Welcome to the Entrepreneuring Show, where we strive to provide insights and stories for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. In this episode, we interviewed Eduardo Padilla about his journey from working in Tijuana, to owning and operating his business Grow My Brand. Located in Toronto’s Yorkville, Grow My Brand crafts tailored branding strategies for small businesses focused on brand strategy, graphic design, web design, and brand growth.
What prompted you to become an entrepreneur?
“I was born originally in Mexico City. I moved to Tijuana, Mexico when I was around eight years old, and that’s where I essentially grew up. When the time came to choose a career, I had always thought that I was going to follow the classic, corporate ladder journey. My dad was in banking, and he was really successful at growing in that direction, so that was always something that I’d assume that I was gonna do as well. I’ve always been really creative ever since I was a kid. I was super into computers, graphic design and anything related to art, movies, etcetera. When I found out about the career of graphic design, that really resonated with me. In university I found this great program, and I guess the translation from Mexico would be like, it’s an engineering degree in digital graphic design, right?
So, I’m going through university, and in order for me to afford the university, I had to get all these side gigs. A lot of them included sales roles, and that was the first time that I really had to the opportunity to engage with sales. That was my first intro to sales, paying for university, and it kind of really sparked my interest in terms of the whole world of sales, entrepreneurship and just making your own money without relying on a salary.
So ironically, by the time that I finished university and was ready to go to the marketplace, I quickly realized that as a graphic designer, I was not going to be able to make enough money as, or I guess compared to what I was already making to pay for university. It was a really interesting shock, and I think that propelled the motivation in order for me to decide, you know what? If I really want to be successful in my career, the best route is going to be start my own business.
So, that that was my first initial approach to entrepreneurship. Now that’s that was back in like, 2007-2008. Back then, being an entrepreneur was not necessarily the hot topic that is today, right? Nowadays, it seems like everyone is looking up to become an entrepreneur, but back then and even before me, that was never really something that was that compelling. Like, it was pretty challenging. Everyone was just following that corporate route, and it seemed to have worked for a lot of people back then. But for me, it was always the awareness of having control of your own business, and being able to provide as much value with the direction that you want to take your business and your career.
For the first few years I was doing a lot of freelancing, and a lot of collaboration with local businesses back in in Tijuana. We then eventually started to develop this sort of small advertising firm and worked with some clients in San Diego as well. That’s kinda l what I did for the first, I would say, 10 years back in back in Tijuana.”
How did you end up in Toronto?
“The truth is that I was fortunate enough to come here to Toronto just as a visitor. I was visiting a friend, and I was here back in 2019. So that was, like, 5 years ago already. Time flies.
If you remember back in 2019, that was a really exciting time to be in Toronto. The Toronto Raptors had just won that summer, COVID was not a thing at all, and everyone’s spirit and energy was extremely positive. So, I fell in love with the city right away. Matter of fact, I was not necessarily considering moving to Toronto, I was just visiting, but that definitely had an impact in terms of me considering Toronto as the next place to live. So, the next year or so, I started to connect with a lot of amazing people. I was still running my company back home and running some work for clients back there, but as I started to slowly connect with the right people here, I ended up becoming great friends with another person that I met here right away. He said, you know what? Stay at my place for as long as you want. I’ll connect you with amazing people, and I just want to see you grow. You have a great energy, passion for your career, and what you do is really valuable to a lot of people that I know, so I’m going to start to introduce some people. That kind of connects with some of what you mentioned earlier, which is who you know matters sometimes more than your actual skills. Not that your skills don’t matter, but we’ll dive deeper into that in in a minute. Just to continue that story of how I ended up here, eventually realized that I wanted to do this formally. I wanted to establish myself here properly.
So, I went into the whole legal aspect and, you know, what would it look like. The recommendation was first, you’ve got to get a work permit. You got to work for a company, prove that you have Canadian working experience, and then eventually you’ll get your permanent residence. Then, you can either decide to continue working with a company, you can start your business, or you can work for someone else, but that’s the first step, right? So that’s exactly what I did.
