Entrepreneurship
How Joel Buhr Leverages The Power Of Data To Promote Business Growth

Meeting the market’s demands isn’t enough to secure a business’s success and continuous growth. The secret behind achieving those is through marketing, where businesses can use insights and information on how they can make the market work for them.
Joel Buhr knows that successfully executing marketing strategies requires the right data and insights. And that is exactly what he provides as an entrepreneur.
Using Data For Growth
Data, according to Joel, is the foundation of all marketing. Audience data, location-based data, mailing list data, and digital audiences can all be used to execute a successful marketing campaign.
That’s why Joel, partnered with the right team, is determined to provide clients with a custom solution made for their different needs.
“During my years in business, I have had the privilege of working with well over 1,500 clients over the last 16 years since we started,” Joel shared. He added that aside from working with clients nationwide, he has also had patrons from Canada and Dubai.
The current position of his company enables Joel to scale things to more than $10 million. And to make sure that they’re able to see this growth and more, Joel is partnering with the right partners such as Cardone Ventures.
Discovering Data
“I have been an entrepreneur in a lot of ways since before the age of 10. I learned very early on that solving problems had value. I felt that starting my business was the right thing to do to provide the ideal life for my family, Joel said.
Growing up in rural Nebraska, Joel was exposed to the value of hard work at an early age. This and being entrepreneurial helped him figure out how things work. He later worked for Occidental Petroleum in the mid-90s as deregulation of natural gas came to the Chicago market area.
During this time, as he was onboarding clients for new services, Joel used a product called BusinessUSA from American Business Information (now known as Data Axle) which introduced him to data.
After witnessing firsthand how data helped him do and know more about business, Joel became obsessed and wanted to learn more about it.
“I came back to the Omaha area and went to work for American Business Information right away,” he said.
Fast forward to 2005, Joel started First Direct because he believes that his clients deserve only the best solution to solve business problems that were impeding growth.
Learn more about Joel Buhr through www.joelbuhr.com.
