James tells me that as a young child he wanted to be a teacher and as a result loved going to school – but all of that changed when his parents got a divorce when he was 15. After seeing his parents dedicate their time and lives working on other people’s vision without really getting any satisfaction – It was then he knew he wanted to get into business.

James is the now the founder of Zeffa – an independent media planning and buying agency which he started during the credit crunch. I spoke to James on founding the company and how he has managed to build it into a multi-million pound business.

The full interview is below

Hi James, How are you doing, great to have you on YHP?

All good here thanks! Hope you’re well and had a good Easter!?

Yes I’m fine thanks, Easter wasn’t so bad – unfortunately mine was spent been stuck in front on the computer editing interviews.

Could you quickly give us some background information about yourself? Tell me about yourself growing up?

I was born in Wednesbury in the West Midlands and moved to Abergavenny in South Wales when I was 7. I now live in Cardiff. As a child I was often bullied and taunted for being a ‘teacher’s pet’. I loved going to school. Part of the reason for this was probably linked to the fact that I’d always craved to be a teacher but when my parents divorced I was 15 and I didn’t want to go off to Uni to study so I stayed at home.

How did you get into business? Were you exposed to entrepreneurship as a child?

I wasn’t exposed to entrepreneurship as a child. What I had been exposed to though was seeing my parents spend their lives working for other people executing someone else’s vision and plan and never really being satisfied with what they were doing. I think my determination to do and be better inspired me to get into business.

Who was your inspiration growing up and why?

This has to be my mum. I’m a real mummy’s boy (and I’m not afraid to admit it!). My mum is a real grafter. She’s not afraid to get stuck in and get her hands dirty. She also handled her divorce with my father extremely well and supported my sister and I in dealing with the uprooting that divorce often causes. My mum kept me focused on schooling and worked hard to retain a sense of normality within our lives. I couldn’t have asked for more. If nothing else, she taught me that even when you’re faced with a situation that you see no way out of, you’re the only one that can make a situation better.

So tell me about Zeffa and how the idea came about?

Zeffa is an independent media planning and buying agency and our job is to help advertisers find the right people, in the right place, at the right time, the right amount of times. The business was born out of the desire to change the way our industry worked. Many agencies operate on fixed fees or retainers and I believe that this approach isn’t always right for every client. There are some brands that pay fees every month to an agency and no work or consultancy is conducted. Yes, having a fixed income per month is great for an agency but it isn’t the best use of budget for some clients.

What were you doing before you founded Zeffa?

I started my advertising career with global outdoor media owner Clear Channel and went on to work in local and regional radio sales.

What was your biggest challenge during the starting up phase?

Convincing prospective clients to work with us. I started zeffa 4 years ago in 2008 when the ‘Credit Crunch’ was just kicking in. Clients wanted normality and stability – something that is common in times of uncertainty, so it was a real challenge getting them to understand why I was doing what I was doing and why I wanted to be what we are today.

How have you been able to fund the business?

I’ve been very fortunate that I run a business that doesn’t hold stock or need elaborate premises to operate within so right from the start, I just had to make sure that what I sold a campaign for, was more than that of the media I was buying in. Cash flow is always difficult to manage when you’re a growing a business. We have struggled at times where we have over traded but an open and honest relationship with suppliers and our bankers have meant that we have been allowed more generous credit terms.

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

Recruiting the right people! I like to talk and I love nothing better than sitting with a client and listening to the problems they’re facing and then being able to help combat those problems giving them not just a solution but becoming an expert in their field too. This is what grows our business but I can only do this when I surround myself with the best people. My team are wonderful and support me well in executing the reason that we do what we do. If my day was filled with meetings that weren’t relevant not only would I end up being stale but I wouldn’t be able to grow the business the way we have been.

Would you say the business has changed from the first initial idea?

Most definitely. I had an idea originally and it was only when I started chatting to customers and suppliers that I realized I needed to change my approach. I did and that’s why we’re here today. If I’d stuck to my original idea, yes, we’d have done ok, but we would have tightened our scope for growth phenomenally.

What would you say has been the highlight of your entrepreneurial journey so far?

Getting to our 4th birthday. Every day you see or hear of a business closing or going into administration and it makes you realize how tough some businesses are finding it right now so getting to our 4th birthday in March was a real highlight for us. It made me realize that we’re bucking the trend and doing something right.

What can we be expecting from your company in 2012?

Our plan in 2012 is to build on the successes of 2011. We’ve strengthened our team with the appointment of a marketing executive so we’re going to have a more considered and thought out approach to how we market ourselves to prospective clients throughout the coming year. It’s definitely going to be an exciting year.

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

Know why you’re doing what you’re setting out to do – On those days where you’re finding it hard, reminding yourself of why you’re doing what you’re doing will get you back on track.

Surround yourself with the best people – recruit people who you can trust and will buy into your vision as much as you do

Make a decision – whether it turns out to be right or wrong, you’ll learn from making decisions. If you don’t make a decision it’ll be the biggest mistake you make

Making money from content is an incredibly tough business to be in, especially in that of niche content – the non-breaking news type of content, which is probably all of the content we tend to cover here on the site. I decided to invite someone who knows all about making money from content, especially since we use Skimlinks here on YHP.

