Jump into the unknown

What does it take for someone to create and start their own business? Is it the ability to notice some need and create a solution? Is it courage to venture out and leap in to the unknown? Or is it the adventurous lure of trying something new and taking challenges head on? My guess, it is all of these, and more.

Entrepreneurship is a lifelong journey and the lessons learned along the way can be helpful in any future jobs. At Textio, we’re lucky to count several entrepreneurs as a part of our brethren, here they share their lessons learned. Since joining Textio they have enhanced our culture, vision, and approach to solving real-world problems.

Chuck Smith: VP of Engineering

After working at small- and mid-sized life sciences companies for several years, Chuck felt the itch to make a bigger impact within a business. As co-founder and VP of Technology at TakeLessons, Chuck was able to do just that. TakeLessons is a leader at providing in-person and online instruction to students across the U.S. in a variety of subjects, including music, tutoring, language, and performing arts.

With such a wide expanse of locations to choose from, TakeLessons faced the challenge of ensuring that each learning category and each city had enough teachers available for prospective students, while also having enough students to keep teachers engaged. How do you solve this? Don’t boil the whole ocean. TakeLessons decided to focus on 5 music lesson types in their home city of San Diego to first win a territory before expanding further.

There is a strong parallel between how TakeLessons strategically expanded and how Textio is looking to add new writing domains beyond job descriptions. At Textio, Chuck works closely with our co-founders and hiring managers to build an innovative engineering team that is aligned with our business goals and objectives while also creating new and exciting technology. Chuck’s experience with TakeLessons continues to provide knowledge and insight that will help guide Textio as we continue to grow.

Marcus Knight: Sr. Account Executive

Working in sales can require a lot of travel; to the point that you are home less than you are on the road. The last thing that you want to do when you get home is run errands, clean, and get your living space setup, especially if you’re going to be leaving soon anyway. For Marcus, the struggle was real and it occurred to him that he can’t possibly be the only person feeling this way. And so, MyButler was born in Chicago.

MyButler is an on-demand service that allows people to get more time in their day to do things they enjoy. After co-founding MyButler, Marcus decided to leave his position with Groupon to focus on the business full time. He was both the sales team and the butler and one of the difficulties he experienced was that there just wasn’t enough time in a day to do both, and be able to fill orders in a timely manner. To solve this problem, Marcus and his partner created a new business model offering a monthly subscription for customers and a partnership with a cleaning service to balance the load.

As of today, MyButler is still up and running in Chicago, however, Marcus has moved to the Seattle area and is a Sr. Account Executive for Textio’s sales team. MyButler taught him the importance of understanding customer needs, taking feedback, and adapting on the fly. The lessons he learned from this entrepreneurial endeavor come through daily in how he communicates and listens to prospective customers and how much he strives to be a partner to his teammates.

Martin McClellan: Sr. UX Designer

While running a Kickstarter for his own novel, Martin was shocked to find that there were very few appropriate venues to advertise his project. At this time, Paul Constant was leaving his position as book editor for the Stranger which allowed Martin to partner with Constant to co-found The Seattle Review of Books.

The Seattle Review of Books is a book review website with a uniquely Seattle perspective. The site covers books of all kinds including works from or about Seattle. The focus of the website is smart writers sharing the experience of reading a particular book at a particular time, and what we can learn from it.

Finding the time to maintain the forum has been difficult. Both Martin and Paul have full time jobs so they contribute to the site in their downtime — at night and on weekends. Associate Editor, Dawn McCarra Bass, plays a huge role running their sponsorship program and expertly editing reviews from outside writers.

Running the Seattle Review of Books has been a humble experience in listening and learning. Martin aims to reflect his learnings back to his audience so that they know he is hearing them. Martin’s passion for writing and literature combined with his ability to understand users are a valuable addition to our Textio team as we constantly have our users in mind as we make improvements and expand our product features and offerings.

Taking a risk can be terrifying, but it can also surprise you and allow you to look at the world through a different lens. We encourage everyone to take a chance, learn something new, and let those lessons equip you for your future adventures. After all, isn’t life supposed to be a journey? Might as well make the most of it!