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I told people I waitressed to pay the bills, but I was a writer by trade.
I was 18 and moved into the Big City on my way to Australia. Everything I owned in my red, 3 on the tree Chevy Nova. My sister rode shotgun. My parents picked her up after the adventures of the first week. They surprised me with a bed, a kitchen set, and a china cabinet.
I had no china. I said thank you, gave them a hug, and looked up in time to see the fading image of a map to Australia in the cabinet’s glass doors.

Fast forward. I was okay working reception and in the parts department and was hired! Computer parts warehouse gal! Helping techs go Fix! Fix! Fix! Stuff.
Go ahead! Ask me the part number for a VT100 monitor board – 70-16175-01…hang on, nope, 70- 13195-01….-02 for the upgrade. LA120 printer motherboard was….yeah, I know. Now I’m just showing off.

Not my dream, but $7.50 an hour was not to be sniffed at in 1984. I had worked at a small paper as a cub – minimum wage. University was not going to happen because ….well, that story would cost half a bottle of wine. I’m okay sharing.
I learned a ton – I flew all over western Canada. My dad said to take care of my job. I was trained, challenged, and learned to drink coffee by the pot! I met my husband – that’s an entire bottle of wine story, mostly because I will have to share it with him!
Along came Quality Service Training- this was the late 80s. Hosted by the Big Managers.
It was a terrible session – whiteboards and transparencies read to a room of adults. I don’t do boring well – not even during the mess that was my early 20s.

The very important manager called for volunteers. Cue collective groan – No one loves roleplaying – but I was bored, and I’d been doing it since I was 4. (See future blog)
I gulped hard and flickered to the front, grabbing a paper napkin along the way, and suddenly, I WAS the preacher lady, destined to Divinely Inspire and Proclaim the Truths and Path to Quality and Beyond!! Details are fuzzy…. I was 21, and now I am…. well, not 21 anymore.

I felt fantastic! The room joined as I sang, swayed, and hyped us all to Quality Baptism with a paper napkin collar, whiteboard, colored markers, and a most spectacular southern accent!
My accents are legendary. I lapse into them when around actual accents. Until the gal from Mexico starts talking Spanish or the guy from Ukraine assumes my English is bad… there was the time….but yeah – that’s a tequila story for later.
I inspired sales professionals, engineers, and management toward the Bright Light of Quality Service and Ultimate Salvation.
How had I hidden in the warehouse? Manager meetings were scheduled.
Linda was the worst. She stopped taking notes and closed her binder. My volunteer work and speaking experience were fine…. but no actual education.

Apparently, I wasted her time.

A sales gal recommended me to a wine company. They loved me and my enthusiasm, but there were too many people with beautifully framed certificates to pick from. The summer I spent selling vacuum cleaners as a student didn’t count.
I don’t drink that wine – actually – I don’t think they exist anymore.
An office equipment company hired me. Me plus 3. Only one would be left standing. I decided it would be me.

Four years later, I was painting my kitchen. My phone rang. Several times. A radio station I didn’t listen to needed a salesperson, and it sounded – to the people phoning me – that they were looking for me.
I didn’t hear the ad, wasn’t looking for a job, and I sure didn’t like that station.
But maybe, I would meet the office manager and then sell them office stuff. The station was two blocks from my house, and I dropped off my resume.
Six interviews later, I wasn’t going to another one. I didn’t need to.
28 years later, I’d say the ad worked for them. And me.

I love radio recruiting. Word of mouth to the next level. Not education or experience unless you are a nuclear physicist. Even then, it’s about who you are, the kind of person a company needs. People who hear the ad and think, “Hey, I better call Leah…they are looking for her.” You get the person who is not looking. Current employees and clients hear you are growing and the type of person you hire. It’s a glowing spotlight.

Radio recruitment. Talk to the parents, friends, and tribe of the people you should hire.
It’s a pivotable part of growing your business.

If you need new branding guidance, book a call with no other than Wizard of Ads®. We'll help you figure out what new perspective on branding can work for your business.

I am reminded of the vibrant marine ecosystems as I stand on the digital shore, gazing out at the vast cyber-ocean. In the same way, the ocean teems with diverse marine life, and the internet is abundant with tools and platforms, each with its role in the ecosystem. Just as there is a delicate balance in our oceans, businesses must also find balance in the digital world. The Google Ecosystem is a lifeline for companies in the cyber-ocean, similar to how marine ecosystems are for life on Earth.

Imagine the case of John, a humble HVAC business owner struggling to chart his course in this vast digital sea. Like the brave explorer who equips himself with the tools for underwater navigation, John armed himself with the tools from the Google Ecosystem and found himself on an adventure of exponential online growth.