Joe is the co-founder of Skimlinks, a company that provides the technology helps blogs, forums, and content sites earn revenue from affiliate marketing with no technical or admin effort so allowing us publishers more time to focus on writing quality contents and building our community.

I decided to speak to Joe about how he got involved in Skimlinks, originally Skimbit and how the company has grown from that of one that was barely surviving to what it is now (The company raised $4.5M in their Series B funding last November, totalling the amount raised to $7.02M.). We also talked about his background, how he got into entrepreneurship, how the idea for Skimlinks came about and what the company is trying to solve and much more..

Below is the full interview.

Hi Joe, Thanks for doing this interview with me. Can you give you some background information about yourself, were you the entrepreneurial type growing up?

Not at all. Always a risk taker, but not a born entrepreneur. You hear a lot about entrepreneurs selling out lemonade stands aged 10, but I was more interested in technology itself. I’ve always been fascinated with computers & technology from an early age as my father too was always immersed in computers, with a career as an electrical engineer. Studying Information Technology at university in 97-99, I started to learn about web opportunities and took an elective subject “Entrepreneurship & innovation”, so I guess that marked when my interest really was piqued.

Tell me how the idea for Skimlinks came about?

Skimlinks was the result of a pivot from another idea, Skimbit. Alicia Navarro, my co-founder, started Skimbit in 2006 – a social decision making tool. The idea being that you ‘skim’ products, places, images from around the web via a bookmarklet into a single page to help make a decision on a purchase, holiday etc. Think Pinterest, but 5 years ago!

Realising that advertising wasn’t going to cut it with Skimbit, we conceived a system that would convert retailer links, which users were adding from around the web onto their Skimbit pages, into affiliate links automatically. The other benefit of this beyond earning far better money than advertising is that we didn’t need any visible advertising at all to clutter our website.

Struggling to raise money, especially due to the coinciding of the financial crisis, we were faced with adversity. We were pitching a white-label version of Skimbit at websites with little success, and BOOM suddenly realised that we could just offer the monetization system to them to work with the links in their existing content. We worked day and night, and in 2 weeks managed to turn a failing B2C business into a B2B business with a new lease of life.

What were you doing before co-founded the company?

After moving to the UK post-university and having worked in business analysis/product management for 5 years, I followed my other passion, which is music. I joined an independent electronic music label Finger Lickin’ Records willing to do just about anything, and ended up running the new media side of the label due to my technology background. Essentially this was licensing their content to the new digital download services: iTunes, Beatport, eMusic etc.

Doing it for the love and not the money and living in London started to grate, so I was spurred on by a university friend who had been very successful in Internet Marketing to start a business called SiteRefinery. Building, buying and selling websites I built up a lot of knowledge around site monetization e.g. affiliate marketing, Google Adsense, and also search engine marketing. When Alicia offered me to join Skimbit, it sounded exciting and I knew we’d work well together so jumped at the opportunity.

What are you trying to solve with Skimlinks?

We are trying to solve a difficult problem, which is rewarding content publishers for the role they play in causing people to buy online. It revolves around the concept of ‘purchase intent’, and if you are generating purchase intent from your content, you are creating real value, the problem is trying to remunerate publishers for that in an effective automated manner.

Up until recently, if you published a piece of content e.g. a review on the latest digital camera, you were generally only able to earn a fraction of a penny per pageview by surrounding that content with banner advertising. Using affiliate links in your content was an option, but it was highly manual and difficult for web publishers to manage – they prefer automated solutions, like sticking in an ad unit, so that they can focus on their content and community.

Skimlinks today solves two problems where purchase intent is present but not monetized by the publisher: existing links to ecommerce retailers in content, and product references written in content. Publishers either install our technology via simple script or using our API, which automatically converts existing links or adds new links to product references – these links now tracked by Skimlinks so if users click on them and you drive either sales you earn an affiliate commission (CPA), or traffic you earn an amount per click (CPC).

So with Skimlinks, our vision is to reward publishers for the connections they created between the content and ecommerce, or ones we automatically create for them. We are helping them earn by connecting the dots.

Talk me through the first few months of running the business? What would you say was the hardest part of starting the business?

I’ll describe the time when we first started building Skimbit. We were a small team of 4 and we were trying to get the features we thought were important built, trying to drum up income, work on the business model, drive traffic, raise money all at the same time.

The hardest part was attempting to handle all of those spinning plates and continue to create traction. With only a scrap of funding we needed to get to traction, in order to prove both ourselves as entrepreneurs and the model to investors.

It was all hard. I think ultimately what was the most important hardest part was working out the right things to focus on. It is so easy to get excited and pulled in many directions when you are starting up, when some of those really aren’t important in getting you to your next proof point, your next milestone.

For example, we fretted a lot about the site design and which feature we were going to create next, but really we needed to understand whether fundamentally the concept was going to work and were we able to get it to a point where we could either be making money, or have enough traction to justify investment.

We still have similar challenges today of prioritising what to work on, but we’ve got better. Also there are some good methodologies out there, such as lean, which help you to focus on proving your assumptions, iterating, measuring and finding product-market fit early on.

Why did you decide to change it from Skimbit to Skimlinks?

