I’m sure if you enjoy going through youtube, listening to music covers of your favourite artists, then im sure by now you will be very familar with nick pitera.

I decided to catch up with him to ask him some tips for upcoming music artist, especially those using youtube for some kind of promotion.

If you dont know Nick, quickly check out his youtube page, before you start reading this interview.

Ok, now with that out of the way, check out what we talked about.

Hi Nick, it’s great to finally have you here on YHP, How are you doing?

I’m doing very well thank you!

Tell us a bit about your background, how did you get involved in music?

I have been singing my entire life. I don’t remember a time where I wasn’t running around attempting to belt out whatever song was currently stuck in my head.

So how did you get involved in making videos on youtube?

My first YouTube video was a contest entry. A fellow classmate sent me a link to a Disney singing contest that required you to submit your entry via a YouTube video. I thought it would be fun, but never thought very much of it. To my surprise the video view count started to rise rapidly. My friends then told me I should record myself singing a duet, and post that as well.

I decided to post “A Whole New World.” That video then went viral. After that I thought YouTube would be a great musical outlet, and decided to continue posting videos.

Since you’ve started, what are some of the advantages, opportunities or edge uploading your videos on youtube has given you?

YouTube has been an amazing experience. Since first posting I have had the opportunity to travel the country singing at various venues and colleges. I was also lucky enough to appear on the Ellen show twice this past year as well as a couple other local and national TV spots.

What are some of the tips that you can an upcoming singer/songwriter that are just getting into the youtube world, what are some of the tactics that worked for you?

Since I sort of stumbled on the YouTube world. I’m not sure what advise to give. A lot of it depends on timing and luck. I think the best thing to do, is make sure you are creating content that is true to you and that you are proud of. If it’s good, and people like it, hopefully it will get spread around and receive some exposure.

What is your source of inspiration, what motivates you to write or sing each day?

My inspiration comes from a variety of places. I get inspired by films, musicals, play, musicians, other YouTube singers. I credit the Disney films of the 90’s for teaching me to sing, and artists like Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, and Whitney Houston, for showing me how to belt out a power ballad.

How does 23 years old get himself working at Pixar animation studios? That’s kind of a big deal right?

Lots and lots of hard work.

I know you get a lot of critics attacking your voice, how do you deal with it?

I don’t pay attention to it. I am too grateful for all of the opportunities that singing has brought me to focus on the negative. Thankfully the shock value of how I sing seems to have worn off a bit. Now those that view my videos do so because they genuinely like it and want to hear more.

Do you think getting a record deal is as important has it was couple of years ago, you know we’ve seen people leveraging the power of social media and making it work for them? How can an upcoming really leverage the power of social media?

I still think it helps quite a bit. That being said, with the Internet providing people with the means to self promote, I feel self produced and released projects will continue to increase.

What tools do you use to brand yourself and promote your materials?

I use YouTube, Twitter, a Facebook music page, and occasionally a blog to promote my music.

Can you share with us some of the mistakes you’ve along the way and how upcoming singers/songwriters can avoid that?

I am just now getting into my own original music, and really starting to shape who I am as an artist. I think it’s important to know what you want to do, and not be a cookie cutter version of someone else. I’ve learned that finding your own sound and voice is extremely important.

What do you get up to during your me-time?

Since I work full time in the animation industry, I spend a lot of my me time working on music.

What have been some of the key lessons you’ve learnt so far?

I’ve learned how to deal with negativity. I’ve also learned the importance of constructive criticism. When people feel safe and distanced on their computer they tend to be very honest. It’s important to know what your audience wants and likes. Posting online has really brought that to my attention.

What has been the highlight of your journey so far?

Appearing on the Ellen show as a guest was extremely exciting and and experience I’ll never forget.

What should we be expecting from you next?

I just worked on a cover of Taio Cruz’s Dynamite with some produces from the UK. That track is now up on iTunes and Amazon. I am now working with them on an EP of covers being released to iTunes sometime in October. I am also working on original music which will hopefully soon follow.

Thanks nick, hope to chat up with you very soon, good luck!

Thanks so much joseph!

Dont forget to also follow nick on twitter @Nickpitera

Support his cover of Taio cruz’s Dynamite on iTunes

Finally met up with sabirul islam, the famous entrepreneur that sold 42,000 copies of his book “The world at your feet” in 9 months, when he was 13 he got fired from working with his cousin only after 2 weeks.

Now to the interview , hope you enjoy it.

You got into business from such a young age, from my research its says you got into business at 13, but started your business at 14, what inspired you at such an early age?

Having been weighing up my options for GCSE at 13, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to work for my cousin, who at the time was 14 years of age. He ran his own business designing calendars for teachers in schools. Not the greatest of ideas but I was really inspired by his work. I had the role of a production director, designing the calendars. But I didn’t really live up to the expectations and 2 weeks later got fired!

I have to say it was the most difficult moment in my life, to not only have been fired but fired by my own cousin. It was hard to take in…However, he made £60 profit in one whole academic year and I was on a mission to prove my cousin wrong for firing me.

I wanted to run a business that made more money than he did which led me to setting up my first web design business at the age of 14, which was really successful having ran it for 2 years. Until I realised at 16 that web design was too common so I left the business.

How did you come about writing your book “the world at your feet”?

Having become an entrepreneur at the age of 14 and an investor at 16, it was somewhat outside the norm of what the community expected. Therefore, I had a lot of young people asking me constant questions on how they could do the same, which led me to writing The World at Your Feet book.

For every person I answered the question on how to become an entrepreneur, I believed that it straight away went through one ear and came out of the next. Therefore, I had to give something back in written evidence, which I believe they can always refer back to and seek as inspiration.

The book has a vision to inspire young people about the successes that lie ahead when opportunity is created and most importantly when young people strongly believe in who they are as a person and their abilities to make the most of their talents.

Reading your story, it says you sold over 42,000 copies of your book? That’s right, right? Or how many copies have you sold so far?

Yes, I did sell 42,500 copies of the book and in a space of 9 months.

Can I just “ how the hell were you able to sell 42,000 copies in the space of 9 months”, I’m sure everyone is curious about your tactics, strategies, how the hell did you pull that off, can you share some of your tactics with us, especially with people that are looking to publish their books?

I believe it is all about empowering people to believe in themselves and others that we are all extraordinary. Having written the book, I straight away became a motivational speaker, and spoke at 379 events within the 9 months (333 secondary schools) which led me to selling the 42,500 copies.

I felt that selling directly to young people will not be possible, therefore targeted the education market which I thought was fantastic.

But it’s not about being a sales person standing on stage and looking to sell. No! It’s about the power of inspiration and influence, enabling people to grow in self belief and being passionate about the topic in which you are talking about. Getting more people on board with your vision or topic enables greater opportunity for them to be a part of your network, purchase your products and see you as a role model and an inspiration.

Take us back to when you went to New York with Merrill lynch, how was the experience, how did it come about?

This was totally unexpected and to be honest, I wasn’t really keen to go to the States. But I was convinced
by my parents that it would be a fantastic experience.

Before the summer holiday period, I received a phone call illustrating the opportunity that lies ahead in learning about business and investment in New York. Having been convinced to go, I learnt how to trade in the stock market at the age of 16, working with professional traders in the New York stock market and entrepreneurs from Wall St.

