Benjamin Dixon

Ben Dixon is a thriving business professional and CEO of NaXum – an online marketing platform that provides individuals and businesses with the tools and resources needed for success. As a recognized industry leader, Ben and his team of experts work alongside clients to develop viable long-term solutions. His extensive professional experience and unique skill set have enabled him to achieve immense success in the business landscape.

Ben attended Northern Illinois University and took a deep interest in sales and referral marketing. During his senior year, he was offered a sales opportunity and continued in that direction following graduation. In 2009, Ben developed a private label blog sharing system used by teams in several prominent marketing companies including, Xango, Usana Health Sciences, and Beachbody.

The following year, Ben joined the NaXum team under the leadership of Rodd Kirby. Intending to reach over a billion business souls with the power of referral marketing, Rodd leveraged Ben’s extensive social media skills to enhance the platform.

In 2013, Ben became Chief Executive Officer. In his role, he expanded their offering into UNIFY – a single space that combines the builder marketing platform and the proven tracker for an accessible sign-on experience. With over twenty-one years of industry-related experience, Ben takes pride in helping his client create real-world results in an ever-changing marketplace.

Where did the idea for NaXum come from?

Most direct sales companies need three or four different software providers to create their ‘total solution’ to run their business. This creates challenges because the client then needs to manage the integrations and continual upkeep of multiple platforms that are all updating their features and code releases at different times.

It became clear that if a company could create a single platform that covered shopping needs, commission tracking, replicated marketing systems, social media sharing platforms, training portals, mobile apps, predictive texting, and gamification that they could dominate in the direct sales space. That is what we’ve done with the NaXum UNIFY platform.

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

My typical day starts early around 5 am. I start the day with reading Scripture to get my mind right, then I flip on an audiobook to “bless up” my mind and go for a run. Cardio and positive content for the mind is the KEY to creating a winning day.

After my run I enjoy time with my wife and children, helping them start the day right, and then I move right to my “one-thing” time. Each day I ask, what’s the “one-thing” I can do today that would make the biggest impact on our business as a whole?

Once that time is complete, my day is a mix of meetings between onboarding new clients, relationships with our referral partners, speaking events in the industry, final interviews for new staff, reaching out to strategic prospective clients, and internal meetings with our operations staff.

How do you bring ideas to life?

We follow the process of IDS (Identify, Discuss, Solve) from Gino Wickman’s book Traction. First, we Identify the challenge we want to solve, then Discuss, then Solve.

I find that writing out your thoughts and having other team members review and write their own thoughts in writing first makes for more productive meetings. We then set clear deliverables to execute our ideas and take action.

What’s one trend that excites you?

The Gig economy. Between the gig economy and influencer marketing, people have opened up to the idea of having extra ways to earn income outside of their traditional job. My vision is that NaXum’s platforms become the vehicle that allow our clients to take advantage of creating a gig for their most raving fans.

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

Taking action. I don’t deliberate very long. I trust my own thinking for 90% of the tasks that come up in the day and simply take action. You must be present in everything you do, if you’re present while at work, you can take action quickly.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Buy Bitcoin! Seriously, wouldn’t that be amazing to have grabbed 100,000 bitcoins back in 2010 for $100?

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

I don’t believe in work/life balance. You have to simply be present 100% in what you’re doing at that time. With family? Be with them. At Work? Be serious and give it all you got. Serving at Church? Be present.

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

Everything in our world comes in seasons, seasons of planting seeds and nurturing and seasons of the harvest. I am a big believer that everyone should set aside half of their income (from themselves), 10% to God, and 40% to your investments.

If you desire to live a life where your money works for you instead of you working for your money, you shouldn’t kid yourself that a 5% contribution is going to set your family up for the challenging times and seasons that will come in the marketplace.

Only by living BELOW your means and investing the remainder will you see progress.

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

Being willing to do the things others won’t. My team and I are constantly proactively going out into the marketplace to identify companies that are not even shopping for what we have, reaching out and seeing if they’d be open to looking at a new way to grow sales for their business.

Don’t play in the same ‘lead pool’ as your competitors. Create your own pool.

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

I had a business that was failing in the end of 2008 and into 2009. In my ego I didn’t want to let the employees go and kept thinking the market would come back, so I kept the people employed even though the business was losing money every day. Six months in, I had to let the employees go and was left with personal debt from paying their salaries without revenue.

I spent the next year starting a new business and was blessed to eradicate the debt from the previous year in twelve months, but I know now that life is not about me, my ego, and me looking good. Business is about creating value for others and if your services are no longer creating real value in the marketplace, you’ve got to move on.

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

Go create a tribe. Whatever niche you’re interested in, fashion, real estate, Forex trading, makeup/beauty, create a group on Facebook and a YouTube channel, and blow up that group with free content. Ask for nothing for a year to build a passionate tribe and establish yourself as someone who cares. Then, you can build out your own products to have your tribe promote with you.

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

A tip to our server for my brother’s birthday. I love blessing people for going above and beyond, and we enjoyed the meal and the good service.

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

I love Basecamp. We’ve utilized the Basecamp platform across our entire business for collaboration, planning, day to day work, and client interactions and are grateful for the world it brings to our teams.

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

Start with Why from Simon Sinek. It’s amazing the kind of conversations you can have with colleagues and clients when you start your conversation by asking ‘why’ they are creating what they’re making.

What is your favorite quote?

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.” Henry Ford

Key Learnings:

● Feed your mind daily, right in the morning to start your day right.
● Start with ‘WHY’, purpose drives everything.
● Be present and take action daily.