Protecting and Running Your Business: Marcus Powe

Protecting and Running
Your Business
Marcus Powe
Entrepreneur In Residence RMIT
12 June 2013
© 2013 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Public 2
Family
Friends
Entrepreneurs
Venture Capitalists
Banks
Governments
Keeping ahead of the competition
Trademarks
Registered designs
Patents
Alliances
Or simply staying ahead
Too often we concentrate on
the product or service without
giving enough thought to the
processes we need to deliver.
Process
The Pitch
The Pitch
Phase 1 Phase 1
Is
better
than
To persuade the board to commit To get board support for phase one
$50,000
for phase one this month
T,T,T
Butterflies
Confidence – Through
In control? Skills – Through practice practice
Relationship with the Never forget – It’s always about the

audience – be yourself customer or audience ‘What’s in it for
them?’
Description of the
Business Concept
& Business
The Opportunity
and the Strategy
The Target Market

The Plan and Projections
Executive Summary
The competitive
advantages
The numbers
The Team
The Customer Thinking
How does the product or
service CHANGE the way the
customers do certain things?
What is ‘special’ about the

service or product?
What is the opportunity?
Can you prove it?
Positive Steps
Involve all the Management Team
Be logical, concise, comprehensive and

Readable
Demonstrate commitment by the time,

energy and financial effort to complete the
plan.
Point out the risks and outline the

assumptions.
Grew up in Australia & Hong Kong
Started using computers at age 8
Redesigned the computing systems at his

school by age 15
Studied at Monash University, Australia
First Job – programming for internet startup

Outblaze
Co-founded X Integration
m.enger@xi.com.au District Commissioner – Scouts Australia
• 2001 – Returned to Australia and studied at Monash
University – Bachelor of Computer Science & Cisco CCNA
• 2002 – Joined the Scout Movement as a Leader
• 2002 – UseOz.com (ISP) - Network Engineer & Systems
Programmer
• 2003 - Netcruiser started (myself technical side, business
partner sales & running business)
• 2003 – Finished University
• 2004 – Started working on my Cisco CCNP
Business Partner going
through marriage breakdown
and financial issues
I had to choose – try to rebuild

