Crossfitter and father of three Nicholas Worley was born and bred in Hong Kong and moved to DB just four years ago. A family man first and foremost, Nicholas launched Inalife in July, a digital family legacy platform which allows subscribers to share memories and time delayed messages with their loved ones and descendants.
The former PR consultant turned tech start-up founder has some inspirational advice for budding entrepreneurs.
REPORTING BY Kayli Liebenberg
PHOTO BY Sarin Ale
Nicholas, what’s the single most important thing to consider when setting up a business? “You need to ask yourself, does something like this already exist in the universe, or can I do it better than someone else. That’s what I admire about Steve Jobs. He changed the world with the iPod, Mac, iPhone, all that stuff, now everyone uses it. The impact he’s had on society is amazing.
“I created Inalife specifically because there was nothing in the market that could do what I wanted. So, having an original idea is the thing, that and passion for what you are setting out to achieve.”
You should only start a business if you’re personally invested in it? “Yes, 100%. There are always going to be challenges along the way and if you’re not passionately committed, you’ll just stop… you’ll take the easier, softer option, like going back into corporate. To make a success of a start-up, you also need patience, because things are never going to go exactly the way you want them to. And you have to be adaptable, you have to be willing to power through and make alternative plans.
“One of my favourite quotes is Dulcius Ex Asperis – “sweeter after the struggle”. It’s one of the mottos I live by. If you achieve something really easily, that’s fine. But if you work really hard at something, like I do with Olympic weightlifting, and all the work pays off, it’s truly gratifying. If you’ve put the effort in, you feel like you deserve your success.”
Do you have other motivational maxims to share? “Yes: “this too shall pass” or to put it another way, “you can’t stop to smell the roses”. Once you start something, you have to keep moving; you have to keep thinking about the next step. If things aren’t going well from a business perspective, don’t dwell on it. Think: What’s next? How do I move on?”
Do you need a business plan in place to help with that? “Yes, the launch of a business is one thing but when you reach the end of your first year, you should have already planned for the second and third year, and figured out your long-term objective. Your plan should be flexible, but if you have something mapped out, you can constantly look back and ask yourself: have I hit my objectives? What do I have to adapt here? What’s missing from a short-term and long-term perspective?”
Looking back, how did you find the courage to launch your own business? “It was hugely personal. The idea for Inalife first came to me when my grandparents passed away in 1999 and, on and off through the years, it’s always been in my thoughts, driving me a little bit. Should I do this? Maybe I’ll give it a try. How do I do it? When my mother-in-law passed away last year, leaving next to no digital legacy, I finally decided that I wanted to go full-forward with the start-up. I saw it firstly as a platform for my family to use and, of course, I hoped it would interest and benefit other families. My sister provided me with some great advice in the early stages: she told me to start making Inalife real – to choose a website name and get a logo done.
“You really need your family behind you to make something like this work. My wife and kids are constantly supportive, as are my sister and parents who live in in South Africa. They check in all the time, they call, they WhatsApp; they’re very involved in the site. And this works both ways: I always put my family first. Here’s a tip my former boss gave me – no matter how passionate you are about work; you need to prioritise family. This will make you happier and want to work more and better.”
So what’s your definition of entrepreneurial success? “If you create something that you want to use and others want to use it too, that to me is success. You need to define what success looks like for you. If your goal is entirely to make money, then that’s your success aspiration. If it’s to create the best fish and chip shop in town, then that’s where you’re headed.
And finally, what’s your endgame? “My ultimate goal is to raise the profile of digital legacies. To me, success would be having everyone in the world really thinking about their digital legacy and working out how they want to be remembered. Inalife will grow, subscribers will go up, but for me that’s what success would be. Obviously, I’d like everyone to use our site and platform, but I’m also very keen to educate people because, especially post-COVID, there’s been a huge uptick in interest. I want to get people to stop and think about their legacy: you’ve got 100 gigabytes of data or whatever, what do you want to record?”
Inalife allows users to connect with family members on a safe and secure interactive family tree, share personal memories on a personal profile page for loved ones now and in the future to learn about them, and record Time Delayed Messages for loved ones to receive in the future.
It is available on desktop and as an app.
To know more, visit www.inalife.com.
