Q 1. Kindly give our readers an introduction to your business. Please include what your business is all about, in which city you are located and if you have offices in multiple locations/ cities.
A) Patrick – I founded Soluvay in Denver, Colorado with the intention of changing the world through innovative solutions. To start, Soluvay helps businesses build their relationship with search engines like Google so they get more traffic to their business. This, in turn, ideally results in more customers getting products and services they need. By helping businesses first, we can indirectly help more people while building the necessary capital for our research and development program.
Q. 2. Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
A) Patrick – My name is Patrick Council and I have a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. I served in the Army, served in Iraq in 2009-2010, and was honorably discharged from active service in 2011 and reserve service in 2016. I’ve effectively been running my own businesses since I was a kid starting with Young Ameritown and other virtual “mock” businesses until I decided to start my real entrepreneurial journey in 2011 with a computer business. Since then, I have grown considerably as a person and now have a modest home in Arvada, Colorado with my beautiful wife and 11-month-old daughter.
Nate – And I’m Nate, I’ve been working with customers for most of my career while working on building my own business/creating things for most of my life. I’ve always been interested in helping as many people as I possibly can. Along with Soluvay, I’ve been running a weight loss program for the last year, working hard to help severely overweight people lose weight and regain their mobility through documenting my own transformational journey.
Q. 3. What inspired you to (start a new business venture) or (to make significant changes in an existing business)? How did the idea for your business come about?
A) Patrick – My daughter inspired me to start a new business venture. I asked myself a question on day: Am I leaving the world a better place for my daughter and her generation? I realized I needed to grow more so I can answer “Yes”, so I attended a series of personal development seminars which led to the creation of Soluvay. This was something I’ve always wanted, but the seminars allowed me to see it in myself to make my dream a reality. Back in middle school I told everyone I wanted to change the world. I inspired myself with the idea and here we are.
Nate – What inspired me to work with Patrick was how many people are in pain on a daily basis. If my wife and I didn’t get together and something bad happened to her or her car, there was a chance that she would be homeless. Thinking about that and thinking about how many people probably did end up homeless because they were in the same situation she was. I want to help change the way we treat the homeless and the people that are less fortunate.
Q. 4. What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
A) Patrick- Never stop working on personal development.
Keep yourself healthy, mentally and physically.
Never stop learning and improving your skills.
Nate- I agree with Patrick
Q. 5. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
A) Patrick –
Social Skills – Emotional Intelligence
Salesmanship Skills
Basic Business Administration Skills
Nate –
Perseverance – push past the obstacles no matter what, and know you will make it as long as you keep trying.
Social Skills – Social skills involve salesmanship because if people like you, they’re more willing to buy from you.
Optimism – Look to the future, think about what it is that you want and go after it. Give yourself a goal. Dream big. “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars”
Q. 6 How many hours do you work a day on average?
A) Patrick- 12 Hours
Nate – 10-12 hours
Q. 7. To what do you most attribute your success?
A) Patrick – Commitment to my Goals
Nate – Dreaming big and going for it.
Q. 8. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
A) Patrick- We are promoting our business using SEO and social media. The most successful form of marketing has been social media advertising.
Q. 9. Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?
A) Patrick- We don’t have investors for our business. We have self-funded the business using money from regular jobs and by borrowing money under our personal credit.
Q. 10 What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
A) Patrick- Stay committed to your goals and ensure your goals are in alignment with your values and vision.
Q. 11 Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
A) Patrick- I see myself and my business helping many businesses grow and help more people. My research and development group will have produced many prototypes of newer technologies to address access to fresh water and software applications to simplify the lives of entrepreneurs. Like Elon Musk, Soluvay’s solutions will be addressing big picture problems, and I’m excited for the future of Soluvay.
Nate – I see us expanding beyond measure to encompass everything from health to business management. Beyond our marketing, I see us helping thousands of people to get in shape and feel good. I see us helping the less fortunate in any way we can.
Q. 12 Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
A) Patrick- I admire Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla the most because they were built on the same principles I work on.
Nate – I also admire SpaceX and Tesla as well as Mark Cuban, they both seem to have the same goal of helping people to the best of their ability.
Q 13 How long do you stick with an idea before giving up?
A) Patrick- I stick with an idea until it is no longer in alignment with my vision. As long as an idea is always in alignment with my vision I stick with it until it becomes reality.
Nate – Like Patrick, I stick with an idea until it is no longer in alignment with my vision. Once it falls out of alignment, I move on to the next vision. But I’m always working on something.
Q 14 What motivates you?
A) Patrick- Innovation that drives humanity towards a healthier life of liberty where love and peace are at the core of its existence.
