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Living the Duplex Dream
Nov 29th
My fiance Lindsay and I recently made a big move in more ways than one…We are now first time homeowners and first time landlords. I think that our route is definitely the road less traveled, but I wanted to share our story and experience with my readers. There were lots of ups and downs to get us to this point, but I firmly believe that this was a great financial move and one that others may want to pursue as well.
I thought I’d share the video and back story, both can be seen below…
Last January my girlfriend of five years, Lindsay, and I got engaged. At the time we were living in a prestigious and highly desirable area in Orlando called Baldwin Park. Though this was a fantastic area that we thoroughly enjoyed for over two years, we wanted to begin building a solid financial foundation together and throwing away $1,350 each month in rent wasn’t the best move in the long term for us.
This being the case I thought to myself how can we minimize our expenses, save for a wedding and still become home owners and have our monthly living expenses go towards building wealth not losing it…
Then I had an idea…
Why not find a duplex…Live in one side and rent the other out.
I spent the next 6 hours or so looking at properties and finally found one that I liked. I also noticed that the property was a foreclosure that was drastically reduced. It was also in walking distance to a fantastic shopping area equipped with a 24 hour fitness center, tons of restaurants and a frozen yogurt shop (one of Lindsay’s favorites).
I shared the idea with Lindsay and at first she said “No Way”…I said hear me out and explained to her the goal and what this would mean for us.
I also showed her pictures of the property that I found…She loved it
We had no real estate agent, but both wanted to see the property. I decided to go seek one out…I walked outside of our apartment talked to two or three people and a neighbor directed me to a friend’s mom who was a real estate agent. I met with her that day and the next day Lindsay and I saw the property.
We were very pleased with it…It more than lived up to the pictures that we had seen online. This was in mid August.
We put an offer in on the property and it was soon accepted….Smooth process right?
Not so fast
The property had $75,000 in tax liens and violations from the previous owner. There was also some code enforcement issues and it didn’t help that the bank we were in contract with sold the property to another bank while in contract.
What was supposed to be a done deal in early September turned into October then into November…Our lease for our apartment in Baldwin Park ran out in October and was immediately rented out to another family forcing us to move out…We were now homeless.
We moved in with a friend, who was gracious enough to have Lindsay and I as house guests…after dealing with lots of back and forth over the next month we finally closed on our property the day after thanksgiving.
Now that’s something to be thankful for!
Lindsay and I are very happy with our decision and plan on renting the property over the next couple weeks. This will really help us subsidize our monthly expenses and help our marriage get started in the right direction financially. After all who wouldn’t want to have to pay their own mortgage payment? Even if 50%-70% is covered it’s still a win, especially in the long run.
We are now settled into our new place. I’ll post pictures of the place fully furnished once all of our boxes are put away, but you can see the video above that I took several months back of the property.
What do you think about this plan?
Is this something you would consider doing as well? If you know of anyone looking to rent a place in Orlando…pass them my way 
I’ll make sure you get a referral bonus if they end up signing a lease.
Invention to Venture Presentation
Nov 2nd
This past week I had an educational session on branding, marketing strategy, SEO and social media at the Excellence in Entrepreneurship course for start up CEO’s and executives. This Friday I will be speaking at the Invention to Venture boot camp about the same topic.
I finished up revising my presentation earlier this week and decided to share it here for all of you.
Let me know what you think!
All the best,
David
Happy Birthday Brand Advance
Sep 6th
Last year on this date, September 6th, I officially started Brand Advance. We started debt free without investment and were cash flow positive from day one. We had a great first year & have an awesome team made up of very smart, motivated & talented people. 
We’ve had over 100 design, marketing and consulting projects including work for tupperware, ucf, pbworks, samsung, Grow Fl (Economic Gardening) & more. We’re looking forward to continuing to help our clients reach new heights.
Many more prosperous years ahead…Happy Birthday Brand Advance!
ps…Stay tuned-new website coming soon 
When to hire internally versus use a marketing agency
Aug 22nd
Robert Urban, Chief Marketing Officer of Brand Advance, recently wrote an awesome white paper giving suggestions on when it makes more sense for a company to train an existing employee, hire a new employee, or to utilize the services of a marketing agency for various marketing initiatives.
Here’s the link to download the white paper: http://bit.ly/cdYzO3
It’s well worth reading!
Here’s a teaser….
Robert Urban, Chief Marketing Officer of Brand Advance
In today’s economic climate, businesses have streamlined their personnel. As a result, many of these businesses face challenges beyond their employees’ expertise, knowledge, or tools available. Marketing is a key component in any business’s success and if your business isn’t equipped with the right tools and know-how, what do you do?
