Meet the Philippine Start-up that Wants to Innovate Mass Transport

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PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Though ride-hailing may get all the attention in the travel space, there are many founders who are trying to innovate in the area of public transport. The Philippine bus- and boat-booking platform Biyaheroes is one of them.

Mirra Reyes, who heads public relations and content at Biyaheroes, says she got the idea for the platform while having lunch with Ace Mercado, who is now the company’s managing director.

“We just complained about how much of a hassle it was to commute to our provinces; Ace is from Pagbilao, Lucena. I’m from Coron, and I love to visit San Juan, La Union to surf,” she says, “We thought about how leisurely endeavors like booking a movie seat or reserving a restaurant table can be, easily booked online. But something as critical as using mass transportation isn’t.”

After founding Biyaheroes, they soon faced a significant problem: Most bus providers did not see their platform as a need — customers would still ride with them whether or not there was online booking available. Others even had existing systems and felt Biyaheroes would be redundant.

Reyes says they convinced bus operators to partner with Biyaheroes by explaining that their platform was more than just a means of offering online booking.

“It also covers higher satisfaction ratings for their customers who won’t line up anymore, the ability to produce advanced sales, and projecting destination demands with guaranteed passengers. Our system can connect with their existing system through an API too, so we can still be an added sales arm,” she says.

With this pitch in mind, they were soon able to convince Romel Singson, president of local bus company Partas, to partner with Biyaheroes. Since their early days, the company has expanded, offering both long and short distance trips with 20 different partners, via both bus and boat.

They have vetted these partners mostly based on coverage. “We want to be able to modernize our country’s mass transportation system on a nationwide, interconnecting scale,” says Reyes, noting that they have now served over 27,000 commuters.

Commuters who want to book through Biyaheroes get an experience similar to booking an airline ticket. They choose an origin, destination, date, number of passengers. Then they choose from the available schedules; seat allocation is displayed in real-time. Fares are settled online via debit or credit card or PayPal, over-the-counter at banks, or at payment centers.

Nevertheless, the vast majority of Filipinos may still not be used to booking trips online so Biyaheroes tries to guide them through customer support.

“If you visit our website, we have real-time chat assistance. We’re also active on all major social media sites and messaging apps. We have a landline, a mobile number, and a dedicated email address. We earn their trust, and we’ve acquired a majority of them from organic, word-of-mouth marketing. They’re happy we’re here, and so are we,” she says.

Reyes says Biyaheroes has become a favorite of travelers, commuters, and overseas foreign workers sojourning in the Philippines.

To fuel Biyaheroes growth, the platform is partnering with travel agencies, hotels, and tour organizers to offer a booking portal where they can resell their bus and boat tickets with the cheapest rates available online. “So far, over 250 are already on board. We’re open to more partnerships, and we’re easy to talk to,” Reyes says.

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Food + Beverage Entrepreneurs Leverage Crowdfunding as a Marketing Tool

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PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

When you think of crowdfunding, you think of raising capital for a unique idea or cause. But what if I told you that crowdfunding can be much more than just a tool to raise capital?

Since going mainstream in 2013, crowdfunding has grown worldwide to a volume of $16.2 billion dollars. As of April 2017, the site Kickstarter launched more than $370,000 projects! And there are now dozens of similar sites that offer similar services. So how do you choose the right platform for your project? One option is to choose a platform with a focused approach. This will allow you to not only raise the capital you need, but also tap into an existing community of like-minded people that are in your target market.

Last week, I caught up with Cheryl Clements, founder and CEO of PieShell, to learn more about her food + beverage crowdfunding site and how her customers can use the platform as a marketing tool.

LM: Tell me the PieShell origin story.

CC: It was the fall of 2013 and I was on the patio with my husband. I looked at him and said, "You don't know this, but every single day I think there has to be something more, I don't make a difference in this world." Six months earlier, one of my best friends had been killed in a freak accident and I realized that I didn't want to die with any regrets, I wanted to start my own business and help others make their dreams come true.

