Meet John Shea, Writer and Host of Voices of Marketing

John Shea is the host of the online show Voices Of Marketing where he interviews successful online marketers and bloggers.

John also writes and contributes to The Blueprint Entrepreneur on iTunes, an Apple Newsstand magazine for smart entrepreneurs who want actionable content to start and grow their business.

He focuses on providing value to the marketing world both with written content and interviews. Find him on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter.

1. What gave you the idea to start Voices of Marketing?

I started Voices Of Marketing because I enjoy connecting with others and picking people's brains about their success. I wanted to find something online to focus most of my time into, and I liked the idea of podcasting after reading about it, so I decided to get focused and start my own interview show.

2. What do you look for when choosing someone to interview?

Lately I look for various success stories that sound interesting so I can share them with others, people who are having any sort of success online. I typically look for people that are successful with online marketing, but I have interviewed people in other niches as well.

3. As an entrepreneur yourself, what are a couple of important things that you've learned about marketing that you wish you had known when you were first starting out?

I think the biggest thing that has helped me is being surrounded by the right kinds of people. You are most like your five closest friends, and the same holds true for marketing online. When I started out, I was finding a lot of people who were doing things I was not very fond of such as spamming on Facebook. Once I started following the right people, I started to learn a lot more about the right way to market myself online.

4. For someone with an online business who wants to improve their marketing efforts, what advice would you give?

Focus. I struggled a lot with jumping from one thing to another and sometimes still do. I didn't start seeing success until I really started to focus on one thing. Once I got focused on my interview show, I ended up landing a paid gig involving doing interviews and started to actually generate a profit online from all my hard work. Find something you enjoy, and then focus on that.

5. Going into 2014, what projects do you have planned for the new year? 

I am currently learning about product creation as a lot of people who tend to have success have launched products or training courses. I would like to do a lot more interviews and eventually create my own unique product that people will enjoy. I am also working on my first Kindle book which I hope to release soon, and I am hoping to see some success with that.

Thanks, John!