Justin Hong is the Managing Partner of Highly Relevant, a Los Angeles-based Internet marketing company. Highly Relevant focuses on not only driving traffic to your company website but converting that traffic into tangible results, such as sales or leads. They recognize that traffic doesn’t mean anything if it’s not converted into actual results.
Throughout his career, Justin has launched various Internet ventures as well his own Internet marketing consultancy, The Small Business MBA. Prior to his entrepreneurial career, Justin worked as a consultant in IBM’s Financial Management division and management trainee with the Cintas Corporation.
In addition, Justin is an avid blogger and his invaluable ideas and thoughts on entrepreneurship can be found at www.justinhong.com
As a dedicated entrepreneur, Justin has high aspirations, one of which is to own his beloved Dallas Mavericks (…and hopefully Mark Cuban is reading and taking notes from the following…)
Q: Do you think the education you’ve invested in helped you on the road to success?
I believe that education is vitally important and really needs to be an on-going process… literally until you die.
I think it’s important to differentiate between education and academics though. While I personally have had a lot of academic education – I have a BS in Economics from Vanderbilt University and MBA from the University of Southern California – I don’t think that you need to have multiple graduate degrees to be successful by any means. All you really need to do is just keep on learning – whether that means reading books on your own, learning through experience, or attending classes.
In fact, from an entrepreneurial perspective, it’s actually much more important to gain real-world experience (as opposed to learning about entrepreneurship in class), which means that you have to go out there, start your own company or work at a start-up, and learn from your successes and mistakes.
Q: What was the “breaking point” in your career that made you decide to build your own brand?
I would have to say my main “breaking points” involved two books that I read. The year after college, I read “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki, which literally served as my financial education up until that point in my life. The book served as a “breaking point” for me because it got me thinking about entrepreneurship for the first time.
My second “breaking point” was reading a book called “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss. I read that book during grad school, and it really sparked my interest in building a business online.
After reading that book, I opened up my own online business, which allowed me to learn a ton about Internet marketing. Eventually, I also saw the need for helping offline businesses market themselves on the Internet, and during my 2nd year in business school, I launched my own Internet marketing consultancy called The Small Business MBA.
Later on that year, I met some guys who had just launched their own Internet marketing company called Highly Relevant. I was immediately intrigued by them because they knew so much more about the technical aspects of Internet marketing than I did. I met them about a month after they started their business, and we stayed in touch. About 3-4 months later, they offered me an opportunity to join the team – which I gladly accepted.
Q: What were some of the obstacles that you had to overcome to get to where you are now? How do you overcome failure?
The majority of my obstacles were internal. One obstacle was fear — whether it was the fear of failure or the fear of starting a business on my own.
Another internal obstacle was my lack of clarity in what I wanted to do with my career and not having clearly-defined goals.
I believe that you overcome failure with persistence. If you keep on learning from your failures, one day, you’ll get it right.
Q: As a young professional, what were some of the mistakes that you made and what did you learn?
My answer here ties back to the previous question regarding the obstacles and failures. Aside from not being completely clear on what I wanted to do with my life, another mistake that I made was allowing my feelings to dictate my actions – which means that I didn’t have the discipline to stick with some of my aspirations. I’ve now learned that I force my actions to control my thoughts, not the other way around.
From an entrepreneurial standpoint, one of the big mistakes that I made was taking on too many businesses and projects at the same time. I learned that focus is the key to success, and when you achieve that success that you’re looking for in the one thing you’re focusing on, then you can move on to the next challenge. If you’re working on too many things at one time, it’s a high probability that you’re not doing any of them well.
Q: How do you measure success?
I want to live the greatest and best life that I possibly can, and as long as I’m on the path towards doing that, I believe that I’m a success.
Q: What is one advice that you can offer to your readers?
First of all, be really clear about who you are and what your goals are! Develop a personal philosophy of principles, beliefs, and values that you feel strongly about, and let this philosophy guide your decisions and actions.
Having a clear philosophy for yourself is super important because it will ensure that you are not easily swayed by others around you who may be trying to question the dreams that you’re pursuing.
Another piece of advice is to be deliberate and aware of what you are doing on a daily basis and reflect on your actions as often as you can. Don’t just go through the motions. It helps to keep a journal to write down your thoughts and reflections about your actions and decision-making – and you can also analyze the facets of your life that you can improve upon as well.
Q: What do you do for fun?
I love playing basketball and watching sports. Reading is my other favorite hobby –my favorite topics are business, entrepreneurship, leadership, wealth creation, and self-improvement.
Q: What is your favorite 1) gadget(s), 2) software(s), 3) website(s) that makes your life easier and more productive?
1. Basecamp (http://basecamphq.com) — Software for project management and staying organized
2. Hootsuite (http://hootsuite.com) — Streamlines communication on Twitter and other social networks
3. NewsFire (http://www.newsfirerss.com/) — RSS Feed Reader
4. Mixergy (http://www.mixergy.com) — Interviews with successful entrepreneurs
Q: Who would you like to see featured here and why?
Alex Banayan (abanayan via LinkedIn), Blogger at AlexBanayan.com and founder of Professional Pursuits. Alex can provide some great advice on how he built a successful blog and personal brand while still being in school.
Tori Keyes (tkyes via LinkedIn), founder of Plastick Media. Tori has a lot of experience in New Media and can share great tips on how she built her business in that space.
Amie Marse (amiemarse via LinkedIn), founder of ContentEqualsMoney.com. Amie provides amazing customer service, and I think that it’d be great to hear how she’s developed her skills in this area.
Tobi Skovron (tobiskovron via LinkedIn), CEO and founder of Pup-pee Solutions. I think he could share some fantastic advice on how he built a successful international pet product manufacturing business.
Karl Thoennessen (karlthoennessen via LinkedIn), founder of Rogue Territory. Karl is building a fantastic custom jeans business and can shed some great insight on building a business in the clothing space.
Ways to Connect with you:
Twitter: @JustinHong1
LinkedIn: jcwhong
Blog: JustinHong.com
Email: justin.c.hong@gmail.com
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