At the core of this digital ecosystem rests Google Business Profile. It serves as your digital treasure island, attracting customers to your business like a magnetic, golden landmark in the vast terrain of search results.

In the vein of a mariner swiftly adjusting sails to changing winds, Google Tag Manager lets you rapidly and effortlessly update tags—measurement codes and related fragments—on your website.

As we delve deeper into these digital depths, we meet Google Analytics and Google Search Console. These tools, like sonar and navigation equipment on a submarine, help you detect how your website performs and offer course correction insights.

Venturing further, we encounter Google Ads and Google Local Services Ads. These tools act like powerful spotlights, illuminating your business to potential customers seeking your services. Much like the symbiotic relationships we see in the ocean, these tools mutually benefit businesses and customers.

In these uncharted territories, a YouTube Channel acts as your underwater camera, documenting your business’s story and engaging customers with visual narratives. It can broadcast the voice of your business far and wide, much like the songs of whales traversing oceanic distances.

Just as the marine explorer must hold the keys to his vessel and equipment, so must you keep control of your digital assets. Sharing access should be done cautiously and only when necessary. You should always hold the power to steer your digital vessel. Should you find yourself without access, consider it a warning beacon. Do not ignore it, for the health of your digital ecosystem may be at stake.

As we navigate this cyber-ocean, the Google Ecosystem is as diverse and interconnected as the richest marine ecosystems. The priority should be to attract the right customers at the right time rather than just online visibility. If navigated well, this ecosystem can give your business a thriving digital life.

Fellow explorers, success in the digital world is just a few mindful steps away, as we’ve learned through our natural world journeys. Just as we know to respect and preserve our oceans, let us also learn to respect and navigate the digital sea with understanding and responsibility. Let our digital adventures begin!

If you need new branding guidance, book a call with no other than Wizard of Ads®. We'll help you figure out what new perspective on branding can work for your business.

What would you do if all your digital lead generation disappeared now?

What if you were locked out of your website, digital advertising accounts, or social media accounts?

What if the phone numbers you use for tracking calls were redirected to your competitors ?

Or maybe the agency you hired is underperforming, but you have no way out of paying them extortionary fees.

These things happen all too often. Yet business owners don’t share this publicly because they’re frustrated, trapped or even ashamed.

You Need a Hostage Prevention Plan

First steps: walk yourself through the following safety checklist. If you don’t know the answer, find out who does.

And make sure you have control of it as the business owner.

• Who has access to your website (maybe WordPress or other content management system)? Are you an administrator?
• Who has access to your website’s host (what server is the website sitting on)? Who controls the administration of your business email accounts?
• Who has access to recent backups? There are backups, right?
• Who has access to your ads? To Google AdWords? To Social Media ads? To third-party lead generation providers?
• Who has access to your business analytics and financial data?
• Who has access to your Google Business Page? Apple Business account?
• Who has access to your Google Search Console and Bing accounts?
• Who has access to your Google Analytics accounts?
• Who has access to all of your domains and their settings?
• Who has access to the settings for the phone numbers you use for your business?
• Who has access to your ServiceTitan or other customer and staff records?
• Who has access, rights and permissions to all your photography, logos, videos, etc.

You might consider a business level password manager such as Dashlane for Business.

You need to create a plan of what happens when someone is no longer working for you. A disgruntled employee, senior executive, outside consultant or agency – all of these are danger points.

What happens if someone tries to remove themselves by locking you out? You want to kick them out before they can lock you out. And if they lock you out, then you need to have the legal documentation for these accounts so that you can get them back.

Audit this regularly. Make sure no one has control but you.

Don’t let these stories happen to you

Wizard of Ads partners work with many home service companies. Consider these three cautionary tales.

Story I – Fraud – 4 months to fix, ~$60K in fees, and unknown lost profits

The business owner initially hired Agency A to build and manage their website. Afterwards, they switched to Agency B. However, Agency B’s work was also poor. Agency B claimed to take over hosting. Frustrated, the owner sought help from a Wizard of Ads partner to regain control of their website and assets. During this process, the website mysteriously went down, and Agency B falsely asserted that they had transferred the website to a new company. After days of downtime, they revealed that Agency A had never handed over hosting to Agency B, despite the owner having paid them. In fact, Agency A had secretly been hosting the website for two years. The Wizard partner intervened, restored the website, and transferred control to the owner. Fortunately, they created a backup beforehand. After fifteen hours of work, the partner successfully fixed the issues, thus averting the need for a new website.

