"Be impeccable at every step and you will be shaping a solid path" with Erika Lin

Photo credits: Estefany Maya

Erika Lin creates atmospheres that make people feel realized in the life and walk into pieces of art designed for them.

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I am a Mexican Businesswoman and Architect; I did my Architecture studies in the City of Tijuana. When I completed this, I went to Mexico City to continue my learning and work in specialized design firms. After two years I returned to Tijuana and founded my design firm Erika Lin Architects - now part of EL Design Group. I am passionate about luxury projects, I like to solve large structures based on the design and at the same time go for surprising, small details. Parallel to the growth of my firm, I got married and started a family with my husband and three children.

What inspired you to start your business?

I wanted to take my vision of impeccability beyond my work, expand it, and transmit it to my teams, creating a company that not only provides architecture services, but also creates design experiences for both collaborators and clients.

Where is your business based?

In San Diego, USA, and in Tijuana, Mexico.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

My first step was to identify the foundation of my company - what did I want to dedicate myself to? With this goal, I started a small interior design firm and a boutique with design products. I started with very small projects, remodeling rooms, bathrooms, and kitchens, but from the beginning, I focused on creating a work methodology, so over time the projects grew in size and number.

Being organized, training, and training my team made us grow very organically until we landed our first project to work on a mansion of a public figure. This really blew us away. More large residential projects began to arrive, and many of our clients also assigned us their commercial, corporate and medical projects, so the commercial and medical architecture division of the firm began to grow as well. Another important step was in 2015 when we started operations in the United States, with some fear, but with faith in our methodology of work. Today we have carried out 750 projects and counting.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Impeccability - the company aims to build successful projects based on stages. We make sure that we achieve each objective, from one to the next, and are aware and attentive to critical processes, paying special attention to them. Something that is very important to us, is to be able to measure ourselves - how do we know that our project is successful?

In our company, we measure success with these 5 points: Did we meet the project specifications? Did we meet the deadlines? Is the customer satisfied? Is the company satisfied? And finally, have we documented the project sufficiently? The last point allows us to take a tour of the process, admire the result, and always find areas for improvement. 

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

I think it was starting the firm in the United States. When we started here we already had the firm in Mexico established, with resources and clients who came looking for us to carry out their projects. Coming to the United States meant leaving my comfort zone, driving the appointments alone, introducing myself to the clients, selling, and on many occasions measuring the houses myself. This was very different as just across the border I had an assistant, a driver, and a great team that always do those things for me. But as exhausting as it seemed alone I had to remind myself how I started in Mexico and where it had taken me, so I kept going, and today customers come looking for us.

How do you stay focused?

I am very disciplined with myself, I motivate myself, I remind myself every day why I do things and I give myself instructions to move forward.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

We are a unique, international firm, with great learning molded and embodied in work methodologies that are executed by a great talented team passionate about design. We are here to take charge of your project and experience it as a satisfactory process with you.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Letting people know who I am. They can look at my portfolio, or talk to other clients, but I like to let them know where we’ve come from, and what our values are, especially me as the founder.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

Be impeccable at every step and you will be shaping a solid path.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

I like to motivate myself with Brian Tracy books or enjoy listening to various artists in the AD&P podcast of Trent Bell.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

The Cloud and Zoom, I can review works and work from anywhere, and we save lots of time for ourselves and for our clients in virtual meetings. Also, thanks to Zoom we have more long-distance clients.

Who is your business role model? Why?

Arianna Huffington, I love the way that she sees success, the way that she creates a business from an ideology, and how she manages human talent.

How do you balance work and life?   

I like to organize my goals with deadlines and evaluate day by day what needs more effort, in order to achieve them. That is, I do not seek to balance each day between all my roles - as a businesswoman, artist, mother, wife, person, etc., Yes, it would be possible, but it would definitely not be efficient.

When I am close to delivering a work project, I can spend several nights in a row without putting my children to bed, so I take care, and let them know how much I love them, but that right now a project needs me and I must be there. I send them some photos to make them feel as though they are a part of a project.

When I am on family vacations, I know that I can lean on my team, who are trained to manage the company, but they know that in any situation that they need me, I will be available.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Exercise, self-care, and good moments with people.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

Getting our business into a third country.

How can our readers connect with you?

I’m on social media – Instagram: @arq_erikalin, Facebook: ERIKA LIN, and our website is erikalin.com

"Surround yourself with people who have strengths where you have weaknesses" with P Lanette Pinkard

P Lanette Pinkard

P Lanette Pinkard, BBS, DD, NIC Master -Nationally Certified Interpreter is a child of deaf adults (CODA) who has been a professional American Sign-language (ASL) interpreter for 40+ years. She is a highly sought-after interpreter, interpreter coordinator, cruise interpreting instructor and Lead interpreter for interpreting teams facilitating communication for Deaf groups/individuals traveling all over the U.S. and internationally.

