Latest / Epic Entrepreneurs / Turning Passion Into Leads: Ethical SEO, AI Visibility, and the Power of Drive with Jeremy Ashburn

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Turning Passion Into Leads: Ethical SEO, AI Visibility, and the Power of Drive with Jeremy Ashburn · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Hi everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: I am Cliff McCray, filling in for Bill Gilleland with your local business training and coaching firm, Action Coach Business Growth Partners.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really excited to have Jeremy Ashburn with Push Leads as the focus for our Epic Entrepreneurs podcast episode today.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, Jeremy, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself and your company and what primary products or services you offer our community?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Jeremy Ashburn with Push Leads.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: And what we do is help small business owners get more leads without struggle or frustration.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And what we primarily do is get you visible, get your business visible at the top of Google, and also recommended by AIs, such as Chat GPT or anyone using other any of the other AIs out there.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: And essentially there's a lot of frustration these days because a lot of times business owners really want to get at the top of Google.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: They want to be recommended by AIs, but they don't really know what to do.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: They have no idea what it takes to get up there, um, to get recommended.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: And we make that our expertise to do that.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we've been doing this for about 15 years full time.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: We've got about 45 clients that we do it for on an ongoing basis.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just been a lot of fun.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: I've been doing this, um, you know, just really I'm kind of living the dream, um, doing what I love and helping businesses grow at the same time.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, perfect, perfect.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: So, how long have you been in business thus far?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it's been about 15 years.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I really started around 2012 when I went full time, and I can tell you that whole long story.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I had a lot of things that kind of led up to the point where I decided, you know what?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: I love doing this and I want to go full time.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: So okay.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, obviously with the with the business 15 years, I'm sure you've got some some things you can say here on this next question.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if if you had to start from square one in your business, what would you do differently?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let me let me think about that for a second.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, let's see.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So if I had to start, let's see.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: If I had to start from the beginning, what I would do would be to go out there and hire one or two sales reps um to go out there and beat the streets and pay them a really nice commission for going out there to generate leads.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And and if I could, if I would have done that from the beginning, I probably would have been growing more exponentially like I am now.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have a really, really amazing outside sales rep who also doubles up as my social media queen.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: And she's actually here in the office with me today.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Her name is Andrea, and she has been going out there and um, you know, meeting with potential new clients and bringing them different reports of what they can do to get hiring Google.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if I could go back, I would have really hired an Andrea, you know, like uh an outside sales rep like 15 years ago.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I did not.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: I just started on my own and I started doing networking groups and growing on my own.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I I grew slow and steady.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: But if I could go back, I would redo it and try to bring on people like her from the beginning.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: So basically you were you were juggling everything by yourself, right?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: Is that what I'm understanding?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's the mistake a lot of times entrepreneurs make is they think, hey, I'm gonna do everything on my own.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, when you're dealing with cash flow issues and you're starting a business, it can be difficult to do everything.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: But what I've found is that you can create a a structure that rewards, you know, people for doing the work they're doing and they're motivated to work, then they'll keep producing for you because they're motivated.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're doing work that's producing income, and that income is also helping your business.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of what I've um that's kind of the arrangement I've come up with um with um with my current outside sales rep is that she um will get like a 20% commission um of any kind of business that she brings in.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And she also handles social media, so she gets a hundred percent commission of all that work because she's doing all that work herself.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I found that uh the people need to have motivation to work.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Have you noticed?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And and if they don't have the motivation, they're just well, or they don't have the drive, then they won't really do a lot.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: But if you find somebody that is like young, um, or even not young, um, and but they're they have a drive and they're showing up and they're doing the work, and you give them tasks and they're doing it, and they're grateful for the you know, the money, they're the revenue you're paying them, and they're just consistent, then that that kind of person is like a superpower um for your business.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it's hard to find that person because there's so many people that just don't actually have drive.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have the motivation.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And um, but when you can find someone like that and test them on a small little project and see how they do on a small little project, and and then they consistently do that and you give them more work, then you know, I found that that's a really recipe for success because one thing I've figured out is that how you do one thing is how you do everything.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're the kind of person that is going to just lay around and sort of let life happen, happen to you and just sort of, you know, do your best, then life will always happen that way.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're the kind of person that gets out there and is like a go-getter and has drive and is, you know, in the community and is in making connections and doing the work, then then I've noticed then then it's like that that whole aspect of getting out there and just taking more of an active approach to life, it really rewards you.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's a little bit about my philosophy, but I've just found that that really does make a difference.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like you either have drive or you don't, you know, from my take.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: No, you're you're definitely right.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something that cannot be taught at all.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you just like you say, you either have it or you don't.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: So um And that's why that's why I've found that like if you take somebody and just give them one little task, like with Andrea, I said, Hey, you know, here's one of my clients.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a hair salon, excuse me, it's a wax salon in Los Angeles.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And they've been on my client, they they've been my client for a couple of years.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Hey, you know, we'll let's meet with the business owner and let's show them where they are in Google and let's talk to them about doing social media and see if they're interested.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: And she said she was.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Okay, well, let's let's come in at a lower than the market price, around three or four hundred dollars a month and see if we can produce results because you don't have a lot of experience doing this.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: But if you can be consistent and you can be posting on their social media, on their Instagram, on their TikTok, and you can be consistent, then that um then that will mean the client will keep working with you.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so she did.