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Yep, the first guy… looking somewhat bemused!

Trish is hanging out to start investing and renovating. We’ve got quite a bit of equity stored up in our home, so the cash flow from the job should mean we can rapidly expand our portfolio.

I’ve also resolved to start going back to the gym and once again improve my diet. I reckon I’ve put about 4kgs back on by letting my diet slip back into those old bad habits of refined flour and sugar.

GotMyVote.com is now up to 350 votes. It was featured in some local Community papers as well as The West this weekend. I’ve also been approached to do a radio interview about it on Wednesday.

And finally, not that I’m a Big Brother Fan, but GO DAN! From what I’ve seen he’s a very talented young man who should go far.

GotMyVote.com is coming along well.

Lots of people have been doing reviews, lots of people just popping in for a visit… we’re live in 11 days.

What has been very difficult is working out how to accept subscriptions. All of the Banks want to charge enormous fees and require either 12 months trading history or a full business plan.

Bah to that! /me waves his hands.

PayPal is what we’ve chosen for now. Not the cheapest – but relatively easy to set up and no onerous bureaucracy. The only bad point is that users must pay in $US Dollars… oh – and you have to join.

Actually, that sucks much because it means a user cannot join immediately. When you join PayPal wants to verify your card is real by touching your Credit Card account. It can take a few days for it to appear on your statement.

*sigh*

There aren’t many alternatives. We need instant payments, instant merchant notification, Australian dollars and good security. Any ideas?

Got a phone call from my Agent… big audition coming up. Could be very interesting. It’s an Australia-wide casting but only 11 people are being offered up in WA. The role sounds perfect for me – but there will be some very tough competition. I better bone up on my skipping

The business is bubbling along nicely. Not growing as fast as I’d hoped, but certainly on the improve. I purchased “Cash, Customers and Ads that sell” by Brad Sugars. It has some great hints and tips on writing effective ads. I adhered closely to his formula and placed reasonably big ads in some local papers… so far only one call from a customer. 4 calls from people trying to sell me stuff. I think it’s important that the ads are in there regularly though. Until PCGURU is a widely recognised name, it’s crucial that I keep it in the face of anyone likely to use the service.

I also delivered 2000 envelope sized color flyers to mailboxes in Canning Vale, South Perth, Waterford, Salter Point, Como and West Perth. Bugger all response. Mail box drops do not seem to be effective. Perhaps if it were a sticker/magnet/mousemat?

I’ve decided to place an ad in the local Community newspapers special “Computer Classifieds” section. Not cheap but it covers a good area. It will be in for 4 weeks initially. I’ll just have to keep testing different forms of advertising till I strike one which works.

The super-secret business concept I’ve been working on with David is nearing it’s pilot stage. It’s been a really hard slog. Thankfully David has gone on 10 days holiday up North – so we can have a break. Once he returns – it’s the home stretch into testing.

I’ve finalised the “profit model”. There is a way to make this thing generate some good cash flow. Once it’s doing so, we’ll be able to spend even more time on it and maybe even get some professional graphic designers in!

In the mean time – check out http://www.gotmyvote.com.