10: Interview with Artiom Vasiliev from Mellis Berry

Today our interview partner is Artiom from Mellis Berry who makes delicious honey products in Estonia.

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Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

I went to school and grew up in Estonia, then studied and worked for some time in Sweden, eventually moved to UK and worked for various companies as a software engineer and security consultant. Most of my life was spent behind the computer screen.

What kind of business do you run? When did you start it?

I am running a food business. I make honey desserts: creamed honey infused with berries and syrup. Something that you would actually enjoy eating rather than just having a single spoon during your illness.

How highly regulated is the food industry in Estonia?

The food industry regulation is pretty high. After all nobody wants to get sick after eating your products. However the requirements are much easier when you’re a small producer working off your flat. It took me roughly four months to get all the paperwork done, but that is because I knew nothing. If I were to do it again today I think I’d get a license if about two weeks.

What inspired you to start this business?

Contrary to seeing a problem in this field and fixing it, I saw a problem in myself – I was spending way too much in front of my screen. Having had a passion for cooking I started experimenting. Eventually ended up working with honey and decided to build a full product out of it. It somewhat worked.

What is your daily routine of running your business?

Marketing. Marketing. Marketing. I have the product ready so I’m looking for ways to sell it now.

What are the best and worst parts of running your business?

I’ll start with the worst. You work 24 hours a day. That is if you believe in your business. As a result everything suffers: relationship, health. Unless you have friends and family that can support you emotionally it’s really tough. Here’s an example: all your friends are gone on a two-week ski trip and you have been working without holidays a year, yet you find the courage and mental strength to stay and continue your work. The best part is when you find your customers. When you see that something you do can make lives better, easier, happier. It’s really cool.

Does your business generate enough money to support you?

No.

Are there any blogs, podcasts or Facebook Groups about entrepreneurship you follow closely?

Apart from books I listen to Four Hour Work Week podcasts by Tim Ferris and spend my time in /r/Entrepreneur on reddit.

Which resources to run your business do you use most?

Books and friends’ advice who already own business. Customers to get feedback on my products and professionals (fellow entrepreneurs, marketers, developers, designers) on the Internet to criticize everything from label design to business plans.

What keeps you motivated to keep working on your business?

Whenever I give someone that hasn’t previously tried my honey desserts their first reaction is I won’t eat it in one go, not even in five. Yet on countless times I’ve seen how as we chat these people finish off the whole jar. That’s the best motivation. I want to see more people do it.

What would you recommend new entrepreneurs? How to get started?

There are so many books written about it, yet I would just say “start”. It’s like with children – there’s no right moment to do it, you just need to make the first step.

Have you ever started a new business and then given up for some reason?

Yes. On multiple occasions.

How important do you think is talent when starting a business?

Do I have a talent for cooking? No. I definitely do it way better than the majority of others. But I have the energy to develop this business to the point when I can hire talented people to help me reach further heights I couldn’t have reached alone.

How much time do you spend running your business per day?

4-8 hours a day and 12-15 hours on weekdays. I still have a full-time job.

You know you’re an entrepreneur when …

I think I’ll have this feeling when I’m able to switch jobs from spending 8 hours in the office and 4 hours on my business to working 15 hours on my business 🙂

Any books about entrepreneurship you can recommend?

The 4-Hour Workweek, The Millionaire Fastlane and How to Win Friends & Influence People.

What would you say is the hardest part about running a business?

Sacrificing your personal life.

What tools do you use to run your business?

Since I’m a software developer I’ve written ERP for myself with very specific requirements. Some generic accounting software, and the Internet.

Do you have a Unique Selling Point?

It’s unusual packaging and combination of tastes. When was the last time you’ve heard about sea buckthorn? What about sea buckthorn with creamed honey? How about labels that hide the lid of a jar? You need to see that in order to undestand. And you absolutely need to taste that to know.

How did you come up with the name of the company?

I was looking for something interesting consisting of two words. Something like Mettle and Poise, April Blush. Completely unrelated to the products I make. Yet a friend suggested to use a related name. Due to the absence of any alternatives I used Mellis Berry.

How many people are involved in your business?

If we don’t consider lots of friends who help me along the way I’m the sole person involved heavily.

Can you recommend a webhost?

If you’re a developer you already know the answer, otherwise it’s easier to go with hosted solution like Shopify or similar.

