The Exchanges

Q I know you're going to like it if you enjoy hearing more about the personal lives of the people that I interview. Let's get to it. Of all of the things that are taking your time these days between your family and your business and your friends and the health conditions you're going through, what do you think is the hardest thing to balance or to manage of them all?

A Wow. I'd say that the family aspect for sure. Um, when I really launched my entrepreneurial journey, I was dating a girl at the time who happens to now be my wife. Um, but that was really the full commitment was we were boyfriend, girlfriend, both living in separate apartments in New York city. And, uh, you know, fast forward seven years later, now we're married, we have a child. And I think the balance really between making sure that I can, of course, be present with my family, um, in the best way possible, of course, but then, you know, naturally still having to run a business. And what I, what I appreciate too, is having a business partner that I can kind of lean on and also, uh, be able to leverage Owen as a resource. Uh, and I guess really that sounding board, um, He's a, he's a motivator for myself. If I didn't have him, I don't know if I would be working my eight 30 to six o'clock every day as, as I have been as committed to doing. Um, just because we're, we're in it together in a sense, but let's go back to just your original question. The balance is definitely. Making sure I can be as present as I can with my family too.

AI assessment note: “I'd say that the family aspect for sure.”

Q in that. And then I finally got involved in it and it's been 10 years since I started. I look back on it and I go, why would anyone ever want to do this? And when people ask me, should I do it? I'm like, you probably shouldn't. What, what is it that made you want to be an entrepreneur and why do you continue to, to be an entrepreneur?

A Yeah. I mean, if you ask me that question right now, I will absolutely support you in doing it, but I will say it is getting harder and harder. Um, so I really, I always had a passion of entrepreneurship in general. Um, my grandfather, he had started his own, uh, furniture store way, way back in the day. Um, while I was too young to really understand the ins and outs of how that business operated, I do know that it was very much a sense of pride for him as he was older, um, already retired, had sold his business. And, uh, what really resonated with me in the conversations that we did have together was just, uh, his commitment towards the people that worked for him. And, um, what he was most proud of at the time was really having an incredible health insurance package for them, which again, that's perks of very much evolved, uh, at this point, but. Uh, to think back in like the sixties and seventies to have, you know, really top of the line type of health insurance package that was fully included for all of his employees. That, that always has resonated with me. Um, but yeah, I've always had that entrepreneurial spark. Never did I think it'd be getting into digital marketing as my lane. Um, but it's just something that really stuck with me in my college education. And I realized, you know what, I'm actually pretty good at this. Maybe I can use this as a lever to then build somet…

AI assessment note: “my grandfather, he had started his own, uh, furniture store way, way back”

Q a business that could afford to give all of the employees healthcare. Obviously the way in which business is done and the way in which businesses take care of their employees has changed. What is something that you strive to be able to provide to your team? And if you aren't able to yet, what is it that you hope to be able to provide to them in the future?

A Yeah, it's a great question. So that healthcare piece has always been kind of a, a focal point, even for when I first was envisioning having employees. So to date, we do offer completely free health insurance, medical health insurance to our team. Um, and it's a really good plan. It's a zero deductible plan. We also have a second option. If you're, It's a zero deductible for everybody across the country, but it it's most fruitful for really the people in New York city. Cause there's such access to, uh, incredible hospitals here, but we do have a second plan that has a little bit of a higher deductible. That's still, uh, is a really nice plan, but yeah, I mean, I think as a business, we're spending around 1200 bucks a month per employee, um, just purely for health insurance and. I never in a million years do I anticipate that ever. Well, the premiums are going up small percentage wise every year, but, uh, never do I see us not being able to offer that as a perk. That's like from a foundational sense where we have always stood. Um, I've also just maybe from past companies have fallen into this. We've been in past companies before where they take away different perks and, um, really that's For many reasons, but ultimately, as I've come to learn, it's usually because of a finance reason. Um, for us, very, very cognizant of it's much easier to add on as opposed to pull back. So, um,…

AI assessment note: “we do offer completely free health insurance, medical health insurance to our team.”

Q with the clients that we have is that generally the AI kind of makes things a lot easier. The AI that Meta provides that manages the ads is also now making it faster for you to, uh, Make money and spend less in order to get to that point, to kind of incentivize people to, to try and get started and to scale. Do you notice anything in that regard?

A Yeah. If I'm, um, if I'm kind of picking up what your, your colleague might be saying, you might be referring to advantage plus campaigns, which is like, uh, and keep me honest here if I'm, if I'm way off, but as I describe it, it's you basically give meta. All of your assets, a bunch of different types of, uh, messaging that you want to incorporate in the ad and Meta's algorithm will basically, and it's just pure broad targeting. So Meta will take of your five options for messaging. Your five options of ads will bring it all together and target the right consumer across the board. There's also a lever within there to say, okay, of this campaign, I want to target 90% towards net new people that have never seen my brand before, and the 10% could be retargeting. People have seen my ad, but have never converted. Is that, that that's like a relatively newish technology and meta that's You know, we're concerned is coming for a lunch, but I have some kind of data and analysis behind it as well.

AI assessment note: “you might be referring to advantage plus campaigns”

Q figures in revenue in a given year or in their lifetime before they fall apart. And there's a lot of different industries that one can focus on. You and I have both chosen to focus on e-commerce. I know why I did. The more time I spend in the industry, the more I feel like it's insanity at its best. Why did you choose to focus on serving e-commerce brands?

A So we initially were just here to serve direct response. So, um, if you're looking to produce In order, we're here to drive that at the most efficient cost. At the same point, if you're here to drive qualified leads, we very much are capable and do that for a bunch of different brands here too. So, um, why we've, while we do have some lead gen, more like B to B type of brands, we definitely, as you stated, lean more on the e-commerce side. Um, to date, it's been a different, it's, it's a little bit more unique for us to date. We've really just been referral-based. Probably 95% of our brands we work with have been, um, referred to us from an old colleague, or they, we used to work with them at a different brand, and they jump ship to another spot. So organically, a lot of the intros have come to e-commerce, and mostly, like, fashion e-commerce, but it's really just because of our Unfortunately, very small referral network that, uh, seems to lean on their end a little bit more on the fashion e-commerce side. So I think we kind of fell into it in a sense, but, um, yeah, I mean, we I'm with you. There's agencies that are always like, oh, we're the CPG focused company and they only work with brands and like, you know, food and beverage or whatever it may be. Um, that's something that we haven't really tried to, Silo ourselves in and rather just say we're a performance media company …

AI assessment note: “organically, a lot of the intros have come to e-commerce”

Q Do you think that harms you in any way by, by targeting a broad audience?

A There's, I mean, there's definite arguments to both sides of it. Um, early on in my entrepreneurial journey, I, um, I was leaning more towards finding a niche, um, just to help position myself as we are the go-to agency for this. Um, if I were to, you were talking about if, if you would start another company today, uh, would you, and would you encourage others? Still would, but definitely if I were starting a company today, I probably would go niche. Uh, it's just, again, fortunate for us that a lot of our intros Naturally occurred to be a bit across across the gamut and. I think at this stage, given our company size that it's. Kind of nice to be able to be broad, but, um. Starting out, I'd probably be a little bit more niche next time.

AI assessment note: “I think at this stage, given our company size that it's. Kind of nice”