42, Divorced Twice, Great Business Though

[cjay]

Hi all,

My name is Chris Johnson and I have been in business for 22 years. I co-founded Europe's largest Internet directory www.askalix.com in 1997, raised £8.5 million venture capital in 2000 and sold out in 2003. During my business career I have had many small businesses and know how important extra revenue can be in the early stages of development. I would very often take on extra jobs to fund the start up of a business that I believed in. This can be extremely demanding and I was always looking for the most efficient way to generate the extra cash I needed.

Just less than a year ago my askalix.com co-founder Gary Baker and I decided to create another major on-line business. Its aim is to provide tens of thousands of individuals with an on-line business platform from which they can generate significant income, quickly and without the need to invest large amounts of money and time. The business is based around the digital photo market. It has taken us nearly a year and considerable investment but we have now launched our new on line product. Let me know what you think.

I am getting into sailing and have just purchased a new Sun Odyssey 40.3 from French builder Jeanneau. The yacht is being berthed in Gibraltar and I am moving out to the sun in the next 4 to 5 weeks. Have to say major tax breaks in Gib, if you can you should check out the benefits of basing your business there.

I think the UK tax burden has become the single biggest threat to echonomic melt down in the UK. My business partner and I are classic examples of investment leaving these these shores. Askalix.com still employs more than 100 staff in our local town, there are about 3600 towns like ours in the UK. Only a few wealth creators per town need to make the same decision we have and the UK will start loosing 100s of thousands of jobs and the associated benefit they provide the wider economy.

I think we may be entering 'The last one to leave the UK switch the lights out' territory again and I do not think 'lights out' is that far away.

Anyway look forward to contributing to the forum.

Cheers
cjay
www.parazziapck.com

[bizNorthEast.co.uk]

Hi Cjay, I am also from the north east and work in the internet although I have just recently graduated from uni so haven’t set up a lot of businesses. I have heard of askalix, I think (could be wrong) they are based in boro and owned by scoot.

I would like to know what your thoughts are on the internet directory market? It’ll be good to pick your brain.

And welcome to the forum.

[cjay]

Hi BizNE,

AskAlix is based in the boro, but we bought Scoot out. The directory business is saturated and I would not even consider starting another one.

I guess there maybe opportunity in certain verticle sectors. The hardest part of the directory business is building a good telesales operation, that is the key to your revenue.

What do you think of ParazziPack?

Cheers
cjay
www.parazzipack.com

[peterjhale]

Hi Chris and welcome

Good job on AskAlex - I remember them, not so much now.

I think there are always opportunities in any segment so long as you have something new/ different/ that people want


I looked at your new website but couldnt understand what you are offering

[bizNorthEast.co.uk]

Same here, the site dosen't hit me with what you are offering straight away.
I like the domain name and site its brandable.

[cjay]

Hi Peter,

There are two components to the parazzipack business. Members can use pp to generate income directly from shooting events and from selling their images through our library. The events business is unique and is made possible using the web and our contact cards. Imagine you are in a bar, club or at sporting event. Our memebers simply approach people and politely ask if they would like their picture taking. They take the shot and hand the subject a contact card. The card explains how the subject can view and if they wish buy the photograph on-line. There is no need to collect cash or exchange contact details on the night. One of our guys recently shot a track day at race circuit. 40 Year old gents on their road bikes flying aroung a race track for a day. He sold £1200 worth of pictures in the following two weeks.

The second part of the business allows each member if they so wish to recruit their own team of photographers and recieve a share in the revenue generated by their team.

Its a pretty good system and has been well tried and tested in diferent markets over the years.

Hope it makes a bit more sense now.

Cheers
cjay
www.parazziapck.com

[bizNorthEast.co.uk]

do you have a demo photo system on the site. I can't seem to find one, if you don't I recommend that you get one on.

[cjay]

PS.

There is a further and fun component depending on your poin of view. The market for celeb shots is vast, one picture changed hands last month for £85k according to an article in RED magazine. I used to be in the news business and shot the first footage of the Iraqi super gun at Teessport. This was about 18 years ago and we sold the footage to CNN for £4k.

Any of our members who happens to capture a news or celeb shot can then broadcast details to editors around the world.

I guess we are looking to make the Paparazzi look quite tame when compared to the ParazziPack.

Cheers
cjay
www.parazziapck.com

[cjay]

Hi,

Yes, if you go to browse and click find pics without entering any data you will see a list of events. Some are password protected but if keep clicking through a couple of pages you will get the idea.

You could also click stock shots and you will find thousands of pics

Cheers
cjay
www.parazzipack.com

[bizNorthEast.co.uk]

Essentially you are selling the ability to list and sell photos on the internet. You should have a top notch demo system available via a link on the homepage. This is what in my opinion most people visiting your website will want to see first.