“Sharper Selling didn’t quite do the right job of conveying the job we do for our clients,” said Jonathan.
A company with the name Sharper Selling can give the image of sales training. Their Sharper Selling was focused on helping clients optimize Google AdWords with paid search advertising and search engine optimization. As they’ve grown their client list over the last couple of years, they’ve also grown their services, into what they describe as a “full-service digital agency.”
“We can scale to handle any project size,” said Jonathan, “and we wanted to pick our forever name that allows us to grow and scale.”
Centrus Digital comes from the mission to position themselves at the center of their clients’ digital strategy, analyze copious amounts of data, and make evidence-based recommendations.
“We help people looking for what you do find you,” said Jonathan. That could be through a website design or the use of a video or animation, whatever it takes. “It’s a lot broader than just bringing people to your website,” said Jonathan. “There’s a lot of strategic counseling that goes into what we do now.”
For Bob, who got out of the corporate world to originally start Sharper Selling 14 years as a part-time side hustle, the rebranding to Centrus Digital is part of a continuing growth for him as an early adopter of technology. “That evolution hasn’t gone away,” he said. “We can grow bigger accounts without becoming bigger ourselves.”
Jonathan and Bob were among the first members of the Cooperative Venture Workspace, when it opened at 36 Maplewood Avenue in downtown Portsmouth, NH, in the spring of 2016. Jonathan had joined Bob by then to turn the side hustle into something bigger and better.
They’ve grown from part-time to full-time members and have ingrained themselves in the Workspace community and the Portsmouth community at large. In May 2017, Jonathan was selected among the “10 to Watch”, an annual event meant to recognize the up and coming young movers and shakers in the Seacoast, NH, region.
They are regular collaborators with other Workspace members, including Maura Webster at LilliaBlue Strategies and Rachael Kloss Pawlik at Dragonfly Photography.
“The Workspace was, is, and continues to be the best investment our company has made,” said Jonathan. “We have received a large amount of referral business from other members, we have sent referral business to other members, and we have collaborated with other members. Most of all, it’s just fun to come into the Workspace and catch up with so many unique and diverse entrepreneurs.”
As Centrus Digital, they see a wide horizon of opportunity ahead. “We are so much more than what we started out as,” said Jonathan.
The Cooperative Venture Workspace is evolution of the creative, shared workspace.