Editorial Team

Today I’m welcoming on www.entrepreneurship-interviews.com Jeet, a young entrepreneur from the USA. Jeet, how old were you when you started your first business jbmediaforce.com

Jeet: Hey Christian, thanks for featuring me in your segment. I started my first business JB Media Force at the age of 17.

What exactly does jbmediaforce.com do?

Jeet: That’s a good question; JB Media Force is a web design, web development, and internet marketing company. We design and develop all kinds of websites and even help market websites on the internet through social media or search engines.

What was the process of creating jbmediaforce.com as a business? You had previous experience with web design and decided to do a business out of it, or you just followed where the money was?

Jeet: Well, I used to be an assistant at my dad’s software development company for a while before I started JB Media Force. It wasn’t that I didn’t like working there; I just hated to be told what to do by someone else. I could do what he did myself, so I decided to start my own web design and development company. The process wasn’t as easy as I had expected, but I had to start by getting my company’s website and finding a solid team who could do the designing and development for me.

What is your elevator pitch when presenting the business?

Jeet: If you have a business, you have to be online regardless of what you are selling in today’s day and age. If you aren’t online, let me help you get online with a cost-effective website that I will market for you and generate revenue.

What about the portfolio? Who do you have onboard so far?

Jeet: I have worked with all kinds of companies, individuals, and organizations. I have worked with a Forbes 500 company and a few other big-name companies.

Most young web entrepreneurs start as freelancers, but you quickly went into having a 15 people team. How hard is it to manage a team at your age?

Jeet: Yeah, I knew that if I wanted to make a lot of money….I couldn’t be a one-person show. That’s why I looked for others to the designing and developing to focus on what I do best, which was the marketing and managing of the business. Managing a team at my age does have its ups and downs; often time’s people older than me find it difficult to work under me. I think that has been one of the biggest challenges I have had to manage a big team at a young age.

What was the key to success in your case?

Jeet: I think the biggest key was my determination to succeed. I am extremely motivated and determined in whatever I do, and I am willing to do anything required to succeed. I work hard and give it my all, and I hope for the best.

I think you have a small business as your customers as well? What is important when it comes to having a site done for a small business? How does a small business entrepreneur know that the investment into a site is worthwhile?

Jeet: Yeah, we work with quite a few small businesses. Well, I think the most important thing for small businesses is to get some website up fast, so they have some sort of online presence. With so many potential customers finding companies online, all businesses must get online. Well, I try to show small businesses that their competitors are online and they have to do everything possible to keep up with their competition if they want to be successful.

And you started a second business quite fast. What is it about?

Jeet: The second business was started by a friend & me, and it’s called status. You can visit the website at www.StatFuse.com. It’s a great website that is completely free and allows students to make the transition from high school to college very simple.

How exactly does it help students?

Jeet: StatFuse offers various tools that students can utilize to help make their transition to college much easier. Our most popular tool is the “Calculator,” which allows students to plug in their high school profiles and calculate their chances to colleges around the nation. We also have other tools like College Recommendations, College Insider, and more that students can use for absolutely FREE!

How many users did you have so far? And is a matching engine better than following “what your parents are saying” when it comes to choosing a college?

Jeet: We gained about 12,000 users within the first month of launching without investing a single dollar into marketing. Well, quite often parents want you to go to the best college possible and make you apply to the top colleges. However, students waste tons of money applying to the top colleges because they can get rejected since they lack a strong academic profile. With the help of StatFuse, students & parents can get a realistic look at what schools fit their student’s profiles the best.

Interesting! How did you come up with the idea?

Jeet: My partner & I were graduating high school and contemplating various colleges that we should attend. While having this discussion, we decided to look up a website to calculate our chances to see where we can get in. However, our searches didn’t solve our problem, and then we decided to create something ourselves.

Any other plans or ideas for the future? How do you balance work, life, and friends?

Jeet: Well, it’s funny you ask because I’m currently on the verge of launching two more startup companies this summer. The first company (Hypetize) is a promotional tool that helps talented musicians and artists get heard while involving the fans like never before. The second company (Vintelli) is an internet marketing website that allows websites of all sizes to rank atop the search engines and social media.

So how does it feel to be an entrepreneur?

Jeet: The feeling of being an entrepreneur is just great! As an entrepreneur, I look for problems in the world that people face daily and then try to provide a solution. It feels great knowing that I have actually helped solve problems that many people face.

Hi Arya, and welcome. You started a business about 2 years ago at 16. What is it about?

Arya: My business (CheapTravelHunter.com) mainly focuses on providing discount travel accommodations to all travelers in a fast, simple, and easy, straightforward manner.

Is it targeted to the Uk market or Worldwide?

Arya: Our business has a worldwide market due to the nature of the business itself, and has a great presence in the USA were about 90% of our visitors come from.

How did you decide is a good idea to implement? Most people stop because they think their idea will never make enough money.

