How to be your own boss

Nick Mason started his own business, MobileCity, at the age of 16. Since then MobileCity has grown exponentially and now has a turnover of more than £60000 per annum. Mark Barac talks to him on how he has grown the website.

MB: Tell me about your business, what gave you the idea for the business and how did it come about?

NM: The business came about when I was sixteen: my birthday was rapidly approaching and for it I asked my parents for £150. I then invested this £150 into starting up a business: I started on Amazon as a reseller mainly dealing with low price electrical goods such as headphones and gaming products.  Within 3 months I turned £150 into over £1000. The company was actually initially called Headphones Shop UK due to its specialist focus on headphones at the time.  For 6 months I developed my market trader portfolio, increasing my product base and obtaining on site positive feedback. From this I realised my passion for trading: the quantity of profits was far greater than any money I could have earned in a part-time job. That said, I did have a part-time job at the time, but all the money made from this went to funding my company. These were the preliminary stages that led to the company that I have today.

MB: When did the shift in focus occur from headphones to mobiles then?

NM: In 2013 I decided to move into a more profitable market, selling mobile phones and accessories. With this idea in hand, I created a website myself using a web development platform. I stopped selling headphones completely because the profit margins were not high enough. Now I focus solely on mobiles and gaming consoles. Through moving into this new market I could expand the company as the mobile phone market was bigger and more lucrative.

MB: What was the biggest hurdle which you had to overcome?

NM: The biggest hurdle to overcome was the fact that most small start up businesses rely on one thing: a niche in the market which they can then exploit. I did not have that: if you look online there are a abundance of mobile phone websites: Carphone Warehouse, Phones 4 U, Vodafone etc. In order to emerge in the market as a competitor, I had to have an extremely efficient price structure. I provided extremely competitive prices for consumers. Another challenge was obtaining a reliable supplier in the industry as this market is controlled by many large firms.

MB: What single thing helped you the most?

NM: Through persistence and hard work, I managed to establish connections in the industry with a distributor within the European Union. This connection enabled me to lower costs, increase margins and became a true competitor in the market. Networking is key: make sure you network, network and network.

MB: In terms of business, how has this calendar year been?

NM: My profits vary in the year depending on my personal academic workload, as I do not have the capacity to work on the business full time at university. Most of my profits are obtained during holiday periods. However, this summer I have seen a great surge in orders through the development of my new website. The website currently has over a thousand new visitors a month. I have also recently updated the SEO platform on the site which will hopefully lead to further expansion and even more new customers. All in all I am pleased with the current levels of interest. In addition this interest has led to a high OCR (Order Conversion Rate) which I believe comes from good marketing and comparatively low prices.

MB: What are your plans for the near future?

NM: Short term I plan to tidy up the new website and then work on developing new ways of online marketing through using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. I then want to take the marketing one step further through creating a promotional video that will initially be launched as an online advert. If this strategy is successful, I could broaden my adverts to mediums such as radio and television. Marketing is costly but it’s crucial in drawing new customers to Mobile City.

MB: And taking a broader view, what are your ideas in the long term?

NM: In my view all the greatest companies have evolved from simple concepts to innovative and technologically advanced products. As a creative person I recognise that Mobile City (despite its profitability) is the kind of enterprise that will never break new boundaries and create new markets. For that reason I want to create something completely new, something the world has never seen before.

MB: What one piece of advice would you give to other young entrepreneurs starting out?

NM: Be bold. Be a boss. Don’t take no for an answer. Keep trying: hard work and persistence always pays off. I live by the motto of Marshall Mathers: “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow.
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo”.