It took us in retrospect too long to realise, but we realised a few insurmountable problems at the time: the model i.e. social shopping was not mature enough, we weren’t able to generate enough revenues in the business, and there wasn’t enough investor appetite at the time. We didn’t really have much of a choice, but being in the thick of it, building relationships with web publishers, thinking about how we could evolve our model meant we had a better chance of creating Skimlinks.

The point is here is that unless you are actually taking the risk, living your idea daily, experimenting and challenging your assumptions, you may not get into that scenario i.e. the fertile zone where suddenly the momentum is there, or you can make that pivot and it starts to work out. It’s also true that innovation comes often when you have constrained resources, and indeed desperation.

How were you able to fund the business?

Skimbit was self-funded by Alicia originally pretty much by her life savings, and then augmented by a few friends and family rounds. It was nearly all over before we got the term sheet for our seed round at the end of 2008, with salary bills to pay, but since we had created that momentum with investors, mentors, team members, potential clients we were able to tie it up quickly and in-time after we moved from Skimbit to Skimlinks. Then we followed with a series A round in 2009 and series B in 2011.

Would you say the initial idea for the company, or that your business model has changed since starting the company?

Completely. We changed from a B2C social decision making tool, to a B2B affiliate marketing aggregator. Even since Skimlinks sprouted in late 2008, we have evolved both the business model and the vision for the company significantly. We now have a much broader vision to build a content monetization platform and from a business model perspective we work beyond the model of affiliate marketing. I think this is normal for any company to evolve the vision over time as you learn more about the problem-definition and the opportunity.

What would you say has been some of the most crucial things that you’ve done to build the company to this level now?

We have made particular business and product decisions that have been very important, but in a general company building perspective the most crucial thing has been to craft the right team together. Looking at the Skimlinks momentum today, it sounds obvious, but it really has been a result of the team.

We have always been careful to hire the best people possible, even without a lot of resources and have a real diversity of talent. When I say best possible, I don’t mean best universities, grades or most experience, but the right attitude, enthusiasm and cultural fit for the company. I think its important to have everyone in the same room too and be properly aligned – our CTO came on board early, and the tech and product teams work next to each other. Everyone is in earshot, and decisions get made quickly.

Not just about team members we’ve also surrounded ourselves with talented advisors, mentors and peers and talk to them regularly to get their input. Maintaining the balance of getting out of the building and talking to others, networking, pitching is important.

Another thing we’ve always maintained is being pretty bootstrapped and lean, even after a fund-raise. We are careful with money across decisions in hiring, marketing, travel, office – it is so tempting and easy to make a mistake here. Raise more money than you need, but keep a war chest. Don’t be stingy though, the team now all have fast machines and 24” monitors now we can afford it.

Is the business profitable?

Cannot disclose, but I can say that we were revenue generating from day one of Skimlinks

What’s been your most memorable moment so far on your entrepreneurial journey?

There have been many memorable moments when we have achieved a particular product or revenue milestone, won a client, closed a funding round etc but they are always punctuated by the memory of the team celebrating it and recognising that they’ve done it. At different times, its been different sizes of the team, we can still remember sharing a single bottle of champagne in plastic cups around a desk, now the celebrations are a bit bigger.

The most memorable times are when we have whole team together as we are normally split across the world in London, New York and San Francisco. For example, every Christmas we have a crazy mass team scavenger hunt around London followed by a big dinner, it’s the highlight of the year. It really reinforces my earlier point – its crucial to build a great team that get on well with each other, otherwise you are you going to enjoy your memorable moments with?

What pieces of advices could you give to aspiring entrepreneurs out there?

Build something that is inherently scalable. If you want to achieve exponential growth, your idea needs to be big enough that it can truly scale, especially as your blue-sky projections for your idea normally turn out far less in reality. This is of course if you want this, you can be a successful entrepreneur and create a lifestyle business, but make sure your idea fits with your aspirations.

Don’t get too attached to your idea. It’s easy to say ‘well that’s for people with crap ideas, mine kicks ass’, but its not just about the quality of your idea, but whether it’s the right timing, whether you have the ability to execute it better than others, and whether you have the resources to get there. Post-pivot, you always realise that you were a bit too headstrong about the last incarnation even when it wasn’t going to work out. But that’s understandable, you’re a passionate entrepreneur right? Just take some objective steps or outside perspective to evaluate whether the business is still right in its current state right now. I think the best entrepreneurs can instinctively judge this.

Be very open minded when looking for talent, you won’t be able to convince the best when you are not established so spend the time thinking about where you can access talent where others don’t normally look. It’s highly competitive so think about how you can get your competitive advantage, and think about how you can be unique in attracting people – being able to pitch your business to potential clients is only half of it. As we scaled at Skimlinks, we wish we’d actually hired an internal recruiter earlier – if you do it thoroughly, it takes the founder/management lot of time and effort.

What can we be expecting from you and Skimlinks in 2012?

More of everything for existing or budding Skimlinks publishers – more examples of how to use our monetization technology, more cool ways to deploy our technology, more reporting and understanding of their data and most importantly more money earned for the publisher. We are essentially finding and creating more of those connections between content and ecommerce.

