“We started in 1998,” says Maung. “We chose the name Hissho because in Japanese it means ‘certain victory’. What we do is set up sushi kiosks inside supermarkets and send out a chef to make fresh products onsite.  That’s how we started.  Now it’s been 14 years and we have 400 locations.  We are no longer just targeting the grocery chains; we are also targeting educational institutions and some other restaurants too.”

In fact, Hissho Sushi has also expanded to service hospitals, corporate cafeterias, and airports.

“What happens is a retailer or grocer gives us the space, and it’s pretty much a turnkey project.  We go in with our product and our chef, and the customer picks up their order and pays at the cash register.”

Hissho Sushi currently has over 250 employees, as well as over 200 independent chefs or “chef partners”.  But in the beginning, only Maung, his fiancé, and his brother were involved.  Maung, who was recently honored as a keynote speaker at the Business Leader Top 50 Entrepreneurs 2012 event in Charlotte,  recalls the company’s humble beginnings:

“When I came to Los Angeles from Burma in 1989, I was more interested in doing a chain restaurant, but didn’t have any background or support.  I learned that it was much easier for me to get into real esate to earn money quickly.  So I studied real estate in California, studying English at the same time, and worked as a realtor for a few years to save some money. I was constantly looking for the next opportunity in the food industry because I thought that would be the next trend that people would be interested in.  At that time in California, sushi was getting popular and there wasn’t much on the east coast.  So I relocated to the east coast and looked for a place to make my headquarters.  I found Charlotte, and one of the major reasons it appealed to me was that I thought I could get the financing I wanted there.  But nobody wanted to talk to me without having a success story.  So I had to self-finance using credit cards and borrowing from friends and family.   I was pretty much spending all my life savings, putting everything in there.  And that’s how I started my company.”

Maung’s preparation and confidence in the quality of his product  helped maintain the company’s forward momentum during its early financial struggles. Maung attributes much of his continued success to Hissho Sushi’s company culture, the positive results of which were obvious on the smiling faces of every employee BossStart met at the 14th-Anniversary celebrations.

“For the first ten years,” Maung explains, “we didn’t really have a culture at all.  We were just working hard, long hours, six or seven days a week pretty much, with a limited amount of financing.  The company was growing, but our people were tired and we didn’t have much fun.  We were just focusing on growing.  Back in 2009, I picked up a book that one of my mentors had given me, called “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t” (by Jim Collins).  And I realized that it’s not all about the money, and that chasing after the money would not be wise.  We can be better than this.  If we don’t have fun and enjoy working in our environment, we cannot last long.  It doesn’t matter how successful we are.  So at that point I started reading all the culture books on how to be a great company.  I read about other companies, like Starbuck’s and Google, to try and figure out how they do so well.  For the last few years I’ve been very focused on making Hissho Sushi’s company culture right.  We’ve had a Zumba trainer twice a week, and then switched to yoga classes twice a week; we have a little library, we have karaoke some nights; and we celebrate monthly birthdays as well as everything from the Chinese New Year to St. Patrick’s Day to Easter to the Burmese Water Festival.  We encourage our people to go out and help those in need.  We go to the Charlotte Rescue Mission to help out the homeless two or three times a year on holidays and to Classroom Central to stock shelves.  But mainly we try and have fun here in the office, day in and day out.  I think that if you do the culture right, taking care of your employees and making them happy, they take care of the rest.  We can preach to them about how to have the best customer service and how to make the best product, but if you do not take care of your employees, it won’t happen.  It’s very important for people to be happy.”

Make sure you’re doing what you really love to do. This is very important. Don’t be in the crowd, chasing after the trend or chasing after the money. It’s not all about the money. You need to focus on what you love to do the most, what you’re passionate about.  There is no other way around it.

To learn more about Philip Maung and Hissho Sushi, please visit:

Website: HisshoSushi.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/HisshoSushi

Should I kick a freestyle to set this interview off?

Mahbod Moghadam is the enthusiastic co-creator of RapGenius.com (originally Rap Exegesis), a rapidly growing website in which thousands of volunteer writers contribute their own interpretations to the lyrics of rap songs.  “I think of Rap Genius as an academic tool, like Wikipedia,” says Moghadam, who often goes by his Rap Genius avatar: Baboo.  “It’s a writing clinic for a lot of smart kids who never had a chance, who never had English teachers really work closely with them.  The site is a tool that helps people become good writers.”

Rap Genius contributors are “crowdsourced”, a term which refers to the outsourcing of specific tasks to a communityâ€â€in this case, a massive online “crowd” of rap music fansâ€â€by means of an open call for submissions.  “Sometimes people call us a blog or a forum.  You can call my mom a blog, but don’t insult Rap Genius like that.”

Well-composed lyric analyses are rewarded with a “virtual currency” called Rap IQ Points.  The most talented and dedicated writers, those with a high “Rap IQ”, have the opportunity to become Rap Genius editors and are then given access to moderate the site’s content.

“I’m always looking for new editors.  We’ve got dozens of blogs cooperating with us, and a lot of those writers are also Rap Genius editors.  40,000 people have contributed explanations to lyrics, but I’ve only handpicked about 300 of those.  And they are the ones who really run the site.  They can change people’s explanations and edit lyrics.”

Moghadam, a former law student whose self-proclaimed expertise is social media (not to mention Hip Hop), started Rap Genius about a year ago with computer programmer/entrepreneur friends Tom Lehman and Ilan Zechory, who also have a bed sheet company called BombSheets.com.  “We’ve met developers whose jaws drop when they find out that Tom Lehman built all of Rap Genius.  He’s a true prodigy.  I like to think of him as Mark Zuckerberg with swag.  If Mark Zuckerberg had the physique of a male model, he’d be our programmer.”

Not only writers and hip-hop fans are reaching out to give explanations on Rap Genius; occasionally the artists themselves are heard from.  The site has given Moghadam the opportunity to correspond with some of his idols, including rappers such as Nas and Wale.  “We’re getting involved with some big rappers who are our heroes.  So for me, it’s just unreal; it’s like I’m living in a dream.”

“I think that one of the keys to our success is that we didn’t think of it as a business.  It started out purely as a hobby.  This was just a side project, just for fun.  If we had thought of it as starting a business, I don’t think we would have been able to do it.  The first time that we really took the site seriously is when we started getting some press.  We were on the back page of New Yorkmagazine, where they tell you things they think are cool.  Seeing the name in print felt completely unreal.  Even today we just think of it as a hobby that’s gotten out of control.  And now it’s all we do, 24 hours a day.  It still hasn’t turned into a business, but it certainly isn’t a hobby anymore.  Now I’d like to think of it as a cult.  Our blog affiliates and editors are like the priesthood of our cult.  It’s like a religion.”

