Author: Ernest W. Semerda

Aussie in Silicon Valley. Veryfi CoFounder (#YC W17 cohort). GSDfaster Founder.

How to get an unsecured credit card

The following is an account of my experience with obtaining an unsecured credit card. I hope it helps you getting your credit card faster and a reasonable credit limit. You can apply for credit card after listening to my advice.

Credit history – guilty until proven innocent

You should get a credit card when you 1st arrive in America.

But guess what, no large bank will give you an unsecured credit card since you have no credit history. In comparison to Australia, American credit rating system works backwards. In Australia you are innocent until proven guilty and in America you are guilty until proven innocent. Which means that in America you start with 0 credit history and you must build credit up from nothing. Chicken and egg scenario. How can you borrow to build credit when they wont let you since you are viewed as a high risk borrower. Read my prior blog post on this topic here.

Secured credit card – your money

The only option you will have is to obtain a “secured” credit card. This is you putting your money down (say $2,000) into your bank of choice and using that line of credit as though it’s a credit card. Basically you lock away $2,000 of your money and use your money as though it was the banks and you pay it off. On time! Else you will not get good credit rating. What’s important to remember here is that the bank records (keeps tracks) your credit behavior and reports it back to the credit bureau. It feels like being ripped off because it’s your money and the bank treats you as though they are doing you a favor. They are actually. Read on.

This process has to go on for 13 months. By the end of the 13 month period the bank will let you know whether you are eligible for an “unsecured” credit card and if you are what is it’s credit limit. Read my prior blog post on building credit history to make sure you do not break any of the credit card rules like maxing out your credit card (yes I know it’s your money but..) or that you pay on-time (yes, it’s your money but Uncle Bob is looking over your shoulder).

Patience young Aussie.. patience..

Getting a secured credit card faster (before the 13 months)

Yes, there is a faster method to get that unsecured credit card. Actually, you can get it 5-6 months faster, but be careful and make sure that during the entire time you protect your identity by doing identity verifications via video-chat like the one from Fully-Verified. Otherwise, you will lose a ton of money and get a bad credit score.

So the major banks have that 13 month policy (mentioned above) of watching your behaviour and reporting back to the credit bureau on your credit behavior. If you get Citrus Loans then this would have been building your credit history ALOT faster then a secured credit card. A car loan is by far the best way to build credit history because it is a sizeable investment which you are responsible for servicing. This is a big plus (if managed properly) at the folks in the credit bureau.

So after 6 months of servicing your car loan with TechCU, approach them for an unsecured credit card. I did this after 8 months and they impressed me with an approval for a substantial amount (4x more then my secured credit card at Wells Fargo) the following day. Not only that, I also received a nice warm fluffy blanket (it is winter here after all) becuase I applied for a credit card with TechCU.

Next steps

I’m curious to see what will Wells Fargo come back with after the 13 months process is up. Are they going to match TechCU’s credit offer or come back with something lousey. I read a recent Prosper loans review, and I’m disappointed with their risk assessment of my account since I have kept all my American income in their bank and have great history with the secured credit card being paid on time. While TechCU using only my car loan payment history, credit rating and my professional history was able to see that I am a low risk customer and offer me an outstanding credit card product with maximum rewards.

Let’s see how things go. I will update this blog post with the outcome from Wells Fargo in the next few months.

~ Ernest

Links mentioned in this post

Expats guide on building Credit History in America
http://www.theroadtosiliconvalley.com/finance/building-credit-history-america/

Choice of Banks
http://www.theroadtosiliconvalley.com/finance/choice-banks/

Build credit history superfast – get a car loan
http://www.theroadtosiliconvalley.com/finance/car-loan-credit-history/

Breathing exercise for anxiety and stress

Take a deep breath and relax is so common a mantra that most of us miss its core message. 

Focused, controlled breathing has the power to defuse anxiety & stress and to boost energy. In fact, the notion of breathing as therapy has ancient roots in Newcastle Upon Tyne Therapy, an aspect of yoga that means “expansion and control of cosmic power.”

It’s no secret that breathing is essential for:

  • Sustaining Life – the oxygen you take in is picked up by the hemoglobin in the blood and distributed to all of the body’s trillions of cells where it is then used to fuel the cells and release energy, for better blood pressure you can try the many supplements sold  at Observer.
  • Cleansing inner body systems – balancing levels of Ph, CO2 & O2 for normal body functioning.