Outside of business what do you enjoy doing? How do you recharge your batteries?

Sports. You absolutely need to do that. I also enjoy travels and hiking, but I don’t remember the last time I did that for a period longer than a day.

Do you think that anybody could start a business?

I currently live in Estonia, the most “e” country in the world. To start a business you just need 15 minutes and 150 euros to create a company. Done. You can call yourself a businessman or businesswoman. Yet you need balls (also relates to women) to make it profitable and self-sustaining. So no, not everyone can do that.

Do you think that Social Media such as Twitter or Facebook are good marketing tools?

It depends how and which audience you are targeting. If the product is for 60+ people you need to use different tools, more like old school media like TV or newspapers.

Do you think making decisions on a gut feeling is a good idea?

Use all your savings to buy stocks. Use your gut feeling to choose what to invest into. Would you dare to trust it?

Do you think it is a good idea to start a business with a friend?

It depends. That didn’t really work out for me (I’ve tried multiple times, however we still remain very good friends), yet I know people who did build something with their friends or even family. So why not?

To learn more please visit Artiom’s website at Mellisberry.com.

9: Interview with David Williamson of PLANK Eyewear

Today we feature solopreneur David Williamson from PLANK Eyewear who makes hand-crafted wood sunglasses. Learn about his experience with Social Media, LinkedIn and Google AdWords.

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What kind of business do you run? When did you start it?

I have a wood sunglasses brand PLANK Eyewear that I started last year. I sell wood sunglasses that are made different woods. I plan to add hats and tees soon. I have several designs I am working on.

What is your daily routine of running your business?

I am a one man show right now and I have a full time job that I also work. What I like to do is write down several things that I want to get done and pick one and focus on that one. I usually am able to complete several tasks at once.

What are the best and worst parts of running your business?

Best part is meeting with and interacting with my customers. I sell at festivals and the worst part is standing all day.

Does your business generate enough money to support you?

My first year I broke even and my second year I hope to be generating electricity in the black. My goal is to be working PLANK full time in 2017.

Which resources to run your business do you use most?

Social media. It’s my bread and butter. I use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn to drum up business and to network.

How much time do you spend running your business per day?

I spend about 2-3 hours a day total running my business. This year I will spend more time as I will be setting up more meetings to get my product into retail stores.

What would you say is the hardest part about running a business?

Not being able to spend as much time with my family. I do bring them with me to festivals to help.

What should you take into account when starting a business?

Your time and the time away from your family. Oh and cash flow. Make sure you have cash flow.

What tools do you use to run your business?

I just started automating my social media posts by using Quuu. It works with buffer by curating posts for my Facebook and Twitter feeds.

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What was your experience setting up your company website?

Marathon. I have done everything on my website. It’s not a sprint but a marathon. I am constantly asking people what they think and use that to help fix and clean up my website. I love hearing my customers tell how nice my website is.

How did you come up with the name of the company?

I listened to some music I grew up with like Hüsker Dü, Replacements and the Pixies to help. I finally came up with PLANK.

What are your future plans for the company?

Scaling it to the point I need to quit my 40 hour job. Also to teach my daughter about entrepreneurship. She is 8 and I am getting her to help out.

Do you think that Social Media such as Twitter or Facebook are good marketing tools?

For me it is. My products are meant to be photographed and used on those sites.

Do you recommend Google Adwords?

I have only used it once and it didn’t work for me. I will try again once I learn more about how to succeed using it.

What is your experience with LinkedIn?

Great for networking. I have made some great contacts that have generated PR and a large order (waiting right now if my bid is accepted).

What is the best way to generate PR on LinkedIn?

I have just connected with those who I think would benefit from by connecting.

The frames are made of wood. How durable are these frames?

Just as durable as any sunglasses. If you bend them they break like Ray-bans or Oakley glasses would.

Any pros and cons compared to frames made of plastic or metal?

One big benefit is that they float! Also they tend to be more comfortable to wear and don’t transfer heat or cold.

Outside of business what do you enjoy doing? How do you recharge your batteries?

Hanging out with my family and whenever possible, golfing.

To learn more about David’s website please visit PLANK Eyewear.

