Editorial Team

Hi Matej. Tell us a few words about yourself.

Matej: I am Slovenian and live and work in the capital, Ljubljana. I am what they call a serial entrepreneur. My academic background is a B.SC. in Chemistry and MBA from the University of Kansas. I love making startups and new creative businesses, especially in the product sector. In my professional life, I have worked mainly in the media and telecommunications sectors. Last four years, I have spent as an investment director in a venture capital fund. My first startup was a contact lens retailer that in a couple of years grew to be the biggest in Slovenia; I exited this company in 2008. About a year ago, I started my second startup: CalypsoCrystal.

You have a start-up in the iPhone accessories field. What is it about?

Matej: We think that iPhone is a phenomenon. People buy the iPhone because of its design, capabilities, and also values/emotions that iPhone carries. We are sure that iPhone buyers do take care of their devices. That’s why they are buying all sorts of accessories. From cases, covers to speakers. We would like to cater to the upper segment of iPhone buyers. The ones that would like to have only exclusive, well-made accessories. That’s the story of CalypsoCrystal, the premium accessory provider.

What is the product range?

Matej: Currently, we are offering the Crystal Dock. Crystal Dock is an exclusive accessory for an iPhone made of perfect crystal glass and comes in four distinctive designs. It is a combination of traditional luxury, contemporary design, and technology.

What are the main characteristics of the docks?

Matej: Crystal Dock is made in a traditionally luxury crystal glass material used for centuries on all European courts and on special occasions. It is a demanding material that expects nothing less than precision and years of learning for the craftsman to be able to arrive at the perfect cuts and the desired shine. Just to make one of our Crystal Docks, it takes a couple of days and more than 15 pairs of hands to complete each unique piece. Every part of the Crystal Dock was carefully taken off, as the connectors example were specially designed for the Crystal Dock to perfectly fit the device and at the same time sync and recharge it.
On the design side, there are four distinctive designs; platinum painted Aurora is produced only in a limited edition whereof 999 numbered pieces. Beau with a deep cut to bring more shine, Celestia with a more organic design, and Dune that mimics the waves and brings special optical effects.

Just to give our readers an idea, where can they see the docks?

Matej: On web site www.calypsocrystal.com, there is quite a good presentation of the Crystal Dock. Furthermore, there are several premium retail outlets that offer Crystal Dock. Harrods in London, for example.

How did you come up with the idea? You wanted to do an iPhone accessory, or you wanted to do Crystal products, and the best one turned to be an iPhone dock?

Matej: We are building the premium accessory company, and we have found that the docks segment is quite empty and that we can offer a competitive edge here. Furthermore, the company’s vision is to use premium materials in our products, and using traditionally luxury material was a logical solution.

What is the targeted user?

Matej: We are looking for customers with distinctive tastes in style and design.

Can people buy the docks anywhere other than the online store?

Matej: Yes. Harrods in London, for example, or Yoox.

What was most difficult when starting the business?

Matej: Well, this is not my first start-up, so I have some experience with it. This one went quite smoothly. The biggest challenge was to produce a crystal item with specific characteristics and different usage as ever before. There was a lot of time invested in the development of the product. This is why when you look at the Crystal Dock, it seems so obvious and simple. There is a lot of advanced technology included to arrive at this result. How to include plastic connectors inside the crystal and make a product that is used on a daily basis and not only as a decoration.

Do you remember who your first customer was?

Matej: Of course. The customer came from Las Vegas.

How did it feel to have the first sale?

Matej: We just played “Viva Las Vegas” in the office and posted it on our FaceBook page to share the news with our friends.

After finding the idea about the product, what was the process of starting a business? How do you decide it has a chance to be a good business?

Matej: There was done quite some research on the potential market. The result of the research showed that the premium segment is quite unpopulated with the competition. I know that this segment is also hard to penetrate, but I simply taught it is worth a try. For some other decisions, it was just a “guts feeling” and strong faith in the product.

Did you make a business plan to see how much you need to sell to pay the bills?

Matej: Of course. This is a prerequisite for any start-up.

How did you get on the International market? What are the marketing strategies for a small business like yours?

Matej: We believe that the world is flat and therefore we are using lots of new communicating channels. We are lucky to be approached on a daily basis because the product is so outstanding from another offer on the market.