During stressful situations we rarely notice how the pressures of the moment keeps our mind occupied on almost everything but our physiological function – breathing. You may need the best cbd oil for anxiety to help you calm down, because it doesn’t have side effects like other pharmaceuticals, you can get it from goldbuds.com.

Consequently leading to irregular and short breaths leaving us in an unhealthy state of being. When we are in this state our mental and physical state diminishes leading to unsound decisions, behaviour and heightened anxiety states. However, using https://joyonproducts.com/ products to make your workout can make it easier for you.

By becoming aware of this and practicing correct breath technique, stressful situations may be handled better if you use a CBD pen your overall mental and physical health will be improved. where to get a dab pen? Look no further at Wphealthcarenews.com you will come across many lists. Or buy weed online canada, you can reassure that the products are as described. They are located in BC Canada where the climate and water provide for the best weed in Canada.

“If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be simply to learn how to breathe correctly.” – Andrew Weil, M.D.

Breathe through your belly not your chest!

Breathing properly starts at your belly. Not your chest.

Alveoli, where gas exchange occurs between oxygen & your blood supply, are more densly packed at the bottom of your lungs.

Chest breathing is shallow breathing and mobalises the top part of your lungs leading to less oxygen consumed by your body. Using your belly helps move the diaphragm (helpful for breathing and respiration) like a pump pulling & squizzing the lungs. This gets more oxygen into your blood supply and ultimately into your body.

The Breathing Technique – the 1-4-2 ratio

There are many different techniques which aim to teach you this art of breathing properly. In my opinion, the simplest and easiest to implement is the 1-4-2 ratio. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Inhale in through your nose all the way down to the bottom of the belly for 4 seconds (ratio 1-4-2). Let the belly rise. You may hold your hand on your belly to make sure you are breathing properly letting your belly rise.
2. Hold for 16 seconds (ratio 1-4-2).
3. Exhale out through parted lips (ratio 1-4-2) for 8 seconds. Your belly should fall back down.
4. Repeat steps 1-3, 10 times, 3 times a day.

This technique of breathing through your belly is often refered to as Diaphragmatic breathing and used to treat hyperventilation and high levels of anxiety.

Walking – your lymphatic system & breathing

We should all aim to walk at least 30 minutes per day. Walking stimulates your lymphatic system to move toxins out of your body and is also a great way to burn those unwanted calories. Add a correct breathing technique to this and you are on your way to a healthier you.

While walking you can vary your breathing pattern so that you inhale using short breaths 4 times in a row for each step you take and exhale 4 times for each step. Do this for around 15 minutes and it will change your current mental state.
There is a University research article which described these 4×4 technique – I’ll try to locate it and update this post soon.

Forming this new habit

You may be thinking, but Ernest do I have to always conentrate on my breathing. I already have a busy schedule… Like most things in life, there is a solution. For people that suffer chronic anxiety I recommend checking out LA weekly article about CBD and it’s health benefits.

Research has shown that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. So if you practise this breathing technique “daily” for around 30 minutes, after 21 days this new habit will became an automatic routine. Just like learning to drive a car required effort at first before it too became an automatic routine.

So, change your life today and start feeling better and full of energy – Breath.

Happy Breathing!

Recommended further reading

Failure is just Feedback

Looking back at my childhood I see I was afraid to fail. And I shouldn’t have. I wish I failed more. I wish I took more risk and failed more often. I wish I was wiser back then to see that failure isn’t about looking or feeling bad. Who cares what other people think. Who cares about the labels. It’s just noise, someone else’s noise. All that matters is that the more I Failed the more Feedback I would have received earlier in life. And here lays the root of the discussion on Failure and Success. Now when I say Success I don’t mean rolling in a treasure of money, rather being in a position to handle events that accomplish its intended purpose with more ease and grace.

That gut feeling

Few days ago I was speaking with a friend about the traits successful people have and their drivers. What is it that distinguishes these minorities from the rest and their guides to success.

In the business world, it is said that those successful have a gut feeling about business direction. This is extremely so with exceptional leaders who are known to drag companies out of holes and into success. Their gut feeling didn’t come from the sky, it came from experience. This leader spent early days failing, getting feedback, and learning from this feedback.

Let’s examine another example, the last time you drove your car. You probably listened to the radio while having a chat with your passenger/s and still managed to operate a vehicle that is travelling faster than the fastest land animal. All while avoiding collision with other vehicles & pedestrians. How is it that you traveled from point A to point B so autonomously.

