NEW ZEALAND’S E-MAG FOR ENTREPRENEURS AND BUSINESS OWNERS
July 2014
Simon Slade
We interview
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of Doubledot Media
Interviews with other World-Class #nzentrepreneurs
Spotting the Gap
How to have better business ideas
Branding Blunders Bevan Hockly
Taking the Plunge
Latest news from Young Enterprise Trust Page Thirty
www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz
iP is about igniting passion Great ideas shape our world if they are harnessed and protected in the right way. At AJ Park, we work with you to understand your business and where you want to take it. Our experts specialise in helping you identify, protect, commercialise, and manage your intellectual property. If you’re looking for clear IP advice, call us today. 0800 257 275 I www.ajpark.com I New Zealand + Australia
AJ Park is about iP • intellectual property • igniting passion • ideas pervading 2 • www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz
ABOUT / Short and sharp, New Zealand Entrepreneur is a free e-magazine delivering thought
CONTENTS
provoking and enlightening articles, industry news and information to forward-thinking entrepreneurs.
EDITOR / Nick Harley ART DIRECTOR / Jodi Olsson GROUP EDITOR / Nick Harley CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER /
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From the Editor
Alastair Noble CONTENT ENQUIRIES /
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Spotting the Gap How to have better business ideas
Phone Richard on (09) 522 7257 or email richardl@espiremedia.com ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES / Phone Richard on (09) 522 7257 or
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Interview: Simon Slade of Doubledot Media
email richardl@espiremedia.com ADDRESS / NZ Entrepreneur, C/- Espire Media, PO Box 99758,
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Ecosystem: Generator
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Branding Blunders
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Young Enterprise Trust
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Interview: Bevan Hockley of Dry Living Limited Parting Shot
Newmarket, Auckland 1151, NZ WEBSITE / nzentrepreneur.co.nz
ISSN 2253-5683 NZ Entrepreneur is a GREEN MAG created and distributed without the use of paper so it’s environmentally friendly. Please think before you print. Thank you!
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EDITORIAL
IT’S A FUNNY thing this whole failure rates we highlighted in last month’s issue. The reality ‘entrepreneur’ business, eh? is that entrepreneurship is a I often wonder if there is career in itself, and everyone’s any set formula that can, if journey is vastly different. followed, equal success. As much as the various courses; programs; accelerators; incubators; articles; books; magazines and blogs each try to teach people valuable skills and lessons – they can offer a lot of noise to the ‘you-shouldbe-doing-this’ mix.
Learn any new skill and it takes time to get it right; plus of course many years of experience before you’re feeling confident in yourself.
✉
Remember, there are no overnight successes, quick wins or miracles to this game. Get your hands dirty; have a I’ll always stand by the fact go, take a few leaps into the that the best way to learn is unknown, and most of all, by doing rather than thinking always be a good person. The about something. It would be great if there was a rest will take care of itself. standard course or tutorial that Be prepared to play the long game and you’ll get there. everyone could follow –that would certainly put a big dent in those early-stage business
Nick
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Our small business team is available 7am-7pm Monday to Friday, and 8am-2pm on weekends. bnz.co.nz/smallbusiness *Based on the total amount of fees that a business will save over 12 months if it takes up all of the features of our small business package. Businesses can obtain any or all of the features of the Small Business Edge for free, except for the independent business assessment which is free for businesses that take up a minimum of 2 other Small Business Edge features. Product and fee waivers only available for 12 months. Simply make your first purchase within 12 months of your credit card account opening to get the interest rate of 2.99% per annum. After 12 months from the date of your first purchase, any outstanding balances will revert to the current credit card interest rate. Other fees may apply.
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BUSINESS LESSONS
Spotting the Gap How to have better business ideas By Richard Liew
Had a great idea? Cool! But think carefully before investing your life savings trying to turn it into a business.