I ended up being able to work with an amazing company that was focused on marketing for dental clinics, and we worked together for about a year. I’m so grateful for that experience because I was not only able to get that requirement of getting a job, but I also was able to get a job during COVID when most people are being laid off. My journey was kind of interesting in the sense that it was the complete opposite of what a lot of people were experiencing. I was moving, traveling to another country, getting a job, going to an office, and everyone that I met was doing the opposite. Everyone was being laid off or working from home. So, it was kind of like a really interesting experience.
I learned a lot from that company’s owner, you know, we connected. We hit it off right off the bat, and I was able to do a lot of marketing, sales and design for that role. But when the time came, I realized that you know what? I was fortunate enough to get my permanent residence relatively quickly. I think a few factors, like my profile probably being really attractive in that in the sense of what the Canadian government’s looking for, but also the timing of most people not coming to Canada during COVID, really speed up the process. So, I ended up getting my permanent residence and I realized, you know what? It’s time for me to get back to following my own entrepreneurial journey and start my own business here in Canada. Doing similar to what I was doing, back home, but now fully incorporated here. So, that’s what I’ve been doing for the last couple of years. At this point two and a half years, which is, again, kind of crazy to think about in in in hindsight.
Grow My Brand started around 2022, and the fascinating journey for me here specifically in Canada, is that one of my goals was to truly understand the nuances and the differences in the Canadian marketplace versus the US and Mexican marketplaces. Like, how the consumer behaviors are different. Like, what’s the culture like? What’s the philosophy? What are some of the factors that people here in Canada consider, that are not necessarily the same in the US market? I’ve spent a lot of time really understanding Canadian culture and Canadian consumers. I think that has allowed me to have quite a bit of success early on because that is something that I consider, and a lot of people don’t necessarily pay too much attention to that, especially if you want to grow your business here in Canada. I talk to a lot of entrepreneurs all the time, and usually they say the Canadian market is a little bit tougher. Like, I got to focus on the US. While I may agree with them, especially in certain industries, I do see a massive untapped potential in Canada. Besides that, I always will have great gratitude for all the doors that were open to me early on and just the amazing energy. Even to this day, every time I start working with a new Canadian-based client, it’s always that welcoming, that straightforward welcoming approach
It’s amazing. So, I’m truly passionate about Canadian culture, Canadian businesses, and as I said, there’s a lot of untapped potential still in this in this country. So, that’s kind of a little bit of an overview of how I ended up here.”
The decision to move to Canada must have taken a tremendous amount of courage. Where did that courage come from?
“I think it really depends on the individual. We all have different reasons. I’m a big fan of, Jim Rohn; he’s a great public speaker/motivational speaker from the eighties-nineties. A reference quote that I keep in mind all the time is in order for you to have to achieve something, you have to have enough reasons, right? So the reasons is really where it all starts. You have a goal, and you have to fill that goal with enough reasons so that the promise is clear. Then, the challenge becomes easy, and that 100% applies to the question you just asked me, which is what made me make that leap of faith, this massive, massive life changing decision.
I think for me, particularly, it was a combination of things. First of all, I think that I had gotten to a point back home where business was doing fine, but I started to feel like I was getting a little bit complacent in terms of the opportunities that I was pursuing. I felt like I had hit a ceiling in terms of certain aspects of the business, and I was ready to start exploring some other some other places around the world. Toronto was particularly convenient for me just because it was close enough to Mexico, you know, English speaking. I grew up speaking English, so that was not a barrier. Then the fact that, again, the amazing connections that I made right away here in the city made everything else make a lot more sense. So great opportunity, great market, great culture, and close enough to home. Obviously, that’s just me trying to say all the list of things that I saw positive. The reality is that there were a lot of other challenges. But those challenges became a little bit easier once I had a clear vision for what I wanted to do.