This is due to a learning process you went through which started at the conscious level and with enough emotional experience got recorded into the subconscious (automatic) mind. That’s where the gut feeling comes from. That consciously unknown territory sending you a signal on direction.

Failure is important, early!

Both cases outlined above, the leader and a vehicle driver required early experience, early feedback.

The leader would have moved through the management ranks of a business over the years learning from the experience. The driver from the early days bunny hopping the vehicle or stalling it a few times. The reinforcements of these experiences today make you an exceptional successful person in that field. An accumulation of data (experiences) to make lightning fast decisions based on prior feedback. The power of the subconscious mind.

It is our human nature to want instant gratification. Everything today and now with minimal effort. But nature doesn’t work like that. Look at how your body consumes energy. We eat (a lot), pushing calories into our bodies and expect to not gain weight. If your body burned everything really quickly (so you wouldn’t gain weight) you’d be stuck eating all your life. A bit like the beautiful humming-bird. Your body takes time to extract the energy from food so you can live longer without needing to constantly feed yourself. Ok so you understand this simple concept.

Looking at how things work in nature it’s also important to realise that in order for you to encode (automate) something into your subconscious mind it will also take time. Learning is nothing more than feedback from a set of experiences. The most effective experiences are those where you make mistakes, you fail. Because they involve emotion. Read Think And Grow Rich (1938) to understand the power of emotion in encoding the subconscious memory.

Failure is punished

But hold on, failure is mostly punished. In our society failure is not looked positively upon. We only focus on and reward the successes. We get punished for failure. Hmm… and so the paradox begins. We see this in the corporate world (with the exception of some startups) too often it could cost our job, we see this especially in early childhood and the humility it brings to children when their peers laugh and tease them. Not to mention parents punishing failure.

So if we fear failure how can we learn. How can we change a life long fear of failure into a positive.

Who cares what they think

One solution is not giving a damn about what people say. It’s not going to be easy but you need to realize that failure is just feedback and the stuff in between is just noise. Noise that you can safely ignore and treat as just crappy noise. If this noise doesn’t agree with your feedback then it doesn’t deserve your attention because you are experiencing in order to get feedback to grow stronger and build that gut instinct which will help you drive your world (not theirs) into success.

If you think this is all nonsense then read a few biographies of great man. Man like Richard Branson in Losing My Virginity: How I’ve Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way. Branson explains how he built the Virgin Empire. One of the world largest branding giants behind everything from music, air travel (commercial and space), merchandise, clothing, entertainment etc… For more custom products you may use to improve your branding, consider visiting sites like https://www.swagify.com/. He did all of this because he chose to experience, fail early and learn from the feedback he received. He didn’t care what people thought of him (that noise) . One thing you will learn from Branson is that his story is littered with failures (feedback). But overall, he did bloody well and therefore is living the dream. His dream. Not someone else’s.

Start today

Ok so it’s never too late to start. Yes starting early in life would have meant that today you would have been in a different position. But starting today is better than not starting at all and then wishing on your death-bed you did more with your life. Regret hurts more than fear of failure. If you want to remember what a great life you had, start today. Make small incremental changes in shaping this new habit so that it becomes a part of the new you. Never forget that failure is just feedback, there will always be noise – who cares about it, and that each day you are only getting better to ultimately start making successful gut decisions. That is success right there.

Here’s to feedback!

~ Ernest

Skydive from 18,000ft in Santa Barbara

It was a rush! We passed the 12,000 feet marker and we had to do a kn95 mask buy so as to breath. Air at this height is very thin. Few seconds later the plane’s hangar door opened, the noise of wind rushing filled the small plane and we had to relay on hand signals to communicate. I hanged my legs over the edge of an airplane buzzing at 18,000 feet over Santa Barbara with panoramic ocean views… and then I jumped! Shop some graphic tees to wear on your skydiving adventure.

At 18,000 feet – that’s me in the green shirt

The first few seconds were exactly like the pivot point one reaches during a meditation session. My mind just stopped. Stillness.. peace, freedom. Time stopped. I was awake, aware and overwhelmed. Few seconds later the rush of adrenalin filled my body and I was screaming over the top of my lungs from the thrill of a Skydive out of an airplane at 18,000 feet over Santa Barbara in California USA.

The Plane which took us to 18,000 feet

Skydive Santa Barbara

Skydive Santa Barbara is the only drop zone in California to feature 270 degree panoramic ocean views on every jump. Additionally they are the only skydiving center in the Los Angeles area to offer tandem jumps from 18,000ft, the highest tandem jump in the world. If you’re flying through your private jet, you should be buying private aircraft insurance.

