Questions: 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.
Answer: Aquacubed is a residential water treatment company. We are located in San Dimas CA. Currently we only have one office.
Questions: Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
Answer: Growing up my family owned several businesses in the restaurant business and still do. From working at those businesses at an early age I developed a sense of comfort in engaging with people and sales. I studied to be a civil engineer but while working in college at several tech companies like Earthlink, Auto Trader, and Yahoo! I began to find success in sales and left the engineering path. However, after taking an offer as a Regional Sales Manager for an Engineering company (Safna Engineering) my path came full circle. At this company I worked side to side with several talented engineers on many water municipal projects and applications. This is where I learned all about water treatment which led me down the path of developing a new system unlike any other and starting Aquacubed. My passion is to improve lives by providing high quality water to each of our clients.
Questions: 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?
Answer: I was working for a residential water company and learned all about the home water conditioning/softening systems. From my background at SAFNA ENGINEERING I noticed there was a better way to treat tap water from what was currently on the market. I left the company to design a new system unlike any on the market that could incorporate 4 different media/filters in a specific sequence. After a year and a half of design, testing, and R & D we have brought this system to market and the results have been wonderful!
Questions: What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
Answer:
Believe in yourself and your product/business no matter what comes your way.
Never hesitate to learn from someone with more experience and ask questions.
Stay persistent, focused, and don’t give up.
Questions: What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
Answer: Ability to recognize when to make a change.
Surrounding yourself with a network of like-minded people that can assist you and able to find them.
Finding ways to work smarter and harder.
Questions: How many hours do you work a day on average?
Answer: 10-12 hours.
Questions: To what do you most attribute your success?
Answer: Being passionate about our products and services we bring to improve our clients lifestyle.
Questions: How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful form of marketing?
Answer: We have hired DBP to bridge this gap for us. We have tried other avenues which just haven’t worked out.
Questions: Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?
Answer: My partner and I have put a good portion of our savings into starting this venture. We haven’t taken any outside funding yet. That’s how much we believe in these products!
Questions: What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
Answer: Be honest with yourself, clients, and expectations. Try to provide the best experience possible one client at a time.
Questions: Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
Answer: I see our business expanding to have an office in all 4 SOCAL counties and installing 15-20 units a week per office. As for myself, I see myself in the same situation working hard to provide the best experience One Client at a Time!
Questions: Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
Answer: I admire IN N OUT the most at of all companies. I like the way they scaled into a billion dollar company without compromising their product or values!
Questions: How important have good employees been to your success?
Answer: One of the biggest keys to success of any company including ours.
Questions: How long do you stick with an idea before giving up?
Answer: I go with my gut feeling and try and make changes accordingly as soon as I get that feeling.
Questions: What motivates you?
Answer: The fear of failure and the fact that I want to improve our clients’ lives.
Questions: How do you generate new ideas?
Answer: Brainstorming and letting my imagination wonder.
Questions: How do you define success?
Answer: Success is subjective. To me though, success is when you can be happy with whatever you currently have.
Questions: How do you build a successful customer base?
Answer: By providing the best service one client at a time.
Questions: What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur?
Answer: Not having to follow other people’s dreams.
Questions: What has been your most satisfying moment in business?
Answer: Seeing the vision of my design go from a sketch to being installed in a client home and them being satisfied.
Questions: What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
Answer: I feel entrepreneurs are risk takers. Risk taking isn’t for everyone.
Questions: What kind of culture exists in your organization? How did you establish this tone and why did you institute this particular type of culture?
Answer: We feel we are building a culture of honesty and integrity. Where ideas and thoughts are welcomed.
Questions: In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur.
Answer: Exciting.