Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Flowers.
Andrew, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born in a small town 2 hours north of LA in the San Joaquin Valley. Entrepreneurship has always been a passion of mine and since a young age, I was always interested in coming up with large grandiose ideas, then thinking about their practicality later. I attended school hoping to become a computer software engineer however in 2016 I decided to take a graphic design course. This class opened my eyes to the possibility of selling my skills online as a freelancer and independent contractor. At this same time, I started to focus heavily on social media and began connecting with teenage entrepreneurs like Casey Adams and Kieran O’Brien. Through this networking, I was able to begin my tenure as Creative Director for Kieran O’Brien, a Gen-z entrepreneur who owned an automotive digital marketing firm. This experience allowed me to grow my skills and knowledge in design and marketing and be able to learn the ins and outs of the industry. I continued in this position until I chose to head to college last fall (2018) at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona.
Funny enough, when I chose to move out to Phoenix, I found out that all the entrepreneurs I had connected with over social media, were also moving out here as well. This turned out to be a valuable move as I was able to get involved with them at a deeper level by being able to see them frequently, build my skills, provide value into their life, as well as get introduced to their bigger network. In October of 2018 my close friend and now business partner Connor Keene and I started our healthcare digital marketing firm, Greatr Media. The growth of our firm has been an amazing learning experience as we were recently invited to join the Grand Canyon University Innovation Center. The Innovation Center is a pilot project incubator/accelerator that is currently the home to the who’s who of entrepreneurship like Curt Jones, founder of the world-famous Dip n’ Dots, who recently launched his newest product out of the space. At Greatr Media, Connor and I were able to develop the Perfect Patient Growth System, an efficient and scalable system that helps to increase dental patient acquisition through high demographically targeted digital advertisements. Although Greatr Media is our business focus, Connor and I felt that it was important to invest our time into a passion project as well, which is why we became the President and Vice President of IDEA – the Innovation Development and Entrepreneurship Association here in Phoenix. IDEA is a nonprofit group partnered with the university (GCU) with the purpose of educating, inspiring, and motivating entrepreneurship among the student community through events, workshops, and speaking tours.
The success of our members is the most important focus to me because if I am successful and bring no one up, then I will feel my life as a waste, but if I am able to help make someone other than myself successful, then I will consider my career to have had value. Overall, I think the most important factor in my story so far has been my faith. There were many nights where I sat, like many of us, and wondered if everything I was doing was all worth it. I kept my faith that Christ had a plan for my future, and as it turns out, things are moving very fast and I am beginning to really leave a good footprint here in Phoenix. My biggest piece of advice to young entrepreneurs and those who are beginning to enter into their careers/futures is a quote my mom told me. She said the word FAIL stands for First Attempt In Learning. We see it too often where people try something once and then give up because it fails. Whether you are an entrepreneur, a college freshmen, or someone working in their career, don’t expect to get everything right on the first try, it’s the small consistent actions that you take each day that will really move the needle in your life.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There have been many struggles along the way.
Business Struggles: The stress of running a business and managing clients. The stress of being able to balance school, work, and social life – biggest struggle.
Not being sure if what I am doing is worth it. Having to learn how to run a business at such a young age with limited experience.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Greatr Media – what should we know?
Greatr Media is a digital marketing firm that helps healthcare practices develop an exit strategy so their practice can be sold for a higher price. We do this by utilizing paid advertising to increase client acquisition in the years/months prior to a practice sale. By installing a scalable system that consistently brings in new patients, doctors can grow their practice and be able to be continuously adding to their books/revenue.
I would say that we are most proud of the impact that we’ve been able to have. We’ve done a lot of pro bono projects for people in our network and we’re happy that we’ve been able to build a name for ourselves in the industry and that we value our clients as personal relationships.
We’re set apart from our competition in that we don’t try a cookie cutter approach to marketing for healthcare. Our competition is very focused around packages and how a solution can be cut/pasted onto each dental practice, however we work with our clients to design a custom marketing plan that is unique to each practice based on their goals and current market.
Andrew Flowers and Connor Keene started Greatr Media in late 2018 when they discovered a great need in their local business community. With the need established, they started Greatr Media – a marketing firm that helps healthcare practices leverage digital media to increase patient acquisition. Guided by the pillars of Client Success, Personal Relationships, and Expanded Horizon to guide every decision, the team at Greatr Media has been able to build relationships with over 15 happy clients that have extended far beyond business. The mindset of Greatr Media is captured in their simple mission statement: ” To help healthcare practices succeed online with imagination, ingenuity, and innovation.”
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Connor Keene – Close friend and business partner. Connor and I met in college and since then we’ve been able to impact hundreds of entrepreneurs and to have someone like that by your side makes me extremely grateful.
God – He has given me the ability to be alive and healthy enough to work on my business and has given me the character traits that allow me to impact people. I would be nothing without him.
Timothy Kelley – Entrepreneur and mentor at GCU. Tim is a professor at the university but the amount of time that he has dedicated to helping us build both Greatr Media and IDEA has been priceless.
Joshua Denne – Entrepreneur and mentor. I met Josh through my entrepreneur network and since we met he has continued to invest into the growth of Greatr Media, but also me as an entrepreneur personally. Josh has opened up his home and heart to us and has continued to remain involved in our lives. Blessed to know him.
John Malott – Entrepreneur and mentor. He has provided me with valuable insight into entrepreneurship in many aspects and has continued to help motivate and remain open to any questions that I may have.
Robert Vera – Entrepreneur and Director of the GCU Innovation Center. In the short time that I have known Robert, he has proven to be a resource to any question that I have. Not only lending his own experience, but Robert has dedicated a ton of time to helping us to scale our business not to mention singlehandedly building GCU’s premier entrepreneur incubator.
Contact information:
- Website: www.greatrmedia.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/
andrewrflowers - Facebook: www.facebook.com/
andrew12flowers - Twitter: www.twitter.com/andrewrflowers
- Other: www.linkedin.com/in/
andrewflowers12
Image Credit:
Nathan Moore
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