Skydive Santa Barbara is fully recognized by the FAA and has operated daily for the last 15 years with an untarnished safety record.

My jump on video

My brother and a friend visited us in July 2010 and we (including my wife) decided we wanted to seek some thrills. On our drive to Los Angeles we stopped by the Lompoc airport for a 18,000ft Skydive. Here is the video of the event.

Skydive Santa Barbara Website:
http://www.skydivesantabarbara.com/

Skydive Santa Barbara
1801 N H St Suite G
Lompoc, CA 93436

Yelp review:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/santa-barbara-sky-diving-lompoc

Please use the comments below to share your experience and ask questions!

Enjoy your jump!

Ernest

Hacker Dojo – a community center for hackers and thinkers

Hidden in Mountain View, California, few minutes walk from Castro St (downtown) is one of a kind 13,000-square-foot (1,200 m2) community center and hackerspace. It is called Hacker Dojo. Every since finding this place I have been less frequent at Red Rock and more at Hacker Dojo where I am also a member and occasional acting staff.

http://www.hackerdojo.com/

What is Hacker Dojo

Hacker Dojo is a community center for hackers and thinkers to meet, discuss, learn, create, build and play.

Hacker Dojo is a community center in Mountain View which is about 1/3rd coworking space, 1/3rd events venue, and 1/3rd a big social living room.  In the spirit of DevHouse, a physical community space for hackers and thinkers on the Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. This is a location for events, lectures, parties, BarCamps, DevHouses, LAN parties, hackathons, knitting circles, tinkering, brainstorming, coworking,  etc. While Hacker Dojo is technically a “members only” private club, they welcome visitors to many of the lectures and classes, and invite people to use the space on a drop-in basis as well. It is not a residential space.  The Dojo is a community space first and foremost – this means that the focus of the layout and activities is to lend itself to be a useful place to throw classes, host parties, brainstorm, and hang out. * Source HackerDojo

Hacker Dojo greets you!

Hacker Dojo: Origins, Context, and Future

This slide is good at explaining the origins of Hacker Dojo and where the concept of hacker space is heading: http://www.slideshare.net/dweekly/hacker-dojo-origins-context-and-future

Why a community space and not home?

A number of reasons, but the most important one is that it’s very hard to study and tinker in an environment that is set aside for living, eating and sleeping – the home. Like they say to never study in bed since it’s used for sleeping and if you do you will disturb your sleeping pattern. Which is why libraries are effective as a study environment – not just for the quiet zone but because you are in an environment with positive energy that encourages education. Hacker Dojo is that environment with the energy and resources which encourages hacking, tinkering & learning. It just works. I’m sure there is a proper psychology explanation behind this but I’m sure you know what I mean.

Let’s look inside

Here are some snaps I took while attending a mobile development class and then later hacking in one of the private rooms. Click each photo for a full size version.

Hacker Dojo - Savanna

Hacker Dojo - Mobile Development class in 140B

Hacker Dojo - 140B

Hacker Dojo - Private rooms

The dojo has it all for the nerd inside you

  • Ton of interesting and smart people either running their own startups or networking,
  • 3 bathrooms,
  • A kitchen with filtered water and all sorts of teas and occasional freebie snacks,
  • Library with a vast number of technical and business books – both new & old,
  • 6 x private rooms with whiteboards big enough to fit a team,
  • Top floor sports a living room style area where you can watch movies on a projector and kick back on a couch or bean bag,
  • Fully ducted air condition – perfect temperature year round,
  • Plenty of spare LCD screens to hookup your laptop to with converters,
  • Laser & injet printing facility (in Savanna room),
  • Fiber Optic Internet – fast up and down (see below). Great for working with remote servers.

HackerDojo Internet SpeedTest 2012-03-04


Larry gives a video tour of the Dojo

Hacker Dojo is Located at

Address: 140 South Whisman Road in Mountain View, CA. (map it)
More info: http://wiki.hackerdojo.com/w/page/25437/FrontPage
Become a member: http://wiki.hackerdojo.com/w/page/25447/JoinTheDojo

Other Hacker Spaces in California

If you see me at the Dojo come and say G’day to this Aussie!

Hacker Dojo in the News

April 4, 2011 4:00 AM PDT
At Hacker Dojo, Silicon Valley techies build toward success
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20050179-52.html

~ Ernest

Save money using coupons

Americans love coupons. Coupons are sexy. Coupons save you money.