Arya: In the beginning, I didn’t make a penny, and my friends teased me about wasting my time, but I kept at it and educated myself, learning mostly about online marketing and reading real success stories, and seeing people who were making a living doing what I wanted to do (which was run an online business) and from then on with a lot of hard work, a little luck, and a load of knowledge I began making some real money.

Do you think that being young helped? I mean, it’s far more “risky” to start a business on your own when you have a family to support

Arya: Absolutely being young helped. Having little responsibilities other than to yourself is definitely a big advantage; I could never accomplish this so fast if I had a family to support.

So you would advise other teens to start a business as soon as possible?

Arya: I think not, I would say you have time, and business is a lot of hard work, and it takes a very high level of dedication; unless you have a truly brilliant idea, a business can wait, youth won’t.

What were the steps to start the business? And how long did it take from idea to launch?

Arya: Well, the first website was one which I made myself, with no real business model behind it, and from idea to launch, it took about 5 days. But to put that in perspective, we just did a redesign on our website http://www.cheaptravelhunter.com, and that took 7 months from the initial design to launch.

Were there any legal steps that you have to do as well?

Arya: In the USA (where we are currently based), it was straightforward; actually, no paper work is needed, I file taxes as a self-employed individual, and due to the nature of my business, I have virtually no liabilities, so there’s no need to file an LLC.

What did your parents say when you started the business? Did you get any advice and help?

Arya: My parents definitely did help me a lot, they are very well educated, my father himself is a businessman who owns two restaurants, and I was surrounded by other very successful people, as they say; “Take the average income of the 5 people you associate with most, and your income will match that” so I definitely don’t underestimate the value of the people around me and I am truly grateful.

What motivates a young entrepreneur like yourself?

Arya: It is the money, definitely the money. But it’s also about achieving and building something great, something to be proud of. Something which you can point to and say, “ya, I made that,” kind of just like I’m doing right now!

Do you think the school had something to do with your wish to have your own business? How important is formal education?

Arya: A formal education is critical, not just for money, but overall! Sometimes I speak with very wealthy people, and yet I can tell they’re not well educated; nothing compares to a great education.

Any plans for an extension? What comes next?

Arya: We are in the midst of a huge expansion; we are launching various marketing campaigns and reinvesting huge amounts of money in growing the infrastructure of our business, including most recently adding call centers and live-chat customer support.

What is your political point of view?

Arya: I am a capitalist; I believe that opportunity is out there, and for those who are willing to go out and hunt after it, they should be able to keep the reward.

What is the most important part of being a CEO?

Arya: The most important job of a CEO is teambuilding; if you can create a good team from the start and hire the right people for the right jobs, the rest is like clockwork.

What advice do you have for a young/new entrepreneur?

Arya: Here’s my advice. Accept the fact that you don’t know anything. Ask questions! Don’t read a few articles and presume you know everything and jump in front of a company or potential employee and give them a lecture. Instead, you should educate yourself briefly and then ask the person who you are about to hire to educate you further, then you can cross-check that information later, but by no means should a CEO be a jack of all trades.

Hi Joel. We are going to talk today about internet entrepreneurship and your business Peer Marketing Group. But first, tell us a bit about how did you become an entrepreneur?


Joel: I was fortunate to have a young start. I started by developing a store on eBay that sold used car audio amplifiers; I went to the local flea market every weekend and cleaned out the stands of every piece of equipment I could get my hands on. This taught me the skills of mutually beneficial negotiation, the skill to developing long-term relationships, and the value of market research. I took this small business to a level where I could purchase my first car and build a retirement account before the age of 18.

Your bio says that you are a guest lecturer at Harvard University. So does internet marketing get taught in schools nowadays?


Joel: Yes, my first master’s class at Harvard University was actually Internet Marketing. The teacher was 65, and I was asked to give a guest lecture the next semester after passing the class with exemplary marks.

The way that I see it, there are shallow barriers to entry when it comes to online entrepreneurship. Suppose you learn about “Internet Marketing” from a lecture that content is already out of date and Google has changed their search algorithm twice. Learn by doing, this has always been my teacher, and it has served me well.

What exactly does Peer Marketing Group do?


Joel: We are a boutique marketing firm. What that means is we don’t take on more than 10 clients at a time, allowing us to give our customers extraordinary service. We don’t work for the money; we work to earn our customers’ referrals.

I have met amazing and talented professionals that have a similar outlook over the years. We partnered up and formed this group that will allow us to choose the clients that we can perform services on a level that they can not find anywhere else.

We have a broad range of services; however, they all revolve around what will bring the best return on our client’s investment. We are honored when a client selects us to join their team and take them to the next level; this is something that we do not take lightly.

Who should think about Internet Marketing? Are there any businesses that could live totally outside the internet and thrive?


Joel: This upcoming technological shift will be major; there will be many businesses that close due to not having an internet presence. I do not think that “Internet Marketing” will net a lot of businesses a positive return on their investment.