You could hire additional employees to conquer the challenges you face or you could train your present staff in the skills needed, thus inundating them with even more pressure. Or you can hire outside help through the use of an agency that is specifically geared toward helping you achieve your marketing goals.
Of course, there is no single right answer for every business as they are all unique and share different goals, objectives, challenges, and resources. Your solution is specific to your business and situation, but there are best practices and guidelines that can serve as a solid foundation when making this decision.
Download the full white paper here: http://bit.ly/cdYzO3
What do you do when you don’t have the necessary skills to accomplish your marketing objectives? Do you hire an agency, bring on a team member, or teach yourself? Why?
Feel free to share your thoughts below
Brand Advance Hires New Creative Director
Jul 9th
We’re very excited to announce that we have hired a new creative director to join the Brand Advance team. Here are some details from a recent press release:
Cutting-Edge Artist Named Creative Director for Orlando’s Brand Advance
ORLANDO, Fla. (July 2, 2010) – Rich Johnson, an award-winning artist who has distinguished himself as an innovator in design, photography and video, has been named creative director for Orlando-based Brand Advance LLC.
Brand Advance – an Interactive marketing agency specializing in SEO, Social Media and Marketing Staffing is headed up by Chief Executive Officer David Brim – is based in Orlando on East Colonial Drive.
(Above intro and outro created by Rich Johnson)
Johnson, a 2002 graduate of Full Sail University in Winter Park, spent the past 10 years honing artistic skills that have evolved to include all areas of design: print, web, film, photography, and graphic art.
He also has been recognized for his work with Claymation, Lego animation, print and digital design, and has won numerous national and international awards for visual arts, including first-place for Lego Animation 2000 and Only in Your Imagination Clay Animation 2000. He also is an approved Getty’s Photographer whose work recently was featured on MSN.
Brim said Johnson is a great fit for his company, adding that “his appointment will help us strengthen our focus on creativity and innovation to inspire and excite our customers.”
Robert Urban, chief marketing officer for the company, describes Johnson as “a creative thinker who understands how to appeal to a broader audience.”
In his new position, Johnson will help develop and implement creative campaigns for clients in all aspects of design. He also has plans to develop and launch a vlog and webisodes for Brand Advance’s internal properties.
Understanding Social Media
Jun 25th
Recently Brand Advance was referred to a growing author and successful business man to generate buzz and awareness for his upcoming book and tour. After several interactions with him it was clear that he was viewing social media as traditional “push” marketing. The points below were articulated to him in an email…specific aspects of the email relative to his business were stripped away for this post, however I thought it would still be beneficial to share this information as it may help others better understand social media and how it can help grow their business.
- Social media is not sales
- Word of mouth marketing is the most powerful form of marketing
- Growing Awareness & Respectability is Key
- Build a community
- Social Media ROI
Social media creates an environment for sales to happen, but social media 
itself is not sales. If you go into a social setting and “sell” it is frowned upon. Selling in social media is like pushing your products in church…People go to church, just like social sites, for a purpose and it’s very interrupting to “Sell” and push a message at them…It’s better to engage with them and participate in conversations. This doesn’t mean that you won’t meet and start your relationship with your best and most profitable customers at church.
When people make a purchasing decision they often ask others what their experience has been with that brand or person through a social interaction. Think of social media as Word of mouth on steroids. There are over 400 million people on facebook and millions on twitter…talking with friends, associates and family members. Crafting a solid social media campaign with a little oomph can spread this Word of mouth of your brand virally throughout each person’s social circle.
The key to social media is connecting with people through content and meaningful interactions and revealing your expertise and thought leadership in the process. Once people know and respect you as an expert in what you do increased business and sales will follow. Think about Donald Trump, his personal brand is synonymous with business success (even though he has failed many times, as most successful people have). But the key is when Donald Trump puts out a book, tie or anything else with his name attached sales will often follow because people are aware of his his brand.
Which brings me to my next point….
People often buy from people or brands they have a relationship with. Building up a community of loyal and engaged advocates will never hurt. It’s called herd marketing….Once you have a herd (engaged audience) you can lead them where you see fit. Part of this is building your communication touch points and customer contact information….Facebook, twitter and email addresses.
If people are engaging with your brand and spreading the word through their social circle you’re getting far more value from a well crafted social media campaign then “traditional advertising”. Social media is also not measured like typical advertising…We can measure it on a profit and loss statement…but as mentioned social media is not sales, it creates an environment for sales to happen and helps you connect with your current and potential customers to break through the clutter. You measure ROI for social media over time on the overall company profit and loss statement, because it’s difficult to measure where a specific sale generated from word of mouth actually came from. In social media you measure the word of mouth, communication with the brand, shares, web traffic and other key performance indicators.
