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How to start and run a successful business without it costing an arm and a leg
14 July 2010
UCT graduate Sam Paddock is making big money using nothing more than his brain and the plethora of low cost tools and technologies provided by the internet.
At 28, Sam is one of a band of youthful entrepreneurs who are cashing in on the benefits that the internet can bring to business.
Talking to a group of fellow young UCT alumni last week, Sam explained that with more than 5 million South Africans online – about 11% of the population and a wealthy segment of the population at that - "the internet can give a business direct access to the most affluent market in the country."
Sam graduated from UCT in 2004 with a degree in Business Science Information Systems. Always a high achiever, he was immediately recruited by Accenture but stayed with them just 4 months before the lure of independence led him to co-start his first business – Get Wine – an online wine sales business. Soon after that he teamed up with his father to start a specialised property services company – Paddocks – which led to the establishment of GetSmarter, an online training company that presents professional short courses. For the design and delivery of content he works with industry heavyweights UCT and Stellenbosch University as well as Random House Struik. The marketing and sales his team handles themselves.
Business is booming – GetSmarter grew by 400% from 2009 to 2010 – and will train 3000 students in the next 12 months. It employs 20 people. According to Sam their phenomenal success is primarily due to their intelligent use of emerging internet technologies and social networking spaces like Facebook to market and grow the business.
"Without these tools we would not have been able to grow 2 businesses so quickly in the space of 5 years. They helped us leverage our time and our money." he said.
Continuing his talk, Sam liberally dished out tips on how fellow alumni could do the same – without breaking the bank. He said that many people are not aware that there are free or low cost services as well as open source software systems that can help new businesses do pretty much anything from build a website or an e-commerce site, send out newsletters, build a fully comprehensive CRM system, keep professional books, blog, manage projects and run an sms marketing exercise – all for very little cost.
"The only real cost is time," maintains Sam, although he also adds that for some of the systems you do need someone who understands technology and is "computer minded" to implement them.
Sam also shared a case study on how GetSmarter uses Facebook to advertise their online training courses and build a word-of-mouth marketing community with existing customers through the use of their mastcot "mr smarty pants". Forty percent of new sales for GetSmarter come from ads on Facebook. The company has also just started using twitter and Sam advised the audience to "treat twitter as if it were a cocktail party."
"If you would benefit from attending a cocktail party where you could choose the guest list, then twitter will be useful to you," he said.
The gist of it is that if you want people to notice you in any of these online spaces – your contributions must add value in some way. "Quality content directed at the right people is critical otherwise you are just a part of the noise." he said.
- Author: Jane Boxall