Protecting and Running Your Business · business who I had nothing but a technical relationship...

Marcus Powe

Protecting and Running Your Business

Entrepreneur In Residence RMIT

12 June 2013

Cisco Public © 2013 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 2


© 2013 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public 4


Family

Friends

Entrepreneurs

Venture Capitalists

Banks

Governments



Keeping ahead of the competition

Trademarks

Registered designs

Patents

Alliances

Or simply staying ahead



Too often we concentrate on

the product or service without

giving enough thought to the

processes we need to deliver.


Process


The Pitch


The Pitch


Phase 1 Phase 1

$50,000 To persuade the board to commit

for phase one this month

Is

better

than

To get board support for phase one


T,T,T


In control? Skills – Through practice Confidence – Through

practice

Relationship with the

audience – be yourself Never forget – It’s always about the

customer or audience ‘What’s in it for

them?’

Butterflies


Description of the Business Concept

& Business

The Opportunity and the Strategy

The Target Market and Projections

The competitive advantages

The numbers

The Team

The Plan Executive Summary


How does the product or service CHANGE the way the customers do certain things?

What is ‘special’ about the service or product?

What is the opportunity?

Can you prove it?

The Customer Thinking






Positive Steps

Involve all the Management Team

Be logical, concise, comprehensive and

Readable

Demonstrate commitment by the time, energy and financial effort to complete the plan.

Point out the risks and outline the

assumptions.


Grew up in Australia & Hong Kong

Started using computers at age 8

Redesigned the computing systems at his school by age 15

Studied at Monash University, Australia

First Job – programming for internet startup Outblaze

Co-founded X Integration

District Commissioner – Scouts Australia [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


• 2001 – Returned to Australia and studied at Monash University – Bachelor of Computer Science & Cisco CCNA

• 2002 – Joined the Scout Movement as a Leader

• 2002 – UseOz.com (ISP) - Network Engineer & Systems Programmer

• 2003 - Netcruiser started (myself technical side, business partner sales & running business)

• 2003 – Finished University

• 2004 – Started working on my Cisco CCNP


Business Partner going through marriage breakdown and financial issues

I had to choose – try to rebuild or move on


• In 2005 I had a company name and potentially clients from the old business who I had nothing but a technical relationship with

• I had $2,000 in my personal bank account, a credit card, recently married and my wife was still studying and working casually

• I had no idea how to run a business or how to even attract new business

• The customers had bought internet services through the previous business and were about to be turned off as the previous business had folded


• If I wanted to obtain these customers, I needed to ensure that the impact on their business was going to be as painless as possible so they would not want to move elsewhere

• I quickly realized that even though I only spoke to these customers about their issues, they trusted me when I spoke to them and they were receptive when told them what was happening and what I could do to help them

• Technically I knew what they needed, all I needed to do is migrate them over and continue to support them in order to gain them as a customer.


• IT Consulting Business based in Melbourne, Australia

• Goal – to provide IT solutions to our customers to support their businesses and help them grow

• What we do: IT Support, Network Design, Web System Design, Virtualization and moving your business to the cloud


• After a few years I had managed to grow the business, recapture some customers who we had lost in the 12 months leading to the end of Netcruiser as well as pickup several new significant clients

• At a certain point I realized that I was happy dealing with customers, but the paperwork with running a business consuming large portions of my time

• The business had reached a point where it could not grow further and I had to decide if I wanted to run a business or be a one man band


• Did I want to take on staff?

• Where would my staff work from?


• Employed a friend as a book keeper and trained her up

• Employed my brother to assist with IT works

• Working out of my 2 bedroom unit.


• My friend who I had employed was struggling with the work and I was consuming more of my time doing the work then before they came on board

• My brother wasn’t getting enough hours so I lined up some additional work for him at one of my customers

• My brother decided he liked the other job better and left!

• I was back at square one

• My house was my business, I could not escape


• Be careful employing friends, if you have to terminate them it is very awkward!

• Employing family can be a good and a bad thing!

• Bringing on someone and training them up is good and it is cheaper when you look at the wage, but you need to consider the time and effort you need to put in and what that will cost you.

• It is hard to have a work life balance if your workplace is your house.


• If I was serious about growing I needed to take this seriously and stop avoiding the risks

• Book keeper of one of my clients was going off to study and looking for part time work, offered her a job working for me and they took over all the accounting side of my business

• I moved the business out of home in mid 2009 to my first office

• I employed my first full time IT person in late 2009

• I employed my second IT staff member in 2012


• What do we mean by Protecting and Running your Business?

• Employing & Managing Staff

• Accounts & Finance

• Insurance

• Dealing with Customers

• The changing world


Employing & Managing Staff


This is the hardest thing you will ever do

Can you afford to?

How do you find the right person?

Interviews

Making the decision?

Risk Management


Motivate them

Encourage them

Look after them

Listen to them


Policies & Procedures

BYO device

Working from home

Protecting your intellectual property


Consult the employment contract

Talk to a lawyer

Ensure you comply with the law

Treat the person with dignity


Accounts & Finance


Talk to an accountant

Understand your tax obligations

Choose a finance package


Choose a package that meets your needs

Try and find one that can streamline your processes and support your business

Talk to your accountant about what they support

Don’t just use what everyone else is using


What services do you need?

Shop around

Accepting Credit Cards


Make sure they are qualified

Good customer service skills – they will be chasing your customers for money

A good book keeper will save you hours of time


Stay on top of your tax obligations

If you are not sure, ask

If you have an issue contact your accountant

Ensure you regularly comply, it helps if something gets missed or if you have issues


Ensure you understand what the state of your business is

Who do you owe money to

Who owes you money


Insurance


Some types of insurance you are required to have by law

Other types are optional, but you need to consider what will happen if something goes wrong.


Public Liability

Product Liability

Professional Indemnity

Director Insurance

Fraud Insurance

Business Disruption Insurance

Others?


Dealing with customers


Make sure the customer understands what is being delivered and the costs

Consider written agreements?

Maybe just a rate card?

Make sure your payment terms are clearly understood


Make sure you send the invoice

Does your invoice clearly indicate how to pay

Send statements to remind them and so they can check if something is missing from their system (i.e. lost invoice)

Call and chase them


Enforce your payment terms – do not let them get too overdue

If the payment is being withheld due to an issue, make sure you deal with the issue quickly


Do not deal with angry customers via email – pickup the phone or go visit

Give them time to vent if required – Active listening

Work with them to find a solution that meets both yours and their goals where possible


Ensure your terms of trade indicate that the goods remain yours until paid in full

Do not put all your eggs in one basket


The changing world


The world changes, make sure your business does too

Encourage your staff to come up with ideas and to innovate – they are your greatest asset


2003 – completed study at Uni and got my Cisco CCNA through the Network Academy program at Monash University

2005 – Started X Integration

2013 - Business has gone from $240k approx. turnover in 2006 to an estimated 1 Million dollar turnover in 2012/13.

2013+ - Challenge is to continue to evolve and to move from working in my business to managing my business

© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 59

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