Interview transcript

Reade (00:01):

Two. One. Thank you guys so much for joining us here in the growth secrets interview series. I'm here with Tim Ryan today. Tim and I are both digital marketing guys, so this is going to be a great conversation. There's going to be a lot in here in terms of practical takeaways. I know that, that I have a lot of questions about how Tim is managing this coronavirus crisis. It's the elephant in the room. We've got to talk about it. So I'm going to hit you with some of those questions, Tim. But before we get into all that, I just want to say thanks so much for joining us.

Tim (00:32):

No, thanks for having me. Looking forward to the conversation.

Reade (00:34):

Awesome. Well tell him why don't you let people know a little bit about yourself. Let's talk about you personally. What got you into business and what's your story?

Tim (00:43):

Sure. I gosh going back quite some time. I was an air force guy many, many years ago in the air force, brought me to Virginia. So the Norfolk, Virginia Beach area, Virginia. At that point I was a new father. I knew that I had one chance to watch my kids grow up. So I left the air force so that I could be a father to my children and experienced that as much as I could. So then I left the air force, went to government consulting went to that world for a little bit. And while doing that, I went to business school at William and Mary finished my MBA. And I during that time I realized that there was how I learned how business was, was good about it. And I knew that there was a lot of people that were very good at their product or service that they performed.

Tim (01:36):

But they didn't necessarily know how to build a business around it. So once I finished my MBA, then I put my resignation in with the company that I work with and started my own business. And the whole idea was to help help those people that were really good at the things that they do and put a business around it. Last thing that we wanted to have happen was someone that was written the best person at, they're still, but no one had ever heard of. And so that's, that's the pain point that we solve initially.

Reade (02:04):

So that's great. And I completely identify with that, right? Like that, that is one of the things that I value so much about my business and my work as well is that there's, I, and I work with a lot of people and have over the years that man, they're so good at their, their thing, right. But, but, you know, building a business around that maybe isn't where they're their, their skillset lies. So being able to help in that is great. So, yeah. So tell me about your business. What is it that you guys specialize in? Exactly.

Tim (02:36):

Yeah. It's interesting. So certainly marketing, digital marketing, website development, branding, that's a really, really big aspect of what it is that we do. But with our focus, when we first started, we really I identify with the early stage startups and a small business community knowing

Tim (02:58):

What their pain were and then gradually everything. I, it just kept on going further and further and further into that community. And so now that's really my big focus is building, building that entrepreneur community and bringing everyone together, having a safe place for people to, to connect with one another, establish that deal flow with one another. And it's been such a fun, fun ride working with those different types of folks. I mean they are as entrepreneurs, everyone is super optimistic and in their own way it changed the world and it's fun working with those kinds of folks.

Reade (03:39):

Right. And, and so tell me what you mean a little bit by that, that community, right? Is there, is that an organized community or are you just talking about like your audience and your network or tell me about that. That's interesting.

Tim (03:51):

Yeah, it's a, it's really a grass roots kind of effort. I mean, it all started with [inaudible] with a buddy of mine and we were both starting our business at the same time. No, it was a matter of, you know, couch. I have all these questions about how to build a business, but I don't really know where to turn to, to bounce ideas off of one another. So we we started an events where we would bring people together,

Tim (04:17):

Talk over a couple of beers showcase some businesses, and then we will give each other feedback on what those businesses on what, what, what our suggestions were for those businesses. And everything really took off from there. We didn't know. I expected one or two people that show up when we first started doing something like this. But then it just continued to grow and grow and grow. And now there's so many different events that are taking place within our community of the Norfolk, Virginia Beach area of Virginia that we're almost competing against people's time, not so much against competing against one another, but so a big part of what I do and what I take on now is coordinating the entrepreneurial efforts across our region of 1.3 million people. So that we can have that, that track. And that pathway for people to follow. If they want to start business, this is where you get started. If you have need help in this area, this is where you need to go to. And almost really to a a, a marketing standpoint have we become an a marketing arm for the region for entrepreneurs because they don't have big marketing budgets to go out and touch and reach a lot of people. So we become that marketing arm for the region so that we can help other businesses voice their message.

