TELUS recently challenged entrepreneurs on the TELUS Business Facebook page to share their best to-the-point and convincing elevator pitch for a chance to win one of two business productivity prize packs. With more than 100 submissions, Lindalu’s pitch was one of the top finalists.
After an injury forced Lindalu Forseth to leave her job as a leasing manager in the automotive industry, she didn’t skip a beat. She moved to Powell River from Calgary and then followed her passion by starting the Malaspina Soap Factory.
“If you’re not passionate you’re not going to survive. We started out on a shoestring, which I wouldn’t recommend,” she laughs. “But we’re still here three years later.”
Using ingredients like clay, oil, and herbs, she handcrafts colourful soaps that resemble cakes and fancy pastries. They’re sulfate, paraben, and detergent-free. “My business is all about balancing nature with science.”
Let’s talk about the process of coming up with the pitch – it’s something small businesses struggle with.
In 60 seconds or less include what the customer needs to know. You’re not begging for their business, you’re going to tell them what they need to know and why they want to buy from you. There’s emotion in there whether you’re working for yourself or someone else.
How did you pick which social media tools to use? How it has most helped you?
On Facebook you can have relationships with your prospective clients and customers who are already buying from you. By looking at the statistics I know who is looking at my product and similarly I can see statistics on my website. I have a good idea of the age ranges of my buyers – they’re mainly men and women, 35-55. The next group is women 25-35.
How do you measure the success of social media initiatives?
At this point I only have 200 or 300 friends or ‘likers’ on Facebook, but on occasion I’ll do ad words and target my audience. I have statistics at my fingertips that say I’m getting this many hits per day, per hour, this many actual visits. And these are the pages they are looking at, these are my entrance pages, these are my exit pages and this is where the business is coming from. When you have to do marketing or poll people that gets terribly expensive. So why do it when you can do it very inexpensively with social media?
Quite a few businesses struggle with building their customer base and attracting new customers with limited funds. Your advice?
When you get a customer pay very close attention to them because it’s easier to keep a customer and less expensive, than it is to go find a new one.
How do you address customer feedback and what does it take to implement changes based on this feedback?
The customers are the experts. So the changes I’m making are product and fragrance changes and that allows me to start narrowing my lines, which saves me money and time on production.
In 2011, what technologies did you rely on to grow your business?
If I lost my computer I would really be upset. And the Internet. I’m a paid vendor and I advertise on badgerandblade.com, a male shaving forum of 40,000-50,000 men. And I market through my website. So it wasn’t just technology it was my male customers!
What do you regard as your greatest success as a business in 2011? How did you make it happen?
My greatest success is my shaving product line. It took me 18 months to two years to develop it. I launched in January and I now have three private label accounts and it’s in some stores. It’s made my Internet sales explode. My customer is not the one who likes his five-blade cartridge and the goo in the can.
What are your business goals for 2012?
To let the business grow naturally because the natural, rather than forced growth, is getting better long-term results. The people who want to carry my products or private-label them are coming to me. And you’ve got to learn more from your failure than your successes.
Amber Nasrulla is an ex-pat Canadian writer based in L.A. who specializes in profiles from business leaders and scientists to Hollywood celebrities. Her work has appeared in North American and British publications including L.A. Times, The Globe and Mail, Los Angeles Magazine, ELLE Canada, Chatelaine and London Weekly Times.
My name is Evan Carmichael and I believe that the fastest and most effective way to build a business is to model the strategies of people who have already done what you’re trying to do. I call it Modeling the Masters. My last post with over 30 comments was 3 Success Tips from Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines).
Today we're going to look at how a Vietnam veteran failed with two separate businesses but was determined to become a successful entrepreneur and not have to work for someone else. He would eventually become one of the most successful business writers of all time. This is the story of Rich Dad Poor Dad creator Robert Kiyosaki and the top 3 lessons that you can learn from his success.
Must Watch Video
"The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way." - Robert Kiyosaki
Robert Kiyosaki (born April 8, 1947) is an American investor, businessman, self-help author, motivational speaker, and financial literacy activist best known for his "Rich Dad Poor Dad" book series. After serving in the Marine Corps as a helicopter gunship pilot during the Vietnam War, Kiyosaki returned home to work as a salesman for Xerox. Not wanting to work for someone else for the rest of his life, Kiyosaki had dreams of starting his own business.
After unsuccessful stints selling Velcro wallets and T-shirts for heavy metal rock bands, Kiyosaki began promoting the personal growth seminars of Marshall Thurber called "Money & You." When Thurber decided to retire, Kiyosaki took over the business and began traveling the world to educate people about financial strategies. To reach more people he decided to write his first book which he self-published, "Rich Dad Poor Dad."
Robert Kiyosaki has written over 15 books and has sold over 26 million copies. 3 of his books have been on the best sellers lists of The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the New York Times simultaneously and he's a sought after speaker who continues to educate people on how to understand their money.
Action Item #1: Make Your Money Work Hard
One bit of advice that has served me well with my business is: Don't spend money until you're making it. Anybody can spend money. If I gave you a million dollars today for your business I'm sure you could come up with a million different ways to spend it. But not everyone can make money. Bootstrapping should be your mantra. Find ways to get your product or service out without spending money. Get even just a few orders and prove that people will buy what you're selling. Then spend money on expanding your marketing. Your money will be well invested because you know you have something that works. Until you start making some sales, hustle and put your sweat into drumming up some business.
Kiyosaki believes that people go to school to learn how to work hard for money while he tries to teach people how to have money work hard for them. He believes that for many people, success is working hard to land a secure job at a big company or government who will look after you until you retire. That model might have worked in the Industrial Age but now in the Information Age, people have to look after their own financial security because you can no longer rely on your employer to take care of you. One of the best ways of doing this, he believes, is to create your own business and become your own boss.
According to Kiyosaki: "The poor and middle class work for money. The rich have money work for them. The rich buy or create assets that work for them so they don't have to... An asset puts money in your pocket and a liability takes money from your pocket. The rich understand the difference and buy assets, not liabilities. "
Action Item #2: Mind Your Own Business
As entrepreneurs we have to wear many hats. You're everything from the CEO to the janitor when you start a business. If you want to grow your business properly and have confidence in your decision making, you need to understand your numbers. Yes, it may be boring and outside your core competencies at the beginning but when you can understand your balance sheet, income statement, and the numbers that run your business you'll be in a much better position to drive your company forward. It could be one of the best investments that you make into yourself and your business.