Any advice for people wanting to start a business? What should they do to go from an idea to the first day of a business?

Matej: Courage and speed. What will make or break the start-up is the time that the company needs to find its customers. Of course, you have to offer a product that reaches the highest quality standards, but even more, energy has to be spent on sales and marketing. It is crucial for the entrepreneur to discover early enough whether the product is sellable or not.

Hi Phil, and welcome to Entrepreneurship-interviews.com. Tell us a bit about yourself: you used to be an Oracle executive; how did you get to open your own business?

Phil: I was raised in a family of entrepreneurs. Growing up, my parents owned auto repair shops, and my grandma was also an independent business owner. I have always wanted to follow in their footsteps and own my own business.
My first endeavor was to buy a self-storage facility in Joliet about six years ago. I purchased the facility by refinancing my condo in downtown Chicago. It was a risk but owning my own business was my goal. I then leveraged my existing facility and so on until I had been able to open a number of locations. It was my experience in the storage industry combined with my background in technology that ultimately sparked the idea to launch Storage by the Box.

How was the transition from a steady paycheck to being your own boss? Most people are afraid and stay in what they think it’s a safe zone – a 9 to 5 job. How do you know it’s time to do your own thing?

Phil: It was definitely an adjustment. I had to do a bit of belt-tightening and budgeting to get through the first year and a half. I had been used to my paycheck magically showing up in my account every two weeks. Instead, I ended up not being able to pay myself for almost 18 months. When you’re your own boss, you have to deal with every financial-related aspect of the company, and that can be stressful at times.

When I was working in a 9 to 5 job, I always knew I would eventually leave to open my own business. It was just a matter of time until I could build up enough savings so I could afford to take the risk of starting a business.

I understood that your business is about people or companies using external storage in a more efficient way than the industry standard. How exactly is this done?

Phil: Traditional storage offers cookie-cutter storage options. These are a waste of money for people whose items only take up part of the space. With Storage by the box, the customer is charged per box instead of a flat fee for an entire unit, so they only pay for the space they’re using. It’s a cost-effective solution to self-storage.

What are the benefits for, say, a small business looking to clear up office or production space?

Phil: Storage by the Box allows businesses to save time and money by getting employees back to work. Instead of trips to and from a traditional storage facility to retrieve items, the boxes arrive at their door. This lets your sales force get back to selling or your nurses back to treating patients. Along with improving productivity, Storage by the Box allows businesses to remain in their existing space longer. Instead of using expensive retail and office space to store boxes of records or inventory, the business can put them back to work. Sometimes this can even allow a business to remain in a location longer than they would if they didn’t have storage.

What about families?

Phil: We provide a cost-effective solution for urban families who don’t use cars. It can be very time-consuming and labor-intensive to move heavy boxes across town by means of public transportation or taxis. For families, Storage by the Box is great for a college student living at home temporarily. Instead of moving heavy boxes back and forth for the summer, they can ship them to us hassle-free and get them back as soon as they’re needed for easy moving. Also, Senior citizens and the disabled often are unable to lift heavy boxes and cope with the physical strain of moving, so this is an ideal service for them.

What are the exact steps of using the storage service?

Phil: 1.) Go to www.storagebythebox.com to place your order. 2.) Indicate the number of boxes you need to ship or order an unlimited number of 24x12x12 boxes (with bubble wrap and tape included), and we’ll send them to you free. 3.) Upload pictures and/or add descriptions of the items in each box (optional). 4.) Schedule a pick-up date and time, and FedEx picks them up, and we store them in our central warehouse. 5.) When you need them back, log onto the site, and we’ll send them to you anywhere FedEx delivers.

Storage by the Box charges monthly rent on a sliding scale. 1-9 boxes are $5 per box, while 15 or more are $4 per box per month.

How did you come up with the idea?

Phil: A few years ago, I was having dinner with a friend who lived in Manhattan. He was telling me about his miserable experience dealing with self-storage in the city. He had cleared out part of his apartment to make room for a new roommate and needed to get across town to a storage facility. He hauled his heavy boxes into a cab, and since the facility was in a “not-so-friendly” part of town where cabs were hard to find, he had the driver wait until he finished unloading his stuff. By the end of the night, he had spent $60 on cab fare alone, not including the high-priced storage fees charged in Manhattan. After talking to a few other people who had similar storage issues, I came up with the idea for Storage by the Box.

