I started my first business on June 6, 1994. I was 23 years old when I opened a car stereo shop. People laughed. I had left a steady job with a local newspaper to strike out on my own. My old boss predicted I would be begging for my job back within six months. I never went back. Today, my latest creation, 1sixty8 media, offers a powerful, effective, and measurable alternative to all forms of traditional advertising, including newspapers!
Over the years, I became increasingly frustrated with traditional media. They made the rules. You either agreed with the rules or didn’t advertise. They promised results and spoke about why their medium was superior. They used fancy metrics from companies like Arbitron and Nielsen, talking about reach, frequency, and CPM. All this was great for companies like Coke and Taco Bell but meant little to a small-town merchant.
I wanted to create a marketing company that would treat people the way I wished I had been treated. I wanted it to operate on a level playing field, fair to both the company and the client. I aimed to create a company that would prove itself to its clients so that, once they saw the results, they would want to continue the relationship.
I believe I have succeeded in creating this company. I will never ask you to lock into a long-term contract for our services. If you don’t see value in our performance, then we have failed. On the flip side, I know that if we are producing measurable results, you will continue to work with my company.
Do I want to make a profit doing this? Well, of course, I do. Like any good businessperson, I have big dreams and visions for 1sixty8 media. I would submit that you shouldn’t hire me if this were not the case. But I want to get there by having many happy clients paying me a fair value for what we do, not by having a few dozen paying me huge fees.
During the past two decades, I’ve seen the local business landscape change drastically. The Internet has done a lot of damage but, at the same time, has produced tremendous opportunities for small businesses to compete with the giants. I’d even go so far as to say that when using the Internet correctly, the odds are stacked in our favor.
Give me an opportunity to earn your business. If I cannot create a win/win situation, then the opportunity is not right. Nothing ventured, nothing gained – but I’ll bet that we will end up doing business together for a long time!