Changing or progressing your career and working through your job search can be discouraging. You may be seeking guidance from career coaches on YouTube, asking friends or former colleagues for support, or setting up calls with mentors. It’s a rough road, we understand. You may be recollecting on your entire career-life, dating back to your first job. Don’t be discouraged! Everyone has a long road in their career, whether they’re starting out or twenty years in. Kent Lewis, the founder of Anvil Media Inc, a digital agency right here in Portland, shared a bit about his experiences in the working world.
What employer cut you your first W2 (your first real job)?
Kent: My first job was Bag Boy at Albertson’s at my neighborhood store. It was the worst job I’ve ever had. I made $3.85/hr and after all the taxes and union dues, I think I was making about $2.25/hr to run around the parking lot collecting shopping carts.
How has your education impacted your career?
Kent: My high school education provided me an exceptional foundation for writing and verbal communications that have been invaluable throughout my career. My college education was highly relevant, as I graduated with a BA in Business with a Marketing concentration. I’m an agency owner, so the coursework was very helpful.
What was your first job in your current career and how did you get it?
Kent: My first career job was an unpaid internship at a full-service agency. It was a full-time, three-month public relations internship I secured via a referral from my mother. An Account Supervisor at the agency was on the board of her non-profit organization. I interviewed with him and another Supervisor on the advertising side and felt PR was a better fit for me. I learned a great deal about how agencies work and was hooked.
What is your current job?
Kent: I’m President and Founder of Anvil Media, a measurable marketing agency founded in 2000 and based in Portland. I’ve worked at nine agencies, founded two, co-founded two, and, most importantly, have been fired from two. I founded Anvil the week after I was fired from an agency. Early on, I had co-founded the agency in 1999 and then restarted Anvil after I was let go from another agency that acquired the company.
What was the worst job you ever had and why?
Kent: Albertson’s was by far my worst job, as it was very physically and emotionally challenging. With flat feet and boat shoes, I always returned home with sore feet. I was also verbally and physically abused by one of the checkers and a manager. I was a small kid at 15 and it scared me to death and made me hate unions and the grocery industry.
What was the best job you’ve ever had and why?
Kent: Outside of running Anvil for 20 years, my second most-favorite job was a short stay at Goodguys.com. It was a consumer electronics online retailer back in early 2000, where I was able to validate the services I’d been providing to clients since 1994 by setting up all digital marketing with virtually no budget. I optimized the website and user experience and built out an email newsletter and affiliate program. I even invested $50 into GoTo.com, the predecessor to Yahoo and Google Ads. I only lasted 3 months before they had to let me, and another senior manager, go for financial reasons. But in that time, my optimization efforts increased average daily unique visitors from 6,000 to 7,000 with virtually no cost. Even more phenomenal, the first email drop we sent generated nearly $100,000. When you love your job, you accomplish great things.
What is the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Kent: At my graduation from college, my uncle told me to “stay close to the money.” I didn’t know what it meant at the time, but I soon learned the hard way. My career in PR was fun and challenging, but I realized I was at least two degrees from the money. Within two years, I transitioned to digital marketing where I was no more than one degree from the money, and I could track and measure the flow of revenue. That insight provided a critical foundation to my career in digital and agency ownership.
What was the greatest career lesson you learned (perhaps from a big mistake)?
Kent: My most expensive lesson as a business owner was that you should always inspect, not expect. That is hard to do when the money is coming in and the bills are getting paid. For years, Anvil was growing nicely and profits were strong, but there were underlying issues with our organizational structure that lead to the start of a potentially systemic failure in 2013. That led to a complete rebuild of the agency. Had I looked under the hood while we were speeding along, I would have discovered hamsters, duct tape, and bailing wire. I’m still refining the business today as a result.
What is the greatest accomplishment you’ve achieved in your career?
Kent: The most rewarding career accomplishment for me was having lunch with my marketing idol Seth Godin. I set a career goal a few years prior to meet him someday. I called him to see if he’d be willing to be a keynote speaker at an SEMpdx event known as SearchFest and while he couldn’t make it work out, we developed a relationship. I offered to buy him lunch when I was in New York speaking at a conference and those two hours changed my view of the business and marketing world. I’m still grateful for his time, insights, and inspiration.
Where can people find you online?
Kent: You can find me on Twitter at @KentjLewis, LinkedIn at KentLewis, and at AnvilMediaInc.com.
We thank Kent for sharing his career-life story with us! Keep reading our blog for more thoughts on job searching and career. And don’t forget to follow Kent on Twitter and LinkedIn for more information!
