Don’t take a single shred of advice from anyone that isn’t where you want to be.
Cole took a less traditional route and pursued entrepreneurship rather than college. At 19 years old he opened a gym and became a NASM Certified Personal Trainer. After a few years in that business, he saw the potential of using Facebook Ads to develop and scale a business while also traveling the world… from that point he decided to leave everything behind and nomadically travel the world for 1.5 years while offering Facebook Ad Management for various companies as a freelancer. Finally, in mid-2018, Cole launched Planet Convert, a high-level Facebook Advertising Agency that specializes in scaling fitness programs and online courses.
Where did the idea for your company come from?
I used Facebook Ads to develop and scale my own local business – a gym franchise. From there, I began to see the power of using Facebook Ads and decided to use that knowledge to help scale other businesses.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
A typical day really depends on if we’re launching with a new Fit Pro account. If we aren’t it might only be a 4 hour work day, if we are, it’s leaning more around 12 hours a day. To make my days more productive, I time track every minute I work specifically down to the clients account, project and individual task in the project in order to maximize my effectiveness.
How do you bring ideas to life?
By mapping out the strategies on paper, using a funnel mapping software and brainstorming it within the Masterminds I’m involved in until ultimately bringing it towards my team with specific, actionable steps to push the idea forward.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Building a remote team – I absolutely love the fact that more businesses are giving freedom to their team and allowing them to work remotely from their laptops in any location that has good WiFi.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Time tracking my work down to the minutes has massively increased my productivity on every scale.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t take a single shred of advice from anyone that isn’t where you want to be.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Personal development should not only be encouraged, it should be expected and mandatory within your team culture.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Consult as many successful people in your field as you possibly can – on everything that is relative to their respective field.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
Singular, tunnel-vision focus on specific tasks that bring in new business.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
Attempting to do everything without delegating any of the work to maximize profits. I overcame this failure by learning how delegation is the only true path to scalability.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Sell a digital training, course, program, etc. – it’s an absolute gold mine of an industry and will only continue to build demand over the next 2-3 decades as universities begin to adapt and offer more access and practicality to online education.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
Facebook Ads for my own business – because it’s hands down the best way to get your offer in front of your most ideal customers.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?
Zapier – the God of automation. This tool saves me hours every week by allowing my to automate specific, menial, time-consuming tasks.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
Compound Effect by Darren Hardy – I recommend it because it frames your mind for understanding that the path to success is a long, brutal, but worth-while one.
What is your favorite quote?
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” – Mark Twain
Key Learnings:
- Time track every minute you work down to the specific projects and tasks
- Only listen to people who are at the point you want to be, in your specific industry
- When you find the right mentors, consult them as much as possible
- Automate any tasks that you can to save yourself time
- Delegate any tasks that you can hire someone for less than what your hourly rate is
Connect:
Carlyn runs the day-to-day publishing operation here at ideamensch and interacts with our awesome customers and entrepreneurs. She is likely editing this with a cat on her lap.