This content outlines a comprehensive roadmap for aspiring media buyers to achieve significant financial success, aiming for six-figure incomes and beyond, by detailing the necessary skills, career progression, and strategic approaches to build undeniable value.
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What I'm going to show you today is how
to be a media buyer so that you can earn
six figures by this time next year or
faster. And the exact path that I've
used to pay myself over a million
dollars last year. Ever since I was a
little kid selling candy bars in Little
League, I always wanted to be the best
and make a lot of money. And not like
pay my bills money, but like you money.
And you could play the victim for the
rest of your life, saying that only
those who are born lucky or caught a
break deserve the success that you want.
Or you could have the financial freedom
and pride and the ability to never have
to say again in your life. Well, maybe
someday. And if that's you, then this
video is going to change your life.
We're going to cover everything you need
to know to answer all of the questions
you have. And by the end of this, you're
going to have a very clear path and the
cheat code to the success that you
deserve. So, let me tell you everything
we're going to talk about today and then
get started. We're going to cover
whether or not you need a degree from
college to be a media buyer. We're going
to talk about the five types of media
buyers and the career path that best
fits that type of personality. We're
going to talk about the three stages of
a media buyer's career and how to
develop your skills. Very specifically,
how to identify your key skills and
build your foundation, as well as what
are commodity skills and how do you
provide undeniable value and a quick
little bit of foreshadowing. You need to
provide undeniable value if you're ever
going to get out of your 9to-5. I'm also
going to show you the simple
step-by-step process to achieve
undeniable value and tell you where to
get additional training and resources so
you'll know the best ways to acquire and
enhance these skills and the best people
to learn from for free. I'm also going
to give you a preview of what the day in
the life of a media buyer looks like.
Then we're going to cover how to land a
job and how to go about building your
clientele. everything from landing your
first client to the 10 most commonly
asked questions during interviews and
how you should answer them. And I'm
going to give you the playbook for
networking and professional growth so
that you know how to build relationships
that last and help grow your career.
With that foundation laid, we're going
to end this with exactly everything you
need to know to make $100,000 a year or
a lot more. We're going to cover the
five things that you need to know from
accelerating your career growth in an ad
agency to securing personal clients,
strategic pricing and client management,
how to transition into retainerbased
work, and getting rich by building a
personal brand. And I'm going to be
honest with you, building a personal
brand can be scary. It can be fun. It
can be challenging. And it can be
extremely rewarding. But almost nobody I
know that gets to the place that you
want to be doesn't have some version of
this. And almost all of them started it
by accident. And it is now a cornerstone
of their success. And I'm going to show
you exactly how I did it so that you can
copy and paste your way to success. So
let's start with probably the single
biggest thing that you think might be
holding you back. Do you need a college
degree to get into Mediavine? And the
short answer is no. You don't need one.
Some of the most successful and most
popular media buyers I know never went
to college. But there is also value in
an education. And full disclosure, I
have three college degrees. I have an
associates in recording arts. I have a
bachelor's degree in music business
management. And I have an MBA in
marketing and business management. I am
very college educated, but that is not
the secret to my success. If you don't
go to college, that's okay. You can
learn online. You can watch YouTube.
You're doing it right here, right now on
my YOUTUBE CHANNEL. YOU'RE ALREADY doing
it. Also, you can learn from practical
experience. Skills learned through
handson experience, internship, and on
the job training are often the most
applicable. And it's really important to
remember that the industry is constantly
changing standards. And the honest truth
is when I graduated from college in my
associates and bachelor's degree,
Facebook ads didn't even exist. And by
the time I got my MBA, I didn't even
know about it. I was still editing
MySpace bulletins to promote my band
playing some donkey open mic night. What
I learned in college has very little to
do with the buttons that I click inside
of a Facebook ad campaign. But I do
think going to college gave me an unfair
advantage over others in a few very
particular ways. First, it gave me a
theoretical foundation around business
principles. I gained a comprehensive
understanding of marketing principles,
consumer behavior, and strategic
planning before I ever spent a penny.
And more importantly, I think what I
learned in college was how to think and
understand business. My college
education helped provide critical
thinking skills and a deeper
understanding of how businesses operate,
which was critical for making strategic
decisions in media buying. I think one
of the things that separates me from a
lot of the other media buyers that I'm
going to talk about today is that I talk
about digital marketing and media buying
from the perspective of growing a
business. And we're going to talk about
a lot of other people where their skills
are in other things that are also very
valuable. But to be fair, I think
everybody at the top has their own
unique flavor of undeniable value. And
when I think about what I pride myself
on, that business outcome is something
that I talk about in a way that nobody
else does. So, let's talk about the five
different types of media buyers and what
career path is best for you. First, we
have the data driven media buyers. These
buyers rely heavily on data analytics to
guide all their decisions. They analyze
performance data from the past and
ongoing campaigns and market trends to
optimize strategies and improve ROI.
These are the optimizers. These folks
are extremely good at the numbers. They
are proficient in data analysis tools
and metrics with a keen ability to
interpret data and apply insights to
real world applications. They have an
expertise in AB testing, conversion rate
optimization, and audience segmentation.
Their primary focus is on maximizing
campaign efficiency and effectiveness
through rigorous data analysis and
evidence-based adjustments. A great way
to think about these folks is you give
them a piece of marble, they'll chip out
a statue of David. And there's a lot of
value to that. Now, I also talked about
how I'm going to match your personality
type to your career path. And if you are
an INTP or an INTJ,
then the datadriven media buyer is
probably perfect for you. Next, we have
the creative strategist media buyer. And
these folks are having a big day right
now because creative is everything. This
person's role is to specialize in
developing and implementing advertising
strategies that resonate emotionally
with target audiences. They work closely
with creative teams to ensure that the
content not only aligns with the brand's
identity but also engages the audience
in meaningful ways. Their biggest skill
is understanding brand storytelling and
audience psychology and creative trends.
Their ability to integrate creative
concepts with media buying strategies
defines their effectiveness. Their main
focus is on crafting advertising that
stands out for their creativity and
relevance, thus strengthening brand
recall and emotional engagement. And I
think the time for these creative
strategist media buyers to shine is
right now. The more and more brands are
embracing the idea that the creative is
everything, the more and more these
people are rising to the top. And it's
incredible to see the shift in the sand.
Now, if you are an ENFP or an ENFJ, this
is perfect for you. So, now let's get to
our third type of media buyer, the
optimizer and performance marketer.
These media buyers are focused on
achieving specific measurable outcomes
such as conversions, clicks, or leads.
They continuously tweak and optimize
campaigns to ensure peak performance.
Their skills are a deep knowledge of
performance metrics. CRO tactics and
cost per acquisition management. They
have very strong technical skills and
campaign management tools and
optimization algorithms. Their goal is
to optimize every aspect of a campaign
to drive the best possible business
results at the lowest cost. I love to
think of these types of media buyers as
the fixers. And these are the folks
where they're not necessarily the reason
a business is good, but they can take a
mess, clean it up, and make that
business phenomenally better at taking
advantage of the opportunities they
already have. And to be fair, a lot of
times that's all you need to five or 10x
a brand. Now, getting down to the
personality types, this type of media
buying is perfect if you are an INTJ or
an ESTJ
on the MyersBriggs scale. Now, just like
we had the ying of the datadriven
marketer and the yang of the creative,
we also have the balance between
performance marketers and brand growth
expert. These media buyers specialize in
developing and executing long-term brand
growth strategies. Their role goes
beyond short-term performance metrics,
ensuring that strategies and objectives
not only deliver immediate results, but
also contribute to sustained brand
equity. They have expertise in market
research, brand positioning, and
multi-channel marketing strategies, and
they have the ability to balance
short-term gains with long-term brand
goals. They focus to expand a brand's
market presence, enhance customer
loyalty, and increase overall brand
value through strategic media placement.
Now, like I said, a performance marketer
might be somebody where you could hand
them a big block of marble and they
could chisel out a statue of David.
Another way of thinking about them is
like a hunter where they'll catch and
kill and they'll survive by their
ability to consume more calories than
they expel. This is an amazing skill,
but the brain growth experts, they're
like a farmer. And to be fair, humans
lived in caves for over a 100,000 years
based on hunting, but as soon as they
began to farm, they built empires. And
lastly, we have the executional partner
or the button clicker. Executional
partners are often more tactical in
their approach. Focusing on the
executional aspects of media buying,
they ensure that all elements of the
media plan are implemented correctly and
efficiently. Their skill is in their
attention to detail, proficiency in ad
placement platforms, and a practical
understanding of campaign settings and
specifications. Their primary role is to
execute campaigns according to the
strategic plan, ensuring adherence to
budgets, timelines, and target
specifications. They are the ones who
push the buttons and monitor basic
compliance and performance. To be
completely fair, all the other media
buying types are a little woo woo. These
are the folks that actually get a lot of
the work done. And if you look at a book
like E-Myth Revisited, you think of the
world as basically two types of
operators. You have the visionaries
and the integrators. And as much as we
need the visionary to dream big and do
all sorts of stuff, some people just
want to get the job done. And if you
identify as an ISFJ or an ESTJ, this job
might be perfect for you. And as
somebody that absolutely is not this
person, I can tell you that without
these types of people, most of the work
wouldn't get done. So, full disclosure,
which one of these am I? I am an ENTJ.
And here's what that means. Extroverted,
intuitive, thinking, and judging, known
as the commander. The strengths are
visionary thinking, decisiveness,
analytical, results driven, and
strategic. But some of my challenges are
I can be impatient with inefficiency. I
often overlook emotional aspects and I
prefer to have control. I can be really
good at media buying, but I need to be
in a highlevel role. Every time I had a
junior position, I got put on a work
plan. Every time I was the boss of
things, we made a lot more money.
Everybody has a job. Everybody fits in a
certain place. Every tool has a purpose.
And every one of those has value. So,
which one of these is you? Well, I've
actually built out a table for you to
just put in your personality type and
see what the best fit might be and we're
just going to roll through a short
description of some of these jobs. You
can see it on the screen. When you see
yourself, just go ahead and hit pause
and take a look a bit more. But let's
take a look for a moment through all
Okay, so now let's get started on the
three stages of a media buyer's career.
The first stage for almost every media
buyer is the ad agency world. This is
where you are an entry-level buyer. You
are an executional commodity. Your job
is primarily to manage budgets and
report on campaign performance to show
success to stakeholders. Your key
responsibility is just to ensure that
every dollar spent is accounted for and
that results are presented in a way that
highlights success. I'll also tell you
here that most of the people at this job
don't realize their real job is to make
sure that the person who wrote the check
to your boss looks good to their boss.
That's your entire job. Just don't screw
up and make them look good and you'll go
really far. Your learning opportunity
here is to gain essential skills in
managing campaigns and client
communication. And oftent times this is
seen as a stepping stone due to its
focus on pleasing agency clients rather
than strategic growth which might limit
long-term career development. And I want
to be very clear here that your job is
not to do the best work for your client
in this space. Your job is to do what
you are asked to do. A quick story. I
was once spending a million dollars a
day for CBS television to promote TV
shows. At the time, I was promoting the
premiere of the late show with Steven
Cobear. And we had a million dollar a
day budget, but I found a way to get the
job done on only $800,000
and actually beat expectations, which is
amazing. I overd delivered and saved
budget. Who wouldn't be unhappy about
that? Well, the person at CBS who put
their job on the line asking for a
million dollars, who now looked
incredibly greedy and poor at management
because I was able to do the work for
$800. And moving forward, instead of
getting a million dollar a day to spend,
we only got $800,000
a day. And at my ad agency, which was
Resolution Media, the performance
division of Omnicom, we took a 20%
commission on ad spend. Now, if you do a
million a day at 20% commission over the
space of a week, I cost four times my
annual salary and commissions alone and
got the person who wrote the check to us
get written up at CBS. Yeah, I got put
on a performance plan and almost got
fired because I saved the client over a
million dollars and outperformed
expectations. Know your job or you won't
have one. The next role for media buyers
is the strategic partner. This is when
you begin to freelance and maybe go
brand side. You are a performance professional.
professional.
Your role here is to transition from
just executing campaigns to being a
strategic partner for clients and
brands. This is ideal for freelancers or
in-house media buyers of brands,
offering more direct involvement in
decisionmaking. Your career grows here
because it develops your ability to
solve real world marketing problems and
implement strategies that directly
influence business outcomes. And you
have a significant opportunity to add
value through experienced insights and
tailored solutions. This is the
opportunity for you to raise your hand
and start to say, "I think I can do this
job in a better way." You can build a
better mousetrap. You are now
responsible for the performance, not
just getting the job done. You are no
longer a line item on a spreadsheet. You
are somebody that people are relying on
to make sure the lights stay on and the
bills get paid. This is a higher
responsibility role and where a lot of
people thrive. And lastly, we have the
growth partner. Now, this is the senior
level. This is when you become
invaluable. Now, your role here is to
collaborate closely with brand teams to
drive overall business growth and
elevate the team's performance. In
professional development, you get to
engage in highlevel strategy and
execution that directly impacts the
brand's bottom line. And this is
ultimately your career peak. Often the
final step before branching out to start
your own agency or developing a personal
brand. And the environment here is high
stress, high reward, offering both
personal satisfaction and professional
recognition. I will say that this is the
level where you begin to realize that
your best job is to make everybody else
look better. This is where you begin to
say, "Oh, rorowaz doesn't matter. What
if my ads get attributed for half as
much revenue, but the rest of the team
sees three times as much profit? This is
when you begin to realize that things
like rorowaz don't matter. This is when
the focus isn't on customer acquisition
cost, but cash flow and brand growth.
You begin to focus on things like LTV,
purchase frequency, second purchase
rate, bottomline growth, topline growth,
new customer acquisition. You focus on a
lot of other things. And at this stage
of the game, you're basically just
trying to stabilize the machine so that
everybody else's job is easier and more
effective. When I've taken over brands
where they had somebody who has a
strategic partner and I came in as the
growth manager, we would do silly things
like take the rorowaz from a 2.5 to a
point 8 and the brand would grow from 15
million to 100 in less than two years.
