Meetupcall blogs

Starting a business on a month's salary

Simon — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:37:00 +0000

In 2009 I quit a reasonably well paid, secure job to start Meetupcall. I did so with nothing more than my final month's salary and a couple of days a week IT contract. The biggest reason most new businesses fail is they run out of money, here's some reasons we didn't:

Work from home. In fact I worked from my dark and dingy attic. An office is a 'nice to have' at this stage and an unecessary expense. Do your best to try to avoid meeting in person all together, but if you have to meet you can do so at your client's office or hire a conference room. The costs won't come close to office rental.
Don't hire admin staff. There is a temptation to hire admin staff to do all the crappy jobs that you don't want to do. This is probably a waste of money at this stage and any employees you take on should really add value. If you just need somebody to be available to answer the phone, then you should look at one of the many telephone answering services or virtual receptionists that exist. We initially used www.answer.co.uk in the first few months who charge on a 'per call' basis.
Don't buy software. I'm not advocating piracy here, but for a new startup business much all of the every day tools you will need: e-mail, calendar, word processor etc. are available for free (Google Apps). Other tools such as your CRM will be available for a small fee per user per month, so for one or two people should be pretty cheap.
Don't miss any opportunities. If you've managed to get a customer to call your phone number or visit your website then you better be there to deal with it. If an enquiry came in we dealt with it any time day or night. I once called back an enquiry at 9:30pm on a Tuesday evening and it turned out to be the CFO of a £500m property investment company. We won the work entirely on the back of calling back in the evening rather than waiting until the next business day.
Do what you have to, to survive. Clearly I was never going to fund this startup venture with just a month's salary when I had a mortgage to pay and a family to support, so I needed to find some form of income. I had a good background in IT and found a contract that I could do 2 or 3 days a week. I had to travel and the work sucked, but without it we wouldn't have made it to the end of year 1.
Be mega-efficient and automate everything. Get this right at the start and it will make things a lot easier (and cheaper) a little further down the line. We put the effort into making everything streamlined in the early days by automating invoice generation etc. When we got a surge of signups this proved invaluable.
Don't waste time. At networking events for example. Lot's of things you may read may indicate that businesses are founded on relationships. I never went to any networking events and have always figured the time is better spent improving your product and service than pretending to like somebody in the hope they will buy from you. Time is your most valuable asset at this stage, so it's best not to waste any of it.
Don't waste money. This seems an obvious one, and ultimately it is what most of these tips boil down to. But before you buy something you should really ask yourself if it is really necessary. Do you really need business cards? Do you really need an accountant? There is a temptation to get all the *things* you think a business should have. It's definately worth just stopping and thinking about whether you have an actual need at this stage or not.

How to create an extra hour a day

Simon — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:18:01 +0000

We'd all love to have an extra hour in the day, here is our suggestions on how you could find yourself 60 extra minutes each day to spend doing something you actually want to:

1. Watch less TV - For most people an easy way to claw back some time is to watch less TV. Now I'm not saying miss your favourite TV programmes, just stop watching TV shows you don't like. In today's world this is easy: PVRs like Tivo or Sky+ allow you to record the programs you are actually interested in and watch them when you are ready without having to sit through the program before and after. Video on demand services such as iPlayer in the UK or Hulu in the US help you with this too. Seriously have a think about how many TV programs you watched in the last week that you didn't enjoy (i.e. X-Factor). I bet they add up to more than an hour a day.

2. Get up earlier - This sounds obvious, and it is. It takes less than two weeks of doing something repetitively to form a habit. The habit of the time you wake up is probably set around the time you need to go to work. Force yourself to get up 1 hour earlier for two weeks and then you will find it easy. You really only need 6 - 7 hours sleep a night, so if you are having more than this then it is time wasted.

3. Don't check your e-mail when you wake up - Do you do this? Stop. Nobody expects you to be responding to emails before 9am, so if you are up at 6am this means you have a good opportunity to do some distraction free work on things that are actually important before being distracted by 10 different emails that require action.

4. Do something constructive after work - As soon as you arrive home from the office or you stop work, don't sit down and relax. As soon as you hit the sofa your brain and body go into chill-out mode and the chances of you getting back up are slim - this is especially true if you have just eaten. Instead, when you finish your daily routine, immediately start on something constructive, this could be your new project, household chores etc. Speend an hour doing this, you can still relax just make it later in the evening.