“I think Rap Genius is the third best website on the internet.  The only websites I like more are Twitter and Hype Machine.  My goal would be for every rapper to have two websites that are always on their phone: Twitter and Rap Genius.  We would love to collaborate with other music startups too.  I honestly think this could be the biggest thing on the internet, especially when we get into explaining other types of music, poetry, the Bible, law, things like that.”

Indeed, Rap Genius has already branched out to other musical genres, offering line-by-line interpretations to songs by artists such as The Beatles, Animal Collective, and The Strokes.  The community response has prompted the creators to plan the launch of a new site called Stereo IQ, which will focus on crowdsourced interpretations of lyrics to Indie Rock music.  And still more plans are in the works.

“We did recently start selling t-shirts, but we’re barely even thinking about monetization at this point.  All of our efforts are on promotion and trying to grow.  We’re just trying to spread the gospel.”  While Moghadam and his crew may not see Rap Genius as a lucrative business just yet, they are successfully amassing a vast online community of like-minded individuals through their forum, which is an extremely important first step toward earning financial income on the web.

To contribute to/collaborate with Rap Genius (blogs/writers welcome), and for more information on Mahbod Moghadam (aka Baboo), Rap Genius, and Stereo IQ, visit:

Rap Genius Website: Rapgenius.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/RapGenius

Twitter: Twitter.com/RapGenius

Stereo IQ Facebook: Facebook.com/StereoIQ

“The American dream is alive and well.  The ability to create a successful company today is more possible than ever for the person who is willing to go out there and bust their butt, get educated, network, and do the work it takes to be successful.  The sky’s the limit.”

Jeremy Thiel is a CrossFit affiliate “box” owner based in Austin,TX.  He co-founded CrossFit Central with his sister, Casey Kepler, in 2005.  He has 3 gyms and also runs a program called Relentless Boot Camps, with over 12 locations.  CrossFit Central was voted “Best Training Studio” by Austin Fit Magazine in 2010.

CrossFit is a recently blossoming strength and conditioning brand, combining a variety of intense, timed, high-energy full body workouts, including sprinting, lifting, carrying, climbing, gymnastics, and much more.

“My passion is the sport.  CrossFit isn’t a hobby.  There’s this huge lifestyle component to CrossFit, kind of a mentality and an edge that the hard-hitters desire, as well as people who want to produce exceptional results in their lives, people who want to be motivated and encouraged.  Whether it’s success in overall fitness, wellness, or weight loss, our goal is to do everything that we can do in the community to support people in achieving their goals.  My biggest motivation is setting people free of the mental, physical, and emotional limitations that they set on themselves.”

Thiel is also the owner of a growing company called SicFit, which he describes as “a video/community website, all-supporting of CrossFit as a sport.  We do media, marketing and promotion, everything to do with the CrossFit lifestyle and with progressing the sport to the next level.”

Beginning To Live The Dream

“I got introduced to CrossFit in August of 2005, went to my first certification in November, and just fell in love with the community and what CrossFit stands for.  I knew that this was what I wanted to do with my life, and I saw a phenomenal opportunity for future growth and development.  As an entrepreneur, I was seeking a profession that lined up with my passions, but also with my desire to make a professional income.  When I found CrossFit, I thought it would be the perfect way to live my dream of working out anytime, anywhere, with no real limits on the type of income I could make.”

“I started my business through boot camps, which were outdoor fitness programs based on the CrossFit functional movement protocol.  I used medicine balls, dumbbells, kettlebells, PVC pipesâ€â€limited equipment compared to barbells and gymnastics apparatuses, but which still yielded great results with the high intensity interval type of training that CrossFit provides.  I did that for over 16 months and had well over 100 clients.  That’s when I decided to get into a facility, which we grew up to 70 clients in about 14 months, and continued to run the boot camp.  So in the first two to three years, we got up to a couple hundred people and really paved a good foundation for future growth.  We eventually grew out of that facility and found a new location, which quadrupled our floor space, allowing us to pursue more clients and have our own space to operate as we chose.  And from there we really exploded.  We grew rapidly.  By year three and a half, we were at around 500 clients.  At that point, we opened up a second location.  In the past year we opened up our third location, a specialty training facility called Red & Black CrossFit, where we do strength conditioning, Olympic weight lifting and auxiliary training, as well as higher intensity training that is more programmed for CrossFit competitions.  And now we’ve pushed into the 800 client mark.”

Building Something From Nothing

“When I started in 2005, I had about $1,000 a month to live off of.  So I was pretty broke.  I was really set on doing things debt free, and building something up through cash flow.  So I had to produce results by getting clients fit and in shape, getting more clients, and recruiting new talent to come on and coach with me.  I really had to build a business from nothing.”

“The biggest problem I faced was that things just didn’t happen fast enough.  When you’re young and ambitious, you want it all now.  But you’ve got to be able to have perspective on how and when growth occurs.  I read a book quite a few years ago called “The Slight Edge”, by Jeff Olson, who teaches about the law of compounding interest and about daily individual habits developing into long-term success.  That really helped shift my mindset.”

You’re Only As Good As The Company You Keep

“When I started this thing, one of my biggest desires was to develop a team.  You’ve got to have a team around you to balance out your weaknesses and help you stay focused on the tasks that you might not be the best at, but which are necessary for your business.  As an entrepreneur, I really saw myself as a headhunter.  I was constantly out there hunting for top talent and recruiting them onto my team.  From the get-go, I was converting professionals in the industry into CrossFit coaches.  These were people who were really talented, but not all their skills were being used; they were longing for something that gave them more meaning.  Now we have 25 professional coaches.  In the last 2 years, my role has shifted from coaching clients to coaching the coaches and developing their skill sets, and also working with my management teams, running the business.”

Promotion

“We’re heavy proponents of promoting through online social media, as well as just meeting people and networking.  We really don’t take the approach of paying for advertisement.  I invest in people.”

On the importance of using facebook, twitter, video, blogs, and other social media platforms to spread the word about your business, Thiel gives this valuable advice:

“Use them; that’s number one.  Sometimes it can be so overwhelming.  People don’t know where to start, so they don’t even get on the platform.  But sign up and start to navigate the territory.  Seek out experts in the social media platforms who can communicate how to utilize them.  Gary Vaynerchuk’s books “Crush It!” and “The Thank You Economy” are huge resources.  “Engage!” [by Brian Solis] is another good book on social media.  Strive to do something exceptional, and let others know that you are excited about it and want to share how it can impact and help them.  If you’re passionate and excited about what you’re sharing with like-minded people, you really can’t lose.  People are going to associate with your experiences, and that’s what social media is all about.  Being very progressive on those platforms has been one of the most powerful things we’ve done from day one.  Especially with posting videos online.  I’ve invested quite a bit in video production and recording, just to get people to see what’s actually going on at the gyms.”