As a 21st century leader, Lanette, founder of My Hands Your Heart, LLC (MHYH) has provided training, professional development, employment, and empowerment through her organization. Some of her accomplishments include starting a community sign-language school and a Hands-on Internship Program (HOIP) for interpreting training program (ITP) students who are graduating or recently graduated. These platforms were created for interpreters to develop their skills in environments mirroring real-life assignments.

Lanette has been recruited and pursued to lead multiple teams of interpreters to serve on cruises and international travel with large Deaf groups and has completed over 80 cruises in less than 10 years. When Lanette sees a problem that affects the recipients of ASL, she believes that you either assist and bring a resolution or you are part of the problem. Her teams are loyal to her because she serves along with them, shows appreciation and celebrates them in everything they do.

Among many of her empowering projects, she developed an exclusive “Cruise Interpreting Academy” (CIA) hands-on training that takes place aboard cruise ships for ASL Interpreters. In her training, interpreters learn how to serve all the stakeholders involved when interpreting is needed for their guests. They learn all policies and procedures from embarkation to disembarkation and customize training for different organizations. Her interpreters are highly skilled, trained, professional and qualified; they are open-minded, adaptable to change and purposed to serve beyond the call of duty to represent organizations nationally and internationally.

Lanette’s mission is to help ASL interpreters be professional yet personal, prepared yet passionate, and precise with purpose while providing excellent interpreting services. This has led to repeated requests by organizations, agencies, corporations and the Deaf Community everywhere. She is passionate about unifying the Deaf Community, Interpreters and organizations through education of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills while emphasizing respect and appreciation for each other’s differences. Finally, the sign-language interpreters are required to learn all policy and procedures to follow for each organization for premium customer service and ASL interpreting delivery.

Her mottos for the interpreting profession are:

“Serving alone we fail, serving together, we can overcome anything!”

“Whatever it takes, we make it work!”

“Greatness comes when you invest in making others great!”

●      Can you tell our readers about your background?

I am what you call a “child of deaf adults” (CODA). I was raised in a predominately deaf environment. My grandparents were the president and vice president of the only black deaf club in Michigan called the “Detroit Silent Club.” My home always had either deaf friends or family most of the time. They would come to our house at two, three, and four am in the morning with husband and wife problems, and my grandparents would get up and let them in to counsel them late into the morning. She never turned them away.

My grandparents would have to wait until I got home from school to make calls for “adult things” because they had no access to do it. For example, I would try calling the doctor’s office to make an appointment for them, and they would say, “child, stop playing on the phone,” then hang up on me. During my pre-teen and teenage years, I interpreted my grandfather's job in the human resource department. He worked for the City of Detroit for at least 15 years and was an excellent worker. He was qualified to work in a higher employment classification. To get promoted, he needed to pass a test written in English. However, he needed the test translated in American Sign Language (ASL), but they would not provide an interpreter. Sadly, he retired at 30 years in the same position he started as. Events like this feed the passion that drives me in my first organization, My Hands Your Heart.

●      What inspired you to start your business?

What caused me to start My Hands Your Heart and Cruise Interpreter Academy was creating resolutions to issues that should not exist. My Hands Your Heart (MHYH) which was initially incorporated and later changed to an LLC, was started because interpreting agencies will hire a sign-language interpreter and keep them at the same pay rate for 5, 10, 15 years, or more. Yet, we have to pay money for continuing education units (CEU’s), or we go and earn bachelor's and master's degrees along with rising inflation while still getting paid the same rate. The next thing was agencies operated with nepotism, showing favoritism towards interpreters they liked better with higher-paying interpreting assignments or paying a higher rate for an interpreter they favored rather than treating us and paying us equally for the same work. That would happen even if the “favored” interpreter were less qualified.

Another problem is agencies filling an assignment that requires an interpreter with a higher certification qualification, and because the agency wanted the money, they would send a less qualified interpreter. Issues such as this burned me up inside and motivated me to start MHYH initially as an interpreter agency and create a matrix that I made public. This way, every sign language interpreter that worked for me would know what they started with, why they started with that amount, and how they earned increases.

