I first became aware of how big a part computers
where to play a role in the entire business plan after the section
on the NEIS course which involved computerizing your business records.
I became even more interested while I was renting the Packard Bell
computer from Rentlo and I found that I could get no support. the
rental company new nothing and the "support line" was an eastern states
number which proved more frustrating than any problems I was having
with the computer. I started purchasing computer magazines and realized
that they where very expensive and that many of them where from overseas
with a few from the Eastern States.
I began getting ready to market some Education
and Business CD-ROMs which where full of shareware and After reading
so many computer magazines I discovered that shareware was the ideal
product for me to market by mail order. I could produce disks cheaply
and quickly and was required to purchase no stock and very little
materials as disks could be produced as the y where ordered. I could
offer programs that fulfilled needs in peoples lives and assist those
that did not understand computers to get more out them without spending
thousands of dollars.
I saw that there was a niche market in the
help area as I could find no help of any kind for myself apart from
a guy a paid for weekly computer lessons and I couldn't even find
a Western Australian magazine to get help from. I felt that the Internet
and computers where the pool of knowledge that people needed to draw
from in order to better understand the world and I saw a real need
in the community for some kind of computer help. I began studying
as much information as I could find and obtained an Internet connection
through Netway in order to learn more about computers and to help
me with my market research. I contacted Netway and asked them to assist
me with the marketing of my shareware disks and they agreed to give
me any help that they could.I decided to continue with the other mail
order Ideas but to do a new business plan combining the old ideas
with my new ones. I decided that shareware was the perfect item to
start of with as it was freely available and free to distribute. I
wrote up some letters to send to clients and placed some classifed
adds in the newspaper to atract enquireies to which I replied with
letter one A
and I started developing ideas to bring computers to people like me
in an easy to uderstand and fun way.
While visiting a local computer shop one day
I ran into Dave Massey who was a friend of Eric's and I briefly explained
what I was doing. He seemed interested and asked to see the business
plan sometime. Dave was quite passionate about computers and started
visiting with me to swap knowledge about computers and began to help
me develop the shareware disks which I was by now producing ready
to sell via mail order as the first stages of my business plan Dave
also reviewed and acted as critic in the printed material I was creating
and sending out to get the ball rolling for the beginnings of the
grand plan.
I decided that I needed a printer and that
we where going to need some blank discs and more memory in the rental
computer I was using. These would all be Tax deductible as expenses
of the business so I arranged AGC finance and purchased a printer
and some upgrade items and blank discs from Peter Lingley Enterprises
in Wangara. I also decided that I needed a better computer than the
one I was renting and organized a newer computer through a company
called Delta Business Systems that hired out computers.
Due to tough financial times and the fact that
I still had to pay the rent to my parents I had been taking in boarders
who often caused more trouble than they solved. It was around this
time that one of the boarders I took in had a party at the house and
left it unattended by going into the City with a group of the partygoers.
That night I was burgled and relieved of most of my Home possession
and all house keeping money that was there to pay rent and shopping
etc. this sent me into somewhat of a depression for a while and caused
me even greater financial hardship.
Dave urged me to keep going ahead with my ideas
and encouraged me that they would work for me and that he believed
in them. I eventually decided to go back on the NEIS course again
and redevelop my business plan to come up with a computer-related
business that would still offer the benefits that the self improvement
technologies had offered and more.
Because of the fact that I could not find a
Western Australian magazine or any local assistance and because I
felt that I had a lot to offer I decided that as part of the business
plan I would develop a club and newsletter. This newsletter would
eventually grow into W.A's first Computer magazine and would be a
great benefit to educating Western Australians on how to make the
most of the new technologies available to them. I would get Western
Australian computer traders involved and that way advertising and
sales etc made from the sales of the magazine would mean that the
money being spent on mail order purchases in overseas and Interstate
magazines would remain here in W.A. My skills in desktop publishing
where still rudimentary and I needed some help in getting the whole
thing of the ground.
It was time to go back to the CES and see if
I could get any help
I went back to the CES and left details with
a CES officer of what I was doing and how I was looking for someone
who would be interested in helping me get the business started by
assisting with the newsletter. They told me they would see if they
could help and I left my details with them.
At this same time I went for a part time job
as a newspaper thrower delivering the west Australian and Sunday times
home deliveries it was weird hours 12pm - 5 or 6 in the morning. And
the pay was bad , I found that as I got better at it I got home around
3or 4am and it was quite a challenging experience but I did it with
joy as it was helping me improve and I could learn from the experience.
