Here is a copy of the Questions and Answers from January 18th, 2011
Terry Brodie:
Hello, again, Nicholas, and thanks for joining us today.
Nicholas MacLeod:
Thank you for having me
Terry Brodie:
We have some questions for you. So let’s begin.
[Comment From Trevor Trevor : ]
Hi Nicholas, I’m curious to know how you came up with the idea for this business? Thanks.
Nicholas MacLeod:
Hi Trevor, I came up with the idea initially when a family friend approached me looking for a website. I thought there was no reason why I couldn’t do it. After that first project word of mouth got me my next projects.
Terry Brodie:
I’ll just follow up a little on that. You were 13 when you started the business. However did you know what you were doing?!
Nicholas MacLeod:
I have had a computer since the age of 6. I have always been very interested in technology and the internet. At that age, there were no courses in school to teach HTML so I started looking online and got a few good books to help me out. Once I got the basic knowledge of HTML I built my skills from there.
Terry Brodie:
I’m curious, and I’m sure others are, about the logistics of running the business while you are in school full-time. How do you juggle the two? Do you have staff? Do you take calls in between classes? When do you do the work for school and your job? How do you juggle the two that way?
Nicholas MacLeod:
Being a full time student and running a business can be challenging. I have found that time management is essential when trying to balance both. I try and schedule more projects in the early part of the semester when the work load in school is less. I try and leave a couple weeks at exam time open to make sure I have time to study.
Terry Brodie:
That suggests, though, that clients have to operate on your time! How do you make it work for both you and customers?
Terry Brodie:
And while you’re at answering that, do you have staff or are you doing this on your own?
Nicholas MacLeod:
UPEI has also helped me out. We have a LaunchPad program which allows students who run businesses to have office space on campus. This makes it very easy for me to slip into my office between classes and get some work done. I currently do not have staff, although I have a network of freelancers and contract workers I can draw on.
Terry Brodie:
Here’s a related question.
[Comment From PeterG PeterG : ]
Do you find it difficult to balance growing a sucecssful business with being successful in school? Additionally, do you find you have to put one in front of the other? how do you decid which is most important?
Nicholas MacLeod:
Given the nature of my business I am able to work in the evenings and weekends on projects. I am able to maintain a Dean’s List average while running my business. I have not found that I have had to choose which is more important but split my time equally. This usually means not leaving school work until the last minute because something related to the business could come up last minute.
[Comment From bizstudent bizstudent : ]
how do you accumulate the starting capital needed to get started?
Nicholas MacLeod:
The starting capital for the business was my personal savings. As you can imagine, at 13, there are not a lot of places to put money but in a bank. The web development start up is more dependent on knowledge. For the first 4 years I was able to take all the profits from the company and put them directly into the business. This is how I was able to grow.
Terry Brodie:
Just to follow up bizstudent’s question: As you’ve come across other student entrepreneurs, have you heard any great tips about getting starting capital?
Nicholas MacLeod:
Great question. One of the most common tips I have heard is to check with the university or government in your area. There are usually self employment grants or scholarships for young entrepreneurs. I know that UPEI currently has lots of great opportunities for student entrepreneurs
[Comment From David David : ]
HI there, quick question. Do you find there are limitations to being on PEI vs. say Ontario or another larger centre?
Nicholas MacLeod:
I find that PEI gives me an advantage because I am still able to pursue clients in the larger cities (which I have). In PEI I am able to use the lower costs to my advantage. I am able to run the same business here less.
[Comment From Guest Guest : ]
The article says that you have clients in the US. Has the falling US dollar affected your US revenues? Or if you hedged, how did you hedge? Thanks.
Nicholas MacLeod:
The US dollar has been both an advantage and disadvantage for me. I have clients in the US but I also have suppliers. What I have lost on the US dollar for sales, I have made up with the suppliers.
[Comment From Brent Washington Brent Washington : ]
What other opportunities were a catalyst for your business. Was there a mentor or group that helped you move towards a particular model or service.
Nicholas MacLeod:
My parents are both entrepreneurs so I guess I have always been around “business talk”. I believe I have picked up a lot of my general business knowledge from them. I currently have a mentor through UPEI that I meet with every few weeks to talk about some new ideas or strategies. My move to e-commerce was because I found that clients were looking for that service and there was a void in the marketplace.
Terry Brodie:
Tell us a bit more about that move, Nicholas
Nicholas MacLeod:
E-commerce or online shopping is a great new market for me. There is a lot of competition in the web development industry and I quickly found that it was not wise to try and do everything. I realized that I needed to specialize. I am currently making a move toward a focus on e-commerce and online sales that I hope can take the business to the next level.
Terry Brodie:
So you will be narrowing your focus? Is there a lesson in that for others too?
Nicholas MacLeod:
I hope to have the bulk of my projects, for this year and moving forward, be online sales projects. I am narrowing my focus for the business. I think there is a lesson there. Try and offer specific services and maybe look at taking a big part of a small market rather than a small part of a big market. This has been a very successful strategy for me and my business in the last year
Terry Brodie:
Just like to follow up on your mention of your parents, too. Not sure if they’re in the same business? But they’re entrepreneurial too. I’m curious about the single best piece of advice each of them ever gave you.
