This is an interview about creating a small business following your passion.
“When we started out, we just wanted to create and find amazing things. My mom had mentioned several times in the past how fun and financially helpful it would be to make things and sell them. I told my Mom about it and we decided to give it a try. She has always thought it would be fun to own a brick and mortar shop named “Nana & Co.” so that is where the name came from. Vickie (our mom) is Nana, my sister, my daughter, and myself are “the Co.”

Read the interview here.

The new business now has 1,200 subscribed to the system. They range from one man bands, startups, freelancers and sole traders right up to multi-million pound companies with 20+ employees.

Read more about how things started in the interview.

But can you do a business from motorcycle touring? What services could you provide that will give you both the pleasure to ride a bike and make a sustainable business? I was lucky enough to have Linda from Canyon Vista Motorcycle Tours for an interview and find out the answers to the above questions. Here is how Linda came up with the idea:

“Bob (husband) has been riding since he bought his first scooter – a Bella – when he was 14 years old. We’ve been riding in this area since we came here in l975, and love the area. Bob figured we’d get to share the area we love with others, we’d help the community by bringing people here, and mostly, he’d get to go riding more and not feel guilty that he wasn’t working!  We both love meeting the people and making good things happen for them.”

Cristian: What are the most important benefits as opposed to hitting the road by yourself?

Linda: Our Tour director knows the roads in the area, and will take you on roads you might find by yourself, but probably not on your first time out… or even second or third.  He also keeps track of construction on the roads, and any issues that need to be dealt with. Because we live here, we know what’s going on where and when, and will provide that info to our groups.  For example, we do not recommend a tour during Wellsboro’s Annual Laurel Festival which brings 40,000 people to the area, and fills all of the lodging a year in advance.  The roads we’d like to travel are crowded at that time as well.  It just isn’t a good time for a tour. A great time to come to Wellsboro for the Festival, however.
Another benefit is the safety factor. CVMctours has contacts in all of the places we ride incase we have a breakdown of any kind (people or bikes).  If we have larger groups, we provide extra follow riders who communicate with the leader.  Keeps us from losing any stragglers and we know if there is a problem behind us.

Read the interview here.

Aaron’s strong work ethic and level of responsibility helped Aaron to open three Cousins Subs shops throughout the Twin Cities metro area by the young age of 31. In 2008, he was honored with the President’s Award at the company’s annual convention for epitomizing the spirit and tradition of the Cousins Subs concept — it’s easy to understand why!

I was very happy to have an interview with Aaron to find out what it takes to risk 10 years of saving into starting your own business:

Hi Aaron and welcome to www.entrepreneurship-interviews.com. You’re in the restaurant business, tell us a bit what is about? Cousins Subs is a restaurant specializing in East Coast-style submarine sandwiches made with the finest ingredients served on a variety of freshly-baked breads, along with salads, soups, chips and soft drinks.  We’re a leading quick-service sandwich chain serving larger than average submarine sandwiches — 7.5 inches versus our competitors’ 6-inch offerings – made-to-order and tailored to each customers’ specifications. There are about 150 company- and franchise-owned locations in six states.

So you saved money to be able to get a loan from the bank? Yes, I saved as much money as I could and used it towards a down payment for my business which helped me to secure the loan.

And then invested the hard earned money and the loan in a restaurant that didn’t do well? I invested into a restaurant where I believed I could come in and make some positive changes to improve the operations of the restaurant which would increase sales.  And that’s exactly what happened.

Read the interview.

Phil Murphy, CEO of Storage by the Box answered all these during the interview and told me how he got to do a successful business leaving his Oracle executive position.

“I was raised in a family of entrepreneurs. Growing up, my parents owned auto repair shops and my grandma was also an independent business owner. I have always wanted to follow in their footsteps and own my own business.
My first endeavor was to buy a self-storage facility in Joliet about six years ago. I purchased the facility by refinancing my condo in downtown Chicago.  It was a risk but owning my own business was my goal.  I then leveraged my existing facility and so on until I had been able to open a number of locations.  It was my experience in the storage industry combined with my background in technology that ultimately sparked the idea to launch Storage by the Box.”

In 1999, Jeff Zeigler discovered a problem and a business opportunity. “As Y2k approached, I saw a huge event about to happen. Lots of companies were upgrading computer hardware and there were no good options for their old units.” Seeing the financial and environmental potential in reclaiming electronic waste, Zeigler launched TechTurn in Austin, Texas.

Read the interview here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAOoygMw1m0

Read the interview with Ryan here.

Cristian: Hi Kevin, welcome on board. Tell us a few words about yourself.

