Loie Greenwood, ’19, spent last summer in Columbus doing an internship with Complete Research Connection. As the summer drew to a close, Greenwood realized that there was a need within small and medium sized businesses to expand their online presence. This is how Greenwood came up with the concept of Me4Me.
“I was just trying to be a college kid, but I also wanted to run with something I thought would be pretty sweet,” Greenwood said.
Me4Me is a social media consultation business focusing on developing online platforms for small to medium sized businesses.
“We take small businesses and learn about their brand and current marketing efforts and design around their brand,” Greenwood said. “[The businesses] will give us all their brand details and what they like to do and what they want out of our services.”
Greenwood partners with an old high school friend, Grant Benniger, who is currently studying at the Ohio State University. Together, the two use three different platforms, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck and Crowdfire, to coordinate social media postings for a business’s social media presence. These can include anything from Tweets to website promotions.
On Sundays, Greenwood spends roughly four to five hours scheduling posts for clients for the next week or so. He spends the other days of the week consulting with clients. Currently, Greenwood manages seven to nine clients and their social media platforms, including Springfield’s very own Bada Bing! Pizzeria.
At Wittenberg, Greenwood is double majoring in psychology and marketing while also double minoring in statistics and communication. While managing this course load, he is also the Executive Corresponding Secretary at Phi Kappa Psi, the Digital and Social Marketing Intern at Parkhurst Dining, a member of the Student Leader Fellowship and he works as a Tour Guide and within the Oral Communications Center.
With everything Greenwood is involved in, it can be easy to fall behind. However, Greenwood shared a simple strategy for retaining his sanity amidst everything a college lifestyle can bring.
“I am able to prioritize things in my head,” Greenwood said. “Prioritization leads into time management and a hefty to-do list every day.”
Although he spends a great part of his day in classes and consulting with clients, he spends his nights focusing on his schoolwork, and has even discovered a new way to focus.
“I picked up listening to Mozart while I was studying,” Greenwood said.
While listening to Mozart, Greenwood has been focusing on learning to put his phone down in an effort to focus on life around him. To keep up his social life, his fraternity brothers pull him out of his room on weekends and he finally gets a chance to relax.
“Social life is my priority on Saturdays,” Greenwood said.
Overall, Greenwood has one main goal through his creation of Me4Me, a goal that many other Wittenberg students can relate to.
“Truly, the goal is to pay my way through college and give myself a good backing for graduation,” Greenwood said. “I want to come out positive after senior year. Most importantly, I want to gain experience. I want to give myself a fun way to make money rather than working at a Wendy’s.”
Although Greenwood has enjoyed his journey through the creation of Me4Me, it hasn’t been without its problems. Besides learning how to file tax paperwork, Greenwood has had a hard time getting paid and dealing with some business owners.
“The biggest problem so far is the retention rate of clients,” Greenwood said. “The stereotypical small business owner is going to be a baby boomer and they are not as fluent in the social media and digital media area as we are. When they look at things after a month, they are not seeing how that month with me monetized their company. They think they should be bringing in more money, but it takes some time.”
Although he doesn’t know the longevity of Me4Me just yet, Greenwood and Benniger have set a goal of generating ten thousand in profit for the 2017 year.
To anyone thinking about starting their own business, Greenwood shared some words of advice.
“Write it down, plan it out and truly investigate everything that you’ll need to do once this business kicks up,” Greenwood said. “Don’t fall back on Google. Go to the library and do some research. Call the Ohio Database Center to figure out how to file. Google will be misleading and contradicting. Plan it out but go for it. If you fail at this age, you’re not losing a ton, except for some sleep and possibly your sanity.”
Students can find Greenwood on Twitter, LinkedIn and VSCO, as well as around campus within the many things he is involved in. Students can also visit his website: me4me.info.
