Luke Lintz started his first business at the age of 16, going into Grade 11 of high school, in Canada.

He now runs his public relations firm called HighKey Agency based in Puerto Rico, which grows digital brands of top-level business owners.

He has grown a collective of over 100 million followers across his client’s accounts;

Has worked with every major publication imaginable, Forbes, WSJ, and New York Times;

And has partnered with close to 100 A-List celebrities, including the likes of Kevin Hart, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, The Kardashians, famous actors and tons of A list rappers.

Key Moments

[03:37] Northern winter led to early entrepreneurial instincts.

[08:42] Business grew to 7 figures using influencers.

[10:07] SEO success builds from doing it right.

[15:14] Entrepreneur values vision, freedom, and limitless potential.

[17:39] Positive energy attracts insight and mentorship challenges.

[19:54] Admiration for a young, knowledgeable, jet setter entrepreneur.

Find Luke Online

https://www.instagram.com/lukelintz

https://highkeyagency.com/

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Transcript Provided By CastMagic.io

Seth [00:00:00]:
Entrepreneur’s Enigma is a podcast for the ups and downs of entrepreneurship to the wins and the fails that we all face being entrepreneurs, how we learn from adversity. Every week I talk to a different entrepreneur with a story to tell. I’m Seth Goldstein. Come with me on the journey. This is Entrepreneurs Enigma. Let’s get started. Hey, everyone. Welcome to another edition of the Entrepreneur’s Enigma podcast.

Seth [00:00:34]:
You’re sick of me by now. I’m your host, Seth. Today, we have Luke Lentz. It’s alliteration. It’s it’s a fun name to say. He is the CEO and 1 of the cofounders of the High Key Agency, which is based in Puerto Rico. But you’ll hear when he talks, he sounds like he’s Canadian, not Puerto Rican. It’s because he is Canadian.

Seth [00:00:55]:
He’s from Manitoba. You might ask where that is. Pretty much Midwest Canada, where there’s a whole lot of nothing, but he can’t he comes from Winnipeg. So that’s, like, a little bit of a bastion of something in the middle of nowhere. Am I right?

Luke [00:01:08]:
Very true. Very true.

Seth [00:01:10]:
Very true. I mean, well, Canada is 1 of those weird things. All the populations along the the borders. Just like Australia, everyone’s around the coast because it’s too hot in the center. Everyone’s along the bottom and around because it’s too cold in the center for Canada. We were saying we were saying before the show that was, like, 40 below, which is 40 below Fahrenheit and Celsius. They match at that point. And you said you can’t go out because you’ll frostbite instantaneously.

Seth [00:01:33]:
Sounds like fun. So guess what they do during these 4 months of cold winters? They start businesses. At least this 1 did. At least Luke did. So when he was 16, so around 11th grade up in Canada, he and his brother, if I remember this correctly, started their the true wireless earbud craze in North America. And they succeeded. They did a good job, and then they failed, crashed and burned, but it’s all part of the battle. That’s the part of entrepreneurship.

Seth [00:02:01]:
And then they got up, they dust themselves off, they learned what they did wrong, and they figured it out. And then they decided they were gonna start up the HighKey Agency, which is a public relations agency. Now it’s based in Puerto Rico, where it’s a little bit warmer than Manitoba. A little bit. Now it’s the only the opposite side. That never gets cold. It’s just hot. And so they help grow digital brands for for top level business owners.

Seth [00:02:25]:
He’s worked with people as, you know, far flung as as far flung, As Forbes, Wall Street Journal, New York Times. He’s worked with I can’t speak today. A list celebrities such as Kevin Hart, car Carrie car Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Of course, the Kardashians. I mean, if you could go a list, they’re famous for being famous. But you you have to get at least 1 Kardashian in your portfolio. If you that’s when you know you’ve made it, right? And a bunch of other famous actors and any of those rappers and whatnot, they have the funniest logo, because it’s a key. But if you, look look it up. Just look it up.

Seth [00:02:58]:
You’ll see what I’m talking about. It’s was that planned, the logo? I forgot what you said. Was it planned to look like what it looks like? Or is it oh, crap.

