IT System Specialist

MIKE ROSALES

In this series of Gigrove Stories, where we interview our users, we had a chat with one digital agency founder from the Philippines. We asked him to tell his story, to tell us about his business and his experience with e-commerce.

Mike Lester is an IT Systems and Privacy Professional based in the Philippines. He has been working on software development and implementation for more than 15 years now. He started his own online brand, “Mrdzyn Studio” as a side project / side income, as he really enjoys helping out other people with their design and technology challenges.

What does your business do? 

I am a part-time entrepreneur managing several websites for my own Brand and clients. I started this part-time online business while working full time as the Head of Systems and Data Protection Officer for one of the top real estate companies based in the Philippines. Mrdzyn Studio was born out of my initials (Mike Rosales) and play on the word “Design”. I initially wanted to focus on just Design, but the technology part of building a brand always pops out, so since this is my area of “expertise”, I decided to mainly focus on Websites, Chatbots, and Content Creation Services for global clients, most of them are startups and solopreneurs, some may even be considered Small and Medium Businesses.

What are your day-to-day activities when it comes to your work?

I do a lot of things every day to keep myself busy and productive. In the regular work hours, I spend time working on IT and Systems Projects, making sure our SAP ERP system is working as expected, our IT Projects are on track and on time, our ISO project and process documentations are being reviewed and scheduled activities are done, and so much more!
By nighttime or in between tasks during the day, I focus my time on building WordPress websites, testing software, writing blog posts, and learning new things from e-books and online courses.

Running an e-commerce business posses many challenges. Which challenges your clients face from your experience?

One notable challenge would be the increasing competition which means less market share for anyone and everyone in the e-commerce business. This is practically a challenge for startup e-commerce businesses, so they’ll need to have the right tools and knowledgeable people in place with the right attitude to be able to pull through and profit from the competition.

In your experience, what makes the happy client? 

A happy client is someone who returns for a repeat business.

What’s the best advice you can give to people who are about to start their e-commerce business?

My best advice before starting an e-commerce business is to make sure the owner does not stop learning. I would also say that the experience is the best teacher. Get the right tools in place with the right people and you will be on the right path.