THEY SAY THAT ideas are a dime a dozen, and it’s true – there’s certainly no shortage of people with good business ideas out there. But having an idea – and then having an idea that will enable you to build a great business – these are two completely different matters. Just ask anyone who’s tried to start a business! The two most common traps that new entrepreneurs fall into is that they either:
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So where do the best ideas for new businesses come from?
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Invest everything they’ve got into the first idea they have (because they are only just learning how to come up with them) – rather than being patient and waiting for a better opportunity. Or
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They get so excited about their new found ability to come up with ideas that they try and run with every idea they have! Both of these traps can be a recipe for disaster, and help to explain why many successful entrepreneurs fail again and again before they achieve real success. But as time goes by, and they learn from their mistakes, they get better and better at choosing (and executing) the right ideas to act on.
The first step is to understand where money comes from. Money follows value. We earn money by exchanging something of value for money. In your job you are exchanging your time, sweat, brainpower or other skills for money. For example, if you’re only providing $20 worth of value per hour to the market, you will earn $20 per hour. On the other hand, if you want to earn $200 per hour, then you will need to learn how to provide $200 worth of value per hour. The more value you can provide to the market, the more you earn, and it’s exactly the same when you’re running your own business. So, first things first. Your idea must provide something of value to the market. If it doesn’t, you’ll have a hard time getting people to give you money for it.
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“I’ve found that the best ideas come from finding a problem & solving it, or by finding a need and filling it.” How do you do this?
Well, I’ve found that the best ideas come from finding a problem and solving it, or by finding a need and filling it. By coming up with a solution to a problem that people want to solve, you will be ensuring that your solution is valuable. The bigger the problem you’re solving the more valuable the solution. For example, in my second business, a sales training and recruitment firm, we identified that sales managers are expected to recruit great salespeople, but aren’t being given any training or instruction on how to do it in the first place.
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As a consequence they are left to fumble along, learning solely by trial and error, costing the companies they work for millions of dollars in lost sales opportunities, recruitment costs and staff turnover. To solve this problem, we created a full-day sales recruitment workshop, which managers could attend for less than the cost of a Situations Vacant ad in the newspaper. The mistake many people make is that they do it backwards. They create or invent something and then try and figure out what problems it will solve, rather than finding a problem to solve and then coming up with a way to solve it. So how do you find a problem to solve?
Many people start businesses after being spurred into action by something that annoys them, or to fill a need they’ve experienced in their own lives. You’ve probably heard the urban legend of how Sam Morgan founded Trademe. co.nz after not being able to find a second hand toaster for
his flat. He got sick of ringing classified advertisers in the newspaper only to find out that what they were selling was already sold. (Apologies Sam if this isn’t exactly how it happened, but it makes for good reading. RL) But what if you can’t think of any problems that really annoy you?
Well, the next best way to find problems (what I call ‘spotting a gap’) is to simply throw yourself into doing something you’re passionate about and ask yourself how you might be able to improve it. The thing with ‘gaps’ is that in order to spot them, you need to be close enough to see them. Think of your standard Kiwi wooden fence – the kind separating hundreds of thousands of backyards
up and down the country. Looking at the fence up close it’s easy to see the 4mm gaps between planks. Look at a fence from a few hundred metres away and spotting the gaps is a lot harder. For example, I have absolutely no interest and know nothing about the industrial robotics industry. Therefore, it’s almost impossible for me to identify what might be missing, or what might need improving in that space – I’m simply too far away from the industry to spot any gaps. On the other hand, I have invested a lot of time, energy and passion into the sales profession, and because of my involvement in the industry, I still see opportunities to add value to the sales profession everywhere.
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Another good example is a friend of mine, Paul Manning. At age 22, Paul founded Auckland based advertising company Metromedia. He started Metromedia when, as an advertising sales rep, he realised there was no fullservice advertising company offering ‘end-to-end’ services to New Zealand’s small and medium-sized businesses. Paul was named New Zealand’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006 and Metromedia was acquired a few years later by advertising giant Ogilvy. This is one of the reasons they say you need to find out what your passion is and do it. If you do this, and you commit yourself to being the best in your field, you’ll soon spot plenty of areas for improvement. If you try and spot problems and gaps in a field you’re not passionate about: a. you won’t be able to see as many opportunities because you really don’t care; and b. you certainly won’t care enough to build a business to solve it.