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: She took that client on and she started posting for them on TikTok and Instagram, and that was three or four months ago.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And now we have now she has 10 clients, and I'm paying her roughly a$500 to a thousand dollars commission a week because she is killing it.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like I need about five more Andrea's, you know?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it sounds like and then shouts out to Andrea.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds like you got a you got a really good one there.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: So it's coming up.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she's in the background saying thank you.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you mean this.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no problem at all.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: What have your biggest learnings been as an owner since you started your business?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think the biggest thing I've learned is that um it's really important that you understand uh something intimately as a business owner before you delegate.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: But once you do, delegate as as soon as possible so that you can free yourself up to go out and do more things.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so so for example, um you know, one of the things that we do is we publish inner hidden pages on a website uh for our clients around different subjects.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: So one of our clients is um a roofing company, and so we publish a lot of inner hidden pages around roofing cost, around roofing maintenance, around um different different aspects around roofing, even do DIY guides and things like that.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And what I found is that I like to enjoy doing this process initially, coming up with a strategy and then documenting the strategy.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then once I have that done, and once I test it and I know it's consistent and it's producing results for my clients, I then pass that off to one of my virtual assistants, one of my team members, and they start doing it consistently.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that's one of the things that when I first got started, I was doing all that myself.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it's one thing if you have five or 10 clients, you can do that.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: But you can't really you can't really scale into 10 and 20 and 30 clients or more if you're doing everything yourself.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that's one of the things I've really loved doing is understanding a process myself and then documenting the process.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're we're a huge fan of using Loom to record the screen.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh Loom is a record a screen recording tool that has, you know, a little bubble of you of your video in the lower left-hand corner, and then it's you're you're doing the recording on the screen.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so I can essentially take any of my tasks that I do and record it, and then I can get that transcription and make a step-by-step SOP standard operating procedure.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then from there, I can then create that as a training for any of one of my team members to go out there and start doing.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's kind of what I really done in the last um actually six months or so is documenting a lot of my process out and then hiring different people to begin to do that for my clients so that I'm freed up to go out there and go after more clients or meet with my clients or do whatever I want to do.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: I love it, love it.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, what would you say are some common misconceptions about running a business?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: This is always a good one.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let me ask an AI to answer that question for me.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kidding.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh let's see.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: What are some common misconceptions?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, let me think about that.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think one of the common miscon miscon I think one of the common misconceptions is that you need to go out there and get a huge loan to be successful.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's not always the case where you need a lot of initial capital to be successful, especially if you are considering going off on your own.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're considering going off on your own, um what I ended up doing when I first kind of discovered that I really wanted to do this full time was um I had a client that was paying me about five thousand dollars a month.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I only had one client, and I was like, man, what happens if I lose this client?
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm just month to month.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't I didn't have an annual contract.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was like, all right, well, I need to start getting clients so that I can build up my client base.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I went out to the bank and got a$12,000 loan.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, okay, this is this will maybe I could last maybe three or four months if I can make this stretch.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and then at the same time, I lost this client because I'd finished the work I was that he wanted me to do, and he didn't want to keep paying the money.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: So at that point, I literally had three months to make this work.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: It was a total sink or swim moment.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, you know what?
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: If I did not give myself the option of failing, and so I literally had three months to make this thing work, and I did it after about three months.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was making about maybe three or four K worth of income.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Not enough to totally survive, but enough to rob Peter to pay Paul and then keep going uh in it in over and over again.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And eventually I got to the point where I was like, all right, make enough income to you know survive.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't need necessarily$50 or$100,000 to start a business, especially if you are working full-time and you're doing what you love on the side, and it's a side gig that could become a full-time gig.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: You could start slowly moving into that, or you could be in a situation like myself where you're like, all right, well, I have some amount of money to make this work, but I need to produce in this time frame to make this thing work.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that having that drive to produce and having having a time limit and having a goal, um, those are all things that I found are super important because I'm really big in manifesting and believing something and then bringing that into reality.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I could talk to you for hours about that, but it really comes down to coming up with a goal, uh coming up with a goal of what do you want to accomplish, and then doing actions towards that goal and then saying different things, uh, different affirmations that begin to make that goal a reality.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: And and then sometimes also just letting it go and just letting it marinate, you know, because you can work too hard, right?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a balance there.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: But getting back to the story, I was able to make it work because I had a goal.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: I had three months to make it work, and I had a I had a strategy in place.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: I had joined two different networking groups, I would go every week to these groups, let them know what I do, and I started getting I would meet with clients face to face because everything was more face-to-face back then.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then I started getting clients, and so looking back on it, it was kind of crazy to to do.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it was a sink or swim moment for me.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: And and it it's interesting because a lot of people in that situation, they would actually crumble, right?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: But you actually took that on and took that 90-day period and was like, hey, I'm gonna make this work, sink or swim, like you said.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I love that.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: It says a lot about you and your character because a lot of people, you give them a timeline and they're just it's not gonna happen.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: That that that actually puts more pressure on them to actually fail.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you know, there's this whole thing that we don't really talk a lot about in our culture, um, resilience, you know.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Resilience is when the going gets tough.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: How tough are you?
