - A strong coffee brewed by forcing steam under pressure through darkly roasted, powdered coffee.
2. Latte - Espresso and steamed milk below a think layer of smooth, silky milk.
3. Mocha - Rich chocolate, espresso and steamed milk finished with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles.
4. Cappuccino - Espresso and steamed milk beneath a thick layer of velvety smooth milk, dusted with chocolate.
5. Macchiato - Espresso stained with a dollop of creamy milk froth.

Latte is by far and away my number one.

Health Benefits of Coffee:

• Coffee contains antioxidants that help prevent cancer and heart disease.
• Studies indicate that regular coffee drinkers are up to 80% less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease.
• Drinking two cups daily could reduce the risk of colon cancer by 25% and halve the risk of gallstones.
• Emerging evidence suggests that coffee may help manage asthma, stop a headache, boost mood, and even prevent cavities.
• Decaf coffee has been found to provide the same stimulative effect as regular coffee, without the caffeine.

Useless Coffee Facts I came across:

• Brazil is the largest coffee producer, with over 3970 million coffee trees.
• October 1 is the official ‘Coffee Day’ in Japan.
• Americans drink 330 million cups of coffee a day - but no coffee is grown in the USA with the exception of Puerto Rico. <– Must be great for their GDP!

So there you have it, coffee isn’t so bad after all - you may now drink to your heart’s content! And you know, drinking keg beer has it’s good points too! But we’ll leave that for another time…

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This is simply brilliant!

The opening of Portland’s The Green Microgym this week seems like a perfect complement to the announcement of M2E’s kinetic charger, which can generate energy from motion. Adam Boesel, The Green Microgym’s owner, doctored up spin bikes with weed whacker motors and truck alternators so that patrons can create energy to help power the 2,800 foot space.

According to DailyTech, the Team Dynamo and Spin Bikes at the gym can each generate up to 75 watts per hour. Next on Boesel’s list is generating power from elliptical trainers.

At first, patrons will probably generate about 25 percent of the gym’s power. But Boesel hopes that eventually they will be to generate all of it.

The Green Microgym follows in the footsteps of Hong Kong’s California Fitness gym, which uses gym-goers’ energy to power light fixtures.

This article was published by CleanTechnica.com and authored by Ariel Schwartz.

I spent a lovely weekend away in the country this weekend at my parents cattle property about 100km SW of Brisbane. A break that that I was certainly ready for! The clean fresh air, billions and billions of stars, a big camp fire and amazing views across the undulating hills were, as always, truly spectacular…

And it got me thinking about the scope and perspective of my latest ecopreneur ideas. As most of you know, I’m an avid entrepreneur, businessman and sustainability scientist - a strange combination I know! But as more and more green technologies emerge and western cultures wake up to the fact that we cannot continue along the path we’ve followed for so long, my entrepreneurial spirit wills me on to bigger and better ecopreneurial ideas.

Over the weekend my Google Reader account exploded with neglected feeds that all wanted my attention come Monday morning. One RSS feed in particular really clicked with my current way of green thinking. It was a Springwise post about eco-sustainability and a fantastic new innovation in the US call RoofRay.

RoofRay have come up with a plan to allow everyday home owners and prospective buyers the chance to evaluate the solar energy potential of any house using Google Maps. Now folks this is really really cool! A great way to capitalise on green markets and up and coming consumer behaviour in the US.
Here’s a copy of Springwise’s feed below - I suggest you all subscribe in your RSS reader, they always have great and interesting content:

As energy prices continue to climb, the idea of tapping the power of the sun may seem like a no-brainer. The process of getting solar panels installed, however, is quite the opposite, fraught with spreadsheets, technical details and terms like “albedo.” Enter RoofRay, a brand-new California startup that aims to give consumers better information so they can make more informed solar decisions.

Currently in beta, RoofRay is a solar array modelling service and community designed to help consumers evaluate solar for their homes or businesses. Using the site’s modelling tools, consumers can estimate how much solar energy a home could capture and how that would affect their monthly bills based on past weather conditions, current power bills, the slope of their house, and how much panelling their roof can hold. One tool uses Google Maps to let users calculate the square footage of their roof and build virtual panels; RoofRay then estimates the output potential of the roof as well as financial considerations like costs of installation and upkeep and ROI. Another section shows existing installations that have already been completed by other people, including specifics of the roof used and total peak power. Ultimately, RoofRay hopes to create “RoofRaytings” for buildings and provide them to real-estate search engines as an indicator of the solar potential of homes or businesses for sale. It also plans to create an online marketplace where solar installers and integrators can bid for consumers’ business.

