Journey to $100 Million: Entrepreneurship & Digital Marketing

“If you qualify, apply.” --Zack Miller, author of Anomaly

If you’re winning awards, it is PR, free media, and free marketing for your company and it shows that you are growing, your business is active, and that you’re doing a great job. People (customers) gravitate towards that kind of success, meaning more business for you. Plus, that gets you and your team fired up to keep doing and achieving.

Apply for as many awards as you can. There are some that matter more and will make a bigger difference but that’s not to say that the smaller ones are worthless.

Look in your industry, your local newspapers and business outlets for award opportunities and apply if you qualify.

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Erik J. Olson is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. The Founder & CEO of Array Digital, he is also the host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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Kevin Daisey is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was just 23, and is the Founder & CMO of Array Digital. Kevin is also the co-host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the co-organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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For more information on the show, and to check out past episodes, go to journeyto100million.com!

We are in the process of losing $15,000 a month in recurring revenue for a single client’s ad spend. We have been talking to them for a couple of weeks and it is imminent.  As much as we don't like it there are a few important lessons that we learned from this:

First and foremost, this client is a B2B company. That means they target other businesses as their customers. We specialize in B2C clients. That is our niche. It is very difficult to target business owners through online marketing.  There isn’t a good way to find them that we have seen. There is no checkbox in Facebook or Google for somebody to mark that they are a business owner. If there were it would be very different. We end up basing our assumption on their hobbies, interests, and professional designations, which people rarely post.

The next lesson was it is usually pretty difficult to help a client who has previously tried numerous times to solve their advertising problem to no avail. This client came to us after they had hired other agencies in the past who were also unable to help them. 

If a potential client insists on going with us, especially if they are a B2B company we now know we must proceed with the caveat that it may or may not work out. But frankly, it’s better to just stick to those who you know you can help.

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Erik J. Olson is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. The Founder & CEO of Array Digital, he is also the host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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Kevin Daisey is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was just 23, and is the Founder & CMO of Array Digital. Kevin is also the co-host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the co-organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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For more information on the show, and to check out past episodes, go to journeyto100million.com!

After reading a call for more activities for entrepreneurs in Hampton Roads, Kevin thought to himself that it’s the responsibility of the entrepreneur to find things to get involved with in his or her own industry and area. So to say that you need more help and more ways to put yourself out there is bs; you can’t rely on your area and local organizations to find these opportunities for you. There are plenty of people who are successful with nothing and no one to fall back on. Don’t get caught up in being a victim; it’s your responsibility if you want to be successful.

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Erik J. Olson is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. The Founder & CEO of Array Digital, he is also the host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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Kevin Daisey is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was just 23, and is the Founder & CMO of Array Digital. Kevin is also the co-host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the co-organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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For more information on the show, and to check out past episodes, go to journeyto100million.com!

A couple of months ago Erik posted on Twitter, asking his followers to ask him anything about starting a business or anything related to digital marketing. He received a question from Sean Burke, who works with him at Array Digital. The question was what he thought about using crowdfunding platforms to get a project started.

Erik starts by saying he doesn't have a strong opinion either way on crowdfunding. Platforms like kickstarter.com offer aspiring entrepreneurs the ability to put out a feeler for their product. Instead of focusing on creating their product, they focus on building up the kickstarter campaign to see if others are willing to invest in it. The positive side to that is that they jump right into validating their product from the beginning before investing too much time and money in creating it and putting it out there. Erik believes validating your product is the most important thing you can do in the beginning and for that reason he believes crowdfunding can be beneficial.

On the flipside he believes there are a couple of drawbacks to crowdfunding. First, You have to invest a lot of time creating your crowdfunding campaign. Second, instead of focusing on your product your focus is on getting interest in your campaign. Third, you will likely be selling your product at a discounted rate so you may not get an accurate idea of what others would be willing to pay for your product.

Overall, Erik doesn't have a strong opinion either way, but he believes it can be a good way to validate your product. If no one shows interest in buying it then it may be time to go back to the drawing board.

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Erik J. Olson is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. The Founder & CEO of Array Digital, he is also the host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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Kevin Daisey is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was just 23, and is the Founder & CMO of Array Digital. Kevin is also the co-host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the co-organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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For more information on the show, and to check out past episodes, go to journeyto100million.com!

Kevin opens up this episode by quoting Grant Cardone, author of The 10x Rule, “Success is your obligation”.

