Archive for the ‘Success story’ Category

Australia’s top entrepreneurs share the best piece of business advice they’ve ever received

Friday, November 1st, 2013
Photo credit; Laughlin Elkind on Flickr

Photo credit; Laughlin Elkind on Flickr

Australia’s greatest entrepreneurs recently shared the best piece of business advice they’ve ever received with StartUpSmart.com. Here is the rundown.

1. Michael Fox – co-founder of Shoes of PreyKeep focused on one core product

His favourite piece of advice came from investors Mike Cannon-Brookes, (of Atlassian), and David Cunningham: “Keep focused on the one core product; don’t try to do more until you’ve nailed that.”

2. Dean Taylor – owner of online wine selling site Cracka Wines – Always have a back-up plan

His favourite piece of advice is a crucial one for business owners, who always need to be prepared with a back-up plan.

Never walk into a room that you can’t walk out of,” he says.

“The person who said it to me was Brett Chenoweth, an old friend and the former CEO of APN. He swears by it,” Taylor says.

3. Mick Liubinskas — Pollenizer founder – Run the numbers

When Liubinskas enjoyed a short stint at IBM, he met a friend — Kurt Bilderback — who told him to “always run the numbers”.

“Mick, you’ve got to run the numbers. Always. Not to get answers, but to know what the questions should be.”

4. Gabby LeibovichThe difference between success and failure

Leibovich said his favourite piece of advice was actually something he received just a couple of weeks ago from retail entrepreneur Joe Segal:“The problem with people is not that they aim too high and fail, but that they aim too low and succeed.”

5. Gary Ng — manager of E-Web Marketing, a digital agency which has won several BRW “Best Place to Work” awards — Get rid of the rules

His favourite piece of advice was provided to him by his mentor, Anthony Robbins: “The more rules you have about how people have to be, how life has to be for you to be happy, the less happy you’re going to be.”

6. Bruce Billson — Australia’s Small Business Minister — Get to work

His favourite piece of advice actually comes from Jason Gehrke, franchising expert: “For every $1000 you plan to invest in your business spend an hour of due diligence, planning and working out how you can profitably engage your customers.”

 7. Dave Slutzkin — head of website marketplace Flippa –  Listen to your customers

His favourite is a mantra for good customer service — although he can’t quite remember who told him the proverb.

“Customers have your best ideas,” he says.

8. John Winning — head of Appliances Online — Control the supply chain

Winning’s favourite piece of business advice actually comes from his grandfather:

“You can’t control what you sell something for; all you can control is what you buy something for. The market controls the sell price, so the only thing you can control is the supplier relationship and this will help you remain competitive.”

9. Andre Eikmeier — Co-founder of Vinomofo — Be careful what you spend money on

His favourite piece of advice comes from his “biggest inspiration”, entrepreneur Seth Godin.

“Don’t spend your resources on ‘customer acquisition’,” he says.

10. Tristan White — Founder of aged healthcare business The Physio Co. — Don’t try to do too much at once

His best piece of advice comes from George Nadaff, the founder of the American fast food chain Boston Market: “You can’t sit on two toilets.”

11. Naomi Simson — Head of ‘experiences’ retailer RedBalloon — It’s in your control

This proverb comes from a colleague who attended a presentation.

“If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me,” she says.

12. Jacqueline Arias — Founder of Republica Coffee — Your products aren’t special

Her favourite piece of advice comes from Carolyn Cresswell, who founded Carman’s — one of Australia’s other food-based success stories.

“Stop believing that your products are special, and start playing the very best game you can play.”

13. Dean Ramler — Founder of online furniture business Milan Direct — Details matter

His best piece of advice comes from his grandfather, who also worked in the furniture trade.

There is no such thing as a detail too minor!”

To read more about this story, click here.

One Cent Flights & Wines take off

Wednesday, October 30th, 2013
Photo credit; Ben Hosking on Flickr

Photo credit; Ben Hosking on Flickr

After filling niches in the emerging group buying marketplace and giving a new twist to the classic auction website, cousins and co-founders Matt and Elliott Donazzan’s pay-to-bid auction sites are now bringing in over $100,000 per month in revenue.

One Cent Flights and One Cent Wines allow users to bid on flights and wine, respectively, for lower prices. The sites put a new twist on the auction site by charging people for bids.

And the sites have taken off so much, the two entrepreneurs have sent their wine and travel company partners significant volumes of traffic.

The Donazzans have hit on a workable model and they’ve recently launched a fundraising round to raise between $1 million and $5 million.

“A year ago we were a little start-up, and we’re not a massive business yet, but we’re a niche database player that is getting some success at an early stage,” Donazzan says.

He says their database is currently at just over 200,000 users, and they’re growing by 10,000 a month. They’re aiming to get to two million users in the next 12 to 24 months.

One Cent Flights launched in August 2012. The idea emerged from gaps they kept spotting as Matt was exploring group buying sites and Elliott was running his own eBay business.