For example:

A used tire store that is the town’s “best-kept secret” thrived in the ’90s, doing well in the ’00s, and has seen a decline since 2010. They could not understand why the more expensive competitors less than a mile away were doing so well, and they were struggling.

What this business didn’t understand was the shift to mobile smartphones; the other business was the only used tire store in town listed on google maps. The younger generation did not know about the other location.

In 2012 the more reputable store with better prices closed due to their lack of a free listing on google.

What are the most important areas of internet marketing a small business should look after?


Joel: The most important thing is to realize what they would like their website to do for them. I have seen it over and over again; a company says, “Internet Marketing doesn’t work! We’ve had a website over 8 years and haven’t received one lead.” The problem is that they do not have a way to be contacted on their website other than their phone number, and they never bothered to ask the caller, “where did you find us?”.

If you are in a business where it is important to have a customer long term, you should be focusing on capturing leads with a free product and keeping that potential client as educated about your field and your company as possible.

If you have a business that sells a product or service, it is essential to realize how that is presented to a potential client. Often viewing the world through our own eyes, we can not see why others do not understand. Having a third party as a marketing partner allows you to understand how the public is viewing your company, product, or service.

So your elevator pitch is?


Joel: We are a small firm dedicated to our clients. We often change from a fee structure to an equity partner after a year of service with our clients and have yet to have an unsatisfied client relationship.

How can a small business find a good internet marketing company? My guess is that most small businesses start by thinking just about SEO. 


Joel: It is so tough to find someone you can trust, often people search the internet to find an Internet marketing company… Funny enough the good marketing firms and PR firms rarely market themselves because they are so many people that build a website for their (uncle/parents/cousins) and start doing web development on the side.

The best way to find a web developer that you can trust is only through word of mouth. Have them sit with you and explain everything step by step while showing you work that they have done for other clients. Ask for deadlines and benchmarks… always.

And I think it really depends on the area of business? If you have a restaurant, you probably need other things than, say, a house cleaning service when it comes to online exposure.


Joel: Yes, the services that will benefit each business differ greatly. One of the worst ways to judge how to spend your marketing budget is doing what “the other guy” is doing. Often marketing dollars aren’t tracked, and the return on investment is never calculated. This is especially true with traditional media and direct mail.

How can a small business take advantage of Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks? What else is needed, more than just “having a page”?


Joel: A large misconception that has been perpetuated by social media marketers is the social media universe will send hordes of people to your website and make it rain money. Social media should be used; however, it should be used in the same way that email marketing is used, and that is to stay in someone’s mind. Often people may stumble across a post of yours and purchase a product; however, the effort exerted to maintain that presence hasn’t been shown to be an effective use of time when it comes to the return on time invested.

There are a lot of “too good to be true” online marketing offers. Sure, it would be good to be on the first page of Google in 2 weeks, but what’s true and what’s not? How can someone tell the genuine marketing skills from the “too good to be true”?


Joel: The easiest way to weed out a snake oil salesperson is talking to their past clients. An honest marketing consultant should be happy to share a number of referrals for you to vet their services. It is important when speaking to their past or current clients to ask how they are with communication; that is often the most difficult part when dealing with a programmer or marketing company.

So what would be your best 3 pieces of advice you could give a small business about internet marketing?


Joel:

1) Act local, think national – Even in the world of the Internet, most customers will prefer to deal with a local company over a national company. This is becoming more prevalent due to our increased use of mobile devices and with Google’s new “me” search, where the search is customized to your location and preferences.

2) Give information for free – This is hard for consultants that get paid to contribute their knowledge; however, when you are authoring truly good, useful, and applicable content, the Internet responds with the social sphere sharing your information and increasing your brand organically.

3) Talk like a friend, not a professor – This is more of an opinion. From what I have found with most of my research are the top internet times are pre 9 am and after 6 pm; these are people coming home from work and do not want to read and be lectured to… in my opinion.

You started your business young. How young were you when you started?


Joel: I had my first business at the ripe old age of 8 with the Boston Globe as a paperboy.

So you could say you grew up with the Internet. I know it’s easier to target younger generations online, but how can a small company be sure it’s reaching via the internet the older audience?


Joel: I am the tip-top of the Y generation or the Millenials; this really means that ever since I could spell, I was using a computer in one way or another. The fastest-growing demographic remains 60+; if you know where the demographic you’re seeking to expose your message to is logging on, you’ll have a significant increase in your response rates.

If I were marketing to Baby Boomers, I would focus on sites like AOL that are renowned for having the diehards that refuse to change their email addresses.

What about mobile? It’s changing the way people get online as we speak. Is it already mainstream or still early adopters?


Joel: Mobile is the future, and I believe the future is now. Today’s smartphones were faster and more intuitive than most computers 2 years ago. With over 50% of Americans that have a mobile phone-owning a smart phone, if you do not have a mobile-optimized website, you could be missing out on a considerable traffic source. Just to my blog http://JoelGoldstein.com alone, 23%-28% of my traffic comes from mobile visitors.