You have to check out this interview! Joe Cicero sits down with 19 year old Mike Brown via Skype to learn all about the up and coming group called BedRoc. Mike talks about the group’s quest to make it big, and it sounds like they are well on their way. We are very excited to watch and report their accomplishments in the future. Mike gives great advice in the interview, and he even shows off his skills with a surpise FindingBenjamin.com freestyle rap! CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE AT BEDROCMUSIC.COM

FindingBenjamin.com interviewed Jason O’Neill , the inventor of the Pencil Bug! Jason is only 13, and already very successful. He started Pencil Bugs when he was 9 years old, and is still going strong with lots of ideas for the future.

Q: What are Pencil Bugs?

A: They are cute, bug-like, handmade pencil toppers that consist of two googly eyes, two spring-like antennas on a hand-painted round head with a pipe cleaner fuzzy body wrapped around the pencil.  Pencil Bugs come individually wrapped, in eight different colors, with their own Certificate of Authenticity which gives their birth date, name, and care and training instructions.  With the help of my Mom and Dad, we have been hand making them for almost four years but we are working with a manufacturer to mass produce them.

Q: How did you come up with the idea?

A: My mom was doing a craft fair in 2005 and I wanted to help her with her product. She said that I had to come up with my own idea.  So I did.  After giving it a lot of thought and drawing out different ideas, Pencil Bugs were finally born.

Q: How have your parents supported your business?

A: Mom takes care of most of the day-to-day business like marketing, accounting, website updates, etc. but she has taught me all aspects of the business so I do it when I have time.  My dad helps me when it comes to the big financial decisions since his background and job are in sales.  But both of them believe it’s important that school comes first, then having time to play and still be a kid.  I’m glad I know how to do all the functions but glad they make sure I stay balanced.

Q: Do you have future plans for Pencil Bugs?

A: The first thing we’re working on getting done is the manufacturing of the Pencil Bugs themselves.  It is very time-consuming to hand make them.  Once we have a solution for production, I can expand into bigger retail stores.  The next related product for mass production is my greeting cards.  I have five designs so far for birthdays and other occasions.  Just three more designs to go and all eight Pencil Bugs characters will have their own special card that people can give.  To go along with that, I am working on getting Pencil Bugs licensed so when you go into a party store looking for plates, napkins, cups, party favors, etc. you’ll see Pencil Bugs characters as an option.  And since original Pencil Bugs aren’t meant for little kids, I am having a plush toy version of them made.  Those are the plans for the short term.  Long term, I already have a working prototype for a board game and a concept for a video game but those will take a lot more planning and work to get them produced.  Some day, I envision a cartoon series and maybe even “Pencil Bugs: The Movie.”   Why not?  If SpongeBob can have it all, then Pencil Bugs can too.

Q: Congratulations on your story in The Richest Kids In America. How did you get involved with Mark Victor Hansen?

A: One of Mark’s staff sent an email one day and asked if I was interested in doing an interview with Mark.  Of course, I said YES.  I was surprised they found me but really honored to be included in his book.  We were told what the book title was early on but it isn’t just about financial wealth.  Many kids were interviewed at different stages of their business.  I was the youngest to be included.  I’m no millionaire yet but it’s never too early to start.  All of the kids in the book also have one important thing in common.  They all donate part of their money to help other people.  My charity right now is Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California.  It was amazing to work with Mark and be in his book.  Because of that connection, I’ve been able to speak with him and other celebrities on stage at various events to large audiences.

Q: What is the best thing about having your own business?

A: A business enables you to learn a whole different side of life.  The people you meet and some of the things you experience can only be taught hands on.  I also really like the public speaking part.  No matter what size the audience is or what age they are, I like encouraging people to try their ideas and remind them that you can’t get anywhere by sitting on your ideas.

Q: What is the hardest thing about having your own business?

A: As with anything, you may want to quit sometimes.  For a lot of kids and probably many adults, it’s hard to keep going because you might not be able to see that far down the road.  It’s important to have supportive people to remind you what your goals are when things get tough.

Q: Any tips for other young entrepreneurs?