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um, are you gonna work late?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Are you going to uh work weekends?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Are you going to take personal time to recharge so that when you are working, your working is super productive?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: So those are all things that I've learned.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I think sorry, sorry about that.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think that um resilience is super important, and it was it really surprised myself.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I really discovered that I love what I do, and I was really influenced years ago.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you're probably gonna ask the question about you know why I started, you know, what I why I wanted to get into what I do now, but I will just share that story.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Years ago, before I went full time into what I do now, I saw Steve Jobs did a qu did a um he did a speech to the graduates of Stanford in 2005.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I watched this uh speech on YouTube probably in 08 or 09.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: And and you should totally go to YouTube and look it up if you've never seen it before.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: But it just blew my mind.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: It I literally almost started crying when I saw this, and I'm not a fan of Apple um or the company as a whole, but I I found this speech to be so inspiring to me.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: And basically what Steve's job says in the speech is if you can find what you love and you can find a way to make money doing what you love, you'll never work another day in your life.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: It will still be work.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're still showing up and getting the tasks and doing the things and meeting with clients, but it won't feel like work because it is your passion.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, it just hit me at that point.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, wow, my passion is helping small businesses grow.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: And what if I could make this into a career?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: What if I could make money doing this?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know other people are making money doing this.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: How do I get there?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it it just became like the impetus for this drive to be successful.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: And and it's like I that's what I've I guess that would be a piece of advice I would give aspiring entrepreneurs is find what your passion is and find if you can find a way to make money, you know, with that passion.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can, if you can make money doing what you love, you it really won't be work because you're doing what you love.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, I love that.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's super inspirational.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Love that, love that.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so do you think you are a better entrepreneur or employee?
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: And why?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'm a better entrepreneur than employee because I really enjoy the high whole idea of learning something new.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always learning, always growing.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: It used to be where I read books all the time.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now I really talk to AIs all the time, which I know it sounds crazy, but um AIs can just teach you a lot more in a lot shorter amount of time.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: But I do still find the importance of reading books and being offline and taking long hikes in the woods and you know, listening to the trees and the wind blow through the trees.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm a huge fan of being offline, but also um reading books, you know, old-fashioned turn-the-pages books, but also using the technology we have now to do that.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I found though is learning, um, continuing to learn and grow keeps you mentally fresh.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: And to me, that is really what being an entrepreneur is, is being mentally fresh, is is um meeting your meeting with your clients and showing the progress you're making, as well as um doing things to expand your own horizons.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I find that as an entrepreneur, that's kind of what my focus is.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I like learning things, and then I like testing things out to figure out is this thing I'm learning is this gonna help my business?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then testing to find out that makes a sense that if it works.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: And if it does, then I start documenting that process and then have my my team implement that.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so as an employee, you're gonna be the person that takes these sort of implementations, uh, takes these standard operating procedures and then does that.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: That kind of wears me out, honestly.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Consistently doing something and posting on social media or posting blogs.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Have I done it?
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Do I do it?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, but I'd rather have people do that for me because I get wore out from consistent things like that, if that makes sense.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: I've just learned that's how I sort of am hardwired.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: So what I do is I document a process and then I um have my team implement it, and then I come in as needed, as those extra, extra high quality touch on top of the process they're already doing.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: So, how do you handle taking vacations while running your business?
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, one of the things I've found is that I can tend to be somewhat of a workaholic.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: I love what I do so much that I kind of tend to work a lot.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: And my partner has really and I have been working about um working on the balance of work life, um, a work-life balance and having a time where you stop responding to emails, respond, stop responding to text, and you are just um completely offline.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: You're present with your your uh partner or yourself, if you're single and you're solo, you're you're dating yourself, so to speak.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the importance is that you're not working.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I'm at the point where this year my goal is to do one sort of either weekend or you know, weeklong vacation once a quarter.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's just a weekend once a quarter, maybe it's a week-long vacation since I'm in the summer.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: But really, what I find is that if it's if at all possible, at least on a weekend, like a Friday to Tuesday for Valentine's Day, we're gonna go to um one of my clients has cabins, and we have this really great cabin that we love to go to.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna we're gonna try to be offline the entire weekend.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe, maybe you use the phone to turn on some music, things like that, but just try to be offline the entire time and just be present with my partner.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, her love language is quality time.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so quality time is quality time when you are focused and you're attending with your partner, you're with them.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're you're you're doing tasks with them, you're just being with them.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's something I'm working on is the importance of just getting offline.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: So what I typically do on a weekend is I'll get offline and just stay off the entire weekend and then slowly get back on as I'm ending, you know, a weekend vacation.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: If it's during a weeklong trip, what I try to do is let my uh clients know I'm unavailable for that time, I'm on vacation, send them an email or a group text, let them know I'm unavailable for that week, and then have someone to take over tasks if something comes up during that week.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's kind of my goal for this upcoming year is on the week long vacation to have someone handling the business if anything comes up.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, anything.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Urgent that comes up.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so that's kind of my philosophy.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: And what I've found is that the more you can disconnect from your business, the more you can be offline, the more you can have quality time with yourself or with your partner or with family and friends, the more productive you are when you are in when you're in productive mode, when you're at work.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: And years ago, um I had uh um an ex-wife tell me when we were together, she said, you know, you're a Cadillac.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, What?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: She said, You're a Cadillac, you know.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know much about cars?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I grew up, you know, drawing.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I I grew up like in art class where everyone else was playing sports, I was drawing and reading books.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was so artsy.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and I was like, all right, so what do you mean?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and she's like, Well, Cadillacs, you know the thing about the car?
