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A shrinking economy may spur more people to start a business out of necessity, but expectations of a better economic climate for Singapore do not necessarily point to less entrepreneurship, according to experts on the subject.
This is because the dynamics contributing to a country's entrepreneurship level are complex, and so the school of thought that entrepreneurial activity increases when the economy is not doing well may not hold.
The Ministry of Manpower is introducing new measures under SPUR (Skiils Programme for Upgrading and Resilience) to further develop Singapore's manpower capabilities and provide greater support for companies and workers, especially Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs), affected by the downturn. They are:
a) Increase in Absentee Payroll to better support training for PMETs - Annex A;
b) SPUR-JOBS to encourage recruitment and retention of trainees of SPUR and other WDA CET programmes - Annex B; and
c) Professional Skills Programme Traineeships (PSPT) scheme for companies to build new capabilities in growth sectors - Annex C.
OFFERING employees the freedom to work fewer and more flexible hours could help companies trim costs and lift productivity amid the downturn.
Fewer hours - meaning lower pay - could help rein in salary costs. And offering more flexible hours to employees can also improve the bottom line, studies overseas have shown.
But perhaps what's best about flexi-work is that unlike retrenchment, it is likely to be embraced by young and old alike - with benefits that could well outlast the downturn.
At least three recent studies here have shown that flexi-work is a tempting carrot that would entice older folk from retirement and wean new mothers from baby bottles back to their Blackberries.
The latest, reported by The Straits Times last month, showed that 72 per cent of 1,000 workers polled would be encouraged to remain in the workforce for as long as possible in their senior years - if given fewer and more flexible work hours. Data for this survey was culled from a global study on the future of retirement by Oxford University.
Another recently released survey of 3,000 baby-boomers here, commissioned by the Government, yielded similar findings.
In yet another Government survey made public last July, more than 60 per cent of 25,000 unemployed older folk who planned to look for work said they preferred part-time work.
Same for mothers of young children. In a survey of 1,000 mothers who were either working or looking for jobs here last year, 85 per cent said flexible hours and results-based performance evaluation would best help them cope with the dual demands of children and career. The survey was commissioned by baby food company, Friesland.
But this groundswell of opinion has so far had little effect among employers.
Indeed, the Oxford survey, which interviewed 300 employers here as well, found that only 43 per cent of employers were willing to offer flexible work to older workers. The remaining 57 per cent, presumably, are against such arrangements - or at least undecided. Contrast that with Britain, where studies have shown that fewer than a tenth of all requests for flexi-work are turned down.
The Singapore working mothers survey, for its part, found that nearly two-thirds of the mothers were unable to re-enter the workforce after childbirth as they failed to find jobs that offered 'family-friendly' hours.
Figures from the Ministry of Manpower made public last December show that only 7.4 per cent of private sector employees here are on flexible work schedules, up from about 5 per cent in 2006.
If you include the public sector, the proportion of employees on flexible work arrangements in 2008 was 9.4 per cent.
While the numbers here are inching up, Singapore is still a far cry from countries like the United States and Britain, where nearly 30 per cent of employees work on flexible schedules.
So why the lag here?
The biggest hitch is that many employers still view 'face-time' at the workplace as an important criterion in evaluating staff performance and productivity, says Mr Josh Goh, senior manager for corporate services at recruitment firm GMP. They fail to recognise that there is little correlation between productivity and the number of hours worked, he says.
Chief executive officer of HR firm LifeWorkz, Ms Cheryl Liew, points out that many firms here have the misconception that the nature of their businesses is simply not conducive to flexi-hours.
Many small companies, for instance, equate telecommuting - that is, working from a computer at home - with flexi-work. They think that if they don't have sophisticated IT infrastructure, they cannot afford to be more flexible.
But telecommuting - ideal for desk-bound executives hooked up to office computer systems - is not the only type of flexi-work. There can be flexibility in both the scheduling and number of hours worked.
These include a 'compressed work week', where an employee works an extra few hours every work day, to be on a three- or four-day week. This is ideal for those in manufacturing.
Job-sharing - where two employees share one full-time position - has also proved to be useful to those in administrative or shift-based jobs.
Finally, there is the 'annualised hours' scheme where, instead of say 40-hours a week, employees are given an annual quota of the number of hours they need to work. Such a scheme is useful especially for organisations that have round-the-clock operations.
But companies here remain apprehensive about heavier administrative loads on managers in terms of communicating, supervising and scheduling the working time of employees.
This needs to change, say some experts on productivity. There is increasing evidence that flexible hours are not just a boon for employees, but for the company's bottom line too.
A 2006 study by Georgetown University in the US, for instance, cited several cases of companies that raked in more revenue even as they gave their employees more freedom in how and where they did their work.
Chubb, a Fortune 500 insurance company which implemented various forms of flexi-work in its claim services department, found a 40 per cent jump in claims processed, and a dramatic reduction in overtime costs.
Global IT giant IBM, for its part, saved US$20 million (S$30.6 million) in operating costs annually and over 500,000 sq ft of real estate by allowing employees to telecommute.
While Singapore companies watch and wait, the US and Britain are both beefing up their flexi-work mechanisms.
On Jan 30, days after being sworn into office, US President Barack Obama announced the formation of a task force to find ways for overloaded parents to better balance their work and family lives.
And from next month, a new British law will make it a right for all working parents with children under 16 to ask for flexible working conditions.
There is no need for legislation here yet, but clearly it's time to delve deeper into flexi options.
As work slows and morale dips, giving employees a choice on when and where they work could be the cheerful upside of this depressing downturn.
A white paper is a report used to educate users. A white paper is also used for marketing the business as well. Information is the key in white papers and a successful paper can attract the reader to become your client.
1. You need to provide all the information about your solution or about your business when you a write papers. You should do an extensive research about everything related to the business. Never deliver white paper without proper information. Internet is a vast source of information from which you can collect all the data you want.
2. After collecting information about what you have to write, you have to set goals and objectives of your paper. You should clearly know what information you are going to provide for your readers. The issues, which are to be considered, and solutions to be identified should be outlined clearly even before starting to write a white paper.
3. You have to write the paper by viewing it from the reader’s perspective. The readers of your paper should gain some information and their questions answered. The profile of the readers should be borne in mind when you organize the information in the white paper. Your reader should gain some knowledge after reading your paper.
4. A proper structure needs to be given to your white paper. The flow of writing should be legible and logical. While looking at the front pages, the reader should understand what contents you have provided and switch to appropriate pages to get into the details of the topics. You should convince your reader that you are the best expert providing the solution for their business needs. You could achieve this by targeting the business needs of possible readers.
5. You have to use an appropriate word processor to generate error free white papers. You should know the template that is to be used because you want the information to be crisp and to the point. It should be noted that the reader would not be reading all the pages and hence you have to highlight at least the main points in your paper. You could also add interactive interviews and other fresh contents to make your paper look unique.
Mashable.com has gather a list of 85+ tools covering time / expenses, invoicing, stock image libaries, freelance sites and more...
"Deciding to become a freelance worker can be a scary proposition. Sure there is an allure to picking what projects you work on, but it can also be stressful not knowing where your next paycheck will come from. Luckily there are numerous resources out there that not only help you find more work, but also loads of tools to help you do your job more efficiently with a professional edge.
We’ve gathered over 85 tools and job sites for a variety of freelancers and web workers. While a lot of these items are focused on web design elements such as photography, programming and writing, we made sure to include something for everyone."
Advantages of LLC / LLP and setting up in Singapore
When you set up a business as a sole proprietor, you are solely responsible for the profits and losses of the company. LLC is nothing but a legal entity that provides tax benefits as well as protects the liabilities. More and more people are now interested in operating their business as a LLC. Setting up limited liability partnership is allowed in Singapore where you can create partnerships and enjoy protection from personal liabilities. You need not take the responsibilities of other partner in the company but you can still take advantage of tax benefits.
As a partner in a limited liability partnership companies, you can take a part in providing financial help to other partners. You will get a return on your investment along with protection of liabilities. The partner in the company has to take the financial risk but not the liability risk which is much beneficial. You can still run your own business under any ownership and enjoy tax benefits by participating in limited liabilities partnerships. If you don’t wish to continue with the partnership, you can leave at any convenient time without the need for dissolving the limited partnership.
Setting up a LLP in Singapore
The government of Singapore allows you to create limited liability partnerships to secure liabilities by partnering with other individuals or companies.
1.Any person or company can register for a limited liability partnership. There must be a minimum of two (2) partners. Companies or individuals who have an undischarged bankruptcy cannot register for an LLP.
2.If you wish to set up a LLP, you need to appoint a local manager who should have a local address in Singapore. You can appoint anyone above 21 years of age as local manager if he or she is either a permanent resident or Singapore resident or holding employment pass or holding dependent pass.
3.Just like any other business, you have to look for a company that is unique to your business. You will not be allowed to take up a name that is already established. ACRA has an online list of businesses that are in existence and you have to check the ACRA list to find if your name is unique.
4.SSIC code is essential for setting up LLP as it identifies your business activity. Use ACRA website to find out the code for tour business. You can achieve this by conducting a keyword search.
5.You need to specify the location of your business by specifying the local address of the place. The Urban Development Authority should approve your location for proceeding with your business.
6.Medisave should be cleared and you have to top up your account for keeping it up to date. There are many ways for making payment to this account. After this, apply for Singpass for your LLP company.
7.The registration process also involves the filling up of the BizFile after logging in with the Singpass. You can register on your own or get help from the financial firms for filling up the BizFile.
8.You need to know the licenses that are required for your LLP and get permissions from the corresponding authorities. After all these formalities are completed, you will be approved for opening your LLP.
SPRING Singapore is launching a S$30 million programme to help nurture innovative start-up companies.
The initiative, called the Incubator Development Programme, aims to help young firms gain better support and access to resources.
The programme will provide funds to enhance the services provided by organisations that help nurture and grow promising new start-ups.
Under the scheme, such groups - nicknamed "incubators" or "venture accelerators" - can get up to 70 per cent grant support to develop fledgling firms.
However, they will need to provide a full suite of services to qualify for funding.
Five such organisations have already benefited during a pilot phase of the programme over the past year.
