Good Social LLC: Joshua Schultz

A spotlight on a small marketing business run by Joshua Schultz - Good Social

This week I had a conversation with Joshua Schultz, one of my fellow students at Robert Morris University and a small business owner. Josh owns a marketing agency called Good Social. Good Social has only had it’s LLC for about 6 months now and has already acquired two clients! The first client is an extremely fast-growing cosmetics company Calithea Skincare. The second is an interesting company called Revitalize Energy that makes energizing eye drops to fight against fatigue from staring at a computer or phone screen for too long. Josh and I’s conversation dove into his start and initial issues with Good Social, his opinions on marketing trends and growth, and his general advice to people just starting college or looking for ways to further their career.

Josh’s Start

Josh had a fire burning within him from the beginning of college, making it a point to talk to upperclassmen and professors to expand his network and gain him opportunities. During this he made a goal for himself - to get an internship by the end of freshman year with no experience in marketing. This goal is a difficult one to set for yourself especially in the midst of a pandemic, but he managed to accomplish it! Josh then worked at a marketing agency where he learned more about marketing and found his mentor that set him on the path to success. After this he moved on and started religiously going to the gym. Josh wasn’t able to secure an internship for the next year but said his mentor gave him advice to “make himself an internship if he couldn’t find one.” He realized that he could start by marketing his local gym that he’s being going to, where he then doubled their followers and business in about a years’ time! This started the cogs in the machine and eventually led Josh to create Good Social! After talking about his start, Josh and I then went into depth on some of the finer details of his mindset on his business.

Initial Issues, Goals, and Opinions on the Marketing Space

I asked Josh what initial issues he thinks he had in creating Good Social. “The hardest part for me is working with the finances, not because I’m not good at it, but because I hate working with numbers. I can’t wait until the day when I can hire someone else that enjoys doing it.” Josh then went on to say that he believes growth and finding initial clients would be the hardest part for anyone else starting, but he was lucky enough to get recommendations from the gym that he worked for. Josh shared that he believes testimonials and organic growth are a huge part of his vision for the future, and also for any other people looking to start a marketing company. “I don’t rush things because if you rush and try to use trends to go viral instead of being organic then the client can tell you're not being genuine. I like to combine myself and the client’s visions to get something unique without using unoriginal trends.” This follows the trend we saw last week with Chris Klein where he said organic growth is one of the most important things a business can focus on. The vision for Good Social for the next couple of years according to Josh is to eventually get his own office space. After that Josh wants to acquire some extra clients and bring on some help, eventually scaling up to about 10 clients in the shorter term while also giving them the individual attention and care that they need.

Josh’s Advice

Josh proceeded to give some advice for people that would like to start a business. “If all you want is money when building or making your business then you're never going to succeed. You need to be excited to wake up and do what you do every day.” Josh and I talked further on this point, agreeing on the fact that if you have the finances and ability then it’s better to make connections and fantastic content rather than unoriginal or uninspiring content for money. Depending on if your business is free to produce or not (maybe like a newsletter) then there is no downside to starting the business and collecting experience and connections. Josh then spoke on his experience in college and gave some advice for incoming students. “Making connections with upper classmen and professors really shows that you have motivation and drive. It’s helped me out a lot and I wouldn’t be where I was without doing it.”

My conversation with Josh not only taught me a lot in terms of starting a small business but also made me think of a quote by Jerry West talking about his dominance in the NBA. “Everyone likes to say they’re a dog, well I was a wolf, I ate dogs.” This correlates directly to the business and academic world. While you might be fine coasting through college and life without putting in any extra effort or taking risks you will never be the best of the best by doing that. Everyone should strive to be like Josh - be a wolf.

Josh has an extremely bright future ahead of him and I had a fantastic time talking to him. I hope you enjoyed the information as much as I did, and you can find Josh’s socials below. I’ll see you in your Inbox!

LinkedIn - Here

Good Social - Here