Luke [00:03:06]:
Very planned.

Luke [00:03:07]:
Oh, it

Seth [00:03:07]:
was planned. Alright. Alright. I if you’re watching the video, you saw what it looked like. It’s a little phallic, but it’s kind of funny. It’s a conversation piece, conversation starter. And so this is good to have you on, Luke. How’s it how’s the weather down in Puerto Rico today,

Luke [00:03:21]:
buddy? It’s beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Seth [00:03:25]:
Internet’s not that good, but the Internet’s not that good down in Puerto Rico, but everything else is great. So how did this all get started? How did you how did you decide to go in entrepreneurship? I mean, nothing to do up in Manitoba?

Luke [00:03:37]:
Yeah. Well, that’s definitely 1 piece is that there’s nothing to do for 6 months of the year with it being winter. But I I think what really got us got me into entrepreneurship is reflecting back on, I think I always had like entrepreneurial blood. Like if you really reflect back on it, like some people just do things as like side hustles to make money. I realized that when I was in the 2nd grade, I basically took my little brother’s Pokemon cards and was reselling them to my friends to basically make a multiple on it. I was like, oh, I didn’t think of that as entrepreneurial at the time, obviously. I was in grade 2, but I was making money.

Seth [00:04:10]:
You were really a troll more than be entrepreneurial.

Luke [00:04:12]:
Yeah. Literally. And then in grade 9, I had a ton of free time. And what I was doing is I went on Kijiji, which is like our local forum. It’s kind of like Craigslist in the US. And I would buy, I would buy TV, TVs, bikes, and I would fix them up and then resell them back on

Luke [00:04:28]:
Oh, yeah.

Seth [00:04:28]:
So you’ve been an entrepreneur since day 1. That’s pretty cool.

Luke [00:04:31]:
Yeah. I never thought of it back then like that. I kind of just thought of it as using up my free time that I had had to make some extra cash on the side.

Seth [00:04:39]:
I mean, if you think of alternative, you could have gotten the drugs and all that crap. So, you know, clearly, you know, this is risky, in a different kind of way, but risky in a way you can come back and learn. I mean, that’s what you you know, we talked about a little bit at the beginning about how, you know, you did the first wireless, truly wireless Bluetooth earbuds. Went fabulously well until it didn’t. And look, you dust yourself off. You you know, I’m talking working with a bunch of entrepreneurs now, and they’re like, oh, we’re scared. I’m like, don’t be scared. Just do it.

Seth [00:05:08]:
You fail. You pick yourself up. Worse happens, you get a job. Worse happens.

Luke [00:05:13]:
Yeah. But that’s the thing as an entrepreneur. Like, you said you you said you talk with entrepreneurs about who are scared. Like, you can’t be a scared entrepreneur.

Luke [00:05:21]:
You can’t

Seth [00:05:21]:
be scared.

Luke [00:05:21]:
Like, everything about entrepreneurship, like, you going into entrepreneurship is saying that, like, I accept the unknowns. I accept taking on an unbelievable amount of risk that the average person can’t ever digest or comprehend. And you’re accepting that risk for potential extremely large payoffs in the future that people aren’t willing to accept that and then therefore aren’t willing to, aren’t able to receive those incremental payoffs in the future.

Seth [00:05:47]:
Exactly. But so is and so is is the payoffs that have paid off, for lack of a better word there. Word choice is not my best today. But so you you went from, you know, the kind of the crash and burns, and you rebuilt yourself up from the ashes like a Phoenix, you know, that kind of Phoenix rising kind of thing. And you still work with your brother. Right? Because that was your bro. It was Jordan you were working with. Right?

Luke [00:06:08]:
Yeah. So I started the first business, wireless earbuds, with my older brother. We scaled that up to 7 figures in revenue. Then we

Seth [00:06:15]:
Holy crap.

Luke [00:06:16]:
Yeah. Well well

Seth [00:06:18]:
At at 16. Yeah. We’re impressed Well,

Luke [00:06:20]:
I was 18 by the time we

Seth [00:06:21]:
scaled I love less impressive now. A little less impressive.

