Taxi Driver In India Uses Youtube to Find Customers

March 12, 2010 by Leave a Comment

So, I read this over at Alootechie and felt that I had to share it with you, dear readers.

Apparently, Divesh Mishra, an Indian taxi driver was worried that his business was going down. This was in January 2008 when the Indian travel industry was experiencing a downturn. Divesh knew he had to do something to keep his business going.

“I wanted to advertise about my services but could not do that as I did not have much funds,” Mishra said. “This was the time when I met a friend from Singapore. He was one of my customers and I discussed my problems with him. He then suggested me to upload a video on YouTube. Though I knew about internet, I had never heard about YouTube before.” (Source)

The rest, as they say, is history. Divesh’s video has been viewed 24,000+ times and he reportedly gets hundreds of emails a week – from foreigners asking about his services for when they visit India. According to Mishra it was amazing to get such response and this made him understand the power of internet. “It was a wise decision as I eventually understood that I could not have reached those consumers if I had advertised on some other media. Internet helped me to reach out to foreign customers,” he said.

Embracing the internet changes lives, and businesses. What about you, though? What are you doing to tap onto the opportunities provided by the internet?

Filed Under: Internet Culture, Small Business Tagged With:

To the left to the left

March 10, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Running your own business is immensely fulfilling, but it can also be tedious. You have no weekends, no public holidays, no annual leave. You will probably never retire, and you can’t quit or walk away when you get frustrated or bored. You worry even in your sleep, because there is no boss or subordinates to blame when things go wrong. The buck starts and stops with you.

But I’ve realised that getting a breath of fresh air is easier than you’d think. All you have to do is shift positions, change direction, step to the side.

Think about your pre-business desk job. When you felt drained, all you had to do was facebook for a few minutes [only a few minutes mind you] and your mind would be alert. You’d find some long-forgotten picture tag or some silly new game, and suddenly you’d be smiling through your chores.

In running your biashara, the same rule applies. I’m not recommending you go hang out on facebook; you can end up spending a dangerous amount of time there considering there’s no annoying boss to stop you!

I simply mean you should change tasks. When you’re running your business, you generally handle everything from finances to door-to-door sales. Even if you have employees to do all this for you, you find that your eye is all over. After all, this is your baby.

And this is where the trick lies.

If you’ve been dealing with difficult clients all day, take a break and look through the books. If you’ve been filling out your tax returns and your eyes are swimming in numbers, stop for a second, pick up your cell phone, and make a courtesy call to a client.

If you’ve been shaping up the code on your website, jump to the comments page and work on your response. If you’ve been taking inventory at your warehouse, run to the computer and work on the receipts. All it takes is a simple sideways step.

I’m not very good at multi-tasking [actually, I suck at it. I can’t even talk and skate at the same time!] and I’m (usually) a very focused person, so I like to finish one task before I move on to the next. I’ve been working on an editorial assignment all day, and after 12 hours, the full stops were starting to look like commas, and the small caps are lost in the text. I thought about taking a break to read a novel, but I figured I’d never stop. I looked at the pile of laundry and the dishes in the kitchen [I’ve nothing left that’s clean!] but that didn’t hold much motivation.

So I started to think about the other assignments that are due today, and took a break to do a little writing. Four articles later, my mind was refreshed, my deadlines were met, and I could do my editorial work easy peasy.

Granted, this may not be possible with all businesses, but if you stretch your mind far enough, you can find a slightly different section of your work to take your mind of things, even if it’s as basic as shifting from counting your thousand-bob notes to stacking your ten-bob coins…

Crystal Ading’ is a professional author, editor, rock lover and mother. Her work is available through www.threeceebee.com.

Filed Under: Small Business

Are You A Slave To Your Business?

February 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment

By The Lazy Business Owner

As a business owner, it is tempting to wear many hats at one time and take care of all the departments by yourself with some (very limited) help from employees. Speak to any successful businessman and he is likely to tell you that this is a mistake which you should avoid. Of course, this does not mean that you can delegate everything within your business to others….it just means that you need to MANAGE more and DO less.