It is your duty, responsibility, and obligation to be successful. Your colleagues, your team, and your family all depend on you. You have to try and be successful in all aspects of your life. Failure is imminent, but after you fail you have to find new ways of doing things and you have to keep pushing. Success isn't everything but it's necessary in order for you to grow. If a company isn't successful in selling its service or product the company goes under. If you're not successful in bringing home a paycheck it affects your family and your family’s future.

It’s your obligation as a human being to be successful. How successful is up to you and your goals. That will be different from person to person. But working toward success is for everyone.

If you’re interested in learning more about The 10x Rule check out Grant Cardone’s book, The 10x Rule.

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Erik J. Olson is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. The Founder & CEO of Array Digital, he is also the host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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Kevin Daisey is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was just 23, and is the Founder & CMO of Array Digital. Kevin is also the co-host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the co-organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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For more information on the show, and to check out past episodes, go to journeyto100million.com!

Erik recently guest-hosted another podcast/flash briefing called The Instagram Stories by Daniel Hill. Daniel has done this in the past when he goes on vacation and either doesn’t want to record or can’t.

It was, of course, great exposure for us but also for Daniel because he got exposure through our audience which he doesn’t always have access to. This is something that Erik has ripped off and replicated and so you will hear more and more often that we’ve invited guest hosts on the podcast.

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Erik J. Olson is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. The Founder & CEO of Array Digital, he is also the host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

—

Kevin Daisey is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was just 23, and is the Founder & CMO of Array Digital. Kevin is also the co-host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the co-organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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For more information on the show, and to check out past episodes, go to journeyto100million.com!

Always commit, go right after it. There are a million excuses why you might not want to but just commit and then think about how you’ll pull it off right after. You won’t grow unless you jump on opportunities. It’s more likely that you’ll get to the next level if you overextend a bit.

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Erik J. Olson is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. The Founder & CEO of Array Digital, he is also the host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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Kevin Daisey is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was just 23, and is the Founder & CMO of Array Digital. Kevin is also the co-host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the co-organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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For more information on the show, and to check out past episodes, go to journeyto100million.com!

You’ve certainly heard the saying “2 heads are better than 1” and it certainly applies here at Array Digital. It’s better to grab a few heads and brainstorm on an issue than being isolated. It’s often easier to be creative with others participating in the brainstorming process.

One of these meetings that we’ve recently implemented into the schedule is “21 Ideas” which was actually Glen’s idea. It’s a meeting on Friday afternoons and the idea is just to generate ideas for our clients that can help with their business. Some of the ideas can link to upsells but most often, the ideas have nothing to do with us and are simply to help and improve their business. We generate 4 or 5 ideas for up to 5 clients each week.

Don’t try to be the lone genius in your organization. You hired people because they can help you in your business; leverage their mind and creativity to generate ideas for you, your marketing, your clients, or your client’s marketing. There’s a lot of good ideas that can be generated if you just ask for help.

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Erik J. Olson is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. The Founder & CEO of Array Digital, he is also the host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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Kevin Daisey is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was just 23, and is the Founder & CMO of Array Digital. Kevin is also the co-host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the co-organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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For more information on the show, and to check out past episodes, go to journeyto100million.com!

Be bold and declare yourself an expert even if you’re still learning in your field; this will force you to learn that much faster. If you say this to people, they’re going to believe what you say but you do need to back that up.

I don’t know about you but marketing constantly changes so for us to be experts, we have to constantly be learning and studying.

Just claim it and you will become the expert you dreamed of becoming.

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Erik J. Olson is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. The Founder & CEO of Array Digital, he is also the host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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Kevin Daisey is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was just 23, and is the Founder & CMO of Array Digital. Kevin is also the co-host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the co-organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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For more information on the show, and to check out past episodes, go to journeyto100million.com!

Erik was recently asked, “do I need a lawyer to start a business?” It’s a good question because there’s a lot of questions when starting a business that go into the legality of what type of entity you’re trying to form whether that be an LLC, a sole proprietorship, etc.

Erik recommends deferring all of that and not letting that tie you up. Granted, lawyers are very good when you need them but in the very beginning, you should not get a lawyer. Your focus should be on finding customers that are willing to pay for your product or service offering. Don’t worry about the legal aspects until you make money and validate your idea; once you start really selling, then you can think about things like what kind of business entity to form and what kind of contract you should have in place.

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Erik J. Olson is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. The Founder & CEO of Array Digital, he is also the host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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Kevin Daisey is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was just 23, and is the Founder & CMO of Array Digital. Kevin is also the co-host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the co-organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups.

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For more information on the show, and to check out past episodes, go to journeyto100million.com!