If you want to achieve financial freedom, Kiyosaki believes that there are 3 key lessons that you need to master: learn how to make money, learn how to manage it, and learn how to invest it. He encourages people to keep their day jobs until they are earning enough money on the side from their own business or investments to be able to quit. Kiyosaki also believes that money is a "base subject" and that it's never too late to start learning.
According to Kiyosaki: "Many people confuse their profession with their business. To become financially secure people need to mind their own business. Your business revolves around your asset column, as opposed to your income column. The rich focus on their asset columns while the poor and middle class focus on their income columns.”
Action Item #3: Work to Learn, Not for Money
If you haven't started your business yet, a great piece of advice is to get a job where you can learn the skills that you need to succeed as an entrepreneur. Want to set up your own auto shop? Go work for small auto shop. Learn the ins and outs of how the business runs. Ask the business owner to get involved in other projects in addition to what you were hired to do. Work extra hours and on the weekends to over deliver and really understand how the business works. You'll first figure out if that industry is for you or not and you'll also make many of your rookie mistakes while still getting paid by someone else.
Kiyosaki credits much of his success as an entrepreneur to his military education. He learned how to lead men into battle, make important decisions quickly, and be tough. He translated those skills into hiring excellent workers and leading them into business battles. He also credits working for Xerox for teaching him how to sell and how to accept and move forward from rejection.
According to Kiyosaki: "Many entrepreneurs fail to grow because they lack leadership skills. And rather than look in the mirror, they find it easier to blame others. Blame is short for be-lame, and you can’t be an effective leader if you’re lame... Work to learn. Don’t work for money… Look for jobs that can help you develop the skills of managing cash flow, systems and people rather than just pay you well."
True Story
There was once a friend of Kiyosaki’s whose 16 year old son desperately wanted a new car. His friends had all been given one by their parents, and now this son expected nothing less. But, it was not going to be that easy for the boy. His father had played Kiyosaki’s CASHFLOW board game and he wanted to teach his son a lesson in financial management. The father gave his son $3,000 but forbade him from using it to buy a car just yet. At the same time, he gave his son a subscription to the Wall Street Journal. The father told his son that only once he had earned an additional $6,000 from investments could he then use $3,000 to buy a car. The rest of the money would of course go into his college fund. “My friend said it was the best $3,000 he ever spent,” says Kiyosaki. “Not only had his son gained a new respect for the power of money, he also learned to spend money wisely instead of letting money burn holes in his pockets.”
More Quotes
"Don’t work for money; make it work for you."
"Remember, your mind is your greatest asset, so be careful what you put into it."
" If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there."
What Do You Think?
Did you bootstrap your business? Do you understand the numbers that run your company? What part of Robert Kiyosaki's message impacted you the most? As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts if you leave a comment below!
OK, so this headline might imply you can add more flash memory to your beloved smartphone.
Instead, Microsoft's Windows Live SkyDrive -- which gives you up to 25GB of free storage per account -- now has an iOS app, so you can access your password-protected files from anywhere you've got an Internet connection.
Still, this "cloud" integration is a great way to expand the capacity of your device – including the ability to stream video to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
To get going, you first need to sign up for SkyDrive on a computer. All you need is a free Windows Live ID, such as your Hotmail e-mail address, Messenger or Xbox LIVE ID. If you like, you can start uploading documents and media on your PC by dragging and dropping the files onto the site.
Next, you'll download the free SkyDrive app from the Canadian iTunes App Store here. Once downloaded, and you've typed in your ID and password, you can begin accessing and managing your stored files while on the go -- plus you can also upload photos or videos from your iDevice to SkyDrive over Wi-Fi or 3G connectivity.
It's also possible to create (or delete) SkyDrive folders from within the app, share files with someone -- by emailing them a link to the public folder on your SkyDrive -- and you can open documents, view photos and play videos (in either .mp4 or .wmv formats).
The 4.4MB app and service works very well for the most part, though there are a few limitations.
For one, you can't search through all your content by keyword. For example, I uploaded thousands of Word files and PDFs to my SkyDrive, which are listed alphabetically, but what if I wanted to open a document called Zebra.doc? It could take minutes to flick through to the end.
Secondly, you cannot upload documents from your iPhone -- only photos and videos smaller than 100MB apiece, and only one at a time.
While the app works on iPad, it's not optimized for it, therefore you need to expand the app full screen by tapping the 2x button and as such, it doesn't look as good as it could.
Overall, however, the free SkyDrive works well on the iOS platform (it's also available for Windows Phone devices) and at 25GB per account, it offers more free storage than most other cloud storage solutions.
TELUS Talks Business correspondent Julie Bishop recently interviewed Tony Lourakis, the CEO of Complete Innovations, a leading global provider of mission critical fleet, asset and mobile workforce management solutions. The Markham Ontario headquartered company continues to win awards year after year being recognized for its national growth with honours including a spot on IDC Canada’s “10 to Watch” list, being ranked as one of Canada’s fastest-growing companies by PROFIT 100 three years in a row, and being part of Deloitte’s Fast 500 List in 2010.
Last week, Tony discussed financing, building a customer base and the importance of customer feedback. In this post, Tony looks to the future and talks to his goals for 2012.
What advice would you offer a start up based on your experience?
For a start up, one of the most important things is managing cash flow. Start ups need to move from a money burn situation to a money making situation as quickly as possible. Ensure you have a well thought out plan on how to do that, and identifies the tipping point and work backwards from there and make sure you execute on the plan.
So it’s getting to that financial stability as quickly as you can because, once you get there, it breeds more opportunity and success and it gives you the strength to do just so much more. That’s how you can really scale a business.
What would you say your greatest business success in 2011 has been?
Our greatest business success in 2011 has been launching our products with AT&T in the US in a similar way to how TELUS has been reselling our products for about five years now in Canada.
We launched in June of 2011 with AT&T. The launch was about three years in the making from quoting them initially, to getting our foot in the door, to working various levels of management, to being accepted and brought in.
The way AT&T operates is that they bring you in on kind of a tier initially where you’re not on their bill and they don’t resell your product. It’s more of a co-sell type relation where you have to prove yourself. If the relationship is successful in this phase then they may start reselling your product.
Very few companies have achieved this point and doing so has been a big accomplishment for us. So 2012 for us is all about ramping up this opportunity to its full potential.
What are your other goals for 2012?
Some other key focuses are to stay focused on our partnership with TELUS in Canada and continue to grow that business. Our business with TELUS has been immensely successful for us and it still represents our biggest business. In fact, it has been a key driver in our success and growth.