8: Interview with German teacher Angelika Davey

Today’s interviewee is Angelika Davey who teaches German. She lives in the UK and has contributed to LearnWithOliver.com, a language site I’m running. I’ve asked her if she would like to be part of this interview series and she agreed as you can see! 

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Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

My name is Angelika Davey. I was born and brought up in Germany but have lived in the UK since 1982.

What kind of business do you run? When did you start it?

I started Angelika’s German Tuition & Translation in 2006, which means in July this year I will have been self-employed for 10 years teaching German and helping clients with their translation needs.

What keeps you motivated to keep working on your business?

The feedback! It feels great when students, no matter how old they are, tell me how much they enjoyed their lessons or when clients are happy with their translations.

Also, I am learning so much myself. I never saw myself as a writer but started a blog five years ago and from that moved to writing books. Seeing that people are buying my books is a great feeling. Since last year I also offer online courses on Udemy, which was another learning curve for me as I have never thought of making videos of my lessons. There is still so much to learn and do and it is a great feeling when I have achieved something new!

How much time do you spend running your business per day?

How long is a piece of string? This is a very difficult question to answer. I love my work and I often don’t know when work finishes and leisure starts as my work is also my hobby. For example, I love walking and I always have my phone with me to take pictures, but often they are taken with blog posts or lessons in mind. I might wind down at the end of the day with reading things on Facebook and find useful posts for German learners which I they pass on. I watch some videos on YouTube and find useful information for teaching or learning German.

Of course, it can also be the other way round: I’m supposed to work on marketing, translating, lesson planning … and I find a great YouTube video that needs watching or a Facebook meme that needs sharing.

What is your daily routine of running your business?

One of the great things about my work is that no two days are the same. Some days I spend nearly all day teaching, other days I don’t teach at all and spend the day with lesson planning, translating, writing or making new online courses. Some days I teach early in the mornings (although I try to avoid that), on other days I teach in the evening. The variety is wonderful, but it is probably also another reason why it is difficult for me to say how much time I spend running my business.

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Does your business generate enough money to support you?

It does now. Before I started I saved up enough money to keep me going while I got my first clients. I was also very lucky to get work as a supply teacher for an agency, gradually decreasing the days I was available until about three years ago when I stopped completely.

My business generates enough to pay all the bills and some extra. I might never earn as much as I did when I taught full-time but I am having a lot more fun doing the things I love doing.

What tools do you use to run your business?

I rely heavily on my computer and the internet. I have several students that I teach via Skype and as I offer those online courses I need to be able to check if anybody has asked any questions that need answering. I also still work with pen and paper, especially when I teach face-to-face as I don’t always have access to the internet.

My most important tool is my smartphone, especially my google calendar. I have a lots of students who don’t have weekly lessons, so every day is different. When I don’t teach I work on new lessons or translate and can easily get carried away. If google didn’t warn me that I need to go and teach I’d be late a lot of times!

What are the best and worst parts of running your business?

The best part is the enjoyment I get when I see that my students enjoy themselves or, even more importantly, when they have their ‘lightbulb’ moment, when something they struggled with has become clear or when they tell me about their holidays in Germany and how they were able to have conversations in German.

The worst part is not having paid holidays and having to decide when to go and how many lessons need to be cancelled. Oh, and I’m not too fond of tax returns either.

Do you read any discussion forums about business?

When I started my business, none of my friends were working for themselves, so nobody was able to help me with running a business. All I knew was how to teach German or translate, I didn’t know anything about setting up a website, marketing, social media etc …

But I quickly found a site where self-employed people met, Ecademy. It doesn’t exist anymore but I have met many people who have small businesses and have helped me initially. Since then I have also met quite a few of them ‘for real’. Nowadays I am a member in a few business groups on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+, although I have to say that the Facebook groups would always be my first port of call.

What was your experience setting up your company website?

When I started my business I had one client and no money. I could not afford a website designer who would design a site for me. Luckily, I was able to use the services of Business Link (which was closed in 2012) and learned how to set up a very simple website and only had to pay for the domain name. After a few years that site was far too basic for what I wanted and I transferred it to another server. When that wasn’t enough I made the move to wordpress.org.

Can you recommend a company or designer who helped you build the website?

Although I have learned a lot over the years about setting up and maintaining a website, the last one had grown so much I didn’t dare transferring it on my own.

