Hi There!
I’m Jon Teodoro. I’m a consultant who focuses on helping freelancers and young web design agencies grow their business.
My Story
I grew up a typical second generation Filipino kid in the American suburbs. I got good grades, took piano lessons, and had dreams of one day working as a medical professional.
Despite this, I always had a knack for business. I remember selling my first ‘product’ in the fourth grade: a Mortal Kombat cheat booklet. I would buy game magazines from the bookstore and copy all of the finishing moves onto looseleaf paper. Mind you, this was before copy machines were common technology so everything was manually duplicated. I even drew out the pictures of each character (maybe my artistic beginnings?)
When I was 12 years old, I received my first PC. I discovered a website called Geocities, where I could build my own website using HTML and CSS. Every day when I came home from school I would try to build a new website in different ‘neighborhoods’ on different topics. I became pretty fluent at writing HTML and CSS by the time I was 14, designing and coding tabular layouts online.
When I got to college, I tried to do the medical thing. I was accepted into Wayne State University in Detroit on scholarship and enrolled in the pre-Pharmacy program. I absolutely hated it. So I ended up switching my major to a business-oriented program where I could learn the textbook fundamentals of business. My parents weren’t too happy about that one.
While I was in college I needed money to supplement my just-above-minimum-wage day job, so I hopped back into web design. I closed my first marketing retainer in 2011 and from there, Verde Media was born.
I received my degree in Economics the year after, quit my day job and re-focused on my passion of web design and development. I took my business knowledge, coding skills, and small client base, and found a business partner to help me scale the sales end of the business.
Four years later, Verde Media has over 150 websites under the company’s belt, ranging from small mom-and-pop shops to multi-million dollar corporations. We have clients with businesses residing in California, Florida, Georgia, Vermont, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and of course, Michigan.
In my spare time, I like to hang out with my dog Beamer, who is a pit-boxer mix. I also train in powerlifting and have competed in the USAPL federation in 2013.
Want to ask me something? Reach out to me at jon@jonteodoro.com.