Kerry and Kevin are the founders of ESports Furniture Store. Their goal is to be the leading provider in quality e-sports and gaming furniture, for anyone that just enjoys gaming as a hobby, to up and coming professionals in the space. As gamers themselves, they wanted to start something that mattered to them, in a space that they understood.
Kerry and Kevin are twins, and have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. They mentioned that as kids they started selling Pokemon and baseball cards to their friends, or charging other classmates to clean their desks for extra snack money, and even hired friends and gave them a commission for their help. “We didn’t notice at the time but today we think back, and we started a ‘business, we had an employee, we understood supply and demand’. All that to say that entrepreneurship was always inside of us, and now it’s all coming together”.
They started their business around the time the Covid pandemic hit, but they saw the opportunity while others only saw potential problems. “We just had so much time.” says Kevin. “Our background is in numbers, we are data driven. So went online, read books, and went after it. Everything is new, so we may as well just go out there and test what we can do.” They used the extra time they had during lockdowns, and learned what they needed to learn to run a successful business. Even though they didn’t know how to build a website or run Facebook ads, they took the time to learn.
They shared the pros and cons of starting a business with a twin brother. One of the pros is that it isn’t hard finding a business partner that you trust and can talk openly with. “Kevin and I don’t know any different, that’s natural to us” Kerry shares. “But what we realized is that we also have a pretty big blind spot. We have similar personalities and skillsets, but we have blind spots that we aren’t even aware of until we sit down and think through and say ‘My weakness is also your weakness, so how do we fix that?”.
Kevin and Kerry challenge each other to learn new skillsets, but have also learned how to hand off certain tasks to others, so they can focus on what they were best at. “We can be curious and learned about how all these things work, but is this truly a skillset of ours? Or is it more efficient for us to outsource these things and free up some of our time”.
Kevin’s piece of advice for those starting their own business: Have a roadmap. “When I thought about my roadmap, I was very clear. I was intentional, and now my roadmap is my guiding light. Clear your mental space and think of the roadmap for your business, and that will always be there, even when you are stuck in the nitty gritty of your business.” Kerry suggests keeping things simple. “If you have a gut feeling, follow that intuition and just do it. It’s you telling yourself to do something, so just trust yourself to do it.”
If you want to learn more about Kerry and Kevin and their Esports Furniture store, you can check out their website at https://esportsfurniturestore.com/ or on social media through their Facebook, Twitter or Instagram channels.
