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

An Interview with the founder of urbantickets.co.uk

Urban Tickets is an online urban e-ticket website.

Urbantickets.co.uk is rapidly being established as the number 1 urban ticket outlet, Being the first ever ticket site to focus only on urban events which means that they can target a very specific market, selling tickets that reaches their target audience.
Urban Tickets reducing the bridge between event organiser and customer making it easier to sell tickets.

Don’t tell me I never told you that about this website get access to only the best events in the UK. Now you have no reason to chasing up customers who want to buy tickets or selling through lots of separate agents.

I’m so happy to be finally doing this interview with you, how are you?

I’m cool man, busy as always but busy is always good. I also feel honoured that you asked me to this interview!

Before we go any further, can you give us more information about yourself? What’s your name? How old are you? Where are you from?

No problem, my name is Adebiyi Desalu but people call me Biyi (B), I turned 24 in January, feel like I’m getting old (Laughter). I was born and raised in South London (Streatham) but my parents are from Nigeria, as you can probably tell from my name. I’ve been living in High Wycombe for the last few years, I went up there for university and I’ve stayed to concentrate on business.

When was urbantickets.co.uk born?

We officially launched and started selling tickets in October 2008 but I had the idea from about Dec 2007 and spent most of 2008 just developing it.

What made you go into the tickets business, more specifically an urban ticket business?

Do you know what i never really intended to go into the ticket business at all! What I always wanted to be was an entrepreneur from as I far back as I can remember, when I was in school I used to sell cds and different things so I’ve always had that in me. I never knew what business I would end up doing I just knew id end up working for myself.

So when I finished uni I was looking for something to do, the natural thing at the time was to do events which I had done relatively successfully in uni. But I found it hard to come up with something different because the market was overcrowded especially with urban events and I just didn’t have the money to build up a brand name. I did do a show when I finished uni but it ended up losing money, which happens to every promoter at some point but I just felt like I wanted to do something a bit different. I also thought that if I could come up with something that promoters would need I’d be on to a winner; if you look at a successful DJ they make money from events regardless of how well the promoter does.

I came up with a magazine called Brit- African, the idea was that it would be aimed at 18-30 British born Africans and it would be an outlet for African businesses and events to advertise. Also in the business plan for it I wanted to have a website that let people purchase etickets for African events. I actually managed to get princes trust backing for this. But with the cost of printing and many other things rising I didn’t think it was the best time to start a mag, so I looked more at the idea of an eticket website and I felt that it was the better idea anyway. But obviously the African event market would’ve been quite small so I expanded it to cover all urban events. It was natural for me to do urban events because that’s the type of events I did at uni so I know a little bit about the business, I also wanted to do something completely unique and there are other eticket sites out there but urbantickets.co.uk is the only one that focuses on urban events.

How does urbantickets.co.uk work?

Basically the eticket system means that as soon as a customer buys a ticket on our website they’re emailed the ticket confirmation which they then print off and take to the event as their ticket. It saves a lot of money because as a promoter you can print less tickets, you don’t have to manually deliver them and as a customer it gives you instant access to them. Also because we focus on urban events, customers get the best choice on urbantickets.co.uk.

So you’re telling me that I can get tickets for any urban events going on via your website?

(LAUGHTER), soon come, we haven’t got every single event but we’re working on it. At any given time they’ll be 20+ events to choose from.

What makes your ticketing service better than others? What benefits do urban tickets provide?

Well first of all we have the eticket system, which a lot of ticket outlets don’t offer. Using this system it just cuts out a lot of hassle with buying tickets. Also of course we’re the only ticket site that specialises in urban events so we have the best choice. We’re also one of the few ticket agencies to really utilise social networking sites and blogs which are good because you keep in constant contact with your customers.
There’s also a few updates that we’ll be making very soon, watch this space

Urban Tickets is involved in a lot, you have sponsorship deals with the voice newspaper, Mahogany Models, RWD Magazine? How did that happen?

What I wanted to do with urbantickets.co.uk is get the right partners for what we do, I always felt that the route we take advertising wise can really define the company.
With the Voice I think I sent out some emails to few companies and they got back to me straight away, I met them in their offices and we just took it from there. We now get weekly advertising in their newspaper and we’re looking at other things we could do.
With RWD I think it was similar to the Voice, but we get a similar deal anyway.
Then the Mahogany Models was I really weird one, my mum used to go to school in Nigeria with Sola, who runs the company. I told her about what I was doing and she said ‘oh I know this guy Sola who puts on shows’, I wasn’t really taking her seriously, next thing I know I’m the sole ticket outlet for all of Mahogany Models shows! It was my first real client as well so it was a big step; we actually just did a bridal show for them which went well.

So at the moment you’re just selling tickets in the u.k, Have you started to think maybe you can start stretching to different countries?

I have thought about that and it would be interesting to look into it in more detail but at the moment I don’t want to spread myself to thin, I’m really focussed on building the brand name and conquering the UK. We have made contact with some Americans in terms of getting into the market over there so we’ll see, watch this space.

How have you been spreading the word about your company around? How is it been so far?

I use the internet a lot, facebook etc Also when you work with good promoters they help push the brand as well by using our logo on their promo stuff. We’ve also got the magazine stuff, we’re in the Voice and RWD every issue and we’re also working on more deals at the moment.
I did actually print and design some flyers but I just haven’t had time to give them out, you’ll see me soon though (laughter).

How much influence do you think the internet has on businesses?

Crazy influence, I don’t think it would have been possible to do this without the internet, not just because it’s a website but also in terms of promotion and getting it off the ground. Without the internet it probably would’ve taken a lot longer.
So for businesses in general it’s a great tool but you have to use it wisely.

Have you been under any pressure to succeed?

Definitely, I think there’s always pressure for anyone to succeed, even if it’s a 9-5 job. With running your own business there is always more pressure because you may not always have money coming in, so in comparison to friends and peers it feels like you’ve got it harder because you feel like your working harder than them but then they’re more comfortable than you. But it’s a sacrifice you make to do what you want to do and the idea is that it will pay off in the end.

Have you encountered any setbacks or negative experience so far and how did you cope with it?

I mean doing this has been such roller coasters ride, its crazy. When I first started it was hard to get promoters onboard with the whole concept, when your new in a field you haven’t really got that reputation so you’re always having to sell the idea and convince people. The first month or so I sent out 100s of emails and talked to a lot of people and most of them weren’t on it but thanks to a few promoters who gave us a chance we were able to build up a reputation. It is tough but the main thing is just to be hungry and positive no matter what and I always knew I had a strong idea it’s just about getting other people to believe in it as well.

How do you cope? You must be really busy? When is your busiest time?

Sometimes its really busy, sometimes it’s not but there’s always things that can be done. I work part time as well so I’m pretty much always working. Right now going into summer its starting to quiet down because a lot of people go on wild holidays to Napa and all the promoters are out there. But busy times are basically the holidays, xmas, new year, valentines was really busy and Easter. I’m hoping carnival times will be busy this year.
Everyone loves an excuse to rave!

What would you say to young entrepreneurs out there trying to bring into different industries?

I’m still a young entrepreneur myself the only difference I suppose is that I’ve started something. But the advice I would give in terms of getting something going is to look for gaps in the market don’t just do things that everyone else is doing, I purposely try and do different things that I know other people are not doing. If you bring something new to a market you’ll always have an advantage over other people that try and get in.
The other thing is make sure you’re passionate about what your doing, you have to be willing to maybe not make money for a year or 3 but still have that passion and dedication to succeed.

Do you have any role model/influences in your life and career?

I wouldn’t say I really have any role models that I look up to but I’m definitely inspired by people like me who have come from little and through being business minded and determined have done very well. The UK music scene is incredible right now with people like Sway and Bashy who have been grinding for a minute and are now seeing awards.

Do you have any books or audios that you would like any young entrepreneurs out there to get their hands on?

Boy… to be honest I don’t really keep up with those books, I don’t think there’s any set plan for you to make money, its more about attitude. What I would say is find out about how other successful entrepreneurs came up and try and learn from others experience so you can avoid mistakes they’ve made and you know what you might be in for.
I had a look at Duncan Banantynes story (the guy from Dragons Den) and he went through so much to get where he is, I think he was an ice-cream man at one point.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learnt so far?

To always try new things and be open minded. You should never do anything business wise thinking that you know everything because then you can never improve.

What has been the best advices you been given so far?

Learn from your mistakes, if you fail see where you went wrong and make it better for net time.
Also my stepdad always says ‘don’t assume anything because it makes an ass out of u and me’ .
Which basically means plan everything and don’t it to chance or assumption.

What has been your greatest achievement so far?

It’s hard to say because I don’t think I’m not even 10% of where I want the company to be but I would say getting investment and making the whole thing happen. It’s amazing to type ‘urban tickets’ into Google and my site comes at the top

So what’s next for you and urban tickets??

Big tings!! We’ve got updates coming in the next couple months which take the site to a whole new level, also there maybe some sister sites popping up.
You can keep up to date with us on everything- blog- http://blog.urbantickets.co.uk/
Facebook- http://tinyurl.com/m7msqt
Twitter- http://twitter.com/urbantickets
Definitely a lot of good stuff coming, also can a shout out the princes trust, my family, Tsion, Oskar and everyone else who’s backed me. Peace!!

Thank you for your time, I wish you the best in the future, you’ve got some really good thing going on here.

YHP Interviews Makeda Wilson

How are you doing today?

I’m good thank you.

Can you give some background information about yourself? What do you do?

Well I like to describe myself as a writer at one moment and a music journalist at others, so I guess you can combine the two. I first started to make my mark on the Facebook networking site with notes and I’ve just evolved from there. Now I have a blog which documents developments within the UK Funky Movement named exactly that, as well as writing freelance and being co-owner/founder of an online magazine.

You recently started up an online magazine called It’s Alot Magazine, how did that come about? How has it been going so far?

Starting up It’s Alot Magazine really started from feeling restricted with the blog. It was getting traffic but couldn’t be expanded in content due to the title. I wanted somewhere I could combine that information with other elements of the House genre and also the other UK music scenes without having to maintain various different sites and therefore felt the best way to combine them into one place was to start a magazine, following the online concept of blogging.

It’s been going really well. Since we’ve launched, the feedback we get from readers as well as the people featured is always positive, which is a really good feeling. With it being something that we feel still needs a lot of nurturing for its development, it’s good encouragement for our enthusiasm to ensure that we remain innovative and progressive.

You call yourself a funky junkie, how did you get into music especially funky house?

Well I can’t really tell you when I got into music. I was definitely too young to remember though. My mother has tapes of me singing Chaka Khan’s Ain’t Nobody before I could even pronounce the words properly. But Funky now was something I was defiant against when it first started to filter into the circuit. Being heavily into Garage, it was something many friends suggested to me, I even had a friend who was an upcoming DJ at the time make me a personalised CD strictly consisting of tracks that were my kind of flavour, but I’m hard headed and refused to be a follower because of its ‘in thing’ trend.

I weren’t really into Grime and had reverted heavily back into R&B in the Grime stages. It was only after taking a break from raving, following the birth of my son, I went out one night and I was intrigued by the way everyone was screwing up their faces and getting down. It reminded me of my first days on the circuit during adolescence. The following week I copied off a Pioneer CD that me and my boyfriend had been listening to while decorating his flat, but I still weren’t convinced. But the rave I went to following that, Pioneer was on the decks and he played one of my favourite tracks on the CD, there was no turning back. I never even left the dancefloor to relieve myself, I just about went to the bar for a drink and I’ve never been able to look back since.

What is your favourite funky house song/artist at the moment?

OK I need to clear up one thing…. It’s not Funky House. This was something I found out when first getting into the music. Funky House is something you’d find on a Hed Kandi or Pacha compilation and sounds nothing like what you’d get from Crazy Cousinz, Naughty, Geeneus, Fuzzi Logik or any of the other producers. But my favourite track at the moment would have to be Black Coffee – Turn Me On. The song has song magical powers I swear!

What inspires you to do what you do?

WOW!! What inspires me? I just wanted to do something new and innovative that wasn’t already being done. I knew straight away that I wanted to be a part of the movement but I wanted to do something original which I already found enjoyment from and was also beneficial to the scene. As long as what I do remains beneficial to the others within the movement, just doing me will inspire me to continue. When you have a real passion, its inspiration within itself.

What do you like the most about what you do?

Meeting new people mostly, and learning about other people’s experiences within the industry.

Why did you start the blog, what you think people wanted to hear what you had to say?

When I first started the blog last year October, there wasn’t a place people could reference to find out about the music. Nobody knew where they could purchase it either so everybody was reliant on who they knew to get their hands on the music. Tracks were usually identified by sound and anybody on the outside of the movement was left high with curiosity.

I had been writing before hand and had approached a large number of magazines and websites but there was a major stigma against emerging sub genres. This infuriated me because I knew that there was a market for this information, but it was only until I loaded one of my articles onto the Beatport music website that it was confirmed in fact how big the thirst was. Following this I approached the magazines again and searched for blogs, anywhere that provided some kind of information on the music. All I found was my same article, copied and pasted and credited to me. I didn’t really need any more thought about it. The blog site was started as soon as the penny dropped on October 4th 2008 after the hours of 11pm, when I should’ve been going to my bed.

What do you hate seeing in the funky scene?

Hmmm…. there are a few things. The main thing is the lack of quality control. It’s like the stem of most of the negative things, especially the politics. The issues in the scene are all related to quality control in some sense or another. There also seems to be a lack of unity too which I think has a negative effect on the movement. Everyone just wants to eat their cake and not share, which means there’s no sense of community, it’s more like a stock market.

How do you cope with the business and raising a kid?

I don’t! Coping I see as a word that defines a struggle, like a burden. It takes up a large amount of my time as I’m a mother before anything else and in reality, I would be able to dedicate that time on something else, but he was there before the business so with time management and a supportive unit, it all works out in the end. There are some opportunities I have missed out on, but I believe that if there is will, there is a way and having a child just increases my desire to succeed.

The funky scene, where do you see it going?

Boy…. Who knows? This is a frequent topic these days but none of us are able to see the future. The skank tracks have become tired very quickly but are still being produced. Many say they won’t last past Napa, but Napa might make them blow considering the ratio of ages that are flying over to the island this summer. But there’s also commercial interest now so we could be looking at some upcoming top 10 hits. They can also bleed it dry and force it back underground. So there’s a few options, the scenes really split right now so what happens on one side of the scene may not happen on the other. We shall see…..

Who is the king and queen of funky house?

Marcus Nasty is undoubtedly the King of the scene. He’s pushed the scene forward on another level. He’s like the Bob Marley of Reggae or the Bruce Lee of Kung Fu. Straight Ambassador. Pardon me, I do try to be modest, but if you want a Queen of the Funky scene it can only be me. There are many females out there that have pushed the scene forward though, I’m not taking anything away from any of them but if I had to pick one, it would be Angie B. She’s been here from the start but she doesn’t get the respect she deserves for some reason.

What do you see yourself in the next 10 years?

I don’t even know where I see myself in one year let alone 10! I can tell you that I’ll be 35 though so hopefully I will have achieved a lot. Don’t rush life, it can be cut short at any time.

Do you have any musical talent?

I’ve dabbled in a lot of things growing up. I was always in the school choirs and did a few live performances singing and dancing from 5 years old upwards. I’ve also fiddled around with a few instruments. I went from the recorder to the piano to the violin and then steel pans. I was quite good at the piano and violin. I may pick up the violin again one day, I’m a big fan of Vanessa Mae.

Have you got any advice you’d like to impart on Journalists, media personalities or music critics?

Just do you and have your own style. Remain individual and true to yourself.

What should we be expecting from you in the future?

I like to keep my cards close to my chest. This is a saturated market with many plagiarists, but those that need to know are aware and those that aren’t will know when all is revealed. But I can tell you to look out for a new Urban web based TV channel called Champagne Bubblee TV. I’ve been writing the celebrity news for them and will soon actually be presenting it…. So look out for that cause that is coming very soon.

Thank you for your time.

Contact and follow her @
Itsalot Magazine
Wordpress Funky Blog
Makeda’s Blogspot Blog
Twitter

“YHP” Presents Full Interview with the “Founder of Obvious Magazine”.

Obvious Magazine empowers and motivates the person seeking self-gratification.
Obvious offers unbiased expert opinions both professionally and personally, Advice to understand the opposite sex’s psyche to build a better relationship. Obvious also includes lifestyle, fashion and empowerment to our purpose and desires.

How you doing today? I am great! Thanks for asking.

Before we go any further? Can you give us some more information about yourself, you know, what’s your name? How old are you?

Sure. My name is Jerris Madison. I am the Publisher/Creative Director of Obvious Magazine. I also work as a celebrity photographer/wardrobe stylist. I am 36 years old.

When was Obvious Magazine born? Obvious Magazine came to be February 2007. I took a year and a half to develop concept.

What inspired you to start a magazine company? When did you decide that, that’s it, I’m starting a magazine company? Can you tell us how it all started? Wow. Good question. I used to work with another magazine and we had constant creative differences. When we had our last falling out, I decided at that moment that I can build my own magazine and team. This is how Obvious came to life. I am glad I made that decision.

What makes Obvious Magazine different from other Competitors? Even though I work in a very competitive market, I don’t focus on that. I focus on what my audience wants and I satisfy them. This keeps us fresh and sane.

It’s said Obvious Magazine isn’t just a brand, it’s a lifestyle. Get obvious! Can you elaborate on that? When we came up with the slogan, we wanted people to understand that there are things in our society that we can change and make a difference in our personal and business relationships.

What are your predictions about the magazine industries in the upcoming years? One of the predictions that I am currently seeing is a lot of traditional print publications expanding their magazines online. This is huge right now. Also, a lot of new publications are starting online first. Obvious Magazine is one of those magazines.

What has been your biggest audience, offline or online? Our biggest market currently is online. We first launched our first issue August 2008. Currently we have 100,000+ unique viewers every month. We accomplished this with little or no major advertising. Most of our recognition came from word-of-month, Myspace and Facebook.

Does the internet add value to your industry, or do you think it is killing the offline magazines companies? Definitely adds value. If you don’t have an internet base, you will be in trouble. This is the Digital Age.

Anyways, we’re moving too fast; let’s go back a bit, how confident where you when you started, did you think the magazine will get so popular so fast?

Honestly, I was very confident. I didn’t rush to print like a lot of magazines. I did tons of research. Most magazines that come out fail within 3 years. Crawl before you walk, even if you have the resources to launch big. No one wants to fail in any business. Most of the popularity of Obvious comes from people liking us and what we are producing.

Obvious Magazine? What made you give the magazine that name? Funny story…LOL. When I had my last disagree with my old business partner, I was sitting at my desk trying to find the new name for my magazine. I went through 15 names and they were all taking. For some reason, I wrote down my company name, Its-Obvious, Inc big on a piece of paper. When I was getting up to get something to drink, two pieces of page fell on my desk and covered up the “Its” and “Inc” in my company name leaving “Obvious” visible. I was like hmmm. I immediately called a therapist friend and asked her about the name “Obvious”. She said, “It’s Obvious you should have this magazine!” I was on the floor laughing. This is how Obvious was born.

How often do you publish obvious magazine? When is the next print coming out? Obvious Magazine comes out every other month. We are a bi-monthly publication. We aren’t in print yet but our next issue comes out April 28, 2009. This will be the May/June Issue. The theme is “The Raw Issue”. We will launch a new Myspace, www.obviousmag.com site and present a new 80-page digital magazine online. We are very excited.

The printed magazine comes in full-sized, flip-magazine (female version on one side, male on the other) targeted to both sexes with national distribution. What influenced this style? The idea behind this came for an Oprah Winfrey show about women choosing to be single. At the time, 70% of American Women choose to be single and 50% of the 70% are Black Women. I was like, “Wow!” I wanted to create a publication where men can vent about the issues with women and women can vent about the issues with men. There are a lot of things we assume about women. One being, not all women love flowers for Valentine’s Day.

How difficult was it to get sponsors and adverts on magazines? How difficult did you find it? This goes back to crawl before you walk again. I wanted to invest in my publication first and build our audition. Most companies aren’t going to give you one cent if they don’t believe in your brand. They want to make sure they are getting the most from the investment. Fortunately, we haven’t had to do many cold calls for advertising. They come to us. This is a blessing!!!

Did you encounter any setbacks or negative experience? How did you cope with it? The only setback was getting people to believe in us because we are an online publication. Most people still want to have that print version in hand. We just focused on the people who appreciate our online version and will focus on a print issue in the future. We however do have a book coming out in the fall 2009 entitled, “A Year in Obvious.” This book will have all of covers and editorials for the year ending 2009. We are getting orders for the book as we speak. We are grateful.

What are the most important lessons you have learnt so far? Don’t bite off more than you can handle and be impeccable with your word. I tell my staff often, if not every day, you work with me and NOT for me. This lets them know that I appreciate all that they do.

Who are your Role Models/ Influences? I am inspired by William Buffet and Oprah Winfrey’s work ethics! They let me know that hard work does pay off. Sometimes it takes years but it will reward you beyond your wildest dreams. I am inspired by the people I meet every day also. I love learning about culture and life experiences.

What have been the best advices you’ve been given so far? “Don’t take anything personally”, “Fail to plan, plan to fail”, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”, “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success” and “Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well”.

What has been your greatest achievement so far? One of my greatest achievements is waking up in the morning and knowing that God is giving me another day to inspire people as I did the day before. That’s fulfilling to me and makes me smile.
What are your advices for Aspiring young entrepreneurs looking to break in the Magazine industries or other industries? Let’s say I have been thinking of going to the magazine business, what steps do I need to take? What do I do? Whatever profession you chose, work at a similar company to gain experience to see if you really want to make a career of it. This is very important and will eliminate a lot of wasted time and energy. I like to inspire all people through my radio show, “The Jay Mad Show.” My show airs every Sunday at 2pm PST/5pm EST and Wednesday at 3pm PST/6pm EST. The Jay Mad Show is internet based and listened to people around the world. For more information, go to: www.blogtalkradio.com/thejaymadshow

What do you do to relax your mind, rest your body, when away from work? I keep a positive attitude and wake up each day with a positive book and great music that inspires me. This sets the tone for your day. I am not a heavy drinker and don’t smoke. I like to cook for family and friends. This allows me to catch up on things and keep positive energy in each other’s lives.
So what’s next for Obvious Magazine and for you? We are continuing to grow Obvious Magazine as a global brand. We are working on an additional version of Obvious for the UK Market.

So finally, before I leave you both, I need to ask for your secret, come on, why have you been so successful, what’s your secret weapon? My attitude is my secret weapon. Well actually, that’s not a secret… (Laughing). You can ask anyone I know personally or had the pleasure to meet. Hands down they will say my attitude is one of my best personally traits.
I wish you the best in the future. Thank You. You are very kind and thanks for a great interview!!!

Thanks for the time.