Taken from the Orlando Business Journal on December 11th, 2015.

How I … Found entrepreneurial success via my social network — without a computer

In-person social networking is essential to business success for Carey Sobel.

The 28-year-old Philadelphia native and entrepreneur owns the Orlando-based marketing agency Three21 Creative and is a partner at business brokerage firm Boss Group International.

Carey Sobel (center) brokered the sale of the former Friendly Confines location in Waterford Lakes fellow UCF alumni Jamie Feldman (left) and Eric Isolica of Orlando Hospitality Partnership.

Both companies benefit from Sobel’s expansive connections, many of which he made during his time as a business management major at UCF.

When Sobel was not studying for exams, he was disc jockeying at several UCF-area nightlife venues. He then evolved from deejaying on the weekend to creating KnightLyfe LLC, a company that photographed students in bars around campus and posted them online. He then sold that and started social networking firm UniversityLyfe LLC, which was accepted into the UCF Business Incubation Program. After two years, UniversityLyfe folded, but not before Sobel had made hundreds of long-lasting professional relationships, which ultimately led Three21 Creative to increase its annual revenue by more than 1,350 percent since he partnered with founder Joe Boutin in late 2013.

In addition, he’s a partner at business brokerage firm Boss Group International, where he represented the seller of Friendly Confines at Waterford Lakes and the buyer of Orlando Hospitality Partnership, crediting his UCF connections with helping him close such deals.

Here, he shares how he and his professional ventures have benefited from networking:

How did you end up in Orlando? My family relocated to South Florida in 2004, where I finished my senior year of high school and then moved to Orlando to attend UCF. I graduated in 2009 with a degree in business management with a concentration on entrepreneurship.

How did you get into the marketing and business brokerage industry? I have been in marketing my whole life. I have a mix of experience with business ownership and operations in marketing, advertising, hospitality, food and beverage, and entertainment. I’ve owned my own entertainment business since I was 15.

When did you form most of your business relationships? I started deejaying in 2005 at UCF at all of the local bars. I met just about everyone who had a social life from 2005-2010, primarily through my deejaying and the business I ran through my tenure at UCF, KnightLyfe. I participated in many on-campus activities, like the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation and the UCF Joust New Venture Competition.

How did KnightLyfe evolve to UniversityLyfe? For KnightLyfe, we had a website that posted photography of people in nightlife venues and drew 18,000-24,000 unique visitors per month around the UCF area, generating 20 million-plus page views. We then raised $500,000 in venture capital for UniversityLyfe, and grew the business in the UCF incubator for over two years before folding the company due to a lack of completed software.

Did the marketing agency present any unique opportunities? My marketing firm wrote a business plan for a restaurant I became a managing partner of, Terrace 390, in downtown Orlando. After selling that business, I joined Three21 and Boss Group.

What benefits do you reap from your current business relationships? On the marketing side, I love the diversity in creative and strategic thinking from all of our clients. On the brokerage side, I get to hear so many stories of how each business came to be, the driving forces of success and, again, ways to be innovative.

How have your business ventures benefited from your business relationships? In my first year of Three21 Creative, as a team, we went from $110,000 in annual revenue to $1.6 million, and 2015 is projected at $2.5 million in revenue. In my first year of business brokerage at Boss Group, I achieved $1 million in sales volume. Without UCF networking advantages, I would be with a much smaller network of friends and professionals.

To what do you credit your success? My hands-on experience and commitment to always network

What is your advice for other entrepreneurs? Do not let failures bring you down. Always take someone up on an invite to connect, meet or talk, as you never know what will come of one conversation or connection.

Three21 Creative

Description: Digital marketing agency

Owner: Carey Sobel

Contact: (407) 734-5215; Three21Creative.com

Twitter: @CareySobel

Boss Group International

Description: Business brokerage firm

Partner: Carey Sobel

Contact: (407) 329-3273; BossGI.com

Continue Reading