“We thought if we focused on specific product niches that people really wanted rather than the broad approach of group buying sites, we could build something big,” Donazzan says. “We launched with flights because we noticed the other pay to bid sites were focused on male-centric products. So we saw a big untapped opportunity with online businesses only ignoring a big part of society and consumers,” he says. “We did a whole bunch of focus groups, and the topic that came up again and again was travel.”

He describes their model of seeking a customer first and then creating a product for them has worked well for their rapid growth.

They expanded into wines after it was the lead product identified by focus groups with another market they believed was overlooked by group buying sites, men over 35.

With plans to expand internationally, primarily into South East Asia, Donazzan says the funds they’re raising will go towards expanding their team of five.

To read more on this story, click here.

Australian entrepreneurs work long hours on their businesses

Friday, October 25th, 2013
Photo credit; Pavel Medzyun on Flickr

Photo credit; Pavel Medzyun on Flickr

SmartCompany’s annual Smart50, the website’s list of the 50 fastest growing companies in Australia, includes some of the hardest working people in the country.

SmartCompany asked some of the many entrepreneurs featured on the list how many hours they put into their businesses and the answers skewed toward long hours.

More than half (52%) of entrepreneurs in the Smart50 for 2013 worked more than 56 hours a week. A full 10% worked more than 70. Three founders said they put more than 75 hours a week into their business.

Ruslan Kogan, founder and CEO of Kogan, told LeadingCompany last year that he hadn’t had a holiday in seven years.

To read more about this story, click here.

Huffington Post blogger shares insight into online business and why yours might be failing

Wednesday, October 23rd, 2013
Photo credit; Dnikolos on Flickr

Photo credit; Dnikolos on Flickr

Huffington Post blogger Don Dodds shares these six reasons why your online enterprise might be a little underwhelming.

#1) You targeted the wrong niche — or you didn’t target a niche at all.

Prior to starting your business, you need to answer these questions:

  • Is there a demand for my idea?
  • How much competition is there for my product or service?
  • Who are my top competitors?
  • Do I stand a realistic chance of outranking them (particularly in the organic search results)?
  • Where is the industry headed?
  • Is my product or service gaining momentum or is it on a downward trend?

Dodds says after you’ve investigated these questions you might need to reevaluate your business idea.

#2) You don’t have a clear business model for your website.

While it seems like common sense to begin your business with a clear business model in mind, Dodd says many new online business owners start with a vague idea at best when it comes to monetizing their website, but they need to be much more focussed.

Aside from selling advertising through Google’s AdSense program, you could consider offering an informational product such as an e-book if you’re running an information site, or you could also charge a fee for premium subscribers to your content.

#3) You’re trying to do too many things at once.

Focus on one or two important tasks per day.

Next, combat distractions by eliminating information overload like excessive e-mail subscriptions. Dodd says not to fall into the trap of spending many hours of your day consuming blog posts, e-books, and emails about how to improve your online business, but, instead, to get out there and work on your business, one step at a time.

#4) You’re being a control freak.

Dodd says not to be afraid to outsource things like website design, logo creation, and content development if you’re unfamiliar with them to help save you time (to work on other areas of your business) and make sure your website looks professional.

#5) You’re not sure how to market your product or service.

As an online business owner, Dodd says, you have two options when it comes to marketing your business: Learn the tricks of the trade yourself, or hire an expert SEO or social media consultant to do the job for you. Just make sure it gets done properly, and remember time is your most valuable asset.

If you want to learn how to do it yourself, begin with a broad overview of the various advertising and marketing techniques that are specific to the Internet like pay-per-click, social media, press releases, blogging, and search engine optimization (SEO). Educate yourself on each of these and find out which strategies work best for your own business by testing. Get help with some vital factors for SEO planning.

Finally, know that simply having the pillars of a smart marketing strategy in place is not enough. You have to measure your progress and continue to make refinements. You can quickly get started on this task by signing up for an account with Google Analytics.

#6) You bought into the get-rich-quick dream.

The greatest barrier to online success is unrealistic expectations. Unfortunately, this has become an epidemic due to get-rich-quick schemes promoted by a handful of Internet marketing gurus. It’s tempting to get caught up in the hype, but don’t. The best defense against this kind of toxic thinking is to avoid any kind of system that promises easy riches. Instead, focus on the steady growth of your company.

To read more on this story, click here.

Napa Valley girls move to Sydney to start online fashion boutique

Monday, October 14th, 2013
Photo credit; Naomi King on Flickr

Photo credit; Naomi King on Flickr

In a reversal of sorts, two women who hail from Napa Valley in California made the move to Sydney to open an online fashion boutique.

While Silicon Valley might seem like the obvious choice for the women, Tessa Mini and Natalia Nowak, moved to Australia instead and were inspired by what they consider Australian women’s fashion consciousness to create Passionista Boutique, run out of their Sydney apartment.

“We package everything, we write all the slips, it’s our baby,” Mini said.

“At first we couldn’t afford a model,” she recalled, so Mini and Nowak modeled the clothing themselves. “I did the entire website myself,” Mini said, and “we do all digital marketing mainly from Instagram and Facebook.”