I came back to the UK and put what I learnt to action…becoming a stock trader at the age of just 16. But I felt I was bit too young for this sort of commitment therefore only really bought stock for about 9 months. But it was a fantastic experience!

So you will be speaking at TEDx Youth Event in Amsterdam this November, how did you go about getting involved in that?

Once you develop a strong personal brand with a vision to inspire, and encourage the growth of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial learning…Opportunity will come to you rather than you having to seek for it. As an entrepreneur, unexpected things happen, which is exactly what happened here. I received an email from the organisers of the TEDx Youth Event from Amsterdam and was invited to speak at the event.

That is the great thing about being an entrepreneur; opportunities can arise any moment in time. So always expect the unexpected!

You’re no longer the teen entrepreneur, how has the journey been so far?

I believe that everyone is still a teen until they reach 30! I’m currently aged twen-teen (20) which I’m sure still makes me a teen 

But it’s been an unbelievable experience. I always look back to the moment I got fired at the age of 13 and think, what if I hadn’t been fired…Would I have been working at McDonalds at this point in time. I just don’t know!

But having become an entrepreneur, motivational speaker and an author, it’s been a fantastic journey. Having turned 18, I launched my own business board game which is titled as ‘Teen-Trepreneur’ hence that is where the name comes from.

The game has been used as part of the business BTEC academic learning which is quite extraordinary as I wasn’t really expecting it to achieve this accolade. Having turned 19, I started speaking in countries around the world such as Nigeria, South Africa, USA and now 20; I’ve launched the new business start kit for young people to encourage future growth and learning of entrepreneurship and will be on a world tour!
So, I say it’s been quite a fascinating few years but hey it’s still early days!

What inspires you and keeps you motivated as an entrepreneur on a day-day basis?

Every day is a new challenge and as an entrepreneur it is fascinating to tackle new challenges and obstacles on a day to day basis.

With my passion to inspire many young people around the world, I believe that every person out there is taking in the words of inspiration and trying to make something happen. I’ve had many people come back to me and state that I’ve changed their life…That is the biggest and most inspirational thing a person can hear.

And the fact that as an entrepreneur new ideas are always looming! So I believe both these two factor keep me going!

What are your hobbies? What do you get up to when you’re not talking business or giving inspirational/motivational speeches?

Over the past year or so, I’ve somewhat been attached to the Playstation which is quite a change for me, as I wasn’t attached to games before. But these modern high tech gizmos are quite rewarding and relaxing!

I also like travelling and taking breaks…so I do go out with friends and family and enjoy myself!
One thing which my mother’s not happy about is the fact that I bought a 6ft snooker table a few months back, which is now sitting in the living room! Have been playing that when I haven’t been working. Good fun!

What would you like to see more of happening as a young entrepreneur?

I just love doing business abroad…I would have to say that I would be delighted if more opportunities to speak or trade in countries that could really do with the products and services I supply.
But it’s all about taking one step at a time…That is where I believe the thrill of the journey comes from!

For the people that haven’t read your book yet, what can they be sure to learn from it?

The World at Your Feet follows a vision to inspire, educate and provide opportunities to jump on to the entrepreneurial platform. It provides a direction and choice of learning about the successes behind entrepreneurship and setting up a business.

The new launch of the Teen-Trepreneur Trilogy books supports life choices, for those who don’t know what they’ll do for their future.

The books help gain interest in the topic of entrepreneurship, help develop your personal brand and teach the core steps to setting up a real business.

There are many people out there full of scepticism and doubt about who they are and their talents. The World at Your Feet book aims to inject belief and hope that ordinary individuals who do something unique make them extraordinary.

And no, it’s not a 40 year olds views on successes in life…Its views from a teenager who was aged 17 (myself ), that had unlocked the beauty of success. So the gap between, those who need help to the person who wrote the book aged 17, is minimal. So there is hope that we can all achieve success.

You been to a lot of countries, giving inspirational talks, what has been your best experience so far?

Without a doubt my time in South Africa was amazing. I spoke at a conference which had listeners of over 2 million people on radio from over 170 countries.

Had great responses from people in South Africa and the people I stayed with will truly live long in my memories.

I even had my books and games sold in South Africa and now have constant orders from country…Great for business. One great thing that happened was when I spoke at a school in South Africa, one of the student bought my book from a local store and wanted my autograph.

She then searched online, asked people around and found out where I was staying…She came over with her dad just to have the book signed having searched for 2 days. Which I thought was awesome and really inspirational.

It will take something really special to beat the experience I had in South Africa.

What has been your most memorable moment so far?

It has to be when I was awarded the Mosaic Entrepreneur of the Year award by HRH Prince of Wales and HRH Princess of Jordan in 2008.

There have been a lot of extraordinary moments during my time but this has to top it, as I was nominated by Merrill Lynch, and was the youngest person nominated for the award, up against top business owners in their 30s and 40s. Which I thought was fantastic!

What has been some of the key lessons you’ve learnt so far on your journey as an entrepreneur?

It is very important to follow the 3 P’s as an entrepreneur…You have to remain Positive at all times. It’s important to always see negative influence as a means to doing positive things and to prove others wrong. I learnt about the importance in being Passionate about what you do, because without passion there is no hope. And finally, what I’ve learnt is that illustrating Perseverance is key. Hard work and determination, even through tough times is how true entrepreneurs succeed.

So what’s next for you?

I’ll be starting my World Tour in October, speaking in 20 countries in 12 months. In November, I’ll be launching the new Teen-Trepreneur Speakers Bureau and from next year the Teen-Trepreneur Board Game will be selling globally.

So there is still a bit to do, but I’ve always said to myself…Duncan Bannatyne became an entrepreneur aged 30 and is now a multi-millionaire. I started at 14 and am now aged 20. Well, I speak for many young entrepreneurs when I say that we are already more success than he is! 

What tips have you got for young entrepreneurs especially those looking to publish their books?

It’s easy and simple…All it takes is for you to write a story, design it yourself or find a designer and publish on Lulu.com…It’s simple, its free and it will make you more successful than those who take their manuscripts off to a mainstream publishers and get rejected! Give it a try. It won’t cost you to publish a book!

Thanks for your time sabirul, hope to catch up with you soon.

I recently got the chance of speaking to Suleman Sacranie, founder of 99pshopper.com, a really cool guy with an interesting idea and something that i will think will go far, it’s definitely going to be huge.

Rather than walking to your favourite shop, or maybe you forgot to do your weekly or monthly shopping, or you recently cut down the budget for your weekly shopping.

99pshopper.com offers you products for 99p with delivery, just think 99p store but online and delivery. Cool right? Now start ordering!

Now to the interview, hope you enjoy it!

Hi Suleman, how are you? Great of you to join us on YHP

I’m very well thanks, before we proceed I just wanted to say what YHP do is an inspiration to why today we have successful entrepreneurs that take the chance and start up their own business, it’s a pleasure speaking to you Joseph 

Thanks man, i truly appreciate that, I’m so psyched about this interview, so let’s dive in.

Before we start talking about how you started your business, can you quickly give me some background information about yourself?

Well, my name is Suleman I was brought up in Leicester a city in the midlands, on the day my mum was giving birth to me my dad opened his first Supermarket in Leicester a former Co-Operative store which for the next 15 years of my life I grew up in, living above the shop meant when it got busy my mum had to bring me in the shop to keep an eye on me and as you can imagine a child never stays in one place so I had a box tied to the shelf so I couldn’t move, but this is where my entrepreneurial spirit all started, as I watched my dad develop the business from scratch into the backbone of the family .

