Starting a business is no cake walk. If you’re thinking, “that’s one hell of a way to start a mission statement”, I promise, I’m going somewhere with this.
Starting a business can be difficult, mentally, emotionally, and even physically at times. So, it’s my belief that if you’re going to put yourself through that, there ought to be a good reason, right? No sane person would leave the comforts of paid healthcare, 401k, and days off to not only lose those things but now be responsible for those things for other people. It’s lunacy.
So when my partner and I set out to start Screechy Cat Media, we did so with intention.
I have spent just shy of 20 years in digital media, and I got here entirely by accident. 20 years ago, Google AdWords was about 5 years old; I, 20 years its senior, was a nerd who taught himself html when AOL dialup was standard, had just graduated college with degrees in radio broadcasting and marketing, and no idea what I wanted to do. I answered an ad on probably Craigslist or Monster for a junior SEO position, one of dozens of ads I likely answered that week. I had no clue what SEO was, but went anyway (thinking it was an entirely different role I had also applied for) and, after being found out in the interview, talked myself into a paid search analyst position.
In the time since, I have learned paid social, programmatic, and other niche forms of digital media, and have worked at agencies big and small, with some truly incredible clients and talented coworkers. There is now, however, a trend in the industry towards outsourcing media management—both from advertisers with internal marketing departments and small agencies. There are a lot of reasons for this, which I’ll happily get into in a future post. But for now, let’s just call it an observed trend.
With a few years under my belt, I have had the opportunity to oversee the growth of one media department from a one-client boutique to managing tens of millions in media, and rebuild yet another, and quite frankly, there’s not much else in the corporate world I want to accomplish. Not tooting any horns here but I’m pretty good at what I do, and I still enjoy it, so why not just lean into the curve?
Screechy Cat Media was formed as a paid media outsourcing solution for agencies and advertisers with internal marketing departments. And, in addition, we’re going to do small business marketing for companies in our new home in the Central Coast, too, because I think I can provide an elite service at a reasonable price and help some businesses see growth in the process. A rising tide, and all that. Plus, I just very much enjoy it 😊.
The second part of this is forward-looking. At some point I will share more of my backstory, but I have been fortunate in my career. Not everyone has the same opportunities, though. I have been training folks in digital media since my second year in the industry, and my goal for Screechy Cat Media is to one day be the first job for future digital media rockstars who may not have been able to get a job in the space otherwise. We’ll to start with part time opportunities (paid, of course—and better than minimum wage) where folks can learn everything from the basics to more advanced skills, on-the-job, and help our clients out in the process. Eventually, the goal is to have both part and full time roles in digital marketing—but, everyone has to start somewhere, right?
So for now, that somewhere is with me. I have an amazing creative partner here to help, and a network of freelancers on standby to fill gaps between the now + then. We’re going to be scrappy, but we’re going to strategize and run highly-successful paid media campaigns at a competitive rate, and realize the vision of being an incubator for local, undiscovered talent as we grow. Just by reading this today, I want to thank you for helping us to see this vision through.
