They started from selling lemonade to raking leaves and shovelling snow and now they both run a series of successful business, I guess you would say their twin bond has helped them along the way, whatever the case is, the twins are not stopping, They are currently sitting their finals, Im sure we will be hearing a lot from them in the near future.

In this interview they talked about:

How they got started in business
What else they do out of business
what they are currently working on
Their twin bond
Their favourite company and advices for young entrepreneurs out there

Guys, I’m so glad you are able to make time to join us, welcome to YHP and how are you doing?

We’re doing great thank you!

Can you give us some brief background of yourself?

I am currently a senior studying accountancy and technology & management (engineering). I love business! I have always been fascinated by entrepreneurship and the ability for one to create new technology and innovations to improve the lives of others.

So who is older?

Ashton is older.

How are you guys able to do business and still be cool brothers regardless?

Business and entrepreneurship is our hobby. We love what we do. Working together brings us closer. We are always finding new ways to do something. We enjoy finding solutions to problems and turning these solutions into the successful businesses. As college students we have our own lives. Ryan has his own friends and I have mine as well. At the end of the day we come together and work on our ideas and current businesses.
Our twin bond has helped us greatly in business. We are a great team. I would not change it for the world.

When did you both begin on your entrepreneurship journey?

We began our entrepreneurship journey very early in our lives. As soon as we could mix lemonade as children we were selling it outside our home. At the age of 9 we started raking leaves and shovelling snow. We quickly found out that if we worked hard enough we could make money! This is exactly what we started to do. We had so much business as kids that it was kind of overwhelming at the time. We had a waiting list of clients to serve; the two of us could not handle it ourselves. People would call our house to see when we were available to rake leaves or shovel snow. The demand for our services was greater than what we could supply. This was phenomenal! We were young entrepreneurs. We were Clark Snow and Leaf Removal.

Can you explain to us what your company does and the roles you both play?

Ashton is the President of Dynamik Duo and Ryan is the Vice President. Dynamik Duo is our holding company for some of our internet web ventures. We also wanted something to identify us beyond our names. Dynamik Duo does just this. We are a strong team. In other words we are very Dynamik. We are known as the
Dynamik Duo on campus and when we speak around the United States in regards to entrepreneurship. We are both responsible for working on new business ideas and growing our existing companies.

What inspired you to start business at such a young age? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship from your family?

My mom is a business woman as well as my grandfather. They always encouraged my brother and me to go after our dreams. And this is exactly what we did. Ryan and I worked hard on our businesses ludakicks.com and 247mixtapes.com throughout high school. Everyone has a hobby of some sort. Ours happens to be starting companies and growing them. This is our expertise.

Did being an entrepreneur at such a young age affect your family?

Being an entrepreneur at such a young age had a strong affect on my family. Our family saw our passion and realized that this is our special gift. My mom helped us and watched us to make sure we were on the right track. She also made sure that we were kids first and entrepreneurs second. We played just like any other kid in our neighbourhood. We just did not play as long. We learned how to manage our time and still have fun as kids. We learned time management, and work, life-balance at a young age.

How are you both able to maintain good grades and run multiple companies very successful at the same time? What is your secret or is it a magic word?

Yes, we are phenomenal students. In fact we are at the top of our class. Our secret is that we are students first. I consider school to be a game, some people play it right and others do not. We know the rules of the game and what it takes to be successful. We work hard and study hard to ensure that we make and maintain good grades. In order to achieve this and maintain a successful business we sacrifice sleep. But we make it through and management everything we have to do. Time management is very important to us. It helps us to make sure we take care of the tasks we have at hand.

What are your hobbies?

I love playing the piano. I am a keyboardist/pianist on my campus. I play for various groups and performers on campus and in Chicago. It helps me to relax and overcome the difficulties I face in school and business. If I did not play the piano, I would be stressed out. Being a student entrepreneur is very stressful at times. At the end of the day I have to perform in school and with my business.

How did you get finance to fund your business?

Our businesses are all self funded. Our mom taught us to save our money at an early age. We used this money to start our companies.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy?

Do not spend a great deal of money on internet marketing when you are first starting. This is one reason why most star ups fail. They incur more expenses than revenues and essentiality go out of business because they cannot cover their costs.

We learned to tell others what we are doing. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising. It has worked well for us. If a customer of ours likes our product, they will come back and tell others. This is an example of one successful marketing strategy for us.

What is your business model?

Our business model is simple, bring our creative ideas to fruition and make them profitable.

What is any average workday like for you both?

