Business Mentor: Find your path...and walk it

Q: I am about to leave school and have always liked the idea of "starting something". What advice would you give to a young entrepreneur?

Dan Buckley, director of clothing company Huffer and finalist in the Young Entrepreneur category in this year's Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, replies:

A: Give it a go. Don't be afraid to find your own path and to learn from your mistakes.

The important thing is to be passionate and want to make that passion part of your work.

For me, it was a creative drive - I wanted to make something - and then it eventuated that it was clothing. What I love to do has inspired the clothes I design.

Our first range was snowboarding gear. The next season, I designed a range that hinted at skateboarding and, these days, as my interest in surfing has grown, we have begun to incorporate board shirts and rash shirts into our summer ranges.

Other important things that have contributed to my being a successful entrepreneur include:

* Studying for a clothing technology diploma at the Auckland University of Technology. I had the passion and drive, but study helped me channel my ideas, helped shape how my business is today and gave me some great skills.

* Working and freelancing for a year after completing my study and before Huffer was born. This helped me pay some of my student loan and gave me an invaluable insight into the rag trade (I worked for a clothing company).

* Surrounding myself with positive people. We have managed to cultivate an amazing team, the people who work for us and the sports people - the surfers, skateboarders and snowboarders - who help us develop our products. All are amazing, exciting people.

* Don't give up if at first it doesn't work out. My first venture into business was at the dockside markets in Auckland. I had a clothing range called Extra Big which comprised baggy jeans, T-shirts, and prison-style jackets. It had a real heavy hip-hop style. But I was alongside other stalls selling kauri furniture and garden gnomes. I learned a lot about positioning. I also learned that, in business, you want to have as many doors open as possible. The connotation of that brand name, Extra Big, was maybe a bit defined - it put the product in a pigeon hole (whoah, that stuff must be baggy).

* Be strong but also flexible. You need to be strong about your ideas, what you want to do and plan accordingly. Mapping out your future and planning is essential, but you need to realise that a little bit of flexibility will help you mould with the times. Change is the only constant.

* Success has no golden rules, but I feel that a big part of mine is my relationship with my business partner, Steven Dunstan. The two of us have complementary skills. We work together really well and we find strength in being together and bouncing ideas off each other.

* An outside perspective can really help, particularly when your company starts to grow. I have recently taken on a business mentor, Rex Howe. I was surfing the internet one day and came across www.businessmentor.org.nz and, via that website, got in touch with a retired executive who has become an invaluable part of our team. He has an older, more black-and-white perspective on business. He is a member of our advisory board, which meets monthly to discuss the shape and future of our business.

* You need a lot of nerve and, more than anything, just be persistent. Persistence is the key. If you do embark on self-employment, you will definitely get yourself into a position where you just wonder what the heck you are doing and you might feel like letting go. Don't. Hold on. Persist.

* Give it a crack. Life is a beautiful thing and being in business is a raw and trying exercise. You will learn a lot about yourself and the world around you.

* Email us your small business question