This is where real exponential growth
comes from. And to be fair, not
everybody is good at this job, and
that's okay. So, now let's talk about
how to develop your skill. So, now that
you know what the ideal career path is
for you and the job types and what the
stages in that career looks like, let's
break down how to develop your skills by
primarily focusing on the three most
important sets of disciplines that you
need to know. The first being analytical
thinking. This is for the leftbrain
folks. This is the ability to
systematically and logically break down
complex problems or data sets into
smaller manageable parts, identify
patterns and connections, and make
reasoned judgments and decisions based
on the available information. This
empowers you to make informed decisions
that can significantly improve campaign
results, demonstrating your capability
to handle complex digital landscapes,
even without a formal degree. And again,
you don't need a college degree to be
really good at this. Sometimes the
people that are graduates from the
school of hard knocks are way better at
this than somebody that just does what
they learned inside of a book because
the real world is very different than a
college classroom. Next, we have the
creative strategy. This is for the right
folks. This is where we focus on
developing and analyzing the direction
and approach of engaging and compelling
ad content that resonates with various
target audiences to effectively
communicate a brand's message and
achieve its business objectives. The
impact of being really good at creative
strategy is that it sets you apart in a
field driven by numbers and data,
showing potential employers or clients
that you can blend art and science to
drive successful campaigns. Now, I know
I said it before, but some of you are
skipping ahead. The world of media
buying is relying more and more and more
aggressively on the creative strategy
right folks than the really datadriven
leftrain folks, especially when it comes
to Facebook ads. Now, if you're in
Amazon or some keyword-based platform
like Google, the inverse might still be
true, but Facebook more and more and
more relies on a strong creative
approach. And if you can't master that,
you're kind of dead in the water. So for
you wonderful, rightrained people, the
future is very bright. And last, we're
going to focus on technical proficiency.
This is about understanding executional
efficiency and competency with
navigating multiple advertising
platforms such as Google Ads, Facebook
ads, etc., and knowing not just how they
work, but also how to work them and do
it quickly without mistakes. Focusing on
technical proficiency provides you the
operational skills needed to execute
campaigns effectively, ensuring that you
can be trusted to contribute value from
day one, even without traditional
academic credentials. Now, mind you,
when I graduated with my MBA, it was
like 15 years ago. The world of media
buying as we know it today didn't even
exist. But what I can tell you is that
people that get good at doing the work
quickly and know how to work on multiple
platforms have a leg up in the world. If
you can do the work of other people, the
faster you can get the job done, the
more reliable you are getting more work.
And honestly, like everything, mastery
comes from repetition of the skill set.
And if I can do a hundred tasks in an
hour and it takes you three hours to do
the same, at the end of a week or end of
a month, I'm going to do exponentially
more work than you will. So think about
it. If I can do the same work in an hour
that you can do in a day or the same
work in a day that you can do in a week,
by the end of the year, I'm going to
have exponentially more experience than
you will. And the name of the game is
experience. make mistakes and learn,
challenge yourself and get quick. That
is something that if you can do it, that
is a skill no one can take away from you
and makes you extremely desirable. Plus,
it allows you to spend your time doing
other more valuable things. Cuz let's be
fair, clicking the buttons in the
machine is one of the least valuable
things that you can do with your time as
a media buyer. Now, these three
disciplines are what we would call
commodity skills. Basically, everybody's
got to be good enough at all three. But
there's a big difference between
commodity skills and undeniable
value. And going back to that [ __ ] you
money, you better have undeniable value
or you'll never get there. You have to
develop skills that allow you to bring
to the table undeniable value if you
ever want to make lifechanging money. If
what you do can be replaced quickly,
then you are not worth more money
because your work is a commodity.
You might be very good at your job, but
if you provide no added value over the
thousands of other people who can do the
work, you are a commodity. Remember that
there's always somebody else willing to
work a little bit harder for a little
bit less money than you are. When you
start out, you are not going to get paid
what you think you are worth. And that
drives a lot of people out of the
business. And it's one reason why
there's a lot of turnover in the first
year. Most people I know that try this
give up in nine months. And it's because
they're like, I'm working really hard
and it doesn't seem to take me anywhere.
And it's because they're not building
commodity skills with undeniable value.
their path is ultimately just to be a
cog in the wheel. And for some folks,
that's very rewarding. But I don't want
to work really, really hard and do
really, really well so that next year I
can get a five or $10,000 raise.
Remember, there was a period of time
where I was managing a million dollar a
day at a 20% commission. That's $200,000
I was making the business a day. And I
was earning 75,000. If I did my job
really really well and I got a promotion
two years later I go from 75 to 90. Why
should I care? Why should I work really
really hard if I know I'm getting a
fraction of my value? And some people
see that and their reaction is to bail.
And I'm here to tell you that you
sticking it out and following this path
that we're covering today is going to be
the reason why you can make more in a
month than they will in a year. And I
know that from personal experience and
having seen hundreds of other people do.
Remember that if you only have commodity
skills, that means you are immediately
replaceable if you have undeniable
value. That can make you rich.
Undeniable value starts by combining
commodity skills. The easiest way to get
started is to pair the skills you have
with the opportunity that is available.
And I know this sounds super easy. So,
why isn't everybody doing it? And again,
most people never get started because
initially you're going to get paid a lot
less than you think you're worth. And as
much value as you think you bring to the
table, remember somebody else will do
the exact same job and work a little bit
harder for less money than you. If you
can be replaced by that person, there's
no reason for anybody to pay you what
you're already getting paid. This is the
trick of the day job. Somebody else did
all the hard work so that you just have
to show up and do what you're told to do
to get paid. And ultimately, you're
getting a fraction of your value because
you're doing a portion of somebody
else's job because ultimately you are
replaceable. So begin to develop your
undeniable value. Start pairing your
skills with your experience. Now
remember before I told you about being a
candy bar salesman at Little League when
I was a kid. And from T-ball year number
one, I set the record for the most
amount of candy sold. And I beat that
record every year. And because I sold
more candy than anyone else, I got a
great gift card to Toys R Us. And so
every summer, I got a brand new Huffy.
And I got that because I was willing to
go out to the grocery store and the
video shop. And I would stand outside
and sell candy bars. I learned how to
talk to people and basically sell them
something they didn't need for a price
that was more than the place they were
going into. I WAS SITTING OUTSIDE OF A
CANDY store selling candy for a higher
price than YOU COULD GET IT INSIDE. BUT
AFTER DOING that for years, I learned
how to talk to people. I've developed
the skill of understanding who wanted to
talk to me and how to break the ice.
Years later, I became a touring
musician. And one of the things that you
learn when you're on the road is you
have to sell merchandise or you don't
eat. If you want to get to the next gig,
you better make money. So, one of the
very first things that I learned when
you get off stage, don't ask somebody if
they want to buy a t-shirt. Ask them
which t-shirt they want to buy. I got
very, very good because eating food
depended on it. And at the time, I was
also a heroin addict. So, like I had big
decisions to make, right? Food, gas, or
drugs so that I like wouldn't be
throwing up all day. And that was very
dependent on my ability to break the
ice, the skill that I learned selling
candy bars, and also make sales. I got
really really good in understanding
consumer psychology. I got really good
at positioning and I got really good at
communication when it came to closing
the deal. I became very very good on
stage because I spent 15 years behind
the desk at radio stations and behind
the microphone in bands touring the
country. Those skills that I learned
before I ever spent a dollar on Facebook
ads were the experience I could pair
with being really fast at running ads
and being really good analytically and
also having a strong understanding of
business. That is a pairing of commodity
skill and experience that gave me
undeniable value. And eventually I made
more in a month than most the people I
knew made in a year. Again, this is the
exact path that I'm using to get 50,75,
$100,000 a month. I paid myself over a
million dollars last year, and it's
built on these types of things. So, let
me break down the four core undeniable
values. The most successful people that
I see in the space fall into one of
these four buckets. You can be good at
economics and being an econometrician.
There are folks with consumer psychology
mastery. Some excel at strategic
operations management and others are
very advanced at storytelling and
communication. These are the nuances you
can apply to a combination of commodity
skills to create undeniable value. Now,
let's dive deeper into each one. So, for
economics and being an econometrician,
the nuance here is understanding the
broader economic impact of marketing
efforts beyond simple campaign metrics.
Your undeniable value is the ability to
align marketing strategies with broader
business objectives for sustainable
growth, making the professional
indispensable to any organization. The
econometrician is the person that's
going to say, "Well, yes, our cost caps
bring in the lowest CPA, but other types
of customers where we're willing to pay
a little bit more, their LTV is three
times higher. Instead of making a little
bit more money today, we're going to
make a lot more money tomorrow." They're
focused on things more important than
the vanity metrics of the media buying
dashboard. Econometricians have an
advanced skill set when it comes to data
analysis. Their statistical expertise
uses advanced statistical skills to
dissect marketing trends and consumer
behavior. And they're often very good
with predictive modeling. So they can
forecast consumer reactions, enhancing
strategic precision for media buyers.
They're also really good at the
optimization of ad spend. utilizing
statistical techniques to optimize
advertising budgets across multiple
channels for a better return on their
investment. And their campaign
management style precisely evaluates
campaign impacts to improve the
effectiveness of spending. Their
strategic decisionmaking is built on
insightful reporting. They can translate
complex data into strategic insights
influencing more informed decisions. and
their market forecasting skills result
in economic predictions to inform media
planning adapting to marketing shifts.
And lastly, their crossf functional
integration, quantitative and marketing
bridge. They convert analytical findings
into understandable marketing actions
and team enhancement, evaluating the
analytical prowess of marketing teams
for datadriven decision making.
Basically, what these people are
phenomenally good at is looking at the
bigger picture. These are folks that say
there's no eye in team and can prove it
with dollars and cents. They say he who
holds the gold makes all the rules. And
there's a reason why most of the richest
people in the world are very close to
the transaction of money. And
econometricians are probably the most
skilled at making money. And if that's
what you're good at, you're going to do
very well. Now, another skill set that
provides undeniable value is consumer
psychology mastery.
The nuance here is a deep understanding
of consumer behavior to enhance the
marketing effectiveness. The undeniable
value here is that it transforms your
standard marketing campaigns into
powerful tools for driving consumer
action, significantly boosting
conversion rates and customer loyalty.
When you have somebody that understands
consumer psychology, you can move into
focusing on starting with the why. You
can begin getting to embrace Simon
Synynic's Golden Circle. You move from
trying to make the sale to starting to
attract customers. Attraction rather
than promotion is one of the fastest
ways to make significant changes in
everything. Consumer psychologists can
lever deep behavioral insight. They
understand the motivation of what drives
consumer behavior and decision-making
and allow for an emotional engagement to
craft resonant messaging enhancing
connection and response. This allows
them to also have much better targeted
marketing strategies, allowing for
psychological insights to tailor
campaigns to market more effectively.
And also they're able to anticipate
consumer responses to marketing stimuli
enabling proactive adjustments based on
behavioral predictions. Consumer
psychologists understand, oh, this ad
did really well or this landing page did
really well. How do these two things
work together? Remember that your ad is
only one part of the customer journey.
And honestly, from here to here, it
happens at the very end. People make
decisions because of a lifetime of
experiences. The average customer
journey is decades long, not days. And a
consumer psychologist can understand how
to leverage where people are coming
from, how they feel, what motivates
them. They can leverage emotion rather
than just best price or highest quality
or fastest or strongest or brightest or
lightest or most healthy, things like
that. They can begin to tell folks what
their life is going to be like because
of the product or service. not just try
to convince them to buy from you versus
somebody else. And that is a superpower
because of their psychology mastery.
There's an enhanced consumer experience
understanding. So they can implement
strategies that lever consumer
preferences and behavioral data. And
this creates emotional connections. They
can tap into emotions creating a strong
bond with a brand. And this allows also
for innovative campaign development.
They can focus on psychological triggers
to enhance buying behavior. And that
allows them to solve problems with
creative content, weaponizing consumer
psychology to influence and persuade.
There is a reason that you feel a
certain way about brands, especially
products that are completely
replaceable. How do you feel when you go
to a restaurant and you say, "Yeah, I'll
have a Diet Coke." And they say, "Oh, we
only have Pepsi." That feeling that you
have inside is something that a consumer
psychologist can weaponize to improve
the bank account. And that means that
they're exponentially more valuable than
anybody that can click the button. This
undeniable value is something that is a
force multiplier to the entire business.
And the people that are really, really
good at this are irreplaceable. The next
undeniable value is strategic operations
management. And we talked before about
this great book called E-Myth Revisited.
And it basically puts people into two
categories, visionary or integrator. And
the consumer psychologists and the
econometricians, they tend to be more in
the visionary side. And that's great.
But if you don't have a good integrator,
you have a bunch of great ideas with no
ability to get it done. And strategic
operations management people, if you get
a good one, they can move mountains for
you so you can go and continue to dream
big. And that is amazing. The nuance
here is the ability to optimize
operations within a marketing context to
increase efficiency and effectiveness.
The undeniable value is that they
provide significant competitive edge by
enhancing operational agility and
reducing costs thereby increasing
profitability. It's one thing to be able
to do the job quick. It's another to be
able to do the job well. But when you
have somebody who can understand,
project manage, and ultimately weaponize
the allocation of resources to
understand which one of those gives you
the best bang for your buck and can
sometimes step away and build a
completely new mousetrap that is an
irreplaceable team member. These folks
excel in efficiency optimization.
Streamlining the process to identify
inefficiencies and reduce waste to
enhance productivity and technology
integration is a cornerstone of how they
do this. Automating tasks and improving
data flow to significantly boost
operational efficiency.
They also are great at quality control.
They set standards and they ensure that
these are met and they have a focus on
continuous improvement. implementing a
culture through feedback loops. The best
people at this are excellent
communicators and project managers and
the ability to take all of the wins and
losses from anybody on the team to make
the entire team continually better. 1%
better every day. Kaizen, that is
amazing. The amount of teams that I see
that don't have somebody like this that
make the same mistakes over and over and
over again with new employee, a new
agency, a new vendor because they
haven't actually solve their problem is
heartbreaking. But if you can master
this, your future is extremely bright.
