We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Josef a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Josef, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
My resilience comes from my family. I had the privilege of watching my grandfather and father build their lives. My grandfather grew up poor. My great-grandfather was a World War I veteran and a hard man, and he expected the same toughness from his kids. My grandfather carried that forward. He started with small jobs, learning everything he could. He went from working at a grocery store in Oxford, Michigan, to eventually owning an insurance firm and developing subdivisions.
Growing up, those stories weren’t just “family history” to me; they were a blueprint. They showed me that you don’t need the perfect start to build something meaningful.
I only completed 7th grade before I had to leave school. So I didn’t have a diploma, and I didn’t have a straight path laid out for me. What I did have was the example of my grandfather: work hard, learn constantly, and never let circumstances define you.
That mentality carried me through every chapter of my career. In telecom construction, I spent years on towers in brutal conditions, wiring equipment in freezing wind or extreme heat. I moved into higher roles because I kept showing up and kept learning engineering principles, construction standards, quality control, leasing constraints, all of it. Every challenge became another step up.
Eventually, that persistence took me from the field to working remotely as a construction manager, which opened the door to entrepreneurship. Having built myself from less than ideal beginnings, I finally had the confidence to build something new with my wife, Nina. That’s how Knauf Media Group was born.
So my resilience isn’t theoretical. It comes from family legacy, from learning the trades the hard way, and from proving to myself over and over that even without the “traditional path,” you can build a life and a business if you’re willing to work, learn, and keep moving forward.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My wife (Nina) and I are really excited to announce the finalized version of our app, Amplify. It is Knauf Media Group’s latest creation. We worked on this with our CTO and Developer, Alexandra Vaughn. The idea for this creation came from Nina, with her background in digital marketing. The goal of the app is to put expert marketing into the hands of everyday small business owners and small non-profits. The app uses an AI platform that is trained in the latest digital marketing techniques. The AI is trained and updated quarterly to make sure the end user is receiving the top-of-the-line marketing best practices. In addition, Amplify is able to find each organization’s digital footprint and match the voice and tone currently existing online to eliminate the AI voice. This is achieved through the app being able to scan your current social media accounts. The user is also able to change the tone and voice manually in the app as needed. The most exciting thing about this app and the resources behind it is that small businesses will have a marketing agency in their back pocket with the ability to reach out directly to Knauf Media Group if they require a more in-depth campaign or help with deploying ad spend behind their posts. Basically, no matter how big or small your project is, Knauf Media Group is ready to help at a price that is affordable. If anyone is interested in checking us out, please take a look at knaufmediagroup.com .
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
A thirst for knowledge. Without this, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I was always constantly reading, learning, and studying. Ask someone further into their career to show you something new.
Work ethic. Even if you know less at the start, you can always show up earlier, stay longer, and work harder until you know more.
Openness to new communities. Nina and I dove into a new world of tech startups, not knowing anyone in the community here in Detroit. Through this, we have made friends and contacts that we can rely on, and we can also help on our journeys in building businesses.
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
An ideal client is someone or a company with several characteristics. Passion for their work in whatever it is that they do. Trust in us as we trust in them, as we will work together to help amplify their brand and share that passion in the world today. Down to earth, being down to earth, and showing up as a “real” person helps us better understand the needs of the people behind the brand as well as their message. There is a lot of flash and show in the world; people are looking for businesses and brands that show up as human and treat them as humans.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://knaufmediagroup.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/knaufmediagroup/posts
Image Credits
Tech Town
Black Tech Saturdays
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
