Blogs

How to start a company , on a shoe string. The cafe is your new office!

Once upon a time to start a business meant having an office , secretary , landline telephones, fax, typewriters ……this list goes on and on.And very little business automation. It was a financial nightmare!

 For many budding entrepreneurs it was barrier to entry that meant they played it safe and stayed in a 'job' or unfortunately for many who did start a business it was the reason a lot of them went bust.

Today young and young at heart can start a business on a shoestring utilising the wonders of cheap technology business tools that is all around us. And the best part is it is cheap (sometimes free!) and infinitely better than what was available just a few short years ago.

Many start up businesses have taken this approach and are succeeding beyond their owners wildest dreams. The new generation of owners use technology to not only earn a lot of money but also have enormous freedom and leisure time.

 Just look around next time you visit a café during the day. Count how many people you can see tapping on laptops or iPads or iphones. This is something that didn't exist a few years ago. Make no mistake alot of these people are working away developing or running a business. Earning money while they enjoy coffee. And this is 'their' office.

 This is the new small business person. And he's not going to go away!

Here is a list of the top 10 tools for setting up a new business:

1. MacBook Pro
2. Broadband internet
3. website
4. Skype
5. iPhone
6. Wi-fi
7. Paypal
8. 1300/1800 virtual number
9. A great café, Starbucks or restaurant
10. Cloud computing & Social networking

Start small with these new technology business tools , a good idea and honest work endeavour and you to could be on the way to being a successful business owner. And if you think you can't do it, just look around you on your next cafe coffee break.

If I have missed any tools or ideas you or your friends use to drive this new business model , please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

No tears from me for Australian bricks and mortar retailers who missed the online shopping boat.

It's as simple as you were told online shopping was going to be HUGE but you chose to keep your head buried in the sand.

Sometimes you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

Recently every day the newspapers and TV news programs are full of stories regarding the rise of online shopping and the lack of success or focus the traditional retailers have had. Like it's some sort of surprise! 

Give me a break! 

Some of these same bleating Australian retailers have only themselves to blame.

People ask me almost every week how some of the major retailers of Australia got it so wrong. And how the new upstarts on the block like Kogan, Groupon, Cudo and a raft of others stole the customers and sales.

Well some of those same big name bricks n mortar retailers were some years ago in discussion with webtron about a road map forward.

Shareholders would be extremely depressed to know some of those same bleating Australian Bricks n Mortar retailers could not see what even Stevie Wonder could see in 2008.

In 2008 we told who ever would listen -Online retailing was going to be HUGE. Social Networking was going to be HUGE. Video was going to be HUGE. Mobile is going to be HUGE.

Here are some of the responses some key people in these organisations said to on these topics in meetings in 2008.

Household name Bricks n Mortar Retailer 1,
Webtron-You need to aggressively and professionally sell all your products online from your website NOW. To do nothing is to fall behind!

Bricks n Mortar Retailer 1 response -not our market it's not what our customers want.

Webtron- You need to immediately get a social networking , have a presence on facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Have a look at this Walmart facebook promotion which has been very successful in the US.

Bricks n Mortar Retailer 1 response- I don't get this social networking thing (…presumably therefore our customers won't also get it?). The Walmart example- that’s the US,  no relevance in Australia, not how we do it.

Bricks n Mortar Retailer 1 –2011 Press Release – We are going to invest heavily in social networking and online shopping development in 2012.


Household name Bricks n Mortar Retailer 2,
Webtron-You need to urgently redevelop and invest in your website before your competitors or new competitors get a stronger foothold.

Bricks n Mortar Retailer 2 response- We don't care what they do. How much will it cost?
We don't have that money for online. If we do a paper catalog we see immediate tangible return you won't get that online.

Same Household name Bricks n Mortar Retailer 2, 2012 Newspaper interview Don't talk to me about these new online retailers anymore.

What is the opportunity cost to shareholders or store franchiser for this inability to adapt to the world around us over a few years?............ HUGE. 