These organisations are NUS Enterprise Incubator, iAxil Venture Accelerator Centre, NTU Nanofrontier, Business Angel Network and Microsoft Innovation Centre.
To date, some 200 companies have been "incubated" by these five organisations.
Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan said: "They also come in with cross-functional skills, mentorship and smart money...you see a lot of start-ups are very focused. They are either technology founders or some kind of new concept start-ups. They need a lot of help in terms of commercialising the product, in terms of bringing it to market, in terms of getting the right investor to come in to value add in the process..."
The companies come from various sectors, including clean and environmental technology, engineering and manufacturing.
Sixty-five per cent of those helped are in technology-focused industries like infocomms and interactive digital media.
This is likely to remain the programme's key focus.
Mr Lee said: "In the IT sector, in the technology sector, your products tend to be ready for the world market from day one, compared to say a food and beverage outlet which tends to be typically to be local and in the community and where the growth will be slower."
SPRING Singapore aims to help seed and nurture 500 innovative start-ups over the next three years. - CNA/ms
Professionals who have lost their jobs in the current economic environment are being urged to consider becoming entrepreneurs.
Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan said the entrepreneurship landscape in Singapore remains healthy, with start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) still venturing overseas.
He said opportunities still exist for entrepreneurs who are resourceful and imaginative.
Data from SPRING Singapore showed that more start-up companies and at least two-thirds of all SMEs in Singapore now have operations overseas.
Of these SMEs, a quarter earned half their revenue from overseas last year - although this figure has fallen slightly over 2007.
The success stories include firms like Sakae Sushi and Charles & Keith, which started operations during the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997.
Mr Lee said the current economic crisis could present opportunities for Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs), who may have lost their jobs.
He said: "If you look at new ventures... many of them are started by professionals who work in certain industries for the last 10, 15 years and by then, they have acquired a very specialised knowledge of that industry.
"They know if they were to set up a company, how their company is going to value add. So I think in the PMET market likewise, there would be some of them who are in this unique position.
"But to cross over from a professional to an entrepreneur, of course there are some skills needed, and this is where I think our Enterprise Development Centre and our incubators can advise."
Entrepreneurs are also getting younger - with some 65 per cent under the age of 40. And SPRING Singapore is planning to reach out to more youths.
Mr Lee said: "If we one day can make them start and wind down a business in the course of their studies, then they will bring this skill set and experience with them, they may start a new business upon graduation, or they may do so 15 years later.
"But they have the confidence to say that 'Yes I have done it before, and I am ready to take it to the world now.'"
Two programmes catering to young entrepreneurs were launched last year under the YES! Scheme. Under the scheme, SPRING Singapore received 12 applications from schools seeking funds for entrepreneurship programmes and has approved two of them.
CAFES are increasingly becoming a popular hangout on campus, and entrepreneurial students and ex-students at the Singapore Management University (SMU) have capitalised on the trend to open more such outlets there.
Recent additions include Treehouse at the SMU's School of Information Systems, and Screme (which replaces the old Frujch) on the campus ground. These cafes join the ranks of Edmund's@SMU, which sells scrumptious cakes, kuihs and pastries at prices easy on the pocket.
Both Treehouse and Screme were set up in August by students, with some help from the SMU Students Association (SMUSA).
'We wanted to increase student vibrancy and have another place for students to hang out,' said Elizabeth Lim, a second-year student at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, who is one of Treehouse's three founders.
Her partners are friends Alicia Yik, also in second year at SMU, and third-year student Desmond Lim.
Treehouse started after the three won an SMUSA competition for cafes with their proposed submissions.
'I think what impressed the judges is that we offered a cafe which also offers the option for students to sit and have a proper meal, as opposed to the usual takeaway style we students are so used to,' said Alicia.
This is in contrast to the offer at Screme, located along the SMU Concourse, which focuses on easy-to-eat, American-style food such as sandwiches and bangers-and-mash.
It was tough to get the Treehouse venture started, but the trio say the SMUSA was a great help. It provided furniture for the cafe and other logistics.
It took the team four months of thorough planning during the entire summer holidays before the cafe was up and running in August when the academic term began.
The Treehouse team members tap on one another's skills to maximise their efficiency. For instance, Desmond, who studies accountancy, takes care of the number-crunching, while the girls play a bigger role in logistics and marketing.
'We focus a lot on mains (dishes),' they say. Signature dishes by their chef, Vasana Lee, include Thai and local delicacies such as mama's green curry, nasi lemak and tom yum soup. Other favourites at the cafe are the desserts, as well as Western dishes such as mushroom spaghetti with white wine and cream sauce.
The cafe is open only during the academic terms, and is closed during the summer and December holidays since students won't be around.
Treehouse is expected to break even in another 11/2 to two semesters, an impressive time frame for the startup.
The cafe draws about 100 customers a day, with most coming during lunchtime.
'Ultimately, I think it's the love for what we are doing which keeps us going. If you like what you are doing, you can do anything,' says Alicia. 'Sometimes I even feel like I'm a part-time student and full-time when it comes to the cafe.'
Isaac Tan, one of the five founders of Screme, agrees. 'The unique thing about our cafe is that everyone can make everything,' he says.
The team initially had big plans to make gourmet food at affordable prices, but found out that it would not be feasible given their resources and target customers.
'At the end of the day, it is fun (to run a cafe) - we have invested a lot of money and it is all about the valuable experience we get,' says Isaac.
This article was first published in The Business Times on December 29, 2008.
When you are at a business / social function, you have less than 15 seconds to make that first impression.
15secondpitch.com provides a quiz which will help you craft that 15 second pitch to market yourself, in a concise and compelling way.
Some guidelines: Create a pitch — for every niche. This is very important. Develop a straight forward pitch for every industry that your focused on. If you dabble in photography but work nine to five as a caterer - you need one for each.
Use it effectively — and have a pitch prepared for every event that you attend. Be it a barbecue, fundraiser, or networking event - when you are least prepared is when you are most likely to have a random encounter opportunity.
Include a bold — compelling statement that peaks the interest of the listener and provokes them to want to know more. As Seth Godin says, “Your either remarkable or invisible.”
Singapore's labour movement wants to improve the working status of its some 183,000 casual and contract workers.
NTUC said many of them do not even have proper CPF contributions - a key pillar in Singapore's social safety net.
Madam Hoon is a typical casual and contract worker in Singapore - working on piecemeal jobs, and concerned if she will have a job the next day.
She said: "I am now a part-time promoter and I worry about the boss not calling promoters like us to promote their products. Maybe I will lose my job. I hope NTUC will provide more opportunities for people like me to get more jobs."
The number of such workers in Singapore has grown from about 80,000 from the days outsourcing began, to some 183,000 today. And the number does not include foreign workers.
NTUC said that regardless of whether a staff is a permanent or casual worker, it is important to look after their welfare.
Zainudin Nordin, director, Unit for Casual and Contract Workers, NTUC, said: "Some of them do not get CPF payments, they do not get medical leave, they do not have annual leave and they do not have a proper contract for their work. It is more like a verbal agreement. These are things that are worrisome.
"Sometimes, the situation would lead to the mismanagement of the staff. As a worker, whether casual or contract or permanent, they have to know their rights. So we are trying to increase this awareness by educating them and engaging them."
Government agencies must also ensure that regulations on employment are observed by companies.
But Mr Zainudin agrees that things are not going to be easy for these workers, especially during the current global economic downturn.
He said; "These vulnerable workers who are in the low-wage, low-skilled and lowly-educated (group) will be, in my view, one of the first few to be hit, and we are concerned about this...even though there is an economic downturn and global slowdown, the labour movement believes that employers can work closely with us to ensure that the workers should not be the first to go."
One way to help these workers is to send them for training under the lifelong learning and continuing education framework.
The Income Tax Act has been amended and enhanced to better help Singapore achieve economic and social objectives.
- One key change is that the amounts of Child Relief and Handicapped Child Relief will be increased from next year.
- Qualifying Child Relief will be doubled to S$4,000. She said this will be extended to all qualifying children, beyond the fourth child. Handicapped Child Relief on the other hand will be raised by S$2,000 to S$5,500.
- Working mothers will also be able to claim up to 100 per cent of their earned income for all qualifying Singaporean children under the Working Mother's Child Relief. This includes the fifth child and beyond.
- The cap for the total amount claimable for all three relief schemes in respect of the same child has been doubled to S$50,000.
- As for the S$5,000 Parenthood Tax Rebate, it will be extended to the first child.
- Mrs Lim said that parents can also get S$20,000 for each child beyond the fourth one.
- Selected groups of taxpayers will be exempted from filing their income tax. This will not only benefit about 300,000 taxpayers, but help the government save on tax administration costs.
- Under the other amendment, General Partnerships and Limited Liability Partnerships will now enjoy tax incentives. They will enjoy specific tax incentives such as further reductions for research and development expenditure.
Rapid prototyping is the most common name given to a host of related technologies that are used to fabricate physical objects directly from CAD data sources.
Our subsidary service RPWorkshop.com provides Rapid Prototyping service in Singapore. Just email us your 3D CAD file and we will advise accordingly. You can easily / quickly convert digital files into physical models, for product testing, research, or presentation purposes.
These methods are unique in that they add and bond materials in layers to form objects. Such systems are also known by the names additive fabrication, three dimensional printing, solid freeform fabrication (SFF) and layered manufacturing. Today's additive technologies offer advantages in many applications compared to classical subtractive fabrication methods such as milling or turning:
Objects can be formed with any geometric complexity or intricacy without the need for elaborate machine setup or final assembly;
Rapid prototyping systems reduce the construction of complex objects to a manageable, straightforward, and relatively fast process.
This has resulted in their wide use by engineers as a way to reduce time to market in manufacturing, to better understand and communicate product designs, and to make rapid tooling to manufacture those products. Surgeons, architects, artists and individuals from many other disciplines also routinely use the technology.
Rapid prototyping isn't a solution to every part fabrication problem. After all, CNC technology is economical, widely understood and available, offers wide material selection and excellent accuracy. However, if the requirement involves producing a part or object of even moderately complex geometry, and doing so quickly - RP has the advantage. It's very easy to look at extreme cases and make a determination of which technology route to pursue, CNC or RP. For many other less extreme cases the selection crossover line is hazy, moves all the time, and depends on a number of variably-weighted, case-dependent factors. While the accuracy of rapid prototyping isn't generally as good as CNC, it's adequate today for a wide range of exacting applications.