This method of spotting gaps may take you a bit longer than simply sitting down one day and trying to come up with a list of things to invent, but when you listen to the stories of many successful entrepreneurs, you find that their business ideas were born out of personal frustration at a lack of products or services, or noticing what was missing in an industry. The saying, “necessity is the mother of invention” encapsulates this concept nicely. So there you have two clues about where great business ideas come from. You’ll notice that these methods are quite different from simply coming up with ideas for the sake of having ideas. By starting with a problem you’ll ensure that your solution is creating value.•
Richard Liew is CEO and founder of Espire Media. He blogs regularly about entrepreneurship at www.richardliew.co.nz
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www.nzentrepreneur.co.nz • 11
INTERVIEW
10Questions with
Simon Slade
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TELL US ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS(ES) – WHAT IS IT EXACTLY THAT YOU DO? I am the CEO and co-founder of SaleHoo, Affilorama and their parent company, Doubledot Media. SaleHoo is an online wholesale directory of over 8,000 pre-screened suppliers providing 1.5 million products. Small businesses and individual sellers turn to SaleHoo to find trusted suppliers for goods to sell online. We also provide online sales data to identify trends, e-commerce training and tactics, and a platform for building your own online store.
then joined forces with Mark Ling, an Internet marketing entrepreneur, to create SaleHoo Wholesale Directory, which reached 10,000 members just eight months after its creation.
Affilorama is an educational and SAAS site for affiliate marketers. We provide free access to a complete suite of video training material, as well as offering a web application for managing and marketing websites.
HOW DID YOU SURVIVE THOSE EARLY DAYS? DID YOU HAVE ANY MONEY? DID YOU MAKE ANY SACRIFICES? HOW DID YOU PAY THE BILLS AND KEEP GROWING YOUR BUSINESS? Mark Ling and I each contributed $500 to a company bank account to start SaleHoo. The majority of our initial expenses, including Web hosting, office space, Internet fees, etc – we either begged, borrowed the money or promised an “IOU”. Whatever we couldn’t pay for with one of those methods, we paid using our $1,000 company fund. Such humble beginnings really
WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND THE BUSINESS? HOW DID IT GET STARTED AND WHY? The idea for SaleHoo arose through selling on Trade Me. After receiving multiple inquiries about how I find suppliers, I realised the need for an outlet for online retailers to find trusted suppliers. I
Affilorama spawned from Mark’s online experience. After making a living online for years, Mark helped family and friends do the same, which made him realise there was a demand for teaching affiliate marketing. He created the first video lessons, and from there we launched Affilorama.
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motivated us to complete the work on our website so that we could launch it, generate revenue and start paying our bills. Even with such a provocative financial incentive to speed up the process, it took us eight months before I started earning a salary. For the first four months, I worked on SaleHoo in the nights and evenings after my full-time job at Hewlett-Packard. For the next four months, all our profits went toward paying bills.
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HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED ANY BAD TIMES? WHAT WAS THE MOST PAINFUL LESSON YOU’VE HAD TO LEARN IN BUSINESS? Even if you have a great idea, you have to develop a plan for monetising it before it can become a successful business. I still think Zeadoo, a personalised start Web page that we created, was a good idea, but it lacked the proper strategy to support it and a method for earning revenue. In general, I try to avoid relying on advertising as a source of revenue because it demands such a large audience to make it worth the investment. From this experience, I always keep in mind, “How will I get users to pay me for my service, or where will I be clipping the ticket?”