One thing that I got to say though, and I think this this will probably be beneficial for a lot of people that are considering moving to a different place, is that my plan ever since I considered Toronto was if I’m going to make this decision, I’ve got to commit to it. I always thought about how this has to be at least a 10-year plan. Like, I can’t go there and then the minute that things start to become hard, I run back home. I think that’s a big temptation, especially when you start to miss family, friends, and all the humble comforts of being at home. But I realized, you know what? If you’re going to make this decision, you’ve got to make it thinking long term because you cannot have a true impact both in terms of your personal life, and in any sort of entrepreneurial endeavor, if you’re just thinking about 6 months, 1 year, 2 years. Things take time.
I also think it’s a combination of 2 things, that may appear as a big challenge. One starting from scratch in a new country, new culture no resources, nothing pretty much but you, yourself, and a credit card. That’s all you got. That’s kind of like what I’ve experienced.
Also, starting a business from scratch is I think another thing. I definitely learned a lot of lessons and faced quite a bit of challenges. But I think having that mindset of long term has been instrumental in order for me to continue to grow the business, stay motivated and stay focused and disciplined when things get hard. I also think that there’s a lot of conversation around starting your own business and entrepreneurship, and it may not be for everyone. I know a lot of people that have become really successful in the corporate environment, and that I have a lot of respect for. I matter of fact know that it has been the right decision for a lot of people. That being said, whenever you start to wonder “Should I start a business? Should I leave my job and follow this passion?” I think there are a few things to consider.
The first one is you have to truly be able to handle stress like you will never face in the job. That’s a big thing, I talked to many entrepreneurs, and I see this is like a common subject. It’s a roller coaster, and you got to be okay with it. You know? Like, just got to be hanging in there, even when you’re begging to jump off the cliff and quit. No. Hang in there. It’s a long game, and one of the biggest things is that most of the times, you won’t even know when things are actually going to go right. So, you have to believe in yourself regardless of the uncertainties. You have to truly have that leap of faith in yourself and your business. Now you got to get tactical eventually, which is finding a right market, finding the right offer, finding the right product, and improving the quality of your product or your service. That’s another thing that’s extremely important as well, but the mindset’s first, right? Know that it’s going to be challenging. Know that it’s going to take a lot of time, and if you’re okay with that, then you’re already set for way better success.”
What has been the biggest challenge for you?
“I think one of the bigger things, and this may resonate with a lot of people, is that you will always get all kinds of offers for jobs that seem to make more sense financially, and opportunities that almost sound like no brainers, especially when you’re struggling. When you’re thriving and everything seems to be going extremely well, people are just going to be like, oh, good for you. You’re amazing. You’re killing it. But then when things are hard, you’re going to get some temptations along the journey Like, why have you been doing this? Why don’t you just get a job and go back to corporate? You have all these skills, why are you struggling? You shouldn’t be struggling.
The answer is that you should be struggling because that’s what’s going to set you up for success later along the journey. But that’s something that you’ve got to be willing to stick to your gut on and just continue, continue, and continue, focusing on your original goal. So, I would say that’s probably been one of the biggest things, that temptation of going different routes and quitting.
Plus, there’s all the little things, right? All the day to day challenges, being able to afford certain things, do you want to scale, or you want to grow in a certain direction that you don’t have the means to yet? Or do you want to close a sale and then the sale for whatever reason doesn’t happen? It forces you to learn new skills that you never thought you needed to learn, and now you’re getting outside your comfort zone. One big thing, I think this is again something that I’ve seen across many other entrepreneurs is what you call the shiny object syndrome, right? There’s all kinds of offers, especially in social media these days. Like you know, lead generation is the one thing that’s going to propel your business. Social media marketing is going to be the one thing. You know? There’s always something, and ow we have AI. AI is the new thing, and AI is going to solve all your problems.
The reality is, and this is something that they won’t tell you, is that there’s no magic pill. It’s just a lot of little things consistently every day that you got to get done in order for you to get to where you want to get. That’s the reality. There’s, you know, the classic question of what’s your secret to success. Most successful people will tell you there is no secret. It’s just discipline, hard work, commitment, and dedication. Those are all things that anyone can do, but most people are not willing to, and that’s just a character trait more that opportunity.
