Episode #797 - From Near-Bankruptcy To Business Boom with Jason Wojciechowicz

Foreign.

Welcome to this edition of the million Dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host, Larry Wydell.

So you go down. So you really didn't go down. Only the lonely, all by yourself. You went down in the. You're carrying an audience of 40,000 with you. It wasn't a jump out of the airplane without a parachute type move that your parents probably thought it, you know, it would appear to someone who didn't know what you knew, you know, and so it was actually a necessary step. I'll never forget being in the back of a cab in New York City. The taxi driver's just ranting and raving about living in the city and what a pile of crap it is. And this is wrong. And this. I said, why don't you move? I just couldn't think anymore. I said, why don't you move? You know what he said?

Where?

I said, anywhere. Anywhere where you're not getting this much crap raining down on your parade every day, you know, because it's definitely toxic for you. But the thing is, you grabbed that thing and ran to sunlight, actually ran to daylight down there in Orlando. So as you got down there and got opera, what was the next big breakthrough? This client that was. How long were you down in Orlando before you stumbled across this lady?

And six, seven months.

Yeah, it was about six to seven months in. Yeah.

And one thing I would point out to people listening to this, Jason, is the fact of when. It's kind of like when I moved to North Carolina and opened up a pioneer operation and financial services. The way I looked at it is I was up there, I had nothing. But it was like a poker game. You got to ante up, you got to get in the game. And the only way you can get in the game if you don't have anything is activity, and that is contacts. And I made up my mind. I had to make 500 contacts as fast as possible. 500 presentations. I didn't want to think about anything else. I wanted to get 500 under my belt. And that was my ante up. And I said, if that doesn't do it, I'll reassess and then I'll run another 500, you know what I'm saying? But I'm going to learn something from doing 500. And the thing was, I never got past 133 before. I had so much business that I didn't have time to do it anymore directly, myself.

Yeah, it's great.

It pays off. But the payoff, the point is, you know, you're going to maybe do hundreds in the beginning, but what you're doing is racing, you're accelerating, you know, your progress to the day where these Motherlode type clients can come in. Have you seen that happen before? I mean, since then? I mean.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah. It's all just a ripple effect.

Talk about that. You know, what, how have you seen that work? Because this is something you prove to yourself. Yeah.

So like with the, with the bigger clients, it's like the. Like I was saying before with the platforms and like, where the quality is. If you're talking to high level people, you actually just need to give it to them really simply.

Like, people who are already making money.

Don'T need the whole spiel. They just need to know, like, is.

This thing gonna work? How simple is it? Do I have to be involved? And how much is it? That's all they really care about. Like, that was.

That was the biggest thing for me was that when I was, like first starting out, I thought more was better. And sometimes it's not.

Like more is not better.

Regardless of what people think, it's not.

So.

So, like, the other thing too was with these clients who were bigger, I.

Made sure that I took care of them, obviously. But, you know, I. I also did stuff in person with them. Like I would fly out to them, build relationships, have dinner, like, do all the grunt work shit in the beginning so they didn't have to leave because I wanted to get.

Because here's the thing too, about big clients. If you have big clients and they send you a referral, that's another big client. Because odds are, if they're a big client, their friends are all rich too.

So it's like, if you don't do a good service for them, they're not going to refer you to other people.

What was the. You know, it sounds like you've had a golden ride. How do you get featured and how do you have the ripple effect? Do they kind of find you? Do you apply for these. This. Cat recognition in magazines and this, that and the other. And if so, how did you find out that that's something you should be doing in terms of building credibility? Because the thing is, the rest of your career now, the great thing is, Jase, the rest of your career, you've got a resume. I mean, you could, you know, if it took you the time, you're 40 or 50 to get this, maybe I'll you take it, push it for like 20 years, but now you got 40 or 50 years of being able to brag on this, regardless what other recognition comes, you know. So how, you know, for people who want to get that credibility rate, is there any way they can, anything they can do to accelerate other than building their business and being a success to get the, the word out?