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, um, kind of.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: She said, Well, Cadillacs are like a high-end brand that requires a lot of maintenance.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: But if you maintain the car and you get regular oil changes, and you are um doing all all their primitive maintenance on time, and you're just consistent with it, and you're not driving it too hard, but you are, you know, tender with it and you are with it, um, and you are consistent with all those things, and it will reward you with a long life where it takes you to and from work and it's there.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: She said, That's what that's what you are.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: You are a Cadillac, and your tendency is to burn the candle at both ends and go hard, go hard in the paint, so to speak.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but reality is the harder you push yourself, the more exhausted you are when you are working.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: So if you could learn to disconnect and be with me and be with your kids and blah, blah, blah, and be with your family, um, then you'll be a better productive worker.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: And and ever since then, even though that marriage didn't work out, I took that advice and I was like, yeah, I am a Cadillac.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's okay to not work.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's a I need to set aside time to just be present, to be offline, to be in the woods, um, you know, to be sitting with my partner watching a show or reading books.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's just still a work in progress, but that's kind of what I've been learning.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I I love that.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then being called a Cadillac, hey, there are worse things to be called, right?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: I actually love Cadillacs, so Cadillac, yeah.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's actually a uh compliment if I was to, you know, somebody was to call me one of those.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: But um, but yeah, no, I love that.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Great story.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: So what have you see how I can frame this kind of kind of to fit what you do?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what have you attributed to the grocery push lead so far?
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: What would you say has has led up to that other than your your work ethic and obviously your your drive?
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think a lot of times, you know, when I first started um I guess just a question between you and I, real quick, are you gonna ask sort of why I decided is decided to start my company, or is that one of the questions or not, Cliff?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no, I'm not actually gonna ask that.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: I actually have that one.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: So ask that question again and I'll kind of go into or we'll start again.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, yeah.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: I typically don't ask that question.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but uh all right, let me see.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: So what have you attributed to the growth of push leads so far?
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the growth really has first of all come down to understanding what my passion is, which is helping businesses grow.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then secondly, taking action items to connect that passion to something that can produce something that our clients can see results of their getting higher in Google.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so what I really did was I completely self-taught.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: I taught myself how to do, how to show, how to make businesses show at the top of Google is called search engine optimization or SEO.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and now I'm teaching myself how to show up for the AIs, how to be recommended by the AIs, whether we call it generative engine optimization or SEO or whatever we call it.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: AI SEO, it's there's so many words they're thrown around.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: But this whole idea of learning the industry on your own, I'm a kinetic learner.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: I learn by watching people do things and then doing them and imitating them and then doing them on my own.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that whole kinetic learner of doing things, of testing things, of seeing the results of the word that uh seeing the results of the testing and then implementing that has really been probably the foundation for my success.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: But also meeting with potential clients and showing them my work and then working with them and then getting them, bringing them on as clients is also super important.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: So when I first got started um doing what I do is it was way back in 2003, I read a book about how to show up in Google.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it was really back then about writing a blog and creating a blog and writing a blog and just do this, just blog, write blog posts about your passion and then share that with people.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: And eventually that will turn into income.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I don't know how that's gonna happen, but okay, I'm gonna do this.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: So um around 2002, I created a blog.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: It was called buyapc.org.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: It was literally a.org domain, and it was the whole idea if someone's looking to buy a computer, maybe they'll do some research and they'll read my reviews about computers and and see and potentially buy a computer from reading my review.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I created this blog and I started posting on it on a weekly basis, and I would just talk about the most popular laptops and desktops.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is before smartphones were out, before all the modern technology.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: And for years, I just would write about I always loved hardware.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm a total geek.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I I would write about computer hardware, and I would then um share what I loved about this particular piece of hardware, and then I would publish that as a blog post.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then two or three years later, I discovered that wait a minute, I can write about hardware that it's on Amazon.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: I could write about the most popular gaming desktops or the most popular office desktops for office, etc.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I started doing that, and then I realized that I could basically from there put a link.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: So if somebody clicked somebody clicked that link and they went to Amazon and they bought that computer within 24 hours, I would make some money.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so from there, I started making money.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: And by 2009, I was generating$20,000 of business a month for Amazon, and I was making about$5,000 a month just from the commission.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: And and so what the whole process is this is that a lot of times the future or your goal or your destination is you can't see it from here.