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  • Are You Becoming Cheap Labour?

    Posted: July 27, 2011, 11:50 am by Kelvin

    I bet you have heard about websites like Freelancer.com, Fiverr and GigBucks. These are websites in which anyone can sign up and start making money online almost instantly. Basically, on these websites you can sell your services for a small fee. The good thing about them is that they are very popular and as long as you are skilled in something it is very difficult NOT to make money online on these sites.

    Indeed, there are literally millions of people who are trying to make money using these websites (and other similar ones). Of all these millions of people, many actually do make money! Sounds nice, eh? You want to go try it out? Go ahead. But before you do, please take a moment to think it through. These websites are loved by people by me because I can get really talented people to offer their services to me really cheap. The people doing jobs on these sites are certainly happy to take my money. And I’m certainly happy to pay them… you know why? Because it is crazy cheap labour!! I can literally hire a graphic designer for $5 (Kshs 450) to create a logo for me then go ahead and sell that logo to someone else for Kshs 5,000/- Pesa taslimu.

    Do you get my point? Sites like Freelancer.com and Fiverr represent hundreds of thousands of people willing and able to work for you at the cheapest rates imaginable. Is the smartest thing you can do to join these hundreds of thousands of people and to compete with them? Really?

    WAKE up!! Find a way to make some money off this insanely cheap labour. Do not BECOME the cheap labour.

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  • Don’t Punish Everyone

    Posted: July 24, 2011, 6:37 pm by Kelvin

    Click here to view the embedded video.

    Don’t punish everyone for one person’s mistake.

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  • A systems approach to earning more

    Posted: July 14, 2011, 10:54 am by wham

    The following is an excerpt from an email I got from Ramit Sethi. Check our his program for more information.

    After taking a much-needed vacation to Hawaii, I’m in San Francisco for a few days. So I open up my computer this morning and see this:

    “What business could I help create for my mom?”

    I love this guy’s question. His mom works for a travel agency and the future looks murky, so he’s trying to figure out a business she could do on her own.

    But then the commenters have at it.

    • “Set up a ‘Deal of the Day’ site for travel”
    • “Go ask Mary of MaryXYZ.com how she did it”
    • “Consider foreigners who come to the USA…”
    • “Gift baskets”
    • “How about blogging?”

    Some of these are actually good ideas. But if there were one word to describe them…it would be RANDOM.

    Do this! No, that. What about this?

    If you’ve ever tried to think of an idea to start earning money, this is a familiar pattern. You simply jump from one idea to another, never sure if they’ll work, and you let others throw their 2 cents in, too.

    Here’s the surprising insight about finding an idea: Your SYSTEM is more important than any individual idea.

    In other words, the process you use to find ideas is more important than any one idea itself.

    Let me give you an example:

    When you write a paper, essay, or book, people often obsess over words (well, at least nerdy writers like me). But what’s more important: A random word on page 9, or your structure (i.e., the table of contents)?

    The structure, of course. If your organization is strong, you can have mediocre language and still have a good paper.

    That’s why I spent 8 MONTHS outlining, refining, tearing apart, and revising the table of contents for my book. The process — my system — was more important than any individual word in the book.

    No more random ideas
    When I look at those bullet-pointed ideas above, I see some good ideas. But I also see bad ones.

    And that’s just what they are — untested, unproven ideas. You see how easy it is for anyone to throw “ideas” at you…but how do you know they’ll actually work?

    I could give you 50 ideas today and they would be worthless. Want me to prove it? Go search for “how to earn money” and see for yourself.

    There’s a better way. Follow these 3 steps.

    Step 1. Generate ideas:
    First, you’ll come up with a big list of business ideas, many of them from sources you might not have explored before. There are specific techniques to generate ideas, but in general, no idea is too far-fetched at this stage.

    NOTE: MOST PEOPLE STOP HERE, JUST LIKE THE ABOVE “RANDOM” IDEAS.

