Interview with Jun Loayza, an entrepreneur!
Hello Dear readers, as you all know, Wizardies.com aims to teach you the various entrepreneurial techniques. Thus, we publish diverse opinions from entrepreneurs around the world. Tonight, I am going to publish an interview of an American Entrepreneur Jun Loayza. Jun Loayza is the Co-Founder and CMO of Future Delivery. His goal is to be as productive as possible in every aspect of his life. He says that live your life like a hardcore gamer, and join Jun on his quest to self actualization. Here is a brief video introduction of him:
Hello Jun, Thanks for taking time for the interview. Please answer the following questions:
Q:1) What does entrepreneurship mean to you?
Wow, what a simple question with a loaded answer.
An entrepreneur sees a problem, thinks of a solution, and acts upon his idea. That’s the key – you have to ACT. To me, entrepreneurship means risking everything, family, friends, and a steady paycheck, to pursue the creation and success of your baby.
The mentality I have with entrepreneurship is that I’m raising a family of my own. My teammates, the idea, the vision, and our resources are all a part of the company family. Remember, entrepreneurship is not work; it’s a lifestyle.
Q:2) What motivated you to become an entrepreneur and initiate a startup?
The reason I am an entrepreneur today is because of Yu-kai Chou, my business partner and best friend. Yu-kai and I met at UCLA where we both pledged and crossed the International Fraternity of Delta Sigma Pi.
During my 4th year at UCLA, Yu-kai gave me two books that opened my eyes to the world of entrepreneurship: E-Myth Revisited and Never Eat Alone. After I read those two books, I decided to try my hand at entrepreneurship by starting Bruin Consulting at UCLA with Yu-kai.
After the success of Bruin Consulting, Yu-kai and I founded The Veridical Group, a small business consulting firm, while we were still undergrads at UCLA. I had tasted entrepreneurship and I loved it.
When I graduated from UCLA, I worked as a consultant at a litigation and corporate finance consulting firm in downtown Los Angeles. It was a steady job, but just didn’t suit my personality and goals in life. I decided to step away from the corporate world and focus on Future Delivery full-time with Yu-kai.
I was able to make the right decision and become a full-time entrepreneur because I had experienced both the corporate and entrepreneurial life. This is why I encourage undergraduates to start a company before they graduate.
Q:3) What’s the idea behind FutureDelivery.TV?
As the Chief Marketing Officer of Future Delivery, it is my responsibility to brand and spread awareness about the company. During the summer of 2008, we were on Facebook, Twitter, and I had started building a community in the blogosphere. There was one source that we had not yet tapped – the video world.
Our brand is productive fun; therefore, our videos needed to be educational, but entertaining at the same time. After a week of brainstorming, I created two projects: Living the Startup Life and Future Delivery TV.
Startup Life is a video documentary/reality show that follows the Future Delivery team as we built and launched FD Career. It was really fun walking around 24/7 with a camera and taping all of my actions. We are prepping to start season 2 very soon.
Future Delivery TV is a show where we interview entrepreneurs, social medialites, bloggers, and people who are influential online. We currently focus on conducting video episodes only, so our guest list is made up of Southern California entrepreneurs. I plan on taking a trip across the country and interviewing entrepreneurs and bloggers from every state later this year.
Q:4) What are your plans about FD?
Our main project is Viralogy, which is currently in an open alpha. Viralogy ranks people based on their social media and online influence. We aggregate your blog uniques, blog subscribers, Twitter followers, Facebook friends, LinkedIn contacts, and many other web 2.0 metrics to give you an objective rank. We can then see who is most influential online: Gary Vaynerchuk vs Guy Kawasaki; you vs me.
We plan on fully launching and marketing Viralogy within two months. If you have a personal blog, I encourage you to check it out and would appreciate your feedback!
Q:5) We see no ads there at FD. How you guys gonna earn revenue? Can you share the idea of your business model?
FDTV is not where we generate our revenue. It is a place to brand the company and help aspiring bloggers and entrepreneurs.
Last year, we generated revenue through web development and social media consulting. We built websites, social networks, and promoted sites for companies in the Los Angeles area.
This year, we will focus on generating revenue in two ways: ProBusiness Blogger and Drop For Me.