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: All you can see is the next step in front of you, or maybe two or three steps in front of you.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: So the spirit or the higher power or your intuition, whatever you want to call it, is leading you to that destination, but you don't know, you don't know how to get there.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: You just know what the next step is in front of you.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine like standing in front of a river and a wood, you know, and it's a long, wide river.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's and and there's like there's regular stones that are popping out of the water, and you're on one bank, you know, and you could see the first couple stones to hop to, but from there, you don't know where to go.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's not until you hop into that first stone, into that second stone, to where you can say, Oh, there's another stone, or maybe I have to go through the water at this point, or maybe there's a a branch I can hang on to to you know get me to the next step.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're gonna eventually cross that river and get to the other side, but you can't see all the steps.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: You can just see the first stone in front of you.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of us are too afraid to jump to that first stone, to take that first risk, to step out there.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: But reality is if we do, if we step out there, then there, from there, our vision gets wider.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: We have greater perception because now we're in the river.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now we can see that next stone.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that next stone is slightly under the water, but that's okay.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you get your feet wet.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: But from there, you can go to the next dry stone.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was kind of my whole process of starting a tech blog and writing blogs, and then from there, um learning how to get it to show up on Amazon and learn how to get those links and get money from those links.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then later on, I was really surprised when I logged in and I was generating$20,000 of business of hardware sales.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, this is crazy.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's very reiterative, though.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: So okay, okay.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: I love that answer.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: All right, perfect.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: So now we're gonna move on to what's called the quick fire round.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: So basically how this works is I'm going to throw out one word, and I just want you to tell me the first idea or first thing that comes to your mind.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now, your answer doesn't have to be one word, but just basically the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear that word in regards to running your business.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: All right, first word is education.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: So my response to that would be continual learning.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm part of um B I group, and um B and I is a networking group that you can be part of and you can help grow your business that way.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: And one of their um ideals is continual education.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that we need to embrace this whole aspect as a core value to always be continually learning because that learn, uh, the more you learn, the more you earn.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: I totally agree.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: And now digging into that a little bit more.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, actually, we'll pivot here before we dig back into the one words.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know you've talked a lot about networking here on this call, so or today, but what would you say other than the BNI, do you have any other networking groups that you that you are are part of that you would recommend for small business owners looking to grow?
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: So if I was a small business owner um and looking to grow, I would definitely join um the local chamber.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the Asheville and the Hendersville Chamber has um, you know, it's important to join the chamber, but more than joining a chamber, going to a weekly leads group is super important.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a group of like five, 10, or 20 people, and they're gonna stand up and you everyone has one minute to go around the room and talk about their business.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: From there, people will walk right up to you after the group and ask you about what you do and potentially want to set up a one-to-one.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: And setting up doing those one-to-ones is how you get business, is how you get clients.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and Asherville is still very face-to-face.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I would recommend joining the chamber.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: I would looking at I would recommend looking into BI groups.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's also other groups.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: There's a group that I meet with on Mondays, um, with a lady named Laura.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I can give you the info here in a little bit.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's a group of 10 of us, and we meet on Zoom, and we just share different wins that we're experiencing as entrepreneurs.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that is a great group.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: Let me give you the name.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: Hold on, give me a second.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure this will be really, really helpful.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I really appreciate you sharing this, Jeremy.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, it's an online group.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's some of these groups are Zoom only, and some of these groups are in person, and some of these groups are online.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: It just depends.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to find something that works for you.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're the person that prefers in person, then you can, you know, look, you can join those kind of groups.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: If it's if you're somebody that is more comfortable online, you can join that group.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, okay, so um on Mondays at 10 a.m., I'm part of an online networking group called the Mosaic Momentum Networking Group.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: And we can provide the link to it um in in this podcast.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: But it's a group of about 10 entrepreneurs.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Some of these people are business coaches, some of these people are um uh therapists, some of these people are entrepreneurs where they have a service-based business.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the group is really an hour long, and they're different than a BI that has like 30-second elevator pitches.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: We start with um the Spark, which is like a one big win.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what's the one big win you've been able to accomplish this past week?
