David Gustafsson

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Fiji - one of 303 islands. Found on flickr

We have just sold our car. Yes it is true. I have already begun to miss her. I am satisfied with the deal we made. It was the first serious buyer that had looked at the car (one other guy that gave me a too low first offer to be taken seriously). The hours before the sale I read one of last weeks articles for the class in negotiations skills. I think that it helped. The article was about strategy and tactics in distributed bargaining. Distributed bargaining is the toughest negotiation to close a deal in. That is because this is the type of negotiation is characterised with that only one issue is discussed; most often the price.

Negotiation is really not just about psychology. A good negotiator carefully plan and uses all information that can possibly be required in favour. A negotiator that have not spent an hour planning should not negotiate. A few things to consider is the resistance point, target point and first offer. Also the so called BATNA (best alternative to negotiated agreement) is important. Assess these points for yourself and your opponent in advance. Also think about such things as time constraints and if you have advantage in knowing the market.

Negotiations

I am not the best negotiator. Hopefully the course in negotiation skills will help me to learn something. We got the price that we asked for in our advertisement without having to make to many concessions. Maybe that was the course that already starts to pay of. If you think about it, is there really a better course for a wannabe manager to study than negotiation. A good negotiator still uses the same practises as back in the days when everything was about trading cattle…

As a few of you already know I am interested in entrepreneurship ever since my experiences of starting up EverTee; the everlasting golf tee. One of the masters at Chalmers is called MEI (management and economics of innovation) which I have chosen not to study (I wrote about that in an earlier post). One reason for the decision is that it is useless to try to educate to become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is about doing and a theoretical background in other engineering fields are then in my opinion more important.

My protected invention EverTee, the everlasting golf-tee

However I do feel that one course on the subject has a certain meaning; to gain theoretical insights of how to go forward from a great idea to success. It is not all about executing, it also comes down to how you execute! In the course we are suppose to develop an idea and go through a few key steps an entrepreneur is facing. Pitching and writing a business plan is two examples. In parallel to this guest speakers come and visit every week.

Yesterday Gary Zamel spoke to us about his career as an entrepreneur. He has made 7 start-ups of which 5 has been (and still are) successful. Mine Site Technologies was his first and maybe most impressing company. 1986 a mining accident occurred in Queensland, Australia, which got the government to react on mine safety. Gary came up with the idea to introduce communication systems to mines. Prior to 1986 there was impossible for an operator to communicate with above ground level. Mobile phones run over a high frequency (typically MHz spectrum). The signal does not propagate through rock. Mine Site’s solution is a low frequency wireless protocol that indeed can send signals through thousands of meters with unknown material. To communicate does not only help safety since there are several of other applications that make use of data transmitting. Still today there are very few competitors and all mines do not have a communication system (as late as 2004 it got regulated by law in USA). The company does today have 100 employees.

Other examples of companies that Gary own are:

• A company that drills on the seabed. Normal drilling techniques involves sending a drilling ship platform that lets the drill run from the surface 1000-meters to the seabed and from there further down rock. To send a craft down to the bottom and drill from there gives advantages when it comes to stability, efficiency etc. Definitely a technology that is becoming more and more popular…
• A water supply company that recycles the gray water from the shower, laundry and sink. In Sydney there is often water shortage and restrictions which prohibits people from watering their flowers. By cleaning the gray water it can be used to second hand tasks such as this and water does not have to run all the way from the water treatment plant for garden work etc. Also a great invention!

I am constantly looking for great ideas for my next start-up, which will be successful! Gary did not start until a few years after he graduated as a mining student. Therefore I still feel young. You should not be too young when you try a serious start-up. I do believe that this was a main contributor to my failure with EverTee; lack of experience. One of the things that are recommended when bringing new innovations to the market is to not go via retailers or distributors. In my case I got scared of when we faced resistance from the golf retailers. Often, which I do believe were the case with EverTee, retailers want to stick to proven business models. They earn little success in promoting an invention that will radically reduce, in my case the golfers expenditures on golf tees (our idea were that only one tee was needed to get rid of the unhealthy consumption spiral that exist in the tee-market). We should have continued to develop the product and sell directly to customers which also was the strategy we took that was the most profitable. Based on this and other lessons I am seriously considering the thought of starting up the same idea again in the future. The market is small enough for competition to be weak. Contact me if you are interested.

Finally, only one week remains until the next semester begins. I have twisted feelings about it. It has been a long holiday so I am very inspired and full of motivation to take on new challenges. I really am. I have been missing the stress and excitement to learn and develop! Of course however a holiday is a holiday and if I had the chance I would have liked to continue doing nothing a few more weeks, but…

UNSW Logo

As a compromise between holiday and hard work the Australian autumn break (Swedish spring break) is soon to come. I would like to experience the Samoa Islands, New Zeeland or maybe the Great Barrier Reef once again (?).