I thought of crowdfunding to start my own business selling my mom's famous salad dressing from when she owned the Courtyard Tea Room in Perth, Ontario, Canada. When I realized there was a 75% failure rate for food and beverage companies on the current crowdfunding sites, and there was no site dedicated to all food and beverage projects, PieShell was born!

"The Pie Shell" was the name of my mom's first company. When I was in high school, my dad, brother, and I helped her make 10K pies over 5 years out of the basement of our house.

The way I know I made the right decision is that I have never questioned myself, even on the toughest days, and I know that this was the "something more" that I was looking for.

LM: How is PieShell different from other crowdfunding platforms?

CC: Besides being food and beverage focused, we really highlight the company, their story, and who the founder is. Our audience, advisors, and team all live and breathe food + beverage. We also make sure you know how to crowdfund before you launch. We do that by providing you with a blueprint of crowdfunding best practices, project reviews, and with our custom three stepping-stone model which helps raise more funds than the traditional sites. All of this has resulted in PieShell's 100% success rate. To date, all of our projects have reached at least their first stepping-stone.

LM: What type of companies can use PieShell?

CC: We accept any project that is food or beverage focused. Packaged goods, apps, books, restaurants, kitchen gadgets, foodtech - you name it, we support it!

LM: How does PieShell facilitate the crowdfunding process?

CC: At PieShell, following crowdfunding best practices is critical for a project's success, so we start you off with an info session to ensure you understand the platform and what crowdfunding really entails. We then incubate you through the crowdfunding process with robust documentation, followed critical review and feedback of your project elements. Finally, we incorporate you into our marketing program to provide as much support as possible.

LM: How can crowdfunding help as a marketing tool?

CC: Crowdfunding is the BEST marketing tool! Where else can you promote yourself, get your story out there, get your product into people's hands, get their feedback on the product, build brand ambassadors, and raise money at the same time?

LM: What are some best practices you can share with brands that are looking to launch a successful crowdfunding campaign?

CC: Don't be shy. Some people have issues asking for help and/or asking for money. But, understand you are starting a company to put an amazing product or service into this world, raising money for your family, and creating jobs for others. LET people help you and be proud of asking them too. As my grandmother used to say, "A friend in need, is a friend indeed!"

Make your crowdfunding ask realistic. So many people don't understand that the average raise on the big sites is only about $7K, and most contributions are in the $25-$50 range. Our average raise is close to $13K, and we make sure that you understand that you should always ask for the bare minimum that you are willing to walk away with at the end, and then do everything you can to be overfunded.

Perfect your story. Your video and project copy is critical for people to understand you. They must answer critical questions such as: Why are you raising funds? What are you doing with the money? Why is your product/idea important? Why are you the right person to do it? And why do you want support from the community? Transparency and sincerity are key!

Promote your project. One of the issues is that people get nervous and don't broadcast what they are doing. Pre-marketing, growing your network, and getting the right community partners are critical steps to communicate to your audience.

"Contributors are King". Similar to the ideology that the "Customer is King," treat your contributors the same way. They are trusting you and investing themselves in your business. Keep them updated throughout the project, thank them personally and via social media shout outs, and make sure you complete the fulfillment of rewards in a timely manner.

LM: We know that PieShell has launched a 60-day equity crowdfunding campaign. How has assisting others in their product launch influenced your own crowdfunding campaign?

CC: We did! PieShell was brought to life via a successful GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign, and to help with our seed round, we turned to equity crowdfunding. We wanted the support of our community, but more importantly, I wanted to be able to give back to all the people that have supported me along the way by allowing them to own part of PieShell. We 100% practice what we preach, by shouting it from the rooftops, thanking our early investors, being as transparent as possible, ensuring that our minimum amount is enough to truly move the company forward and not over-reaching. All of these things are what we see from the most successful projects on our platform, and knowing that we helped our customers keeps us going to raise our own funding to be able to help others.

Crowdfunding can be stressful, which is why choosing the right platform is important for success. If you are in a niche market, consider a niche focused platform like PieShell that will help you leverage your target audience, grow brand awareness, engage customers and build your following.

