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

Hi Ryan, thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I’ve been asked this question by other entrepreneurs a few times and it’s always framed as-if there was one silver bullet that creates success. The truth is, there isn’t. I attribute a lot of our success to hard work and not settling for ‘good enough.’ What’s difficult for people to understand, is that it takes a lot of long hours – not just in your business pursuit – but in your life to make a business work. I worked a 9-5 office job dayjob, then toiled for another 8 hours on leather goods. I spent my breaks at work watching YouTube videos about leatherwork. You really have to obsess over your business idea, otherwise you will burn-out. It’s not enough to want to ‘make money,’ you have to live and breathe that pursuit.

I see this with friends, family and employees who want to start their own side-hustles. People will tell me that they’ll just ‘put up a website’ and sell things ‘on the side’ will fizzle out after a few months. It’s the people who talk non-stop about their business, put in the extra hours in their off times that will succeed.

Customers will see your passion come through your online (or offline) pressence. Our passion exudes in our social media, our product photography, how we talk about our products and how we treat our customers. We’re proud and excited about what we make.

Don’t start a drop-shipping business just to make money on the side. Start a hobby, find something that motivates you to get up in the morning, that gives you the energy to get through another day in the office so you can go home at night and build your empire.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Leather work was a hobby I started shortly after graduating from art school. I loved sculpture and leatherwork translated well: it was a new material for me to explore and it was somewhat forgiving. There wasn’t a right and wrong way to use leather. I always wanted to have a well-made wallet that was simple with no branding and fit into my front pocket. I spent hours watching YouTube videos tutorials and spent weeks at my dining room table making crude wallets. Finally, I nailed a design I was proud of. My (now wife and business partner) convinced me to put it on Etsy and see if we could sell one. We sold one on the very first day. I was elated – there’s no bigger validation of your creativity than some stranger on the internet giving you their money. I was motivated to make more; soon we added more wallets, belts, book covers, so on. I kept pouring the money we made on Etsy back into the business on better tools, camera equipment, shipping supplies etc.

Our business continues what I set out to originally do: create well-made, high-quality leather goods that I will always obsess over. If I love these products, I know there’s an audience out there that shares this same passion.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media helped build our business, but I don’t attribute the growth of our followers to most of it. I was never a photographer and certainly lacked the skill when I first started our business. But I challenged myself to post a photo about our business on Instagram once per day – after a couple months, I learned a lot: how to photograph our products, what lighting works well, good spots to take photos, how my DSLR camera worked, etc. A lot of what I learned was by doing – and that’s a parable that can be applied to anything in life. If you want to get good at something, force yourself to do it every day. Push through that discomfort. We use a lot of our photography not just on social media, but on our website, marketing and email campaigns. It’s a distinct part of our brand.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

It’s important to create a set of core values and use those to guide your business which includes hiring employees for culture fit. Finding people who align with your values saves a lot of headaches down the road. Also: finding ways to motivate in others ways besides pay-raises such as learning and development, birthdays off, and just saying “thank-you” is also key.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.popovleather.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/popovleather
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PopovLeather/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNmquD7Dw70YjWCMFMjr72A