Nicholas DeNuccio is a Millennial and the CEO of Irvine, California-based Propaganda E-Liquid. His company has placed their five liquid lines in 5,000 U.S. vape shops and 40 countries worldwide. Small Business Trends spoke with this young entrepreneur about how to be taken seriously in business when you’re only twenty-three.
How to Be Taken Seriously As a Young Entrepreneur
He started our conversation with some good advice about finding your place in business as a younger businessperson.
Find the Right Market
“You need to find a niche market in a disruptive industry,” he says, “probably the biggest contributor to success if finding where you fit in and where you can dominate that niche.”
He saw the vape industry as a perfect fit because it was open-minded and still evolving.
“There’s nothing like a dress code to follow, everyone’s just trying to do the best they can.”
Doing a little keyword research can help using Google’s Keyword Planner tool. It can point you in the right direction by giving stats on searches.
Practice Time Management
DeNuccio also says Millennial entrepreneurs need to be aware they’ve got more time to start a business than they think. He says lots of people work a nine to five job and go home after to watch Netflix. These folks can shift a space over to making their entrepreneurial dreams come true.
He says time management is one of the biggest ingredients to building something successful.
“Every hour counts and everything depends on how you’re spending them,” he says.
Online time management tools like Evernote can help you allocate time to start a business and be on time for meetings once you’ve got one going.
Project Confidence
Younger businesspeople need to show their clients and prospects they’re doing well and taking their businesses seriously. In short, you need to present yourself in a way that shows others that you’re player regardless of the industry that you’re in.
Dressing well, having a neat appearance and some of the accessories that speak of success are all good things. If you show up in a nice car that’s always clean and you look the same, you stand a bigger chance of landing those big deals.
Don’t forget to make eye contact.
Get Mentors
Getting good mentors is another important ingredient in the recipe for young entrepreneurial success.
“I had a lot of help when I first started because I needed to learn everything I could,” DeNuccio says adding that he spoke to many people in the industry about what helped and hurt their brands.
Having the right mentors will help you with important information like how much it costs to start a business in any industry and how to find good vendors. Mentors can even help you pin down good marketing approaches when you’re starting out.
If you find someone you think will make a good mentor, commenting on their blog posts is a good way to put your name on their radar.
Take Advantage of Social Media
Online platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter serve a duel purpose for a fledgling Millennial business starting out. They serve as both an excellent sales tool and a way to connect with clients.
On the sales side, when prospects see you have a following online, your brand gets credibility.
“Connecting on the consumer side, we like to run a lot of things like surveys in places like Instagram,” DeNuccio says adding they like to use social media for giveaways too and as a place where customers can ask questions.
Image: Nicholas DeNuccio