For this semester I have only elective courses on my master in Quality and Operations Management. This means that I am free to choose courses on any topic within management or engineering (languages for example is not allowed). Since my last semester really was tough (at least to get out with top marks) I have tried to not go for courses with heavy workload. Although I would have liked to keep going with the web applications development track I have chosen not to since the first course had extremely high workload!

I will take a postgraduate computer network course that I feel is useful. Especially if I would end up at Ericsson this knowledge is crucial or at least a merit.

Together with computer networks, Strategy and Entrepreneurship is the course I look forward to the most. This course has been recommended to me by a few friends from the previous semester. It will go through all the stages that are required to become a successful entrepreneur including:

• Coming up with a good product and business model
• Learn how to attract good partners and funding
• Etc.

I have felt a need for this kind of course all the time since my failure with the EverTee startup.

Find a unique product that gives value to your customers! Make meaning.

Apart from these two courses I am not entirely sure about my last two courses. I would have preferred to take a more advanced course in Applied Marketing Research or in Operations Management/Six Sigma. However neither of these is offered at UNSW. I do believe that Chalmers has a competitive advantage at this area. I am enrolled to three courses from which I need to pick two.

• Negotiation Skills - I feel that this could be a very useful course for my personality and that I can get something out from it to use for life. If I like the teacher I will definitely go for it which makes this course my preferred course among my three candidates
• Management of Risk - This course is about how to handle risk while managing projects and goes deeper into the risk area than last semester’s course in project management. I feel that the area is very fuzzy but it could be good depending on the syllabus, teacher etc.
• Managing intangible resources - This is a course given by accounting. It partly brings up how to handle intangible resources on the balance sheet, which might be a little to detail for me. However this should not be the mayor part of the course and I do feel that the course can give me something as I am looking at a career within an IT organization or as a consultant. Again I will see how it feels after the first lecture!!

At the time of writing I have just posted my applications for summer work/internships. I find ABB, Volvo, Scania, Ericsson and Sandvik to be companies where I might continue after graduation. They have all received my CV. I have also applied to a few banks as I have never tried this sector. It is not uncommon that graduates from Industrial Engineering and Management end up in the banking industry and I am also very open for this. Finally I have also applied to a management consultant.

I am looking for a work task related to my studies. I would prefer something on quality and operations management such as a Six Sigma study or lean development within industry. I am also interested in something concerning stats and conduction of marketing research. Of course IT related tasks are also of interest, preferably together with the above mentioned. Hopefully I will get many interesting offers!

National parks are located both to the north and south of Sydney. We have just visited the Royal national park, south of Sydney. to travel through the park costs $11, which is good to know if you plan to visit. Our first stop in the park was Bundeena and the beach. Bundeena is very calm and located in Port Hacking bay, which reduces the swell for swimming.

Royal National Park, Australia

Also the world’s largest passenger ship visited Sydney Harbour.

The world's largest passenger ship

To travel the east coast of Australia is a true experience for anyone, especially if you are from Sweden or any other unspectacular country. Of course I love the Swedish nature as well; nothing can be compared with a Swedish midsummer or a calm winter day. So why do I love to travel in Australia? The answer must be composed of many factors: from the uncountable beautiful long lonely beaches, the magnificent sceneries, and the experience of surfing or taking a steak. Everything is just so much more exotic and different (but also similar in some sort of way). A fact is however that every single beach in Australia beats everything I have seen during 20 years in Sweden!

We have done three road trips from Sydney so far. The first went to the state South Australia where I worked at a vineyard; the second trip went via the eastern coastline from Sydney to Melbourne and thereafter over The Great Ocean Road. On the final journey from Warrambool to Sydney I took the inland route and saw enough of the outback. In my mind there is really nothing to see or experience except the heat and the long straight never-ending roads.

Australian Beaches

The last travel has gone north from Sydney into Queensland. The trip took 14 days on the road; 10 days on the way up north and 4 days back. Experiencing Australia by car is a common way by many tourists (including all backpackers) and there is of course a reason for that… Trains and buses take too much time and inconvenience. Flying is of course an option to cover some of the distance between cities but besides that a car is my recommendation for transport.

Blue Mountains

Blue Mountains were the first stop on the journey. I have been there before but the national park is always worth a visit. The eucalyptus oil evaporates from the trees in the mountain valleys which creates the fantastic blue scenery. The drive from Richmond to Katoomba via the north mountain drive is to recommend. In Katoomba the Three Sisters is visible from Echo Point. This is a very touristy destination that attracts many visitors per day. The best part I have met in Blue Mountains is the walks around Wentworth falls. Here the mountain range is very similar to what you associate with the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The sandstone scenery is definitely worth to see along with the waterfall that drops 800 meters down the canyon. Must be experienced!

