Our special guest on 7 February 2023 was Michael Lancaster from Geekly who generously shared his startup journey.
Like many people Michael experienced the best and the worst of being an employee and gathered many skills in hospitality and computer retail before taking the leap of faith into small business. Since then he has followed market need. Designing websites led to building custom laptops and then, two years ago, a new business – Geekly – specialists for laptop repairs in the Bendigo region.
His thought process and activation of Geekly in just one day included:Getting the domain name was top priority.
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- Registering the Business Name.
- Deciding on what niche to focus services on.
- Pricing and payment system – Square dead easy!
- Website – one page who/where/what
- Facebook + Instagram accounts
- Google My Business – a must have!
- Create adverts for social media.
Providing fast and transparent service for home users of laptops is the focus of his business. A fixed price scheme gives customers certainty. Google adverts helped get their name out there. Michael believes you have to spend money on social media advertising to reach audiences outside your existing network. As they prepare to move to bigger premises Michael remains open to changing his business model and agrees that you can’t be complacent in this rapidly changing world. Getting the right people in his team is essential and as the business grows, he is prepared to be patient and treat them well when they come on board. His biggest regret? Not setting up an accounting system right at the beginning. His accountant is now his best friend. Thankyou Michael for sharing your story.
Don’t forget to join us each month for another B2B discussion.
PS. Here is a link to view one of the videos produced by Relatable Creative that Michael referenced during his talk. VIEW