Meet John Locke | SEO Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with John Locke and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi John, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
When I started the company, I was working in a commercial bread factory, and the pension was underfunded, and my employers were also headed towards bankruptcy for the second time in six years. On top of that, I had repetitive motion issues which were causing me to have muscle spasms. I knew I had to make a career switch, so I started studying web design and web development in my spare time. In 2012, I started making websites for small businesses and doing subcontract web development for branding agencies. After five years, I pivoted the business to doing SEO along with web design. Starting the business was a calculated risk, but staying where I was and hoping for the best was sure to lead to a future where my earning potential was capped. I wanted to create a business that let me be creative and didn’t limit my future. In hindsight, it was the best thing I could have done.

What should our readers know about your business?
The first couple of years were much more difficult than I thought they would be. I’m not ashamed to say I underestimated how much competition there was for web designers in my local market. Even for white-label subcontract work (which later I found out happens quite often), no one in our local market would give me a chance to take on that work. The only reason I could figure is that no one locally wanted to work with a 41 year old junior web designer. Fortunately, there were several out of town agencies that trusted me to do dozens of site builds for their high-profile clients. That helped with cash flow in the early years. I used my spare time to establish my voice in the industry by writing blog posts with a point of view. Blogging was the other critical piece that helped my business get a foothold and grow in the web design industry. Eventually, I stopped doing subcontract and white-label web development for larger agencies, as I was expending a lot of energy building empires for other people, instead of my own. I realized that I was getting farther away from my original goal, and got back on course. The biggest lessons I learned are that you have to do what what is right for your business, and never stop marketing your business. Make time every day to establish your voice and market your business.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Koreatown is one of my favorite spots in Los Angeles. The food, the shops, and the people are amazing. When you want some more quiet moments, Griffith Park is the place to go, where you can spend all day checking out the different things like the Observatory or the Bronson Caves.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to give a shoutout to my partner during those formative years, Amy. She was always encouraging and believed in what we were doing. I also want to thank Tom K and Jon C for giving me plenty of work in the early years, and letting me hone my skills. Those people helped a ton.

Website: https://www.lockedownseo.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/lockedownseo
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lockedown-design
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/lockedowndesign
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lockedowndesign
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnLockeSEO