Follow the Money: making money online is more than being 'liked'

"Follow the money"! Have you heard the catchphrase?
It was popularised in the film All the Presidents Men back in the 70's as commentary to the Watergate corruption scandal of the same decade.
We can use the same method to easily assess the success or otherwise of any online investment. It's a little brutal, however ultimately, any website, social media presence or app development will be measured by this blunt yardstick. "Money talks BS walks" to coin another catchphrase. Having a profile online and being 'liked' is only a start.

Though we understand that most businesses get online just to profile themselves, perhaps to list a few products and services and have their address and phone number published... just 'to be there' as it were. Yet in a maturing online space this is really not enough.  In other words your investment needs to yield some return. 

We read of super geeks making millions and home bound parents managing huge online stores turning over millions. We read too of bloggers replacing newspapers and teenagers selling their gaming accounts for more than their parents earn all year. A grain of salt should be applied to the most extreme stories. People do however make good money online. We have clients that have gone from zero to hero in 6 -12 months.

How? Connect your bank account!

So how on earth can "I" make money online, I hear you cry.  The short answer is that you need to connect your website, social media presence, app, video etc. to your bank account. It really is as straight forward as that. Not simple, but straight forward.
In our experience you need to make a plan and then work it.
It's worth talking to people that can help you professionally in this space, people that have done it before and know the not inconsiderable trapdoors. Find someone that you can trust to work up a plan and then give them the job of assembling the team and services that are required, in other words appoint a team leader. Don't fall into the trap of having different people do bits of the job for you and expecting them to work together seamlessly. They rarely will.


Most importantly you'll need to give yourself a budget for the project and empower your team leader to deliver on time and within budget for the investment. With the right team and approach you'll be able to follow the money into your business bank account without the fuss of a WaterGate :).

Telework in small business - our experience

How can telework or flexible work practices work for small workplaces. Our business Oi: Organise Internet has now been trialling telework for a year. Gosh, we even stuck our necks out and became the subject of a national Telework promotion campaign. (have a look here at our overdone makeup if you're interested: Telework.gov.au)

Multi Screen Telework

Yahoo and Google are great big employers, which ever way you look at it. They reportedly are not fans of staff teleworking any more, at least if recent media reports are to be believed. Apparently some of their managers want people back in the office. The reports cited a need to bump into each other and 'innovate' around the water coolers (does anyone actually have those any more?).
The reaction to those reports as met with amazement in that such a stand seemed counter to the 'work anywhere' discussions that are quite the rage in many workplace HR discussions.

So what was our reality?
Firstly, Google and Yahoo do have a point. Bumping into each other is important, innovating is important and casual encounters are important.
However we've discovered that these important encounters are not going to disappear anytime soon as we only allow telework one day a week. Plenty of time to innovate in the office. One thing I do know is that it does make us a more family friendly employer. For myself and the staff that is important.

Distractions
There are upsides of being away from the office distractions too. Our Technical Manager, a disciplined mature family man is definitely a fan. He reports that he can focus on specific tasks without the "innovating interruptions " of the office of the daily distractions of driving in traffic.
It's worth noting that he has organised a quiet study at home and no one else is at home when he's working from there.

Lampooned
What we didn't see coming was the fun a games of being discussed even lampooned in the national media. We've attracted attention on ABC National Radio & TV and more interestingly on Channel 10's The Project last week.

Not so sexy - good for other reasons
Our small business telework experience is characterised as being all very organised and disciplined, not sexy and cool, as a Google office. There is real value all the same, particularly for families and I would think for reducing traffic jams.

In the work place it's added a new element in more flexible work practices. Work practices that can benefit both employer and employees in small business if structured correctly.