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Entrepreneurship is hard, no, real entrepreneurship is hard, I say real because many young people call themselves entrepreneurs, but they really don’t know the half of it.

For the last year and a half I’ve been working on launching my company, EduFocal Limited. That dream became a reality on March 15th, 2012 when we finally launched at the Jamaica Pegasus. I’ve smiled, I’ve laughed, I’ve cried, but most importantly I’ve learned life lessons.

I’ll be doing some guest posts regularly at virgin.com. I write about life and my experiences as a young entrepreneur. This is my first post there. Feedback is great, let me know if you liked it or it sucked.

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It’s one thing to spend an hour or two talking to a fellow entrepreneur, but spending 2 full days in a room with 19 other high-spirited, ambitious, self-motivated people is surreal. It’s easy to forget that there are other people out there working hard to make Jamaica, the Caribbean and the world a better place.

I don’t think we were chosen only for our businesses; our personalities were a great deciding factor for the Branson Team Members. The room could barely contain the energy that was inside it. Some were more vocal than others, some had a lot to say while others seemed to prefer observing. We all have our strengths and we all have our weaknesses, but we also all have the ability to help each other grow.

British-based Jamaican Entrepreneur and “Dragon Slayer” Levi Roots spoke to us on day one.  The speech resonated with me ( and I imagine everyone else) because He’s a black successful entrepreneur that everyone in the room could relate to. I also appreciated his candor. He left us with this quote from Shakespeare:

There is a tide in the affairs of men.

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat,

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

I’m looking forward to fulfilling 12 weeks with the 19 other entrepreneurs of the Branson Centre. Like life, business and everything else I expect ups and downs. But I also expect great experiences and lifelong friendships.

Layout

The layout is basic, but pleasing to the eye. You’re presented with 12 default categories when you first open the app. They are: Attorneys, Auto Parts, Computer Sales, Dentists, Doctors, Hardware, Hotels, Optical, Pharmacies, Restaurants, Schools and Used Cars. There’s also  a search bar at the top. You have the option of typing or speaking (facilitated by nuance)  your search term for a particular business or a category that isn’t in the default 12.

Functionality

Tapping one of the icons on the home screen takes you to a listing of businesses,  There are two views. The first is a vertical listing of businesses and the second is a map view.  On the former view The name of the business, phone number and address is shown. A mail, ad ( if the business has an actual ad in the directory you can view) and web icon is shown if applicable to that particular business. For the vertical listing view there are 3 sort options: Distance ( How far the business is from you), Relevance and Alphabetical order.

Clicking on a business’ name will give you additional details about it and also give you access to additional features, namely  Add Contact ( adds the entry to your address book automatically, Share ( shares business details via email) and Directions ( Takes you to the iOS maps application and plots route to the business from your current location)

Closing Thoughts

As I said earlier, this is a well put together app so I don’t have a lot of complaints. Apart from the occasional freezing and crashing it holds up pretty well. I couldn’t ask for much else.  The sort by distance feature can also be particularly useful when you’re in a parish and you need to find something nearby e.g a restaurant, gas station etc.

As much as I would love to begin with a lavish introduction as to my credentials on being able to give financial management advice to anyone, I must say, I have none. But what I do have is life experience, and learning from the experience of others, the best ways to “live your life” while maintaining financial prudence and living within your means. So hello to you, I’m simply Matthew or @SmittyRoyal on twitter, who seems to be a completely different and more popular person than Matthew is.

So let’s start here. The simplest way to save is to NOT SPEND. Yeah, it’s just that simple. But of course not spending could mean for most of us, not having a life.

While working a regular 9-5 the average Jamaican earns between $30k (after taxes) monthly, to well in excess of $150k (after taxes) monthly. Yes, I do have friends raking in the big bucks, and yes, some days I wish I was them *sigh*. But as I am not them I have to utilize my money in the most economical way, which involves TREATING SAVINGS AS AN EXPENSE, and also HAVING A LIFE. Now these two things for me go together like peas in a pod. I refuse, as a friend said to me, to life my life as a miser for someone to inherit all the money I saved living a dismal and gloomy life, so that they can go and have a grand funeral for me, and then use the balance to “live the life” I neglected. This is where the ever so annoying Y.O.L.O comes in….and it is true, YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE, so do just that, live.