Nicholas MacLeod:
They are not in the same business at all. My father is currently in the construction industry and my mother is in the pet care business. They have both had other businesses in the past as well. I could not pick out a single piece of advice. But a great attitude they have instilled in me is to go after what I want. I am not the type of person to wait around for things to happen. I like to be proactive.
[Comment From Trevor Trevor : ]
How did you go from just getting friends and family(word of mouth) to use your services vs soliciting new clients?
Nicholas MacLeod:
The transition was very gradual. I would have to say that I still get about 50% of my new clients as referrals from other clients. Being a small company, I don’t have a marketing budget for a lot of advertising. Chamber of Commerce mixers are a great opportunity to get local business. I like to be able to talk to a person face to face. Of course ACE has also helped put my company in the spotlight on a national level.
[Comment From genoki genoki : ]
Hi Nicholas, first congrats on your success. I have used the amazing resources available free on the internet to learn about programming languages, databases, building websites, etc, which I find mostly via Google, and via sites like yCombinator’s Hacker News, Stack Overflow, etc. It is amazing how many tutorials, demos, answers, tips, open source development software is available. Have you learned using internet resources yourself?
Nicholas MacLeod:
Thank you Genoki. I have used many online resources but in the beginning I focused on using books to learn about web development and code. I am amazed at the information available in video tutorials that were not around when I started. I would suggest that anyone looking to start in this industry to check out the video tutorials online.
[Comment From Robert White Robert White : ]
Do you lease web servers in the US, or do you host your own here in Canada?
Nicholas MacLeod:
Yes, currently lease space on some servers in the US but I also have servers that I lease in Canada. The problem I have run into in the past is finding reliable hosts. It depends on the project where I would host the site. A lot of my US customers like to see their sites hosted in the US.
[Comment From Zain Zain : ]
Hey Nicholas!
[Comment From Zain Zain : ]
I am student as well while managing my graphic design company, what are some tips for staying on top of school and doing well in business?
Nicholas MacLeod:
Hi Zain. The best tips I could give to you is to stay on top of both work and school and to look into smartphones. I currently carry both an iPhone and a BlackBerry and they have been invaluable. The ability to quickly respond to emails, answer calls, and even access files and computers remotely has been great for business. I rely on my smartphones. Good luck in business!
[Comment From Bea Bea : ]
how do you discern between what projects to take on? Do you choose or are you at a stage where you’re able to take on pretty much whatever comes your way?
Nicholas MacLeod:
I still like to be selective with my projects. I usually like to see a referral clients because I usually know what type of client they are. I have to be very careful not to take on too much because I would hate to tarnish my reputation of being able to deliver on time. I am also starting to be selective with the type of project now that I am moving toward e-commerce.
Terry Brodie:
I think you meant not being able to deliver on time!!
Terry Brodie:
And now a followup from Brent Washington, who earlier asked you about what support structures you had in place. Now, he’s asking about what else you might find helpful.
[Comment From Brent Washington Brent Washington : ]
What support structure would you have liked to see to assist you in starting your business. ie: Mentor or coaching by existing business person
Nicholas MacLeod:
Sorry about that. Yes, I always want to make sure that I can deliver on time for projects.
Terry Brodie:
Yes, we didn’t want to accidentally ruin your reputation with a typo!!
Nicholas MacLeod:
I have drawn on my CA during the entire life of my business. I find a CA to not only give good financial information but great business knowledge. Mentors have also helped me a lot. These people have really been there and know exactly how to deal with certain situations. I wish I had found my CA and mentor earlier in my business life.
[Comment From Stephen Stephen : ]
Why both an iphone and blackberry?
Nicholas MacLeod:
Both devices do very different things for my business. The ability to have the iPhone connect to my exchange server without having to switch to an enterprise data plan saves me money. The BlackBerry simply cannot compete with the iPhone for applications such as time tracking, Analytics, Project Management, etc. I still like to use the BlackBerry for calling because the battery life is much better. I also use BlackBerry Messenger to communicate with clients.
Terry Brodie:
Nicholas, I wonder how you capitalize on or downplay being a student when it comes to marketing yourself. On the one hand, I could see people being very impressed with young smarts and juggling the two; on the other, I could see them worry about inexperience and juggling the two! How does that play out and how do you use it to advantage? And what advice would you have for other student entrepreneurs in trading in on their student status.
Terry Brodie:
(When I say juggling the two, I mean work and school, in case that wasn’t obvious!)
Nicholas MacLeod:
Great question! It is very hard to hide your age from clients. When I walk into a meeting, the client knows how old I am. What I have found works for me is to make sure I am 100% professional at all times. This also follows through online throu Facebook and Twitter. I need to make sure my clients know I am a mature, responsible business person. I always make sure I am dressed for business (even though I may stick out in my classes when I”m wearing dress clothes). Most of my clients have embraced that I am young. I think they like the idea that, generally, younger people are more in tune with technology.
Terry Brodie:
Well, our time has quickly come to an end. Once again, I want to apologize for the technical difficulties that delayed the start of our discussion. And also thank you very much for staying around and for answering our questions, Nicholas.
Do you have any parting thoughts you’d like to share?
Terry Brodie:
And apologies, as well, for the questions we didn’t get to. Thank you for them all.
Nicholas MacLeod:
Thank you for having me Terry. I believe that having goals is very important. If there are others that have questions, feel free to contact me through my website at www.futurewebdesign.net
Terry Brodie:
Thanks again to you Nicholas and to those who asked questions.