Full disclosure, I'm also terrible at
this. These folks also provide a
tremendous value in their strategic
decisionmaking. They have datadriven
strategies using analytics to respond
proactively to potential disruptions and
opportunities. And they excel at risk
management, ensuring the organization
remains resilient in the face of
challenges. And one of my favorite
things that these people do is
stakeholder engagement. There's an
internal coordination enhancing
collaboration between different
departments to ensure alignment. It does
no good for everybody to have only their
own myopic definition of success being
their goal and everybody working really
hard running a thousand miles an hour in
one specific direction with no
connective tissue. If you don't have
somebody good at this, that is going to
be the downfall of your business. And
their external relations are also
incredible. The ability to manage
external stakeholders to ensure smooth
operational flows means the business
continues to move smoothly. And that
brings us to advanced storytelling in
communication. If you've ever heard the
old adage, sell me this pen or somebody
that can sell ice to Eskimos. Somebody
that can bring you to tears or
completely change your mind with only a
few words. That is an incredibly
powerful skill. The nuance here is
employing sophisticated storytelling
techniques to engage and persuade
audiences. And the undeniable value is
that it can elevate brand messaging,
enhancing customer engagement and drive
brand loyalty, making the marketer a key
asset and brand strategy. When you have
an advanced storyteller, when you have
somebody that can say why you should
care about the brand instead of just the
product or service, you get an unfair
advantage. This is what builds a moat
around your business. This is where
somebody else just coming in with we're
faster, we're stronger, we're cheaper,
we're higher quality, any of these other
things doesn't move the needle for
people because they've made an emotional
connection based on the way that you've
communicated the brand identity to
somebody. The brands that do this
exceptionally well own customers for
years or decades or their entire
lifetime. Honestly, I think my three
favorite examples of it is CocaCola,
Nike, and Apple. How do those brands
make you feel? Whether you love them or
you hate them, you have an emotional
connection to these businesses because
of the storytelling. That is amazing.
These folks leverage narrative
development, compelling storytelling
that crafts a narrative to ensure that
marketing messages are not only heard
but felt, and the brand story
integration, making sure that the
brand's core message and values get into
every campaign to reinforce the identity
and foster loyalty. They also leverage
multimedia content creation, utilizing
diverse media formats, creating a
variety of content formats to tell a
story that captivates and engages. And
they also are really, really good at
creative innovation, continuing
exploring new ways to present content
that breaks through the noise. One of
the beautiful skills of these people is
the ability to not only tell a story,
but to do it in a lot of different ways
so that you can reach a lot of different
people, but all make them feel the exact
same thing. Remember that when you're
trying to scale a business, you don't
want a thousand different kinds of
customers that all buy once. You want
one kind of customer that'll buy a
thousand times. It becomes exponentially
easier to make your business successful
when you reduce the amount of kinds of
customers you have and the kinds of
reasons that they buy. If you can get
everybody walking into the door for the
same reason, it becomes really really
easy to get them to buy, to buy again,
and to do your sales for you and to come
back month after month, year after year.
That is how you build a business.
Otherwise, you need really good salesmen
who can trick people into paying you
once, and that is not sustainable. And
these folks are incredible at audience
engagement, developing campaigns that
turn passive viewers into active
participants. And they also utilize
feedback, creating a dynamic
communication loop that evolves based on
consumer responses. And their strategic
messaging is their superpower. Having a
tailored message that resonates deeply
with specific demographics. Employing
psychological trigger principles to
influence perceptions and behaviors,
enhancing campaign power. So, at this
point, you're probably asking yourself,
how do I go from somebody with just
commodity skills to somebody with
undeniable value? Well, this is the
10-step process to go from somebody
who's completely replaceable to somebody
who's completely invaluable. And
remember, if you're replaceable, you're
not going to get paid nearly what you're
worth. And if you're invaluable, you can
charge whatever you want. Step number
one is self assessment. Begin by
evaluating your current skill set and
identify what you excel at in the areas
that need refinement. You need to be
honest with yourself. Be your worst
critic. Next, we have skill fusion.
Don't rely on a singular skill. Combine
multiple skills to create a unique value
proposition. Remember, anybody can be
good at getting the job done quickly.
Anybody can be good at choosing how to
use data. Anybody can make creative
insight. The ability to combine multiple
things rises you above just being
another cog in the wheel. You need to
focus on learning continuously. Enroll
in courses, attend workshops, and
constantly update your knowledge. And
there are a lot of great places you can
do it. I mean, you're doing it right
now. A great place to do it is on
YouTube. You're here watching me on
YouTube right now continuously learning
on how to develop yourself. And first
off, there's a lot of people that won't
do that. So, congratulations. Like,
you're doing the good stuff. You're
moving in the right direction. And there
are a lot of other places that you can
go beyond just the free stuff to get
really pointed valuable education. For
what it's worth, I'm going to throw it
up on the screen here real quick. You
can always join Disruptor Academy.
There's the QR code. So yeah, there are
a lot of places that you can go to. I
think if you understand the kind of
career path you want and focus on the
people that provide the undeniable value
that you relate to, a lot of those
people have a way that they're teaching
others to follow in that footstep. And
that is the single greatest advice. And
your success in failure is probably
going to come from your ability to
discern who you should follow and who
isn't really worth your time.
So find who speaks to you in a way that
you can hear that challenges the way
that you think and learn from them as
much as you can. And if you have
questions, ask. As a matter of fact, in
the comment section, write down below
anything that you want to know more
about, ask it and I'll get back to you.
Challenge me. Let me know where you're
uncomfortable or something doesn't make
sense or maybe you disagree. That
uncomfortability in communication is
what helps us all grow. And that's what
this is completely about. That's why I'm
doing this here for you today. You also
need to be focused on networking. Forge
connections with industry leaders and
peers. Their insights can be invaluable.
You cannot do this alone. And this
career can be lonely. So, it is part of
your job to reach out to those people,
right? If you DM me right now, if you
comment to me right now, I'll get back
to you. It'll be me. Like, if you're
watching this, let me know your
questions. Let me know your value. And a
lot of the other people that I talk to,
they'll do the same. Reach out to Dra,
reach out to Sarah, reach out to Roba
and to Nate and to Dylan. Like, these
people thrive because their
communication and their networking is
something they've been really good at.
And every one of them was in the exact
same shoes that you're in right now.
There was a time where I was on day one.
And I remember distinctly, I went to my
boss and asked for help when I was
supervisor of Omnicon. She took out her
headphone, told me to check my job
description, put her headphone back in,
and went back to writing emails. That's
the only support I got in the workplace.
So, I went to Facebook, I found groups,
I went to different events, I made
connections, I made friends, and I
learned how to leverage other people as
one of my resources. I got mentors and I
made relationships that I still have to
this day. Some of the people that I met
10 years ago are folks where we're still
texting each other all the time. That is
what you you should also be focusing on
practical application. Theory without
practice is feudal. Implement your
skills in realworld scenarios. One of
the things that I did really early on is
I tried something new with every single
campaign. No matter what it was, if
there was an option to do something
different than what I had done before, I
used it. No matter what it was, if there
was an option to do something just a
little bit different than I had done
before, I took it. I challenged myself
to have to win by doing things a little
bit differently than I did before. Where
everybody else figured out the simplest
way to just rinse and repeat, I
challenged myself to get better and
better. And I implemented every single
thing I learned. When I binged a podcast
and had a good idea, I executed it as
soon as possible. That growth is vital
to developing undeniable value cuz every
day that somebody else doesn't grow is
an opportunity for you to get a little
bit more ahead. You also need a feedback
loop. Seek feedback both positive and
constructive. It is pivotal for growth.
You don't know how well you are doing.
If your scorecard is only the report
that you send out and that's all you
care about, you'll never be more
valuable than that report and there's
somebody else that can do a better job
for cheaper. You also need to focus on
having adaptability. Remember that the
business landscape is dynamic. So stay
flexible and adapt to changing trends.
There was a point in time where you had
to run just traffic or engagement
campaigns. That was it. And when the
conversion objectives came out, when the
Facebook pixel was released, the people
that embraced it thrived. And the ones
that didn't, well, a lot of them went
out of business. I also remember when
advanced matching happened in 2018 and
broad targeting became a thing. The
brands that embraced broad targeting
nearly 10 years ago are light years
ahead of those that are still trying to
hack their way to success with
lookalikes and interest groups. and they
understood that it's about a lot more
than just what you see on the screen and
the nuance of how all the marketing
played together. And the third biggest
thing that I can remember is when
Facebook took away the 28 day
attribution would there were agencies
where their entire business was built on
delayed attribution and how good that
report is going to look in 3 weeks. And
there were folks that understood that
attribution isn't real. And they focused
on trying to solve business problems
instead of take credit for the work of
the entire team. And well, we still have
some of those brands out there today.
Many of them move from delayed
attribution to cost caps. Which to be
fair, if your definition of success is
making the report look good, that's the
right move. And I'm not here to say that
that's a good or a bad thing. Remember,
you're defined by your job. And
sometimes your job is to make the person
who wrote the check look good to their
boss. But there's a big difference
between doing that and growing a
business. And understanding the nuances
here and how to adapt is vital or you're
just going to get left in the dust as
soon as the wind changes. You also need
to focus on mentorship. Find a mentor
who can guide you offering insights from
their experiences. I had the fortune of
getting a couple phenomenal mentors in
my career. One of them was this guy Ben
who I'm still friends with. He came to
my wedding and we met over a decade ago.
We were actually on this TV show on AMC
called The Pitch where it was a bunch of
ad agencies competing to be the agency
of record for a brand and it came on
around the time Madmen was on the air.
Anyway, he taught me some amazing
lessons. And when I lost my job, every
time I moved from one agency to the
next, he sat me down and helped me work
on my resume. And he taught me one of
the most amazing things. And let me
share that with you today. When you're
taking over business from somebody else,
the goal is more of the same but better.
That is the starting place. Don't
rebuild. Just do a little bit better job
and do it more often than somebody else
and you'll always be in a better place.
I've also had the luxury of having
mentors that were really good in other
spaces like Marina. She was amazing. She
was the woman behind Guthy Ranker and
the Ginsu knife commercials and
Proactive and I got to learn offer
construction from that woman. That's
amazing. She's also the person that
taught me attribution is complete
nonsense. She would spend $100 million a
year with a stopwatch on infomercials.
When I would come to her saying what the
Facebook report is, she would kick me
out of her office. It took me three
months just to get 15 minutes of her
time. and she was the only person in the
room that understood my work. And that
was incredibly humbling because by that
point in time in 2017 when she became my
boss, I had already spent $500 million
on Facebook ads. I thought I was
amazing. And well, I learned a lot real
fast. And another mentor that I had was
this guy Roba. And he was at Triple
Whale and now he's at a place called
Fermat. And he actually followed me a
lot through Facebook groups back in the
day. But but mentorship isn't just about
executional skills. Robba has taught me
a lot in the soft skills of
communication. Robba just has a magic
touch. I'm still not quite sure what he
does for a living, but every business he
goes to blows up because he understands
people and he's helped me do a
redemption tour once or twice when I put
my foot in my mouth a little too often,
a little too publicly, a little too
much. You need these kinds of people in
your life. Not only do you need mentors,
but you need to focus on consistency of
the work that you do. Mastery isn't
achieved overnight. Consistency is the
key. Repetition matters. Practice makes
perfect, but it's only as good as the
work that you do. You need to challenge
yourself. If you've ever read Malcolm
Gladwell's book, Outliers, you know the
concept of 10,000 hours. Now, one of the
most misunderstood things about 10,000
hours, it's not just do the work for
10,000 hours. It's 10,000 hours of
challenging yourself to do something
more, do something different, and repeat
the work, but try to get better. More of
the same but better. And that is how you
become a master at something. It's not
just good to be executionally
proficient. You need to understand the
why. You need to understand what's going
on behind the scenes. And it's one of
those things where the more you know,
the more you realize you don't know. And
that's where a lot of the excitement
comes when you truly want to provide
undeniable value. And lastly, re-evaluation.
re-evaluation.
Periodically revisit your goals and
strategies, tweaking them for optimal
results. It's one thing to try to run a
thousand miles in a direction and get
better and better as you do it. But if
you don't look behind you to appreciate
where you've come, or to realize whether
or not you're still running in the right
direction, then you could waste a lot of
time and energy. And to be fair, I lost
years of my life in this career because
I didn't do this well. There was a point
in time where I was basically just the
best person in the room every room I
went into. And I stopped moving forward.
I just got really good at the work that
I did and I could do more and more and
more of it faster and faster. But I
stopped challenging myself really from
the end of 2015 to 2017 when Marina
became my boss. I got in a rut. And if I
had focused on the soft skills that I
learned from Rabba and had really
challenged myself to onboard more ideas,
I probably would have gotten to where I
am today 5 years earlier. But you live
and learn. And honestly, that life
lesson is one that I only can have
because I've re-evaluated. And having
the humility to understand where you've
fallen short and how to change direction
is incredibly powerful because when
somebody comes to you with their plan,
the ability to see it in yourself is
going to allow you to see it in others.
And all of the experience you get along
the way is going to help you understand
how to communicate that, how to project
manage that, and ultimately how to get
somebody else who's about to make the
same mistake that you made to avoid it
so that you can provide undeniable value
to them by saving them time, money,
heartache, and that is what makes you
indispensable to others. So, developing
your skills is all about training and
resources. How to get better. Now, I
mentioned some of these names earlier,
but I want to dive in deeper. There are
a couple different avenues that I would
love for you to start diving into. If
you want to learn more media buyer
skills, look to Dar Denny, Barry Hot,
and Nick Terry, and and of course me,
too. But we all have YouTube channels.
To be fair, Dar Denny and Nicks are way
more advanced than mine. They're
incredible, and we've shared ideas, and
you'll see me say some of the things
that they said, and I know that they've
been saying some of the things that I've
said. And that's a beautiful thing cuz
we all have different skill sets and
we're borrowing from each other. We're
stealing and and trying things out and
making mistakes and we're all texting
each other off hours and like that's
what it's all about. And you're going to
hear these names a lot. And I highly
recommend that you dive into the people
who speak in a way that you can hear and
that talk about things in a way that
challenges the way that you think.