It has always been an American Sunday paper tradition to clip coupons out for the week ahead. With the maturity of technology this landscape evolved and now most coupons are located online as the newspaper industry declines. So before you head out to shop in Silicon Valley, visit one of the following coupon sites to grab a bargain and save more of your money using coupons.

You might have already noticed that in the header navigation (above) of this site (The Road to Silicon Valley) I have already hooked up a “Save money” section to provide you with quick access to FREE at home printable grocery coupons and internet coupon codes. Those are powered by the no.1 coupon provider in America, Coupons.com. Keep on reading below to learn more about the best options to save money.

Coupons

A coupon is a ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in retail stores as a part of sales promotions. Basically printing a coupon is like printing money without any commitment to purchase required (unlike group buying below which is the opposite).

Top 2 sites in the USA for printable coupons are:

  • Coupons.com – Top 50 U.S. web property and No. 1 in the Coupons/Rewards category*—as well as Grocery iQ® and Coupons.com mobile applications for iPhone® devices and the Android operating system. Coupons.com Free GroceryIQ mobile application is superb and does all the hardwork for you by connecting coupons and your SafeWay loyalty card program to your shopping list. It couldn’t get easier to plan your shopping and load coupons!
  • Coupon Mom – Stephanie Nelson is The Savings Mom on ABC News’ Good Morning America, where she has been a regular contributor since 2004. Her Good Morning America segments have taught viewers how to save in many areas, including travel, clothing, restaurants, groceries, gifts, theme parks, gardening and entertainment.

Group buying

Group buying works that if a certain number of people sign up for the offer, then the deal becomes available to all; if the predetermined minimum is not met, no one gets the deal that day. Basically you have to “purchase” the deal in order to save X amount eg. buy for $10 and get $20 worth of goods. So there is a level of commitment required. Unlike coupons where no purchase commitment is required.

Top 2 sites in the USA which allow you to participate in group daily deals are:

  • Groupon – the big boy in group buying. No doubt you would have heard of them. Easy to use and always great products & services to buy. I’m a regular user of their simple, easy to use and efficient service.
  • Living Social – this is a Groupon competitor. Not as popular as Groupon but they do feature some good deals. The beauty of using these 2 sites is if a limited (1 per purchase) deal appears on Groupon you can go to Living Social and purchase it here too.

Coupon codes

Also known as internet coupons since you need to be making an online purchase to take advantage of these – think godaddy codes. Internet coupons typically provide for reduced cost or free shipping, a specific dollar or percentage discount, or some other offer to encourage consumers to purchase specific products or to purchase from specific retailers. Nearly every online retailer or website has a place within its shopping cart or checkout process for promo codes or coupon codes. Use the sites below to get your discount codes when making any online purchase.

Top 2 sites in the USA which allow you to get internet coupon codes are:

  • RetailMeNot – offers discount coupons for more than 65,000 stores around the world. They have been around for a long time and always provide quality active coupon codes.
  • Coupons.com – a one-stop shop provider for printable grocery coupons, local coupon, coupon codes and daily deals. Don’t forget to sign up to their free newsletter so you never miss a great deal.

Other specials to watch out for

Finally, regularly visit your favorite store’s website. They will always feature one-off limited time discounts especially around holidays. Any holiday in the USA is a good reason for these companies to lure you into their store via a great deal – some even up to 50% off during Thanksgiving festive season. I find subscribing to their newsletter always keeps me in the loop. And if you want to spend more time outside with your family and friends at night, then check out this Ware custom fire pit Naperville.

Best deals can be found during the following times of the year:

  1. Black Friday (3rd Friday of November) – the day after Thanksgiving (3rd Thursday of November).
  2. Christmas sales (before and after 25th of December).
  3. Half year sales and other random public holidays. Get to know American public holidays.

So next time you plan on shopping don’t forget to check the above websites and save anywhere from 10-30% on your shopping bill. While your there, sign up to their newsletters / daily alerts so you never miss that deal. The money saved from this simple habit can be used for your education, your start-up or directed toward a number of other investment vehicles.

Here’s to happy savings!

~ Ernest

Links mentioned in this post

  • Coupons – Coupons, Grocery Coupons, Printable Coupons, Restaurant Coupons, Coupon Codes
  • CouponMom – Cut your grocery bill in half!
  • Groupon – local daily deals
  • LivingSocial – local daily deals
  • RetailMeNot – Coupon codes and discounts for 65000 online stores!

