With all the new mobile gadgets, with Wi-Fi and free data service, it is obvious that more and more people will consume their news and information electronically. This has been happening for some time now. Local news is still harder to come by, but you could change that with this little business start-up idea.

You could get some pre-designed portal software, blogging software or a forum to set up your portal and then write about local events, with things like this:

• Live events - like Live Jazz in the local pub,
• New Business launch - write about the company, people and products;
• Evening Classes - anything from cooking to phontography;
• Club News - what time they meet, run a prifile.
• For Sale Section - from paperclips to houses and cars

You get the idea, there are many more events you could report about. Take leaflets around to get it started and then get revenue from ad’s of local businesses, clubs, for sale ad’s, and get paid for event announcements. Have a look at your local paper that will give you some idea, what people want.

It will get you involved in many areas of your community you didn’t even know existed, get you out of the house, make new friends and earn you some money - what else can you want. One day Google may pay you some money to supply local news to them, who knows?

There is money to be made in each locality, be the first and hog the niche first. Work from home, keep it cost effective, then the set-up should be about $150/£75 and the monthly cost no more than $20/£10, assuming you have a phone, computer and broadband. ST.

NOTE: If you have any problems with setting something like this up, give our 24/7 live support a “click“, they can help you.

With our recent launch of OnlineOffice 4, we have kept our promise to supply our online accounting software to every small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants free of charge forever.

But not only that - lets face it, if you want free accounting software, you could try the open source arena or other suppliers, even Intuit offers a watered down version of their accounting software free of charge - but a whole raft of other benefits can be gained by using our award winning product:

• Free 24/7 live online support - so when you work after 5 pm, we are still here to help and you do not have to pay for it;
• All future software updates are free of charge as well, so you will never have to pay for new or updated accounting software;
• Data backup and security included - while we all know nothing is ever absolutely safe, we back all your data up continuously and our investment in security would be unobtainable for small businesses, because of cost and complexity;
• All the benefits of online software (SaaS) - means you can access your accounting, write invoices and plan your business from anywhere at anytime.
• Online technology is eco-friendly - no shipping, no packaging, no manuals (help text in software) and our ClimateByte Technology.

All you have to do, is sign up for our free 30 day trail of OnlineOffice, or our free LiveNet and you will have free accounting for your small business, forever.

Let’s face it, nobody makes any money doing their bookkeeping. At least with WinWeb you don’t have to spend any money, not to make any money. ST.

If you search google for ” Apple Focus Customer” you get on the first page my post entry about “Learn About Customer Focus From Big Business.”

Nowhere on my blog page, including the comments, can I find:

“I can not say enough good things about Apple customer support.”

How did that get there? I guess after my two posts recently about the bad customer care situation with Apple - this can only be a joke?

Can anyone enlighten me, did I get something wrong, am I going paranoid or is this a flagrant misrepresentation of my original posting? ST.

A few years ago I decided to change over to Apple computers from Windows based computers and up until now it seemed the right decision. There had always been certain incomprehensible “rules” by Apple, but I could live with them.

A few weeks ago I ordered my new MacBook Pro and I wanted a German keyboard, of cause I could not order a German keyboard, you can order a French keyboard? All these computers are made in the same factory - in my case to order - so why do I have to get a friend in Germany to order the computer for me. This time a friendly guy in my Apple Store told me I could pay $200/£100 extra and they would change the keyboard in store for me. I asked again why I could not get the German keyboard in the UK, apparently more Germans then French people live in the UK?

I was promised an answer, but never got one.

So I went ahead and did that, I ordered my new laptop with the new Mac OS 10.5 installed, and agreed to pay the extra for the keyboard.

