Entrepreneur Interview: Peter Leeds, Penny Stocks

Business Name:
Penny Stocks, Inc.

Website URL:
http://pennystocks.com

Year Founded:
1992

Number of Employees:
5

What does your company do?
We publish Peter Leeds Penny Stocks, a financial newsletter with 10,000 subscribers from six continents.

As one of the most popular financial publications in America, we’ve garnered attention from major media, such as NBC, CBS, CNNfn, Fox, and the AP.

Was there a specific turning point when you realized your business was moving to the next level?

We are an online publication.  In late 1999, along with the rising Internet craze, our business soared.  We were gaining over 40 new, paying subscribers per day (with 82 being our best day).

Once the dot com bubble burst, we had to weather some turbulence.  However, we re-invented ourselves, survived, and kept pushing forward.

What processes or procedures have you implemented that have helped grow your company?

We use contract workers as much as possible.  Even some who work 40 hours a week for us!  That way, they have their own location, parting ways when required is less complicated, and our company can easily scale up or down as is called for by the demands of the business.

What is most rewarding about running your business?
Getting to work with a wonderful team towards a common goal, and watching the results in real time and real life.

What challenges have you faced and how have you overcome them?
Our service is consumer discretionary, and related to the stock market, both  of which were the first to take the hit during the economic weakness of the last few years.

While we should have scaled back expenses, we actually took the other route, hiring staff, launching a $100,000 infomercial, and aggressively driving forward on several fronts.

If you were starting over today, what would you do differently?
Focus on perfecting and promoting our one core competency, which is penny stocks.

We took a few diversions over the years, and suffered a couple distractions, which led us into other business channels.  They never worked out, and each time cost us significant time and money.

What advice do you have for other business owners?
Stick with it!  It’s worth running your own business even when it is going badly or not working out.  When things do go well, that’s just gravy!

Please list any favorite books, tools or resources (software, website, etc.) you would recommend for others:
Every entrepreneur needs to go to “The Dreaming Room,” with Michael Gerber.  He is the best-selling author of the E-Myth, the world-renowned book on running your own business.

Also, make sure to keep a copy of The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing beside your phone.  (Al Ries, Jack Trout.)  Review it often.

Invest in Penny Stocks (my book) will be released in March, 2011, by Wiley Publishing, and of course I suggest you buy a copy or five!

What is something that people might be surprised to learn about you?
I started with investing in penny stocks when I was 14, and lost everything within the first two weeks.

Of course, that is what drove me to learn everything I needed to know about penny stocks, and why I was able to become The Penny Stock Professional.

Is there anything else you would like to add?
Entrepreneurs create the magic, but they also sweep the dirt.  They get the glory, but they also carry the worries.  If you are meant to be one, deep down inside, you already know it, and have no choice.

Best wishes, and enjoy the journey.