HOW HAVE YOU MANAGED TO GET CUSTOMERS? HOW DO YOU MARKET YOUR PRODUCTS AND WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR OTHERS AROUND MARKETING? In this age of DVRs, and with so many online ads, users train themselves to ignore them, content marketing breaks through the clutter like no other advertising method. With content advertising, potential customers actually want to read your message. In exchange for useful information they actually want, readers learn about your product or service and often become a customer. It’s a win-win, because our readers learn something and we earn a loyal customer.
DO ENTREPRENEURS NEED LOTS OF MONEY OR EXTERNAL FUNDING TO BUILD A BIG BUSINESS? ANY ADVICE FOR OTHERS LOOKING TO RAISE FUNDING, OR FOR THOSE WHO HAVE LITTLE MONEY TO GET GOING? SaleHoo was started with just $1,000, which demonstrates that a company can be launched with very limited funding. If you do decide to seek external funding, I recommend gathering a strong team of advisors to ensure that you maximise your funds and avoid any frivolous spending.
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WHAT ARE THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT BUSINESS SKILLS YOU WOULD ADVISE UP AND COMING ENTREPRENEURS TO DEVELOP? First and most importantly, hone your HR/people skills. Business owners spend much of their time managing others, and if you want to hire the best, people skills are key. Second, learn everything you can about sales and marketing. Your company will depend on active sales and promotion, and in the beginning you may be the only employee, so the person selling your product or service will be you! Third, develop negotiation skills, which is essential if you plan to secure outside funding.
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WHAT DOES SUCCESS MEAN TO YOU AND WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO THINK ABOUT WHILST BUILDING A BUSINESS? To me, success is seeing our customers thrive and successfully build their own businesses, which is the foundation of our company mission.
To me, success is seeing our customers thrive and successfully build their own businesses, which is the foundation of our company mission
WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE THINGS NEW ZEALAND NEEDS TO IMPROVE UPON WHEN IT COMES TO CREATING MORE SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES? Overall, New Zealand provides great nourishment for local businesses, but if I were to pick one area of improvement, it would be hiring and recruiting staff. In this global age, it’s almost as easy to hire an employee 5,000 miles away as it is to hire someone five miles away, which means Kiwis need to be the best of the best, not only in New Zealand but internationally.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU? WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF AND THE BUSINESS IN FIVE YEARS’ TIME? In five years, I see myself continuing to grow with SaleHoo and Affilorama as I help them expand, improve and better serve our customers. I truly love what I do, so my passion is helping my businesses and customers thrive. We have some big plans for SaleHoo, such as more deeply integrating the directory with the suppliers listed. Customers will be able to contact suppliers directly through the site, receive instant quotes for products, and send stock to fulfilment centres. I would also like to see SaleHoo integrated with the top sales channels, such as eBay, Amazon and other online stores, so customers can source and sell through SaleHoo as a “single solution.” •
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ECOSYSTEM
Generator Where work and life meet
THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS saw companies downsizing and trying to use space more efficiently. Entrepreneur and Founder/ CEO of Generator, Ryan Wilson, saw an opportunity to provide a workplace for small businesses and those working from home, as well as companies looking for facilities not available from traditional serviced office spaces. Generator was born in 2011, and creates an environment
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that allows people to share ideas and experience a sense of belonging. It has the infrastructure and support services to allow businesses to focus on what’s important. Generator is a serviced office, business club and functions venue located in Britomart, Auckland Central offering a unique combination of serviced and shared office space, including private suites,
Francesca - General Manager
Generator was born in 2011, & creates an environment that allows people to share ideas & experience a sense of belonging.
permanent desks, hot-desking and casual membership, all with a sense of community. “We’re not only a serviced office space, we also provide a gorgeous venue for events. From corporate meetings to product launches, photo shoots, weddings, Christmas parties – we have a variety of spaces for every occasion. Not to mention great event and bar staff, delicious food, and a great location right in the heart of Auckland’s Britomart Precinct.” says Francesca, Generator General Manager.
