My professional career took a dramatic and pleasant turn after visiting my favorite local Arizona nursery.  The transformation was obvious–the nursery went from small, standard business to one of the biggest and best in town.  But how?  I inquired and they directed me to their branding and SEO guy.

Previously, I spent 25-35K marketing dollars mainly in magazine print advertisements–gimmicky stuff like “buy a pool package and get free patio chair.”  I was finding clients that matched my paltry attempts at branding–I was being noticed as a cheap pool builder and on top of that, my clients had no budget and no gratitude.  And while I sold pools, I was making a minimal amount of money and practically giving away my talents and services.

However, after my fateful nursery experience, Paul Schreiber (YESIMAROBOT) turned around my misguided efforts.  When I first met him, he gave me a settled feeling–I could tell he was honest and had integrity.  Plus, unlike the spam email marketing proposals that I received, what Paul was saying was different than everybody else.  He was on the cutting edge of technology.  When he spoke about adding followers to my Instagram, he emphasized how they would be true likes, true followers and grown organically over time.  He also warned me that I wouldn’t notice any growth for six months to a year.  I trusted that settled feeling so I committed to him.  As we slowly progressed, I was tempted on multiple occasions to call the whole thing off.  I wanted to stop but then, all of a sudden, I was receiving a steady stream of new work.  These new projects weren’t like the results of my gimmicky advertisements–these were the right clients with the right budget.  As the months have passed, I have truly found the right pocket of clientele and now I’m receiving phone calls for my design from across the world.  His company’s services have expanded, as well, and now I’m using him for all the photography and drone work for my projects.  Because of the received value, I no longer frame paying for his services an an expense–rather, I see it as an investment.  In fact, finding just a couple leads pays for his services!

Finding Paul isn’t just my stroke of good luck.  Through the process, I discovered some principles that could help any company build their online presence.  For one, I would encourage you to get clear on what you are trying to accomplish.  Brand yourself for how you want to be.  Do you want to build 500 simple pools or 2 extraordinary pools per year?  Moving away from gimmicky ads got me the clientele that I actually wanted to work with.  Once you find your own marketing expert, focus your efforts on the clients and locations that you want to be in and trust the process.  It took 3-4 years of really focused effort to build the brand that I have today so remember that it takes time.  And with selecting your own marketing expert, choose someone who understands your type of business inside and out.  The pool building and outdoor living industry is different than other brands and needs an equally specific approach.  Choose to honor your time and your budget.  When you waste energy trying to become a computer or SEO genius, you waste your time and if you’re honest with yourself, you probably don’t even do a very good job. Finding an expert will free you up to do your actual work.  Smaller packages are available and small efforts over a long time add up.  Stick to what you’re good at and let an expert build your brand, knowing that the money is an investment rather than an expense.

All my experience has been pushing in right direction.  However, I can truly say that Paul got my brand to where it’s at today.  I never received a phone call outside Arizona and now I’m receiving requests for my design and consulting services from all over the world.  My focus on design is emphasized in my branding and I’ve found clients that are not only willing to pay for the design but truly appreciate my skills. I attribute these results to Paul understanding my business and by letting him be the expert in his field.  He listens to where I want to go with my brand and he determines the best way to get there–and I listen to him because he’s the expert in his industry and his results speak for itself.  Plus, I trust him because like me, he consistently pushing the envelope and continues to develop his business and services.  We’re a match because we’re both ever-evolving and staying ahead of the curve. His services have put my business on a platform that’s being recognized all over the world.  By letting myself function in my strengths, and letting Paul be the branding extraordinaire that he is, I’m freed up to conquer the next challenge in my business.