The Exchanges

Q Are there any tools that you use in the business that are lifesavers for you?

A There's quite a few, uh, because of the performance marketing side of things, we'll use, um, one, like one of them, for instance, is called Bright Edge. Uh, they're a enterprise level SEO company. So it allows us to get an idea of what organic terms people are using to find things. Well, organic happens to be one of the highest performing channels. So we want to make sure we're aligning ourselves with a premier You know, uh, SaaS company that we can borrow off of, which again, right now in the movement of AI, they're able to predict what's happening, or they're able to, you know, put new signals out there for how the search engine results page are showing up with conversational results. So that's one as an example. Then we have another one that's like what's called Resonate, and that's what allows us to understand audience behavior and motivation. And so now we can target down from 34 to 37 year old females That live in this particular geography and these are their habits and their spending behavior. And so that gives us like an understanding of who they are that we could then target, you know, and not to say we're going to target them specifically, but from, from an aggregated data standpoint, we can target, you know, people that, that fit that persona. So that's another one. And then of course, Google analytics, which really shows us all the different, you know, behaviors on …

AI assessment note: “one of them, for instance, is called Bright Edge. Uh, they're a enterprise level SEO company.”

Q Are you sure it's not more like you wake up one day and you realize that you're really freaking bruised on your face?

A That and you realize, shit, I only know how to be a boxer, you know? And so that's the other thing. You wake up five, six years into it and you're like, well, now I'm sort of got these, you know, golden handcuffs. I've created this business that I can't get away from, uh, to your point, I'm in the ring all the time. Um, but you just, that's where I think it's like, you know, that one advice I always give to anyone, anyone even listening right now, it's like, it's really about following your passion. And because you do wake up and you realize, yeah, I'm bruised. I'm beaten. I'm, you know, and, and, and I could probably have chosen a different path, but if you follow your passion, naturally money is going to follow relationships are going to follow, uh, and you're going to fill that fulfilled part of your life.

AI assessment note: “That and you realize, shit, I only know how to be a boxer”

Q thing, because if you plan incorrectly, the building's going to fall down and people may die. So did you find that having experience as an architect helped you in starting this business? Did it hinder you because you had professional skills, but maybe not, you know, you had planning skills, but maybe not execution skills. Like, How did it help, and did it, or did it hinder you at all?

A Yeah. Well, like many entrepreneurial journeys that people go on, typically the foundation that you've sort of invested into, right? Mine happened in the architecture, but typically they lend themselves in that journey. Um, and, and so, yes, I think there's, there's probably two angles that I would think about the architecture side and to your point, this planning and this dependencies, if you think about the services we started in providing, which was building internet, you know, website experiences, you know, um, Uh, digital experiences, mobile applications. They actually all follow a very similar process. They, they, uh, usually they're waterfall based. So there's one thing has to happen for the next thing to happen for the next thing to happen. Um, if you think about building a building, it's the same concept, right? You gotta start with the foundation. Then you start laying in all the, you know, the walls and you can't start putting carpet in until the very end, right? So if you think about building services like websites, you don't get to start adding content to the website until all the infrastructure is built, the taxonomy, Um, you know, the site architecture and plan. Who's coming to the website? Same thing for a building. If you're building a school, you know that there's faculty, there's students, and then there's administration, and, and then, you know, whatever els…

AI assessment note: “typically they lend themselves in that journey. Um, and, and so, yes”

Q Was it as easy as you thought it would be trying to quote, build the internet?

A You know, it's, it's, there's something really healthy about being naive and, you know, cause you go through, you do things that you don't expect you would have done and the confidence you have when, especially starting a business, you know, even, even if you're going to start a pizza restaurant, you know, you're, you think that you make the best pizzas in the world and you've got it down and everyone compliments you on them and then you just dive into it and then you realize, Using that same pizza restaurant analogy, you're like, oh my gosh, I don't know how to do inventory management. I don't know how to do special. Oh, there's a competitor that opened three blocks down that says they offer the best pizza in the world. And so the answer is no, it was definitely not easy. Um, but what's so nice is you're going in with this sort of like rose colored glasses that everything's going to be okay. And everything's going to work out. And you just sort of take one punch on the chin at a time. And then finally you wake up and you realize, oh, wow, I'm a, I'm a professional business athlete, you know, Who's been in the ring for a very long time, but no, it wasn't easy, but it was very, very rewarding. And typically those, those things that are super hard that you put all your energy and your whole life into are the things that, uh, that give you the most amount of gratification and joy.

AI assessment note: “And so the answer is no, it was definitely not easy.”

Q Do you ever use psychology to influence your clients to accept that what you want to present to them is, is what they need?

A Interestingly, we like to use data and, but at the end of the day, it is a hundred percent a psychological move because what happens is, especially in brand, right? A lot of times brand is, is sold through emotion and what's your first expression and what's your first, you know, what is this, what is this invoking? Is it causing you to leave or want to do this? So we love to use data. So we'll run focus groups. We run user studies. Well, we have, we have partnerships with research firms where we do call it qualitative, quantitative research, all of those pieces. Allow us to approach our clients with, uh, like that sort of data, you know, data wins, if you will. But, um, but yeah, there's a lot of psychology in that because sometimes you get to a point where like, nope, the client wants this. They don't, they, they realize it's an emotional ask and we're like, that's not a good use of budget or, you know what, we just need to educate your board because your board's asking for these things because there's an emotional reason for it. And, and we love to break that down, but most of the time you're dealing with, with different psychology, um, you know, different outcomes, different, um, agendas. And, and what's nice is data really binds that together and allows us to tell, you know, a story that's objective as opposed to staying in that subjective space.

AI assessment note: “at the end of the day, it is a hundred percent a psychological move”