Story II – Hostage taking – 3 months to fix, $220K in fees, and ~$500K in lost profits

Another home service company had a falling out with the marketing agency who had caused a loss of $1.5 million in revenue. The agency then held the company’s accounts hostage, demanding over $100,000 before access would be restored. The home service company paid half that amount to regain control of ~75% of their accounts and had to recreate everything else. The agency then created fake Google My Business accounts, listing themselves as the owner, and used the company’s tracking numbers to forward calls to competitors. Our partner regained control, but it was costly.

Story III – Non-performance – 19 months no results, ~$350K in fees and lost profit unknown

A large home services company hired a digital marketing agency very well known in the industry. They contracted to handle their website, leads, SEO, pay-per-click, and social media advertising based on its reputation. Unfortunately the contract lacked specific details about the services that would be provided, and the mis-matched expectations and the agency’s performance frustrated the owner. A Wizard partner helped the owner compile and catalog a list of accounts, and created backups. Before the owner ended the agency’s services, they removed access to all digital accounts. This ensured that they easily transferred the website, before any incident could occur.

Forewarned is forearmed

We hope you never encounter such situations. Please take the time to gain control over all your accounts, passwords, permissions, and regularly conduct audits. Running a business is hard enough without becoming a digital hostage.

If you need new branding guidance, book a call with no other than Wizard of Ads®. We'll help you figure out what new perspective on branding can work for your business.

…10 cents to cover the cost of printing…

That was my close. See, I wasn’t selling the magazines – the official technical term was, in fact, Placing the magazines. With good people. Good Hearted People. Maybe, they would get The Truth…..maybe, actually, they Got the truth. I was only 4 or 5 years old at the time, so who knows?

I learned a lot about selling as I knocked on doors with my parents. I imagine I learned a lot before that when mom was pushing me in my stroller as she knocked on doors.

Did you know when you offer something to someone – not just verbally, but physically hand it to them, almost everyone will actually take it from you? And very few will give it back. My stats (made up just now from memory) say that on any given Saturday morning, only 1 in 23 won’t find you the dime, somewhere, once they are holding the mags.

I also learned about tracking…..because whether you call it a Return Visit or a Back Call (and that kind of critical terminology can change from time to time in that kind of nonsales-sales), going back to see the nice lady that had a dime two weeks ago will probably result in another dime!

Not that I could keep the dime…. well, sometimes I could. But only if the dime had already been paid up the ladder by Mom and Dad. To cover the cost of printing, remember?

I was disappointed to find out, years later, that the dime had a healthy profit built in because of the volunteer labor involved. Profit for the Publishers …..but honestly, I (and my parents) really believed it. It was “almost free,” but yeah, closer to that guy on the beach in Mexico…..

The Months of Special Activity (roughly translated – Go More and leave no/charge tracts with people) taught me about tracking placements and getting the job done. Everyone had to have a copy of those tracts. With no dime in play and the little trick of handing each HouseHolder their personal copy, we placed 100’s.

My close was “Please read it,” and I think most of them actually did (there was no recycling bin in most entrances back in the 70s). My dad taught me the trick of precounting out 100 tracts into ten piles of ten, and then keeping them in a stack (x10 front facing, x10 back facing, x10 front facing, etc.) Then, at the end of a Morning of Activity with the Group, you could count what was left, and voila- the difference was how many you had placed. Math and Sales!

I still love tracking.

Of course, the ideal was to move from a tract placement to a magazine or even (dare to dream!) a book (I think they were 25 cents, but I can’t be sure) and then on to Free Home Bible Study….ideally using the 25 cent book.

Even being a cute kid, my conversion rate from selling a magazine to a weekly study was, well, low.

Which always surprised me because I was offering these people the opportunity to learn about Ever Lasting Life- in paradise, no less.

I especially remember the nice ladies that gave me a quarter. I almost always put it all in the Contribution Box.

I promise you, no kid ever comes to my door without me buying the almonds – even if I don’t want them. They are always especially excited when I buy them and give them the box to keep for themselves.

I met a lot of “nice ladies” as a kid, and now I get to be one.

So cold calling has never bothered me. Selling is a fun way to make a living. But I promise you, helping people- and their businesses – is always the why.

We are all trying to make a living for our families, for our community, and to build a better work environment for our employees who trust us. It should be fun, and it should feel good to do it. Just like a Saturday morning of giving up cartoons to place magazines. Yes- it feels better After, not before, and not always during.

I love working with teams. I love helping my clients create and own their own stories.

I love to make a difference.

I learned that knocking on doors with my parents.

Now, I offer my clients a partnership. A way to develop a strategy together, to help see and grow business in a way that will make you fall in love with it all over again.

It’s not Ever Lasting Life, but the investment truly covers the cost of printing. And radio. And online. And most especially, wide-awake dreams of a fantastic, brilliant business life.