Another important goal in 2012 is that we are working to launch our fourth generation product with Courier and Fleet Complete, which are going to be merged together into one platform. I think it’s going to be a game changer so we're looking over it to making that launch in 2012.
How do you keep your team motivated and focused on your business goals?
First off, we try to keep our goals very simple, something you can easily remember so when the teams come in everyday, they know exactly what they're working towards.
We have team goals or departmental goals and for instance, our Canadian sales team has a goal and it’s to hit a certain number of volume or subscribers we're adding for the year. Our customer service department has goals around key metrics like how fast we answer the call, how quickly close support tickets etc. Our R&D team has goals around product release timelines and quality levels.
Every week we measure our results against our targets on a week-to-week basis so we know in real time if we are trending on track, ahead or trending below our goals. And we do that with each department.
Our corporate goals are also simply stated. For instance, it might be as simple as to say here's our revenue goal for this year and here's our market goal in terms of market penetration or strategic thing that we want to do.
We remind people of these goals at every opportunity. We have a couple of company meetings a year, I do a video message every month to keep people up to date on how we're performing against these goals.
We also work to create that team feeling where we're out there competing and we want to win and we want to beat the competition much like a sports team.
And then we have other initiatives like, for example, we give back. Every year we donate some of our profits to charities. I think that helps the team see that the company isn’t just about growth earnings. Obviously there are bonuses tied to our business goals, but we're also doing something good for the community.
Is there any other advice you wanted to offer to SMBs looking to grow their businesses?
The only other thing I would offer is to always be innovative. I find some entrepreneurs get bored of their business sectors, as entrepreneurs by nature like creating and once something is running smoothly, they start to loose interest with it. I think that as the business leader you have the power and ability to innovate and transform it to expand into new markets and offerings and services and products.
So always be thinking about the possibilities of the future and innovation because there aren’t any limits. The opportunities are endless.
TELUS recently challenged entrepreneurs on the TELUS Business Facebook page to share their best to-the-point and convincing elevator pitch for a chance to win one of two business productivity prize packs. With more than 100 submissions, Hailey’s pitch was one of the top finalists.
After 10 years in the corporate trenches Hailey Van Wyk was primed to launch her own business. She wanted the flexibility to set her own hours, look after her two young boys, and to nurture her passion for marketing. Two years ago she launched Concept Marketing Consulting in Edmonton. Her clientele are small business owners, from music teachers to IT businesses. She parachutes in and helps devise strategies that will increase revenues, generate new clients, and improve customer service.
How do you know your pitch does justice to your business, especially to people hearing about it for the first time?
One of the things about being self-employed is that you you can’t go to the next cubicle and ask your coworker about an idea. I try to maintain relationships with business people I respect and they vetted the elevator pitch for me. If I do any proposals or work for clients I generally have two or three people I consult, “Hey I need a second opinion!”
When did you start using social media?
From a business perspective I’ve been struggling with it. I don’t want to start a business FB page until I have a strategy. You see a lot of small businesses that jump on the social media bandwagon and they don’t have a strategy to support that long term. I don’t want to be that person. I’m working on a social media and cross marketing strategy. I’m making sure it’s comprehensive and succinct and has longevity associated with it. I hope to launch in first quarter 2012.
Which social media do you prefer?
Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn have to be intertwined. There are a plethora of small business associations already established and I need to leverage those groups in order to find the right client that fits my niche market. Online networking is the initial stage. I want to be the person who goes in and says, “I can help you increase your sales. I can help you improve your customer service and it won’t cost you a huge amount of money.’
Many businesses struggle to build their customer base and attract new customers with limited resources. Your advice?
Get back to grassroots marketing. We can’t expect that our online ad is going to reach the target market. We need to get our feet on the street; we need to hand deliver or do a targeted direct-mail campaign. We need to do a better job of better honing in on who our customers are, what their specific needs are and how we’re going to be able to help them in their business.
In 2011, what technologies did you rely on to grow your business?
I work on the go with my BlackBerry and laptop and of course a wireless connection wherever I am. People will think you are rude when you’re on your Smartphone but I am really just trying to get work done. I’m so glad I was born in this century because I don’t think I could operate any other way.
What do you regard as your greatest success as a business in 2011?
With any small business owner, it’s about maintaining momentum. When I look back at the last year the biggest success is that we’re still in operation, maintaining focus and we keep moving forward. It’s not one thing – it’s seeing the foundation come together.
Let’s imagine you’re considering starting a new business. If you could talk to yourself before embarking on this new business given your experience, what two things would you tell yourself?
Have a plan. If you start without a plan it’s a waste of time and money and it’s mentally it’s exhausting. Get advice from people who have experience in other areas of business. I have a passion for marketing but I’m no accountant or IT expert. Second, have courage, because, at the end of the day things aren’t going to go the way you thought. Set realistic expectations for your business so you don’t feel unmotivated.
Amber Nasrulla is an ex-pat Canadian writer based in L.A. who specializes in profiles from business leaders and scientists to Hollywood celebrities. Her work has appeared in North American and British publications including L.A. Times, The Globe and Mail, Los Angeles Magazine, ELLE Canada, Chatelaine and London Weekly Times.
TELUS Talks Business correspondent Julie Bishop recently interviewed Tony Lourakis, the CEO of Complete Innovations, a leading global provider of mission critical fleet, asset and mobile workforce management solutions. The Markham Ontario headquartered company continues to win awards year after year being recognized for its national growth with honours including a spot on IDC Canada’s “10 to Watch” list, being ranked as one of Canada’s fastest-growing companies by PROFIT 100 three years in a row, and being part of Deloitte’s Fast 500 List in 2010.
Last week, Tony talked about his company's success and overcoming challenges. In this post, Tony discusses financing, building a customer base and the importance of customer feedback.
How has Complete Innovations arranged its financing?
This is a very important topic for business people and entrepreneurs. Our strategy is traditional - we bootstrapped the company. We didn’t go out and raise any money or take out any debt. We built the product using our time without getting paid for it.
And once we had the product, we started selling it right away using very low cost methods such as building a website. When we started making money, we invested all of it back into the company to fund our growth.
It’s a hard way to do it, but it keeps you disciplined and it makes you think about margin and profitability because, at the end of the day, you have to make profit doing what you do otherwise it’s not a sustainable business.