Outside of media buying skills,
undeniable value comes from marketing
skills. And some of the best people here
are Sarah Leingger, McCoy from Portland
Leather, and Nate from Original Grain.
These are folks that are actually doing
the work every single day, sharing their
ideas with you. And they're way more
than just media buyers. These are
marketers. Marketers. And while you
might not know who they are, I highly
recommend you seek them out because
they're the ones in the trenches doing
the hard work. And also, you [snorts]
might want to have an ad agency. You
might want to see how people who manage
ad agencies do work. Remember, managing
an ad agency is very different than
being a good media buyer. Yes, that's a
good skill set to have, but running a
business is very different than
marketing the business. And some of the
best people at that, I think Iman Gazi,
I think Taylor Holiday, I think Andrew
Ferris, they're great at this work. And
again, their skill set is running
agencies. That business is completely
different than being good at media
buying. If your ambition is to excel
within an agency or maybe run your own,
be the most knowledgeable person in the
room. These folks have great advice to
give and have been doing it for a long
time. Now, there are also non-media
buyer folks that I really want you to
focus on learning from. Look for Dan
Pantello, Dylan Ander, and Jimmy Kim.
Those who have built the foremost
marketing tools often began as
exceptional marketers themselves.
Understanding the rationale behind the
tools you use enhances your problem
solving skills for the issues these
tools are intended to address. This deep
comprehension allows you to appreciate
the nuances of marketing in a level not
commonly achieved by others. Basically,
it's great to know how to use the tools,
but if you can understand how and why
the people who built the tools that you
use chose to make the tool do the job
that it does in the way that it does,
you're going to learn a lot more than
just how to be good at your job.
Remember, to achieve extraordinary
results and to truly stand out, you have
to use unconventional methods. Because
conventional doing things the ordinary
way ultimately means you're going to
probably be almost as good as everybody
else following everybody else. And that
means you're replaceable. Simply
following the standard path is safe and
comfortable, but it won't lead you to
excellence. Instead of merely imitating
others, invest time in understanding the
fundamentals. This knowledge will enable
you to think innovatively and make
unique contributions. Remember, unique
contributions is really what this is all
about. If what you contribute isn't
unique, I can find somebody who will do
it cheaper and somebody who work harder
than you. Bottom line, nobody is the
best because somebody will always do it.
Bottom line. Remember, when you step out
of your comfort zone and you begin to
grow because you've embraced the
uncomfortability and you begin to
specialize, you can command any price.
If you learn nothing else today, I want
you to take this away. Specialists make
a lot more money. If you get sick, if
you have brain cancer, you don't want to
go to the person at the walk-in clinic.
You want to go to the best brain surgeon
available. When people have a valuable
problem they need to solve, they're
going to go to the best who can solve
it. If you're the best, you can name your price. And that is how you begin to
your price. And that is how you begin to stack real paper. How you begin to make
stack real paper. How you begin to make a lot of money. So now let's talk about
a lot of money. So now let's talk about what you can expect in the day in the
what you can expect in the day in the life of a media buyer because well
life of a media buyer because well setting expectations is really
setting expectations is really important. So in the morning, this is
important. So in the morning, this is best for doing a review of your
best for doing a review of your analytics and to plan your strategy.
analytics and to plan your strategy. It's great to start looking at the
It's great to start looking at the metrics in your dashboard and using
metrics in your dashboard and using tools like Google Analytics and anywhere
tools like Google Analytics and anywhere else just to make sure that you know
else just to make sure that you know what's on fire, what needs to be
what's on fire, what needs to be addressed. Because when you're making a
addressed. Because when you're making a plan for the day, having all of the
plan for the day, having all of the context and making a complete plan for
context and making a complete plan for your strategic adjustments is really
your strategic adjustments is really important. Going line item by line item
important. Going line item by line item without context can take a lot of time
without context can take a lot of time and you find yourself undoing half of
and you find yourself undoing half of your work before the day is done. In the
your work before the day is done. In the middle of the day, this is when we
middle of the day, this is when we really focus on client interactions and
really focus on client interactions and campaign management. Right? This is
campaign management. Right? This is where we're going to take everything
where we're going to take everything that we've learned from our planning and
that we've learned from our planning and from our analytics and we communicate it
from our analytics and we communicate it and we take action while also monitoring
and we take action while also monitoring the work that we've done as well as
the work that we've done as well as communicating with other team members
communicating with other team members and collaborating on getting more work
and collaborating on getting more work done. And in the evening, our wrap-up is
done. And in the evening, our wrap-up is really just compiling the data,
really just compiling the data, reviewing the performance, and preparing
reviewing the performance, and preparing for tomorrow. To properly plan your day
for tomorrow. To properly plan your day as a media buyer, we have to remember
as a media buyer, we have to remember that this is a service industry job.
that this is a service industry job. Now, nobody expects you to be able to
Now, nobody expects you to be able to answer every single question first thing
answer every single question first thing in the morning. But the number one way
in the morning. But the number one way to be prepared when anybody ever asks
to be prepared when anybody ever asks you questions is to start your day by
you questions is to start your day by getting informed. Look at your data. Be
getting informed. Look at your data. Be able to know what questions might be
able to know what questions might be asked. Be able to know what suggestions
asked. Be able to know what suggestions you might need to make. I see so many
you might need to make. I see so many folks go account by account by account
folks go account by account by account and it takes them all day to get stuff
and it takes them all day to get stuff done. And who knows, maybe the third
done. And who knows, maybe the third account you look at is something where
account you look at is something where you needed to take an action in the
you needed to take an action in the morning, but you didn't find out about
morning, but you didn't find out about it till after lunch and now you have to
it till after lunch and now you have to answer questions about it tomorrow and
answer questions about it tomorrow and you're just wrapped up just trying to
you're just wrapped up just trying to play catchup. Get your ducks in a row.
play catchup. Get your ducks in a row. When I used to be director of strategy
When I used to be director of strategy at a company called Hyphen, we used to
at a company called Hyphen, we used to have a meeting at 10:00 in the morning
have a meeting at 10:00 in the morning and every buyer needed to know all of
and every buyer needed to know all of their numbers as well as have a plan by
their numbers as well as have a plan by 10:00 a.m. Now, I personally at the time
10:00 a.m. Now, I personally at the time was managing eight different brands
was managing eight different brands across five different platforms. I had
across five different platforms. I had to have all my numbers ready and the
to have all my numbers ready and the ability to communicate it by 10:00 in
ability to communicate it by 10:00 in the morning. And while that was really
the morning. And while that was really tough to get used to, as soon as it
tough to get used to, as soon as it happened, the rest of my day became so
happened, the rest of my day became so liberating and enjoyable because I was
liberating and enjoyable because I was never really playing catch-up. I was now
never really playing catch-up. I was now just executing the plan and
just executing the plan and communicating and enjoying being in the
communicating and enjoying being in the moment. So, we know what kind of job are
moment. So, we know what kind of job are probably good for. We know how to get
probably good for. We know how to get good at our skills, and we know what the
good at our skills, and we know what the day can look like. So, all that's left
day can look like. So, all that's left is landing the job and building some
is landing the job and building some clientele so that we can go from wanting
clientele so that we can go from wanting success to starting our career path to
success to starting our career path to earning lifechanging
earning lifechanging [ __ ] you money. Okay, here's what you
[ __ ] you money. Okay, here's what you need to know. First, let's start with
need to know. First, let's start with market research. Identify industries and
market research. Identify industries and types of campaigns that align with your
types of campaigns that align with your interests and skills. Understanding
interests and skills. Understanding market demand helps pinpoint where you
market demand helps pinpoint where you can add the most value. You want to be a
can add the most value. You want to be a worker amongst workers and you want to
worker amongst workers and you want to be comfortable in what you're doing. I
be comfortable in what you're doing. I found really early on that doing
found really early on that doing promotional efforts for tourism boards
promotional efforts for tourism boards wasn't nearly as interesting as
wasn't nearly as interesting as e-commerce and lead genen for the way
e-commerce and lead genen for the way that I like to think. So, I moved my way
that I like to think. So, I moved my way out of reach and frequency campaigns
out of reach and frequency campaigns with engagement events and then trying
with engagement events and then trying to do creative insights and consumer
to do creative insights and consumer analytics. I got way out of that and got
analytics. I got way out of that and got really into the things of like making
really into the things of like making money and solving puzzles. Like that for
money and solving puzzles. Like that for me was really rewarding. Had I stuck
me was really rewarding. Had I stuck around in the just spend easy money to
around in the just spend easy money to like make a bit of a commission and then
like make a bit of a commission and then just deliver people insights that don't
just deliver people insights that don't really mean anything and something
really mean anything and something that's exciting to me, I probably would
that's exciting to me, I probably would have found another job. So many people
have found another job. So many people burn out if they don't find the right
burn out if they don't find the right fit. So step number one, don't set
fit. So step number one, don't set yourself up for failure. Set yourself up
yourself up for failure. Set yourself up for success. Now you can focus on
for success. Now you can focus on defining your niche. Focus on a specific
defining your niche. Focus on a specific area of media buying such as e-commerce
area of media buying such as e-commerce or lead genen, whether you'd like to
or lead genen, whether you'd like to work at an agency or brand, and what
work at an agency or brand, and what takes advantage of your skills. Like I
takes advantage of your skills. Like I was talking about here, knowing what you
was talking about here, knowing what you are good at, knowing what excites you,
are good at, knowing what excites you, knowing what you're willing to bang your
knowing what you're willing to bang your head against the wall for a couple hours
head against the wall for a couple hours a day just to get one inch further in a
a day just to get one inch further in a way that like motivates you, a way that
way that like motivates you, a way that feeds you is really important. And if
feeds you is really important. And if you don't know right away, that's okay.
you don't know right away, that's okay. I couldn't possibly have known when I
I couldn't possibly have known when I got started. But having an idea of what
got started. But having an idea of what motivates you and what you're interested
motivates you and what you're interested in means that when you're starting to
in means that when you're starting to make choices around where you want to
make choices around where you want to begin your career or where you want to
begin your career or where you want to take it to the next level becomes a
take it to the next level becomes a process where you are way more informed.
process where you are way more informed. And again, set yourself up for success.
And again, set yourself up for success. If it's not interesting, if it's not
If it's not interesting, if it's not something that's meaningful to you, odds
something that's meaningful to you, odds of you becoming really, really good at
of you becoming really, really good at it aren't that high. And there's enough
it aren't that high. And there's enough money to go around. There's enough
money to go around. There's enough opportunity out there. You don't have to
opportunity out there. You don't have to do the boring thing. You can do
do the boring thing. You can do something you legitimately enjoy. The
something you legitimately enjoy. The truth is, most people I know that are
truth is, most people I know that are making mid6 or low seven figures a year
making mid6 or low seven figures a year really enjoy what they do. Without that
really enjoy what they do. Without that passion, they're just looking for a
passion, they're just looking for a paycheck to go do something else. And if
paycheck to go do something else. And if you're just looking for a paycheck to go
you're just looking for a paycheck to go do something else, you're never going to
do something else, you're never going to make the money that you truly deserve.
make the money that you truly deserve. And lastly, leverage your unique skills.
And lastly, leverage your unique skills. Use your unique experience to begin to
Use your unique experience to begin to develop undeniable value to
develop undeniable value to differentiate yourself in your chosen
differentiate yourself in your chosen niche, demonstrating how you can solve
niche, demonstrating how you can solve specific problems better than others.
specific problems better than others. Like I told you earlier on, like when I
Like I told you earlier on, like when I was a kid, I was the number one candy
was a kid, I was the number one candy bar salesman in West Springfield Little
bar salesman in West Springfield Little League. Like I set a record every single
League. Like I set a record every single year. I got really good at selling
year. I got really good at selling merchandise on the road as like a
merchandise on the road as like a touring musician with a heroin problem.
touring musician with a heroin problem. Making money and selling products and
Making money and selling products and communicating with people. Getting
communicating with people. Getting somebody to stop getting their attention
somebody to stop getting their attention and turning that attention into money
and turning that attention into money that provided something that I needed
that provided something that I needed was a skill that I leveraged for years
was a skill that I leveraged for years and years and years. I honed that before
and years and years. I honed that before I ever spent any money on Facebook. And
I ever spent any money on Facebook. And that's one reason why I think lead genen
that's one reason why I think lead genen and e-commerce is a great fit for me.
and e-commerce is a great fit for me. But there are other folks where that's
But there are other folks where that's not what they enjoy. They really like
not what they enjoy. They really like other things. And we talked about a lot
other things. And we talked about a lot of these different career paths, right?
of these different career paths, right? We started this video off with what your
We started this video off with what your best career path would be. And I was
best career path would be. And I was fully transparent. It was the best fit
fully transparent. It was the best fit for me. And that turned out in this
for me. And that turned out in this industry to basically be upper level
industry to basically be upper level management and director level for
management and director level for marketing and business development,
marketing and business development, which is 100% the way that I think about
which is 100% the way that I think about myself. And that's what my personality
myself. And that's what my personality said when I took the test when I was 18.
said when I took the test when I was 18. Um, it's it's funny like we just kind of
Um, it's it's funny like we just kind of find pockets and that MyersBriggs test.
find pockets and that MyersBriggs test. If you haven't taken it, go for it
If you haven't taken it, go for it because it's going to be a great fit.
because it's going to be a great fit. And I've included a link for you to take
And I've included a link for you to take it down in the description below. 100%
it down in the description below. 100% free. Okay, let's keep going. So, now
free. Okay, let's keep going. So, now let's go over the three-step guide to
let's go over the three-step guide to landing your first client or getting the
landing your first client or getting the job. What you need to know to start
job. What you need to know to start getting paid to do this, cuz again, I
getting paid to do this, cuz again, I think it's the one of the best ways
think it's the one of the best ways possible to pay your bills. All right,
possible to pay your bills. All right, step number one is resume and portfolio
step number one is resume and portfolio building. Craft a compelling resume and
building. Craft a compelling resume and digital portfolio that highlights your
digital portfolio that highlights your skills, previous work, and any
skills, previous work, and any successful campaigns or projects.
