Joe Lashinger is the Founding Partner at Think it First, a digital strategy, design, and technology team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has about 20+ years of executive-level experience in all aspects of sales and marketing. Over the years, he’s had the opportunity to work with clients both large and small, across a variety of industries. They build web experiences and applications that have a real impact on our customers’ business and their bottom line.
In this episode, Joe explains how he got to where he is today and the growth he experienced along the way. He discusses what worked for Think It First and what didn't, the reason for their success, and his future plans for the agency. He states that “people are everything” and why the college system needs to include apprenticeships in the curriculum. He also talks about how this commitment has impacted his hiring process, noting that they’ve hired good people who don’t have traditional agency experience but do well in their roles because of their attitude and will toward learning new things. Finally, Joe gives his thoughts on how their agency will fare over the next few years and where the industry is heading.
This Cast Covers:
- Why Joe didn’t make it to the BDAM anti-retreat in Tahoe (05:07)
- Joe’s pro golfer background before jumping into the agency space and starting Think It First (06:16)
- His opinion of college and what he would change about it if he could (08:04)
- Joey proposes college should be a combination of taking courses and micro-apprenticeships (11:15)
- Joe gives real-world examples of these apprenticeships by sharing his experiences at the Golf Management Program (14:45)
- People are everything – why some of the best people on his team are not classically trained for the work they do now (16:50)
- How Think It First has grown as an agency to hitting double-digit revenue year over year (19:53)
- Joe explains his thought process from wrestling through niching to making the decision to niche and how it’s helped the agency grow (21:50)
- The two best things Joe has done recently that expedited his growth as a CEO and agency owner (29:09)
- What the future holds for Think It First does the future look like for us? (31:06)