    Step 2. Validate your ideas:
    Once you get all your business ideas in one place, you need some sort of filter. Almost nobody does this, which is why they waste 9 months of their lives on futile ideas that will never pay.

    In this step, you’ll weed out the bad ideas from the good until you’re left with the very best.

    When you explain validating your idea before you invest significant time, you can hear the same reaction from people: “Yeah… that is interesting. Maybe I should do that.”

    It’s like telling someone they should get in shape. They “know” they should… but they won’t.

    4 Reasons People DON’T build a system
    So…why would people SKIP this step and jump right to random ideas?

    This is what we found through research:

    • They’re afraid of discovering their one idea will be proven to be unprofitable… and then what? (In reality, the idea is not your secret sauce, the validation process is.)
    • Not sure how to actually do customer research (so they avoid it entirely)
    • Worried about having to talk to people they don’t know (“What will I say?”)
    • Not sure if they’re serious enough about the project to do things like customer research

    This is really important stuff. Re-read those bullet points again.

    The biggest difference between those who succeed and those who pursue random idea after random idea? The ones who use a system can identify which ideas are good and which ones aren’t…BEFORE they pursue them.

    Step 3. Get your first sale:
    Once you have a solid, market-confirmed idea, it’s time to find real work. You’ll take your best idea and test it against the market by trying to find 3 paying clients.

    A system…not random “ideas”
    If your goal is to find a way to earn money on the side, you’ll want a method for finding, testing, and refining ideas — a SYSTEM.
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  • Entrepreneurs back to basics

    Posted: July 12, 2011, 1:05 pm by naomi

    There are many reasons why people get into business. Some love the thrill and are actual entrepreneur junkies who are forever opening up one new business after another. Some are tired of having an 8 to 5 job requiring them to report to the boss who they happen to dislike or like. Though most jump into it because the want to be their own bosses and they have big dreams which they know they can achieve. The common factor here is that gone are their days of having too work for someone else, they are building their own businesses from the ground up.

    Entrepreneurship is one of those things that you either have a passion for or you don’t. This explains why it is very easy for some people to risk everything they have for a business idea which they believe will work while others cannot risk it all in the same way perhaps due to various fears. That’s why you find that some inventors are not necessarily entrepreneurs. Similarly, just because you are good at coming up with business ideas doesn’t necessarily mean you are good at actual execution of the ideas.

    Business is about sales. Entrepreneurs learn to sell their service or product and that success or failure is what brings them revenue. There are some salesmen you come across who immediately draw you in, they have you and next thing you know you are parting with money. Others, not so convincing, they try but their pitch simply doesn’t reel you in.

    If you are not good at sales however does it mean you are lacking as an entrepreneur?

    Here’s the thing, many people say they are bad at sales but most of the time they have never even tried it. Possibly out of fear of talking to strangers or they feel it is a demeaning role and sometimes they worry too much about what people think of them. They have convinced themselves that they cannot sell anything not even a toothbrush. Sales can be learnt, its not rocket science neither is it astro physics.

    As an entrepreneur you are the mos timportant employee that you have. It is your idea and vision, you have the knowledge of how it will work and you have the most faith in your service or product. Without you, your start up enterprise does not exist. As long as you invest in yourself to learn what you need to learn then you will be investing in your business. A budding business is fragile and thats why its important to build the foundation on which it stands. Don’t be fooled into wondering where the foundation of your business is, because you are it.
    I like to read a lot about entrepreneurs online, it inspires me to think big and to want to achieve greater depths than where I am at. One important thing I have learnt from all the reading is that there are really no new business ideas out there. I notice even amongst friends who are tired of the 8 to 5, they claim that they are looking out for that one perfect idea, and then…magic will happen. There are no new ideas. The minute you understand that the sooner you can get moving into your dream. The exception is only if you are an inventor of sorts, but in terms of business ideas you will keep searching to eternity. The key however is in uniquely providing/presenting your service or product to consumers. Instead of thinking of a business idea think of the differential factor that will make you stand out from others who are in the same work that you are interested in getting into.

