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It's Been A
Journey...
Hey, I'm Joe McVeen, Founder and CEO of Viral Purpose Media.
Ever since I was a little boy, I dreamed of making a difference in the world. But I never knew how.
Then one day when I was 14 years old I came home from school and followed a trail of blood up the stairs to find my mother bleeding in bed from a head wound.
She had fallen down the stairs, and insisted I didn't call 911. Not sure if I should listen to mom or be the "man of the house", I didn't call. To run from the horrible sight, I rode my bike to my friend's house to play football and didn't tell anybody what I saw.
Two weeks later, Mom finally got medical attention and was immediately life-flighted for brain surgery. The bleed on her brain had dried and swollen, and after a third CAT scan a somber nurse came out to tell my sister and me, "She's alive, but the mother you have always known, is gone forever".
Like we all do, the trauma of my childhood drove my decisions in ways I didn't understand at the time. I blamed myself for not calling 911 that day, so to fix things I dedicated every waking minute to appearing as a success that nobody would ever question.
I channeled that pain into football, and became the captain of my football team in high school where it was my job to give the pump-up speeches before every practice and game. That's when I truly fell in love with public speaking, and my dream of becoming an inspirational speaker to release human potential was born.
I was always good at math and science in school, so I earned a full ride to study Electrical Engineering at the University of Toledo. My fear of looking like a failure was fueled by the shame that was compressing in my chest from not saving mom, so I became hell-bent on becoming the most successful and secure engineer anybody had ever seen.
... Until an English professor introduced me to ancient Chinese wisdom. She required our class to read the Tao Te Ching - the 2600-year-old collection of 81 insightful poems that became the foundation for Taoism. Something about the mystical Chinese poetry was so wise, and so true. I started listening to Alan Watts every day, developed an insatiable curiosity about the rest of the world, and scoured the internet for scholarships to study abroad.
Costa Rica, Japan, Burma, Vietnam, Singapore, India, South Africa, Ghana, Morocco, England... I traveled everywhere and asked the deep questions to understand what it meant to lead a purposeful life, instead of just a cubicled career. When I returned from studying abroad, I took a summer off to hitchhike across America to really spend time in silence and know myself.
Graduation time came, and I had learned and seen far too much to settle for an engineering cubicle. So I turned down my job offers and partnered with my best friend to launch InternWire, a review platform like Yelp, for internships.
Finally I had the opportunity to make a difference and prove to the world I wasn't a failure! We grew to a team of 7, became valued at $500,000 (not bad for college kids in Ohio), got accepted into a technology accelerator program, received seed funding and were in negotiations with venture capitalists about Series A venture funding.
On paper, it all looked amazing. But in my heart, I knew I couldn't keep investing so much time and energy in a project that wasn't the fullest expression of my soul's purpose. Something in me just knew that I was capable of doing something that mattered more for humanity.
So after years of hard work, on one of the toughest days of my life, my partner and I called the team one at a time to tell them that we had decided to close the doors.
It took me 2 years of bartending, soul-crushing sales jobs, and wondering what to do with my life to realize that letting InternWire go was the best decision of my life.
By clearing my schedule, I made space to look within myself for a mission that was actually in alignment with my sense of purpose. When looking up at a solar eclipse in 2017 while on a lunch break from a sales job I hated, I experienced a sudden spiritual awakening.
In that moment I realized that... If I live a life that I hate so that someday I could speak on stage sharing my journey, I could only ever help others to live a life that they also hate.
So immediately after viewing the eclipse I wrote my resignation letter, quit my job, and the next day made my first Facebook video. Daily videos attracted a following, and soon clients were hiring me as their Purpose Coach.
After enough of my clients became clear about their purpose, they began asking me questions about how to start an online business, so my work evolved into entrepreneurship consulting for purpose-driven entrepreneurs.
Then after personally coaching dozens of entrepreneurs to earn tens of thousands of dollars in their purpose-driven businesses, I felt like I should somehow be doing more for these passionate entrepreneurs than just giving advice that helped them sign up new clients.
I attended a few retreats to get clarity on this sinking feeling inside of me. Then in a meditation on a plane from Costa Rica to San Diego, the words Let Purpose Go Viral came to my mind. Still not sure what that meant, I ignored it and kept helping my coaching clients...
Until I came across an article that changed my perspective, my business, my purpose, and my life.
It was from the 73rd General Assembly of the United Nations on March 28, 2019, and warned in no uncertain terms that we have 11 years left until we experience irreversible climate change.
Just 11 years left to save the world. And counting.
I had to step up my impact. I loved my clients with all of my heart, but I no longer felt that helping coaches attract clients was making enough of an impact to move the needle on global crises facing humanity from every angle.
I realized that I needed to double down on my passion for helping people tell their story and broadcast their purpose, but do so in a bigger way with a more widespread impact.
So I pulled together a dream team to try and save the world, and Viral Purpose Media was born.
With experience ranging from Facebook ads, LinkedIn marketing, business strategy, viral video creation, design, venture capital and tech support, our team is passionate about helping entrepreneurs solve global problems through viral marketing.
Very quickly I realized that we were answering the call to create something far greater than just another digital marketing agency - we're creating an avenue to expand global awareness and authentic connection by letting purpose go viral.
If you jive with what we're about, you have an established brand or a funded initiative and you're looking to massively expand your impact, we would love to connect with you to learn more about how we can support you in your journey to make the difference you're most passionate about.
Whether you're looking for advice on how to systematize your business, a viral video to tell your story to your potential customers/donors, or professional ads management to reach thousands of new customers, apply to schedule your free Viral Marketing Strategy Session below.
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