Yeah, it really just depends on where they're at in their business. I mean, when I started investing in press and like going to media outlets and hiring press agencies was when. Because some of the press, like some of the press is free and some of it I had to pay for. Because you have to pay to get above a certain slot and then you have to pay to get your whole thing submitted and then it goes through a review team and it's like, it's tough. Like Forbes and Entrepreneur. It's really hard to get in those. The Forbes New York one that was.

Actually free, I submitted for that and.

I got in that.

The New York Weekly one was because I had a teacher back in New York who like, knew that I was doing all this entrepreneur stuff and she like sent me this link to submit my info for it. She was like, looking out for me, I guess, and I submitted for that. But I think that when you're making at least 20,000amonth, give or take, you should start investing in your authority build and your branding and your website and your overall content. Like, that's where you have the supply of cash to, you know, back invest. Either getting on podcasts or, you know, because there's podcasts where they charge, that's part of the industry. And then there's content, press and just having a good ecosystem, like making sure that all your branding matches, making sure all your fonts match, you know, like that congruency is really important and people miss that.

I mean, those are. That's the biggest thing I'm saying is.

Like getting those publications, you actually have.

To have good credibility.

You can't just go to them and pay them. They're not just going to publish you if you don't have like any proof. Like, if you have a good website, a good following, you've been consistent for years. Like, that's when you can then go to these publications, say, hey, like, I have 150,000 followers. You know, these are my results I'm.

Getting from my clients.

Here's what stages I've spoke on. Like, I want to get in this article. Like, that's where you can then pitch that.

So when did you learn about the fact that the PR element would be beneficial for you. How did you learn that? And what was the first one?

The first one was when I was on a sales call once, and a.

Client said to me, hey, well, prospect.

They were like, hey, like, I don't really know if I'm going to move forward with you because I don't see.

Anything on Google about you.

And I was like, huh?

Like, who cares? Like, what?

Like, what are you talking about? Like. And he was like, dude, there's no reviews. There's no articles. Like, you must not be as good as you're saying.

And I was like, damn, bro, what.

Does that even mean? So then I, like, went online after.

The call, and I was like, what is pr?

And I started researching it, and I actually have one of my really good friends, Dylan Kivo, who got me into the PR space.

And Dylan's still my friend this very day.

But, dude, he runs a huge PR firm, and, like, he, you know, guides.

Me, and he's always a good friend.

To, you know, stay in touch with, but he got me into that whole.

Space of knowing what PR is, how it navigates. Like, and then there's also another company that I work with called Fame Media. They're great. Like, they are hands down the best PR firm. Like, Fame Media is awesome. They always make sure that I'm getting taken care of. And, like, they, you know, they're always submitting stuff for me, like, for free on my behalf just to, like, bring value to me and just, like, have, you know, know, good retention with me.

And I give them a lot of referrals.

So it's, like, it's cool. Yeah.

And how did you find fame? Now, this is. Is this the same fame that's. That's. That does my podcast, Tom and the Gang, or is it.

I don't think it's. Yeah, no, I don't think it's that.

No.

Kumran and this other guy run it. And they are. How'd I find out about them? Oh, yeah, I got cold DM by them through Instagram.

They cold DM me. They're like, hey, like, we have a bunch of articles.

I think you'd be a good fit for, like, book a call. Let's see if you qualify. And then I booked a call, and, like, you know, I went over my.

Stuff, and they're like, yeah, like, I.

Think we could give you a spot. And then, you know, they. They basically just, you know, gave me a package, and I was like, all right, cool. Like, this makes sense. And Then that was it. I was off the race with them and that I believe practice them ever since.

And how much about your ongoing program in terms of your how do you, what kind of strategy have you put together and evolved into for running your business at this point? You know, what is the game plan you're running? Because you know, it would seem like it had to evolve. And you've already talked about wanting to outgrow the regional limitations, take this thing nationwide, which has to do with outreach, has to do with staffing, but it's going to be more successful if it's tied together with an underlying strategy. And so what kind of strategy are you running under right now?

