May 24th, 2010 by Duane Jackson
When you’re starting a new business, every penny counts. So I thought I’d share a lesson I’ve learnt on how you can get free PR for your business.
Engaging a PR firm can be expensive, doing it yourself can be time consuming and frustrating.
So how about getting some of the very best PR firms in the industry getting your name out there for free?
It’s frighteningly simple. Odds are, although you’re a small business you use a number of suppliers that are big established businesses that spend a lot of money on PR.
Find out who looks after PR for your suppliers, call the agency and find out who handles the account. Let them know you’re a very happy customer of Big Co, and you’re more than happy to go on record to say as much, to be used as a case study, to provide quotes for press releases or to attend events as a customer and talk to journalists about how Big co are helping you to grow your business.
Very simple, but very effective. And more importantly, free.
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Tags: free, pr, startups
Posted in Small Business | 4 Comments »
November 17th, 2009 by Duane Jackson
Yesterday was the first day of Global Entreprenurship Week - a global initiative to promote entrepreneurship.
We’re involved in a couple of ways.
Firstly I’m a Young Ambassador (emphasis on the “young” please!) for Enterprise UK, the government-funded agency at the center of it all.
Secondly, we’ve donated £200k of accounting software to them to provide to startup businesses around the UK.
The launch event took place yesterday at the British Library with a conference on entrepreneurship. Yes, it sounds awfully dull but actually it was a very interesting morning with a great line up of speakers.
There was one point made that really grabbed my attention. There was a lot of talk about what government can do to encourage startups. There were some valid suggestions such as lowering tax for startups and payroll costs for your first few staff.
Peter Jones of Dragons’ Den fame got slightly irritated and asked what government has to do with it. The point he was making is that if you’re going to start a business, you’re going to start a business. With or without help from the government. People need to take responsibility for their own lives and not depend on the government. His comments received spontaneous applause from everyone in the audience, myself included.
You do have to take control of your own life and make things happen – no one, least of all the government – is going to do it for you.
David Wei, CEO of Alibaba.com also spoke at the event. He attributes a lot of the entrepreneurial activity coming out of China to the lack of a “safety net”. By which I’m assuming he means the welfare system we have here in the UK. So in China if you have no way of making a living you either embark on entrepreneurial activity of some sort, or you starve. Simple as that.
I didn’t miss the irony of the fact that these comments were coming from an event organised by a government funded group.
So does the government have any part to play in encouraging startups? Do they cause more problems than they solve by putting in place a safety net?
I’m not advocating that we should entirely scrap the welfare system in the UK in favour of the harsh reality of life in China. But it’s certainly food for thought.
Tags: Dragons, GEW, Global Entreprenurship Week, Peter Jones, startups
Posted in Ramblings, Small Business | 8 Comments »
July 2nd, 2009 by Duane Jackson
I’ve blogged before about how I started KashFlow with the help of the Prince’s Trust. I’m eternally grateful for the help I got from them and I’ve since been involved in number of fund-raising events for them and been lucky enough to meet some pretty high-calibre, ultra-successful people.
One of the big turning points for me was meeting Lord Young, who took a big leap of faith and invested in KashFlow a few years ago. He’s now our Chairman.
Recently I spoke to Mike Coombs, the careers advisor at my old school – Brampton Manor in Newham, East London – and he thought it’d be good for me to come in and talk to the students about the option of starting a business. Certainly when I was there I didn’t think it was possible for someone from my background to go on to have a moderately successful business.
So I agreed to go in and do a little talk. It was actually quite good fun. I was amazed at how few of them knew anyone that had started a business.
See the cheesy video below shot by one of the journalists that was present. I’ve nicked one of his phrases for the title of this post.
Anyway, on to the point of this post. I’ve decided to take on an intern from an area similar to where I grew up to come and work at KashFlow for a while to show what it’s like running a business.
Not filing, making coffee and emptying bins like so many people seem to end up doing on work experience – but to get a feel for what it’s really like running a business. And also to see the huge opportunities the internet presents to those who want to start a business but have relatively little capital to do so.
Hopefully it’ll encourage them to start their own business when they leave school – or at the very least see it as a viable option.
Watch this space for updates!
Tags: Brampton Manor, intern, Prince's Trust, startups
Posted in Small Business | 1 Comment »
June 29th, 2009 by Duane Jackson
Recently I was talking to Andrew Bredon about his cool new project JobWhizz (take it for a spin whilst it’s still free) and business owners / entrepreneurs in general. He said something that immediately struck a cord. I’m paraphrasing here, but it was something along the lines of “You know you’re a business owner when your answer to everything is to start a business”
Your wife left you? Start a business!
Lost your leg in a freak accident involving a Robin Reliant and an Ice Cream Van? Start a business!