Sonia is the Multimedia Editorial Director at Black Enterprise where she oversees all of the career and lifestyle coverage across all of the platforms, which includes the magazine, two television shows, events and online. She is also editorial director for the Women of Power Summit, a conference that provides women with strategies for advancing in the workplace.

I spoke to Sonia about her journey so far and how it all started.

The full interview is below.

Can you tell me a little about yourself? What’s your background?

I was born in Birmingham, England to Jamaican and Bajan parents. My mother loved reading Ebony magazine and after spending more than 20 years in England, that publication was her inspiration to come to the States. She was a little disappointed once she arrived. Blacks weren’t doing as well as she had read, but it’s where my family has made its home ever since.
I was raised in Brooklyn, NY, and attended Emerson College in Boston. I still live in Brooklyn where I have raised my son and daughter

Take us back a little, how did you get into Journalism?

I was inspired by Barbara Walters. At the time, she was the only female journalist working at that level. I remember when she received her million dollar contract as an anchor. It was a big deal for a woman to be interviewing heads of state and celebrity guests – and making as much as did.

When did you decide to start taking it seriously?

Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever pursued anything seriously. I’ve always ended up in different places and worked really hard once I got there. I attended college with the intent of pursuing print journalism and then switched my major to business communications with a minor in writing. I was an on air reggae deejay for three years and then thought I might want to pursue radio, but didn’t want to pay dues in a small no-name town. While I was in college, the station had a subscription to a digest size magazine called CLASS (Caribbean, Latin, African American Sights and Sounds). I wrote the publisher several letters and made several phone calls. He never responded.

After graduation, I spent the entire summer looking for work in media. Frustrated and in need of job I signed up for a management training position at Budget Rent-a-Car. I was depressed that I had given up on all of my dreams. But that evening when I got home, I received a call from the publisher at CLASS. He was re-staffing the entire office and wanted me to come in.

My first position was as Assistant Editor. I didn’t even know what an editor did. But the senior editor at the time mentored me. I covered everything from international news to entertainment and travel eventually becoming the senior managing editor for CLASS.

I left there and joined Black Elegance a woman’s lifestyle magazine as Associate Editor and eventually became the Editor-in-Chief.

Talking about early days, what difficulties did you encounter in your early days of writing and tell us how you got out of it?

When I think about the challenges of the early days, I guess I could point a couple of fingers to bosses who took advantage or colleagues who were less than supportive, but as I reflect I realize that most of those challenges were a direct result of having low confidence. Although I worked really hard in every position I held and delivered impressive results for the companies, I always felt like I was still proving myself. When you lack confidence, you allow yourself to be vulnerable to all the forces around you. So when I should have been demanding a certain salary or a particular position, I felt that if I continued working hard, I would be rewarded. It’s a common mistake with women.

Who is your inspiration and why?

I am inspired by anyone who walks in faith, anyone who is fearless enough to pursue what’s in their heart and create the life they are passionate about. It takes courage to say no to the ordinary or to playing it safe.

What is most challenging about a career in journalism?

Today, it’s the Internet and the speed at which people want information. Everyone wants to be first instead of correct.

What is involved with being the Editor at Black Enterprise?

My official title is Multimedia Editorial Director. In my position, I oversee all of the career and lifestyle coverage across all of our platforms, which include the magazine, two television shows, events and online. I am also editorial director for the Women of Power Summit, a conference that provides women with strategies for advancing in the workplace. And I am a correspondent on one of our TV shows – The Black Enterprise Business Report in a segment called Executive Style.

What are the best and worst parts of being an editor? Explain.

The best part of this job is the access to such a wide variety of people and information. I learn something every day! What I’m not crazy about are the administrative duties that are part of the job.

What achievement are you most proud of?

Professionally, I wrote the first real business story on Oprah Winfrey in 2008. I also co-authored my first book Good is Not Enough: And Other Unwritten Rules for Minority Professionals.

Thinking back, What influenced you to join Black Enterprise?

I was unemployed. The company I was working for closed its doors. A gentleman who previously worked for me called me about an opening – and I ended up working for him. That’s how it is in the communications field. The roles can easily be reversed and so it’s always important to maintain good relationships with all people at all levels.

How has the journey been so far?

Amazing. I’ve met and interviewed tremendous talent. I’ve learned a great deal. I’ve mentored young women who have gone on to great opportunities.

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

Sitting with Oprah Winfrey in her office. We didn’t think we’d get the interview – and when we did it was set up for a phone interview, but she got sick and had to cancel her trip to New Orleans.

What else do you get up to in any spare time that you manage to have? Is there anything other than writing that you like to immerse yourself in?

I have an immense love affair with the Caribbean and am working on projects to showcase talent and culture. We’ve created a www.youtube.com/gingercandycomedy, a comedy channel. It’s a first step.

What’s exciting for you right now in the whole online space right now?

That you can create whatever you want and share it with the world. The Internet has leveled the playing field. Before you had to belong to certain groups, or have a certain expertise in order to market or showcase your talent, product, business. Today you just have to be creative, strategic and determined – willing to do the research, willing to test the market.

What would you say have been some of the key things that you’ve learnt on your journey so far?

