Latest / Entrepreneur Odyssey / How a Founder’s Faith and Authenticity Built a Multi-Million Digital Agency
Transcript
- Tejneet Selhi: Hello everybody, welcome back to the Entrepreneur Odyssey, the show where we sit down with founders, operators, creative entrepreneurs who've built something real. navigated real challenges and are kind enough to share their unfiltered version of what that journey actually looks like. I'm your host Tejneet Selly and today my guest is Jason Lockhart, than most people have worn in a lifetime. He's a licensed architect, a certified urban planner, an associate professor turned entrepreneur, a published author and a very experienced podcast host himself. Jason is also the founder and head of growth at Kitchen and Bath Marketing Solutions, a digital marketing agency built exclusively kitchen and bath specialists. remodellers. With over 20 years of hands-on experience in the architecture and construction world himself, Jason built an agency that succeeds where generic marketing firms fail because he's in the industry and knows the space very well. He's also the creator of the DNA Blueprint which is a proprietary system helping design and remodelling businesses go from invisible to one of the most demand in the company in their in their specific region. And underpinning all of that, we'll be discussing how Jason's faith runs through everything he does. Welcome to the podcast, Jason. Jason Lockhart: Thanks for having me. I'm looking forward to the conversation. Tejneet Selhi: Yeah, me too. It's great to have you with us today. So as you can tell, there's so much that we have to talk about today. And you went from being at architecture school in Baton Rouge, I believe, and then urban planning. Take us through your journey and the beginning of your journey and to where you are. today. Jason Lockhart: Okay, so I actually grew up in Los Angeles, California. So that's home for me. That's where I grew up in LA. Tejneet Selhi: I'm not. Jason Lockhart: And growing up, I found a... love for city planning because I saw how LA was situated, laid out, and I'd always had ideas of how to lay out a city. that's how, so once I graduated high school, that's when I went to Southern University, which is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with emphasis in architecture. And so that's when I got my architecture degree. And then from there, once I graduated, I went to Ohio State for graduate school in urban planning. And so that's when I got that holistic architecture, urban planning degree. Once I graduated, I moved back home to LA, worked for an architecture firm where I actually built up their urban planning realm. And then a few years later, went back to teach at my alma mater, Southern University in architecture. And then I eventually moved over to LSU. And while I was there, some of my classmates who were already in the Dallas area, we actually opened up the architecture firm. like you mentioned where we do a lot of university master planning and you know commercial design on that side. that and then while we open that up I was at LSU Steele and I end up having to teach a professional practice class and so when I had that class the dean wanted to incorporate marketing into the class and at the time I didn't know a whole lot about marketing at that time so I had to learn it. So what I told her I'll teach the class and add that in only if you fly me all over the country for like to learn about SEO website because I love to travel so I was able to travel on somebody else's dime and learn all of this marketing stuff Tejneet Selhi: right? Jason Lockhart: and then When I taught the class, I applied that to our architecture firm. And so we started to get noticed online for that. And one of the designers in the Dallas area reached out to me and said, what are you doing? And I had told her about SEO. She said, I heard about these SEOs. So this was in 2010, 2011 when SEO was not as popular as it is now. And so Tejneet Selhi: Right. Jason Lockhart: I helped her out, got her ranking, and whatever ended up happening, her colleague reached out to her and said, who helped you? And then I helped her out. after a while I had started to get referrals and so that was the impetus to open the marketing agency in 2016. The original name was Mogul Mindset Consulting. So that was the original name. I'm not gonna get into why I named it that, but that was the original name. Tejneet Selhi: Right. Jason Lockhart: actually had one person helping me out at the time. And it was more of a side thing up until the coronavirus in 2020. And we all know that's when everything hit the fan. a lot of designers Tejneet Selhi: right. Jason Lockhart: and remodellers, lost foot traffic. And so a lot of them didn't have an online presence. And so that's when I started to get a lot of referrals. so that's when I said, OK, now I need to rebrand this because mogul mindset will not really say what we do. And so that's Tejneet Selhi: Mm. Jason Lockhart: when I repainted