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If you have any additional ways that you feel help people to better understand social media feel free to leave a comment below.
If you’re interested in learning more about how you can take advantage of social media to help grow your business feel free to give us a call. Our team offers a free initial consultation and would be happy to assist you in finding success through social media.
David
My Copyblogger Debut-Land More Customers
Jun 15th
Last week a blog post that I wrote was published on Copyblogger, one of the top 5 internet marketing blogs in the world. It was very well received and within a week had over 400 people share the post on twitter, over 80 people share it on Facebook and 40+ comments.
I just realized that I didn’t even share this post with my loyal readers….That is unless you follow me on twitter. If you don’t…shame on you! lol
Anyway I thought that I would share the post here on my blog as well…Feel free to leave your comments. Also in case you’d like to see it, the original post on copyblogger can be found here. Enjoy!
10 Surefire Ways to Land More Customers
by David Brim
So many people all around the world have great ideas, products and services. And yet some businesses do well, and some fail.
What separates the businesses that starve from the businesses who feast?
For the answer, we turn to another way people have been setting their feast table for hundreds of years: fishing.
Landing a fish, just like landing a customer, requires strategy and know-how if you’re going to come home successful.
Here are my top 10 ways to land the catch of the day.
1. Know what you’re after
In fishing, you always use the best bait possible for the particular type of fish you’re after.
So many times clients come to me and say, “I don’t have a target market”. They’re always wrong.
At a minimum, you should understand:
- The problems your customers have
- Their buying habits
- Their potential objections to your product
- Where they go to find information
- What influences them (their heroes and idols, TV shows they watch, websites they enjoy, magazines they read, etc.)
- What their core demographics and psychographics are
Even if your product “appeals to everyone,” typically 20% of your audience will generate 80% of your revenue. Your job is to figure out who those 20% are, so you can find the kind of bait that appeals most to those customers.
Bait that works for trout won’t necessarily let you land a great white shark.
2. Know where to fish for your customers
Determining the right fishing location can be the difference between a successful fishing trip and going hungry.
Knowing the places where your customers hang out online gives you a much greater chance for marketing success. Figure out which sites your customers frequent and you’ll have a much better chance of reeling one in. Try seeking out:
- Blogs they read
- Forums they participate in
- Social networking sites and other membership groups
- Entertainment or other non-work related sites
You don’t want to use a top water lure if the fish you want are feeding on the bottom.
3. Be aware of your competition
All fishermen guard their secrets closely, but newcomers can still pick up plenty of tricks by watching what their competition does.
I’m not saying it’s smart to copy your competitor exactly. “Me-too” marketing doesn’t work.
But learn from them and get a feeling for the overall marketplace you’re in. Incorporate those insights into your own marketing and content strategy.
By analyzing your competitors you can also figure out how you can position your brand to stand out from the crowd.
4. Use good bait
When you’re hoping to catch a fish standing side by side with a row of other fishermen, you have to make sure your bait is the most appealing fish food dangling the water. Otherwise, that fish is liable to go for one of your neighbor’s hooks instead.
Consumers have lots of options and offers dangling in front of them in any marketplace. You’ve got to have some pretty juicy bait to stand out from that crowd.
So what makes good customer bait?
- Magnetic headlines
- Compelling images
- Content that’s valuable in its own right
- An attractive niche that makes your customer feel “this is for people like me”
- Easy-to-swallow landing pages
5. Setting the hook
Just because a fish bites doesn’t mean you can reel it in. Many a marketer has a woeful tale about the big one that got away.
Once a customer is interested and bites by clicking through to your sales page, you have to set the hook by making an offer that’s so great it’s practically unfair.
6. Forget catch and release
Remember, it’s a lot easier and more profitable to re-sell an existing customer than acquire a new one.
So if you land a big fish, keep it! Don’t throw it back for someone else to catch.
Re-marketing, high-quality affiliate offers, and up-sells are great for keeping the customers that you currently have, instead of letting them drift back into the stream for some other savvy marketer to reel in.
7. Test the waters
Fishermen often track different variables, like what time of day they went fishing or what bait they used. They measure their results over time to figure out the smartest way to get certain fish.
Similarly, in marketing it’s always wise to test various aspects of your marketing campaign. Measure your results to see what works best, and track your results over time.
Try different images, headlines, or layouts to see which one maximizes time spent on your site, lowers bounce rate, and produces the best ROI.