Not a lone voice
Whats interesting to note is the advice we gave in 2008 was not a lone voice.  I ran into a well respected industry friend who recalled back in 2008 running through the similar online discussion and wasted exercise with Bricks n Mortar Retailer 1. He told me all the advice he gave them to aggressively and immediately pursue online shopping and social networking - "it fell completely on deaf ears".

We discussed in the tens/hundreds of millions in opportunity cost that was lost by Bricks n Mortar Retailer 1 and how if only the shareholders knew!

Who's to blame?
It's not fair to only be critical of the boards of these companies or the CEO's , MD and Directors  of these companies for failing their shareholder responsibilities. 

But also the Human Resources and Executive Recruitment within these firms who hired old school marketers, Directors, MD's and CEO's who completely out of there depth in the modern retail shopping world post 2000.

 Some of these marketers survived on the traditional marketing methods of the past but didn't choose to embrace the changing  nature of selling goods and services post 2000.

They completely underestimated the speed of customer change. It was as though either through fear or ignorance their feet were stuck in quicksand meaning they could not make decisions to invest and explore online. Much like dinosaurs of the past they could not adapt to a changing environment until it was too late.

Let's hope these same retailers who are desperately playing catch up online do not miss the new online gold-rush, the mobile shopping revolution.

A new webtron designed splash page for Melbourne Music retailer Cheap Pianos has just been launched.

Simple and inexpensive-yet effective web design and marketing presence.

Some great opening specials including this George Steck piano

A new Australian website developed by webtron Safety Training Courses Australia has been launched which is destined to become the online portal hub OH&S training, Construction site safety courses and first aid training courses.

Safety Training Courses are available in most major towns and cities in Australia.

At this website you will be able to book from a full range of health and safety training study methods including classroom, elearning and distance learning.

To learn more please visit www.SafetyTrainingCourses.com.au
 

University of Melbourne- Melbourne Business School (MBS) asked webtron to produce a modern and interesting interactive online marketing video for the Executive MBA (EMBA).

This interactive video provides the opportunity for future MBS- EMBA students to view learn about the Melbourne Business School EMBA course outline from academic faculty and current EMBA students at the click of a mouse.

Webtron Director and University of Melbourne- Melbourne Business School graduate Alex Hill is delighted with the outcome.

"The Melbourne Business School has a reputation as one of the finest business schools in the world. For webtron to produce a high quality modern interactive online video is a highlight for our company. It offers future Melbourne Business School EMBA students the opportunity to learn about the program from the comfort of home or office on their computer in way that was not possible in he past. The feedback to this interactive video has been excellent!"

To view the University of Melbourne- Melbourne Business School Executive MBA interactive video simply click the image below.

Dropbox is a cloud-based storage facility that lets you access your files anywhere in the world and is compatible with a majority of media devices. A combination of Dropbox and iPad could be 2012's marriage made in heaven for firms looking to keep field staff up to date and ready to share information in fast moving environments.

 Fast Moving environments where traditional media hardware, software and apps such as windows based pc's are just too slow when you have staff and clients need a fast injection of instant current data. This data can easily be synced via a cloud based app so that the information is always up to date and controlled form a central admin point.

Webtron recently set up and deployed a fleet of Apple  iPad 2's using the Dropbox iPad app for a well known multi-national companies sales force nation wide.

 The following diagram depicts how Dropbox is used in a scenario where staff need to access up-to-date documents, such as promotional videos, images and pricelists.

The marketing team (on the left) uploads the promotional material into the Dropbox account, which is then synced to the cloud where all that content is stored. Any changes made inside the Dropbox folder take immediate effect and are reflected (as long as there is an Internet connection) throughout all media devices (laptops, PCs, tablets, phones) that Dropbox application.


The sales team (on the right), after opening the Dropbox application, can see and access all the files that the marketing team has uploaded to the cloud. All new files must be downloaded and viewed once in order for them to be accessible off-line - in this case stored on the iPad's hard drive.

A great solution for many companies!

Contact webtron for an iPad app quote

What is the True value of Social networking for my business?