Having said that, there are times where we do get financing for cash flow reasons. And we've been able to do that using traditional bank operating lines against receivables or assets.
Often businesses struggle with building their customer base and attracting new customers with limited funds and resources that you discussed. What's your advice to those businesses?
It’s difficult, but I believe there's always a way. The way I did it was to identify who the influential customers were in our industry and build relationships with them.
In every industry there are those few customers that are very well known within the industry. They're very well connected, they're respected, they're influential. Maybe they're part of the association for the industry the company goes after.
When I started, I identified the movers and shakers within the industry and sought them out using low cost methods such calling them, meeting with them, trying to befriend them and trying to get them on my side then eventually doing business with them.
And when you get that opportunity, you’ve got to turn that influential industry person into a cheerleader who is willing to talk about how your company has helped them. This testimonial will in turn help you secure the business of other companies.
That’s the lowest cost marketing, but it’s one of the most effective ways of marketing especially if you're a B2B business.
How does customer feedback impact your business?
Customer feedback is very important to us. It’s a major contributor to our success and our product richness. One of my goals is to be very in touch with our customers and to visit with them often and see their operations to get a sense of how they operate, what they're doing and what their needs are. I attend a lot of conferences, trade conferences and association meetings to talk to the people in the industry and get feedback from customers.
Every part of our business has to contribute to this. Our frontline people talks to our customers everyday when they're calling in for support or issues. This is a great source of information to try to understand if there are any trends or themes or issues in our product that we can improve.
We also do surveys of our customer base. Recently we're doing a lot on the social media side such as supporting LinkedIn pages and discussion groups for our company and our products to engage with customers.
We research our competitors a lot, we research the market and we look outside of our market. We look at what's going on in other industries and in technology in general and try to bring some innovative ideas into our space.
In next weeks' Entrepreneur straight talk series, Tony shares his advice to other entrepreneurs and goals for 2012.
I had the distinct pleasure of chatting at a TELUS small business event in downtown Toronto last week, about some of the smartphone apps I use on a regular basis.
It wasn't tough to narrow my favourites down to a half-dozen downloads -- ones that focused on productivity and business -- but I also wanted to show some of the best free apps available (or close to it), as well as ones available for most smartphone platforms.
The following are a few recommendations to help you stay organized, productive and informed while on the go.
Dropbox
Create one central and secure place to hold all your "stuff" and access it all on multiple devices – this is the idea behind Dropbox (for BlackBerry, iOS and Android), the increasingly popular cloud solution to storing, accessing and sharing your digital life while on the go. Instead of emailing your info or media from one device to another, or physically copying it onto a disc or USB key, you can wirelessly upload or download your documents – and even stream music and movies right from Dropbox. Similarly, instead of clogging someone's inbox with a huge file, send them a link to access what they need. The basic (2GB) account is free, but you can upgrade to 50GB or 100GB for $9.99/month or $19.99/month, respectively.
Splashtop Remote Desktop
As the name suggests, the $0.99-cent Splashtop Remote -- for iOS, Android and BlackBerry PlayBook -- lets you log in to another computer wirelessly from your tablet to see and control the remote PC or Mac as if you were sitting in front of it. It's not the first solution to do this, mind you, but Splashtop does one better by letting you stream full-motion video and audio from your computer to the smartphone or tablets. Splashtop Remote also lets you access your desktop's Web browser to surf to sites with Flash -- something that's not as easy on the iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.
Evernote
Ideal for on-the-go entrepreneurs or small business associates, the free Evernote (available on all major platforms) is a handy app for typing notes, sketching ideas (think restaurant napkin), copying URLs, pasting photos and recording audio on, say, a million dollar idea you want to archive on your smartphone. All notes automatically sync to the web/desktop version of Evernote, so it’s easy to access your information anywhere. Evernote can even take a picture of book or magazine text and convert it to text; this is a great way to save receipts and business cards and make it searchable by keyword.
Siri
The real reason to pick up an iPhone 4S, Siri is a built-in "personal assistant" app that lets you talk to your smartphone and you'll hear a female voice answer your questions or confirm she can perform the tasks you ask of her. For example, you can dictate email and texts to colleagues, ask Siri to check your calendar for appointments, create reminders and notes on the fly, check stock prices and market information, and help you get directions or find locations – such as restaurants, gas stations, hotels or bank machines – while traveling in the U.S. (this feature isn't supported in Canada just yet).
iTranslate
Available for iOS, Android and BlackBerry, the free iTranslate can help you translate words and phrases from more than 50 languages, and is capable of speaking languages to you in multiple languages so you can hear what the pronunciations sounds like. If desired, send your translations to an email address, mobile phone, memo pad or Twitter and Facebook. An optional in-app purchase lets you speak into the smartphone for a direct translation or engage in real-time text conversations with others and your English words and seen in the other person's native tongue.
Find my phone
Finally, it's critical to set up your phone for remote tracking or wiping, in case it's lost or stolen. Free examples include Find My iPhone (for iOS), BlackBerry Protect and Find my Droid (Android). These apps work in a similar way: track the smartphone's whereabouts via its GPS radio, send a note to its (such as "If you find this, all me at XXX") or sound a loud alarm (in case it's lost in the couch cushions) or remotely see the smartphone on a map; it's not recommended to try and recover a stolen device on your own – instead contact the authorities with the information. If you have critical information on the device you can also remotely wipe the data clean, which is always a good idea as a precautionary measure.
TELUS business kicked off the first of their Challenge event series yesterday with an exclusive breakfast event at TELUS House in Toronto.
The year-long event series follows in the footsteps of TELUS’ national ‘customer first’ campaign, and focused on supporting small businesses with common business challenges. This months’ theme addressed the question: how can my business be more productive with our existing resources?
The session opened with seasoned tech journalist and regular contributor to TELUS talks business, Marc Saltzman who showcased 7 hot business productivity apps including Evernote, a popular download among the business crowd, touting 20 million users, according to Gigaom.
Photo: Tech journalist & guest blogger on TELUS talks business, Marc Saltzman
“The type of apps you choose to help you be more productive in your business really depends on what kind of business you’re in,” said Saltzman. “For instance, I’m a tech journalist, so I rely heavily on word processing documents in my tablets and smartphones and I need a powerful calendar”.
Photo: Les Base, Director of Business Development for Advertek
TELUS customer Les Base of Advertek, an integrated print production company, spoke next and focused on how the print business has evolved and the implications it’s had on their business doing more with existing resources.