In November 2012, Generator opened the doors to Generator Northern Steamship; a private sanctuary and collection of enclosed offices, finished to a world class standard. Their residents require everything that Generator can offer (support, networking, permanent office space) in an intimate and exclusive environment. Generator NSS is based in the beautiful heritage space that lies inside the Northern Steamship building on Quay Street.
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Generator - Shared Space
WHAT SERVICES DO YOU PROVIDE TO EARLY STAGE BUSINESSES? Whilst we aren’t an incubator, Generator provides the support that startup companies need to get off the ground. A professional front for your business; shared office amenities to keep costs down; meeting and event spaces; endless coffee in a café environment; a more professional ‘dining room table’; and of course the chance to rub shoulders with like-minded people
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at the same stage of their business growth; or with well established businesses, who can offer a shoulder to lean on. The best membership option for startups is the ‘Casual’ membership which is aimed at freelancers and individuals who still want to benefit from the networking opportunities the Generator environment creates with a CBD base if you’re from out of town. Generator is perfect for when you need a casual space to work from, meet clients or get some quiet time in-between appointments. If you’re on
Ryan Wilson - CEO
the ‘Casual’ membership you can upgrade to ‘Resident’, which allows you to have your own permanent desk, or if you prefer, our Now and Then membership offers desk access for a negotiated number of hours per week. The options really are endless at Generator.
Generator is perfect for when you need a casual space to work from; meet clients or prospective investors; hold meetings, or get some quiet time in-between appointments.
Working in a shared working environment naturally provides small businesses and entrepreneurs the opportunity to rub shoulders with like-minded people. To nurture this, we believe that informal and formal
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networking and social events are an important aspect of Generator; ultimately helping to build an environment where our members will feel part of a community, and steer their businesses in the right direction. An example of a one of our networking events is Startup Grind. This is a global series supported by Google, and is currently being held in more than 50 cities worldwide. Generator has picked up the licence for these events in
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New Zealand. In the past we have been the host to: Shane Bradley of GrabOne, Mike Ballantyne of Online Republic, Tim Alpe of Jucy Rentals, Jenene Crossan of Flossie. com, James Coddington of Joy Ice Cream; and most recently, Sean Simpson of LanzaTech. Richard Henry is a resident of Generator. His business, Toursim HQ, charters planes and entire resorts in Fiji for massive parties. His business model is all
Startup Grind - Shane Bradley Startup Grind - Jenene Crossan Richard Henrys’ business Tourism HQ
“The community, the culture, and the people are the best parts of Generator” about bringing together the right people: sponsors, airlines, resorts, artists; and of course, the punters. “I was lucky enough to be introduced to Ryan when Generator was just getting ready to launch, and since then it’s become a cornerstone asset for the business,” Richard says. “The ability to host new clients with a bit of style in the private members lounge,
increase desk numbers as and when required, and bounce ideas around with a collective group of like-minded people from all different walks of life is a real bonus.” Richard finds the community, the culture, and the people are the best parts of Generator and would recommend people use Generator services “without a doubt”. •
To find out more visit:
Ph: 09 551 2148
www.generatornz.com www.generatornss.com
Level 1, 28 Customs St East, Auckland CBD
www.facebook.com/generatornz
OR
@generatornz
Generator NSS – Level, 122 Quay Street, Auckland CBD
http://www.pinterest.com/generatornz/
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IP IN ACTION
Brand Blunders By Jonathan Aumonier-Ward, a senior associate specialising in trademark and copyright law at AJ Park
THERE ARE MANY things to consider when selecting a new brand, or taking your established brand into a new country. Do your customers like it? Have you done your legal clearances? Have you filed your trade mark application? Got those pesky domain names and social media handles? Are you using ™, and ® correctly? There are so many things to remember to do. Businesses are pretty good at doing their due diligence, but it’s easy to overlook something important, such as considering how your brand translates in other countries. LEGAL BLUNDERS An established New Zealand brand will have been used and registered in New Zealand for many years. Eventually, the day might come when the grass on the other side of the Tasman (or the Pacific!) looks far, far greener.