Luke [00:06:25]:
We’re gonna take

Seth [00:06:25]:
a quick break, hear from our sponsors, and get right back to the show.

Luke [00:06:28]:
I was still in high school. And then it we diverted our attention and focus into a different product. It was a charging backpack. So that’s where we lost out because we invested.

Seth [00:06:38]:
That’s you took a you took a risk. Took a risk. And oh, crap.

Luke [00:06:42]:
Took a risk.

Seth [00:06:43]:
Didn’t pay off.

Luke [00:06:43]:
But but, see, like, that’s the thing of entrepreneurship is that you can take calculated risks. And so you’re still taking on risk, but it’s very calculated. That was a risk that we took on that wasn’t calculated. We didn’t test the product yet.

Seth [00:06:55]:
You’re 18. Yeah. Come on now. I mean, but still, you learn from it. Right? You learn well, that’s something we gotta do calculated risks. We gotta, you know, not risk the whole farm here, you know, not the whole bank, but, like, you know, pick and choose what risks you want, which has more more upside than downside.

Luke [00:07:10]:
For sure. For sure. Because like, how I always thought of it is similar to what you said in terms of like, what’s worst case scenario. Yeah. Like you get a job. How I thought of it is worst case scenario, absolute worst case would I would go bankrupt and have to go move back into my dad. So what that looks like is as long as I’ve learned more in the process university, then I succeeded in my mind. And so it was there was only upside from there.

Luke [00:07:38]:
And then the money was kind of just a bonus if it did come. The the main

Seth [00:07:42]:
thing did?

Luke [00:07:43]:
Yeah. The main thing that I learned though is that you can learn some very valuable skill sets and very valuable lessons inside of business without having to risk the whole farm. Like, we didn’t have to we didn’t have to put it all on the line with this new product to learn the lesson that you should test products in the marketplace before buying a ton of inventory.

Seth [00:08:03]:
But you keep in mind you’re 18. Yeah. Your front your frontal lobe is not fully developed. Aren’t you, like, 23 still?

Luke [00:08:09]:
I’m 24.

Seth [00:08:10]:
Yeah. You’re in front of a you said I have 1 more year before your medulla fully formed. So you’re still crazy. But but that’s the idea. But that’s what you gotta think about it. Is that, like, you take calculated risks, sometimes you take stupid risks, and you learn from them. And that’s the kind of the idea. So you’re now doing PR and outreach and social media, outreach and building and all that for the, you know, high, you know, high you know, a list celebrities and whatnot.

Seth [00:08:37]:
How did you fall into that from backpacks and earbuds? Well,

Luke [00:08:42]:
when we were running the wireless earbuds business, we were connecting with a lot of influencers. We grew that business to 7 figures figures completely through influencer marketing. So we would reach out to people over the Instagram DMs to basically provide them free products or sometimes pay promotion. And then they would promote it, create content around it, and then we would repost that content. So we had all of these connections of influencers. And then what we did is we we reflected back when we failed on the business. It was like, okay. What are we good at? We realized we’re good at growing a brand and growing an Instagram page.

Luke [00:09:14]:
So we’re like, we could provide And

Seth [00:09:15]:
being friendly and outgoing like most Canadians are.

Luke [00:09:17]:
Yeah. And so you’re like, what what can we do with those skill sets? And so we started up a service based business of growing people’s Instagram pages. And then You

Seth [00:09:26]:
did for yourself. I mean, anyone who asks how you know, could you prove that that works? Here, look at just look at my shit. Exactly. Literally, like, look what we did.

Luke [00:09:35]:
And there’s no better testimonial than that.

Seth [00:09:37]:
Exactly. Like, I did it. You can do it. You’re not gonna find it.

Luke [00:09:39]:
This is actually yeah. Key takeaway. If anybody’s watching it or listening and is doing a service based business, the absolute best thing that you can do right at the beginning is building up an undeniable case study. Really, all you need is 1 undeniable case study. So if you do work for free for somebody or you do work for yourself of the services that you wanna do for others and just build up that case study where it’s, like, just so undeniable, you can showcase on every single sales call, it makes closing deals so easy.

