At age 67, Bruce Clark is a serial entrepreneur with many successful and varied, start-up businesses and inventions including retail, automotive, safety, finance, and distribution since the age of 21. His most famous invention is the cupholders mounted on the seats in almost every sports stadium and movie theater in North America.
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Photo credit: Carl Henry Provost
Herby Fabius is an entrepreneur and self-published author with a passion to share entrepreneurial stories that others can learn from. He believes every entrepreneur has a unique start-up story, and it is his mission to capture those stories to help the next generation of entrepreneurs and self-published authors.
With his flagship interview platform Billion Success, he aims to do just that.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I was born in Haiti, then I moved here (Connecticut) when I was 14 years old. I graduated from college with a bachelor’s in business management. Over the last 8 years, I started two companies and maintained two side projects. The first company I co-founded was a tech startup out of New Haven CT called Triplefy. Then a couple of years later, I founded the entrepreneurship interview platform Billion Success – which currently is the only business I am working on.
Aside from the businesses I had created, I also self-published three business books. One of which was an Amazon Best Seller. Occasionally, I teach local clients how to build their own websites using WordPress and also teach new authors how to self-publish their first book using Amazon KDP (Kindle Publishing).
I am a long-life learner and I love every part of the entrepreneurship journey.
What inspired you to start your business?
After college, I wanted to take some time off to start a tech company before I jump into the corporate lifestyle. So, instead of getting a regular 9-5 corporate job, I decided it would be best to find a job that was less demanding of my time, a job that would allow me to work on my business every single day, not just on the weekends. So, I started working as a night-shift security guard. I figured the corporate 9-5 was not going anywhere, I can get one whenever I needed it.
Working as a night shift security, I was able to learn everything that I needed to learn to start an online business. While working at night, I had access to computers, so I spend most of the night learning online marketing, writing, reading, and most importantly connecting with like-minded online entrepreneurs. It was how I discovered a local tech event in New Haven, CT where I connected with a tech founder and cofounded my first business.
I eventually got the corporate job a couple of years later and worked professionally for many years. Throughout that time, I still kept all my side projects running part-time. I have been on this entrepreneurial journey for a while now and I am happy to have found my true passion business Billion Success.
Where is your business based?
I am located in Stratford Connecticut.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
Step 1 - I started a blog, I started writing and connecting with people who can help me grow it. This is how I ended up interviewing entrepreneurs. It was the best way I can learn fast and connect with influential people who can potentially help me in the future. I was learning as I go. I figured I could just pivot if I ever needed to go in a different direction. The most important thing to me at that time was to get started. Starting a blog was the easiest thing I can do with the little knowledge and resources I had. I was able to build my presence online, build my social media channels, especially Twitter. I spent a lot of time on Twitter back then.
Step 2 – I learned how to build websites using WordPress. This was a crucial step for me. I had to know how to create and manage my own website if I was ever going to build and grow an online business successfully. I learned so much from this experience that I turned my knowledge into a side hustle building website for local clients. This was one of the side-projects I mentioned earlier.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
The best and most effective way that I have been able to raise awareness about my business is by using HARO (Help a Reporter Out) Also, using social media preferably LinkedIn and Instagram those have been the most resourceful tools in terms of raising awareness and marketing for my business.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
My biggest challenge has always been Fear. The fear of others judging my work. The fear of being labeled as an imposter. As an entrepreneur, you will sometimes doubt yourself and your work.
I mean, even the great Maya Angelou said this.
“I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘Uh oh, they are going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody and they’re going to find me out.”
The importer syndrome is a real thing, and we all go through it.
The way I overcome FEAR is simply by reminding myself that even the most successful people in the world go through it. There are two Things I remind myself daily: 1. Action minimize FEAR. 2. The longer you wait to act, the stronger fear becomes.
You can overcome FEAR by taking quick action.
How do you stay focused?
I turn off all distractions, then I turn on motivational speeches from people like Gary Vee, Les Brown, and Zig Ziglar. Listening to motivational talks while I work keeps me in the zone. The other thing that helps me to stay focus is by having a to-do list (Usually created the night before) of all the things that need to be done. That way, when I wake up in the morning, I already have a list of tasks to do.
In the morning, I put my motivational video on and start checking things off my list. I love this process because, at the end of the day, I can clearly see how my day went. I focus on the most important things first. Those are usually the things I hate to do. I get them out of the way first.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
I don’t pay much attention to competitors for a couple of reasons.
1- I believe there is enough for everyone, so I don’t worry much about what the next person is doing.
2- Even if my competitors and I were doing the same exact thing, selling the same exact product, offer the same exact services, we can still coexist for the simple fact that people/clients/customers will only do business with who they like. They choose who they trust to do business with. It is not so much about competitors. As long as you build trust with your customers/clients the competitors won’t be much of an issue for you.
Lastly, we may have the same ideas, but our vision and execution will be different - and to me, that is the differentiator.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Contributing to blogs, magazines have been working great. Being a featured guest on podcasts has been working great as well. Right now, I am focusing a lot more on SEO and building backlinks to the site. This has been key to growing organic traffic. Also, lately, LinkedIn has been one of the best marketing tools for me.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
You are an ENTREPRENEUR. BELIEVE in YOURSELF and Take ACTION.
You have already read the books, you have listened to the podcasts, you have read all the blog posts and you’ve watched all the YouTube videos.
But none of it matters if you don’t BELIEVE in YOURSELF and if you don’t take ACTION.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
App: Currently my favorite App is FB business Suite. With this app, I am able to create and schedule FB and Instagram posts on the go for free.
Blog: A new blog I just discovered is the Think like a CFO Podcast by Melissa Houston. She discusses how to manage money in your business. For someone like me who has made terrible financial decisions in the past, her show really taught me a few things.
Book: It hard to only choose one, but I’ll go with The One Thing - by Gary Keller. With so many distractions in the world today, it’s hard to stay focus on the task at hand. If you don’t have a productivity hack, you’ll end up wasting most of your time.
I apply the lessons shared in this book every day by asking a simple question.
What is the one thing I must do today to be closer to my goal?
Whatever the answer is, I always make sure to complete my one thing daily no matter what optical comes my way.
It is pretty useful.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Currently, one of my favorite tools is slack. I hired a couple of VA (virtual assistants) who are helping me with the site and Slack is the tool we used to manage tasks and communicate. It has been working great. I also use Trello but only for my own personal use.
Who is your business role model? Why?
I like Gary Vee. I think he tells it like it is. He is good at motivating people to stop being afraid and take action. Fear is what stops most people from being great. I think someone like Gary understands that, and he seems to really try his best to help others break away from it.
How do you balance work and life?
These days work-life balance is much easier than it used to be. I work from home, and my kids are also doing online schooling, so they are also at home. I can work and spend time with them throughout the day.
To balance everything, I rely on schedules. I have created schedules of what needs to be done and what time it needs to be done. I have schedules for work, schedules for playtime, schedules for chores and fun day, movie night, and video game day, etc. My wife and I do our best to keep everything organized to keep everything on schedule.
It doesn't always work. But that's life.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
I have a three-year-old and a 12year old son playing with them is always rewarding. It is one of my go-to activities to decompress and take my mind off work. I also love watching movies and TV shows. Another favorite of course is watching NBA highlights on YouTube.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
For the next 6 months, I will be focusing mostly on creating highly demanded online courses for the Billion Success community. I have a list of demand, pain points, and problems that need solving so my team and I will be focusing on creating the best solutions to those problems.
