By Mark Samuel, featured in Thrive Global
Joining me today is Sinan Kanatsiz, the CEO of both KCOMM, a PR & Marketing firm as well as the IMA (Internet Marketing Association) – of which IMPAQ and my wife Kamin & I are members.
Sinan Kanatsiz has effectively made his mark as an entrepreneur in the United States. His parents migrated from Turkey in the late 1960’s. In 1998, while studying for a master’s degree at Chapman University, Kanatsiz followed his entrepreneurial spirit and formalized his first company, KCOMM, a Public Relations and Internet marketing agency. The company quickly evolved into a full-service marketing, government affairs and event marketing firm known for its Internet expertise and results-oriented approach.
Thank you for connecting with us for this conversation! Please share with us the story of how you decided to pursue your businesses.
My father thought I was very good at selling lasagna because I was a waiter at the Olive Garden. That became a career in public relations. It was just as simple as that! My dad thought since I had really good communication skills, I can persuade, and am very good at marketing so therefore I should go into P.R.
That really was a home run, because it was a perfect match for the degree that I wanted and it was a natural ability of mine, so the two coming together were great. One of the inter-term courses I took was on how to build a web page, back when the internet was just evolving. I mixed my communication skills, a degree in PR and learning how to code basic html into a business and became the chairman and founder of the Internet Marketing Association. The IMA is a worldwide professional association with a very extensive and international membership. (The only prerequisite is having a college degree.)
This all evolved around things that I was already good at naturally – and the timing of the internet as a whole new industry and a whole new marketplace was great.