(Laughter) this is probably the funniest, most random and favourite introduction I’ve had so far, i like it

Let’s first go back a bit, how did you get into business? What was your motive then? What inspired you?

Business has been going way back from my granddad and my father, and my father has always been the one that inspired me to go into business.

We talk nothing else but business between us and it really frustrates my mum and my younger brother as we are always looking at what we can do then realise it’s like 3 AM!

I can relate to that, time flies when you’re talking business

I always thought I would go down the academic route having completed my A- Levels in Chemistry, Biology & English Language. I started my degree course off at University Of Leicester in Chemistry when I realised that this was not for me whilst in lectures I would always be thinking about business, coming up with ideas that I wanted to pursue without any research.

My motive was financial freedom and to be self employed, when i was 17, I realised I couldn’t work for anyone whilst working at a bank call centre, I always used to say to myself, how could this people be in this position, I used to get in trouble for telling them how they could improve and later realised and told myself ,if this is the working world then It’s not for me as I need to voice my opinion and the only way I can do this is by developing my own business and being my own boss! However I realised it was easier said than done

So you sold your first company when you were 19, tell us about this company and why did you decide to sell it?

At 19, I applied for BBC Dragons Den Online, my video pitch appeared online and never did I think 8 hours later I would be planning a flight to the US, the concept was a software to teach children to keep away from guns and knives to be honest I didn’t have a clue where I could take the business, like I said I used to have the most crazy ideas but not know what to do with them and when the offer came up to cash in I knew it would be the best option as it would enable me to further myself and having some capital to embark upon something else

What were you doing before you started this company?

Before I started this I was doing my A-Levels at college. I am not academically the most able but I get by, and surprised myself by managing to get a place on a degree course at one of the best Universities in the UK.

So to 99pshopper, how did the idea come about? What is the story behind it?

Well, you are going to laugh Joseph when you hear the story behind it, me and my dad were just having a laugh about it earlier. It was about midnight a year ago and I was in the bathroom and something just hit me like a bolt of lightning.

I always knew internet was the way forward and then thought to myself people don’t have time to even do their weekly shopping, we are in a recession we all want things cheap.

I ran out of the bathroom and my parents were sleeping, i switched on the light and shouted 99p Shopper!
My mum thought we had a thief in the house and my dad half a sleep goes “what an amazing idea”, this is where it all started.

But going forward it was easier said than done, I thought I could develop a cheap website so i found a company in Bangladesh thinking within two weeks’ time I will be launching 99p Shopper, without a clue of what stock I was going to have on the site, the company doing the website had no clue about what they were doing, I was doing more of the web design than they were and lost £500.

I finally decided to tell them to stop the work and for a month I walked the streets of Leicester wondering how am I going to make 99p Shopper happen, I was getting lots of web quotes equivalent to prices of houses which was really shocking for me, but like they say “if you keep trying something will eventually come up”, I went to London, Glasgow, Bristol searching for a web company and i finally found one which was based in Nottingham less than 30 mins from me.

I met the most amazing web company Eventure Internet.

Mark Storey the Director at the company has been the man behind the success of 99p Shopper, he has put all his knowledge in making sure we launch the most exclusive food site on the internet, without him we would not have built 99p Shopper today. We used to meet up every week in Nottingham working on designs going through the development features and 4 weeks ago we launched 99pShopper.com.

I was just browsing through the website and let me get this straight; customers come on the website and order products and get them delivered to their doorstep?

Yes, it’s that simple Joseph, simply add the products to your basket, we have a Save With A Case option which enables bulk buyers to save more money on their shopping so you can buy an individual product or purchase a case, once you complete the checkout process we receive the order at our picking centre, the order is then picked and dispatched to the customer usually within 48 Hours.

So let me get this straight, you guys have a delivery centre, and this is where all the products are stocked, once a order is made, you go to your delivery centre and get the item delivery to the person, right?

Yes simple as that

How much items do i need to order for my stocks to be delivered?

There is no restriction like you have with many other supermarket sites you can spend what you want and order how much you want, the concept is to give flexibility to customers hence why we have no restrictions

You know what i know some of the YHP audience will be wondering how you’re making money, what is your business model?

The business model has always been to keep the company as an online brand; we buy stock in quantity enabling us to pass the savings onto our customers hence selling branded products at 99p & less. But over the last 4 weeks we have had 200 franchises enquires to open stores across the UK. With Supermarkets making huge percentage mark ups, we don’t work on the high profit scale yet working on quantity and keeping all our customers happy.

To be honest, i really like the idea, you know the idea of buying things online for 99p an then you have the delivery aspect of it, it’s pretty cool, i just saw crunchy nut on there for 99p, i guess i will start my weekly shopping as soon as this interview is done, you know by the time i spend £20, I’m sorted! And i do believe that this is something that is really going to go viral or crazy as soon as people start realising it exists? University student will love this

This is the concept joseph, by launching 99p Shopper we are enabling everyone to shop for big brands at low prices, with families having to make cut backs etc. food shopping has been made a lot harder this way for example Crunchy Nut retails for £2.39 in the Supermarkets by the time you add your weekly shopping to your supermarket bag and with our prices of 99p and under you can clearly see the huge savings customers will be making.

To be honest it has been viral crazy the media are picking up on this and writing about 99p Shopper, I am getting text messages from friends saying I have just seen you in the Mail on Sunday etc. not even being aware it is pretty cool.

But the growth of the company in this month has smashed all expectations I had and I am looking forward to developing the company and taking it as far as I can, I think the ex-pat market place is another that we didn’t think we would get any response from, Mark suggested lets have European option in doing so we are shipping customers weekly shopping to Paris, Munich, Madrid, Milan and many other places across Europe.

One problem that i think a lot of people have with the whole 99p issue, is about quality, how are you able to keep your prices low and still maintain quality and I’m sure making profit at the same time?

This is where the experience of my father has been so needed, as he has over 30 years of experience in t
his trade when it came to sourcing the big brands in doing so at the prices I wanted, he has the knowledge of where to go and the methods of doing so and since we have had suppliers contacting us and this has enabled us to go from 200 products to a range of over 2,000 products and this has continued to grow.

Have you started getting orders so far?

So we far we have had 12,000 orders from customers across the UK & Europe

How have you been advertising and generating awareness so far?

To be honest, this has been going on for a month now and with our fasting month I have not really had chance to focus on any kind of advertising, but clearly word of mouth is the biggest kind of advertising out in there as people are hearing about us from their friends and the word is going round

You secured a £100,000 sponsorship from eventure funding to set up the website right? How did that
happen? What do they get from the deal?

Well Joseph as i mentioned earlier, the way I wanted the website was not going to be cheap and I am a very hard person to please and having discussed this with Eventure, they are investors in people and they invested in me. All our internet marketing and campaigns that will be working will only be done by them.

I rate them as the UK’s best web company as they care about delivering the very best and I am already looking at developing new concepts with them

Have you got any plans in expanding the business up a bit? I read something about you looking to go into partnerships with Tesco? Is there anything concrete on that?

I’m not sure where the Tesco thing came from but we’ve had major Supermarkets contact us in going into partnership, but at this moment in time this is not something or direction i want to go in, I want to make 99p Shopper a household name and looking forward to developing a franchise model to open retail outlets across the UK.

Although the offer from a UK Supermarket was concrete it just seemed to be going away from what I wanted to do with 99p Shopper, it was the biggest decision of my life but I stand by not agreeing to it but there is no truth in the Tesco deal, we have not had any contact from Tesco.

So guys are actually not distributing, you have an agreement with a distribution firm to deliver the products right?

This was the initial agreement until they realised that it was not going to be 100 deliveries a week and this is where the biggest nightmare happened as the distributors could not cope with the number of orders, we had to make sure we held the stock and dispatched it to our customers so before customers were receiving their shopping in two different deliveries now all shopping is delivered to the door in one package.

I guess with business you start off in one way and things change as the business develops but if you are making changes like this within a week it is very difficult and we had to make these changes as well as
making sure all our customers’ orders were fulfilled and by working 24/7 we pulled it off.

This is crazy, but before we go forward, i want us to go back a bit; you were studying chemistry at Leicester university right? First of all, how did a sales man/business man end up studying chemistry?

To be honest Joseph I get asked that question every day and even I don’t have an answer to that question, all I can say is I had an amazing Chemistry teacher in Julie Russell and she made me a good student at Chemistry and really I was not going to do anything else but looking back Chemistry taught me many skills that i have used today such as problem solving, calculations and many other things that all link back to Chemistry

Why did you decide to drop out, i mean you have just a year left right? Why not finish it off and then concentrate on your business?

My parents said the same thing to me, but when you want to do something so badly, no matter how much you want to delay it you will constantly be reminded of it and I am one of those people that has to do something as soon as it is in my head I can’t hold it out for 2 years to carry it out.

I guess it’s good you din’t wait for 2 years, I might be the one running 99pshopper now ..Laughter..

Suleman: Laughter

You could say i tried postponing 99p Shopper but couldn’t get it off my head, I tried the uni stuff out but my heart wasn’t in it, I just wanted to be my own boss and when I want something I have to work on it instantly and constantly this was no different, and looking back I don’t regret it, not one bit.

And when you read about 150,000 students not getting into University and here’s me saying the economy can only grow with new business coming into the market to enable jobs to be created, i guess you could say it is an amazing time to start your own business!

What has been the hardest part of building the business so far?

Where do I start, I told you about the website dilemma, at the moment Joseph it’s all really hard work but I would say raising that initial capital was the hardest part as they say there is support of start-ups out there I looked and couldn’t find anything I was fortunate to win an Enterprise completion at the University Of Leicester that gave me £5,000 funding to get going as well as the success I had later on with the sale of my first company

What would you say has been the most valuable lesson you’ve learnt so far?

Keep friends and business separate, starting up your business is very personal and when things are not going well I get very frustrated and angry and this sometimes can come across in the wrong way so I would always suggest build your team around yourself and don’t treat your business as a day with your mates.

Secondly never get your work outsourced, yes you will pay a lot less but if something goes wrong and you need to be able to have the matter resolved right way, you might end up waiting for two weeks just to get through to the company, I learnt one lesson, “pay monkeys expect peanuts” and that is what I realised when I initially outsourced 99p Shopper

If you could go back, what one thing would you do differently?

I wasted three months having the web site developed in Bangladesh and it drained me, I was left frustrated and didn’t know whether to turn left or right, I would have used a UK based company from the get-go but then again I believe everything happens for a reason and it was a lesson I learnt and it was hard at the time but looking back it was part of the journey to get to where we are today .

I know you’ve been so busy of late, i know you are fully booked during the week, i know how you had to squeeze me in for the interview, how do you keep the balance between work and rest? What do you do for fun at the moment, to take the edge off?

Balance between work and rest, well I actually have to think about that one, I am always on the go but I make sure I have a complete rest day on Friday, this is when I can catch up on TV, enjoy a day with the PS3 and do what every other 21 year old does. Saturday is my day to sleep I don’t get up till late afternoon but I need these two days just to take the edge off things.

Saying that I am 21 but my hair is nearly all white and my mum is chasing me with a hair dye every day so I know to take it easy but when you are so passionate about something it is very hard to relax and take your mind off things

What advices or tips could you give to aspiring young entrepreneurs looking to kick start their start-ups?

You will get days when you wish why am i doing this, we all do but remember this much just thinking about starting your own business is the biggest step forward, raising finance is difficult but look at what can you do to kick start things before 99p Shopper went live to raise funds I was running a pilot on eBay and raising funds from this.

Never let anyone tell you your idea is not going to be successful as with determination and hard work you can make anything work

If you are looking at using a web company, use a UK company so you have constant contact with your web company

Get a mentor in place from day one, someone you can go to and get advice not be told what to do, but get suggestions and then make your own decision.

Go to these free workshops to get you off the ground they are free and you will meet likeminded people and you never know the one person you may meet may just be the one to kick start your business

You get told by a lot of people focus on your business plan but my advice would be to work on making the idea happen, put all your effort in winning the hearts of your customers/clients and this will all come together
Look at funding around you, Enterprise Inc gives £5,000 to kick start your business dream, St Thomas White Charity give £12,000 interest free over 12 years.

Don’t give up I never thought 99p Shopper would ever go live looking back just 12 months ago, these were the hurdles I was going through and you have to fight though these things and come out stronger

So what should we be expecting from you next?

Over the next 12 months we are looking at making 99p Shopper a household name with meetings with Venture Capitalist coming up, I am looking at taking the company to the next level and fingers crossed we should be having 99p Shopper stores across the UK 

Thanks suleman, hope to catch up with you soon.

It’s my pleasure speaking with you Joseph thanks for this opportunity

Hi Guys, i recently got the chance of interviewing Nadine Sykora, a youtube travel vlogger currently in new zealand working and having fun at the same time.

Check out the interview.

Hey Nadine, How are you doing? Great to have you on YHP

Hey! Thanks so much for having me on here 

Can you kindly give us some background information about yourself?

Well, to put it short I’m a 22 year old video content creator on YouTube! I’ve been producing short silly videos for about 3 years now. My content ranges anywhere from short skits and parodies, to travel vlogs and warcraft videos.

How did you get involved in vlogging? Dint you feel a bit shy or scared about putting yourself out there?

Well, I stumbled upon it one day while surfing the internet and just thought to myself, “hey, I could do that!.” So I bought a webcam and started doing just that. As for being scared, I wasn’t intimated until I started receiving my first hate comments.

Those comments are hard to not take personally when you first start. As for shy, I’ve never been shy about my videos, maybe while filming, but defiantly not while posting.

What are you looking to go into from your YouTube vlogging?

It is hard to say because every year YouTube changes into something completely different, and you say you would like to go one direction one year, and then the next year a whole lot of different doors open up and suddenly your looking forward to something else. You just have to have an optimistic outlook and be able to adapt to change.

You’re currently in New Zealand working or should I say enjoying yourself, how did it all happen? Getting a job where you can do what you enjoy?

Well I recent graduated University last summer and I decide that since I had never done any pervious traveling before now was a perfect time to go since I had no previous commitments. So I signed up with SWAP, which is a working holiday visa program that allows me to legally work and travel as much as I want for a year in New Zealand. (that was the country I picked)

You have the #1 Most Subscribed Channel in New Zealand. What did it take for you to get to this point?

A lot of commitment. People don’t realize it but to have even a semi decent YouTube channel, you have to constantly be putting out new content and always be keeping up with the latest trends. It’s a lot of upkeep, but if you really enjoy what your doing, you don’t usually mind.

Have your videos gotten you into any trouble? If so, how?

None of my video have gotten me into trouble. I’m a very clean and safe person with my videos Haha, that’s probably a lame answer.

How do you cope with rude comments and negative feedbacks on YouTube?

It’s really tough when you are in a bad mood or if your feeling down to NOT let the negative comments get to you. As much as I like to say just ignore them, I am only human and when you are constantly being told all these negative things about you, it’s really hard to not let it get to you. I try to just step away from the computer and deal with the comments when I’m in a better mood.

As a YouTuber, how do you earn your income from YouTube as well?

Like all partners, we earn ad revenue sharing income, so it’s a percentage of the ad impressions Google puts on our videos. As well as, there are also other contracts that come in so you can make money from those.

What has been your most memorable moment so far?

My most memorable moment so far filming would probably have to be my Miley Cyrus video parody I did, where I ended up running around Auckland, New Zealand dressed in a chicken suit and jumping into a fountain. Haha, that was a crazy filming day.

What should we be expecting from you in the future?

Everything, the future is such a wide open canvas right now, I would like to tell you where my videos are going but the truth is, YouTube and I change so often, after only a few months I could be doing something completely different. What I can tell you is that I hope to be doing YouTube videos for a long time still.

What tips can you give you others outside looking up to you or advice in getting involved in the industry?

YouTube takes time and patience, things don’t happen overnight and therefore you have to be very passionate about what you do. Practice makes perfect, even with YouTube, overtime your videos and you will mature and you’ll be able to grasp more about what it is your really good at and succeed at making those types of videos.

Thanks Nadine for doing this, will be waiting for some postcards

Follow her on twitter
Check out her youtube page
Like her on Facebook

I recently had the pleasure of speaking to a cool acoustic rock music group called shamrock shakespeare.

Check out the interview

Hi Guys, How are you doing? Great to have you on YHP

We’re doing great, thanks for having us.

Can you briefly give us some quick background information about yourselves?

Well, Ryan and Sean went to high school and reside in suburbs just outside of Chicago. Danny, on the other hand, is from Washington DC. We are all entering our third year in college.

Danny and Sean attend the University of Notre Dame while Ryan goes to Northwestern University. Ryan and Sean both taught themselves guitar and Danny has been singing and playing piano since he was 6. In our
YouTube videos, Ryan sits on the left and Sean is on the right.

What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?

Our music would probably be classified as acoustic rock since we have only recorded our music acoustically. Eventually we hope to develop more of a rock/alternative sound. We draw our influences from many artists including: Dashboard Confessional, John Mayer, The Fray, and Something Corporate.

How long have you known each other? How did you meet?

Sean and Ryan have known each other for about 5 years now. They went to high school and played football together. Sean and Danny are roommates in college and have known each other for 2 years. Ryan met Danny through Sean.

When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?

We formed our band about 3 years ago after a community service trip in high school. Ryan brought his guitar and I sang some covers for the other people that were on the trip with us. They all loved the show and we had fun playing, so we figured why not keep it going?

Have you guys started performing at shows? Do you have any upcoming shows?

We have played a few shows so far. Mainly just in basements at parties. We want to start playing at some open mics in the city sometime soon. Hopefully from there we can gain some popularity and start playing shows at real venues.

Who writes your songs?

We all do. Ryan tends to write most of the music and Danny writes most of the lyrics. Sean usually adds or changes lyrics as we start putting the song together.

What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs?

Each song is usually about some sort of strong emotion we are feeling when we start writing a song, or something that we feel pretty adamant about. We all also love to joke around so we could see some humorous songs to come about.

Do you think these topics will change over time?

We all love to joke around so we could see some humorous songs to come about, also I feel the topics will change as we change. As we go through different things, the songs will reflect that

What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?

Our practices are very sporadic and not very organized. We just like to have fun and mess around. But when we have a show coming up, we meet very often and focus at practice. We can be very productive when we need to be.

How has the journey been so far?

It has been fun. We love adding new songs to YouTube and then reading the comments. Every show we have played at we have had a great time. It has also been a little slow. We haven’t had the time to work on our music as much as we would like to.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?

When we first started playing together, Sean didn’t even play guitar. 3 years later he has started to write some music. Ryan has evolved by writing songs in different tunings and by picking up the piano.

With Danny joining the group he brought his skill of the piano and vocal background to add a lot. Over the past 3 years, our music has gotten more complicated and allowed us to play more interesting music together.

What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?

Our greatest challenge has definitely been time. We write music a lot with Danny, and he lives 660 miles away in Washington DC during the summer. And during the school year, Sean and Danny go to school 100 miles away from Ryan. So writing a song usually goes something like this: Ryan writes some music and shows it to Sean. If Sean likes it, we email it to Danny. When Danny gets a chance, he writes lyrics and records his voice. Danny will then send the music back to us to listen to and edit. We will send suggestions back and forth and record many different versions and email them back and forth. The whole process takes roughly 3-4 months.

What’s your ultimate direction for your band?

Our ultimate goal is to take some time off and live in the same city for awhile. That way we can spend a year or so focusing on our music and getting professional recordings done. We really believe that we can make it with our music. We have gotten very positive feedback from everyone that has heard our original songs.

What advice do you have for people who want to form their own bands?

Form a band with people you know well and trust. It is easy for us to bounce lyrics and music off of each other without feeling embarrassed. Sharing your lyrics can be awkward at first, so working with people you trust helps. We also know each other well enough to tell someone when we don’t like their music. This is also helpful because we only want to record our best work and you need someone to be honest with you.

Thanks for your time guys.

Thank you for having us. It was our pleasure.

Check out their music
Youtube
Myspace

When Susan Gregg was 17 she was heading off to Carnegie Mellon University, but she found her closet packed full of vintage clothes and shoes that she had collected.

So she decided to get rid of them, and what better way than to open an online boutique. That year, Susan began ModCloth.com right from her dorm room. She would often drive from uni to her southern Florida hometown to pick up more stock.

Soon the site was overwhelming, 60,000 visitors per month wanted more. That’s when Susan realised the potential of the business. She started looking for designers and suppliers, eventually finding a trade show in Las Vegas via Google search. Susan went to the show with the intention to find herself a designer, which she did.

Susan still needed to raise the capital to pay for her rising costs, so on the advice of her boyfriend she took out $50,000 in credit card debt with the rest coming in the form of loans from her boyfriend’s family.

It was a big step to take, but ultimately these are the risked you have to take if you want to make it big.

Since her original idea in 2002, she has come a long way, but it wasn’t until 2006 when she hired designers to create an original collection for the site, that things have really taken off.

As it stands today the site is getting over 2million visitors per month and ModCloth is looking to surpass the $50million mark in sales this year. Susan has also managed to raise $20million in new funding so that she can open up offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles as employees near 150.

Susan’s personality shines through when you look at the business, ModCloth is a social commerce and she makes sure that customers feel involved whether they are buying or not. There is even an opportunity for the customers to choose which styles go into production.

This is the kind of thinking that will help Susan continue to grow ModCloth well into the future.

Interview By Bobieh Ansah

A while back I caught up with the charismatic Michael and lovely Antonia. They are the founders of a variety show called Adlib.

Adlib showcases acts ranging from singing and poetry to rapping and comedy. We discussed the high points and low points of their journey thus far and the plans they have for the future.

This is an example of a business born from university, that started crawling, then walking, but was knocked down. But now their back on their feet again!

Check out the interview.

So tell me a bit about yourself first Michael

Michael: Yea my name is Michael master apps aka Mr. fun loving enjoying life Appiah world Appiah life. Ermmm I’m 22 I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing for quite a while.

What you laughing for (at Antonia)?

Antonia: because he’s not 22

Michael: I’m 24, but I’m 22 that’s my acting age and I carry on with that. So yea that’s me.

Antonia: I’m Antonia I’m 25 and yea that’s me…. (Laughing) I’m Antonia and I’m 25 that’s what defines me.

You don’t do anything extracurricular?

Antonia: Are you asking me this question because you know the answer?

Yeah

Antonia:( Laugher)I do cheerleading.

have you won anything?

Antonia: yes we’re undefeated.

Ok so what is Adlib and when did it start?

Michael: Adlib is different.

Antonia: Adlib is very wide are you talking about Adlib open mic night or Adlib?

Well everything, imagine I’ve never heard of Adlib?

Michael: Adlib is a company that we started in 2007, we don’t even know why we started it. We just thought look, there’s allot of things going on and they’re not doing quite well and we thought we could come up with something better.

Antonia: Yeah, a new idea.

Michael: that encompasses a variety of things that encompasses music comedy and poetry. But live music, because there wasn’t allot of live music at university. So we just kicked it off from there.

Antonia: it was the first night to have all different acts such as live music, comedy, poetry and lyricist.

Combined, then everyone jumped on board and started copying?

Antonia: your words not mine. (Laughter)

I think you’ve already answered this but what separates Adlib from the other variety shows?

Antonia: I think it’s definitely the live band and the mature crowd.

Michael: We always go for quality that’s the thing about us. We can bring in so many people just for the sake of it. I think we’re tough on ourselves in a sense that we always go for quality.

Because if you out to other night events and its good the first half and then the second the second half is completely rubbish. We’re our own critics and we try to avoid that.

What kind of act do you prefer and what acts do you think get the best reception from the crowd?

Michael: I like that question, well for that one, I’m going to have to say (long pause) I just enjoy people that can vibe with the crowd and bring a good message and for me it doesn’t matter what it is as long as you’re good you’re good.

Antonia: I think singers that can sing in tune and make you feel their emotion. Those are the best acts oh and rappers as well, especially the ones that show their personality on stage. I think the crowd accepts them more rather than those who just come to show their talent.

What problems did you encounter when you first set up Adlib?

Michael: Finding a venue.

Antonia: It took a whole year to find a venue.

Michael: exaggeration 7 months.

Antonia: it was a long time because it had to be right.

What been the biggest learning curve for Adlib?

Michael: Erm…. There have been many learning curves. (Laughter) one of our biggest learning curves is understanding your market. What people like, what people don’t like, because our crowds can be a bit, how….. can I say “sensitive”.

So like we’ve gotten a comedian who’s been a bit brash and it’s not gone down well and the whole nights was dead.

Antonia: I think we’ve trained people to think like that because we don’t have any swearing at the show, when people hear swearing they…. It obviously sticks out a lot more.

Antonia: The biggest learning curve would be to keep the business face on. Because everyone wants a favor. You have to stick to your guns and think from a business point of view. But still not being too harsh. It’s about finding the balance.

Can you elaborate on that?

Antonia: so say acts wants guest list or they want to be paid a certain amount, people that are coming to watch the show.
Everyone’s your friend, you build a relationship with the people that come to watch the show so everyone want freebies.

What’s been the highest point for ADLIB thus far?

Antonia: I think maybe our first year anniversary when we had a big show in the Bloomsbury theatre and probably just selling out every month.

Getting to a point where you didn’t have to promote anymore. People knew that as the doors were opening at 7.30 if you weren’t there you weren’t getting in. That was a high point. So then we could just put all our effort into the quality of the night rather than still having to promote the night.

So you mentioned earlier that there was a pause for a while in the operations of ADLIB. What caused that?

Antonia: well…. The structure of the company needed reassessing (Laughter), So we wanted to fix things internally first and get on the new road basically.

So it’s much better?

Michael: No (laugher)…. I mean yes. It works better now because we have a greater sense of responsibility. We know it’s down to us.

Antonia: there are less people now for the responsibility to fall on to.

So does seeing so many acts reduce the impact they have on you?

With our night the people we bring we try to create a lot of variety. We go to other shows and the same acts go to every show too so, we see the same act over and over, but comedians, I can watch their set 4 times and still laugh.

Michael: For us it doesn’t. There are always new acts.

Where do you see Adlib in 5 years?

Michael: Bringing international artist to Adlib in a sense that when they come over to do their promotional tours they’ll come and do a set at ADLIB.

Also having ADLIB at festivals so, we’ll have a stage, an ADLIB stage I.e. Glastonbury and tea in the park.

So what advice would you give to anyone who wanted to set up a Variety Show?

Antonia: I think the main thing is having a good team, you need to have a reliable team. People that you know will follow through and make the right decisions and have…sense basically. Because then you won’t be able to delegate roles, you’ll being doing everything yourself.

Thanks for your time guys, hope to chat up soon with you.

Check them out on facebook and follow them on twitter

I would like to thank Matt Wignall for making this interview possible.

Background

A Suit That Fits was founded in 2006 by school friends, David Hathiramani and Warren Bennett. Warren spent time working in Nepal and whilst volunteering at a school in Kathmandu met a family of tailors who made him a woollen tailored suit.

On his return, Warren met with old school friend David Hathiramani, who felt there was a gap in the market for quality, yet affordable, tailored suits and wanted to use their technical backgrounds to simplify the ordering process; it was then that A Suit That Fits started as the world’s first on-line hand tailored suit making company.

Using unique web technology, the service gives customers the flexibility to design and completely customise their individually hand-tailored suit at an affordable ‘off-the-peg’ price, starting at £200. Since then A Suit That Fits has opened three permanent branches throughout London and one in Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester, in addition to 19 ‘TailorStop’ (pop-up) branches nationwide.

Hi Warren, nice to have you on YHP, How are you doing?

It’s great to be here – we love the website and think it’s really inspiring for the next generation of young entrepreneurs.

Here’s a nice ice ice-breaker -who are your style icons?

I have had time to develop my own style: classic tailoring combined with an eccentric twist! I suppose my own individual style comes from timeless fashion icons such as Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant or even James Bond, combined with an element of fun from Ziggy Stardust!

When would you say, you first experienced your entrepreneurial talent?

I think I have always had a sense of entrepreneurial talent; both David and I grew up with entrepreneurial fathers, who had a big influence in our lives. Before A Suit That Fits began, I had lots of great ideas for businesses, some could work very well, some were outrageous! I actually started by importing silk carpets and pashminas from India, before David and I turned our attention to our idea for A Suit That Fits.

Only four years later, we have 25 branches nationwide and we’re very proud of what we’ve achieved.

So how did A Suit That Fits first begin, where did your idea come from?

