[quote style=”boxed”]I would start building out ideas and forget about the long haul approach to work.[/quote]
Esther Kuperman has been a lead marketing and design influence in leading brands and startups. She has worked with the National Basketball Association, and startups focused on web and mobile brands. As a lead brand experience designer and UI/UX expert, Esther has designed and developed multiple websites and mobile apps. She has created and implemented digital marketing campaigns involving SEO, ambassador programs, paid ads, and content marketing.
What are you working on right now?
Sociidot, an app for bringing your dreams to life.
Where did the idea for Sociidot come from?
As a creative coming out of design school it took me a while to figure out how to implement and bring my ideas to life.
It took me longer still to figure out how to run and manage a venture.
I thought, what would have made it easier for me to get to my dreams faster?
The result is Sociidot. It’s a vision board where you can list all your dreams as visual stories, then break down each story into tiny actionable items we call dots. You then connect the dots to bring the story to life.
You can bring a board of advisors into each story to give you advice on each dot. Advisors can be friends or just people you met at a networking event. They can be anyone who has been where you are going and found success there.
You can create stories from scratch or from roadmaps created by experts, which can be customized to fit your own personal story and deadlines.
Ideally, I want to get the app to the point where people do a dot or two a day and turn their most important dreams to reality.
How do you make money?
Users can buy roadmaps from experts, and then customize them to fit their own personal story and deadlines. Users will pay for these roadmaps so they can maximize on the experience of people who know the ins and outs of the stories they want to complete.
What does your typical day look like?
I spend some time on usability testing and checking the app for bugs. Right now my priority is meeting with experts and getting their roadmaps in the app. I also spend time on various marketing activities – running our social media, viral marketing, and SEO activities.
I spend some time learning more about growth hacking.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I start with the concept. Then I design a few screens or pages of the concept. I immediately go out and start testing with real people.
I then build out the concept only with a mockup and test some more. I try to get sales even before I build it. Once I build it out, I start experimenting on marketing campaigns.
What’s one trend that really excites you?
Mobile. I love that the world has become an interconnected place, where anything digital you need to do can be done on your phone.
What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?
I had one job where I was building distribution channels online to market digital content.
A large part of the time, I felt I was wasting my talent and knowledge. It felt mind-numbing and meaningless.
In some ways, we hold ourselves back by saying we need to have this job for XYZ reason. But the only job you should have is one where you find meaning and where your are growing as a person, in addition to learning mad skills you can bring into your next project.
In addition, only you know what you are capable of. People will always look at what you have done and tell you to continue doing that. They can’t see your potential or know what you know on a gut level.
If you were to start again, what would you do differently?
I would right away look to surround myself with bright, talented individuals. People with ideas and talent. Specifically genius coders who can build out ideas.
I would start building out ideas and forget about the long haul approach to work.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Always stay inspired. I always travel and go to events on subjects that are completely foreign to me.
You never know where you can learn something that will make you look at what you’re working on in a different light and give your products “the edge.” I call it the “serendipity factor.”
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
I spent six months trying to build out a product, only to end up with something slow that did not function the way I needed it to.
My mistake was working with a development team that was not great because of budget concerns.
I realized the team is everything. Now, I refuse to work with people who are not great at what they do.
It’s never worth it. I will drop a project until I have the right team in place.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Lockboxes attached to buildings where keys can be stored, that can be opened with a phone.
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be and how would you go about it?
Change the urgency factor in the way people lead their lives. I realize most of the mistakes I’ve made have been when I felt I was in an urgent situation and I listened to someone else’s advice. Now, I try to stay calm and follow my instincts.
Tell us something about you that very few people know?
Every year, I try to overcome one of my fears. This year, it was scuba diving. I am now an advanced certified diver and have taken two diving trips this past year.
What are your three favorite online tools or resources and what do you love about them?
Trello – the simplicity of organizing workflow
Pocket – the ease of saving articles, so I can read them when there is nothing better to do
Hipmunk – for finding flights, it’s simple and fast
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
The Power of Full Engagement – this book showed me the importance of being fully focused and using your energy to be more productive.
I now break my workday into 5 break out sessions with breaks in between. When I work, I am fully focused with no distractions, and I get a lot more done.
Three people we should follow on Twitter and why?
Tim Ferriss – great life hacks
Dave McClure – great startup tips
Sean Ellis – growth hacking tips
When was the last time you laughed out loud? What caused it?
At a presentation where they showed a two-year-old using an iPad, and then they gave her a magazine and she was trying to swipe on the page and was getting frustrated that nothing happened.
Who is your hero, and why?
Richard Branson. He is an all around inspiration. He has founded over 300 companies and achieved great success. What I’m really impressed with is how nice he is and how he lives his life – he makes sure to enjoy himself and continues to challenge himself.
What is the best way as a creative to gain some coding skills?
I have taken classes with Skillshare, Udemy, and General Assembly. I also have used Quora to find answers to many of my questions.
How do you do more of what you love every day?
Start using Sociidot!
Connect:
Esther Kuperman on LinkedIn:
Esther Kuperman on Twitter: @manonymous
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.