I started the Cruise Interpreter Academy under the umbrella of MHYH, which will soon be a separate entity. I had been a cruise interpreter for about six years; I had no formal training and most sign-language interpreters go to our assignments with a community interpreting mindset. However, cruise interpreting is different. We still must follow our professional code of ethics. Still, the entire atmosphere is different and requires additional knowledge to function as a professional offering elite customer service to Deaf travelers. After a few years of cruise interpreting, I was offered my first lead interpreter on a group cruise with 22 deaf guests and 10 ASL interpreters. I had no clue what I was doing, but by grace, once I did my first group cruise as a lead interpreter to Alaska, the travel agent owner, who was deaf, requested me for the next several years to be the lead interpreter for his group cruises.

Additionally, on the regular cruise assignments that only required a two-person team, those clients began to request me until I had so many requests that I couldn’t take them all. As this was happening, I received complaints about the deaf guest’s experiences with other interpreters and how unprofessional they were. A complaint I often received from Deaf guests was that interpreters would behave as if they were on their vacation instead of the deaf guests who paid for it. Learning things like this motivated me to create the Cruise Interpreter Academy.

●      Where is your business based?

My physical office is in Arizona, but we can serve anyone, anywhere in the U.S.

●      How did you start your business?

Whenever I start anything, the name comes to me way before I know its purpose. When “My Hands Your Heart” came to me, I didn’t see the totality of where it was going. It has evolved over the years. I learned how to file the company online after researching what was required. I also started a Community sign-language school which grew so fast that I turned it over to the person who was my dean of students at the time. She renamed the school and took it to a new level, and it is now in its tenth year. I also started a Hands-on Internship Program (HOIP) which two other states wanted me to start in their state, but I didn’t have the staffing or capacity. I created these companies under MHYH at one time or another.

●      What were the first steps you took?

The first steps I took were to assemble a team, tell them what I aspired to do, file the paperwork and an EIN, I opened a bank account, and begin to operate. I wasn’t very knowledgeable about managing a company; I just saw the vision, started the company and went to work.

●      What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Until the last couple of years, no one knew much about MHYH. As social media has grown in popularity, that has helped tremendously. Recently, we added a social media manager to keep posts updated on many social media platforms. We also have become clients of a PR company.

●      What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

Finances have been the biggest challenge as I never have taken a business loan and have never received a grant. I worked many long hours and paid my company’s expenses out of my personal earnings until I received the payments assignments I worked. I usually charged too low a rate for contracts I acquired and paid my interpreters a higher rate. I was more interested in helping other interpreters see they did not have to accept being low-balled when they are the actual value of the interpreting agency.

●      How did you overcome the financial challenges?

I didn’t; I failed miserably at times. I even lost a friend over my financial mistakes. I worked my heart out! I worked 60 or more hours OUTSIDE of my home while still spending hours developing and operating the company to make sure my sub-contract interpreters received their payment. 

●      How do you stay focused?

My mind is always going. Some nights I don’t sleep, I create. I never stop thinking about the things I want to change, solutions to solve problems I know can be solved, improvements that I can make, and the love, respect, and understanding the Deaf Community deserves. I am blessed with a creative mind that constantly comes up with solutions. If it’s not an immediate resolution, then it’s a professional development workshop that will educate, impact and change the trajectory of professional sign-language interpreters and inspire them to achieve more. Or I create training that will empower organizations to become more inclusive of the Deaf Community and create jobs that the Deaf Community can fill.

●      How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

My Hands Your Heart doesn’t resemble any interpreting agencies anywhere. MHYH has created exclusive services that will change an organization’s popularity and increase revenue when they become inclusive of the Deaf and Hard of hearing Communities—according to the U.S. Office of Disability Employment Policy reported by deaffriendlyconsulting.com, issued July 2, 2020.

 They make up the third-largest market segment in the United States, with discretionary income in the billions.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Until recently, I would say the  “Deaf Grapevine.” I know from growing up in the Deaf Community for years; that they share information faster than fire spreads. We have a social media manager, and soon, we will add a marketing specialist to the team. These and the PR company have been assistive in our most effective marketing strategy.

●      What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

 1) Never Quit! It can look bad and feel worse, but when you know in your gut that you have something, DO NOT QUIT!

2) Surround yourself with people who have strengths where you have weaknesses.

3) The people who come to serve you on your team because they believe in your dreams; they come to support you and have your back, treat them royally. Treat them with the highest respect, love them, encourage,  support, AND celebrate them. Should you begin to achieve any type of notoriety, NEVER forget them. I cannot impress this enough, serve your team well. Be good to them.

●      What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

My favorite app is Fiverr and the Digital Business card. I love Fiverr because I can get nearly anything I need to develop or design inexpensively and with excellence! From my logos to my book covers, editing an online course, and creating just about anything my mind can think of.

