Entrepreneur is knocked back from nearly 100 jobs before lightbulb moment sparks a thriving business that makes him $8MILLION a year
- Luke Maguire, 30, barely passed his business degree at a Queensland university
- He was rejected from all jobs he applied for, including giving out Red Bull cans
- He went on to start one of the nation's first social media marketing businesses
An entrepreneur who was rejected from almost 100 jobs has opened up on the lightbulb moment that sparked his thriving $8million business.
Luke Maguire barely passed his business degree at Bond University in Queensland, finishing in 2010 with a $100,000 debt and no job prospects.
The 20-year-old graduate was knocked back from all the marketing jobs he applied for, including one handing out Red Bull cans.
Luke Maguire barely passed his business degree at Bond University in Queensland, finishing in 2010 with a $100,000 debt and no job prospects
'I remember thinking if I was denied that job, nothing good was going to happen for me,' he told news.com.au.
After landing a temporary job parking cars at rugby league games and being 'treated like rubbish' by wealthy customers, Mr Maguire realised he needed to turn his life around.
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One of his favourite subjects at university had been internet marketing.
While the idea of social media marketing tools were still in primitive stages at the time, the budding businessman had a hunch it would take off.
One of Luke Maguire's favourite subjects at university had been internet marketing (pictured with his partner Allira
'I decided to go out to local businesses and tell them they needed to be on Facebook – again I got rejected so many times being told "Facebook is for kids" which is quite ironic looking back,' he wrote on his website.
He finally landed two clients and set up Social Media Mansion - one of Australia's first social media marketing agencies.
'I was learning as I was going and I wasn't an expert – I was just doing something nobody else was, and slowly and surely businesses realised they needed social media,' he said.
As his list of clients grew, Mr Maguire saw gaps in the market.
He learned he didn't like posting social media content at all hours of the day because scheduling tools didn't exist, so he set about finding a solution.
'This is where I had my "ah-ha" moment,' he wrote.
'If I was facing this problem, no doubt many others were also. So I decided to look into how to create software solutions to do so.'
He finally landed two clients and set up Social Media Mansion - one of Australia's first social media marketing agencies - in his graduating year
The business owner reached out to a marketing company in the US and asked to be mentored.
Instead, they offered to teach him how to create and sell online solution packages at a cost of $30,000 and a percentage of the idea.
To make it happen, he sold his car and TV, moved back in with his parents and worked every day for the next five months.
In 2015, the Instagram scheduling tool Instamate was launched and made $1million in its first week.
'It was an amazing number and I never thought I'd earn it in my life – it was a big turning point and very quickly opened my mind to what was possible online,' Mr Maguire told the publication.
He developed a series of additional online solution packages and was making millions by his mid-20s.
Mr Maguire, who is now 30, makes $5million per year - a figure set to rise to $8million this year.
He has now travelled the world speaking at major business events.
