Editor’s note: This article was first published in September 2014, and describes ZinePak as it was then: a young company successful in 18 countries, with 6 employees and 350% growth in 2012. Its figures and status are as of 2014.
Who are these two young, beautiful entrepreneurs? They’re Brittany Hodak and Kim Kaupe, founders of ZinePak, a recently created entertainment company that is already a success in 18 countries. They’re now competing to be named the Wall Street Journal‘s startup of the year.
But they’re not just pretty. These two young entrepreneurs have shown incredible business maturity. In an interview with Inc.com, they talked about the business lessons they’ve learned during their short careers, lessons that helped them make their company a success.
Hodak and Kaupe admit they were obsessed with failure, but they kept asking themselves: what if we pull it off? The answer wasn’t long in coming. What happened is that they’ve proved to be formidable.
Business lesson 1: always stay two steps ahead
Owning a business means you have to take on and embrace new risks and challenges in pursuit of opportunities, even if you’ve already succeeded. Never wait until the possibility of failure rears its head to start looking for new alternatives for your business.
They founded ZinePak in 2011 with a focus on improving the experience of the physical CD. They partnered with Walmart, believing that fans wanted their favourite artists’ CDs in exclusive collections, and they were right. They grew 350% in 2012, but faced with the threat that the physical CD may be in danger, they’ve already started offering streaming services. You have to stay ahead in a changing market.
(Read: 7 business lessons from the founder of Alibaba)
Business lesson 2: never be the smartest person in the room
Focus on being a great leader instead of a great doer. Surround yourself with experts and workers who are much better than you.
They admit that at first they thought the secret of a good businessperson was to know as much as possible about everything, and both wasted far too much time trying to learn all sorts of things about production, printing, marketing and so on.
That eventually leads to burning out quickly and losing productivity. A company can’t grow if you’re doing all the work, because your capacity for work is very limited. In the end, all these problems are solved by hiring the best in their field.
The company, which currently has only 6 employees, has been a great success thanks to the professionalism of those employees, along with dozens of freelancers and one of the best business coaches in the industry.
Business lesson 3: it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission
Sometimes ordinary business channels aren’t suited to a business model. Their business strategy all along, they explain, has been to get it done now and ask for permission later, whether that means landing a meeting with senior executives or “ambushing” an artist without an official appointment with their manager.
First they achieve their goal, and if it bothered someone, they apologise. A good business philosophy.
(Read: 18 business lessons you’ll learn sooner or later)
Lesson 4: “no” doesn’t always mean “no”
Never take “no” for an answer from someone who doesn’t have the authority to say “yes”.
Sometimes, when you’re selling a business idea, you have to pitch it to one person who then has to pass it on to another group of people so they can make a decision. That can be a waste of time, so it’s best to go straight to the decision-maker whenever possible. And if that person doesn’t say “yes” right away, keep pushing.
Lesson 5: don’t be afraid of the unknown
You don’t need to have all the answers or try to predict the future. Hodak recalls that when she and Kim decided to quit their jobs to start their own business, they spent so much time talking about what would happen if they failed as entrepreneurs that they forgot to plan what they would do if they succeeded.
They admit they never imagined themselves running a company that handles worldwide distribution for some of today’s top artists, with tens of millions in revenue.
Every day brings new challenges and new decisions, but you have to act from a place of confidence rather than fear, even when you’re venturing into unknown territory.
See also: 10 brilliant business lessons from Ben Horowitz
Featured image: Arbitrarily0, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
