Mou is a 19-year-old serial entrepreneur based in London. Whilst still a teenager, he has started numerous businesses, with his most recent venture, a digital marketing agency, being his most successful to date. Mou, who is currently on a gap year, and so hasn’t even started university, has generated over $250,000 with his current online business. For many of the young entrepreneurs we hear about, who start a successful online business, the aim seems to be to drop out. But this teen entrepreneur seems quite the opposite. He has attended extremely prestigious schools, including Thomas’s Battersea and Westminster School. The former includes Prince George and Princess Charlotte as current pupils, whilst the latter is often seen as the best school in the UK. With most teens his age main focus being partying, studying, and just getting by, I needed to find out more about just how this particular teen has been able to accomplish what he has.
What is your entrepreneur’s story? How did you come about building your business?
For years, the business itself has fascinated me. The ability for anyone to come up with an idea and then put it into practice and for real people to start using/paying for your idea is amazing to me. I’ve been starting businesses ever since I was 14 years old, from apps to e-commerce sites and more. Some failed, Some I never took off and some did better than I expected. So when people ask me what do I have to do to start a successful business, my answer is always the same: fail. There are two key components to achieving any goal. Whether that be starting a business or becoming an athlete or whatever it may be. The first is a failure and the second is perseverance. So my current business came about from years of failure and perseverance, using everything I’ve learned, and putting it into practice.
Can you give me an overview of who you are, what is your educational or overall background?
So I was born and raised in London, and am the youngest child in a family of 5. Both my parents are Moroccan and as the stereotypes go, education has always been a super important aspect in my life. I’ve been lucky enough to attend some amazing schools, and so being competitive and striving for the best has always been a massive part of my life. I guess I took these parts of my character and used them in the business world.
What is your business model — how were you able to grow so fast?
So I run a Social Media Marketing Agency. We specialize in creating paid traffic campaigns for restaurants and e-commerce stores both in London and around the world. We also offer other services that many digital agencies provide, such as web design, consultancy, social media management, and content creation. I love working with local business owners and showing them just how much they’re losing out by not investing in their online brand. Often I see restaurants that have spent £100,000+ on their store design and team and 0 on their online brand. So I tell them, you’ve spent all this money to impress the couple hundred people that walk outside your shop, but are missing out on the thousands of people that could be specifically targeted online!
Is it tough starting and growing a business being so young — what have been your main challenges?
I think it’s just the societal norm of NOT starting a business whilst still being a teenager that makes it weird, fascinating, or unbelievable for many. Even whilst at school, friends would look at me like I was crazy if I ever mentioned anything that I was doing. Of course, though, it is extremely challenging. Starting a business is a huge challenge in the first place, doing it whilst being younger is even harder. With the rise of the internet, this barrier is easily broken as your age is no longer the main talking point. It’s also why Social Media Marketing is the ideal business for someone young. Most business owners want a younger, tech-savvy person to be managing their online presence, and as long as you get the results, they honestly don’t care how old you are. When you’re younger, the amount of money you have to spend, as well as your time available, is usually limited. So for me, this business just ticked all the boxes.
What have you learned through your experiences as an entrepreneur that can be used by aspiring business individuals?
The biggest thing is perseverance and friends. Perseverance I’ve already touched on so I won’t go into that too much, but the friends and the people you surround yourself with are just as important. I call it the ‘Mastermind’ from the book ‘Think and Grow Rich’ by Napoleon Hill. If you’re surrounding yourself with people who just want to party, have fun and go with the flow. You’re more likely to become one of those people. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but if you want to do something out of the ordinary, don’t spend time with the ordinary. There are also those people who are just inherently negative, inherently pessimistic, and pretend to show your support. It’s those same people that bring negative energy into your life. Those just need to be cut out. As soon as you start valuing your time, you’ll see big changes in your goals.
What makes your business so unique and successful?
To be blunt, nothing makes it unique. But what makes it successful is me. I’m not one to boast, but I dedicated time and effort, and many sleepless nights, mastering my craft, learning new strategies, techniques, psychology and sales practices in order to grow my business. This doesn’t mean that I’m special because given the right information, honestly, anyone could do it. I have over 50 students who I help start their own SMMA agency, many of whom have landed meetings and closed clients, with one or two even quitting their jobs to pursue this full time. My coaching business has undoubtedly been my favorite part of my entrepreneurial journey!
What does the future hold?
Well, I’m grateful and thankful for the position I’m in. I have just started a Youtube channel showing people everything I’ve learned entirely for free. I thought this was the best platform to reach as wide an audience as possible! I am going to continue to grow my agency, but my main focus will be on the coaching aspect of things as that’s what I enjoy most. I’ve also got a clothing line coming out in a few months which I’m super excited for, and I’m working on a new app. So yep, there’s a lot on my plate right now but I prefer being busy than having nothing to do.
Social Media:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/mou.nas/
Personal Website: www.officialmou.com
Business Website: www.moumedia.co.uk
Youtube: http://bit.ly/subscribemou