Entrepreneurial tips from Time-tracker application CEO Jared Armstrong

Taylor Brasher

BUS M 490

Jon Bradshaw

           

Jared Armstrong is the founder of MinuteDock and handles the CEO & CTO roles at MinuteDock. He keeps the business moving forward and his code runs a huge number of MinuteDock's complex backend systems.  Jared Armstrong founded MinuteDock (which will be explained later in the interview) with two fellow colleagues while looking for a solution to one of their time tracking problems. 

Q.  What Demographic do

 you target with your product?

--MinuteDock; CEO Jared Armstrong (center)

A. “Initially we really focused on freelancers, and small 1-3 people businesses.  Over the years we have came to realize that from a business perspective that isn’t such a great demographic because they aren’t willing to pay much more than the minimum amount of money for the product.  At the moment the main demographic is still in the small business space but we are trying to get companies that employ around 10-20 people.  Usually the industries are professional service businesses, such as design agencies, accounting

firms, and developers.

Q. What gave you the desire to start this business?

A.  “MinuteDock was started in mid-2009, and there were originally three of us who made it. What we were at the time was we were software consultants and we were selling our souls for an hourly rate and tracking our time, adding all the details of what we worked on, and being Kiwis we also were on to this new great thing called Xero for our accounting.   Xero doesn’t have time tracking in their product so we thought, “Okay, we just need a basic tool to track our time and get it into Xero.” It sort of grew from there really. We added a whole bunch of other features and worked for around that time-tracking problem to really make tracking time and keeping track of your targets and budgets for clients and customers. It’s really easy and really seamless.”

Q.  How did finance your business, or find investors?

A.  “We are fully bootstrapped, we basically funded it through our contacting work.  For a long time we were working on it part time.  Then once our part time wages weren’t covering expenses we started to contract our clients.  For now we plan to continue private, and in the long run we can go public, but we have not planned for that yet.”

Q.  If you had one tip for new

entrepreneurs what would it be?

A.  “Make sure you choose your fellow founders wisely.  Establish goals and make sure you are all on the same page before you start up the business.  For us in MinuteDock we worked extremely well together for the first few years, and then we started to have a few problems and that’s when I ended up buying out the other founders.  Also to get the best outcome on any business you need to invest everything you have in that particular business and focus on that.” 

  “MinuteDock is an online time tracking software. Essentially it’s built for any small business that has a time component as a key part of their business.  It allows the business to track and bill their time and gives them an easy way to get invoices into their accounting system and send off to their customers. 

            

Life's Lessons

My best friend taught me that it is important to live in the moment, while obviously maintaining moral standards and making goals.  Plans are never 100% reliable, therefore live in the moment, and soak up every little opportunity to experience joy that you have.  This life is filled with trials, but those trials are designed by god to mold us, and help us progress in this life.  There is an amazing quote that was given by the Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, he said:  "Life is to be enjoyed, not endured."  I LOVE that quote! God wants each of us to recognize the blessings we have in life, take advantage of the opportunities that will contribute to our personal growth, and he wants us to be happy above all else.

In order to be happy we cannot let worries, hold us back.  We cannot allow our weaknesses to limit our ability to enjoy this life. In order to be happy give it our all! Live life to the fullest!  

Pay attention to your surroundings, the blessings you have, the many opportunities granted to you, and live your life without fear..

Summer

Summer officially started almost 3 weeks ago but it didn't even occur to me to to make a blog post about it.  Then I thought about it and realized how important it is to me, and here we are.  Summer can be interpreted many different ways by each individual.

 

1. For the kids in elementary school it means no more homework, no more worries, just playing with their buddies without a care in the world.

2. For the junior high to high school kids it could mean sports camps, jobs, young love, family trips, etc.

3. For the college kids (my age) it means a time of growth, an opportunity to give it your all in everything you do, a time to laugh, love, and enjoy the company of your loved ones. It means travel, adventures, risks, boating, swimming and fun.  

