Journey to $100 Million: Entrepreneurship & Digital Marketing

Today, we have a guest host, Scott Baxter, the CEO of PlayYourCourt.com.

For those unfamiliar with Scott’s website, it connects tennis players with other tennis players and tennis coaches.

His advice is quick and super actionable. One of the things that helped in scaling his business was blocking out the excess noise and focusing on the things that matter to his business. It’s hard to take a step back and look at what really matters but it must be done.

For every business, there are usually between 2-5 levers that you can pull that are going to greatly change your business. Take a step back and ask yourself what are the things I could change? If I could do these few things, how would my business change and grow?

Do this every couple of months by taking a day off and deciding what those 2-5 growth levers are and then carve out time in your week to make sure you are focusing on those things. Learn to say no to everything else and you’ll find that your business scales at a much more rapid rate.

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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!

In this episode, Erik talks about a recent mistake that he made in deciding to send out over 300 mailers himself. His mail list was made up of numerous past and present business and personal contacts. First, he obtained a quote for a third party company to print and mail the letters. It was going to cost about $700 for them to print and send the letters, and about another $200 for postage. That seemed high to Erik so he decided to do it himself. He had done these types of mailings before but never for this quantity.

It took Erik an entire day just to do the mail merge online and print out the 300+ letters. Then it took him roughly another day to print out the envelopes. The envelopes kept getting jammed, they would print out crooked, some would smear and he would have to print them again, and he could only fit about 10 envelopes into the printer at once so he had to keep refeeding the printer. It was a nightmare. That wasn't even the worst part. About three-quarters of the way into printing the envelopes he realized he was stacking the envelopes in the reverse order that he had printed the letters, which meant he had to manually re-stack the envelopes one by one. To add insult to injury, he ran out of stamps and had to go buy more at the post office. The whole ordeal took about three days to complete. That's three days he could have used to focus on building up the business.

Erik considers himself a frugal guy and he loves to save money wherever he can. He saved hundreds of dollars by doing this himself but he feels he could have made better use of those three days. He doesn’t regret doing it as he did get a few leads out of it, but he vows never to do another large mailing like this himself. Next time he will definitely hire out, and he will likely order postcards instead of letters since they are cheaper to mail.

It's really important to save money wherever you can but it's equally as important to know when to hire out. Some jobs are better left to others.

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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!

Today, Daniel Hill, Instagram Stories flash briefing host, talks about something he’s been doing for a long time that is starting to pay off.

He has recently been spending time on Twitter looking speaking opportunities. He has a formula that you can adapt whether you’re looking for speaking opportunities as well or if you’re looking to find a new way to grow your business.

In the Twitter search box, he puts “call for speakers” and eliminates the words ‘Trump’ and ‘Pelosi’ because he doesn’t want any political stuff. Once you type that in, you can save your search on Twitter.com and then when you go to search things again in the future, Twitter will show searches you’ve made in the past and saved. He checks in for conferences looking for speakers once or twice a week. You can try some variations to narrow down exactly what criteria you’re looking to find.

Be sure to find Daniel online: @DanielHillMedia on Instagram and Twitter or at DanielHillMedia.com

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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!

There are two main types of legal entities one can become when opening a business. One is an LLC, which stands for limited liability company. The other is S Corp which stands for S Corporation. There are other variations but these are the two main types. There is also a Sole Proprietor, which is when a business is owned by one person and that business and the person are seen as one in the same. Erik typically doesn't recommend someone become a Sole Proprietor because if the business is ever sued the business owner can also personally be sued.

Erik has typically always formed his businesses as an LLC. There are many advantages to being an LLC. The biggest advantage is that it separates the business owner from the business itself so if the business is ever sued it doesn’t mean the business owner will personally be sued. They can take every last dime of the company’s but it doesn't mean they will be able to go after the business owner’s personal home, car, or assets. The other advantage is that with an LLC the business owner files personal taxes and the LLC is part of those. There is no need to file separate taxes.

The S Corp is also a popular option. One of the advantages of the S Corp is that you can have shares of the company. This is good if there are multiple business partners. The other advantage is that you can have partner distributions in addition to payroll. Distributions are taxed at a lower rate than payroll so you can work that to your advantage. Keep in mind the IRS requires you to also pay yourself a reasonable payroll amount so it can’t all be distributions.

There are several other entity types but these are the two main ones and the two Erik recommends. If you have questions about the different entity types or special circumstances, Erik recommends you talk to an accountant about which type is best for you.

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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 is pretty active on Twitter. He often gets questions about entrepreneurialism there. One of the questions he gets asked often by new business owners, or people who are thinking about starting their own business, is whether they need an accountant in the beginning. The short answer is no, not in the beginning.

When Erik first started as a freelancer years ago he was a one-man show. He was working from his dining room table for just a couple of clients. His expenses were minimal and he was only getting paid about once a month from those few clients. It was pretty easy for him to keep the books himself at that point. Those jobs got rolled into his personal taxes so it was fairly simple for him to file his taxes himself in the beginning too.

It wasn't until he hired his first employee that he decided to hire an accountant. He wanted to make sure he did things right with payroll and taxes.