Using FedEx for pickup and delivery seems expensive. Or isn’t it?

Phil: It is actually surprisingly affordable. We have negotiated heavily discounted shipping rates with FedEx, which we pass along to our customers.

Can you estimate what are the average savings if you use your service compared to the traditional storage space rent?

Phil: Typical customers end up saving 50-60% over the cost of Traditional Storage. We also have a “Compare and Save Calculator” customers can use to see exactly how much they can save over traditional storage.

In my opinion, one important benefit for small businesses is that you can deliver the boxes anywhere and not necessarily to the pickup location. It sounds like an excellent option when you go to tradeshows and need to have promotional items stored and delivered in various locations. Is this something that can be done?

Phil: Yes, we have a number of businesses that use us for tradeshow and event marketing storage. We have an event marketing company that stores their displays and promotional items with us. They then have them shipped out for an event and, at the end of the event, have them shipped right back to storage. We helped eliminate the need to have their employees make trips to a warehouse to process the various items needed for an event.

I’m not sure if you actually know what’s inside the storage boxes, but any exceptional situations or, better said, success stories so far?

Phil: We don’t actually open any of the boxes. However, we do have a band that uses us to store their merchandise while they’re on tour. They keep their t-shirts, CDs, and other merchandise at our facility. This allows them to decrease the amount of merchandise they have to bring along on a tour while giving them the ability to restock without a trip back home.

Coming back to the entrepreneurial part, what was most challenging when you started up?

Phil: I knew the storage business and had a background in IT but had never worked in a dot-com business. From a marketing and advertising standpoint, it has been a completely different experience from a traditional brick-and-mortar storage business.

Some say everything has been done before or otherwise; it doesn’t worth doing it. How can you validate that your idea or way of implementing it is unique and worthwhile at the same time?

Phil: We have new customers signing up every day to use our service. If it wasn’t worthwhile, we’d be sitting there with a closed door. As for being unique, we are a new breed of self-storage. We offer the convenience and ease of use the traditional storage industry lacks.

If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

Phil: I would choose different service partners than the ones I originally went with. I had never developed an entire site from concept and therefore didn’t have the right connections to speed up the process. This ended up delaying our launch by almost 6 months.

Any advice for people willing to start up on their own?

Phil: You’ll never be 100 percent sure it is the right time to start your own business, so don’t stick around waiting to “be sure.” Instead, you need to just make the decision to do it and go for it. There will always be a risk, but in the end, the regret of a missed opportunity or an unhappy career choice will be a much more significant weight on your shoulders.

So is it really safer to have a 9 to 5 job? And do the rewards of running your own business worth the risk?

Phil: In this economy, I don’t think any job is safe. That’s one of the reasons, so many people are becoming entrepreneurs and launching their own start-ups or small business. The self-employed ranks are expanding at one of the fastest paces ever. I realize everyone’s situation is different, but for me, the rewards so far have been worth the risk.

What about the future? Any plans?

Phil: As Storage by the Box continues to grow, I’d like to open a warehouse in Nevada or California to serve the West Coast more efficiently. This will reduce the shipping time for returning customers’ packages as well as reduce costs by as much as 40%.

This week I had the chance to interview Mr. Kevin C Maki, author of the book “Tipping the Odds for the Entrepreneur: Big Ideas on Success for the Small Business Owner” (www.TippingTheOdds.com). I will make a review of the book soon. Still, in the meanwhile, during the interview, I was impressed to find out Kevin’s ideas about persistence, entrepreneurs willingness to delay gratification, and what makes a successful entrepreneur:

Hi Kevin, welcome on board. Tell us a few words about yourself.

Kevin: When I was a teenager, I took a job working at a hotel owned by a couple who had come to the US from Eastern Europe. I learned a tremendous amount from them about how to run a successful business. During the 10 years I worked for them, the number of rooms in the hotel increased from just over 100 to more than 400 (including a second property they built next door). This experience triggered a life-long fascination with entrepreneurship and the factors associated with small business success and failure. I am trained as a scientist and have managed to combine my interests in science and entrepreneurship in a business that designs and conducts clinical trials to tests food and pharmaceutical products.

You recently published a book on entrepreneurship. I’ve read the book, but for the readers, what is the book about?

