“I have done away with offices, fax machines, even business cards…”

Sumo Lounge

It’s the holy grail for geek entrepreneurs: laptop in one hand, cocktail in the other, doing a little light work on the beach.

So I thought it’d be interesting to interview someone who lives that life.

Unfortunately, I don’t know any. Instead, I spoke to Sumo Lounge‘s Andrew Milligan, who leads a similarly charmed lifestyle of international travel. But, damn it, Buenos Aires has no beaches…

Sumo Lounge – who sell giant bean bags – is a quintessentially 21st century company. Owner Andrew runs it on the road, with no staff, no offices, low overheads and every business service contracted out.

He is also well-known for using on blog reviews to build his brand (some examples: Crenk.com, SomethingAwful.com, BlogStorm, here.org.uk). Blog reviews of Sumo products have gone on to generate press coverage in the likes of the Wall Street Journal and Playboy.

In keeping with Jason Calacanis’ recent advice on startup PR, he also does it ‘hands on’ himself.

I caught up with Andrew to talk bloggers, buzz and Buenos Aires.

QN: Andrew, what made you start approaching bloggers to review Sumo Lounge products? If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of a success rate do you have?

Sumo: When I started the business, I had no money to advertise and it was cheaper to get reviews. Since then it has snow balled – I lose count of how many reviews we have (I think over 500 now). Some people I still contact, but now lots of people know the business and approach us.

QN: Your company is based in LA, you manufacture in China and you’re living in Buenos Aires. What prompted you to work on the road?

Sumo: The company is not really based in LA, the address there is simply to collect mail. There is an international structure which spans about six countries (Australia, Canada, China, New Zealand, UK & USA) on a daily basis.

I am a big fan of “big is the new small”: I have done away with offices, fax machines, flyers, banners, and even business cards over 2 years ago. They all cost (waste) money and what the hell is the point for an internet business?

There are even no staff, if you can imagine. Absolutely everyone we work with is contracted to make things very efficient and smooth.

Everyone is reliable. Most of the factories are ISO certified, and the call centres who handle customer service are very good.

With low overheads, we can lower our prices and in the end we sell more products and have lots more happy customers.

QN: Do you have any staff back in LA? How do you find managing people remotely?

Sumo: I have no staff at all. I make the rounds and try to visit all of the suppliers at least 2 or 3 times a year, but all together everyone knows their job, is very reliable and a pleasure to work with.

QN: What do you wish you’d known when you first started out?

I wish I knew how to make money when I started out! I made a lot of mistakes and for over two years the business was insolvent and lost money.

QN: What’s your take on Tim Ferris’ book, The Four hour Work Week?

Sumo: I think the book is terrible. There may be some good points in the book about outsourcing, but it seems the guy has a big ego.

Yeah, right you can run a business and only work four hours a week! I know lots of successful people and the one thing they have in common is that they are all workaholics.

Obviously the guy is smart for the marketing he did for his book.

Everyone wants to make money and retire young. If he is able to do it from his book, I’ll give him kudos for that and would be happy to buy him a beer the next time he is in Argentina.

QN: I know how much you love Buenos Aires, where you now live. Where’s next?

Sumo: I am happy in Buenos Aires, for now. One place I am starting to like is Australia, in particular Melbourne. Nice people there and if I am lucky enough to find a nice Aussie girl I would be happy to stay there for a while!

Visit SumoLounge.com for more about the products, or APHnetworks.com to read interview with Andrew.

27 August, 2008 Domaining, Ideas & inspiration, Online Business, Web Content 6 comments

Which is the Best Webmaster Conference?

Wynn Hotel, Vegas

Las Vegas means ‘the meadows’ in Spanish. Who says Americans don’t do irony?

Presumably there’s no snappy Spanish word for “City of a million lairy middle-aged men staking the kids future on red, powered by Lucky Strike and JD, trying to get the missus up to bed pre-strip club, in the desert”.

Please correct me in the comments if I’m wrong…

Anyway, I digress. I was chatting about Vegas with Toni from Blifaloo.com. We were talking about WebMasterWorld’s PubCon event: is it worth the cost, how much can you learn, which is the best webmaster conference, why pitted olives are unavailable in the Wynn bars, why I will NEVER STAY AT THE LAS VEGAS HILTON AGAIN.

In the last few years, I’ve been to a fair few webmaster conferences: Search Engine Strategies, PubCon, Affiliate Summit etc etc. Unsurprisingly, different conferences work for different people.

I’ve been to PubCon for the last two years, and am heading back in 2008. It’s a 10,000 mile round trip from London, so that’s a pretty hefty endorsement.