The materials used in rapid prototyping are limited and dependent on the method chosen. However, the range and properties available are growing quickly. Numerous plastics, ceramics, metals ranging from stainless steel to titanium, and wood-like paper are available. At any rate, numerous secondary processes are available to convert patterns made in a rapid prototyping process to final materials or tools.
To start a private company in Singapore certain procedures and regulations are to be followed. Most of the companies in Singapore are private companies that are limited by the shares. To open a private company called pte ltd, you have to register it under companies act chapter 50. ACRA is the centralized authority for approving and registering private companies. Company is a legal entity and you can manage it by means of your shares. This entity can hold a property and for any legal issues, it can be sued. You become the owner of the company if you hold some or all shares of the company. The price of the share can be anything ranging from $1.
Any individual or a company can register a private company.
To start a company, you need to appoint at least one director who is above 21 years of age. The directors you appoint should be either a permanent resident of Singapore or a Singapore citizen or employee pass holder or dependent pass holder or hold approval-in-principal employment pass.
The directors you appoint should not be bankrupt or dishonest. Those persons who have been convicted for any case of dishonesty are disqualified for becoming a director. You should seek the help of your lawyers to identify suitable persons for acting as directors.
For starting a private company, you need to appoint at least one director and one shareholder. The same person can be appointed with both designations. However, it is better to employ two directors, as two signatories are demanded by most of the financial institutions.
Your company can be called a private company if you have no more than 50 shareholders. If this number is exceeded, then you have to call your company as a public company that is limited by shares.
To get the ACRA approval, you have to decide the business name and the business location for setting up the company. The name should be unique and you cannot choose a name that is close to another business or a name that already exists.
Next step is to get a SSIC code for the company which specifies the nature of your business activity. This is important for all companies because using this code the government can identify the licenses and permits that are required for your business. You have to top up your medisave and keep it up to date.
The Singpass is essential for filing up the BizFile which is required for registering your company. This Singpass is a password which enables communication between your company and government authorities.
After obtaining the password, you should open a BizFile and login using the singpass. Then you have to make the payments for the registration fees charged for your company. Irrespective of the type of company, you have to pay $15 for the business name and since you are opening a private company, you have to pay $300 for registering the company.
Appropriate licenses have to be obtained from the government authorities and you can register your company by getting help from the legal firms. After obtaining all the permits, you can open your private company in the registered location.
It seems like nearly every day there’s more bad news about the economy. Even worse, it’s hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel. Given that, it may seem like a terrible time to start a small business. So here’s something that may surprise you: it’s actually not. The truth is that many small businesses that launch during tough economic times not only flourish, but are stronger and leaner than they would have been otherwise. Here are a few tips on how to take advantage of what an economic downturn has to offer:
Plan thoroughly. One of the most important things you can do to promote the success of a business you start in a downturn is to develop a game plan. The most effective way to do that is with a business plan, although a simple Excel spreadsheet works well too. The first step is to devise realistic, feasible numbers for your business. Take a look at the sales projections that you may have already developed. Do they jibe with the sales volume other small businesses in your industry are now experiencing? Also take a look at your expenditures. As you’ve likely heard, prominent venture capital firms are urging their portfolio start-ups to cut costs where they can. With that in mind, attack your business plan (or spreadsheet) with a scalpel and excise as many unnecessary expenditures as possible.
Focus your start-up. One of the most common mistakes entrepreneurs make is to trying to do too much, too soon. Direct all of your energy and cash on the one product or service you think is most saleable. Remember, you can always grow your business or product lines later. An economic downturn is not the time to spread your capital thin.
Don’t underestimate the competition. Many entrepreneurs assume that because an economic downturn weeds out frail businesses, that the playing field is wide open. Sure, some businesses are wiped out by tough times. But the businesses that remain are likely strong enough to present a real threat to your new start-up. Thoroughly research who’s in your space before you enter it, and make sure you know why your competition is still standing.
Lastly, push aside the fear, uncertainly, and doubt that’s gripping Wall Street and the nation. Times are tough. But if you’re serious about starting a business right now, you’ll have to throw some caution to the wind. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a healthy respect for what’s shaking down on Wall Street. But, you shouldn’t be so crippled by “what ifs” that you can’t move forward with your start-up.
This guest post was written by Bryan Howe, Founder and CEO of MasterPlans.com.
How many of you are reading this at a cafe or fast food chain?
Offering free WIFI costs a cafe very little, and can attract some good business. It’s a good deal for everyone, if users are conscientious about setting up shop in the coffee house.
If you really want to be a welcome worker in the cafe scene, here are some common sense tips to try:
• Take the smallest cafe table you can fit at. It’s not fair to grab a table for four.
• Don’t Bogart the chairs.
• Don’t steal the bandwidth. If you have large downloads to make, try to do that at home.
• Don’t hog the electrical outlet, either. Use your battery if it's fully charged or use a multi-plug.
• Mute the sound on your computer. This may sound obvious, but sometimes people forget.
• Keep buying things at the coffeeshop. A purchase each hour shows good faith.
As a solopreneur, one ingredient you need for a successful online business is traffic… and lots of it! But there are so many websites out there, all competing for the same traffic, that it can be difficult to attract visitors to YOUR website!
Today, I’d like to share with you my top five strategies for attracting highly targeted visitors:
1. Offer a Free Taste
Your free taste is something that you give to someone in exchange for them giving you their name and email address, and signing up to your list. Your free taste is also your chance to show off your expertise, and give your new subscriber a sampling of what it is you offer.
It must be something of value to your subscriber, without giving away the whole shop!
Then you simply promote your free taste on your website, in your email signature, in your Resource Bio, and any other place you can think of! Place a call to action and people will read it, and click through to your website to get what it is you’re offering.
2. Get Others To Promote Your website For You
If you have products and programs for sale then you can easily get other people to promote them for you by offering an affiliate program. People will sign up to your affiliate program and promote your products and programs through their website, newsletter, and/or blog. In exchange you offer them a percentage commission for each sale that your affiliate makes – and make it a generous commission so that they have a real incentive to promote you.
If you’re currently using a shopping cart service, check out everything they have to offer – they may have an affiliate program included as part of their service. Mine does!
3. Participate in a Joint Venture (JV)
This is an excellent way to drive highly targeted traffic back to your website, and very easy for you to organize. Gather together some of you colleagues who offer complementary products and services to you and agree to promote each other’s products and services to your list.
I participated in a joint venture earlier this year where the organizer created a dedicated web page for this promotion. Everyone’s promotional ‘blurb’ was listed on the website, and each ‘joint venturee’ sent an announcement out to their list during a specified period directing their subscribers to this webpage. I got a TON of new subscribers as a result!
4. Article Marketing
This is one of my all-time favorites… one of the most successful and cost effective online marketing strategies you can do is to submit your articles to various online article submission websites. This is a great way to:
* promote your services;
* elevate you to ‘expert’ status within your chosen niche; and
* grow your subscriber list.
It has been well documented that one-way links to your website increase search engine rankings more than reciprocal linking, and article submission is an excellent way to achieve one-way linking. It works by creating backlinks to your website, which the search engines love! With each article you submit, you include a resource box that contains information about you, your business, and an active hyperlink back to your website, newsletter sign up page, product, or special offer – you choose where you want to direct your readers. For example, my resource box directs readers to my newsletter sign up page.
5. Host a Free Teleclass
Hosting a free teleclass is a great way for you to get out in front of your target audience. They actually get to listen to you presenting your information, and have the opportunity to ask you questions on the call – all of which can’t be achieved just by writing articles!
And it also gives you to chance to interact with your target market, and find out valuable information about their struggles and pains. It all goes towards building the like, know, and trust factor that is so important when building a solo service business.
All of these strategies work well on their own, and I’ve had a huge amount of success with each one of them! You can choose to implement just one strategy, or use a combination. Whichever you choose, they all achieve the same goal… to drive highly targeted traffic to your website!
Online Business Manager & Virtual Assistant, Tracey Lawton, supports professional speakers, coaches, and authors to operate an efficient, organized, and profitable business. Learn how to create an efficient and organized office in 7 EASY steps, and receive free how-to articles at http://www.OfficeOrganizationSuccess.com. Article Source & Image Source. Jorbb gets Jobs for You! Job Seekers join Free / Employers Post 1st Ad Free. Earn credits to exchange great gifts. Follow Jorbb on Twitter, Friendfeed, Facebook Group and Mobiles/iPhones!
Gajus Worthington has seen the effect of the financial meltdown on U.S. startups, and it's not a pretty picture.
The chief executive of Silicon Valley's Fluidigm set out to take his chipmaker public about a month ago. On Sept. 5, the first day of the company's road show, Worthington gave a standing-room-only presentation to blue-chip investors interested in buying Fluidigm stock. Three weeks later, after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and panic seized investors, he pulled the plug on the initial public offering. Worthington realized he couldn't proceed after money managers he met with in San Francisco told him they didn't even know how long they'd have jobs. "You could smell the fear," he says. "It was a black hole of anxiety."
Now, Fluidigm is in an awkward position shared by many of the most promising startups in the country. It has built up substantial operations in hopes of capitalizing on future opportunities and is burning through cash at a time when it's nearly impossible to get more from public investors. The company had $32 million in cash as of the end of June, and it's using $6 million to $7 million a quarter. Although Worthington could run out of money at the current burn rate by the end of 2009, he says he won't cut back, at least for now. "Our primary focus is growing the business," he says.
Exit Options Dry Up
It's a high-stakes gamble that's being played out at thousands of startups across the country. The crop of innovative companies that venture investors helped build in recent years now finds that they can't go public or even sell out in an acquisition. In the third quarter, only one company backed by venture capitalists went public, and the value of all mergers and acquisitions fell 65%, to $4.4 billion, from the year-earlier quarter, according to Dow Jones VentureSource (NWS). As exit options dry up, the fear is that a capital crisis could undermine American innovation.