Now there’s obviously good timing. There’s luck. There’s, you know, there’s great connections, great skills. Those are all really valuable, but those are those are tactics that you got to learn along the way how to take advantage of when they come your way or as they are needed, in order for you to continue to continue to be successful or continue in your entrepreneurial journey. But, yeah, I would say that those are a couple that I can definitely share with confidence that have been some of those bigger challenges for sure.
How do you stay so positive?
“You know, I think early on in life I had to I had to start to develop that attitude towards life. I come from a really beautiful family that they you know, mom and dad, we were, like, they were really, really beautiful couple. In hindsight, I have so many beautiful memories about them, and that that was definitely a great foundation for that. But I had to face some early challenges in life. My dad passed away when I was 14 years old. And so, you know, that was one of those moments where you’re like, damn. Like, this is real, right? Life is real. There’s real challenge. And I remember clearly, you know, like, starting to become an adult, like, 16, 17, 18 years old. I really realized, you know what? I will never tolerate being put as a victim in this world. Like, I just can’t deal with that. I hate that that feeling of like oh, I’m sorry for you. Like, you know, that was just something that I avoided at all costs.
And I think that served me really well in terms of, answering your question about how do I stay positive. It’s always the moment that I feel like I’m in this position of, you know, blaming others, or pointing fingers, or like, the circumstances are hard and I just for some reason always default to wait. Like, what can you do, right? That’s something that people that know me well hear me say this all the time, which is it’s not what happens, it’s what you do about it. Also learned that from Jim Braun, but it’s a beautiful philosophy that I always keep in, you know, on top of my head. At the end of the day, we’re all going to have really hard days. We have hard challenges, hard, circumstances that are not necessarily what we expected or what we wanted.
I do have certain structures, like personal tools that I’ve been able to use. Like, I rigorously work out. I think for me, working out, you’re doing some sort of physical activity has been key because it just keeps me to this moment where I’m not sharing anything with anyone. It’s just myself, and I get it’s almost like this type of meditation that’s, you know, a way for me to disconnect from everything and everyone. I just start to think about where I’m at in life, what are what reminders of, like, what is the thing that I want to achieve this year, this this month, this week, this day. And I think tools definitely help with positivity, right? I would say I can’t be positive all the time, but I do have certain tools that I’ve been able to learn and adopt along the way that just keep me going. And instantly now it’s just now, you know, muscle memory where, like, the moment where I see a challenge, I’m already thinking about what are the top 5, 6 positive things I can do this.
As a marketing expert, what tips and tricks can you share with us?
Absolutely. Let’s talk branding. So, you know, one of the fascinating and I think also challenging things about branding is that it’s kind of hard to define and explain. Right? It’s almost like there’s so many definitions of what branding is.
And, well in general, you can say branding is the way that people portray you. Like, the way that your business is represented, or how do you stand out from the competitors, that’s kind of a general way for anyone to describe branding. I think depending on the size of the business or depending on the stage of the business where you’re at, the strategy for branding is going to be quite different. And that’s, I think, the reason why I’ve really focused on small businesses right now.
Like, we’re focused in Toronto. Right? We’re slowly starting to spend it across Canada. We do have some amazing clients in in the West Coast of Canada. But I think defining branding as depending on where the size of your business you’re in, or where you’re at in terms of your business, is going to help you a lot in terms of how to take advantage of it.
So, one thing that I can say is that, again, getting back to the shiny object syndrome of there’s all these things that you can do. Like, so should I be do social media? Should I update my website? Do I need a new logo? Right? And I think what I’m about to say is going to be really controversial for someone that specializes in branding because, like, one of the core things that we do is visual identity. Right? Which is the way that you visually represent your company and your business. You know, sometimes, like, your brand doesn’t necessarily need a new logo or like a new visual identity.
And the thing is that for a small business, the true definition of branding is what are the core values that people should associate with you? Like, what are the things that make you special compared to any other any other business? So, let’s say you’re, say you’re at a dental clinic. Are you known for being very friendly? Are you known for having the best technology? Are you known for being, you know, really fast? Right? Maybe you’re fast. Like, that that clinic’s in and out. Maybe they’re not the most tech savvy, but they’re really efficient. Right? If you’re a gym owner, are you the cleanest gym? Are you, you know, like, really friendly staff? Do you have the most amount of trainers available?
