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If you're going to give something away, you need to know what the value of it is and what your ROI is. Too many people are caught up in this 'giving stuff away for free and hoping money happens later' thing. I'm guessing that's because they're afraid of selling.

After learning of Fiverr's existence, I figured it was going to be jokey. And, indeed, there are some humorous "gigs" (see examples). However, Fiverr is a serious commercial site -- it's brimming with legitimate postings by service providers who are deadly serious about completing the jobs they offer (the site facilitates the transaction). It's quite remarkable how much work some people will do for US$5.

This innovation came to life when we realised a gap in a developing segment in the telecommunications market. With telecommunications becoming commoditised, many entrepreneurs have joined the groundswell of companies offering innovative product mixes in voice, Internet, data, PBX, and hosting segment. While there are plenty of wholesale providers of these services, No one in the market has delivered an end-to-end BSS/OSS platform (front, middle, and back office solution) for these innovators. Utilibill Lite empowers such players to be competitive and offer first-class service while minimising overheads that were previously required to set up a telco.

When it comes to building a company from scratch, there’s no substitute for hard work, writes Sahil Merchant.

We won’t hold it against you if you find wireless networking a bit of a head-scratcher. All this talk of WiFi, WiMAX, Bluetooth, 3G, 802.11, 802.16… What the huh? We're glad you asked.

According to a report in the New York Times, Swedish entrepreneur Anders Wilhelmson has developed and tested a biodegradable plastic bag that acts as a single-use toilet for urban slums in the developing world. The Peepoo can be buried after use, where a layer of urea crystals kills off pathogens that produce disease and converts the waste into fertilizer.

Stuart was managing Contract1, a Contractor Management company. He was extremely experienced in payroll and all the software solutions available at the time, and found himself continually frustrated at the lack of attention to detail and the appalling user interfaces. If there was a way to make the job of a payroll person more difficult, they would have found it. About the same time, Xero entered Australia and declared that they wouldn’t be offering a payroll solution with their product. That was the epiphany moment. Stuart had lunch with John (his former boss at AusAID), and Paycycle was born.

Solar-Gem, a Sydney-based company that provides affordable off-grid energy solutions based on clean solar power systems, has been named a finalist in the 2010 Australian International Design Awards.

This year's overall Cool Company winner, iiNet, was recognised for its use of innovative technologies, clever marketing and for challenging some of Australia's biggest brands. "This company sells itself as solid like a big telco but has managed to sustain the spunky attitude of a startup," said Anthill founder James Tuckerman, at the Sixth Annual Cool Company Award in Melbourne on Thursday.

The latest in Geoff McDonald's Book Rapper series, this distillation offers Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers and Geoff Colvin’s Talent is Overrated in one 30 second summary.

Effective marketing design requires more than just technical knowledge and an eye for what is beautiful or attractive. How a design can effectively engage the mind and influence human behaviour is far more important than simple aesthetics.

Invoiceplace was born from the frustration of staying up late to create and send invoices. It was too much of a hassle and was something that ended up being put off, which is potentially disastrous for the cashflow of any business. This grew into a mission to provide a robust and professional online quoting and invoicing service, without being complex and intimidating. Invoiceplace is now used worldwide to help small business do what they do best and grow their business.

Every year, at about this time, we take greater pleasure in assembling and releasing the outcomes of our annual DUMB REPORT, a selection of goofs, gaffs and groaners from the world of business, politics, media and marketing. As we've said in the past, making mistakes is all part of growing a business. According to the wisdom of Kerry Packer, "If you get things right 60 percent of the time, you will rule the world." It's just a pity that not all mistakes are created equal.

The 2011 Telstra Australian Business Women’s Awards distinguished NSW Deputy Commissioner for Corporate Services Catherine Burn with the Business Woman of the Year award.

James Tuckerman is a self-confessed "lazy business owner". He's a passionate seeker of "cheats" -- shortcuts to help him get more done in less time. In this webinar, he will reveal how he automates lead generation and the tools he uses to attract business... in his underpants... while he sleeps.

In a bid to be the leading provider of online education and innovative learning strategies in Australia, Kaplan Professional is introducing e-books for postgraduate students this year.

We recently got slammed. Last week, I was cc’d on seven emails in the space of a minute. They were all from Wordpress, each one a comment from the mag nation blog waiting for approval. On further examination, the author of all seven comments was the same person, and they had posted the exact same comment on seven different blog posts.

A few months ago, when her partner was having trouble finding work, Jasmine Costello encouraged him to learn chess as a way to take his mind off the job rejections. Rich loved the game so much that it led to an entrepreneurial brainstorm that recently earned the couple the 2010 Commander Business Grant. They call it Chess-Nuts.

Promotion: On the back of Hobert Pitch Club last month, we are back in Melbourne (14th April 2011). Pitch Club assists aspiring entrepreneurs to launch their new business ideas. We provide a forum to Pitch ideas; tools to manage and syndicate ideas and match you up with quality advisors and business angels. Pitch Club chapters are in most major cities in Australia.

According to the latest trade payments analysis by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), the payment terms of Australian firms have risen for the third consecutive quarter.