In recent weeks, a number of prominent venture firms have begun advising their portfolio companies to cut expenses and lay off staff. Sequoia Capital, the Silicon Valley firm that funded Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG), gave its current crop of startups a bracing presentation that included one slide with the words "Death Spiral" and a skull-and-crossbones to signal the fate that awaited companies that didn't take quick action. Adam Grosser, general partner with Silicon Valley's Foundation Capital, sent an e-mail to his companies stressing the importance of cutting back. "I think we all need to review staffing levels—and make sure that every hire is absolutely crucial, or to see if there are opportunities for reductions," he wrote.
Some venture-backed companies are starting to close their doors. Recently the music site Social.FM and travel planner TripHub have shut their Web sites. "In the next six months you'll see a lot of companies go down," says Ted Wang, a lawyer at Silicon Valley's Fenwick & West who works with emerging companies and venture firms.
Some startups are battening down the hatches. Gigya, an Internet startup based in Palo Alto, Calif., just scratched plans to open an office in Europe. It also raised $11 million in September on top of the $9.5 million it pulled in six months earlier. "We have air for three years now," says Rooly Eliezerov, co-founder and president of Gigya. "Nobody will be looking around for another job."
Cushion of Cash?
Worthington won't have that kind of time if he sticks to his current game plan. The nine-year-old company has raised more than $150 million in venture money over the years, but it has spent most of that developing its technology and hiring staff. The company's chips can manipulate fluids with thousands of tiny valves, so they make biological and genetic experiments much faster and easier than in the past. Revenues doubled in the first six months of the year, to $5.5 million, but the company still lost $15.3 million during that period.
Worthington had hoped to raise $80 million in the IPO, to give him a cushion of cash. Fluidigm originally priced the deal at 14 to 16 a share, but the offers from investors quickly dropped to single digits. At one point during the road show, Worthington checked into a hotel room and saw a newspaper lying at his feet. The headline, as he recalls it, read: "Worst Financial Crisis Since the Depression with No End in Sight."
The CEO laughs about the horrible timing now. Yet despite the risks of running low on cash, he's determined to outrace the competition. He's hiring sales and marketing executives to help find new customers in life sciences and other fields. Now, sales are concentrated with a small number of customers, including the Singapore Economic Development Board.
Like a lot of entrepreneurs, Worthington draws strength from previous near-death experiences. After September 11, Fluidigm was running out of money. Worthington and his team managed to scare up some capital, and stay alive. This time, he figures even if he can't go public, maybe he can raise cash from Wall Street money managers or company executives. "This is not the first time we've been through this kind of thing," he says. "We're just not rattled by it."
Ante is the computers department editor for BusinessWeek.
Having used Jorbb.com as a Jorbbee, Loonshi's post talks about the many features of Jorbb.com and how you might earn extra income just by signing up on the site since relevant jobs will be sent to you.
And for posting the blog, we have awarded this Jorbbee credits, which can be exchanged for great gifts.
Check out Loonshi's blog, which covers "searching for money-making lobangs (opportunities)".
The concept of a home-based business is fast becoming popular. Especially amongst those women entrepreneur, who love the idea of working and earning on their, yet fulfilling the house related duties.
A lot of unnecessary tensions can be avoided; no need to find a new place for an office, no extra furniture, no office set up and no utility bills etc. This way it is a good thought to start at a low-cost from your home to test the success of your endeavour, but few things should be kept in mind. They can help you optimise your resources.
It is of utmost importance to maintain a penny-to-penny record of your expenses. Always have a careful record of every expense incurred on entertainment and travel. The governmental audit system can be at your house anytime to check the expenses. They scrutinise even more when they know it’s a home business. An expert accountant, say a Chartered Account, can advise you on what records to be maintained for it. He can also suggest you if deductions can be made anywhere.
Before you go any further, it is important to know the regulations and legal requirements of your zone office. You’ll get the information from the local office. This can change the nature of records to a great extent. The records should be maintained in accordance with the zone office requirements. A home-based business can be very sensitive to all these issues.
Alongside, it is very important that you project a professional image to your clientele. The distant clients would respond better when they know you are a full-fledged professional. A home-based business image gives it lesser priority. So, if possible, have your mailbox number also.
There should be a separate phone line dedicated to your business calls and not any domestic calls. You can also use an answering machine to assist these business calls. In a home-based business, your resources used for it should be separate so that you can track down the bills and maintain records. While you are working, do not waste time in gossiping and chatting with your neighbours. This will adversely affect your business; it hinders your attention span. Make a neat space for your work, which would soothe your senses and where you would like spending some time. Organize it in a sufficient space where all the resources are available closely.
Meetings can be a big challenge in home-based business. Carefully organize the venue of the meeting at some conference hall or at your client’s place. It should maintain the professional image that you have projected. Joining associations related to your business arena will also help you make further contacts and meet new people. Be self-restrained in your business. It is very essential for you to save and hence, make it a rule to deposit a portion of money from your profits to your savings account. It will help you have a safe stand which is very important in a home-based business.
Singapore's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are still enjoying global demand for their products and services despite the ongoing financial turmoil that has hit some of the biggest companies in the world.
While exports to the United States are slowing, some of the slack is being taken up by demand from Asia, Europe and as far away as Latin America and Russia, said Mr Png Cheong Boon, the new head of Spring Singapore.
'For our SMEs, there are still growth opportunities in different parts of the world and in different sectors,' said Mr Png, 38, in his first media interview since assuming the position of chief executive officer on Sept1. He had been deputy CEO since July 2003.
He said that despite the global slowdown, Spring has not seen a significant drop in business from local SMEs which have export operations.
In fact, the order books of smaller firms from industry sectors such as offshore and marine, oil and gas, transport and aerospace remain strong.
'The complaint from SMEs now is that they can't find enough manpower to fulfil those orders,' he said.
Even traditional sectors like furniture and textile production are reporting healthy sales.
'SMEs will also continue to play a very important role in anchoring a lot of the foreign multinational corporations (MNC) here,' he said.
'In particular, MNCs with IP-intensive products and services prefer to work with Singapore companies because of our strong respect...for IP,' added Mr Png, who was previously with the Economic Development Board, at which he spent 10 years.
SMEs are everywhere but their low profile means their role in the economy is 'historically' underestimated.
'One will find that it is always an SME that is either the supplier, distributor or even the manufacturer,' he said.
'The fact that they are able to produce good products and at competitive prices is proof that our SMEs have been doing a pretty good job.'
Official figures show that SMEs here account for 48per cent, or $107billion, of Singapore's gross domestic product.
They also employ 1.7million workers, or six out of every 10 in the local workforce.
Last year alone, SMEs added about 145,000 new jobs to the market.
According to Mr Png, the key to maintaining the solid performance is for local SMEs to stay competitive - something he said Spring would continue to focus on under his leadership.
He told The Straits Times that Spring would adopt a four-pronged strategy to help SMEs here become more innovative and competitive.
The first is to ensure that the local business environment continues to support 'enterprise formation and growth'.
This includes increasing the ease of doing business, such as reducing regulatory burdens and red tape, as well as providing easy access to business advice and support services.
'To this end, EnterpriseOne is a key initiative where SMEs...can access information pertaining to government services and programmes,' said Mr Png.
Second, to address different needs of SMEs from different sectors, Spring will work with industry associations to 'help propel the industries' growth'.
This will involve training specialised manpower, setting up technology infrastructure, and upgrading specific capabilities within different sectors.
'Through the Lead programme...we will support industry associations that are willing to take the lead to drive their industry growth,' said Mr Png, referring to Spring's Local Enterprise and Association Development.
Third, Spring will continue to provide funding or assistance to nurture technologically-savvy and innovative start-ups so that they can compete globally.
'Hopefully, some of them will grow to be the next Hyflux or our own Google.
'But these are long-term initiatives and we are likely to see some results only in seven to 10 years.'
Lastly, Spring will groom promising SMEs into innovative global businesses.
It has already taken 500 to 600 SMEs under its wing with the goal of helping them bump up their yearly turnovers from $10-20million, to $50-100million.
'At that size, they will be able to compete more effectively and tap on various sources of financing...to fund their growth.'
Spring aims to achieve that result by offering the SMEs more assistance in financing, markets exploration, management and technical know-how.
Mr Png said the pro-enterprise agency's plan is to ultimately expand the number of firms under the programme to about 1,000 SMEs within three years.
Social Networking sites can be much more than fun distractions and a way to keep track of your friends. Used correctly they can be very powerful List building tools.
Websites like Twitter, Stumbleupon, Hubpages, Squidoo and Facebook are excellent tools for networking with and marketing to others in your niche. They are also great ways to drive traffic to your websites. If you want to build a niche list they are an invaluable resource.
The Micro-blogging site Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to follow one another through posts of 140 characters or less. It is a great place for posting small bits of information and for directing people to blogs or squeeze pages.
Stumbleupon is a social bookmarking site that works from a tool bar downloaded to your browser. It allows users to discover and rate web pages and ultimately functions to give social validity to some sites over others. The more your site is liked the higher value it is given by search engines. Stumbleupon is also a great tool for finding others in your niche.
Social Networking sites are extremely valuable tools for building niche lists. You don’t want to send spam or blatant advertising through these sites, but you can drive prospects to your squeeze page or your website where you can give them an incentive to share their contact information with you through an opt-in box.
The goal with using any of these sites is to build up your list. If you can attract people in your niche market, drive them to your site and have them sign up for your mailings, suddenly you have a growing list of people who are interested in the products you are offering.
As a result of globalization, the government of Singapore is offering many opportunities for starting a business at ease. You can become a sole proprietor of your business provided you know the procedures and steps involved in the start up stages. Sole proprietorship is the most simple and flexible business structure that has only one owner. Profits from this business are liable for tax at personal income tax rates.
Almost anybody can register with Singapore government for opening a company as a sole proprietor. Generally there are no restrictions for anyone to become a sole proprietor of a company. There are certain exceptions and these exceptions address those people who are not logically eligible for starting a business. Anybody who has an undischarged bankruptcy cannot apply as a sole proprietor.
The next step involves the appointment of a local manager who has a local address. This is essential for non Singaporeans for starting a business. The local manager that you appoint for your business should have completed 21 years of age at the time of application. The local manager that you appoint should be either a Singapore citizen or a Permanent resident of Singapore or a person holding employment pass or a person holding a dependent pass. If the person you are appointing satisfies any of the above criteria, then he or she will be approved as a local manager.
