Today we’d like to introduce you to Steven Clayton.
Steven, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Founding NetBlaze and being the current CEO really represents my 3rd career in life.
I started out in Corporate America as a computer programmer over 30 years ago. I eventually became the Chief Information Officer for a public traded company. After we were acquired by a much larger company, I spent several years as a VP for Information Systems for a Fortune 500 Company.
I wasn’t very happy in such a large company, so I found myself looking for my next opportunity just over 10 years ago.
I decided to start my own business and ended up starting a few of them. eCommerce, consulting and software companies all with a core competency of online marketing. I never went back to Corporate America. I still partly own and remain in a consulting position to these companies.
Two years ago, I decided that the local business market was incredibly underserved from a marketing perspective and the idea for NetBlaze was formed.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve been lucky. I think it’s been pretty smooth. Not to say that everything has always worked, it hasn’t! I think the biggest obstacles for me have been: FOCUS – You want to chase every single opportunity. You can’t. AND EMBRACING FAILURE – failure is such an important part of the process. It must be embraced so you can learn from it, gather data and regroup and try again.
NetBlaze – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our company is NetBlaze.
We are a “software as a service”, designed to help local, small business owners with their online marketing.
The group is incredibly underserved. They have so many opportunities and things they COULD be doing to help drive revenue and profits but there’s so much confusion about which things are the most important and how to really do them. They do not have the time to navigate all of that. Every small business owner I speak with is frustrated about trying to figure out what they should REALLY be doing with their website, Facebook, email marketing and reputation management, etc…
NetBlaze is designed to cut through ALL of that and to become a marketing department in a box for small business owners. It tells you exactly what you need to be doing and when (and does MUCH of it automatically for you) in order to get the most out of digital marketing opportunities. It really focuses on that 80/20 rule to get the best return on investment for your time.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think the digital marketing industry is just going to get more complex and more powerful. This is not alway GREAT news for someone like a small business owner who doesn’t have the time to focus on ONLY becoming a marketing expert.
The amount of power at our fingertips to do sophisticated marketing and advertising has never been seen before, yet it creates confusion and frustration.
I am proud to be in a place to help serve the small local business and help drive their success.
Pricing:
- $97 /MONTHLY (cancel at any time)
Contact Info:
- Address: 605 N Michigan Ave Ste 410
- Website: Netblaze, LLC, www.netblaze.com
- Phone: 8008826131
- Instagram: @NetblazeLLC
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/netblazellc/
Image Credit:
Lori Sapio Photography
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