My goal from the beginning was to find the best most applicable way to help new entrepreneurs and new self-publish authors to start and grow their brand - we are delivering on that promise.
How can our readers connect with you?
You can reach me best by visiting my personal website HerbyFabius.com, or my business website BillionSuccess.com, on social media via LinkedIn, Instagram or you can email me directly at herby@billionsuccess.com
I think the movement I’d like to be more involved with would be more kindness and openness. I see and experience firsthand this whenever I travel abroad. I was able to make friends with Uber drivers in other countries, and they would go out of their way to take me to great local restaurants, I met a fashion influencer while taking the train from Paris to London 3 years ago. And we became great friends that we talk with each other almost every day. I feel we need to have more of this kind of kindness and openness here so this would open more opportunities for friendships and give people reason to help others more and be supportive.
As part of my series about the leadership lessons of accomplished business leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Liang Chiu. Liang was born in Taiwan and immigrated to the US with his brother and mother when he was 4 years old. He has always been intrigued with many subject areas and been really friendly which makes him get along with just about anyone. Hobby-wise, he loves to travel, enjoys horseback riding, hiking, fishing, cooking, wine tasting, reading, watching movies, attends networking events, attending New York Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week, Cannes Film Festival events.
He earned his Bachelors’ Degree in Marketing and International Business from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. and MBA in Marketing from the University of Maryland-University College. His professional career has been in Growth Marketing for 20+ years. His first job after graduating from the University of Wisconsin was at Yahoo, where he got his experience with online advertising and marketing. When the dot-com bubble burst, he got into the Internet Security industry working at McAfee and Symantec. The role he took on at Symantec oversaw the Norton Antivirus brand and its online store business. This is where he got involved and fascinated with eCommerce, and leveraging Affiliate Partnerships with a variety of Business & Industries to drive growth and adoption of Norton Antivirus products and increase sales for Norton brands’ online store.
With the gaining popularity of Social Media Platforms and services in 2007, he wanted to part of the growing marketing trend he joined a series of startups in the online photo sharing space, online travel space, and fast fashion cross-border eCommerce (DTC) startups leveraging social media influencers to drive brand awareness, social media engagements, user acquisition, boost online sales. He also has spent 4 1/2 years in a boutique influencer marketing agency working with prominent global brands and startups in developing their Influencer Marketing strategies and come up with ways for brands to work with Social Media Influencers in the most effective and beneficial way possible. Then in the fall of 2019, he decided to take on a new chapter in his career and start an Influencer Marketing Consulting Business to educate DTC startups about how to work with Social Media Influencers ( from searching to vetting, and onboarding, and managing them). Additionally by networking influencers and recruiting new ones to add to my roster of influencer Rolodex for brand collaborations.
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Ithink what brought me to this specific career path is my marketing roots. As Online Marketing evolved over the years, I immediately noticed the impact of influencer marketing before it became a popular trend in the last 5 years. Also, I saw how Influencer Marketing intersects with PR and its close relations in how it can propel brands while targeting relevant audiences in a short amount of time. Furthermore, I’m fascinated with the Influencer Marketing trend, there seem to be a lot of new developments in this area that sparks my interest. In my opinion, this is a natural progression of my career path since I’m relatable and be able to establish and bridge the connection for the brand and influencers to work together.
Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey?
I guess the hard time would be when I first launched my Influencer Consultant business in the fall of 2019. It was a bit challenging to find clients in the San Francisco bay area. Since the majority of the companies here are in tech, and there is not much demand for influencers. Through some thorough research, I am able to find clients in Los Angeles, New York, and abroad in Europe. Where there are more opportunities for me to seek out new clients in the Fashion and Beauty Industry.
Where did you get the drive to continue even though things were so hard?
It’s more of a personal discipline. I have a motto of “Never Give Up”, and I have a belief that there is always a solution or alternative to solve problems. Plus timing is key. Making plans and act accordingly is helpful. Come up with several strategies and options so there is always a backup plan if one option is not working.
So, how are things going today? How did grit and resilience lead to your eventual success? Things are picking up. With eCommerce thriving during the pandemic, there is even more of a need for eCommerce companies, beauty, or fashion brands to work with influencers. I have seen my Influencer marketing consulting business (LC Interactive) picking up from having 1 client 6 months ago to 3 clients currently, and 2 pending.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Boy, I can’t think of any funny mistake when I first started out. Since I’m a person that likes to make everything I do as perfect as possible because I didn’t want to have any mistakes that would setback and cause any delays or disruptions.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
I think what makes my influencer marketing consulting business different is that I’m able to get in touch with high-profile influencers/celebrities for brands to collaborate in an affordable capacity. Additionally, I cater to clients’ needs whether they are a startup with a limited budget or a major brand that has an unlimited budget. For the Fast Fashion eCommerce startup, they were interested in working with Brielle Biermann(from the Bravo tv show: Don’t Be Tardy), and they couldn’t see themselves pay $20K for the collaboration, so I was able to come up with a plan where and find few other 3 brands that like to collaborate with her so the cost of the collaboration is being split 4 ways and reduced the fee. Additionally, I’m constantly seeking out new Influencers to add to my roster. To date, I have accumulated over 1000+ Influencers across a wide range of consumer products space: Beauty, Fashion, Travel, Health/Wellness, etc… globally with some influencers that are willing to collaborate with brands on a base+commission type of partnership.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
I think a tip I highly recommend to my colleagues in my industry to help them thrive and not “burn out” is to make sure to have a good daily routine and structure in place. This means good time management, and like anything prioritize tasks accordingly. Moreover make sure to take a break to unwind, relax, and recharge mentally and work on a hobby or two.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I think I would love to thank my friends and former colleagues and many of the Influencers I met and became friends with over the years. They have all been instrumental in steering me to follow my passion for Influencer marketing and launching my own Influencer Marketing Consulting business. It’s their constant encouragement and support that made me take this leap of faith to create LC Interactive.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I wish I can use my success to bring goodness to the world. So far not yet. But this is something I have been thinking about for the last few months. Because of the events that happened in the past year or so we need more good things to bring joy and hope to people everywhere. I know many of the Influencers I worked with over the past 6 years are kind-hearted and very down-to-earth. So I hope to work with them to promote more peace, harmony, inclusiveness, and understanding.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me before I started leading my company” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
Actually, I never had this thought before. Since this is not the first time I launch my own business. My first time launching a business was while I was attending school at the University of Wisconsin. Initially, I was working for the University’s IT Department serving staff from professors to students within the University community with their internet connectivity, email access, assistance with software usage, and various IT needs.
There, I discovered people either calling into the IT helpline or walk-in for help there is typically a wait time of 45 minutes — 1 1/2 hours. I was able to form an IT consulting business with my brother and few friends that make house calls to the people in the University community, which cut their wait time. My first business venture grew 50% within 2 months, and profit grew as well. I operated this business for 4 successful years while I was in school and that’s where I got my hands-on experience, incorporating good ethics, transparency, courtesy, and reliability to make my current business without too much difficulty.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I think the movement I’d like to be more involved with would be more kindness and openness. I see and experience firsthand this whenever I travel abroad. I was able to make friends with Uber drivers in other countries, and they would go out of their way to take me to great local restaurants, I met a fashion influencer while taking the train from Paris to London 3 years ago. And we became great friends that we talk with each other almost every day. I feel we need to have more of this kind of kindness and openness here so this would open more opportunities for friendships and give people reason to help others more and be supportive.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
They can follow me on:
Omar Cumberbatch is a Health Coach and the host of This Podcast Burns Fat! and The Health Coach Academy. He received his credentials from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN), where he was trained in more than one hundred dietary theories and studied a variety of practical lifestyle coaching methods. His podcasts provide a forum for experts in multiple disciplines to offer strategies and healing modalities to better serve and coach his clients. For more information, please visit https://www.omarcumberbatch.com/.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I am a Health Coach and Podcast Host who received my training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN). I am certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Purchase College.
