We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hussein Shehadeh. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hussein below.

Alright, Hussein thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?

Graduating from the University of Cardiff with a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering was an achievement in itself. However, what I came to realize during my 3-year course of study was that my heart truly lies in the field of Computer Science. That being said, I was in a difficult position, where I was not entirely aware of what to do in terms of next steps, nevertheless I was determined to do what it takes to get to the point where I believed I needed to be.

After countless nights of trying to figure out what to do next, I came up with the idea of developing an application, which had not been made possible without the support of my father. The process of managing the creation of the application itself was somewhat complicated and insightful, in spite of that, the application was not as successful as I had hoped, however that did not deter me from my pursuits.

Succeeding my return from the UK, I spent the entire summer churning my brain, wondering what to do next. I was certain that working with my civil engineering degree was not the way to go. It finally dawned on me to apply for a Master’s degree in Innovation and Technology at the University of Bath. I was initially rejected, given that the program I was applying to required working experience. Under those circumstances, I was able to convince the acceptance board to withdraw my rejection, and explain how the experience I had with the application was relevant to the course, which ultimately landed me an acceptance into the program. At the prime age of 21, making me the youngest alum in the program in 2018, graduating with merit.

I did not want to cross out civil engineering and throw all the years that I spent on my bachelors degree down the drain. That being said, my father convinced me to work a construction job with him to give myself a feel of what working in the real world would feel like. However, having seen the job pull through I was not given the satisfaction that I expected to gain from a job well done, what it did do was further cement the fact that engineering was not the path that I was set out to take.

During that period of overseeing the construction job, I discovered the platform Shopify, where I started dabbling with developing my first store, although it was not successful, and was later shut down, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of accomplishment. This failure did not deter me from seeking out other mediums to further my knowledge in the field of developing an online store, in fact what it did was encourage me to launch a website of my own, that I deemed to be a project dear to my heart called “eBas6a” which spells out to say “ee-bas-ta”. The main concept of “eBas6a” was to promote local products in Jordan, regardless of their location. So where people might deem this store to be far away from them, I would handle the logistics of bringing a taste from home to home. This in return promoted local business to flourish in means they never thought possible.

Given that I had bigger aspirations to promote local products on a global scale. I shut down “eBas6a” and started working on Soufrashop. Where “eBas6a” was only meant for the local market in Jordan, Soufrashop was meant to tackle people all around the world. Given that this project was something that I had never had experience working on previously I wanted to start small, which is why spices was the way to go. Middle-eastern spices have a reputation for being the best of their kind. A huge population of Middle-eastern people currently reside in the United States of America, which seemed like the perfect place to start tackling this spice industry. For that we needed to obtain FDA approval in both Jordan and in the USA, signing up with third party warehouses in the USA as well. The business was doing great, however I had not anticipated the cash liquidity that I would need to maintain the company. Which led me to shutdown Soufrashop after a mere year of working on the project, since my only form of employment was through this company, which has led me to be drained financially and emotionally. This is where I felt that I had hit rock bottom.

Several months after closing down Soufrashop, I was presented with an opportunity to work with a local start-up in Jordan, where the main purpose of the start-up was to promote reading books. This was my first experience being employed, where it taught me a lot of the soft-skills and knowledge that I know today, when it comes to dealing with clients and in understanding their needs. Whereas this was also an eye-opener in the sense that I understood that the typical 9-5 work schedule was not something I would be accustomed to doing. Which is why I put in more time and effort into learning all the in’s and out’s of developing a website, landing me my first client only a few weeks after. The flexibility in the work I do, and the fulfilling feeling I get from turning someone’s idea into a reality is rewarding in itself.

I branched out the services that I do a year after, in providing not only website development services, but also website management services, where I assist business in both building their business, as well as having the opportunity in scaling them.

As of today, after a long and tedious journey, I am proud to say that I developed an agency in the UAE – “The i.o agency”, with having the pleasure in developing a variety of successful online stores, varying from clothing, to make-up and even to life-style stores. While the journey was not without its challenges, from the very beginning, my goal was to be involved in the development of applications, websites, and technology. Through hard work and determination, I have been able to discover my true passion in this field. A quote by Steve Jobs that has always resonated with me is, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” It serves as a reminder to trust in the journey and the opportunities it may bring.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

As a boutique agency, I am actively engaged and maintain direct communication with our clients. This approach has helped establish a positive reputation for our agency and has resulted in a strong word-of-mouth effect. A significant portion of our clients are acquired through recommendations and referrals.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

While working with a local startup in Jordan, I identified that a significant portion of their losses were attributed to Cash on Delivery (COD) orders. These orders were primarily shipped internationally and resulted in high delivery times, which led to customers refusing to accept the product. This resulted in the business incurring the cost of product, shipping and additional disposal fees.

In light of this analysis, I proposed to the board that the company should discontinue the COD option. Initially, the board disagreed with this proposal. However, I was able to successfully present my findings and convince them to conduct a trial of three months.

After three months, the results were clear. The company went from breaking even to achieving over 20% in profits. Additionally, the return order rate dropped from around 60% to less than 3%. This clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed change in strategy.

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Image Credits
The logo was created by Zaid Abu Kaoud (designthru) and the personal photo was taken by Avo