These days at Array Digital we use a CPA. a CPA is a highly trained accountant who specializes in handling complex tax situations. With 11 employees (some in different states), and yearly revenue at $1.7 million, we're at the point where working with a CPA is the right thing for us.

If you're just getting started though, Erik says you don’t need an accountant right now. He recommends you focus on validating your offering so that people will want to buy from you. There will come a time when hiring an accountant becomes necessary but the early days is not it.

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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!

When Erik and Kevin first decided to add gym membership as an employee benefit they realized there were a couple of ways of handling it. One way was they could let their employees choose the gym they wanted to join and submit for reimbursement every month. Another way was employees could use the company's credit card number to sign up at the gym of their choosing. They figured out it would be too much administrative work and they wanted something simpler.

In the end they decided to choose one gym - the OneLife gym near the office. It's the gym that Erik was a member of. He worked something out with the sales manager to let him know that employees could sign up at that gym and Array Digital would pay for it. They decided they would pay the signing fee for each employee who wanted to join and the monthly membership fee for each employee, which is about $30 a month.

While the company pays for two-thirds of the monthly membership Erik still has the employee contribute $5 per paycheck towards their membership. The reason for this is that he wants them to have some skin in the game. He finds that employees value their membership more if they contribute part of their paycheck to the monthly dues and they are more likely to use it. It's also more likely that they will cancel the membership themselves if they’re not using it, cutting down on unnecessary spending for the company.

Erik recommends handling most employee benefits this way. When an employee is contributing part of their pay toward their benefits, especially something like a gym membership, they are more likely to value it and use it. We value employees’ health and fitness at Array Digital; that's why a gym membership is one of the benefits we provide.

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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!

If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re not going to be able to change the world if you’re not healthy because it’ll derail your progress. It’s easy to say I’ll do it later, things naturally get pushed to the side when you’re working on stuff.

This year, Kevin has been good and consistent about going to the gym every week, his wife has been cooking healthy meals, most of the food they have in the house are healthy foods. Little changes like this can truly make a big difference. He and his wife just ran a 5K and plan to do a race at least once a quarter.

If you can’t work and show up because of your health, things are going to change in your absence. So, take care of yourself!

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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!

In this episode Erik talks about a book that he is currently reading by Joe Sugarman. It's about ad copy writing. Erik considers himself a pretty good writer when it comes to storytelling but ad copy writing is different.

We do a lot of writing here at Array Digital. We write articles and educational pieces on behalf of our clients and for ourselves. We have a talented team of great writers, but Erik is interested in learning about ad copy writing for himself. He wants to be great at it too.

With ad copy writing you are trying to get the buyer to take a specific action. Erik says there is an art and science behind this and that's part of what he wants to learn.

One of the points that really sticks out from the book for Erik is the benefit of the benefit. He uses the example of advertising for one of our photography clients who mentions using museum quality photo paper. Erik asked the team what is the benefit of using museum quality paper. The benefit is that picture will not discolor over time. Beyond that, one could say that the benefit of the benefit of the benefit would be the perfect preservation of that exact moment in time. That's really important. That's what matters to buyers.

It isn’t much different with digital marketing. In the end you have to think about what really matters to the buyer. Is it the quality of the photo paper or capturing that fleeting moment in time forever? Finding the answer can determine whether someone buys from you or not.

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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!

Today, Kevin is sharing an update on Array’s revenue.

We had a sales slump between the 2nd and 3rd quarters but we’ve come out of that strong. We exceeded our annual goal of $1.8 million in annual revenue; at the time of this recording, we are at about $2.1 million in annual revenue with over a month left. Now, we’re looking at setting goals for next year. Why share this information? To show you what we’re doing and if the steps we’re taking are working.

We celebrated reaching and surpassing our goal but then we’re back at it and back to work. Our sales manager, Glen, has brought a ton of those sales and revenue during the time he’s been here. We will continue to share our goals with you going into the new year.

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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!

In this episode, Erik talks about his first project as a freelancer.

Years ago when Erik's work on DoD projects was coming to an end, he knew he had to start building up his commercial portfolio.He went on a site called elance.com (which has since rebranded to become upwork.com). Upwork is a site where people can post different kinds of jobs they need done and freelancers can bid on those jobs or negotiate a price.

Erik found his first client on this website. It sounded like a simple project until he got on the phone with the client for the first time. That's when he found out it was a legacy project, meaning it was work on an outdated website that used outdated technology. There was nothing really appealing to him about this project but he decided to take it on anyway. He finished that project and then the client called him for another small project, and another, and another. It was a great learning experience and it really helped Erik get his foot in the door.

That original small project eventually turned into a pretty big one. The more Erik worked on the outdated technology the more he realized it needed to be updated completely. The system was at least 15 years old and it wasn't keeping up with the current technology. He convinced his client to let him rebuild it and it worked out great.

The big lesson learned here is that sometimes you have to do the boring work you don't want to. Most people want to go after the shiny, new, exciting, project, and a lot of these older legacy projects get overlooked. But, there is a lot to learn from boring work, and many times it can turn into better work in the future. You just have to be willing to do what others won't.

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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!