A Lesson Learned

“This is really my second go at business.  When I was 20, I started a company called Power Plant, which was a sports conditioning program.  I was the sole owner of the company, but I had two or three of my best friends working with me as partners in the creation and operation.  We didn’t have any contracts or agreements on what that meant.  We put in work, and I paid out money at the end of the day.  I had fallouts with some friends due to lack of communication and transparency.  So the biggest lesson I learned from that first attempt is that transparency and contracts are key for continual success.”

What Does The Future Hold For CrossFit Central And SicFit?

“Our goals are to stay progressive with our operations, IT department and technology; that’s crucial for our future as we grow past 1,000 clients.  Also, to continue to add value to our current clients and support the Austin community.  Plus, we’re looking at possibly expanding from theAustinterritory to other facilities around the country.  With SicFit, we’re coming on as a platinum sponsor for the CrossFit Games, supporting them with media and promotion.  We’re trying to develop SicFit into a global brand.  It’s being well received in theUK,Australia, and all across theU.S.  It really is a dream come true to be able to ship gear and t-shirts, and have people submitting videos from all around the world, people who want to be associated with the brand and resonate with it.”

Advice For The Aspiring Entrepreneur

“Without character and integrity, nothing will work and your business will never succeed.  You need to operate your business as a professional; that means paying your taxes, operating within governmental constraints, following procedures, and being really clear and intentional in the way you communicate in your contracts with associates and business partners.  Without that, you’re going to have a lot of problems as you grow.  Your reputationâ€â€especially in the 21^st centuryâ€â€is very important.  If you don’t manage that by holding your integrity and commitment to excellence as the highest of priorities, you will not last in a business of any sort.”

“As an entrepreneur, you have to have a desire to learn.  You also have to have ambition to create something, to go out there and make something happen that has value to the world and to humanity.  And when you’re young, there’s this sense of believing in yourself a little bit more than anybody else might think is healthy.  But if you don’t think what you have is special, nobody will.  You’ve really got to believe in yourself, one hundred percent.  Have a purpose, have a reason, and wake up every morning with that.”

To learn more about Jeremy Thiel, CrossFit Central and SicFit, please visit:

CrossFit Central Website: Crossfitcentral.com

SicFit Website: Sicfit.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/CrossFitCentral

Twitter: Twitter.com/#!/crossfitcentral

Yet Jack Conte–of the indie musical duo Pomplamoose–found a way to thrive off his own record sales.

“We don’t have a record deal, and we’re completely outside of the music business,” says Conte.

“We’re successful working musicians and songwriters, without any corporate connections or ties whatsoever.”

In an industry that seems to be in a constant state of flux and uncertainty, an industry thatâ€â€for better or worseâ€â€has become so saturated that talented musicians resort to giving away their recordings for free just to be heard, how did Conte achieve such financial success and creative freedom?  He used a promotional tool available to every human being with a camera (even a cell phone) and internet access: YouTube.

“There was this big hole in the music market,” Conte recalls.  “There were lots of people looking for a new content.  Everybody was focusing on myspace and record labels, and YouTube was emerging as this major powerhouse in terms of viewer hits.  It became very clear to me that I needed to start uploading my music.”

In 2009, Conte and his girlfriend Nataly Dawn–the other half of Pomplamoose–began uploading performance videos, as well as a new breed of music video called a “videosong”, in which the final mix of the song is synched with split-screen images of the band recording each track in the studio.  There is no lip-synching or “air guitar” involved.  The end result is a sort of behind-the-scenes, intimate look at the song’s creation in the studio.  The viewer feels a bit like a welcome voyeur, and is compelled to watch and listen intently as each sound, each instrument, each voice on the recording is laid out in a collage of actual performance visuals.

“My passion is music and video, and figuring out how to combine the two to reach people,” Conte says.  In 2009, approximately 100,000 Pomplamoose songs were purchased online.  “Now I’m a completely independent musician.  [Pomplamoose] makes a living off of our mp3 sales.”

Asked about his motivation to take the journey toward becoming his own boss, Conte reflects:

“I didn’t have any connections to the music industry.  I didn’t want to give away all my copyrights.  I felt like I had to figure out a way to do it by myself.  So many musicians sign with a record label, then lose control of everything they do.  And that just didn’t make sense to me.  I wanted to figure out some other way to make the music that I wanted to make, still maintain all the control, and make a living.”

Pomplamoose Videosong

“Bust Your Knee Caps”

Maybe video killed the radio star.  Maybe the Internet is killing both.  But it has given new life to the musical entrepreneur.  Rather than become disheartened by the shifting music industry, Jack Conte took advantage of the opportunities the internet affords to make a unique product and deliver it to a large number of consumers.

To learn more about Pomplamoose, please visit:

Website: Pomplamoose.com

Youtube: Youtube.com/pomplamoosemusic

Twitter: Twitter.com/#!/pomplamoose

Facebook: Facebook.com/musicpomplamoose

The Road Is Calling

The first thing you need to understand about bicyclists is their passion.

“Cycling customers are very passionate about what they do. They really have a passion for the sport/for riding – whether it’s recreationally, as a commuter, or professionally.”

“Fyxation is a bicycle components brand. We produce products mainly geared towards urban cyclists. Our goal is to bring pioneering components and innovative technology to the urban bicyclists. I started the company in May of 2009. I’ve always been a cyclist, a commuter, and part of the bicycle industry. I saw a great opportunity with all the growth and other people getting on board with commuting, riding the city, and choosing bicycles as everyday transportation.”

“We cater to above average cyclists who really live and breath riding in the city. I came to Fyxation with a long product design background and with extensive experience with both bicycling and motorcycling. Because of our experience, Fyxation is able to offer new technologies and new products very quickly. Another advantage we have in regards to experience, is that I spent several years living overseas in Taiwan and China. We have a really close connection with our manufacturing base over there so we’re able to take our new ideas into production that much faster. I can take new ideas from paper and put it to the computer very quickly. Then we bring it to the manufactures and finally the riders faster than most companies.”