ProBusiness Blogger is an online video tutorial site that teaches companies how to use blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks to brand and market their company. Social Media Consultants can cost up to $2000/month, which is way too expensive for companies in this type of economy. Our solution is to provide them with step-by-step video tutorials that teach them how to use social media to brand their company at the very affordable price of $100/month. In this type of economy, there is no better marketing solution that a company can invest in.
We have a large list of drop shipping companies that we have gathered over the years. Drop For Me is an email list, similar to HARO by Peter Shankman, that send two emails each day with a list of reliable and legitimate drop shippers. The service is 100% free for everyone. Free subscribers get 120 reliable shippers directly to their inbox every month. If you purchase the monthly list for $20, then we will send you the entire month’s list immediately, and send you an additional 80, for a total of 200 drop shippers. In an industry where there are many fake drop shippers looking to take your money, Drop For Me provides you with the safe and easy way to contact reliable suppliers.
Q:6) In your opinion, how important is entrepreneurship and small businesses?
I believe that entrepreneurs drive innovation, new technologies, and hopefully build a better world for mankind. We see problems in society and have the vision and guts to try to solve them. If everyone just went with the flow and worked at a corporate firm, society would stand still and would never progress.
While everyone else is the fuel that powers the train, we are the train tracks that dictate where society goes.
Q:7) To what extent do you think small businesses can contribute to the economy?
Although I am a very optimistic person, I think small businesses today are in trouble with this terrible economy. They have no government backing or help, so when they’re in trouble, the government will not bail them out.
Today, small businesses can do little to contribute to the economy because their focus is NOT contribution - it is SURVIVAL.
I will say that small businesses that survive this economy will emerge strong and hopefully have a chance to succeed once the economy picks back up.
Q:8) What abilities and skills do you think a person should have in order to become an entrepreneur?
Top qualities of an entrepreneur: leadership, creativity, execution, adaptability, willingness to sacrifice, and an unreal desire to succeed.
Leadership – You will need leadership to lead your startup team. You will have no direction, no manager telling you what to do, no preset systems to follow, or second chances. You need the guts and vision of a pure leader to gather the right team and find the right direction.
Creativity and Adaptability – When FD World needed to be put on hold, I came up with a series of startup projects for FD: FD Career, Living the Startup Life, Future Delivery TV, Viralogy, ProBusiness Blogger, and Drop For Me. Each project that we started was created because we needed to adapt to the changing economy. There will be bumps on the road, and you need the adaptability to adjust to them and the creativity to figure out the solutions.
Execution – My team and I get things done in two days what it would normally take a person 6 days to complete. We come up with good ideas, but more importantly, have the tenacity and desire to execute our plans as fast as possible. We don’t need to motivate each other; we already have the self-motivation to finish things efficiently and effectively.
Sacrifice – I gave up my steady $55K paycheck, moved back home with my mom and brother, and have lived off of my savings for a year now in order for my company to have a chance at success. Are you able to sacrifice your steady paycheck? Are you willing to work till 2am every night? Do you have the will power to sacrifice going out to dinner, clubbing, drinking, movies, and TV in order to build a successful company? I know my team is able to do all that.
Desire – Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster ride. You are NOT the next Mark Zuckerberg. You will fail, and you will run out of money. You will be tempted to go back to the corporate life. But, do you have the desire and sheer drive to keep going even when all is lost? Are you deeply passionate about your company and idea? You need to ask yourself these questions before you become an entrepreneur because you will fail. The question is, will you pick yourself back up and try again?
Q:9) What do you think are the challenges an entrepreneur may face?
You will be alone most of the time. Our company is virtual, so we get together for physical team meetings about once a month. It is a challenge to motivate yourself to wake up every morning, work your life away by yourself in your home office, and do it all over again every day until you have enough money to get an office. Secondly, your friends won’t understand your lifestyle. While they’re partying and going out to the movies, you have to stay in and work on your company. You will feel the chill of loneliness.
You will fail. The challenge will be picking yourself up and trying again. Not many people have the tenacity to keep on going once they have failed. They’ll usually give up and return to the corporate world.
Relationships will suffer. I have a girlfriend and let me tell you, I do NOT give her the attention that she deserves. I can’t take her out every weekend, I can’t buy her expensive gifts, and I can’t take her on a cruise in the Spring. You will lose touch with friends and might even lose your girlfriend along the way.