When the order arrived last Friday all hell broke loose:

1. I was sent a computer with OS 10.4 installed not OS 10.5.
2. I received an extra box and had to install OS 10.5 myself.
3. Then I discovered I had been charged extra for the Mac OS 10.5, I had to pay for one old and one new operating system.
4. Next I discovered a new spec computer had been launched and I had been send the old one.
5. I used the migration assistant to move all files across to my new computer and at first all seemed fine.
6. I then gave my old computer to someone else and reformatted it.
7. You guessed it, as soon as I had done that my new computer started having problems, no calendar or address book data anymore,then my email started going and so on - I rebooted and that was that - I could no longer log in.
8. I called tech support and after waiting for about 20 to 25 minutes, I was told the FileVault is the problem a “known” issue. Known to whom, not me?
9. Result some of my data was lost, most of it saved, thanks to Ian from Apple tech-support. However my user account could not be deleted and could be causing problems in the future. Ian was not sure if it could be some hardware related issue, so we agreed the computer should go back and be replaced, but that I could work with if for now, if I made backups of everything I did.
10. Over to after-sales support, here is where the problem started. I wanted a new computer before I would return this one, since I can not be without my computer. That was not possible - so I said I would order a new computer, pay for it again and when I received the new one, I would send the old one back and get a refund.
11. At this point Nicole (after-sales support) took pity on me and said she would get an supervisor to call, he/she could get me a computer before I had to send the old one back.
12. You guessed it the supervisor did not call, so I called again after 20 minutes waiting time I was told to wait my turn. So I waited until next day - no call.
13. I called again and again after waiting 20 minutes on the phone, I had to explain all this again, I was told I would get a return form to fill in. And I should order a new computer.
14. I ordered my new computer - delivery 3-4 weeks - got my confirmation email within a minute. But now email to return my current computer.
15. I have now borrowed my old computer back, she does not know it’s going to be four weeks yet - what fun?
16. So this morning I clicked on a link on the original invoice to write to Apple, I could not face another wait on the telephone and telling the story one more time. I wrote all this in an email, guess what - it was returned to me, with smtp - code: 550 5.1.1 unknown or illegal alias: uk.consumer@euro.apple.com
17. Back to the phone, and I’m told someone will call me back - I give up. I asked if there was a way to speed up my new order, they will try - code for no.

This has cost me about three days in work and time so far and at Apple nobody seems to care. That is worrying, since it could indicate a serious shift in Apples customer care policy and/or capacity. Could it be that Apple has become too successful, are they going to be just like Microsoft? Many questions, no answers!

Good news - I can blog about this, it’s therapy - otherwise I would explode! Thanks Apple, you really made it clear to me, how important individual customers are to you! ST.

UPDATE Nov 7, 2008 - 13:00 BST : I have not had a call from Apple, but the TNT courier called, they are going to pick up the old computer this afternoon. No news on speeding up my order or why I can’t have a German keyboard, either.

UPDATE Nov 7, 2008 - 13:42 BST: Just spoken with after -sales support (Kathrine), as another order of our has gone missing (!?!) and was supposedly delivered on Saturday and signed by me - I must have amnesia.

She then checked back on the main issue here and told me that no request had been made for a supervisor to call me back, this is getting more and more out of hand - I wonder if anyone really knows what is going on in Apple.

UPDATE Nov 8, 2007 - 19.38 BST: Kathrine also did not get one of the supervisors to call me - so I guess Apple has decided to ignore me - lesson learned.

On a better note my local Apple Store, who tried to support me thru all this, called again, to find out if I had heard anything new? Even they where quite upset about the service and treatment I got from after Apple after sales support. They tried to help with calling them as well, special thanks to Christopher for his interest. I love those guys at the Apple Store, Regent Street, London, it is just a shame that they can not deal with the “custom orders” direct, then I would not have had an issue. Something Apple should also consider changing.

All this has made it clear to me that what we are doing with our OnlineOffice is a god-send for small business, because all of these issues could not happen with our software, since you can use any computer with any browser - even Safari, my favorite browser - anytime and anywhere.

This will quite possibly by my last update, since I do not think things are going to improve with my now two open customer support cases with Apple after sales care, and life is too short. I will only update this if something positive happens - if it doesn’t, I’m sure you can draw your own conclusions.

Like Michael Dell once said - maybe Apple should think about this:

“If someone thinks they are mistreated by us, they won’t tell 5 people, they’ll tell 5000.”

Personally I think Michael underestimated the numbers considerably. ST.