“What once took three weeks now takes three hours. We’re achieving our objectives and meeting requirements with the help of our digital workflow,” said Les.
One of the ways in which they are able to do more was by working with the right partners to help them focus on their customers. “One of the main reasons we moved over to TELUS was not just because of the savings (about 20% per month) but because TELUS has been great to work with, they made it easy for us to switch over.”
Piero Fusco, director of sales for TELUS closed the event on a high note with the announcement that TELUS will once again be sponsoring “The Challenge” contest launching this March. Supported by The Globe & Mail, "The Challenge" gives small business owners the chance to win a $100,000 small business grant.
“Every day we have to make decisions around business challenges,” Fusco says. “The challenge series is designed to help you address those challenges and share knowledge more broadly with the chance to win $100,000 to help your business grow”.
TELUS recently challenged entrepreneurs on the TELUS Business Facebook page to share their best to-the-point and convincing elevator pitch for a chance to win one of two business productivity prize packs. With more than 100 submissions, Krystine’s pitch was one of the top finalists, and was one of two winners awarded an iPhone4, iPad2, and a $1,500 AMEX gift card.
Babies & Beasts sells durable, waterproof stylish coats for oddly shaped dogs. Owner Krystine May was the featured designer at the 2011 Paws for the Cause Gala in Toronto, (a fundraiser for veterinary research) and the dogs sashaying down the catwalk wore Beasts’ ensembles.
Amber Nasrulla spoke to May, a digital project manager by day, about how she took her ideas and pencil drawings in February 2011, and developed them into the collection launched in August. She’s also connected to clients globally via social media.
Let’s start by talking about the process of coming up with the pitch – small businesses struggle with this.
I wanted to be concise and to highlight the key aspects of the business. I was addressing a niche market and I knew I had a unique offering.
How did you test your pitch? How do you know it does your company and product justice?
Every month, I meet up with a large group of owners of French bulldogs. Everyone had the same problems as me, which was they couldn’t find coats that fit the dogs properly. They found stuff they’d make do with, but it wasn’t insulated or waterproofed and whether it looked cool wasn’t even a factor. At the dog park there were many other people with dachshunds, bull dogs, Great Danes and they also could not find proper outerwear for their dogs. I thought ‘I can do this! Here is a product there is an actual need for.’
When did you start using social media?
I started using Facebook and Twitter before I even remotely had a product available. I printed business cards and handed them out at dog parks. Part of it was research and part was making the public aware. I made my friends and family ‘like’ my FB page and encouraged them to share my journey. I posted photos of the patterns we were working on, plus pictures of my bulldog, Tank, in prototypes. I’d make fun of myself if something didn’t work out. I fed my FB account into Twitter so people got regular updates.
How do you measure the success of social media initiatives?
Less than a year out of the gate and I’ve sold to Germany, to France, to the U.S., and locally. There’s a pet store in Italy that wants to carry my product wholesale and it’s all due to social media.
I was approached in June by a TV show called Pet Fashion (Rogers’ The Pet Network) and they wanted to do a feature on my business. The woman from the show said she’d read someone’s Facebook feed, who said they were waiting for my coats to come out. On my FB page, she read my posts and the description and called me.
What do you regard as your greatest success of 2011?
How fast I was able to build a network of customers and potential customers. For me, everything was, say yes and figure out how to do it after I get off the phone. Pet Fashion needed me to be ready for their shooting schedule in August. Initially I’d planned a winter collection, now I had to get everything done in five weeks. I went from three prototypes to 36 samples and threw myself a launch party and fashion show at PawsWay at Queens Quay in Toronto. Many businesses struggle to build their customer base and attract new customers with limited resources. Your advice?
As soon as you have the idea and are committed to moving forward, promote yourself through social media and start to build a community. Ask your friends and family to spread the word. Give them the content, ask them to share links. And not just once, have them do it once a month! In 2011, what technologies did you rely on to grow your business?
I used Magento Go, which is a website for small businesses. It’s basically plug-and-play. The back end allows you to manage your entire business and the front end you customize however you want.
What are your business goals for 2012?
In spring I’ll launch coordinating baby products that incorporate dog breeds. My key customers are dog parents first and then they become first-time parents. Those people struggle because they go through a transition where they want to include the dog but now the baby is the priority. I wanted to help those people to incorporate the family as a whole. I’ll also have a summer line for dogs. And I’m budgeting to attend summer Woofstock in St. Lawrence Market and PIJAC Canada, the national pet industry trade show.
Amber Nasrulla is an ex-pat Canadian writer based in L.A. who specializes in profiles from business leaders and scientists to Hollywood celebrities. Her work has appeared in North American and British publications including L.A. Times, The Globe and Mail, Los Angeles Magazine, ELLE Canada, Chatelaine and London Weekly Times.
2011 did not bode well for gasoline prices, this trend has continued and industry experts do not forecast a better outcome in 2012.
Fleet operation managers have a right to be concerned; fuel is the second largest expense to the company’s operations, the first being staff payroll. Fuel volatility makes private and government fleet operations financial planning unpredictable, without a crystal ball the fleet operators cannot possibly accurately forecast their operational spend on fleet fuel.
Managers of fleets realize the only way to control the financial outcome of the fuel expense is to monitor & control the vehicle usage. Driver behaviour such as speeding, idling, route optimization can significantly impact the efficiencies of the fleet and reduce the overall usage of fuel. Here are 5 ways you can reduce fuel costs for your business in 2012:
1. Stay within the speed limit
Experts report that driving just 10 kilometers faster than the speed limit increases fuel consumption by 20%. Increase speed to 20 kilometers faster than necessary and the extra gas wastage climbs to 25%.
Every vehicle reaches optimal fuel economy at a different speed, however economical fuel usage begins to decline rapidly at speeds greater than 50 kilometers per hour.
2. Eliminate vehicle idling
Did you know the average Driver will idle a company vehicle 10 – 50 minutes a day? Idling for more than 10 seconds uses more fuel than it takes to restart your vehicle. Unnecessary idling for just 10 minutes a day uses about 5 percent more fuel over the year for a private or government fleet of vehicles this has a huge impact on the cost of fuel.
Many believe that turning off the vehicle to avoid idling results in higher maintenance costs and extra wear and tear for the starter and battery. In fact, the break-even point to offset any incremental maintenance costs is under 60 seconds. The fleet operational fuel savings will more than offset any potential increase in maintenance cost.