It is quite easy to fall into the trap of taking on more and more work for any of the following reasons:

  1. You can do it better than most people in the business
  2. Delegation takes a lot more time than actually doing it
  3. Cost saving in man-hours as you are doing most of the work yourself
  4. It is a matter of habit

Now, unfortunately, this may cause your and your business a whole lot of problems. Problems like:

  • Too many items in your TO-DO list leaving you simple exhausted
  • Too little time for pro-active business management activities. Who is going to do your business strategy when you are doing all the ‘dirty’ work?
  • Employees do not learn nor take on added responsibilities
  • Your business will stop growing as much as it should be growing
  • Creates a poor impression on customers ( imagine a customer always getting to speak to the business owner for support, billing and account managing issues)

If you have already realized that you are doing too much in your business which in turn is creating the problems listed above, then it is time for some change. Here are some suggestions of what you can do to reduce your micro-management activities and focus on the BUSINESS.

1) Delegate smartly. I have seen many business owners delegating to their juniors…some of them do it well and some of them….well they end up delegating their own work to the employees as well. Smart delegation means explaining your employee what you need to get done, defining the goal well and giving helpful suggestions on how the task can be completed. If you give broad instructions (Let’s work towards increasing sales), you are unlikely to see any results.

2) Departmentalize clearly. As a growing business, you need to ensure that you have clear departments which can handle the growth as it happens. Making departments with clear demarcation of duties is likely to help you grow lot faster than your competition. Review each department’s progress, their problems and recruit good people to lead these efforts ( I know this is easier said than done, but there is really no other way out) .

3) Direct more. As a business owner, I feel the most important thing I do is direct my team. In measurable terms. Giving timely feedback and responses to employees, showing them the direction in which the business needs to go and tackling overall issues of managing the business.

4) Put in systems. Automation is the best thing since sliced bread. I am serious, I mean it. You can now take mundane tasks and automate them. You can even take complicated tasks and automate them intelligently! Not only does this reduce the time you need to do some pieces of work , it helps mitigate the risks you face when an employee leaves. Automating accounting, HR, Customer service and sales are just some of the things which help you grow well. The initial costs may be high, but automation tends to pay for itself with 12 to 24 months of implementation.

So the next time you catch yourself doing multiple tasks in the business, stop right there…and delegate it to the right person.

Filed Under: Small Business Tagged With:

Should You Work For Free?

February 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The primary reason for business is making money, that’s a given. Business is not like art, it can never be done just for the sake of it.

But business is not as simple as art. A piece of music or a pretty picture can bring infinite pleasure even if no one actually buys it. You could be carelessly singing in your shower [or the karaoke bar] while your audience marvels. Some genius could tape you and post it on youtube where it will virally spread and make a billion people’s day.

Hopefully, the appeal will be your singing voice rather than anything else.

But business isn’t like youtube karaoke. A business that isn’t earning is … well … not a business; it’s just a person being busy.

That said, benefits are not always monetary. Say, for instance, that you attend a seminar. You won’t get paid; more likely you’ll spend to attend. But you may learn a skill, and you will meet a hundred other people, all of whom could possibly buy from you. If you use 2 or  3 thousand to attend a workshop, meet two hundred people, and five of them end up being your clients and pay one thousand a piece [probably more], then it’s totally worth it.

The classical musicians of the past did not always get salaries. Many of them worked for food and board. They lived with their patrons and were given nice clothes, royal treatment, and access to a full time orchestra. They produced some of their best work for ‘free’.

The same applies with freelancing. We are often advised not to work pro bono, and no professional does anything for nothing. So when a client approaches you, you need to seriously review your options. What do you get out of it? Will this help you to meet potential clients? Will you learn anything new? Will it push you out of your comfort zone?

Are you engaging with people, getting ideas that you wouldn’t find by sitting alone in your office or at your computer? Are you meeting experts from other fields, people who could expand your pool of information? Are you forming relationships that can give you an edge as you find ‘free’ manpower to ‘outsource’? Are you making friends who could support you, advise you, [buy you birthday presents] and bring business your way?

And if this is the case, then are you really sure you’re not getting paid?

Sometimes your wage doesn’t come in cents and zeroes. Just because nobody is showing you the money, doesn’t mean you’re working for free.

Filed Under: Make Money, Small Business Tagged With:

How to Start and Build a Business With (Almost) No Money

February 19, 2010 by Leave a Comment

At Like Chapaa, we come across all sorts of people who are looking to get ahead in life. Many of the people are people with small businesses or people trying to set up a business. Almost all of these people are people with big ideas but no funding – people who are starting, or running a business on a shoestring budget. These people can be called bootstrappers.

Are you a bootstrapper? Well, we have a treat for you today. We’re giving you Seth Godin’s book, The Bootstrapper’s Bible. You can download it below.

