Today we’d like to introduce you to Jan Almasy.
Hi Jan, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
My journey started in 2013 when I graduated High School. Immediately out of school, I joined the Air National Guard. I leveraged the scholarship opportunities to go to nursing school. In 2018, I graduated from Walsh University with a degree in Nursing. I was privileged enough to give the commencement speech, which I titled “The Apex Of My Life, is my Death.” About a week after delivering the speech, I received an email from GoalCast, a YouTube Channel with millions of followers. They requested to use my speech to create a motivational video for others to watch. That video ended up reaching over a million people.
Later that summer I co-founded a podcast called The Apex Podcast with my friend Jacob Popio. We went on a mission to find ordinary people, accomplishing extraordinary things. We launched the podcast officially in the fall of 2018, and have since reached well over 50k people with our content.
As the podcast grew, so did our aspirations. We brought on a third partner in 2019 named RJ Holliday – and started offering services around podcast consulting, social media management, and content creation. We honestly had no idea what we were doing at the time, but we were hungry to learn. While I was serving in the military and working full-time as an ICU Nurse, I went through the NSF iCORPS Program for Entrepreneurship at Akron University.
This led me to Jumpstart Ohio and Linda Hale. Linda connected us to a lot of people and even helped us get a spot in the business incubator in Canton. Each of us spent hundreds of hours on YouTube learning things like content strategy, business strategy, and how to use editing software to create content.
We landed our first major contract and hired our first employee in the fall of 2020. At that time, I left the hospital full-time and began working as a psych nurse part-time at a community clinic. Since we took the leap in 2020, I have personally earned equity in 3 companies, Apex has grown 3x, and we now support 6 staff total.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has most definitely not been a smooth road. In 2020, our incubator space/podcast studio was shut down and took with it our meeting area with local clients. We only had local clients at the time and did a lot of our work in person, so we needed to quickly adapt. We ended up switching our services from mostly in-person creative work, to website optimization and analytics work.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Apex Communications Network?
Now that I’m in the entrepreneurial world full-time, my full-time roles include being the CEO of Apex Communications Network, and as the Head of Community for an organization called IndeCollective. IndeCollective is a community of 300+ independent consultants centered around a 10wk Modern Executive MBA.
I’ve now had the privilege of working with other startup founders as they scale their organizations. One founder in particular, Joe Knopp, went on to win Student Entrepreneur of the Year in Chicago. An event I was privileged to attend.
Apex Communications Network as an organization has two primary focus areas – Web Analytics and Digital Accessibility. We pride ourselves in helping our clients use their web data to budget marketing dollars effectively and find opportunities for revenue growth. In development, we also ensure all aspects of their digital experience is fully accessible to users with accessibility barriers.
We distinguish ourselves from our competition with the way we approach solving problems and the diverse set of skills our team (and extended network) provide. None of the founding members went to school for marketing, we were trained to take care of patients. So, when we built our structure, we centered every part of the business around how to not only fix a customer’s short-term problem but also set them up for success long term. We achieve this by focusing heavily on client interaction and education opportunities. In the end, we want our clients to be the best version of themselves, and sometimes that means sacrificing some revenue, and teaching them how to manage something on their own.
Our brand is heavily centered around the aesthetic of the 1930s because we feel there is a degree of mystery and beauty that comes with the designs of that era. Our purpose statement is “Building Relationships, Realizing Dreams,” which really encapsulates everything our brand stands for. We believe that damn near anything is possible if you know the right people and ask the right questions. That’s why we focus so heavily on cross-connecting our clients with each other if we believe there is an opportunity for collaboration.
We offer a wide variety of services ranging from Google Analytics Setup to full-blown strategic planning. The two services that I believe are the most universally needed revolve around Google Analytics 4 and Digital Accessibility.
Google Analytics 4:
In July of 2023, Google will be shutting down the current version of Google Analytics (Universal Analytics) and any business that has not taken the time to set up Google Analytics 4 tracking will no longer be able to track any of their Web data. We’re strongly recommending that any business that relies heavily on Google Analytics migrate to Google Analytics 4 by no later than the end of the first quarter 2023. We offer a full-service migration, and educational training to assist businesses in adapting to this change.
Digital Accessibility:
This past year, our Chief Technical Officer – James Warnken – achieved CPACC (Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies) and has been assisting businesses in auditing their digital landscapes accessibility. After working with the business to identify improvement opportunities, James creates a remediation plan and connects the business to resources to capitalize on those opportunities. James also offers an educational curriculum for organizations looking to train development teams on the principles of accessible web design and development.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and are any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
COVID really showed us that everything can change in an instant. We learned that our purpose statement “Building Relationships, Realizing Dreams” is something that we can never compromise on. Our business would not have survived the pandemic had we not built strong relationships with our customers and our community.
Pricing:
- Google Analytics 4 Migration + Education Starting at $750
- Digital Accessibility Consulting: $200/hr
- Website Design/Development (Squarespace) starting at $3,999
- Digital Growth Strategy Consulting starting at $5,000
Contact Info:
- Website: www.apexcommunicationsnetwork.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jan_almasy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jan.almasy
- Other: www.indecollective.co