The digital business card is one of my favorites because I don’t have to remember to carry physical business cards. It gives so much more detailed information without taking up space.

My favorite blog is our new Cruise Interpreter Academy blog AND vlogs written AND interpreted by actual cruise interpreters or our cruise interpreter academy alumni.

My favorite book is always going to be the Bible. I receive wisdom, guidance, and help through things that people simply can not understand.

My next favorite book is “A Myriad of Miracles” because those miracles are authentic and help me to remember the Lord I serve is real, He is Love, and I can do all things through Him that strengthen me.

●      What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

One of my favorite business tools is Audible. I don’t have much time to read, yet I still have a lot to learn. Audible allows me to listen to inspirational, motivational, directional books that help me continue developing in my leadership, team, and service to my clients.

●      Who is your business role model? Why?

Ashley Massengill is one of my business role models because she is open, honest, and forthright with her audience, clients, and herself.

She is honest about the bad and the good. She constantly inspires those who follow her to look up, get up, move up, and don’t give up!

●      How do you balance work and life?

I honestly don’t know if I have a balance. Everything about me tends to focus from a perspective of love. I love people, and I love serving. I don’t feel like I go to “work” per se. I feel like I am living my purpose and loving what I do. So in my “downtime,” I am thinking about the people I have the privilege and opportunity to serve through My Hands Your Heart, which includes my excellent core team. My husband and children are my most significant cheerleader, and I love what I do. In one way or another, I am always doing something towards serving, creating, teaching, leading, coaching, or motivating. Once in a while, I travel just for myself. I recently traveled to Aruba for four nights, and I slept two of those days away. I am sure that was evidence that it was a much-needed break.

●      What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Decompress from what? 😊

●      What do you have planned for the next six months?

I have some new business alliances planned; I have several new professional development workshops that are launching, and I will be doing more motivational speaking. I coach and provide a platform for my Cruise Interpreter Alumni group to teach their webinar/workshops. We have a new membership program that is starting soon.  I have several projects to assist organizations in becoming more inclusive of the Deaf Community and expanding my team to have Deaf leaders train and lead. And I will be hosting my next cruise interpreter academy from August 7-14, 2022.

●      How can our readers connect with you?

Our organization’s phone number is 855-730-6494. You can connect with us through our websites: www.myhandsyourheart.com and www.cruiseinterpreteracademy.com.

We are on Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube, and LinkedIn. You can email us at: ciaacademy@myhandsyourheartllc.com; profdev@myhandsyourheartllc.com.

"Don't give up" with Janel Muhammad

Photo Credit: @withlovetammyb

Janel Muhammad is a licensed realtor in the state of Pennsylvania. While traveling, she fell in love with the idea of searching for and purchasing real estate in vacation destinations. She turned her love into a business when she founded Destination Own an international real estate and travel company. She now spends her time helping people realize their dreams of international living, collaborates with real estate professionals from around the world in real estate endeavors, as well as contracts with major cruise lines to host real estate excursions. 

Can you tell our readers about your background?

Funny thing, my background actually has nothing to do with my current business. I grew up as a very quiet little girl with artistic tendencies, very creative. I always wanted to go to fashion school and become a famous clothing designer. I actually did end up going to Parsons school of Design, but like many little quiet girls I was not groomed to follow my dreams so instead I ended up getting married young and had children.

So as an adult I found myself divorced with two children and basically in survival mode. Then one day after several failed attempts with little businesses, things that were like cutting edge at the time, no one was really into at the time, like affiliate marketing, drop shipping, bitcoin (that one hurts) you name it I did it. It wasn't until I had remarried and found some stability that I was able to really sit back and think about what I wanted to do with my life. Real Estate had been something that I had tried in the past and I decided to give it another go, but this time I was gonna do it on my own terms and in my own way.

What inspired you to start your business?

I had always been an entrepreneur at heart starting a few businesses here and there but what inspired me to stick with it the most, was actually my husband. Seeing him start his business made it real for me. Like, this actually happens, you can actually do this as a regular person.

At this time, I was working in the film industry and making great money so on one of our vacations we took a cruise to Bermuda and I noticed so many for sale signs. We explore the island on our own, and real estate being my first love I wanted to look at every property I could. That's where the idea and concept of Destination Own was born. My first thought was I want to sell real estate internationally, and I was gonna figure out how that could happen. My second thought was, I truly believe that other cruise passengers would have the same feelings that I did that day, and that I was going to create an excursion for real estate so that people could view real estate while on vacation.

Where is your business based?