Kitchen and Bath Marketing Solutions to tie into who we actually help, which is home remodellers, home builders, architects in that realm. And so that was the impetus of that. so grew it's instand. That's also when I wrote the book because during the coronavirus, I had a lot of time. I was able to. Yes. Yes. Tejneet Selhi: Yes, and you used it for something useful. Jason Lockhart: And I said, if this is the time where I can use the time wisely and do something I always wanted to do was to write a book. that was that. So I've been talking for a while. So I just gave you a high level overview of my journey and we can get into any of the details that you want with that. Tejneet Selhi: I mean, that's great, that's great. well, because obviously you run two businesses. Now I say you run two businesses, but when we spoke previously, you have been able to sort of create your businesses and get them to a point where they're kind of self-running. Can Jason Lockhart: Yes. Tejneet Selhi: you talk us a little bit through about how you've achieved that? Jason Lockhart: So on the architecture side, I actually have partners. So I'm not the only one. So I have three partners on architecture side. So I'm not the only one running that. So that's why I was able to move into the marketing and without a whole, whole lot of hassle because they're running that aspect. And on the marketing side, I've really built out independence in the hiring process. I've, and, and any potty running an agency knows it's, it could be difficult to hire the right talent, but once you have a good person, You need to keep them. And so that's what I've been good at is in I've actually built out a lot of contractors that I work with a lot. So when we, as we grew, was able to bring them on as full-time hires at that point. And so that's how I've built it because oftentimes when you grow, it's hard to want to hire someone at that time because you're having to find the right fit and you may not always know who that is. But if you're working with them as a contractor and they're open to being brought on full-time, now you're working with and you know how they work, what they're good at, what they're not good at, and if you want to bring them on full time. And so that's how that has helped as well. Tejneet Selhi: great advice that's great it's almost like a try before you buy kind of scenario I like that I like that Jason Lockhart: Exactly. Yes. Yes. Tejneet Selhi: and now I do want to talk about your your faith because obviously you've been so incredibly successful but I'd really like to understand how your faith has played a part in that Jason Lockhart: That's you, John. I actually grew up in the church. My dad is a pastor, so I'm a so-called PK. And so that has been a part of my journey since the start. know, God is always number one in my life and any success I've had is honestly because of Him. And Tejneet Selhi: Yeah. Jason Lockhart: I always have Him and that's... on how I actually run all of the businesses ethically. And if you talk to anyone that has worked with me, they know that I have the utmost integrity. What I say I'ma do, I'ma do. And anything and anytime we've messed up, I've honored it with the client, however, whether it's to give them their money back, honored. I'm a man of my word and that's because of my faith. Tejneet Selhi: Yeah, that's so important. think as entrepreneurs, obviously we're trying to build something, we're trying to make money, but most of us want to do it, want to treat our clients and our customers and our employees. We want to treat them in the best way possible, but we've also got to look at bottom line. It can be really challenging. So especially in the early days, how have you managed to, building your client base and building your brand, how have you managed to do that? Like what are some of the challenges you've had to overcome to get to where you are? have there been times where you thought, you know what, this is too much, I have to throw in the towel? Okay, okay, that's comforting to know, Jason, because you've been in business 20 years, so that's comforting to know. Jason Lockhart: I still have that time now. Yes, yes. Honestly, early on, the issues is actually always around cash flow. That's Tejneet Selhi: again. Jason Lockhart: early on. So what I would advise anyone, if they haven't... went out 100%. If they still have a job or anything else that they're doing full time, make sure you have cash reserves because over the first year or two, you're gonna go ebbs and flows. You're gonna have contracts that you're gonna be wild and then you're gonna drop contracts is gonna be all. And so you wanna make sure it's not hurting your bottom line. And if you have a family. make sure your husband or wife is 100 % in it with you because they're going to have to go through the ebbs and flows with you and they need to understand that that is going to take some time and they need to support you in that whatever it is that you're doing in that effort. that's