Like, what’s that thing that people are going to start to associate with you? Mhmm. I mean, the classic examples from companies, like, big companies that can resonate with a lot of people is if you think about, let’s say, a drink. People associate, you know, refresh Coca Cola is it’s a product, but then you have a, you know, you have a refreshing drink. And when you fulfill that feeling of, you know, I’m thirsty and I’m looking at refreshing drink. And you drink Coca Cola, and now all of a sudden you associate Coca Cola with, like, refreshing and delicious. Right? So, you have to look for one of those things that you should, that you want people to associate with you. And that’s the initial step that you’ve got to take in terms of understanding how to leverage branding.
Obviously, there are ways to measure branding, which is something that’s been very, very challenging for a lot of people. I talk to other creatives all the time about this, and the thing is that branding is a long-term thing. Right? Like, building a brand, growing a brand is something that takes time. So, while it’s really tempting to say, well, I don’t have budget or money or time or energy to build my brand. I need sales today. Fair enough. Right? That’s how a business starts. But if you really want to have a thriving company that truly excels and truly, survives those initial years of challenge and you become a solid business, you have to incorporate branding as part of your business strategy. That’s really what’s going to allow you not only to stand out from the competitors, but also being able to charge more money, you know, charge a premium, grow in terms of amount of clients and then, loyalty.
For a small business who wants to be a Coke but isn’t yet a Coke, what are some of the things that you can do from a branding perspective?
So, the first thing is you have to start with your customer. Who is my customer? Right? They will truly dictate everything else about your business. So, you gotta identify what makes sense. Right? You have a product, you have an offer, and you have, you know, some services.
You have all these things that you want to sell, but you gotta first start with the customer. Who like, what is a good problem worth selling for a particular audience? Right? And so, when you think about it from that perspective, regardless of the industry, regardless of the business, regardless of the size of the company, especially for a small business owner. Right? If you really dive deep into understanding who your customers are and what are the problems that are worth solving, that they’re looking to solve, that you can solve for them, that is really going to allow you to dictate all of the other decisions. Like, where to position yourself, and what strategic partnerships should you look for? What are some of the products and services that I should prioritize? Because they make a lot more sense for my clients, right, versus other things. So, you know, ProcureHub being an amazing community of entrepreneurs that is able to provide great services to anyone that’s looking to, you know, to grow their business to, you know, looking for different types of solutions. I think it’s a fascinating platform in the sense that we have a little bit of a hybrid situation where we have a community of entrepreneurs that we are supporting each other.
Right? At the same time, we also have to think, well, who are our clients? Are they, you know, are there people that are price shopping? Are they people that are more conscious about the value of what we provide? Are we looking into, you know, like, other small business owners here in Canada? Are we starting to target, like, bigger companies? So, exploring that is, I think, the first big step for any brand strategy. Once you have clarity of who your ideal client is, everything else starts to fall into place. Right? So, the whole strategy process involves obviously thinking about your clients, defining that. But then once you once you have that pretty clear, then you gotta start to think about, okay. Well, what’s my thing that makes me different? Right? Like, what’s what you call, like, the marketing terms of the, your value proposition. Right?
And so, the only way that that value proposition is truly going to have impact is by talking to that audience, getting back to that client. Right? If you’re saying, well, I do logos, and that’s like, okay. Well, what’s what about it? Right? Like, you’re a commodity. But then if you say, well, I happen to specialize in typographical logos for tech startups in Toronto. Right. Sudden, like, you’re doing the same thing, but you’re hyper focused on someone so that then you’re messaging your understanding of their needs.
What are the things that they look for? What are the things that they value? All of a sudden becomes a lot more impactful. Right? So, how do you become that Coca Cola? Well, you gotta start somewhere, which is, like, hyper focusing on under truly understanding a pain point for your clients and then eventually start to grow from there. Right? Scaling is another subject. I think scaling, or growing should come from the improvement of your product, your service, before you think about scaling, I think the better your service or your product is, your audience is automatically gonna demand for you to grow.”