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then we talk, and then we go into a breakthrough session where we talk about issues and how to solve the issues, and then we meet one-on-one in the group.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: We go into Zoom rooms, we meet with somebody, and then from there we kind of end with a victory lap where we talk about wins.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I've I've enjoyed that group because it's not just stand up and talk about your business, which is super important as well, but it goes a little deeper.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it seems like that the deeper you can go with people, the more effective you can be.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: So those are the two groups I'm part of.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's also a group that I'm forming for other people that do what I do.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so this would only be for certain people that are that do kind of my that do SEO.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a group I'm starting at the end of this month.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the first our first meeting is 10 a.m.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Friday, January 30th, and it's called SEO Geeks and Freaks.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: And essentially it's a no BS monthly mastermind for SEO professionals who live and breathe anything about SEO.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: So whether you're a geek um and you love technical details or you're a freak for the latest algorithm updates, this is a tribe of people.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: And essentially, what I what I want this group to be is a group where we get together and we connect and collaborate.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: We build genuine relationships with other SEO professionals, we stay current about the latest updates with AIs, we share and we share with each other what works, real strategies, and um we grow together.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: We make a, we make, we say, hey, we're not gonna try to take each other's clients, we're gonna try to help each other.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of times people that do in my world, um, people that do SEO, they're just kind of off on their own.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: They may ask questions through an AI, but there's not really anyone that they can ask a question about.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is a group is gonna be a way where I can give back and share what I'm working with my what's working for my current clients, and I can learn what's working with other people.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's a guy that's um in my co-working space.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: I I work out of Mojo Coworking, which is downtown Asheville, and there's a co-working space there, and there's a guy there who's an STO professional and has 65 clients.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: So he's ahead of where I'm at.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm at 45 clients, and I sit regularly, sit down with him like once a week and just get to know what he's working on.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: And he always shares nuggets with me.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, what if we could just make this as a group where we can share these nuggets with other people and help other people grow?
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a way to give back.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: So those are the three groups I'm part of.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's the BI group, the mosaic networking group, and also this new group, this SEO geeks and freaks group I'm creating.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect, perfect.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll get to uh we'll get into that a little bit more and kind of get some um ways for people to contact you here a little bit later.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: So um, but yeah, getting back to this.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: So uh the next word is planning.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: So planning is all about uh understanding where you are right now and where you want to go and how are you gonna get there.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, what I've found is that my best time to do planning is generally on the weekends.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's first thing in the morning on Saturday or Sunday morning, where I sit down, I'm looking at look at what's going on with my clients, and then what needs to be happening, and then coming up with strategies as needed.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't take a lot of time, it can just be like 30 minutes to an hour because I definitely want my weekends to be mostly offline, to be mostly with my partner or in the woods hiking, that kind of thing.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: But so I think that I find that planning is important, but it's also important to have this aspect where you're not always left brain all the time.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Planning can also be a right brain experience where it's more spontaneous.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: You're looking at what's happening and based on what you're hearing right now or what a client is saying, hey, I need more leads in this one area.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so let's stop and let's plan for an hour.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: Let's plan for 30 minutes.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I've really found that it's important to have sort of planned planning, but also spontaneous planning, if that makes sense.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: Next word is inspiration.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: Inspiration is connected to your passion.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: And in the way we all are kind of designed is different things will inspire us.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like for me, I really don't care about football or sports.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: I just have never really cared about it.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I really enjoy technology and um art and the science, things like that.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it comes down to what inspires you, and then start to do and be around people that do the same thing that you're interested in and inspire you.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you can't be around those people, maybe it's a podcast, or maybe it's a group of people that get together.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so the more you can be it's the more you can be inspired, uh, the more you can aspire to new heights and new growth.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times we just get stuck in the rut of doing the same thing.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, years ago, I remember hearing a story about um it was a it was a study um back in the late 90s in New York City, and and what what and what they were doing was tracking people's um their phones throughout New York City over a period of like a year.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: And they weren't really tracking names or anything like that, they were just tracking the location of smell of cell phones, and what they found is that people tend to take the same route to work, to and from work every day.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: They tend to go to the same places to eat, they tend to congregate the same people.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like they're all just kind of we're all in a video game and we're all just sort of NPCs going and doing and saying the same thing over and over again.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the more you can break out of that pattern and do something different, do something that's off the grid, do something that's away from your normal pattern, the more you can be inspired.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so part of what I try to do is getting back to the planning question.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: I try to plan times where I am not doing things that I normally do.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times that means I'm in the woods, but not all the time.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: So Okay, okay, and speaking of uh, you know, patterns and in video games like you just brought up, uh, just an interesting story I'd like to throw out there.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_01: I saw something on uh I believe it was on Instagram yesterday where uh this couple for 30 years plays Mario Kart to see who makes the coffee every morning for 30 years.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, I love that.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the old Mario Kart from back in, I think it was like Super Nintendo or something like that.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: I play that every day.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: I love I love video games.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up playing games.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and one thing I found is that I don't play games these days, but the whole idea uh video games as much, um, but I the whole idea of um the addictive dopamine rush that you get when you play video games, and then what happens as a result of that, you can take this whole idea and transfer that into business.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can gamify starting a business or growing a business um or selling a business.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you can turn anything into a game.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the more you can do that, the more you can reward yourself, the more it's like it's like playing video games.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I could talk to you for hours about how fun that is.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no problem.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then the last word is commitment.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: So commitment to me is consistency.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's um me reaching out to Andrea, met her about six months ago, and you know, I said, Hey, you know, I have clients that need you to post consistently on social media.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: Is this something you're interested in doing?
