Interview with Brad Kendall of digihedron.com

I am very happy to interview fellow YEC member and someone that lives in my hometown. I am happy to get to talk with Brad, and know entrepreneurship is live and well in Winnipeg!

YGG: We k

now you’re a “Young Go Getter”, but so our readers know, how old are you?

Brad: 23

YGG: Can you tell us the quick history about your business and what motivated you to start it up?

I started a computer store with my dad when I was 13. My father has always been an entrepreneurial inspiration to me and I was always interested in technology. I think he saw an opportunity to really get me motivated and start down the entrepreneurial path. I quickly picked up a lot of the knowledge necessary to running a business, working after school and on weekends. Of course, my first owners draw from the company at 14 was pretty motivating too.

YGG: What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

There were many things I have done that have helped my business grow to the point that it is today. One of them was reading the four hour workweek. That book changed my life. The biggest lesson I learned from that book was the 80/20 rule. I basically run my life off of that rule now. I looked over my books and noticed that 80% of my profits came from 20% of my customers and also that 20% of my customers were causing 80% of my problems. In addition to that, I noticed another trend, that the top 20% of my clients were all in the same industry. Focusing on one industry allowed me to really explore with automation and delegation. I basically went from working 20 hour days to 2 or 3 hours a day, allowing me to focus on other entrepreneurial interests. I also make more money now, which is great!

YGG: What has been your most effective marketing tactic or technique?

Most of my marketing comes from word of mouth. I develop awesome relationships with my clients and they never hesitate to recommend me to their peers. Again, picking a specific vertical market really helps with word of mouth marketing as everybody knows each other within the industry.

Another tactic that really works for me is breaking downtime and other problems into an actual figure. A simple explanation would be say an employee works on a computer 40 hours a week and he costs the company $20.00 / hour. 2 hours of downtime a week would end up costing the company $40.00. I found clients really respond to actual figures instead of fancy brochures or websites.

YGG: What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

1) Bootstrap your company, don’t

get funding from others unless there is absolutely no other way to start the company. (there always is a way, you just have to be creative.)

2) Creating a job for yourself is not the same as creating a business. Your business should meet the following criteria:
Become a tangible asset that you can sell.
Be able to function without you.
Generate higher levels of income than you can on your own.

3) Make sure you love what you do, you will be doing it for a long time!

YGG: How does your business “give back” to the community or to society?

My business gives back to the community in a few ways.

I am on the board for a charity golf tournament that earns $20,000+ for the blind in my community.

In addition to standard charity work and monetary contributions, I also blog and give advice to other IT professionals and entrepreneurs to improve their lives and businesses.

YGG: Why do you do what you do? What inspires you? When do you get most excited?

I love what I do. Every day I get to come up with creative solutions to a whole range of problems from technical to marketing to customer service. I am never bored and I get to help and meet people of all sorts. There is no better feeling than seeing a problem, coming up with a solution and then implementing it. I absolutely love it!

YGG: If you could be mentored by any successful entrepreneur who would you pick and why?

I would pick Kevin Rose. I grew up admiring Kevin Rose, from when he was on the show The Screen Savers. After the show he created Digg.com, one of the first social media websites and started the podcast diggnation, which was the first podcast I ever watched. I always find it amusing and inspirational how he has always been a part of my life in a small, but significant way. He is always doing interesting projects that he is passionate about and is quite successful at it.

YGG: Can you give us three tools that you use every single day to make your life as a younggogetter more efficient, productive, or fun?

1. Evernote, I keep 90% of my life in there
2.Google Apps (gmail and google docs specifically), This is where I keep the other 10%
3.Twitter, I have met so many interesting people, formed business and personal relationships and had a few laughs along the way too.

YGG: What is your favourite quote?

My favorite quote needs a little back story, but it is from Tom Watson at IBM. A junior executive at IBM was involved at the company in a risky venture and lost over $10 million. When the executive was called into Watson’s office, he assumed he was going to be fired. Instead, Watson said, “You can’t be serious. We just spent $10 million educating you!”