5. Uninstall your IM client - Google Talk, MSN Messenger, AIM, it doesn't matter. Whichever you use, uninstall it. IM is an even bigger distraction than e-mail and the majority of conversations that take place over it are not important. How many times do you receive a 'Hey, whats up?' message from a bored friend that leads to a pointless and time wasting discussion. Add up the time spent on those conversations, never mind how long it takes you to get back to focusing on what you were doing before your were interrupted. An hour a day, probably.

6. Have less meetings - I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't say this. But seriously stop having meetings. Swap them for a teleconference. Meetings always last in blocks of 1 hour; they start on the hour and end on the hour. Not to mention the time wasted getting to them and all the small talk that takes place before and after. Get everyone to pick up the phone and have a conference call then when you're done you hangup. Time saved.

Top 11 Ways to not Procrastinate

Simon — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:56:59 +0000

We're all about working as efficiently as possible at Meetupcall; not wasting our time, energy or resources while we work is important to us. Sometimes however, just starting work is a problem, so here are our top 11 tips on forcing yourself to work and stopping procrastinating.

1. Keep written goals and review them in the morning every day. Reviewing them daily helps you focus on each individual one and think about what you can do today to move yourself closer to it.

2. If you are working on a computer, un-install any computer games. We're trying to reduce the amount of time spent on unproductive stuff and hours can be lost on games that are only one click away. If you play games to relax then put them on another computer that you do not use during 'work hours'.

3. The same applies for internet and web surfing. Visit all your regular sites in the morning and get them out of the way before you start work. If you really struggle disciplining yourself for this, you should consider installing something like the StayFocused plugin for Chrome or Leechblock for Firefox. Both of these can enforce a limit on the amount of time spent surfing not work related sites.

4. Don't have Twitter or Facebook open. These are both great for continuous feeds of information, but are also massive distraction. Set times aside to check them such as morning, noon and evening and do not deviate from it. You should also ensure any clients on your mobile devices are set to not alert you.

5. Decide how often you actually *need* to check your e-mail. Is it really necessary to have it open all the time and switch to it every time you get a message? E-mails arriving are a distraction that you do not need.

6. Give yourself time off. If you are working 15 hours a day with a massive amount of it spent procrastinating then 4 fully focused hours may end up being far more productive and leave you feeling less stressed.

7. Collaborate. Working with others is a great motivator and you will be much less likely to slack off if somebody else is relying on you, or is expecting you to meet a deadline.

8. Work on more than one project at once. If you really can't get motivated to work on a certain project then perhaps your time would be better off working on something you can. Chances are you will feel the opposite way round tomorrow.

9. Change your working environment. Work from home for a day or go to a coffee shop for a few hours. It's amazing how much more motivated this can make you feel, not to mention you will be free from every day distractions. It may also be worth looking for a co-working event like http://www.thecollab.co.uk/ that operates in your area.

10. Buy as many expensive things as you can on finance and fill up all your credit cards. There is nothing like not knowing if you are going to be able to pay your rent or mortgage to motivate you into working (Just kidding BTW).

11. Don't spend all your time reading about how to not procrastinate, just get on with your tasks!

Two Wheels Good

natasha.white — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:28:29 +0000

The cycle v car argument is a no-brainer. As the playwright Alan Bennett says about cycle commuting: “You always know when you’re going to arrive. If you go by car, you don’t. Apart from anything else, I prefer cycling. It puts you in a good mood.”

Good moods are good for business. According to the Department of Transport, stress related illness costs businesses 14 million working days a year. Compared to people who don’t bike to work, cyclists take around 15% less sick absences a year.

A Cycle to Work scheme run by the government in tandem (sorry) with employers has attracted hundreds of organisations since it launched last year. Any size employer from any sector can participate. On top of the health benefits there are financial perks. Workers get a tax-free bike and pay it back out of their salary. Bike payments are taken out of their gross salary, so they pay less in income tax and NHS contributions. Employers can reclaim VAT on the bike, and typically save about 14% of workers’ bike payments due to reductions in National Insurance Contributions.

To take part employers make 5 “guarantees” to staff: provide a safe and secure place for workers to store bikes, supply quality changing rooms and locker facilities, offset the cost of buying a bike, ensure bike repair facilities on or near the workplace, and organise reward programmes to encourage workers to cycle more.

You can sign up at www.cycletoworkguarantee.org.uk.