Reade (05:38):

Tim, we are, we are like 100% on the same page here. I think that is really awesome. I have probably not to the same level of organization that you have of have made an effort here in my community do the same thing. I think it's really important that you're doing that. So I think that's really so tell me a little bit then about what your process is. Is this an organized process where people go through like a track or is it like, Hey, if you need help with this, I'm here for you. Or, you know, Joe, the CPA is here for you. Is it more or I guess as needed?

Tim (06:19):

Yeah, it's really, it's kind of both in the sense of because it just got to become the, the wild, wild West so to speak. As we started doing all these different types of events, then more and more organizations started doing that and it all started to pop up. So we have a really unique region that we live in because we have nine different local governments. We have several different universities. So everybody wanted to have their parts in building their own little stovepipe. Really. so that's where we had to put, put some process into place. And rightfully so. I mean, local governments they're responsible for, they're the residents of their communities, so they have to show that they provided value. But we, so we're us being a grass roots side of efforts we can mow down all those different barriers and say, look, if this, if you want to succeed, it doesn't make a difference where you live.

Tim (07:23):

Come to us. This is the footprint of everything that is going on. And we'll give you that process. So we aren't, we aren't location specific. So for example, one of the things that we have our longest running events is an event called startup night and we have that once a month. So if somebody wants to learn and just to kick the tires a little bit about entrepreneurship or how to start a business, then we encourage them to go to something like startup night. And that's, we have three different companies that they do their pitch so to speak, or they present on their company and the audience is there to ask questions, gives them advice. But it's a really laid back again, it's group of people drinking a couple beers. So it was a low threaten environment. But then if you want to elevate yourself to a bigger stage, then we have different pitch competitions or different pitch events that we have where you can further validate your business idea and get some, some small seed funding for your business.

Tim (08:28):

But the whole idea is the fact that you've, you've validated your business idea. And then that rolls into, we have a local accelerator here that that people can apply for that and they can extend its a bigger stage. And then we also have one of the top 10 angel funds investment groups in the area that when you graduated from the accelerator program that a then in theory you should be an investible company. And a, so then that dovetails into the angel group that we have some five, seven angels that you can get that your company's investible and you can get some, some more funding for your business.

Reade (09:06):

All right, so you, you have a essentially what sounds like a, almost like a farm league slash incubator that leads into the accelerator that could potentially feed into the the angel investor group. Yep. Right. And then presumably beyond that, if they, they make it past that, then then they're headed off to the [inaudible], the full venture rounds. So this really are taking people along this pathway starting from an idea. I love the idea of startup night. Is that, is that something that's done? Obviously that's an in person event. Tell me, tell me a little bit more about that. Cause that's, that's a really cool idea.

Tim (09:50):

Yeah. That's so it is, it's once a month and it always has that in person. So we're now looking at doing the, the zoom thing, a virtual event. But yeah, I mean, so it used to be held at the same place like the third Thursday of each month. And now I'm the person who runs that, they go to different places each month. They may go to an incubator here or a coworking space there, but they'll, they'll move around or continue to build their audience. And gosh, I want to say it's been, it's been in place 10 years now. I mean, it's a, it's, it's the longest running event that we have and people look forward to it every single month. And so it's a nice mix. It's almost like your web traffic. Yeah. We have new people that show up every month. We have the reoccurring people that come every single month and we continue to build the audience. So it's, it's, it's really cool to see those relationships form.

Reade (10:50):

That is neat. And so you, you give me there a segue then to go in and talk about your business a little bit. So what, what is your growth strategy look like? Obviously this is the growth secrets interview series. We're always interested in, in hearing about how people are moving their businesses forward. You're welcome to also talk about, I'm going to ask some specific questions about the COBIT 19 stuff. You're welcome to toss in, you know, how you guys are adjusting given, given what's going on.