If you need new branding guidance, book a call with no other than Wizard of Ads®. We'll help you figure out what new perspective on branding can work for your business.

“Leading brands and agencies have known for many years that more creative work delivers better results than ‘safe’ and rational advertising.”

-Keith Weed: Chief Marketing & Communication Officer, Unilever

How often does your phone buzz, and just by reading half of the subject line, you can tell it’s spam?

Or have you ever wandered the maze of a corporate trade show, only to find that every booth feels the same?

Do you remember a single ad you saw last week on LinkedIn?

I sure don’t.

Growing a business requires developing systems.

Effective marketing requires creativity to stand out.

These two things can co-exist, but in order to do this effectively, your marketing team must be free of corporate bureaucracy. This means you must be willing to:

1. Say NO to committee-based decision making.

When decisions are made based on group consensus, creativity tends to get neutered.

2. Say NO to short-term metrics.

Short term metrics incentivize marketing teams to scream, “Sale, Sale, Sale!” which often yields short term results but has a detrimental effect long-term. As JCPenney and Bed Bath & Beyond will hopefully learn one of these days… Clients become conditioned to either ignore your shouts or just wait until your next sale. This leaves you with too narrow of a profit margin to grow. Steady growth comes from brand building over time, not primarily through sales activation.

3. Say NO to following the leader.

This should be obvious: marketing like everyone else defeats the purpose. Having spent 9 years in tech, I’ve learned that common sense isn’t common. If your customer would say your ads look the same as your competitor’s, you’re doing it wrong. If one media avenue is saturated by competitors, let them have that space. Plant your flag on top of another mountain.

This is one major challenge that industry-specific marketing firms face. They may bring a level of knowledge about your industry, but their strategies tend to be “rinse and repeat” for all their clients. They like to say things like, “We’ve taken this approach with hundreds of clients JUST LIKE YOU and they all had great results.”

I say, “RUN!”

To effectively market, you need to catch people’s attention, not blend in with how all the other industry ads look.

If you’d like to brainstorm, I set aside time each day to consult with business owners on their creative marketing strategies.

If you need new branding guidance, book a call with no other than Wizard of Ads®. We'll help you figure out what new perspective on branding can work for your business.

There’s a relative I haven’t spoken to in five years. Half the family hasn’t spoken to him for even longer, and it was a consequence of running a family business. My name is Michael Catanzarite, and in this series of posts I will be going over some of the unique challenges that face family businesses of all sizes. One caveat is that every family’s dynamic is unique, and we’ll be using broad strokes here based on my experience of working in a family business that grew from relatively small to the largest arts and crafts wholesaler in the country.

IF YOUR MINDSET IS “FAMILY ALWAYS COMES FIRST,” YOU’RE PUTTING A CAP ON HOW LARGE YOUR BUSINESS CAN GROW

Family coming first sounds good, but the reality is that as your business (and family) grows, at some point, you will have to put the business ahead of a family member. I don’t mean choosing to spend time at work instead of with your kids. I mean potentially having to fire someone. This should be a last resort, but your business is there to support your entire family. It’s something you started and put your heart and soul into, and you can’t let one problem person screw it up. It’s also unfair to your employees, some of whom will become like family. In my case, a family member was fired, and it divided us. For the sake of this post, it doesn’t matter who was right or wrong, the point is he was one of 1,500 employees, and no one was untouchable. This person wasn’t stealing, wasn’t a screw-up, it was simply a personality conflict that had gone on a long time and was potentially causing issues with other employees who didn’t have the power to do anything. The person who did the firing thought they were doing what was best for the business, but I don’t think they thought through the repercussions.

In a smaller business, a squeaky wheel sticks out even more. Let’s be honest, the bigger your family is, the more likely someone isn’t going to work out. It doesn’t mean they’re a bad person, just a bad fit, or maybe they just don’t like the job. Of course, there’s also the chance they’re just an idiot. Every family has one. That‘s ok. Talk to them and see where their head is at. If they’re there out of a sense of obligation, encourage them to move on and find something they like. Forcing someone to work in the family business never works out, and they’ll resent you for it. This will fester and eventually blow up in your face. In our family, we were encouraged NOT to work there. Why? Because it was hard, stressful, and could make you feel trapped. I left the business for five years to go and do something on my own. It was a great experience, and when I returned, it was with a new perspective.

So make up your mind if you truly always want to put family first. Just know that if you do, the business may suffer, and your other employees will most certainly resent you.

If you need new branding guidance, book a call with no other than Wizard of Ads®. We'll help you figure out what new perspective on branding can work for your business.