UPDATE Nov 10, 2007: Unbelievably there is a sequel to this story “Apple - the customer support nightmare - Part II: The Criminal Investigation“. I would not thought it possible that this story could still get worse, how wrong I was.

I’m sure you have some expertise in a special (niche) field, it could be something to do with your training and education, or a hobby you really enjoy.

You can make money with this niche knowledge, and the boorstrapper blog has a post today on how to do that. Raj has posted a great list with an easy step-by step guide on how to build your authority and it centers around setting up a website and blog, nothing could be easier, even if you are not a tech. geek. This type of small business venture is extremely ego-friendly too.

I find this kind of entrepreneurship especially useful for parents at home. Just think about the number of highly skilled moms and dads at home enjoying parenthood, but wishing at the same time they could stay on top of their professional game. This is a fun, flexible way to stay involved and great for any CV should you ever want to go back to work for someone else - although I doubt that very much.

Long before you make it into the top 100 blogs of just about anything, you will find people willing to pay you money for ads, white papers, speaking at events, invite you to product launches, etc. - you will be an authority in your field, it’s just a question of time and passion.

You do not necessarily have to be that good at writing itself (look at me!), use a spell-checker - but be passionate about your topic and people will read your blog and respond. It is the a great feeling to communicate with your readers world-wide.

One final point, blogs are being sold like hot-cakes for serious amounts of money these days, do not under estimate the selling potential of a venture like this!

So just one question then - what are you an Authority in - tell me, I will read it? Setup and running cost for this, $20/£10 per month. ST.

I was kindly invited by 3 Network & Skype to attend the launch of the new 3 Skypephone in London today.

The 3 Network and Skype have created a mobile phone handset with Skype button, so the user can make free Skype calls into the internet to any Skype user world-wide. To be precise, you can talk for 4000 minutes per month and send 10,000 chat messages per month free of charge, there is also no data charge for these Skype calls, which in my opinion is the real interesting part in this deal - more on that later. You just need to pay for your regular mobile phone calls, by contract or Pay as You Go.

For Skype, which is owned by eBay, this is a good deal as it allows Skype users to stay connected to Skype while on the move with one device, the new 3 Skypephone. As acting Skype CEO Michael van Swaaij said, “people will no longer “phone” each other, they will “Skype” each other over the 3 Network!”

Noteworthy here is that no SkypeIn and SkypeOut is currently available on the 3 Skypephone. SkypeIn will be available sometime in the future, whenever that will be? It was not quite clear why it is not available now. SkypeOut will not be available anytime soon.

Things got a little heated when Mr. van Swaaij, was asked about possible future outages, he said “This was not really an issue since the last outage was only 24 hours in four years and the service was free and not a replacement for a normal telephone!” This opinion was repeated by other Skype team members in later conversations. Personally I find this attitude disturbing and factually wrong, as the outage was around 48 hours.

For me the real news is that the 3 Network, owned by Hutchison Whampoa Limited, is leveraging their network in a new way, to attract subscriptions. 4,000 minutes and 10,000 chat messages free Skype traffic is a real commitment to their new open internet strategy, as CEO Kevin Russell put it. While the service is currently only available in the UK, Australia, Italy and Denmark, I would hope this brave move will reward the 3 Network with the deserved success. Even more interesting deals may be possible to make the 3 brand even more attractive, like delivering Web 2.0 applications over the mobile network at fixed prices or even for free.

It will be interesting to see, what the T-Mobiles, Vodafones, O2s of this world will make of this offer? The 3 Network will hope that they will not react soon, to give them more time to get a bigger market share, but time will tell.

I believe the appeal for endusers - especially the facebook generation - will be huge, free calls to friends and family via Skype has got to be a winner.
But more importantly for me - with my focus on small business and Skype’s apparent customer support issues - the 3 Skypephone has some growing up to do before I will consider it a small business tool.

While I personally may have a Skype dilemma, one thing is clear, today the mobile phone ball game has changed forever. ST.