I don’t learn a huge amount from every seminar. But the sessions that are good are truly exceptional (eg, Jeff Libert on domaining in 2006). Most importantly, PubCon is tremendous for networking.

Thanks to the weak dollar, the whole trip (conference ticket + flight + hotel) works out about the same price as the entry alone to SMX London. Plus it’s worth going to watch the Cuttlets gawp as Google’s spamhunter drops a -30 penalty live…

My other favourite conference is A4U Expo. The debut conference last year was possibly the best I’ve been to in terms of generating new ideas.

The conference grew out of affiliates4u.com (read: the British ABestWeb). After many years of informal pub meets, A4U started running a full blown conference last year.

The seminars are outstanding, with a huge amount to learn even for experienced webmasters and affiliates. There’s definitely no sales pitches disguised as seminars. It’s also a a steal: the two day conference costs £299, compared to, say, SMX London at £790 for two days.

You can read a few writeups of A4U Expo 2007 here: OneLittleDuck.co.uk, Moose on the Loose and Keith Bond.

I’m booked in for both this year. Leave a comment if you’re going and I’ll see you in the Wynn Parasol bar / post-A4U party (delete as applicable).

25 August, 2008 Affiliate marketing, Online Business 5 comments

Why I Like Mondays… in Berlin, at Least

WebMontag is a monthly geek get together. Four people give ten minute talks on their pet projects. Being Berlin, beer follows.

Last night, The Hype Machine founder Anthony Volodkin gave a talk introducing the MP3 aggregator to the city’s web geeks.

Anthony wins points for being the only person I’ve met to take his whole team – Taylor, Zoya and Scott – for a month long adventure abroad…

Next up was HallenProjekt.de, a social network for flexible workers.

Say you’re working in freelance mecca Sankt Oberholz. HallenProjekt lets you can see who else is working on the same network, what they do for a living, their current status etc. Seems like a great idea for solo workers if it can reach critical mass.

The third talk was on Couch DB, a SQL database alternative sponsored by the Apache Foundation. Last up was Netzsprecher.de (private beta), a VoIP voice messaging community. Confused? Me too, but I’m sure it does wonderful things.

I didn’t get a chance to speak to organisers Markus and Falk, so if you’re reading: thanks for a great evening!

PS. My German sucks, but I soon learned that jokes about Twitter being offline are an international language…

19 August, 2008 Housekeeping No comments yet

Who Do Rockstar Bloggers Host With?
Who Do Rockstar Bloggers Host With?

I’ve said it before: trying to compare web hosting is a PITA.

One strategy to shortlist hosts is to look at who your competitors are using. For example, if you’re running a site powered by dating site script eMeeting, you need a host that supports Ioncube.

Who Is Hosting This.com does what it says on the tin: tells you which webhost any site is using.

It’s not 100% accurate – some major hosts appear as the company they lease servers from (often larger hosts like The Planet). But it’s a damn fine ready reckoner.

Along these lines, the site today publishes a breakdown of who A-list bloggers host with.

PS. Another interesting read for bloggers: ““Why Blog Publishing ‘Failed’ in the UK”
(via Here.org.uk).

Update October 2008: WhoIsHostingThis.com has relaunched with a new look and feel, improved results, hosting reviews and hosting coupons.

18 August, 2008 Webmaster Tools 2 comments

The Lazy Geek’s Travelling Office

One man’s mission to create the ultimate ‘on the road’ workspace.

Best thing about running my own business? No contest: travel.

Over the last few years, I’ve spent 3-4 months each year abroad. Friends always ask the same question: “How do you work while you’re away?”.

  

Like many self-employed geeks, working remotely is pretty straightforward. Forgive the cliche: the hard part is deciding to do it. Tim Ferris’s Four Hour Work Week (both the book and the blog) has some good practical advice.

Since I arrived in Berlin last week, I thought I’d give the lowdown on my mobile office.

My mobile office in Berlin

I’m no fan of living in hotels. It’s also usually *far* cheaper to rent apartments short-term via Craigslist, so I look for places with a decent workspace and plenty of natural light.

Apple MacBook

Apple MacBookMy PowerBook (RIP) was built like a tank and perfect for travel. My dilemma: replace it with a small, light MacBook or a more powerful, more rugged (but bulkier) MacBook Pro?

I chose comfort over speed. My souped up MacBook has travelled 10,000s of miles over the last year with a Noreve leather case. My laptop casing took a heavy dink, which Apple replaced gratis under AppleCare.

AppleCare is the only warranty I’ve ever paid for. I’ve dealt with support staff in Toronto, New York and London, and every time they’ve helped me get up and running again pronto. Don’t forget a spare laptop battery for long flights.

