Depesh Mandalia

As an entrepreneur I am ALWAYS switched on to learning. Without continuous learning, you will fall behind in business and in life.

 

Depesh Mandalia is the UK based entrepreneur who quickly became one of the UK’s leading Facebook ads experts after generating more than $100M in sales from online advertising. He created a 7-figure revenue through Affiliate Marketing before solely focusing on Facebook ads through his agency and coaching program. Depesh is also a trusted advisor to Facebook. The company regularly involves him in helping shape Facebook’s newest products and services. His personal passion is helping entrepreneurs implement traditional marketing strategies in the new age of the Internet, to cut through the noise and generate consistency and higher profitability.

Where did the idea for your company come from?

My company, SM Commerce, was formed in 2012 following our success in Affiliate Marketing – with limited time to think up a name I took my wife’s initials, SM and added Commerce since that’s what we were doing. Years later as we shifted into Facebook ads, the SM acronym translates nicely to Social Media.

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

I’d love to have a typical day, but with multiple businesses and 4 kids, typical doesn’t exist. However my mornings usually start with the military operation of getting 4 kids off to school, followed by stretches, exercise, shower, breakfast and then starting my work-day at 10am. I’ll usually break around 5pm to spend time with my family until 8pm after which I’m usually online and working again.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I bring ideas to life by jumping in and testing. If the idea sticks or seems to make sense I’ll involve others and retroactively start planning properly.

What’s one trend that excites you?

The one trend that excites me is mobile world that’s been growing over the last decade or so. I believe there’s still so much to come from mobile devices especially with the ‘internet of things’ and bio-technology.

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

The habit that makes me more productive as an entrepreneur is daily to-do lists and regular re-planning sessions to ensure I focus on the things that will shift the needle

What advice would you give your younger self?

The advice I’d give my younger self would be to get out of the ‘introvert’ pigeon hole and instead become the person I am now, much sooner.

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

What’s true is that Facebook ads are actually really easy! Maybe it’s just me being Neo in the Matrix, but it just makes so much simple sense.

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

As an entrepreneur I am ALWAYS switched on to learning. Without continuous learning, you will fall behind in business and in life.

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

One strategy that’s helped me grow my business has been listening to customers’ pain-points and creating solutions for them. Sounds simple yet not everyone does it properly.

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

One big failure I had was hubris when I scaled my affiliate marketing business and thinking I’d made it. In thinking that I could hire others to do my job and for my business to continue growing. I was wrong and instead my business crashed as a result. I overcame this by pivoting away from Affiliate Marketing and focussing instead on Facebook Ads.

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

One business idea I have is to pre-build shopify stores for those that want to enter the world of dropshipping, for free or for very low cost. Then making the profit back via affiliate links to the best plugins and tools that will support them in scaling their business.

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

The best $100 I spent recently was on two Thai massages in Phuket, Thailand. The two Thai ladies did an amazing job!

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

Revealbot is an awesome piece of software that helps automate decision making with Facebook ads meaning less time for my team to manually make changes on the account.

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

The one book I recommend people to read is The Secret. So much starts and ends with the thoughts we have and once people realise the power of it they’ll never look back

What is your favorite quote?

My favorite quote is “This too, shall pass” which I believe was written by a middle-eastern poet many hundreds of years ago.

Key Learnings:

1. Bring your ideas to life by jumping in and testing
2. With kids, there is no such thing as a typical day, but don’t let that hold you back!
3. Facebook ads are actually easy to learn!

Connect:

www.linkedin.com/in/depeshmandalia