As a child of the ’80s, I saw firsthand how our diet and lifestyles had significant consequences on our health and wellness when we follow the accepted norms of the time. My passion is to help people confront this struggle by educating and motivating individuals to take on a holistic lifestyle approach.
What inspired you to start your business?
Once I conquered my own weight issues after years of struggling to figure it out, I was so excited to share my story and assist others who were going through the same issues. I understood the pain of chasing diets and exercise routines in the hopes of achieving weight loss goals only to be frustrated in the end. I started this business to help people avoid the years of unnecessary struggle.
Where is your business based?
Home base is New York, but I have clients around the world.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
I started my business by word of mouth initially. My personal weight loss was visibly dramatic, and many people naturally asked the question about my secret. I saw an opportunity based on the misinformation and the abundance of conflicting dietary theories that pervades the health space. I then felt compelled to share the knowledge I acquired to help people interested in improving their health. I then launched my website and eventually launched my podcast thereafter.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
My podcasts have been an excellent way to raise awareness for my business. On This Podcast Burns Fat and The Health Coach Academy, I’ve been able to interview leading experts in the health and coaching industry which has enhanced my credibility in that space. This translated into business opportunities across the entire health and wellness industry.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
My biggest obstacle has been realizing that an online business is very different from a typical brick-and-mortar business. It was a big assumption of mine initially that all I had to do was be online and all of a sudden, I’d have an online business. It has been an eye-opener seeing and understanding how many layers there are to the business. I’ve been able to overcome these challenges by seeking the right mentors who had reached success in my focus area, and with their help, I was able to successfully tweak my strategy. Taking a number of relevant courses related to marketing and branding also allowed me to better understand the ins and outs of the online space and make changes that were relevant to my own needs and the needs of my audience and clients.
How do you stay focused?
I wake up between 5:00 am and 5:30 am. I intentionally take a tech break for those waking hours. I don’t scroll through the phone at all for the first two hours and just focus on working on the business and tackling the most important tasks of the day.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
What I feel is unique about my business is that it is designed to address two issues through coaching services and providing resources through the podcasting platform. There are two specific tracks. One addresses the obesity issue that has impacted our country so profoundly. This track allows me to have coaching opportunities. The other track provides a resource for health coaches to build their practices by working on their business rather than in their business. This dual-track allows me to collaborate with experts in both the health and business space.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Cross promoting with my podcast guest has been an excellent way to grow my business. This strategy has allowed me to be introduced to new audiences regularly in markets that are similar to mine.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Stick with it but be prepared to switch gears. This doesn’t mean that you abandon your vision. We all have an idea of what we want and expect our business to look like, but our customers might love for us to deliver or present it in a different way. It’s always about the customer, so be open to that feedback and shift if you need to.
What’s your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
My favorite app is Twitter, purely for the entertainment it provides. My favorite blog is James Clear’s blog. It is an awesome resource to stay motivated around creating solid daily habits as well as staying focus on your bigger goals. My favorite book right now is T. Harv Eker’s “Secret of the Millionaire Mind”. I’ve read similar books about this topic, but for whatever reason, something truly clicked when I read it and has helped my mindset tremendously.
What’s your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
The podcast hosting platform Libsyn.com. It is super easy to use and allows all of my podcast episodes to appear on all of the major podcast platforms. It also allows me to create customizable links for each episode that I can add to my website which in turn, compliments the design of my website. It also provides statistics for my show episodes so I can have data to see what works and what isn’t working.
Who is your business role model? Why?
Sean Croxton, hands down. Sean was able to make a hugely successful business by using his hit podcast as a platform in which he leveraged into creating sponsorships, affiliate commissions, and his coaching service. At the end of the day, he read awesome books, brought the authors on the show to question them about the books, and got paid. For me, that’s a dream job.
How do you balance work and life?
Currently? Balance is one area I am looking to improve upon most. At this stage in my business, I expect to be a bit off in this department, but anticipate it evening out much better in the near future. I feel like I will accomplish more balance once I start to outsource my projects a bit more.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
I really enjoy walking outdoors and listening to audiobooks during that time. I’m also a huge sports fan and enjoy watching my teams play. As of late, I haven’t had the time to watch as much, but when I do have the time, it really is an escape for me.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
Now that I wrapped up my first cookbook, I’m working on my second book that will be focused on untapped opportunities for health coaches to explore when diversifying their businesses. I also plan to continue to grow the listenership for both podcasts by becoming more active on social media.
How can our readers connect with you?
My website www.omarcumberbatch.com is the best way to get in touch with me, I can be messaged there, and all my social media handles are centrally located there as well.
Rahkim Sabree is a financial educator and coach with a focus on empowerment. He’s also a TED speaker and best-selling author having been seen in Entrepreneur, The Grio, Thrive Global, Yahoo Finance, Black Enterprise, IHeart Media, Business Insider, and others. Visit his website at Rahkimsabree.com
Can you tell our readers about your background?
Sure, I grew up in Mount Vernon, NY in a young but close-knit family. My primary influences include my Grandfather and my parents who have instilled in me a limitless mindset and a culture for sharing what I know. Having been financially disadvantaged I was exposed to elements of poverty that I use in my story to draw parallels between financial education and financial empowerment.
What inspired you to start your business?
Entrepreneurship had been stressed in my family growing up so I always knew I wanted to start a business, I just didn’t know what I wanted to do. When I started to educate myself on the topic of personal finance I quickly learned there was a market to share my knowledge with others. Of course, I didn’t look at it as a business opportunity at first, however as I built skills around simplifying complex concepts, presentation skills, marketing, coaching, leadership, personal development, and public speaking, I realized that I could monetize this specialized knowledge. I knew the importance of “doing for self” even if that meant doing it side by side with having a full-time career.
Where is your business based?
The beauty of coaching and speaking is that it can really take you anywhere. Couple that with communication technology like Zoom or Facetime and that allows you to meet clients wherever they are. I’d say my business is not limited to location, however, I currently reside in the state of Connecticut.
How did you start your business?
What were the first steps you took? I’d like to answer this question in two ways as I view my business in multiple ways. Starting my business (and others) in an official sense requires you to file for recognition via an entity with the state you live in, applying for an EIN, and opening a bank account. However, I can perform similar functions under multiple entities as a speaker, an author, a workshop facilitator/consultant, or a coach. Through that lens, I think the start of my business occurred when I decided to actively invest in education around the topics and themes I educate on. For instance, I’ve paid for ongoing training, seminars, workshops, marketing, coaching, books, etc to put me in a position to tie a price to my expertise and skill set. I believe the moment I made a decision to invest in me, whether I knew it or not, I took steps towards starting my business(es).