Is it that tough being an entrepreneur? Yes it is
Q:10) What could be the possible solutions?
The solution is NOT a work/life balance. Unlike a full-time corporate job, entrepreneurship is NOT a job - it is a lifestyle.
I’ll be honest with you. The solution for loneliness is making money with your company so that your team can purchase an office. The solution to failing is having that unique personality trait of never giving up. The solution to relationships is having a girlfriend that understands the lifestyle that you chose and keeping in touch with friends and family utilizing the new social media.
Hey, if you make a lot of money, then you won’t have these problems. So succeed fast! Hahahah, if it were only that easy.
Q:11) Please comment on the entrepreneurship and small businesses in developing countries like Pakistan?
I’m honestly not too familiar with entrepreneurship outside of the US. My advice to entrepreneurs in developing companies is to look at what has been successful here in the United States, and create a niche, scaled down model for your country. Facebook is huge, so create THE social network for your country. Twitter is huge as well, so create THE micro-blog for your country.
Look at was has worked, revise it as a niche to your country, and make it happen!
Q:12) A common problem faced by entrepreneurs is Finance and Investments. Do you think we can relate it with Microfinance?
Staying alive is all about cash flow. A company with no cash can’t focus on what they really want to do; they’ll have internal conflicts and struggles, and will eventually die.
Don’t rely on outside funding from the start. Your goal is NOT to get venture capital money if you are a first-time entrepreneur. I promise you that you will NOT get any funding. As a first-time entrepreneur, your goal is to generate self-operating revenue. Create a company that generates money without you having to manage it. Once you have that steady flow of income, you can really focus on what you want to do.
Q:13) How important a business idea/concept is?
Is a business idea and concept important? Of course it is. But, it is not the most important thing.
More important is the team. Venture Capitalists DO NOT fund the idea - they fund the team. Companies succeed not because the idea was good, but because the team created a great company.
Q:14) Do you think formal education is required in order to become a successful entrepreneur?
Nope, no formal education is required. However, a degree helps in many ways: strong network from your university, people will respect you because you have a BA/BS, skill-set from studying, experience from working with different people in classes and organizations, and a specialization in your major.
Is a degree required? Of course not. But it does help and you should get it. Plus, college is the BEST time of your life.
Q:15) How should the new startups/young entrepreneurs be encouraged by the industry and professionals?
If I was to encourage an aspiring entrepreneur, I would tell him or her to work for me for 3 months. After three months with me, you will have the skill-sets and knowledge to confidently start your own company. Also, I will work you so hard that you will know if entrepreneurship is the right lifestyle for you.
If an internship with me sounds intriguing, email me at Jun.Loayza [at] FutureDelivery.tv with the words “[name here] – I am interested in the Future Delivery internship” in the subject. All internships are unpaid, but the experience will be more valuable than anything else you have ever done.
Q:16) Any suggestion to increase the productivity?
Stop watching TV, stop getting piss drunk, and stop playing video games. Go cold-turkey for a couple of weeks and read: Never Eat Alone, E-Myth Revisited, The Tipping Point, Good to Great, and The Four Hour Work Week. Once you have read those books, you can watch TV, drink, and play video games again – all in moderation of course.
Read and subscribe to these blogs: www.JunLoayza.com, www.zenhabits.net, www.prevential.com, www.yukaichou.com, and www.brazencareerist.com. These will greatly help you on your path to become an entrepreneur.
Q:17) Please comment on our this newly started Pakistan’s 1st technology and young entrepreneurship e-mag Wizardies.com?
Hey, this seems like a great place to learn about new technologies and about becoming an entrepreneur. I would suggest shortening the questions because I have never had such a long email interview before. Also, I would suggest doing podcast interviews because I feel hearing a voice or watching a video is much more concrete than reading it off of a screen.
Keep up what you’re doing and if anyone has any questions or comments, you can reach me at: Jun.Loayza [at] FutureDelivery.tv. I look forward to hearing from all of you!
Thanks once again Jun
Tags: entrepreneurship, interview with jun loayza, Interviews, jun, jun loayza
February 10th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Thanks for the interview guys! I really enjoyed it and hope that all your readers benefit from it.