A few days later I was contacted by a CES officer
who said that he would like to come around and see me for a meeting
regarding my business ideas. That man was John Dwyer
he told me that he had been handed my request
and details as one of his final duties in the CES and asked me to
explain my business plan in more detail.
I showed John how over time, through the extensive
market research that I had done, I expected the ideas to evolve –
starting with a newsletter and mail order to build up capital and
developing into a computer help center complete with a Local Area
Network (LAN), Internet services, providing computer accessories and
equipment for public access, developing consumer awareness regarding
new technologies available, hosting multi-player gaming sessions,
providing computer training and courses etc. John told me that he
had a couple of prospective people in mind but was also interested
in it himself as he was about to take voluntary redundancy from the
CES, he provided me with a resume and we arranged further discussions
on how to produce the newsletter. I showed him my current business
plans and provided copies for him to look over. I walked him around
my home and explained how I saw that I could set up Internet facilities
to handle a small amount of users and explained that I was currently
in negotiations with an Internet provider regarding reselling Internet
services for them until I was ready to set up the equipment myself.
I explained how I had no money but that I had
built up a good database and was getting great response from advertising
the shareware disks. I had a growing database of sales and where getting
regular inquiries from my small adds in local papers. I developed
a market research questionnaire that got good response and my Internet
provider Netway where happy to help me by setting me up as a reseller
for them. I went into selling Internet accounts and gained a number
of Internet clients, I would set up the customers computer and get
them connected and help them to get started, I would also collect
the money on behalf of Netway and get a profit from both new customers
and ones that continued on a monthly basis it was an ideal situation.
I had also started building my own computer
by purchasing components and then networked the rental computer and
my built system together which helped a great deal with my learning
experience and further led to new ideas which I incorporated into
the overall business plan.
I introduced John and Dave to each other
and they both expressed encouragement for my ideas and visions and
an interest in joining me in the growing business venture that was
unfolding and we agreed that there would be a fee involved to buy
into the business as I had done a lot of work already, this fee I
would reinvest into the business and get it off the ground by purchasing
equipment and paying for premises etc.
I explained the grandness of the whole business
and how I saw it developing into the future. I wanted to create a
business with franchise capability and saw shops across the state,
then country, then the world.
After numerous meetings and discussions the
fee was set at $10,000 and we agreed that we would also seek investors.
We agreed that as it was my business plan and
ideas and that much of the ground work was established I would always
maintain a higher percentage of ownership that was above 51% and that
the business would be split 60% 20% 20% This would protect me from
ever being kicked out of my own business in the future however it
was only so that I would maintain control over my intellectual property
and any profits would be split evenly at the end of each year. We
agreed that we would draw up a partnership agreement when things where
more defined. With these matters agreed upon we arranged the business
registration forms and the three of us re-registered Amac Enterprises
as a partnership.
John invested some of his money $1000 at this
point to contribute to the first newsletter which we now had ready
to go to the printers. We sent it to the printers and it came back
all wrong which caused a minor dispute with the printer who would
only except half of the responsibility. We paid for the copies and
had to dump them and do another 1000 at full price. **(see copy of
the newsletter, the club documents, and letters
as sent to customers on file) at this time I had already developed
the idea for "the
club" and the newsletter and the club documents had been getting
sent out to my mailing list and was going out to new clients regularly.
I started looking hard for investors and arranged
a few meeting of which I asked John to attend some with me. We took
the material that I had developed with us and spoke to some venture
capitalists who told us that the ideas where great but that they believed
we needed to strive for more money than we where looking for .We approached
them looking for $60,000 and they believe that would leave us under
capitalised and we would be better looking for $1,000,000 or more
and doing it properly. John and I both agreed with the venture capitalist
that it was not the correct time to start trying for this sort of
money and that we needed to develop the business further in order
to warrant that sort of investment.
Eric and his son in-law Andrew who were still
partners in W.A Signs offered to sub lease some space in their workshop
as an initial base of operations. We organised the first of the newsletters
to go in a couple of local newsagents and also gained the sale of
a computer system from the printer, who printed the newsletter.
Dave came to us distressed one day and told
us he had some bad news. Acting on advice from his solicitor due to
a pending compensation claim Dave was forced to withdraw from the
business offer and requested his name be removed from the business
registration and not included on the data projector lease we were
going for. He stated that he still wished to help us in any way he
could but could not come up with the fee or become a partner in the
business as he could not afford to jeopardise his compensation claim.