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Legal rights are usually territorial and connected with particular categories of goods or services. Just because you can use and protect something in New Zealand does not mean the same is true overseas. In fact, having used your trade mark in New Zealand for many years might increase the chance someone else has ‘innocently’ (yeah right!) adopted the same brand elsewhere. Winnebago Industries began selling recreational vehicles in the US in the 1960s. Knott
Hopefully, when you go looking for greener grass, your way will be clear. But if not, you will need to balance Investments ‘selected’ the options such same name and began using as negotiating it for RVs in Australia in the (frustrating), late 1970s. This was only discovered in 1985. The litigating parties have been battling it (expensive), or out ever since. changing There are numerous your brand examples of well-known brands expanding into new (heart-breaking). categories. This is particularly so with the increase in popularity of merchandising and licensing opportunities.
It can be particularly painful for businesses that want to enter a new market in a country where legal rights regarding trademarks must be established by ‘first-to-file’ and not through use, such as China and Vietnam. It is very difficult to unwind a trade mark registration owned by someone else in countries with a ‘first-to-file’ system. New Zealand is now part of the Madrid system for filing international trademarks.
This system can significantly reduce the costs of taking your brand overseas early – well before you may have thought of exporting anything. Hopefully, when you go looking for greener grass, your way will be clear. But if not, you will need to balance options such as negotiating (frustrating), litigating (expensive), or changing your brand (heartbreaking). Best to do your due diligence and ensure your trademark is available for use as early as possible.
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WEB BLUNDERS Business could not be any better. Your trademark is sorted, your distributors are lined up, customers are clamouring to get your product – this is the good life! But wait. Did you remember to register that $40 domain name last week before the Seven Sharp interview? Yes, but you forgot the free Facebook URL and Twitter handle? It looks like someone else has them already and is posting funny cat pictures. 2 Degrees Mobile probably wishes they owned 2degrees. co.nz. Senator John McCain famously missed the boat on the John McCain LinkedIn URL. Domain names are cheap and easy to access. There are even online services designed to check the availability of and register all the well-known social media handles in one go. Keeping a domain name registered for five years might cost you less than one percent of what you will have to pay a cyber-squatter to relinquish your rightful asset. These low-cost investments need to be made early. If you
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do miss out, you still have options. Many companies like Twitter and LinkedIn have systems to let you reclaim handles from nefarious squatters. There are well established processes for reclaiming domain names. But you cannot always guarantee success, particularly if you do not have a corresponding trademark registration. EMBARRASSING BLUNDERS Language and customary meaning is also different from country to country, and can have subtle nuances when taken from one category to another. Here are a few historical, sometimes humorous, and often painful examples. • Pepsi took the slogan ‘Pepsi brings you back to life’ into China. Unfortunately, it translated as: “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”. I don’t think they anticipated any zombification.
• The California Milk Processor Board’s ‘Got Milk?’ campaign did not go down well with Spanish-speakers. It translated as: “Are you lactating?” Additionally, it was considered offensive, because being deprived of milk was not ‘a funny spot to be in’. • An English orange juice campaign used the slogan: “Orange Juice. It gets your pecker up.” Apparently it is a traditional, positive, ‘get-up-and-go’ statement over there. • ‘Gerber’ is both the name of a famous baby food maker, and a French word meaning ‘vomiting’. It is common these days to ask the foreign lawyers who
are doing your clearance searching to also: “Identify whether this mark has any negative connotations in the local market.” This translates simply as: “Please, please save my bacon.” AVOIDING BLUNDERS Taking an established brand into a new country or category should always be treated like the launch of a completely new brand. Some people will tell you it is impossible to predict these types of situations. However, the truth is that good legal advice and local market research should identify these problems early and provide strategies for getting you to where you need to be.•
Jonathan Aumonier-Ward is a senior associate specialising in trade mark and copyright law at AJ Park, an intellectual property law firm. Contact him by email jonathan.aumonier-ward@ajpark.com or follow him on twitter @aumonier. Sign up to the AJ Park newsletter by 31 July 2014 and receive a promo code for 20 percent off a Business of International Quality™ Barometer (BIQ™). The BIQ™ Barometer is an online tool to help you identify your business strengths and opportunities for improvement in six areas: leadership, offering, market, processes, governance, and capital.