How do you talk to customers and get the information you need without them becoming defensive or uninterested?
“I think the biggest thing is having as an entrepreneur, it’s essential, developing the skill of being able to listen. Being able to listen when you’re onboarding your client, when you’re going through the sales process, when you’re starting to promote, like, any feedback that you get. And this is, by the way, across multiple industries. Like, I’ve worked with CPG brands. I’ve worked with service like, business to business or, you know, b to b businesses. Right? And they think the feedback that you get from the clients right up at the beginning when you start to talk to them, when you’re going through the onboarding process, or just trying to learn what are the things that they’re looking for. That’s really the key. Obviously, there’s the other aspect, which is leave us a review, and then the review is also a great way for you to get feedback. Right?
But, if you start that activity, that prioritization of truly listening to what they want to be before you even try and sell anything, it’s just completely give you all those insights that you’re looking for. So, I mean, there’s tactical approaches to this. Like, you can send, you know, emails. You can send the you close the sale, like, automatically after you close sales. It says hey, great that we were starting to work together. I remember that early on in our sessions, like, we discussed some of the things that you were, you know, or like, some of the challenges that you were facing. Like, what are, like, what are some of the things that you would consider priority? Right? Like, what are the things that, you want us to focus on first? And so, again, asking afterwards is also really valuable. Like, at the end of the sales cycle when, you know, when you’re done with your project, when you’re done selling, like, also asking for that feedback. The reviews are amazing in that sense of just continue to provide you with feedback all the time, and truly listening. Right?
Making taking action. I think there’s, again, a mindset thing first which is learn to listen to your to your audience, learn to listen to what their true pain points are, and then taking the action. Which is in this case you can, you know, send an email blast to all of your clients or, like, you can ask for a poll. Like, you like, the polls that you’ve been doing, have been really, really amazing in that sense for ProcureHub. Right? Like, we are able to contribute and to give us, to give you some sort of insights. So those are some tactical ways that are really, really beneficial. But at the end of the day, it’s listening. Like, once you start to listen, then you’re going to get all the all the feedback that you that you need.
What’s one thing that as an entrepreneur, people just don’t know?
I think we mentioned that at the beginning, and I think this is the opportunity for us to dive a little bit deeper into that, which is knowing the right people versus your skills. Right? I want to kind of talk a little bit more about that because I personally have seen it in my own journey, and I’ve seen that being a significant aspect of the success of other businesses and other entrepreneurs. And what I mean by this is not that that your skills don’t matter. You should always strive to have, you know, an amazing product, amazing service, amazing, offer. Right? That’s incredible. However, sometimes we get caught up in, you know, trying to come up with the perfect solution, the perfect product. And we forget about the networking aspect of it.
Right? Like, when you start to know the right people and most importantly, when the right people know you, which is sounds pretty similar. It’s like a little bit of a difference there. Putting yourself in front of the right people so the right people know you, that is going to propel your business in a completely, completely different direction or just, like, allow you to grow your business way faster. That’s one thing that I always encourage everyone.
I actually learned my lesson just last year because I when I incorporated Grow My Brand a couple of years ago, I had so much work on my plate. So much delivery, so much fulfillment to do that I completely forgot about doing any sort of networking for an entire year. I was just working. And I thought, well, you know, things are just going to continue to be great because I already have all these clients, all this work. Right?
Earlier last year I realized, you know what? Like, I’m not sure. Like, I have a solid strategy for myself for my own business. And it’s kind of ridiculous because I’m teaching all these skills and tools and providing all this amazing value to all my clients, but yet what’s my strategy? And so, I really was had had to go through this humbling experience and realizing, you know what? Well, at the beginning, what are what are the things that were working really well for me at the beginning that that, allowed me to move so fast? You know?