“We get a steady flow — about five orders a week,” Mini said. Their goal is to grow the business, selling closer to 20 items a week, she said.

Passionista sells a range of clothing including jackets, dresses, tops and accessories. Prices range from $25 to $65 in U.S. dollars. The business ships internationally.

To read more on this story, click here.

Brisbane businessman turns disaster into dollars

Monday, September 30th, 2013

Brisbane businessman Michael French turned the raging floods in that city in 2011 into a successful online business by filling a niche that so many people don’t know they need until it’s too late.

Photo credit; johndal on Flickr

Photo credit; johndal on Flickr

While he watched flood waters near his home, French worried about the state of his office, which held his digital marketing company only a few kilometres away. That’s when the idea for his Bizeo app hit him.

Essentially a dashboard app, Bizeo monitors all available data from servers to engines on key machinery, to temperature to exchange rates and social media for a business that is experiencing an emergency like a flood.

“Business owners spend a lot of their time running around checking on things, but this does it for them, and gives them a single indicator that everything is alright,” French says. “Bizeo monitors the status and data across your whole enterprise, and watches everything at once.”

As many Brisbane businesses struggled in the aftermath of the floods, French realized he could add even more functionality to the app.

“Our cashflow was struggling as our debtors blew out and our sales pipeline struggled as many Brisbane groups went under,” French says. “Bizeo now plugs into your CRM, accounting and social media systems.”

Bizeo received a $200,000 grant from Commercialisation Australia last year and French used those funds to hire a business development manager, and file for intellectual property protections such as trademarks and patents and is currently working with clients in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Mexico and London.

To read more on this story, click here.

Fresh fruit and vegetables over the internet? Why not?

Wednesday, September 18th, 2013

Loveday fruit and vegetable growers Megan and Mark Whateley shut down their roadside produce stand in the Riverland region of South Australia and have opted instead to make sales online and deliver the produce directly to consumers’ front doors.

The convenience of online purchasing has proved popular for people in metropolitan areas.

Photo credit; Umstwit on Flickr

Photo credit; Umstwit on Flickr

“We know it’s quite a popular thing in other country areas and in Adelaide, we’re not sure that anyone else has trialled something like this up here, so we’re going to give it a go,” Megan said.

The couple decided to start off slow with just a Facebook page but will soon launch a website to go along with it.

“Friends of ours would buy from us and we thought there was a bit of a need for it and we trialled it with a few people and it’s grown fast,” Megan said.

The service has appealed to the younger demographic including working families.

“It’s just the convenience, working people, busy families, mums, they can just have everything brought to their door,” Megan said.

“It’s what people are looking for, a lot of shopping is done from the comfort of your home, without leaving the house.”

The family grows primarily sweetcorn, broccoli and cabbage for South Australian and interstate markets.

To read more on this story, click here.

Australian social mobile advertising site Moko set to tap into US colleges

Monday, September 16th, 2013

From its humble beginnings as a five-person operation above a Perth hairdresser just a few short years ago, Moko has come a long way.

Photo credit; Richard Patterson on Flickr

Photo credit; Richard Patterson on Flickr

And it is now set to try and crack the United States college market with its mobile social media advertising platform, plus a $US1 billion capitalisation on the world’s biggest technology stock exchange.

Next month, the Western Australia company will launch a service to connect advertisers with 5 million American college students, the ready-made audience that gave Facebook its start.

Although this means it will be competing with Google and Facebook for a portion of the $US7.65 billion ($A8.5 billion) US mobile advertising market, this is the first stage of a plan to list on Nasdaq, according to chief executive officer and founder Ian Rodwell.

Its first major deal with the American Collegiate Intramural Sports (AMIS) association gives it an initial audience of 5 million university students (out of 21.6 million) at 200 colleges across the country.

To read more on this story, click here.

Oh Mabel has you covered

Monday, September 9th, 2013

Oh Mabel, an organic bed linen brand and online shop, is run by Sarah Power in Canberra.

Established in 2011, Power aimed to start an online bed linen shop that would stock other brands of linens. When she found that other brands just weren’t up to her standards, she created her own line and hasn’t looked back since.

While the shop is on hiatus at the moment, it will be back up and running soon with a new line of Oh Mabel bed linens.

To read more about this story, click here.

99Dresses is dressed for success

Thursday, September 5th, 2013

Online clothing swapping site 99Dresses, founded by Nikki Durkin from New South Wales in 2010, has been growing since the day it launched.

The young entrepreneur said that it was a tough go launching the site, but once she got it up and running, she valued the experience and learned a lot from it.

“The most challenging thing is figuring out you’re going to run out of money before you’re going to take off. It’s frustrating; it’s a tough feeling. You feel like you’re drowning a bit, but I got very lucky,” Durkin says.

That luck was in the form of her decision to enter a $10,000 business competition, which she won, followed by her admission to Y Combinator — an organisation that provides seed funding to a select number of start-ups.

To read more on this story, click here or here.