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Young Enterprise Trust
TOMORROW’S ENTREPRENEURS
Terry Shubkin, CEO Young Enterprise Trust The value of volunteers
Thank you.
As many of you know, we have just had National Volunteer Week, which celebrates a topic close to our hearts. Young Enterprise Trust could not exist without the energy and enthusiasm of our volunteers. You guys are awesome!
Volunteers enable not-forprofit organisations like ours to increase their reach and effectiveness. They also, according to Volunteering NZ, increase the contribution these organisations can make to the Gross Domestic Product from 2.6 percent (without volunteer labour) to 4.9 percent (with volunteer labour). Volunteering your time and expertise is really an amazingly powerful gift.
Young Enterprise Trust relies on 1100 volunteers who each year bring their valuable business skills to roles such as coaching, judging and mentoring. We are always so humbled and grateful for the dedication of these talented folks who so passionately believe in the entrepreneurs of the future. For example, they might even give up thirty hours over our Enterprise in Action weekend to coach our teams through two international challenges. A massive shout-out to you guys. What you do is just incredible!
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But it’s not just a one way street. According to Statistics New Zealand, people who do voluntary work have higher levels of life satisfaction than those who don’t. When it comes to volunteering it seems everybody wins! There are a range of ways you can volunteer with us – check out our website for details.
Enterprise in Action Last month, 80 of our top Young Enterprise students converged on Massey University’s Albany campus for one of Young Enterprise Trust’s biggest events of the year: Enterprise in Action. The weekend is made up of two challenges: the Global Enterprise Challenge (GEC) and the FedEx/JA International Trade Challenge (ITC). Enterprise in Action provides an opportunity for students to meet like-minded young entrepreneurs and to be mentored by business professionals from highprofile companies such as Samsung, Xero and Telecom. It is a weekend of
challenges and competitions, networking, team work, presentations, and not much sleep. It’s all huge fun. In the GEC, each team had 12 hours to “design an innovative exhibit to inform communities, governments and the media about the benefits of family farming”. The teams were judged on their three minute pitch as well as a two page business plan including a detailed financial breakdown. Ideas included an urban beefarming kit, a family farming reality TV show and a social networking platform for family farmers.
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Team NZICA was judged as the winner of the New Zealand competition, and they went on to represent our country in the global judging. The team came away with the Creativity Award, while Team Cambodia was judged as the global winner.
supplement, calcium-rich dog biscuits; and the winning idea, ‘Samurai Sauce’ – a liquid calcium supplement.