So most of our traffic is mostly paid ads. So paid ads or most of our traffic comes from. And then on top of that is organic. So like me posting all the time, doing partner posts with people, that's a huge piece of our traffic. And then, you know, we also run low ticket digital products. So like I run low ticket funnels, I get people on ecosystem. They can buy like you know, $10 digital products, $17 digital products. Something that's like a tease for me to build more rapport and value with them. And then you know that that's a big thing that I've done over a good amount of time is like running digital products. And then on top of that, you know, doing more podcasts, getting in more press. Also, we run a big event business. Our tour actually starts in four days. We're doing a 22 city tour where we do one event a week for 22 weeks straight. We get 150 business owners in a room and then obviously we pitch if they want to work with us. But like we're doing that and those are all the really like that's our big strategy. Just like scaling upon eyeballs and reach and having multiple avenues to like touch the masses.

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So what's your, your game plan for 20? That's pretty ambitious. Game plan. 22 cities, 150 in each location. You've got to be geared up for a big explosion in business.

Yeah, I mean we're getting like a bunch of new strategy leads and new hires into the business right now. That's one of our big priorities because we are going to get a big influx of clients and we're getting prepared for that. So like Casey is my ops guy. He's managing all that. So that's been a big priority for us because that's been tough. Like hiring is one of the hardest things when you're scaling a business. You got to make sure you don't bring in any negative, you know, people in the company. Make sure you bring people who are aligned with the right core values and the environment. So that's been our biggest thing. Like now we have a team of 54 and like we're scaling pretty rapidly. It's just that these events are going to really challenge us and I think.

That'S what we need.

We need a challenge. We need to be able to like provide that, you know, good value to people in person and give them what they deserve and like really build good relationship with people moving forward because that's going to be. Our business is also affiliates.

We just got this client who runs.

A big PR firm and she came.

On Danielle and she has 80 clients who she wants to give to us. And we were like, dude, that's a ton.

Like for us to take that on.

We would need like 12 new hires.

So you know, we've been waiting for.

Her to like give us some. We're doing like a trickle, like a, like a water down effect and like.

It'S been going well but like we're just trying to build more partnerships and do more affiliates and just like really.

Do you be doing now when you like you say pick up 80, 80 clients, what would you actually your team be doing for them? Or what are your, what are you, what are you offering? What are you offering?

Yeah, so we help, yeah, we help them build, package and refine their offer, make it more irresistible to the marketplace. We set up their landing pages, we do their copy, we you know, edit their website.

If they're an E comm store, we.

Optimize their product pages. If they're Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, you know, WordPress, we, you know, help them with their creatives, their image creatives. We help them with getting video content. We have a video agency that can go fly out to them. And shoot creatives and then we have our back end strategy team that does all their KPIs. So like, hey, what are your numbers? How do we increase your, you know, like your show rates? How do we increase your average order values? How do we increase your lifetime value? Like, is your sales team slacking? Do you want to get them on a zoom call with us? We can help you train them.

Like, we're touching every part of their.

Business so that they can not just run ads. They can get an entire ecosystem that's willing to benefit them and that's important for them.

Now would you say that your. What have you found? What have you found in terms of managing? Here you go from being in a car, driving down to Orlando by yourself, and now you've got this organization and it's going to be going through a pretty rapid expansion. So you've had a lot of voices in your head, you've had a lot of thinking through. You probably had a lot of trial and error. What have you found in terms of in house and remote working? What kind of formulation are you on for right. Right now?

So, yeah, so that's a great question. It's all virtual right now. But like I've done in person in the past. I had a huge office in Daytona Beach. It was a massive office, like 30,000 square feet, two floors. It was freaking nuts. And wow, dude, the rent was nuts. And I basically bit off more than I could chew. And I realized that I had to be in person and I didn't want that. I want to have the freedom. I was like, like, we're all in person. Like, and it was just like to me, it made everybody feel like they had a job. And I want everybody to feel like they had the flexibility over the how they wanted. I'm like, yo, if you work for me and you really like us and you really like the company and you want to go travel and do stuff, be my guest. But at least get your work done and have good work life balance. People always say, like, oh, there is no such thing as work life balance. There is when you're working for a company that doesn't suck. Like, that's just the truth. If they don't have, if they have good systems and good leadership and good processes, then they should be able to go away. If they can, then the company's trash. I mean, I hate to be that person, but it's just the truth.