TREAT SAVINGS AS AN EXPENSE

Now before I get into how I do this, let me first make it clear, having a budget is a beautiful thing. I have developed a Budget for all my known expenses, with money in it that can be used for small unknown expenses, and then a savings portion that I do not even get in hand as that amount is wired straight to the bank (a great feature to have if your employer facilitates it). This is where I get into the heading, treat your savings as an expense.

In doing this, the money being saved will be regarded as “dead money” or “money spent” that you can’t get back (but in reality you can, because it’s your savings). This might take a little training of the mind, but once you establish that that money is no longer yours in the back of your head, then you won’t be so tempted to head to the bank to withdraw it, spending on some frivolous item (new shoes, jewelry, treating some new chick to the time of her life who clearly has no interest in you, just the experience she doesn’t want to spend her money on O__o) as soon as it reaches the bank monthly.

To be able to successfully treat saving as an expense, here is what you have to do:

1.   Remember that super feature of having the money go straight to the bank or other savings institution as a salary deduction. Well yes, that’s the first thing. If your Employer permits it, apply to have a set portion of your salary, the portion you can definitely do without, that amount you always seem to spend and regret through cognitive dissonance days later. Yeah, that little (or for some people LARGE) portion every month, send it to savings. Now this is a little more difficult for those who might not have this feature, but I’ll address that in another blog post. Don’t worry, I gotcha. Also ensure that you leave the debit card for that account at home, locked up tight or even at your parents home, in your old sock draw, far away from your tempted hands.

2.    In constructing your Monthly to Annual Budget, include all those items that you “have to pay” monthly as your first line of expenses. What I do is I list out each and every one of these expenses by name, such as my cable bill, internet bill, lunch money, gas/bus fare (transportation expense), grooming, life insurance etc. Those expenses that you can’t escape, have to spend on every month to simply live…comfortably. Now for some, this might take some tweaking of those inescapable expenses. If you are under 30 and don’t have life Insurance, don’t have any dependents, no family, then you can skip on the life insurance. But if you want mom and dad or that responsible relative to have it easy in case they outlive you and have to take care of funeral expenses, get some life insurance. It’s what a RESPONSIBLE ADULT would do. Then assess all the other inescapables. Some might be altered to reduce their amounts. If you have the porn stations on your Flow Cable, reduce your cable bill, take that package off, Porn is free on the internet!!!! And hey, if you want a few sites…I’ll post them in another blog .

3.   After tweaking the inescapables to their true unavoidable amounts (yes Sir, reduce your Cable bill by ridding yourself of the Porn Channels), the remainder of the money is solely for LIVING YOUR LIFE!!! But if you are still not sure, here is how you do it. Having a monthly Budget means you can easily convert it to having an Annual Budget. This helps you plan for those one off expenses that might not occur monthly but maybe bi-monthly or even once a year, such as Car Insurance, Registration and Fitness, School Fees, Dental expenses etc. With these things included in the annual budget, you now know of the months you have in which that excess income (using the term excess loosely) can come in handy to help you have fun. Those are your “FUN MONTHS”.

HAVING A LIFE

Now for some of us who have annual events to attend, like the Dream Weekend (Here come the shameless plugs, which the promoters needs to pay me for, yeah I’m collecting!!!), Sumfest, Sting, Jazz and Blues, Easter Weekend, Spring Break, Restaurant Week, Heroes Weekend, Labour Day Weekend….*whew*, I’m sure this list can go on, and on, and on, and on, and….well you get the drift. This leaves you with almost every month being a “fun month” right? Well here’s what you do. Since you are a baller/belle on a budget, which surely means you can’t afford all these activities, discipline yourself to be selective about the ones you “need” to attend.