I read this book a few years ago and once again I reread it recently. Not only does this book cover a wide variety of issues about starting a business on little money, it also provides you with examples of how other businesses started (including some of the big brands that exist today.) From stretching your existing cash to finding your niche, this book is not a black and white “how to start a business in x number of easy steps” but instead a book that can be applied to whatever business you want to start. Or if you have already started and want to go back over some of the fine points it can also be helpful.

Download it here: [download id=”2″]

Seth Godin is a bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change. Godin is author of multiple books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change and work. His newest book is Linchpin.

What do you think of it? Did it saidia you?

Filed Under: Small Business Tagged With:

Online Freelancing [Interview]

February 17, 2010 by 3 Comments

For the readers that don’t know, Maria Maina is a writer and freelancer extraordinaire. She is a graduate of the first edition of Biashara 30 – where she started her online freelancing career. Right now, Maria does something quite interesting: her online freelancing has grown to the point where she now has a team (of siblings and neighbors) who do all the work that she manages to get online through sites such as Freelancer.com. The set up very much resembles a BPO company, but on a smaller scale.

Q. You’re quite an achiever, tell us about you.

I’m just a kawa girl. If you met me on the street you would not think that I employ ten people from my home, LOL. I am a shy and private person. I think I am very talented at being hard working and ‘driven’. Also, “they” say that I’m quite young. I’m a girl who simply loves life! I love to live life to the fullest, you know? I take each day as it comes and I give it my absolute best, every time! Many people say I’m cheerful most of the time and pretty easy to talk to. I love my life and I love what I do.

Q. How did you start?

There was a time, in B30, that Kelvin was encouraging us to go out and try get online jobs so I was eager to try something out. A friend of mine had been using Elance for about six months, and she turned me on to Elance. She was behind on a project and asked me to help her with it for part of the payment, and I agreed. After working with her on it, I figured Elance was something I could do, so I checked them out, signed up, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Q. What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

When I started out, I had no money in the bank and no access to any money. Things were thick! I used to live from hand to mouth month after month – every little bit of money that came in was already spent. But I gradually overcame this as I became better at getting clients and started saving.

Q. What are the challenges of being an entrepreneur in Kenya?

I do not know if everyone faces this one – but not many people took me seriously. I kept hearing people tell me to get a job until my other business picked up. This is good advise and all but I believe one can only be successful if they focus sufficiently. One cannot focus sufficiently on both a full time job and a business – you have to choose. Atakaye yote hukosa yote.

Q. What was critical to your success?

I’m just a tenacious person. When I get into my stride I never give up. I think that is a quality that all business people need to have. Believe in yourself and never give up – no matter how dark and gloomy it gets.

Q. What about the competition and marketing, do you need to advertise, print flyers participate to conferences or is it mostly word of mouth?

I’m not sure how to answer this. I get all my clients online and the only form of advertising that I would say works is that all or almost all the clients I get really talk well of me. I would say word of mouth. It is the most important, anyway.

Q. Do you think that in order to “make it big” online you have to live in a Western country? Or does Kenya offer more or less the same opportunities?

Hey, people should wake up to the fact that if one is focused enough, then it does not matter where in the world you operate from. When you go to these online freelancing sites you will quickly realise that they are chock full of people from India. India is just like Kenya….why can’t we do it too?

Q. Where do you see yourself and your business (es) in the next 5 years?

Right now my whole team consists of semi professionals and we work from my home. I love that I can help my friends and family earn something. In the future I’d like to see it evolve to a point where I can hire more full time professionals who can help me manage the (hopefully) much bigger team. I want to see my little baby grow to the point where we can easily do five or six hundred gigs a month worth $30 each from sites like Elance and oDesk. That would be something, eh?

You always hear about BPO in the news and it is described in a way that makes you think it has to be a company getting huge contracts from big companies in America or Europe. Why can it not be a little business getting hundreds of tiny jobs from individuals all over the world?

Q. If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

It takes time to build up a client base and portfolio with references. You have to be willing to take a few jobs that are not exactly what you want to do or pay a little less than what you want to receive in order to gain that all important feedback and history built up so that people will trust you with the higher paying jobs. Initially I only did the very well paying gigs, I feel that if I did all and any jobs earlier, I would be much more ahead of where I am right now.

Q. What advice do you have for Internet business entrepreneurs in Kenya?

Freelancing is a business, not a hobby. In order to make enough money freelancing as your sole source of income, you have to treat it like the business that it is. You wouldn’t expect to be paid a full-time salary on a job for working part-time hours, right? And quality in your work are essential to being a successful freelancer.