The post Food + Beverage Entrepreneurs Leverage Crowdfunding as a Marketing Tool appeared first on inc-asean.com.

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5 Lessons in Office Design From TED’s Innovative New York Digs

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The nonprofit media company TED is all about producing inspiring and innovate videos. Since the organization's launch in 1984, TED has been on a mission to gather and disperse "ideas worth sharing." TED's speaker roster is home to a host of impressive names, with recorded talks from individuals such Elon Musk, Tony Robbins, and even Pope Francis.

TED operates in New York with office space in the trendy SOHO neighborhood. As you might expect, TED has created an ideal place for workers to remain creative and focused.

If you're looking to do an office re-design, don't start the project from scratch. Instead, look to innovative organizations like TED to jumpstart the brainstorming process.

Here are 5 lessons from TED to build a better office space:

1. Don't forget your green thumb - with all the technology and screen time required of today's employees; it's essential to re-ground them by integrating plants into the overall design. TED's office looks into the atrium, but the glass has been draped with tall plants to provide both protection and a connection to nature.

2. Get your employees involved - by integrating your employees' ideas into the build-out process, they will feel more ownership and pride over the space. In TED's office, employee pictures are framed and hung upon the walls.

3. Brand your office space - no matter big or small your company is, take the opportunity to brand your space. Inside TED's 100-person amphitheater the organization's red logo is prominently displayed for all to see. While the amphitheater is mostly used to watch and record TED talks, it also serves as in ideal branding opportunity, with visitors regularly taking pictures in front of the iconic branding.

4. Celebrate the differences - not all workers reach maximum productivity, in the same way, so offering different workspaces will benefit the range of personalities on your team. TED chose an open floor plan, but they offer a variety of desk options, such as sitting desk, standing desks, and even swivel chairs with work trays.

5. Design for the future - your office space should represent where the company is today, but also where your organization is headed. TED's recent office overhaul was completed with the company's future in mind, and yours should be too.

When you think of designing your workspace, be sure to integrate these tips. Your employees will thank you and productivity will soar.

The post 5 Lessons in Office Design From TED’s Innovative New York Digs appeared first on inc-asean.com.

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Everything You Need to Know About Uber’s New Credit Card

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Uber just announced its entry into the credit card business at the Money2020 conference in Las Vegas.

In partnership with Barclays and Visa, the new card will give Uber an opportunity to assume a larger role in both online and offline markets.

Already having the information about the traveling pursuits of around 10 million people, Uber will now have records of its customers' purchases and buying habits too, thus becoming one of the giants possessing valuable customer information.

With another foray and access point towards customer data, experts are foreseeing this move of Uber as a direct battle against Amazon for ultimate customer information ownership and forming customized shopping experiences.

The application process is pretty simple. Starting November 2, 2017 Uber will give users the option to get the card right in its app. It will feed all of the information they have on file for their customers into the application process.

It only takes a few minutes.

After applying for the card online, within a few minutes an applicant will get a verdict on their "creditworthiness" status. After that, the applicant is good to go. The card will automatically be available for use for Uber rides and UberEats. The physical card on its way to your mailbox within a week or so.

"Our customers have busy lives -- they are dining, traveling and shopping, and we want to make those experiences seamless and rewarding," Judy Zhu, who leads Strategic Partnership at Uber, was quoted as saying.

Uber is putting its best foot forward in terms of rewards.

The no-fee card is packed with incentives. First off is offering a bonus of $100 after a purchase spend of $500 within the first 90 days. It also has 4 percent back on restaurants and bar purchases, 3 percent back on airfare, hotels, and Airbnb, 2 percent on online purchases and 1 percent on everything else.

Every percent back is equal to one point and that one point is worth one cent when used for any of the reward options available.

So, for example, you earn 4 percent back or 4 points for every $1 spent on dining. Redemptions for the credits start at 500 points for $5. There is a $500 a day limit in the amount of points you can redeem and only the primary cardholder can redeem the points.

