by Kysa Anderson Daniels

 

Sean Standberry is much more comfortable digging into a book about leadership or business development than hanging out and mixing it up with other 23-year-olds.

 

Perhaps his childhood experiences with responsibility are partly the reason. Standberry, a Georgia Perimeter College alumnus, vividly remembers sitting in his fourth-grade classroom and being summoned to the office.

 

“The principal told me ‘Your mother’s in the hospital,’” Standberry recalls.

 

His mother had suffered a brain aneurysm. Her condition led to Standberry’s dad taking on two jobs to make ends meet for the family. Standberry helped care for his younger brother, Sherman.

 

“I learned at an early age how to be responsible and how to get things done,” Standberry says.

 

It’s this type of take-charge attitude that inspired the Stone Mountain native to co-found Lyfe Marketing—just after graduating from GPC in 2011 and while still attending Georgia State University as an accounting major. His brother Sherman and high school friend Keran Smith are the company’s other chief stakeholders. They each put in $500 to launch Lyfe, a social media management company that counts among its clients the Atlanta Hawks and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate John Barge.

 

The Standberry-Smith team also has managed successful social media branding campaigns for a new laundry bleach tablet and an entrepreneur featured on the reality TV show, “Shark Tank.”

 

One recent day, Standberry spent time prepping for a meeting with an Athens-based student housing property manager looking to grow the company’s social media presence and attract more residents. Standberry works to always be prepared to address questions regarding the impact of social media on a business’s return on investment.

 

“I’m working every day, long hours, long nights, trying to get to the next level,” he says.

 

A Twitter page that Standberry launched “for fun” is what actually propelled him into the business world. On his “Voice of Atlanta” feed, Standberry placed various posts about entertainment, lifestyle, sports and news. Before long, the page had attracted 30,000 followers and people began asking the Standberry brothers and Smith to help promote their products and services.

 

“That’s when we realized that social media is a big business to be in and that we were really good at it,” Standberry says.

 

So good, Standberry says their six-figure company is on track to double, possibly triple its revenues over the next year or so.

 

Standberry says the company’s success model relies heavily on interns, some of whom are current students or alumni of Georgia Perimeter.

 

Sherman Standberry, who spent one semester at GPC, now is a senior studying accounting at Georgia State. Smith also attends Georgia State University.

 

Sean Standberry graduated from GSU with his accounting degree last year and credits Georgia Perimeter for preparing him well.

 

“I came out of high school with a 2.8 GPA Standberry says, but Georgia Perimeter really helped refine my study methods,” he says. “Georgia Perimeter was the college that gave me the inspiration to start college.”

 

GPC Accounting professor Debora Constable also made a strong impression on Standberry.

 

“She really, really impacted my life as a student in general,” Standberry says. “And she taught us accounting. She made us put in the work. She told us we needed to put in the work inside and outside of accounting. I just really remember her giving us life lessons … she was just very enthusiastic, very helpful, just being a strong guidance at Georgia Perimeter.”

 

Constable says Standberry displayed determination and focus at GPC.

 

“I remember him as a very conscientious student that came to class prepared,” says Constable. “He did more than what was required, and his grades reflected the amount of effort he put into his work. I now see that those skills were not just used in my accounting classes but in all of his classes.”

 

Standberry also has been encouraged by his parents and motivated to succeed in part as a role model for an even younger brother who’s still at home. As for his mother—a former nurse—Standberry says these days she is healthy and happy. And for some time now, his dad has owned his own accounting business and continues to be supportive of his entrepreneurial sons.

 

“Ultimately, I’m just trying to build a good company that’s going to be around for years and years,” Standberry says.