Timothy Han
Burning ambition
Timothy Han's philosophy is simple: "learn to live in harmony with your environment" and the luxury candles that his company produces reflects this. They are created using pure all-natural ingredients from sustainable resources and now have a loyal following among celebrities. Here he tells us how he made it happen.Do you think there are enough role models of young people who have set up their own businesses? Who if anyone has inspired you?
I think there are a lot of role models – though people may not realise that they are young or how young they started.
I’ve got two people who spring to mind, though none of them are young anymore, but they were all young when they started their companies.
The first is Yvon Chouinard, the founder of both Chouniard Equipment (later Black Diamond) and Patagonia. He is someone who saw that business and social conscience could work together long before anyone else. He founded a remarkable empire built on enjoying and respecting the environment that is still going from strength to strength and innovating along the way.The second is Richard Branson – he started young, built a brand and had fun doing it. And now he’s giving $3 billion to fight global warming.
How did you get your first break?
I’ve had many breaks which have opened different doors. I don’t know that anyone necessarily made “the” difference but the combination of them certainly did. But if I had to pick out one it would be getting to work with Bill Amberg at the onset to create a limited edition leather travel case as it was the first to begin to open other doors for me.
Has this been an important part of getting you where you are now?
Every break no matter how small has been important in getting to where I am now.
Who is the one person who has been most influential in your success?
My wife.
Have you ever been a part of a network which has helped your business (E.g. MySpace, Bebo, a networking club, informal peer network)?
I suppose that my informal peer network was the greatest help but if I were to pick a “community network” then I would say to a small extent the “A Smallworld” Network helped when it was in its early days, though now I rarely use it.
How did your idea become a reality? Was it a passion which turned into a business idea?
Doing what I do was never one of my plans. If you had said to me 5 years ago that I would be doing this I probably would have laughed.
The idea had to first become an idea which happened after reading an article in the newspaper. The article struck a chord with me and got me to start thinking – that was where the idea came from.
Turning that into reality was simply realising that there was an opening in the market and then having the determination to pursue it.
Ideas are dime a dozen and companies with good ideas are far fewer. That means that there are a lot of companies out there with bad ideas.
What makes them succeed? The desire to do what they do and make it succeed. Often some of the most successful companies deal in the most common place of things.
How did you get access to finance (E.g. Friends and family/ banks/ other)?
Family and banks. I work with a great ethically focused bank called Triodos that really believes in what I do.
Have you ever worked for someone else?
If yes, how was the experience? Do you think employers allow young people to be creative in the workplace?
If no, why not? What would make you consider working for someone else?
I’ve worked for lots of people in one capacity or another – I think you need to get experience somewhere. Everyone is going to make errors of judgement, especially when starting up and it’s better to make those errors for someone else!
Whether employers allow people to be creative really depends on the employer. Many companies foster creativity. However I also think that a lot of student graduates (especially in the creative fields) are dreamers and don’t realise that just because it may seem like a good idea to them, it doesn’t mean it is commercially viable or even practical. They forget that there are factors such as deadlines and budgets (not to mention laws of the universe) which play an all too important roll in the real word.
What would your advice be to someone thinking about setting up their own business? How would you encourage someone to ‘take the plunge’ and overcome a fear of failure?
If you have a good idea and you truly believe in it then go for it - even if I just told you it would never work. Belief in yourself is infectious. Once you believe, others will believe. And if you don’t try you will never succeed.
As I said earlier companies with good ideas are fewer than good ideas. So if all those companies with not so good ideas can make a living, then surely you can with a good idea…. if you believe.
For Social Entrepreneurs:
If the business was set up as a social enterprise how did that come about?
I don’t know that we would be classified as a social enterprise in the traditional sense, but in a lot of ways we are. I think that all business to an extent should be run as a social enterprise.
There is a rule called the 1% rule that states that if every business were to contribute 1% of its earnings to the environment then we could stabilise the environment. I think that that is a small price to pay.
How would you describe a social enterprise?
Social enterprises must at a minimum look at their impact on society and the environment and look at ways to not only reduce their impact but to give back as well.
I believe that both society and the environment are mutually inclusive – too many socially aware companies pursue one goal at the cost of the other.
How do you think you could encourage more young people to set up social enterprises? What are the assumed barriers if any?
My impression is that more you people are setting up social enterprises or pursuing careers in social enterprise than before. In general youth are more concerned about social and environmental issues than adults.
They are the ones who have been brought up hearing about it. Adults are often set in their ways from a time where social enterprise had no meaning.