Am thinking about crowdfunding my next project / app - so this is interesting...
The strange psychology of getting funding through the crowd... as setting a higher goal doesn't mean you get more money :)
Campaigns that set their goal to be between $50,000 – $75,000 raise more money on average than campaigns that set their goal to be $100,000.
This happens for two key reasons:
First, a lot of evidence shows keeping campaign momentum up is a high driver for success:
85% of campaigns that reach their goal receive their first contribution on the first day of their campaign.
The probability a campaign will reach its goal quadruples once it reaches 10% of its goal.
Campaigns that reach their goal usually raise 1/3 of their goal in the first quarter of their fundraising deadline.
Setting what seems like a reasonable goal and reaching it at an exciting rate can be more psychologically invigorating to your fans, friends, and followers. Having too high of a goal slows this down, often at the campaign’s misfortune. Raising $20,000 in one week when your goal is $50,000 is exciting- raising $20,000 in one week when your goal is $150,000 is much less so.
The second reason is that 87% of campaigns that reach their goal exceed it, and 45% exceed it by more than 10%. On average, they exceed their goal by 31%. The closer you are to your goal the more credibility your campaign has. People who might not have been inclined to participate early on, might feel compelled to contribute when you are closer to your goal, or even after you have exceeded it. Telling people what you plan on doing with the additional funds after you reach your goal can direct and justify these post-goal contributions.
The Dark Potential’s First Miniatures began trying to raise $10,000 to create a humble starter set for a miniature war game. As they quickly approached and exceeded their goal, they added extra perks and bonuses for their funders. They were able to design and produce many more miniatures than they initially set out to, and even created an illustrated history for their game. They exceeding their goal by almost nine times raising $89,894!
Angry Video Game Nerd initially set out to raise $75,000 to cover a small portion of the production of their film. Once they hit their goal, it became evident that their fans wanted to cover a larger portion of the film production! They also wanted a lot of the unique exclusive perks that were offered after the goal was reached. They ended up raising $325,927 – more than 4 times their goal- making Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie the 2nd highest online, fan funded film of all time.
Saturday 9 February 2013
Friday 8 February 2013
Developers, Share Your Technical Knowledge
When you think startup, you might get the picture of a bunch of developers writing code all day. While this can be true, the vast majority will incorporate some people that have absolutely no technical background.
I’m thinking about the ones working on marketing, sales, project management, product design, support, business development, graphic design and so on. All of them like the idea of working in a small and promising company, but they never learned anything about coding - and I’m not here to blame them.
No need to learn how to code
I’m personnaly not an advocate of the concept of getting everybody to code. Of course I love this field, but I wouldn’t say that it is a required skill to live a successful life, no matter how big technology is today.
However I’m all for giving people a basic overview of how everything works behind the scene of a successfull piece of software. Then, if the person wants to learn how to code for fun or to make a living out of it, great! But if not, I wouldn’t mind.
To each his own and bla bla bla.
Just get the big picture
As a developer, I’m always trying to give some technical references to my colleagues. Of course I won’t get into the details about how I optimized a complicated database query, but I might say that I got a page to load faster because I did something to the way the app talks to the database.
To sum it up:
Don’t say: “I refactored module X to speed up the GC in order to stop the memory leak occuring for the workers processing the queue Y.”
Say: “Our machines would use too much memory doing Y, so I had to improve how we would handle that.”
As time passes I might add some information and complexify my vocabulary as people get the idea. It’s all about introducing concepts step by step.
I’m absolutely not saying take them for idiots. They are not. They just do not have the same vocabulary and the same background as me. Imagine a marketing guy showing up and starting to talk about 4Ps without giving you any indication of what all those Ps are about.
What everyone should know
Spoilers: all that is written here is nothing more than my opinion.
I think that everyone in a startup working on a web product should know some things about how the software works. This is not the definitive ultimate most awesomest list, so feel free to add your points in the comments and I might update the article accordingly.
Here we go.
What code is. The fact that a bunch of text files can create a website, a game or whatever can be surprising for a lot of people.
What a browser is and understand that there are differences between browsers.
Recognize different kinds of problems. A complete crash is not as bad as a CSS alignment issue or a word change.
How to report a bug and understand that developers are not wizards that can guess the steps to reproduce it (if only).
What software regression is, or why sometimes a feature working yesterday is broken today.
What a server is.
Understand that something can be really complicated even if it seems simple. It’s rarely about just “adding a button”, there is way more to a feature than the UI.
What it means to deploy something in production. What is a migration. Why every once in a while you need to put the site down for maintenance.
What a URL is.
It’s not much, but knowing all this will help a lot communication between the development team and everyone else. To an extent it will also help the team be more efficient. Obviously it’s easier when everyone within a team can have a common vocabulary to talk about what occurs during development.
