Today we’d like to introduce you to David Jackson.
Hi David, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born and grew up in Kansas City, KS where I also went to a private school. I started using computers when I was about 9, and was first interested in them because of the ability to use computers to create and build things. I’ve always been the type of person, that when I enjoy something such as music, art, a video game, etc, I would always think about how I can create my own version of that. This means I’ve dabbled in a lot of creative hobbies, sketching, painting, music, etc. This would ultimately turn into website and video game development.
Fast forward to being 15 years old when I launched my first website which was a forum for talking about pop culture and promoting a game I made. It reached about 100 users which I was pretty happy about. I also got paid to make code snippets for others, which was pretty cool at the time. When I got my first job at 17, I got away from computers a bit. I also went to JCCC at 18 to study Liberal Arts, the plan was to get a 2 year degree there and transfer it to a 4 year school to get my Bachelors degree, land a good job, and go from there.
I got a job at a computer store called Micro Center in Overland Park at 19 after a really rough year in my life. I worked there until about 23 years old. During this time, I was barely going to college, only enrolling in maybe 1 or 2 classes every year or so. It wasn’t a priority because I was making good money and Micro Center and really liked the job and my co-workers. However, during the last 6 months of working there, I was feeling extremely unfulfilled and lost in my life. I knew I didn’t want to be there forever, and the stories of “future David” that I had told myself when I was young, wasn’t lining up with the path that I was on. So I quit and made the decision to go back to school.
When I quit, I took a contractor job with Hewlett Packard, it was a 10 hour a week position with weekly pay helping various retail stores sell HP products. This was a big pay cut at only $13.50 an hour, but I had more time to go to school, which is how I justified it. The issue was, my half of the rent was $445 / mo. Despite this, I needed to just jump in a do it, even if I didn’t have everything figured out. Things didn’t go according to plan. I missed my enrollment deadline for the semester and couldn’t enroll at JCCC, meaning I’d need to delay for another few months. This left me very disappointed in myself and added to even more of the “lost” feeling I had in life. This is when things would change.
My roommate at the time also worked at Micro Center and quit about the same time I did. He went to go work for a small printing company in Lee’s Summit. One day when he comes home, he asks me if I still knew how to build websites. I had mentioned over the years to him and other friends that it was something I did when I was younger, but it had been so long and I had never done it professionally. Despite a lot of doubts in my head at the time, he convinced me to drive out to Lee’s Summit and talk to the owner of the business.
The owner was a real blunt person who told it like it was, knew what he wanted, and was very intimidating. This was the first time I was meeting him and really anyone to sell a website to. He wanted a very complicated eCommerce setup with thousands of products, something I had no idea how to do. After hearing what he wanted, I gave what was probably the worst pitch ever, not really knowing what I was talking about but at least giving the confidence that I would figure out how to get it all done for him. After the exchange, he asks me “How much is it going to cost?”. I had no idea how to respond to the question, but I told him it would cost $3,000. He responded and said “Ok that sounds good.” and he wrote me a check for 1/3 of that amount, $1,000.
I promised him that I was going to get it done for him. Driving home that day with the check in my hand, I realized that this was a moment that changed my life forever. This was it. This was the thing I was going to do with my life.
I immediately filed and LLC and was reading / researching every day to make sure the project was a success. Even though it took 8 months to complete, we launched their website. This led to another referral. After working for him, we got a third referral, and this continued to grow and grow. About a year and a half later I was able to quit my HP job and work this full time. Another few months after that I had my first team member and got a small office space in Lenexa. Things continued to grow into what they are today.
We’ve built our company primarily on the quality of work we’ve done and the results we get for our clients. Many of our clients have been with us for 8 years. Today we have 8 team members and serve companies all over the United States, mainly local companies that need to attract more customers from their local area.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There were plenty of struggles and tough moments, but we always have a way to pull through. The ones that come to mind are:
2020 of course was scary, but only during the very beginning of the lockdown. We had multiple clients have to pause or cancel due to the situation, which was understandable. We almost hit $0 in the bank account with payroll due, but had a great client of ours come in and save the day with a project we sold them just in time.
2023 / 2024 was pretty rough, we had two of our biggest clients at the time leave and we were spinning our wheels with a project we should have never taken on and bleeding money. Unfortunately this resulted in me having to let go of a really good team member. The ramifications and decisions made this year, not just with team members but project we took on, really hurt us and continued to effect us into 2025.
I’ve learned a lot in business and about myself as I went, but if I could go back, I would 100% invest into some kind of coaching / mentoring much sooner.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Tekkii helps small businesses market themselves in search engines to bring them consistent lead flow, increased revenue and real growth. Essentially, we help our clients become the a clear decision for their services in their local area. What sets us apart is our ability to effectively bridge the gap between technical jargon, real business value, and customer expectations. We are most proud of our long standing relationships with clients that have worked with us an average of 7 years, with most of our growth primarily coming as a direct result of the impact our work has had on our client’s bottom line.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’ve taken plenty of risks. Outside of starting this business, I took a risk to hire multiple people during the height of the pandemic which paid off big time. I took another risk to double down on a specific sector of clients (local) and that paid off tremendously as well. My perspective on risk is that there’s not many truly remarkable things that happen in your life that aren’t the result of a very difficult, risky, and fear inducing decision. This has been true all my life and business is no different.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tekkii.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tekkiiweb/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tekkiiweb
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC28pfk1yXcgxNnfMurw3cAA
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/@djtekkii