With the demand of crude oil increasing year over year, the resulting oil prices will only continue to rise. Gasoline is costly, its use has significant environmental impacts, and there's not an endless supply – good reasons not to waste fuel through unnecessary vehicle idling.
3. Anticipate the road conditions to avoid harsh breaking
"Jack-rabbit" starts and harsh braking can increase fuel consumption by as much as 40%. Any braking wastes momentum, anticipating the next stop light or traffic holdup and reducing power early so you don't have to brake as hard means you've used less fuel to get there.
Many drivers don't realize that heavy braking uses more fuel and has nothing to do with the brakes. Instead the driver was burning more fuel then necessary bydriving too fast, resulting in harsh breaking. Acceleration then hard braking uses a lot more fuel than anticipating the traffic and lifting off the throttle early. Hard braking increases the energy of the vehicle resulting in increased fuel to regain momentum. Simply put, harsh breaking is the result of driver behaviour and can be controlled with better handling of the vehicle speeds.
4. Perform regular vehicle maintenance
Regular vehicle maintenance certifies that fleet vehicles are more fuel-efficient. Performing regular power-train maintenance including changing the air filter, changing lubricants with the recommended grade of oil, and keeping tires properly inflated can improve fuel efficiency by as much as 19%.
A recent Tire Smart program headed by the Government of Canada concluded that more than two thirds of vehicles in Canada have at least one tire that is either under- or over-inflated, and one third of those vehicles had three or even all four tires improperly inflated. This represents a safety risk to Canadian motorists as well as needless fuel consumption and tire-replacement expenses. This resulting increase in fuel consumption also means that more greenhouse gas emissions are being released into the environment.
Fleet operators should monitor a fleet’s fuel economy by vehicle and class to determine when a vehicle is not running properly.
5. Add GPS Fleet Tracking Technology to your operations
Utilizing Fleet Tracking Technologies to monitor, track and control driver behaviour for companies managing large fleets provide true visibility required to react to fleet exceptions. Utilizing key Fleet Tracking features such as reporting, alerts, and maintenance tracking, Fleet Managers will be able to begin to control this otherwise unavoidable expense.
In our next post, I’ll highlight how to go about choosing the right GPS Fleet Tracking Solution for your business.
My name is Evan Carmichael and I believe that the fastest and most effective way to build a business is to model the strategies of people who have already done what you’re trying to do. I call it Modeling the Masters. My last post with over 25 was 3 Success Tips from Anita Roddick (The Body Shop).
Today we're going to look at how a young lawyer who seemingly had it all bravely left his job to start his own business. He had to fight over 30 lawsuits and nearly went out of business but he stuck with it and created one of the most respected companies in America. This is the story of Southwest Airlines co-founder Herb Kelleher and the top 3 lessons that you can learn from his success.
Must Watch Video
"Your people come first, and if you treat them right, they'll treat the customers right." - Herb Kelleher
Herb Kelleher (born March 12, 1931) is the co-founder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines. After graduating from law school he did what every new lawyer dreamed of. He clerked for the Supreme Court Justice, joined a law firm, and became partner at a firm in his wife's home state of Texas. He should have been on top of the world but he was instead itching for a new career as an entrepreneur. One evening Kelleher was having drinks with a client, Rollin King, and that night the two used a cocktail napkin to hatch a new business, Southwest Airlines.
Using Kelleher's legal experience and King's business background, Southwest Airlines was set up to run only in Texas to avoid having to follow federal price regulations. Kelleher had found a legal loophole and his competition didn't appreciate it. Kelleher had to fight off over 30 lawsuits before Southwest Airlines was even able to get a plane in the air. But they prevailed and bootstrapped their way from a company with only 4 planes to being one of the most admired companies in America.
Southwest is consistently named one of the top five Most Admired Corporations in America by Fortune magazine, which also called Kelleher perhaps the best CEO in America. It has never experienced an in-flight fatality and continues to enjoy growing success. Southwest is also the only airline to have over 30 consecutive years of profit, despite the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which threatened the rest of the industry. In 2001, Kelleher resigned as CEO and president of Southwest due to a personal battle with prostate cancer.
Action Item #1: Put Your People First
Any successful entrepreneur will tell you how important it is to have a good team running your business. Employees who are skilled at what they do and love their work will take you places you might only dream about right now. Treat them as people, give them opportunities, show them how they are adding value, and give them something to believe in and your business growth will explode.
Kelleher believed in the power of having employees who loved working for his company. He paid attention to their needs and made them feel important. He also made everyone have a share in the business' success. Southwest implemented the first profit-sharing plan in the airline industry in 1974. Employees owned 13 percent of the company’s common stock. All of Southwest’s employees, from the janitors to the pilots, receive stock options.
According to Kelleher: “I always felt that our people came first. Some of the business schools regarded that as a conundrum. They would say: Which comes first, your people, your customers, or your shareholders? And I would say, it's not a conundrum. Your people come first, and if you treat them right, they'll treat the customers right, and the customers will come back, and that'll make the shareholders happy... We’ve always tried to be sensitive to the needs of our people and recognize the things that are important to them in their personal lives... At Southwest Airlines, you can’t have a baby without being recognized – getting communication from the general office. You can't have a death in your family without hearing from us. If you're out with a serious illness, we're in touch with you once every two weeks to see how you're doing. We have people who have been retired for 10 years, and we keep in touch with them. We want them to know that we value them as individuals, not just as workers. So that's part of the esprit de corps... If you come here, you'll be happy.”
Action Item #2: Focus Everyone on Customer Service
Customer service is increasingly becoming one of the most important differentiating factors for companies. For a lot of businesses there really isn't all that much that is different in the products or services that they are offering compared to their competition. How do you stand out? Wow your customers with service. Make them love doing business with you so they come back and tell their friends. Have everyone on your team be as supportive as they can towards your customers and your marketing strategy will take care of itself.
At Southwest, people are encouraged to go the extra mile, and then some, to help their customers. There is the man who had a heart attack at the airport, who was then accompanied by a Southwest employee to the hospital. The employee stayed with the man all night and called his wife to update her on his status. Then, there is the passenger who left the airport only to find a flat tire on his car. Moments later, a Southwest employee was changing it for him, despite the fact that the man informed him he had never flown with Southwest.
According to Kelleher: "We have the best customer satisfaction record, based on Transportation Dept. statistics, of any airline in America, the fewest complaints filed per 100,000 passengers carried. So you’re not just getting low fares, you’re also getting wonderful customer service... We have a People Dept. That’s what it deals with, so don’t call it Human Resources – that sounds like something from a Stalin five-year plan. You know, how much coal you can mine. We say everybody is a leader, no matter what your job is. We want you to focus on customer service - and not just to the outside world - customer service to the inside world. If [employees] pollute our other people internally and they in turn savage the people who are doing the work outside, the whole company has just rotted."
