A duck and a dream

I had the pleasure of watching arguably the world’s best magician David Copperfield live in Melbourne recently. The magic itself was awesome...

17 reasons you should always carry a book with you

1. As someone who used to spend a lot of time waiting for real estate clients to show up – I know that clients / appointments / people in general are often late...

Reality Television your way to Success

I think I’m one of the only “motivational speakers” (not that I call myself that) who will openly admit that I watch television. I watch bad television too… even… dare I say it… reality television.

Where is the love?!

One of my businesses, Elephant Property, works in the notoriously under appreciated category of residential property management. The old adage in property management...

The power of the word

I’m quite distraught. I was eating my personal trainer approved afternoon snack of 12 almonds (my suggestion of 12 Tim Tams: not approved)...

Showing posts with label start up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label start up. Show all posts

Monday, May 3, 2010

Your Business Idea Sucks

I get pitched business ideas all the time. Some I think are great, some I wonder how many cocktails the person had before coming up with the idea, some I think are a great start looking for a unique twist and others I think downright suck.

Recently I was introduced to Fiverr by Lara Solomon (@LAROO). The simple premise of the site is that there's a whole bunch of people there who'll do things for $5. Some of them border on the bizarre (I'll be your Facebook girlfriend for a week and make all your friends jealous) but many seem, at first glance, like they could actually be useful (I'll design you a custom MySpace profile).

Long story short, I've become a bit of an overnight fan of this site, tweeting my little heart out (@kirstydunphey) about it after having purchased three different things yesterday and already receiving my first job (five photographs put on transparent backgrounds for @Baby_Teresa) done perfectly and in around an hour after I booked and paid my US$5. We'll see how my cartoon and video, currently on order, go.

My point is not to rave on about Fiverr though - despite how novel and great an idea I think it is.

My point is that if the people who started Fiverr had pitched the idea to me - I might have told them it sucked.

My first thought would be - who would do anything for $5?

And of course, I would have been wrong (check out the site to see how many people are prepared to do a wide range of things for $5!)

So the next time someone tells you your business idea sucks, tell them to bugger off! It doesn't matter if everyone doesn't "get" your idea. It matters that you see a market, it matters that you have a vision and it matters that you're prepared to get off your butt and do something about it.

PS. if the guy who started FedEx had listened to his college professor he may never have started that either.
PPS. And here's my video which has just arrived (bear in mind it only cost a fiverr!)

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By Kirsty Dunphey with 1 comment

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Book Review - Zero To One Million by Ryan Allis


Packed full of content Ryan’s book is a nice combination of his story and his “how to”. More slanted towards those who want to take a business from start up to a medium sized exit strategy (as opposed to small / micro business) it’s easy to read and has some great exercises. My only criticism was that I wanted to hear more about Ryan’s business icontact and less about the company he was working in as teen. When you read it, grab a pen and paper though as the ideas come fast and you’ll get the most by writing a to do list as you go.


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By Kirsty Dunphey with 1 comment

Monday, June 23, 2008

Book Review - Startup Nation by Jeff and Rich Sloan

Entreprenurial Advice from the Nice Guys Next Door

Jeff and Rich Sloan, although I've never met them or spoken with them, come across as nice down to earth guys (who just happen to have done some pretty amazing things in the business world). Startup nation is easy to read, offers compelling and unique examples of both their own success and other's to illustrate their points and has a really friendly tone to it. Reading in Australia, there were a few pages that were quite USA-centric that weren't of much relevance to me, but a few out of 275 pages of quality isn't much to worry about. Useful, practical, inspiring and all around great reading for the entrepreneur / inventor or business person inside us all.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

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