important to have the support on the other side as well. Tejneet Selhi: This is really interesting, it wasn't one of my planned questions but I would love to get your take on because especially on social media you see all these real get rich quick schemes and but in three months you will be running this marketing agency and making millions and millions or thousands and thousands of dollars. What is your take on what you're seeing on social media that's... yeah. Jason Lockhart: For the vast majority, that's not realistic. Yes, you're gonna have, you're gonna have individuals that can hit it and then it will happen. But for the vast majority of people out there. Building a business will take time, it's gonna take energy, it's gonna be stressful. So entrepreneurship is not for everybody. I'll just be honest out there, it's not for everybody. You have to have the passion and you have to be able to tour all of the downturns, the ebbs and flows like I talked about and know that and have the vision for what will be on the other side. So it's a journey that if you're into it and you have the passion for it, you can sustain that. ebbs and flows but the 90 days or whatever for the get what was the fast quick or whatever for the vast majority of people out there that's not how it will happen it will be years before you see the excess. Tejneet Selhi: Yeah. Okay, and I think that's good to hear. So during our pre-chat, you mentioned to me that you really don't like overthinking and that action, even imperfect action, beats inaction every time. So I've got a couple of questions here. First of all, where did that philosophy come from? And then secondly, are you able to give me an example of a moment in your career where taking messy action was actually the right course? Thank Jason Lockhart: Yeah. So it happened early on in the career when I had a chance to get a contract and I overthought it and lost it. And so from that point, I'm like, okay, I'm going just take action. subsequent years later, I had a chance at another large contract. Didn't have everything in place. Like I didn't have all the people in place, but I went for it, got the contract and later on, you know, the people that helped me execute the contract. So that was an example of me just taking that messy action, getting the contract and then figuring it out on the packet. Tejneet Selhi: Yeah, yeah, and that's, I think that's something that we all have to do as entrepreneurs is, yeah, it is actually taking the leap, even if you don't feel you're 100 % ready, Jason Lockhart: Mm-hmm. Tejneet Selhi: just taking that leap and figuring it out. I like that, I love that actually. did you always want to be an entrepreneur or did you do you feel like you kind of just fell into it because you were really good at what you did? Jason Lockhart: No, I forgot the exact saying, but in essence, it's like build your dream or you're going to work for somebody to build their dream. That's not the exact quote, but in essence, that's what it is. And so Tejneet Selhi: Yeah. Jason Lockhart: I knew earlier on that I want to build something. I want to build a legacy for my own family and for the future. So I knew earlier on, it was going to be hard to do that in a job. And so I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur in something. It happened to be architecture and it happens things. was a marketing agency. didn't never, if you asked me at 18, I would never have said marketing because I was never interested in marketing. I was always interested in design and architecture, but the marketing happened after the fact. Tejneet Selhi: So your DNA blueprint framework, which I understand stands for diversity, nurture and authority, is that correct? Jason Lockhart: Correct. Tejneet Selhi: Yeah. Jason Lockhart: So we had built this over time. So when we were working with Rumpautlers and contractors and architects, we were seeing a trend in terms of what worked on the marketing side for them. One is the D, which is diversification, is that not having all of your eggs in one basket, whether it be ads, whether it be SEO, whether it be social media, but diversifying all of that because as you know, and as most marketers know, if you only rely on one tactic over time, it may ebb and flow. And when that happens, you're able to pick up the ball in other areas. So by having, by being diversified, diversified whether you have something happen with the Google Ads you have something which are With the Facebook ads if you're if your profile gets hacked or it goes down You're not only relying on that one area You have other things to pick it up whether that be SEOs social media email, whatever it is for you. So that's about understanding who your ideal client is, what the market is, and what types of tactics on the marketing side will work for them and how to diversify that. So that's the D in that aspect. Nurture, which is the N, is all talking about how do you nurture that. prospect to turn them into a client. And on the