Kevin: I have spent more than 25 years studying entrepreneurs, as well as running my own businesses and business units within larger organizations. These experiences have led me to conclude that there are several reliable predictors of business success and failure. A majority of new businesses don’t last five years. My book is about strategies and tactics that the small business owner can use to tip the odds of success in his or her favor. For that reason, I called the book Tipping the Odds for the Entrepreneur: Big Ideas on Success for the Small Business Owner.

Who should read your book? Start-up entrepreneurs? Are managers willing to improve their business?

Kevin: Anyone who owns a business or is considering starting a business would benefit from the information in my book. Those who run a department or a business unit within a larger organization would likely find the information helpful.

I would say that your book it’s mostly about doing business the right way. Maybe with smaller immediate profits but with great benefits in the long run. Do you think the knowledge shared in the book is also applicable to start-ups (that we all know they focus mostly on making to the end of the month)?

Kevin: In my view, the purpose of a business is to obtain and retain profitable customers. In general, businesses that market their products or services well and deliver good value to their customers will thrive. Value means that the customer will feel that what they paid was worth it for the product or service delivered. Many customers are happy to pay a premium price if the resulting experience meets or exceeds their expectations. Expectations will be different for customers of a Holiday Inn Express than those of a Ritz Carlton hotel, but either can deliver good or poor customer value depending on the price charged and how well they do at setting and then meeting (or exceeding) their customers’ expectations.

Business owners are often faced with decisions that have both short and long-term consequences. Every interaction a business has with a customer or potential customer will either enhance or detract from the relationship’s strength with that person. Successful business owners have a long-term perspective. They will focus on doing what is right for the customer and do so in a manner that will strengthen the relationship. They will not take advantage of customers for their own short-term gain. There is an old expression that says a sheep can give you a lot of sweaters, but only one coat. Successful business owners focus on building relationships with their customers, so they keep coming back and recommending the company to their friends and colleagues.

Are the business principles described in the book only applicable to the US?

Kevin: I have tried to focus on key concepts (the “big ideas”) applicable no matter where the business is located.

So what are the traits of a successful entrepreneur? What tips the odds?

Kevin: Some characteristics of a successful entrepreneur include dogged persistence, a willingness to delay gratification, a bias toward action (rather than analysis paralysis), and a reasonable understanding of one’s personal strengths and weaknesses. I cover these in detail in the book, which may help someone who is considering starting a business.

What do you think entrepreneurs are born or made?

Kevin: In my opinion, the skills necessary to become a successful small business owner are learnable. However, some people are more likely to be successful than others. Those most likely to be successful tend to be optimists who will keep pushing ahead in the face of obstacles and setbacks. They also tend to be obsessed with providing the best possible experience for their customers. Owning a business is not a 9 to 5 endeavor, so those who are unwilling to go to extreme lengths should probably not start a business. One of the entrepreneurs I profile in the book, Seattle Sutton, Founder of Seattle Sutton’s Healthy Eating, would run relatively low-cost commercials on late-night television. She would set her alarm for 1:30 or 2:00 am to be available to answer the telephone herself when a commercial ran. That is the kind of dedication that is often required of a successful entrepreneur.

From your findings, what are the traits of successful businesses?

Kevin: Successful businesses come in all varieties. In general, successful businesses deliver a product or service for which there is a demand; they market their product or service effectively (the best product or service offering will be unsuccessful without adequate promotion). They do a good job of setting customer expectations. They execute in a way that meets or exceeds their customers’ expectations. The result is what I refer to as a SLEEC business. SLEEP stands for a business with good sales and marketing that has Loyal and Engaged Employees and Customers.

When you are small and need to hire on a budget, what are the most important things to look at? Skills, desire to work, price?

Kevin: Price (salary) is an important consideration, but I am much more concerned about value than price. The Pareto or 80/20 principle applies to employees. Typically a small percentage of employees (perhaps 20%) will account for a large percentage of productivity and positive outcomes (perhaps 80%). It is not always possible to tell ahead of time which will be the high producers. Once a high producer is identified, they should be rewarded with money, recognition, and extra training to allow them to take on more responsibilities. It is also important for all employees to truly accept its mission and commitment to customer service. I like to say that our company has a high turnover in the first few months and low turnover thereafter. The high turnover in the first few months results from weeding out the people who are difficult to work with, have poor customer service skills that do not respond to correction efforts, or who just don’t fit with the mission and values of the company.

