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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.
Ans:- I’m Donald Brady, and I run a web design business. I call it Management Results, and I have the public website at Yoriknme.com. I work from my home office outside Silver Spring, Maryland.
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).
Ans:- I have over twenty years’ programming experience with large corporations. At my recent employer, the Federal Aviation Administration, I accomplished what I think was my most important achievement. In a database application showing obstacles that pilots need to avoid, I added an easy link to Google Earth. This allowed people to actually see the obstacle.
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?
Ans:- Seeing existing web design businesses inspired me to start. I felt I could better meet clients’ demands, especially with public-facing web pages they may envision.
Q. 4 What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
Ans:- Get used to living on a shoestring at first. Pay attention to media like Facebook. And finally, read as much as you can on developing a client base.
Q. 5 What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans:- I believe an entrepreneur needs communication skills- he or she must understand a client’s vision. Secondly, an entrepreneur must have good control over his medium. At last, he or she must continually search for clients.
Q. 6 How many hours do you work a day on average?
Ans:- I like programming and web design, so I work at least ten hours each day.
Q. 7 To what do you most attribute your success?
Ans:- A penchant for finishing projects has been important for me.
Q. 8 How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Ans:- I have to admit that I found a Search Engine Optimization firm to do most of my marketing to date.
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?
Ans:- I don’t need much capital in my business.
Q. 10 What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
Ans:- Long-term success is easier than one’s start-up abilities. After a few years, one has usually learned clients needs, and generates better ideas.
Q. 11 Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
Ans:- In my business, one can hire people to help, or go it alone. I prefer a solo career, so one client at a time will be a must.
Q. 12 Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
Ans:- I love Bootstrap- it is a larger web design business which writes code to help with responsive pages- those that anticipates customers using a phone. I also like HTML5 Up. This is a one-person shop so far as I know. The owner produces some great themes that designers can use. What he does in his spare time is just amazing.
Q. 13 How important have good employees been to your success?
Ans:- I prefer to work alone at this time.
Q. 14 How long do you stick with an idea before giving up?
Ans:- I guess I don’t really give up on a good idea. Now, trying different ways of accomplish it- that’s another story.
Q. 15 What motivates you?
Ans:- I guess my love of programming is a big part of that. I like getting up in the morning and doing something.
Q. 16 What are your ideals?
Ans:- I hope to have a client look forward to meeting with me. And I am always sharpening my skills.
Q. 17 How do you generate new ideas?
Ans:- My ideas come from clients, and anticipating what they might need.
Q. 18 How do you define success?
Ans:- Success to me means keeping clients after initial efforts, and therefore staying busy.
Q. 19 How do you build a successful customer base?
Ans:- Again, my SEO team has been very good to me. And Facebook is interesting.
Q. 20 What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
Ans:- I love being able to speak with clients, and getting a prototype running for them gives me great satisfaction.
Q. 21 What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
Ans:- I saw my web site at number three in a google listing- that was really thrilling to me.
Q. 22 What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
Ans:- Those working for someone else tend to get very good at one or two skills, while an entrepreneur has to learn several disciplines.
Q. 23 What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this particular type of culture?
Ans:- Mine is a work-oriented culture. I didn’t create this culture so much as much as following through with my abilities.
Q. 24 In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
Ans:- Enjoyable.
Q. 25 If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
Ans:- I would have pursued a graduate degree in my field.
Q. 26 How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?
Ans:- My wife seems happy that I am doing things that I am suited for.
Q. 27 What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?
Ans:- I am fearful that my business will not survive, but I manage that fear by thinking of ways I can work for a small web design business.
Q. 28 How did you decide on the location for your business?
Ans:- It is close to Silver Spring, and it is my home office.
Q. 29 Do you believe there is some sort of pattern or formula to becoming a successful entrepreneur?
Ans:- Yes of course there are patterns here, like the ability to keep clients long-term.
Q. 30 Who has been your greatest inspiration?
Ans:- I would love to speak to Einstein. In addition to being smart, he had characteristics of a boy growing up.
Q. 31 What book has inspired you the most? (OR what is your favorite book?)
Ans:- Any of Tony Hillerman’s novels on the Navajo Nation, and their environment.
Q. 32 What are some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
Ans:- At one time, I did not read specifications closely enough. This resulted in hours of fruitless work. And at one time I spent nights learning Linux, a computer operating system. Wasted time. Icould have better profited by studies of what our projects were.
Q. 33 How can you prevent mistakes or do damage control?
Ans:- I am wiser today, and don’t make as many mistakes. However, they can happen. Finding out about them early and correcting them is the best damage control I can think of.
Q. 34 What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
Ans:- I am horribly misplaced in an urban environment. I loved fly fishing and bicycling in the woods when I lived north of DC.
Q. 35 What makes you happy?
Ans:- Seeing nature, either from walks, or from my balcony.
Q. 36 What sacrifices have you had to make to be a successful entrepreneur?
Ans:- I still don’t make as much as I did working in organizations.
Q. 37 If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask?
Ans:- I’d like to see a question or two concerning specifics of my work- how I interface with databases, what computer languages I use, and so forth.