Abraham Lieberman

Abraham “AB” Lieberman is the CEO and Founder of Clicks Talent, an influencer & marketing agency specializing in promoting new social media platforms.

At the age of 18, Abraham served as a First Class – Staff Sergeant in the Israeli military in charge of munitions safety and usage in Israel’s Southern District. In his downtime, he started working as a freelance social media consultant for new social media apps. Abraham gave them insight into the US culture and how to best capture millennials and Generation Z’s attention by recruiting influencers to create content on the apps he consulted. After two years of working in this industry, he noticed how so many creators and influencers had yet to maximize their talent in promoting social media apps.. That is when inspiration hit! At 21 years old and after three years in the military, he decided to open up his own company. His #1 goal was to support & advocate for his creators, give them a place to grow and learn, and ensure they would be fairly compensated for the content they created. At the same time, he noticed how many social platforms struggled with having content produced for their apps and decided to bridge the gap between the influencers he was helping and the apps that were asking for help. Five months after he left the military and started working on the idea of Clicks talent, he decided it was time for a formal education.

Abraham began studying for his Bachelor’s degree in Business & Marketing at the prestigious IDC University in Herzliya, Israel. Two weeks into the first semester, Abraham was sitting in a class about opportunity cost. He realized that if he continues with his studies he would not be able to give his 100% to his employees and company. He decided to take a break from studies and two months later, he incorporated Clicks Talent as a corporation.

Abraham currently lives in China with his wife while running his company. He believes that the best form of education comes from experiencing new cultures and learning about them. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with friends & family, walks in parks, and watching Youtube videos about random educational topics to enlarge his broad knowledge base.

Where did the idea for Clicks Talent come from?

At the age of 19, I was working as a consultant for a Turkish social media video platform. My job was to recruit, train, and manage creators who would create content daily for the platform’s US division of the app so that their users had interesting people to interact with and follow. I was working alongside ten other consultants who would bring in about ten people a week, while I was bringing in 60 people a week. After they made the business decision to close their US operations, I went on to study web development and began building websites as a freelance web developer. Two months later, I received a call from a friend working in a shared workspace about an Israeli social video platform he was sharing the space with. He mentioned to their CEO what I had done at the Turkish startup, and the Israeli company wanted to hire me. I started working with them, and then another friend contacted me about how Israel’s biggest DJ overheard him speaking in a club bathroom about what I had accomplished and wanted to connect me with another social music video app he was working with. At that moment, I realized there was a need for a company that recruited, trained, managed, and connected creators with new social media apps to promote them from the inside, and the idea of Clicks Talent was born.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

I wake up between 6 am – 7 am every day, go for a quick run, and sit down to work by 8 am. I go over my Todoist app, which organizes all my tasks based on priority and is shared with my team to see what needs to happen today. At that point I have drank three cups of coffee already. I then watch 1 or 2 Youtube educational videos from “The Infographics Show” and “Half as Interesting” to get my mind in a creative and learning place. My goal is to complete at least 25 tasks in the day which for me is usually around 15 hours.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I bounce my ideas off my employees, consultants, and research what I am constantly doing to get different points of view. Each individual has their special twist which helps to formulate a plan that can be executed efficiently and quickly.

What’s one trend that excites you?

One trend that excites me is short-form video. It’s taking over the world, and I built a company that revolves around the concept. I love learning about new apps and ideas in the industry and am excited to see how big this industry has become and will become over time.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

I am honest and transparent with no sugar coating. I know that some people don’t like that, but I have found throughout my life that the pros outweigh the cons and most people appreciate it.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Stop thinking your so smart and that you know everything. Leverage people that are smarter than you, lose the “know it all” attitude, and learn from the people that actually know what they are doing. It will help you so much in the future.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

You don’t need to spend money or take an investment to start making money. I started my company without spending a single $1 and grew it into a massive enterprise that spans the globe. I need to spend money now to make more money, but I wanted to prove to people that you can start with nothing and end up having everything.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Question yourself regularly. I examine everything I do, every decision I make, and every idea I have. Nothing is ever “obvious” to me. I always assume that my prejudices are making decisions, and I question every thought and choice to make sure it is objectively the right decision.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Collaboration. Nowadays, people are scared to collaborate because they think everyone wants to steal your idea. They keep everything to themselves and believe they can succeed without working together with anyone else. My wife taught me a long time ago, don’t waste your valuable time and resources on things you can’t control (someone I trained, tried to create a competing agency that does what I do!) instead focus on collaborating with like-minded people that can both help you grow your company and can benefit from you working with them. You never know which collaboration will be the one that pushes you to the next level.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