Controlling how your employees are working with customers is very hard when you have a large business. How can you make sure your customers are getting the right treatment?

Kevin: Everyone in your company must be friendly and devoted to providing exceptional customer service. Rude, apathetic, or condescending interactions will result in lost customers, and such behavior cannot be tolerated. It is up to the owner and his or her managers to ensure that the staff understands what is expected and is held accountable for this performance level. Good training and regular feedback will help to ensure that everyone knows what is expected. It is also a good idea to elicit feedback from customers and even employ “undercover evaluators” to evaluate the customer experience and provide feedback and suggestions for improvement. The old saying that the way a manager treats his staff will be reflected in how the staff treats the customers is absolutely true. Successful performance and achievements should be acknowledged and celebrated. Staff should feel challenged and that the management cares about each of them as individuals. Management should regularly elicit feedback on what can be done to minimize frustrations and provide the tools necessary to get the job done. Happy staff members will help to generate happy customers, and disgruntled staff members will generate disgruntled customers. It pays to keep your employees “gruntled” (which I presume to be the opposite of disgruntled).

On delegation. I know from my own experience that as an entrepreneur is tough to delegate. What’s your advice? What should be delegated, what should be outsourced?

Kevin: Many entrepreneurs find delegation difficult. However, once a company grows beyond a certain (relatively small) size, it becomes impossible to manage it effectively without substantial delegation. It is impossible to devote adequate time to working “one the business” if one is spending all of his or her time “in the business.” Delegation is easier if one takes the time to train staff members adequately. Checklists are an enormous help and have been shown to reduce errors in many settings ranging from auto repairs to hospital emergency rooms. High performers should be tasked with training and system development to improve the effectiveness of average performers.

You say in the book that doing layoffs should be the last resort in saving money. From my experience (unfortunately), sometimes you don’t realize you should downsize until it is too late. So how do you know when it’s the latest moment to let people go?

Kevin: Some wise people said that good judgment results from experience, and experience results from lacking good judgment. There is no formula that I know of for telling a business owner when it is time to institute layoffs. Other strategies can be tried first, such as asking for volunteers to reduce hours and take vacation time. Also, layoffs can sometimes be avoided by not over-hiring in the first place. Peaks and valleys are inevitable, so staffing for something in between is best with temporary help, “as needed” staff or outsourcing used to cover peak periods. If layoffs are inevitable, it is best to err on the side of cutting too many people rather than not enough. This avoids the need for repeated rounds of layoffs, which can be quite damaging to morale.

I must say I enjoyed your view on working on one’s strong points/ weak points. If I understood correctly, you say people should improve their strong points and work and pass grades on the weak points?

Kevin: Peter Drucker, who is often acknowledged as the father of business management as social science, emphasized that good managers play to the strengths of their employees and manage around weaknesses to make them irrelevant. This applies to self-management for the owner. If one understands their personal strengths and weaknesses, strategies can be employed to leverage the strengths and work around the weaknesses through delegation, partnering, or outsourcing. That way, the owner can focus more of his or her time on high-value activities, particularly new business development.

Where could people want to become entrepreneurs learn about running a business?

Kevin: There are many good resources available, including your website, www.entrepreneurship-interviews.com. An excellent resource for those in the US is the Service Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE), a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and helping small businesses start, grow, and succeed nationwide. Entrepreneur magazine is a good resource, and they have a publishing division that produces useful materials. Also, there is no substitute for experience in the field. Unless the business is intended to provide a new type of product or service, I recommend investing the time to work directly in the field as an employee to “learn the ropes” before venturing out on one’s own.

What would be your advice for people looking to start a business that is afraid to start or wait for a “better moment?”

Kevin: While it is certainly prudent to prepare for starting a new venture by saving money and learning everything one can about the field before launch, I have known many people who talked about starting a business for years but never got past the planning stage. Starting a business is similar to starting a family. If one waits for all of the stars to align in just the right way, that day may never come. Many successful businesses have been started as part-time ventures while working at a job. For anyone interested in starting a company, I recommend taking some action every day toward that goal. Initial progress may be frustratingly slow, especially if these activities have to be done during evenings and weekends while working full-time. Nevertheless, no matter how big the tree, a few whacks every day with a sharp ax will eventually bring it down.