other side, how do you nurture that client to turn them into a raving fan so they can send you referrals? that's on now what we've incorporated a lot into that is the technology aspect in terms of automations. How do you automate that aspect and then use an AI, but also having some type of CRM, whatever it is to help you. Collect the information, analyze the information, and then develop a plan from that to help you, like I said, turn that, turn the prospect into a client or how we like to say, turn the prospect into a project and turn that client, like I said, into a raving fan. And then the authority aspect is making sure that you are the go-to person in your industry. Whatever that means for you, when you become the authority, you are the on that everybody looks at when they wanna entertain the service that you do. So whether it's an architect being the one in your area that they go to, whether it's a, I don't know, a power washer. You are the power washer in your area that when a small business needs that information on a service, you're the one they turn to because they recognize you as the expert. Tejneet Selhi: Yeah, amazing, amazing. That makes so much sense. how have you managed to achieve that with your customers? through the framework. Jason Lockhart: Yes, that's framework, but also understanding who their ideal client is. Because oftentimes when we work with clients, they believe they know who their client is. But then when you go through an exercise, because we actually have an exercise we take all of our clients through to really understand who your ICP is. And then once you understand that, we can re-amp all of their... all of their, all of, all of the properties that they have, whether it be a website, whether it be social media, whatever, to actually, to create content that resonates with that ICP. And then once that happens, we're able to find their ideal client. And then we're able to create content that resonates with them, that then turns them into their, ideal client from that point. So they get more clients because now they fine tune all of their marketing, all of the tactics, everything they have out there on the web, now it's actually speaking to their ICP. Tejneet Selhi: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. It's making sure that you're honing down on who your target market is. I think it'd be remiss to not talk about AI in 2026. So I'd love to get your input on how AI is changing the game for marketing agencies. Jason Lockhart: A lot, yeah. a lot. Honestly, if you're not using it, you're behind because it's helping to automate a lot of the things, a lot of any, any tasks that you have that can be done over and over again, as mundane, you can train an AI to do it. And so we've actually on my own, my own staff, we've, we've actually implemented it where some of the tasks that they used to do over and over again now, AI or an AI agent does it, and they're able to do more of the planning and the strategy for whatever it is where that's a little harder for AI to do at this time. It's more useful when it's a task that's done over and over again and it can just automate it. So we now have the staff on our end more of the strategy and where a lot of the implementation is the AI. and then it also helps on on the strategy side too, because now you can collect all of the data, have the AI interpret it, lay that all out to help you plan for what is next, This is what it could mean. Tejneet Selhi: So you're actually using it in your own business, of course, to do the repetitive Jason Lockhart: Yes. Tejneet Selhi: tasks, but you're also recommending certain tools to your clients. How do you convince your clients that AI-powered tools and automation are the right way to go? And what's the most effective way to help them see ROI? Jason Lockhart: Easily, just say, if you did XYZ, you could use AI to change this. And by having a small test just to have them see how that has saved time, that just opens up their eyes. Okay, now I can use it here, where else can I use this in my business? Tejneet Selhi: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. No, that makes a lot of sense. So let's talk about longevity, because obviously you've been, know, having a business for 20 years or almost 20 years is incredible. Where are two or three of the most significant moments where things could have gone badly wrong? And what did you do to actually navigate through them? Jason Lockhart: Okay, one is the coronavirus. I mean, obviously that hit everybody. So everybody, so Tejneet Selhi: Yeah. Jason Lockhart: it just helped us see how we can help others, especially on the marketing side to get past this and show them how the online can hurt. Cause at that time I actually lost some clients, but I gained a lot as well. And so before I gained, I lost some and it could have been like, here we go again. Is this the right thing to do? And how we had targeted, we started to offer information. So we actually have on our website, we have a