It’s important to ask for help and guidance. We like to think that we can do it all on our own, but that’s the quickest path to failure. Always operate by excellence, even when you dislike your job, your boss, or your environment. Ask for the raise/promotion – or whatever you need to make yourself more comfortable in your role. Never think that you will be acknowledged and/or rewarded for hard work. Ask for what you want. And always follow your instinct. Your gut is never wrong. Find time for balance. It’s in the quiet moments that you receive the direction and the insight that you need for clarity and progression.

What key advices would you like to give to aspiring journalists?

Maintain integrity. Never compromise your ethics. And always look for ways to expand your talent and your knowledge.

What are you most looking forward to in 2012?

I’m looking forward to growing in all the new ways that will be presented to me this year and then expanding my opportunities for sharing that knowledge. Stay inspired and then pass that inspiration on.

I recently had the chance to interview up and coming entrepreneur Ashley Allen who tells us about Avenue Magazine and where he hopes to take it. Read on:

First of all tell us a little bit about Avenue Magazine?

Avenue Magazine is a digital youth and culture magazine that is distributed quarterly to readers with access to the internet (we are coming to print in 2012). The magazine is all about reflecting the interests of young people – music, fashion, technology, gaming, film and more – as well as providing them with a platform in which they can showcase their talents and achieve their goals in life.

When did you start this & what was the inspiration behind it?

I started Avenue Magazine in July 2011. The main inspiration behind it came from the London Riots. The negative press that the youth of the world received immediately after was too much for me, although some of it was deserved, but there are young people out there doing well with their lives, and trying to make their careers as successful as they can, whether this be at Uni, working in the community, running their own businesses, etc, and I wanted to put these people on the map. Me being only 23 years-old myself, this is something I really feel passionate about.

So I got myself a desk in my bedroom, set up a basic website, and dived straight in. There was no planning before, it was quite literally “I’m going to set up a magazine for young people” and that was that.

What were you doing before starting Avenue Magazine?

I’m actually still working full time as a sales representative for a local industrial transmissions company. I work 5-9 (and early mornings, and weekends) with Avenue Magazine, but I can’t complain because it’s been an amazing experience so far.

What revenue channels do you have or are looking at?

I’m looking to raise revenue from advertising both online (banners, ad squares, homepage takeovers, etc) and in the magazine (double page, full page, half page, etc). To be honest, it’s not something I’ve really pushed up to now, because the magazine was started so quickly I wanted to build up the audience and content first. Looking back it should have been the other way, I know, but I have no regrets. And roughly three weeks ago a local design agency called Dawson Designs became our first site sponsor with a 125×125 ad square for a three month period!

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?

My advice to anybody thinking about going in to business is always the same short but to the point line. If you want to go out and do something, do it and don’t wait around until it is too late.

At what point did you think that running your own business is what you really wanted to do?

You may laugh at this, but ever since I left school and saw people walking around town in suits, I always wanted to run my own business so I could dress like them – that’s a pretty stupid reason, eh? On a more serious note, the drive to have my own business began a couple of years ago when I started reading up on it via books, Google, YouTube, Twitter (basically, as any free tools I could get my hands on). I’ve studied administration, bookkeeping and now I’m studying journalism. Everything I’ve learned is self taught, I’m a big fan of D.I.Y. And 2012 will be the official launch of Avenue Magazine UK as a business.

What challenges have you faced starting a business & how have you overcome them?

Getting people interested in my magazine was a big challenge to begin with. There are a lot of magazines out there that are similar to what I do, but on a much bigger scale. How did I overcome it, I annoyed my friends by posting links on their Facebook profiles, so that their friends would read it and pass it on, and on, and on. Avenue Magazine isn’t a business as such yet, so the challenge in 2012 is to make that happen. How I’ll overcome it… I’ll have to let you know on that one!

So what are your future plans, where do you hope to be in 5 years time? 

In 5 years time I want my Avenue Magazine be a youth-run organisation, a part of the community. A place where young children and people can come on work experience, placements, school holidays, so I can give something back to Ilkeston, the town I grew up in. I also want to have the magazine stocked in local stores, bars, hairdressers, any location that young people go. That’s the plan. BRING ON 2016!

–

You can follow the progress of Ashley and Avenue Magazine via the following links:

Follow @rishi_chowdhury
Follow @officialyhp

Also be sure to check out the YHP magazine and subscribe for news and the latest articles from YHP.

A great TED talk here from Natalie Warne, this is inspiring and shows what little things we do can help come together to make a big change.

Very inspiring, so take 12 minutes from your day to watch this video:

Nowadays blogging is such a must do for every business, it sounds insane when you tell someone you don’t blog, especially when you’re trying to run a start-up, sell a product or create a service, let’s not even mention when you’re trying to brand yourself. It’s like saying you haven’t seen the social network.

Anyways, I recently had the opportunity of interviewing the founder of Mscareergirl, Nicole Crimaldi. Mscareergirl is a website whose mission is to empower women through their careers, technology and business.

In our interview she discusses about how she turned her blog into a business, the opportunities, the adventures and possibilities that blogging gives to an individual at no cost, of course you have to buy a domain, build the website or get someone to build it for you or just use of the growing number of blogging platforms available online and of course your time is needed, your dedicated attention like catering to a new born.

Anyways, enough of my rambling, this is what we talked about.

Can you give us some background information about yourself?