Musichouse – express yourself

Musichouse was a music ecosystem compromising of an Electronic Press Kit (EPK) for artists & producers with exclusive access to online & offline (radio) broadcasting channels via RockinTheShed. We developed a number of monetization models to appeal to our target market and even put out some exciting Pantages events when we first started touring. RockinTheShed served as an initial hook to get leverage for Musichouse. We had a great team of smart entrepreneurs like Dave Manna (Sydney’s top Music Producer), Artur (RockinTheShed host) and Denis who is today the co-founder of embedster.com (Y Combinator 2010 Alumni).

The most complete music ecosystem

This consisted of three key components:

1)  Electronic Press Kit (EPK) for bands / artists – a way for an artist to professionally express themselves online by providing information about the band and events in an electronic equivalent of a press kit. Some of the parts of this EPK include biographical & contact information, music clips with accompanying lyrics, videos from events, media information, calendar of upcoming events linked to eTicks system etc… Each EPK is monitored using custom internal analytics analyzing the “groove in your music” to help the artist profit from the distribution and monetization model linked up to their EPK.

To help with the distribution of EPK content, an array of specific social network applications and widgets “spread the word” and allow users on other networks to interact and explore artist content.

2)  Digital distribution and unique online monetization model for Music – an artist shouldn’t be locked into the 1 monetization model rather have an array of options to choose from when it comes to distributing their assets like audio, photos and merchandise. MusicHouse will have 3 monetization models for an artist to use. Therefore being able to mix and match to see what works. Because we believe in giving the artist control, we are providing 3 monetization models (to start with) for an artist to use to distribute their music.

3)  Online and Offline broadcast on radio stations world-wide through RockinTheShed (marketing arm of MusicHouse) and other planned shows. Essentially giving artists a fair go to get heard by millions of radio listeners, and thousands of ardent readers. If you were to click here, you’d be cleared of any skepticism you’d have had of a magazine’s ability to proliferate. To get heard an artist has to build “credit” through a web of interconnected and aggregated fan voting systems, fair-share inbounds back to MusicHouse and other algorithms that we have planned under the bonnet.

Vision: “To be the one stop shop for artists / bands when they want to express themselves and reach new consumer markets by getting heard internationally both online and offline”

MusicHouse would help artists and bands to promote their music by creating their very own Electronic Press Kit (EPK) which enables a connection with musicians, promoters, fans and radio stations around the world. It is differentiated through a multitude of music services to enable a richer online experience, better monetization model, and unique, powerful, integrated offline exposure channel for member bands to achieve airtime at radio stations world-wide.

What the site looked like (in development)

EPK (Electronic Press Kit) – Audio player

EPK (Electronic Press Kit) – Other sections

Musichouse Business Architecture

How we planned to monetize

The site never saw day light (production launch) since RockinTheShed (its partner & complementary business) fell apart and we decided to wrap it up. Although the technical skills learnt building this site proved (and prove) to be extremely valuable assets today.

Ernest

RockinTheShed – signed or unsigned if it sounds good we wanna hear it

RockinTheShed was a weekly 2 hour Rock and Alternative radio station show delivering sounds from local and international artists blended with current news and happenings in the Rock and Alternative scene around the world. The show played across 12 radio stations geographically in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and USA. We got to meet and interview many interesting and famous bands while expanding our broadcasting range.

Goal: “We wanted to help artists get heard on the radio.”
Mantra: “Signed or unsigned, if it sounds good we wanna hear it.” – and so breathed & worked towards that vision.

There was 4 of us. All long-time friends. Two of the co-founders were deep into the Australian rock scene with one already managing an Australian rock band called Viperose. We saw this as an opportunity help Viperose and like bands get heard on the radio and explode onto the music scene. We all love music and this was passion married with business.

Our online services

We provided online tools for artists, broadcasters & listeners of rockintheshed.com. Those included:

  • Artists/bands: “Get heard” upload tools for artists to upload their songs and band information. We also provided Marketing banners to get artists to help spread the good deed of RockinTheShed and get fans voting for their songs to get heard on RockinTheShed.
  • Radio Stations: A secure login facility to download the weekly edited 2 hr RockinTheShed show including a playlist. There they could also find few marketing fillers & advertisements radio stations could use in their daily broadcasting.
  • Fans/Consumers: Ability to vote upcoming (uploaded by artist) songs and listen to uploaded songs including past RockinTheShed weekly 2hr show. Top voted songs would end up in the upcoming show. This encouraged artists to help spread our marketing banners (mentioned above) thus in turn getting their song played on RockinTheShed.
  • Facebook radio app: Allowed Facebook users to listen to the latest 2hr weekly show with similar voting capabilities as the RockinTheShed website without leaving their social network. This was a hit since Facebook was just growing.