My business is actually an international business. I am licensed in Pennsylvania and soon to be New York, but my business is completely remote. I work with other real estate professionals around the world which keeps me going pretty far and sometimes pretty fast. When working with individual clients, my business stretches wherever they are looking to invest.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

The first thing that I needed to do when I decided to start my business was to get my real estate license, so I started in the state of Pennsylvania and from there I had to figure out how I could sell international real estate without living in those different destinations. I researched for several months before taking my real estate exam and one day I came across this Certified International Property Specialist Designation (CIPS), in which agents in the US we could collaborate with agents from different countries and when I saw that it all clicked. I got my CIPS designation over the next year, then I began reaching out to agents within that network and just building relationships from there in order to make my dream of being an international agent come true as well as make the dreams of my future clients as property owners in different countries come true.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Honestly, I would say most of my recognition has come from me travelling and just speaking to people, doing small speaking events, and joining expat groups in the locations where I frequent. I would find a lot of clients that way, they are trying to figure out how to actually make it happen, go from the dream phase to the action phase and that's where I would step in.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

My biggest obstacle or challenge with the international real estate was of course COVID. Even though my company was new, I was gaining momentum through a few real estate tours that I had done, and just that feeling of this is working! I was on a high and when I reached out to different cruise lines through the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) it was like a spark had been lit. I was on my way. I had three cruise lines actually interested in having discussions about real estate excursions on their cruise lines, and around the same time the world started to secretly close down around us, and by March my business was pretty much a unfulfilled figment in my dreams.

How do you stay focused?

I stay focused by reaching out to real estate professionals around the world hearing their excitement of wanting to work with me and just thinking about all the possibilities that are ahead of me. I've got a lot of plans. We plan on doing real estate open house festivals in different countries, educational initiatives for local people in the destinations that we visit, an international renovation show, and of course doing the real estate tours and excursions that we've been focused on since the beginning.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

The way that I have modeled my business is actually the biggest differentiator, where the other Certified International Property Specialists focus on referring clientele to real estate professionals around the world, I actually take on the client as an International Buyers Agent. Now this is not an official role, however, I feel that when taking such a big step the client usually needs more handholding then just shove out the door. With that in mind, I created a system where we interact with the client, set up their travel and accommodations, refer them out to a real estate professional, as well as providing support throughout the transaction. That support could look a few different ways, it could be engaging in phone conversations, looking over paperwork, or even traveling with them to the destination country. In fact, that's how we got our start, doing real estate tours.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Wow, so that is a tricky question for me because I feel like we are still at our baby stage. Partly because of the world shut down during the pandemic, there was not a lot of growth in our company. we kind of had an incubation period. We had gone back to shore up some of our policies and procedures and reworked a few things that we wanted to make sure were sound once the world started to open back up.  

I can say, going forward, we will be utilizing the media a lot more. Spreading the word and the joys of international real estate opportunities. With the suffering of many economies around the world it is prime time to get into the real estate market and see what's out there not just in your backyard but anywhere you can imagine.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

The best advice I could give to an aspiring entrepreneur is, don't give up. I know that might sound cliche or whatever, but it is true. If you were blessed enough and trusted enough with this idea, this concept from the great creator then you have to believe that there was a reason. The timing may not work out the way you think, it may not be as easy as you first thought it would be, but if you stick with it, it will happen.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

Actually, my favorite app, I'm not even sure if it's an app but there's a website, and I'm old school and I don't know if that means there is an app with it. The website is called From Rome to Rio. It is so accurate and informative. They can tell you how to get from anywhere to anywhere and they also give you pretty accurate price guides, which is a lot of help. I've actually used it frequently over the years since I've found out about it. I've used it in Brooklyn, and all the way in the Philippines it works anywhere. Now that’s range.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

I would have to say my favorite business resource is actually a role and not a tool. I think a capable financial planner is a great asset to my company. The right financial planner can really position you to be able to make the most out of your investments. International real estate is no different, working together we can create a solid portfolio of international assets that you can benefit from for years to come.

Who is your business role model? Why?

I would have to say my business role model is Barbara Cochran, just knowing that she was able to grow a billion-dollar real estate business from a $100 loan is amazing. I'd like to think I can recreate and even surpass that success within my lifetime.

How do you balance work and life?

So this one is actually a new one for me. I never had a work and life balance. When it was just me and my boys it was strictly the life part, the hard things. I let my dedication to my children and my unknowing dedication to my struggle, the fear, the unworthiness, all of those things that were kind of bred into me, they had full run. There was no work balance, I would quit jobs if I couldn't find a babysitter, I would not really start anything that was a beneficial for me because I thought it would interfere with what I needed to do for my children. It was completely one sided and irresponsible. At the time I thought I was doing the right thing for my children but overtime it just created and unbalanced depressed example of a parent. Which did not do them any good either.