Two months after incorporating my company, I almost signed Flipagram as a client for a $15,000 contract, which was a massive win for me so early in the game. I acted like it was a done deal even though the contract was not signed yet. They sent over the contract Friday morning, and instead of signing it, I decided to go out and celebrate the “win,” I pushed off the signing to Sunday morning. That Sunday morning, Bytedance bought out Flipagram and merged it with their app “Vigo,” the deal was dead. As soon as I found out, I took a deep breath and told myself, “sh@t happens,” I did not let it get me down. Instead, I learned never to assume something is a done deal and NEVER to push off signing a contract with a new client except for business reasons, as you never know what will happen tomorrow. That failure motivated me to find a client at a similar level, and one month later, I signed Vigo’s most significant competitor as a client.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

A short-video platform that revolves around the creators. The short video platform industry is saturated with over 30 different apps, all copying TikTok, and saying that they are “different” in one way or another. But they are all the same. Many, if not all, don’t treat their creators properly, don’t fairly compensate them, and don’t support them. Creators are the heart of any video platform, so create an app that puts its focus on the creators and making sure they want to promote your app not because they have too, but because they feel like it is their app (maybe by giving them a percentage of the company), and you will have a hugely successful company.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

Shift – Shift is a web browser that I believe was designed for people who have ADHD. One of the most significant issues I used to have is I would have five browser windows open each with five tabs. I would get distracted continuously from what I needed to do, getting lost in all the windows and costs, to the point where I forgot what I wanted to do in the first place. Shift solves this by having all 6 of my email accounts, my two Whatsapps, my Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Zoom, Paypal, Google Translate, and everything else I use nonstop throughout the day in 1 window. The best piece of software for any entrepreneur that uses multiple messaging apps daily, in my opinion, and the pricing is very fair.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

Todoist – without it, my company would not be where it is today. Todoist is a to-do list app on steroids. It’s clean and straightforward, yet has many advanced features that help me focus on what is essential. I have filters to filter out tasks that are not important until later in the day. I have lists shared with all my employees so that I can get updates as they finish their responsibilities, as well as I can add tasks to their list as needed, the same way I add tasks into my list. It integrates into every software and device that I use: Shift, Zapier, Google Chrome, My phone, my tablet, Gmail, calendar, and PC desktop. The best part is that I can add tasks just by pulling down my notification bar on my phone and add tasks as I think about them, without having to leave the email I was writing or video I was watching.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

“The Subtle Art of not giving a F***” by Mark Manson- gives a unique perspective on how to live a happy life. The main takeaway from the book is, stop trying to avoid problems and sadness and start choosing the issues you want to solve and things you want to be sad about. Those two things will always be there, no matter how hard you try to avoid them — a vital lesson for every entrepreneur, in my opinion.

What is your favorite quote?

“You and everyone you know are going to be dead soon. And in the short amount of time between here and there, you have a limited amount of fucks to give. Very few, in fact. And if you go around giving a fuck about everything and everyone without conscious thought or choice—well, then you’re going to get fucked.”

– Mark Manson

Key Learnings:

• Envision your end goal, and think about that goal EVERY SINGLE DAY. Never forget it and keep thinking about it. You will subconsciously make decisions that lead you to that end goal.
• Be flexible: be flexible with the way you work, the people you work with, and your ideas. Being able to adapt is an essential aspect of succeeding.
• Try to fail. Failing is the best way to learn how to do something right. Don’t be afraid to fail; instead, embrace it and even try to fail, but learn from it, so history doesn’t repeat itself.
• Don’t think you are the smartest in the room, even if you are the most intelligent, no one wants to feel inferior. Make everyone feel like they are successful and intelligent, and then they will happily share their secrets with you.
• Make time for friends and family. What is success worth if you have no one to share it with. Take one day a week where you shut off your phone and dedicate that day to family and friends