Swipe away!

***Abhik Shome contributed to this article

The post Everything You Need to Know About Uber’s New Credit Card appeared first on inc-asean.com.

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My Marketing Experiment Paid Off: How I Increased Gross Sales By $100,000 Through This Straightforward Task

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As a branding and marketing strategist I'm always aware of (and trying out) the latest and greatest methods, theories and tools for how to get the word out about a business -- and 2017 was no exception.

With the plethora of new apps, social sites and expert suggestions, I had my hands full. Besides, I make it a policy to never recommend anything to my clients I have not tried out myself.

But there was one experiment I tried this year that produced better results than any social media campaign or speech I gave. It's not a new theory, hot app or magical software. Rather, it's a good old-fashioned core principle of business development that I have taught my clients for years.

In fact, it was so successful that I decided to make it the focus of my next book. It's called "Loose Change in the Couch Marketing," and anyone can do it. Here's the idea.

Look, Ma, I found a quarter!

If you are reading this, chances are that you have accidently (or purposefully) fished around in between the cushions of a couch and found a quarter. Come on; we have all done it. Well I realized one day that the same idea could be applied to marketing. It occurred to me that I had all kinds of loose coins (as it were) hanging around my business, and that I had only to reach out and retrieve them.

Find the gold in your inbox.

Looking through my email inbox, client data base and website contact forms, I saw literally dozens of opportunities I had not taken advantage of. Why? A few key reasons:

• I got busy and dropped the ball.


• I missed the follow-up window or deadline.


• I could never get in touch with the person despite emails/calls back and forth.


• I lost track of the item because it got pushed too far down in my email.


• I simply forgot.

My first step was to comb through and identify the potential clients, business development possibilities and marketing opportunities I had missed out on in the past year.

Create a spreadsheet of possibilities.

Next, I created a spreadsheet to capture the name and info for all the possibilities I was unearthing. When I was done just generating the list, I had over 25 prospects for increased profits, many of which were overlooked or had simply fallen off the radar.

Reach out and reconnect.

Spreadsheet in hand I spent about 15 minutes a day reaching out, until I had covered everyone on the list. Here are some of the marketing and business development situations I encountered and the ways I applied the loose change philosophy to turn them into profits.

• Situation. A potential client reached out to your website contact form, but you were never able to connect. After several back-and-forth emails, or trying to schedule a time to talk, you gave up. Loose change action: Send that person an email.


• Situation. A potential client, or even a former client, was interested in your service or product but decided against it due to timing, cash flow or another reason -- not related to fit or quality. If the issue was resource based (time, money, etc.), then things may have changed. Loose change action: "I just wanted to check in on that."


• Situation. You met someone at a conference or cocktail party or on an airplane who expressed interest in what you do, but you never followed up and their business card sits gathering dust in your desk. Loose change action: Time is not the only factor.

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that even if a year has gone by -- it may not be too late. In some cases, the ship has sailed and the potential opportunity has blown away like a tumbleweed in the Wild West.

But in my case, at least half the time, there was still a need. Don't let the amount of time that has passed be the only determining factor.

So does all this work? Because of contacting the people on my list and re-establishing contact, my bottom line in 2017 increased by 20 percent. In one case, I closed a six-figure piece of business. The client and their business were ready to pull the trigger in a way they had not been a year earlier.

Mind you it took a few months, and more than one meeting, but the final result was a substantial piece of work that never would have happened had I not been practicing "Loose Change in the Couch Marketing." And that's something I can take to the bank.

 

The post My Marketing Experiment Paid Off: How I Increased Gross Sales By $100,000 Through This Straightforward Task appeared first on inc-asean.com.

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Jeff Bezos Made $6.2 Billion in 5 Minutes and Became the World’s Richest Person (How Was Your Thursday?)

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PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Imagine you’re good friends with Jeff Bezos, and you had a great day, and you can't wait to tell him about it. So you email Jeff Bezos at Amazon to share the details, and then you ask him, politely: "Enough about me Jeff, how was your day?"