Having spent gap years teaching in various schools around the world, I was introduced by a school master to one of the local tailoring family in Nepal, who made me some fantastic suits. I was so impressed by the quality and workmanship that before I returned to the UK, I bought a number of suits for myself, friends and family.

When I came back to Britain I met up with my old school friend David, who shared my passion for fine tailoring. David had big ideas and suggested that we went on-line; offering a small selection of fabrics, styles, linings and all the different attributes.

We took the idea to Hampstead market in North London, and displayed one of my suits on a dummy; after just 20 minutes we had sold two suits. It was a clear sign that we had a viable business plan; we then worked quickly to create a website for our customers, and we set up shop in a small studio in Liverpool Street.

Since 2006 when we registered our first customer, we’ve been thrilled and very proud to be part of a fantastic and growing team of wonderful people both here in the UK and in Nepal.

How did you fund your business in the beginning?

In terms of cash flow, the online model provided the ideal start-up template. We never had to hold any stock, we simply sent requests out to our tailors in Nepal once the suits were ordered, and paid for, online.

To fund the essentials such as our premises in Liverpool Street, we used our credit cards, whilst David continued to work two jobs to support the business.

How are customers becoming more individual through their choice of suit?

Trends tend to come and go, however it will always be fashionable to offer the customer more choice. There are three main types of suits: British, Italian and American; British suits tend to have tapered panels, little shoulder padding and two vents, Italian suits are often fitted with structured lapels and shoulder padding, whilst American suits are more relaxed.

We’ve noticed that our customers are now mixing all three types of suit along with a subtle splash of colour with a special lining to create their own style and individual identity. We now offer a choice of over 200 fabrics to choose from, so alongside our range of style options, customers can choose from selection of 40 billion different combinations of suit.

What shall we be expecting from A Suit That Fits in the future?

We have lots of fantastic ideas that we are exploring; we continue to source fabrics from all over the world and push suiting style and innovation. We also plan to focus on launching further permanent branches in key cities throughout the UK.

What advice do you have for those who want to pursue a career in fashion?

The first step is to complete your education; and following university try to get as much work experience as you can; some members of our team have completed several internships and work experience programs. You’ll make it if you have talent, combined with the determination and ambition.

What advice do you have for the fans of YHP?

It’s a scary prospect starting your own business and not knowing what’s around the corner, however it’s a lot of fun and can pay off in so many ways if you’re prepared to put everything into it. Focus on how you solve a problem for your customer in an easy, cost-effective way and build a great team to deliver that product.

I wish anyone considering taking on the challenge of starting their own company or developing a unique business plan the very best of luck and I hope one day I’ll have the pleasure of reading about your success.

Thanks for your time warren, hope to catch up with you soon.

Dont forget to check out their website

Hi guys, today i have an interview with trevor ginn, the founder of hello baby – an online baby store.

Hey Trevor, how are you doing? Great to have you on YHP. Can you give us some background information about yourself?

Previously to starting Hello Baby I was working as an eCommerce consultant, mainly advising on online marketplaces and search engine optimisation. I have been working in the internet space for around 10 years which has been quite up and down.

For some reason I am attracted to start-ups and most of the companies I’ve worked for are no longer around! This has been a great opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others.

So tell us about your business Hello Baby, how did that start up, what is the story behind it?

With eCommerce growing at around 20% per year, my clients were doing very well and this frustrated me as I felt that I knew much more about online marketing they did. So I decided to put my money where my mouth was and launch my own online business.

I did a lot of research into different retail sectors in order to decide on the vertical in which to start a business. The data we used was eBay historical data as this gives actual sales data at the product level. I had a number of different criteria for choosing a sector, for example, it had to be something I knew about, be non-seasonal and have the opportunity for good margins. My research led me to believe that the nursery industry presented the best opportunity.

I had also recently had my first daughter and the amount of money which all new parents seem to spend on stuff was also an inspiration!

How did you raise funds to start it?

So far we are self funded. We have kept our start up costs very low by choosing very cheap office space and drop shipping a large proportion of our stock.

Who are your target markets?

Our main target audience is new parents, but we also stock gifts such as old fashioned wooden toys which are great for anyone who is looking for a present for a new baby.

How has the journey been so far?

Before starting this business I knew a lot about online marketing and websites in general, but almost nothing about other vital areas such as purchasing products, dealing with customers and fulfilment. It has been a very steep learning curve! Luckily we have a very good back end system which automates a lot of the processes and saves a huge amounts of time.
Growth has been very healthly and sales are up 20% this year, despite the recession.

Our turnover is currently around £40K a month and we making a comfortable profit. I expect our profitability to improve as our volumes grow and we can benefit from economies of scale and better prices from our suppliers.

Tell us a moment of doubt, a time of struggle starting your business, what made you carry on rather quitting?

I haven’t really had much room for doubt as sales have been growing steadily from day one. We had some problems with online fraud about a year ago and lost about £5000 which was a horrible experience. I did, however, manage to persuade our card provider that it was in fact their fault and got all the money back.

What would you say has been your most memorable moment so far?

We have recently launched an iPhone app which has had about 20,000 downloads, has been featured in all the national baby magazines and drives around 500 unique visitors to our site a day. The app is available for free from the iTunes store.

What have been the key lessons you’ve learnt since starting your business?

When I first started the business I was trying to economise on everything. Whilst keeping costs low is wise, it can slow things down. I also got friends to build my website at ‘mates rates’ which was very cheap but took forever. I now understand that is it not always best to go for the cheapest option and speed to market is really important. I should also have employed staff earlier as to start with I was doing everything on my own.

What have been some of the key techniques you’ve used in developing and expanding your business?

The traffic to the website comes mainly from natural search, although we are now launching a paid search campaign. We also sell a lot of stock through eBay and Amazon marketplace. Offline we do some in house PR and offer discounts to nurseries, hospitals and other trade organisations.

Is the business been profitable so far?

The business is profitable, but we need to improve the sales a lot before I can start to draw a proper salary as most of the profits go back in the business. We are constantly expanding our range and soon we will be launching a revamped website.

Rather than renting a physical shop to sell your products, what are the benefits/advantages of starting an online shop?
Online shops are much, much cheaper to set up and run than physical shops. They are also open 24/7 and can be accessed from anywhere in the world. However, with a traditional shop the customer can look and feel a product and take it home with them today.

Online, the customer must rely on the photograph and wait for delivery.

What do you do to relax from business? I know running an online shop is not an easy job, i have friends that run online shops and they tell me all the time how stressful it is.

Running your own business is very hard work and it is quite difficult to switch off (I am doing this interview at 9p.m. on a Saturday night). I have two small children which provide a sense of balance and stop me working too hard.

What should we be expecting from you in the future?

In 5 years time we have plans to be a £5 million turnover operating in several European markets. We also want to take the knowledge we have gained building Hello Baby to launch in other sectors.

Before we leave you, do you have any tips for young entrepreneurs starting up?

Budding entrepreneurs should consider stating a business with proven business model (i.e. someone has done it before) and start small if they have to. Online retail is great in this regard as online marketing places like eBay and Amazon give quick access to customers and transactional website can be set up quickly and cheaply. We started off with about £1000 worth of stock and an eBay store and took it from there.