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Social proof. In some capacity or another, I’ve been talking about the same concepts, disciplines, etc for years with little to no budging until names like Entrepreneur, TED, or Business Insider became part of my resume. These things didn’t happen by accident, however. I started from the bottom constantly sharing content and thought leadership through social media, volunteer speaking gigs, and blogging to a nonexistent audience. If no one knows who you are or what you do, then it doesn’t matter how good you are you’ll never get clients. By capitalizing on the relationships I’ve built and owned my personal brand I’ve been able to capture the attention of big names that in turn create so much awareness around who I am and what I'm about for the public.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
I think one of my biggest challenges is discovering what I don’t know. I often say you don’t know what you don’t know and it’s true in any business! Overcoming that looks like rolling up your sleeves, getting a mentor (or a few), maybe hiring a business coach, or taking a few courses that let you know not only what is possible but how to get there. I’ve also struggled somewhat with imposter syndrome. I think it’s easy to forget why you do what you do or how you got there when you are constantly comparing your reach and success to someone else’s. My advice would be to focus on what’s in front of YOU. It’s unrealistic to expect someone not to notice someone else’s success, however, you can use that awareness as a compass to what is possible for you and your business without trying to compare their success (or failure) to your own.
How do you stay focused?
I have a wonderful support system that keeps me grounded and encouraged in moments where I truly need it. That said, I'm also very strong-willed and internally motivated. Usually, if I decide that I want something or that I’m going to do something, I get it done. Some exercises to help with this include visualization exercises, affirmations, vision boards, writing down your goals, and having accountability partners.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
By not competing. I know it sounds counterintuitive however I truly believe in abundance. There are other financial educators, coaches, consultants out there whose knowledge and expertise will overlap my own but one thing is for certain -- They will not have my story. My story and background make me different in my ability to connect, empathize, explain, articulate, and deliver than even someone who grew up with a similar story and background. I know I’m not everyone’s cup of tea and I’ve learned that not everyone is my ideal client, and that’s ok.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Transparency and vulnerability. Many “influencers” or coaches focus on the establishment of an air of authority that is void of the possibility for ignorance, or vulnerability presenting what I’ll refer to as “perfect life syndrome”. When I’m tired I say I’m tired. When I don’t know, I say I don’t know. If I messed up, I'll say I messed up. People tend to connect better with other people and being transparent or vulnerable may encourage others to be transparent and vulnerable as well. I view these things as my strength and not a weakness because true strength is in overcoming those things and if you’ve created a community they will likely encourage you along the way.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Invest in yourself, learn, apply, repeat. Aspiring entrepreneurs either get caught up trying to hoard knowledge and never pull the trigger or they dive in headfirst without a foundation or context that can be costly and time-consuming. Spend some time learning something and apply that learning, then go back and learn something else and apply that learning. No one has it all figured out in the beginning and it’s perfectly ok for you to evolve as you learn and grow.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
My favorite book is “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie. I read this book over and over as a reminder on how to navigate the very tricky business of people relations. Differences in culture, generational views, values, or even the way we choose to communicate can land you in a situation where you’re trying to be helpful but you’re being offensive, where you’re trying to network but you’re burning bridges. I believe this book gives a great foundation for understanding how to interact with others particularly if you want them to do something with or for you.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
The cell phone! Many people today take for granted the power in that supercomputer they walk around within their pockets or hands all day. Literally, everything is at your fingertips from contacts to prospects, from knowledge and resources to eCommerce, and if all else fails you can do what the device was made for and dial a number to make a call! Smartphones have changed the world and the way we do business. I can sit in a room with nothing else but my phone and have video conferences, make phone calls, order supplies, jot down notes, perform marketing tasks, order lunch, do research, read a book, listen to music, and watch a movie. Nothing tops that!
Who is your business role model? Why?
I have many and none at the same time! If someone does something in business that I like I can separate that from the individual as a person and apply it to my own business model. Through that lens, my business role model is more a collection of ideas that it is a physical man. However, if I absolutely had to give you a name I’d say at this moment I’d really like to do what Tony Robbins does. To constantly be in demand for my insights by large businesses or business owners and get paid to coach around the world is a goal of mine.
How do you balance work and life?
I often refer to myself as a hybrid entrepreneur which speaks to the fact that at present I work full time for a company and also work on my own business ventures. It’s something I’ve been doing quite a while now so I believe there is the ease in routine. However, my circumstances allow me to be flexible in this way as I’m single and without children. I imagine this would be quite a bit more difficult when I decide to settle down however I don’t think it impossible. I often suggest that the establishment of boundaries is key to juggling these things. Being self-aware and knowing when to step away, when to stay connected, and when to truly do something for you is key to staying engaged and high performing. Sometimes I have to shut it all down and take a walk and others I have the mental stamina to hit one thing after another.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
I enjoy sitting in a dimly lit room on cushions and just letting my mind run through its various scenarios while focusing on breathing. I’m a big candle and fragrance guy so those things set the mood and help me to melt away the pressures of the day.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
Definitely a refocus on physical health. The pandemic environment has taught me many things about not only the importance of family and friends, or mental and emotional health, but also physical health. I have some small personal projects I’m working on at home and some larger projects like the completion and release of a new book, securing some speaking and consulting gigs, and accepting additional clients. I think everyone is over 2020 so I’m looking forward to what 2021 brings.
How can our readers connect with you?
I am very responsive on social media particularly Twitter and Instagram @RahkimSabree. Readers can also visit my website at RahkimSabree.com and sign up for my weekly newsletter where I send a variety of personal reflections, advice, and invitations to connect through email.
Lorne A Jenkins is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mini Money Management. MMM is an app that helps parents and teachers educate their children about the importance of financial literacy using everyday experiences. Lorne turned a childhood game that his mother played with him growing up, into an app to help teach the lessons he learned to children across the world. https://www.minimoneymanagement.com/
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I was raised in Longmont Colorado from the age of 6. I grew up playing every sport you could think of, and attended Campbell University and ran division 1 track and field for 4 years while earning my bachelor’s degree in economics. From there I went to England and received my master’s degree in finance from the University of East London, before working as a foreign exchange broker. I ended up leaving that job, moving back to the US (visa issues), and starting Mini Money Management!
What inspired you to start your business?
When I was 8 and my little sister was 5, we asked my mom to go out to eat every single day. She got fed up with it, and posted on the refrigerator job postings for a son and daughter. We had to complete applications, interview for the positions, she called our references (who had nothing but great things to say) and we eventually were awarded the positions. This new job came with a salary of $40 (fake money) per week. The catch came when we had to pay for household expenses such as rent, laundry, transportation, and of course meals. It cost $1 to eat at home and $3 to eat out. My mother’s claim to fame is that by the time we got to the end of the summer she asked us if we wanted to go out to eat. Our response “No mommy, that’s way too expensive”. Mini Money Management and the household economy was born.
I wouldn’t realize the depth of the lessons that I learned participating in MMM as a child until I was much older, and financial literacy is just one of them. I graduated high school as a state champion in track and field with a 4.2 GPA and a full-ride scholarship (40% of that being academic). I went to Campbell University for undergrad and graduated cum laude with an economics degree. I ran Division I track and field for 4 years and was the economics student of the year. I then went to the University of East London and earned my master’s degree in finance, graduating with distinction. While getting my master’s I traveled to 10 different countries and over 15 different cities across Europe. Here’s the kicker, I’ve never been the biggest fan of going to school. School to me always seemed boring and quite honestly pointless. But what I was taught at a young age through MMM is that in life there are going to be things you have to do (chores), so you can do the things you want to do (go swimming). I knew that to play sports I would have to keep my grades up, so I made sure I was a good student so that I could do something that I loved. Once I finished with undergrad my grades allowed me acceptance into a master’s program. It had been a dream of mine to travel around Europe, so I used the master’s program to see parts of the world I never would have been able to see otherwise.