All businesses that are opened by a sole proprietor should be approved by ACRA. This requires further additional steps for completing the registration process.
A SSIC code is essential for any business in Singapore. This code identifies your business based on the business activity. You can search for this code in the official website.
Then you have to choose your place of business. This information has to be provided while you apply for the registration. Then you need to top up your medisave so that all your liabilities are settled down.
The next step is crucial requiring approval of the Singpass. You need to get this pass for your company if you want to open a business as a sole proprietor. This is a password that enables transactions with the government offices.
The registration can also be done online using the BizFile. After downloading the file, you have to login using your Singpass. There you have to pay the registration fee which includes the fee for your business name and for your business registration. As you are a sole proprietor, you have to pay $65 ($15 for business name + $50 for business).
Now for the online registration, you can self register as you are the sole owner. You can also get the required help from legal firms to complete the process.
If your business name is not approved, you have to reapply with a new name. If the business requires further approval from other government authorities, your application will be moved to them automatically. For any clarifications, you will be contacted and the business will be approved in about 15 days.
Azerbaijan and Albania lead the world in pro-business reforms, while Singapore remains the best place to start a business, according to the World Bank.
In an annual global report, Central Asia and Eastern Europe ranked highest in terms of business-friendly regulatory reforms. Last year, a total of 113 countries implemented 239 pro-business reforms, the most recorded in a single year since the report was launched in 2004. Two-thirds of East Asia's economies instituted reforms, up from less than 50 percent last year.
Azerbaijan began a one-stop shop for startups early this year, increasing business registrations by 40 percent between January and June, the report found. The government also made employment regulation more flexible, eased restrictions on working hours and sped up property transfers. Azerbaijan's credit registry also eliminated its old loan cutoff rate, doubling the number of borrowers, researchers said.
Facilitating the process and reducing the costs of starting a business continued to be the most commonly implemented reform, followed by simplified tax codes and administration.
Tim Brown from IDEO poses an interesting question about this Bodum mug. I actually have the Bodum Beer mug so my experiences are "opposite" of his. He felt that with a normal cup, the experience of his morning latte degrades with each sip, as it gets colder and colder. When I drink from the can, the beer gets warmer and warmer. But in the Bodum mug, the last sip is still as frosty as the first. Hmmmm.
Back to the topic, in my other post about Apple Apps Store and Experience Design, I wrote about up selling of a product and the potential monetary value of experiences which then come with owning the product.
Tim's ending paragraph resonates with how we are and will continue to mould the Jorbb Experience.
"In my opinion, the only products that deserve to succeed are ones that are key components of a valuable experience. If they are not designed to achieve that they will be irrelevant. If they are not marketed as an experience then consumers will miss their value and categorize them with every other product that has the same physical characteristics. Manufacturers must see themselves as experience curators not product makers. This is something I am reminded of every time I take a sip of coffee."
Singapore is the world's easiest place to do business, ahead of New Zealand and the U.S., according to a World Bank report.
Hong Kong, Denmark, Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia and Norway were also among the top 10 most business-friendly economies, according to the World Bank and the International Finance Corp.'s Doing Business 2009 report released Wednesday. It ranks 181 economies based on the ease of conducting business, including starting a company, hiring workers, taxes and investor protection. Azerbaijan, Albania and Kyrgyz Republic were the top three reformers as they eased business rules. China was the leader among large emerging markets in making it easier for businesses.
"Among the large emerging markets, China led the way -- reforms there made it easier to access credit, pay taxes and enforce contracts," the report said.
Effective use of infocomm technology (ICT) can help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) protect their bottom lines, according to industry watchers.
The comment came as the Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) signed a memorandum of cooperation on Thursday to help address the ICT concerns of new SMEs.
The current economic environment can hardly be said to be great for business and some SMEs are feeling the heat. But industry watchers said it is not the time to cut down on ICT spending.
Lo Yoong Khong, cluster director, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, said: "Infocomm (technology) can also bring many other benefits to the SMEs. Some of the things would include traceability.
"With infocomm, they would be able to look at their sales revenue very quickly because at the click of a button, whatever sales have been transacted through the day or through the week can be generated very quickly."
This can help save time and cash, which is vital to the operations of a budding firm. A tighter budget is even more of an issue these days, given the current global credit squeeze, and industry watchers said it is important for SMEs to keep their eye on the ball.
Vijay Iyengar, chairman of SICCI, said: "The main thing is that they will have to look at the plans that they have made and to keep re-examining them as they go along. Three months down the road, go back to the drawing board, see if they have achieved what they set out to achieve and go on from there.
"Often, an SME always has this issue of too many distractions or trying to go in many different directions, and (it ends up) not achieving what it sets out to achieve."
Tried to get your kids to memorise words from flashcards recently? One child psychologist from the US says that would only stifle your child's creativity and take away the joy of learning.
'Children are essentially explorer-discoverers, not rote-learners,' says Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, author of the book Einstein Never Used Flash Cards.
Especially if you want your child equipped for the 21st century business world, which says that it needs knowledge-based people these days. The four characteristics of such as person is one who's a collaborator, a communicator, to have content and who's a creative innovator, says Professor Hirsh-Pasek, who's director of the Infant Language Laboratory at Temple University, USA.
'Collaborators because people need to work in teams, to have trust. Communicators because they need to talk and write to make themselves understood. Then, people need to know how to read, write and do maths, while they need to be creative innovators because we don't know what kind of problems they'll face,' she explains.
If this is what the business community says, then how does one instil the four 'C's' in a pre-schooler? The answer is in playful learning. 'We learn best when it's meaningful, and we're actively engaged, when it's fun and when we're happy,' she believes.
It's a belief that's based on scientific studies. Children who learn drama, for instance, do better in reading and 'emotion regulation'. 'If you fill up children's time for them, they'll be drones in the future. Research suggests that children who manage their own time and pace will be bosses in the future,' adds Prof Hirsh-Pasek.
Research also shows that children who engage in playful games become more confident and have better reading and maths skills. Playing with puzzles and blocks, for instance, improves spatial skills. 'Parents also use more extensive vocabulary when explaining games to children,' she adds.
Research also shows that three to five years old are the foundational years of a child, so pre-school activities do matter. 'The idea is to let the child learn within a playful environment,' she says.
Prof Hirsh-Pasek was in town a while ago to give a talk on pre-school education, upon invitation by Mindchamps, an enrichment centre.
Profit from a business while benefiting the disadvantaged? That's what 45 students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic are learning to do.
17-year-old Justin Lee's among the first batch of students taking up the Business & Social Enterprise course at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
"Social enterprise is not that popular yet, and not many people know about it. We just started this course. Some challenges are, will people believe in this model, in this structure of the organisation? That's one challenge we face, but I think we will overcome it," said Lee, a first-year student of Business & Social Enterprise at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
His classmate, 22-year-old Helena Nimali Fonseka dropped out from a private university after studying sociology for one and a half years. She opted for a more hands-on learning experience at the polytechnic.
She wants to learn how to create a sustainable social enterprise model in Singapore so she can help women in undeveloped countries get an education.
"Basically you need to set the culture right and just stick to it, preserve and not give up. And you have to be smart about your choices you need to change, so you can better your business to give quality and quantity for the people," said Fonseka, a first-year student of Business & Social Enterprise at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
Low's social enterprise venture, a performing arts centre, is now expected to generate a profit of S$100,000 by end 2008.
The money will be used for his other venture which provides non-profit, alternative education for juvenile youths in Singapore.
Said Low: "To inspire them and to share with them that there will be challenges that'll come. But if they don't give up, whatever dreams that they have will become realities."
"The most important thing for every social entrepreneur to find value in the services that they offer. When it has value, the market will respond to it. And subsequently the business will pick up."
During their three-year course, students will learn to set up businesses that can help the disadvantaged be more financially independent.
They will also learn to execute projects and promote corporate social responsibility in companies.
Plans have been laid out to make it easier for young entrepreneurs to go into business.
The Finance Ministry is proposing a delinking of the age of majority from the age of contractual capacity, reducing the age from 21 years to 18 years.
The move is the result of feedback received by the Pro-Enterprise Panel that legal barriers that prevent young people from starting and conducting a business should be removed.
To change will however require the amendment of a host of other laws, and Civil Law Act which the Finance and Law ministries have drafted amendments to.
Spend some time thinking deeply about these product positioning ideas, and how you can use them to your advantage. Your market share is predicated on how well you assimilate them, & apply them to the promotion of your business.
1. Unique Selling Proposition - Something unique, that you have to offer. Not necessarily entirely unique. You can appear unique by simply packaging your product or service in a unique way.
2. Risk Reversal - Differentiate yourself with outrageously bold guarantees, that you're competition don't have the guts for. Most people are genuinely honest, and if your service is what you say it is, you've got nothing to worry about. The increased sales volume will be well worth it.
3. Inordinate Value - Leverage your advertising, by offering to let complimentary businesses come along for the ride, in exchange for a free sample of their wares. Then bundle those into your offering.
4. Clear, Complete, & Concise Customer Education - Tell your full story. Don't make people try to figure out on their own why they should be doing business with you. Spell it out for them.
As more Singaporeans start to shop online, SMEs have to better equip themselves with IT innovation in order to get a slice of the market. This according to Senior Minister of State for Education and Information, Communications and the Arts, Lui Tuck Yew, who was speaking at the annual Infocomm Commerce Conference on Thursday.
According to a survey by the Infocomm Development Authority, the proportion of users who shop online has more than doubled from 17 per cent in 2003 to 35 per cent last year.
So, to help SMEs, a second infocomm resource centre (SIRC) is being set up to help SMEs learn more about IT and its applications to specific businesses.
Also in the pipeline is an i-directory which will be a one-stop portal housing an extensive list of infocomm products and services offered by SMEs in Singapore.
And with cyberspace, companies must always take into account online safety.
So, in addition to the new initiatives, a Cyber Security Awareness Alliance will help raise awareness and adoption of cyber security measures among businesses and even individuals.
During WWDC when Jobs launched the new iPhone 3G and everyone gasped at the "low" price, I was more interested in the Apps Store. At 5am, when I was listening to the keynote on a Qik stream, I had the "Eureka!" moment.
