Journey to $100 Million: Entrepreneurship & Digital Marketing

Whether or not you are experiencing expansion and growth, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be portraying that. You need to have a job/career page that lays out the job openings for jobs you would normally want to fill even if you are not actively searching for them. It gives people the perception that you are really growing and it’s that perception that helps you stand out and gets people to talk about you, driving business and sales.

Other companies want to do business with companies that are stable but are pushing forward and being innovative. If you’re not coming across as if you’re doing that, then people won’t want to work with you. Always be expanding and talking about that expansion.

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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 his experience being a PMP. PMP stands for Project Management Professional. It is a certification from a professional organization called the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Erik got started with project management straight out of college when he became a construction project manager. He was paired with a more experienced project manager who showed him the ropes. He did that for a few years until he started working as a software developer.

While working in software development Erik went back and forth between actual programming and managing projects in software development. Project management is one of those things he kept going back to no matter what field of work he was in.

About 10 years into his career he realized that PMI had written a book about best practices in project management. Up until then he had been relying on trial and error to work through projects, but after that discovery decided to get involved with PMI, and it paid off.

The things he learned at PMI have been invaluable to Erik. He has learned things that have helped him at every stage of his career no matter what field he was in. He believes professional organizations like PMI are extremely beneficial and encourages you to look into professional organizations that correlate with your career.

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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’s first job was when he was about 10. A little backstory: his dad started his own business at 8 years old carving decoys that are used for duck hunting. It’s become a piece of art and a collectible so people pay a lot of money for them. He still does it to this day.

When Kevin was little, he started to make his own too. When he was about 10, he would go to art shows with his dad and have his own work there. His stuff would sell out within an hour. That was his first business: making the ducks and selling them.

Think to yourself if there’s anything you did when you were little as a business. Business starts when you’re young. You might not have the same goals or motivation or purpose for the money that you make but business is engraved in all of us.

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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!

You are probably on social media. A lot of people tend to accumulate followers or connections on social media and then don’t actually talk to them. They may post on their timeline and hope they see what they’re posting without any kind of engagement.

On social media, people try to keep their connections at an arm’s length while still hoping these people will buy from them at some point in the near future. You must try to find some commonality between you and the individual.

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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!

Have you heard the phrase “drip email marketing”? This is when you provide your email to a company, brand, or influencers and they send you a series of emails over a specified amount of time. The idea here is that you are slowly building up the other person’s level of knowledge as far as what you do and how you can help them.

We do that a bit with our own newsletter but Erik also wanted to do it through social media. Erik was able to be notified whenever he got a new follower on LinkedIn or Twitter and would follow up with specific messages to send to these new followers.

Often, people will immediately send a long, hard pitch without really introducing themselves, their products, or services and that is a mistake. You have to wine and dine these potential new customers.

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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!

Within the first two years of working for himself Erik realized he didn’t really know what business he was in. As crazy as that sounds this seems to be a common problem with many new entrepreneurs. In the beginning when you’re just trying to put food on the table you will often take any work that comes your way as long as it coincides with your business somehow.

In Erik's case he was a programmer at that time. He took on projects working in different coding languages that he wasn't really interested in. He did this frankly because he just needed to work and make money. But, the problem was this eventually left him wondering exactly what he should be doing.

Erik’s advice is as time goes on you start to become more selective about the type of work that you take on. What your business focuses on may change over time but it's important to initially define your business as soon as possible. If you don’t you will find yourself doing all kinds of work that will further separate you from what you really want to do. Once you decide what kind of business you’re in, chase every opportunity that fits that criteria and your business will flourish.

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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 setting goals for yourself people may tell you not to set them too high because they will be hard to achieve, you may fail, and you'll be disappointed in yourself. But, Kevin is here to tell you why you should do the opposite.

We were recently talking about our revenue goals for the coming year and we were considering moving the goal down a bit because our initial goal seemed aggressive. However, we decided against it. In his book, The 10x Rule, Grant Cardone says to never move the target, instead increase the action. He’s absolutely right. Working hard to reach $4 million in recurring revenue and ending up $3.8 million is much better than setting the goal at $2 million and surpassing it by reaching $2.1 million. It puts us that much closer to our initial goal, and that’s where we want to be.

When a goal seems easy to achieve your efforts tend to decrease. When the goal seems out of reach you work your butt off to try and get it. In the end you may not achieve your goal but that's okay. You’ll be closer to where you want to end up.

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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 recently went to Machipongo, VA to meet with someone who he bumped into on LinkedIn who is significantly further ahead in his digital marketing career (about 10 years ahead). Erik drove over for lunch and they had a meeting that Erik found extremely valuable. He gained insight on things he might do a bit differently like organizational structure, the types of clients we acquire, and how to prove to our clients that we are truly adding value and not just spinning our wheels.

When you’re running a business, you’re kinda isolated so it’s smart to meet with like-minded people on a regular basis and you discuss problems you’re having in your business, things you’re struggling with, ideas you’re tossing around, etc. By meeting with people that have probably had experience with you, you can learn so much and gain insight that you might not have thought of.

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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 Array Digital, we don’t typically travel for sales. We don’t go to trade shows because that’s not our kind of marketing. But if we have a prospect that reaches out to us, Kevin is willing to do the traveling and take the meeting.

This came up recently with a prospect that had done a lot of research prior to calling us and were very impressed by what we’re doing and our online presence. This was a good sign and things moved quickly. Before determining that we would travel for them, we needed to know where they were in the buying process, how many people are involved, and how sold they are on our product/services. Make sure you’re not wasting your time and money by asking these sorts of questions.

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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 recalls the hardest decision he’s ever had to make in business, to date. That decision was hiring his first employee. Like most new entrepreneurs he found himself in a position where he was overwhelmed with work but he wasn't overwhelmed with cash. He knew and understood that hiring another person would mean that person would have to come before himself. He explained to his wife that he was getting ready to hire someone and that meant he would have to pay this person every two weeks and that meant he may or may not be able to pay himself.

Luckily that didn't happen. He hired his first employee after he signed a contract for a big software development project. He was still in the middle of his first big project and knew he wouldn't be able to deliver the second project in a timely manner without help. So, he hired someone to help him finish that first project and together they tackled the second. And, it worked out perfectly.

Hiring his first employee freed him up to look for more opportunities. He quickly went from hiring one person to hiring others as he started to find more work. He was pleasantly surprised to see how well things lined up between hiring others and getting more projects.

If you're currently a one-man show, consider taking on more work than you can handle and hire your first employee or freelancer to help you. You will quickly see that by having more people more work will come.

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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!