 

Social networking has always been seen as a perfect medium for commercial exploitation. But how much real value can companies really expect?

 

Let’s take a quick snapshot and ratings out of 5.

 

YouTube- Offers instant two-fold value. Great to market your company via the video medium. Not only do you get valuable exposure for your products and services through the YouTube but also by embedding the YouTube code on your site you have a much more interactive website. Every business should have a YouTube channel 5 Stars *****

 

MySpace- yesterdays social media poster boy. As predicted by Webtron in 2008 MySpace is pretty much finished. Rumors abound Justin Timberlake’s investment will help turn around MySpace’s fortunes. I think little value for business to be found here- unless you are in the music business or have spare time to waste. 1 star *

 

Twitter- Microsite for quick tweets. Webtron thinks Twitter has peaked and the real value remains questionable. Webtron has recently been monitoring Twitter and our findings are for businesses outside entertainment, news and political remain slim. Twitter followers are easy to come by but look out!,  most are businesses on the make and increasingly sex link bait. Also you need to have the resources to regularly update. One very good Twitter feature is the ability to daisy chain updates to your facebook page with one update on Twitter. This feature alone is what we believe to be the saving grace of a Twitter account.

3 stars ***

 

facebook- more people use facebook now than used the entire Internet in 2004. Facebook can any business do without it? Yes just look on eBay’s website and some other big multi-national companies they do not advertise facebook on their websites. But plenty of others do. The reason is some big companies don't advertise facebook is they see facebook as a potential threat. A threat to hijacking their clients. But for most businesses after YouTube the best social networking option. Also try advertising on facebook rather than just Google adwords 4 stars ****

Social networking in 2012 will be interesting.

Twitter , facebook and YouTube will dominate.

Sure others exist and every few months Google comes out with a new product and a heap of marketing but none of these are yet to go mainstream. Others have fallen by the wayside including myspace which became so yesterday about 5 years ago. Fashion has something to do with it.

Companies in 2012 will start to become smarter in the time and resources they spend on social networking. Daisy chaining your activities will become the norm. Rather than just for those in the know.

If you don't know what this is?  It's the best , fastest and most useful way to add content and updates across multiple social networking platforms. Meaning for example you wont need to update facebook and Twitter seperately. One post and both are instanly updated. You can do this now but many companies and individuals are yet enable this great feature.

Companies in 2012 look to refine the approach they take to social networking and become much smarter in the process.

Wanted all marketing managers and communication managers

This is not perhaps the job opening you were dreaming of- but an opportunity to partner with an outstanding web design , web development and video webcast company that understands what it takes to stay on top of your game online.

What we will give you is the tools to what is happening now and tomorrow online:

*Need to drive better marketing, communications and sales results online?

Partner with webtron and you can be confident your company will benefit from the same knowledge and experience we provide companies across many industries and verticals like Holden, Coles, University of Melbourne-Melbourne Business School, Swann Insurance, Benson Property Group, Philips Saeco and many more.
 
*We provide you the strategies , case experience and in-house development team to keep abreast of the latest online marketing trends and statistics for your business vertical.

*Corporate reports and insights that are yours to use inside your companies corporate marketing or communications department.

*See examples of how many well known companies are using different marketing initiatives to reach selected market and achieving great results.

*We show you how to use creative online marketing that drives business outcomes

* And we then implement all the strategies with our in-house development and production team

It's all here in one company -social networking , web design & development, Google, mobile website optimization, SEO, email marketing, website video, video production, webcasts,  and interactive applications specifically for Australian companies and organisations.

To arrange a meeting please call 1300 932 876 or drop us a line!

A sad day for technology enthusiasts all over the world with passing of Steve Jobs.

Although not unexpected, today is perhaps a great day to reflect on a man who started a company in his garage and went on to have a hand in so many great Apple products.

Personally I use everyday a iPhone4, Mac-Book Pro, iPad and iPod as do many other Apple fans across the world. These are wonderful game changing products.

Steve Jobs contribution to Apple and the world of technology will not be easily forgotten.

RIP Steve Jobs