Social media whizz-kid Luke Lintz has built a multi-million-dollar business – but it would never have got off the ground if it wasn’t for his mum. Luke and his two brothers feared their high school hustle of selling tech gadgets via social media was about to fail.
But the boys were saved by a chance meeting during a family meal at a posh restaurant when their mum, Tannis spotted the entrepreneur Stefan Aarnio at a nearby table. After hearing Stefan explaining to his marketing director that he planned to fire the entire social marketing department team, Tannis grabbed the bull by the horns.
She told Aarnio her boys were social media whizz kids, and could help.
Luke, (@lukelintz) whose agency now employs 85 people and boasts an eight-figure turnover, said: “My mum was just over-listening to their conversation. And then when Stefan got up from his seat, my mum is like, ‘Hey, excuse me, sir. I know you were talking about social media,' and he's like, ‘Yeah, I was’.
“And mum goes, ‘Well, my sons are actually unbelievable social media marketers, so they could help your business. As she’s talking, he’s like, ‘How old are you two?
“We told him we were 21 and 18 and he responded with ‘Perfect’. He wrote down his number and said, ‘Here you go, put a pitch together’. Mum was loving it! She was like, ‘There you go boys, that’s how to do it!’
“So, we put our first social media marketing pitch together the next morning, called him up and we closed the business. And we absolutely crushed the services.”
Real estate coach Stefan signed business HighKey - then Luke, and his brother Jordan - for three months at £3,000 a month and the boys got to work, putting in 16-hour days to boost the profile of Stefan and his business.
Within the first three months, they increased Stefan's Instagram following by 50K followers and lowered the cost per acquisition by more than half by using their knowledge of Instagram content strategy and Facebook ads.
Having secured a testimonial from Stefan the guys set about growing HighKey, and it wasn’t long before they collaborated with their first A-list celebrity in the shape of comedian and actor Kevin Hart. Luke was connected with Kevin Hart through a client of HighKey.
Having learned that giveaways were a brilliant way of securing thousands of new followers for clients, the HighKey team decided to collaborate with Kevin for a $20K cash giveaway. Luke, who has also taken on his youngest brother Jackson, 21, said: “That was super crazy. It was during Covid, and we were supposed to fly down and see Kevin Hart in person.
‘Which would have been incredible, like he's my favourite comedian. So, we didn’t make it down to see him, but the campaign went brilliantly well. That campaign was the most money we've ever made. And we set up the full campaign in about four weeks. And just that was another feeling, of feeling on top of the world at the time.”
The brothers diversified into media and publicity for super successful entrepreneurs in the real estate, drop-shipping, retail, and tech spaces as well as surgeons and actors.
Luke is keen to reveal that Stefan, who died of colon cancer at the age of just 33, was a huge inspiration to him.
Luke said: “Stefan was my best friend and mentor. I think Stefan liked being around me because even though we had a 10-year age gap, he could tell how young and hungry I was.
“I would spend every other day talking with him with my endless curiosity of questions."
Now HighKey has a client list of over 1,200 and the firm is targeting a $100M turnover within five years. Luke has also set up a Road to a Billion series on YouTube and TikTok in which he discusses daily goings-on at HighKey and passes on tips to other entrepreneurs who want to follow in his footsteps.
Despite his age, Luke has set his sights on a string of ‘rewards’ as the agency grows exponentially, including a Jeff Bezos-style super yacht.
Luke, who has also worked with Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Bella Thorne, and Rick Ross as well as a string of other high profile music artists, said: "The moral of this is that there is a little bit of luck involved with everything in terms of meeting the right people and the right timing.
“But luck only turns into something if you are prepared and know how to capitalize on it as quickly as possible."