RockinTheShed Homepage

Trivial background history: One evening when trying to work out a logo for the business we threw around ideas about what RockinTheShed meant to each of us. I started sketching these ideas and came up with a design (bottom left) which later was professionally crafted (bottom right) and become our logo and branding.

The birth of RockinTheShed logo

Quick facts

Life span: 2 years
Co-founders: 4 – Dave Manna (Sydney’s top Music Producer), Artur (RockinTheShed host), Denis (a serial entrepreneur whom managed the band Viperose and is today the co-founder of embedster.com, a Y Combinator 2010 Alumni) and me (The tech geek).
Profitable?: Nope. Zilch. We had a long-term monetization plan once we built enough leverage.
Why terminated: Chewing too much of our money and some of the co-founders had started looking at other opportunities.

Top 5 things I learnt from this venture

  • 4 co-founders is a crowd. We had issues agreeing to decisions and at times felt like we were all stepping on each other’s toes. Maybe this was due to too many powerful personalities all at the same table but 4 definitely felt crowded.
  • Never relay on a 3rd party’s infrastructure for your “core” business. I didn’t like the idea that without the radio stations we could be gone. We had some trouble with 1 which proved to be a nightmare to manage but we survived and it left a sour taste. I decided after this to never build a business which relied on someone else’s infrastructure for the “core” of my business. This is like outsourcing your “core” business to someone else and hoping you will stay afloat – good luck!
  • Turn pains into solutions. We had certain internal issues with stuff forgetting to be done and late delivery of tasks. This meant our quality suffered. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of this I asked myself what can I do to solve this. Then one day it hit me and I built a tool over the weekend solving this problem (while watching all 3 Bourne Identity movies).
  • To minimize loses, run an unprofitable business only when there is a profitable one under your belt. If it wasn’t for the profits from WebAnt this business would have cost me a fortune to sustain. Yes it was a fun business and extremely valuable to artists.
  • Outsource your weakest parts. Neither of us were good at website design which is why we now hire experts at Web Design Liverpool. The 1st few iterations of our site proved this lol. Instead of wasting further time trying to come up with a design that sticks we decided to outsource the design. We ended up going with a designer through elance.com. Because we also took the time to research BigCommerce design ideas, we were able to provide the designer with everything we wanted the website to have – and boy were we pleased.

I really enjoyed this business venture. It was fun. We got to go to many gigs, meet crazy and talented (sometimes both) bands & artists and it left us with wonderful memories. My band photography business (ernestsemerda.com) span off from this venture, I learnt how to build Facebook applications and Musichouse was born to complement RockinTheShed.

It was fun!

Ernest

WebAnt Analytics – climb inside your customers mind

WebAnt was a holistic web analytics and automation service servicing corporate clients on the Australian market. WebAnt proved to be a competitor (at the time) to Red Sheriff (now Nielsen NetRatings) when the Australian market was not overcrowded with analytic tools. Overthrowing Red Sheriff as the web analytics provider of choice for MBF – Australia’s largest health benefit fund.

Our service offerings

  1. Web Analytics tools and reports ranging from the standard client analytic type to website overlays, dynamic component tracking, email blast tracking, trend reports to footprints (heatmaps) et al. There are then also some great MYSQL reporting tools that you can use like this one, it’s critical to get the best one so we strongly suggest you have a look into that reporting tool for MYSQL.
  2. Automation tools and reports to allow WebAnt subscribers to generate “phantom customers”. Then sending them interacting through subscriber http / https site and report back on findings. This proved to be the hottest and most value adding service add-on since it identified problems before they escalated / affected the larger online user community.

Automation in more detail

Automation plugin called InSite

Quick facts

Life span: 3 years.
Founder: 1 (me) + multiple outsourced contractors on a need basis.
Profitable: From the start – 20% in expenses and rest profits.
Why terminated: Google Analytics entered the market – hard to compete with free.

Some product screen shots

Trivial background history: WebAnt began its life as BlueArrow (logo below) which was built as a complementary offering to a web design business I and a former AMP colleague ran. The web design business was my 1st true business out of University. Former AMP executive management invested in BlueArrow and WebAnt was born with branding capabilities to allow anyone to resell the product.