Tim (11:21):

Yeah, I mean, my biggest thing with me is I learned really, really early on in that business. It just, it evolves around relationships and there's so many. You just, you have to care about people before they're going to care about you. And it's so easy to confuse that, that, that thought. I mean you, so we see all these influencers on Instagram and, and different social media things and yeah, they have that influence, but they also have that audience. So, I mean, so if you tweet something and one of these influencers or these celebrities, they they, they can dislike that tweet or retweet your tweet and then you're brand loyal. Well, we don't necessarily, as small businesses, we don't have that. Yeah. We have to really, we have to work a lot harder. And so I, I truly care about the people that we work with and, and, and establish those relationships and establish that brand loyalty to me and to our business.

Tim (12:25):

And it's amazing how much people, how that, how well that has served us. But in a, and I say that in a genuine sense. I mean, I I don't, it's not about collecting business cards at events. It's about truly establishing relationships with those people. And when they need something, then they count on us. Or if they talk to somebody that needs something that we do, then they remember us. But it's a matter of a matter of establishing that relationship and keeping that relationship warm and and leveraging that. That's been our number one strategy.

Reade (13:03):

Yeah. Yeah. That's [inaudible] Oh, the Instagram influencer. Right. We could just do things their way. Now. I completely agree and I love that phrase of that you know, people you have to care about them before they'll care about you. My, my grandfather, you said nobody, well, he used, he repeated this, that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Right. And so I think that that can absolutely be a part of a virtual digital marketing strategy, right? You can display that you, you care about the relationships that you have and that you, that the people in your environment. I think the work that you're doing with the the, the, the farm league we talked about, right? The, the startup nights and the the incubator program, all those things I think are clear demonstrations that you guys clearly care about your community. So then let's then talk about the Corona virus stuff. How's that affecting your business right now? It's, it's, it's one of the weirdest things. It really, that I certainly, that I've ever encountered it. And that it affects everybody you talk to.

Tim (14:15):

Yeah. I mean for us, I mean, we are cash. We're busier now than we ever have been. Yeah. And I think, again, it comes down to the relationship standpoint is so right now people are experiencing challenges and people are confused. They have no idea what to do. They're almost paralyzed, so they're going to reach out to the people that know, care about them. So there's a ton of people that are reaching out to us. My gosh, I don't know what to do. What do you, what do you think? [inaudible] Mmm, yeah, we had a gym owner when they're forced to shut down their gym, you know, they have to come up with new ways. So we established and it seems like it's caught on pretty quick, but they were the first ones out of the gate just that was via Facebook live type workouts for for their members.

Tim (15:01):

So from that standpoint, there is, we are busier now than we ever have been. Mmm. But with, with confusion, it creates a ton of opportunity and there's so much opportunity that we have to rethink everything, the way that we do things. It's amazing to me how during times of like this, that it comes down to your core business and, and how you set everything up. Do you have all the procedures put in place that are repeatable? You, you have to go back and look at your, your revenue streams and to make sure that all your numbers works and your financial model is sound okay. So the people that are ham, all that stuff put in place.

Reade (15:41):

Hmm.

Tim (15:41):

They'll make it through it. The people that are this Willy nilly in this trying to just, they're hoping and praying that that they're gonna make it through. It's going to be tough for them. And so this is a time that, then another thing that I tell the different people that we talk to is that [inaudible] it's really, there is no standard right now out there. So go out there and try something. And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But right now there's a, there's a ton of failure that is, that is happening right now. And just, you can't be afraid to fail if something doesn't work, figure out why it didn't work. Pivot, re adjust, do what you needed to do and then keep on trying. But there is no, there is no standard right now. I mean everything is just, everyone is in survival mode. So do what you gotta do to survive.