Action Item #3: Hire the Right People
If you're going to have a company that puts its people first and grows through repeat customers and referrals you're going to have to do a fantastic job in hiring the right people. Know what type of personality you need in new hires and don't settle until you've found the best person for the job. Once you say you're going to settle for less than the best, that's what happens to your entire business.
In the hiring process at Southwest, many applicants are made to take personality tests. In one example, the vice president of Southwest’s People Department was having difficulty finding a new ramp agent. Frustrated, she went to Kelleher to ask for advice. She said she was embarrassed that she had already interviewed 34 candidates for the position. Kelleher told her to interview 134 people if that was what it would take to find the person with the right attitude for the job.
According to Kelleher: "We have a good many MBAs, but we look at them for attitude as well. We will hire someone with less experience, less education, and less expertise, than someone who has more of those things and has a rotten attitude because we can train people. We can teach people how to lead. We can teach people how to provide customer service. But we can’t change their DNA." One day, Kelleher received a letter from one of Southwest’s ramp agents in Oklahoma. It read, “Herb, I’m on to what you’re doing…You’re making work fun – and home work.”
True Story
In the beginning, Southwest had just four planes and 70 employees. All of the legal battles had left the company on the verge of closing down. It forced Kelleher to make a difficult decision: he had to either sell one of the planes or lay off some of his employees. He chose to sell the plane. In return, Kelleher asked his employees to cut gate turnaround times from 55 to just 15 minutes. They pulled it off and Kelleher had clearly set the culture for his business.
More Quotes
"I learned it by doing it, and I was scared to death."
"Sometimes you need a little courage too just to buck popular opinion."
"The important thing is to take the bricklayer and make him understand that he’s building a home, not just laying bricks."
What Do You Think?
What have you done to put your people first? How have you gone out of your way to help your customers? What part of Herb Kelleher's message impacted you the most? As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts if you leave a comment below!
If last week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is any indication, "ultrabooks" are poised to be the hottest laptop category this year.
An "ultrabook" is a new category of incredibly thin and lightweight laptops – "ultraportable," if you will -- that also benefit from a powerful processor.
In other words, there's no trade-off between size and performance as there was just a couple of years ago with small but underpowered netbooks.
A term coined by Intel, "ultrabooks" not only have a fast processor to handle demanding tasks – such as video editing and smooth multitasking – but they also enjoy long battery life, too (once the Achilles' heel of laptops).
At CES, Intel announced more than 75 ultrabooks were it he works for 2012, most of which will house a Core i5 processor, capable of sipping rather than gulping electricity. Most offer at least 8 hours on a single charge.
Ultrabooks also benefit from Intel Rapid Start, a proprietary technology that uses flash memory embedded in the Intel chipset to improve boot-up times considerably.
Some believe the increasingly popularity of tablets had a direct influence on the creation of ultrabooks, as consumers wanted something thinner and lighter to tote around, with a high-powered but low-voltage processor. It would also be remiss not to draw comparisons to Apple's successful line of MacBook Air computers – ultrabooks might be considered a Windows-based version, but many PC makers are adding their own unique spin to the form factor.
At CES, HP unveiled the gorgeous glass-covered Envy 14 Spectre ultrabook with multiple wireless radios under the hood (launching next month), while Lenovo debuted its IdeaPad Yoga, a flexible ultrabook that can swivel into a tablet 9due out later in the year).
I mentioned there were no trade-offs between size and performance but be aware there might be something you're giving up with ultrabooks – and it might be an important consideration for businesses. Most ultrabooks use SSD (flash) memory instead of a HDD (hard drive), which means less storage for all your programs and files. But with "cloud computing" becoming a big trend, it may mean less locally-stored files anyway.
Therefore, if you enjoy carrying around many thousands of documents, presentations or media (photos, videos, etc.) you might opt for a laptop with a hard drive instead.
Lightweight SSD-based computers also contribute to the fast boot-up times and zippy performance, not to mention the lack of rotating magnetic disks means it also helps extend battery life and makes the PC more durable, too.
Also be aware most ultrabooks do not have an optical drive, so you can't run software on a CD-ROM or burn a DVD – unless you opt for an external optical drive that plugs into the ultrabook's USB port. Personally, I haven't used my DVD burner in my laptop in nearly three years, so I wouldn't miss it.
As you might expect, prices for ultrabooks are higher than standard laptops –something budget-conscious businesses must keep in mind, especially if they're handing them to multiple employees -- but prices will inevitably come down over time.
TELUS Talks Business correspondent Julie Bishop recently interviewed Tony Lourakis, the CEO of Complete Innovations, a leading global provider of mission critical fleet, asset and mobile workforce management solutions. The Markham Ontario headquartered company continues to win awards year after year being recognized for its national growth with honours including a spot on IDC Canada’s “10 to Watch” list, being ranked as one of Canada’s fastest-growing companies by PROFIT 100 three years in a row, and being part of Deloitte’s Fast 500 List in 2010.
In this post, Tony discusses his company's success and overcoming challenges.
What specific challenges does Complete Innovations address for its clients?
Complete Innovations helps companies that have a mobile workforce optimize their operations, create efficiencies, reduce costs, improve scalability and reduce risk.
We do this through our products and services, so companies go from not having visibility into where their mobile workforce is or what they're doing in a real time basis to having full visibility into the job status and exactly where their team, assets and vehicles are.
We have thousands of customers and they cover a wide array of industries, but all of them have the need to improve their efficiency in the field and that’s what we do. For instance, one of our customers is a bottled water company, which delivers across Canada and has a fleet of about 500 vehicles.
They had a policy not to idle on deliveries, but they never knew if people were complying with unless the supervisor drove around and followed the vehicles. After they installed our Fleet Complete tracking product, which TELUS sold to them, they could monitor not only the location of their vehicles but also speeding, idling, hard braking, rapid acceleration and hard cornering. But the key one here, in this case, was idling. The technology was able to confirm that in most cases, drivers were idling on delivery.
The company then informed its drivers that they were being monitored for idling and reminded them of the no-idling policy. They quickly got full compliance on the policy, leading a savings of more than $100 per vehicle per month in fuel alone, just from implementing that one benefit. The system cost them $50 vehicle per month so their ROI was immediate and huge especially when you multiply that across a fleet of 400 or 500 vehicles.