    In simple terms, what unique value will you add into your product or service that can have you be different and can have the customers prefer dealing with you instead of with your competitor. Yes you may be the new kid on the block in your industry but you have a brain and you have a uniqueness factor, what is it?

    Naomi Kinyanjui is an aspiring enterpreneur, a Procurement Specialist by profession with a passion for life, writing and making a difference. Follow her on Procurement Mentality 101 blog where the talk is all about supply chain and procurement and maintaining professionalism in such a controversial field.

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  • PayMPESA Helps Withdraw Your PayPal Funds to MPESA

    Posted: July 11, 2011, 8:04 pm by Kelvin

    There finally seems to be a legitimate, trustworthy way for Kenyans in Kenya to access their PayPal money quickly and easily: PayMPESA.


    In case you are new here, some time last year PayPal did us a favour and made it possible to maintain a PayPal balance with a “Kenyan” PayPal account. This meant that we could finally receive money via PayPal in Kenya. However, withdrawing that money turned out to be a whole other story. Why? Because PayPal has no relationship (currently) with local banks. They need this in order to allow “Kenyan” PayPal accounts the ability to withdraw to a local, Kenyan, bank account. In plain English, this means that you can have money in PayPal but you cannot take it out.

    The only way to take it out – and this is what PayPal themselves recommend – is to withdraw to a US bank account. Unfortunately, not many Kenyans have one so this is a very real and very serious problem when it comes to dealing with PayPal from Kenya.

    Until now. With PayMPESA, all you have to do is to deposit your PayPal funds with them, and they will send it to you in Kenya via MPESA. Nice, eh? I think they are onto something very, very lucrative here and I wish them massive success.

    Have you tried it yet? What do you think?

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  • Online Strategy Vs Websites

    Posted: July 8, 2011, 10:50 am by Kelvin

    I know you know, by now, that very many businesses in Kenya is thinking or has thought about getting online. Unfortunately, a lot of them simply just get an expensive website and fail to achieve anything significant via their internet efforts. Why is it so? This happens because many people think that once they have a website, things will suddenly magically happen.

    Let’s take the example of a coffee farmers co-operative union who want to try and sell their coffee at better prices by using a website to reach customers directly. Nice strategy, ama? So what do the farmers do? They hire a ‘web designer’ who charges them Kshs 25,000/- for a nice flashy website (sadly most so called ‘web designers’ will not even make you a nice website). The farmers receive their website with glee and sit back and wait. Three months later, they are still sitting, and waiting. A while later still, they are still waiting, and waiting…

    A website will not work for you untill you understand why you are getting it. Before you even get the website, you should think about:

    • Who is your target customer?
    • Is he/she online?
    • How can you reach him online?
    • Is it possible to get other customers (who may not be initially people that you target) using the Internet?
    • How else can being online help the business?

    Once you answer these or similar questions comprehensively, you will be in a better position to make a successful website. You will understand that a website is just a tool in your overall internet strategy.

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  • Have a Good Business Idea? Tell Everyone!

    Posted: July 8, 2011, 8:02 am by Kelvin

    A frequent question entrepreneurs have when they are just starting their company is: how secretive should I be about my idea? My answer: you should talk about it to almost anyone who will listen. This includes investors, entrepreneurs, people who work in similar areas, friends, people on the street, the bartender, etc.