Biggest Companies Go Green

Simon — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:45:13 +0000

The worm has turned – 68% of the world’s most successful corporations now have climate change actions embedded as part of their business strategy, according to a new study. That’s a leap ahead from a year ago when just 48% did the same.

Paul Simpson, CEO of not-for-profit data collection group the Carbon Disclosure Project, which published the study on September 14, said it showed many emission-reducing activities increased profitability. “This is a win-win for business. Companies yet to take action on climate change will have to work hard to remain competitive as we head towards an increasingly resource constrained, low carbon economy.”

It’s the first time in the 10-year history of the study that the majority of companies surveyed make climate change a priority.

Simpson’s group looked at 404 companies representing 81% of the Global 500, which are the largest companies by market capitalization included in the FTSE Global Equity Index Series. Among the 10 best performers were Tesco, Phillips Electronics, and Sony.

So reducing carbon emissions makes business sense… The problem is it takes effort and resources to change the way systems are run and who has time for that when the pressure’s on in other areas?

With that in mind, we nicked a few tips from UK waste charity Wastewatch for reducing carbon emissions in the workplace that could produce quite substantial savings in the long term and probably would only take an afternoon to put in place.

1. Make it as easy for staff to recycle as it is to throw away by setting up recycling bins next to general bins. Reduce the number of general bins, and boom, you’re cutting the amount of waste your business sends to landfill.

2. Set timers on printers to turn power off in the evening and over the weekend. Easier and less annoying than nagging staff.

3. Change your stationery order to recycled paper and envelopes – the cost has fallen in recent years and the quality is excellent.

4. Every year millions of toners and cartridges are buried in landfill sites in the UK. And they’re expensive. What a waste. Order remanufactured laser toner and inkjet cartridges or refill your own.

5. It’s the rare business email that doesn’t come tagged with a warning: “Please don’t print this unless you need to.” Sometimes you just have to print, so ease printer-guilt and stay green by putting clear instructions on printers showing staff how to set the default printing mode to double sided, two pages on each sheet, and economy mode to save paper and toner.

Read the 2011 Carbon Disclosure Project Global here: http://www.cdproject.net

Avoiding The Office

Simon — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:24:12 +0000

So you want to cut down on the number of hours you’re spending at the office without taking a pay cut? Time to talk to your boss about flexible working, which basically means any working pattern adapted to suit your needs.

Sounds good? It’s a humane, modern and increasingly popular way of doing business. As well as relieving that Groundhog Day feeling there are business arguments in favour of it – here are a few from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills:

Improved retention of employees, for example home working can help retain working parents with childcare responsibilities
A wider pool of applicants from which to recruit, eg disabled people who may prefer to work from home
Possible productivity gains through staff having fewer interruptions and less commuting time
Increased staff motivation with reduced stress and sickness levels
Savings on office space and other facilities
Possible location of sales staff near clients rather than being based in your premises

Should you decide to broach the subject there are lots of ways to re-jig the 9 to 5 - including home working, which is basing yourself at home and using technology such as teleconferencing to communicate with colleagues; “flexi time” which allows you to choose when to work (obviously there's usually a core period during which you have to work); annualised hours where your hours are worked out over a year (often set shifts with you deciding when to work the other hours); compressed hours meaning working your agreed hours over fewer days; staggered hours where there are different starting, break and finishing times for employees in the same workplace; and job sharing where people share a job designed for one person with someone else.

Anyone can of course ask for flexible working, and employees with caring responsibilities towards a child, spouse or relative have a legal right to have their request taken seriously by their employer – meaning an employer has to agree to it unless there are good business reasons for not doing so.

Call Recording - FSA’s Removal of Mobile Phone Exemption

Simon — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:16:42 +0000

In four weeks, all financial firms in the UK are going to have to record all business conversations made and received on mobile phones.

The rule change brought in by the Financial Service Authority is intended to stop market abuse. Currently, financial firms must tape fixed line calls, but there is a loophole allowing firms to dodge this by diverting calls to un-taped mobile lines.

This change has only been possible since telephone technology companies such as Meetupcall have arrived on the scene enabling cell phone conversations to be recorded, stored and retrieved on secure servers away from an organisation’s premises.

According to a recent story in the Telegraph, half of firms don’t yet know about the change.