Noting that you have already placed some of that measly salary away for savings, which its best to not even look at, you won’t have enough to spend on all these events throughout the year, hence, forget about all of them and just focus on attending a few.

For the romantic man, his best bets for keeping her smiling throughout the year are definitely taking her to Restaurant Week, at least two nice restaurants, one at the high end and another anywhere else on the spectrum. Plus, you’ll already have Valentine’s expenditure (which even if she says she doesn’t want a gift, it really means she is not getting you one, but you better get her something like her friends beau did or she will be pissed!!!)

For the Party Hopping Bachelor, with no commitments to the many females he’s “dating”, living your life is all up to you with the available funds remaining in your budget. But you still have to spend wisely. So all that buying more than one round of drinks for the boys bull crap has got to stop.

Instances where School Fee, or Car Maintenance clash with a special annual event may just happen, so here is where the importance of forward planning kicks in. Remember that Annual Budget, well here is where it helps you to determine if that additional savings (outside of the budgeted savings) may be needed for the coming month, so you don’t go spending it. That balance carried over from the past month (almost impossible to imagine you could have money left over in this hand-to-mouth existence huh?) can be used to accommodate that trip, or party you might have planned to attended, before the dreaded school fee popped up.

Now all in all, the truth is, Budgeting is hard, but if you want to be in control of your finances, it’s exactly what you have to do. Discipline is the next issue, but that again is definitely for another blog. But put it this way, a Budget is useless without the discipline behind it to ensure you stick to the plan.

A wise word to the fellas out there also – If you’re dating a wonderful chick that is a strain on your pocket….you sir need to “pack your bags and GO!!!.” Any woman that is a strain on your pocket can’t be the right one for you. Ever heard the saying “Act your wage”, well in this case, “Date your wage”…and I’m serious, don’t go dating a woman who is a strain on your pocket. While she is saving her last to acquire her own house, car and start her business, you are out there moving heaven and earth to buy her the nicer things and you can’t tell the last time you bought yourself a suit to wear to work. Don’t be a fool.

So I know you might be doing it for the bomb sex she gives you, but guess what, paying for sex is not what you want. If you want to pay for it, trust me, hit up the strip club, a “massage” parlour or even any of the Urban Hip Strips. “I’ve heard” (never had the need to get such service) that if its bomb sex you want, then it costs a lot less to get if from the most experienced women you can find.

With that said I bid you farewell. Lots of thanks to Gordon for allowing space on his blog to inform you people of how to LIVE while being financially prudent. In all honesty, there is a lot more to be said, and a lot more factors that need to be discussed, but I’m out of writing space. See the pic below of a sample budget. Use it to help plan your way forward

PS: To my ladies, I sincerely apologize for the sexist undertone. I am a man, and as such, I can only budget from a male’s perspective. Additionally, you ladies have “magical” ways of generating additional income, as well as going out and being entertained without spending a dime.

This is great news for you, but what does it mean really? I read the brief background above and I checked a video on youtube about it. But it all sounds more like just plain advertising. What does it mean really?

1. Is it like the Technology Innovation Center they over at UTech but…on steroids?
2. And what does it take to enter and be accepted?

 

The amazing thing about the Branson Centre is that they don’t take a cookie cutter approach to anything, it’s also an approach I’m taking with EduFocal. So understandably it’s going to pose a challenge to really articulate what the Branson Centre is. They’re non-profit, but that doesn’t make them a charity–that’s the first distinction that I think needs to be made. They’re also not a bank. Entrepreneurs have very similar challenges, but they also have very different challenges so the one solution to fix all problems will not work ( This is the premise behind taking only 20 entrepreneurs into the centre, they only have so much resources) Now all 20 of us have very similar and at the same time very different needs.

Some require more capital, some need guidance, some want to network etc. The Branson centre facilitates all these needs and then some, on an individual basis, and the operative word is facilitate, because that’s what they do, so yes, you could say it’s like the TIC in some ways, but also very different from it. My business will not live at the Branson Centre. Now I’ve only been to the Branson Centre once for assessment day and it was amazing. Just being in the company of so many other entrepreneurs helps so much. Also, being in regular company of one of the world’s richest men isn’t so shabby either.