I ended up getting a job as a foreign exchange broker once I graduated and was amazed at how even people with a lot of money can be financially illiterate. One of my coworkers was comfortably making 6 figures, but still had maxed out credit cards, and hadn’t paid off his student loans. No matter where I went, people weren’t taught about money, especially as children. That is why we started Mini Money Management, to give kids around the world a solid financial foundation.
Where is your business based?
Our business is based in Longmont, Colorado
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
Since this was a game that my mom played with me as a young child, this idea was nothing new to me. My mother and I had a brief conversation about potentially turning it into a company, and so we went to my old 4th-grade teacher and ran the idea past him (big shout out to Mr. Huey!). He was a huge fan of the idea and suggested that we turn it into an app to make it as easy for teachers and parents as possible. Neither my mom and I are technically gifted (coding is a foreign language to me) so we went on the search for a developer who could make us an MVP. We haven’t looked back since!
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
The most effective way of raising awareness has really been word of mouth. Money is such an emotional subject that people are very hesitant to trust new people or ideas when it comes to education. So once we got a few teachers and parents on board, they became our biggest supporters and marketers. We have found that people are much more likely to try a new app about money when someone they know has already tried it!
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge we have faced to date was COVID-19 shutting down the schools in March. We were in the middle of a pilot with a few different schools and the week we pushed the last update was the week that all students were sent home from school. All of the momenta we had was lost which was extremely tough. But we ended up taking the technology we had used in schools and revamping the app to be used with parents in homes. We found that a lot of parents want to teach their children about money, but most of them weren’t educated themselves. There is a lack of tools available to the “normal” parent around financial literacy and we are making it as easy as possible for them to teach money!
How do you stay focused?
For me personally, the easiest way for me to stay focused is to take plenty of breaks and try to keep my work days relatively short. There is always going to be an element of passion that goes into the work that we do, but it is also an exhausting journey. I do my best to keep workdays to 6 hours or less and when I’m not working I don’t check emails (for the most part). I think the best way to stay focused and motivated is to stay energized and remember what our goal is, teaching a generation of children about the importance of financial literacy!
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
MMM is unique in the fact that we give parents and teachers the tools to teach financial literacy using everyday activities. The problem with financial education is that the market only serves two types of people, those who are very wealthy, and those who are in debt. There are limited financial education resources that focus on youth. Children will either be taken on a day-long field trip or they will have a financial expert come in and speak to their class. When you look at the way that children learn basic subjects like reading, writing, and math, they are taught these on a day to day basis. How can we expect a student to be financially literate when they attend a 3-hour field trip once a year? Mini Money Management uses the approach that children learn best through experience. Instead of a child reading definitions of interest rates and savings accounts, we let them experience money in a way that relates to them. Experiential learning has been proven to be the most effective way for children to learn, and we utilize that to teach financial literacy to kids at a young age.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Our best marketing effort to date is word of mouth, we want to continue to build an app that parents and teachers enjoy using and are excited to talk about. For the school edition of MMM we look for teachers who are currently using a classroom economy. This works well because the main complaint from teachers using a non-tech classroom economy is that it is a lot to manage. We also look for newer teachers who have just graduated from college or are in their first few years of teaching. They are always looking for more effective classroom management tools as that is the most difficult skill to learn as a new teacher. Most of our marketing is done through social media or new teacher orientations.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
The best piece of advice I could give aspiring and new entrepreneurs is to be patient. You have to be patient with your company but also with yourself. Things will always move slower than you hope they will in the short term, but the long term benefits can be astounding. You also have to be patient with yourself because you are going to make mistakes, it’s inevitable. You have to allow yourself to make these mistakes so that you can truly learn what works and what doesn’t!
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
As simple as it sounds, my favorite app is the notepad on my phone. I will have so many ideas at random hours of the night, on trips, and in places, I would never expect to have them. The notes section of my phone is filled with random plans, ideas, and dreams for MMM that one day will come to fruition!
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
My favorite business tool is Contact Mapping (found in the app store and google play) It’s a relatively simple customer management app that really helps me keep all of my conversations and follow-ups in one place.
Who is your business role model? Why?
My business role model is Kevin Hart. He didn’t come from much money at all, and he had a dream and a talent. He used his gifts and wants to become a billionaire to show people (especially people of color) that you don’t have to come from money to make it in this world. I truly admire that.
How do you balance work and life?
I only work 6-hour days (well I try my absolute best to). We have been wrapped up in a culture that says 8, 10, 12 hour days are normal when it comes to being successful. Coming from the finance industry where I was working those long hours, it really does have a negative impact on your life and your mental health. I believe that we can be more productive if we work less and enjoy life more. This will allow people to give their full energy and attention when they do sit down to work. I don’t work weekends, and when I am off work, I am fully off work, not responding to emails or checking the app.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
The best way for me to unwind is to play sports. They were my first love and they are an unbelievable stress reliever for me. Whether it’s biking, soccer, basketball, or softball, there is something extremely soothing for me to switch off and compete in a sport.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
Over the next 6 months, our biggest plans are to continue to gain traction in schools and build out a school-wide edition of MMM so that schools and districts can implement our app on a large scale. We also are going to continue to penetrate the home/parent market and get more traction there!
How can our readers connect with you?
The easiest way to connect with me is via email: lorne@minimoneym.com or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorne-jenkins-17ba3a108/
Eliska and Ladislav Parizek, two soulmates who want to break the faded stereotypes and light up the world for you and your loved ones. Their products represent love, joy, and the fact that we belong to each other. Make your better half feel loved in matching underwear, T-shirts, and swimwear.
https://beminematchingoutfits.com/
Can you tell our readers about your background?
We are a young married couple and we make matching clothes for couples(underwear, T-shirts, and swimwear). My husband is a financial analyst and I’m a programmer for Android. We are together for 7 years and he is the better half :D. We love to work together because our business is our hobby.
What inspired you to start your business?
I was looking for a gift for my husband and I wanted to buy him some matching undies. But when I checked all the sites I didn’t like any of the products. I wanted something sustainable, sexy, cheerful, and quality. And that’s how we started our business.
Where is your business based?
Our business is based in central Europe in the Czech Republic.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
We started our business 2 years ago. The first step was to talk with my husband about the idea :D because of everything we do together. Then of course we headed to the authorities to be able to start our business legally.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
We are working really hard on our SEO and I think, that’s one of the most important parts.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Business is mainly about overcoming obstacles and being out of your comfort zone. The biggest challenges are to find good production partners who will understand the meaning of quality. The only way how to find this partner is to keep looking. I hope we found them in the past 2 years. But as we learned in business every day brings something new.
How do you stay focused?
Sometimes it’s hard to stay focus because we both have our regular jobs and our business, so right now we are trying to find a work-life balance.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
Our products are for everyone who is not afraid and wants to enjoy every day.
