Tap into useful services

Nov 10, 2009 Tuesday, 06:38 PM

Actress Wong Lilin blogs about using external services to help grow her company.

I HAVE determined after my first month of business that the Loopz exercise bands are enjoying decent sales in 11 outlets even without too much "push", an industry term for marketing.

I still can't afford to do much "push" - everything costs money and that's exactly what a start up doesn't have!

An entrepreneur friend of mine spent some time commiserating with me recently on the universal catch-22 of one-man shows with room to grow.

Most start-ups wriggle towards the break point of needing more manpower to do more business. Yet, of course, we are unable to afford the manpower we need to grow until we actually do more business and gain ground financially. Tricky, tricky.

At my present juncture, I ask myself very regularly - how do I creatively work around these limitations to (1) operate effectively and (2) to grow the business?

Situating yourself within the operations is a good start. I have outlined what I do best, where I need assistance in terms of operations and what I am pretty miserable at.

I have a part time administrator helping with the bits and bobs. It would be great to have a full time PA or Manager to handle a lot of the stuff I'm doing, but you know I can't afford it just yet.

In the meantime, the nuts and bolts of operations include Accounting, Logistics and Internet services - all of which fall into my "miserable at" category.

Hence I was only too happy to discover that there are plenty of services available to tap into affordably.

For a very fair monthly fee, I save myself the time required to invoice, file, update and tally by hiring the services of my friends at Congrego. Mr Hee does an excellent job of keeping me on track and chipping away at my gigantic block of ignorance a bit at a time.

I'm tying up details to have a logistics company undertake the time-consuming but important tasks of keeping the Guardian outlets well-stocked with Loopz exercise bands.

And finally, I have the wonderful Evvo Media to help me with everything relating to my website and internet related services.

I'm reminded again of what my friend Stuart once said: "Mine what you already have". I'm still working on creating a solid set up with the above.

Next I will further develop my position with one of Singapore's most ubiquitous stores - Guardian Pharmacy.

We will extend the placement of Loopz exercise bands to 19 more stores island-wide. This simple measure provides an affordable gateway to a greater market presence and makes the purchase of Loopz exercise bands easier for the public.

So much goes through one's head. I am aware that I have to build a business model that I can carry into an overseas market. And I am cognizant that to do so requires the pinpoint focus of setting the brand in place one step, one-man, at a time!