Writing down ideas when I think of them has been useful. But the trick is to leave the idea for a couple of months; If I’m still thinking about it, then it must be good!
At the age of 12, Adam Stone starting his first businesses, importing and selling toys on eBay. Since then, he has continued his entrepreneurial journey. Last year, at the age of 19, Adam was awarded Australia’s 2013 Student Entrepreneur of the Year by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, for the success of his business in the telecommunications space. He is now also Founder & CEO of Speedlancer.com, a revolutionary online task platform which enables customers to get their design, writing and data entry tasks delivered within just 4 hours.
Where did the idea for Speedlancer.com come from?
I have been running various ecommerce sites for a while now and found that there were times where I needed online tasks done within the day, so that I could launch a new product or get a new marketing campaign out there immediately. Because I realized time is money, and recognizing the power of delegation, I knew there had to be a better way than posting tasks and then waiting for bids, reviewing those bids, risking quality and money, having to sort out payment, etc etc. Speedlancer arose as the first truly ‘set it and forget it’ solution for these small, albeit necessary, tasks.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I am a full time law student! However, I still find ample time to run my businesses. Typically, I will provide my teams with guidance, set goals, handle tough customer inquiries, respond to feedback and reviews, build our SEO rankings and handle corporate client and supplier relations.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I start by building or planning an MVP, then work on SEO and marketing through writing lots of good content. Hopefully after some time, the project will catch on and I can use the revenues coming in as a base to expand the product and reach.
Outsourcing has been a very good way to start many projects on a budget, which means I can easily cut out those projects that don’t succeed.
What’s one trend that really excites you?
Outsourcing is awesome. It means I can launch ideas that I couldn’t have otherwise, whether due to budget or time constraints. It also means access to talent from all around the world, rather than just my neighbourhood.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Writing down ideas when I think of them has been useful. But the trick is to leave the idea for a couple of months; If I’m still thinking about it, then it must be good!
What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?
The only ‘real job’ I’ve had was a fry cook at McDonalds. I didn’t hate it; it taught me what hard work was like, and what it was like to be on an hourly wage, which I believe are valuable lessons for every entrepreneur. The systems that McDonalds has also blew me away and has shaped the way I have run my own businesses.
If you were to start again, what would you do differently?
I might not focus solely online. Internet startups are fun, but I don’t think there’s anything as ‘cool’ as seeing a hardware/Internet of Things business succeeding. There’s something exciting about selling tangible things…
That said, technology is a great way of solving problems, and that in itself is exciting.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Only spend money on things you have to. That means really utilizing the ‘Lean’ methodology to ensure that your product offering is exactly suited to what customers/the market is demanding, and nothing more.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? Please explain how.
Focussing on customer satisfaction as the core metric is really important. It is the only way to get repeat business and is often overlooked. This means systemizing everything so that whoever handles support does so in the best way, every time.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
I have sometimes fallen into the trap of building (or planning to build) an awesome product but without considering the actual size of the market. Often an awesome idea will simply not have a large enough market to make it worthwhile or possible to succeed.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
No one seems to have truly replicated the shopping mall experience on the web. People who shop in malls tend to purchase multiple items from different stores in the same day, but for some reason the internet doesn’t seem to have really caught on to this ‘binge shopping’ phenomenon.
Tell us something about you that very few people know?
I used to be a regional-level gymnast when my family was living in Chicago
What software and web services do you use? What do you love about them?
PivotalTracker is fantastic for managing web development tasks. It helps us stay on top of things, no matter the size of the task.
HelpScout.com has also been instrumental to our customer support strategy. Seriously, try it.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
Start-up Nation
What people have influenced your thinking and might be of interest to others?
Adrian Stone @SmallTimeVC
Bill Gates
Ruslan Kogan (kogan.com)
Steve Jobs
Connect:
Twitter: @StoneAdam
Email: [email protected]
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.