Skip to content
Schulzke Dot Com

My name is Mario. Last name Johnson. I kid. Last name Schulzke.

I am an equal parts entrepreneur, marketer, and teacher. Or at least that is what I tell my mother.

re: entrepreneur. I founded IdeaMensch, where we have interviewed and featured over 8,000 entrepreneurs, makers, and doers since 2009.

re: marketer. I spent my twenties running digital marketing campaigns for some of America's biggest brands. Since then I have been doing the CMO thing at the University of Montana, Geniuslink, and now am the COO of Pathlabs.

re: teacher. I teach marketing to both business students and nonprofit leaders at the University of Montana.

My goal in life used to be to live an interesting life. Then I had a child. I am an immigrant, a grandson of refugees, a (slow)Ironman, and a Costco Exec member. My lifemates are a curly-haired wife, a toddler who won't nap, a cat named Walter, and a vindictive long-haired wiener dog.

Recent Posts

Members Public

Loser's Game

I love to play ping pong. It's social. It's fun. It's fast. I'm a top 100 player here in Missoula, Montana. When I tell people ping pong is a loser's game for me, they usually react like: 'Come on,

Members Public

Tension

People don't like tension. It makes you uncomfortable. It pushes you outside your comfort zone. Something is supposed to be easy, and then along comes tension - now you're having to work hard, deal with conflict, have tough conversations, speak in public, feel like an imposter,

Members Public

Runway

Early in my career, I quit a full-time job at a mediocre ad agency to become an unpaid intern in a world-class ad agency. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I had been saving judiciously to be able to make this move by living

Members Public

Belonging

One of the truest truths of being human is that we all want and need to belong in some way or shape. Functioning families are a great example of people belonging. Sadly, oftentimes, people who don't have a functional family are more likely to fall prey to all

Members Public

Ambulance

I've only been the key actor in the back of an ambulance once, and hopefully, I won't find myself in that situation for a long time. It appeared to be a life-or-death situation, but fortunately, it wasn't. I'll never forget being carried

All Posts →