I grew up in an entrepreneurial family as the youngest of 8 children. Every Saturday morning at 9 years old, I'd work in my Dad's wood shop—dusting machinery, sweeping floors. At 16, he told me: "The reason I wanted you to do that job was so you learned the value of hard work, so you would work hard enough to never want to do that job again."

In my senior year of high school, my Dad was forced to close his business after losing his largest customer. Watching my hero struggle ignited something in me. I couldn't fix that problem, but I could solve it for others. That's when I decided: I would become one of the best marketers in the world and help people find new customers.