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When I first started working online, there was no Internet.
Back in the early 90s, we dialed into things called “bulletin board systems” with our 2400 bps modems, where we chatted and played text-based games. And yeah, even though I hadn’t finished grade school yet, I ran a BBS myself. There was no way I couldn’t – the whole thing blew my mind.
In the mid-90s, the “Internet” came around, and of course, I wanted in. So I started working for an Internet Service Provider (with their racks and racks of ultra-fast 56k modems). I did tech support, sales, and web design. I taught people how to “surf the web.”
Through college, I did a bunch of Internet stuff for the University of Wisconsin. In my spare time, I even launched one of the first music review websites. I ran it for about seven years before selling it to focus on my “professional career.”
My professional career started as a marketing assistant. Sometimes they called me a guerilla marketer. My job was to go to Backstreet Boys fan sites and post about how much I loved the group. That was before there was such a thing as an affiliate program. There weren’t ad networks. We made it up as we went along.
I worked at Musicnotes for over 16 years, and as the Internet industry grew, I grew with it. In my career, I’ve been called Creative Director, Director of Web and Marketing, Chief Growth Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer.
I took an e-commerce publisher from start-up to over 6 million customers and $25 million in annual sales, and once that was done, it was time for a new challenge.
So, I took a short break and consulted with a few other companies on their digital strategies. Eventually, I made a shift to mobile entertainment & commerce and joined Scientific Games, where I led the marketing team for one of the highest-grossing mobile games in the world.
Then I took a break to change the swimming pool industry ... but soon returned to the arts, and ran consumer marketing and digital experience for Hal Leonard — the largest music publisher in the world.
Now I'm taking everything I've learned along the way and applying it as I lead an amazing team at Growth Spark - the best SMB ecom/digital marketing agencies and team of people I've ever worked with.
Need help growing your SMB online? Hit me up.