There’s no one path to becoming an entrepreneur. Some people are born to it, and some reluctantly take up the mantle.
Our next guest created his own opportunities after realizing he didn’t like having his fate determined by someone else.
Please introduce yourself to our readers…
My name is Bill Fish and I am the Founder and President of Reputation Management. We are striving to build the most robust resource on the web for all items related to online reputation management.
I live in Cincinnati, Ohio with my wife Nicole and our two sons.
You once started your own business – what was it?
Our company, Text Link Ads, sold advertisements which acted in a manner to help websites rank better on the search engines when users were searching for their respective products or services. With the meteoric rise of internet commerce, people were desperately looking for ways to increase the visibility of their website online.
What made you decide to go out on your own vs work for someone else?
During the “wireless boom” of 1999, I bounced around in the wireless business, and quickly became a project manager for the construction of cellular towers. I went from company to company as projects were needed, and was part of the VoiceStream (now T-Mobile) team that built out the entire Chicago network. I was working hard, having fun, and making good money at the same time.
On August 30, 2001 I signed on with Nextel for what they thought would be an 18-36 month project. I was excited about the stability, and also seemed like a great project. Less than two weeks later 9/11 took place in NYC. Within a week, Nextel decided to scrap the entire project and 450 people nationwide were let go with the exact same skill set as myself.
I was so frustrated that a company could make such a rash decision which cost me my livelihood.
I ended up getting a job in a different industry about three months later and my salary was cut by two-thirds. That holiday season, I was having a drink with my best friend and college roommate and we were tossing around ideas as to how we could start our own business without relying on anyone else. It took us a year to get the business off the ground while we worked at our ‘real jobs’, but after 12 months we went head on into the business.
Did you take any outside funding?
We did not take any outside funding, and were able to launch our business with less than $2,000.
Did you have any partners?
Yes, I partnered with my good friend, roommate and baseball teammate from Xavier University.
What was your vision/goal for the company?
Our goal was to productize search engine optimization, and feel like we did a nice job with that.
What was your company culture like? Did it ever change?
We started the business in Cincinnati, and were up to eight people before we were acquired. We were all in our 20s and had a very relaxed and fun culture. Everyone did a great job working together as a team to grow the business.
After we moved to New York City in 2007 after being acquired, the culture changed, becoming more corporate, which was both good and bad.
We did not have any turnover in our first five years of the business, which definitely says something.
Why are you not with that business anymore?
Text Link Ads is still in business under the name of Matomy SEO. We were fortunate enough to grow the business and were acquired by a private equity firm in 2006.
I decided to stay on to run the business after the acquisition, and did so for six additional years. At the end of 2012, I felt the time was right to move on to something else.
Would you do it again?
Of course, and I’m actually going through the process of starting another business now.
What are you doing now?
With the exponential growth of social media and user generated content, people are more concerned than ever about protecting their reputation online. We formed a group of people at Reputation Management to construct guides, and write timely pieces on current reputation management issues. We help people protect and monitor their reputation whether they are trying to get into a school, land a new job, or even go on a date.
What advice would you give to someone thinking of starting their own business?
My advice would be to be sure you have passion about whatever you choose to do. Starting and growing a business requires a lot of time and energy and if you don’t truly love what you are getting into, you will begin to make excuses to not put in the effort needed to be successful.
What is your favorite song?
“Rocket” – The Smashing Pumpkins
Thank you for taking the time to share with us, Bill!
You can reach Bill on Twitter @billafish.
Have a cool story to share with us? Let us know at editor@roceteer.com.