Going further, there are some subjects that can be very interesting if someone wanted to learn more. This can be particularly good for a person working on the product or selling it. Knowing more gives a better insight on what the app could do based on what is already there.
Databases. How things are stored, how the data can be used.
What are the possibilities and risks of using third party APIs.
Performances. What can make a site slow. Understand what asynchronous means.
Code reusability and its limit. Why it’s good to have a consistent product.
Bonus points to learn if you want to show off at dinner parties:
In most cases the cloud is really just a fancy way of talking about the internet.
Developers are just as bad as you at fixing printers.
Internet Explorer is terrible. Critize it and befriend developers.
Learning something different is also for developers
Working in a small structure like a startup is a lot of fun because you get to see what everybody is doing. All the people involved should take this opportunity to learn more.
So far I’ve talked a lot about non-technical people learning technical things, but a good idea for another blog post would be developers learning things non related to coding!
For instance knowing a bit about product design can help you catch wireframe mistakes before implementing them, or see an easy to create feature that could improve the application because you knew exactly what is possible with the current code base.
A front-end with an eye for graphic design could add a little polish to a website using the latest CSS3 techniques that the designer maybe didn’t know about.
I’m thinking about the ones working on marketing, sales, project management, product design, support, business development, graphic design and so on. All of them like the idea of working in a small and promising company, but they never learned anything about coding - and I’m not here to blame them.
No need to learn how to code
I’m personnaly not an advocate of the concept of getting everybody to code. Of course I love this field, but I wouldn’t say that it is a required skill to live a successful life, no matter how big technology is today.
However I’m all for giving people a basic overview of how everything works behind the scene of a successfull piece of software. Then, if the person wants to learn how to code for fun or to make a living out of it, great! But if not, I wouldn’t mind.
To each his own and bla bla bla.
Just get the big picture
As a developer, I’m always trying to give some technical references to my colleagues. Of course I won’t get into the details about how I optimized a complicated database query, but I might say that I got a page to load faster because I did something to the way the app talks to the database.
To sum it up:
Don’t say: “I refactored module X to speed up the GC in order to stop the memory leak occuring for the workers processing the queue Y.”
Say: “Our machines would use too much memory doing Y, so I had to improve how we would handle that.”
As time passes I might add some information and complexify my vocabulary as people get the idea. It’s all about introducing concepts step by step.
I’m absolutely not saying take them for idiots. They are not. They just do not have the same vocabulary and the same background as me. Imagine a marketing guy showing up and starting to talk about 4Ps without giving you any indication of what all those Ps are about.
What everyone should know
Spoilers: all that is written here is nothing more than my opinion.
I think that everyone in a startup working on a web product should know some things about how the software works. This is not the definitive ultimate most awesomest list, so feel free to add your points in the comments and I might update the article accordingly.
Here we go.
What code is. The fact that a bunch of text files can create a website, a game or whatever can be surprising for a lot of people.
What a browser is and understand that there are differences between browsers.
Recognize different kinds of problems. A complete crash is not as bad as a CSS alignment issue or a word change.
How to report a bug and understand that developers are not wizards that can guess the steps to reproduce it (if only).
What software regression is, or why sometimes a feature working yesterday is broken today.
What a server is.
Understand that something can be really complicated even if it seems simple. It’s rarely about just “adding a button”, there is way more to a feature than the UI.
What it means to deploy something in production. What is a migration. Why every once in a while you need to put the site down for maintenance.
What a URL is.
It’s not much, but knowing all this will help a lot communication between the development team and everyone else. To an extent it will also help the team be more efficient. Obviously it’s easier when everyone within a team can have a common vocabulary to talk about what occurs during development.
Going further, there are some subjects that can be very interesting if someone wanted to learn more. This can be particularly good for a person working on the product or selling it. Knowing more gives a better insight on what the app could do based on what is already there.
Databases. How things are stored, how the data can be used.
What are the possibilities and risks of using third party APIs.
Performances. What can make a site slow. Understand what asynchronous means.
Code reusability and its limit. Why it’s good to have a consistent product.
Bonus points to learn if you want to show off at dinner parties:
In most cases the cloud is really just a fancy way of talking about the internet.
Developers are just as bad as you at fixing printers.
Internet Explorer is terrible. Critize it and befriend developers.
Learning something different is also for developers
Working in a small structure like a startup is a lot of fun because you get to see what everybody is doing. All the people involved should take this opportunity to learn more.
So far I’ve talked a lot about non-technical people learning technical things, but a good idea for another blog post would be developers learning things non related to coding!
For instance knowing a bit about product design can help you catch wireframe mistakes before implementing them, or see an easy to create feature that could improve the application because you knew exactly what is possible with the current code base.