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I just threw it out there as kind of like, you know, idea.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Man, this I'm on TikTok all the time.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: I really wanted to do social media.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, let's start with one client.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see if we can close one client and see if you could be successful with one client.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if so, we can give you more.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're not successful and you're not consistent, then it's not gonna work.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so to me, consistency is super important.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it's been great because she's proven herself.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we ended up getting 10 clients within about what, three months?
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: When about within about three months.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's because she was consistently showing up, doing the work, closing the clients with me, and then actually doing the work.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then in my own life, it's showing up um and it's you know, meeting with my clients on a regular basis.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's showing the work that my teams are doing, that I'm doing, that are getting results, and then being being transparent about that.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the biggest problem about my world is that about 80% of the companies that do what I do are a scam.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's true.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm making up the statistic.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think 100% of statistics are made up.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kidding.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: But but there's a huge portion of companies that do what I do that just will take your money and run.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're not ethical.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: They don't care about producing results.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: They just care about taking your money.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't know this was a thing until I started calling companies out of the area.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: And they thought I was trying to scam them.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, what?
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I was referred to a lawyer about seven or eight years ago, um, a New York business lawyer, excuse me, in New Jersey.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and he was said he was spending$1,400 a month to the previous SEO company that was working with him.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: And and I was like, Well, what kind of results did you get?
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, I'll tell you in a second, but first log into the website and see what they were doing.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I logged in and I looked at what they were doing and I did all these, I pulled up all my tools and did research.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: And what I can tell, from what I can tell, they were doing about 1% of the job to get to the top of Google.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, this is insane.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: And how much were you spending?
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_00: $1,400 a month for a company that was doing 1% of the job.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, What kind of results did you get?
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_00: He said, I got one call in a yeah.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, wow.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_00: So we produced a lot better results for him, and that's another story.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I started realizing that there's a lot of companies that do what I do that just will not do any work or the work of doing a subpar.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, it's super important when you're out there looking for a marketing company to work with, that you do your research or have an AI do research on them and and make sure they can show you results that they've actually got for other clients in similar or the same industries.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: And and also make sure that they'll sit down with you on a weekly basis and show you the work they're doing.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've turned it turns out the scammers will not be transparent because they're not ethical.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: But the whole thing of it's called ethical marketing, it's doing something, it's doing marketing in an ethical way that produces results that bring income to you as a client as a business owner, but also help your clients.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's really about giving back.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I really hate that this is the state of my industry, but it is what it is.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I found that when I talk to a new client or potential client, I start off with saying, Hey, have you been scammed?
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, is this a thing?
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, everyone has their own scam story.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, well, here's how I work we're gonna meet on a weekly basis.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna email you and show you the tasks of what I've done.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at the tools and see you getting higher in Google, seeing you be recommended by AI.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do all those things.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: So if we can be transparent, then we can be ethical.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I love that.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so yeah, appreciate that.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_01: That was the quick fire round.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_01: So just a couple little last questions here, and then uh yeah, we'll wrap up.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you've you've given a lot of really good advice, a lot of great nuggets on this uh podcast today.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_01: So um just to kind of wrap that up in uh kind of a bow and and and send everybody on their way, especially smaller business owners, what and you can be as candid as you want to on this answer.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_01: What final words of advice would you offer to other business owners, specifically small business owners who are looking to grow?
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I remember hearing this years ago.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_00: See a need, feel a need, you know.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_00: So what are what is the need that you're seeing out there in the marketplace?
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, is that a what kind of need is that?
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_00: Is that something that your current that your current offerings is satisfying?
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if so, how how can you satisfy that better?
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you can help people and you can give back and you can solve their print their pain point, right?
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, the roofer is like, hey, I've got two roofing clients, one in Asheville and one in Hendersonville.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, and reality is their need is that they need more leads from Google.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: They need more AIs recommending them.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the need.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_00: If I can fill that need, the better I can fill that need, the lot the more consistently they'll be working with me.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of my clients are month-to-month or quarterly.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have annual contract at this point, which I know is kind of ballsy, but it's just kind of like how I, you know, I'm really big improving.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, let's continue to work together and I'll continue to show you the results I'm getting.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that if you can see a need and feel the need and you can improve on that process and you can help people with their pain point, what issues are they facing?
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: Do they need more leads in this case, or you know, whatever the issue is in your industry?
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_00: The better you can do that, the better you can give back.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: And really, what it comes down to is this in every interaction, whether you are in a podcast like this, or you're sitting down with an employee, or you are sitting down with a loved one, are you giving back?
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_00: How much are you giving back?