Each of our pieces represents love, joy, and the fact that we belong to each other. We produce every piece from design, cutting to the finished product. This means that our products are made sustainably with fair wages.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
We are trying to use social media but to be honest we are starting with them now because we were so focused on our production…
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Be prepared for new obstacles and challenges.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
My favorite app is Lightroom right now because we photoshoot the products and I love to edit the photos in Lightroom because it’s really quick and the results are amazing.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Our favorite business tool is Excel because we do all analysis in it.
Who is your business role model? Why?
My business role model is Mimi Ikonn, I like her positive attitude and her motivational speeches.
How do you balance work and life?
Well as I wrote before right now it’s really hard and we are super busy. But all the time we are strict about one rule “No work on Sunday” because Sunday is a fun day. We would like to apply this rule for more days in our week:)
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
We love to play tennis, travel, and go for walks with our dog. I must say that walks with our dog are a great way to relax because every fly she can chase makes her happy and watching her is uplifting.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
We would like to extend our undies section with a new Christmas design and with another secret design. We would also like to extend our collection of swimsuits. And of course, finally, dig deep into the secrets of Instagram.
How can our readers connect with you?
Readers can connect with us via :
Website beminematchingoutfits.com
Instagram: instagram.com/beminematching
Billy Ferguson is the founder & CEO of Trivelo. A triathlon and multi-sport specialist agency providing product testing and digital marketing services to a range of triathlon companies. Clients of Trivelo include HUUB, TYR, Zone3, Proviz, Salomon, and Orca. As well as devoting his time to making Trivelo a success, Billy is Father to three children so maintaining a balance between work and life is a huge priority.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
After working in a bunch of technology roles within the financial services sector for more than two decades my ambition to do something for myself led me to set up Trivelo. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have worked for a number of blue-chip companies in Senior Executive roles and this has allowed me to learn a number of transferable skills much of which is relevant now even as a small business.
The other half of the Trivelo story came from taking up a triathlon over a decade ago. After playing hockey since childhood fitting it in around a busy family life became too much. Disappearing for an entire day every Saturday wasn’t going to last. I’ve always loved the sport so needed something new. Surfing as my other sporting passion isn’t a daily option where we live so triathlon offered a chance to do something new.
What inspired you to start your business?
In spite of being on the wrong side of 40, I continue to be thirsty for knowledge and to learn. This has resulted in continually developing myself through my career following the completion of higher education. It additionally has meant reading everything I can. Not fiction but business books and autobiographies of inspirational people who have achieved amazing things. Not just in business but across a spectrum of disciplines.
From absorbing this over the decades my tendency has been to read more and more about how businesses startup. This planted the seed for my own business that I guess has always been there. The trigger to take this from a dream to actually starting came from the timing. I reached a point in my career where I had created a wonderful network of people I can genuinely consider as friends. Many of them work in different industries doing different roles but combined offer everything you could need to start a business. Without planning it I had the perfect panel to help me kick start a business without needing a swarm of external consultants. This opportunity seemed too good to miss and something that I used to help me start my business.
Where is your business based?
London - United Kingdom
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
The idea for the Trivelo and our REAL Athletes and TRUSTED Reviews platform came from a service used in IT Development where firms use virtual testing panels. They commission testing from a panel to get usability testing on mobile apps and websites. I wondered if I could bring the same concept through to a triathlon service. From this, the idea was born. The first steps were to write a business plan and socialise this with a “friendly” audience to get feedback. Having done this it was a case of raising funding to get the business going which allowed the fun to really begin.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
This is difficult. Selecting one single item that has helped to raise awareness over everything else is hard. Raising awareness has been the result of a number of supporting things. There are two main areas we have focused on to achieve business reach. Firstly, Twitter has been our social media focus since day one. With an open platform that connects businesses and individuals, it has worked well for us to create a community of athletes and fitness companies. Secondly, Search Engine Optimisation has been and will continue to be a huge focus for our business. We don’t use any paid web advertising and have grown 100% organically. This has been possible by continuous investment in SEO. It is certainly not a “one and done” answer as we have to keep monitoring and refining our SEO based on changes in the web.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge I faced in our first few years of running the business was facing the stark reality that the business plan wasn’t going to work. The original concept was to build a secure platform for cyclists to buy and sell used bikes. We got as far as building out the full platform that we ran with for a couple of years but a website that relies on user-driven content needs visitors.
There is a critical mass that you need to achieve to ensure you have new content for people to find and without this, you are dead in the water. Getting critical mass either needs a boost from viral engagement or you throw money at it with swathes of advertising. The private equity funding behind the business wasn’t prepared to put up an increasing pot of money for advertising so the gut-wrenching decision was made to change direction. The important lesson learned through this was that while a business plan activity ahead of starting up is super important to stress test an idea you can’t be wedded to it once your idea is a living breathing entity.
How do you stay focused?
There is a lot of noise and distractions - with so many things to work on and progress it can be hard to see the wood for the trees. Everyone needs a good filtering process so they can have a mechanism to keep the focus on the work that matters. I established early the processes that we can share across the business and use on-line to keep track of who is doing what and keep sight of the important tasks that need time and attention.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
Research. Research. Research. We have spent thousands of hours researching everything we do. It is a strategy that we deploy with everything. Who are our competitors and what are they doing? Who are our potential financial targets and how are they spending money at the moment? What are triathletes looking for? What new cool stuff can we be the first to review? By seeking answers to the right questions all the time we can reach more people and create a larger impact continuously. This is something that is the lifeblood of the company, as soon as we stop researching and asking the questions I don’t believe we will continue to grow. Indeed survive.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Brand advocacy has been incredible. We firmly believe our success is directly linked to the community of athletes that we create. The more we can meet the genuine needs of our community and work with them to understand what they want the more they help us grow. Through brand advocacy, we can meet new people and have a growing community of support that will work to create new opportunities and protect the integrity of our brand.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
You will need to be patient - having read hundreds of business books there is a danger that you can embark on a new business venture expecting within 12 months to be running something that rivals Netflix. Of the millions of businesses that start each year it is estimated that 90% of these fail. If you are brave enough to start a new business and you can keep it going you are bucking this trend. If 5 years after start-up you are still growing and the business is alive you are succeeding. BE PATIENT. Trivelo celebrated our 5 year anniversary this year and I still very much consider us a start-up. The Ferrari is yet to be ordered!
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
App - Asana. This is a cloud-based tool for activity management. Essentially a collaboration tool for “to-do lists” across teams. We use this throughout Trivelo to run mini-projects and loop in the right people tracking who is doing what and where things are. It is really lightweight and creates no barriers to entry allowing quick tracking of what has been done on a day-to-day basis.
Blog - Hubspot. A mammoth collection of useful resources to follow for anyone running a digital business. I like that there are genuine takeaways that you can apply straight away and use in your business.
Book - Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. A memoir by the creator of Nike. Shoe Dog traces the origins of Nike from its founder Phil Knight who set it up as a side hustle while holding down a full-time 9-5. It is hugely inspirational to hear how Nike struggled and evolved into the business that it has since become. Cash flow problems dogged the company for over a decade and they faced the stark reality of going under on a number of occasions. There is a vast amount of this story that any entrepreneur can relate to. This is especially true for anyone who is working to build up a small business while paying the bills with a day job while they battle to turn a profit. The book is a very honest account of how Phil Knight built Nike through the early years hunting down Adidas and the numerous hurdles that threatened their existence on a day to day basis. Brilliant book and a must-read for anyone thinking of starting their own business showcasing what it means to have a vision and the persistence needed to realise this.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Google for a work suite of apps. Having a cloud-based office suite that we can share and access from a range of devices is perfect for a small business. It is free to use and as powerful as any Microsoft equivalent. With the files, all cloud-based it means we can collaborate on content and track progress in shared files. Again perfect when the team is not co-located as we don’t all work out of one office. A further benefit for a cash-strapped start-up is we can buy and use chrome books rather than expensive laptops. All of the above remove usual barriers to a small business of complexity of IT and costs for getting off the ground. Thank you, Google!