successful campaigns or projects. Include metrics that demonstrate your
Include metrics that demonstrate your impact. And when I started out with my
impact. And when I started out with my first resume, I included a cover letter.
first resume, I included a cover letter. I think it's really important. I think
I think it's really important. I think it's a great way to just not be ignored.
it's a great way to just not be ignored. And so many HR people will just delete
And so many HR people will just delete if you only send a resume. Like, make it
if you only send a resume. Like, make it personal. and I spammed everybody trying
personal. and I spammed everybody trying to get an interview or an opportunity
to get an interview or an opportunity and I constantly just got ignored when I
and I constantly just got ignored when I actually took the time to be specific
actually took the time to be specific with the work that I wanted to do. I got
with the work that I wanted to do. I got interviews in a matter of days and it
interviews in a matter of days and it took me weeks of getting rejected to
took me weeks of getting rejected to learn that lesson that I've now employed
learn that lesson that I've now employed for over a decade. And the honest truth
for over a decade. And the honest truth is something else is that you don't need
is something else is that you don't need a client to start running ads. I started
a client to start running ads. I started running ads. My very first ad was
running ads. My very first ad was promoting my band on Facebook. I put my
promoting my band on Facebook. I put my credit card into the machine and started
credit card into the machine and started spending a couple of bucks a day just so
spending a couple of bucks a day just so that my band could have more exposure on
that my band could have more exposure on Instagram and get some views on our
Instagram and get some views on our music video. That experience meant that
music video. That experience meant that when I went in to have a call with
when I went in to have a call with somebody, I had a couple college
somebody, I had a couple college degrees, so people knew that I was well
degrees, so people knew that I was well educated and knew what I was talking
educated and knew what I was talking about. I took the time to do my homework
about. I took the time to do my homework to write a cover letter and I showed
to write a cover letter and I showed that I know how to work the machine.
that I know how to work the machine. They didn't have to train me. Nobody
They didn't have to train me. Nobody wants to train you. They want you to be
wants to train you. They want you to be able to do the job and then help you be
able to do the job and then help you be better. But if they need to get you from
better. But if they need to get you from zero to one, you're going to be in a bad
zero to one, you're going to be in a bad way. And if you don't know how to set
way. And if you don't know how to set stuff up, we have resources for you.
stuff up, we have resources for you. Again, just down in the description
Again, just down in the description below, there's a link for a video on a
below, there's a link for a video on a full course 0ero to1 to help you set up
full course 0ero to1 to help you set up your first ad account. Spend a dollar a
your first ad account. Spend a dollar a day. Just learn how it works, what the
day. Just learn how it works, what the buttons are, so that you can talk to
buttons are, so that you can talk to somebody about something because nobody
somebody about something because nobody wants to take you from zero to one. They
wants to take you from zero to one. They just want you to be already capable of
just want you to be already capable of crawling so that you can do it for them.
crawling so that you can do it for them. Next, focus on networking and outreach.
Next, focus on networking and outreach. Utilize professional groups to connect
Utilize professional groups to connect with potential employers or clients.
with potential employers or clients. Personal branding, exhibiting experience
Personal branding, exhibiting experience will also enhance credibility,
will also enhance credibility, visibility, trust, and demand from the
visibility, trust, and demand from the market. Now, back in the day, it was all
market. Now, back in the day, it was all about the Facebook group. Which Facebook
about the Facebook group. Which Facebook group are you in for media buying,
group are you in for media buying, right? And then it became Twitter, and
right? And then it became Twitter, and people have YouTube channels and
people have YouTube channels and Instagram accounts. And, you know, a few
Instagram accounts. And, you know, a few years ago, it was really hot to get into
years ago, it was really hot to get into some Slack groups like the Workspace 6
some Slack groups like the Workspace 6 or the Triple Whale one back when it was
or the Triple Whale one back when it was good. And there's still a few good ones
good. And there's still a few good ones out there, like the limited supply, I
out there, like the limited supply, I think, is phenomenal. If you're not
think, is phenomenal. If you're not talking to people, if nobody knows you
talking to people, if nobody knows you exist, then you're just trying to
exist, then you're just trying to compete for a job as a stranger in
compete for a job as a stranger in somebody's email box. But if you can
somebody's email box. But if you can show that you know what you're talking
show that you know what you're talking about, if you can have informed
about, if you can have informed conversations, if you can make some
conversations, if you can make some connections, when the work becomes
connections, when the work becomes available, you're now no longer a
available, you're now no longer a stranger. You're the person that has to
stranger. You're the person that has to turn down the job before they look for a
turn down the job before they look for a stranger. And that's the real unfair
stranger. And that's the real unfair advantage. People only put out the job
advantage. People only put out the job listing when the folks they know can't
listing when the folks they know can't take the work. Be somebody that they
take the work. Be somebody that they know and you won't have to apply. That
know and you won't have to apply. That is the real trick. So the more active
is the real trick. So the more active you are, the better your odds are at
you are, the better your odds are at getting work. There was a period of time
getting work. There was a period of time where I very specifically took down all
where I very specifically took down all of my best work. And I put together
of my best work. And I put together little tricks and tactics and every
little tricks and tactics and every single day I would spam like 20 30
single day I would spam like 20 30 Facebook groups and post something on
Facebook groups and post something on Twitter with just my tip or tactic or
Twitter with just my tip or tactic or trick of the day encouraging people to
trick of the day encouraging people to respond. I did that for a couple years.
respond. I did that for a couple years. What that did is it meant that nobody in
What that did is it meant that nobody in the space didn't know who I was. Now,
the space didn't know who I was. Now, some of the stuff I said worked, some of
some of the stuff I said worked, some of it didn't, but I got conversation. And
it didn't, but I got conversation. And my ability to talk about it, as well as
my ability to talk about it, as well as the attention that I got because I
the attention that I got because I talked about it, gave me inbound leads
talked about it, gave me inbound leads at a place where I never had to
at a place where I never had to interview ever again. The last job I
interview ever again. The last job I legitimately interviewed for was in
legitimately interviewed for was in 2017. Since then, it's about landing
2017. Since then, it's about landing clients and helping people. I think the
clients and helping people. I think the big trick to this is consistency and
big trick to this is consistency and then also, like I said, exhibiting
then also, like I said, exhibiting expertise. Just be smarter than somebody
expertise. Just be smarter than somebody else. If you're on day three, you can
else. If you're on day three, you can teach something to somebody that's on
teach something to somebody that's on day two. And you never know who's on day
day two. And you never know who's on day two. I talk to business owners all the
two. I talk to business owners all the time who have just hired agencies and
time who have just hired agencies and want to get somebody in house. They're
want to get somebody in house. They're on day one, but they need somebody they
on day one, but they need somebody they can trust. If you're just better than
can trust. If you're just better than that one person, you have the
that one person, you have the opportunity to get that job. And that's
opportunity to get that job. And that's a great advantage. exhibit expertise in
a great advantage. exhibit expertise in public and you will get attention before
public and you will get attention before you need to submit resumes. People will
you need to submit resumes. People will ask you for your work and that is a
ask you for your work and that is a cheat code that nobody else is talking
cheat code that nobody else is talking about. And I want you to know that that
about. And I want you to know that that is an easy way to get paid. And last
is an easy way to get paid. And last thing here, step number three is
thing here, step number three is interview and pitch preparation. You
interview and pitch preparation. You should be prepared to articulate your
should be prepared to articulate your value proposition clearly in interviews
value proposition clearly in interviews and pitches. Practice common interview
and pitches. Practice common interview questions and be ready to discuss your
questions and be ready to discuss your portfolio in detail. Something I had to
portfolio in detail. Something I had to learn after years and years of being bad
learn after years and years of being bad at it is how to get my point across in
at it is how to get my point across in sound bites. Don't take five minutes to
sound bites. Don't take five minutes to say three sentences. In an interview,
say three sentences. In an interview, you want to be the person answering
you want to be the person answering questions and providing value, but if
questions and providing value, but if the other person is checked out, you've
the other person is checked out, you've already lost. When trying to land a
already lost. When trying to land a client, you want them to be asking
client, you want them to be asking questions more than you're answering
questions more than you're answering questions. So, now, let's get you ready
questions. So, now, let's get you ready for that interview. We're going to cover
for that interview. We're going to cover the five most commonly asked interview
the five most commonly asked interview questions and how you can answer them to
questions and how you can answer them to get the job. Can you describe your
get the job. Can you describe your experience with media buying platforms
experience with media buying platforms like Facebook Ads Manager or Google Ads?
like Facebook Ads Manager or Google Ads? When you get asked this question, be
When you get asked this question, be very specific. Don't make false
very specific. Don't make false promises. And more importantly, speak in
promises. And more importantly, speak in a generic way that shows that you know
a generic way that shows that you know what you're talking about without
what you're talking about without necessarily getting in the weeds. The
necessarily getting in the weeds. The honest truth is most of the time the
honest truth is most of the time the person interviewing you is either an
person interviewing you is either an expert that's not expecting you to know
expert that's not expecting you to know half of the things that they do or they
half of the things that they do or they have no idea. They're looking for
have no idea. They're looking for buzzwords and short catchphrases. What I
buzzwords and short catchphrases. What I really recommend that you look at here,
really recommend that you look at here, I want you to focus on giving somebody
I want you to focus on giving somebody three bullet points that you can
three bullet points that you can extrapolate on if asked, right? What are
extrapolate on if asked, right? What are you good at? Right? What do you have
you good at? Right? What do you have experience with? What are you capable of
experience with? What are you capable of doing well? And what have you done in
doing well? And what have you done in the past? It might be, I know how to use
the past? It might be, I know how to use Facebook ads and I've run stuff on
Facebook ads and I've run stuff on Google, too. I'm really good at getting
Google, too. I'm really good at getting the job done quickly and making sure
the job done quickly and making sure that mistakes don't happen. And I've
that mistakes don't happen. And I've worked on conversion campaigns and lead
worked on conversion campaigns and lead generation efforts. Phenomenal. Now,
generation efforts. Phenomenal. Now, either I've checked that box off as the
either I've checked that box off as the interviewer or I can ask you more
interviewer or I can ask you more questions. Don't divulge information
questions. Don't divulge information that I don't need. If I want it, I'm
that I don't need. If I want it, I'm gonna come and get it. And you're going
gonna come and get it. And you're going to know you're getting the job because
to know you're getting the job because they're going to start asking you more
they're going to start asking you more and more about these bullet points. But
and more about these bullet points. But it's about delivering a sound bite and
it's about delivering a sound bite and letting the other person lean in. If
letting the other person lean in. If they don't lean in, you're never going
they don't lean in, you're never going to get the job. And if they're just
to get the job. And if they're just sitting back waiting for you to shut up,
sitting back waiting for you to shut up, you've already lost the gig. What
you've already lost the gig. What strategies do you use to optimize a
strategies do you use to optimize a media buying campaign? What I want you
media buying campaign? What I want you to focus on here, again, the sound
to focus on here, again, the sound bites, but more importantly, try to be
bites, but more importantly, try to be specific in this space. Just like
specific in this space. Just like before, I want you to focus on the sound
before, I want you to focus on the sound bites, but more importantly here, there
bites, but more importantly here, there is room for some specificity. You want
is room for some specificity. You want to use metrics. Talk about KPIs, right?
to use metrics. Talk about KPIs, right? Don't use the word KPI, but be more
Don't use the word KPI, but be more specific, right? Talk about your cost
specific, right? Talk about your cost per purchase. Talk about your lead
per purchase. Talk about your lead conversion rate. Talk about your hook
conversion rate. Talk about your hook rate. Talk about your rorowaz. Don't use
rate. Talk about your rorowaz. Don't use generic terms here. Hit on some keywords
generic terms here. Hit on some keywords focused around what the business is
focused around what the business is looking for. Like if I was to try to get
looking for. Like if I was to try to get a job as a media buyer for a
a job as a media buyer for a proteinshake company looking to scale
proteinshake company looking to scale their e-commerce, I'm going to talk to
their e-commerce, I'm going to talk to them about the rorowaz or their cost per
them about the rorowaz or their cost per purchase or their AOV. I'm going to talk
purchase or their AOV. I'm going to talk to them about numbers that relate to
to them about numbers that relate to money because that's what the business
money because that's what the business is. Can you walk us through a successful
is. Can you walk us through a successful media buying campaign you managed? What
media buying campaign you managed? What were the challenges and results? And
were the challenges and results? And I've highlighted here challenges and
I've highlighted here challenges and results. Everybody's run a bunch of
results. Everybody's run a bunch of campaigns. What's really important is to
campaigns. What's really important is to understand how you deal when things
understand how you deal when things don't go well. Getting the job done is a
don't go well. Getting the job done is a commodity skill. Being able to problem
commodity skill. Being able to problem solve on your own and learn from it and
solve on your own and learn from it and appreciate what happened. That's value.
appreciate what happened. That's value. So, what I want you to focus on here is
So, what I want you to focus on here is very simply say, "Yeah, you know, I've
very simply say, "Yeah, you know, I've run this or that." But one thing I
run this or that." But one thing I noticed when running promotional efforts
noticed when running promotional efforts for the Girl Scouts of America is that
for the Girl Scouts of America is that every time we featured a video where it
every time we featured a video where it opened up with a girl selling cookies,
opened up with a girl selling cookies, that got lower CPM than anything else.
that got lower CPM than anything else. Awesome. So, you could talk about how
Awesome. So, you could talk about how you did a promotional effort for the
you did a promotional effort for the Girl Scouts of America and you noticed
Girl Scouts of America and you noticed that every single time that you ran a
that every single time that you ran a video of a girl selling cookies, it got
video of a girl selling cookies, it got a really low CPA. But when you followed
a really low CPA. But when you followed up trying to retarget them with some
up trying to retarget them with some static image that tried to get somebody
static image that tried to get somebody to sign up for an event, your
to sign up for an event, your clickthrough rate was really bad. And
clickthrough rate was really bad. And one of the things that you noticed was
one of the things that you noticed was there's way too much text and really the
there's way too much text and really the image didn't align with the video. When
image didn't align with the video. When you fix that, things got a lot better.