Like, just offload your $30,000 commitment on office space.

Oh my. Okay, so that was probably one of.

The Scariest days in my life was like, I went to him. I remember his, I remember him at the time. Oh geez, dude, he was, he was a really nice guy and he gave.

Me the building for a discount and.

Like I was paying rent on it and I was like, dude, I'm going to be honest man, like, I can't afford the rest of this. He's like, what do you mean? I was like, bro, like, my payroll's too high for this.

Like, I need that 30 something thousand dollars back. Like I need to get it back.

Not from him, but like back in general. So he's like, dude, like what are you going to do? I'm like, here's the thing dude, I'll pay the 30 grand a month until I find somebody to take it over. Because I was at a three year lease. I was nine months in, dude, I'm not paying another 800 grand. So.

Right.

I was like, dude, I need to offload this.

Like he said, all right, dude, as long as you find somebody, then I'll let it off. And I found somebody in like two weeks. It was easy, but like it was.

Yeah, it was just tough, dude, because we spent so much money on stuff.

Like technology, desks, computers.

Oh my God, dude, did you know it was going to be easy though? I mean, you know, you know, the trauma of it. Were you surprised how quickly you offloaded it?

I was surprised. I thought I was going to be.

Really suckered into that. I was really worried and it was like, yeah, it was not easy.

Different type sale than you've been making, you know, but you've been offering this idea. Now you have to go in and figure another offer, get another group of people to talk to.

What you buy a list.

Did you, you know, get out the Google what size, you figure out what size company would take on something like that. And usually on sales like this, getting the right, right company at the right time, you know, and you have to.

Go through a lot of numbers for something. It wind up being a medical billing company that was doing $200 million a year. And I was like, you guys can.

Afford this, like, and they took it.

So it was cool.

But like.

And this was due, this was in day Daytona beach, where I was still in a relationship. Like I was trying to figure out my relationship. I just got a dog and I had a building that could barely afford. And I was like, damn, this is stupid. Like, what am I doing? Like, it was the worst investment ever. And it's, it's good, dude. Like I, I just Learned some things. Like, it's fine.

Well, that's. That's what I was going to say, because things like that, you probably. That process of having to, you know, the. The knife at your throat to figure out how to sell something big real quick, put you through a thing where you had to solve a problem for yourself, and you probably learned things that you're using today that you wouldn't have learned any other way. Is there any chance of that?

I mean, I wasn't really thinking of that. That's a good question, though. I wasn't really thinking of that at all. Yeah, I mean, it was just. I feel like the biggest lesson I learned was that you can't bite off more than you can chew.

Right?

Like, that was the biggest thing that I learned.

Yeah, well, you know, like, the reason I asked that was most of the time, we're talking from our own experience, and when we go through nightmare things ourselves and we figure things out for ourselves, that kind of gives us a platform, you know? Like, it was like, you know. You know, God bless him. Toby Keith just passed, you know, and I was reading something about him, and he talked when he's talking to the BBC, and he said, I just write songs about what I know. And, you know a lot about what we do in business and our service. Things we do is we talk about things we know. And when you go through these nightmare experiences, you learn things that you wish you didn't have to learn, but then, you know, you know, and so that puts you stronger if you have to deal with it again, if for nothing else as to avoid letting yourself get in that situation. You know, you could. You could smell it coming 100 miles away. And you just steer around that issue, you know, because people are always going to suggest to you the rest of your life, hey, we need a big facility. And once you. Once you've been there and done that, you're like, well, you know, let's think about it.

Yeah, it was so. It was so stressful. Like, some days I didn't know how to, like, react to things. And, like. And then at one point, I had two employees who were, like, doing stuff together outside of work. And then it started causing conflict. And I was like, oh, dude, this is, like, insane. And I just didn't know how to handle that stuff. I didn't even have enough time to handle myself, meanwhile, handle other people. And I was like, dude, this is just.