or move on
• In 2005 I had a company name and potentially clients from the old
business who I had nothing but a technical relationship with
• I had $2,000 in my personal bank account, a credit card, recently
married and my wife was still studying and working casually
• I had no idea how to run a business or how to even attract new
business
• The customers had bought internet services through the previous
business and were about to be turned off as the previous
business had folded
• If I wanted to obtain these customers, I needed to ensure that the
impact on their business was going to be as painless as possible
so they would not want to move elsewhere
• I quickly realized that even though I only spoke to these
customers about their issues, they trusted me when I spoke to
them and they were receptive when told them what was
happening and what I could do to help them
• Technically I knew what they needed, all I needed to do is migrate
them over and continue to support them in order to gain them as
a customer.
• IT Consulting Business based in Melbourne, Australia
• Goal – to provide IT solutions to our customers to support their
businesses and help them grow
• What we do: IT Support, Network Design, Web System Design,
Virtualization and moving your business to the cloud
• After a few years I had managed to grow the business, recapture
some customers who we had lost in the 12 months leading to the
end of Netcruiser as well as pickup several new significant clients
• At a certain point I realized that I was happy dealing with
customers, but the paperwork with running a business consuming
large portions of my time
• The business had reached a point where it could not grow further
and I had to decide if I wanted to run a business or be a one man
band
• Did I want to take on staff?
• Where would my staff work from?
• Employed a friend as a book keeper and trained her up
• Employed my brother to assist with IT works
• Working out of my 2 bedroom unit.
• My friend who I had employed was struggling with the work and I
was consuming more of my time doing the work then before they
came on board
• My brother wasn’t getting enough hours so I lined up some
additional work for him at one of my customers
• My brother decided he liked the other job better and left!
• I was back at square one
• My house was my business, I could not escape
• Be careful employing friends, if you have to terminate them it is
very awkward!
• Employing family can be a good and a bad thing!
• Bringing on someone and training them up is good and it is
cheaper when you look at the wage, but you need to consider the
time and effort you need to put in and what that will cost you.
• It is hard to have a work life balance if your workplace is your
house.
• If I was serious about growing I needed to take this seriously and
stop avoiding the risks
• Book keeper of one of my clients was going off to study and
looking for part time work, offered her a job working for me and
they took over all the accounting side of my business
• I moved the business out of home in mid 2009 to my first office
• I employed my first full time IT person in late 2009
• I employed my second IT staff member in 2012
• What do we mean by Protecting and Running your Business?
• Employing & Managing Staff
• Accounts & Finance
• Insurance
• Dealing with Customers
• The changing world
Employing &
Managing Staff
This is the hardest thing you
will ever do
Can you afford to?
How do you find the right
person?
Interviews
Making the decision?
Risk Management
Motivate them
Encourage them
Look after them
Listen to them
Policies & Procedures
BYO device
Working from home
Protecting your intellectual
property
Consult the employment
contract
Talk to a lawyer
Ensure you comply with the
law
Treat the person with dignity
Accounts & Finance
Talk to an accountant
Understand your tax
obligations
Choose a finance package
Choose a package that
meets your needs
Try and find one that can
streamline your processes
and support your business
Talk to your accountant
about what they support
Don’t just use what
everyone else is using
What services do you
need?
Shop around
Accepting Credit Cards
Make sure they are
qualified
Good customer service
skills – they will be chasing
your customers for money
A good book keeper will
save you hours of time
Stay on top of your tax
obligations
If you are not sure, ask
If you have an issue contact
your accountant
Ensure you regularly
comply, it helps if something
gets missed or if you have
issues
Ensure you understand
what the state of your
business is
Who do you owe money to
Who owes you money
Insurance
Some types of insurance
you are required to have by
law
Other types are optional,
but you need to consider
what will happen if
something goes wrong.
Public Liability
Product Liability
Professional Indemnity
Director Insurance
Fraud Insurance
Business Disruption
Insurance
Others?
Dealing with
customers
Make sure the customer
understands what is being
delivered and the costs
Consider written
agreements?
Maybe just a rate card?
Make sure your payment
terms are clearly
understood
Make sure you send the
invoice
Does your invoice clearly
indicate how to pay
Send statements to remind
them and so they can check
if something is missing from
their system (i.e. lost
invoice)
Call and chase them
Enforce your payment
terms – do not let them get
too overdue
If the payment is being
withheld due to an issue,
make sure you deal with the
issue quickly
Do not deal with angry
customers via email –
pickup the phone or go visit
Give them time to vent if
required – Active listening
Work with them to find a
solution that meets both
yours and their goals where
possible
Ensure your terms of trade
indicate that the goods
remain yours until paid in
full
Do not put all your eggs in
one basket
The changing world
The world changes, make
sure your business does too
Encourage your staff to
come up with ideas and to
innovate – they are your
greatest asset
2003 – completed study at Uni and got my Cisco CCNA
through the Network Academy program at Monash
University
2005 – Started X Integration
2013 - Business has gone from $240k approx. turnover in
2006 to an estimated 1 Million dollar turnover in 2012/13.
2013+ - Challenge is to continue to evolve and to move
from working in my business to managing my business
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 59
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Protecting and Running

Or simply staying ahead

Relationship with the Never forget – It’s always about the

The Target Market

What is ‘special’ about the

What is the opportunity?

Can you prove it?

Involve all the Management Team

Be logical, concise, comprehensive and

Demonstrate commitment by the time,

Point out the risks and outline the

Started using computers at age 8

Redesigned the computing systems at his

Studied at Monash University, Australia

First Job – programming for internet startup

m.enger@xi.com.au District Commissioner – Scouts Australia

I had to choose – try to rebuild

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