After that time in passed, when I remarried and had more of a path in my life things changed. The work life took over. I had a new husband who basically took us on as a family, because he didn't have any children of his own, in my mind it's like “oh gosh he's taking on these three extra people. I cannot be a burden on him, and I cannot allow my children to be a burden on him,” so then I worked. Worked, worked, worked, and worked some more. At this time I was in the film industry, where I was doing 16 hours a day.

Easy. I was always signing up for work, so much so that it became a problem within the family. Now, I am a bit more balanced, I make sure that I take time out for myself and really nurture my being. I’m not just the worker bee, not just the wife, not just the mother, but I’m an actual being. I take time to honor that. Even if it's a few moments of the day because I'm busy with the project. I have to take that time out for myself and make my being a priority.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

My favorite way to decompress is watching TV. It could be a movie, TV show, or bingeing a series, but I really love seeing the stories picking them apart and because I've dabbled in the film industry over the years I feel like I have some insight on how things were done and that almost makes it like a sport. LOL. It's like my football. I actually think I will get back into the industry in the future but this time as a writer or producer. I believe I have that in me as my third or fourth act.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

We have been talking with major cruise lines and within the next six months we are planning on starting our real estate excursions in at least three destinations. We will be starting with Panama, Portugal, and Thailand. We are also going to continue to grow our base with and start offering land tours again. And lastly, this year we will be kicking off our first international real estate open house festival we are in discussion now and have been prior to the pandemic with Ghana and Panama. So, look out for that.

How can our readers connect with you?

I was lucky enough to get my business name on all social media platforms so you can find me and my team on all social media platforms @destinationown. For inquiries or tour requests you can email info@destinationown.com an of course you can check us out on our website www.DestinationOwn.com. We will also be making our rounds within the upcoming real estate and travel industry festivals, seminars, and conferences. So, if you see us out in the streets pull up!

"Think of the goals that you want to achieve in the next 90 days" with Lucia Marín

Photo credit: Laura Nuñez

Lucia Marín is a very driven entrepreneur that started her first business at the age of 22. Since then and after working at a VC she created HeySpanish and now they help hundreds of families from over the world so that their children can stay in touch with the language and culture in a fun way while they make lots of friends. 

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I went to university in Spain where I studied Law and Economics. While I was studying, I worked for a company that organised subsidised English lessons for businesses and I helped them take the business from zero to one. After 3 years working there, they decided to change their business model completely and they offered me to buy the clients that they had and start a business, so that’s what I did as I thought it was a great opportunity at the time. I ran the business for 2 years while studying and when I was almost done with my degree I thought I needed a change and I really wanted to work in something related to my studies so I accepted an internship at a VC in London. Very soon I realised that I wasn’t feeling happy and fulfilled and I thought I felt this way because I was literally working 24/7 so I started applying for jobs and I got a position in Strategy and Operations at a startup.

Even though the working hours were fine and the company culture was great I still wasn’t feeling passionate about it and I missed having a project of my own so I started experimenting with a few business ideas like selling on Amazon or dropshipping and they didn’t go very well. While I was doing this I volunteered teaching Spanish to a group of little children and I found that so much fun. I realised that there was quite a lot of demand for Spanish lessons for children in London so I founded HeySpanish. 

What inspired you to start your business?

Having a project of my own made me feel fulfilled. I had so much determination about this so I didn’t stop testing different ideas until I found the one. While I was working at the VC I joined many events for entrepreneurs that were fundraising and I had a huge urge to be one of them.

Where is your business based?

We are based in London but we have students from all over the world. Now, we have students from more than 30 different countries. At the moment I’m working from Madeira. We have a fully remote culture and everyone can travel around while working.  

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

First of all I started with a competitor analysis to find a way to differentiate ourselves from the competition. While I was defining the business I started looking for teachers. This is how I met Laura, she’s my business partner. She fell in love with the idea and the concept from the first time she heard about it and we had an immediate rapport, it was love at first sight. Then I started looking for clients in her area, we were mainly doing telemarketing at the time. In the meantime I also created the website and Laura started developing our methodology and teaching materials. 

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Finding out about our audience's needs by talking to them and then creating valuable content, events and seminars in order to raise awareness.

On the other hand, we learned how to target our audience on social media and this has been very effective in order to run ad campaigns.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

THE PANDEMIC. Everything was going very well. We started the business in July 2019 and we already had a few clients on board numbers were getting better every month until the 16th of March when we received emails and calls from all of our clients to cancel our services. 

