Meet Josey Lesmeister | Owner/CEO of Cobalt Turtle Media LLC.

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

Hi Josey, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
Great question! I was born and raised in the Pacific North West- Oregon/Washington. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have gotten to experience the life I’ve had through the good, the bad, and the ugly. But I can truly say that my life, my family, and my supporters have gotten me to where I am today. When my brother and I were little, we were another statistic of children in divorce and both had a tough time adapting. However, we have some AMAZING parents who have taught us that life is only as good as you make of it, and that is exactly what we did. In 2019 I moved to Hawai’i and went to University of Hawai’i at Manoa then in 2021 I graduated from University of Oregon (Sco Ducks!) with a Bachelors degree in Advertising, Marketing, and Campaigns. I decided right after graduating to move to Las Vegas, Nevada to start my professional life and to prove to myself that I can do anything I can put my mind to. Alike many entrepreneurs I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. After countless (and I truly mean- I can’t even count the amount of times) of calling my parents, stressed and overwhelmed, needing advice on how to live my professional life without the comfort of my family. That is when I got the ‘aha’ moment- life is only as good as you make it, and again, that’s exactly what I did. Those nine words my family taught me from the very beginning, are the exact words I am me today.

What should our readers know about your business?
Similar to another answer, I was a recent collage graduate and was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I had a Full-Time job that wasn’t paying super well, and I was truly struggling trying to make ends meet financially. Johnny and I were doing everything we possibly could to make it work for us, getting second part time jobs, going back to school. At some points we only had Rice and ramen to eat. We were tired of asking our families for help through inflation and getting food for our dog, Bruce. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I did an internship in college as a Social Media Manager- so I decided to test my luck and try it out again end of 2022. In December of 2022 (only a few months later) I set up my state licensing and had 4 clients. During that time, I went to over 40 different networking groups, met SO MANY wonderful people, clients were referring me new clients, I put in so much time and effort into making it work, and it did. I won’t lie, it was HARD, I would come home at 10pm and have 6+ projects I needed to finish. Id drink 4 cups of coffee just to stay up, and another 4 in the next morning on the way to my FT job just to stay awake. That is only the tip of the iceberg. But, I did it, and the hard work paid off.

Fast forward to now- February of 2023, I now have 13 clients, a business LLC, left my FT job, and am in the process of finding an intern that I can help mentor towards having their own business or hiring full-time for mine.

A big lesson I learned is; you need to dig a hole to build the foundations of a skyscraper. In other words; if you have a passion or a dream; do everything you can to execute the task at hand. Hard work pays off. If I can do it in 5 months, so can you.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in Las Vegas, so there are UNLIMITED options to check out (LOL) But I would take them to the Grand Canyon, or Laughlin, NV. A really cool place about an hour away is Oatman, Arizona. Batman is a super cool historic mining town and has a lot of the original buildings.
If they wanted to stay in Vegas, I would take them to Fremont because it’s one of my favorite places for showing out of town friends. But, I’m not entirely sure. It depends on what they want to do!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Oh goodness, every interaction in my life so far as turned into a very valuable life lesson so its hard to tie down the exact groups, and support systems, But I’ll give you a couple of books that I had been referred to read and have changed my life.

Lessons from a 3rd Grade Dropout by Rick Rigsby.
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.

The bottom line is that each and every person I have come across (good and bad interactions) have taught me that even the smallest gesture can mean so much to someones success. Thus to always be impeccable with your words, be true to yourself, and give your best regardless of the circumstances. For those who have been there for me during the hardest days- you deserve the world. For those who haven’t- thank you for teaching me valuable life lessons.

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