Another example is of a courier company in Vancouver that recently implemented our system to replace paper waybills. The company’s waybill system was costing them about $50,000 per year as each waybill was a three-part carbon copy form.
Using our Courier Complete product, which features a mobile application for smart phones, enabled them to make their whole workflow paperless so the drivers could get all their delivery data on the mobile device.
When they do a pickup they can scan the packages. When they go do a delivery, they hand the device to the customer and the customer signs off on it electronically. It’s eliminated the need for them to print waybills, and just that one thing has saved them more than $50,000 a year.
Additional benefits include many other savings from productivity gains and visibility, the ability to get data in real time, and environmental benefits such as reduced paper waste.
What are a couple of challenges you faced as a business and for which you could recommend resources to for other entrepreneurs?
First, it’s important to have a very sound business model to begin with. You need to spend a lot of time thinking about the business model and making sure there's a very strong value proposition in the market you're going after.
If you’ve thought all that through and have a sound business plan then when you execute your plan make sure you stick to your plan. Of course, plans change and things change, but when you start from a solid plan, you can have a better understanding of what can change and in which directions you should go.
Second, hiring and retaining top talents is a key. Find people who are excited about what you're trying to do and are prepared to put in the blood, sweat and tears to see it through. Be sure to hire the best people you possibly can because you're only going to be as great as your people.
In next weeks' Entrepreneur straight talk series, Tony addresses financing, building a customer base and the importance of customer feedback.
TELUS recently challenged entrepreneurs to share their best to-the-point and convincing elevator pitch for a chance to win one of two business productivity prize packs. With more than 100 submissions, Jordan D’Amico’s pitch was one of the top finalists.
Who believes a cupcake is simply a small cake? Not Jordan D’Amico. The 21-year-old Carleton University launched his online boutique, I’m With Cupcake in July 2011, with the premise that cupcakes aren’t just food, they can be a movement. He sells cupcake-themed products as well as party and baking supplies, cosmetics, and fun home décor, while working towards his B.A. in human rights.
1. Let’s start by talking about the process of coming up with the pitch – small businesses struggle with this.
D’Amico: I thought there are so many amazing online businesses. What will capture people’s attention? So why not redefine the word ‘cupcake’ to mean more than just everyone’s favourite dessert? Here, cupcake means anything cute, fun, kitsch, and clever.
2. How did you test your pitch? How do you know it does your company and product justice?
I don’t mean to be blasé but I went with my gut. My vision was products that people use everyday but with a new, fun twist and that you might not find in stores. I looked at competitors’ businesses to see how their products were selling and read reactions to products on the comments pages.
3. When did you start using social media? And how do you measure the success of those initiatives?
D’Amico: When I opened I had a Twitter account and Facebook page. I also used my food blog, Kitchen Karate, which went up in 2009 and is a great platform to promote the business. The FB page is linked to my Twitter account and is an easy way to share things. When I want to promote something I type it up and it’s sent to 700 people. About two months ago I was excited when a shipment of cupcake and party kits arrived. I took a picture of the box and posted it immediately….not that everyone is interested! The way I measure success is when people respond to posts.
4. What do you regard as your greatest success of 2011?
D’Amico: Getting the business to a place where I’m comfortable. I’m not raking in the dough but I don’t have to shut down shop. It’s growing at a pace where I can to learn about everything from shipping and packaging to sales projections. It improves the quality of what I’m doing.
5. Many businesses struggle to build their customer base and attract new customers with limited resources. Your advice?
D’Amico: A lot of advertising I use is free, like MailChimp. I send out periodic newsletters with a few promotional lines or to remind people that our stuff makes great stocking stuffers, plus photos and links to the product page.
6. How do you address customer feedback and what does it take to implement changes based on this feedback?
D’Amico: I do receive requests to source specific products. One customer asked, ‘Do you carry the cupcake pajamas I saw Kim Kardashian wearing?’ I thought the clothing is probably woven out of actual cake batter and only available at Sak’s Fifth Avenue. I never considered selling expensive things because if I was a customer, I’d be discouraged from buying online. And I want to keep this a place where everyday people can go and shop and smile and have fun.
7. Imagine you’re considering starting a new business. Given today’s environment and your experience, what are two things you’d advise yourself?
D’Amico: We live in a time of instant gratification. Then you come into a business, even an online one, and realize it’s so different. It’s not about doing it as fast as you can or having instant success, it’s about committing and putting in as much effort as you can. Second, I’d say take all the help and advice that’s offered….even if you’re not paying people!
8. What are your business goals for 2012?
I’d love to bring in products from indie Canadian artists who don’t have a platform to sell their work.
You don't often see the words "free" and "Microsoft Office" in the same sentence – especially when it comes to iPad apps that let you access your Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on the go – but a new download called CloudOn does let you create, view, and edit Microsoft Office files directly on your tablet.
Before we get into the details, there are a couple of catches. You need a Dropbox account to store and access your files, but at least you can sign up for free. And if the name of the app didn't give it away, CloudOn requires an Internet connection to use, as all your files are stored online via Dropbox. Even though you can open an email attachment on your iPad though CloudOn, you still need an Internet connection to perform the task.
If you can get past these conditions, CloudOn can be a handy productivity tool.
I tested the app by first uploading a bunch of Microsoft Word and Excel files on my PC, and then launching the app on the iPad. You're first prompted to type in your Dropbox login information (including password) before you see your files. You can select to log you on automatically going forward or you can be prompted to enter the password each time.
Now you can tap on the file you'd like to open, such as abc.docx, and you'll see it full screen in landscape view. All of the Office options, tabs and pull-down menus at the top of the screen will be familiar to you. But once you launch the keyboard to edit the document, be aware it takes up a lot of the screen real estate -- too bad you can't view or edit files in portrait view. I tried to open a PDF document but it wasn't supported, nor can you access other types of files, such as music, photos or videos.
You can also create Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on your iPad, which are then saved to your Dropbox account to be accessed later on (even on multiple devices, if desired). It's also possible to rename and delete documents from within Dropbox; spell check, track changes and insert comments; and view and edit animation and transition sequences in your PowerPoint presentations.
Despite its limitations, CloudOn is a completely free way to give you Microsoft Office to go on your iPad, whether you're on Wi-Fi or 3G. While not perfect, it's hard to argue with a free solution that lets you access, manage, edit and create Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