When asked about boot-strapping his business:

“I’ve had a passion for doing things on my own for as long as I can remember. Whether it was cutting grass as a kid, or actually starting my first business about 15 years ago. I was developing websites and different Internet technology for local companies when I was in college; but Fyxation came out of my passion for cycling. I’ve been an average bicyclist, I’ve competed at different levels for the last 15 years, and I’ve been involved in product design for major manufacturing companies. I lived and worked overseas to develop manufacturing for different bicycle companies and I always had it in the back of my mind to do it for myself one day. It was kind of a combination of the skill sets I’ve developed over the years, manufacturing connections I’ve made, and the growth of urban cycling as a segment that pushed me over the edge and led me to launch my own thing.”

“There wasn’t a lot of formal planning, I would have to say. It was something I’ve wanted to do for years and we saw a hole in the market for a particular product. Our first product we launched was our Session 700 Tire and it really filled a niche in the urban cycling segment that no one had filled. We used that as the impetus to start our company. I was at a point in my career where I could jump on it and with very little planning decided to just go for it. It’s really years in the making through my experience though. At the time I started this I was running another business that specialized in helping us customers source product out of Asia, as well as doing contract design, so I was able to self-finance the company.”

Running With Biking

“We do whatever we need to do everyday to get the job done. As a small company, I am personally involved in everything. From answering tech calls, to developing new products, to speaking with our overseas vendors, or running our website – pretty much anything that needs to get done on a daily basis, we get done. We’re really connected to our customer and fan base via Facebook and Twitter. We’re very active on our blog to keep people abreast of what we’re doing as well as what other people are doing in our niche. We use our website as a tool to not only keep our customers informed about what we’re up to but also to inform people of where our market, as a whole, is going.”

“Right now we have 2 full time employees and outside sales reps that help us domestically here in the states. Internationally, in Taiwan, we work very closely with another company that helps us keep an eye on manufacturing. We have warehoused product over there so we have a strategic partner we work with very closely overseas. We only have two employees but we leverage a larger team that way.”

“A challenge for any small business is definitely funding and cash flow. We’re brimming with ideas and possibilities and it seems that whenever we bring a new product to market it’s very well received. So, as most small companies, you’re always looking at ‘what can we do with our current budget and how best can we grow the business?’ The second biggest challenge as a new company is getting your name out. When we started we were just basically a couple guys, and now we’re proud to say that our products are sold and distributed in over 20 countries. We’re well represented in Europe, Asia, Australia, and throughout North America. In a short period of time we’ve been able to really grow awareness about our products and brand, but that’s still a continuing challenge and we’re always looking for continuing means of doing that. Whether it’s using Facebook and Twitter to leverage social media or doing real grass roots sponsorship of events. We’re really trying to reach out to anybody who touches base with us to try to help them out with their local events because we know the people riding and participating on the very local level share our same passion and are the key to our growth and success. Within our cycling midst there’s a lot of real local level events. Anywhere from 10 people to 1000 people, and we’re not afraid to get involved on any level. We’ll get involved in sponsoring events whenever we can. We’ve gotten a good foothold with dealers and distributers worldwide and we’re just going to continue to expand our product line and branch into some new stuff.”

“It’s been an amazing and a quick ride and we really see us continuing on that track.”

Keeping The Gears Of Business Turning

“I think with any business that deals directly with retail customers and bicycle shops there’s always people that will have issues, complaints, or difficulty with the product and we certainly understand that. I’ve personally worked in bicycle stores. I’m a customer myself and I understand that there’s nothing more frustrating than spending a lot of money on something or to have your bike down for any reason. Our philosophy towards customer service is to do whatever we can and bend over backwards to help our customers out. It’s so important as a new company that if anyone takes the time to contact you (whether they’re upset or confused, or whatever the case may be) that they walk away with a great feeling about your business and whoever it was that they contacted.  We’ll always land on the side of taking care of the customer.”

“One thing that comes up over and over with myself, and I’ve seen in not only with my business but working for other businesses, is you that should learn to go with your gut. We launched this company on instinct – but that was based on being in the industry for years and having a feeling about where things are going. As an entrepreneur you have to make decisions everyday, so you have to have a pulse on the industry you’re involved in to be able to make decisions quickly. If you have a really strong passion for an idea or a concept for a company, and there is a way to get it out there and the market is going that way, I think you’d be surprised at how often you could be successful.”

“The most important thing to remember, from an entrepreneur stand point or not, is: enjoy what you do. If you can get involved in something that you’re passionate about it’s going to make you all the more successful.”

To learn more about Fyxation, please visit:

Website: Fyxation.com

Blog: Fyxation.com/blog

Facebook: Facebook.com/pages/Fyxation-Gear-for-Urban-Riders/88869311790

Twitter: Twitter.com/#!/fyxation

Genesis Ltd. and the NASC

Bill Bookout is an ‘animal person’. In 1998, when two of his dogs were diagnosed (one with cancer and the other needing a hip replacement), he decided to do something about it.

“At the time I was the Chief Operating Officer for a 135 million dollar division of a 500 million dollar holding company in the medical device and drug business. Being in that particular field when my dogs were diagnosed, I started looking for some options. That was when I came up with the idea for and started Genesis Ltd. (in 1999).”

Through a colleague’s referral to Ihor Basko D.V.M., Bill’s idea was on its way to realization. Basko is recognized as a leader in integrative and complementary medicine for animals.

“I don’t know whether its good fortune, karma, or just dumb luck but through one of his formulas he was able to help my dog, which had previously been given a prognosis of one year or less to live, live 2 and a half years more of a quality life. I was not only very grateful for that myself but I also thought that there was an opportunity to provide products that would help other animals. I think of my animals as members of my family and there are others out there that feels the same way. Dr Basko is now the medical director of Genesis Ltd. He formulates all of our products and provides the clinical expertise and support. I provide the business effort and propellant. Genesis Ltd. provides various health supplements to animals and can help extend the quality and quantity of life to the maximum degree possible for them.”

In any business venture, it is not uncommon to encounter speed bumps – even roadblocks. As Bill found with Genesis, certain areas in industry have a lot of red tape.

“I underestimated the regulatory environment and I found out that there were no legal categories for the products we sold. We had a successful business, but it was being threatened by the lack of a specific legal category in the United States for these types of products. There was a published initiative by the regulatory agency that intended to have many of these products removed from the marketplace. I didn’t think that was right. I thought that it wasn’t the right thing to do for industry, and it certainly wasn’t the right thing to do for animals. If you make certain types of products illegal, or you don’t provide a responsible pathway for these types of products to be purveyed to the marketplace, then essentially you’re going to create a black-market industry. I saw a need and so I founded The National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) in response to that.”