    There are lots of benefits to talking to people. You’ll get suggestions for improvements. You’ll discover flaws and hopefully correct them. You’ll learn a lot more about the sector/industry. You’ll learn about competitive products that exist or are being built. You’ll gauge people’s excitement level for the product and for various features. You’ll refine your sales and investor pitch. You might even discover your idea is a bad idea and save yourself years of hitting your head against the wall. – Chris Dixon

    Unfortunately, when people think they have a good idea, they almost always want to be super-secretive about it to ‘protect it’. What are they afraid of? That someone will steal their idea and bring it to life? The fact of the matter is this: people do not copy ideas, they copy success. If your fabulous business idea is so simple that someone can understand it to the point of executing it in a matter of a few minutes, then the idea is probable not that fabulous. A successful business takes a lot more than just brilliant ideas. The key is in persistent tuning of the initial idea after a lot of rounds of feedback.

    Related: Share your ideas liberally

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  • Dummies Guide to Getting an Online Job – Free Content

    Posted: July 7, 2011, 2:39 pm by wham

    Earlier this week, we launched our new eBook:

    Have you ever thought about getting an online job? Imagine a job which you can do from your own bedroom, in your pyjamas. Imagine a job which you can do at your own time (you can wake up late everyday and spend the afternoons on Thursday playing tennis). Could this lifestyle be for you?
    Scenario 2: Have you looked long and hard and struggled to find legitimate online jobs? We wrote this book for you. Many people go out looking for online jobs without doing the basic preparations. They end up as an online scam statistic. Do not let this be your story. Our book guides you through the things that a beginners should know and we suggest several places where you can find well paying legitimate online jobs. We even go as far as guiding you through the use of one very popular online jobs website/service.

    Buy this. Now.

    This e-book is meant ONLY for beginners and it teaches you how to start the process of getting your first on-line job. If you get JUST ONE ONLINE JOB, this course will have paid for itself!!

    More information on the ebook is available here: Dummies Guide to Getting an Online Job

    Some good news

    1. We now have some free excerpts from the ebook that you can read before you buy. This lets you asses the book for yourself.
    2. We’ve running a special offer where you can get the book for Kshs 500 instead of Kshs 750 because we think you’re awesome.

    Cheers!

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  • Daily Nation’s “e paper”

    Posted: July 5, 2011, 10:21 am by Kelvin

    I’m sure that by now you have seen or heard about The Nation‘s “e paper” initiative. Well, in case you haven’t, it is a new-ish project by the Daily Nation where they sell access to their paper for as low as $2.5 a week (about 220 why did they not quote in Kshs??).

    Think about that – Kshs 220 a week. Right now we pay Kshs 40 a day so this fee of 220 for the epaper is about the same. Why would the Nation do this when they already essentially publish eveything in their paper at nation.co.ke? In my opinion, this is an experiment to try and see whether they can actually make reasonable sales of their content online. To understand why this is important, let’s step back in time to something Marc Andreessen, the founder of Netscape, said a while ago:

    If you were running the New York Times, what would you do?
    “Shut off the print edition right now. You’ve got to play offense. You’ve got to do what Intel did in ’85 when it was getting killed by the Japanese in memory chips, which was its dominant business. And it famously killed the business—shut it off and focused on its much smaller business, microprocessors, because that was going to be the market of the future. And the minute Intel got out of playing defense and into playing offense, its future was secure. The newspaper companies have to do exactly the same thing.

    The financial markets have discounted forward to the terminal conclusion for newspapers, which is basically bankruptcy. So at this point, if you’re one of these major newspapers and you shut off the printing press, your stock price would probably go up, despite the fact that you would lose 90 percent of your revenue. Then you play offense. And guess what? You’re an internet company.” – Marc Andreessen

    As Marc Andreessen points out, newspapers are in trouble. The problem is not merely that they’ve been slow to adapt to the web. It’s more serious than that: their problems are due to deep structural flaws that are exposed now that they have competitors. When the only sources of news were the wire services and a few big papers, it was enough to keep writing stories about how the president met with someone and they each said conventional things written in advance by their staffs. Readers were never that interested, but they were willing to consider this news when there were no alternatives. (Source: Y Combinator)

    I must say that the newspaper business in Kenya is not as threatened as it is elsewhere but the Nation seem to be preparing for the inevitable in advance. This is always good to see, right?