Update Oct 31, 2007: See comments by other bloggers I met during the event and get their take on the phone:

• Gadget Venue.com
• BlogNation
• Tamebay
• dalelane
• 3MobileBuzz

It is a shame, that Technorati still has not manage to get things sorted out, it is not working again, and I wonder how long they can go on like this, before everyone just walks away?

• I emailed them a few days ago about missing links - no reply!
• They have been missing links for weeks and month!
• Today my blog is not being updated at all, even after manual ping requests!

The service level is bad, and the support level not much better - technorati what is going on? ST.

UPDATE Oct. 27, 2007 - 07:35 BST: Needless to say technorati is still not working, by accident I found this on their site:

Please excuse us! We are currently experiencing a few technical difficulties. All should be back up and running very soon. Thank you!

That’s it (?) - a another great example of customer care!

John Crickett compiled a “The Top 100 Business Blogs” list and I’m delighted to see, I made it to position 70 - he says:

“…… I’ve gathered together a list of what I believe are the Top 100 Business Blogs on the Internet. ….. The blogs are listed in order of their Technorati rankings (T), their Alexa rankings (A) are show as well. “

John defines a Business blog as “one that provides business ideas, advice, commentary or feedback on business in general.” He’s excluded sites that he feels are primarily a news based site or that is merely posting content from other sources and sites that are too new or have not been updated for over a month.

I would like to thank John for his work, here is his list - the rankings are correct at the time of posting:

1. Copy Blogger T: 36 A: 7,825
2. Seth Godin T: 47 A: 10,314
3. MicroPersuasion T: 169 A: 33,643
4. How To Change The World T: 180 A: 14,709
5. Freelance Switch T: 312 A: 10,638
6. A VC T: 1,226 A: 27,737
7. Rough Type T: 1,253 A: 69,429
8. Successful Blog T: 1,432 A: 44,935
9. Small Business Canada T: 1,517 A: N/A
10. David Allen, Getting Things Done T: 1,549 A: 53,592
11. Springwise T: 1,913 A: 23,858
12. Small Biz Trends T: 2,155 A: 63,364
13. Fast Company T: 2,310 A: 12,141
14. Instigator Blog T: 2,477 A: 58,816
15. Occam’s Razor T: 2,548 A: 45,541
16. Smart Wealthy Rich T: 2,879 A: 79,415
17. eMoms At Home T: 3,443 A: 27,125
18. Escape from Cubicle Nation T: 3,467 A: 202,751
19. The Marketing Technology Blog T: 3,496 A: 47,038
20. Business Pundit T: 3,724 A: 114,669
21. The Engaging Brand T: 4,404 A: 433,644
22. Influential Marketing Blog T: 4,779 A: 98,886
23. Drew McLellan - The Marketing Minute T: 4,820 A: 129,669
24. The Digerati Life T: 4,873 A: 53,353
25. Success From The Nest T: 4,908 A: 95,008
26. Business Blog Consulting T: 5,186 A:237,901
27. Church Of The Customer T: 5,576 A: 250,201
28. Todd And T: 5,643 A: 161, 019
29. Net Business Blog T: 5,936 A: 36,107
30. Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing T: 6,583 A: 92,784
31. Bootstrapper T: 7,497 A: 50,304
32. About.com Entrepreneurs T: 7,797 A: N/A
33. Blogtrepreneur T: 7,897 A: 53,011
34. Branding & Marketing T: 8,200 A: 710,326
35. Duct Tape Marketing T: 8,985 A: 31,714
36. Simplenomics T: 10,252 A:288,753
37. Freelance Folder T: 10,543 A: 63,590
38. Business Opportunities Weblog T: 11,018 A: 16,213
39. HELLO, My Name Is Blog T: 11,395 A: 422,218
40. Self Made Minds T: 11,704 A: 39,719
41. Sox First T: 12,894 A: 994,161
42. Young Go Getter T: 14,239 A: 45,373
43. Trust Matters T: 15,462 A: 58,403
44. Small Biz Survival T: A: 18,074 A: 875,069
45. The Personal MBA T: 19,207 A: 142,649
46. The Entrepreneurial Mind T: 21,958, A: 155,166
47. Blog Business World T: 23,025 A: 252,405
48. Working At Home On The Internet T: 23,247 A: 423,900
49. Biz Informer T: 24,631 A: 904,745
50. EmpowerWomenNow T: 25,837 A: 117,085
51. Biz Plan Hacks T: 27,048 A: 1,335,732
52. CreateBusinessGrowth T: 32,949 A:197,290
53. Business Opportunities and Ideas T: 33,205 A: 282,805
54. The KISS Business T: 35,496 A: 621,082
55. Startup Spark T: 35,747 A: 386,949
56. Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing Blog T: 41,092 A: 467,418
57. MindPetals T: 41,714 A: 128,487
58. Marketing Deviant T: 43,764 A: 281,072
59. Go Big Network T: 44,842 A: 25,303
60. Cool Business Ideas T: 49,679 A: 187,126
61. Neville’s Financial Blog T: 52,048 A: 140,296
62. Atlantic Canada’s Small Business Blog :T 52,589 A: 795,253
63. College Startup T: 53,143 A: 184,398
64. Reflections Of A Biz Driven Life T: 79,365 A: 361,398
65. Branding Blog T: 93,462 A: 1,110,518
66. Carnival Of The Capitalists T: 93,462 A: 1,897,375
67. Young Entrepreneur T: 104,933 A: 26,491
68. Marketing Genius T: 132,066 A: 2,222,119
69. Better For Business T: 137,774 A: 590,797
70. The Small Business Blog T: 140,824 A: 577,490
71. Focused Mind T: 162,356 A: 520,971
72. Small Business Tips T: 166,367 A: 74,005
73. Lifes Perspective T: 194,358 A: 179,801
74. Business Opportunities Blog T: 199,700 A: 832,678
75. The Savvy Entrepreneur T: 224,227 A: 391,147
76. Egg Marketing Blog T: 231,062 A: 740,867
77. The Franchise King Blog T: 273,240 A: 520,732
78. Small Business Entrepreneur T: 317,977 A: 883,094
79. The Great Startup Game T: 331,293 A: 421,492
80. Work At Home Start Up Guide T: 345,597 A: 1,190,178
81. Dorm Room Biz T: 360,865 A: 957,072
82. Startup Blog T: 377,609 A: 2,552,189
83. Open Inovators T: 395,824 A: 1,230,257
84. Get Entrepreneurial T: 437,475 A: 446,085
85. Bplans Blog T: 437,475 A: 1,373,525
86. Stuff4Restaurants T: 461,534 A: 298,982
87. Canadian Entrepreneur T: 484,461 A: 237,901
88. Strategize T: 487,964 A: 2,856,731
89. The Marketing Spot T: 587,893 A: 2,550,840
90. The Ravings Of A Mad Entrepreneurial Scientist T: 587,893 A: 566,836
91. More Than We Know T: 871,446 A: 2,964,420
92. Solo Entrepreneur T: 1,212,405 A: 471,491
93. Stuff4Business T: 1,391,575 A: 298,982
94. Consultant Journal T: 4,262,598 A: 667,342
95. Startup Addict Musings T: 4,446,976 A: 1,03390,690
96. Edith Yeung T: 8,911,336 A: 125,290
97. Boostrap Me T: 8,911,336 A: 550,348
98. The Selling Sherpa T: Not Listed A: 772,292
99. BizzBangBuzz T: Not Listed A: 1,484,797
100. The Freestyle Entrepreneur T: Not Listed A: 1,519,518

This little list should keep you busy over the weekend, go and have a look. I’ll be checking out the competition. ST.

Again I had several questions regarding “crisis planning“, “disaster planning“, “data-security” and “data-backup“, so I will cover all of them in this post.

When I started thinking about WinWeb’s Small Business Infrastructure, we always knew we had to do something about data-security and data-backup. The truth of the matter is that most small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, do not have a coherent data-security and back-up strategy. To be perfectly blunt about the subject, it is not made easier by confusing technology and more to the point terminology, that even we have difficulty understanding some time. So I believe:

We should not expect business start-ups and small business in general to be accountants, bookkeepers, IT specialist, lawyers, marketing & PR gurus and so on. We should provide small business with an infrastructure in which it can concentrate on core business tasks, while at the same time enabling the business owner to stay informed of all relevant business facts like cash flow, sales, HR issues, tax position and more. This will enable him / her to make informed decisions, maybe with the help of an external advisor.