Barbara Saul of Blogmistress.com did a beautiful job transferring everything for me. I still do everything on my own on my website, but Babs keeps it all ticking over and comes to the rescue when I mess things up … which, unfortunately, I still do on occasions.

If you are curious to learn more about Angelika please go to her website.

7: Interview with Michael Cannings from Camphor Press

Today’s interview is with Michael Cannings from Camphor Press who publishes books about East Asia. Read his interview to learn what tools he uses and whether this business is profitable.

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What kind of business do you run? When did you start it?

Camphor Press is a publishing company focused on East Asia. Our books are in English and cover a broad range of non-fiction subjects, with fiction to follow shortly. Most of our revenue comes from e-books, which we sell through Amazon, iTunes, and our own website. We started in early 2014 after about a year of planning.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.

There are three partners: John Ross, Mark Swofford, and Michael Cannings. John, a Kiwi, is the bona fide writer of the group with a couple of great books to his name. He manages communication with our authors, including the manuscript revision process. Mark, from the United States, is a professional editor with a long career working for Taiwanese public institutions, and also an expert on Mandarin romanisation. Michael is a language and history buff with a background in marketing and web development. At the time we started the business all three of us lived in Taiwan, although Michael has now returned to the U.K. after an eleven-year stint in the Far East.

How did you come up with the name of the company?

Coming from Taiwan we wanted a name that reflected the history of the region. Camphor was one of the most important products of Taiwan in the nineteenth century, and was widely used across much of Asia. It evokes a place and time that resonates with us, but it is still general enough that allows us room to cover a wide range of East Asia topics.

What was your experience setting up your company website?

We did this in-house with a combination of WordPress, WooCommerce, and a commercial theme we purchased. Having the knowledge to develop the site to suit our needs definitely saved us a lot of time and expense, and means that if we want to change anything we don’t need to go back to a developer – we simply do it ourselves. Taking advantage of the skills of the three partners was crucial to getting a small business like ours off the ground.

Does your business generate enough money to support you?

No. The three partners put in a lot of sweat equity, and the business returns a small profit as a result. If we had to pay ourselves the going rate for our time the business would be deep underwater. However, the point of setting up Camphor Press was never to make money – for us it is about providing a platform for great writers who weren’t being heard, and publishing the kind of books we want to read.

What tools do you use to run your business?

The central pieces of software we use are Word (for manuscript preparation), Coda (web development and e-book coding), Photoshop (for cover design), Calibre (e-book packaging), and InDesign (print book typesetting). We use Excel for managing our financials. In a cloudier direction we have a Wiki and Dropbox help to keep everything organised. For SEO the trio of Google Analytics, Google Webmaster and Moz Pro cover our needs pretty well.

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What keeps you motivated to keep working on your business?

There is enormous satisfaction in releasing a new book. It can be a lengthy, trying process of debate and revision, but at the end of it we have a product that we know is great. All three of us are hopeless bibliophiles so I think work-wise there is nothing we’d rather be doing. This is the key advantage in aligning your business with your passions – motivation takes care of itself. Except for tax returns – extra encouragement is definitely required there.

What are your future plans for the company?

We started as a digital-only publisher, but there is quite an appetite out there for our books in print. So in the short term with the help of print-on-demand providers we will be offering many more of our books in paperback as well as e-book. We are also moving into fiction, with three novels on the way in the first half of 2016. We will be increasing our physical distribution to get our books into more stores and continually adding to our catalog. In the longer term there is no grand master plan; we simply want to keep putting out great books.

Any tips on the best payment processors?

We use Stripe and the ubiquitous PayPal. We used to use PayPal exclusively, but with our business formerly being based in Taiwan, PayPal’s terms of use created some problems for use in retrieving money once people had paid. On moving the business to the UK, and having tried a few options for payment gateways we found that Stripe hit the sweet spot of ease of use, security, and API support. Looking back over the last year, 62% of our e-commerce transactions were through Stripe.

How competitive is your industry?

Not very. There is not a huge market in English-language books about East Asia, but the audience does tend to be knowledgeable and loyal. Alongside books from the big publishing houses there are a number of independent presses in the region, like Areca in Penang (Malaysia) and Earnshaw Books in Shanghai, putting out some great titles, but the subject area is so vast that there is plenty of room for other publishers. It is very much a “passion” industry though – you are not going to make your fortune in this niche.

