Amit Jain, entrepreneur at Innovatrs, has been a business developer of various companies, ranging from start-ups to small to mid-sized organizations. He was recognized in 2005 as the Entrepreneurial Graduate Student of the Year for his MBA work at Loyola Marymount University.

He is the founder of AmitJain310, a business plan development and consultant agency which formulates sustainable business model strategies. In this Innovatrs interview, Amit tells us how he started out in the entreprenurial world…

Innovatrs: What made you do it? Why did you take the plunge, give up that cosy corporate job and become an entrepreneur?

Amit: My situation was a bit different. I’ve always been an entrepreneur. I started my first business when I was in high school by going door to door. I’ve worked with many great organizations and was given so many opportunities, but the greatest chance for my success was the opportunities I created for myself with my own ventures. For me, it’s about doing something that you are passionate and being rewarded accordingly.

Innovatrs: What was the original @ha Idea and how has it evolved?

Amit: Entrepreneurs have so many ideas, although they may not try to execute all of them! My latest moment has had to do with combining my expertise and skills to a great need. Climate change and all the related issues has created opportunities. There are inventors and entrepreneurs tinkering at home with ideas that can evolve our economy towards a green standard. A lot of these entrepreneurs and consultants need someone who has an expertise on sustainability and has experience working with startups, in order to receive funding. I figured; I’m passionate about sustainability and have the credentials, I’ve constructed business plans, marketing plans, and strategy maps for startups- so I can combine the two and do something whichI feel is special.

Innovatrs:  What were your first steps after you fleshed out your @ha idea ? What was your first crisis or hurdle?

Amit: It really came from just educating myself on how we impact our environment. I started reading about climate change and began learning about the impacts that human beings have on the planet. I decided I would make it my life’s focus. I also knew that I needed to learn a lot more to make up for my lack of experience. So I got whatever credentials I could that I thought would help (LEED and Sustainable Leadership). I started getting involved with public agencies and organizations fighting for sustainable causes and environmental stewardship. It was important for me to get as much visibility with decision-makers as I could to show my worth and build credibility to organizations I could work with outside of my network. Volunteering my time and gaining experience was good karma for me.

Innovatrs: This isn´t your first business start-up and probably will not be the last one… Which past experiences or good advice help you navigate the entrepreneur’s rough road?

Amit:  The best advice I can give to an entrepreneur entering a field, market, or industry for the first time, is to work in that area first. Find a company that you would like to model yourself on and be a contributor. I’m not talking about being deceitful to learn your competition’s secret to success. Let them know that you plan to work in the industry and start your own business at some point in the future. As an entrepreneur, you get a chance to avoid the trials and tribulations of a startup, while contributing and improving your ideas for when the opportunity comes to fruition.

Innovatrs:  Have you experienced any great failures in the past and if so, how have they helped you get to where you are today?

It has been a mixture- a long line of successes and failures. The most important thing I can tell any aspiring entrepreneur is that failure is the best thing that can happen to you. Anyone who says they haven’t failed is not truly successful. Anyone who fails receives an opportunity to learn invaluable lessons on what it takes to be successful.

About seven years ago I got involved in a startup selling mobile electronics online. There was a lot of competition even back then. We had an advantage on pricing and exclusivity with particular manufacturers and distributors. We meticulously designed our site to make sure it had the best user-interface. The challenges that we faced had to with an inefficient market and lack of resources. We couldn’t do enough to market and disribute the story about our website. Unfortunately, we were spread too thin with our resources to give the type of marketing effort we wanted. It didn’t help that social media back then was not sophisticated with all the different networking sites and the technology.

If I could go back and do it over again, I would have gotten seed funding from VCs. We didn’t take advantage of the funds that investors were willing to risk for ventures like us. We could have really built a brand and moved towards a social media portal for car-lovers and audio/video geeks. But hindsight is 20/20 and I’m glad I that I got that experience. I learned an immense amount about e-commerce, online marketing, and social media through the process.