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you can give back in every interaction and help people, whether they're you know employees or they're you know a family member or they're a friend, if you can be a listening ear, you can be somebody who solves the problem.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_00: If you are giving, the more you're giving, the more the spirit, the universe, the higher power, the more the spirit will give back to you to give away.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's kind of what I've learned about what it's all about, is is giving, is, is giving without expecting something in return and just helping people out.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's what I've found is what probably the biggest key to success is what B and I call this giver, giver's gain.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you are giving without expecting return and you were helping people, then people will want to work with you, they'll be attracted to you.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a nonverbal thing, but they'll want to be around you, they'll want to talk to you, they'll want to work with you.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because you are giving back.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_00: I sat down with my real estate agent, um, you know, a friend of mine a couple years ago, and I had a question about this, and he gave me an hour of his time and gave me all these documents I needed for a real estate transaction I was looking at.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_00: And sorry, and he did all this work for free and didn't charge me anything.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: And but his time was super valuable, and I still remember that two hours of time he gave me, even though that was two or three years ago, because it was it was high touch, high quality, and it really made a huge difference in my life at the time.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so I always ask myself, Am I giving back?
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can, and how much am I giving back?
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can end in an interaction like a podcast like this, or interaction with um a client or a friend, or and they they compliment you and they're like, Wow, this is so much.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you and they're saying things like, Man, I can't wait to hang out with you again, or I can't wait to you know hear from you again, connect with you again.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_00: If if you want them, if you leave them, if you wait, if you leave them wanting more, then you've done your job, you've helped them, and they want more from you.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really what it's about is giving back.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm a huge fan of giving back.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it's one of the things if I would if I give if I could give advice to new entrepreneurs or someone growing their business, find a way to give back, find a way to help people, find a way to um serve your clients better than what you're doing.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_00: The more you can do that, the more you're going to grow because people and businesses um will be attracted to you.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice, okay.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so what's the next big thing for push leads?
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_00: So the next big thing for push leads is um we are looking at potentially the idea of creating an a uh SEO operating system, essentially an entire operating system that does automated SEO for your business.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um and at this point, everything is a mix of AI and manual work that we're doing.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I always feel like that humans will be always be a component of the process, but I'm experimenting with the idea of having some of what I'm doing, some more of what I'm doing automated.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have a um, so my biggest win this past year was creating an AI automation that scans your website, understands what your brand and voice sounds like, and then writes content that sounds like you wrote it around any subject.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_00: And we have found that when we publish that content on a website, then AIs see that content and start recommending you.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_00: So if that's the one thing of one piece of advice that I could give to all business owners is start publishing inner hidden pages on website on your website around related subjects to what you do or what you sell.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_00: And the more you are an expert in your field by publishing these inner hidden pages, not in the menu, the more an AI would recommend will recommend you.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_00: So what we're trying to do now is is um take that to the next level and expand on that and make that a little more automated.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I've been testing this whole process.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_00: I've been working with uh I've been working with a um a med spa in the West Asheville area, and we started publishing content around their sort of their core services.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_00: And one of their core services is a chemical peel.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea what a chemical peel is.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kidding, I know what it is, but I never had it done to me.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_00: But my AI Automation started publishing content that sounds like they wrote it as an inner hidden page about chemical peels.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_00: They went to the top of Google for Asheville chemical peels.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then from there, they went from 10 to 40 searches at the top of Google around these related subjects, and so it really made a huge difference.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so we just want to take that whole idea and slowly move into automation, but being very careful about it because if you give AI full control, it will go crazy.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really just about having a human as part of the process, but also trying to automate a little more of what we're doing.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, perfect.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_01: All right, and lastly, what's the best way for someone to find you or get in touch with you if they're interested in hearing more?
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_00: So you can go to pushleads.com and you can book a meeting with me right there and then uh right from the homepage or the contact page, and you can set up a Zoom with me, a Zoom meeting with me.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_00: You can also call.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, of course, I have an AI secretary that answers the call.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_00: So you can call me at 828-348-7686 and just ask to speak to Jeremy Ashburn.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_00: It will be an AI that answers the call.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_00: I apologize, but it is an AI.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_00: But if you ask to speak to a real person, it will connect you to me.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you can also ask it to set up a meeting with me, and it'll set up a meeting with me.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you can also email me directly at Jeremy at pushleads, J-E-R E-M-Y at pushleads.com.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_01: Any social media?
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you can look me up on Facebook, on on Instagram, on TikTok, look up pushleads, you can follow me there as well.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_00: And you can also look me up on LinkedIn, Jeremy Ashburn on LinkedIn.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I regularly post videos about what I'm doing with my clients on there as well.
• 56:16
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to get to know me a little bit, but not necessarily book a meeting with me, go to my LinkedIn.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm most active in LinkedIn, and you can see videos of what I've posted, uh results I've got with my clients, as well as different experiments I'm working on.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_00: And LinkedIn is kind of like the modern phone book these days.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like the modern yellow pages, but it's much more interactive where you can scroll down and see who I'm who I'm about and what I do and watch videos about me.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_00: So perfect, fantastic.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you so much for being a part of the community and for all that you're doing.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_01: We certainly wish you continue to assess and uh everything that you're doing will push these, Jeremy.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate you coming on today.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me on, Cliff, and I appreciate it.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you.