http://yourhiddenpotential.co.uk/2012/01/06/interview-with-ashley-allen-founder-of-avenue-magazine/ http://yourhiddenpotential.co.uk/2012/01/06/interview-with-ashley-allen-founder-of-avenue-magazine/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:01:54 +0000 Rishi Chowdhury http://yourhiddenpotential.co.uk/?p=12853 If you like this post, why not stay updated to our contents as soon as they are published. Subscribe to our RSS Feeds, Facebook Fanpage and Twitter.

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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!

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

Twitter @avenuemaguk

Twitter @ashleyallenuk

Facebook www.facebook.com/avenuemaguk

www.avenuemag.co.uk

 

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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:

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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.

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Twitter.

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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..

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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?

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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.

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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!

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Some people say we all have a moral obligation to separate fools from their money. That is nonsense of course. But how far would you go to protect a fool from losing his money? Especially if you are the person who he could be losing it to?

This is not the type of post that ends with some good advice. I have no idea what the answer is. Maybe you do have a clear idea about your moral obligations as an entrepreneur or maybe it will lead to an interesting discussion.

The reason I’m asking the question is because a fellow entrepreneur recently did an amazingly good deal. A company offered him a proposal for a partnership which contained an error. The error was very advantageous to him and he felt he had (a moral obligation?) to tell them about it. So he drafted a counter proposal which was more fair, to both of them.

Read the rest on TNW

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Dirujan Sabesan and Sam Thornton are the co-founders of creative nerds -A UK based design & development firm that specialises in beautiful, creative and exclusive designs.

Hope their story inspires you, enjoy the interview.

Hi Guys, how are you doing today?

We’re good thank you

So before we go any further, can you guys just quickly give us some background information about yourself so that the YHP readers can get to know you better, especially you Sam?

Dirujan Sabesan – London based, 18 Year old founding director of CreativeNerds. You could say I’m the face of the company in terms of the visual artwork you see as I have the role of lead designer. I’m in full time education at Sixth Form studying A2 Graphic Communication, Music Technology & Media Studies.

Sam Thornton – I’m 20 and also a founding director of the company in question. I am the ‘geek behind the curtains’ so to speak as I also hold the position of head developer. I currently work full time in Liverpool for another design agency.

A lot has changed since I last spoke to you Diri, first of all, you were 16 and now you’re 18 right?!

Yup, we’ve come a long way since you interviewed myself a few years back. You’ll notice the new website which we launched in the summer of 2010. We have added a few more exclusive names onto our client list and also our actual presence as a design agency has developed. Since then we’ve also officially registered the company as –CreativeNerds (UK) LTD, making sure we’re taking the right steps forward.

Bring us up to date with some of your recent developments; a lot has happened since the last time i spoke to you?

Well we’ve managed to add some more companies to our client list such as – Sony Music Entertainment & The Jonathan Lipman International Group. Our largest project since speaking to you back in 2009 has been the SB.TV project which is always developing.

We created the identity for the company and went on to build the website which is now just over a year old and achieving over 45K hits a month. Artists such as Flo Rida, Drake & Devlin have all featured on there.

How is it like working with each other? A lot of people try to keep away from working with friends; Hope Sam doesn’t try to pull some “I’m older do this” card on you?

Dirujan Sabesan – No way. His shackles lock him onto his desk so I maintain control… Only joking. The best thing about us is that we are such a small team. Seems that being spread about England helps us because we simply work over emails, phone calls and video conferences. We’re not here to live of each other and have a democracy. Instead we put our passion for our talents together and create work that will always keep generating a healthy income .

Sam Thornton – We see it as an ‘equal opportunities’ environment, everyone has input and everyone gains the benefits of such a well-developed company in a very difficult industry. That’s not to say that we don’t disagree with what the other person says but we know each other than well, we pull through and settle on a compromise

Dirujan Sabesan -Teamwork is always key, if things were not working out then the company would have dissolved ages ago.

Do you guys have an office or you just work remotely from home or how does it work?

Dirujan Sabesan – We don’t have a core studio as such, we work virtually from home. Our communication to each other is over the phone, through constant e-mails, texts, and video calls. Right now we both work on CN part time, we both have our own individual lives and put as much time as we can into the company.

How did you guys know each other and why did you decide to start a business together?

Dirujan Sabesan – The World Wide Web put us together. Social networks such as Twitter and Behance allow you to find new and undiscovered talent. CN was simply created because we knew we had a passion for being creative individuals. At that time I was roughly 16 and only right that I wanted to make some extra money. Paper rounds weren’t really my thing.

