Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Ruley.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Jonathan. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there
I’ve always been entrepreneur minded, but never was sure which direction I wanted to go. I’ve always wanted more in life rather than living the 9-5 job until I retire. For example, in high school, I had a few invention ideas. I did my research, create a presentation and presented them to a company I thought could help. Unfortunately, nothing came from it… But at 16 years old, I tried.
For college, I went to Boise State University and received my Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Marketing. I’m the first in my family to go to college and if I wanted to go, I had to pay my way. Unfortunately, I never received any government grants and didn’t receive much in loans. Meaning, every semester I had to pay the balance of my tuition.
In class, we never learned about digital marketing and I knew that was the direction marketing was going. I realized it was a growing industry. Print marketing is dead, too expensive, and hard to track. Being creative, tech-savvy, and analytical, I started freelancing in digital marketing, not only to learn but to earn extra cash to pay my tuition balance.
I’ve always valued relationships and networking. I found myself at networking events two to three times a week. My workload quickly increased which was great! My work was starting to get noticed around Boise. Things were going great. I was learning so much and so fast which is all I wanted. After close to two years, I realized I wasn’t happy with where I lived. I wanted to leave Boise and move into a bigger city that understood digital marketing more than I did. I’ve always said, “you don’t know what you don’t know”. Luckily, I build a strong enough name in the community I had the opportunity to sell my business.
I decided to pack my bags and move to sunny San Diego, CA. I love the digital marketing industry because it’s always changing as technology continues to advance. I enjoy building relationships and helping others. I believe I’m good at what I do and truly the thing I can help other entrepreneurs grow their business. As I quickly started networking here in San Diego, I decided to start a business again. My business is called ThoughtLeadr in which it’s a full service digital marketing agency. How it’s different than other agencies is that truly care about the clients, their business and it’s a success. I officially created ThoughtLeadr in October 2019.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No, it hasn’t been smooth. It never will be. In business, some people will tell you to want to hear and things may not get done. But those challenges make the successes so much better. The biggest challenge has been that I’m not in a big city where I don’t know anyone and I’m completely restarting.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
ThoughtLeadr is a full service digital marketing agency. We specialized in social media and content marketing. We like to do things differently. Different gets noticed. If it catches your attention, that’s good marketing. What sets ThoughtLeadr apart is that I like to get to know the clients before offering my services. I treat clients as a friend and build that relationship rather than treating them as a transaction.
What were you like growing up?
I’ve always been very outgoing. I have a large family, four sisters, lots of cousins. I was forced into being social at a young age. I love doing things out of my comfort zone, that excites me. Growing up, I’ve always loved sports. I played basketball and football. Very active. I love doing things outside. I’ve always been the person who wants to be friends with everyone. I’ve realized I’m the glue in most friend groups and I like to believe that’s because of the communication skills I developed growing up with a big family.
Contact Info:
- Website: thoughtleadr.co
- Instagram: @thoughtleadr
Suggest a story: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