That’s all for today readers. If you’d like to hear more from Maria Maina please visit her website: www.mariamaina.co.cc. Miss Maina wrote a book early in her freelancing career, you can find it here.

Filed Under: Interviews, Small Business Tagged With: ,

Business Sense In 8 Easy Steps

February 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Common business sense suggests that you should give the customer what they want. After all, they’re always right, and unless you’re a shrink, nobody is going to pay you for telling them they’re wrong.

So what happens when what the customer wants is bad for them? Well, you get smart.

Case in point. For quite a while now, I’ve wanted a haircut. Several hairdressers refused to oblige me, mostly because it is considered sacrilege to chop off such cultured hair; I’ve been growing my dreadlocks for years.

But I am quite stubborn, and each time the guy or girl in question denied me scissors, I started looking for someone else.

Yesterday, I finally found someone to cut my hair. She didn’t want to, and she whined the entire time, but she cut the hair.

It looks … well … I like it … but I’m definitely not doing it again.

In doing what I wanted, Fatuma earned herself – and her salon – a lifetime customer. It will be difficult to pry me away with Exposé.

That hairdressing session has taught me a few key lessons about business.

One, always give the customer what they want; but do it well. Cutting my hair was not the best idea, and Fatuma knew it. But she used her skill to make a bad idea look pretty. Fatuma is already established as an expert – I went to her on a direct commendation from another satisfied customer. She proved herself, and now she has one more client giving her free advertising.

Two, build your team. When I walked into the salon, I asked for Fatuma by name. But she was busy, so she politely offered to let someone else do my hair. I was quite happy with the person she gave me. She could have hogged the limelight, made me wait for her, and maybe earned a commission for having more clients. Instead, she boosted her workmate’s experience, earned her trust [and mine], and showed me that good as she is, her colleagues are equally skilled.

Three, know your specialties … and your limits. The lady who was assigned to do my hair was great at twisting – not so good at cutting, so she asked Fatuma to do the scissor-work while she handled the rest. Result being my hair was not messed, my hairdresser’s ego was not damaged, and everybody ended the day smiling.

Four, good work sells. Exposé is a new salon; so new that they don’t have the sign up yet. The person that sent me there asked me to “Go to the new Bishop Magua building and look for the salon on the ground floor. It doesn’t have a name.” A name is good, but a reputation is better.

Five, develop your brand. When I got to the building, I asked at the reception and was told there were two salons, but if I knew the hairdresser’s name, then they could show me where she worked. I knew the hairdresser’s name – and so did they. Make sure people know who you are.

Six, be damn good at what you do. There must be hundreds, thousands, [millions?] of hairdressers around. There are five in my building alone. But only one agreed to do what I wanted, and only one took a potentially distastrous idea and made it work. Anyone can wield a pair of scissors, but it took Fatuma to effortlessly give me the exact look I wanted. While I will certainly not be cutting the hair again, she has earned my respect and trust. I will let her work on my hair, swear by anyone she recommends, and next time she tells me it’s a bad idea, I’ll salute and say ‘Yes Ma’am, what works better? … surprise me.’

Seven, gimmick gimmick gimmick. I noticed something about the salon. I saw this lady there – she might be the owner; she had this air of authority about her. At first I wasn’t sure if she was white or just light, and I stared at her for a while trying to figure it out. She had her daughter with her, and the girl was even more interesting. She must have been five or six years old, very bubbly, and had the cutest way off tossing her hair.

I noticed two things about the little girl. One, her hair looked exactly like her mother’s – brown shoulder length, pretty and shiny. And two, she had no accent. Or rather, she had a Kenyan accent.

I later realised that while the girl was quite caucasian, her mum wasn’t any specific race, and had a beatifully planted weave on her head – more props to the salon. She’s also warm and friendly. This mum-and-baby are the perfect stage prop.

The final lesson I learnt is that all customers are equal and should be treated equal. Customer care goes a long, long way. I walked in with faded jeans, a scruffy look, and a pink acrylic handbag, but I was treated like a diva. I was received politely, offered coffee and a newspaper, and felt generally pampered. I don’t get that often.

Fatuma didn’t even ask who recommended me until after my hair was done. Her reaction suggested the recommender is VIP, but because the question came late, I felt special just for me.

Lessons worth noting if you want to make money in Kenya…

Crystal Ading’ is a professional author, editor, rock lover and mother. Her work is available through www.threeceebee.com.

Filed Under: Case Study, Small Business Tagged With: ,