Reddit is the 7th most popular website in the United States. I discovered the platform as it was reaching its tipping point in 2009, when it experienced a massive influx of users fleeing the once-mighty digg.com.
I began writing jokes, commentaries, and short stories on reddit. Some of the content I produced became quite popular. In one week-long span I had three separate postings reach the front page of the site. Reddit already had millions of active users back then, so that was no small thing. It gave me name recognition on the hottest platform around.
I was doing all of that writing for fun while I grew a small non-profit organization and contemplated my first steps in a career in public policy. I didn’t know what to make of being “internet famous.”
But someone else did.
A marketing company in San Diego reached out to me. They were launching a brand new social media department and wanted me as their first hire. I would build the department from scratch and have Fortune 500 clients from day one. This opportunity allowed me to be one of the first people in the door of a relatively new industry.
Thus began a new career.