Thanks for your time Trevor

Junior ogunyemi got a taste of being an entrepreneur during college, after being named social secretary, he was assigned to put together a yearbook with a budget of £0 and 2 weeks deadline, and 2 weeks later and £50, coming up with the concept of a DVD yearbook, he made £300 in his first two hours, selling the DVD to his peers for £3.

Catch up with what he has been up to after that.

Hello junior, how are you doing? Great to have you on YHP today

Well it’s great to be here, thanks for the opportunity.

Can you give us some background information about yourself?

I’m a 20 year old social entrepreneur, currently studying BSc Economics at Queen Mary University of London. My family came from Nigeria when I was only 2 years old so I guess I’m more British than I ought to be. (Laugh). I grew up with my 3 older siblings in Islington, north London.

We didn’t have the most privileged background; however I not going to sit here and complain about things I was exposed to growing up on a council estate. I can’t moan because I was surrounded by a loving family that helped instil key values, and discipline from very young. To me that’s been worth more than having £100 of pocket money a week.

At what age did you start to get involved/interested in business?

Looking back now I think I showed glimpse way back in nursery because I was fascinated by inventors. I always said to my play workers I wanted to invent something when I grew up.

The first time I started to flex my entrepreneurial muscles was at 17 when I was appointed social secretary of my college. I was given the task of putting together a yearbook with a budget of £0 and 2 weeks deadline. Instantly I had to find ways of being resourceful or risk disappointing over 1000 of my peers.

I came up with an idea of creating a video yearbook instead. So for 10 days I walked around college with my family camcorder capturing goodbye messages from students. I had a friend who was an expert at editing videos and paid him £50. I remember my brother had an old CD duplicating machine which I used to make many copies of the DVD yearbook.

At our graduation party I set up a stall and sold the DVD yearbook to students for £3. They were selling like hotcakes. In the space of 2 hours it dawned on me, not only have I made these students happy but I also manage to turn £50 into £300 in the space of just 2 hours. After that, I couldn’t stop exploring the world of business and innovation.

At what age did you start your first business, what business was it?

I was 18 when I started my first major business venture, Show Me Amazing Football. We are a coaching academy that works to motivate and develop leadership and excellence in young people. We work with children in schools and communities to create an active environment where children can express themselves and trained coached can address issues such as childhood obesity, low self-esteem and juvenile delinquency.

You got quite a few things going on at the moment? Let’s talk about show me amazing football, what inspired you to start it, what is the story behind it?

Well I was a gifted footballer when I was younger. To me football wasn’t just a hobby, it was a discipline. I never smoked certain things because I had dreams of playing premiership level. I never hung around street corners because I knew I needed to go home and rest for that cup final on the weekend.

I realised football can really be used as a vehicle to transform lives. I started coaching football from 15 years old and wanted to use my position of influence to keep the kids away from certain dangers and give them key life skills. I could spend all day training my pupils to bend a ball like Beckham, but realistically less than 5% are ever going to make it pro. I wanted to develop a style of coaching that equipped the players with more than just sporting skills, but leadership skills that they can use in any career.

How did you raise money to start the business?

I started from very humble beginnings. I knew absolutely nothing about business and literately just walked into a bank in my tracksuit and hoody. Surprisingly, I still managed to get an appointment with the business manager of the bank. I bopped in, sat down at his desk and told him to give me a loan. He laughed and explained to me it was a great idea but money doesn’t come that easy. I had to go back to being resourceful.

Thankfully I was given a car load of old equipment to use for free. I chose to employ some of my close friends, Micah Simpson and Naaman Gordon, who believed in the vision, and were willing to work for free. This was enough for us to start earning sum profit, for months we continued to work without pay as the profit was either saved or re-invested to generate even more profits.

Before long we were getting so many children joining us that we were able to pay ourselves well and still make savings and re-investments when needed. To this date we still haven’t spent a penny on marketing, everything has grown through word of mouth.

What would you say has been the most challenging part of starting a business?

Learning to turn failure into feedback is key. Taking our work into schools was surprisingly difficult at first. However, every rejection gave us a chance to go back to the drawing board and refine our product. There was a time we offered free coaching sessions to 35 local primary schools, but still did not even get one single reply.

Constantly we worked on improving the content of our sessions and our more importantly our approach. For months we worked on sharpening the sword until it was strong enough to pierce into the market and even cut any completion. Now we have a service that schools can’t resist.

You recently started a magazine called spotlight22, what is it about?

Spotlight22 is a new monthly print magazine aimed at university students. I launch it to help publish the work of up and coming writers or blogers. Readers have the opportunity to gain free publicity for their blog sites, or just freely express themselves by sending in their written work to spotlight22@london.com. Every month our team of editors pick their favourite entries to feature in the next issue. So it’s like a month writing competition.

So what is your plan for the magazine?

The idea is to create a platform for top London writers to be noticed. This has already gone off to a great start. The beauty of the magazine is that the topics people write about are all so random. It’s funny to hear some of the things people come out with when you give them a chance to express themselves.

You currently studying at Queens Mary University, how have you been able to balance school work and business? It must be so challenging?

Oh boy! Yh it requires loads of self-discipline. Naturally we won’t have enough time in life to do everything, but God does give us enough time to do the important things. It’s about prioritising what you want to achieve. There are periods where I needed to focus so I just hibernated for months.

My brother always told me, “Champions are willing to do what they hate in order to get what they love”. So I made many sacrifices. I’ve had to put my social life on hold many times because I was locked away grafting and birthing ideas. Seriously I haven’t been on a date for years (laughs).

What else interests you apart from starting a business, what do you do for fun?

If I’m not working mine, I’m giving free business consultancy to my friends. I think I’m obsessed. I do a bit of acting and get involved in drama workshops with my church. When I need to unwind I spend time with family or close friends. I love restaurants, working out in the gym, comedy shows, cinema… It doesn’t really matter what we do as long as I’m with those that make me happy and keep me down to earth. Church is something that I always get involved in.

What has been your most memorable moment so far?

2010 has been a great year, I’ve rubbed shoulders with some amazing people and been given special invitation to place like the mayor of London’s office and houses of parliament. I remember May 5th, that day was quite extraordinary. At 12pm I had an interview for a £10,000 award, and then rushed across town in my suit to write my final exams in Economics by 2pm. immediately after that, I whizzed back across town because I had to be on stage by 5pm to pitch for another £10,000.

This time it was front of a panel of multimillionaires, celebrities and entrepreneurs. It was like being on dragons den but with an audience of 200 people at the British library. I never forget the feeling and the rush of day, it was a great buzz. From that day onwards it seemed my business and I got launched into the limelight. Receiving these awards has opened many doors.

What tips can you give to university entrepreneurs out there starting up or struggling with their start-ups?

If you don’t believe in your work, then why should anyone else? Make sure your passionate about your cause or business, because your passion will be tested. Yes, of course there will be obstacles and brick walls in your way. Those walls are there to separate people that would like to succeed, from those that really desperately want to succeed. MAKE YOUR PASSION AN OBBSESSION.

And finally, what should we be expecting from you in the future?

Ok I don’t want to reveal too much yet, but after the magazine takes off I think the next big project will be to write my first book. I’m working on a business and personal development book. Similar to the classic, “who moved my cheese”. Over the next 2 years I want to also make time to do more public speaking.

Great speaking to you junior, hope to catch up with you soon

Thanks you, keep in touch, www.twitter.com/juniorogunyemi