Who is your business role model? Why?
Richard Reed. Founder of Innocent Smoothies. Richard is not a common role model in business circles I accept but I have been lucky enough to meet him a handful of times and heard his story. I am open to share that some of his business concepts I have fully adopted and plagiarised for Trivelo. The most amazing part of his story was how the business set out from the outset with a drive to deliver positive social change. This business plan component to give back really struck a chord with me. If you follow the story of Innocent Smoothies it is a brilliant venture into the unknown having the courage to do something new and embarking on a market dominated by major players.
How do you balance work and life?
My working week has been turned upside recently with the impacts of the global pandemic. Usually, I would be expecting to travel around the country working but for the past 5 months that has been restricted to home working that has taken some adjustments. I continue to try to juggle the demands of a young family with three young children whose childhood I do not want to miss due to work. In addition to these many time hungry activities I also try to train for triathlons myself and fit in swimming, cycling, and running every week.
I plan ahead as much as I can and have a clear outline of the week ahead. It requires discipline and prioritisation so I always have a “to-do” list per key role that I maintain on my phone. Each day working through this and using this to keep my time on the key activities. Modern technology such as my phone and Google workplace tools means I can work round the clock but I maintain boundaries for work ends. I don’t let the working day drift into the evening and call time on the laptop to spend time with my kids. Likewise with my week ahead planning I make sure there is time for exercise factored in.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
Make time for exercise in your daily work routine. Giving your mind a break from the demands of being a CEO means that you can retain more of a fresh outlook. Studies have shown that productivity improves through exercise. By factoring this into the middle of your day you give yourself the ability to return invigorated and ready for another start. Don’t put this time for you out of your diary viewing this as wasted effort. As well as refreshing your mind it also gives you time to reflect while taking in some exercise. Sometimes my most valuable breakthroughs have come from doing something completely different. A swim. A ride. A run.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
Our goal for the next months is to see the business clear the last of the investment debt. When we get through this milestone my plan is to begin our contributions to charities with a percentage of our profits. I have always wanted the business to “do good” and the most obvious way of doing this is to donate funds to help charities that we can really connect with.
How can our readers connect with you?
Blog - https://blog.trivelo.co.uk
Twitter - @trivelo_bikes
YouTube - Trivelo Bikes
Instagram - trivelo.bikes
p.o.p. candy co. is an LA-based business that was created because of affection and nostalgia for childhood. The company got its name from the Santa Monica Amusement Park, Pacific Ocean Park, which is no longer around. The amusement park inspired Bill Waiste and Rachel Flores to create a product that brought a smile to people's faces and gave them the heart-warming feeling of innocence. Today Pop Candy Co.'s buttercrunch continues to be handmade in small batches and is proud to use clean ingredients like farmers’ market herbs, fine spices, and all-natural extracts.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
RACHEL: Years in nonprofit world-building projects and programs, with enthusiasm and focus, but always for others. p.o.p. gave me the opportunity to create and build something of my own … my voice and no boundaries set by others. p.o.p. would be all mine!
BILL: Years of expertise and distinction in the food and restaurant business. Being able to map his skills onto p.o.p. allowed us to instantly operationalize p.o.p. in a way that allowed us to hit the ground running and with sure footing.
What inspired you to start your business?
Rachel: A very successful female entrepreneur hairdresser who loved my product encouraged me to start selling butter crunch, which used to be my go-to holiday gift. She made me realize that I could take my ideas seriously and jump right into the possibilities.
Where is your business based?
West Los Angeles. We’re a Santa Monica business. Last year, we grew out of our SaMo kitchen and moved into a (big) commercial kitchen in Culver City, CA.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
A friend who sold her products at a local farmers market let me set up a small table at her booth. We started with four flavors – our “p.o.p classics” – and sold out of everything. That same day we were offered a booth of our own and that same day we officially launched our business.
At that time Bill, my not-yet-husband – a pro in the restaurant world agreed to help me roll out the product. We found a commercial kitchen, scaled up the cooking, created more flavors, and developed our packaging and branding.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
For 10+ years, it was all about live events -- cool indie shopping shows at Renegade Craft Fair, Unique, Urban Craft Uprising, and One of a Kind Chicago. People looking for something new would find us, grab us, and then share us with others, who then also become our customers. That word-of-mouth grew our business for years. Then COVID happened. Now the focus is reaching customers where they are at online, and bringing the aspect of what we enjoyed at live shows to our online customers.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Learning to manage our time and efforts wisely has been the biggest challenge. I’m proud of my growing business and it’s clearly an extension of who I am. But, I’ve learned the hard way that I cannot let it be all I am. This year with the pandemic we also faced an obstacle that we never saw coming. We went from our most successful quarter to create a survival plan, but we managed to take this opportunity in stride. Our original plan for the year was to be a part of various live events to showcase our product but that strategy quickly changed as shelter in place orders started. By reassessing the situation we decided it was time to start building our online presence to connect with current customers and introduce ourselves to a new audience, which is what we have been doing for the past few months now.
How do you stay focused?
Keeping busy and staying in touch with customers, who always remind you of why we’re doing it. Through social media, I have been able to connect more with customers, and hearing what they have to say always helps me concentrate on the bigger picture.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
● We prioritize freshness. We tell customers to think about us like a baked good instead of a back-of-the-shelf treat. We encourage them to buy us in small quantities and more often. Fresh is best!
● Our cooking process is distinct, resulting in a buttery toasty crunchy experience that’s different than other toffees and brittles. Customers comment on our flavor and texture distinctions all the time.
● We don’t use corn syrup. That’s big for our type of product.
● We’ve got classics, but we also go big and bold with unexpected flavors … c-c-c-curry, rum y vanilla to name a few. Look under SHOP at https://popcandyco.com to see all our flavor categories. Even our truffle crunch bar flavor mash-ups are taking people by surprise!
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Taking the time to personalize your business and to enjoy one-on-one time with customers as much as possible. A personal experience really resonates with us AND with our customers. It’s something we believe in, so it’s natural for us to do.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
The best advice I can give anyone is to mentally prioritize your relationships over your business. Then, with that clarity, work on giving your business 120%. The bonds you create with others are your biggest motivators so never leave them for granted.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
Am breaking into The Flavor Bible for flavor R+D and already know I’m going to love it!
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Love how easy the Shopify app lets me update my site AND monitor sales ... on my cell. Who knew?!
How do you balance work and life?
A small business will drain every resource you have, if you allow it to. Your time, your money, your energy and it always seems to need more.
I’ve learned the importance of being able to shut off work, no matter how much I want to get done and to VALUE whatever else it is that I’m enjoying during my time away. Then when I flip back to work, I feel like I’ve taken the break that I needed.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
Jumping on a bike and riding out to the ocean to quickly regain perspective and be reminded that the world is MUCH BIGGER than whatever I’ve got going on.
And late-night puzzle making after hours in the kitchen.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
In addition to staffing up and expanding our operations to meet growing and holiday demand??
