“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” with Soo-Jin Behrstock

Experienced Chief Information Officer at AG Jeans and Koos Manufacturing with a demonstrated history of working in the apparel and fashion industry. Strong information technology professional skilled in Business Process, Oracle Database, Business Process Design, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Siebel. Owned and managed Oracle consulting companies prior to working at AG Jeans and has now started a new venture of curating best products for newborn to tweens.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I did a lot of moving around was little. I was born in Seoul, Korea and moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia when I was 6. I didn’t come to the US until I was 10. I did most of my growing up in Virginia and Portland and finally came to Los Angeles when I was 26. While it was hard to keep constantly moving, it sharpened my resilience and my spirit of adventure. It also taught me to adapt very quickly. To this day, I Iove taking on new challenges and work well with people from different backgrounds, who have different opinions, and perspectives.

What was the catalyst from transforming your hobby or something you love into a business? Can you share the story of your “ah ha” moment with us?

My “ah-ha” moment came when I was raising my son, Alan, who was unfortunately born with eczema. I knew it was a common condition, but it just killed me to see him suffering like that and knowing I couldn’t anything about it. At the time, there were no organic baby clothing on the market, and I knew that the materials in the baby clothing he was wearing were exacerbating his condition. One day it occurred to me that there had to be a gentler alternative to the harsh fabrics and that someone should find it, and I began to think that I was an excellent candidate for the job: number one because it was a personal issue to me, and number 2, because I knew I had the determination and tenacity to carry it through. From that day on, my ‘ah-ha’ moment grew into a mission to help all parents that had to go through what I did with Alan and a few years later, SOOJIN was a reality.

There are no shortage of good ideas out there, but people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. How did you overcome this challenge?

The first thing I did was to take my idea and scale it down. Rather than focusing on the product, I focused on the problem it was solving. Most successful business products solve a problem. Once I had a clear concept of the problem, I was able to translate my idea into a marketable solution.

Then I found my target audience. In my case, the problem I was solving had to do with babies, so my target audience was parents. Therefore, I pitched my idea and solution to moms, dads at my kids’ schools, friends and colleagues at work. When I saw that they responded enthusiastically, I started to figure out the financial part.

What advice would you give someone who has a hobby or pastime that they absolutely love but is reluctant to do it for a living?

It takes a certain type of person to run their own business. You have to be determined, have thick skin, and be willing to make an enormous amount of sacrifices. If someone has a hobby or pastime that they’re reluctant to turn into a business, they may not be that type of person.

Most successful businesses enhance the lives of others by solving a problem. To make the necessary sacrifices, you need to be convinced that your product needs to be on the market because it’s going to make the lives of others better. If you don’t have that type of belief in your product or service, you may be better off keeping it as a pastime or hobby.

It’s said that the quickest way to take the fun out of doing something is to do it for a living. How do you keep from changing something you love into something you dread? How do you keep it fresh and enjoyable?

I love challenges and running SOOJIN is extremely challenging so it’s always enjoyable for me. If there’s not something new going on at SOOJIN, it means it’s time to start something new. Its key to not get too comfortable and continue to evolve. It’s also important to surround yourself with a supportive team. At SOOJIN I’m lucky to have a great team who make the work fun; we love execution and results.

What is it that you enjoy most about running your own business? What are the downsides of running your own business? Can you share what you did to overcome these drawbacks?

When you run a business, it’s deeply personal to you. Because of that, you take a lot of the wins and losses as a personal reflection of yourself. The victories are especially empowering, not only because you from them but because doing well is important to you -sort of like getting an ‘A’ on your report card. On the other hand, when your ideas don’t work out, you can begin to lose faith in yourself and that can be very detrimental to the success of your business. When an idea I have doesn’t work out, I just remind myself how much the business means to me, how far I’ve gotten, and what I would lose if I gave up. Once I get that mindset, I know there’s no choice but to get back on my feet and keep going.

Can you share what was the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

When I built my own company, I grew it organically. I didn’t have many preconceived notions about how the actual job would be, because I knew I would be creating the culture as the company grew; so there weren’t many striking differences between the way I thought it would be and the way it actually is. I love having the freedom to invent my company as I go along, so I stay away from making too many presumptions.

Has there ever been a moment when you thought to yourself “I can’t take it anymore, I’m going to get a “real” job? If so how did you overcome it?