I used to work at a Research and Innovation Centre which did research work in Experience Design (XD) - an area of study popularised by Shedroff / Pines & Gilmore. In a nutshell, XD speaks about how every brand / product / service can be commoditized and there's a limit to profits you make from any brand / product / service.
There is more money to be made by selling the "experience cloud" around your brand / product / service especially AFTER consumers have purchased your product / service. You do this by introducing moments of engagement or touch points, so that the consumer will continually be reminded of your brand / product / service throughout their daily activities. The more "moments of truth" you can embed between your offerings and the consumer, the more successful your offering will be.
Apple are masters at doing this. Think iPod, iPhone, Macbook, iMac, iTunes Music Store, Apple TV, Apple accessories to complement your Apple products, and now Apps and MobileMe. They do this with heavy engagement between Ethnographers and Users of their products.
When I was at P&G, "Moments of Truth" are firmly etched in their brand philosophy. HP is another company to lookout for (reaching out to bloggers, marketing their PCs as a lifestyle necessity instead of a PC). Locally, I might also add that Singtel is slowly and steadily adopting this strategy.
The new iPhone 3G / iPhone 2.0 software really hit the nail. At a micro-level, how much profit can Apple make from selling an iPhone, after sharing with AT&T and overseas cellular providers?
Now fast forward to the Apps store and MobileMe. Sure, they have made a profit off you buying the device / call plan etc, but in order to generate continuous income, tadah! Apple presented the Apps store / MobileMe.
Either way, Apple earns. Selling the phones (Friggin' 1 million sold in 74 days) and selling the apps (10 million downloads) / pushing the convenience of the cloud.
Before I do the summary of TechCrunch's post, here's something you / your business should keep in mind.
Do not just sell products / services. Because products / services can be replicated, cheaper, faster, better than what you provide. There has to be an "sticky" factor for people to want to keep using your offering and more importantly, willing to pay more to enhance the initial investment they've made in the first place because they want to, not because they need to.
Back to the main reason for this post:
Development house taptaptap has just publish sale figures of their iPhone app. WhereTo retails for US$2.99 in the store and 24,094 copies were sold in the first month - netting the company just over US$50,000 in revenue after Apple took their cut (it currently ranks #69 on the top paid application list). Tipulator retails for US$0.99, and sold 3,168 copies which resulted in just over US$2,200 of revenue (it is currently unranked).
So question - If their products are ranked #69 and Unranked, how much are the top paid apps developers making? The current list can be found here.
Techcrunch posted a posting from Jason's mailing list (CEO Mahalo.com) who has sat through 200 company demos in 10 days. Great advice / tips on how to deliver a killer pitch / demo. Thanks Jason.
"For the past 10 days I’ve sat through 200 company demos for the TechCrunch50 conference. These demos are mostly done over the phone for 10 minutes using the phone and web conferencing software like WebEx or Adobe’s wonderful new “Connect” service.
After doing 2,500 minutes of demos (40 hours) this year and many more last year for the conference, I’ve learned a lot about what makes for a great demo and what makes for a horrible demo. Since demoing your idea is a key to your success as an entrepreneur, I thought I would share everything I know in a few simple bullet points.
These tips are applicable to presenting in front of an investor, a partner as well as a demo style conference. Of course, every situation is different so consider these loose guidelines.
Background: The TechCrunch50 conference is taking places on September 8-10th in San Francisco and you can find more information here: www.techcrunch50.com. Mike Arrington of TechCrunch.com and I started the event last year as a place where fifty startup companies could launch their products without having to pay a fee (i.e. the incumbent conference called DEMO charges $18,500 to launch a startup company–that’s really low/abusive in my book). Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Sequoia Capital and a bunch of other fine partners have joined us in hosting the event.
1. Show your product within the first 60 seconds ——————————————- Most folks start their presentations with information like the size of the market they are tackling (tens of billions, we only need 1%!), their inflated corporate bios, the philosophical approach they’re taking, and boring Powerpoint graphics explaining some convoluted workflow of their product.
The longer it takes for you to show your product, the worse your product is. Folks who have a kick-ass product don’t spend five or ten minutes “setting the stage” or “giving the background.” Folks with killer products CAN’T WAIT to show you their product. Their demos start with their homepage and quickly jump into the users experience. If a picture tells a thousand stories, then a product demo tells a million.
Show your product immediately, and if you don’t have a product to show don’t take the meeting.
2. The best products take less than five minutes to demo ——————————————- The greatest tech products over the past 10 years would take no more than five minutes each to demo. For example:
a) Larry and Sergey could demo Google search in less than five minutes. Here’s a box, type something in and you get a huge reward.
b) Steve Jobs could demo the iPod in less than five minutes. Plug it in, put in your CDs and it syncs your music. Turn it on and use the wheel to select what songs you want to listen to.
c) Chris DeWolfe could demo MySpace in less than five minutes. Sign up, fill out your profile, and add your friends. For bonus points add some widgets to your page.
I think you get the idea: the better the product the LESS time it takes to demo. If your product demo takes more than five minutes to demo, it probably sucks. All the tiny little features that matter to you are of course important–God is in the details–however, when presenting your company, you don’t have to show them. Larry and Sergey wouldn’t open up the advanced search tab and the list of operators you can use in Google during a demo.
Steve Jobs does take the demo details to a fairly detailed level, but you and I are not Steve Jobs. There is only one Steve Jobs and there is only one Apple. You’re never going to build something as cool as Steve, and as such there is no need for you to talk about your product for five or ten minutes.
3. Leave people wanting more. ——————————————- If you take my advice in point two, then folks should be either blown away or intrigued by your core product. If they are not somewhere in that spectrum, you need to rebuild your core product.
When I pitched Mahalo to investors, I had five sheets of paper with different search results on each. I put them on a table and said which one is the best. Obviously I knew my result was the best, and that simple demonstration lead to MASSIVE discussion: how was the page built? how long did it take to build? what would it cost to make that page? how often do you need to update it? how can you scale that business? how many pages can you create before it breaks even?
It’s best for folks to discover the merits of your product for themselves, and it’s up to you to make such a compelling core product that they are intrigued enough to explore it.
4. Talk about what you’ve done, not what you’re going to do. ——————————————- Weak startups and their leaders seem to immediately start talk about “what’s next,” as opposed to focusing on the core product. Anyone can say we’re going to add: a mobile version, collaborative filtering, an advertising network, visualizations, a marketplace, a browser plugin, a browser and a social network to their product. In fact, given the amount of open source and off the shelf software out there, combined with the large number of developers in the world, anyone can bolt these things on to their service in a week or three.
Who cares what you’re going to bolt on to your startup? What really matters is the core functionality of your startup.
Steve Jobs has become at once the world’s greatest salesman and product developer because he only announces Apple’s achievements. He doesn’t waste time on what Apple’s going to do: he talks about the here and now. Microsoft’s old strategy was to talk about products that were coming and that put them in the horrible position of having to backpedal when they changed their mind about a product.
5. Understand your competitive landscape–current and historical. ——————————————- This year I’ve had three companies show me group SMS messaging products, and most of them did not know what UPOC.com was (Gordon Gould’s group SMS messaging service that was five years ahead of its time). I’ve had three or four companies over the past two years of TechCrunch50 conferences pitch me on Third Voice–the controversial “web annotation” service from Web 1.0. [Side note: I loved the concept of Third Voice so much I considered starting a company like it and even bought the domain name annotated.com.]
When I pitched the idea for Weblogs, Inc. to Mark Cuban, Yossi Vardi and Jeff Bezos, I understood all the niche email marketing and newsletter companies from the early and mid-nineties cold. I researched why they worked and why they failed, and I knew which ones were sold and bought and by whom. When I pitched Mahalo to Sequoia Capital, I knew the history of human-powered search and directories from DMOZ to Yahoo Directory to LookSmart.
If you don’t know the competitive landscape, and the shoulder’s you’re standing on, folks are not going to be comfortable giving you their money, time or attention.
6. Short answers are best. ——————————————- When taking questions about your product answer questions shortly. This is a very challenging thing for many people–including myself–to do. If you’re like me, you’ve probably thought out your startup’s issues a thousand different ways. When I sit at the poker table I play a game where I think out every possible scenario for not only my hands, but the hands of my opponents (this is fairly standard among advanced poker players from what I understand).
Say I have Ace King and I raised out of position and the button called my raise pre-flop. Then they re-raised me on the flop, which had an Ace. What does that tell me? They could have an ace, they could have two aces and have slow played me, they could have a medium pocket pair and they want to see if I have an ace, maybe they are on a flush or straight draw or maybe they suck at poker. Who the hell knows?!?! You can go insane trying to figure all these things out–that’s why poker becomes very addictive.
The point is all that inner thinking is chaos when you try to explain it to another person. It’s pure madness after 60 seconds of talking. The best thing to do is answer the question with the most concise answer. For example, when asked “what happens if Google enters your market?” answer quickly and with confidence:
a) Google has entered many markets, but they are only #1 in search and search advertising. They trail in social networking to MySpace and Facebook, in classifieds to Craigslist, in news to Yahoo and AOL, in email to Microsoft, AOL, and Yahoo, and in instant messaging to Microsoft, AOL, and Yahoo.
b) We’re not sure if Google will enter our market, but hopefully we’ll have developed our product enough that it will be a real sustainable business by that time.
c) We think Google might enter our market at some point, and if they do they and their competitors will certainly consider buying us–creating a bidding war for our entrenched position.
d) Google is a very big company right now with a very big cash machine that they have to focus on and protect–they will never do our business with our level of focus. We will out execute them on all fronts.
These are all amazing answers (I did, after all, come up with them), and you can say them in around a minute. However, if you cram all four of these sentences together you’ve spoken for five minutes.
7. PowerPoint bullet slides are death ——————————————- Do not make slide after slide explaining your business in bullet points, because it’s really, really boring. Powerpoint/Keynote slides that are not boring include charts, product shots, feature set tables and the like. Things that explain big concepts with ease and grace are great, but bullet points of obvious facts show that:
a) you don’t have the ability to create a compelling story with data
b) you don’t think that much of the person being presented the information
I’m not a huge fan of “funny slides” or lots of graphics for graphics sake. You’re not pitching your company to get laughs–unless you’re on stage–you’re doing it to raise capital, close a partnership or get on stage at a conference. Keep it focused and to the point.
