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Ned Suesse, CC grad and Colorado Springs business owner
Q: You started your business at the age of 28. Where did you work prior to starting a business? Is this the first entrepreneurial adventure for you? How has it been the past 6 years since you’ve started? Is it about how you thought it’d be starting out? Or a lot different than you were expecting? A: I was a project manager for Agilent Technologies for a number of years before starting my business, and found that I was not satisfied by the work. For whatever reason, I wanted to be more independent and self reliant than the corporate atmosphere allowed for. I started my first business about a year before I left Agilent so that I could be sure it was realistic, and once I felt confident it was, never looked back. Since my last day of employment in 2005, I’ve never once woken up and wished I could go back to the cubicle, and if there is anything different than my expectations, it has been that self-employment has been easier and more rewarding than I anticipated. Q: Talk a little bit about what your business specializes in…and has your vision changed any since launching? A: I have several businesses that are separate entities for liability reasons. I’m a passionate motorcyclist, and generally, each of them was started around a specific idea I had to solve a problem I experienced with my own bikes or riding. So, the vision has been pretty consistent throughout. Q: Did you choose Colorado Springs as the city to launch your business in? Or did you start somewhere else and move here? What’s your experience been like here in the Springs as an entrepreneur? A: I went to Colorado College and moved away, and then found that I missed the access to recreation we have in Colorado Springs, so I came back. My business could be accomplished anywhere, but I’m happy to be in Colorado Springs for the lifestyle it affords. I think a strength of Colorado Springs is that the costs to locate here are reasonable, yet we have access to any service we could need in a relatively short distance. Q: What do you like most about living and working in Colorado Springs? A: The access to riding trails, and the lack of traffic! Q: Do you belong to any local business organizations? What value have you received if you do participate, and if you don’t belong to any local groups, what other methods do you use to promote and grow your business? What’s been most helpful? A: No, almost all of my business comes from online sources. The best promotion for me is getting my products in the hands of those who care and recognize how well they work, word of mouth beats everything else. Q: What percentage of your business comes from Colorado Springs (and/or Colorado)? A: Less than 10% comes from Colorado, and about 25% of my business is international. Last week, we shipped a bunch of product to Poland and Australia, next week it will be somewhere else. Q: What local news outlets do you use to stay informed (if any)? A: None, unless the Economist counts as local! Q: What’s one of your favorite motivational quotes or inspirational ideas? A: For anyone considering going into business for themselves, they have to have equal parts inspirational optimist, allowing themselves to believe they could realize a dream, and realistic pessimist, beating up their own ideas and walking away from what will not or does not work. Q: Favorite local spot to meet a client for a business lunch? And what do you recommend ordering here? A: I try to stick with our local independent restaurants, and I love the ones that are off the beaten path. A favorite is Trivellis hoagies- near my shop and true to my east coast roots. Not a very good place to meet a client, though! Click here to read more young entrepreneur profiles on SpringsBusiness.com
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