“The NASC is a non-profit industry trade association whose objective is to work cooperatively with the regulatory officials like the FDA, Center for Veterinary Medicine, and State Regulatory Agencies – to establish a foundation for the industry which is fair, reasonable, responsible, and nationally consistent. It’s the next step.”

“Most people don’t realize that there’s no legal category in the United States for dietary supplements for animals. If you go down to the grocery store and you see a joint product with glucosamine, chondroitin and msm, or even products that help support a healthy immune system – those products are considered unapproved drugs under current US law.”

“Our objective is basically an educational mission. The NASC, contrary to Genesis, doesn’t sell any products. Our objective is what we believe is in the best interest of the entire industry and that’s why the people who are responsibly participating in this particular business space are supporters of the organization. Industries tend to get painted with a broad brush so anything negative that happens in an industry tends to reflect on the entire industry. It’s really in everybody’s best interest to operate responsibly. None of us want to be thought of as selling snake oil. It’s also important to differentiate the quality players from some of the participants who may be more opportunistically focused and give the industry a bad name. That’s why NASC has a quality audit program on the website. If you click on the members list you can look at the companies that display the NASC quality seal beside their company name. Those companies have passed an independent quality audit similar to an FDA quality audit. If customers choose a product from an NASC company that displays the seal, they know that that company has a quality manual.”

The Supplements of Growth

Growing your business is typically a main goal for any entrepreneur. Achieving that goal almost always comes down to having the proper support of those who share your mission. This can be in the form of employees, volunteers, contractors, and basically anyone else who you surround yourself with. The people and support in your business can often times mean the difference between success and failure. Bill Bookout knows this, and he shares with us his profound way of ensuring the people around him are of the highest quality.

“The NASC is a small organization with only three people but we also have a number of committees that have volunteer members to chair. It’s always hard to hold volunteers accountable so what I personally look for in Genesis or The NASC, in terms of people I surround myself with, would be included in the acronym I call  ‘J-WAVE’. I think these qualities can’t be learned or taught. People can learn anything. I think these things are more important than education and are more important than experience. These are the innate qualities that I look for in an individual. They are:

• J – Judgment: I think people need to have good judgment in decision making. Don’t be afraid to make a decision. Consider the options, think it through, and make a decision. If somebody uses good judgment in their decision-making, I will never fault them.
• W – Work Ethic: I think with work ethic – you either have it or you don’t. People that are successful and succeed as entrepreneurs have good work ethic, and they are willing to make the sacrifices that it takes to breathe the breath of life into the business. It’s not an easy thing to do.
• A – Attitude: Good attitudes are infectious. Bad attitudes are infectious. You should never surround yourself with people who have bad attitudes. Surround yourself with people who have good attitudes and you should have a good attitude yourself.
• V – Values: Honesty and good values are very important.
• E – Enjoyment: People should do what they like and enjoy – what they’re passionate about. If you enjoy doing something you’ll do it better.”

“Nobody succeeds individually. It’s always a team effort. You should strike ‘I’ and  ‘my’ from your vocabulary. It’s ‘we’ and ‘our’. ‘We’ succeed or fail as a team. Surround yourself with people who are better that you. Don’t let your ego stand in the way of your success. You always play a better game by playing with people who are better than you and push you out of your comfort zone. By doing what you’re good at and passionate about, you’ll do the same for those around you.”

To learn more about Bill Bookout, Genesis Ltd., & The NASC, please visit:

Genesis Website: http://www.genesisvets.com/info/homeindex.html

NASC Website: http://nasc.cc/index.php

One such tattoo shop is Inkstop Tattoo NYC. Since they have been around for over 15 years, we wanted to know their story.

The Start for Inkstop

Eric Rignall is the owner/operator of Inkstop Tattoo NYC. He’s also a talented artist.

“This is my second business. I started this with a desire to be able to do artwork and also make money at it. Before I started Inkstop I went through four years of art school. Then I worked for twelve years silk-screening t-shirts. I had a pretty good progression.”

“Personally, I work in fine line and realism. I try to make my work as detailed as possible. As far as the shop goes, we’re always very professional, mindful of quality, and show none of the attitude common in the industry today. We try to make everyone comfortable and I think that sets us apart a bit.”

“I do all my preparing and drawing ahead of time at home and on my time off. I respect people’s decisions to get tattooed, and I appreciate their confidence, so I’m always working to make sure that they walk out happy.”

While preparing his art is a top priority, it came as a surprise that preparation and planning wasn’t as necessary as you’d think to open a tattoo shop.

“Nothing too crazy went into the planning to be honest. It really was just a matter of setting up, getting open, and finding the right people to work together. Also, becoming incorporated. From there it was about the work and spending lots of time on it. It took a bit to set up, but within a few months we were up and running. We started out small and went from there. I didn’t have a business plan. It started out with just my girlfriend (now my wife) and myself and we just figured stuff out as we went along. We figured out ways to do things more efficiently as opportunities presented themselves. I tried to keep the cost as low as possible until we could make some money back from the startup costs. I did have to borrow some, and I also partnered with someone to get started. This helped quite a bit but I had everything paid off in a few years so that I was the sole owner.”

On finding the right people to work with, Eric said:

“The first step is to make sure everybody’s work was going to be good and good for the reputation of the shop. Secondly, I needed to know they were going to be cool people and that they were able to be friendly with customers. You need to know the people working with you are going to be professional in order to keep everything working professional in the shop.”

The Benefits of the Ink Business

“I enjoy being able to call my own time and take time off. It certainly took a while though, before I could take any time off. I’m still putting in quite a few hours but at this point it’s still nice to have the job security of knowing that I’m not going to get fired. I know that what I put into it I’m going to get back.”

“As with any business there’s always something that is going to pop up here and there to make things difficult, but there has never been anything major that would cause second thoughts or major problems with the running of the business. It’s been pretty smooth. It took a few years to get into a pattern and flow of things, but I’ve been here 15 years so it’s pretty much basic by now. Everything has a formula.”

Besides a few difficult customers throughout the years and the time it takes to run your own business, there hasn’t been much in the ways of professional obstacles to Eric getting to make money by making art – even in the midst of economic recession.

“Luckily we’d been around a while so the recession didn’t slow us down too much. There was a degree of people cancelling but we weathered through it because we happened to be in a city with so many people that there’s always somebody looking to get a tattoo.”