I graduated from Miami University (Ohio) with a finance degree (and an entrepreneurship minor!) and spent the first 5 years of my career in commercial banking. Thanks to my blog, I was then recruited to build out the marketing department of a start-up where I helped them create marketing partnerships, managed social media efforts and planned new market launches. I was there only a short time before I was laid off along with a third of the company and now I’m a self-employed marketing consultant and host women’s networking events.

What inspired you to start mscareergirl.com?

I started my blog 3 years ago at age 24 to address the issues young professional women face after college. I had always loved writing and always wanted to be an entrepreneur but didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. Therefore, I started a blog simply as a “passion project” and as a way to use the creative side of my brain after using my logical side all day at work.

Once I started blogging, it opened up a whole new world for me. I had found something I realy loved doing! I learned as much as I could about social media and internet marketing. I read so many books, took courses at the University of San Francisco, attended workshops and took so many people to coffee who were smarter than me to learn as much as I could. I also did lots of free consulting work to build up my resume.

How important do you think blogging is to one’s business and what opportunity has it added to your professional career?

Blogging has been SO huge for me in so many ways. It led me to a whole new career path, it has given me so many opportunities to network with new people, be featured in the press, and was my saviour when I got laid off.

A lot of people might say it’s too time consuming (Blogging) and they might lose focus on their proper business, how were you been able to combine both your job and the mscareergirl project?

These people are right- it is VERY time consuming! If you aren’t cut out for focusing on blogging and being consistent, then blogging might not be for you. You must make time for your blog if you really want to do it. When I was working a “day job,” I blogged before work (yep this might mean waking up at 5am). Sometimes I would bring my laptop and go to a coffee shop at my lunch break too or do it for hours after work. It’s a time commitment like anything else in life.

How do you keep motivated and focus?

Passion keeps me focused- I love my blog, my readers and the topics I discuss.

How important do you consider networking? A lot of people might understand how networking works but don’t understand how to implement it? Can you give the readers some tips on networking or how you network?

Here’s a few things people are missing the boat on when it comes to networking:

1. It’s about finding commonalities and making a conversation about those things. Note: this doesn’t mean talking about what you do, what you are looking for professionally, or what product you are selling. If people like you and have made a connection with you, those details will come out later. Networking is more about making great conversations and friendships. The business comes once people like you.

2. Social media isn’t a magic bullet for networking… UNLESS, you take it offline. A lot of people say to me, “Ok if I just set up a Twitter account and start a blog, that’s how I”ll get new customers- right?!” WRONG! Use social media to help you meet new people and start up conversations. Then once you’ve built some rapport, send them an email and try to meet for coffee if possible.

How do you decide when it’s time to get quit your job and be your own boss, I guess a lot of people get excited with the prospect of being their own boss rather than the reality of things, what’s your take on this?

I had fantasized about being my own boss for years before it actually happened. It was a very long process and required me to slowly make changes and take risks that would get me closer and closer to my goal. Ultimately, I had to switch industries first, which required taking a big pay and benefits cut. Then once I got laid off, I felt it was the universe’s way of telling me it was time. I was so thankful that I had a blog with an audience who I had never sold anything to. It allowed me to have the credibility and respect I needed to start getting advertising and paid classes/events.

Now that I’m here, I can tell you that it’s fantastic working in my yoga pants all day with my dog at my feet. BUT this lifestyle is also slightly terrifying and can be lonely. You don’t always know where your next dollar is coming from, you don’t have co-workers to collaborate with and you can get in your own head about if what you’re doing is good enough. Being self-employed isn’t for everyone, it’s tough!

What would you consider some of the most important lessons that you’ve learned so far?

Get uncomfortable. Every time I was willing to get uncomfortable, positive changes occurred. There are a few key situations that really gave me the most momentum.

Honestly, it started with just becoming a blogger. I was worried about what people would think about my writing, I wondered if people from high school would be reading my articles, I had NO clue how to use WordPress and then when I had to upgrade to a self-hosted site I was REALLY uncomfortable (and frustrated because I had never seen any of this technology before and had no clue how to use it).

The next time I really got REALLY uncomfortable was leading a 4-hour Social Media 101 workshop. It was my first public speaking gig, and I was soooooo nervous! I left that day realizing that speaking gives me a “high” and I love it. I accepted volunteer speaking gigs for a few years after that and now I’m getting paid to speak! I come alive when I’m speaking and had I not accepted that first workshop, I never would have guessed that about myself.

The next moment of serious discomfort was when I decided to host my first “Ms. Career Girl Connect” event. So many people had been asking me to host an event but I was worried no one would come or that it would be a flop. Finally I decided to do it and 2 weeks before the event I got laid off. I was SO thankful that that event was on the calendar. I got up in front of the 80 women who attended my first event and told them how scary this was for me. I was met with an outpouring of support and a huge sense of accomplishment. I’m now planning our 3rd event and am working with women across the country to bring these events to their cities!

Switching industries from the safe and cushy world of commercial banking was very uncomfortable, as was being laid off and now I am uncomfortable every single day being self-employed.

I think the difference between successful people and average people is their willingness to get uncomfortable. If it’s not uncomfortable then you aren’t growing.

What plans do you have now to expand your mscareergirl.com further?

