In a recent Google Hangout which I now hold regularly with our users, one of the features that was requested was the ability to dive into your activity as a Buyer and a Seller separately. This was launched on the site yesterday. Just navigate to the top of the header and click on your avatar to drill into  your activity as shown by the screenshot below

Other features to follow soon re an enhanced Inbox with inbuilt search facility and much easier navigation to drill into your messages. Again – requested by PPHers. Stay tuned!

Yet another inspiring story of how PeoplePerHour allows people to start a business, follow their dreams and passions and build up their business one hour at a time.

And  contrary to common perception: its not all in high tech and digital. Lisa Moncur’s story – featured  in the Scotsman this weekend – reminds us that there is still life in manufacturing, and you can start a business on the side from your bedroom and build it up.

Thats our mission at PPH. That’s what we do best. And thats what gets us up every morning.

Thanks Lisa for sharing your story! Full article here 

This is Lisa’s profile on PPH

A while ago I wrote a post called ‘Why Start-Ups fail ” and kept it to Part 1 for two reasons. Frist, for the sake of keeping it short, but secondly, I was keen to see how the craze that we are seeing in the startup world evolves. Are we in a bubble again? What’s driving it and when will it burst? And what will drive failure and success this time around? These are questions that every VC and entrepreneur are – or should be – asking themselves.

So here’s my ‘Part 2’ with what i think are reasons to failure/success that are – in times like these – especially more relevant.continue reading »

Building a startup is an amazing journey. You get to innovate, see your baby go from infancy to walking, talking and – in time – jumping through hoops. It’s an experience that opens yours eyes, teaches you a tonne about yourself and others and rewards you more than anything through the people your product touches and changes their lives.

But its tough work. Its tough and lonely. You have no one to turn to other than your co-founders (which is why its key to have one at least). You need to be a loner of sorts, have nerves of steel and the stamina of a bull.

There’s much talk and fluff around the phases a startup goes to become successful. I’ve read a lot of them and in my view they miss the best bits. So here’s my two pence from my experience in the journey:continue reading »

Ask someone – especially an accountant, management consultant or an MBA (God forbid NOT all three in one) – “why do startups fail” and in all likelihood they will give you the text-book answer: “because they ran out of cash”. Wow, thanks! Glad to see your $180k education taught you something dude! It’s a bit like asking a doctor “how did he die?” and get a reply “because his heart stopped beating!”

The question of course is “WHAT leads to that point?” Ask them again and they will probably say “Ooooh.. you mean the causes that led to that ?! RIGHT. Bad cash management? Gotta be it”. Imbeciles!continue reading »

After almost a year and a half of absence (and fans screaming and shouting for my return of course !! J) I decided to revive my blog, the URL now changed to my name and the full one no less (seeing as I have such an easy and memorable name!)

I don’t know where to start in my effort to summarise the last 18 months or so. So much has happened. My last post was December 2008 which was one the toughest of tough times my company – PeoplePerHour.com – has gone through, and therefore one of mine. Which may be why my blogging fell in the back burner – or no burner at all as it may be.continue reading »

Something interesting is happening in the world today. Whilst the first big step in technological evolution – the industrialization of the early 20th century- pulled masses of people out of their cottages and organised the workforce around large centralized institutions, the second wave underpinned by Information Technology revolution is seemingly reversing that trend and driving people back to their ‘cottage’. How is that?

Let’s take a few innovations that have become integral parts of our personal and business lives. Relatively recent yet ubiquitous innovations – the internet, social networks, the PC even and the mobile phone, or more lately the blackberry – what do all these have in common other than a few microchips? They are increasingly making us more connected, more mobile, more interdependent yet more independent in terms of how where and when we work. And ultimately more in control of our own time and space. So is this rendering the traditional office as we know it obsolete?continue reading »