Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Steen.
Jordan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My passion for entrepreneurship began when I was a small child. I remember being in the shower when I was about 7 years old and combining shampoo and conditioner into one bottle and thinking I had invented the world’s newest creation to save time and effort for people taking showers. I got finished as quickly as I could so I could run and tell my parents about my creation but came to find that it already existed. This was the first time that I can recall trying to start a business or run with an idea and it definitely wouldn’t be the last.
My entrepreneur journey continued when I was 11 years old in middle school. I went to my father one day and told him I wanted to sell candy at school. We went to Costco and he gave me my first loan of $40 to start my candy business. I went to school the next day and made about $50 from my candy, paid off my loan to my father, and ended up making a $150 profit from the rest of my candy. I did this for the rest of the year until the school told me that I couldn’t sell candy anymore. It was upsetting because I loved running my little candy store but I wasn’t going to let that deter me from running a business. In high school, I dabbled in MLM type businesses which taught me a lot about selling a product and gave a bit more insight with regards to running a business. I didn’t realize it then, but this was only the beginning of a long career in entrepreneurship.
In 2009 graduated high school and went to Georgia Southern to study Business Management/Marketing & Sales. While at Southern I joined Delta Sigma Phi fraternity where I met a few guys that would help me get into the field I’m in today (marketing/sales/entrepreneurship/software development) and began to churn out even bigger ideas.
We started a company called ProApps, LLC where we were in the process of developing an app that would help college students get around campus without having to use those large paper maps that the school supplied. I would be the business/sales/marketing arm of our app and, during this time, began to get my feet wet with Digital Marketing. I was actually using Facebook for marketing before they ever had an advertising platform. Our app gave walking directions right to the front door of the building in which the student had a class. I ended up taking the app to a sales competition in Savannah, GA and won 2nd place in the student division for our app. This was my first taste of software development & technology and one of the biggest reasons I ended up staying in the tech industry. I determined that if I wanted to be super successful in the future that I was going to have to stay in an industry that was booming. The app had a falling out due to some of the team members moving on in life and with their careers past college and we couldn’t find further funding to keep it going. Again, this didn’t stop me from starting another business.
About a year later, I started a company called Poker Time that hosted free poker events at restaurants in bars in Statesboro. At this time, I had also worked my way up from cook to kitchen manager to assistant general manager of a restaurant in about a year and a half. I was very proud of myself to be 21 years old and running a restaurant all on my own while in school, dating, remaining actively engaged in my fraternity, and running Poker Time. It took a lot of work, but it was one of the most valuable experiences I’ve had in my business career. I learned a TON about Digital Marketing, social media marketing, and the possibilities of running successful Digital Marketing campaigns for businesses. I guess I should mention that I was also creating and running internet marketing campaigns for that restaurant that I managed.
Poker Time did well and I continued to run the business all the way up until I decided I was going to leave college for a career and learning opportunity. I was hired by Gannett (First Coast News) in Jacksonville, FL to sell Digital Marketing and TV spots to local businesses and in June 2014 that’s what I did. While at First Coast News I learned even more about marketing, specifically, Digital Marketing, and how to work with businesses on their marketing campaigns. I ended up leaving after 9 months because I wasn’t offered the promotion to be the Digital Marketing Manager for the station. I was already doing the current manager’s job and training 16+ sales reps on the ins & outs of Digital Marketing (they were all much older) and decided that if they weren’t going to provide me this opportunity then I would do it myself.
I moved back to Atlanta and started a mobile detailing and commercial/residential pressure washing business so that I could begin to generate some cash flow for myself. This gave me the means to begin to lay the groundwork for my current business, Rest&Bar Marketing, and everything began to take off from there. During that time, I also started my YouTube channel, Cereal Entrepreneur, which is dedicated to Digital Marketing and Entrepreneurship, along with my online Digital Marketing course, The Digital Marketing School, to teach people how to make money from their home running online marketing campaigns for businesses. I accumulated over 2K+ YouTube followers in just 4 months for my channel and over 50 students for my online marketing school which are both still growing. I can’t even begin the explain the happiness it brings me to be able to help others start their own business and, hopefully, make life a little easier for themselves and I plan to continue helping others with entrepreneurship for a long time.
I can’t really say where the future is going to take me from here, but I’m always open to new ideas and opportunities and can’t wait to see what happens over the next 5 years.
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?
HELLLL NO! I have lost friendships, relationships & girlfriends, tons of money and time, and countless other things have happened that tried to keep me from succeeding & following my dreams. The road to success isn’t easy at all…especially when it seems like everything around you are burning down, but the people who can learn to continue forward and remain persistent through all of the rough times are ALWAYS the ones who find some level of success. Success is all about perspective & perception.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Rest&Bar Marketing is a Digital Marketing agency. We focus on building comprehensive internet marketing campaigns for businesses that will effectively generate sales and, most importantly, engagement online from their customers and potential customers. We utilize the most effective Social Media, PPC, SEO, Email Marketing, and Web marketing & development techniques to create unique experiences for all of our client’s customers. Though I’m no superstar, people who are familiar with me have usually seen me on YouTube channel, Cereal Entrepreneur, or in my Digital Marketing course, The Digital Marketing School, where I go into detail about how to run marketing campaigns like the ones I run for Rest&Bar Marketing’s clients.
I would say that we are most proud of the fact that we have been able to help thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs begin their journey in Digital Marketing and also several businesses get results from their marketing efforts.
Rest&Bar Marketing is different in the sense that we actually care about your marketing campaign. Our sales reps are also our marketing professionals, and though you may think all of the big agencies do the same, the truth of the matter is that they don’t. That’s a large reason why I left my first marketing job in Jacksonville and why I wanted to start a company that actually understood Digital Marketing and how to apply it to a business’ marketing campaigns. We take the time to customize EVERY campaign to fit their business and we don’t sell something to a customer just to make a buck. We don’t have the luxury of being able to sell a marketing package, and if it fails, just move on to the next customer.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was ALWAYS “inventing” or trying to create something that would generate revenue so I didn’t have to work for someone else.
I was always active in something, whether it was sports (baseball, basketball, football, swimming), BETA Club, 4H, FFA, DECA or any of the other clubs I became a member. I’ve always been super outgoing and willing to help others. I was never the type of guy to stick to one group of friends and usually knew people anywhere I went.
We grew up very poor and there were a lot of struggles that happened with regards to my family that would have made a weaker person resent life, but I was never that type of person. I’ve always had a positive outlook and try to find the best outcome to a situation, even when the odds are stacked against me.
Pricing:
- Rest&Bar Marketing Digital Marketing Services: Minimum $1,000/month spend to work with us.
- The Digital Marketing School: $200 to join our school.
- Marketing Consulting: $50/hr.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.restandbar.com
- Phone: 4044097637
- Email: jordan@restandbar.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j_steen13/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CerealEntrepreneur/
- Other: https://digitalmarketingschool.teachable.com
Image Credit:
Rest&Bar Marketing
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