My expectation from the Branson Centre is to network, grow as an entrepreneur, and get good advice that will help me to take my company in the right direction. At the end of it, I want to be in a position to be able to do the same thing for other aspiring entrepreneurs.

You asked me what it takes to get accepted, also a good question. Nobody really knows. I imagine first you have to have a solid business ( or business idea), a great personality and the drive to leave the world in a better place than you found it because it really is about much more than money.

Updates to this article will come with or without questions. I hope this helps you to save some money. Also, please share with your friends so they can start saving money too.

Randy’s 4 Steps to Breaking the Bank by Randy Rowe

So recently it occurred to me that the level of bank charges that I’ve been paying to my bank are much too high. In an effort to curb this I’ve decided to cut down on the quickest area I can, card fees. Fees associated with the day-to-day use of my card (for those of us not inclined to notice the obvious).  Now in an attempt to dilute my bad karma with some good, I’ll be sharing the method I found with you.

Please note, it takes the form of steps, mostly because steps are easy to follow and allow me to get this damned post done as soon as possible.
So without further ado (which is a sentence whose sole purpose is to add “further ado”) here are Randy’s 4 Steps to Breaking the Bank:

Step 1.

Open a First Global Bank savings account.

Don’t bother to tell me that you love your current bank (unless it’s FGB) or that they’ve been good to you over the years (it’s quite unlikely that they have) or that you “cyaah bodda” (If this last one is you, don’t even ‘bodda ‘ to read the next steps, just close the page and go watch some TV). Always bear this in mind, unless you can bring in over 1 billion $ per month, NO BANK LOVES YOU..and even then this “love” would be questionable (think D’Angel).

Now, there are multiple benefits to opening a FGB savings account, but for purposes of this list, I’ll tell you the primary one…Global Access. No, its not a world visa, it’s their online web banking portal, they have, in my opinion, the most advanced web banking portal in Jamaica (that you have access to…I’m pretty sure the folks at BOJ have an even more powerful system). Using their system you can pay pretty much any bill, and transfer to any commercial bank. I’ll delve into this later, but for now, just take it that you should get an account there and sign up for net banking. (it’s 2012, not banking online is almost obscene)

Step 2.

Open a VMBS savings account.

At this point you’re probably gonna come with the typical excuse..”I don’t like having my money all over the place”…true..this is probably why you give it all to <insert your bank name here> each month in charges. Save the excuses, open the account, you’ll thank me later.Now, you’re probably wondering what the benefits to a VMBS current account are..I’ll tell you..simply put, they offer the BEST saving account option in Jamaica, right now (in my opinion of course, and for people who aren’t pulling down MAJOR bucks….I’m willing to bet you’re not, or you wouldn’t be reading this..). What do I use to back this claim up? Simply put, VMBS saving accounts have NO CARD CHARGES. That’s right, no withdrawal charge ($30 – NCB, $33 – Scotia), no Point of Sale (POS) charge (that’s point-of-sale…other banks have lots of charges which match the other meaning of POS) ($12.10 – NCB, $15 –Scotia), No card charges at all.

Step 3

Send your monthly salary to FGB.

I’m assuming that you have a steady, company paid, income here, and the ability to dictate where your pay goes. If you’re not one of the fortunate ones, look into setting up a standing order to FGB, yes there is a charge, but if you play it right, it can be one of your 2 only charges for the month. If you’re self-employed or get paid from multiple sources, find the best way to get your money over to FGB, link me on Twitter for help/tips along those lines. (@rtrowe)
Once you’ve gotten your money over to FGB start doing your banking the way it should be done…from your couch/toilet/backyard/phone/kitchen/AnywhereButInABank. I assume here that you’re an adult and have an actual budget. Well FGB helps greatly with budgeting thanks to the ability to send $ to different accounts in JA.  What you want to send to VMBS is the portion of $ that you have allocated yourself to spend each month. All those trips to the ATM, all those purchases done at the cash register (for which you’d have gotten charged) add up over time, and add up well enough to make NCB and Scotia 2 of the most PROFITABLE companies in JA…without them selling any tangible product. So this is your chance to cut costs, which is 1 of the only 2 ways to keep money in your pocket (savvy financial types will try to quarrel with me on that “only 2” point. Bring IT!!!).