Nate – Helping people. Helping as many people as I can.
Q 15 What are your ideals?
A) Patrick- A peaceful loving world where health and liberty are cornerstones of its culture.
Nate – A world where everybody has what they need to survive.
Q 14 How do you generate new ideas?
A) Patrick- It usually begins with asking a question “How can I make this better than it is?” then my mind starts tossing me ideas.
Nate – I look at what is and try to figure out what can be.
Q 15 How do you define success?
A) Patrick- Success is defined by achieving a result that an individual is looking for. This means that success itself is different for every individual and business, and we can’t judge others using our definition of success.
Nate – Success to me is measured by how many people you are able to help.
Q 16 How do you build a successful customer base?
A) Nate – Be personable, be friendly, be yourself. If you do those things, people will want to work with you.
Q 17 What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
A) Patrick- I love the opportunity of being able to positively influence people’s lives by having the liberty as an entrepreneur to listen to people’s needs then finding and connecting solutions with people that ultimately makes someone’s life better than it was before.
Nate – I love being able to figure out my own day and how I want to help the next person. Relying on myself to make things work out allows me the freedom to get it done.
Q 18 What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
A) Nate – The first sale I ever made was pretty satisfying, knowing that was the first person of many that I was going to help.
Q 19 What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
A) Patrick- Entrepreneurs have the courage to change themselves and the world around them with no guarantee of success or support from their family or friends.
Nate – As an entrepreneur, you’re able to have your business work for you. As an employee, you work for someone else’s business that they’re trying to make work for them. It’s an important distinction to make your business work for you rather than working for your business.
Q 20 In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
A) Patrick- Liberating
Nate – Imaginative
Q 21 If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
A) Nate – I would start earlier with trying to build my business.
Q 22 What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?
A) Patrick- My greatest fear is not being able to spend quality time with my family. I manage this fear by ensuring that I spend time with my family as much as possible.
Q 23 Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
A) Patrick- Yes, successful entrepreneurs are committed to their pursuit, adaptable, routine-oriented, always learning, value health, and pursue goals in alignment with their vision.
Q 24 If you could talk to one person from history, who would it be and why?
A) Patrick- I’d love to have the opportunity to talk to Nikola Tesla because he was full of amazing ideas that I’d like to spend time discussing in more detail.
Nate – I would probably enjoy talking with Nikola Tesla as well. A lot of the stuff he was trying to do with free energy and things along those lines are very much in line with the kind of thinking we have at Soluvay.
Q 25 Who has been your greatest inspiration?
A) Patrick- Elon Musk has recently inspired me because his reasoning behind building SpaceX and Tesla closely resembles what I’m just starting to do with Soluvay.
Q 26 What book has inspired you the most? (OR what is your favorite book?)
A) Patrick- Limitless by Jim Kwik has inspired me the most because it really emphasizes how amazing people are when they commit themselves to growth and when people don’t accept that they cannot improve. I’m a lifelong learner, and Jim Kwik really inspires me to never put limits on my ability to do anything.
Q 27 What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
A) Patrick- I started a business that did not align with my purpose, identity, and values and it cost me a lot of money and time because I struggled to commit to its success.
Nate – I listened to other people on what to do and how to do it rather than listening to myself and trusting myself.
Q 28 How can you prevent mistakes or do damage control?
A) Patrick- Mistakes are opportunities to learn and grow, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Just make sure that you make decisions and set goals that are in alignment with your purpose, identity, and values.
Nate – The only thing you can really do to “prevent” mistakes is recognize the mistakes you’ve made in the past and figure out what you did wrong so that you can figure out how to not make that same mistake again. Mistakes are not inherently bad, they are learning opportunities.
Q 29 What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
A) Patrick- I enjoy creating and learning. This can be simply crafting jewelry to programming something on my computer. Minecraft with the Feed the Beast Mod Pack is my favorite sandbox to play around without the need to spend money on actual materials. It keeps my brain squishy.
Nate – I’m an avid fan of movies, TV shows and Video Games. When I’m not working or doing one of those things, I enjoy hitting the gym or writing/reading.
Q 30 What makes you happy?
A) Patrick- First off, happiness is a state of being. I choose to be happy because nothing else can truly make me happy except myself. I love being with my family. I love seeing my projects when they are completed. I love seeing my new invention/design come to life. I love a peaceful environment.
Nate – I agree with Patrick but in the same line, I also feel like being Happy is a choice that is influenced by your surroundings and your circumstances. You can be happy and be in a bad situation or be unhappy and be the most well off person in the world. It’s a matter of what you choose to do with your situation and how you choose to interact with it.