As for Ms. Career Girl’s expansion, my Ms. Career Girl Connect events and Ladies Launch Pad incubator programs will be slowly brought to new cities across the country in 2012. Both the event and the incubator program are beneficial for women everywhere. After so many women reached out begging me to bring these to their cities, I figured why not give it a try.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

I hope to be a six-figure earning Mom. I own the domain name MsCareerMom.com and could see starting that blog & community. I also see myself writing a book and doing a lot more paid speaking.

What are your hobbies?

I love reading, Italian food and my city (Chicago). My yellow lab Giada is the center of my life and since I’m engaged, wedding planning has become somewhat of a forced hobby lately!

What has been your most memorable moment since starting on your journey?

Being a guest on Oprah’s XM radio channel was a huge honor for me as I’ve always admired Oprah and loved her XM station. It was also cool to see myself quoted in a front-page Chicago RedEye story, get flown across the country to speak at a conference and also to be offered to write 2 books.

What advice can you give to anyone reading this interview, looking for some kind of inspiration or someone thinking of starting a part-time project while working?

Do it! No job or industry is 100% secure. Everyone should have a passion project or a “side hustle” in case something doesn’t go as planned. If you don’t know what you want to do yet, then devote time to figuring it out by testing new things every few weeks. Life without a passion or something that is yours to grow just isn’t the same. The rewards are not always financial, but they do so much for you as a person. Make time for this side project and I’m sure you’ll see that the rewards are huge.

Thanks for your time Nicole.

The cost of printing has gone up drastically over the last 10 years. Students studying an undergraduate degree spend an average of £84.39 on printing per year.

With the rising living costs and inflation in the economy, it dawns on all students that saving money is key to living an enjoyable student life.

With this in mind, two former students, Amish Badiani and Anand Morjaria decided they wanted to do something about it. A website designed for students offering bespoke printing and binding solution, for cheaper prices than the regular high street stores or local printing shops and thus, UniDoxDirect was born, a collaborative partnership with Doxdirect Ltd.

Speaking about why they feel their company is currently needed, Mr Badiani said:

Most students do not own their own printer, as the costs of initial purchase and printing inks are high, plus they take up room, are prone to breaking down and furthermore, your friends will nag you to let them print at your cost! The majority of students print their coursework, dissertations, presentations and any other formal documents in the library, or a local printing shop. They have been known to charge up to 40p a page for colour printing, and that’s before adding the cost of binding and finishing your documents!

As an example, my final year at university consisted of a dissertation, which was around 100 pages, and 15% of the final grade was presentation. This made it important for the document to not only be written in a fine manner, but to look presentable. As there was no alternative at the time, I had to resort to getting it printed and bound at high street retailer Staples, who charged £45 for 2 copies, with a simple binding mechanism. However, if UniDoxDirect was around, I could have had that document delivered for half the price, and finished in a glossy book format, achieving top presentation marks!

On Competition:

There are one or two other companies out there offering a similar service, but none which can offer the quality or range of products we offer. As a student myself, I understood that the costs of printing were high, it was a stone age system of walking to the shops, standing in queues and all the finished documents looked the same, I.e same binding, same covers and same finishes.

On Marketing:

With a certain amount of marks being given to presentation these days, we thought it important that you can design the cover, and have different types of binding, including saddle stitch, book bound, spiral, etc.. In this manner, your finished documents instantly impress when you or the examiner picks them up, and you instantly have that edge over other students. All that said, even if you go for the bog standard offered by local printing shops, you still get a reasonable saving on your printing budget for the year!

On Technology:

We have also recently implemented upgrades to the system, whereby if a student wants their lecture notes for a particular module printed, they can submit them to us, and we can ring bind them, with a personalized cover and personalised tabs within the ring binder, offering a solution to wasteful and lost materials!

The Future:

I think the future will involve an online storage facility, like a database, saving your preferences in terms of covers and personalisation of documents, having the ability to emboss the logo of your university on the cover, etc..

Even direct delivery and submission of documents from the website to the university, making the student’s life less worrisome, as once they finish working, all they do is click print on UniDox, and their document is printed and submitted to their university prior to the deadline!

The future may also involve getting universities to print their course materials from us and syllabuses/programmes etc..

You have got to hand it too Maurice Harary, the 23 year old NYU student, who as soon as the news came of Osama Bin Laden’s death, did not go out celebrating on the street with the rest of America but instead rushed too his dorm room and began creating the site, Osama’s Dead Tees.

By 3.30 in the afternoon he had got the site live and was selling his tees at $12 each. Tuesday evening, and Maurice had seen 10,000 T Shirts sold. You do the math. And if that’s not you’re strong subject it’s $120,000. That’s right $120,000 in a little over a day!

And yeah I know, you had the idea too! But did you take action?

Rebecca Jayne Philipson founded of UR-In The Paper Ltd in 2005, aged 21. UR-In The Paper is a site which allows you to customise a newspaper as a gift. The site is the UK’s number one personalised gift newspaper service.

Setting up her own company and not having to work for anyone but herself, was her life’s ambition and in 2005, she suspended her studies (an english & art history degree from University of Northumbria) to pursue her dream.

