Small Business Saturday Blog

My name is Colleen Wong and the founder of Techsixtyfour's My Gator Watch. I am also a mum of 2 small humans. The Gator watch is a wearable mobile phone and tracker made for children in primary school. It can make and receive calls from only up to 13 trusted family and friends and it is a tracker using GPS outdoors and WIFI indoors. It has no internet, social media or games and works almost anywhere in the world.

I was at Bockett's farm with my kids in 2015 and saw a mum running around looking for her young child. It really hit me as a young mum as kids are FAST. So I thought of a way of staying connected with our young children but without giving them a smartphone.

The biggest challenge was getting people to know my product exists. I started with very little money and had virtually no marketing budget. I would just wear my Gator watch everyday and go to as many networking events as I could while managing the daily activities of my 2 children.

I signed up for Amazon Launchpad which is a great platform for startups as it tells my story. Selling on Amazon is the key to success of any consumer electronics business and for my business specifically, Amazon was one of the first places customers would go to search for a wearable or watch for children. We have just recently received an Amazon's Choice badge for our Gator watch and this is a major pat on the back for us! Also as my customer base grows, we are getting a lot of referrals which is amazing.

We use Amazon to sell alongside our own website. We use Amazon Marketing Services and Facebook to market the Gator watch as it is really important to look at the metrics behind our marketing spend. We are very active on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter also to generate awareness of our product.

My Top Tips:

1. Make sure you are solving a problem with your product. There are so many consumer electronics out there that are just nice to haves but cost a fortune to build.
2. Prove that people are willing to part with their hard earned money for your product. This is really not easy as ideas are great and people will say that often but the key is will they buy it.
3. There is no need to start everything from scratch or reinvent a wheel. A great way to test out a product is to take an existing one but making it 10x better.
4. Sell your product online using Amazon or your own website. Traditional retail costs are extremely high and as a small business, this is not a risk you should take at the start.

My Best advice:

Know your numbers. Don't be daunted by numbers as it is the only way you will know how to make decision with your company. The best idea or business will fail if financial management is not a priority.

I am looking forward to finding new and exciting but low cost ways to market the Gator watch to parents. To working with my amazing team of flexible working staff most of whom are mums of young children. To spending more time with my family as starting a business has taken time away from them but my team is brilliant and I am able to take more time off as a result.

About the author:

Colleen Wong is founder of Techsixtyfour and the Gator Watch - see here for more details.