Interview with mSeven Founder, Scott Brills

Today we talked to the founder of mSeven, Scott Brills, about his company, his interests, and where he thinks the internet and the company are heading.

What’s the story behind mSeven?

Scott: I taught myself to make web pages right as the internet started to become popular, around 1996, and had recently been designing pages for myself and some friends. I called my ‘firm’ TCS Media, which stood for ‘Triangle Circle Square’, and referred to the basics of design. It wasn’t until 2000 that I changed the name of the company to mSeven and started hunting for paying work that I could do on the side, between shifts as a salesman at one of the ‘big-box’ electronics stores. I took time off of work to study in Japan for close to ten months in 2001, and when I returned back in December of that year I settled back into my old job.

During the year or so I had been gone from my job things had changed–both at the workplace and in my thinking. I quit after a few months and started to pursue my side business of creating web sites more seriously. A friend that I had studied in Japan with introduced me to a couple of friends of his, brothers, who were in the same line of work and trying to start their own company. We ended up becoming friends and through this partnership I landed my first big project. I was still doing this as a temporary measure at this point in my life–until I found a ‘real job’. In fall of 2002 I officially incorporated my business, after learning that just printing ‘Inc.’ after your company name on a business card didn’t make it legit.

The two guys I worked with branched off into other areas of work and eventually founded Mango Languages, an online language-learning company that now sells millions of dollars of software to libraries and individuals across the U.S. each year. I continued on, doing web sites on a part time basis while traveling around the world with whatever money I had saved up. After a few years of doing this I lost interest in finding a ‘normal’ job and decided that I was doing alright for myself how things were. I hired employees to work part-time and continued growing the company into what it is today–one of the leading internet presence specialists in the region.

What does mSeven specialize in?

Scott: mSeven is primarily a design firm that focuses on developing a company or organization’s online presence. We are a one-stop shop for those that are starting a business or those who are looking to expand. If you don’t have a web site, we’ll build you a great one. If you already have a web site, we’ll redesign it, add features, and make it ten times better. If nobody is looking at your site, we will find any problems, correct them, initiate an online marketing plan, and optimize your site for search engines (SEO) so that they appear higher in the results.

What are your hobbies?

Scott: As I mentioned previously, I spent copious amounts of time and money on traveling–that would have to be number one love. While traveling I like to hike, climb mountains, go swimming, snorkel, scuba dive–active stuff. Not much laying on the beach sipping mai tais for me! I guess it’s my way of relaxing and having fun when I spend most of my time in front of a computer while at home.

Other than that I like planning and starting businesses, as well as helping others do the same. At any one time I have a half-dozen projects on the side that I’m working on.

Any particularly memorable travels?

Scott: I’ve been to over thirty countries on five continents in the past nine years. I hope to visit the last two continents–Africa and Australia–within the next couple years.

Antarctica really stood out as one of the places few people go to–it was very interesting in that the scenery and wildlife was spectacular. My most memorable trip would have to be the charity rally I did with a friend in a used Chevy Metro during the summer of 2009. We raised money to build a kindergarten in a very rural area of Mongolia and then drove from Detroit to New York, shipped the car to London, and drove from London to Mongolia, 10,000 miles across nineteen countries. Or…that was the plan. The car seriously broke down on top of a mountain in Tajikistan and we had to find alternate means of transport for the next 4,000 miles. I eventually got there sans car and partner and the school was completed in December 2009. We were featured in the local press, national radio shows, and Rotarian Magazine (we partnered with Rotary International Bayanzurkh 100 club in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to work on the kindergarten project). The whole thing was chronicled via pictures and write-ups in the Mongol Rally Guys blog.

How has the recession affected your business?

Scott: I was born and raised in Michigan, and that’s why I started my business here. The reasons I chose to keep my business here are many: a highly-skilled workforce, entrepreneurial presence, diverse community, quality of networking opportunities, etc. Michigan is experiencing some tough times as of late, but I know that things will eventually get better. We have a lot of bright people here and many of them are working to re-create Michigan.

That being said, business has never been better! I attribute it to the wealth of people that are starting their own businesses, either out of necessity or because it’s their passion. Every business-to-be needs a web site, and there are few competent, skilled competitors to chose from when it comes to web and graphic design. We just do good work and let our clients spread the word–we’ve never even had to do much advertising.

Where do you think the internet is heading?

Scott: I think that the internet will become more and more integrated into our everyday lives. With the amount of web-enabled cell phones out there increasing by leaps and bounds every year the internet is breaking its computer-tether and rapidly expanding into every aspect of our lives. Now you have refrigerators, clothes washers, cars–just about anything can be connected to the internet to provide the end-user with useful (and some not-so-useful) applications.

That being said, there will always be a need for companies to design the next internet content, no matter what form it comes in. We’re not very concerned with job security around here.

Where will mSeven be in a few years’ time?

Scott: We’re growing every year–adding more people and taking on more clients. My goal as founder and president is to keep increasing output while maintaining the same level of quality that has allowed us to prosper and grow to this point.