A front-end with an eye for graphic design could add a little polish to a website using the latest CSS3 techniques that the designer maybe didn’t know about.
Thursday 7 February 2013
Augmented your reality - on the TV ;)
‘Second Screen’ is one of the buzz words of our time. It describes the parallel use of a smart device and a TV in order to interact with additional digital content available for the TV Shows, Movies or commercials the audience is currently watching.
Back in 2011 junaio together with the German TV Show Galileo (Pro7Sat.1 TV GmbH) made history by introducing the world´s first mobile Augmented Reality TV Show - 'Galileo Smart'. Viewers could participate by simply pointing their smartphones to the TV screen using junaio.
Exactly two years and 15 shows later, we are taking the Galileo Augmented Reality experience to the next level.
Tomorrow at 7 PM (CET) the Galileo viewers together with the junaio fans from Germany, Austria and Switzerland will be able to participate in the next quiz. For the first time viewers can compete with users from different states and regions. The results will be available right after the show.
Back in 2011 junaio together with the German TV Show Galileo (Pro7Sat.1 TV GmbH) made history by introducing the world´s first mobile Augmented Reality TV Show - 'Galileo Smart'. Viewers could participate by simply pointing their smartphones to the TV screen using junaio.
Exactly two years and 15 shows later, we are taking the Galileo Augmented Reality experience to the next level.
Tomorrow at 7 PM (CET) the Galileo viewers together with the junaio fans from Germany, Austria and Switzerland will be able to participate in the next quiz. For the first time viewers can compete with users from different states and regions. The results will be available right after the show.
If awareness is the process of becoming more complete, what does that involve?
If awareness is the process of becoming more complete, what does that involve? It seems a lot and much of it I am not "doing" yet. Yet being the operative word ;)
According to Depak Chopkra - who wrote this article - some steps are negative:
1. Assess where you are weak. DONE
2. Don't trust yourself when you know you are confused, conflicted, or wandering into an area of weakness. DONE
3. Don't be led astray by strong negative emotions like anger and fear. DOING
4. Distrust bad memories from the past. They increase anxiety but also block clear perception. DOING
5. Don't bottle up what you really think. DONE
6. Don't harbor secrets. DOING
7. Resist images of worst-case scenarios. DOING
This list of what not to do is based on mental factors that block awareness or cause you to contract. Contracted awareness is your enemy. It arises when your perception is colored by stress, fear, anger, stubbornness, unwillingness to change, and being deaf to good counsel because you want everything to go your way or no way at all. Leaders must constantly self-evaluate to make sure that they are not subtly falling prey to the pressures that contract awareness, coming from outside and inside.
Last time I mentioned Henry Ford as someone who had a remarkable sense of his destiny even as a teenager fresh off the farm, who surmounted failure and setbacks because he knew who he was and what his vision could be. But later in life, driven by ego and insecurity, he became the opposite of self-aware. Ford indulged in paranoid anti-Semitism, abused his workers, and so ignored the human connection that he hired thugs to brutally beat anyone who even whispered of forming a labor union. He bought into the factors of ego, success, excess autonomy, and isolation that are guaranteed to constrict anyone's awareness.
The positive side of awareness centers on the factors that allow you to expand rather than contract.
1. Listen to counsel with an open mind. Seek opinions that disagree with yours. DOING
2. Encourage diversity around you, following Lincoln's "team of rivals" approach to foster creative differences. DOING
3. Walk away from pointless stress, hostility, internal backbiting, gossip, and cynicism. DONE
4. Know as much as you can about the environment you are working in. Study rivals and alternatives. DOING
5. Think first about what others need, not what you need. DOING
6. Measure your success by how well you fulfill other people's needs, how much loyalty you inspire, and how optimistic the future looks for everyone you lead. DOING
7. Keep abreast of change and let it inspire rather than threaten you. DONE
So it seems like I have a lot to be doing - one of those things is to start a business or get a job where I can lead and add value to people's lives - especially in the start up world.
I had best stop blogging for the day then and start doing for today ;)
According to Depak Chopkra - who wrote this article - some steps are negative:
1. Assess where you are weak. DONE
2. Don't trust yourself when you know you are confused, conflicted, or wandering into an area of weakness. DONE
3. Don't be led astray by strong negative emotions like anger and fear. DOING
4. Distrust bad memories from the past. They increase anxiety but also block clear perception. DOING
5. Don't bottle up what you really think. DONE
6. Don't harbor secrets. DOING
7. Resist images of worst-case scenarios. DOING
This list of what not to do is based on mental factors that block awareness or cause you to contract. Contracted awareness is your enemy. It arises when your perception is colored by stress, fear, anger, stubbornness, unwillingness to change, and being deaf to good counsel because you want everything to go your way or no way at all. Leaders must constantly self-evaluate to make sure that they are not subtly falling prey to the pressures that contract awareness, coming from outside and inside.
