Journey to $100 Million: Entrepreneurship & Digital Marketing

As you may have already heard, Erik has a goal to run 1,000 miles in 2019. In episode 239 of Journey to $100 Million, Erik talks about how small improvements over time can greatly advance your personal and business efforts.

Currently, Erik is at the point where he feels comfortable running three to four miles every day. Recently, he did the math to see where he would be if he ran an extra quarter-mile every day. Taking the miles he had already run, and adding an extra quarter-mile every day, it turned out to be about an extra 40 miles overall! That is a significant improvement, for an insignificant addition to his daily routine.

Small improvements multiplied by volume (or time) equal BIG results! This is not just with running, but in business as well. For example, the 1% rule: if you make a 1% improvement anywhere in your business over time, it multiplies out to greatly improve your company. If you make small changes on a constant basis, you will see significant improvements in your business, your life, and wherever you apply 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.

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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!

Back in the day when Erik ran a software development company, it was just him and a couple of employees and the company was flush with cash. We still do very well for ourselves at Array Digital, but we do have more employees and more obligations, leaving less excess cash. In episode 238 of Journey to $100 Million, listen in to Erik as he explains how he threw business parties with his previous company’s extra cash, which ended up gaining him a very lucrative deal.

Erik found a local event coordinator that educated him on a very useful approach to correctly utilize these business parties. The goal was to have a strategic approach, plan who was going to be there and follow up with the attendees. He also spoke to another friend of his, who was also a business owner, who explained to Erik how he should ask everyone invited to invite one other person that they feel would be a good fit to use his company’s services.

Erik found that only about 25% of individuals brought someone else with them, but one of those individuals that showed up to one of these events had a need for Erik’s services. Erik talked to this individual at the event, got his contact info, and followed up the next day. This ended up being a $20k software project - which would not have happened without this event and a strategy!

These events are not that expensive, only around $500. It is a low investment, gets people to your office, and can have a big return on investment. Erik plans to implement this strategy here at Array Digital so we can start landing more, and bigger, deals!

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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!

How often do you talk about ideas and concepts to improve your company, but end up taking no action? Here at Array Digital, we find ourselves doing this occasionally. In episode 237 of Journey to $100 Million, listen in to Kevin as he explains how we plan to take constant but immediate action on our business ideas.

Recently, we talked about a new ad strategy we wanted to implement with our new business coach, Ski. After having a meeting on how we planned to shoot our new advertisement, Ski urged us to take action right then and there! So, Ski, Erik, and Kevin hopped in the car and shot their new ad, edited the video, and put it all together that day.

To grow your company, you must ensure that you are using your time wisely. If you plan on meeting about something - task it out, and get it done! If it is not important to you, make it clear that you are not going to take action and waste time. Think about the different ideas you are discussing with your team, and make sure you take action on them if they are important to your company.

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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!

At Array Digital we put out a lot of really great educational information out through our social media platforms, our podcast, blog, and more. We pride ourselves on constantly producing content, and we hope it is always educational to our followers. In episode 236 of Journey to $100 Million, listen in to Erik as he explains how we have recently injected “asks” into this content.

We have constantly put out content that added value to other people, but didn’t for anything in return. This is generally a good thing, as we want to give-give-give so that people recognize us as digital marketing experts, and come back to us when they are in need. But at some point, you need to have an ask so that you can gain clients.

Every week we inject an explicit ask in an online video, and after every episode of our podcast, we have an outro about one of our services. Our team comes together internally every week and decides what our ask of the week is going to be, and then we record a short video that asks the public to do something. This could range from coming to one of our Marketers Anonymous meetups or having a consultative call with us.

If you are not giving away all of your best secrets for free through content, you are missing out on an opportunity to get peoples’ attention. You should be giving everything you’ve got away for free, just not custom advice to individuals. When prospects want you to apply your knowledge to their specific situation, that’s when it becomes consultative, and you find yourself onboarding a new client!

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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!

When running a business, you should have a deep understanding of the work you do and be able to help and fix problems at any time. In episode 235 of Journey to $100 Million, listen in to Kevin as he talks about how he recently stepped in to help out operations and do some of the dirty work himself!

We recently have been redesigning Array Digital’s services and home page. Kevin saw the team struggling with what they should do, and felt compelled to step in and do some of the work himself. Kevin decided to go back to his roots and do some design, developing, and coding. He was able to come up with some solutions that were well received by the team. In addition, Erik helped out with some of the copy, while our web developer, Jason, optimized the pages while also making it mobile-friendly.

These new pages were crucial for prospects in order to provide the information they need to make a decision whether or not to reach out and work with us. Sometimes, you have to go back to your roots, jump in to do some of the work, and show the team that you can help if need be. Sometimes your employees need a little guidance to get them back on track. It was nice for Kevin to get back into the work for a minute, but moving forward he knows our team can handle it. At the end of the day, it is beneficial for everyone to know that if things go sideways, Kevin can jump back in and help out.

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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!

