Published on 26, Apr 2023

David Johnson, CEO of Ever Prosper, reveals how to know when you’re ready for entrepreneurship

Johnson spent years in the service industry, living paycheck to paycheck, before leaving it behind to create the six-figure digital marketing company Ever Prosper.

It is no secret that a sizable portion of the American workforce feels discontent with their jobs (the Great Resignation, anyone?). More than a few people have toyed with pursuing their own dreams instead of helping their bosses to build theirs. They may even have ideas for a great product or service and have read The Lean Startup from cover to cover. Then, just as they are typing out that resignation letter, they hesitate. Is it really the right time to have their own business? What if they fail? Those whispers can cause a would-be entrepreneur to pull their foot back and sit down at their cubicle again, where their dream fades away. When do you know if you are ready for the sometimes brutal world of running your own business? David Johnson, who created the Dallas-based, affiliate marketing company Ever Prosper, talks about how he knew it was time to be his own boss even though the odds were not in his favor.

“I won’t lie - the entrepreneurial journey is a wild ride,” says Johnson. “It’s true what you hear: there are many late nights when you’re working while the rest of the world is asleep. And yes, you do miss the security of a steady paycheck for a while. However, if you know yourself pretty well, you also realize that there’s nothing else you’d rather be doing.”

Johnson wasn’t always the CEO of Ever Prosper in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, where he works with small companies and Fortune 500 corporations to create customized digital marketing strategies. Before founding his business in 2015, Johnson worked for years in customer service, call centers, and cable TV installation, earning just enough money to get by each month.

“They were all good jobs and provided for me and my family,” he says. “But - and stop me if you have ever said this before - I kept feeling like I could do more. Be more. Yes, I had a dependable paycheck, but my mind wasn’t on fire for what I was doing. They were just jobs, and I wasn’t excited to get out of bed each morning.”

That was the first clue that Johnson was ready to shake up his worklife: he was, in a word, bored. While he continued to work hard simply because he had integrity, he started thinking about doing something else: marketing.

“I had always been fascinated by online marketing, which I believed was going to be crucial to a business’ success the further we went into the digital age,” says Johnson. “That was my second clue I was ready to do something different: there was another industry that consumed my thoughts as I installed cable and answered phones.”

Johnson had always been a self-starter, the kind of person who opened his doors when others remained shut. While living paycheck to paycheck meant that he couldn’t afford expensive courses, he could still teach himself about digital marketing. So, Johnson found every book on online marketing that he could and got started reading.

“I read pretty much night and day,” he recalls. “There was so much information out there, including online, of course, that it took a while to build my foundation of knowledge.”

As Johnson did, however, he realized something crucial to the success of any entrepreneur: he had his own ideas. He was able to take what he had learned from experts and create new digital marketing strategies. As he jotted down notes, he wondered if he could have his own marketing agency and join the ranks of millions of other business leaders around the United States.

“I was so excited about becoming my own boss and seeing what I could do as an entrepreneur,” Johnson recalls. “First, however, I had to slow down and go through all the grind that comes from researching the market, making a business plan, and making sure that my finances could take the inevitable hit in the beginning. Once I got the green light on all of that, I took the jump.”

His first client was, somewhat ironically, himself. Johnson laughs when he says that in order to find out if his online marketing strategies really worked, he had to test them on Ever Prosper.

“Thankfully, they were rock solid,” he says. “I had to refine them here and there, obviously, but it wasn’t long before the phone began to ring and my inbox filled up. I was probably holding my breath on some level until the clients started to contact me, but once they did, I never looked back. We’ve been running ever since.”

At Ever Prosper’s new location in the suburbs of Fort Worth, Texas, David works with Chief Operating Officer Cassandra Johnson and their team to create bespoke, systematic digital marketing strategies for clients from a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, education, and entertainment. He has no regrets about becoming an entrepreneur.

“Honestly, I think if you are meant to own a company, you just know,” Johnson says. “You’ll have a vision in your mind that you can’t shake. That said, it does take preparation. Getting into the business world without research and a good plan leads to disaster. Once you have everything in place, though, just follow your dream. Where it will take you, you don’t know, but you’ll never regret doing it.”

Ever Prosper is a minority-owned digital marketing/strategy company that allows a company’s brand to be the spotlight of campaigns. Through online marketing consultations, easy-to-follow marketing plans, and long-term support, Ever Prosper helps its clients to make an impact on the world.