Esther: You're listening to The BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. I'm Esther Steinfeld and my guest today is Matt Wilson, Cofounder of Under30CEO.com. Matt, welcome to The BusinessMakers Overtime Show.

Matt: Thanks very much.

Esther: It's good to have you here. So I wanna know exactly what is Under 30 CEO?

Matt: Sure, Under 30 CEO is a website that we created to help the young entrepreneurs go out and realize their dreams. We know that there are a lot of people out there who have big, ambitious ideas but don't necessarily have the means to actually start them or follow through on them and they need that support and inspiration to go out and make it happen.

Esther: Interesting. So how exactly does Under 30 CEO accomplish that? I know you guys have a lotta content on your site and I personally read your site all the time. I think it's got some really great information. So tell me how you guys really go about doing that. What's your goal?

Matt: The first thing that we want people to realize is they're not alone out there because so many young people have, you know, trouble realizing that entrepreneurship is a lonely road and unless you have that support group, you know it's gonna be difficult. So when you have questions for your business – we're really trying to create a community where we can get answers and we can meet other like-minded people and that's all done through social media and right now, like you said, you're a listener and we were able to connect just from hearing buzz about it on Twitter. So this is how it all starts.

Esther: Absolutely. So if you don't mind me asking, how old are you, exactly?

Matt: I just turned 24.

Esther: So tell me what sparked this idea?

Matt: I was a graduate from Bryant University in 2008 and I moved home and I realized I wasn't surrounded by these smart, young, innovative, passionate people anymore. While I was in school, I was part of the collegiate entrepreneurs' organization and we had this awesome program that I was president of. We had 150 ambitious young people who all wanted to go out and do something other than climb the corporate ladder and you know Bryant's very focused on finance and accounting and I realized that's not what I wanted to go – I didn't wanna sit in a cubicle and crunch numbers like a lotta my classmates. What I wanted to go out and make things happen for myself and be able to be excited every single day. That's kinda how it started and my business partner, Jared O'Toole and I were in the same boat. We were both working on several different businesses right when we graduated and we realized that we needed that support group. We needed more help than we could get just bootstrapping in our basement. And so we started Under 30 CEO almost, well a little over a year now and things have been going great ever since.

Esther: Awesome. So is your website actually making money right now?

Matt: We are currently making money. We just started the Rock Star Business Series and we're helping young people grow their brands, their social media presences and get their brands the attention that it deserves. So we'll teach you, in a seven-step process, how you can get the word out there about your business and then you can, you know, be featured in Business Week like we have and have all these sort of things that go along with really creating a nice buzz about your business.

Esther: Oh cool. So what kind of readership do you guys have?

Matt: Actually, it's funny. People ask us all the time, "Do we have to be under 30?" You know, "I just turned 31," actually, we had somebody write us an email and – they filled out a fraud report on our website that said that they had signed up for the community and that they were so sorry because they were over the age of 30.

Esther: Oh my gosh.

Matt: And oh geeze. That's not the point and we do catch a lot of flak for having this brand as Under 30 CEO but it makes even older people want to live vicariously through other young people or – we say it's all about the mindset. So if you're young and you're passionate about what you do, you can, you know, that's who we want as our readers. So we have thousands of people who come to our site every day and get their source of inspiration and support and that's what we're all about.

Esther: Very cool. So what about employees? Do you guys have other employees besides you and your business partner?

Matt: Myself and Jared, my business partner, we've been able to take advantage of some nice college internship programs and get some young people that are actually, are actually hiring for the spring semester for interns and it's all done virtually, so they can be on their college campus and spreading the word about Under 30 CEO and then we have a team of about 40 to 50 different writers, from all across the globe, who we've met through social media. You know, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter ­– people who wanna get their name out there as experts in their field and teach other people what they know through their business experiences and we're giving them a platform to do it.

Esther: That's great. I mean it sounds like you guys are really taking advantage of all the tools that you have, that you can use, especially because a lot of these tools are free and I know a lot of other CEOs are utilizing them as well.

Matt: That's exactly right and when you're young and you're trying to start a business, you know, most college students have no money. Most recent graduates are in the red.

Esther: Right.

Matt: And it really costs no – little to no money – to do what we've been able to do.

Esther: It sounds great but what exactly have your challenges been? I mean you guys must've faced some pretty serious challenges being so young and starting a business.

Matt: Yes, and I will tell you right off the bat that it's not as glamorous as everyone thinks it is. It's great being this under 30 CEO and creating this image and going on new adventures every single day, but along with those adventures come challenges that are always so fun. And staying focused when all your friends are, you know, out at happy hour or working from 9 to 5 and then, while we have to be, you know, in the office doing what has to be done to make it happen; I mean we're completely in control of our own destiny. So there are definitely a lot of challenges but I think the biggest thing for entrepreneurs is, again, having that support group that you can fall back on and people to kinda pull you up along the way, especially when you're young. I mean I can't tell you how many people, especially my family, just wanna say, "Hey, get a job." "Hey, stop trying to do this, you know, hey, this is silly." Or they wanna discount you right off the bat. So –

Esther: Wow.

Matt: There's a lot of naysayers out there, that's for sure.

Esther: Oh my gosh. Well it sounds like you guys are still doing great things in spite of all the naysayers and I think that's part of being a CEO is just focusing on what your goals are and making them happen. And I love that you said you're in control of your own destiny because that is something that a lot of people don't know. So did you always wanna be an entrepreneur?

Matt: My entire life I've always wanted to be entrepreneur, whether it was lemonade stands or I used to go to the golf course at night and take the ball is out of the woods and sell them, or mowing lawns –

Esther: Wow.

Matt: - landscaping, whatever I could do to put myself to work, I would do it.

Esther: That is really awesome and actually that was when this question, was what was your first job.

Matt: My first business – I couldn't even tell you how old I was but, okay, I remember my brother was my employee and he was in diapers and I'm two-and-a-half years older than my brother, so however old that makes me. We had a lemonade stand and I used to have him in his diapers, every time someone would drive by, he would bang on his little xylophone that he had and get people to pull over and I remember the first dollar that I made. We sold lemonade for five and ten cents so we had these little tiny cups or five cents and then the, you know maybe six ounce cups for ten cents and my little brother went out to the car to get the money from the guy and he gave us a dollar and told us to keep the change. I couldn't even believe it.

Esther: Oh my gosh. The last thing I wanna ask you is what advice do you have for other young people who are ready to kinda take this leap and start working for themselves but just don't know where to start.

Matt: I would say just go for it. You can't teach this entrepreneurial mindset where you just go out and you take advantage of every single opportunity. But I'd just say go and do it. I mean go to every single networking event that you possibly can. Shake every single person's hand. Read every book, every article that you possibly can. Get on twitter and start engaging with people. Anything that you can do to get yourself ahead of the next guy or to further educate yourself on entrepreneurship, just do it. And if you can, you know, start your blog and start making a name for yourself, that's how the opportunities are gonna start coming to you. So if you go out and start looking for opportunities, eventually they will start coming back to you tenfold.

Esther: That is great advice. Thank you so much and thank you for being here, really appreciate it.

Matt: No, not a problem. This was fun, Esther.

Esther: You're listening to The BusinessMakers Overtime Show, heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. That wraps up our interview with Matt Wilson, Cofounder of Under30CEO.com. And now another business survival tip with Carl Kliemann.