Power of Two: James Chartrand and Harrison McLeod

(Photo by leefotos)

Welcome to the Interview With Successful Entrepreneurs series! This is where we learn the startup secrets from those who actually took the leap. Before becoming entrepreneurs, they were professionals and managers, or college students, just like you. From there, they made the changes. . .

Milestone in this Interview With Successful Entrepreneurs series

This is the 10th post of the series! I’m so grateful for all the interview guests who so gracefully took the time to do this with me.

Today’s guests are the gorgeous duo from Men With Pens. What is remarkable is they each have special roles in the team that make the pair far more than the sum of the two. Thinking back, I have already interviewed two pairs of entrepreneurs, Kim & Jason, who are married couple, and Skip & Yasmine, who started off as a solo entrepreneur and college intern. Further, Monica, Naomi, and Laura each have their partners in business. Is two better than one to succeed as entrepreneurs? Read on.

1. Tell us a bit about your business and why you started it.

James: Our business offers full-service web presence to individuals, the self-employed and businesses that want to get online. We provide website creation, design services, content writing services, WordPress installation and setup services… If it’s written or needs to look good, we’re the guys for the job. In short, we help people earn a living through the web. Feels good to do that.

Harry: We started our business years ago out of strict need. James had left his job and faced a long, hard winter with no income and two children to feed. I suggested poking around online for work. He found it, and within three months, I left my full-time job to step into working in our own business.

James: That’s the boring answer. We find that many people are much more interested in how we became the daring duo taking the blogosphere by storm.

Harry: It all started with creative writing and role-playing games (RPG). We met on an RPG forum and became close friends very quickly. Our skill sets were completely different and yet those skills meshed so well together that they created a strong foundation for massive potential.

We saw the opportunity for a rocking partnership, and we seized it. We haven’t looked back since.

2. What were the three biggest challenges when you were starting as new entrepreneurs?

Harry: Learning the ropes had to be number one. We had the skills and the business knowledge we needed, but we knew very little of bringing this to the virtual world. We learned many lessons the hard way, invested a ton of time to understand web working and we spent a great deal of money on self-education. It was a long, rough ride and it took a lot of dedication to make it work.

James: The problem was that most of what we found was garbage information. We were taken for a ride many times because of poor advice. That’s why we made it our vision to offer better to people so that they didn’t have to make the same mistakes we did (hence, our blog offering solid, reputable advice).

Harry: Another challenge was creating a solid system that allows us to fully share and collaborate from a distance of 3,000 miles. It isn’t easy to work together in an office that doesn’t really exist. We tapped into every resource possible to create a virtual office that lets us work side by side, no matter how far apart we are.

James: I have to say that a definite challenge I believe many people overlook is adapting to cultural differences and international business. When you look at the virtual world only from your country’s perspective, you find out quickly that there’s much more than you out there – and you need to change your ways and methods to welcome all people with their differences.

I’ll toss in a bonus challenge, too: Realizing that your life has completely changed is a huge wake-up call. Being an entrepreneur is more than just working on your own for a living. You suddenly wear many hats and you suddenly have to be an expert at everything, from salesperson to customer service representative to accountant to business CEO.

Harry: Yeah, that was a huge wake-up call for me. It’s hard to run a business and I think many people feel it’s so easy. It isn’t. Your business hours rise and your personal free time dwindles – and I think these reasons cause many new businesses to fail. People are unprepared to overcome these obstacles and aren’t ready to step into such big shoes.

3. And how did you work through these challenges?

James: I think that it’s a combination of too many factors to list here. I do know that you have to know your strengths and use them while recognizing your weaknesses and finding ways to work around them.

We’re lucky to be two people that work together, because we complement and enhance each other’s ability.

Harry: I think we’re also lucky in that we’re very different people and our personalities, strengths and weaknesses balance each other nicely. That’s important – if you don’t have balance, the whole venture becomes that much harder and you burn out quickly.

4. What is the best part of being an entrepreneur for you?

Harry: I don’t consider myself an entrepreneur at all. James is the front man with the visions. He’s out there chasing the dreams. I’m working behind the scenes to support him and help make those dreams a reality. That isn’t entrepreneur in my definition of the word. But what I do is a very important part of the business.

James: That’s true. I need him, he needs me, and when we make it work, it’s fantastic. Knowing that we are able to reach any goal we want and having the confidence to do so is the best feeling in the world.

Also, it’s extremely fulfilling to know that we can help others reach their goals. Having our business lets us reach that vision every day.

5. Any advice for people who dream to have their own business and yet find it hard to make the leap?

James: Establish a Plan B. And C. And D and all the way to Z. Never leap without a safety net, and at the same time, always be ready to seize the opportunities you have and take the plunge. There’s no such thing as failure – there is only learning experiences.

My Takeaway
Wow, partnership is attractive. I guess it can make the business a lot stronger if I can find the right partner.
I also find James’ comment on cross-cultural understanding interesting. He is English – French bilingual, and I’m English – Japanese bilingual. It makes me think maybe there are more ways I can utilize my special background that typical Americans don’t, or help people who only speak English. Not necessarily translation . . . something bigger . . .

Are you a solo entrepreneur or do you have a partner? If you are looking to start a business, do you intend to go by yourself or do you want to find a partner?