Last time I mentioned Henry Ford as someone who had a remarkable sense of his destiny even as a teenager fresh off the farm, who surmounted failure and setbacks because he knew who he was and what his vision could be. But later in life, driven by ego and insecurity, he became the opposite of self-aware. Ford indulged in paranoid anti-Semitism, abused his workers, and so ignored the human connection that he hired thugs to brutally beat anyone who even whispered of forming a labor union. He bought into the factors of ego, success, excess autonomy, and isolation that are guaranteed to constrict anyone's awareness.
The positive side of awareness centers on the factors that allow you to expand rather than contract.
1. Listen to counsel with an open mind. Seek opinions that disagree with yours. DOING
2. Encourage diversity around you, following Lincoln's "team of rivals" approach to foster creative differences. DOING
3. Walk away from pointless stress, hostility, internal backbiting, gossip, and cynicism. DONE
4. Know as much as you can about the environment you are working in. Study rivals and alternatives. DOING
5. Think first about what others need, not what you need. DOING
6. Measure your success by how well you fulfill other people's needs, how much loyalty you inspire, and how optimistic the future looks for everyone you lead. DOING
7. Keep abreast of change and let it inspire rather than threaten you. DONE
So it seems like I have a lot to be doing - one of those things is to start a business or get a job where I can lead and add value to people's lives - especially in the start up world.
I had best stop blogging for the day then and start doing for today ;)
Wednesday 6 February 2013
This “may well be the most important document ever to come out of the Valley.”
Facebook’s No. 2 top dog, COO Sheryl Sandberg, recently said that Netflix’s company culture document “may well be the most important document ever to come out of the Valley.” The document, a bullet-point-happy PowerPoint, has become a cultural manifesto for the Internet’s economic epicenter, amassing over 3.2 million views on Slideshare.net.
More than simply a management guide, it’s a window into a philosophy that thrives on uncertainty, creativity, and trust — a blinding contrast to the hierarchical culture that dominated much of the 20th century workplace. To the extent that innovation and the Internet play a role in the modern workplace, it is a crystal ball into the future of daily life.
TechCrunch summarized the most telling principles below:
Creativity is Most Important
In procedural work, the best are 2x better than the average. In creative/inventive work, the best are 10x.
The technology industry, especially, is haunted by the ever-present fear of obsolescence. As Internet bandwidth speeds rapidly increased, Netflix had to figure out how to retrofit its entire DVD delivery service into a video streaming service that satisfies demand for instantaneous video.
The next big transformation in video and Internet capability is an unknown, and creative solutions to up-and-coming problems are nearly priceless.
The consequences for stunted innovation could not be greater: One of Microsoft’s flagship products, Office, got eaten alive by Google’s free office suite, Google Docs, after the company failed to follow users where they are now spending their time (the Internet).
Prioritize Discovery Over Job Security
Many people love our culture, and stay a long time. They thrive on excellence and candor and change….Some people, however, value job security over performance, and don’t like our culture.
Politically, this principle is the most fascinating: no major Internet company has a union, despite consistently ranking as some of the best places to work.
Creative enterprises have been able to replace the long-cherished values of worker compensation and stability with a challenging, enjoyable environment. “Risk” is an often-praised characteristic of tech founders, who are now asking their employees to jump down that same rabbit hole. The future of work is likely to be as insecure as it is unforgivable. For some, this is utopia…for others, not so much.
Poor Employee Behavior Is Caused By Misunderstanding
Managers: When one of your talented people does something dumb,
don’t blame them. Instead, ask yourself what context you failed to set. High performance people will do better work if they understand the context.
Hierarchical 20th century management structure was modeled off of authoritarianism, a philosophy based on the idea that individual disagreements can only be settled through power. Like kings and dukes or generals and seargents, everyone needed a direct officer who resolved disputes, which, it was presumed, could not be settled through dialog.
An “over-foreman is to smooth out the difficulties which arise between the different types of bosses who in turn directly help the men,” wrote Frederick Taylor, the godfather of hierarchical management. “If two of these bosses meet with a difficulty which they cannot settle, they send for their respective over-foremen, who are usually able to straighten it out. In case the latter are unable to agree on the remedy, the case is referred by them to the assistant superintendent.”
Netflix takes precisely the opposite approach–that workers normally operate under consensus. Acting “stupid” is actually caused by a failure of communication. It is a profoundly different view of human nature.
Unlimited Vacation
Netflix Vacation Policy and Tracking. There is no policy or tracking.
