If you live in Indonesia, and had been online since around 2008, chances are you know Indonetwork.com. This B2B classic listing service (kind of like a yellow pages online) has been in Indonesia for 10 years.

So why did write about this?

First, there’s something in which companies like Indonetwork do that is working very well. Why? Since they are profittable. They might not be as big as facebook, or might as hyped as officefab But they are here at the moment. Making profits, and (maybe) helping their clients market their products.

One other company that is similar but says doesn’t compete with indonetwork is Indotrading.com. Their CEO, Handy Chang, is a classmate of mine in Spring 2013 Jakarta Founder Institute (so i might be a bit biased).

Anyway, Indotrading is currently already cashflow positive. After just close to a year of operating. That is no simple feat. Amidst all startups that are hungry for funding, Handy can just self fund his startup and make it cashflow positive in a very short time.

Now, the key take away from these two example is that you don’t really need to do something complicated. It’s more of making people’s lives easier and better. They both help SMEs have an online presence, maintain it, and send them traffic. And they’re both able to convince their clients that their service is valuable so that they can charge them.

Simple businesses like these (though not as simple in execution) is often seen as not exciting. But they have a clear target market, a clear need, and a lot of success examples.

Now, Shoop! is of course different with them. In a sense that Shoop! is the first to help simplify product distribution across multiple online marketing channel. But what Shoop! aim is the same. It is to make our sellers’ lives easier and better.

So, if your business is in trouble, go back to the basic. What’s the problem you are trying to solve? who’s your target market? Do you really add value to your clients? Why should they pay you?

Understanding those questions will usually get rid of your business’ troubles.

Let me know if it makes sense to you