8. Don’t get discouraged
Some days the fish just aren’t biting.
Sometimes you are not going to be as successful as you’d like, but it’s a process. Continue to educate yourself about business and marketing, keep analyzing your competitors, keep talking to your customers and refining your message.
Keep going and don’t get discouraged. Tomorrow’s the day you’ll get the big one.
9. Partner up to get a bigger catch
Fishing with a buddy helps you to both cover more water and come home with a bigger catch than usual.
If you’re hoping to land more customers than you’ve ever reeled in on your own, find a partner. By knowing your own skill set, you’ll be able to effectively select partners that complement your skills. This strategy can also help you get bigger customers than you could have handled on your own.
10. Enjoy the trip
It’s definitely a lot more fun to catch the big one than to see it get away, but no matter what happens, remember to enjoy yourself.
Entrepreneurship is a lot like fishing. Even when it’s not going as well as we’d like, it’s still a privilege to be able to spend our days doing it.
About the Author: David Brim is the founder and CEO of Brand Advance, an interactive agency that provides marketing consulting, web design, and marketing staffing to emerging companies. David is also the founder of GroupTable.com, collaborative software to increase group productivity. David blogs at Filled to the Brim, and can be found on twitter @davidbrim.
Are You a Trust Agent
Oct 3rd
This is a sponsored guest post written by Chris Brogan on behalf of Trust Agents. Post powered by Sponzai
Want to know about our book, Trust Agents? My co-author, Julien Smith, and I want to know if you are a trust agent. What defines a trust agent? Here are the six main secrets of being a trust agent. Do any of these sound like you?
Make Your Own Game
You can do what’s come before or you can take a unique swing at the world. If you’re Hugh McGuire, you’re working on Book Oven, a whole new way to look at books and reading. You’re someone like Perez Hilton, who took on People magazine and won, as far as we’re concerned.
Are you making your own game?
One of Us
Maybe you’re the person in your industry who’s come to the larger online conversation, like Leslie Carothers is to the home industry. Perhaps you’re the next Matt Cutts, who represents Google to lots of us. He’s more Google than Sergey or Larry, because he’s here. He’s one of us.
Are you one of us?
The Archimedes Effect
Understanding leverage is what separates the hobbyists from the professionals. Do you understand how to take what you’re doing in one instance and extend it out into something bigger or better elsewhere? This is what brought Madonna from just another singer into being a worldwide brand. Leverage is behind all the most powerful people in the world, but it all starts somewhere. Gary Vaynerchuk leveraged his wine store into his video project and took that into his media project and his book deal. Gary bleeds leverage.
Do you understand the Archimedes Effect?
Agent Zero
Connecting and networking and building relationships is what moves you from an individual contributor to an interdependent kingmaker. Learning how to be a core element of several networks is where we think a trust agent works best. Take Robert Scoble. He went from being a guy talking about Microsoft to a guy on a mission to be moved by what he saw around him. Robert connects with people all over, and finds himself at the core of many important networks.
Are you Agent Zero to several networks?
Human Artist
There’s a world of difference between knowing how to build relationships with people and coming off as “that guy.” You know who we mean: that person who shows up with a bullhorn to promote her projects, to blurt about her interests, and then to leave before you get a chance to say anything about you. A human artist is what we call the people who interact well in this new world, and who know how to build nurturing relationships. People like Liz Strauss and Terry Starbucker are human artists.
How do you relate to others?
Build Armies
Working solo is easy. Do you share what you know to promote larger interactions? Can you create resources to help you and then thread your efforts into theirs? Building an army, especially a loosely-joined and flexible group of people from many disciplines, is the key to being an advanced trust agent. People like Danny Brown, who started a social good movement know the value of armies. Ze Frank turned entertainment into a massively multiplayer online experience, one that has yet to be replicated successfully. The implications to business are obvious.
Are you ready to build armies?
If You Answered Yes to Any of the Above
You are definitely in the mindset of trust agents. Your examples might be different. You might not do as much of one of the six secrets as others (I’m still not very good with leverage, for instance). But at your core, you’ve caught on that these new online tools require a different type of person, and that not just anyone can get the most from the experience. You, however, are in the perfect position to be a trust agent.
If you are a trust agent, Julien and I want to meet you over the coming months. We’re traveling the US (and sometimes abroad), and we look forward to connecting with as many of you as we can. Why? Because that’s what we do.
I’m excited you’re part of the experience. We’ll appreciate your help, your input, your support, and your own experiences as part of the project. It’s how we do things. Thanks in advance. You’ve already made this all very much worth it.