As RoofRay points out, homes’ solar potential could become increasingly important as a factor in real-estate buying decisions. Making it easier for consumers to access that and other solar information will surely be a key step on the way to more widespread adoption of the technology and—the ultimate goal—less reliance on fossil fuels. (Related: Maps for new-energy entrepreneurs.)

Website: www.roofray.com
Contact: info@roofray.com

Have you seen any other great Green Technologies? Ecopreneur (<– I love that word!) Innovations or Emission Reduction Plans? Leave some comments below on your favourites and I’ll follow up on them all I promise!

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“Companies that place high importance on managing the economic value of their intangible assets and primarily their brands, consistently outperform basic economic measures.”

[Interbrand Top Performing European Retail Brands, 2008]

I was reading an article in Ad Age about how, increasingly, the people who handle the brand inside organization are being considered for top jobs.

Brand matters. It contributes significantly to the company’s value. Lived and owned rather than an afterthought - a deliberate, two-way conversation between a company and the marketplace - a brand is a powerful asset.

Especially in an increasingly crowded competitive environment. A brand that does well by its customers earns a positive reputation. It in turn translates into positive cash flow. There is a correlation.

How do we measure it? Is there a way to make it truly apparent? Start with what happens when the brand is not a valued asset inside the organization.

• the vision, mission and value statements read like those of just about any other company and nobody can possibly see how they come alive, how people live them;
• every business is a silo. It develops products or services in a vacuum, and articulates what the company does differently. There is no central core to vet new products and services against;
• the marketplace is quite confused about what it is that you deliver. There is no brand promise to fulfill, to rally around, to make decisions by;
• there is no compelling reason why or unifying idea behind why a business is in business;
• a line item that contains activities around branding is the first to be cut into oblivion, and with it potentially the company. Did I mention that there are so many choices today?

You know that these symptoms tend to seep outside the confines of the organization. We’re in a connected marketplace. When we buy anything at all, we sign up to join a story. The story could be that of using the cheapest toothpaste or most convenient store, but make no mistake - we make decisions and trade offs based on brand stories and experiences all the time.

I like the idea of exercising, but I do not like gyms - they are noisy, crowded, sometimes hardly clean and expensive. My return on effort is not there. And I do not like paying annual fees on top of monthly fees with no guarantee that I will be able to use the equipment I want, when I want it. Recently I started taking Pilates classes.

The place where I go offers the right kind of environment for me. The largest crowd you’d ever have is 5 people so the instructors have plenty of opportunity to help everyone. You book a machine online ahead of time, the hours are flexible, and the fee is flat per month - you go as many times as you can/want. The brand experience is: personable, flexible, convenient, and fun. Oh, and the reason why you’d go? It promises to make you fit, I am already seeing the results.

Do you have a brand matters story? Today at Fast Company I discuss how cost cutting choices are cutting brands short.

Now you know what to look out for and have your example in mind. How do you calculate brand value?

According to Interbrand, it is at the intersection of brand strength analysis and the role of brand analysis. You take the benchmark of your brand’s ability to secure ongoing customer demand (loyalty, repurchase/reconsideration, retention) and reference that to the measure of how the brand influences customer demand.

To calculate the value, Interbrand uses financial forecasting - branded revenues minus operating costs, taxes and capital to get to intangible earnings. To separate the role of branding from things such as R&D and management expertise, they use an analytical framework. In B2B, the brand is usually one purchase driver among many. This is expressed as a percentage.

The assessment of brand strength determines the specific risk of the brand. The net present value of the forecast brand earnings discounted by the time value of money and the risk that the forecast earnings will materialize. Interbrand refers to a wide array of primary and secondary sources that are applicable to each brand. These include amongst others; Datamonitor, ACNielsen, Gartner, Hall & Partners, etc. in addition to a network of brand valuation experts. More in the report.

If this sounds fairly complicated, go back to how hard it is to explain to the organization that people do not want to buy your products or services because your brand experience and reputation are poor.

“When the value of a brand is recognized by its owner, the brand strategy becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Source: Conversation Agent.com

Ready to leave your job behind and become your own boss?

It takes a certain kind of person to make it through the first few years. To help you along, we’ve culled the best tips from our own years of experience in running our own businesses.