The only downside to summer is that September comes too fast (even though it's a great month, JDR) Before we know it we are back into the school/work grind, the sun starts to set earlier, and we realize that the summer dream has come to an end. Until next year. 

Fortunately for us we still have another 2 and a half months!  Carpe Diem!

8 Benefits to living a POSITIVE life!

When I was younger I heard the question: "Do you think the glass is half empty or half full?" I answered "Half full."  Being positive is a very important aspect of life, here are 8 benefits of living a POSITIVE life:

1.  POSITIVE people who regularly express POSITIVE emotions are more resilient when facing stress, challenges and adversity. (Several Studies)

2. POSITIVE people are able to maintain a broader perspective and see the big picture which helps them identify solutions where as negative people maintain a narrower perspective and tend to focus on problems. (Barbara Fredrickson)

3. POSITIVE people aren't negative!  That means they are enjoyable company.

4. POSITIVE emotions such as gratitude and appreciation help athletes perform at a higher level. (Heartmath.org)

5.  POSITIVE, optimistic sales people sell more than pessimistic sales people. (Martin Seligman)

6.  POSITIVE work environments outperform negative work environments. (Daniel Goleman)

7. POSITIVE People Live Longer – In a study of nuns, those that regularly expressed POSITIVE emotions lived on average 10 years longer. (The Nun Study)

8.  POSITIVITY is contagious!


Live a POSITIVE life!

3 places I would love to visit!

I decided that I would write about a few places I would like to visit during my life.  Hopefully they will interest each one of you, and inspire you to be creative with your "traveling desires" as well.

1. I need to go to New Zealand, I went when I was a senior in high school and absolutely loved the trip!  They have a very unique culture that is extremely oriented around recreation.  The food is delicious, and it is beautiful beyond belief! I would love to revisit to be able to surf, bungee jump, tour the caves, eat the food, and relax.  I will also need to bring along my best friend.

2. I would also love to travel to Europe! If I could choose the two countries to go to they would have to be Spain and Italy.  Spain would be important because of the deep spanish culture that originates from this country.  Italy, because of the amazing food, and the cool little towns.

3. Last but not least I would like to revisit Argentina, I was lucky enough to serve my mission there.  I would love to be able to visit some of the sights I wasn't able to go to as a missionary, and also be able to do a service project or some sort for the people down there.

There is a huge list of places I would love to visit, but these were three of them that I thought of in the moment!  

Here is a link to another traveler's blog that is a good example: http://www.nomadic-habit.com

2014 World Cup!!

There are few things that can end wars, calm conflicts, and bring together nations that hate each other.  The World Cup can accomplish such a feat!  It brings together the world's best soccer teams that will spend a month going head to head in the biggest soccer tournament the world has ever seen.  Soccer isn't nearly as popular as basketball, or football here in the United States.  But in other areas of the world, such as Europe, and South America, "futbol" is a religion.  This soccer craze hit me as well, during my service as an LDS missionary for 2 years in Argentina.

Argentina's very own Lionel Messi is one of the world's best soccer players!  The World Cup does not only give us a chance to forget the conflicts of the world, but also an opportunity to enjoy the sport of soccer at its finest! Tune in to: http://www.fifa.com/index.html to appreciate these epic soccer matches!

La comida mexicana

Anyone who knows me well enough know that one of my passions in life is Mexican food.  I die for this stuff!  In a regular week I usually eat a burrito, or a burrito salad at least five times a week.  So here are my top three favorite Mexican restaurants, so that you can go out and enjoy what I have been enjoying my whole life!  

My favorite without a doubt is Barbacoa: 

The burritos from Barbacoa are perfect, from the succulent chicken, flavor blasting black beans, refreshing tomato salsa, to the crunchy lettuce, and perfectly steamed rice.

Coming in second would have to be Cafe Rio!  Their salads are amazing!

And third goes to Chipotle!

If 1 o'clock comes rolling around and all you can think about is Mexican food, you're just like me! So here's a list for the next time you are out searching for your next delicious burrito!