Chiko Chupa – Meet the Owner
Background
Chiko started Meet the Owner back in November 2018, alongside co-owners Arnold and Obed. Meet the Owner provides marketing support for businesses, including creating and planning social media adverts, PPC, video promotion including Q&As but primarily see themselves as telling the business owner’s stories to inspire others.
“Even from the start I was like, ‘We don’t give business advice. There’s plenty of people doing that.’ When we focus on one person we build better relationships, we understand what drives them. Starting a business was something I always wanted to do and I couldn’t wait to do it. I wouldn’t advise anyone else to do it the way I did, but there was just part of me that kept saying “you’ve got to do it, you’ve got to do it.”
Owning a business was something Chiko had always wanted to do. There was just a part of him that kept saying, “you’ve got to do it. You’ve got to do it.” So he did.
“We didn’t even have a camera at first. Me and co-founder Arnold – a dentist – neither of us had a clue how cameras worked, or how to do graphic design. We needed to find someone and that’s how we met Obed – he had a DSLR. We also rented from the equipment stores downstairs. If we hadn’t been able to connect and get equipment we probably would have failed by now.”
Determination and drive are two things that definitely keep Chiko going.
“Everyone used to ask me, ‘how are you going to do this?’ and it used to get me down. I really value the ability to imagine things. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I’ll make it happen. I can’t be the guy who sleeps on a friend’s couch whilst I set my business up. I’ve got a wife! She needs a house!”
How Propeller Helps
Chiko was first introduced to Propeller when he worked with Yemi Shodipo. Seeing other people in the Propeller Hub doing what he wanted to do gave him the confidence to start his own business.
“Obviously no one is a billionaire, but when you see someone living your dream you think ‘you know what? I can do it.’”
Working in the Hub for the past year and a half, Chiko has attended some workshops, commenting on how the practical application of knowledge helped him to make sense of everything. He also has regular mentor sessions, where the mentors ‘create a good foundation to expand upon’.
“I’m one of these that hear advice but say ‘yeah, yeah; you can’t tell me what to do,’ but I do eventually act on it.”
Chiko says one of the biggest pieces of advice he got from Steve was to understand his market better. Meet the Owner has recently started working in ‘clusters’, focusing on particular audience segments in order to maintain focus, improve sector knowledge and create easy-to-replicate plans for similar businesses.
“We wanted it so you would walk past anywhere on the street and find an interview. You could get instant info on all these businesses online, but that was a big undertaking.”
They really found their niche once they moved away from big business to the individual behind the business.
Recent Projects
Most recently, Meet the Owner has started focusing on marketing for dentists and various health and wellbeing clients. Given his partner’s background as a dentist, working within dentistry meant the team had an existing knowledge of the sector which they could build upon in their communications. After offering a trial, they were contracted to create marketing campaigns for the owner, and they will continue doing the same for his other 5 practices.
Similarly, they have begun moving into the health & wellbeing industry by supporting life coaches. In a sign of solidarity, Chiko offered his services to a friend who could not maintain his own marketing effort. Rather than a traditional contract, this work is done through a skills swap – Chiko offers marketing and in return receives coaching. This relationship has led to a further understanding of the sector and will act as a case study to secure future work in the same field.
“There’s a lot of unexpected benefits to working for these businesses. I’m actually getting my teeth done now! I’ve done so much research into the company and I know so much about it now that, yeah, I’m finally getting my teeth done!”
On top of that, the company is now making enough money that they can hire freelance support. Mitchell Uttams started working with Chiko as a freelancer in February 2020. An increase in demand meant that Meet the Owner was finally making enough money to pay for the work, with each of the owners finally taking money themselves. We asked Chiko whether he expects to take on full-time employees in the future.
“Eventually we want to employ and build an environment where people can dream and grow too. I like working with people. In the meantime, we will inspire people to go into business, to start up and achieve their goals.”
Find out more
If you want to find out more about Meet the Owner, or hire them for your own digital marketing, find out more on Linkedin or Facebook:
