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Author: Alexander Kohl

Investing

The difference between Impact Investing and Ethical Investing

My wife asked an interesting question this morning: “What is the difference between impact investing and ethical investing?” Putting it into words was really good to get absolute clarity for myself. And just to be clear, this is no official explanation, just my own personal thoughts. The difference seems to come back to the order of consideration. Ethical Investing While there is a huge range of ethical investment options, in general terms the main implementation seems to be a negative filter that limits the possible investment horizon. So a fund that invests in listed equities will still invest in…

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Entrepreneur

Supporting Holochain

For the past 2-3 years I have reviewed the blockchain space to see whether there was scope for a more sustainable financial future. While all the projects talk about that as a goal, it seemed to me that the technology did not deliver. Too slow to be scalable Too expensive to transact Too volatile while the speculators were playing with it No real benefit from decentralisation because centralised identify mechanisms were always part of it. A few months ago, I found Holochain. Not only was the technology truly scalable. One of it’s founding ideas was credit clearing. A solution…

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Entrepreneur

Deciding on Core Business

One of the keys in running a successful business is understanding what the core business is. With my bookkeeping venture it took quite a long time to understand that. And I had to radically change direction a few times to really get to it. Now we are there. We convert data from MYOB (and soon Quickbooks) to Xero. It is a tiny niche in the bookkeeping/accounting world. But we have developed some unique tools and processed that allow us to deliver this service better than anyone else. It is time to scale. Sometimes, it is scary to let go…

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Entrepreneur

Jet Bookkeeping

It has been a long time. Mobile Telecom is running. It worked, even without micro testing. We moved through a major transition where we had to change the complete system of how we operated. Jason and Belinda are handling that really well, so that I do not have to do much at all. That meant new time for my next venture: Jet Bookkeeping I always enjoyed figures and what could be learned from them for a business. With the advance of online accounting packages, we can now deliver profitable intelligence to small businesses. Jet Bookkeeping started in late April…

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Entrepreneur

Mobile Telecom

I had a few months of relaxation, visited friends, connected with our beautiful National Park, swam in the Ocean. Then it was time for the next venture. A new business partner (actually a very dear friend, so we’ll see whether there is any truth in what they say about friends and going into business together). He has been running Mobile Telecom for many years. I kept saying that I am not interested in the phone industry until a conversation I had with my wife. In it I remembered how much joy it had given me to create an amazing…

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People

Leaving Ingenero

I have now left my employment with Ingenero. That ends my SolarPay adventure. What a journey it has been. Here it is in shorthand. Jan 2008 – desire to run a business that has positive impact on climate change Feb 2008 – clarity of how I can reach people and motivate them to take action March 2008 – support by my partner Hugh to think bigger (1,000 solar systems, rather than just 100) April 2008 – incorporation of SolarPay Pty Ltd June 2008 – first public appearance at World Environment Day July 2008 – sale of the first solar…

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Entrepreneur

SolarPay is Sold

What an exciting and stressful week (month?). We have just signed all the paperwork (about 200 pages) to sell SolarPay to another solar company (Ingenero). We had found that through a contact from my business partner, talked to them briefly in January and were approached again in June when we tried to find a solution to our cash-flow situation. They were the solution we took. The negotiations reminded me again of how important it is to concentrate on what the other party wants. The better we can deliver that, the more successful the negotiations. It was a tough decision…

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Finance

Cashflow

I always heard about cashflow being the most important thing to look at in a business. When the sales for solar hot water increased, we had to put some cash into the business to finance that growth. I then made a decision that I always wanted to create businesses that are cashflow positive throughout the development. So before starting to sell solar panels (which cost over $10,000 – of which the government paid around 90%), we said that we would only sell to clients who were willing to pay upfront and could wait for the government to pay them…

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Entrepreneur

Time Management Reality

What is theory and what is practice? My team has grown to 8 people. I am continuing to pass on responsibility. They are great at taking it and making it work. The biggest challenge I took with regards to spending time was to go on a 2 week holiday. I went without a mobile phone, I did not look at a computer, did not call in to see how things were going. My team cursed at times, but it worked. Sales continued, systems were installed and they even dealt with a major calamity of one of our contractors stealing…

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Passionate Management