I thought this would be solved and that we would go back to these places after a month or two but just in case we started thinking of alternative ways to keep the business going. We decided to try moving all of our lessons online and at first, we were a bit hesitant about how the children would react as we only had 3-6-year-olds at the time and we thought it would be difficult for them to engage in online lessons but it was a huge success.

We started doing daily lessons, with lots of children joining every day and we started getting clients from many different countries. This made us realise that there was a need for Spanish-speaking parents living abroad to access lessons that were 100% in Spanish so that their children could stay in touch with the language and culture. So we used this opportunity to really target this niche and to open our lessons for other age ranges. Now we do lessons for 3-12-year-olds. This was an amazing discovery and now this service is 80% of our business.  

How do you stay focused?

I am a productivity freak. I use the Pomodoro method when I work, this helps me a lot with focusing on one task at a time. Also, I plan the week ahead on Sunday evening so I start the week with a lot of energy and knowing what the goals and main objectives are. When I don’t do this I find myself staring at my laptop, checking my inbox, and not knowing where to begin. Lastly, I use a productivity planner from Intelligent Change that also helps me a lot to stay productive daily. Lastly, reviewing the objectives for the next 90 days weekly really helps me and the whole team to be on the same page with regard to priorities. 

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

We make sure the lessons are fun and that the children enjoy them. In our classes, they learn through music, storytelling, games, and drama. 

We make our own music, which is available on the HeySpanis youtube channel. Also, we’re focusing now on a very specific niche which is children from Spanish-speaking ex-pat families.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

The most effective thing for us has been using Facebook ads that target exactly the niche that we’re focusing on. 

We’ve published two books that are available on Amazon Worldwide, the first one is “Learn Spanish with Pepe” and the second one is “Pepe Magic’s World”, this helped more people know about us and we got many clients that booked our lessons after buying our book or ebook. 

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

I would tell them to start by creating a plan, think of the goals that they want to achieve in the next 90 days, divide this into monthly actions that help them achieve them, and use a spreadsheet to help them keep track of this and get to work!! When you want to take a business from zero to one is really more about taking actions rather than overthinking the strategy. 

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

My favourite app is Instagram because I follow a few amazing founders and seeing their content gives me a lot of inspiration and joy and also because it’s a very powerful tool to communicate with our audience. 

I’m not very into blogs so I don’t have a favourite one. 

My favourite book is “The hard thing about hard things” because I found it very useful for my business. 

 What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

I love ClickUp, we use it for project management and we’re finding it extremely useful. 

Who is your business role model? Why?

My business role model is Mimi Ikonn as she always shows the importance of being present in what you do and having balance. Also, we co-created Intelligent Change and I love all their tools to stay productive. 

How do you balance work and life?

I really like to unplug during the weekends and also something that really made a difference was when I got a phone for personal use and another one for business use and I never take the business one when I’m outside or during the weekends. 

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

I love going on hikes with friends and enjoying nature. 

What do you have planned for the next six months?

We will be fundraising and scaling the business. 

How can our readers connect with you?

They can connect with me on Linkedn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucia-marin/

You can also find out more about HeySpanish on our social media channels: Facebook and Instagram.

"Profit doesn’t have to come at the cost of your purpose" with Laura Cretney

Laura Cretney is the Founder and CEO of Pink Jinn, a socially conscious lifestyle brand inspired by the Middle East and North Africa. The Pink Jinn Souq sells beautiful cultural and craft products sourced from small businesses, artisans and social enterprises in the MENA region, with a focus on supporting vulnerable women and communities affected by conflict. Laura is a Middle East specialist and fluent Arabic speaker who has worked in international development for a number of years. She was inspired to start Pink Jinn by the lack of awareness of the diversity and nuances of the Middle East and North Africa in the West.

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I’m from the Isle of Man, a tiny island in the middle of the Irish Sea with a population of 80,000. Somehow, I ended up learning Arabic and living and working in the Middle East throughout my twenties – not the usual path for an island girl! I have spent my twenties working in international development across the region – particularly in Oman and Iraq – as well as consulting for western companies working in the region. Alongside my business, I’m also a part-time PhD student researching the conflict in Yemen.  

What inspired you to start your business?

Over the years I absolutely fell in love with the Middle East and became so inspired by the incredible people, cultures and businesses I came across on my travels. I started Pink Jinn to share that with people where I came from – where the only exposure many have to the Middle East is through negative and stereotype-laden media coverage that ignores so many of the beautiful aspects of the region. I wanted to help people understand the region on a deeper level and experience the beautiful cultures I had the privilege to live alongside. 

