Startup

Avoid cheap work

Cheap work is undervalued and seldom appreciated by the client.

Cheap clients tend to be excessively demanding and disorganised. They often make you wait for information and input, and require regular follow ups when it comes to payment. In addition to the time and revenue…

Pay for good contracts and use them

My team was poached several years back by our biggest client at the time. I didn’t have any agreements in place with any of our clients or staff back then so I didn’t have a legal leg to stand on.

Focus and Commit

If you’re launching a business or embarking on a new career, it may be tempting to work a second job for a sense of security.

What you really need to do is commit, decide what you want to do and focus on it. You need to give it your full commitment; if you don’t, you can’t…

Advice for a first time tech entrepreneur

If it’s your first time working for yourself then you have some difficult lessons ahead, because firstly it’s a lie. You are not working for yourself, you are working for your suppliers, current and future employees, your clients and the government. They…

Sometimes doing work you hate is worth it but mostly it is not

Figure out what you like and what you don’t like. Ideally focus on doing work that you are passionate about but let’s be realistic, sometimes it is really difficult to find work that you enjoy so you need to take on shitty…

Client acquisition and sales is a full time job

Client acquisition is a strange thing. We’ve had cases where we’ve identified the lead, quoted, did the work, invoiced and were paid within less than 24 hours and then we’ve had clients we’ve engaged with for years before ever seeing any real work…

Choose partners carefully

It’s easier to go the long distance with a team than it is on your own but don’t just go out looking for a partner and don’t let the lack of a partner prevent you from starting. Partners seem to find each other. It’s all about timing, connecting, looking for opportunities and having…

Want to make money? Disrupt an industry…

If you’re young and still deciding what career to get into, consider accounting, law or even the medical profession.

You may be thinking, but those are pretty old school career moves, why should I do that?