With a great location (which is necessary for any ‘brick and mortar’), and a loyal local customer base, Eric’s entrepreneurial endeavors seemed quite the breeze. When asked if there was anything difficult about the tattoo business (besides requiring a certain artistic talent, of course) he only had this to say:

“The only drawback is that I’m actually so busy I haven’t really had time to paint anything in quite a while. My own artistic interests, aside from the shop, are on hold until I partially retire or retire all together. For now though, everything I’m drawing is for work.”

“Maybe I would have liked a little more knowledge on what to do as far as taxes go, and with what you have to do to set up your paperwork. I have an accountant now and that has been worth its weight in gold. To try and figure all that stuff out on your own is going to be pretty hard. Having help in that way is a big thing.”

Final Thoughts:

“I guess the bottom line is blood, sweat, and tears. You just have to put in a lot of time and you have to really work hard, get to know your customer base, and learn what everyone is looking for. There’s no substitute for hard work.”

“You have to be confident in your product. As long as you’re willing to put in the effort (it can take a few years of sacrifice) anyone can do it.”

To learn more about Inkstop Tattoo NYC, please visit:

Website: http://www.inkstoptattoonyc.com/index.html

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/InkstopTattoo

The Business Plan for Betterment

“I’m a physician with a medical practice that specializes in age management medicine. In particular, I focus on men’s health and age management issues. What we do is provide age management solutions that address those age-old questions of, ‘why am I tired, irritable, and gaining weight?’ Those are things that are often ignored in a traditional medical practice. I’ve decided to focus on men’s health because heart disease is the number one disease in this country and men are predominantly afflicted. I wanted to have a safe area, if you will. A place where you wouldn’t be afraid to see a doctor and discuss all the issues related to men’s health. My passion is to be seen as distinctive in the medical field; not just in men’s health, but in bringing about a real and truly customized wellness program where men are healthier. We focus on their goals and objectives first. That’s what sets me apart from most.”

As a physician, Dr. Bien explored the business idea with her occupational peers whom felt it was a great idea. Some of her friends even offered to be her first clients. The business grew from there.

“Being the doctor is the easy part, but coming up with a business plan, knowing how I would distinguish myself, and doing the planning – that wasn’t as easy. Actually I followed some advice of friends: I talked to people and wrote it down. Particularly, I wrote down a vision statement and a mission statement. That’s how I came up with my business plan. It took about 6 months to a year to write it all down.”

As with any bootstrapped venture, you can imagine the need for a great deal of thought and planning. Not to mention the fact that the medical profession is such a high profile field when you consider the 7-8 years, or even more, that it takes to earn a medical degree. Then there is the business side, the insurance, the emphasis on bedside manner, and the stress of carrying a practice solo. Dr. Bien was certainly no stranger to the fears of every entrepreneur.

I had some trepidations about going out on my own.

“I didn’t get loans. I started this practice while basically working another full time job. I was in emergency medicine at the time and I decided to take my savings and start with three patients. I opened a small office and I kind of grew the business as I had the money to grow it. Six months in, I hired the co-worker that actually helped motivate me to start my own business.”

“I remember being a physician working for a corporate hospital and for other physicians, and I would say, ‘We should try this idea.’ I was very creative. I would read some innovative practices of people trying different things and I would suggest we try out them out. Of course nobody wanted to listen to my ideas. At one point one of the other employees who was working for the same company said, ‘You know what Dr. Bien, if you ever open your own practice I wanna come work for you.’ That got me thinking, ‘Why don’t I do that?’ I took that leap of faith.”

“My philosophy is: that we provide great customer service and with great communication skills and we make a difference in each other’s lives. This applies to my vendors, clients, and my one employee. I’ve now been in business about a year.”

Men’s Health

Dr. Bien isn’t sure why it is that men can be too stubborn or uncomfortable to go to the doctor but states she has a way of making men feel comfortable.

“I think sometimes talking to a woman is a little more comforting for men as opposed to talking to a male physician. I’ve heard men say they just wouldn’t tell a man certain things. They can talk to me about the most intimate details of their health and then once they get past that barrier, things happen and they get healthy.”

“I think we offer quite a unique service. Our primary focus is on the client and what they want to work on in terms of their health and their body. The top three complaints are the fatigue factor, the loss of energy, and the weight gain. They just sense some changes in their body. We help them get their energy back within the first few weeks and even help them lose a little bit of weight. We do it through nutrition and exercise and through DNA testing. There is a company in California that will specifically match your DNA with what type of diet you should be on. We generally teach a low glycemic way of eating (which is a low sugar/low carb diet) but the DNA test that we came across helps people stay on their right program. We look at hormones, we look at supplements – we actually can measure how many vitamins are deficient in their body. Then we look at psychological factors. I have a psychologist I work with that will address some things that are stopping clients from having good health. We look at how you sleep, how you eat, how you exercise, and how you manage stress, and we put that all together in a package, which is customized for each person. I review their labs with them and we provide a follow up at 2 weeks and again at 4 weeks mainly to ensure success. They should be getting some results in that 4-week period. We follow with them closely to make sure that they understand all of the information that we’re giving them.”

“I love that part of being challenged by something that doesn’t work right. I love the creative part of this even though it doesn’t sound like I’m being an artist. In a way it’s the art of medicine. I think there’s some creativity there. It’s about how can I make a difference in people’s lives and finding what does work right for them.”

When doing what you love is helping people live a better life, it’s only natural that you would want to spread that as far and wide as possible.

“Long term: I’d like to use what I’m doing, in terms of preventative care, as a blue print for what to do in every practice. I would like to keep people healthy and reverse the trends we’re seeing now: the obesity and diabetes. It’s all within our reach and is certainly manageable if you give people the right tools.”

Doc’s Advice:

“Don’t be afraid. Well, you can be afraid but be ok with being afraid. It’s ok to go out on your own. It’s a little bit scary and you’re not really sure if it’ll work, but be ok with failure. If it doesn’t work, you’ll learn something valuable. Be all right with making mistakes – learn from them and go in a different direction. Get lots of advice from people you value. They’ll give you some great ideas.”

“Have fun. Stay with your passion. Always stay committed to why you’re doing what it is that you’re doing. It’s all about having fun and making a difference for others.”

To learn more about Dr. Stephanie Bien, D.O. & The Executive Med Club of Tampa, please visit:

Website: ExecutiveMedClub.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/ExecutiveMedClub

Or Email: drbien@executivemedclub.com

This isn’t meant to be a soap box article. It’s a showcase article. We want to share the story of an entrepreneur who is doing something positive in the world and with his life at the same time.

The Story of David.