you fix that, things got a lot better. We got problems. Maybe you can solve
We got problems. Maybe you can solve them for us. The point is you're now
them for us. The point is you're now trying to position the interviewer as
trying to position the interviewer as somebody that's going to benefit from
somebody that's going to benefit from your insight. How do you measure the
your insight. How do you measure the success of your media buying efforts?
success of your media buying efforts? What people are looking for here is your
What people are looking for here is your ability to understand that success can
ability to understand that success can be defined differently. I would give a
be defined differently. I would give a few examples something like well we had
few examples something like well we had a growth brand and what we really
a growth brand and what we really focused on was just getting the lowest
focused on was just getting the lowest cost per new customer and we had a lead
cost per new customer and we had a lead genen business and while we were getting
genen business and while we were getting really lowquality leads the conversion
really lowquality leads the conversion rate wasn't that great. So when we
rate wasn't that great. So when we improved the lead conversion rate we
improved the lead conversion rate we were willing to pay a little bit more
were willing to pay a little bit more for those people but we made a lot more
for those people but we made a lot more money. But you see how that's really
money. But you see how that's really giving some meat on the bones like I can
giving some meat on the bones like I can ask you about that right? What you're
ask you about that right? What you're doing is you're starting a conversation.
doing is you're starting a conversation. You're laying bait out to see if they
You're laying bait out to see if they take it. If you were to tell me that,
take it. If you were to tell me that, I'm going to be like, "Oh, wow. What did
I'm going to be like, "Oh, wow. What did you do to improve the conversion rate?"
you do to improve the conversion rate?" Now, you have the opportunity of really
Now, you have the opportunity of really getting kind of deep and having a
getting kind of deep and having a conversation. If you can get two or
conversation. If you can get two or three of those in an interview, the job
three of those in an interview, the job is yours. Describe a time when a
is yours. Describe a time when a campaign did not perform as expected.
campaign did not perform as expected. What did you learn and how did you
What did you learn and how did you adjust? This is not some trick to get
adjust? This is not some trick to get you to describe your weaknesses where
you to describe your weaknesses where you say, "Well, my biggest weakness is I
you say, "Well, my biggest weakness is I work too hard." Or some nonsense like
work too hard." Or some nonsense like that. This is a great opportunity for
that. This is a great opportunity for you to say, "We had a plan. It didn't go
you to say, "We had a plan. It didn't go well. This is what I did to change
well. This is what I did to change things." You could say something like,
things." You could say something like, "Well, we did a bunch of creative
"Well, we did a bunch of creative testing. We found the best stuff. We
testing. We found the best stuff. We launched against look alikes of the
launched against look alikes of the folks that had done what we were looking
folks that had done what we were looking for, but ultimately we found those ads
for, but ultimately we found those ads really only worked for like a week or
really only worked for like a week or two. So, we took all of the winners and
two. So, we took all of the winners and we launched them against broad. And
we launched them against broad. And while they didn't do as well, they did
while they didn't do as well, they did good enough and they lasted for months.
good enough and they lasted for months. Now, we're teaching. Now, we're
exhibiting expertise. We're showing experience. We're saying we were told to
experience. We're saying we were told to do something. It didn't go as planned.
do something. It didn't go as planned. We took that data in. We tried something
We took that data in. We tried something else and we learned from it. Right? Like
else and we learned from it. Right? Like that's the exchange. These interview
that's the exchange. These interview questions are exclusively about
questions are exclusively about personality fit. Are you a good fit for
personality fit. Are you a good fit for the team? Can you communicate clearly
the team? Can you communicate clearly what your value is? That's why we want
what your value is? That's why we want to come up with sound bites. And can you
to come up with sound bites. And can you explain to me something succinctly so
explain to me something succinctly so that I get it? And what I really want
that I get it? And what I really want you to focus on when trying to explain
you to focus on when trying to explain something is is talk about it and
something is is talk about it and communicate it. Like the person you're
communicate it. Like the person you're talking to has no idea what you're
talking to has no idea what you're saying. How can you get the point across
saying. How can you get the point across without having to explain everything? If
without having to explain everything? If you can do that, you're going to get the
you can do that, you're going to get the job. The folks that I know that are
job. The folks that I know that are really good at the work but never get
really good at the work but never get clients are the ones that take an hour
clients are the ones that take an hour to say a sentence. There's just no
to say a sentence. There's just no opportunity for that. unless their
opportunity for that. unless their personal brand is so good you deal with
personal brand is so good you deal with it anyway. And to be fair, I know a lot
it anyway. And to be fair, I know a lot of people that aren't that good at the
of people that aren't that good at the work, but are phenomenal at the
work, but are phenomenal at the communication, and they get new clients
communication, and they get new clients over and over and over again. So,
over and over and over again. So, understand what you're good at.
understand what you're good at. Communicate it simply. And remember, the
Communicate it simply. And remember, the focus here isn't to explain everything.
focus here isn't to explain everything. It's to get the other person to ask you
It's to get the other person to ask you to explain what they care about. Now,
to explain what they care about. Now, when it comes to networking and
when it comes to networking and professional growth, there's three
professional growth, there's three really big things that I want to focus
really big things that I want to focus on before we talk about how to get a
on before we talk about how to get a good mentor. First, building valuable
good mentor. First, building valuable connections. You should be identifying
connections. You should be identifying key contacts. Focus on connecting with
key contacts. Focus on connecting with industry leaders, potential mentors, and
industry leaders, potential mentors, and peers who are also aspiring media
peers who are also aspiring media buyers. Utilize platforms like LinkedIn,
buyers. Utilize platforms like LinkedIn, X, and Facebook to research and reach
X, and Facebook to research and reach out to these individuals. It's one thing
out to these individuals. It's one thing to have people that you look up to. It's
to have people that you look up to. It's another thing to have a relationship
another thing to have a relationship with them. And like I said before, go
with them. And like I said before, go ahead and DM those people that I talked
ahead and DM those people that I talked about, comment on their videos, reply
about, comment on their videos, reply back to their social media post, become
back to their social media post, become somebody that they know because most
somebody that they know because most people are just sitting on the
people are just sitting on the sidelines. For instance, I might have
sidelines. For instance, I might have over a 100,000 connections across all
over a 100,000 connections across all social media, but you could be one of
social media, but you could be one of the few dozen people commenting on
the few dozen people commenting on everything. I'm going to know who you
everything. I'm going to know who you are. And if you ask me questions, I'm
are. And if you ask me questions, I'm going to make time to help you because
going to make time to help you because helping you also helps me articulate
helping you also helps me articulate what I'm trying to teach. It's going to
what I'm trying to teach. It's going to help me develop those sound bites and
help me develop those sound bites and explanations that we talked about in the
explanations that we talked about in the interviews. And that's still important
interviews. And that's still important now because I need to get these points
now because I need to get these points across to everybody. Just because I know
across to everybody. Just because I know what I'm talking about doesn't mean that
what I'm talking about doesn't mean that you necessarily know the 15th level of
you necessarily know the 15th level of something. This is all about building
something. This is all about building relationships and learning how to
relationships and learning how to communicate. Now, when it comes to
communicate. Now, when it comes to building relationships and
building relationships and communicating, it's all about
communicating, it's all about engagement. So, here are a couple
engagement. So, here are a couple tactics for you. Regularly engage with
tactics for you. Regularly engage with content related to your niche.
content related to your niche. Contribute to discussions and share your
Contribute to discussions and share your insights. Exhibition of expertise helps
insights. Exhibition of expertise helps establish your reputation as a
establish your reputation as a knowledgeable and committed
knowledgeable and committed professional. Like I said before, be
professional. Like I said before, be active, show some insight. Remember when
active, show some insight. Remember when I told you earlier I had this list of
I told you earlier I had this list of tips, tricks, and tactics and I would
tips, tricks, and tactics and I would post them regularly whether they were
post them regularly whether they were good or not. I was more active than
good or not. I was more active than somebody else. I was more visible than
somebody else. I was more visible than somebody else. And because I got asked
somebody else. And because I got asked questions about them and I had to defend
questions about them and I had to defend them or because somebody showed me where
them or because somebody showed me where I was wrong, I learned a lot faster.
I was wrong, I learned a lot faster. When you get shown that you're wrong,
When you get shown that you're wrong, you get to stop making mistakes. When
you get to stop making mistakes. When you start to defend things, you get
you start to defend things, you get better and better at communicating them.
better and better at communicating them. And the more reps you get, the better
And the more reps you get, the better and better you get at it. And lastly,
and better you get at it. And lastly, communities and network events. You
communities and network events. You know, they say your network is your net
know, they say your network is your net worth. Actively participate in open
worth. Actively participate in open forums and be visible. These events are
forums and be visible. These events are opportunities not only to learn but also
opportunities not only to learn but also to connect with professionals who can
to connect with professionals who can provide career guidance or job
provide career guidance or job opportunities. Get into the Slack group.
opportunities. Get into the Slack group. Get into the Facebook group, right? Uh
Get into the Facebook group, right? Uh W6 is a great place if you're willing to
W6 is a great place if you're willing to pay for it. Get into the groups. Get
pay for it. Get into the groups. Get into the communities. Even if they're a
into the communities. Even if they're a little bit of money, you're not just
little bit of money, you're not just paying for what you learn. We're also
paying for what you learn. We're also paying for all of the people you get
paying for all of the people you get connected with. Like Disruptor Academy
connected with. Like Disruptor Academy has hundreds of people that you get to
has hundreds of people that you get to connect with. So, you're not alone and
connect with. So, you're not alone and you get to make those relationships. You
you get to make those relationships. You can also find stuff like that in
can also find stuff like that in Workspace 6 or for free in the limited
Workspace 6 or for free in the limited supply Slack channel. You can get in on
supply Slack channel. You can get in on Twitter for free. Get into the comment
Twitter for free. Get into the comment section of this YouTube video for free.
section of this YouTube video for free. Like, leverage your opportunity. The
Like, leverage your opportunity. The more opportunities you take advantage
more opportunities you take advantage of, the faster you're going to get
of, the faster you're going to get better, the sooner you're going to get
better, the sooner you're going to get paid and the more money you're going to
paid and the more money you're going to make. That's what it's all about. The
make. That's what it's all about. The people that are really making a lot of
people that are really making a lot of money are the ones that are most
money are the ones that are most well-known. And those two things are
well-known. And those two things are happening at the same time. And that is
happening at the same time. And that is not an accident. Those are ramifications
not an accident. Those are ramifications of one another. Now, when it comes to
of one another. Now, when it comes to networking and professional growth,
networking and professional growth, probably the single most valuable thing
probably the single most valuable thing that you can be investing your time and
that you can be investing your time and energy in is mentorship. Leveraging
energy in is mentorship. Leveraging experienced guidance. You want to look
experienced guidance. You want to look for mentors who have a proven track
for mentors who have a proven track record in media buying. A good mentor
record in media buying. A good mentor can provide not only technical guidance,
can provide not only technical guidance, but also career development advice and
but also career development advice and may even open doors to new
may even open doors to new opportunities. Now, I told you before
opportunities. Now, I told you before about my mentor, Ben, who was invaluable
about my mentor, Ben, who was invaluable in my journey. Every time I had to find
in my journey. Every time I had to find a new job, Ben sat me down and helped me
a new job, Ben sat me down and helped me with my resume. And every time I got the
with my resume. And every time I got the job, he'd take me out for sushi. And as
job, he'd take me out for sushi. And as a fun little quidd proquo to our
a fun little quidd proquo to our relationship because it's all about
relationship because it's all about relationships. When I quit my last job
relationships. When I quit my last job and went completely into business for
and went completely into business for myself with disruptor school and my
myself with disruptor school and my agency and disruptor academy and
agency and disruptor academy and everything that I've been building for
everything that I've been building for the last over 5 years now. I took him
the last over 5 years now. I took him out for sushi and paid the entire bill.
out for sushi and paid the entire bill. We ran up nearly a thousand dollar
We ran up nearly a thousand dollar budget in Beverly Hills and it was an
budget in Beverly Hills and it was an amazing feeling to just take my mentor
amazing feeling to just take my mentor out and let him know that like I finally
out and let him know that like I finally left the nest and like we're no longer
left the nest and like we're no longer mentor mentee but well we'll probably
mentor mentee but well we'll probably always have that relationship but we
always have that relationship but we were complete equals. He had sold his
were complete equals. He had sold his company and was doing something new and
company and was doing something new and like it was just this amazing piece. And
like it was just this amazing piece. And that brings me to point number two. In
that brings me to point number two. In your relationships with your mentors,
your relationships with your mentors, you really got to focus on building that
you really got to focus on building that relationship. I want you to approach
relationship. I want you to approach that mentorship as a two-way street. You
that mentorship as a two-way street. You need to offer value back, perhaps by
need to offer value back, perhaps by assisting with research or providing
assisting with research or providing fresh perspectives on new tools and
fresh perspectives on new tools and trends. And utilize the mentor insights.
trends. And utilize the mentor insights. Regularly meet with your mentor to
Regularly meet with your mentor to discuss progress, changes, and
discuss progress, changes, and strategies for advancing your career.
strategies for advancing your career. Apply their advice diligently and report
Apply their advice diligently and report back on your results, which reinforces
back on your results, which reinforces the value of the mentorship for both
the value of the mentorship for both parties. And one thing I want to let you
parties. And one thing I want to let you know here is now I've been lucky enough
know here is now I've been lucky enough to work for some amazing people and a
to work for some amazing people and a lot of them became my mentors, but I've
lot of them became my mentors, but I've also paid to join mentorship programs.
