Jean's Blog

Entrepreneur Fridays: One Busy Bootstrapper

Posted by Jean

WHO: Kalika Yap

WHAT: Serial Entrepreneur: Citrus Studios, Luxe Link and The Waxing Co.
Yap is also a mother of two.

WHERE: Santa Monica, California and Honolulu, Hawaii

WHEN: Yap started her first business, an interactive design agency, Citrus Studios in 1996. Her second venture, Luxe Link, which makes handbag holders, launched in 2006. Her latest business, The Waxing Co., Honolulu’s only salon dedicated solely to waxing, opened just over six months ago.

HOW: When Yap started Citrus Studios, all it took was a used computer, $400 she borrowed from her parents and a passion for web design. At the time, Yap was working at a museum and doing freelance web design projects on the side. When the amount of money she made from freelancing exceeded her regular salary, Yap knew it was time devote all of her efforts into pursuing her passion. “I really should have quit six months earlier than I did. I thought, ‘I need a job. What happens if something happens?’ I was trying to be careful.” Looking back, Yap says that it’s transitioning from your 9 to 5 job into entrepreneurship that makes your business that much better. “The moment that you take the leap it forces you to align everything. When you’re working without a net you’re a little more careful. When you have a job you always have a backup.” Thirteen years after taking that leap, Citrus Studios does well over $1 million dollars in business every year.

Luxe Link, Yap’s second business and a joint venture with her former NYU roommates, was launched just four years ago. While on a trip to Italy, Yap was inspired to create a product to help women keep their purses off restaurant floors. “I was in a small Italian restaurant. I had my purse on the table, and couldn’t put my bag on the back of the chair.” At the restaurant, diners were given hooks that latched onto tables for women to hang their purses from. “I thought why is this not in the United States?” says Yap. From there, Yap worked to redesign the hook and “make it more fun.” The result was Luxe Link, a product that links your purse to your table keeping it safely elevated. The business took more money to start than her first venture, but has been profitable nonetheless. “We started this business with $100,000. There were lot of patent costs, I had to travel to China to find a manufacturer…there were a lot more startup costs,” says Yap. Making the initial investment back has been no problem for Luxe Link. Just last year, profits for the startup were around $600,000.

Yap’s latest project, The Waxing Co., a salon dedicated exclusively to waxing, opened last March. Yap started the shop with her sister, and it’s the first of its kind in their hometown of Honolulu. Start-up costs ran $150,000, but the duo was able to turn a profit in their first year. The business has become so popular they’re forced to turn people away on a daily basis and their credit card processing limit of $100,000 for the year was exceeded during their first several months. “It was unexpected that we were going to grow this quickly,” says Yap.

HER ADVICE: For Yap, having several businesses brings many opportunities to learn. Here are some of Yap’s favorite tips:

Be good to those your work with: “It’s good to have a good rapport with people you work with…having people want to work with you is key. They get roped in and get excited with you,” says Yap. Just recently a good relationship with Yap’s Citrus Studios landlord netted her a $1,000 a month decrease in rent. “I pay on time, I bake him cookies. I think he likes helping entrepreneurs,” she says.

You’ve got to be ready to work. “People think that by having their own business they can take time off. It’s a 24-hour, 150 thousand percent job,” says Yap. And if you think that becoming an entrepreneur eliminates having a boss, think again, says Yap. “All your clients become your bosses. I have 20,000 bosses. I have to please everyone and please my employees,” she says.

Learn from others. According to Yap, when you have your own business learning is the key to constant growth. Just recently, Yap hired a CFO for Citrus Studios to supplement her lack of financial knowledge. “I have no experience with finance. I surround myself with people who complement what I can do,” she says.