It’s just a couple of years starting from scratch now having my own business. And I had to realize, you know what? That was the thing. Like, that was that thing. Like, I was doing a lot of networking. I was really open to connect with amazing people and just looking for all the opportunities. And so, I realized that that was the thing that I needed to continue to do it? Matter of fact, if you remember, you and I met last year at a trade show here in Toronto, and that was really when I had made that conscious decision of, you know, I gotta put myself out there again. Right? Like, you gotta point to the trade shows. You gotta start participating on the networking events. You have to do it. It’s annoying. It seems like it’s a waste of time. You know? I don’t. We all feel that way. Oh, I just I have so much work. I’ll leave it for later.
Right? We usually don’t get any leads from this. Like, it’s so common for a lot of us to feel that way. Like, it’s time consuming, it’s distracting, but I have consistently done that. A few of the projects that I’m working on right now have come directly from strategic partners that I’ve been able to acquire through this approach of networking.
That’s why I’m also so compelled and so excited to be part of ProcureHub because I see that that’s exactly the great scenario, the right combination of things where you get to connect with other entrepreneurs that are, you know, amazing at what they do. And then you get to, you know, you’re working with a client, and then you can refer them to some other providers that are in this platform that have already been vetted and have already, been proven to provide high quality services and products. And so, same way this way. Like, I know that, that’s the same way that I expect to receive some good work coming my way just because I am in the right place. Right? And so that I would say is the biggest lesson. Always continue to improve your products and services for sure, it’s key.
And always continue to get the feedback from your clients and look for opportunities in the marketplace. Absolutely. But networking and connecting with other right people, that’s paramount. I would say that’s the biggest insight for sure.
Brock asked: How long ago did you meet the prospect before the job come in?
So, I think it really depends on the client and what stage they’re in in terms of their buying decision. At the end of the day, there’s only so much you can do. I think you can provide as much information and learn as much from them as possible. That’s our job, like, in terms of sales. Just being able to listen to what their needs are and then just looking for that timing. Ideally, you want to close as many people as fast as you can. But the reality is that that’s not really sustainable. I think the best is for you to continue to provide, you know, good insights in your industry as an expert. Good, good advice. Continue to stay relevant in your space. And then whenever someone is ready to make that decision, they’re going to reach out to you. I’ve been doing sales ever since I was 18 years old, and I can say that trying to really force a sale is never a good idea.
For as much as there’s some amazing people that I’ve actually learned a lot from, in terms of being super sharp and in terms of the manipulation of the conversation, all these things, which you know, it’s useful tactics. I think it’s a matter of just positioning yourself. Again, talking about personal branding and how do you position yourself as a leader, as an expert that’s trustworthy, that provides good quality, good service? That’s really gonna shorten the amount of time that from people, from making, you know, considering you and then actually making that decision. So, I would say it’s really a matter of positioning yourself first and then filling out the funnel like you just said, Brock, is really where it comes.
Susan asks: From your experience as a busy entrepreneur, what is the best way to network for new leads?
So, I think the idea of generating leads at trade shows is not necessarily the right approach even though it works. And I’ve actually gotten some leads from trade shows, conferences, online events and all sorts of things. I think you want to approach all of the networking that you do as a business owner from the philosophy of how can I help someone? How can I be here to help someone? Right? And how what can I learn from some other people?
Thinking about it from the just build your network, just keep people then, you know, keep talking to people, learn about their businesses, let them learn about your business, and just a conversation format without trying to pitch anything goes a long way. I think that’s been the key for me. Right? Just not thinking about trying to close any sales, trying to pitch any people, but actually just learning.
Again, getting back to that listening aspect. Like, just learn to, you know, listen what their what their value is in in the marketplace. And how could you see maybe you don’t maybe their service is not something that you need, but maybe you know someone. Maybe you have a client or maybe you have a partner, that actually may benefit from I’m actually connecting, I’ve connected a lot of people like that, in my journey.
Right? Like, this is not me, but I know someone that is actually the ideal person for you. I’m going to introduce you to. Right? So, I think that’s really the power of networking. And, you know, also the law of reciprocity. Like, the more you give, the more you get. Right? I’ve experienced that in so many different occasions at this point that I just I don’t even question it. I just continue to do it.
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