Josh Iverson

On LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2nd-act-careers-looking-forward-joshua-iverson/

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#BoomerTalent in a #MillennialWorld. I wanted to take a moment to share an interview I just had with Paul Vogelzang @notoldbetter The Not Old Better Show podcast. The interview focuses on the idea of an encore career and talks about working with iMediaSalesTeam as one of our independent (1099 media sales professionals) you can find the podcast on iTunes here – or on Paul’s site https://notold-better.com/.

If you are looking to move into and encore career in sales or biz dev consider digital and social advertising and marketing by representing top online sites that hire our team exclusively to work on their behalf. Checkout iMediaSalesTeam.com/careers and we’ll get you on a networking call with a mentor or fellow team members to see if there are open territories to join our virtual team.

Our firm didn’t start with a strategic focus to partner with boomers and we didn’t start out with a focus to represent top Boomer websites like Ancestry, Legacy, and NextAvenue.org (or represent top Millennial/College media sites like custom data for Facebook and ReptideMedia). I had a strategic focus to partner with best-in-the-world sales professionals who could see the opportunity of exclusivity working on behalf of top sites and media companies. Today, 90% of the current iMediaSalesTeam is age 55+ and we are proud of it. We are just a tight group of pros working as fellow team members. More experience, more contacts, more knowing what you want and need in life, more everything. I get to be a support coordinator and learn everyday from my colleagues and we mentor each other.

iMediaSalesTeam/iMediaAudiences is moving into our own encore, we are taking what we’ve all learned and opening it up to more regions and more independent media professionals and taking on more sites and partners who share our vision and can commit to our team. We are looking at representing podcasters with 1MM + streams per episode and sites with 500K+ plus monthly unique visitors who need ad ops, ad serving, an sales people support.

These comments are focused on the #ageism that I’ve observed from media sales colleagues (mostly male 50+) in hot markets (NY etc.) who can’t seem find a decent gig…working for bad companies, changing jobs every 3 months, bad mangers who know less and get paid more, and even hourly gigs are in short supply, however, I’m sure a similar article could be written about a similar lack of gig opportunities for new moms who are looking for flexibility and can’t seem to get the same gig they had before baby. We welcome and love our mammas just as much as 50+ adults;) See this spotlight article of iMediaSalesTeam member Sharon Edlefson.

Today, there are more opportunities in building a business as a #contract #freelance digital social/marketing professional than ever. If you are motivated, organized, good at sales or business development and are considering real estate, insurance, or starting your own business you might considering looking at the iMediaSalesTeam/iMediaAudiences/ReptideMedia platform and model. If you’ve sold media fantastic if you haven’t we can mentor/train you. Fill in the form at iMediaSalesTeam.com/careers and we’ll get you on a networking call with a mentor or fellow team members to see if there are opportunities to join our virtual team.

Here are some articles on the age gap that exist for the 50+:

https://www.npr.org/2017/03/24/521266749/too-much-experience-to-be-hired-some-older-americans-face-age-bias

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/overcoming-unconscious-age-bias-recruiting-ashley-mercier/

The landscape of B2B transactions is an intimidating one to a cold caller. When trying to secure media spending goes towards the content you sell, or the opposite, it pays to have a network.

iMedia brings those two things together, and avoid the sort of “Death of a Saleman” mentality that bizjournal published in their work:

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2018/01/10/death-of-a-salesman-how-consumer-buying-habits.html

“I did not need experience with online advertising to get started, I could learn to sell advertising. I needed the determination to design my schedule around my priorities, and that I had.” – Sharon Edlefsen, Wife and Mother

There never seems to be enough hours in the day to focus on our real priorities in life. This became apparent when Paul and Sharon Edlefsen decided to make raising their child a top priority.  Sharon had worked in Healthcare Administration for 5 years and had grown her career working with a fortune 500 company. After leaving in 1998 she worked a few contract jobs and then as a telephone operator and marketer. This allowed her to be at home with her son as much as possible during his first years.

Sharon learned about an opportunity selling online ads and developing ad strategies for Meridian Magazine. Within the first year of building a presence for Meridian Magazine in online advertising, she was able to leave the telephone marketing position and turn her attention towards advertising. This supplied her with a more than comfortable living and the freedom she needed to spend time with her family. In 2008 she joined one of the original Ancestry.com founders to build Precision Ad Network. Sharon stayed with Precision until they joined the iMedia family of sites. Her story inspired the policies of our growing network of media professionals. Everyone working with iMedia has the time to make a great living, be PTA president for their child’s school or their soccer coach, whatever is important and meaningful for raising your child.

“I was not afraid of trying something new. There was simply no two ways about it, I had to have a job that supported what I believed in most.” – Sharon Edlefsen

Starting your own business and building a portfolio of ad clients and publishers may seem intimidating. Sharon agrees, it was, it took hard work and determination. Her father’s entrepreneurial spirit taught her not to fear change or challenge. This lesson is one she also taught her child. She worked wherever she wanted to be. Whether she was calling clients in a parking lot during her son’s practice or working evenings, as necessary, when her husband was home with their son. Taking advantage of modern technology, such as a smart phone and Wi-Fi, Sharon had the freedom and the mobility to meet most of her priorities, never feeling tied to an office or a desk. Being part of a strong network of media professionals all with personal ownership means priorities are left where they belong. For 18 years Sharon has been where she wanted to be, when she wanted to be there, such as on the sidelines cheering on her rugby loving son.

Written by: Josh Iverson, @JoshiMediaSales

Regardless of your politics, the new tax plan is going to be a boom for freelance or independent 1099 contractors–both those who have formed their own LLC and sole proprietors. Independent media professionals like our team at iMediaSalesTeam will also benefit from the tax cut. Ryan Westenskow, Partner at Red Rock CPAs says, “assuming they are married and their respective QBI is $315K or less, the advantages can be quite significant as they offer an extra 20% deduction right off the top.’

According to @eMarketer Digital, spending will see double-digit growth from 2017 to 2018 and soar from $83.00 billion in 2017 to $129.23 billion in 2021. Digital ad expenditures surpassed TV for the first time in 2016, and the gap will widen by roughly $11 billion this year. It’s unlikely that a traditional sales guy generating 10 million a year will be paid 1 million in commission, but as an independent sales person I’ve had ~ 1 million dollar years and I don’t see any reason that can’t be repeated for iMediaSalesTeam members and other independent media professionals if they get the model right.

The market is growing. Technology, digital marketing scale, and social reach have finally converged to make million dollar commissions possible, not only in national markets, but also in local and regional markets.

I started working as an independent media sales consultant in 2009 when NBC Universal acquired Weather Channel Companies and decided they didn’t need my small Boston team. The market was beginning to change. There were fewer media companies offering $100K+ a year and even fewer offering products that advertisers were buying. It seemed that very few of my colleagues were able to stay at the same gig for more than a year. Unrealistic budget goals and changing technology meant more pressure and turnover. I felt like it was less risky to work independently: as an independent consultant, if I worked with five media companies and one let me go, I still had four more. I worked my own hours, expensed my home office costs, and was able to focus on my own brand and goals.

The new tax plan will benefit both independent media professionals and others collecting income from some form of pass-through business.  2018 is a great time to maximize your independent revenue. We are aiming to make this the best year to join iMediaSalesTeam (iMedia Careers). Pairing the tax benefits with iMedia’s people, platform, and portfolio, we aim to launch new media markets to new independent sales professionals and set them up to make as much money as possible in 2018.

For more information regarding the tax plan, see this Forbes article. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2017/12/22/what-tax-reform-means-for-small-businesses-pass-through-entities/#463ab8ac6de3