Being taken for granted at work? Start a business!
I’m certainly guilty of being evangelical about starting businesses. It really is the answer to everything!
For a bit of fun I asked on Twitter for people to complete the sentence “You know your a business owner when…” Perhaps you can relate to some of the responses. Click the “retweet” link to tweet your favourites back to Twitter:
@DuaneJackson #YKYABOW It dawns on you you DON’T work for yourself, you work for X no. clients who all want to be pleased all of the time. By Neil Goodger on 24-6-2009 09:22:45 in reply to Duane Jackson
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@DuaneJackson #YKYABOW Your evening entertainment consists of ticking off jobs achieved & finding it very exciting. By AnnaHill on 24-6-2009 09:30:18 in reply to Duane Jackson
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@DuaneJackson #YKYABOW when u cant work out a hashtag abbreviation coz you were up till 3am the night before testing some new functionality By Andrew Bredon on 24-6-2009 12:30:29 in reply to Duane Jackson
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#YKYABOW u jump out of bed every day thinking “What we gonna do today Brain? What we do every day Pinky, plan to take over the world” By Andrew Bredon on 24-6-2009 12:34:00
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#YKYABOW you know you’re a business owner when you can have your music on as loud as you like and no one can tell you off for it :o) By Liam Twose on 25-6-2009 08:44:03
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@DuaneJackson #YKYABOW you spend more time with your clients than you do with your family. Quite a LOT more time. By Hazel Edmunds on 24-6-2009 13:52:50 in reply to Duane Jackson
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@DuaneJackson #YKYABOW… would-be suppliers are beating down your door when what you really want is more customers. By Emily Coltman on 29-6-2009 10:25:31
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@DuaneJackson #YKYABOK When you realise you can never again say “I can’t be bothered with this working malarky today” By PoLR on 24-6-2009 12:46:58
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@DuaneJackson #YKYABOK its a rare sunny day in Ireland and you don’t pull a sickie By aileen456 on 24-6-2009 12:34:11 in reply to Duane Jackson
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@DuaneJackson when you respond to journo’s / family who say “I’d hire him” about apprentice ppl with “in which of your businesses?”#YKYABOK By Farhan Lalji on 24-6-2009 12:17:40 in reply to Duane Jackson
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@DuaneJackson when your friends in ‘normal’ jobs think it’s quite simple to take time off whenever you want as ‘you’re the boss’! By Khalid on 24-6-2009 09:06:08 in reply to Duane Jackson
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@DuaneJackson … When you get your end of year accounts and cry at how much the government have screwed you out of.. By Dave H on 24-6-2009 08:55:32 in reply to Duane Jackson
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@DuaneJackson You work over 120 hours per week and still never get to the end of your to-do list. By Amanda Farren on 24-6-2009 08:51:52 in reply to Duane Jackson
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@DuaneJackson when the business decision is easier to make than the human decision. Before that, you’re just wearing grownups shoes. By Matt Johnston on 29-6-2009 10:27:53 in reply to Duane Jackson
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@DuaneJackson #YKYABOW you can’t moan about your boss anymore, because you are your boss. Doh. By soyelmango on 24-6-2009 08:54:16 in reply to Duane Jackson
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@DuaneJackson #YKYABOW You turn around to find someone else to take the heat and there is no-one there By Neil Goodger on 24-6-2009 09:04:26 in reply to Duane Jackson
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@DuaneJackson #YKYABOW All your “friends” think you’re loaded and expect you to pay for well, everything :) By simonswords on 24-6-2009 09:08:18
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You know you’re a business owner when you realise you could never again work for anyone else. #YKYABOW By Sarah Pettegree on 24-6-2009 09:11:39
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@DuaneJackson #YKYABOW problems seem to amazingly synchronise with your holiday By Neil Goodger on 24-6-2009 09:11:44 in reply to Duane Jackson
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@DuaneJackson #YKYABOW X% of your holiday is spent on the phone [replace X] By Neil Goodger on 24-6-2009 09:13:03 in reply to Duane Jackson
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Tags: startups, Twitter
Posted in Small Business | No Comments »
June 17th, 2009 by Duane Jackson
I feel a bit naughty using the blog to advertise for non-KashFlow reasons – but I’ve just had to say “no, thanks” again to someones money and that makes me feel even worse.
Are you a Microsoft Techie or running a Microsoft-based Hosting Company?
Do you want to provide streaming media services or (even better) perhaps you do already?