Step 4

PROFIT!!!!

You can save an estimated $100k+ per year by avoiding bank charges (depending on your income that is. A better estimate is that you can save about 1 or more month’s pay by avoiding charges…now who wouldn’t want an extra month’s pay?). That’s a lot of money that can be invested to make even MORE money (by the way, Investing is the only other way to keep money in your pocket..I’m still ready to rumble financial goons -_-). Now, I know a few of you just read that and said to yourself “Did Randy just call 100k a ‘lot’ of money?”. Yes, yes I did. See in my short life I’ve learned that no one who truly has money ever calls any amount of money over $500 a “little bit of money”…unless they’re trying to sell you something….So yes, $100k IS a lot of money, so is $50k, so is $20k…(if you don’t believe so, try lending it to a stranger, or giving it away…or worse…losing it). There are many way to ‘PROFIT!!!!’, all fall under the category of ‘Investing’. This is a category that I’ll go into at another time. Its multi-faceted and WILL benefit you in the long run, lots to be gained there, literally, so look out for it.

So lets recap, or for those of us who just skipped to the end, summarize.
Randy’s 4 Steps to Breaking the Bank

Step 1.
Open a FGB savings account. (They have Global Access allowing you to send to every commercial  bank in JA)

Step 2.
Open a VMBS current account. (They have the wonderful advantage of NO CARD FEES)

Step 3
Send your monthly salary to FGB. (So you can access the wonderful benefits of banking like the rich do…even on a Saturday)

Step 4
PROFIT!!!! (Because the 2nd best thing to do with your money is to use it to make more money…the 1st is spend it of course[Strippers and beer ] ).

That’s it for my tips, feel free to leave a comment telling me if you agree, disagree, like the article, hate the article, think I should write more, think I should be banned from keyboards forever, whatever.
Depending on the response I may write a few more, I’m thinking topics like Managing Credit Card Debt, or General Debt Consolidation or just Investing, as mentioned before. All from the point of view of the small earner, the normal man with a normal paycheque.

Give me a shout on Twitter if you want my opinion of something (anything) at @rtrowe.
Hope you enjoyed…and even more so, I hope you followed and saved money. If you did, let me know and buy me a drink with some of your extra $

The word “Jamaipanese” is a portmanteau; a combination of Jamaica and Japan. Kirk is a Jamaica ( He’s Jamaican) and Japan ( more so Japan) enthusiast, he’s been an enthusiast of the latter for a while, but didn’t get to visit the country until recently–that’s the interesting part.

Kirk had everything he needed to go to Japan, but money. But that wasn’t going to deter him from going. Most people wouldn’t have bothered, but Kirk did and I admire him for that. His story is interesting and I think it should be highlighted.

Picture courtesy of Taylor’s Photography

On January 18, 2010 Kirk wrote a detailed blog post explaining how he’d acquire the funds to go to Japan, where he’d stay and what his expenses would be. You can read the blog post here. It’s titled “Operation Visit Japan”. What I find particularly interesting is how he managed to raise about 40% of the funds through his blog via donations (I’m pretty sure many told him not to bother because people would not donate, but he did anyway). I donated and encouraged him as I’m sure many others did. As a result he received  over $1,000 USD in donations from people all over the world. This is an example of how useful the internet can be to anyone, wherever you are, it just takes effort and dedication.