• Try your ideas because you will never know what might have happened.
• Be open to possibilities and opportunities even if they don’t fit into your master plan.  Some of the best experiences I’ve had came about by accident because I was open to possibilities.
• Don’t give up.
• Get a parent or another adult to help.  It’s not necessary to reinvent the wheel.  If you’re willing to listen, you can learn a lot from other people who have already gone through it.

FindingBenjamin.com reporter Joe Cicero sat down with Omar Soliman, the founder and CEO of College Hunks Hauling Junk via Skype. Unfortunately, the recorded video quality did not turn out very well. We decided to transcribe the entire interview, which can be seen below.

Q: Omar, could you start off and tell us a little bit about your company and give an overview of what you guys are all about?

A: We are a full-blown junk removal company. People call up to have furniture, debris, and yard brush removed. We show up at the house with our trucks and provide the labor. We’ll go inside the house, we’ll go around to the back yard, we’ll go into the basement or attic and remove all the unwanted items. The way that we charge is based on how much space the junk fills up.

Q: So you’re not a moving company, you just take what people don’t want?

A: Exactly.We are not a moving company, we are a junk and trash removal company.

Q: What do you do with all the junk?

A: We recycle and donate about 60% of the junk that we remove. We sort through everything and donate and recycle what we can, and the rest goes to different transfer stations and landfills in the area.

Q: How did the company start up?

A: My buddy Nick and I grew up together and we were looking for some ways to earn some extra money. My mom had a beat up cargo van that she used for her furniture store, and we borrowed the van, put up some flyers around the neighborhood that said College Hunks Hauling Junk. 6PM that night my cell phone started ringing with people that needed service, so that’s how the light bulb went off and we realized there was a demand for this kind of service. My senior year of college I wrote a business plan for a year-round junk removal company called College Hunks Hauling Junk, and it won first prize in the University of Miami business plan competition. I started the company after college, invested some money, and bought a truck. Our operation in D.C. grew from one truck to eight trucks in less than two years.

Q: How many employees and locations do you have?

A: We have 23 franchise locations, plus our corporate office in Washington D.C. In terms of system wide employees, we have about 200 that work for the franchisees of College Hunks Hauling Junk.

Q: We watched you guys on ABC’s Shark Tank the other night, and we see that you have plans for a new business called College Foxes Packing Boxes. What exactly are your plans?

A: We haven’t officially started that business yet, which is essentially a sister company to College Hunks Hauling Junk, but it is a “move preparation” and a professional organizing company. If someone were getting ready to move, instead of packing their things themselves, they would contract out College Foxes Packing Boxes to sort through all of their materials and pack up boxes. They will come prepared with all necessary materials, too.

Q: What stage are you at in establishing College Foxes Packing Boxes?

A: It’s in the preliminary stages right now. Part of the reason we went on Shark Tank was to raise some money to get the business started. We are pretty tied up with College Hunks Hauling Junk so it’s hard for us to do two things at the same time.

Q: So even though you didn’t take the deal, do you still think the Shark Tank experience was a good one?

A: It was an awesome experience. You hear all these things about reality television not being real and being scripted, but that was all real. It was real emotions, real business people, and it really showed what it’s like to go in front of venture capitalists. They aren’t going to be nice to you, they are going to be up front and in your face. All around it was an awesome experience though and I would definitely do it again if I could.

Q: Did it give you a lot of exposure? Did you see any impact from being on the show?

A: We got a lot of exposure, definitely on the franchise side of things. It got our name out to people all over the country that still haven’t heard of College Hunks Hauling Junk. We are a pretty affordable franchise to start out with compared to other franchises like 7 eleven or McDonalds. In this type of economy, a $70,000 investment is nowhere near as bad as, let’s say a Subway, which costs $500,000 to $1,000,000.

Q: Do you have any other future plans?

A: Right now, our goal is just to continue to grow College Hunks Hauling Junk. We really think we can be a 50 million dollar company in the next five years.

FindingBenjamin.com kicks off its closet sessions series! We have tons of interviews lined up for filming directly out of the closet at home. Our debut interview was with Jason Sadler of IWearYourShirt.com. He came up with an ingenious idea to wear company’s shirts and advertise them for a whole day all over the internet. He makes a pile of money and seems to have loads of fun with it! It is a very informative and inspiring interview for all entrepreneurs. Enjoy!