Kevin:  When I was a teenager I took a job working at a hotel owned by a couple who had come to the US from Eastern Europe.  I learned a tremendous amount from them about how to run a successful business.  During the 10 years I worked for them the number of rooms in the hotel increased from just over 100 to more than 400 (including a second property they built next door).  This experience triggered a life-long fascination with entrepreneurship and the factors associated with small business success and failure.  I am trained as a scientist and have managed to combine my interests in science and entrepreneurship in a business that designs and conducts clinical trials to tests food and pharmaceutical products.

Read the interview here.

I had the chance to interview Cheney and find out about the availability of green loan programs designed to sustain green products and services, one example being Accion USA. As a leader in U.S. microfinance, ACCION USA empowers business owners with access to capital and financial education. In addition they offer a green loan program with reduced interest rates on loans made to small businesses that provide or use green products and services.

Read the interview here.

Luckily for me, there is now a book called “We are All Born Entrepreneurs” and I got the chance to interview the author, Steve Welch about the book and his discoveries about entrepreneurs.

Read the interview here.

Cristian: Hi Weldon and welcome on Entrepreneurship Interviews. I had the chance to read and review your book The Upside of Fear: How One Man Broke the Cycle of Prison, Poverty, and Addiction. So what is the book about?

Weldon: Well, it’s really a book about how we can all live our dreams if we are deeply committed to achieving them. In a nutshell, I spent 20 years broke, homeless and drunk. I was your garden variety loser who spent 13 years in prison. About halfway through my “prison years” my father died and I decided to change the course of my destiny and that’s what I did. In fact, I walked out of the joint in 2003 without a dime to my name, built an Inc 5000 company with over $20,000,000 in sales and got a home on Maui. The book outlines the journey and the tools I used to transform my life.

Read the rest of the interview here.

Tuesday March 16th 2010, London – Vivid Resourcing, a prestigious London-based agency, celebrated their second anniversary last Wednesday. Though the company began as a small team, they have big dreams which are on course to be realised in the near future. Managing Director Charlie Walker, was only 25 when founding Vivid Resourcing, and his enthusiasm and ambitious nature have enabled him to swiftly grow the company. On course for a second-year turnover of 3.5 million, having doubled monthly profits since May 2009, Vivid are aiming to build their team of consultants to over twenty within the next three months.

“The typical career path for a young graduate with my background would have seen me waiting for at least 15 years before I could reach a position of responsibility and recognition,” explains Charlie Walker managing director of Vivid Resourcing. “This did not sit well with my ambitious nature; I wanted the responsibility and top level experience early on. After hearing a family friend describe how she became a director by the age of 30 while working in recruitment, I knew it was for me.”

Establishing a young, vibrant and driven environment, Walker has settled into his role with ease. Having given up a 150k salary as the top sales-person at an established recruitment brand to found Vivid, his gamble appears to have paid off. He and his team have built themselves a strong reputation with both candidates and clients for the supply of exceptional contract staff in the NHS and are also strong players in the Business Intelligence, Engineering and Finance sectors. With their consistent delivery of quality recruitment services and an enviable list of client testimonials, one can expect big things from Walker and Vivid over the coming months.

Hello Baby is an online nursery shop selling a wide range of product for babies and toddlers including prams, pushchairs, car seats, nursery furniture and highchairs.  Everything you need for a happy family!

See this entrepreneurship story here.

Not sure about you, but when I’m thinking about Argentina, I’m thinking about a delicious Argentinian steak, tango and a Spanish that is music to my ears (Hey, I’ve studied Spanish in High School). So, I’m very happy to say that I’ve got to update my narrow view about Argentina by interviewing the Argentinian entrpreneur Germán S. Arduino. He’s making software, being what you could call a microISV. A Micro-ISV (abbr. mISV or μISV), a term coined by Eric Sink, is an independent software vendor with just one software developer. In such an environment the company owner develops software, manages sales and does public relations.

Sounds small? Yeah, but this guy is selling his products USA, Australia, New Zealand, India, Belgium, Spain, Argentina and United Kingdom. How does this sound for a one person company? Read the interview here.

Read the 36 interviews over to Entrepreneurship-interviews.com

Cristian: Hi Anthony and welcome!  You are one of these guys that started a business in the middle of the economic crisis. What is your business about?

Anthony: Hi Cristian, thank you for having me, I really appreciate the opportunity.  I created and oversee a dietary supplement powder drink mix that prevents hangovers called THC-The Hangover Cure.  My product is for sale online at www.drinkthc.com and through various distribution channels worldwide.

Cristian: You told me that you’ve been laid off from a big company this year due to the economic crisis, so being laid off can be good sometimes?