I formulated at the beginning that one of the benefits of using WinWeb’s OnlineOffice would be:

No security problems. No business interruption problem.
Your data is continuously backed up onto multiple RAID-5 data servers in multiple physically and network secure data centres - if that is not enough you can make a copy of your data anytime onto your PC or a CD. Should your computer crash or get stolen - no problem, just log on to another computer and keep working - can your competition do that?

So that takes care of the data security and back-up problem. To give you a little example, one of our clients is a web-designer for a niche market, he lives in an area which was flooded earlier in the year. His computer equipment gone, but all his data, addresses, email and work was safely stored in our OnlineOffice. He moved to his parents for a time and was back working within a few hours - not everybody was that lucky.

A burglary or fire would do the same - and can be dealt with quiet easily. This is not so easy when you have a business that manufactures goods, even when you do it from the kitchen table, you will incur “business interruption“. You will need a plan for that too - insurance may be the first step.

But loosing customers and with that revenue is not something an insurance is going to cover you for. So you need to plan ahead, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is there somewhere else I could work from temporarily? Parents, friends, short term office hire, etc.
• How long until I can get my raw-materials again? Maybe you should require your supplier to get a certain amount in stock for you, make a contract.
• Could you hire machinery until you can replace your own? Find suppliers now.
• Could my staff work from home if necessary? Online technology will help with that.
• Could I outsource some work temporarily? Have a look at virtual assistants in your area.

There are other questions you could ask yourself, just take 30 minutes, get a piece of paper and imagine your business, office, house, kitchen just burned down - trust me - the questions will come, and so will the answers. Oh, just to mention it, a disaster plan in a burned out house is of no value to anyone, keep it online or safe elsewhere.

Answer: YES, a small business needs a disaster plan, just like any other business. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below - I’d be most grateful.

I’m answering three questions here, emailed to me during last week, so excuse the long headline. I will give examples and will let you fill in the rest for yourself.

What are “Fixed Costs”?

Fixed costs are operating cost that are incurred when providing necessities for doing business and have no relation to the volume of production and sales. Examples are rent, some employee costs, property taxes, telephone, heating and interest/bank expense.

As opposed to “Variable Costs“, they only occur in proportion to activity within the business and hopefully that will lead to sales and revenue.

Why should I keep my “Fixed Costs” as low as possible?

When I talk about outsourcing, I’m talking about changing fixed cost into variable cost. Let me give you an obvious example to make my point.

Let us assume you have hired someone to answer the telephone, this person cost you $1,000 per month, and on average you get about 5 calls per day. Most of these calls are not even from clients, or you could take the calls while you are in the office. This $1,000 is a fixed cost, no matter how many calls you get, or if you are in the office or not.

So you outsource it to a virtual assistant, now you pay $100 per month and that includes 50 calls received, each extra call is $1 per call. The $100 are still fixed cost, but you have lowered your monthly fixed outgoings by $900. And depending how often you are in or out of your office, the 50 inclusive calls are probably enough to cover your needs. Combine this with online technology and you can stay in touch anywhere and anytime.

Should that not be the case, then you have “variable costs” of $1 per call, which means you are out of the office, working or enjoying life while it is quiet, for example during holiday season. You phone is professionally looked after in any case.

Outsourcing, bootstrapping (cutting costs), it all means the same for any small business and start-up business, like SOHO-, SME, SMB-, Micro-, Lifestyle-, Home-, DIY-, Hobby-, Boomer- or Personal business, like professional, contractors, freelancer, self-employed, sole-trader and virtual assistants, more money for you, less distractions, and a more recession proof small business, that is why business planning is so important.

Answer: Keep your “Fixed Costs” down. Stay mean and lean, while enjoying your work and life. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below - I’d be most grateful.