8. How to use this new device called the phone. ——————————————- When presenting over the phone use a handset and a land-line… only!
It’s amazing to me that any person doing a business call would conduct it on their mobile phone. Mobile phones sound horrible 95% of the time, and they frequently cut out. If you are presenting your company take it seriously and get yourself to a landline. You have limited time and don’t want folks to miss a single word.
Speakerphones are horrible, and putting the person receiving the demo on speaker phone during a demo is just disrespectful. You can hear all the rustling, side conversations and horrible echos when you’re on speaker phone. When doing a demo pick up the handset and speak. If you go to a Q&A session then use speaker phone. That’s why it exists.
Only use a headset if it is very, very high-fidelity and you have the microphone right up to your mouth. Also, don’t eat, drink or breath heavy into the microphone or you run the risk of sounding like an animal. I use an amazing Plantronics headset, and I like me some Green Matcha tea, but I hit the mute key when I sip!
I know it sounds crazy to have a discussion about how to use the phone, but the majority of these young people actually think it’s acceptable to have two or three drop offs in a call–it’s not. Grow up and get a land line.
9. How to handle questions you don’t know the answer to ——————————————- After you do your concise presentation you’re hopefully going to get a lot of questions. Here are some important tips to consider when you don’t know the answer cold:
a) take a moment to think about the question. You can even say “Hmmm… that’s a good question. Let me think about that for a second.” Folks appreciate a little consideration when someone takes a question.
b) if you don’t have an answer be honest and say you don’t. There are many ways to say this including: “I’m not really sure, I’m going to have to think about that for a bit and get back to you,” or “I’m not sure to be honest. What do you think?”
c) feel free to think out loud and brainstorm with the person. You can do this by saying “I’ve never really considered that. Perhaps you can expand the question a little and we can explore it right now.”
d) if you’re not sure of the answer you can always say you’ll cross that bridge when you come to it. “I’m not sure how we would deal with a sudden spike in the cost of bandwidth, we would have to collect more information and answer that question down the road. It is a manageable risk factor I suppose. ”
The worst thing to do when you don’t have an answer is b.s. the person. No one has an answer for everything, except a b.s. artists. So, feel free to say you don’t know–folks find it refreshingly humble and honest.
10. Always confirm the time of your meeting/call, and always be 15 minutes early. ——————————————- People are really busy and meetings get mixed up. Every meeting or phone call I do is confirmed twice: once by email, and once on the day before the meeting. Reconfirming meetings makes you look like a true player and it costs you nothing. You do this by sending a simple email saying “Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at your offices at 123 Main Street at 3pm. If anything changes you can reach me on my mobile at 310-555-1212.”
Also, be early. Come on. If you’re doing a meeting with someone who might invest in your company, do a business deal with you, etc., you can show a lot of respect by being in their lobby or on hold on the conference call five to 15 minutes ahead of time. Don’t show up more than 15 minutes ahead of time or you’ll look like a stalker. If you get to your meeting 45 minutes ahead of time go to the Starbucks and buy yourself a treat for being so on top of things.
What are your best tips for giving a proper demo of your company on the phone or in person?
In your mind, what are the worst things folks have done during a presentation?"
Mashable has come up with a list of 5 books that can help improve your thinking about the value of social media to the enterprise.
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
Corporate executives are struggling with a new trend: people using online social technologies (blogs, social networking sites, YouTube, podcasts) to discuss products and companies, write their own news, and find their own deals. This groundswell is global, it s unstoppable, it affects every industry and it s utterly foreign to the powerful companies running things now.
When consumers you ve never met are rating your company s products in public forums with which you have no experience or influence, your company is vulnerable. In Groundswell, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Forrester, Inc. explain how to turn this threat into an opportunity.
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
"How do trends emerge and opinions form? The answer used to be something vague about word of mouth, but now it's a highly measurable science, and nobody understands it better than Clay Shirky. In this delightfully readable book, practically every page has an insight that will change the way you think about the new era of social media. Highly recommended." -Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and author of The Long Tail
Web Analytics: An Hour a Day
Written by an in-the-trenches practitioner, this step-by-step guide shows you how to implement a successful Web analytics strategy. Web analytics expert Avinash Kaushik, in his thought-provoking style, debunks leading myths and leads you on a path to gaining actionable insights from your analytics efforts. Discover how to move beyond clickstream analysis, why qualitative data should be your focus, and more insights and techniques that will help you develop a customer-centric mindset without sacrificing your company’s bottom line.
The New Influencers: A Marketer's Guide to the New Social Media
"As word of mouth loses opinion-forming power to word of blog, companies are faced with a revolution in how their brands and corporate image will be shaped in the future. Paul Gillin provides a very insightful and well-written guide on how to effectively benefit from these dramatic changes. A must read!" --Patrick J. McGovern, founder and chairman, International Data Group (IDG)
The Art of Strategic Listening
Listening To Your Customers’ Conversations Can Provide Big Dividends
Do you know what your customers or bloggers are saying about your company and your products? Marketers used to be able to assess the perception of their company or their products by simply monitoring the media and reading any letters of complaint that came by mail, but that was pre-internet and social networking.
Now there are more than 80 million blogs, as well as social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, video aggregators like YouTube and EveryZing and thousands of other social media sites on the web where customers talk with each other and make all kinds of comments, good and bad about your firm, your competitors, and your industry.
The self-employed and informal workers are due to receive their first payment of Workfare on October 1.
But before that, they have to make Medisave contributions by August 31.
The CPF Board is urging those who have yet to do so to contribute to Medisave.
They can do so with cash or through NETS, or make out a cheque payable to the CPF Board or through an e-payment.
The self employed and informal workers stand to receive up to S$1600 in Workfare for work done for the whole of this year, of which up to S$800 will be paid out during the October 1 payment.
Meanwhile, employees who meet the Workfare Income Supplement criteria will also get their payment on the 1st of October.
Mint, the highly reviewed finance management site, just posted an interesting article on how you can establish your goals and work toward a day when you have enough money or alternative income to quit. Do visit the link above for full article.
Here's an extract:
Tip 1: Diversify your income sources - In addition to increasing your income, diversification can ensure that if one source of money dries up, you haven’t lost everything. Losing your job won’t mean the end of your income, and you will be in a position to ramp up one of the other sources to replace the lost salary.
Tip 2: Develop passive income streams - Even as you diversify your income sources, you’ll realize that there are only so many hours in the day. The beauty of passive, semi-passive and residual income is that these streams continue to generate money even while you are occupied at your regular job, meaning that you can increase your income exponentially without being limited to how much you can actively accomplish during working hours.
Tip 3: Pay yourself first - Make saving money a priority, and set aside a percentage of your income as savings.
Tip 4: Avoid debt and high interest rates - Huge credit card balances and car loans are two of the biggest pitfalls on the way to wealth.
Tip 5: Live like a millionaire - The Millionaire Next Door, that is. Mimic the frugal habits of self-made millionaires if you wish to join their ranks. They spend less than what they earn, research large purchases, avoid debt and pay cash for their vehicles. The very wealthy tend not to have especially expensive taste.
Tip 6: Invest wisely and regularly - Don’t invest in things you don’t understand, and make sure you diversify your investments to minimize your risk. Set up automatic investment contributions, and participate in any employer-matching plans available to you.
Tip 7: Stay married - Divorce is one of the leading destroyers of wealth in American families. The cost of divorce, legal counsel, child support and alimony add up to severely limit your ability to save money and grow wealth.
Tip 8: Track your finances - A written budget, whether it’s in your notebook or online at Mint.com, keeps you on track and gives you a visual representation of your overall financial picture.
Tip 9: Borrow carefully - Look for the lowest interest rates available, and only take out loans that make sense for your financial situation.
Early retirement or the opportunity to pursue your dream job? The choice is yours. Follow these easy tips and pretty soon the millionaire might not just be next door, he or she might just be living in your house.
Come January 1 next year, businesses in Singapore will have a Unique Entity Number (UEN) to identify themselves when dealing with all government agencies.
This single identification number will be issued by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) to all entities registered in Singapore in a move that is aimed at streamlining processes.
Under the new system, a UEN will be issued by ACRA to all entities that have multiple interactions with government agencies by October this year.
About 330,000 or 85 per cent of companies and businesses here will use their current ACRA company registration number as their UEN, while 55,000 entities or 15 per cent of all companies in Singapore will be issued a new number.
These entities include Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), foreign companies, societies and management corporations.
Businesses have welcomed the move saying that this would simplify and reduce possible errors caused by the use of multiple numbers. Other government agencies have also echoed the same view.
CurdBee is a safe and secure web-based billing application from Vesess. Use it to send clients invoices and then collect payments via PayPal or Google Checkout, billing them easily in the currency you choose.
It's no longer just real estate, even virtual estate can be undervalued. NYTimes article reported that Dave Hermansen did not own a bird or a cage when he bought bird-cage.com, an online store, for $1,800 three years ago. He simply saw a Web site that was “very, very poorly done,” and begged the owners to sell it to him. He then redesigned the site, added advertising and drove up traffic. Last December, he sold it for $173,000.
Mr. Hermansen, 30, is among the latest wave of entrepreneurs who, like the day traders and real estate investors before them, are looking to make a lot of money without much effort.
They use little more than home computers and free software to buy Web sites that appeal to a small and specific niche. Then they fix up the sites with hopes of reselling them for far more than they paid.
The changing economics of the Web have made it easier to find and exploit niche communities on the Internet. The Internet boom of the 1990s spawned companies like Pets.com that were Web versions of brick-and-mortar stores. They required stockpiling products and shipping them to customers. But that model came crashing down with the Web bust of 2000.
Since then, building niche Web sites and small-scale online stores has become cheap and easy. Free software, advertising systems like Google’s, and “drop shipping” services that allow Web site owners to handle products through a third-party supplier, have lowered the cost of doing business.
Instead of selling goods and services, analysts said most flippers are looking into the easiest way to make a quick buck, by tapping into specialized advertising.
The National Research Foundation will be awarding six new venture funds with S$10 million each under the Early Stage Venture Funding scheme.
These selected venture funds will in turn have to raise a matching sum of at least S$10 million from third party investors.
They will then invest the money in locally-based high-tech start-ups.
The Early Stage Venture Funding scheme was first announced earlier this year.