This is not it for me. Like, we need to close this down asap. It's crazy.

And the way you did solve it was what you just decided to wade in and deal with it.

Yeah. And I made everybody go virtual. I just made everybody go virtual. I was like, yo, guys, just go home.

Like, I can't do this right now.

Yeah.

It was just like, yeah, yeah.

Well, the. You've had a wonderful ride. What is it? How. How much do you recommend the entrepreneurial adventure that you've been through? You know, having lived through it so far and get Gotten this far in it, how much do you recommend it to people who think they would, like, you know, they'd like to go through it. You know, the price you have to pay for it and everything and versus the rewards?

I think, like, I would recommend it.

For people who have patience, which is so, like, unquantifiable, which is more of an internal thing. If you don't have patience and you're not okay spending money and losing a little bit, it's probably not for you. Like, dude, there's people that I coach, and they're like, yeah, man, I'm trying to get this thing off the ground. Like, what do you think I should do? And I'm like, bro, how much money do you have? He's like, oh, like, I have, like, eight grand. I'm like, dude, to be honest, like, do you have what it takes to go to zero? Like, can we just, like, get this out of the air? And just. Some people just don't have what it takes to go to zero. Sometimes they don't want to lose, to gain. And I'm like, dude, to be honest, man, my advice is you should go get a job. Like, I feel like that's easier for you. I hate to push people's dreams, but, like, it's not for everybody. It's just not. It's so tough, dude, and it's so freaking lonely. And it just makes you, like, rethink a lot of decisions in your life that you've made. Sometimes, like, there's times where I wanted to pack up and quit. I was like, man, I'm tired. I want to go back home, freaking go flip a burger or something. I was like, this is stressful as hell. Like, I didn't know what to do, so.

Well, even when you're successful, Jason, as you're going through it, it's like raising a toddler, the excruciating thing, you know, a year later, you know, look at the baby, how much progress it's made. Unbelievable. It's incredible. But as you're going through it hour by hour, and they're pooping all over the place and, you know, belching all over you and waking you up in the middle of the night and everything. It's just like, I believe in hell, you know, and you know, of course they do fun things and entertaining, but as you're living through it minute by minute, I've found even the fast growth companies can drive you nuts when you're having like the rocket ship growth. When you're in the middle of it, it's like, we're going to the moon.

Yeah.

But you're in this little capsule out in the middle of space. Yeah. You know. Yeah, it could be a little frightening, you know, but then you came back and I, you know, I'm one of the people who walked on the moon, you know, you know, it's great later, but was there a point where you, you had to make a decision? You decide, I'm in on this. I know what it is and I see the stresses of it. I could go another route, but no, I'm in on this.

Yeah, I mean.

I think too, like, I just also was more self aware.

To know that I couldn't survive in a job.

There you go. There you go.

That was it too. Like, I knew that I couldn't. Dude, I had four jobs when I was in high school, going out of college. Like, four little jobs, dude. I got fired for every single one. Like, I don't know what the hell I was doing. Like, funny story, I got fired from Staples because I used to sit in the back room and I would scare people out of the boxes. Like, that's all I did. I used to just sit in the back, dude, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. Like, that's how I got flyer, dude. I had no freaking clue what I was doing at all in my, like, I had no freaking idea.

Well, that's one thing to be able to tell yourself is like, it may be because most entrepreneurs want to really quit about twice a day. That's kind of how, you know you're in a real growth mode. The emotions boil over and it's like, I'm not taking this anymore. You know, it's like, okay, now we got that out of the way, let me get back to work. But it's more the rule rather than the exception. But part of it is realizing, no, I can't go back to work for somebody else. I just don't fit anywhere else. Or I don't want to be under somebody else's thumb or I don't want to live with those restrictions. I can't live for those restrictions, so I better figure this one out. And so the quicker you get to that point, the better. Thanks so much for being on. This is great. We could talk forever and then what we'll do is we'll take a one, two, three year pause and then come back and do it again. If you're up for it. Yeah, of course.

I appreciate it, Larry.

Thanks for having me on.

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