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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/867
MacDirectory 141 INTERVIEW just online – which would be more fun and where I could do what I really enjoyed doing, creating products and advertising products. That's what I really love – my passion is products and marketing. So I thought, well I'll come up with a name and I came up with RichardSolo, which I liked because it's easy to spell and easy to remember and the Internet navigation is really slick. MD > Why do I get the suspicion that the name is somewhat of an ego trip for Richard Thalheimer? RT > Ha-ha, well you know another writer said that and it would be if I were insecure enough, I guess, but I am pretty happy. I was okay in leaving Sharper Image; thrilled to sell my remaining 20 percent and I like having a business. I get to travel. I go to trade shows. Yes, it's a very fair statement to say I have an ego. That's for sure. You couldn't be in this business without an ego or any business. MD > Why do you keep going in this direction Richard? RT > I really like having a business because it gives me the opportunity to travel and to meet people. I read that if you don't like to do something and keep your brain active you sort of lose it faster. I hope this will be something that will engage me mentally. It's been a lot of work and a lot of details. MD > Is your iPhone replacement battery still going strong? RT > Yes, that's our best-selling product; the RichardSolo 1800 for iPhone is our best product. That's one product I actually made myself. I made it from scratch, helped design it and own all the tooling and property rights to it. That's model number RS001 on the Web site and the main feature on the home page. MD > What made you decide to create the product? RT > I bought an iPhone and noticed the battery life wasn't quite satisfying to me and decided, "I am going to solve this problem." Then they came out with the iPhone second generation, the 3G and right away everybody was complaining battery life was poor. It wasn't that the product was poor, they wanted a sleek, lightweight product and it does so much – it is a fantastic Internet browser. It does a lot of things and because of that I wasn't sure anyone would be satisfied with the battery life – so I created the RichardSolo 1800. My mission is to build my customer base and get it to where I am selling a variety of products, not just the battery – I sell quite a range of things on the Web site and SkyMall – iPod and iPhone accessories – some like the groomers that I sell – it's a combination of try me and my products. And, they are going to get fantastic service from me and in the way we treat people. If someone has a return, we immediately e-mail pre-paid return labels so they can plop it on the box and don't even have to write out a label. We answer all e-mails, usually within 30 minutes. I'm really big into this thing of superb customer service. In the Internet age today there's so many places to buy the same things. You've got to really work hard to get people to think you are special. What I can give them special is incredibly fast, personal response. I have a team of three other people I work with just for customer relations. When I started this business I wanted to keep it small enough that I could control the quality of the experience where it isn't unusual that I will glance at every piece of customer correspondence. I have someone to take care of it all but I scan through them because I want to be sure the quality of customer service is assuredly good. And that's different than just wanting to make money. I want my cus- tomers to have the best online experience with the best products and service. RICHARDSOLO 1800