Barrett is a seasoned entrepreneur who has founded OnDemand Storage (commercial storage) and Brightline Media (SEO and digital consulting). He has built and audience of over 130K across Twitter and LinkedIn by sharing his unique perspective on building companies in both the physical and digital world. He shares tactical insights learned from 7+ years as an entrepreneur.
For more information about On Demand Storage and Bright Line Media, visit their website here.
Here we sit down with Barrett to learn more about his entrepreneurial experience.
Q. Tell us a little more about your journey as an entrepreneur – how did you get started? What inspired you?
Barrett: My entrepreneurial journey probably started when I was a kid. I’ve always been interested in building companies and when I got to college, there was an opportunity to do that.
We realized there was a high percentage of international students at the school we went to, so we offered to store their stuff for them while they were home for the summer. It was quite successful and that really solidified my desire to pursue entrepreneurship. I must have been 20 years old when that happened.
Q. So, how did that experience shift your mindset about money or what you could actually achieve?
Barrett: Well, the biggest change I noticed was that I went from thinking about money in terms of salary to thinking about how much value you can create in a certain period of time.
With that first endeavor, I also experienced what it’s like to leverage people and tools. You know, we had a website where people could just sign up for our services and pay with their credit cards online while we were sleeping. We were getting customers and getting money while we were asleep.
That helped me learn that money doesn’t have to be about trading your time, it can be a tool to set up processes that deliver value. So, that was a big turning point for me. The first sale was the most memorable moment because it was proof that what I wanted was possible.
Q. What is your focus now? What things do you do today?
Barrett: Based on that first business, we started a commercial storage company called On Demand Storage. We own and operate it to this day, and we also buy real estate for the company in the Boston metropolitan area, in Massachusetts.
We help companies in all sorts of industries, as well as colleges and universities, to store whatever they need. Space is very hard to come by in this area, so there’s definitely a big need for this type of service. We’ve been doing this for 7 years and now we’re entering a new phase with real estate purchasing, which is very exciting.
I also started an agency called Bright Line Media, using the SEO skills I picked up to help the storage company thrive online. Over the past 6 years, we built an engine to acquire backlinks for companies. We use it to help small to large companies leverage niche-relevant backlinks to improve their web traffic.
Q. What marketing or SEO tools have been most successful?
Barrett: I think organic social media has been one of the most successful. I’ve grown my Twitter account to almost 100,000 followers just by tweeting about the stuff I know and the things I do with a no-nonsense approach. That got a lot of people to reach out to me and join my newsletter. Cold email can also be very effective.
But I think organic social media is one of the best because of the authority you can build with a personal brand. I think the face of the company is something entrepreneurs will be investing in in the next few years. After all, people want to do business with other people.
My advice to people trying to grow on Twitter is to post consistently and provide valuable content. Valuable threads where you offer actionable tips are a great way to reach a greater audience. Also, it’s important to network and make friends on the platform; interact with others’ content, reach out, hop on zoom calls, etc.
In other words, engage with like-minded people because that’s another great way to grow on Twitter. It can be difficult to grow on this platform, but I think it’s one of the most valuable for B2B. Though there’s a bad side to Twitter, ultimately most people are looking to connect.
Q. What advice would you give to someone who’s just starting to build steady growth?
Barrett: I think the first thing they need to learn is patience. In the short term, you need to have a sense of urgency to move you along, but you need patience if you want to reach long-term goals. If you can get your mind to toggle between these mindsets of demand, that will help you be more effective.
Imagine you need to get something done today, that’s when you need that sense of urgency to go into full throttle. But if you’re creating a company strategy, you need to be able to zoom out, see how far you’ve come, and what else needs to be done to reach the ultimate goal. Do whatever you need to do to figure out how to adjust your mindset as needed.
If you make decisions that affect your long-term with a short-term mindset, you may not end up making the smartest decisions. I used to only think about the short-term when I started and it led me to make a lot of mistakes. Once I understood the concept of thinking long-term, it’s crazy how things started to change for me and my businesses.
Q. Where do you sit in the spectrum of manifestation vs. a more reality-based mindset?
Barrett: I think you can make anything happen to a certain extent and your mindset can guide your actions. In my opinion, the real value comes from staying in the game long enough.
If you switch up your business every year, you’re not in it long enough to receive the opportunities you need to thrive or have those lightbulb moments that lead to great success.
So, I think you can make anything happen but it requires consistency and sticking by your business idea. A lot of young entrepreneurs quit as soon as things don’t go their way and start something new. Then, they wonder why they don’t have success. I see that a lot!
Q. What do you see as the next big thing in the next year?
Barrett: Any manifestation of AI. I’m not an AI expert by any means, but I think we’re going to see a lot more companies pop up that are focused on creating AI applications of different kinds. I think that’s going to be a big trend, so I’m interested in seeing how things play out and how I can benefit from it rather than get crushed by it.
Businesses have to continue adapting, which means embracing AI and finding ways to use it. Otherwise, businesses will get left behind and fail. I think AI offers a lot of potentials to make our jobs easier and keep costs low, we just need to learn how to leverage it.
Meet the Founder of Bright Soul Healing, Natasha Baker(Opens in a new browser tab)
To keep up with Barrett and his journey, follow him on LinkedIn.