Where is your business based?

My business is technically based on the Isle of Man, but I run it online from wherever I am in the world!

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

Pink Jinn started as a blog sharing stories and conversations with people in the region. I later started bringing beautiful products back from the region and selling them on Etsy – things like frankincense, Arabic coffee cups and traditional handicrafts. Next, I set up a platform on social media to support people self-studying Arabic.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Despite living in the internet age, word of mouth has consistently brought us new customers and community members. People fall in love not only with our products, but with the meaning and mission behind them – the cultural significance, and the social impact their purchases make. I think in a time of big global businesses and consumerism gone wild, people appreciate personal stories more than ever – who made the product, where it came from, where it fits into the local culture… They feel like they’re a part of something bigger, and they want to share that with their friends! 

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

I have built the brand very organically and have never paid for advertising, which has required a lot of patience. More recently, the biggest challenges have been logistical – changes in the political environment in the UK, Europe and US (where most of our customers are based) have led to increased prices and shipping times for our physical products, and we’re still working our way through this as we grow and scale. 

How do you stay focused? 

Travel! Every time I return to the Middle East it relights the fire that fuels my purpose. I spend a lot of time meeting people and getting to know creatives, artisans, businesses and community projects, which keeps me connected to the reason Pink Jinn exists – to share their incredible work with those who might not otherwise experience it, and to counter some of the negative perceptions of the region where I come from.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

Our business model is very purposefully built around our community, which is based on shared values and a particular worldview. This connection with our community gives us the freedom to shift direction where necessary when it comes to our products and services – as long our message and mission continues to resonate with our community, we could do or sell anything that serves that higher purpose!

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?  

Since the beginning I have focused on building personal relationships with the people in our community through social media and email marketing. We use Instagram more than anything else, because a lot of our content is very visual and evocative, and Instagram lends itself well to that. I spend a lot of time in our DMs talking to people directly, which has been hugely valuable for building relationships and understanding what’s important to our customers.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?  

Profit and purpose are not in competition with one another. Build your brand around a mission or message, not around a product or service. Make that mission part everything you do – from your branding to your supply chains to the product / service itself. When you do that, your customers will stay with you for life and buy anything from you! Other people can compete on things like price, but if your mission and message are strong and resonate emotionally with your customers, it’s very difficult to compete with that.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why? 

My favourite app is Spotify because I’m obsessed with podcasts, and they also have amazing international music playlists so I can stay connected to the Middle East while I’m away. I can pop on a Fairuz playlist (the iconic Lebanese crooner) and pretend I’m sipping Arabic coffee in Beirut or Baghdad. Favourite book is an impossible question - there are so many! A very inspiring recent read was ‘The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World’.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

I love Asana – it helps me organise my many projects and ideas into achievable tasks and is great for working collaboratively with a virtual team.

 Who is your business role model? Why?

Leila Janah was a social entrepreneur and author who believed vehemently in the power of meaningful, dignified work as a means of lifting people out of poverty. She was the founder of two social enterprises and wrote the incredible book, ‘Give Work’ – an essential read for entrepreneurs interested in social impact! Leila very sadly died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 37, but her legacy lives on through her companies and her book.

How do you balance work and life?

For me, the work-life balance paradigm is a little problematic. My work with Pink Jinn has enriched my personal life so much – particularly the relationships that I’ve been able to build and the travel that has come with – so I don’t necessarily believe that the two are separate or competing with one another. However, because Pink Jinn often doesn’t feel like work, I’m sometimes guilty of keeping going until I drop without realising it until the burnout sets in! I don’t think work-life balance is something you can ‘find’ or ‘succeed’ at, but a constant process that we must continuously redefine – it will look different at particular points in your life, so the important thing is to check in with yourself regularly and be honest about what you need.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

If I’m spending a lot of time on my own at my laptop, outdoor walks, family time and Grey’s Anatomy – depending on how extroverted I’m feeling – all help me switch my brain off. When possible, I find travel and meeting new people in new places hugely energising and helps me to switch off, reset and realign with my goals more than anything else.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

Over the next six months I will be relocating from the UK to Africa, which is hugely exciting! I’ll also be adding a few new suppliers to the Pink Jinn Souq, along with developing Pink Jinn’s digital product offering with the aim of diversifying our revenue streams. 

How can our readers connect with you?

You can find us at www.pinkjinn.com and on Instagram at @pink_jinn / @pinkjinnsouq / @pinkjinnarabic

You can also subscribe to our newsletter for free resources, 10% off the Souq, and an insight into the inner workings of the business: https://mailchi.mp/c55ee203e83b/hump_day