    Will the e paper be a success? That remains to be seen. Good luck to the Nation!

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  • Zuqka Shuts Down

    Posted: July 4, 2011, 6:06 pm by Kelvin

    A while back, we had written that Zuqka was in terrible trouble. Zuqka is a portal site for weekend entertainment around Nairobi, but with a social networking component as well as video, audio and blogs. Sadly, even though it was backed by the powerful Daily Nation, Zuqka had been infested by spammers who had turned it into a lonely spam farm.

    The good news – depending on how you look at it – is that Zuqka was shut down recently. Here’s the message you get when you visit www.zuqka.com:

    Hi everyone,
    We are looking forward to the new zuqka.com coming soon. But this does not mean the good times are over. Our e-mag is still available here: E-Mag and it will be available while we prepare the new zuqka.com for you.
    Hope we keep seeing you here.
    Zuqka Team

    Normally, when one wants to upgrade a web service, they prepare the ‘new version’ and then switch over to it over a night or a weekend; or sometimes they run both old and new as users switch to the new. When the old version is shut down completely and users are made to wait for the new, then you know something went horribly wrong. In this case, the ‘old zuqka’ simply died a horrible spam death. That’s why it had to be shut down and taken offline completely.

    Spammers 1 Zuqka 0

    Let’s hope Zuqka comes back stronger than before.

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  • How to Get An Online Job

    Posted: July 4, 2011, 11:29 am by Kelvin

    We get so many emails about online jobs that we decided to do somethign about it and try to solve this problem permanently!

    We’re pleased to announce that today we’re releasing our newest, and only, book: Dummies Guide to Getting an Online Job.

    Have you ever thought about getting an online job? Imagine a job which you can do from your own bedroom, in your pyjamas. Imagine a job which you can do at your own time (you can wake up late everyday and spend the afternoons on Thursday playing tennis). Could this lifestyle be for you?

    Have you looked long and hard and struggled to find legitimate online jobs? We wrote this book for you. Many people go out looking for online jobs without doing the basic preparations. They end up as an online scam statistic. Do not let this be your story. Our book guides you through the things that a beginners should know and we suggest several places where you can find well paying legitimate online jobs. We even go as far as guiding you through the use of one very popular online jobs website/service.

    Buy this. Now.Similar Posts:


  • How to Start a Business without Money

    Posted: July 4, 2011, 9:13 am by Kelvin

    Here’s an interesting article:

    Several decades ago, before I got interested in starting businesses, I met a friend who went from being penniless to becoming quite wealthy in a breathtakingly short amount of time. I asked him what the secret of getting rich was.

    He said that you should find something that interests you and become an expert. For some reason, he became interested in turquoise and went from knowing nothing to becoming quite knowledgeable about the gem, the various sources, the market, and the players. One thing led to another, opportunities presented themselves and, presto change-o, my friend was showered with dough.

    When I started my first business, which was an ice cream company, I had no money, I had no business experience, and I had absolutely no idea how to make ice cream. Five years later, my ice cream was judged to be the best in America by People Magazine. (See April and May 2005 archives of this blog for the whole delicious story.)

    What drove the growth of my business was the growth of my knowledge of ice cream. And what drove the growth of my knowledge of ice cream was my love for the stuff.

    When you start a business, what must lead the way should be your own interest in or love for whatever it is you want to do. Loving what you do miraculously attracts all the necessary resources, people and opportunities. You definitely don’t need money to start. Bootstrapping will stimulate your creativity and that is worth much more than money anyway.

    Besides, money is overrated. I have found through bitter experience that there is always baggage that comes with investors’ money. You take their money and you get their karma too. What may seem like easy money is frequently filled with major headaches and not worth it in the long run. I vastly prefer the freedom and the control that comes with bootstrapping.

    Source: [lazyway.blogs.com]

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