Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Goldhaber.
Steve, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve always loved the idea of marketing and selling. That hasn’t changed over the past 20+ years. I started at the bottom as an intern and progressed up the corporate ladder to an Executive Vice President of global digital and content marketing at JLL.
About a year ago, I decided to start my own company. I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart but never made the full commitment to build my own business. My marketing background has been split between working at advertising agencies and corporate marketing departments. Since my business is focused on targeting clients who need B2B content marketing services, I felt like I had a great background to lead my business.
Starting my own business is the most challenging and rewarding thing I’ve done. It has pushed me to think differently, admit failures quickly, and develop a thick skin to keep on pushing and grinding it out every day. So much of the success of entrepreneurs rely on you’re an ability to fight for your business.
Every day you encounter challenges. Every day you face doubt. Every day, people will question if what you’re building makes sense. And then all of a sudden, one day, you start to gain momentum. You have these big moments where everything starts to fall together and it feels amazing.
For me, some of the big moments were being featured as a contributing writer for LinkedIn and B2B Marketing Magazine. And of course, when I secured several Fortune 500 clients, that was a huge win as well.
Right now, the market is responding well to my business model. I’m in this mode of continuing to scale everything, while maintaining the high quality content we provide to our clients.
The best thing about working with my clients is that I truly am excited by and love creating content, both at a strategic and tactical level. There’s nothing more exciting then starting with a business problem and a blank piece of paper. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years and it never gets old.
Has it been a smooth road?
Year one has been rough, as I assume it is for most companies when they are just starting out.
My core offering is the same, but I’ve made some tweaks along the way based on what wasn’t resonating.
I’ve also become better and managing my own time. You quickly learn that time can be working for or against you. You have to defend your time at all costs and make sure you aren’t caught up in unproductive tasks or conversations.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Your story deserves to be told in a better way. You need the resources, expertise, and attention of 26 Characters. We’re a content marketing collective where you have your choice of expert content creators. Our hand-picked writers, photographers, designers and strategic brainiacs are among the 26 best in the business at showing and telling what you’re all about. Combine that with sensible pricing and a context menu where you can literally point to what you want, and you’ve got 26 Characters – a better way to create content.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Chicago is a great market for me. It’s a large market and I have a strong network here. I wouldn’t want to start my business in any other city.
Pricing:
- Content Strategy Packages start at $20K+
- Content Creation Items (i.e. article, infographics, ebooks, etc.) start at $2,500+
Contact Info:
- Website: www.26characters.com
- Email: steve@26characters.com
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago 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.