The teams had until 4pm Sunday to submit their solutions via a five minute presentation and two page business plan. Some of the solutions included a chocolate fish omega 3
six students were chosen as members of Team NZ, and will travel to Hong Kong in August to take compete in the AsiaPacific final of the FedEx/JA International Trade Challenge. Team NZ 2014 includes:
Kim Garner, managing director FedEx Australasia says, “The FedEx/JA International Trade Challenge aims to support the tradition of entrepreneurial spirit in this country. Through Once the Global Enterprise the event, we are providing a Challenge was completed, it platform for our younger and was time for the FedEx/JA International Trade Challenge. aspiring business people to learn about international trade This year’s challenge was to create a market entry strategy and prepare them to compete on a global level.” to export a fish-based product to Japan. At the end of the weekend,
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• Amanda Ngo - Kings College (Auckland) • Ben Seelen - Nayland College (Nelson) • Dylan Rogan - Rangitoto College (Auckland) • Izzy Stangl - Long Bay College (Auckland) • Shannon Metcalfe - Avondale College (Auckland) • Tom Anderson - Roncalli College (Timaru) “We are so proud of all of the students that took part in Enterprise in Action this weekend.” says Young Enterprise CEO Terry Shubkin. “They worked together under amazing time pressures to come up with innovative product ideas, and pitched the ideas to the judges incredibly well.” YES student Rees Vinsen enjoyed the weekend immensely. “Enterprise in
Action was one of the most intense and rewarding events that I have ever had the pleasure to participate in. Being able to exercise my business knowledge and network with like-minded individuals was extremely beneficial to me.” Terry Shubkin was quick to praise the organisations that helped bring Enterprise in Action to life. “We are hugely grateful to our three Enterprise in Action sponsors: Massey University, FedEx Express, and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise. We also want to thank the ten corporates whose staff mentored students throughout the weekend: Air New Zealand, Auckland Tourism, Events & Economic Development, BECA, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants, Samsung, Telecom, The Icehouse and Xero.” •
Would you like to mentor a student company in 2015? Please contact Young Enterprise Trust on 04 570 0452 or email support@youngenterprise.org.nz to volunteer.
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TAKING THE PLUNGE
Bevan Hockly
Dry Living Limited Briefly tell us about your business. How did you first come up with the idea?
Dry Living is a business that supplies and installs a very unique ventilation system into new and existing homes. This product is very unique in that it uses a real-life dehumidifier, and also uses fresh air rather than roof-space air. This product removes condensation and makes the house warmer, drier, and of course healthier. The
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basic idea originated from someone else. They said, “Bevan, you should give it a go as I can’t.’’ I think he knew it would take a whole bunch of effort to get it commercialised. I then spent three years making prototypes on weeknights and on Saturdays in order to perfect the product – the Dry Living System. A few fires and many failures later, I now have a product that is perfect for the end user.
What inspired you to take the plunge?
What is the big goal for your business?
The biggest goal is to offer the market a third option for ventilation. At the moment you can get positive pressure systems like DVS and HRV, and balanced pressure systems like they have in Europe. By adding a real-life dehumidifier I am able to be clearly different from the other two options. I also use fresh air, which is what the market prefers now. My second goal is to sell 1,000 units a year nationwide.
I believe in life you get dealt certain cards. My cards included an apprenticeship in refrigeration and a father who owns a commercial ventilation business with manufacturing in Upper Hutt. It was the best hand I was going to get, so I played it. I managed my risk using Richard Branson’s advice of having a fail plan. He had a deal with Boeing to buy back his plane after one year if Virgin Airlines did not pan out. I have next to no debt and a business structure that manages cash flow for survival. I am excited to make my son and wife proud by succeeding at being a work/life balance focused entrepreneur
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What keeps you going when you feel like giving up?
What have you found to be the most challenging aspect of building your business so far?
The absolute hardest part is the fact that you are running blind in so much of business. You can get piles and piles of advice, most of it contradictory, and then you have to make a decisions about something you hardly know about. On top of that, the experts are making it up as well. I like risk though, so I run into things half-blind and work it out in the middle of it.
Good support team, mainly my wife. I regularly have a whinge about how hard it is but she encourages me to keep going. I also love it that it is a product that truly helps New Zealanders have a healthier and warmer home. When a client is thankful it’s so much better than a construction company paying 80 percent of a bill at 90 days cause they are d*#ks. What advice would you give to any people reading this who are thinking of starting a business?
Start with the numbers. Watch shark tank. Get a good support team (affordable accountant, legal counsel, mentor) and choose people you trust. Then leap in – don’t wait for the perfect logo or the right investor. Get started, make some sales and build something up.•
To find out more visit www.dryliving.co.nz If you’d like to be feature your story and business idea in this e-magazine, contact the editor at nick@nzentrepreneur.co.nz
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PARTING SHOT
Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.
Mark Twain
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