Sam Thornton – We both realised each other’s talents and just set out doing a few designs as a hobby – I always saw web design as nothing more than this and never actually realised the potential in the market. 2 years down the line and we have a great client list, we are well known and becoming what I would describe as ‘successful’

The last i spoke to you Diri, you said you guys focused a lot of advertising but it know it seems “word of mouth” and referrals has now taken over for you guys?

Dirujan Sabesan – Seriously, I gave up on advertising. All I did was to leave textual links on any online projects we created, such as websites. Our support has risen and it seems that more and more people are getting to know about us. People like Neil Ransome, Jonathan Lipman, Jamal Edwards, Derek Amedume, Anthony Layiwola, SQ Magazine, Adeel Niaz , Ed Griffiths and the L4M camp always push our names out to anyone and everyone. I appreciate people like them who don’t simply want to use us for a service and then run away after.

Sam Thornton – It goes to show that if you do offer a great service and the end product is the quality that you advertise then you will be rewarded. We have now turned to relying on social media and the word of mouth of our current clients to spread the word.

What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?

Dirujan Sabesan – Self Motivation. Self Confidence. Time Management. You have to be motivated to carry out work for clients, work to maximise your potential. You must have the confidence in yourself to sell your product and push your business. And as Anthony from Base N Rebulz told me, time management will always keep you on track! Find the right assets and try not to indulge in any liabalities.

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

Dirujan Sabesan – If someone ever says that there has never been a failure within his or her business or career then that’s a lie. You will always make some mistakes in life, and these will make you a better minded because you know how to tackle the problem next time round.

Sam Thornton – I wouldn’t say we’ve had any catastrophic problem, I would say that on a day to day basis we are always learning new things, not just about the market but also about our clients and how to approach issues. I suppose our biggest failure is not capitalizing on things earlier…

How many hours do you guys work on average in a day?

Dirujan Sabesan – Depends really on how much work I’ve got to do. More or less I would have about 5 hours a day? I get home around 4pm and I don’t really sit there working non-stop, Facebook & Twitter seem to get the better of me on some days. Oh and half an hour has to be set aside for Eastenders.

Sam Thornton – When aren’t I working…In all honesty I only really have about 2 hours to myself all day as I work full time so I get-up, go to work, come home from work have an hours break, do CreativeNerds work then have an hours break before bed…

How do you define success?

Dirujan Sabesan – “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” –Henry David Thoreau– So the more hard work I put in, and every time I look at the time and realize that I’ve got to wake up in 4 hours, I guess im getting somewhere close to success.

Sam Thornton – Success for me is being able to look at what I have been able to build and see people talking about it, obviously there’s a financial side of things but i’m more of the rewards from the things people saw type-a-guy.

What do you like the most about being an entrepreneur?

Sam Thornton – The fancy title I guess…In all honesty I guess it’s the recognition you get and the fact that when you meet someone new and slightly slip in the fact you own a business they seem very taken back…

Dirujan Sabesan – The fact I can work whenever I like, set my own work rate and meet new people. Im doing a job that I enjoy, so it seems more of a hobby more than anything

Do you have a favourite project that you’ve worked on at creative nerds?

Sam Thornton – On a personal scale my favourite project would have had to be the Look4me Entertainment website, it taught me a lot of new things and helped develop my skills further, not to mention we launched the site with 1 minute to go before our deadline…exciting times

Dirujan Sabesan – Don’t really have a favourite project, every project is new and exciting. As Sam says you learn from working on new things.

What do you like best about the Internet?

Sam Thornton – I guess how diverse it is and the fact that new opportunities are always cropping up, just to think without the internet, CreativeNerds (UK) Ltd wouldn’t have been formed and people wouldn’t be reading this interview.

What softwares do you guys use for your design and development work?

Sam Thornton – It’s well known that most people won’t divulge such information but we are always out to help others as we wouldn’t be where WE are today without the help we received. Some of the software we use are:

- Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Flash…
- Too many web browsers to mention

None of our software is bespoke, we just have our own way of using them

Let’s go back a bit, who was your first client? How did you guys have so many big name clients, how did it start? How did you get your first big name client?

Dirujan Sabesan – I am not too sure who our first client was. I started of doing free work for my friends, way before the days of CreativeNerds, and these began as MySpace layouts, I get a lot of people on twitter telling me ‘oh I remember you from when you used to do layouts’ – This was back in early 2008. That’s more or less where I started. You’ve got to start somewhere.