If you haven’t joined the Trust Agents Community, swing by. And if you want to buy a copy of Trust Agents, you can get it here.
AT&T Launches Small Biz Tech Makeover Contest
Jul 26th
Do you have a small business or idea for a startup? I own and operate a small business and also launched a start up venture last year with my business partners called GroupTable. Let me tell you from first hand experience that growing a small business, especially a technology venture in the current economic climate can be very challenging. You have server costs, marketing costs, and competition that may arise from anywhere. It is very important that you are on top of things and have the resources to enable your venture to succeed. With that said…If you have a tech start up company, or even if you have an idea for one I have great news!
AT&T launched a technology makeover contest on July 13th to help promote their AT&T Small Business InSite. This web property they have built has expert tips, free courses, productivity tools as well as other resources that are very beneficial to any small business. I have to commend AT&T on this initiative because not only is it a great way to grow awareness of the business services AT&T offers, but give back to the small business community.
Here are some additional details on the contest AT&T is launching:
By entering the contest you have a chance to win a large amount of other prizes as well including: 2 samsung Epix smart phones, 1 year subscription to AT&T’s tech support, 1 year of enhanced Web hosting services, a free consultation with a technology expert and more.
I would encourage all of you out there who have a technology start up or an idea for one to enter the contest by visiting: http://urlbrief.com/8d0a7e and to visit the AT&T Small Business InSite to help you grow your small business.
A Year in Review & Lessons Learned Since I Started Blogging
Feb 10th
It’s amazing and inspiring for me to examine how much a year can change your life. If you have a blog and keep it updated, it almost provides a way to interview your previous self and see what you were thinking and doing and how everything has ended up thus far.
With that said, tomorrow is my one year anniversary since I started blogging.
The purpose of this post is to outline major events in my life and the lessons I’ve learned about blogging since I first started on February 11th, 2008. I encourage each of you to do this exercise as well. It can really be rewarding/helpful and encourage you to think about what a year from today can bring. If you do, or plan on doing a similar post drop me a comment, I’d like to check it out.
Major Events Since February 11th, 2008 (My blogging B-day)
- Launched GroupTable‘s Beta (First week of February)
- Went to the Indy 500 Racetrack & pitched GroupTable to judges in the back of a limo (Late March, National Business Plan Competition)
- Won the UCF Joust Business Plan Competition (Only UCF Student to ever win back to back competitions, April 2008)
- Started working at IZEA (May 2008)
- Attended conferences: Search Engine Strategies in San Jose, Search Marketing Expo in Ny, Blog World in Vegas, IzeaFest, Affiliate Summit in Vegas (Random dates- Definitely learned a lot)
- Became the Director of Premium Blogger Relations at IZEA- Met and worked with top bloggers like Chris Brogan, Wendy Piersall, Chris Pirillo, Jim Kukral, ShoeMoney, Neil Patel and many more. (Late July)
- Moved with Lindsay (@Lindsay273) to an awesome apartment in Baldwin Park (August)
- Graduated College from UCF with a degree in marketing (Mid August)
- I was interviewed on Orlando’s Local Six news about Social Media & its impact on Politics (Mid August)
- I got my first dog (Pics: Jackson and me, Jackson and Lins) (September)
There’s a a few more…but I’ll keep it to 10
Lessons I’ve learned about and from blogging
- Blogging is a great way to build your personal brand.
- Like writing in general, blogging is an effective way to organize and get your thoughts together. It can be very therapeutic.
- The blogosphere/twittersphere has its own culture. It’s best to interact on other blogs and see how those who are experienced do it before you jump in. (Double Dutch Analogy)
- I’ve learned how to identify influencers and high quality bloggers…It’s my job
- I learned that I like WordPress way better than Blogger. It’s more flexible and has lots of cool plugins.
- If you don’t post regularly your traffic will drop….significantly
- Write about issues others are interested in (even do keyword research before writing certain posts). When I first started this blog all I wrote about was GroupTable. When I started writing about other issues (like some of my favorite posts on the right) my traffic and reader engagement went way up.
- Social proof is a powerful thing.
- It’s good to comment on other blogs regularly. (Helps build relationships and brings you traffic)
- Twitter is an incredible tool to increase awareness & traffic to your blog if you know how to properly use it. (Many people who join it don’t have a clue how to harness it’s power or are unaware of all the third party twitter apps available)
Writing this post definitely helped me become more aware of how far I’ve come in this past year and what I’ve learned during my first year of blogging.
What have you learned since you started blogging? Isn’t it great to be able to have a chronicle of what you went through, or were thinking over the last year(s)?