Seth [00:10:07]:
It’s too much fun too because, like, people ask me, like, how good are you at SEO? I’m like, well, look at my site, Goldsteam Media, and it ranks despite itself. Like, it ranks for things I don’t even know it ranks for. And then people say, how did you how did you find me? And they tell me the keywords that they typed in. I’m like, what? Okay. Great. And I go put them in the tracker. But it’s like, that’s how you know if you do good right by yourself, and you do it right, and you do it right for a few more people, it it builds up.

Luke [00:10:32]:
And Mhmm.

Seth [00:10:32]:
And then you get the next person on, and next person on. It builds up like a pyramid. It’s great.

Luke [00:10:37]:
So true.

Seth [00:10:38]:
And so, you started then you see, pivoted from the product based to the service based. Saying, hey, we can do this for you guys. How’d you land someone like Kevin Hart? I mean, he’s a he means a Philadelphia, so he’s a nice guy. I mean, come on now, Burton.

Luke [00:10:50]:
Well, so within the service based business of doing social media marketing for people, people wanted to start collaborating with influencers, our clients, and then also wanted to start growing their following. Wow. And so what we did is we created, like, a a giveaway network where basically we would partner up with celebrities like Kevin Hart, Nicki Minaj, Kardashians. We partnered up with like close to a 100 of them. And what they basically do is we we give away something massive on their social media platform. And then they showed out all of our clients, which are giveaway sponsors. So they say Oh,

Seth [00:11:23]:
you’re you’re the guys behind that crap. Yeah. Okay. I call crap in the most respectful way possible, but, like, hey. Do this, this, this, and this, and we’ll get this. I’m like, you know.

Luke [00:11:34]:
For sure.

Seth [00:11:34]:
As long as they honestly, f f FCC, FTC. It’s fine with it as long as we’re market as

Luke [00:11:39]:
ad. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. We follow all

Seth [00:11:41]:
Oh, he’ll learn that the hard way.

Luke [00:11:42]:
Yeah. Whoops. Yeah. We follow all the guidelines. The thing that the reason, like, it has a bad stigma is because there are so many, like, scams in the industry and so many people who are horrible in terms of, like, not promoting a giveaway, not actually giving away the product. But it’s a good

Seth [00:11:59]:
Oh, that’s that’s that’s achy.

Luke [00:12:01]:
For sure. Yeah. For us, we’ve given away, like, I think 10 Teslas now over, like, $1, 000, 000 in prizes just on Instagram to random people over the past 5 years.

Seth [00:12:12]:
And does it have a giant key slash falx symbol on the side of it? Always. Kinda cool. Like, gold encrusted, you know. Have your logo inside of the Tesla. That’s pretty cool. But I I mean, it’s when we first talked. I mean, I love the energy you have bring to it. I love that it’s, like, kind of you’re having fun doing what you love to do.

Seth [00:12:33]:
And it’s kind of half the battle. It’s like, if you don’t love what you’re doing, you’re in the wrong industry. Whether we whether it be in

Luke [00:12:38]:
business for yourself or working for someone else, if you don’t like it, get the hell out of there and find something you like. It’s easier said than done, but

Seth [00:12:44]:
Easier said than done. But yeah.

Luke [00:12:46]:
I I was talking about this with a friend of mine because Yeah. They they have an opportunity to start up a business which hits every single point of what you’d want when you start up a business. They have experience in it, a track record in the inside of the business. They have a huge passion for it. It’s aligned with the future that they want to get to in 10 plus years. They’re able to set some long term goals in it. And they’re extremely educated in the space. And so

Seth [00:13:14]:
Oh, it’s brilliant. Yeah.

Luke [00:13:16]:
It’s amazing. Like, when you can get, like, all of the variables that you want to start a business, it’s very difficult because most times when you’re starting up a business, you either like fall into it or you kind of have to force start it. And I think people spend too much time at the beginning stages of thinking through the idea and getting into this just idea hamster wheel of, indecisiveness of what to start up, when in reality, you learn so much by just starting something up and just going through the process.

Seth [00:13:46]:
Get started and, you know, succeed or fail fast and try again, that kind of thing.

Luke [00:13:50]:
Succeed or fail fast. That’s a great quote.

