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Meet Chris Hereth of CJ Media Group in Cartersville

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Hereth.

Chris, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Earlier in my career, I had worked for several companies such as Turtle’s Music & Movies, E-Trade, Petstuff (which was bought out by Petsmart) and Reebok. Through no fault of my own, I found myself the victim of mergers, buyouts, and layoffs, having to look for another job every few years. Although I was always fortunate enough to find a regular 9-5 job, I decided to start my own business on the side in 2004 because I simply got fed up with having to stand in the unemployment lines. My business started out as a simple website designed to promote independent bands, but to stay competitive, I modified my business model throughout the years, adding services from CD duplication and print and graphic design services, to custom websites and small business consultation.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Any business owner can tell you that one of the biggest struggles in business is how to get the advantage over your competition, and that definitely goes for CJ Media Group as well. Our business model is structured around small business services, which includes website design and advertising. It doesn’t get any more competitive than that. The main problem that I’ve always run up against is when a competing business undercuts the market just to get more customers, it’s hard to top that in some cases. However, the good news is that businesses that do that usually don’t last long. They disappear because of the small profit margins they created, and probably grew tired of doing something for next to nothing. Still makes it a hassle though…

Another challenge is hearing “no” or “not interested” from a potential client. It can be quite demoralizing at times, but I also acknowledge the fact that for every “no” I get, I’m one step closer to a “yes”.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
CJ Media Group’s main goal is to help small businesses, plain and simple. Whether it’s a new website, advertising, or saving money on brochures, banners, and business cards, our objective is to help our clients grow their business.

We specialize in small business marketing services, which includes website design, advertising on our publication (The Weekly Paper), local SEO, graphic design, print services, and most recently audio editing. We also recently introduced franchising opportunities with The Weekly Paper, for those that want to be their own boss and start their own business.

I would have to say the thing that makes me most proud of what we do at CJ Media Group is when a client tells me that they got a new customer from the ad they placed with us, or through their new website we just built for them. Through all of the ups and downs of owning a business, this is what makes it all worthwhile to me.

What were you like growing up?
As a kid, I was pretty shy. Definitely an introvert, and I think I still am to a certain degree. But when I went to college, I came out of my shell quite a bit. It was definitely a turning point for me, especially since it was the first time I was away from home.

As for my interests, I enjoyed sports when I was much younger, but around the age of 12, I got into music, and never looked back. I learned how to play guitar and piano throughout high school and college, played guitar in some local clubs when I was in my 20’s, and to this day, I still dabble with writing and recording my songs in my home studio.

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