Netflix’s radical approach to management underlies perhaps its most famous management policy: unlimited vacation. Employees are left to decide when and for how long they should go surfing in the Caribbean. Netflix also proudly replaced the entire bureaucratic apparatus sounding travel expenses with five words, “Act in Netflix’s Best Interest.”
Internet companies often see human nature and the world much differently. Sherly Sandberg evidently believes that Netflix’s humble management document reveals something profoundly essential to its philosophy.
More than simply a management guide, it’s a window into a philosophy that thrives on uncertainty, creativity, and trust — a blinding contrast to the hierarchical culture that dominated much of the 20th century workplace. To the extent that innovation and the Internet play a role in the modern workplace, it is a crystal ball into the future of daily life.
TechCrunch summarized the most telling principles below:
Creativity is Most Important
In procedural work, the best are 2x better than the average. In creative/inventive work, the best are 10x.
The technology industry, especially, is haunted by the ever-present fear of obsolescence. As Internet bandwidth speeds rapidly increased, Netflix had to figure out how to retrofit its entire DVD delivery service into a video streaming service that satisfies demand for instantaneous video.
The next big transformation in video and Internet capability is an unknown, and creative solutions to up-and-coming problems are nearly priceless.
The consequences for stunted innovation could not be greater: One of Microsoft’s flagship products, Office, got eaten alive by Google’s free office suite, Google Docs, after the company failed to follow users where they are now spending their time (the Internet).
Prioritize Discovery Over Job Security
Many people love our culture, and stay a long time. They thrive on excellence and candor and change….Some people, however, value job security over performance, and don’t like our culture.
Politically, this principle is the most fascinating: no major Internet company has a union, despite consistently ranking as some of the best places to work.
Creative enterprises have been able to replace the long-cherished values of worker compensation and stability with a challenging, enjoyable environment. “Risk” is an often-praised characteristic of tech founders, who are now asking their employees to jump down that same rabbit hole. The future of work is likely to be as insecure as it is unforgivable. For some, this is utopia…for others, not so much.
Poor Employee Behavior Is Caused By Misunderstanding
Managers: When one of your talented people does something dumb,
don’t blame them. Instead, ask yourself what context you failed to set. High performance people will do better work if they understand the context.
Hierarchical 20th century management structure was modeled off of authoritarianism, a philosophy based on the idea that individual disagreements can only be settled through power. Like kings and dukes or generals and seargents, everyone needed a direct officer who resolved disputes, which, it was presumed, could not be settled through dialog.
An “over-foreman is to smooth out the difficulties which arise between the different types of bosses who in turn directly help the men,” wrote Frederick Taylor, the godfather of hierarchical management. “If two of these bosses meet with a difficulty which they cannot settle, they send for their respective over-foremen, who are usually able to straighten it out. In case the latter are unable to agree on the remedy, the case is referred by them to the assistant superintendent.”
Netflix takes precisely the opposite approach–that workers normally operate under consensus. Acting “stupid” is actually caused by a failure of communication. It is a profoundly different view of human nature.
Unlimited Vacation
Netflix Vacation Policy and Tracking. There is no policy or tracking.
Netflix’s radical approach to management underlies perhaps its most famous management policy: unlimited vacation. Employees are left to decide when and for how long they should go surfing in the Caribbean. Netflix also proudly replaced the entire bureaucratic apparatus sounding travel expenses with five words, “Act in Netflix’s Best Interest.”
Internet companies often see human nature and the world much differently. Sherly Sandberg evidently believes that Netflix’s humble management document reveals something profoundly essential to its philosophy.
Monday 4 February 2013
We love what you do - so we gonna build it ourselves... just when you are gone.... :)
Something I found when working with goAugmented is articulated here by the wisdom of mengwong from JFDI a great organisation run by the passionate Chris Mason - JFDI link here.
Based over at 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent #05-16 Singapore 139951
E: info@jfdi.asia T: +65 3158 1804
I met them last month and would love to meet them again but time this time might not allow.
Anyhoo back to the blog post...
Problem
Sometimes, a customer will look at what you’re offering, listen to what you’re charging, politely decline, and go off and build it themselves.
Discussion
Whenever a buyer is faced with a potential purchase, that buyer always considers an implicit alternative: building it themselves.
If it’s cheaper to build it internally, they just might do that.
You say your product costs $100,000?
For that much money they could hire two staff and have it built in a year.
Or they could hire an outsourced development shop and have it built in six months.
At least, that’s what they think.
Solution
Your sales pitch should nip this line of thinking in the bud as early as possible, by demonstrating why buy, not build, is right for them.
Your product might contain a bunch of intellectual property which is very hard to replicate. Maybe it’s up a pretty steep learning curve that your customer doesn’t have the heart to climb.
Maybe it’ll take them way too long to build it, and they needed it yesterday.
