In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Roman Prokopchuk, an immigrant from Ukraine, podcast host, agency founder, and digital marketing specialist. Roman shares how his early life as a first‑generation immigrant shaped his work ethic and appreciation for American opportunity. He emphasizes the necessity of personal branding in modern digital marketing, noting that creators can act as their own media agencies by leveraging text, video, imagery, and especially audio. Roman extols the multitasking advantage of podcasts and audiobooks, describing audio as the most powerful medium for audience reach. He highlights emotional intelligence and empathy as critical to business success, advising a calm, perspective‑taking approach to clients and team members. Reflecting on his own career, he tells his younger self to stay humble, focus on networking and skill‑building, and recognize that professional growth is an iceberg‑like journey beneath the visible surface. Roman defines happiness as being at peace with one’s ongoing journey, accepting challenges as growth opportunities. He mentions his personal life as a foster parent of two young boys, inspired by a poem by Antoine Fisher. His favorite quote is Mike Tyson’s “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth,” underscoring resilience. Finally, he promotes his podcast, the Digital Savage Experience, his website novazoradigital.com, and his work with Cubit.com on predictive demand planning and price optimization, providing listeners with clear avenues to connect with him online.
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All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Roman Prokopchuk. He is a podcast host, agency founder, and digital marketing expert. So welcome to the show, man.
Thanks for having me.
Of course. So the first one I got for you, Roman, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
So I think one of the core things as a story-wise is I'm an immigrant. So kind of first generation. I came to the United States when I was 5 in 1990 from Ukraine. And basically that's helped me in terms of my work ethic, like my upbringing and my roots in terms of coming from a communist country and learning the language, being kind of assimilated into the culture and basically seeing how the world is outside of the United States and how lucky we are to be in the United States despite the stuff going on now and like the strength of the economy and basically anyone can do anything. With, you know, access to the internet.
Yeah, man, I, I agree. Um, the second one I got for you is what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
I think in terms of digital marketing, every individual needs to brand themselves if they want to do something in the next few years. The way that obviously marketing works, you put something out in terms of the digital space, regardless of what channel you go through, and you obviously connect with the user. Now you're, you're more likely to be your own media agency. So artists, authors, podcasters basically cut out the middleman and go directly to the end user, basically creating content and going to where the users are for you. So obviously content now is only really text, video, and imagery, and audio. Audio has this podcast, and I started podcasting in the last year. It's the only medium that you can basically do while multitasking. Anything else, you can't read and do something else, you can't watch something and do something else. With audio, you can, you know, go to the gym or drive, listen to an audiobook, listen to a podcast. That's truly powerful in terms of reaching your audience.
I agree, man. Dude, that's why I am an audiobook— like, I'm an audiobook fiend and podcast fiend. So because I can work out, run, walk, whatever, uh, while I'm listening. So I think, yeah, audio is my number one. Um, so next one I got for you is what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
I think having emotional IQ and empathy is the key to success. So when I was younger per se and in different roles, I would kind of jump to conclusions or get upset about things. And if you kind of keep a level head, regardless if it's, you know, a new business opportunity, a new client that may be, you know, combative or non-compliant in a way, Or, you know, if you manage people, an employee, basically taking a step back, taking the emotions out of it, and, you know, doing the best you can to understand the point of view of where they're coming from. Because we're all, you know, guilty of getting upset about things. We all possibly have had a bad day, so you don't know where that person is coming from. But just taking emotions out of the equation and, you know, understanding that we're all human.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I'm technically an old millennial per se. So, I was born in '84. I don't necessarily have the, you know, stereotypical attributes of the younger millennials, but I think don't be too full of yourself regardless of, you know, what you're doing. Because you can be humbled really quickly. So I graduated college when the economy kind of crashed in '07-'08, and basically that piece of paper I got didn't really mean much, and it was networking, it was gaining new skills. So in terms of digital marketing, I had to, you know, learn it myself, get into it, get clients, and get big brands in terms of experience, work my way up through a lot of director roles, managing people, and basically taking upon myself and having that initiative. So I think also if you're willing to do something and put in the work, you will be good at it and eventually you will succeed. And it's been a, you know, 10-year going on 11-year process and I'm fairly comfortable in terms of an expert and, you know, making the compensation and meeting the people that I'm, you know, passionate about meeting at this point. So I mean, it's a journey. It's like that kind of iceberg analogy. Where you don't see kind of what's under the water, maybe a small piece of ice above the water, but under the water, it, you know, it's crazy big. And all that, you know, those scars that led up to now in terms of building you up. So, in terms of a journey, and it's not a kind of endpoint, it's, you know, a journey focus.
And then, so kind of going down a little bit of a different path, in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
I think being at peace with your journey. So I just kind of touched upon having a journey in terms of your goals, your life. I mean, it's, it's, it's not a stationary destination. It's a moving target, regardless if it's your personal life, your business life, whatever you're trying to do. And you're going to get pitfalls and all kinds of trials and tribulations that actually strengthen you if you think about it and look back. Make you stronger to deal with even more harder things down the line. But being content with what you have and being at peace that you're doing the best that you can, I mean, will help you persevere through most things in life.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Um, book-wise, I mean, I read a lot of digital marketing stuff. I think quick value, I've been reading a lot of kind of poetry And there's a poem by Antoine Fisher, it's called "Who Will Cry for the Little Boy." It's about like internal reflection, but if you take the literal meaning, actually me and my wife have became foster parents in June, and we have two little boys that we foster under 3. That's been a really interesting journey, and you know, a building block in life, and one of the best things that I've done. From a personal standpoint, that kind of poem reflects that, you know, journey a lot and what we've been going through with, you know, trying to raise these two boys.
And then what is your favorite quote and why?
I mean, there's a lot. Usually I'll go, you know, the Bible route and like Psalms, but for this, I think Mike Tyson, "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." And I think it's a great reflection of life and business. Because you're always going to have things that will go wrong. But I mean, if you keep getting up from the mat and, you know, finishing the fight, most likely than not, I mean, you'll have a positive result.
Absolutely, man. And dude, did you see he's got a podcast out now?
Yeah, he's doing a lot. I mean, he kind of reinvented himself after all, like, the aggressive shenanigans since he was younger.
Yeah, dude, it's awesome, his podcast. So dude, thanks for coming on. The last one I got for you, where can our audience best find you online?
So I have a podcast, it's called the Digital Savage Experience. It focuses on digital marketing, tech, family, motivation. Website is novazoradigital.com. I also work with a company called cubit.com. So they focus on predictive demand planning and forecasting, price optimization. Financial planning. If you're, you know, a big brand that needs help with that kind of thing, and anywhere on social, if you Google my name or the podcast, I'll come up.
Perfect, man. Thanks again for coming on.
I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you.
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