(NB. I’m no Apple fanboy. The sales staff were so rude when I went to buy my PowerBook, I nearly walked out of the Apple store…)

Tivoli PAL Radio

Tivoli PalFact: laptop speakers suck. And who wants to travel without music or the BBC World Service? The Tivoli PAL has been my weapon of choice for three years. It’s waterproof, rugged and rechargable, and will double as an amp for your laptop/iPod too.

Yes – it’s pricey, mono, and there’s no DAB/satellite radio. But the sound quality is exceptional. Plus tuning stations on the monster FM dial makes me feel like a safe cracker…

 

Quad-Band Cellphone

Nokia N95I spend *way* too much time online without an iPhone, so I got a Nokia N95. Big mistake: it crashes like Windows 3.1 never happened.

A reliable multi-band cellphone is a must (memo to self: ditch the damn N95). Invest in an unlocked handset, if possible, so you can use cheap pay-as-you-go SIM cards abroad. They’re easy to find in the UK, less so in the US. Take my tip: search eBay for ‘unlocked cellphone’.

I use Skype for most phone calls while abroad, and use my phone mostly for SMS, voicemail and Gmail mobile.

 

 

Belkin Snagless Ethernet Cable

Ethernet cableMy rule of thumb: the availablity of reliable wifi is inversely proportionate to how much you need it.

Even in developed countries, wifi is often not as common as it is in the UK/US . In 2006, I spent a month reviewing hotels in Spain; maybe half my hotels had wifi that was dial-up speed, unreliable or dead on arrival.

The answer? Invest in a l-o-n-g, high-quality ethernet cable. The network cables in hotels, internet cafes etc are never quite as long as you need them to be…

 

Shure SE310 Earphones

Shure Se310 earphonesAfter years of using cheapo headphones, I was given some SE310’s. The sound quality blew me away and I became an instant convert.

They mould to the shape of your ears after a couple of hours use, which helps the sound-isolating design cut background noise. That means clearer sound and reduced risk of hearing damage with lower volumes.

Yes, they’re a luxury, but no other earphones I’ve tried come close.

 

Post-Its, Sharpies, Paper…

Some people use fancy GTD tools to keep organised. I use:

  • My iCal calender
  • Post It notes
  • Sharpie markers
  • A4 paper

That’s pretty much it.

 

 

Kensington All-in-One Plug Adapter

This travel adapter is the most elegant solution I’ve seen to convert plugs. It covers 150+ countries, has no removable parts and works both ways (eg, UK to US and US to UK).

Now if only it could stop me leaving my plug adapters behind when I travel…

 

 

MyBook Backup Hard Disks

MyBook HDI learned the hard way: It’s not if your hard disk will fail, but when.

I use MyBook external disks to keep backups. They’re Firewire compatible, built by Western Digital and cheap. What’s not to like?

That said, next time I write one off with a clumsy elbow, I’ll probably buy a more rugged alternative (eg, LaCie Rugged All-Terrain HD) or perhaps get over my fear of relying on online backups.

 

 

Zip-Linq Road Warrior Kit

Ziplinq USB cableZip-Linq make retractable cables. Their USB cable and phone charger go everywhere I travel.

They felt flimsy when I got them, but have lasted two years now with no complaints.

 

 

 

Zyxel AG-225H Wifi Finder

Apparantly some geeks use open wifi networks without permission. Obviously, I think this is morally reprehensible… but if I didn’t, I might use a Zyxel AG-225H wifi finder to find unsecred networks.

Unlike other wifi finders I’ve used heard about, the AG-225H shows signal strength and is rechargable via USB. Better still, it’ll turn any PC with an internet connection into an instant wifi network. Just plug it into a USB port and you’re good to go.

What are your favourite tools for working on the road?

16 July, 2008 Ideas & inspiration 28 comments

Public Service Announcements

A quick plug for two deserving projects.

Conversion rate Experts

Firstly, Ben and Karl from Conversion Rate Experts have just launched a brand new site. You might remember their legendary ‘101 Ways to Use Google Website Optimizer article. If you’ve not read it, I guarantee you’ll learn something that makes your website more profitable. Karl really is a rocket scientist, you know…

The Burg logo

Secondly, my favourite lofi web sitcom is seeking sponsorship. The Burg mercilessly mocks the gentricifcation of Brooklyn’s hipster ghetto, Williamsburg.

The evil geniuses responsible are looking for sponsorship for season two. Got contacts working for THE MAN who might be interested? Drop them a line.

14 July, 2008 Housekeeping No comments yet