Read the rest of the interview on Entrepreneurship Interviews.

Cristian: I had a look at some articles about you, and I found out you have invented a lot of new technologies, gadgets and software. So do you consider yourself an inventor or an entrepreneur?

Justin: I would say probably on a day to day basis I consider myself more an entrepreneur more then an inventor. I never really bonded with the word “inventor” I think everyone is an inventor in their creative outlet. But true entrepreneurs those are rare. I don’t even know if I deserve that title yet.

Read the rest of the interview with this young entrepreneur here.

A well-respected authority on online retail sales, Ms. Linevsky has more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience. She launched her first successful online venture in 1994 with her husband, Richard: a men’s catalog called The Artist Collar, in which upscale men’s neckties were marketed and sold via direct mail, along with 24/7 telemarketing, fulfillment and e-commerce. After three years of building the company and establishing one of the Internet’s first e-commerce sites, the Linevsky’s sold The Artist Collar to a competitor. With the capital from the sale, they launched CatalogSavings.com, which later became Catalogs.com.

Here is what I found out at the interview:

Cristian: Hi Leslie and welcome to Entrepreneurship-interviews.com. You’re running an online business, what is it about?

Leslie: My husband and I noticed early on that many merchants were trying to find a balance between traditional catalog marketing and new online avenues. So, we created Catalogs.com to meet that demand. Catalogs.com provides a mechanism for merchants to offer a variety of options, while offering consumers the convenience and efficiency of online shopping. For 13 years, we have helped shoppers find and order the perfect catalogs for the products they want, all free of charge.

We offer access to over 650 print and online catalogs from the world’s largest retail companies to specialized companies providing unique and hard to find items.

Read more on Entrepreneur Interviews.

Cristian:  Andrew, welcome on Entrepreneurship interviews. You are running an online publishing business, what is it?

Andrew: We run a number of websites in the entrepreneur space and have been doing so since 1996. We like to think that the whole business is greater than the sum of each website as we are able to cross-refer pertinent and engaged traffic between them.

Find out the rest over the Entrepreneurship Interviews blog.

On other fields, Ohad sits in the board of directors of the Israeli Photography College (http://www.pck.co.il) and was elected to the city council of my hometown few months ago.

Read the interview with young entrepreneur Ohad Rosen here.

Cristian: How did you come up with the idea to start a business?

Matthew: About 3 years ago, my uncle was running for county sheriff and asked me for assistance with a website for h is campaign. I agreed and with a little research I was able to get his site up within a few weeks. A few weeks later, I was at church when the local Town Supervisor came up to me and asked me what I had been up to. I told him about the website that I had helped my uncle with and he mentioned to me that the local town was interested in having web renovations done for their website. After a few months of work and research I had the Town’s website completed. Creating websites was fun and I loved being paid to work in my own home. It has been to dream to run my own business since the 1st grade, and I saw this as an opportunity to work for myself and be an entrepreneur.

Curious to know how this works? Read the interview here.

Cristian: You told me that books like Toilet Paper Entrepreneur (written by Mike Michalowicz) had an important role in becoming an entrepreneur. But how important is school?

Patricio: School to me is important. Not a big fan of the curriculum and the goals behind today’s education but it’s important. The experiences you can gain are priceless and worth taking advantage of.

He is still 17 and in High school, so how does school work together with running a business? Read the rest of the interview to find out.

Read the interview and find out more about Veedda here.

Ideablob is a site designed to help small business people share great ideas, and vote on the best ideas. The winners get $10,000 each month from Advanta, a company that issues credit cards to small businesses. Advanta as well has a really interesting history. It got its start loaning money to school teachers to tide them over during the summer months and during strikes, something that at the time was unheard of in banking circles.

I had the chance to interview Ami Kassar, Chief Innovation Officer of Advanta and ideablob.com about the “Pitch George” initiative.

Cristian: You are sponsoring an event at George Washington University called “Pitch George”. What is the Pitch George competition?

Ami: “Pitch George” is an opportunity for high school students, undergraduates, graduate students and alumni of GW to pitch their business ideas to a panel of professionals. It is a great way for young professionals to get feedback from a panel of successful metropolitan area entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and GW alumni. Not to mention, a great way to sharpen up their pitching skills.

Cristian: What are the main judging criteria for the contest?

Ami: The panel will evaluate the participants based on their business idea & context, the idea content & quality, and their presentation style.

Cristian: Applications for Pitch George are already closed; can you say a few words about the participants?

Ami: The participants are current GW students, alumni and local high school students. I’m sure it will be a great group of students, and we look forward to awarding the ideablob.com cash prizes to the most promising graduate and high school students.

Read the rest of the interview here.