Prior to setting up KashFlow I set up a company that sells Streaming Media services – I don’t have the time to run it properly anymore due to the success of KashFlow and the demands that makes on my time. I feel awful turning away the sales enquiries that come in with a “sorry, we’re not taking on any new clients”
There is around £1,100 in repeat monthly income plus another £5,000 billed annually. So a total annual income of around £18,200k
We have billed £25.5k in the past 12 months. This is because in addiiton to the above there’s also extra income from:
- excess bandwidth charges to customers
- one-off set-up fees of £75 each
- a number of annually re-occuring events
Income from these is likely in the future, although not guaranteed.
The approach to sales has been rather lackadaisical so far. An enquiry comes in, we give a price and some info on why we’re better than alternatives and then leave them to it. Where appropriate we’ve just told people how to get set up themselves (ie, if they only expect a small handful of views/listeners) If they call back then we go ahead. But we’ve never been proactive in chasing up leads.
Current customers include a Scottish football club, a large production company plus lots of small religious organisations, radio stations and others.
In terms of looking after the existing customers – they’re all (with one exception!) very low maintenance. The occasional request to reset passwords, etc - but not much else.
These are all UK customers, but if you want a view of the market (although from a US perspective), take a look at this. $78bn over the next 6 years!
As well as the existing customers and income, I’m also selling
- list of all past customers
- the website at www.streaming-services.co.uk
(which generates a small number of enquiries each month with no advertising)
- our “Streamstats” software.
The software lets customers log in and see their bandwidth usage and gives you, as the administrator, an overview of everyones usage. It’s far from brilliant but it does the job and can be improved into something a lot better (all written in .asp/vbscript and MSSQL)
The cost of running the service is just the two servers. One leased with The Planet in the US at £70/month and another owned and co-located in London at around the same price. These can be sold with the above or you can migrate to your own servers. We’ve never incurred additional bandwidth charges for either server
Whoever buys it is welcome to spend a few hours with me for me to pass on what I’ve learned about selling the service.
I’ve been offered a few joint ventures – I’m not tempted by these as I just don’t have the time to put in to one.
I’ve had offers of around £40k, but I can make that just by doing nothing and taking the revenue for the next couple of years.
Nor am I interested in any type of earn out/staged payments – why swap my £25k/year income for what is essentially a loan whereby if the person defaults they could have messed everything up so there’s nothing to foreclose on.
My expectations may be too high (especially in the current climate) and I may have to just settle for the regular income and continuing to turn away new business.
If you’re interested in the above, email me ( duane AT kashflow.co.uk) with an offer.
UPDATE - This business has now been sold
Tags: startups, streaming
Posted in Small Business, Uncategorized | No Comments »
June 15th, 2009 by Duane Jackson
I first jumped on the Twitter bandwagon back in January shortly before it went mainstream in the UK (which I think was 21/01/2009 when Stephen Fry appeared on Jonathans Ross’ first show after his suspension)
I was asked today if Twitter has helped my business. It’s a question I could answer with one word: yes. But I thought adding a bit more than 140 characters as to why and how might be better than a one-word answer. So let me count the ways:
There are a reasonable number of sales of our standard accounting software for SMEs that I can trace back directly to Twitter. But there are also a handful of sales for our higher-value product for accountants too.
So much so that Michelle who is responsible for that side of the business has stopped saying “Less twittering, more working” and now says “Less working, more twittering”.
Twitter has also helped to time the closing of sales. See my earlier post with the title How Twitter Can Help You Close Sales.
According to our logs, you’re probably reading this blog post because someone mentioned it on Twitter. Twitter is the #1 referrer of traffic to this blog. The blog works effectively to get us new customers – so more visitors are a Good Thing.
When I’ve needed recommendations for software or services, a quick post on Twitter throws up a number of responses – saving lots of time independently researching what’s available.
If you phone the office and ask for me, you have to first get past the gatekeeper. But on Twitter, anyone can reach you. Being easily got to via Twitter has led to a number of interesting opportunities and meeting great people I may not otherwise have met.
See my recent blog post dumping Vodafone. We had a number of problems that built up over the past year, all of which are now sorted. But I’m willing to bet that if it wasn’t for the fact that thousands of people, via Twitter, were reading my post then I’d still be owed closed to a thousand pounds by them and have a load of other issues.
So yes, it would be safe to say that Twitter has been a great help in continuing to build the business. But it also has its downsides!
Tags: startups, Twitter
Posted in Small Business, Technology | 5 Comments »
June 5th, 2009 by Duane Jackson
Last month I had a problem with my Sony Vaio laptop. The touchpad was knackered and needed replacing. A couple of emails back and forth with Sony Support and they arranged to pick it up, repair it and deliver it back to me. When I opened the package at first I thought they’d given me a new laptop – it looked brand new. The screen and chassis was spotlessly clean. A little note fluttered out saying that whilst they had my laptop they took the opportunity to give it a thorough clean.