“I come from a from a traditional pharmacy background. I was even entrepreneurial in my pharmacy days. I started a pharmacy almost from square one. I started it right out of college but I sold it about 15 years ago to get into natural health and natural healing.  It’s been an interesting path. I’ve gone from just giving little freebee seminars in health food stores to travelling internationally to share my philosophy on healthy lifestyle. This includes something I created 15 years ago called ‘The 4 Pillars of Health’, which are:

• Diet
• Exercise
• Spirituality
• Supplements”

(Buy his Book ’4 Pillars of Health: Heart Disease’ HERE)

“I got into herbal medicine because I realized the approach that modern medicine was taking wasn’t a long-term answer for us in our quest for longevity. Longevity, and the stuff that quality of life is all about, doesn’t really mix with modern medicine. My mission is to educate people, as many as I can and as frequently as I can, about living a healthy lifestyle. I run into too many people that are sick and tired of being sick and tired. It’s my mission to help people not be that way any more. I’ve been trying to really drive home the point – especially with parent who have children with either behavioral problems at home and in school or even academic problems. That one hits close to me. My son comes from a divorced mom and dad. In my home he has to eat like a health nut and at his moms house he gets to eat all the things he shouldn’t necessarily get to eat. We can’t control what he eats at school. His brain is running on garbage half the time. You wouldn’t put diesel fuel in your high performance sports car would you? It wouldn’t run right, right? So same concept here.”

With his background in medicine and health, David set out as a young man looking to improve quality of life. It was through his teaching and sharing (usually for free) that he was discovered and brought to a larger audience.

“There was a radio show in Richmond, VA that needed an ‘ask the expert’ expert for a Sunday morning program and somebody had heard of me teaching a course at a local community college on natural health. They asked me if I’d do it. I don’t think they really had an interest in me being on the show more than the one time. The show was one of these programs that never got any phone calls so the guy told me to bring 20 questions so we would have something to talk about for the hour and a half that the show aired. We never got to one of the questions because what I had to offer was really compelling to the listeners. The phone lines lit up like a Christmas tree. The DJ was so thrilled he didn’t have to work that hard he asked me to come on every 5 to 6 weeks as a guest. It came to me saying, ‘Hey! This is a lot of fun. How about I try my own show?’ After 6 months of beating up the radio station I got it. My show ended up being one of the most successful radio programs the station had on the weekend.”

With such a huge response to this ‘alternative’ lifestyle, it’s easy to believe that David had found his calling. His radio show is now syndicated in several markets, and airs weekdays 12PM-1PM on AM1250 in the Tampa Bay area. As I mentioned earlier, David also brings his knowledge to many broad audiences through television. He even authors a newsletter for The Vitamin Shoppe.

“A lot of people want information about their health but they don’t have time to sit down and listen to my show or even stream it – a lot of people like to have reading material. The Vitamin Shoppe approached me. They offered to handle distribution if I would author a newsletter and give them the copyright. I launched the newsletter October of 2005. It comes out 6 times a year. They directly mail it to 140,000+ people and they offer it for free in their store. The articles are usually poignant to the season or the particular month. For example: breast cancer awareness month is October – so usually my October newsletter will have an article that revolves around breast cancer and how to approach it naturally. This time of year allergies are kicking up so usually April or May will contain a health tip on allergies.”

The Natural Business

An ‘Herbal Pharmacist’ isn’t necessarily a common profession. Building a successful business on a foundation that is such a departure from commonplace modern medicine is quite a feat. David was more than willing to share the different paths of development he used to build his livelihood:

On Investors:

“I’ve never really sought the outside source for investment. I tend to be a control freak to the point of micromanaging and that’s not always conducive to having investors.”

“When I started my pharmacy I had to borrow money at what I like to call the ‘mafioso’ rate. I really try to do everything debt free if I can. Regretfully it goes a little slower sometimes but I don’t like that added pressure of someone breathing down my neck – including someone who is waiting to collect money from me. You’re always a slave to the people you owe. I learned that from the bible, believe it or not.”

On Advertising/Marketing:

“In my current business as an herbal pharmacist I don’t advertise at all. It’s word of mouth. I have certain things that I do that I call ‘advertising’ though.  For instance: I’m speaking at a hospice group in the county I live in. I’m not charging anything to speak. A lot of people would say, ‘Hey, normally you charge to speak, why aren’t you charging them?’ There are certain things that I do in the community but every time I do that kind of stuff it’s a form of marketing. When I give my time away, it’s a form of marketing to me. I’ll give free seminars. I’ll do television work for free because it gets my name out there. Usually something comes out of that down the road that is a paying situation. The other big way of getting my name out there is attending conventions and conferences in my industry. I do those sort of events to let people know who I am and what I do, but I don’t do the traditional advertising.”

On Integrity:

“I’m a man of principle, and I find that invaluable as an entrepreneur. I haven’t ever sold my soul for a buck. Granted, I could have made some more money down the road but it’s coming back exponentially to me now. People come to me now knowing that I am a man of integrity. My integrity now is worth more to me than anything else I could have ever done.”

“Cream rises to the top. Sometimes it rises fast and sometimes it rises slowly. The best thing I can always tell people is to be consistent in what you do. You’re going to get criticism from people and you’re going to get compliments. Don’t let the criticism change what you do unless you truly feel in your heart that the criticism they gave you is right. You have to be true to yourself before you can be anything else to anybody else.”

“I learned in high school from a psychology/sociology teacher that without risk there is no reward. For all those people who sit on the fence and never decide: as long as they sit on the fence and never decide, they will never be on one side or the other and they won’t get where they want to go.”

The last bit of advice David shared with us, and the most poignant, is this:

“Remember to be true to yourself and keep your focus on what you’re trying to achieve. Scattered light is like a flashlight and can be ineffective but when you concentrate the light like a laser beam you can blow a hole through the wall. Don’t let the outside distractions keep you from your focus. The same is true for your everyday life – not just your business.”

To learn more about David Foreman, The Herbal Pharmacist, please visit:

Website: HerbalPharmacist.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/herbal.pharmacist

Twitter: Twitter.com/#!/herbalrph

A Cup Of Joe.