John agreed that Dave's name should be removed from the business and
it was at the time understood that Dave would reconsider his position
once his claim was finalised which should be in a matter of months.
Dave's name was then removed from the Amac Enterprises business registration.
We moved into the Osborne
park premises in the back of W.A Signs for really cheap rent and
a rent free period to help get us going in exchange for some of my
painting services around the office.
I set up an account with Edge Computers as
a reseller and Approached them with my business plan asking if they
would work with me assisting us to promote and sell their systems
and I agreed to house my own computer in an Edge case to better promote
the sales of their systems.
While Edge had possession of my computer they
kindly wiped my hard drives for me. Iost all of my electronic records,
a great number of which had been backed up onto a slave drive in the
same system which they also kindly wiped. They destroyed all records
of customers, market research and business plans aside from a few
printed copies which I still had in my possession. Edge also had a
conflict of interest where one of their employees had a 3rd party
computer shop go to one of our customers and take their system away
for repairs when it was not right due to that workers handywork.
Seeking some sort of compensation from Edge.
I called a meeting with the then Manager Duncan Ratter which John
and I attended and I explained my current position and plans and how
we had lost all of our mail order databases of products, contacts
and customers as well as all financial records etc and demonstrating
how the business plan I had developed unfolded in stages of growth
and that we could not progress as planned now. I explained that we
were on a tight budget and it was a critical stage of our business
and that I could no longer go ahead as planned although we were now
commited in so many ways to continue business or we would be financially
hurt and deprived and would be harming our small client base.
I proposed that if we were to find a premises
from which to showcase Edges computers then they could help us implement
what was supposed to be a future stage set for about a year away of
our computer help centre by setting us up with a network of systems
and some stock on the basis that we are given time to get established
and once established we sell the computers on a rotational basis of
at least 1 per month. We explained that we where subleasing a very
small area at the moment and that should they agree to supply the
systems we would arrange a new lease in a larger premises and fit
it out for our planned business.
W.A signs were having financial pressures and
had decided that they where moving to a cheaper premises at this time
also and so we heard of a subleased area available in the building
in front of were we currently where. The space was ideal and we arranged
a new sublease with our first 3 months free at our first suitable
business residence 19 McDonald St Osborne Park previously business
was always conducted from my home and then for a short while from
the shared premises at W.A Signs which was located at the rear of
19 McDonald St.
I designed the benches and layout we would
use and we arranged benches in preparation for the computers and a
wall to divide the room. this was financed by more of John's money
which he gave as needed when crunch time arrived.
We finalised the lease for the new data projector
and attended auctions to purchase office equipment, chairs etc John
helped me all the way even painting the shop walls and moving equipment
in and he had what I thought was great enthusiasm. I set up the data
projector at home with computers and began investigating how to build
a computer network and setting up games etc to run threw the projector.
John started working on logos and fliers for
us to use with the business and we decided that the shop itself needed
a name other than Amac Enterprises.
John should have put his total investment into
the business before now as agreed however he was reluctant and put
it in very slowly only when it was absolutely necessary which caused
us many problems at the time. I felt it ws unfair as it left a feeling
of uncertainty and that he need to be absolutely sure of what he was
doing and not hold back or we couldn’t achieve our goals. At
one point During a meeting at the premises with John, myself and Dave
attending John got very upset and up and left in the middle of the
meeting when asked when he would be putting in the final $3000 as
agreed. John became so upset that he went home. It seemed that he
was not interested in investing the money until it was making a return
which was like placing a bet after you know who wins "not possible".
The next day I told John that we had come so
far and I hated to see him throw the opportunity away so I was willing
to forget about the last $3000. John said no that he would put it
in but was having trouble convincing his wife which was making things
difficult at home. I told him that he could take all the time he needed
and the remainder of the money was never discussed again.
August 1997
Edge's promise of delivering the computers
by the date needed fell through many times and we had a great deal
of trouble with faulty goods and returns causing us to put back planned
promotions and dump prepared promotional material. Eventually the
computer systems did arrive and I started working until 3-4 in the
morning sometimes not going home at all setting up each computer from
scratch installing software and configuring the network. Many times
I would still be working on them when John arrived for work the next
morning.
The computers eventually arrived from Edge
and I began the work of putting the network together and setting it
all up.
I decided to name each system afoter a planet
and to call the central server the Sun. i liked the idea of painting
the walls black and putting up glowing starts and blacklights but
decided I would keep it fairly neutural until we get going and save
money. THe room looked really good and with all the machiens playing
Duke nukem 3d at the same time and projector dominating the rear wall
it was an awsome site for any visitor.
