We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ludovit Halaj. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ludovit below.
Ludovit , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I always knew in my heart that one day I’ll be doing my own business.
I’ve worked since college in sales, and sometimes there was something about the product I was selling, I was not confident about. Sometimes it was the price, sometimes quality, or need for the product.
When I was about 27, I knew that this is the time. I learned online about cork products, so I went to it.
I had experiences selling at fairs, so I picked a fair – LA county fair, in 2019, that was about 9 months ahead, and I saved all the money, selling at few fairs and driving for Uber, and spent them on the booth, and products.
I choose few random purses, wallets and belts, and I had them made in different factories. Since then I learned what people are looking for and sales went up.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Dzolik is vegan brand, selling cork purses, wallets, belts, backpacks, and similar items.
They are sustainable.
They are simple, functional designs, that people like for various reasons- for being vegan, good looking, light weight, functional, affordable, or all together.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Probably needing to work 24+ hour straight.
There are times when it’s needed to get done a lot of work in small amount of time, and I have to go without sleep, or with 1-2 hours a sleep per day.
Sometimes it’s couple days straight like this.
I learned body can adapt and I try to go at least once a week with little sleep, to keep myself at the edge.
I also think people 100 or 200 years ago were much tougher than today, they used to work much more than 40 or 60 hours a week, and we could learn something from them.
Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?
I saved money from my jobs – mostly from driving for Uber and Lyft.
Even then, in 2019, drivers were complaining how little they get paid, I didn’t understand, I worked 12, 15, or 18 hour days, and I could make before expenses (gas, car, taxes) 5-6k a month. From those hours you often just wait for next ride – I wouldn’t just sitting consider as working.
I initially spent about 15-16k before started the business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dzolik.com
- Instagram: Dzolik_official