“We are all about coffee. We’ve been around for 16 years. The name comes from the movie Thelma & Louise. At one point the title characters come out of a diner named ‘Jittery Joe’s’ and then The Simpsons spoofed Thelma & Louise with a coffee shop named ‘Jittery Joe’s’. We thought that would be a great name for a coffee business. We discovered it wasn’t trademarked so we put a federal trademark on it and hence we owned the Jittery Joe’s mark. We’ve been roasting coffee here in Athens for about 16 years. We use only the top 1% of beans in the world. Our Roast Master is just brilliant! He’s got a Masters degree in food science. The coffee books that he reads – I can’t even understand. Athens smells like coffee thanks to Jittery Joes. NY Times did a travel blog one time and what they said was ‘Athens smells like coffee’; when what they should have said was ‘Athens smells like Jittery Joe’s coffee’. Our passion is doing great coffee AND making it accessible to people. You don’t have to speak Italian in my stores to order a drink. You don’t have say ‘twenty’ in Italian to get a 20 oz. drink in one of my shops. We’re intentionally trying to make it a little more relaxing for people so our sizes are ‘Little Joe’, “Joe’, and ‘Big Joe’ – harkening back to the old Bonanza days to make it fun and help everybody relax.”

“We don’t grow our own coffee but we roast our own. We have a wholesale roasting business that not only serves our coffee shops but also serves a number of other coffee shops that aren’t Jittery Joes as well as restaurants and all 7 Whole Foods stores in the Atlanta area. We’re trying to grow that business right now. We started an office coffee service last January. In this economy you better figure out something new or you’re going to get clobbered. We were trying to figure out what we could do to keep up so we started that business. It seems to be taking off. Effective May 2^nd we’re bringing on a fulltime sales person for that department of Jittery Joe’s.”

Bob didn’t start Jittery Joe’s but he did acquire it in its infancy.

“Jittery Joes started in 1995 and I purchased the first of the two existing stores in 2002 and the second one just a few months later in 2003.”

Seven years in and there were two stores. Nothing to scoff at, however it was far from obtaining its true potential. In the nine years since acquiring Jittery Joe’s Bob has grown his business tremendously. More on that in a bit, but first I think we need to understand Bob and his tenacity.

“I used to be a CPA, an ordained Presbyterian minister, and I even had a consulting practice for many years. I didn’t really like being a CPA that much so I went from that to seminary to become a Presbyterian minister. I received my masters in divinity and had a small church for a while. Then I was a campus minister for 8 ½ years. It was during that time that I had a consulting practice. I ended up acquiring Jittery Joe’s while I was still a full time campus minister. I kept that job for 3 or 4 years before I went full time with Jittery Joes. I didn’t take any money out of it for a while and we just lived off of my salary. If you think you’re going to open a business and within the first few years take money out of it, you need to go get a job and rethink that strategy unless you’re going to start a blog or something with no significant overhead. If you’re going to buy a business like I did, or you’re going take on rent and have a lot of employees, you better plan on keeping your job for a while or at least have a lot of money behind you.”

“After September 11^th, my consulting agency crashed. I used to deal with upper and mid-level executives. They would fly across the country and we would get together. They quit doing that. They didn’t just slow down, they quit doing that – for about 9 months. Within two weeks of that day my phone rang for about two hours with people cancelling their conferences and I watched my income disappear. I needed to do something. I borrowed money from family, friends, and credit cards – even against my house. There were two Jittery Joe’s at the time. I bought them and started trying to use some of the stuff I learned as a consultant to turn them around and grow the company.”

A Better Cup.

“One of the first things I had to do was to make sure that Jittery Joe’s had the potential to make money. The guy I bought it from was, to put it mildly, not really a detail oriented businessman. I had to go in and recreate financials and basically do an audit of daily sales receipts to see if the revenue that he stated he was making was actually real. Then I got ahold of his lease and I looked at his expenses.  I got his payroll and all that kind of stuff to see if there was actually money in it before borrowing the money to buy it. My wife and I not only borrowed the money to buy the business, but to keep up with it and keep it open as well. The first two summers we owned Jittery Joe’s (summers suck in the coffee business) we actually took out more loans against our house to stay afloat and not give up.”

“In the beginning it wasn’t that fun. Stores are open 362 days a year and 18 hours a day. We only had managers at the time really. We would close at midnight and open at 6, which means people were there until 1:00 AM and then would show back up at 5:00 AM. I slept with my phone by the bed and it wasn’t unusual to receive a call at 12:45 AM to go handle something or to let someone in the door at 5:00 AM because someone forgot to give them a key. For years I got up at 4-4:30 to do the back office paperwork that required me getting on the computer at the store. I did that until I generated enough cash to buy a sophisticated point of sale (pos) system so I wouldn’t have to. It was a lot of work.”

For all the hard work, it almost makes you wonder where the drive came from or why you would go through that at all. Bob said:

“I love the coffee business and what else are you going to do? I don’t want to get out of the coffee business. My wife and I now own five Jittery Joe’s ourselves, and several others with partners.”

“There are a couple of great things that are rewarding for me in owning Jittery Joe’s. One is that I get in the car at the end of the day and I think to myself, ‘Man, something smells great! It smells like coffee in here.’ then I realize its me – and that’s really cool. The thing I enjoy the most about running my own business is the decisions that I make have a direct impact on whether I move forward or not. Someone else’s decisions are not driving my day-to-day. I think that’s a genetic or a personality thing though. That’s not better or worse than having a job; it’s just that some people are more cut out for that and it’s how they thrive more than others. I used to think that if you had a job and you were working for someone else that there was something wrong for you, but now I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of my friends have made a lot more money working for someone else than I am ever going to make. They’re happier working for someone else, where as I would rather make less and work for myself.”

We asked Bob what he thought it was that carried him through the economic downturn and he laughed:

“If I knew the answer to that question, I could go back into the consulting business and make a fortune. We just started paying even more attention to our expenses. None of our employees has gotten a raise in three years. No one. My wife and I make 60% of what we did in 2007. At this point, in the coffee business anyways, the challenge really is just staying open. The price of green coffee has gone up over 100% since June and it closed at a record high just a few weeks ago. The consumers are so shaky that it’s still very difficult, if not impossible, to raise prices on coffee drinks while an invoice for my coffee that would have been $23,000 less than a year ago, is now $55,000 and I’m still selling it to my customers for the same price.”

The last bit of insight from our interview with Bob is quite possibly the best:

“A mistake that I’ve made over and over again is when I lose focus with what I’m supposed to be doing with my business. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Pick what it is that you do and just keep doing it over and over again. Don’t get shiny object syndrome.”

The trick, Bob says, that he uses to avoid the ‘shiny object syndrome’:

“My wife tells me not to do the stupid things when I’m about to do them.”

To learn more about Bob Googe & Jittery Joe’s Coffee, please visit:

Website: JitteryJoes.com

Blog: JitteryJoesCoffee.com/joesblog

Facebook: Facebook.com/jitteryjoescoffee.watkinsville

Twitter: Twitter.com/#!/jitteryjoes