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The Almost Breathless Question

October 3, 2008 By James Quinn-Hawtin Leave a Comment

What do you do?

My personal trainers at Best Practice, Anthony and Jeames, are both as passionate about e-commerce (or “online business”) as I am so we have a lot to talk about once they’ve put me through my paces on a Tuesday and Friday morning.

Anthony and I have been talking, for a while, about how to answer the question, “What do you do?”  Up until recently my uninspiring answer has been, “I make websites.”

While it is a concise description of the end-product of a typical project here at Webnerd, it does nothing to explain how we differ from every other Joe who makes websites, nor does it inspire any further discussion on the topic.

So Anthony and I have given it some thought and come up with the following response:

“I help businesses to understand and then implement the power of the Internet to increase their profits.”

You then, almost breathlessly, ask, “How do you do this, James?”

And from there a conversation may bloom.

Well, hopefully!  I’ll give it a go and make tweaks as necessary.

How do you reply when someone asks you, “What do you do?”  Is it compelling and does it inspire conversation?

Let me ask you something else:  is the answer to this question conveyed in a concise and compelling way on the front page of your website?

Go ahead and check right now :)

Wishing you happiness and success in your online and offline endeavours

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: Business Networking, E-Commerce, Online Business

10 of the Coolest E-Commerce Sites

September 29, 2008 By James Quinn-Hawtin 3 Comments

As part of my job teaching E-Commerce at QUT’s Faculty of Information Technology I get to spend time investigating interesting and inspirational (okay, “COOL!”) E-commerce websites. It’s not unusual that, in the course of teaching, my students show me things that I’ve never seen before, too.

The following is a list of ten of the coolest E-Commerce sites that I’ve seen, some have been introduced to me just this year by some of my students. In sharing these with you I imagine that perhaps you will discover something new that is useful to you and/or something that will spark some thinking about what you could do to leverage the Web to streamline your business processes and/or to make more money!

Animoto (animoto.com)

Upload photos, select one of the songs from the library (or upload your own) and hit the button. It will do the rest. Using some clever analysis and randomising algorithms it will create a video clip using your photos and the music selected.

How they make money: You can play with Animoto for free and produce 15 second video clips. To get full-length video clips you have to pay a small annual membership fee. DVD quality costs a little more again. Commercial usage requires purchasing a commercial license.


Basecamp (basecamphq.com)

Basecamp is an online project management and collaboration tool. The company that created it, 37 Signals, has a philosophy of keeping software and interfaces as simple as possible.

How they make money: There is a free 30-day trial that will allow you a taste of the service. After that you can choose from three different monthly plans.


Blurb (blurb.com)

Download Blurb’s book-designing software and you’ll be designing your first photography/keep-sake book in minutes

How they make money: Once you’ve designed your book you can submit it to them, select your book finishing options, and they’ll create and ship the book to you.


[Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: animoto, basecamp, blurb, click business cards, E-Commerce, etsy, facebook, freshbooks, istockphoto, pistal clothing, whereis

“Would you like $54,000 passive income with that?”

September 4, 2008 By James Quinn-Hawtin Leave a Comment

** Thank you to those generous people who sponsored me in the “Hike for the Homeless” walk last week.  I am told that $6,263 was receipted (with more dribbling in).  This money is being used to pay for the running of the 139 Club, a drop-in centre offering support for people in adverse personal situations. **

MoneyHave you ever thought to yourself, “If everyone in Australia gave me a paltry $1, I’d be a multi-millionaire”?

It might have then occurred to you that you don’t really need $20 million dollars.  So you fantasise: “If even only 52,000 gave me a paltry $1 per year I’d have $1000/week to easily pay the bills… and then some.”

The logistics of collecting $1 from 52,000 people might be a little daunting at this point but you might starting thinking that this is starting to enter the realms of possibility with a little extra thought.

So then you think: “Okay, I might be able to convince the average person or business to part with $30/month (or $1/day) for something they’re interested in or need.  If I had 150 customers I’d generate $54,000 per year!”

150 x $30 x 12 = $54,000Then the complexities of income verses profit come into it and you might decide that you actually need $30/month in profit.  No problem, really.  Just something to factor in.

Do you think that you could find 150 customers to pay you a little over $30/month for something they want or need? Perhaps an online service with no physical component? It could be an online course, membership site or some other Internet-based service like online survey hosting. Or maybe an online shop selling physical products (with a $30 profit margin) on a subscription model.

We’re talking pretty small numbers here (150 and $30) but, through the magic of primary school level multiplication, it adds up very quickly.  (And, consider that the number of customers required plummets to 50 if you generate $90/month profit per client.)

Come on, stop imagining that this is too hard and give it a bit of thought.  What do you know that you could teach via an online course?  What online service could you set up (or resell)?  What are you passionate about?  Could you make a membership-based website on that subject?  (Have you been dreaming about it for years and not done anything about it?? You know who you are!)

Feel free to send me an email and bounce ideas off me. I’ll share with you what I’m doing. I’ve already started: 148 customers to go!

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: E-Commerce, make money online, passive income

Interview with David Wright of Simply Budgets

July 24, 2008 By James Quinn-Hawtin Leave a Comment

Earlier this week I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity of interviewing David Wright of Simply Budgets. We discussed his software, his business, how he made $500,000 worth of sales within the space of three months and how his website is a critical factor in the success of his business.

There are some fantastic gems of knowledge and advice in this interview that have inspired me to re-shape some of my own online and offline efforts.

Listen to the interview (30 minutes)

Download the MP3 for your iPod or other MP3 player

Download the PDF transcript

Buy Simply Budgets

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: David Wright, E-Commerce, Simply Budgets