resource library. Now, to be honest, we haven't kept it up to date. We need to start. And that's what I talked to my team about last week about adding some more to it. But during the coronavirus time, we were a hub of information in terms of our ICP, helping them how to market, how to get their information out there. and that drove a lot of leads our way because we were the expert for our industry on how to market in this time. And a lot of them didn't understand or know how to do it. And we had a lot of free information where if they didn't even hire us, they were able to do things. So that helped us out a lot. Tejneet Selhi: so the marketing industry moves very, very fast platforms change algorithm shift. So I'd love to hear from you. What worked in say 2020 during coronavirus, let's say to what doesn't work today. And how do you stay ahead of that curve? Jason Lockhart: Well, the biggest change from then to now is AI. So that's the big, so a lot of the SEO tasks were mundane Tejneet Selhi: millions. Jason Lockhart: tasks that were human driven. Now that can Tejneet Selhi: Yeah. Jason Lockhart: be AI implemented and where you don't need the humans to do all of the mundane tasks. What I used to call, I used to call digital ditch digging. That's what I used to call a lot of SEO tasks. And so now that could be done by AI where you don't have to have the human. So that's a huge change there. One of the other huge changes that happened from 2020 to now is video. So social media, you used to have a lot of images and all of that, but now... To be seen, to have any type of engagement, you need to have some type of video, whether it's you, whether it's animated, whether it's a slideshow, whatever it is. Video has been a huge change that has helped a lot of businesses be seen where in the past they were not. Tejneet Selhi: Very interesting, okay, that makes sense. So I'd love to talk to you about what's next for both of your businesses. Could you talk us through, you know, for each of your businesses, what are you looking to achieve in say the next six to 12 months? Jason Lockhart: On the architecture side, we're actually consulting on a big sports complex project. So that can be a legacy project. So I can't get into all the details because we have an NDA on that. But if that project gets off the ground, that will be our legacy and you'll hear our name from that. On the marketing side, just just really continuing to grow in terms of becoming more of the expert in our industry, having other, we're potlors, home builders and all that see us as the expert that they want to turn to, whether it be our resource library. Cause like I said, one of my goals is to re-institute the resource library that we had that we've, from about 2020 to 2022, we would produce information. constantly, but then it tied down. Now we want to institute that and bring that back up. So that is one of my goals within the next six to 12 months, build that back up to re-institute us and help us be that expert in this industry. Tejneet Selhi: final question, I ask this to most of my guests. If you could go back and, know, way, way, way back when you first started your sonnetics, if you could go back and give yourself some advice back then, what would it be? Jason Lockhart: Don't quit. There's gonna be times, there were stressful times, and just to have told the younger me, it's gonna be fine. Keep going, don't quit. Always follow your mind, and like I had told you earlier, jump at the chance, don't overthink, do. And then you'll be okay. Tejneet Selhi: That's brilliant. Jason, thank you so, so much. It's been such an interesting conversation. Could you just let our listeners know, how do they get in contact with you? If there's a remodeling agency that wants to get in contact, how do they do that? Jason Lockhart: Yeah, easily. head to our website. You can go to the URL is actually kitchen and bad marketing solutions.com. And we also have the acronyms K a B S dot com that actually take you to our website as well. And then with the email Jason at URL kitchen and marketing solutions.com and you can reach out to me through there. Tejneet Selhi: Excellent, Well, thank you so much Jason and to everyone listening, the work Jason and his team are doing in Kitchen and Bath Marketing Solutions is genuinely specialized, right? So if you are a kitchen and bath designer, remodeler, interior designer, do gain contact with Jason and I'm gonna repeat the website, it's kitchenandbathmarketingsolutions.com. and also it's KABMS. Jason Lockhart: S. Yeah. Tejneet Selhi: Thank you. If you type in that into Google or whatever search engine you use, it will take you right there. And of course, if this episode sparked something for you, please do share, like, share it with your other entrepreneurial friends who need the help. Subscribe and do leave us review. We'll see you on the next episode of Entrepreneur Odyssey. Take care, keep building and I'll see you next time. Thank you. Jason Lockhart: Have a good one.