Reade (16:30):

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm advising a lot of people is that right now the worst thing you can do is nothing cause we don't know how long this is going to last and you're, you're, you can't rely on your competition doing nothing, right? But we're all getting this collective grace to everyone, right? Where it's like, yeah, that may, that thing may not have worked, but nobody knows what, what to do right now. Everything is an experiment. So you can, this is, and I'm, I'm advising a lot of my clients like, Hey look, some of these maybe more, you know, aggressive strategies that we talked about doing, but we didn't really want to mess with the funnel or we didn't want to mess with what was working. Now this is going to, Tom has ever to try it, right? We've got this idea list right now, so now's a good time to roll that out because it might just be something that cuts through the the noise of, of all the every, you know, the world is ending, right?

Reade (17:31):

That's right. It might be the thing that helps. I've, I've got a close close friends and other clients and business owners that I know like, look what you're saying with your, with your gym owner, client right there. They're just doing stuff and it's really positive responses because it's like, thank you for, for not just going silent. Right. This is helpful to me. I don't want to cancel my membership. I don't want to drop my subscription. I don't want to stop doing business with you. But you had to give nine needed a reason to be able to keep doing it or to do it again.

Tim (18:11):

Right. So, yeah. I mean everyone talks about it'd be before all this happened, everybody talked about their to do list being so long and there's not enough time in the day to do everything. It's like, well, that was the perfect opportunity to start crossing some things off of that to do list. Even from that, you know, the whole blog aspect, no one has time to blog or the take necessary steps to make sure that your website is dynamic. You don't start, start writing some blogs, you know, and get yourself some stuff in the can so that when everything does start again, that you have some stuff that you can keep on going. But there's so much opportunity to do things that we haven't had a chance to do. [inaudible] [inaudible] A lot of people are gonna miss that opportunity. And once everything kind of returns to whatever that new normal is going to be, I, it's going to happen sooner than what people think. And they're like, they're going to look back and say, gosh, I wish I would have taken the opportunity to do this or to do that for my business. So you really got to stay motivated and, and grind through this time when it's really difficult to get sidetracked.

Reade (19:14):

Yeah. I mean, I completely agree. One of the potential outcomes, and there are a lot of potential outcomes and nobody knows, but one of the potential outcomes is that we have a, a decently well capitalized economy that has some pent up demand and are going to be unleashed to what degree we is up for debate or up for time to tell. But it's going to come back onto the market and you're either going to have a pretty full pipeline because you've been doing things and you're going to have some, some people ready to buy from me when they can, or it's going to be crickets and you're going to have to start from then. Meanwhile, your competitors had eaten up your market share because you did nothing for the last few months. So if you're listening, people, if you're listening, do something, don't just sit around and wait for it to be over or for your PPP check to come in or your stimulus check to come in. That is not going to save your business longterm. So that's my plea that I'm, I've been preaching that people take advantage of this.

Tim (20:26):

Right. And that's a perfect case in point. I was on a call yesterday and I had mentioned a couple of minutes ago that we're in an area that's 1.3 million people, but one of the jokes that I have is this is the biggest small town community that anyone could ever see. I mean, it really, there was a lot of small town, small town mentality goes on. And so one of the calls that we had yesterday was, gosh, you know, I, I've, the way that I've always done business is face to face and shake hands and that's how I did everything and I need your help now because I can't rely on that anymore. So I'm now a believer that I have to have an online presence in order to to drive business. So

Reade (21:08):

It only does global pandemic.

Tim (21:11):

Yeah. So all the people who live in this smaller community is out there. I mean, this is the time to take advantage of that because we don't know what this new normal is going to be, but it's certainly not going to go back to the way it used to be a month ago.