Back in the day, Erik tried a lot of different things throughout his entrepreneurial journey. He was not exactly sure what he wanted to do, so he dabbled in many different areas. In episode 234 of Journey to $100 Million, listen in to Erik as he explains how being involved in many different business ventures led to different personas in different scenarios.

When Erik was an employee, he had a particular persona, whereas when he was working on different side jobs, he was in a different realm. He kept these different worlds separate from each other, hoping these different worlds would not collide. But, unfortunately, when you have different personas for different situations, none of them get the attention they need.

When Erik started his first commercial company, 80/20, he needed to let everyone he had been working with know that this was his sole priority. All of these various personas needed to be consolidated into one so he could focus all of his attention on this new company. In order to be successful, you have to clarify what you can provide, even if that means eliminating business ventures in order to fully commit to one.

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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!

Are you selling the right solutions to your customers? In episode 233 of Journey to $100 Million, Kevin explains how we do our best to make decisions to sell to our clients in a way that is most beneficial to them.

We recently signed a new client, and the customer desired a service we did not feel was right for them. Therefore, during the onboarding period, we notified the client that it was not wise to pay for this particular service based on their size and budget. We removed this service for them and offered them a cheaper solution that would provide them with more immediate results. Although the service this client originally wanted would’ve allowed us to gain more profit, we did not push for them to keep it as we thought a different service would better suit them.

When you are selling to your clients, ask yourself if you are selling for profit or client satisfaction. You will have much more success if you sell what you believe in. In addition, you will acquire a positive reputation along the way. If you think about the services you provide and constantly assess how they will benefit your clients, you will win!

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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!

Erik sometimes, like all executives inadvertently do, frustrates his team here at Array Digital. In episode 232 of Journey to $100 Million, Erik talks about a recent situation where he was supercharged up in a recent management meeting about hiring two new employees. When talking about these hires, he stated he would do it at any cost, even if we had to borrow money.

What happened was the team found candidates, then Erik got nervous. Erik came to the realization that it was frustrating for his team when he asks them to do something in a timely manner, then asks them to stop and wait. Not only that, but it frustrates Erik as well due to the fact he has a vision of $100 million dollars, and that is not going to be easy, especially without an abundance of talented team members. We must hire people that can execute what we are selling as well as have people that are selling - without both, we are not going to hit our goal. But, there also needs to be a very equal balance between the sales and operations team, because we need to bring in work, but also have the resources to do the work as well.

Currently, we have a small team limited on bandwidth. We need more people, and without that, growth will not come as quickly. Erik very aggressively wants to grow and hire but is also very cautious and prudent so that the company does not get hurt. Just because Erik wants something, does not mean he will give it to himself. If we cannot afford to bring on new hires, no matter how much Erik wants it, it will just have to wait, and we must come up with a plan.

You have to take risks in order to grow, but you do not want to take mindless risks that may hurt your company. The key is to calculate your risks, know what you're getting yourself into, and when you’re ready - execute on your plan!

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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!

Are you effectively keeping track of the growth your company is gaining? In episode 231 of Journey to $100 Million, Kevin shares a very positive growth update for us here at Array Digital.

When we started our podcast this past January of 2019, our ARR (annual recurring revenue) was at $1.2 Million. As of August 30th, 2019, we have exceeded $1.6 Million in ARR! This is incredible news, knowing that we still have one more month to go in the third quarter. Not only that, but we recently received our bi-weekly financial report from Katya, and our growth rate is currently at 100%! At this pace, it is looking like we will not only meet, but exceed our goal of $2 million in ARR this year.

For 2020, we plan to set our goals even higher due to our growth rate. If we maintain this pace and stay the course, we predict that Array Digital’s future is very bright. That being said, the reality is, if we hit the $2 Million ARR mark this year, we have to continue to double these yearly goals annually in order to hit the $100 million threshold. This is a huge task to achieve, but if you don’t aim high, you’re not going to rise high. The key is to get these financial reports on a regular basis, track your goals, and monitor your company goals to ensure you are on the right track.

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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!

Recently, one of our team members here at Array Digital sent an email to a new client with the contract attached, as we have all done before. In episode 230 of Journey to $100 Million, listen in to Erik as he explains how electronic signature systems can help streamline your contract signing process.

When you send a contract attached as an email, the prospect has to print the contract, physically sign it, scan it back to their computer, and then email it back to you. This is a very long, tedious, and sometimes confusing process when you are trying to sign a client quickly. Luckily, there are electronic signature systems, such as DocuSign and Hellosign, that can help you take the friction out of this process. With electronic signatures, a prospect is able to click the contract link in an email, then simply click another button to sign. We have adopted this electronic signature process into contracts within our company as it simplifies the signing process for prospects.

HelloSign is the software we currently use, which has a free version. If you would prefer a paid plan, the prices range from $10 to $20 dollars per month. We would highly recommend switching over to electronic signatures as it creates less of a hassle for new prospects. Here at Array Digital, we want to make it as easy as possible to turn prospects into new clients - electronic signatures are one way to do this!

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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!