Maybe they know that even if they try, they might fail to build it. Writing software is hard! Especially for customers who aren’t in the software development business.
Maybe they don’t want to maintain it after building it. From you, they’ll get bugfixes and an upgrade path.
Maybe your product is priced an order of magnitude cheaper than building it themselves.
If you’re savvy, it’ll be just very slightly cheaper. Now you’re pricing to value.
See Also
If your customer is in the software development business, maybe you can license your technology to them instead of asking them to buy the product.
Based over at 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent #05-16 Singapore 139951
E: info@jfdi.asia T: +65 3158 1804
I met them last month and would love to meet them again but time this time might not allow.
Anyhoo back to the blog post...
Problem
Sometimes, a customer will look at what you’re offering, listen to what you’re charging, politely decline, and go off and build it themselves.
Discussion
Whenever a buyer is faced with a potential purchase, that buyer always considers an implicit alternative: building it themselves.
If it’s cheaper to build it internally, they just might do that.
You say your product costs $100,000?
For that much money they could hire two staff and have it built in a year.
Or they could hire an outsourced development shop and have it built in six months.
At least, that’s what they think.
Solution
Your sales pitch should nip this line of thinking in the bud as early as possible, by demonstrating why buy, not build, is right for them.
Your product might contain a bunch of intellectual property which is very hard to replicate. Maybe it’s up a pretty steep learning curve that your customer doesn’t have the heart to climb.
Maybe it’ll take them way too long to build it, and they needed it yesterday.
Maybe they know that even if they try, they might fail to build it. Writing software is hard! Especially for customers who aren’t in the software development business.
Maybe they don’t want to maintain it after building it. From you, they’ll get bugfixes and an upgrade path.
Maybe your product is priced an order of magnitude cheaper than building it themselves.
If you’re savvy, it’ll be just very slightly cheaper. Now you’re pricing to value.
See Also
If your customer is in the software development business, maybe you can license your technology to them instead of asking them to buy the product.
30 ideas for start up businesses for everyone...
Some great ideas from Shaa at Smarta
Think earning extra dosh whenever it suits you sounds too good to be true? Think again. My wife and I are just thinking about this now - what she can launch 5 - 9 and make a little travel cash for next time...
So - here are 30 great ideas which don't cost a lot to start... literally.
1. Trade on eBay
Use eBay pulse to see what's hot in the marketplace. Then invest in setting up a professional-looking eBay shop, from £14.99 a month. Read our blog on tips on the design of your shop.
2. Sell stock photography
Sell good quality digital photos to sites like istock.com, shutterpoint.com and fotolia.com. But be warned: this is quite the slow-burner. Lots of advice here.
3. Personal chef
Invest in a good cookery course (like the ones listed here), then start offering your services to friends of friends in need of dinner party assistance.
4. Become a cookery writer
As above - then publish your own cookery book through blurb.com. Sales will come in from the site, and you can sell yourself to new prospective clients by saying you're also a cookery author.
5. Antiques trader
Do some serious homework on cheaper pieces - invest in an encyclopaedia and read mags like this one. Buy a few items to hedge your bets, then sell to antiques dealers and shops.
6. Virtual assistant
Sign up to a site like virtualassistants.co.uk (£2.95 to post a listing for 12 months). Invest in a secretarial or touch typing course to give you an edge over other candidates. More advice here.
7. Personal trainer
Proper training courses are several hundred pounds at least (recommended ones here), but if you're a marathon old-hand or a gym-bod you could entice some clients without. Pick up part-time work in a gym to find clients.
8. Snack stall
You can buy a stall for around £100 - £150 (from somewhere like this). Make sure you comply with all health and safety regulations and get a license from your local council if you're selling alcohol, hot food between 11pm and 5am or food from a stall or van on the street.
9. Late-night alcohol delivery
Supply the midnight masses and charge a premium on booze and snacks delivered after pub closing time. You'll need a personal license to sell alcohol, which costs £37 - get it online from your local council.
10. Cleaning company
Start this business with no overheads by using clients' cleaning products. Pay for criminal record checks (CRB checks, £26 each) for yourself and any other members of staff to reassure new customers once you get some money coming in.
11. Focus group organiser
Target small businesses at networking events and with flyers to user-test their new products or websites. Then place free ads on Gumtree to find participants and skim a fee off their hourly pay. More info here on conducting focus groups.
12. Flyering agency
Call around all local business and clubs and say you'll find them someone to hand out flyers for a £3 charge (on top of their hourly rate). Then find students in need of work on Gumtree.
13. Pop-up restaurant
Decorate your living room, stick some posters in your front window and start a restaurant in your house. Technically you're meant to get a load of health and safety checks done for this, but there's a whole crop of people doing it on the sly. Check out our guest blog from Horton Jupiter to find out how it's done.