Reade (21:24):

Yeah. Couldn't agree more. Could not agree more. I think we're going to talk about this time in history as and, and I'm not a doomsday or I'm not a, yeah, I'm very optimistic generally speaking anyway, but I do think that we're going to look back on this time and say, okay, well that was almost like the way we look at nine 11. Like, Oh, that was, this is a post nine 11 world, right? Like we're, we're going to be in a post pandemic world [inaudible] and hopefully there'll be more good to that than bad. Right? Hopefully the fact that Tim (21:57): [Inaudible] Reade (21:57): Like tools like zoom had added over 200 million new users. People are realizing that they can run their businesses more efficiently. They're learning that you by using tools like [inaudible] things like digital marketing, they can, they can continue to reach out to their customers and generate new business no matter what's going on. Whoa. In, in all of this remote works up. Hopefully those things will last. And another thing, Tim, I'm sure you've seen this, given how you've described your community, I know I've seen this in mind. So many. I mean, I've seen so much reaching out, helping one another. I've seen local restaurants in my community buying from each other to feed their staff while they're fulfilling, you know, take out orders, trying to keep their businesses afloat, just, just to support each other. Right. And like, hopefully that sticks, you know? So I, I have hope that some of the good will outweigh the bad longterm. Tim (23:01): Yeah. And that's one of the things that when I'm working with different business owners or aspiring entrepreneurs, the big thing is two things. Really. First being is if you don't tell somebody that you need help, that people don't know how they can help you. So, and then which leads into the next point, which is you can't be afraid to show your vulnerable side. I mean, this is a time that we all have to rely on one another to help each other get through this. So you have to be vulnerable and you have to tell people how they can help you. And you'd be amazed at how much people are willing to help. Reade (23:37): Completely agree. Yeah. I think that that's something that I've seen a lot of too is, and I've said it differently, but, but this the same idea is like, look, you, you're going to have to help yourself, right? You can't just, it's what we've talked about, right? You can't just sit back and do nothing but also like Nat now is yeah, I'm trying to figure out how to say this. Maybe, maybe you're just a dot. I'll just steal what you said. But like, we have so much more Liberty since this has affected everyone to just be open and say, Hey, look, w we need the support of our community. We need the support of our neighbors right now because your neighbors need that same support too. Right? And we can, we can pull together and we can work with one another and, and we've got to be willing to say so. Cause otherwise you will, you'll just, you'll just kind of fade into obscurity. And that's not, that's not gonna help at all. Tim (24:36): No. Yeah, it's, you, you've have to be proactive out there. I mean there's, especially now, there's [inaudible] people so much time on their hands from a digital media standpoint, you have to be present or else you're going to be forgotten about really, really quick. And then when everything does blow over and hopefully that assume that you're either, you're going to be further left behind. Reade (24:59): Yep. Digital, digital media space is cheap and a lot of different ways right now. Everything from ads to just, just availability of eyeballs. Tim (25:10): That's right. That's right. Yup. Reade (25:13): Well, Tim, this has been a great conversation. It's always good to talk to other marketing guys and especially other people who have a real passion for their communities. I feel like you and I could really swap some stories and share some strategies there. I'd love to connect some other time, but thank you so much for being with us here in the growth secrets interview series. Tim (25:30): Yeah, thanks for having me. I had a lot of fun. Yeah. Reade (25:33): Hey, real quick, before you go, how can people learn more about you? Tim (25:36): Yeah, they connect with us are the business called arc for a R C P H L O. R. so [inaudible] dot com all the social media handles are all the same. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter hit us up on, on those or you can reach out to me on LinkedIn as well. Or Twitter. My handle is Brian TNT. But I would love to connect with everybody. Reade (26:01): Sounds great. And I'll make sure to include all those links in the comments. Guys, if you're watching this and you enjoy this, leave me a comment if he thought that my hair looks funny cause I haven't had a haircut in like six weeks, now leave a comment and make fun of me. I appreciate any of it. And if you want to get in touch with Tim to learn more about him and you can't get what you need from those legs, let me know and I'll put you in touch. Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you guys on the next interview.