No, this company is too close to my heart for me to think seriously about abandoning it. I do have some rough moments, but when I do, I just remind myself of how much progress I made and how important it is to me to accomplish my mission.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

Before I started SOOJIN, I wouldn’t have known the first thing about starting my own website from scratch, but as CIO of the company, I can happily say I now have had hands-on experience. It’s unusual to be able to get that kind of opportunity at this level, and having had it has helped me so much in managing and operating my IT department. It was interesting for me to be able to learn about a field that I wasn’t familiar with, and the hands-on element made it fun and easy to grasp.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

The funniest story of my career happened to me during my first experience with online retail. Initially, I met some great people who inspired me and taught me a lot about the business, and I thought I had put together a really great team. Apparently, I had misjudged. Not long after the team came together, the members started disagreeing and fighting amongst themselves. I felt more like a mother than a boss. Eventually, the team dissolved and while I went on to launch another company. I’m happy to say, I powered through without losing momentum and went on to build a team that sees eye to eye.

Who has inspired or continues to inspire you to be a great leader? Why?

Richard Branson is a leader who I have drawn and continue to draw inspiration from because he fights for what he believes in. He’s always followed his own path, stuck to his core values, and made the world a better place by doing so. When I see that someone with so much integrity and passion has managed to go so far, it affirms what I’m doing and sets an example that I think every business leader can benefit from.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

Having gone through raising two my two beautiful kids, Alan and Julia, I struggled in the beginning . . . everything was new and there is no instruction book that comes with your child. Sometimes you feel alone and sacred as a new mother. The support and having someone to connect relieved stress and anxiety for me as a new mom. At SOOJIN, our products are just as much about creating a solution for a baby’s discomfort, as they are about connecting with other moms. We want our customers to know that we empathize with them and we’re here to help.

When we get feedback from mother’s telling us how much our products have improved the quality of their lives as well as their babies, I know we’ve done more than provide a solution, we’ve created a connection. I think every time that happens, the world becomes a better place.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

1. You can’t do it on your own, you must build your support team in one day.

One of the most common misconceptions is that you are going to find a good support system overnight. It takes a lot of trial error to find people who are the right fit for your company. There’s a lot you can do without a team. As you network, you’ll find people who share your vision and support your idea.

2. When you treat your employees like co-workers, you’ll have happier and more productive workers that will stick with you for the long term.

One big reason people don’t enjoy their jobs is because of the lack of power they feel in the workplace. When someone feels like a cog in the business wheel, they lose their sense of enthusiasm. I find that it’s best to give your team a chance to offer their own ideas and suggestions. That way, not only do the employees find their jobs more fulfilling but utilizing employees’ ideas also helps the manager make the most of her team.

3. Think long term- look at the big picture when you start something.

When you’re starting a business, you want to get things off the ground immediately. While it’s important to keep things moving, it’s also important to be wary of rushing everything. Before making any long term arrangements, think it through from every angle. Don’t look only at how it might benefit you in the immediate future, but also how it might play out in the long term.

4. Keep an eye on expenses and shop vendors regularly. Running a business is not only about how much money you make but how much you spend.

It takes money to make money, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the more money you spend, the more you make. Although it may take some extra time, its worth it to shop around and find the best values for your money. If you don’t balance your budget carefully, you could end up in the red.

5. Never give up.

A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits. When you run a business, it takes a while to achieve stability. Until that happens, you’re going to have a lot of ups and downs, and it’s going to take a lot of courage and strength to ride the low points out. You really have to adapt a failure is not an option attitude, and if you believe in your product and yourself, you’ll be able to do it. Just keep fighting and looking ahead.

What person wouldn’t want to work doing something they love. You are an incredible inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

If I could inspire a movement, it would be for peace and love throughout the world, hands down. I don’t think enough people in the world realize how many problems in the world are caused by hatred or the extent of the damage it does. We need to work together and make a concerted effort to rebuild our relationships based on trust, respect, and compassion for one another.

What person wouldn’t want to work doing something they absolutely love. You are an incredible inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Life is 10% what you make it, and 90% how you take it.” -Irving Berlin

When I run SOOJIN, I know I’m putting everything into that I’ve got. But that doesn’t mean that everything is going to work out according to plan. I’m an overachiever, so I can be really hard on myself when things go wrong. Nevertheless, I need to stay positive for my children’s sake and to keep myself in the game.

This quote reminds me that while I have power over the things I do, I don’t always have power over the outcome. How I take it is up to me. I can choose to be miserable or I can choose to be happy. Luckily, I’m the type that sees the glass half full, so it’s not a very tough choice for me, but thinking of this quote really helps.

The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” — Mark Zuckerberg

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Michelle Obama is one of my biggest inspirations. To me, she epitomizes the role of a first lady. She’s compassionate, graceful, positive and has strong leadership qualities. I just read her book, “Becoming” and I found it so open and so telling. She was so candid about her experiences and reading it was just revelatory for me. I would love to sit down with her and get more of where that came from.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.