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Digital Marketing Whiz Started Business With $20 And A Dream The 19th Century author Oscar Wilde said, “Youth is wasted on the young.”
The common thread to success with these sites is “marketing and advertising,” said Elizetxe, who notes that his company has grown from a sole proprietorship to over 40 team members, nearly all of whom work from remote locations. Many of them are contractors.
Granted, Wilde lived in an age long before the advent of the Internet and the likes of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Larry Page and Arizona’s Josh Valdez-Elizetxe. Okay, Elizetxe hasn’t quite joined the ranks of global tech titans like Page and Zuckerberg, but give him time…give him time.
As to why he lives and works in Phoenix, Elizetxe said, “I think Arizona’s a fantastic place to do business. I think it’s wrong to think Silicon Valley is the only place to find talented people. The only thing I need is a laptop and great Wi-Fi.”
Elizetxe is the President of Foresold, and founder of Tomi Academy, an online training program for entrepreneurs. A self-described “new wave entrepreneur,” he is best known for his digital marketing expertise. Elizetxe started his first company as a high school freshman with a $20 loan from his parents. He used that money to buy his first domain name, and then began building websites. After graduating valedictorian at Alhambra High School in 2011, Elizetxe went on to study computer information systems at Arizona State University (he was the first in his family to graduate high school and college).
He also likes that Arizona has a talented pool of skilled immigrant workers, said Elizetxe, who are “intellectually hungrier than most people from here” and are not afraid to join a risk-inclined, startup venture. Elizetxe also sets time aside to share his story and his ideas with young people, including Latino and minority youth. “I tell them, ‘Most speakers who talk to you come from outside of your community, but I was literally in the place where you’re sitting.’ ”
He wasted no time finishing his undergraduate degree. No kidding. Taking 20+ credits each semester, while also completing the rigorous requirements of the Barrett Honors College, Elizetxe earned his bachelor’s and graduated summa cum laude in just two years.
He says he is not afraid to get personal when he talks to the students he meets. “If it’s one-on-one, tears come out. Tears come out on both sides,” said Elizetxe. “I love talking to them and I’m just grateful I’m able to inspire.”
“I was running my business from my Barrett dorm room and closing deals between classes,” Elizetxe told the Arizona Republic in a recent feature about ASU-trained entrepreneurs. His parents wanted him to become a doctor. Elizetxe wanted to study business. “In accounting, I would learn things and apply it to my business that evening.” Today, Elizetxe’s various companies generate millions in revenue, though he has yet to seek venture capital investment. He doesn’t have anything against it, he just hasn’t needed it.
Today, Elizetxe says he’s shifted away from developing digital marketing campaigns for other companies to the business of creating online companies. In the past 12 months, he said he and his team have created websites selling products as diverse as garage door parts to gourmet food. Every month, over 10 million people visit the websites in Elizetxe’s portfolio.
To learn more about Elizetxe, visit JoshuaElizetxe.com or TomiAcademy.com.
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Photos Courtesy of Joshua Elizetxe
Elizetxe adds one reason he hasn’t yet solicited venture capital may be because “I came from a house where you don’t talk about venture capital at the kitchen table.”