The Blog

One software product, 27 years on the market and still counting. It's called Cashbook and some very major companies in the world use it in their accounting department, including the likes of Coca Cola, Rolex , Cadbury etc. etc.

Let's just say it's been rather successful so far.

It was initially created by one dude, Bobby Perel, who also happens to be the father of the Obox crew. He founded Peresoft Software which is a Software company that specializes in accounting packages for Sage Accpac.

Some of my first memories were seeing him working till 4am every morning, only to be awake the next day and at his desk 8am. He did that for about 1000 years and over my short life span I have always made sure that when he speaks I pay attention (though he may think other wise).

He has a tendency to be right 99.9% of the time and since we were about 15 years old Marc and I have learned some valuable lessons from him that we apply at Obox every single day.

I thought they were worth sharing because so far it seems to be working:

1. Employee Count

25,000+ customers, 1million lines of code. To say it's a huge program is an understatement. Yet despite all these big numbers only 6 people, including Bob, keep the company running.

• 3 Developers
• 1 Support Person (forums and phone calls)
• 1 Subscription manager
• 1 Secretary

That is all. So before you think you need 100 people to grow your company and product, take a step back and see how you can run in it smoothly with as little people and overheads as possible while still maintaining a decent life style.

2. Hard Work

The above line is a trend lately in the blogosphere but no where have I seen it demonstrated so well as look at Bob. He will probably out work Gary V and you and you and you. I am yet to see his office lights (he works up the road from Obox) go out before ours do.

To me it goes to show that if you have the ability and want it bad enough you have to be willing to put in the hours and success will come.

3. Staying  Calm

Unfortunately I never got this gift from Bobby, however Marc did. Despite some clearly stressful times at Peresoft I have yet to see him let that stress get to his head and make rash decisions which would effect his business long term. At the end of the day calmness prevails and the correct decisions are made.

Before you start freaking out and letting everyone in your office know about it, take a deep breath and look at the situation as a whole. Will it really affect your company in the long or short term? If not, take a chill pill.

4. Business Partnerships are Sinking Ships

Unless your partner compliments your weak points and has similar values to you (eg: working hard, being dedicated and not spending the biz's money on a Ferrari) then he has always suggested that you stay away.

I can bet my life on it that Perel Snr would have never in his entire life been involved in the frankly stupid arrangement that Michael Arrington had with regards to the CrunchPad.

So before you jump into that promising venture with someone who talks the talk consider their values and aims more carefully. And for heavens sake, if they have had a dodgy history, don't even think twice about saying no to them (COUGH! Arrington).

5. Making money and cash flow

Another thing we have learnt from him is that if your work day is 8 hours and you are charging $30p/h then make sure that, for every hour you work, you are getting paid to do it.

Doing a 5minute change for a client must be charged for, no matter what. Set yourself minimum per hour rates (eg: even if a change takes 5 minutes to do charge them a minimum of 15mins) and stick to them.

Sometimes cash flow is more important than profit. He drilled this into us from the moment we turned 18 and started working. You can have the best profit's on earth but if you aren't getting the money in there is no use it having a profit.

Make sure that for every project you do that you have something to leverage in order to get your money. We never hand over site access details until we have been paid, we have also taken sites down when a client hasn't paid. You have to be ruthless and also understand that you are not doing anyone a favour. You are offering a service, you provide the skills, they pay.

6. Friends and Business

Another important lesson, the famous 'favor for a favor' between friends.

"Make me a website and I will give you lessons in Kung-Fu"

If possible always try and avoid these kinds of deals. Unless you have to work off some massive debt always be frank with your friends and say "I rather you pay for the site and I pay for the Kung Fu".

This way there will never be any confusion and your friendship won't be at risk. There is nothing wrong with a 'family discount' but a 'favor for a favor' will almost always end in tears.

Conclusion

So there you go, a couple of valuable lessons that we can't live without, there have been times when we have not taken this advice and have paid the price more than once (particularly number 5 & 6). I hope this helps you as much as it has helped us ;)