An Introduction

I met Josh Jamieson playing pick-up soccer a couple of years ago. He was the only Brit among us, had pretty good skills and hustled harder than anyone else on the field. I liked him right away. I grew up playing soccer, and though I was never the most skillful player, I was always known to be a tenacious player – especially after giving the ball away. We had that in common.

When I first asked Josh to hang out and have a beer after a game, I was quite certain from his manner and maturity that he was over 21. I didn’t really think to ask. When he did come over to my house that first time, I believe he was telling my friends (one of the prettier girls, if I remember correctly) that he was 24, which seemed about right. It turned out that he was 20. Oops.

As we got to know each other, he told me more about what he was focusing on in school. He had a keen interest in computers and programming. When I told him that I ran a digital marketing consultancy, his ears pricked up. He wanted to know more. I told him all about my business, and very quickly, we made an agreement to work together – he offered to help me out with any projects I needed, so he could learn the ropes of my business. He didn’t want payment, he just wanted to learn. How could I say no to that?

That’s how we got started, about six months ago. One month ago, we made a more formal agreement – Josh was going to scale back his hours working at a local winery and work with me for 32 hours a week. I was going to pay him for his time, and he would assist me with running my business.

After this first month, we have learned and accomplished a LOT.

I started this project/blog/whatever in order to share what we’re doing together and how our relationship evolves over time. Josh isn’t just my assistant – he is my protege and it has been a great pleasure to see him jump headfirst into creating his own business.

When we first started, I figured it would be fine to pay him cash under the table. When I was meeting with one of my business advisers – Sandy Stelter