Jeff doesn't want to upstage you-;but he can't help it, if he's being truthful:

“Not bad," he'll say. "I made more than $6 billion in five minutes.”

This is no joke. Amazon’s stock jumped 7.1 percent yesterday afternoon, on the news of its amazing third quarter earnings report.

At 4 p.m., as the market closed, it was trading at $972 a share; five minutes later in after hours trading, it popped to $1,041.15. And since Bezos still owns about 17 percent of Amazon’s common stock, if you do the math-;boom, $6.24 billion.

That puts Bezos's total net worth at about $83.5 billion, and should return him to the top spot on the list of the world's richest people .

He wasn't the only master of the universe to see a giant leap Thursday. Larry Page and Sergei Brin picked up $1.2 billion and $1.15 billion each, after Alphabet's stock surged on an earnings report. And Bill Gates is worth an extra $340 million based on Microsoft's jump.

But seriously, your friend Jeff Bezos's increase? It's insane. I don't begrudge him; Amazon is an amazing company, but just how much is $6.24 billion?

• It's enough to buy lunch for literally every single person in the United States (at about $19 each, mind you).


• It's almost exactly twice President Trump's entire net worth, according to Forbes.


• It's just a bit less than the entire gross domestic product of the country of Kyrgyzstan.

In fact, to visualize this, let's pretend that this briefcase emojii (

The post Jeff Bezos Made $6.2 Billion in 5 Minutes and Became the World’s Richest Person (How Was Your Thursday?) appeared first on inc-asean.com.

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21 Quotes to Inspire You to Finish 2017 Strong

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With Halloween next week, the holiday season is near. That means the amount of time left for working in 2017 is minimal. I find this to be a great time of reflection on the events of the year so far. For me it has come with many accomplishments and surprises. Happily, I experienced few disappointments.

It's easy to just be done at this point and begin the holiday revelry. You might find yourself tempted just to coast to the end thinking, "I'll just save my mental energy and start fresh in the new year." But the last quarter, like the last few miles of a race, is a great time to dig deep and aim to excel. Much can be accomplished in a few short weeks. After all, while everyone else is pulling up, the winner is often the one who finds the strength for one more burst of speed.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes to help you finish strong.

1. "No one has a problem with the first mile of a journey. Even an infant could do fine for a while. But it isn't the start that matters. It's the finish line." Julien Smith

2. Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment. Thomas Carlyle

3. "There we both sat and rested for a while, facing the rising sun the way we'd climbed, for looking back can sometimes help you on." Dante

4. "Don't tell me how hard you work. Tell me how much you get done." James Ling

5. "Small steps add up to complete big journeys." Matshona Dhliwayo

6. "Stopping at third adds no more to the score than striking out. It doesn't matter how well you start if you fail to finish." Billy Sunday

7. "Whenever you have taken up work in hand, you must see it to the finish. That is the ultimate secret of success. Never, never, never give up!" Dada Vaswani

8. "The last thing you want to do is finish playing or doing anything and wish you would have worked harder." Derek Jeter

9. "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." Calvin Coolidge

10. "We will go to the moon. We will go to the moon and do other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard." John F. Kennedy, Jr.

11. "The woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." Robert Frost

12. "If the word quit is part of your vocabulary, then the word finish is likely not." B.G. Jett

13. "Every morning in Africa, an antelope wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion, or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest antelope, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or an antelope - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running." African Proverb

14. "The high cost of greatness is better than the low cost of mediocrity." Matshona Dhliwayo

15. "The beginning is the word and the end is silence. And in between are all the stories." Kate Atkinson

16. "The opposite of the happy ending is not actually the sad ending-the sad ending is sometimes the happy ending. The opposite of the happy ending is actually the unsatisfying ending." Orson Scott Card

17. "We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves, otherwise we harden." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

18. "Remember no matter how fast you run, you can't be the winner if you don't finish." Israelmore Ayivor

19. "Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

20. "Starting strong is good. Finishing strong is epic." Robin Sharma

21. "For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." T.S. Eliot

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