Nick Eubanks is an extremely smart digital strategist from Philadelphia and all around nice guy. You can’t keep up with him, but you can try by following his SEO blog. Thanks to him for sharing this bit of inspiration.

I got into the technology space (I feel like my father when I say that) while I was in college, and like most, it was completely by accident, however I don’t know anyone who has been in SEO for over 5 years who isn’t an accidental SEO, so this is nothing new or interesting.

He put a lot of time into teaching me how to sell the value of his services

In 2004 I was a sophomore at Saint Joe’s (Go Hawks!) and as part of the Haub School internship program, I got hired working at Morgan Stanley. I was not doing anything glamorous or exciting, I worked for an older gentleman named Ned Saxman who was one of the senior brokers in their West Conshohocken office at the time. He put a lot of time into teaching me how to sell the value of his services… which didn’t seem to matter much since at 150-200 calls per day, I figured I was bound to at least stumble across a lead or two..

something to the tune of $2.5 million in new investment accounts

After a couple months I started warming up some leads and eventually was able to get him a few new clients, something to the tune of $2.5 million in new investment accounts. Around the same time there was another broker in the office named Jim Wiley whom I became friendly with. This guy was young, hungry, and looking to leverage technology to grow his business… we started grabbing lunch together on the 10th floor and quickly became friends.

After a couple more months I left the broker pit and Jim and I worked on what would be the first email marketing campaign to ever receive approval from Morgan Stanley’s compliance department. And so began my career in digital marketing.

Through it all I have had help and guidance from folks much smarter than myself

Jim was one of many mentors I’ve been fortunate enough to have throughout my career, and although he is not in marketing, he helped me figure out that I wanted to be. Over the course of what has now been almost a decade I have worked on marketing with people in very different scenarios, including raising awareness about auto-immune disease, buying thousands of units of multi-family real estate, and even starting my own companies. Through it all I have had help and guidance from folks much smarter than myself, to whom I owe everything.

Identify who helps you get over the hurdles within your life and your career

Finding a mentor is not about looking as much as it is about realizing. You are probably already surrounded by people who help, guide, and inspire you – the hard part is taking notice. Identify who helps you get over the hurdles within your life and your career and then make it a priority to see and spend time with these people.

never let me give up on what I wanted

I cannot imagine where I would be or what I would be doing if it wasn’t for the critical direction provided to me by so many over the past almost 10 years. My desire to help other entrepreneurs and my near obsession with startups directly stems from my experiences with the people who took me under there wing, told me what I needed to hear, and never let me give up on what I wanted.

the individual experiences are greater than the sum of their parts

I realize this was supposed to be a series about highlighting specific mentors in our lives, but sometimes I think the individual experiences are greater than the sum of their parts – I’ve taken so much from so many, and at the end of it all, it has led to me to where I want to be – building and helping others build.

To all of those who have helped me grow over the years, both as a person and as an entrepreneur, thank you.

A special thanks to Ned Saxman, Jim Wiley, Mike Rosenfelt, Joe Fetterman and Pete Talman, Dave McClain, Bill Tomassini, Richard Binswanger, Will and Alice Bast, Will Snook, and my Father.

Contact Nick

http://www.seonick.net/

https://twitter.com/nick_eubanks

Do you have a mentor story you want to share? I’d love to hear it!