Blue Mountains

Port Stevens - Hawks Nest

From Blue Mountains we traveled via Sydney’s north-eastern suburbs onto the Pacific Highway. This is a good route to avoid toll ways and the traffic lights in Sydney CBD. The Pacific Highway Stretches from Melbourne to Cairns (?) and has in general two or more lanes with a good flow rate. Port Stevens is located about 250 km north of Sydney on the south side of a wide bay that stretches into the country. I stayed in Hawks Nest, a smaller community on the north side o the bay. A caravan park, a few hotels, motels and restaurants is the main buildings in town. The beach was the best with Hawks Nest. Walking south from Hawks Nest you come out on a peninsula, 50 meters inland from the ocean the bay stretches inland. Taking the car along the beach is also an option when the tide is low.

Port Macquarie

Another 200 km north of Port Stevens along the Pacific Highway you find Port Macquarie. This is one of the biggest cities north of Sydney in New South Wales; if I remember right it was actually the largest. We arrived early to the area which of course was solved by lying on the beach. The waves were really big and stingers were flushed on shore. First we thought the stinger was a Jelly Fish (it looks like one) but it turned out that stinger is the proper name. This was good since it should be harmless in comparison to the Jelly Fish. To get stung by the tentacles of a stinger should be similar to a bee-sting whereas the Jelly Fish is often ranked as the most dangerous animal on earth causing instantaneous death after contact. Sometimes they are spotted in NSW but their natural territory is north of Brisbane.

My opinion is that the southern beaches were the best with Port Macquarie. The city was a little too big and maybe the one I least will remember.

Yamba

Another 200 km north was my next stop, Yamba. A small township located in a large river entrance. Yamba is famous for prawns and seafood which I think is a well deserved reputation. Large ships were spotted in the harbor bringing the prawns from the ocean to the harbor. I stayed at the Pacific Hotel, located with the best view of the main beach, the lighthouse and the ocean. The beach was not very long, similar to Bondi or Coogee in Sydney, however it was very wide! When the tide was high the water rose all the way up to the pavement and rocks inland (no sand was visible). On the other hand when the tide got low (around 7 pm and am) the beach appeared at its widest of almost 100 meters.

Byron Bay

Byron Bay is a very famous place to visit in New South Wales. According to what I have heard it is due to the relaxed lifestyle which includes surfing and somewhat more accessible drugs. I don’t know about that myself more than that the lifestyle indeed seemed relaxed. We stayed in Byron one night on the way up the coast and on that time I got caught by the beauty of the beach and the surroundings. The lighthouse at Australia’s most easterly located point is very scenic. There bay below the lighthouse (Byron Bay) attracts many surfers at sunset. The surfers start at the beginning of the bay next to the lighthouse and follow the swell as the waves enter in the bay. The surfing experience is extended when you surf along the beach and not against it.

The public in Byron Bay is young and hostels and backpacker accommodation is more common than hotels. I stayed with Sofia and my parents in a small cottage that accommodated 4 people at one of the hostels. The standard was ok and I personally prefer this environment before motels. One night in Byron Bay did not feel enough. Therefore we also stayed in Byron on the way back to Sydney. I then did some surfing for 4 hours and had the luck to meet some dolphins in the waves!

A memory from Byron Bay was the dinner we had at the Balcony, a restaurant that I can definitely recommend. I and Sofia had very good tapas. The second time we visited we had paella, a dish that I also recommend!

Tweed Heads - Kingscliff

Very close to Byron Bay (about 50 km) on the border to Queensland is Tweed Heads. Another 50 km north of Tweed Heads you find the big city Brisbane. Tweed Heads and the coast south of Brisbane is therefore exploited with holiday houses and there is a lot of new construction going on in the area at the moment. The coast line consists of pure beach. The area seamed empty when we went out for dinner and there was not much in the offerings. Due to this we were on the other hand alone at the beach.

We were however not impressed by the restaurants so our experience of the city felt average.

Surfers Paradise

Surfers Paradise is a big city where I estimate about 1 million people lives. The city is built on a small area with almost nothing but skyscrapers. We stayed at the 14^th floor at a hotel/an apartment called International Beach Resort. It was ok. I definitely recommend looking for hotel offers before arriving to Surfers to get a god deal. Sunloversholidays.com.au is one good option that many hotels use.

We stayed two rainy days in Surfers. The city offers a very long beach with good surfing. The city is also center for many fun parks; maybe all that is something of value in Australia. Wet n’ Wild, Sea World, Water World, Dream World, Movie World and you name it is some examples!