Our days vary. No day is exactly the same. One day I may work on the programming and design of one of my current websites and the other I may work on our marketing strategy. As an entrepreneur, I handle every single task you could think of: Accounting, marketing, and technology to name a few.

How has your market changed in the past few years? How has your business changed to keep pace?

With the recession that America is in we have had to work harder to find new customers and satisfy our current customer base. We have superior customer service in comparison to our competitors. This is one technique that sets us apart from our competition. We have used our prices with discounts and coupons to encourage new customers to try our service.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

Telling everyone! No matter how much we advertise our company has grown the quickest when our customers tell their friends and family about our services. To stay competitive we work smarter and not harder. This is one of greatest limitations. Because we know this, we work hard to manage our time and use our existing time in ways that will most benefit our current and future companies.

What plans do you have now to expand your business further?

Currently, I am working on our next start up called UTicketIt.com an event registration and Management Company. We are set to launch our company in January. Stay tuned. If you are looking for a way to sell tickets to your event online, UTicketIt.com is the solution for you.

What systems have you used to automate your business to give you more time for business planning and development?

Many of our systems are custom made. We use knowledge bases and FAQ sections on our website to automate common answers to questions our customers have. Since our companies are based online, our websites enable us to automate 90% of our processes. This allows us to focus our time on the 10 of non automated work as well as new ventures.

Apart from your company, what other company do you admire the most and why?

I admire start ups like Google, Meebo, and Vimeo to name a few. Just take a look at them. You can see how innovative they are. They help to set the newest trends on the internet. They are perfect examples of successful internet start-ups. They motivate me to work hard because I want to be just as successful as they are.

I totally agree, I have actually just finished an interview with the co-founder of Meebo, Elaine wherry, she gives us an amazing interview, i would say you should stay updated for that.

Who is your favourite young entrepreneur at this moment?

This is an interesting question. I have to do more thinking regarding this.

What is your favourite business tool?

I like content management systems. They contribute significantly to automate processes within my companies.

What has been your most fulfilling moment so far?

My ability to give back to my community. I like helping others. These are my most fulfilling moments.
What do you do not to get carried away having achieved some much at such young ages?

I understand where I came from. And I will never forget where I came from.

What should be expecting next from you guys?

The release of UTicketIt.com . I hope we can do a news blast on your site when it goes live next month?

SURE! Shoot me an email as soon as it launches

What advices do you have for young entrepreneurs out there?

Continue to go after you dreams. You can do well in school and still be an entrepreneur. The key is to work smarter. As a student, your time is already limited. You should make sure that you are spending your time as wisely as possible. Use your time effectively. I do this on a daily basis. Ask yourself the following question, how can I add the most value to my companies? Just a thought.

Thanks for your time Guys

Check out their website and get in touch to ask them any questions we din’t cover in the interview, Remember they are currently sitting their finals.

Hercules Networks is a manufacturer and distributor of Automated Charging Machines, public charging stations that rapidly charge a variety of devices. Our mission is to set a new trend in digital media advertising – to make the ACM as widespread as the ATM.

Let me explain this better, Paul king’s company is responsible for manufacturing machines that makes it possible for you to charge your mobile phones in public..Cool right?

Don’t forget to leave comments on what you think of paul king and his company..

Paul, Thanks for taking some of your time to be with us here on YHP , How are you doing today?

Every day is a blessing, I’m doing great.

Can you give us some background information about yourself?

I am 25, graduated from Carnegie Mellon summa cum laude. Started a real estate agency when I was 22 with the help of an investor and grew it to 38 agents. Started Hercules Networks at 23 with the help of an investor. I am an avid sports fan, and big believer in positive energy.

Where did your organization’s funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?

The first investor in Hercules was Michael Gold – who is executive chairman of the company today. We then together raised another round of capital from 3 private angel investors. I met Michael through a mutual friend. Michael is a real estate developer in Miami, though he is now fully devoted to Hercules. I met one of the angels when he walked by my office, and said “What is that machine”? I told him it’s a machine that charges cell phones and plays commercials and he said “this is the coolest idea I’ve ever heard of”. He then brought in his 2 friends to invest with him.

Can you tell us what you do in your company?

Whatever is the most important at the time. My job function changes constantly. We are a small company with 12 employees, and we sell our products and services internationally, so everyone has a lot to do all the time. I focus on what is most important to the organization and analyze this at the beginning of every week, then devote my time and energy to that.

Describe/outline your typical day?