It is aimed at helping young high-tech start-up companies in Singapore get funding during the early stages of their development.
The six selected fund managers are: BioVeda Capital II, Nanostart Asia, Raffles Venture Partners, Tamarix Capital, Upstream-Expara and Walden International.
"Nicely sums up the explosion of digital-technology advances during the past 15 years and places the phenomenon in its global context...[Friedman] never shrinks from the biggest problems and the thorniest issues...Ambitious."–Paul Mangnusson, BusinessWeek
Listeners will receive the audiobook in three easy-to-download sections, and soon after that, as an added bonus, will also receive an exclusive prepublication audio excerpt of Friedman's HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED: WHY WE NEED A GREEN REVOLUTION AND HOW IT CAN RENEW AMERICA.
Most of us think that the only thing you need in order to start running a business is money. If you have money you can do business. That’s what they thought, but money cannot handle everything.
There are 2 major reasons why businesses fail. First, a lot of people presuppose that putting up a business is simple if they have the money plus the technicality-know-how of the product of the business. A brilliant thinker cannot be the entrepreneur at all times. Like for example, a dress maker who wants to be in the dress shop business. The dress maker is good in making the product but she can’t promote it, she can’t do financial bookkeeping and most of all she can’t manage people. Probably she can handle it all out of gut instinct but more of her decisions are crucial for the business.
Second major reason is the product sameness. How can you distinguish your product from the competitors? What makes it unique? A unique selling point or USP is needed in marketing your product. It is a distinct feature or benefit that separates your product from the others. If your dress shop is located in a place full of other dress shops and gown rentals, and you don’t have that USP, more or less you’ll have to compete with them in other way which in this case, can be the cost or fee of making the dress. At the end of the day, no profit gained.
Setting realistic goals, good and flexible marketing plan and execution of that plan are a must but what else to do? Attend business seminars; educate yourself on how to run a business; learn accounting; learn marketing; or better yet seek for professional help.
Newsweek's recent article on Singapore's education system explored the government's new plan to incorporate more of a creativity and technology focus in education. Though Singaporeans are admired world-wide for their work ethic and strong educational emphasis, the traditional structure of S'pore's system may prevent growth in new industries like biotechnology or entertainment unless new steps are considered.
Singapore has notoriously high university entrance standards that may need to be relaxed in order to attract a broader variety of students. It's historically been so difficult to get into good schools that students have had to spend an enormous amount of time studying versus innovating, creating new businesses or engaging in the arts. Some of the city/state's traditional values will have to become more relaxed to encourage an entrepreneurial mindset among young people, encouraging more rebellious, creative thinking while still maintaining S'pore's strong ethical values.
Singapore's Education Minister recently spoke about some of the upcoming reforms in the university system and the government's desire to stay competitive when luring foreign students or trying to retain it's own citizens. S'pore's universities are in the top 100 in the world so maintaining this standard will be imperative. It is encouraging to see that the government realises that they need to maintain open thinking and groom innovative ideas to maintain Singapore's financial growth and world status in the years to come.
Virtual Assisting is a hot new "work from home" opportunity, promoted heavily by Tim Ferris' bestselling 4-Hour Work Week, the subject of a new e-book by Diana Ennen "Virtual Assistant: The Series" and one of the 15 Hottest Businesses for 2008, according to Entrepreneur magazine.
To be a great Virtual Assistant you need to:
Have a plan of action before you begin: write a business plan that covers things like advertising, pricing, business hours, equipment and supplies you'll need.
Choose an appealing and appropriate business name.
Invest in a great Web site, business cards and marketing materials to be taken seriously.
Be sure your computer equipment is properly upgraded.
Check into appropriate business licensing for your area.
Don't underprice your services! Take into account things like self-employment taxes, business expenses like paper and ink, association dues and time off. VA's in the United States typically charge up to $35/hr.
Try to find a niche market based on your interests and experience: medical, advertising/design, financial and gear your offerings to this group.
Stay current with business trends and continue to hone your skills and offerings.
Virtual Assistants are also called Virtual Professionals and are more in-demand than ever. With skyrocketing gas prices, work/life balance issues and the trend towards outsourcing, it can be a great career field if you lay the proper groundwork and deliver exceptional work!
In case you still have not registered, Unconference Singapore 2008 is on this Saturday at Biopolis, 1130am to 6pm. "Look out for cool new start-ups at the expo area, pitching sessions, an awesome keynote by Microsoft, break-out sessions and of course excessive networking!".
Here's the cool part - "A common event Tee unites the attendees; shows that you been to the event, with the coolness factor of the event tagged to the shirt itself.
This time we decided to take it up a notch, throw in that special personalized factor to the Tee, something that is “Un”common, probably done before but not during a Conference-styled event. We wanted to insert the “user generated” factor into every aspect of the unconference - from the breakout sessions all the way down to the freebie Tee-shirt you get! The post it you see on the back is basically your canvas. Feel free to vandalise. :)
It will be a blast seeing people actually using the Tee the way they should, and even more fascinating to see people doing it the way they shouldn’t! So come early, the Amazing Unconference Tee is not stocked in Amazing numbers!"
See you there. I'll be marking Jorbb.com on my Tshirt :p
Our favourite "ideas" blog - TrendHunter'ssub site, TrendWatching has compiled 41 new business ideas in their "Innovation Avalanche" post.
"There's more innovation happening than ever before. New brands, new niches, new concepts, new products, new services and new experiences are flooding an equally fast expanding number of markets. Just as important, there are more freely available sources to track these innovations than ever before. And all of this is coming to (if not at) you from every corner of the world. The GLOBAL BRAIN has been unleashed, and there’s nowhere to hide for those who aren't part of it."
Check out the post after the jump, or download the pdfhere.
Freelance Switch has a great article on protecting yourself on projects here. They point out 8 key areas you should be sure to cover in your service agreement before starting a project, particularly with a new client.
*Billing structure: what is your rate? how do you bill (by hour or project?)
*Late payment: Determine/state your grace period (usually 30 days) and late fees
*Interim charge caps: Put a cap on how much debt a client can carry before you stop working (for example, with a $500 cap, the client has to pay something to bring it below $500 before you continue with the project). Especially important for large projects.
*Scheduling: Are you on call 24/7 or Monday-Friday 8am-5pm? Can clients call you after hours in an emergency? Do you work weekends or holidays?
*Spec work: Working on speculation is essentially doing free work so that a client can judge your services and determine if they want to continue. Gary Horsman of Freelance Switch recommends NOT taking spec work and spelling that out in the service agreement.
*Termination of services by client: If your work is refused or your services rejected after you've already done part of the project work, state in your service agreement that work not paid for cannot be used in whole or part.
*Ownership rights: Establish who owns the work: you or the client. If you want to retain the work for use in a portfolio, state that in the agreement.
*Unforeseen or sudden termination of a project: If you are unable to continue due to illness, accident or for another reason, clients deserve protection. The best thing to do is have an agreement with a backup (or two).
By being clear and upfront, you establish yourself as a professional and prevent unnecessary miscommunication that could hamper your reputation.
In the introduction to Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business can Become a Leader of the Pack, author Donna Fenn (Inc. magazine) recounts her first time meeting entrepreneur Chris Zane in 1995. Zane owned a bike shop, Fenn was not excited about the interview. But what she found was, despite the size of the business and Zane's age (30), he had an instinct for great business development: "stellar customer service, one-to-one marketing, continuous learning, employee development, and cause-related marketing".
Zane now has 65% of his market share, 4 competitors vs. the 16 he started with, and $6.1 million in sales. Zane is just one example of many in this realistic read of the successful small business experience.
Focusing on very small, mostly unknown businesses that serve niche markets and utilize creative, passionate marketing strategies, the book succeeds in inspiring and providing a road map for both those with a new idea and the CEO of well established companies. One Amazon reader says it will "energize your entrepreneurial spirit" and 29 reviewers give it 5 out of 5 stars.
If you're a small business owner and haven't yet thought about hiring a virtual assistant, you're missing the boat?not to mention a chance to earn significantly more than you are now. That's because working with a top virtual assistant could easily free up 10 hours or more every week for you to focus on what's really important - growing your business.
What is a virtual assistant? In the simplest terms, a virtual assistant is a professional who's an expert in any of a wide variety of tasks - from simple administrative work to more specialized fields such as copywriting or graphic design. A virtual assistant makes sense if you feel that you're "wasting time" doing tasks that would better be left to someone else.
Virtual assistants have many advantages over hiring full- or part-time staff, including not dealing with the headaches of maintaining a payroll, not having to provide office space, and more. But working with a virtual assistant isn't foolproof.
Here are three ways to find and recruit the best virtual assistant for your small business:
* Use virtual assistants that have been pre-screened. Companies that know the virtual assistance industry inside and out can help you pre-qualify virtual assistant candidates by assessing their skills and abilities ahead of time. And this means more than just getting a read on their "hard" skills. It also means assessing "soft" skills such as communication style and rapport, which are critical in matching small business owners with the right virtual assistant. This can take a lot of the work out of hiring the right person. Check out www.Top100VirtualAssistants.com for an example of a service that pre-screens virtual assistants.
* Decide on your specific needs. Where do you need the most help? What are the tasks that need to get done, but that you can't or don't want to do yourself? Knowing exactly what you want before you start interviewing potential virtual assistants is crucial. You don't want to hire someone with a set of skills that, while they may be impressive, aren't right for your particular job.
* Budget wisely. Do a self-assessment and determine how much money you might typically make for an hour's worth of work. Then decide how much a virtual assistant is worth to you. For example, if you make $100 an hour, and you hire a virtual assistant for $40 an hour, by outsourcing just 10 hours worth of work a week, you would give yourself the ability to earn an extra $2,400 per month (or about $30,000 per year). It's also important to remember that a skilled virtual assistant can often do the same task in about half the time it takes the average small business owner (simply because they are a master of the technology, systems or other expertise that makes the task hard for someone not familiar with it). When this is the case, the right virtual assistant could wind up saving you more than $3,000 every month.A successful small business owner, Rebecca Trelfa runs a network of websites dedicated to the virtual assistance industry, including http://www.VirtualDynamos.com, http://www.Work-the-Web.com and http://www.Top100VirtualAssistants.com.