also paid to join mentorship programs. I've invested nearly $100,000
I've invested nearly $100,000 and programs for myself. Last year
and programs for myself. Last year alone, I invested over 30,000 to learn
alone, I invested over 30,000 to learn YouTube. And in the four or five years
YouTube. And in the four or five years before that, I invested in ways to build
before that, I invested in ways to build organic content and build communities
organic content and build communities and really expand my skill sets. And
and really expand my skill sets. And it's a really valuable investment.
it's a really valuable investment. Remember that the single most valuable
Remember that the single most valuable investment you're ever going to make is
investment you're ever going to make is in yourself. And one of the greatest
in yourself. And one of the greatest investments you can is in not only
investments you can is in not only developing your skill, but doing so in a
developing your skill, but doing so in a space where you can have a relationship
space where you can have a relationship with the person teaching you. And in
with the person teaching you. And in fact, that's one of the core elements of
fact, that's one of the core elements of disruptor academy is that I'm there
disruptor academy is that I'm there talking to everybody. And that's part of
talking to everybody. And that's part of the design. And one of the reasons why I
the design. And one of the reasons why I think what we're trying to do here is so
think what we're trying to do here is so valuable. It's not just in the what you
valuable. It's not just in the what you learn. It's in all the people you get to
learn. It's in all the people you get to meet and the relationships. And while
meet and the relationships. And while I've had mentors, now I get to be a
I've had mentors, now I get to be a mentor. And the ability to pass on
mentor. And the ability to pass on something that you've learned is
something that you've learned is tremendous. And what I want to tell you
tremendous. And what I want to tell you is right now, right now, today, there is
is right now, right now, today, there is somebody that is looking up to you, that
somebody that is looking up to you, that wants to be where you are at. And if you
wants to be where you are at. And if you can find those people, I'll tell you,
can find those people, I'll tell you, the more you can give it away, the
the more you can give it away, the faster you're going to grow. My efforts
faster you're going to grow. My efforts 10 years ago of joining every Facebook
10 years ago of joining every Facebook group that would ever have me to just
group that would ever have me to just drop in tips and tricks and tactics was
drop in tips and tricks and tactics was my ability to begin relationships. And
my ability to begin relationships. And there's a lot of folks where I was their
there's a lot of folks where I was their mentor who are now in amazing places and
mentor who are now in amazing places and really big businesses that have driven
really big businesses that have driven me business since then and we've worked
me business since then and we've worked with each other for a long time.
with each other for a long time. Eventually, you all kind of get to the
Eventually, you all kind of get to the promised land. And the more people you
promised land. And the more people you have with you, the happier you're going
have with you, the happier you're going to be and the more successful you will
to be and the more successful you will be, too. You can do this alone, but
be, too. You can do this alone, but you'll never be as successful as you
you'll never be as successful as you bring people along with you. And so
bring people along with you. And so mentorship is a two-way street. And I
mentorship is a two-way street. And I really, really want you to take away
really, really want you to take away that lesson from this section. Now, that
that lesson from this section. Now, that brings us to our last step here, which
brings us to our last step here, which is mastering billing and creating true
is mastering billing and creating true wealth. This is your independence
wealth. This is your independence through growth. The five stages of your
through growth. The five stages of your journey. And wherever you're at now,
journey. And wherever you're at now, following this path is how you can get
following this path is how you can get to where you want to go. And I'll tell
to where you want to go. And I'll tell you this, if you were to set a goal
you this, if you were to set a goal right now of what success looks like,
right now of what success looks like, before you know it, you're going to be
before you know it, you're going to be looking back at that goal as just a
looking back at that goal as just a stepping stone to the life that you
stepping stone to the life that you actually have. I can tell you from
actually have. I can tell you from personal experience, my first goal was
personal experience, my first goal was just to pay my bills. Then my first goal
just to pay my bills. Then my first goal was to make six figures. Now I make over
was to make six figures. Now I make over a million dollars a year. And I have a
a million dollars a year. And I have a team on five different continents. And I
team on five different continents. And I have helped thousands of people achieve
have helped thousands of people achieve more success and less stress and create
more success and less stress and create jobs and opportunity and joy for others.
jobs and opportunity and joy for others. There's no way when I got my first job I
There's no way when I got my first job I could have ever imagined that happening.
could have ever imagined that happening. When I got my first client for $10 an
When I got my first client for $10 an hour and I used to go to her store and
hour and I used to go to her store and sit down at her computer to help her out
sit down at her computer to help her out with her Facebook, there's no way I
with her Facebook, there's no way I could have imagined being a by coastal
could have imagined being a by coastal multi- business owner earning seven
multi- business owner earning seven figures a year. It it was inconceivable
figures a year. It it was inconceivable to me. So, that being said, here's the
to me. So, that being said, here's the five steps for your journey. The first
five steps for your journey. The first step that almost everybody takes,
step that almost everybody takes, especially the good ones, is career
especially the good ones, is career growth in ad agencies. Strategic job
growth in ad agencies. Strategic job movement is key. I never stayed at an ad
movement is key. I never stayed at an ad agency for more than nine months. I
agency for more than nine months. I knew, and I talked about this earlier,
knew, and I talked about this earlier, right? Like, I knew that if I worked
right? Like, I knew that if I worked really, really hard, I might get a five
really, really hard, I might get a five or 10% raise. Like, I might earn an
or 10% raise. Like, I might earn an extra $1,000 a month. But I was helping
extra $1,000 a month. But I was helping my employer make a million dollar a
my employer make a million dollar a week. Like that never made sense to me.
week. Like that never made sense to me. So as soon as I was good enough for my
So as soon as I was good enough for my boss's job, I got it at the agency next
boss's job, I got it at the agency next door. There is no reason that you need
door. There is no reason that you need to stay at below your capability. Your
to stay at below your capability. Your value is defined basically at how
value is defined basically at how inhibited you are in climbing the ranks.
inhibited you are in climbing the ranks. And what really matters here is that
And what really matters here is that ultimately at the highest levels of ad
ultimately at the highest levels of ad agencies, you're not doing any of the
agencies, you're not doing any of the work. The higher you get, the more and
work. The higher you get, the more and more you get away from actually doing
more you get away from actually doing any of the things. Now, I told you
any of the things. Now, I told you before about some of those great ad
before about some of those great ad agency owners you can learn from. Those
agency owners you can learn from. Those people ain't running ads. They're
people ain't running ads. They're talking about the work of their team who
talking about the work of their team who many of them don't even know most of the
many of them don't even know most of the people on their team. They've never even
people on their team. They've never even met them. They're so far removed from
met them. They're so far removed from the day-to-day work. But again, that's
the day-to-day work. But again, that's what they're really good at. And that's
what they're really good at. And that's totally fine. But you need to understand
totally fine. But you need to understand that climbing in an ad agency means
that climbing in an ad agency means you're quickly management and you get
you're quickly management and you get away from doing the work. And honestly,
away from doing the work. And honestly, if you're not doing the work, it's
if you're not doing the work, it's really hard to get a lot better at it.
really hard to get a lot better at it. And most of those people that I talked
And most of those people that I talked about, they stopped doing the work a lot
about, they stopped doing the work a lot of years ago. And that means also that
of years ago. And that means also that their awareness of what to do on a
their awareness of what to do on a day-to-day basis is inhibited by their
day-to-day basis is inhibited by their lack of exposure because they're not
lack of exposure because they're not able to have hands-on experience
able to have hands-on experience anymore. And you know, no slight against
anymore. And you know, no slight against them, that's the path they've chosen and
them, that's the path they've chosen and they're all very successful because of
they're all very successful because of it. So, everyone has a path, right?
it. So, everyone has a path, right? That's something we've talked about
That's something we've talked about here. I want you to focus on
here. I want you to focus on fasttracking your career in advertising.
fasttracking your career in advertising. Embrace strategic moves between agencies
Embrace strategic moves between agencies to rapidly ascend. And by always being
to rapidly ascend. And by always being prepared to step into a higher role, I
prepared to step into a higher role, I accelerated my career progression and my
accelerated my career progression and my salary increased. Now, a little bit
salary increased. Now, a little bit about my story here real quick. I went
about my story here real quick. I went from working part-time helping somebody
from working part-time helping somebody sell tickets to Jay and Silent Bob where
sell tickets to Jay and Silent Bob where I was earning a hundred bucks a day to a
I was earning a hundred bucks a day to a $75,000 a year supervisor role in an ad
$75,000 a year supervisor role in an ad agency in like six months. And I took
agency in like six months. And I took that and parlayed it to the next job and
that and parlayed it to the next job and the next job and the next job. And one
the next job and the next job. And one of the most valuable things that I think
of the most valuable things that I think I gained out of working at a ton of ad
I gained out of working at a ton of ad agencies is the fact that I learned from
agencies is the fact that I learned from the best and the brightest in a lot of
the best and the brightest in a lot of different rooms and everybody did
different rooms and everybody did something different. And it meant that I
something different. And it meant that I didn't learn one way of doing things. I
didn't learn one way of doing things. I learned a lot of different ways to do
learned a lot of different ways to do the same thing. And I was able to pick
the same thing. And I was able to pick and choose and understand the tools that
and choose and understand the tools that were at my disposal. Remember that
were at my disposal. Remember that 10,000 hours isn't doing the same job
10,000 hours isn't doing the same job over and over again. It's challenging
over and over again. It's challenging yourself to do new things. And remember
yourself to do new things. And remember also I said every single campaign I
also I said every single campaign I tried something new. I can't tell you
tried something new. I can't tell you the amount of people that I've seen max
the amount of people that I've seen max out in their career somewhere in middle
out in their career somewhere in middle management cuz they spent months or
management cuz they spent months or years doing the same job over and over
years doing the same job over and over again. And to be fair, maybe they wanted
again. And to be fair, maybe they wanted to work that job so they could go live
to work that job so they could go live some other life. But if you're working
some other life. But if you're working your day jobs, you can do another life.
your day jobs, you can do another life. That's great. But that's not how you
That's great. But that's not how you become really wealthy. You're never
become really wealthy. You're never going to get to millions by doing a
going to get to millions by doing a portion of somebody else's job for a
portion of somebody else's job for a portion of their pay because you are
portion of their pay because you are replaceable. No one will ever pay you
replaceable. No one will ever pay you that money to do it. Because I could
that money to do it. Because I could find 10 people to work harder than you
find 10 people to work harder than you for cheaper. And that means you're never
for cheaper. And that means you're never going to get that paycheck. Now, the
going to get that paycheck. Now, the second part of this is securing your own
second part of this is securing your own clients. Now, some people start at this
clients. Now, some people start at this step and they avoid the agency world
step and they avoid the agency world entirely, and that's totally fine. I
entirely, and that's totally fine. I just think the agency world is
just think the agency world is tremendously valuable and that you get
tremendously valuable and that you get to learn where your paycheck is covered
to learn where your paycheck is covered regardless of how good you are at the
regardless of how good you are at the job. Now, once you start securing
job. Now, once you start securing personal clients, the game really starts
personal clients, the game really starts to evolve. Securing personal clients can
to evolve. Securing personal clients can significantly enhance your professional
significantly enhance your professional trajectory. Not only does this build
trajectory. Not only does this build your resume, but it also helps you
your resume, but it also helps you establish your personal brand,
establish your personal brand, attracting even more clients.
attracting even more clients. And the beauty of securing personal
And the beauty of securing personal clients is it diversifies your income.
clients is it diversifies your income. When it comes to getting clients early,
When it comes to getting clients early, the money is worth far less than the
the money is worth far less than the experience. Get any work you can, even
experience. Get any work you can, even for free. And then understand that
for free. And then understand that you're now building a reputation. So,
you're now building a reputation. So, this is beginning to build a personal
this is beginning to build a personal brand and establishing a strong personal
brand and establishing a strong personal brand attracts additional clients and
brand attracts additional clients and enhances your market presence. It's one
enhances your market presence. It's one thing to be an employee at an agency.
thing to be an employee at an agency. It's another thing to be someone that
It's another thing to be someone that somebody else hired, right? You don't
somebody else hired, right? You don't necessarily know the name of some random
necessarily know the name of some random employee at some random place you went
employee at some random place you went to, but if there's a specific person
to, but if there's a specific person that you call when you have a problem,
that you call when you have a problem, you know who they are. And when you have
you know who they are. And when you have a friend that has a problem, you can
a friend that has a problem, you can make that recommendation. Your name
make that recommendation. Your name becomes your business. And the faster
becomes your business. And the faster and sooner you begin to develop this,
and sooner you begin to develop this, the better it is for you. Now, a little
the better it is for you. Now, a little story from my career. I was doing
story from my career. I was doing freelance work before I ever got a real
freelance work before I ever got a real job. When, you know, I was getting
job. When, you know, I was getting sober. I was living in Ohigh at this
sober. I was living in Ohigh at this place, and they paid me $10 an hour to
place, and they paid me $10 an hour to help run the Facebook account for the
help run the Facebook account for the sober living that I was living in. and
sober living that I was living in. and talking about that while playing some
talking about that while playing some open mic night at this spot called
open mic night at this spot called Miners Oaks. I met somebody else who had
Miners Oaks. I met somebody else who had a friend in Los Angeles that worked at
a friend in Los Angeles that worked at an ad agency that was looking for
an ad agency that was looking for somebody to come in and basically do
somebody to come in and basically do data entry for $10 an hour. And I got
data entry for $10 an hour. And I got that job basically because they heard me
that job basically because they heard me talking about the freelance work that I
talking about the freelance work that I did. Me doing freelancing got me my
did. Me doing freelancing got me my first gig at an agency. And that is
first gig at an agency. And that is really the story of so many people. And
really the story of so many people. And when I worked at that agency, I got more
when I worked at that agency, I got more clients. And I worked on the side with a
clients. And I worked on the side with a lot of people. I always had two or three
lot of people. I always had two or three on the side. And I got fired from that
on the side. And I got fired from that agency and I built my own agency. And
agency and I built my own agency. And then that got stolen from me. And I
then that got stolen from me. And I built another agency. And then my
built another agency. And then my partner took all of the money and ran
partner took all of the money and ran away with it and sold his car. And you
away with it and sold his car. And you know, he's sober now, but like things
know, he's sober now, but like things got crazy. So then I got another job at
got crazy. So then I got another job at another agency just doing things for
another agency just doing things for Jamba Juice and Viking River Cruises.