Seth [00:13:52]:
It is. Yeah. Can you feel free to use it all you want? But it’s true it’s literally either to succeed or you’re getting to success or you’re gonna fail. And then it’s just like let your wounds get back into the game. It’s that simple.

Luke [00:14:05]:
Yep.

Seth [00:14:05]:
So, Luke. You’ve been an I can actually say this about a 24 year old here. This is so weird. But, like, you’ve been an entrepreneur for a while now, since the age of 2. And what’s the best thing about being an entrepreneur? I mean, have you ever had a day job?

Luke [00:14:21]:
I have had a day job. I’ve had several day jobs in high school. I was a babysitter. I worked demolition work during a summer in high school. I did painting during 1 summer, and then I also worked at an organic food store.

Seth [00:14:34]:
Oh, so you so look. Full gambit. 24 has already lived already lived a long life already.

Luke [00:14:38]:
Yeah.

Seth [00:14:39]:
But so what’s the best thing about being an entrepreneur in your mind then?

Luke [00:14:42]:
The best thing about being an entrepreneur is I I think 2 things. 1 is obviously like the freedom component of where you can craft your own schedule. But then like that freedom thing is kind of just the same because every single entrepreneur that I know works way harder than any single 9 to 5 worker.

Seth [00:15:02]:
You have you earn the right to work 80 hours a week.

Luke [00:15:05]:
That’s another great line.

Seth [00:15:07]:
I’m dropping bombs everywhere. Yeah. But it’s true. You’re in I can’t I can’t own that 1. Yeah. That’s what I was gonna do. You’re in the right to work of 80 hour work week.

Luke [00:15:14]:
I think I think the most valuable thing for me and the thing that has given me the most amount of purpose of being an entrepreneur is, like, I can set my own vision. Like, there’s no limits of what I can I can set as a vision, and I can lead other people along with us towards that vision? And so I’m somebody who does not wanna have limits in my life in any area of my life. And I constantly am trying to, like, stretch goals and think, like, 25, 50 years into the future. And I think I could only do that if I was running my own thing.

Seth [00:15:47]:
Yes. I totally agree with you on that. And so what keeps you up at night?

Luke [00:15:51]:
Nothing really keeps you up.

Seth [00:15:52]:
Hurricanes and the macaws Yep. Pecking your window?

Luke [00:15:58]:
Yeah. That that’s 1 thing that I’ve been, like, kinda grateful for is I’ve never really had problems sleeping. Like, I I can get to sleep pretty good. But in terms of, like, the quote, like

Seth [00:16:06]:
The word the what keeps you up in the worrisome side of things.

Luke [00:16:10]:
Yeah. What are the the worries that I have? Pretty much just really really any any entrepreneurial worries. Like, it’s weird that when you get to a point of, like, I’ve gotten to a point of a decent amount of success, like, success where, like, the average person could probably retire on it. But Yeah. I still stress about, you know, money problems

Seth [00:16:31]:
of forecasting. Going in an instant too.

Luke [00:16:34]:
Yeah. Yeah. Like when payroll gets in, like our payroll is like into 6 figures monthly. And so it’s, it’s like having that, having that level of responsibility at such a young age can be pretty daunting. We’re I look at like our P and L statements and we have to make like 6 figures in revenue to just break even on a monthly basis. And it can be that can be difficult to digest sometimes.

Seth [00:17:00]:
Yeah. Definitely. Take some maylox. Just or for some Pepto Bismol. Keep that in keep that in your cup and go. It’s all good like you would with a beer instead of chucking Pepto Bismol at 20 4.

Luke [00:17:10]:
Yeah.

Seth [00:17:10]:
That’s that’s a little worrisome there right there.

Luke [00:17:12]:
I think another hard thing is at 24, like, I’ve had I’ve had mentors a lot of my life, which is most of the time our clients are my turn into my mentors because a lot of the clients that work with us are higher level than we are. So we provide them information, expertise on branding and social media, and then they provide, like, mentorship to us. Like, just, you know, for sure.

Seth [00:17:31]:
These are a bunch of kids. Yeah. They’re a bunch of kids. And

Luke [00:17:33]:
they There’s no

Seth [00:17:34]:
get social media and get the digital landscape that a lot of old farts like me don’t get.

