The unique world created by the expansive reach of social media and internet movers and shakers has created room for companies and individuals to capitalize on a new market. The opportunities in a relatively new industry – digital branding and social media marketing – have multiplied in number, and many young entrepreneurs are working to get their names at the forefront of the field. One of these young leaders, Alex McCurry, has already built an impressive resume and a wildly successful firm at only nineteen years old. With attention to detail, and comprehensive knowledge about his market and customers, McCurry has become a serial brand-builder, servicing clients across a large international network. In a recent interview, he answered some questions about his life and career.
How have you been able to balance the strain of your professional life with the adventure of your personal life?
It’s all intertwined. Managing the relationships with all of my clients can certainly get a bit hectic at times, particularly when you throw travel or events into the mix, but I have a good team that helps keep me going. Making time to work when your environment isn’t the most conducive to productivity is something I have had to learn to deal with.
What kickstarted your business ventures?
My first entrepreneurial venture was when I was 15, I was installing crypto-mining software on peoples computers for a fee/royalty. In hindsight, a terrible business, but it ignited an entrepreneurial fire in me that led me down a crazy path. From there I got involved building e-commerce stores… At the time, I was broke, so I had to figure out how to drive revenue without having to rely on ads converting. This led me to learning the intricacies of Instagram growth and management in an effort to drive traffic to online points of sale in order to generate revenue. This evolved into a digital marketing agency which provided this service at scale, which then developed into my more branding related services and companies later on. As I continued to develop my skill set, I became fortunate enough to work with some really high-profile people and businesses. This helped me scale and gave me a boost of self-confidence that was super necessary at the time to get to the next level.
What are your tips for young entrepreneurs who want to operate businesses and work with high level clientele?
The first thing to do is to master something. It doesn’t really matter what it is, but it is important that you develop a skill that is extremely useful (preferably unique) and ideally caters to the people who you want to surround yourself with. Once you master that skill, it becomes a game of putting yourself out there and doing everything in your power to take shots and show people what you can do. If the first part is done right, you will eventually see a snowball effect of success.
Does your networking rely more on creating your own opportunities or waiting for things to fall into place?
I truly believe that you make your luck. You can’t force relationships, but you can create situations that have higher probabilities of allowing you to build certain relationships. Things sort of have to fall into place in small ways in order to get anywhere, but without seeking opportunities, the chance to even have something maybe fall into place would never initially have existed.
What key moments have shaped the path that you’re on professionally?
When I decided after my senior year of High School to take a chance and skip out on college, it was one of the most terrifying, risky, but important moments in my entire life. At the time I had several college offers from top universities in the world, but I decided to throw it all away for a few business opportunities I felt I couldn’t pass up. Around then I only had a few hundred dollars to my name and a couple friends to rely on so it was one of the scariest moments of my life.
Moving forward, how will you be expanding on your career?
My goal at the moment is to continue building my companies, building relationships, and seeking new interesting opportunities. I am in a very growth oriented mindset at the moment and am surrounding myself with people, ideas, and projects that mesh well with that.
Alex McCurry is an entrepreneur, brand-builder, and marketer whose clients include celebrities, public companies, fortune 500 executives, and industry leaders across a variety of spaces. His PR/Branding firm has grown to be worth over $1M dollars, all by the age of 19.
Follow him on Instagram @alexmccurryo or email him at alexmccurryo@gmail.com for more.