LOTS(!), starting with a “5-flavor Toss Up” campaign for our new flavors in development (we call them FIDs) and rolling out p.o.p. sample kits for new online customers. We’re also discussing a virtual fall market of our own, and developing a commissioned holiday gift item for an upscale retail partner which is really exciting.
How can our readers connect with you?
We’re just a shout away at pop@popandyco.com.
Tyler Read is an industry-leading certified personal trainer and successful entrepreneur. He became an authority on fitness and nutrition by obtaining a bachelor’s in kinesiology, 3 fitness certifications, and 10+ years as a personal trainer. He is also an expert on building careers and businesses within the fitness industry as exemplified from building a 6 figure personal training business than building a six-figure personal training career business, PTPioneer. Tyler wants to continue to grow his reach and influence within the personal training and nutrition coaching industry so he can help guide and educate more people who want to get into this sink or swim type of industry.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I went to college at Sonoma State University and majored in kinesiology and pre-physical therapy. Before that, I grew up in Santa Cruz, California. I played a lot of sports in high school and discovered my love of fitness and decided to focus on that in college. After graduating I got my personal training certification through NASM and I started working as a personal trainer.
During my time as a personal trainer, I’d always get friends asking me what the job was like, how much money I was making, how I got started, and what the best personal training certifications are. It was a difficult question to answer myself and even harder to put it simply for others because there are so many legitimate options out there.
So as I was working as a personal trainer, I began to put together PTPioneer in order to start answering these questions about which certifications to get, how to study for them, and how to pass the exams. That was the beginning of PTPioneer. Right away, I got a lot of feedback that the information I was providing was really helpful in other people’s journeys towards becoming a personal trainer so I’ve continued to follow this passion of mine.
What inspired you to start your business?
Besides wanting to help my friends and clients that were asking about how to get started as a personal trainer, I also wanted to start my own business and be able to work for myself. That had always been a goal of mine and I did know that you could make money from having your own website and getting traffic to it from search engines or paid ads.
I wanted to learn more about internet marketing because I knew several people who had their own online businesses and were able to leave their desk jobs and work for themselves.
I was inspired to start PTPioneer because I could help people become personal trainers, become my own boss, work from wherever I wanted, and whatever hours I wanted.
Where is your business based?
Technically my business is based in the United States in Portland, Oregon, but we do have people on our team working from all over the world. We have people from South Africa, Colombia, Peru, Australia, the US, and the UK.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
My business started from getting asked the same questions about personal training and over and over being asked if I could help people get started choosing a certification. The next step was creating the website because this was a whole new world for me that I didn’t know anything about. I started to dive into learning about WordPress, hosting, domains, and how to start a blog. Getting that all set up was a task I had to take on after I got home from working full time as a personal trainer,
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Outreach. Reaching out to other people who are doing similar things in the fitness industry and personal trainer certification organizations themselves to see if I can become a writer on their blog or get a mention on social media. I sought out these sorts of collaborations in order to show them and their audience what I was doing and why it was important for the industry.
Typically I get good feedback from personal outreach and I’m able to connect and reach their audience which builds brand recognition and awareness for PTPioneer.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Figuring out the tech side of things. I already had the knowledge about personal training, but I didn’t know anything about tech or writing good content for the internet. I didn't have the money to hire web developers so I had to learn all on my own.
The hardest part was building the website. Even when I finally built it, it didn't look good. So then I had to figure out how to design it and when I tried something new, something else would break because of a plugin conflict or something else. That was a major challenge in addition to getting hacked, which has happened multiple times.
That kind of stuff is super hard because you put all your energy into a website and just to have it disappear because you broke something and don’t understand how to fix it. The site is now live and functional, but the ongoing site maintenance is still a challenge for me. However, I overcome all these challenges through personal research and taking it one step at a time. I’m also now able to hire the proper experts to help when I need it which is a major relief.
How do you stay focused?
I honestly want to help people succeed. I get a lot of people reaching out to me with additional or specific questions. They want personal guidance from someone who knows why they might choose one certification or path over another. That and the fact that I love being my own boss are the two major driving forces for me and keeping me focused. I don't want to give up this lifestyle where I can travel and work for myself. That’s a huge motivating factor for me.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
My business has the most organized website in terms of mapping out what aspiring personal trainers and nutrition or fitness coaches need to do next on their career path. I clearly lay out what step 1 is and step 2 etc. A lot of other sites have some of the same information, but it’s not organized, there’s no clear direction about what you need to do for example after you get your CPR and what you do after you choose a certification or how to apply for a job and figuring out what type of gym you want to work in. No matter what stage of your career you're in, we always have a clear direction for what to do, where to go, and how to advance your career.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Outreach has also been my most effective marketing strategy for PTPioneer. Connecting with people, tapping into their audiences, being able to collaborate with them on projects, and getting social media or website mentions from their brands. Each of these things has been extremely effective in building brand awareness and SEO in order to help rank my content higher on YouTube and in search engines.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
Create what I like to call the research and application balance. When I first started, I was researching all the time but had not yet done anything. I got caught in an information overload. I was researching and researching and there was always so much more information. I didn't know where to start so I was in this analysis paralysis.
I wasn’t doing anything. The more I learned, the more I got stuck. Split your time at least 50/50 between researching and just starting. If your goal is to create your WordPress site, just buy the domain and hosting and install WordPress then do a bit more research and come back to do more. Balance the doing and the learning.
What’s your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
Favorite App: Honestly, Google Chrome because it serves as every app in one.
Favorite Blog: I really like smartpassiveincome.com because it helped me learn so much about internet marketing, SEO, how to work for myself, and how to become a full-time blogger.
Favorite Book: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card because I really like sci-fi. I love that book. I've read it three times.
What’s your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Asana because it can organize my whole team. We organize our projects into separate tasks and we can work on everything in one location as opposed to keeping track of everything through email. Asana makes things so much easier. I use it for myself personally and for my team.
Who is your business role model? Why?
One of my best friend's older brothers is my business role model. He's been running an internet business ever since leaving high school. He taught me that I could do it too and quit my 9-5. As much as I love personal training, I love traveling as well. He helped motivate me to get started and he's had a lot of success which gives me even more motivation.
How do you balance work and life?
Setting a stop time on my work day because if I didn’t, I would probably keep on working all night. There’s always an infinite amount of things to do and I really like doing it, but it’s just as important for my business success to allow myself time to cool down, to work out, to hang out with friends, and just relax and read a book. So I set a schedule and I stick to it. I set a stop time 6 PM and I don’t allow myself to work after that time.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
Working out is hands down my favorite way to decompress. It doesn't need to be an intense workout like high intensity interval training (HIIT) or anything like that, but it could be just walking outside, taking a hike, or going to the gym and lifting weights. Exercise—any form of it.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
Well, I am hoping to get back back to Colombia where my apartment is. I'm currently stuck in Peru because of COVID-19. Everybody during this time is kind of stuck, but in my life, I’m looking to get back to Columbia. In my business, I’m looking to create more connections.
A lot of people have been online talking about the change from in person training to online training, I've been doing a lot of work to help fitness professionals transition to an online platform. Helping personal trainers get websites created, teaching them how to work with clients online so they can have work even during this pandemic. I’m working with that and excited about the hybrid future of personal and online personal training.
How can our readers connect with you?
Visit my website at ptpioneer.com and check us out as PTPioneer on Youtube.
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