Luke [00:17:39]:
Yeah. But but then they like the energy and being around it. So then they provide they provide, like, insight on other aspects of like life, business, relationships, all these things. I think a hard thing about being business and young is, and really just being like a first time entrepreneur is you just don’t know what you don’t know. And so every single area that you’re going in and as you expand its scale, you’re having to face new challenges that you’ve never faced before. And it’s 1 of the most difficult things ever because you can’t even if you have mentors in business, you can’t, lean on anybody for exact advice in your specific situation.

Seth [00:18:15]:
No. Because you’re on your own everyone’s different.

Luke [00:18:17]:
It becomes such nuanced information

Luke [00:18:21]:
that you need. Like, I don’t have any

Luke [00:18:21]:
mentors that work in the PR space. And so how can I come with them with my exact problem that I’m facing in terms of where I should direct myself?

Seth [00:18:28]:
It’s more holistic, more holistically. Like, oh, this is what I would do if it was in this industry. Exactly.

Luke [00:18:33]:
Exactly.

Seth [00:18:33]:
So what is the most important thing to carry with you all the time? Physical, nonphysical, metaphysical goals, woo woo as you wanna go?

Luke [00:18:42]:
That to carry with me all the time, an optimistic attitude, looking at

Luke [00:18:48]:
That’s king.

Luke [00:18:49]:
Looking at every single thing with optimism and having people around me that have just the most optimistic outlook on life. Because even if even if I, see things 1 way, then I’m able to get checked by the people around me. Mhmm. I also carry around this blue journal everywhere, which is a it’s a journal that outlines, my daily, weekly, and monthly goals as well as 90 day goals. And then it’s an outline of, like, exactly my day. So I prioritize my every single

Luke [00:19:21]:
day before

Seth [00:19:22]:
You got it. Otherwise, you go insane. Exactly. I have my I have my remarkable not not plugged by my remarkable tablet. I don’t leave home without it. Yep. I mean, III decided I I have stacks of notebooks over there. Looks like but I decided I just need to save the environment and just put it on Remarkable instead.

Seth [00:19:39]:
As not a plug, FTC, I’m not getting compensated for that, so leave me alone. So, Luke, where can people find you online? The best place where you hang out the most. Instagram?

Luke [00:19:50]:
Yeah. Best place would be Instagram at Luke Lentz on Instagram.

Seth [00:19:54]:
Yeah. You look at that profile. He’s, you know, he’s he’s a jet setter. But lots of good knowledge of bombs on there a lot of, like, this kid’s smart. I mean, clearly, you you’ve kind of found your niche and are having a blast doing it, which is what I love seeing. I love seeing young entrepreneurs just kind of living their best lives, doing it the best they can. Yeah. And being honest about it too.

Seth [00:20:17]:
I mean, be honest, like, hey. Look. We put all our ducks in 1 basket and it didn’t work. I mean, a lot of a lot of young entrepreneurs don’t have that experience.

Luke [00:20:24]:
Mhmm.

Seth [00:20:25]:
The grizzled kind of like, oh, crap. We really f’d up there. So you have that going for you, which I think is really good that you did have a failure and you dusted it off and you kept on going. So

Luke [00:20:35]:
I appreciate that, Seth. Yeah. Honestly, if we didn’t have that major failure, I’d probably be looking back and be like, wow. When is that major failure coming?

Seth [00:20:42]:
Because It’s not looming anymore because you’ve learned your lesson. Yeah. Hopefully. Right? Well, Luke, thank you so much for being on the program. We’ll have all your show in the show notes. We’ll have all your I can’t speak today, like I said. All the all your links in the show notes below, and we’ll you’ll see everyone next time. That was a great show.

Seth [00:21:01]:
If you’re enjoying Entrepreneur’s Enigma, please view us in the podcast directory of your choice. Every review helps other podcast listeners find our show. If you’re looking for other podcasts in the marketing space, look no further than the marketing podcast network at marketing podcasts dotnet. Gold’s theme, I hope you have enjoyed this Episode.