14. Treasure hunt business
You can start this business for next to nothing. Do some research on your local area and plant clues for family fun days and cheap office outings. Take a look at how Hunt Fun and Treasure Days are doing it.
15. Sell pot plants, herbs and home-grown veg
The whole of the middle class is into organic and home-grown veg these days, and with packets of hundreds of seeds coming in at around 60p, you can sell your own produce for a whopping profit. Or just take clippings of plants and herbs you already have, grow out into separate pots and sell to neighbours and friends.
16. Gardening and landscaping assistant
Got green fingers? Put them to use by offering your services to people in your area. Show them sketches of how you think the garden could be improved and you become a landscape gardener to boot (though you'll need to do careful research on what grows well in which places and at what times of year).
17. Meal delivery service
Capitalise on people too busy or too lazy to cook by offering to deliver delicious dishes of their liking, home-cooked by you. Check out our interview with the founder of The Pure Package for inspiration.
18. Walking and bike tours
Armed with nothing more than a map and a book on local history, you can guide tours around your local commons, hills or towns and share insight into the history of your area for a small charge.
19. Clothes repairs
Basic needlework is astonishingly straightforward. Offer to darn friends of friends' clothes for a nominal fee and take in too-big shirts and skirts.
20. Gift baskets
Knocking up ribbon-adorned wicker baskets brimming with Bon Maman jams, freshly-baked muffins and fruit is relatively cheap, but you can charge a premium.
21. Dog training
Easy if you know how. Getting a formal qualification will improve your chances of doing business with people you don't know. Check out the Association of Pet Dog Trainers for more info.
22. Pet sitting and walking
Most pet owners prefer one-on-one TLC for their animals than putting them into kennels. Keep your rates competitive and incentivise clients to refer a friend.
23. Event and party planning
Perfect if you've got a natural knack for organisation. Establishing cut-price deals with catering companies, florists, wine suppliers and the like will ensure you offer a competitive service.
24. Car boot sales
Have a proper clear-out of your junk to get started, then reinvest profits into buying stuff from any charity shop you have time to scour. Offer to take friends' junk off their hands to cut overheads.
25. Social media assistant
More and more small businesses are latching onto the fact social media can help them, so offer to maintain accounts for them for a small fee - you can keep business ticking over while still doing your day job. Tools like Tweetdeck will help hugely. More advice here.
26. Handyman
There are gutters to clean, tiles to be scrubbed, lawns to be raked and paths to be laid all around the country. Post friendly notes through letterboxes advertising a cheap hourly rate.
27. Home tutor
If you've got a degree, or good A-level results, you can offer to help out schoolkids with their homework and exams. Get a certification to make it more official if you struggle to find work. The BBC has some good info on that.
28. Computer skills mentor
There are still millions of people out there who feel utterly confounded by computers and the internet. If you're a spreadsheet whiz or an Outlook old-hand, you can charge them for lessons.
29. CV consultant
If you've made it through the rat race and come out the other side older and wiser, you can help newbies tidy up their CV's. Advertise on Gumtree and ask friends, and keep fees low.
30. Second-hand clothes stall
Get yourself down to a retro clothes market in a university town, armed with piles of 70s, 80s and 90s clothes from charity shops, and you'll find you can charge anything from £5 to £50 an item. Ask the local council about renting a stall.
Think earning extra dosh whenever it suits you sounds too good to be true? Think again. My wife and I are just thinking about this now - what she can launch 5 - 9 and make a little travel cash for next time...
So - here are 30 great ideas which don't cost a lot to start... literally.
1. Trade on eBay
Use eBay pulse to see what's hot in the marketplace. Then invest in setting up a professional-looking eBay shop, from £14.99 a month. Read our blog on tips on the design of your shop.
2. Sell stock photography
Sell good quality digital photos to sites like istock.com, shutterpoint.com and fotolia.com. But be warned: this is quite the slow-burner. Lots of advice here.
3. Personal chef
Invest in a good cookery course (like the ones listed here), then start offering your services to friends of friends in need of dinner party assistance.
4. Become a cookery writer
As above - then publish your own cookery book through blurb.com. Sales will come in from the site, and you can sell yourself to new prospective clients by saying you're also a cookery author.
5. Antiques trader
Do some serious homework on cheaper pieces - invest in an encyclopaedia and read mags like this one. Buy a few items to hedge your bets, then sell to antiques dealers and shops.
6. Virtual assistant
Sign up to a site like virtualassistants.co.uk (£2.95 to post a listing for 12 months). Invest in a secretarial or touch typing course to give you an edge over other candidates. More advice here.
