Journey to $100 Million: Entrepreneurship & Digital Marketing

Policies outline how the company operates in a given situation. One such policy outlines how the company handles late payments from a client. We require the client to pay at the beginning of each payment period, this way we do not need to wait for payments or hope to be paid. It is recommended that the client pays by card but if they insist on paying with a check, they are only extended certain terms which require them to send a check and for us to receive it within seven days of sending the invoice.

More recently, we have adjusted the terms so that if we have not received payment the day it is due the client will get an email reminding them the payment is due and if it is not paid in a week there will be a late fee. If the week passes and the client is issued a late fee, we begin the suspension process a few days later.

I have noticed that some employees are hesitant to do this and will consult me beforehand, to which I say suspend their service - that we cannot work for clients for free. Over time, the hesitation has improved and we have gotten better about following the process. The goal is one day make it seamless.

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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 started working for himself about 11 years ago. At the time it was just him, a laptop, and his cell phone. All the work he did was done on the laptop or through the phone. Now, 11 years later he is back to just him, a laptop, and a cellphone.

As his business grew, it became more complex. He added employees, equipment, an office, and other tools. But just to get started, all he required were those basic pieces of equipment. Even now, all he really needs to get work done are those same basic pieces. He can work from anywhere as long as he has those.

Many new entrepreneurs believe they need to have everything in place in order to get started. They think they need a detailed business plan, clientele, a lawyer, a CPA, an office, supplies, and lots of equipment. The reality is you don't. You just need a few basic pieces of equipment and the will to start. If you are in the service or technology field, like many service providers are, this is especially true. Even if you are more of a hands-nn service type provider all you really need is yourself, maybe a truck, and a phone. The rest will come with time.

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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!

Ever since the beginning of this company, we have benefited from the nearly exclusive use of cloud-based software. Things such as Google Suite and our cloud-based task manager Asana, have been immensely important to us. When COVID-19 arrived moving to remote workplaces was a non-issue for us while other companies struggled to conform to their new reality.

We estimate over 90% of the programs we use for work are cloud-based. We have a server that’s about 10 years old, but it hasn’t even been plugged in for at least four years. (We just can’t bear to part with it yet). We have no need for the server though or even an IT department. Everything is in the cloud!

If you’re just starting a new business Erik recommends making everything cloud-based. It will make things easier in the long run. Two well-known suites of office products are Google Suite for email, documents, spreadsheets, calendar, storage and more. Office 365 is another one, and it offers similar features.

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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 have been around in one form or another for going on 10 years now. Kevin started his business in 2009 and Erik started his first business in 2009 as well. They formed Array Digital 3 years ago and when that happened, a few of the employees who had existed with either of those two companies came along.

Because of that, there are some employees who have been around for 5 years even though Array Digital has been around for only 3. The “problem” we have now is that people have already celebrated a milestone anniversary and you lose track of time.

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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!

Why Do We Focus on the Exceptions While Neglecting the Basics?

Erik was recently asked this question by Zack Miller of Zack Miller Says. This is a great question because a lot of the time when we’re running our business or reading the news, the exceptions become the norm. The mundane becomes unexciting so they focus on what gets you excited.

The same happens in business. Business can start to look the same day in and day out; it’s part of the grind of doing business. Those things you don’t focus on too much. You usually put a lot of focus into the boundary conditions, the things that haven’t even happened yet. It’s a mistake to do that.

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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!

Recently Erik and Katya were talking about how great monthly revenue is as opposed to the other means of billing clients like hourly or project-based.

Before starting with monthly recurring revenue, Kevin and Erik had no way of projecting out to the future. When they were working on projects, at some point it would go down to 0 eventually but your expenses continue to increase because you have all these people working for you and expecting a raise.

Recurring revenue gives you the ability to track how much revenue you get each month and you can then project out into the future. With recurring revenue, you can plan, budget, forecast, and see into the future.

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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!

We have a Lunchtime Live that we’ve been doing every Friday at noon. As part of notifying people that we are going live, we have repurposed our text messaging platform to let people know about the lives that are happening and where they can access it.

Erik is a big proponent of repurposing information but there is a danger to it. We learned this a few weeks ago when we repurposed our Marketers Anonymous text messaging platform for these livestreams.

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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!

At some point, someone is going to ask you for exclusivity. What that means is they don’t want you to take on work for a similar client. We’ve been asked this multiple times over the years and basically we sign a clause that says we won’t work with their competitors depending on a certain scope which varies from request to request.

Erik learned early on that exclusivity can really hurt 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.

—

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 a question by Ski on LinkedIn. Ski is a personal friend and fellow business owner. The question was about cash flow and what it means to be successful in terms of cash. This was Erik’s response:

Revenue is essentially a vanity metric. A better picture of a company’s wealth is cash flow. Cash flow is the money that moves in and out of a company from sales and expenses. It's actual cash in the bank.

One way we maximize cash flow is having tight payment terms. Many companies allow you to pay them in 15 or 30 days but our payment terms are Net7. Our preferred payment method is ACH or credit card. Payment by check is a last resort and if we extend that option payment is due within seven days. We also invoice before services are rendered so we are getting paid as we start the work, instead of paying for labor and other costs and then reimbursing ourselves weeks later. These two things alone have maximized our cash flow significantly.

Another way to maximize cash flow is by obtaining a line of credit before you actually need it. It's a good way to borrow money with the ability to pay it off over time.

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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!

Creating and following processes is a very important part of our business.

Years ago, when Erik worked as a contractor for the military he learned the importance in having formal processes. At the time he was working as a project manager for software development projects, some of which had no written processes. This created problems as implementing the software would take anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of days, because only one person knew how to do it, and that person was doing it from memory. Relying on just one person to set things up from memory is never a great idea.

Because of Erik’s experience we now have several processes at Array Digital. We have a process for selling, for recruiting, for onboarding, off-boarding, and everything in between. Having processes ensures nothing is forgotten, nothing is left out, and the whole thing is repeatable by anyone who reads the process document.

Creating the process documents can be as simple as sitting down next to the person who knows the process and typing up exactly what they do step by step. It’s important and it can help you be a better 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.

—

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!