Kirk  even managed to snag sponsorship from a Japanese company for wireless internet connectivity while he was there and even stayed with a Japanese reggae singer who he met through his blog. There is still much more to be told, but I definitely can’t tell it like he can. He has  organized all his posts re: his trip to Japan he in a category that you can read here

Kirk is a good writer, consistent blogger and a great friend. I’m very happy for  him and I’m glad he finally got the opportunity to visit a place he’s so crazy about.

Ode to Jamaipanese.com, my blog of the year!

Meanwhile, a similar story was unfolding oceans away. During World War II, under constant threat of bombings, the British had a great need to distinguish incoming aircraft quickly and accurately. Which aircraft were British planes coming home and which were German planes coming to bomb? Several airplane enthusiasts had proved to be excellent “spotters,” so the military eagerly employed their services. These spotters were so valuable that the government quickly tried to enlist more spotters—but they turned out to be rare and difficult to find. The government therefore tasked the spotters with training others.

It was a grim attempt. The spotters tried to explain their strategies but failed. No one got it, not even the spotters themselves. Like the chicken sexers, the spotters had little idea how they did what they did—they simply saw the right answer.

With a little ingenuity, the British finally figured out how to successfully train new spotters: by trial-and-error feedback. A novice would hazard a guess and an expert would say yes or no. Eventually the novices became, like their mentors, vessels of the mysterious, ineffable expertise.

You can do it, but you can’t explain it. Something I’m familiar with. Awesome article that answers a lot of questions I’ve asked but couldn’t get answered over the years.

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I registered my company’s trademark with the Jamaica Intellectual Property Office ( JIPO)  about six months ago. I thought the process would have been complicated, but it was fairly easy. Although their website was a bit daunting, the staff was really helpful.

Step 1

First things first, you need to have a Logo/Trademark.  The Trade Marks Act, 1999, defines a Trade Mark as:

any sign that is capable of being graphically represented and capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one undertaking (i.e. any person, company or business entity) from those of another undertaking

It may be a good idea to do a search for  identical or similar marks . Any similar/identical marks would prevent your TM from being registered. There are two ways to do a search according to JIPO.

1. The applicant or his representative may conduct the search manually at a cost of $500 per hour or for any fraction of an hour.
2. The applicant may request that JIPO conduct the preliminary search and provide advice. A Form TM23 must be used to request this search; the applicant must provide a representation of the Mark and the list of classes and the appropriate goods and/or services. The cost for this search is $1500 for the first class, and an extra $1000 for each additional class

N.B Searches have to be done at the JIPO office ( I don’t know why this can’t be done online).

I didn’t do any searches because I was confident that EduFocal’s Logo was unique But be warned, if you don’t do a search and your Trade Mark is rejected your application fee  will not be refunded and you’ll have to pay to for another application.

Step 2

JIPO has 45 classes that your business can fall into.  To save yourself some time go through the classes and identify which yours fall into before you go the JIPO office, view them here. The application fee is $3500 JMD, which includes the cost of the first class.  Each additional class costs $1000.  Assuming you chose 1 class your total cost for registering your trademark will be $8,320 JMD. You can pay that in full or you can pay the $3500 and the balance  of $4820 JMD if your mark is approved. If you pay the $8320 JMD and your mark is rejected you will NOT get a refund, so I recommend you pay the $3500 JMD first and if it’s approved you pay the balance of $4820 JMD.

Additionally, you’ll also need to print six 2 x 2 inch copies of your logo, one of which will be used on this  form. To save time, print the form and fill it out before you get in. Whatever you’re not clear on, leave it blank and they’ll help you out at the office. If you’re choosing more than one class, you’ll also need to have an additional copy of your logo for each additional class.N.B Each copy of your logo has to be consistent, i.e you can’t have 5 copies in colored and 1 copy in black and white.
If you’re not the applicant and you’re doing it on someone’s behalf, you’ll need to scan a copy of their identification, have it verified by a Justice of the Peace and bring it when you’re going in.

Step 3

Wait! The wait is about two months. If your mark is approved or rejected, you’ll be notified via mail ( No email unfortunately).You can view JIPO’s trademark page for more information here