Q. 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.
Ans. My business is LionLeaf, LLC and we offer web site design, development and marketing services to customers throughout the United States. We are located in Plainville, Connecticut. I started the business in 2007.
Q. Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
Ans. I have a B.S. degree in Computer Science as well as a Masters in Business Administration. I have over 20 years of experience in the Information Technology field with most of that experience being related to web development. I previously worked at Adeptra (acquired by FICO) and at Oceanus Word Link Services.
Q. 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?
Ans. I saw a need in the web industry for a company that was focused on web application development and that could build custom web applications. While we do design and marketing for web sites a large percentage of our business involves building more complex custom web applications.
Q. What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
Ans. Get a mentor early on in your process. Do thorough market research and validate your business idea upfront as much as possible before investing too much. Pick one business pursuit and focus on just that as much as possible to avoid spreading yourself too thin.
Q. How many hours do you work a day on average?
Ans. 10 hours.
Q. To what do you most attribute your success?
Ans. Hard work and going the extra mile for our customers.
Q. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Ans. There hasn’t been one silver bullet but rather a combination of things that have had different levels of success at different times. Cold calling and networking has provided us with the most business with online marketing being second to that. So a combination of inbound and outbound marketing is what works the best for us.
Q. Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
Ans. I’d like us to be more focused on web application development at the enterprise level, perhaps working with a few well funded startups with lots of potential.
Q. How important have good employees been to your success?
Ans. They are critical to our success.
Q. How long do you stick with an idea before giving up?
Ans. I try to stick with an idea long enough to determine whether it’s a good idea but not too long after determining it was a bad idea.
Q. What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
Ans. I like being able to build something over time and to see that work pay off.
Q. What book has inspired you the most? (OR what is your favorite book?)
Ans. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber.
Q. What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
Ans. I enjoy spending time with my wife and two young children. I also enjoy going to the gym and lifting weights.
