Digital Nomad Building a $5M+ E-Commerce Business: IntelligentLabs CEO Rus Hughes (Part 1)

Rus lives the life of a digital nomad. He started life as a techie, and with a very small team and a cofounder, has built a $5M+ niche e-commerce business selling supplements. Excellent story full of lessons and nuances.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Tell me about where you grew up. What is the beginning of the story?

Rus Hughes: It was in a town in Portsmouth, England. I do remember it when it was all fields. It was just a library and a football pitch when I was growing up there. Since then, the farmer that owned all the fields parked a new Ferrari on his driveway and now it’s all houses. It has changed since.

Sramana Mitra: Where did you do your education?

Rus Hughes: I studied computer science at Reding University and Masters in Internet Systems Development at Portsmouth University. I did everything from systems administration all the way up to senior software developer.

Sramana Mitra: What years were these? When did you come out of your Masters program?

Rus Hughes: I finished my undergrad in 2001. Like a lot of people, I had trouble finding a job because of the economic downturn. I did my Masters. I finished that in 2003. The internet was still in its beginning phases. I landed a job working for an insurance company overseeing their IT infrastructure.

Sramana Mitra: Then you switched into a developer role?

Rus Hughes: Yes, the first job was a jack of all trades. Then I worked for a larger startup as a systems administrator mostly dealing with Java and legacy PHP. I did everything from debugging to writing production code. Then I went on to work on Java servlets for various startups in Brighton. I ended up with a company called NetDev that converted legacy analog platform to modern day VoIP.

Sramana Mitra: What year are we now in?

Rus Hughes: 2014.

Sramana Mitra: What happens in 2014?

Rus Hughes: I started gaining weight. I went from 70 Kg to a 100 Kg and felt absolutely awful. Nothing I could do would make me feel better. I went to the doctor on a weekly basis. I had all kinds of tests. I was finding it difficult to talk and communicate. I quickly became a shadow of my former self. I started bad habits like drinking and smoking. I kept getting worse.

Sramana Mitra: What did you do?

Rus Hughes: I quit my job. I sold everything I owned and downsized to one small carry-on bag and a laptop bag. I moved to Thailand to go to a Thai boxing retreat. I lived there to get a grip on my health and trained every day.

Sramana Mitra: That worked?

Rus Hughes: That worked. I used it as an opportunity to better myself. I was expecting to go back to England and get a job again. I did a couple of things. Everyday was training in the morning. In the afternoons and evenings, I would do personal development and self-help books. I studied different business models. I worked with a business partner in the UK to start a supplement brand called IntelligentLabs.

This segment is part 1 in the series : Digital Nomad Building a $5M+ E-Commerce Business: IntelligentLabs CEO Rus Hughes
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