Next door to our hotel was a bungee jump facility. Of course none in our company dared to jump. I have done it before in New Zeeland and will definitely never do it again!!!

Noosa Heads

The last stop on our travel up north was Noosa Heads; a lovely city located in the riverbanks of Noosa River. Noosa was the most exclusive towns we have visited. $2” was not an uncommon price for a house (then of course with access to the river).

I rented a surfboard on the beach and had some really good waves. One of them was caught on camera (thanks Sofia!).

Fraser Island

On our second day in Noosa we went for a trip to Fraser Island. Fraser is a large sand island that hosts rainforest, dingoes, Lake McKenzie and two ship wrecks. The tour company took us to the lake through the rainforest. The only road that exists on the island is the beach, which makes it impossible to access without a good four wheel drive. Some rental companies exist in the mainland port Rainbow Bay. This is cheaper when not traveling alone, however it takes a while to learn how to drive 80 km/h on the beach and find the way in the island. Therefore I would recommend having more than one day on the island if not going with a guide.

Coffs Harbour

The next stop after Byron Bay on the way back to Sydney was Coffs Harbour. We really enjoyed our beachfront accommodation and the town; which made us stay two nights in town. Coffs has good fish, a nice beach (as everywhere else) and a river with boardwalks where you can fish or go for a run. The town is also in the center of a banana district. Stop on the road and grab a few fresh bananas and mangoes!

Forster

Forster became our final stop for accommodation before returning to Sydney via the wine district Hunter Valley. Hunter Valley was sold out apart from the very luxurious hotels. However in my mind it is enough to travel through the area, stay at a vineyard, taste some whine and maybe buy a few bottles for dinner. We found some port wine from Chalmers, a vineyard with the same name as our Swedish University. Of course it tasted very good… J

* Long beach, nice lookouts, etc.
** Good surfing, funparks, great food

I have been on exchange for one semester now and traveled the country during the summer holiday. I and Sofia Karlsson are now selling our reliable travel mate. It is a Ford Falcon stageon Wagon, 98 years model. If you ask me a car is necessary to get the most our of an exchange period in Australia!!

From the side

• New cooler
• Very recently serviced
• ReGo until end of May
• Automatic
• Color: green
• Everything is working including stereo, radio with mp3 connection!
• Car comes with two camping chairs, gas stove, madrases.
• About 0,9 l/10 km in fuel consumption!

Been owned by two Swedish couples before us, perfect travel car for 2-4 people. We have slept in the back after folding the seats…

Interested? Call David +61(0)41 6950193, Sofia 0416956517, reply to his post or send a mail to evertee@gmail.com.

The front

I’ve played a few minutes in movie-maker; here is the result:

Wordpress does not have any free photo viewer capability, which is the reason for me to upload the video on flickr before posting it. I don’t like this but I guess I have to live with it… One option might be to convert the video to swf and play it with as a flash object. This is actually what flickr does…

The last few days we have visited what I believe will be the best places on our journey. Noosa Heads is amazingly located in the Noosa-river system! We stayed two days in Noosa and the last day of the stay we visited Fraser Island. This is Australia’s and maybe (?) the world’s largest sand island. If I remember right it is 300 km long!

We went with a tour trip to the island in a custom built four wheel drive bus for 16 persons. The island has no roads except for the wide beaches that stretch from north to south. The bus left Noosa heads at 6 am driving all the way to Fraser Island (100 km) on the very long beach. The tide were low so the beach was about 100 meters wide and the driver kept 80 km/h most of the time.

On Fraser Island we had a BBQ and visited Lake McKenzie; which is located in the middle of the island. The drive there is through the rain forest that is native. Lake McKenzie is created from rain water. The rain has drained the sand and the beaches around the lake which makes the sand totally white. Leaves cover the bottom of the lake and have layered down in the sand to hinder the water to flow away from the lake. The water level is about 100 meters above the ocean.

Today we have traveled back down against Sydney. We are spending the day and night in Byron Bay, which we felt needed an extra day! I have been surfing for 3 hours on a 7.6 foot board; a little too small for my skill set! However I did get an amazing experience as dolphins appeared next to me when trying to catch a wave. They got up to get air and surfed along with the wave diving up and down. They were totally amazing!

Hello. We have for a couple of hours arrived to Noosa. The handwashing-up is done and the beach has been used for the day. Very good! David has been surfing…….yes really!

David surfs

We have booked a trip to Frasier Island the whole day of tomorrow from 6.30 am. The day has been sunny under the trip from south of Brisbane. So now we hope for sunny days’ for the rest of the journey.

Noosa Heads is a very pretty town with a lot of high end fashion and good restaurants. The water temperature is 25 degrees with a few degrees error margin. David surfed for 2 hours without rest which proves that it is really comfy to stay in the water!

-Marran