Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Nicolle Ilagan, Co-Founder of Cheerly, located in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Cheerly is a wellness education game. We help people learn about their personality psychology (based on the Big 5 personality trait dimensions) and share age-old wisdom to help level up life in an energized way. Our customers are folks who have a playful sense of humour, are young at heart, and are interested in self-discovery and personal growth.
Tell us about yourself
This project found me at the right time. I was dealing with a large challenge in my personal life and not taking care of my well-being - everything seemed overwhelming! I empathized with our users and needed a solution that would help me make positive life changes. Whether it was simple things like staying hydrated and practicing gratitude or reminding me to maintain healthy relationships and check in with myself to ask some soul-searching questions: what’s next for me? What do I truly want?
I’m genuinely inspired by our users! I think for a lot of them, Cheerly acts as that positive friend who helps you grow into your full potential, always cheering you along the way. The app doesn’t preach the right way to live, instead, it helps you figure out what works best for you and keeps you on track to reach your goals.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
It feels good to say that we’ve statistically proven to improve peoples’ motivation by 19% and mood by 16% in just 7 days of using the app. We worked closely with a Behavioural Scientist who vetted all of our personality content in the app to ensure quality and accuracy. My co-founder, Calvin, and I started this adventure building Cheerly, really wanting to help people find more meaning and purpose wherever they are in life, and to hear about peoples’ results has been so rewarding!
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
The balance between financial business objectives with the desire to make wellness tech accessible to everyone at any socioeconomic level is tricky. We bootstrapped the app and made as much of it free (all of the story game, quizzes, adventures, mood tracking, and quotes) as possible, but with that, it’s a challenge to reach product-market fit and compete with the big players in the market that have large investors backing them.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Always be selling your mission. Build a network of people who genuinely believe in your mission and are willing to do whatever they can to give you a hand along your entrepreneurial journey. Network! Network! Network!
- Time the market (as best as you can). Be mindful of external factors like the economy when looking to do fundraising for your business. Better to raise when you don’t need the capital versus when your runway is tight and opportunities to raise funds are few.
- Your health and well-being are THE MOST important KPI. Make sure you practice proper self mind, body, and soul nourishment to keep you fuelled on your startup grind.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://cheerly.app/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CheerlyApp
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cheerlyapp/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolleilagan/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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