Let’s start this off with a little backstory.
My name is Josiah (a.k.a. Jojo), and I’m the owner/founder of the Saskatoon-based digital media agency, Flo Media. Being home-schooled from grades 7–12, I started forming a big interest in technology and computers, teaching myself how to code in my downtime by watching hundreds of videos on YouTube and reading a few books here and there.
After high school, I was wanting to put my new skill set to use and get a job as a web developer and start building experience in the programming world. People were telling me that I had to go to university and get a degree in computer science or computer engineering in order to get the job I was going after, and with my personality, I absolutely hated hearing that. I already knew how to program and didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars learning the same stuff in classes that I had already learned at home. Many individuals doubted that I could pull off getting a job in the developer field and kept telling me that I should just “play it safe and go to university.”
Now, there’s something you need to know about me: When someone tells me I can’t do something that I find important, I’ll do everything I can to prove them wrong. So that’s exactly what I did. When everyone started questioning my ability to get a job as a developer without a post-secondary degree, I became determined to do it my way and immediately started sending out resumes to every job posting in Saskatoon that I could find.
A few months went by without anything promising, and then one day I got an email back from a web development team within the city, asking if I would be available for an interview at a local coffee shop. So, of course, I accepted and was in a meeting with the owner the following week, explaining how I felt I would be a good addition to his crew. About 2 weeks later, I was offered the job. Just like that, I accomplished my mission and proved the doubters wrong. It was the greatest feeling.
I’m no longer a part of that company anymore, but I enjoyed my time there and worked with a great group of people. I learned a lot and I wish nothing but the best for them in the future. As for me though, I needed to move on and recognize what my DNA was hinting I would be good at, and that thing was to build a business of my own.
It was at this time when I realized that I wasn’t quite like everyone else and started to noticed that I loved the competitiveness and process of starting a new company. It was an area where I could constantly challenge myself and do things the way I thought they should be done, while still showing people that I didn’t need to go to university if I wanted to become successful in life. You need to remember, I’ve always loved going against the normal way of doing things, but it was at this point when I finally recognized that about myself.
So why am I telling you all of this?
It’s because I want you to know where it all began and understand who I am. My goal through these articles is to document the rest of my journey as an entrepreneur and, in the end, provide a blueprint that people can follow to become more successful in their lives. I personally don’t think I have the right to say I’ve “made” it yet, but I want to record the process and try to provide value along the way. Whether I fail or succeed in this, it’ll be interesting to take a look back at these posts in the future and see how I handled things. Having explained all of that, let’s get started.