Wake up at 7, gym, then office by 8:30. 30 minutes of responding to emails, sending emails. Group meeting at 9, discuss strategy for the day. 10-12:30, focus on what I have decided is most important. 12:30 lunch. 1:00 – walk around and see how everyone is doing on their tasks. Then get back to my focus. Around 5pm I take a break. From 5:30-6:30 everyone has left and I have some time to think abstractly about the business.

Is your company profitable or what is your profit for last year?

We started in April 2008. Our first full year is 2009, and it looks like we are on track for $400,000 in revenue in 2009. We expect to be profitable in 2010, with 1.5 Million in revenue.

What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?

We manufacture in China, and their quality control doesn’t really exist. They try to make everything as cheaply as possible, and this has led to lots of problems for us. I have been to China 3 times, and we changed manufacturers twice until we finally found a company that was willing to meet our quality control standards.

I make mistakes all the time, but I never make the same mistake twice.

If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?

Nothing. I am very happy and blessed.

What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this particular type of culture?

It is open and free, where everyone has the ability to express their opinions and ideas. At the same time, everyone knows they have to perform and perform well. Everyone is also incentivized by company performance, so if the company makes more money, so do they.

How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?

We have focused more on PR than marketing, or I should say PR as our marketing. It is powerful because it is an unbiased perspective of your business. We have done some pay per lead deals, and are about to set up an adwords marketing plan.

What has been your most satisfying moment in business?

Raising our second round of capital – it proved that we were moving in the right direction.

How important has good employees been to your success?

The idea is nothing without execution, and execution comes from a good team. So, they are everything to our success.

What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs trying to start their business?

Start it. You will learn on the way, and it will make you a better and smarter person. Remember that every rejection is feedback that you can learn from and improve your business, your pitch, whatever it is that people may not be buying into.

What is the best advice you’ve ever being given?

Michael Gold told me that there are two types of people, the idea people, and the people that execute those ideas. He said that I am an idea person, and we need to find people that execute and we will build something special.

Thanks for your time Paul

Check out their website and the cool things they produce

I finally got the chance to do the interview with jesse gossett, who has being a busy man of late or should i say the entrepreneur of the moment, Not only was his company the Winner of BusinessWeek’s Top 25 Under 25 Competition, they were also Invited to the White House .

Hello Jesse, How are you doing today? We appreciate you sharing some of your time with us on YHP

Glad to!

Can you quickly give the Readers some background information about yourself?

I’m from Washington State origionally, grew up in the woods, went to Tufts University and graduated with a double major in Environmental Science and History in 2008.

So what do you do?

I work for Emergent Energy Group, a company I co-founded with some friends from Tufts University.

What inspired you to start a company? How did the idea start?

We travelled the world through a club we were a part of at Tufts. On these trips we would study different energy issues, such as green transmission lines in CA, the carbon cap and trade system in the EU, and the first annual World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

How were you able to manage your time between studies and starting up a business?

I was a liberal arts student. I didn’t do homework…

Is this your first business?

Yes

How did you finance your business?

We sold 2 contracts before we graduated, giving us some cash in the bank so we could hit the ground running. Since then it’s been boot-strapped. We’re currently poking around for some seed funds to help launch our solar development branch here in MA, though.

Who are your target market, how do you market to them and what marketing technique has been the most effective?

Network, network network. This business is all about relationships. And if people like you, they’ll work with you. Our customers are all over the place, from developers to municipalities to businesses.

What outsiders have been most important to your business success?

Mentors. We have a very strong group of mentors that we’ve met around Boston, everyone from fellow entrepreneurs to business partners who’ve been doing this for a long time.

Do you believe business has any obligation to make the world a better place?

Absolutely. We’re very big proponents of the triple bottom line.

How many hours do you work a day on average?

Too many… We love what we do, so we don’t notice. Girlfriends do, though…

What have been some of your failures, and what have you learned from them?

You’re never going to get it completely right the first time. Be prepared to continually evolve both professionally as a company as well as personally as an employee, manager, and entrepreneur.

On those impossible days, what motivates you to keep going?

I’m an energy nerd, so I truely do enjoy the sector we’re in. Oh, and I have flashbacks to life in a cubicle…

Do you have a favourite business tool or resource?

Google earth. For what we do, it does everything.

Where do you see in yourself and your business in the next 5 years?

I’ll have some grey hairs (figuratively and literally…). Emergent will have transformed the way renewable energy is developed in the North East and will have set its sights nationally and internationally.

Thanks for your time Jesse

Connect with Jesse on Twitter and don’t forget to check out their website, they’re doing some great things, you will be amazed.