Jamba Juice and Viking River Cruises. And 6 months after that, I got a job
And 6 months after that, I got a job running ads for Jay and Silent Bob and
running ads for Jay and Silent Bob and an antismoking thing and a couple other
an antismoking thing and a couple other little pieces. And 6 months after that,
little pieces. And 6 months after that, I got a job at Omnicom as supervisor of
I got a job at Omnicom as supervisor of West Coast operations in the Resolution
West Coast operations in the Resolution Media Department, overseeing teams like
Media Department, overseeing teams like CBS Television, working with Activision
CBS Television, working with Activision and Levis, spending a million dollars a
and Levis, spending a million dollars a day. I got to do really fun things like
day. I got to do really fun things like I had a Super Bowl commercial for the
I had a Super Bowl commercial for the launch of PCIL laundry detergent when we
launch of PCIL laundry detergent when we brought that product over from Europe. I
brought that product over from Europe. I got to be a part of the Call of Duty
got to be a part of the Call of Duty launch like so many fun things and I had
launch like so many fun things and I had that job for nine months and then I went
that job for nine months and then I went you know brand side and I had this
you know brand side and I had this wonderful journey through a lot of
wonderful journey through a lot of different agencies and brands but what's
different agencies and brands but what's really important is the entire time I
really important is the entire time I was always working on the side. Now when
was always working on the side. Now when it comes to working on the side, you
it comes to working on the side, you have to understand strategic pricing and
have to understand strategic pricing and client management. And this is step
client management. And this is step three of your journey. This journey
three of your journey. This journey always begins by undercharging
always begins by undercharging to help to build a diverse client base.
to help to build a diverse client base. I want you to prioritize learning from
I want you to prioritize learning from all of your clients and trying as many
all of your clients and trying as many things as you can. And as your
things as you can. And as your reputation for doing good work grows,
reputation for doing good work grows, and look, you're going to do some bad
and look, you're going to do some bad work and you're going to do some good
work and you're going to do some good work. You're going to get some wins
work. You're going to get some wins based OFF OF STUFF THAT you really have
based OFF OF STUFF THAT you really have nothing to do with and there going to be
nothing to do with and there going to be times where you do everything right and
times where you do everything right and it still goes bad. But if you can
it still goes bad. But if you can maintain client satisfaction through all
maintain client satisfaction through all the ups and downs, your reputation will
the ups and downs, your reputation will bring you new leads and this will ensure
bring you new leads and this will ensure a steady flow of opportunities. Start
a steady flow of opportunities. Start with undercharging. Undercharge and
with undercharging. Undercharge and overd deliver to quickly build a client
overd deliver to quickly build a client base while proving your value and learn
base while proving your value and learn from your clients. Also gradually
from your clients. Also gradually increase your rates. As your market
increase your rates. As your market reputation grows, strategically increase
reputation grows, strategically increase your rates to reflect your enhanced
your rates to reflect your enhanced expertise. So again, my story here. Let
expertise. So again, my story here. Let me tell you exactly how I did this. I
me tell you exactly how I did this. I started charging $10 an hour. I got
started charging $10 an hour. I got three clients and I was earning a couple
three clients and I was earning a couple hundred bucks a week on the side. My
hundred bucks a week on the side. My next client, I charged them 15. And the
next client, I charged them 15. And the client after that, I charged them 20.
client after that, I charged them 20. And when that happened, I went back to
And when that happened, I went back to those three that I was charging $10 an
those three that I was charging $10 an hour to and I said, "Hey, my new rate is
hour to and I said, "Hey, my new rate is 20 bucks." And either that was enough
20 bucks." And either that was enough for them to be like, "Wow, okay, $10
for them to be like, "Wow, okay, $10 more. Sure, no problem." Or they were
more. Sure, no problem." Or they were like, "You're not worth it." And if
like, "You're not worth it." And if you're not worth an extra $10 an hour,
you're not worth an extra $10 an hour, then that means you're not worth it. But
then that means you're not worth it. But that's okay cuz you're now earning $20
that's okay cuz you're now earning $20 an hour with your new client. I did that
an hour with your new client. I did that over and over again, rotating between
over and over again, rotating between three and six clients, raising my prices
three and six clients, raising my prices 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 50. Then I moved to
10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 50. Then I moved to monthly fees. I started getting some
monthly fees. I started getting some retainer stuff and I went to 500, 700,
retainer stuff and I went to 500, 700, a,000, 2,000. And now I'm $1,000 an
a,000, 2,000. And now I'm $1,000 an hour. And if you want to work with me
hour. And if you want to work with me and my team, it's in excess of $10,000 a
and my team, it's in excess of $10,000 a month just to get us started. And that's
month just to get us started. And that's because my value is far more than just
because my value is far more than just my time.
my time. There's a great story about Picasso and
There's a great story about Picasso and this was in the 40s and he was an older
this was in the 40s and he was an older man and somebody came up to him and
man and somebody came up to him and said, "Wow, you're Picasso. Can you draw
said, "Wow, you're Picasso. Can you draw me something?" And he took out a little
me something?" And he took out a little pencil and drew a little scribble on a
pencil and drew a little scribble on a notepad. And he handed it to the guy and
notepad. And he handed it to the guy and he's like, "That's some astronomical
he's like, "That's some astronomical number. I don't remember how much he
number. I don't remember how much he told the guy it was going to be." And
told the guy it was going to be." And the guy WAS LIKE, "ARE YOU CRAZY? THAT
the guy WAS LIKE, "ARE YOU CRAZY? THAT TOOK YOU 45 SECONDS." And he said,
TOOK YOU 45 SECONDS." And he said, "Yeah, but it took me 45 years to get
"Yeah, but it took me 45 years to get that good." Point is, you're not paid
that good." Point is, you're not paid for your time. Doing this means you
for your time. Doing this means you begin to get paid for your value. And
begin to get paid for your value. And your job is to always stay busy. When I
your job is to always stay busy. When I went through all of those clients at 10,
went through all of those clients at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 bucks an hour, I went
20, 30, 40, 50 bucks an hour, I went through dozens. And the honest truth is,
through dozens. And the honest truth is, I DIDN'T EXPECT TO KEEP ANYBODY for more
I DIDN'T EXPECT TO KEEP ANYBODY for more than a month. Some of them I kept for
than a month. Some of them I kept for three, maybe six, but I went through
three, maybe six, but I went through dozens. and the amount of business
dozens. and the amount of business owners who talked differently, had
owners who talked differently, had different problems, that needed
different problems, that needed different situations solved and worked
different situations solved and worked through that I also got to learn from
through that I also got to learn from because they were all business owners
because they were all business owners successful enough to hire me, taught me
successful enough to hire me, taught me so much more than anything I ever
so much more than anything I ever learned in college. It was the practical
learned in college. It was the practical application of all the things that I
application of all the things that I learned up to that point that taught me
learned up to that point that taught me so much that developed the core of the
so much that developed the core of the undeniable value that I brought on top
undeniable value that I brought on top of just the ability to do the work. And
of just the ability to do the work. And this really brings us to part number
this really brings us to part number four, your transition to retainerbased
four, your transition to retainerbased work. Transitioning to retainerbased
work. Transitioning to retainerbased billing as you gain experience
billing as you gain experience stabilizes your income. Remember, you
stabilizes your income. Remember, you are no longer being paid for your time.
are no longer being paid for your time. You are being paid for your undeniable
You are being paid for your undeniable value that you bring to the table. Now,
value that you bring to the table. Now, you might be doing this while also
you might be doing this while also working at an ad agency or a brand. I
working at an ad agency or a brand. I worked at a business where I really only
worked at a business where I really only had to do a couple hours of work a day
had to do a couple hours of work a day because I got so good at doing the work
because I got so good at doing the work quickly and because the econometrician
quickly and because the econometrician side of me understood how to make that
side of me understood how to make that work really effective so that ultimately
work really effective so that ultimately I was only doing the things that lifted
I was only doing the things that lifted everybody else. Well, as a result, I had
everybody else. Well, as a result, I had hours of my day with really nothing to
hours of my day with really nothing to do. So, I was engaging on social media
do. So, I was engaging on social media platforms, commenting on Facebook,
platforms, commenting on Facebook, watching YouTube, stuff like that. And I
watching YouTube, stuff like that. And I accidentally started an ad agency at my
accidentally started an ad agency at my desk. I did that more than once and that
desk. I did that more than once and that was great. And what really matters about
was great. And what really matters about the retainerbased work is what your
the retainerbased work is what your goals are. Remember that this strategic
goals are. Remember that this strategic shift enables higher, more consistent
shift enables higher, more consistent earnings and opens door to more
earnings and opens door to more lucrative consulting opportunities.
lucrative consulting opportunities. Transitioning to retainerbased work
Transitioning to retainerbased work means you get stable income and you can
means you get stable income and you can leverage your experience for higher pay.
leverage your experience for higher pay. Now the real secret is this is where the
Now the real secret is this is where the unlock happens. We started this video
unlock happens. We started this video off by talking about [ __ ] you money,
off by talking about [ __ ] you money, right? And the beginning of that is just
right? And the beginning of that is just like, can you get to six figures? Well,
like, can you get to six figures? Well, let me tell you how to do it because you
let me tell you how to do it because you can get it done real quick in two
can get it done real quick in two different ways. The first, get a $50,000
different ways. The first, get a $50,000 a year job and get two people to pay you
a year job and get two people to pay you 2500 a month. If you can have two
2500 a month. If you can have two clients pay 2500 a month while you have
clients pay 2500 a month while you have a $50,000 a year job, you're making
a $50,000 a year job, you're making $100,000 a year. Now, $50,000 a year in
$100,000 a year. Now, $50,000 a year in an ad agency is a great paycheck for
an ad agency is a great paycheck for somebody that doesn't have a job, but
somebody that doesn't have a job, but it's also peanuts when it comes to what
it's also peanuts when it comes to what you're actually doing for the agency.
you're actually doing for the agency. And one of the things I tell people all
And one of the things I tell people all the time is if you're already a
the time is if you're already a full-time employee, but you got some
full-time employee, but you got some side work, tell your employer you want
side work, tell your employer you want to work part-time. I have regularly had
to work part-time. I have regularly had multiple part-time ad agency jobs for 50
multiple part-time ad agency jobs for 50 or 60 grand. Nobody said you couldn't
or 60 grand. Nobody said you couldn't have two of those jobs and a couple
have two of those jobs and a couple clients on the side. The first time I
clients on the side. The first time I actually got to a quarter million a
actually got to a quarter million a year, I had two part-time ad agency gigs
year, I had two part-time ad agency gigs and I was regularly having three to five
and I was regularly having three to five people paying me three or $4,000 a
people paying me three or $4,000 a month. If you want to make 100 grand,
month. If you want to make 100 grand, you need 8,500 a month. Can you get
you need 8,500 a month. Can you get three people to pay you $3,000? If
three people to pay you $3,000? If you're managing your Facebook ads right,
you're managing your Facebook ads right, that's maybe 510 hours a week per
that's maybe 510 hours a week per client. That's $100,000 on 20 to 30
client. That's $100,000 on 20 to 30 hours a week work. And if you do good
hours a week work. And if you do good work, you're going to have more people
work, you're going to have more people coming to you. And all you have to do is
coming to you. And all you have to do is charge the next person more than the
charge the next person more than the last person. Like, are you seeing how
last person. Like, are you seeing how this all clicks? Are you seeing how this
this all clicks? Are you seeing how this all kind of comes together? That's how
all kind of comes together? That's how this really begins to work. Now, if you
this really begins to work. Now, if you really want to force multiply all of
really want to force multiply all of this stuff, the number one trick that
this stuff, the number one trick that got me from a 100, 200,000 to a million
got me from a 100, 200,000 to a million a year was building my personal brand.
a year was building my personal brand. You need to have a business built around
You need to have a business built around you. That's just the nature of this
you. That's just the nature of this game. Building your personal brand can
game. Building your personal brand can lead to significant income, especially
lead to significant income, especially when combined with strategic consulting
when combined with strategic consulting roles. My personal story involved
roles. My personal story involved managing my social media and YouTube and
managing my social media and YouTube and some other channels. And I eventually
some other channels. And I eventually got to the point where I was earning
got to the point where I was earning more in a month than I used to make in a
more in a month than I used to make in a year.
year. Like when I made $50,000 in one month
Like when I made $50,000 in one month knowing that I started at $45,000 a
knowing that I started at $45,000 a year, that blew my mind. There are
year, that blew my mind. There are periods of time where I made that in a
periods of time where I made that in a week. That's crazy. The fact that you're
week. That's crazy. The fact that you're sitting there right now with a clear
sitting there right now with a clear path to fundamental life changing
path to fundamental life changing opportunity is amazing. And I wish that
opportunity is amazing. And I wish that somebody had laid it out for me, but
somebody had laid it out for me, but that's what I'm here to do for you.
that's what I'm here to do for you. Remember that I went from $10 an hour to
Remember that I went from $10 an hour to paying myself over a million dollar
paying myself over a million dollar after taxes. And you can 100% do it,
after taxes. And you can 100% do it, too. And your keys here are diversify
too. And your keys here are diversify your income streams, build that personal
your income streams, build that personal brand so you get multiple streams of
brand so you get multiple streams of income, and also leverage high value
income, and also leverage high value consulting role. Building a personal
consulting role. Building a personal brand will pay. It's uncomfortable for
brand will pay. It's uncomfortable for some folks, some people love it. I've
some folks, some people love it. I've done it naturally my entire life. If you
done it naturally my entire life. If you like this video, go ahead and like this
like this video, go ahead and like this video and subscribe to this channel so
video and subscribe to this channel so you don't miss anything else. And if
you don't miss anything else. And if you're ready for the next step and
you're ready for the next step and getting a little bit deeper on some of
getting a little bit deeper on some of the things we talked about today, I made
the things we talked about today, I made a great video for you. It's right here.
a great video for you. It's right here. Until next time, I'll see you on the
Until next time, I'll see you on the internet.
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