• 1. Don’t work for less than you can afford to, but do offer a discount to customers or clients who sign contracts with you
• 2. Find people who will refer jobs to you. If they send you nightmare jobs, make sure they’re balanced out with rewarding (profitable!) ones.
• 3. Surround yourself with supportive people and don’t be discouraged by anyone. If your idea is good and you’re determined to stick with it through the first few difficult years, your chances of success are great.
• 4. Be flexible in your thinking. Prepare to change the way you work, the products you use and the services you offer, in order to meet the demands of your customers.
• 5. Admit your mistakes, correct them and carry on.(For example, if you purchase a piece of equipment that does not meet your expectations, send it back, sell it or exchange it!)
• 6. Develop a good relationship with your bank manager and creditors. Show a genuine interest in solving problems. Pay as much as you can afford to, to everyone to whom you owe money.
• 7. Get trained! You’ll be spending a lot of time doing things that have nothing to do with your area of expertise, like bookkeeping, marketing, and IT support!
• 8. Avoid isolation. Even if you work closely with your clients, you won’t be part of a gang anymore. Develop your own network of entrepreneurs that you see regularly and bounce ideas off. Ideally they’ll allow you to vent your anger and share your successes.
• 9. Separate your work and personal life. Set your working hours and stick to a strict timetable. When you’re not available to clients, leave a message on your answer machine letting them know when they can expect a reply from you. Let them know how to reach you in an emergency.
• 10. Plan some ‘thinking time’ into every day. If you pack your diary with back-to-back activities, your business will never grow.
• 11. Plan time to do something you enjoy at least a few times a week - recharge your batteries!
• 12. Write a business plan so you’re clear about what you’re doing, and update it every year.
• 13. Develop an excellent telephone manner and react quickly to any complaints or problems.
• 14. Confirm orders personally and immediately, especially those you receive on email.
• 15. Never lose sight of the big picture – look for innovative, little-explored directions in which to take your business.
• 16. When you find someone cleverer than you, employ them!
• 17. Solicit advice from people who know, for example, other entrepreneurs and reputable small business advisers – the DTI offers lots of information and support for new businesses.
• 18. Don’t enter a business or a venture that you know nothing about. You’ll be running to catch up for the rest of your business life.
• 19. Have an existing, loyal customer base and start locally.
• 20. Be aware that you will get through any initial investment quickly, so ensure you are covered financially until at least the end of the second year.
• 21. Focus on a specific goal and work at it until it’s achieved
• 22. Never worry about how to get things done when you are first developing your idea.Money and resources will come together once you have set your goals and begun to work at them.
• 23. Make quality in every aspect of your business your primary focus and aim. If it isn’t, you will eventually go out of business.
• 24. Use the Internet. Use email. Build a website (if you aren’t familiar with websites, try HTML for Dummies), send out email newsletters, buy online banner advertisements and register your site with all the major search engines.
• 25. Delegate. You might have to hire a good PA, lawyer, or marketing professional to ensure you’ll be profitable in the future.

source: ivillage.co.uk

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While the Aquaduct proposes a very clever and innovative idea for developing nations that are clean-water scarce, one must wonder about the true practicality and cost of such innovation.

Not only would there be significant cultural barriers to entry - even if the Aquaduct were provided free, but is this not just another attempt to Westernise developing nations? Now don’t get me wrong, this could be greatly beneficial to the health and prosperity of many. But just picturing people from Sub-Saharan African nations riding around on hundreds of bright blue tricycles just doesn’t gel in my mind.





What do you think? Is this an astonishing invention? Or just a waste of time and resources?

Peter Clemens is a young 25 year old Australian from Perth who is currently residing in Vancouver, Canada with his family.

Peter is a blogger dedicated to Self Development, Positivity, Change and Leading fulfilling lives. The Change Blog is his primary domain where he writes about change in our lives and the importance of it. Peter is also the editor at Pick the Brain another inspirational blog on Motivation and Self Improvement.

Quoting Peter on The Change Blog he says “My goal for this blog is to make the world a better place by helping people to lead happy, conscious and meaningful lives.

Peter is a truly inspirational, positive and happy leader - and I encourage all of you to have a look at his blog material, for you never know how it may help you.

Only recently he has released his first ebook entitled ‘A Year of Change’ summarising the first year of his change blog and his experiences. A great read! You can find the download link