3 Tips On Building A Business Whilst Young! – Interview with Samuel Okusaga (Founder |Worth of Mouth)

Samuel Okusaga is the director and co-founder of Worth of Mouth as well as A tutoring business called Scholarly. He is 20 years old from South East London and studying as a Degree Apprentice for Pearson( an FTSE 100 company ) 

During our interview, he shared some invaluable advice on how to start and sustain not one – but two businesses, whilst also studying for a degree!   

1. Visionary

Samuel recommends that to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to be a visionary. By recognising the bigger picture and imposing a system that works and is sustainable, Samuel claims that “knowing your purpose and understanding where you want to go, despite others not believing in you, you can achieve anything through focusing on your goals”.

2. Time Management

Time management is another skill that Samuel suggests. He says “You have to be organised and, when setting up a business, you have to dedicate a lot of time to it. It may mean that you sacrifice other things to ensure your business keeps progressing”. 

An important point to highlight is when putting aside time “You need to work productively by setting up goals that are short term and long term. A calendar may help to keep up to date with deadlines, meetings and events”.

3. Building Relationships

Building a good relationship with people is crucial because a business cannot be a one-man team. Samuel says that a company is only as good as its team.

He states “The relationships that you hold with people have to be genuine – otherwise, people will see through it. Therefore, having both a social and business relationship can work wonders due to the fact that people are likely to help you if they enjoy your personality”.

Challenges of being an entrepreneur: 

Samuel suggests that learning to maintain a team is one of the biggest challenges he has come across. He says “It’s hard to keep everyone happy as well as motivated, whilst also making sure that they are getting something out of it”. The best way to overcome such a challenge is to lead by example and show your commitment, even when the business is not flourishing. 

He says that every entrepreneur has times when they want to give up as they do not see any growth, but patience is key, and you need that persistence to reach your goals. From not giving up, Worth of Mouth has over 500,000 hits in 130 countries.   

Nevertheless,  it is not just the team he has to maintain and look after; Samuel says “When you are running your own business you need to take care of yourself”. He emphasises that the mind is your greatest asset and we have to care for it by keeping healthy. 

As a result of this realisation, he started going to the gym and balancing his diet for his business because “If you feel at your best, you will perform at your best too”.  One of the biggest challenges can simply be starting a business or turning ideas into reality.  

Success comes with determination:

Samuel began Worth of Mouth when he was 17, he is glad to have started at an early stage of his career as it allowed him to make mistakes on the way.

Now, he has the connections to keep growing his business and reaching new goals. This past year alone, Samuel has shown himself working alongside huge brands, including both BBC Radio 1Xtra and Facebook.

Similarly, he has also organised and hosted several events – an example of this can be his Easter Revision weekend for ‘GCSE & A-Level maths‘ students. There have been many successful events through Worth Of Mouth, one of such being their ‘Gen-Z insight‘ focus group.

He recommends whoever is reading this, to start that dream or spark which you feel within. He claims “Just go for it, start as soon as possible”. There is opportunity around every corner, unique skills can be acquired through growing a business which may benefit you in the future.

Follow Samuel in all his future ventures on:

Instagram: @ceosam_

Yasmin Mills
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