Precursor to WebAnt

Top 5 things I learnt from this venture

  • You need to spend money in order to make money. Sometimes more than you are used to / comfortable with. This was my biggest fear (initially) since the hardware cost us around USD 1,000 per month, yet it was only a fraction of what we were earning once we got it rolling.
  • Linux sh*ts all over Windows. We had both stacks (initially) and Linux always impressed me with its stability, up time, ease of maintenance without taking the site down and super performance. Need I say more lol.
  • Don’t get tied up in a “which language” debate. At the end of the day you are solving a business problem and whatever tools work at the time stick to them. BlueArrow was built-in classic ASP (remember this), then it was ported to PHP as WebAnt and later we introduced parts in C# & Java. It worked, we were profitable, it was fun to learn new languages and our clients were happy. Just make sure you monitor performance and stay on-top of the game (trends) and adjust as needed.
  • Results are everything and talk is just bullshit. Don’t get excited about a potential partnership / expansion unless you start seeing some results like customers signing up and/or your bank account dollars increasing. Everyone around you wants to make money off your idea and will talk it up like you will be a millionaire tomorrow. Just focus on your business and give them the tools to go away and bring those millions. Never lose focus of you goal.
  • Build a profitable business from the start. It’s alot more fun knowing that every sweat and late night you pull in is rewarded financially. The harder you work the more money you make (not always but you get the gist). Don’t hope that one day you will find a way to make money, do the hard-work now (at the start) and you will have more rewards. Take a read of 37signals/DHH style companies on being profitable and proud: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=169197

When I walked away from this venture I knew the ins and out of web analytics. I considered myself very well-informed. And to this day I still hold a very keen interest in data mining, analysis & analytics. Yes today I use Google Analytics for most projects which require tracking since it’s a lot simpler and easier than building your own home-grown solution + it’s a very powerful tool when used correctly.

Ernest

Ramify – Unit Trust Rating and Information Services

Ramify was a company that was to provide tools and objective ratings of unit trust funds and Unit Trust Fund Management Companies using both quantitative and qualitative data. It was to be a valuable service to the Unit Trust Funds industry participants including retail and institutional investors, financial planners, agents, banks, Unit Trust Management Companies, regulators, etc.

Malaysia

We were a team of 3. We developed a working prototype & value proposition with plans to launch on the Asian market starting in Malaysia. The other 2 team members were industry veterans in the Unit Trust Funds industry in Australia and have spent time in Malaysia customizing the offering and business strategy, establishing strategic alliances, assessing the market potential, and conducting qualitative assessments of Unit Trust Fund Management Companies.

We flew to Malaysia with our Prototype to propose this Investment Opportunity to the board of RAM with the goal of:

  • Giving 50% equity to the investor (RAM),
  • in return asking for a purchase price RM2 million and
  • acquiring investor to provide RM2 million working capital.

We met many interesting and intellectually clever people. From the board of RAM (Malaysian largest rating agency) to investors from USA and CEO’s of various financial firms whom were interested in what we wanted to do on the Asian market. At that time no one was doing this and it seemed like this was going to be that multimillion dollar opportunity. In the end due to a number of reasons I cannot disclose here the deal fell apart. But it was fun while it latest and provided plenty of education.

Prototype screenshots

Here’s some screenshots of what the early (2006) prototype looked like.

Ramify - Homepage

Ramify - Fund Profile

Top 5 things I learnt

  • Don’t get too excited too soon. Deals come and go very quickly and even with the hope of smelling millions, it can fall apart very quickly and easily.
  • Surround yourself with smart people. You will be surprised how your thinking processes, behavior and views will change (for the better) once you spend time with very intellectually smart people. People that have been there, done that and can provide you with a wealth of knowledge & advise based on their experience.
  • Build a winning team. Everyone in the team should complement each other in some form or another. That way no one is spending time carrying the others on their backs. When you work, everyone works, on their parts. Then all parts come together like a transformer resulting in a giant unstoppable machine.
  • Business brings friends closer. Yes there is the old mantra not to run a business with your friends but my experience proved to be very fruitful here. It allowed us to get closer and build long lasting friendship. Boy did we all party in Malaysia… in style may I add. Memories that will never be forgotten.
  • It’s like there’s more of me working on this. We were a team of 3. This meant we got stuff done quicker and had access to greater brain power – the power of 3. We all supported each other during the down times and this kept the morale strong.

I walked away from this venture a new man. Now I know what it feels like to be at a pinnacle.

Ernest