Oct 1997
DATE: We Received an Edge invoice demanding
payment with-in 30 days and arranged a further meeting with edge to
discuss the matter as that was not the arrangement we had made. The
manager reinvoiced the goods as of that date and said that we would
have until February but would have to pay for the invoices by that
time.
We where also approached by a trade coordinator
from Bartercard and it sounded too good to be true we decided to join
and paid the $780 joining fee and attended a trade meeting where we
met Lane Morris who sold software. After chatting with LANE and telling
him about our concept I arranged to have him supply games in the shop
for us to sell and to use on the LAN.
This gave us a boost because we could now invite
people to come in and play multiple player games on the LAN and we
sent information out to the database of mail order customers offering
them a free game session and free membership. We started getting game
sessions and members. Word was slowly spreading . However our location
was a bit out of the way for many people and we where having trouble
meeting the overheads. We could see that those that came enjoyed themselves
and where regularly coming back so we knew the concepts where good
but we needed more capital and a better location.
I was working long hours into the night still
and was feeling the pressure so I went to John one morning and complained
that I was not coping with the work load .I said that I was looking
after all business dealings, including the financial side of things
and not coping with the record keeping because I didn't have the time
knowledge or experience yet to run it alone. I complained that looking
after the computers was a full time job on it's own at this stage
and we need someone else to do the books. John asked what he could
do to help and I asked him if he could start looking after the Internet
customers as that would help and we decided to look for someone to
come in and look after the books by going to the CES and Skillshare
to see if they could help.
The person we where subleasing from at this
time informed us that they where moving to a new location soon and
we also decided that we should work towards moving location rather
than going into a new agreement at this one as the current location
was out of the way from our target market and parking was bad . It
would also be nice to find somewhere closer to home. We still needed
more capital and we both agreed that we had gotten over some very
tough obstacles to get this far and that it was worth continuing the
business.
We desperately needed someone to help with
book keeping and reception so we tried several candidates from Skillshare
and the C.E.S and eventually went to Bartercard to see if they could
help in some way. They put us onto a man who offered to set up an
accounting package on our office computer and teach us how to use
it. This turned into a nightmare as the fees where extremely high
and we felt he wasted a lot of time talking.
We also attempted to get a sales person who
could go out and sell our concept but the stream of candidates from
the CES proved unsuitable and it was very frustrating to both John
and myself I found that I was wasting a great deal of time and energy
trying to learn book keeping and run the business at the same time
so much so that I could not go out and sell myself any more than I
already was.
Natasha a Girl I had recently started dating
offered to see if she could help and we arranged for Colin to tutor
her on the bookkeeping. John and I agreed that if she stuck with us
and things worked out Natasha would be back paid once the business
was in a better position, which was bound to happen once we move to
a better location and do more advertising.
Natasha In Osborne Park
We soon found out that Colin was also a bit
of a crook as he offered to help us gain some finance through questionable
means which would see him gain a good profit however alarm bells rang
and we declined. John decided he would see if he could raise some
finances himself.
John informed me that he thought he could persuade
his wife Fernanda to let him get an extended mortgage on his home
which was now paid off due to his redundancy pay off and we settled
on an amount of $16,000 that would clear all current commitments and
help get us into a new shop.
I started looking for a new location and negotiated
terms on a shop in Craigie.
John helped clear the shop at Osborne park
when we hired a removals truck from Osborne truck rentals John also
helped me to unload the truck into the rear of the new Craigie Shop
this took us about 1/2 a day.
That was the end of John as far as setting
up the shop He never helped set up the premises which was a disater
area, being an old chineese restraunt it had a cockroach problem and
evey surface was covered in grease and oil. He wasn't present at the
shop for any longer than 10 minutes at a time and untill power was
on and the computers set up he never put in any assistance whatsoever
regarding cleaning and readying the new shop. I set up all supplier
accounts and made all of the contacts and arrangements. The business
underwent a complete facelift and transformation from OSborne Park
with Nastasha helping me to type up all the new invoices and letterheads,
rules and regulations for the LAN and the membership information packs.
At this time John was meant to be looking after
our current Internet customers and working on the newsletter and Website,
He was also supposed to set up the Internet client accounting system
and lend a hand when he had spare moments. I believe he had overseas
family or friends staying with him at the time and we didnt see much
of him at all untill the bulk of all work was done at the new place.
John doing what he does best