So if you haven’t heard, from November 14 the FSA requires financial firms to take “reasonable steps” to record all mobile phone conversations relating to transactions in the bond, derivatives, equities and financial commodities markets, and store those conversations for six months.

Firms can either store recordings on a handset or remotely. If stored remotely, this can be either on a server managed by a financial company and located on its own premises, or on a server hosted and managed by a third party data centre such as ours.

Workers’ own private cell phones will be exempt, unless they take calls to personal cell phones re-routed from office lines.

Of course, it gets tricky when you start having a personal chat on a work mobile and stray into business matters… in which case the FSA says “we would expect the call to be terminated immediately and the conversation diverted to a recorded business line”.

The change will affect 16,000 financial firms. If you are one of those affected, then please get in touch and ask about our FSA compliant conference call service.

More info on the FSA’s removal of the mobile phone exemption here: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/cp/cp10_07.pdf

RIP Steve Jobs

Simon — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:23:40 +0000

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

I woke this morning, like many others to the sad news of Steve Jobs death at the too young age of 56. A truly amazing visionary who in his relatively short time on this planet gave the world two of it's most loved brands in Apple and Pixar.

Steve has been an inspiration to many businessmen, entrepreneurs, designers and anybody that loved gadgets and will continue to be so for many years to come.

Our thoughts are with his family, friends and anyone who has been touched by Steve's work over the years.

Now leaflets have dropped

natasha.white — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:54:06 +0000

Remember when a leaflet drop was an essential part of a marketing plan? Does anyone miss them? Getting thousands printed before discovering an incorrect phone number made it through the proof check? Guiltily counting your eco footprint in dead trees/printer cartridges/truck fumes? Paying distributors then having boxes reported abandoned in a park?

In their defence, once leaflets were in the public domain, they didn’t need re-tweeting and no-one expected their status to be updated. Twitter and Facebook are more eco-friendly but they are demanding. Lucky then that there is some excellent advice out there for navigating social media, such as is offered by Katy Cowan who runs online creative industries magazine Creative Boom. Here are some of her tips in short form:

Do be human. Social media is a two-way conversation where people demand more transparency from products and services. So don’t bombard your followers with countless adverts and plugs about your business. Engage with people, get involved and connect with your customers.

Do put a face to your brand. People don’t want to talk to brands on Twitter, they want to talk with real people. So wherever possible add a picture of yourself or your company’s director to your avatar.

Do offer value. You can’t just shout about your business all the time, you have to add value to your tweets or Facebook updates otherwise people won’t follow you. Offer competitions, discounts or even just share your expertise.

Don’t be negative. Everything you tweet, blog or say on Facebook has the potential to stick around forever. Remember you’re not just building your brand, you’re building it for tomorrow as well.

Don’t be inactive online. Make sure your social media accounts are fresh and constantly updated. Social media suits today’s fast-paced world and your customers will expect you to be tweeting or Facebooking every day.

Companies urged to teleconference during the London olympics

natasha.white — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 08:16:48 +0000

Commuting in London in the heat of July and August is hardly ever fun. Imagine having to share the daily grind with millions of sports fans.

That’s what’s happening 10 months from now when the 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games turn the capital’s roads and transport systems into a sticky, seething hellhole. The multi billion pound transport upgrade to London’s public transport currently underway is not expected to touch the sides when it comes to easing the daily commute during the two Games which run from July 27 to September 9 next year.

Olympics organisers have signed a contract saying they will get athletes and technical officials to venues in time, but there are such no guarantees for workers.

In fact for a year they have been begging employers to take pressure off London’s transport systems during the Games by scrapping face-to-face meetings and setting up teleconferencing.

Last November, Transport Minister Norman Baker called on employers to reduce their need for travel during the Games by adopting smarter ways of working - like video and teleconferencing and home working.

Currently Londoners make 3.5 million journeys a day on the London Underground. Spectators will make another 20 million trips over the course of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – including three million on the busiest day.

The capital’s transport system will be coping with up to 800,000 spectators each day, plus 55,000 athletes, officials, media and others working on the event.

Organising committee London 2012 has published a how-to guide showing employers how to survive the Games. It says teleconferencing is “beneficial to consider in depth” for large and small office-based, professional, retail, personal service, tourism, leisure, food and entertainment business types.

Try out our Travel Carbon Calculator today.

London 2012’s how-to guide for surviving the Games is here: http://www.london2012.com/get-involved/business-network/travel-advice-for-business/