The idea came about after her granddad mentioned people who made newspapers on Blackpool Pier as presents and how you don’t get them any more. So she decided she would bring them back, modern style!

Rebecca funded the business purely through her savings, family & the local Business link in County Durham. She worked with a local software and web design company, while playing around with different techniques to create the perfect personalised newspaper site she craved. She managed to come up with a system with allowed full automation in the personalisation process and therefore led to great lead times for customers.

After much development the company finalised it’s bulk production methods and the fully automated system now allows UR-In The Paper to offer very fast turn around times to customers. Rebecca realised quickly that customer satisfaction was key and I believe by having a quick turnaround customers will have a better buying experience and are more likely to recommend the product.

The company currently have the capacity to produce over 10,000 bespoke papers per week!

Rebecca Jayne has seen UR-In The Paper gain big deals with Tesco’s, WH Smiths & Manchester United whom saw value in the product. She has even expanded to the US trying to gather a foothold in the massive market across the pond.

The company is headquartered in County Durham near to where she grew up and has seen her staff numbers increase significantly to ensure the best customer satisfaction. Within her first two years of trading turnover for the company had reached £1 million. Quite an achievement I’m sure you would agree, considering the nature of the product.

The young entrepreneur has been recognised for all her achievements with multiple awards including Enterprising Young Brit of the Year 2006, North East Young Entrepreneur of the Year & Natwest Everywoman Artemis Award for entrepreneurs aged 18-25.

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Follow me on Twitter here.

If you are currently up to date with the Blogosphere world, You would probably notice she currently has one of the most talked about book on the internet right now.

Jenny Blake is the life coach, blogger, yoga teacher, and now the author of Life After College: The Complete Guide To Getting What You Want. I decided to do a quick interview with her to see whay this hype was all about.

Hi Jenny, First of all, Congrats about the launch of your book, You’re all over the internet, How are you doing today?

Doing great! I’m answering this on launch day – which has been incredibly exciting. I’m beyond grateful for all of the suppor the book has received so far — blown away.

To those who don’t know much about you, Can you give us some background information about yourself?

Sure! I am a life coach, blogger, yoga teacher, and now author I wrote this book while working at Google full time. Most recently I was a Career Development Program Manager and internal coach — now I’m on a 3 month sabbatical so that I can focus on promoting the book. Prior to Google, I took a leave of absence from UCLA at the start of my junior year to help start a company with one of my college professors.

The experience of leaving school before my friends (and reading over 200 personal development books on things like money, happiness, organization and time-management) inspired me to start my blog, LifeAfterCollege.org that is now a book.

How has the experience being so far, What opportunities has it brought you?

It’s been incredible. Don’t get me wrong — I’ve had lots of stressful moments too – times where I was ready to give up, or where I thought the whole thing would fall apart. But pushing through those taught me the power of perseverance. I have learned so much about myself through this journey – and it’s crazy to see it all wrapped up in one 6×9 package that I can now share with the world.

Let’s talk about your book: Life After College: The Complete Guide To Getting What You Want, What is it all about?

Life After College is a compilation of tips, quotes and exercises, divided into chapters for every major life area. Chapter categories include life (values, goals), work, money, organization, home, friends & family, dating & relationships, health, fun & relaxation, and personal growth. The idea is not to provide nuts and bolts so much as big picture inspiration to help people dream big and go after what they really want.

What would you say makes this book different and effective than maybe other development and coaching books for young professionals?

This book is very punchy and straightforward — I really tried to cut out all of the narrative that lots of other books seem to have. I wrote this for the ADD generation — the format is tips, quotes, coaching exercises and recommended books for every area of someone’s life.

People can open the book to any page and hopefully find something useful. I also think the coaching exercises will really help people create their own vision for their lives — that’s the part I’m most excited about.

Not everyone understands how much discipline it takes to finish a book, so i wanted to know what are some of the things you did to add structure and discipline in completing the book? How has the journey been so far?

It really helped to take two weeks off work when I started — it was during the Christmas holiday so it wasn’t a big deal. That allowed me to really focus for multiple days in a row. You’re absolutely right — it takes a lot of discipline, but it was all worth it.

Other things that helped were finding friends who also wanted to hang out and work on creative projects at the same time. It helped me feel less isolated and gave me someone to bounce ideas off of when I got stuck.

You’re also putting together a book tour, when will that be happening?

The book tour is self-funded and self-planned (the publisher doesn’t really help with that), so I will be mostly going to places where I have large pockets of friends and readers. I’ll be headed to 14 cities total, including New York, Boston, Maine, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Los Vegas and even London! You can see the full schedule here.

What tips could you give readers especially those that are on the verge of finishing school?

Set aside one hour each week (either alone or with friends) to do some big picture visioning – what is most
important to you? What three goals do you want to reach for in the coming year? Oftentimes we get so bogged down in our daily lives that we lose perspective on what really matters to us.

I would also say trust your gut — learn to listen to your instincts and it will help you find people and opportunities that are a great fit.

Where can we purchase a copy of the book?

Thanks for asking! You can purchase a copy on Amazon (http://amzn.to/jennyblake) or at a bookstore near you. You can also learn more about the book on my book website (http://LACBook.com) and on my blog (http://LifeAfterCollege.org). Thanks so much for the great interview!