He grew his business by writing on Forbes, says patience is key

This article is part of Tech in Asia’s partnership with The Jay Kim Show where we publish the revised transcripts from the show’s podcast interviews with top entrepreneurs. This is heavily revised from the original show transcripts. For the full interview, go here.

Josh Steimle runs a full-service digital marketing agency called MWI. Josh is also a serial entrepreneur. He’s written over 200 articles for big-name publications like Forbes, Mashable, TechCrunch, Entrepreneur, and Time Magazine.

Josh was based in Hong Kong for several years. He just recently moved to China, and he shares how he got started as an entrepreneur and how he became an influencer.

Can you tell us who you are and what you do?

“The quick story on me is I’m an entrepreneur, I’m a speaker, I’m a writer. I have a digital marketing agency called MWI. I [have written] for a bunch of publications like Forbes, Mashable, TechCrunch, Inc […], and I’ve written over 200 articles over the past four years. I also have a book out called Chief Marketing Officers at Work that just came out late last year. I interviewed 29 CMOs from big companies like G&E, Spotify, PayPal, Target, Home Depot, and as well as some startups. The main thing I’m focusing my time on these days is my agency. Also, I love to help people become influencers.”

How did you become an entrepreneur and what have been some ups and downs?

“Well, it really started when I was a kid. When I was young, my dad would pay me to do chores around the house and so he kind of taught me entrepreneurship at a fundamental level: that if I did work and provide value, people would give me money.

“When you’re a kid and you want to buy stuff, then that’s an attractive thought, and I kind of latched onto that. So, I was always doing odd jobs here and there—around the house and then around the neighborhood. I would mow lawns and collect cans and newspapers for recycling money. As I grew up, I started little businesses here and there. I was a […] skateboarder, growing up—still am—and I had contacted all these skateboard companies and I started selling skate stuff out of my car when I was in high school and created flyers [for the business]. […] That gave me some training on marketing and just how to sell and how to provide value for people […].

“I just did all these odd stuff, but to me, entrepreneurship was something that you just kind of do. […] I didn’t realize this is how big businesses get started, and I never thought about this. I was just planning on being an artist when I went to school. That’s all I knew how to do. I thought, ‘Well, I know how to draw, so I guess I’m going to be an artist.’

“I went to a university. In my first year, I did art school and absolutely loved it. But then I […] learned about business school and I decided like, ‘Man, this is what I really want to do.’ This entrepreneurship stuff, I didn’t know you could study this. I didn’t know there was such a thing as a business school at a university. […] When I found that out, I was like, ‘Oh, man.’ […] I mean, this is what I’ve been doing […] and this is what I really want to focus on.

“So I switched from art over to business. Then, I had to go back and retake all those math classes I had failed because I didn’t like it.

“Then while I was in university, I got a job at a dotcom company back in 1999. I was working for this company and I was watching the owners run around, meeting with venture capitalists, hiring people, building this business, and they were having all the fun and I thought, ‘Man, it’s not about the money.’

“[…] Then the next thought was, ‘Why can’t I do that? I mean these guys aren’t geniuses. They’re smart guys, but it’s not like they’re geniuses. I can do this.’ And so I lasted about five months in that environment and I was like, ‘I can’t take this anymore. I’ve got to start something. This is driving me crazy.’

“[But before that], they came to me and they said, ‘Hey, we’re issuing the first set of stock options in this company and we’re going to give you 3,000 shares and we want you to quit school and come on full time.’ I looked at this and I thought, ‘Oh, this is really tempting,’ and stock options were all the rage.

“[…] The story here is they offered me these stock options, I turned it down, and then later, they got bought out for 1.8 billion by Adobe.

How did you become an influencer?

What’s one advice you’d give to a young aspiring entrepreneur?