In terms of the big name client, I think messaging TinchyStryders managers back in 2008 got me going. Back in the days of MySpace I simply sent Jack & Archie from Takeover Entertainment a message on there and offered to do some free work for StrydersMyspace. I left my logo on the artwork and soon things started to pick up. They helped me to meet the peeps at Universal and then the next big hit was N-Dubz.

Are you looking to diverse into other industry in the future under the creative nerds umbrella?

Dirujan Sabesan – We are not too sure yet, as businessmen, – we are both investing into little things which we feel are assets to us. In a few years hopefully some of the things that we are working on will bring some good returns. Only time can tell. The company has really been doing well for the past two years. However give it another two and see where we are then.

What sacrifices would you both say you’ve had to make to get to where you are now?

Sam Thornton – I would say the biggest sacrifice I have had to make is spending time with friends/family, however they all know why Im not out most weekends with them having a bit of personal time. At the end of the day if you aren’t willing to put some things on the line then the other things aren’t going to grow.

Dirujan Sabesan – I wouldn’t say this is a sacrifice but I didn’t go down the route of looking for a job like my friends, instead I headed down the self-employed route. That was the big risk, but it sees that it’s paying off now and I have something I am proud to put down on my CV. Thank you for putting us in the TOP 15 YOUNG ENTREPRENURS list too!

What’s the toughest feedback you’ve ever received from a customer and how did you learn from it?

Sam Thornton – I wouldn’t say we’ve ever received ‘tough’ feedback, and any feedback we do get we manage to turn it into a positive anyway, as some feedback is better than none right?

How have sales grown in the last few years?

Sam Thornton – To be honest we have hit a balance, obviously the capacity of work has gone up and so have rates especially with the quality we supply to our clients. Last year was a very good year for us and we hope to better that this year

Is the business profitable?

Sam Thornton – One simple word…Yes, one big reason for this is the fact that our initial cost-base is so low, at the end of the day there are no real costs we have to pay out for other than our servers and general business costs.

Dirujan Sabesan – Everything we make is 100% profit in most cases. Because we are working for ourselves. We are not buying something to sell and make profit off.In the circumstances when we are using freelancers we will take commission from the work, which is simple enough and keeps a steady money flow. When we work on a larger scale in a few years, we will hopefully have the right funding and set up to carry on working efficiently.

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

Sam Thornton – Continued to expand on what we know and continually reviewing our aims and goals.

Dirujan Sabesan – Making the right partnerships with the right businesses. You’ll see in a few months what new opportunities we have taken and how those will become great assets to the company. We’re not allowed to say anything at this moment in time.

Have you guys thought about creating and selling website templates?

Sam Thornton – This was something we had initially explored, however there are too many sites out there doing it and we enjoyed taking on individual projects and creating bespoke designs, it gives us that sense of satisfaction that we built it to specification and the client wants to use it.

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

Sam Thornton – Well, next month is business plan review time… However our achievable goals right now are to push out our name further and look towards other industries as we have been focusing heavily on the music industry. On a personal level I may setup a small branch in Liverpool and push small site designs through CreativeNerds..Who knows

What three pieces of advice would you give to college students who want to become entrepreneurs?

This interview may give you some sort of motivation to start your own business. Make sure that the service you wish to offer is something unique. People start a company because someone else they see has been doing the same. However you need to have something that’s exclusive, something that the others don’t offer. You have to have the right assets to make yourselves the best and if you need funding, apply for some. There are many companies that will help fund for young entreprenuers such as The Princes Trust, The Big Lotto Fund and Shell-Wire (http://www.shell-livewire.org/).

Thanks for your time guys.

If you want to connect with them, contact them on the links below, Real nice and humble guys.

http://www.facebook.com/creativenerdsuk
http://www.twitter.com/creativenerdsuk – Dirujan Sabesan
http:/www.twitter.com/creativenerdsam – Sam Thornton

Check out their designs – http://www.flickr.com/photos/itouchfx

Contact detail - dirujan@creativenerds.org / sam@creativenerds.org

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So yesterday I saw this floating around. It is a presentation made by Nick De Mey from Board of Innovation. The ten include companies such as Groupon (obviously), Spotify (another great one), PayWithaTweet (one to watch for sure!) and Quirky actually (Just wrote about them today as well, check it out after).

Emerging concept Quora is not on the list, but maybe one for next year!

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