7. Personal trainer
Proper training courses are several hundred pounds at least (recommended ones here), but if you're a marathon old-hand or a gym-bod you could entice some clients without. Pick up part-time work in a gym to find clients.
8. Snack stall
You can buy a stall for around £100 - £150 (from somewhere like this). Make sure you comply with all health and safety regulations and get a license from your local council if you're selling alcohol, hot food between 11pm and 5am or food from a stall or van on the street.
9. Late-night alcohol delivery
Supply the midnight masses and charge a premium on booze and snacks delivered after pub closing time. You'll need a personal license to sell alcohol, which costs £37 - get it online from your local council.
10. Cleaning company
Start this business with no overheads by using clients' cleaning products. Pay for criminal record checks (CRB checks, £26 each) for yourself and any other members of staff to reassure new customers once you get some money coming in.
11. Focus group organiser
Target small businesses at networking events and with flyers to user-test their new products or websites. Then place free ads on Gumtree to find participants and skim a fee off their hourly pay. More info here on conducting focus groups.
12. Flyering agency
Call around all local business and clubs and say you'll find them someone to hand out flyers for a £3 charge (on top of their hourly rate). Then find students in need of work on Gumtree.
13. Pop-up restaurant
Decorate your living room, stick some posters in your front window and start a restaurant in your house. Technically you're meant to get a load of health and safety checks done for this, but there's a whole crop of people doing it on the sly. Check out our guest blog from Horton Jupiter to find out how it's done.
14. Treasure hunt business
You can start this business for next to nothing. Do some research on your local area and plant clues for family fun days and cheap office outings. Take a look at how Hunt Fun and Treasure Days are doing it.
15. Sell pot plants, herbs and home-grown veg
The whole of the middle class is into organic and home-grown veg these days, and with packets of hundreds of seeds coming in at around 60p, you can sell your own produce for a whopping profit. Or just take clippings of plants and herbs you already have, grow out into separate pots and sell to neighbours and friends.
16. Gardening and landscaping assistant
Got green fingers? Put them to use by offering your services to people in your area. Show them sketches of how you think the garden could be improved and you become a landscape gardener to boot (though you'll need to do careful research on what grows well in which places and at what times of year).
17. Meal delivery service
Capitalise on people too busy or too lazy to cook by offering to deliver delicious dishes of their liking, home-cooked by you. Check out our interview with the founder of The Pure Package for inspiration.
18. Walking and bike tours
Armed with nothing more than a map and a book on local history, you can guide tours around your local commons, hills or towns and share insight into the history of your area for a small charge.
19. Clothes repairs
Basic needlework is astonishingly straightforward. Offer to darn friends of friends' clothes for a nominal fee and take in too-big shirts and skirts.
20. Gift baskets
Knocking up ribbon-adorned wicker baskets brimming with Bon Maman jams, freshly-baked muffins and fruit is relatively cheap, but you can charge a premium.
21. Dog training
Easy if you know how. Getting a formal qualification will improve your chances of doing business with people you don't know. Check out the Association of Pet Dog Trainers for more info.
22. Pet sitting and walking
Most pet owners prefer one-on-one TLC for their animals than putting them into kennels. Keep your rates competitive and incentivise clients to refer a friend.
23. Event and party planning
Perfect if you've got a natural knack for organisation. Establishing cut-price deals with catering companies, florists, wine suppliers and the like will ensure you offer a competitive service.
24. Car boot sales
Have a proper clear-out of your junk to get started, then reinvest profits into buying stuff from any charity shop you have time to scour. Offer to take friends' junk off their hands to cut overheads.
25. Social media assistant
More and more small businesses are latching onto the fact social media can help them, so offer to maintain accounts for them for a small fee - you can keep business ticking over while still doing your day job. Tools like Tweetdeck will help hugely. More advice here.
26. Handyman
There are gutters to clean, tiles to be scrubbed, lawns to be raked and paths to be laid all around the country. Post friendly notes through letterboxes advertising a cheap hourly rate.
27. Home tutor
If you've got a degree, or good A-level results, you can offer to help out schoolkids with their homework and exams. Get a certification to make it more official if you struggle to find work. The BBC has some good info on that.
28. Computer skills mentor
There are still millions of people out there who feel utterly confounded by computers and the internet. If you're a spreadsheet whiz or an Outlook old-hand, you can charge them for lessons.
29. CV consultant
If you've made it through the rat race and come out the other side older and wiser, you can help newbies tidy up their CV's. Advertise on Gumtree and ask friends, and keep fees low.
30. Second-hand clothes stall
Get yourself down to a retro clothes market in a university town, armed with piles of 70s, 80s and 90s clothes from charity shops, and you'll find you can charge anything from £5 to £50 an item. Ask the local council about renting a stall.
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