Don’t worry about things not being perfect, worry about getting started. You can always adjust your course after you’ve started your business or released your product.
Jordan Scheltgen
Founder, Cave Social
Jordan grew up in Surrey, British Columbia where he was mostly consumed with sports. After receiving a scholarship to play football he found himself at the University of Toronto, where the idea for his business was born.
He was in the library with his co-founder Michael Prempeh, and they were thinking of something they could do after football and university ended. This was in 2011, and online publishing was just starting to hit its stride. So, they took the work-ethic they had learned from the football field and started applying that to brand marketing.
Your Business Journey so far
I started my business with $2500 in student loan money. This was enough to get us up and running, and have a little bit of money for software/subscriptions. The biggest challenge was not being able to take any money from the company for the first 18 months.
During this time I bartended three nights a week and put every dollar the company made back into its growth. This was challenging as all my friends graduated and started getting their paychecks. I definitely questioned if I was making the right choice on more than a few nights.
How do you help your clients grow and achieve their goals?
For us, the biggest thing we try and do is help our clients tell their story. Every company has a story, and if we can tell that in a compelling way, consistently, over social media then we can see success for our clients.
Experience from 0 to first 10 clients and further growth
Our first client (who is still with us today) is a moving company from Canada. They contacted us, looking for help with content creation–and to date their site has grown 30% year-over-year in traffic and leads. This was the beginning. Once we got this project rolling we relied heavily on referrals to keep the lights on in the early days.
Keeping pace with changing technology and remain competitive?
As much as technology is great, it can’t replace creativity. I firmly believe putting the human touch into marketing. The technology should be there to enhance and optimize creativity, not replace it. So for us to stay competitive we need to consistently create content for multiple mediums.
Top hurdles faced for business growth
The biggest hurdles for me have definitely been finding the right people, and the right clients. One bad apple (employee or client) can drain a lot of time and resources. So I’ve been trying to get better at recognizing these sooner than later.
Core specialties and offerings to your clients
Our main offering is organic and paid social media strategy, and then SEO/content would be our second offering.
Key to motivation
I know I’m going to die. Now, I know that sounds morbid, but only if you think about it that way. I think about it like this, I’ve got a finite amount of time on this planet to make a difference, apply myself and see what I can create–knowing that, it’s all the motivation I need.
Advice to Product Makers
Don’t worry about things being perfect, worry about getting started. You can always adjust your course after you’ve started your business or released your product. I’ve seen inaction kill more businesses than bad ideas.
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