QA with Emerson Spartz, Viral Content Entrepreneur

QA with Emerson Spartz, Viral Content Entrepreneur QA with Emerson Spartz, Viral Content Entrepreneur Image Source: Emerson SpartzAT THE helm of the viral content empire, Dose, which has raised $35m in funding, 29-year-old Emerson Spartz is a true king of viral content marketing.Emerson Spartz  is also a walking advertisement for the virtues of home-schooling over State education systems, as  he was a successful entrepreneur by  the age of 12 years.“We had to escape many near-death experiences and almost ran out of money several times.”His experimental and self-taught forays into coding, writing, editing and design, yielded Mugglenet, which became the world’s Number One Harry Potter fan website.The latter was also aided by the fact that Emerson Spartzâ€"in the days before Google and search engines predominatedâ€"was a one-man search-engine, and emailed every single Harry Potter webmaster on the Internet to spread the word about his site.Fast forwarding through years of never-ending research, reading, observation, thought and innovation, Emerson Spartz has steadily built an onli ne empire, founded as Spartz Media in 2009 and now called Dose, which encompasses several companies that are major players in the viral content domain.These include OMGfacts,  Dose.com and GivesMeHope (the latter launched with his wife, web developer Gaby Montero, whom he met while  attending University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business).In little over a year, OMGfacts.com  and Dose.com went from zero to a total of 45m unique visitors per month, and since, Dose has become the platform that runs all the other Emerson Spartz sites.His career to date has blended pushing of the envelope at every stage â€" “First, I made ten-thousand-dollar  mistakes, then hundred-thousand-dollar  mistakes, then million-dollar  mistakes.” â€" and being mindful about developing himself as well as his business: “I spend 2 hours before work every day on personal growth.” (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 10 Questions for Emerson SpartzEmerson Spartz recently cleared som e time in his schedule to speak to AGENT about his remarkable entrepreneurial career: an amazing tale  that  illustrates the power of independent thinking and self-improvement. He is also conscious of any time and money spent needlessly, and  reveals how he would guide  the 12-year-old kid who developed Mugglenet  onto more efficient pathways. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 1. Briefly tell us how you first got into business, and describe your business goals.At age 12, I convinced my parents to let me drop out of school and homeschool myself. A month later, I founded Mugglenet, the #1 Harry Potter website and one of the largest websites of the early  2000s. Fast forward to present day and the company, Dose, has raised $35m and is one of the fastest growing digital media companies.2. Who are your business icons and inspirations?Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg, and  Jeff Bezos. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle | | []).push({}); 3. What has been your biggest challenge in business, and how did you surmount it?Like nearly every startup ever, we had to escape many near-death experiences and almost ran out of money several times. First, I made ten-thousand-dollar  mistakes, then hundred-thousand-dollar  mistakes, then million-dollar  mistakes.4. Work-Life balance: is it possible? How do you achieve it?Plan A should be to find a job that you love so much it doesnt feel like work, then you can work 70 hour weeks and still feel balanced. Thats rare, though, and Plan B is what most people are forced to settle for: a normal work/play balance. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 5. What is the first thing you do every day?I spend 2 hours before work every day on personal growth. Specifically, Im focused on building skills and learning about topics that interest me.6. What screen saver picture is currently on your phone?A normal, pretty one, since I got a new phone, but your question re minded me that I need to change it back to my motivational pic of a wolf that says ‘Hey. Whatever youre supposed to be doing right now go f*cking do it!’ (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 7. What is the most important app on your mobile phone, and why?A white noise app called Brain Waveâ„¢. I can read twice as fast (and you can too seriously) because every time I read, I listen to white noise. It eliminates the ‘micro interruptions’ (like sirens, dogs barking, etc) that cause you to lose your place.8. What is the last thing you Googled?The location of a speaking event I attended. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 9. What item do you never leave the house without, and why?Backpack. I take my backpack everywhere. And pants. I always wear pants.10. What advice would you give to your younger self starting out in business?Spend at least 1 hour per month looking for tools  and services that save you time  and money, like the ones that can be fo und on startupstash.com. And read about Lean Startup Developmentâ€"it’ll save you tons of time  and money.