It would have taken them a few minutes to clean it and the cost would have been pennies, not pounds. But the good will it bought from me was priceless. It’s re-affirmed my love of all things Sony.
We’re off to Peterborough tonight to stay with my sister for the weekend so she can meet our new baby and we can meet hers (quite appropriate for a blog post talking about small things that make a big difference!). My wifes car was due a service so we though it’d be a good idea to get it done before the long drive to Peterborough.
Using an authorised Mercedes dealership was bound to cost more than the local garage, but it should help retain it’s value when we come to sell it. Considering we were paying £400 for the service, I really thought they’d give the car a quick clean – even if just the outside. It would only have cost them a couple of quid. But they didn’t.
That was a great opportunity for them to do a small thing that would have made a big difference, but they missed it.
All interesting (or not) anecdotal stuff. But if you’re running a business it has practical implications too. What small things can you do in your business that cost you close to nothing but give your customers a warm fuzzy feeling? It’s certainly something I’ll be thinking about over the weekend in between changing nappies.
I’ve just realised that this post could be summarised as “My house is full of Sony stuff and I’m away for the weekend”. Hmmm.
Tags: Mercedes, Sony, startups
Posted in Ramblings, Small Business | 5 Comments »
April 27th, 2009 by Duane Jackson
1) Forced unemployment or redundancy
If you’re unemployed, then great – you have no other demands on your time.
If you are employed, especially by a big company, then there may be a redundancy package on offer. So not only can you leave and get up and running with your new business – but you can do so with some cash.
2) Cheaper Advertising and Marketing
Due to less demand, you’ll be able to advertise your new business venture at much lower rates now than this time last year.
3) More talented people
A year ago, it was very hard to find good people on the job market. Now the situation has reversed and there are lots of people – talented people – looking for work.
4) Lower salary expectations
It’s competition that drives up prices. There are less jobs available hence less competition to employ people. So the salary you need to pay to get good staff is lower than it was.
5) Companies looking for more value
Due to money being tighter, companies are more willing to change suppliers if you can offer them better value for their money.
So stop thinking about starting a business and go and do something about it.
Tags: Recession, startups
Posted in Small Business | 4 Comments »
April 8th, 2009 by Duane Jackson
I did a podcast interview recently with Alex Bellinger of SmallBizPod fame. He asked me what advice I’d give to someone starting out in business now.
The biggest mistake I made when starting in business was to go 50/50 with somebody else. We both owned exactly half of the business as it seemed the fair and sensible thing to do at the time.
I told Alex that my advice to others starting out is to never, ever, ever go 50/50 with anyone – ever!
There has to be a boss – someone that’s in charge and can decide the way forward if a mutually agreeable decision can’t be made.
You may be going in to business with your best friend or a sibling, you may be fool enough to think you’ll always be able to resolve any disagreements. You’re wrong.
If the business is a success (and that’s what you’re both aiming for, right?) then there will be plenty of times when you disagree. Some times it may be over something trivial and one of you will just give in to the other. But the more successful the business and the longer it’s running for then the more likely these disagreements are to crop up – and the more you’ll each have to lose.
A few years ago, myself and my then business partner agreed we’d gone past the point of no return. The company was up a creek without a paddle and we couldn’t agree on a way forward. After intense negotiations he eventually agreed to sign over all his shares to me and walk away. It was a very gentlemanly thing for him to do, but it could very easily have gone the other way. We would have both been sitting there with half a company, and the other half owned by someone we couldn’t work with. It would have been game over for KashFlow before it had even really started.
I read in a Felix Dennis book about a “Mexican Shootout” clause you can have put into a shareholders agreement that would have instantly sorted out our problems.
Essentially, we would have both have had to put in an offer to buy the other person out – without knowing what the other person was going to offer. Whoever offers the most – wins.
Can it get any fairer than that?
Tags: smallbizpod, startups
Posted in Small Business | 4 Comments »
March 23rd, 2009 by Duane Jackson
How many times have you heard (or even had) a good business idea? Probably quite often. When your family and social circle know you’re in business then you’re often the person that hears about the varied business ideas they have.
What I’ve come to realise is that the idea – whether it’s good or bad – really doesn’t matter a huge amount.
You can have the greatest business idea in the world, but if you don’t do anything about it it’s just that – an idea.
Whereas you can have a really mediocre or unoriginal idea but if you put enough effort into it, it can become a successful business.
It really is the execution that matters.
So if you have an idea that’s groundbreaking – great, now do something about it or shut up.
If you want to get into business but you’re waiting for that great idea. Stop waiting! It’s not as important as you think to have an idea that is unique or original.
Tags: startups
Posted in Ramblings, Small Business | 2 Comments »