Do authors keep the copyright of their books? How are they paid?

Yes, authors keep the copyright, and grant us the exclusive right to market and sell the book for a period of time. We operate a simple revenue-sharing model with our authors, so they receive 50% of net receipts (after taxes, currency fees, delivery and similar expenses) for their books. After the first 1,000 copies sold the author’s share jumps to 60%. We believe this is one of the most generous compensation schemes in the publishing world, and it’s only possible because the primary motive of the business is cultural rather than financial.

How do you find new authors? Do they approach you?

Now that our reputation has spread a little we are approached by quite a few writers. Generally we don’t consider “ideas” for books without at least a few sample chapters already written, and preferably a full draft manuscript. A lot of people have good ideas, but transforming that into writing that will captivate the reader is another thing entirely. We do also approach authors with a view to republishing an out-of-print work, writing an introduction for another book, or working on a new project entirely.

Click here to visit Camphor Press’ website to learn more.

6: Interview with Robert Adelman from GetSocked

Today we interview Robert Adelman who launched several projects, his newest project is GetSocked. 

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What inspired you to start this business?

I have a passion for socks, I feel bright, funky socks can make you and others around you feel happy, with my experience in running and selling an SEO company I had the skills and business acumen to launch and market a new business.

What are the best and worst parts of running your business?

Best: Being your own boss. Worst: Being your own boss. – What I mean by this is it is nice I don’t have anyone to answer too, if I need to do it I just do it, I don’t need approval, however being fast at making changes can cause issues such as rushing and really not understanding the full issue and if the solution I offer is actually the best solution. However after running my own businesses for nearly 10 years I am finally getting good at this.

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Serial entrepreneur Robert Adelman

Does your business generate enough money to support you?

This is a new venture so at the moment no as all profits are pumped back into the business however things are looking encouraging. However I do have my other 2 businesses that are generating income for me.

Which resources to run your business do you use most?

I use a variety, it really depends on what façade of the business I am trying to work on. I recently joined Harvard Business Review and their articles are amazing, I do read a few business books and I particularly like the author Alan Weiss.

What keeps you motivated to keep working on your business?

Family, strive to succeed and failure isn’t an option.

What would you recommend a new entrepreneur? How to get started?

Just do it and worry about the details later. Many people will say you are stupid or bad idea but these people are the very reason we have entrepreneurs.

How important do you think is talent when starting a business?

Hiring people with good social skills is far more important than hiring someone with work skills. I can teach a pleasant and respectful person anything, I can’t teach a stuck up brat who knows it all anything.

How much time do you spend running your business per day?

As little as possible which unfortunately means approx. 10-12 hours per day and the time I am not spent on the business is spent thinking about the business.

What is your single best non-obvious tip for running a business?

Follow your gut! If the gut says no then it is no!

What would you recommend to generate traffic to the website? Have you tried SEO companies?

Being a self labelled SEO expert, I know how important SEO is, but at the end of the day if your product is crap then by having good SEO you are only showing more people that your product is crap. Let’s assume your product is good, then it should self itself, referrals are always the best way to generate more traffic. However for GetSocked.com.au I am focusing more on targeted Facebook advertising and this is working remarkably well for little cost. SEO is hit and miss and isn’t guaranteed. Regardless of what you use to generate traffic it should be considered an aid and not a magic bullet.

How did you come up with the name of the company?

For GetSocked I gave a very dear friend of mine Sean Marsh from QuarshCreative 2 hours to come up with a name! He nailed it!

How do you stay productive and not get distracted?

I use my calendar in Outlook, if you look at my calendar I will have approx. 40 things to do for every single day and then I adjust as needed and when needed. I also use Evernote on all my devices so I can always have access to all my info.

Do you think that Social Media such as Twitter or Facebook are good marketing tools?

Yes providing you understand your target market.

Do you think making decisions on a gut feeling is a good idea?

ABSOLUTELY, a lot of the time it has been the deciding factor if I hire someone, take on a client etc.

Where is the best place to find freelancers?

Upwork can be good but you really need to know what you are after and spell it out. Sorry mum but I always have the mum test, which is if write something on a piece of paper and my mum understands it then it passes the test.

If you are interested in Robert’s project here’s the URL GetSocked.com.au.