Be bold, be passionate, make mistakes. I believe that maturity changes our outlook, but to achieve any mature state, we must go through those life-changing experiences.
Edwin Miranda is the CEO and Founder of KOI IXS a full-service, performance-driven marketing agency.
Edwin believes in the power of performance marketing and is driven to help global brands gain a large market share, create meaningful customer engagement, and acquire new customers.
The future is coming fast, and KOI/IXS, led by Edwin Miranda, helps brands move even faster—pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
Where did the idea for your company come from?
I’m privileged to lead a passionate and talented group of designers, thinkers, creators, and strategists. Every day, I help align our vision and unite our shared creative talents to produce work that is worth creating. Leveraging a rich history of influential brand work and a passion for marketing technology, I enjoy giving our clients the edge they need to succeed in today’s cluttered market.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
My day starts at 5:30 am. I wake up and check curated news feeds and messages from clients and projects. I have a light breakfast and take the stationary bike or for a 30 min run. I try to have quality time with my wife and kids in the morning and if my schedule allows I take the kids to school. After that, I am off to my daily 7:30 am meeting and off to the day.
How do you bring ideas to life?
We can talk about KOI; the agency was an idea that I brought to life when I was 21 that still stands today as KOI IXS.
I believe that what worked at that time was my passion and desire to bringing the idea into reality. Passion is always an essential ingredient of every successful venture.
What’s one trend that excites you?
Attribution and Predictive Marketing. I have always been a fan of results, of delivering and driving bottom line results to my clients and partners but that was really difficult to measure and execute with the technology of the past. We live in an exciting time, today we can use machine-learning technologies to improve customer acquisition and customer growth, and how to identify and re-engage at-risk or lapsed customers by implementing an easy, automated approach to predictive analytics. Today, for the first time, we can not only predict but attribute our sales and results to the right outlets, both online and offline to provide our clients and our teams with real time data.
Predictive analytics can finally make personalized marketing a reality. For the first time, predictive marketing is accessible to all marketers, not just those at large corporations — in fact, many smaller organizations are leapfrogging their larger counterparts with innovative programs. This book shows you how to bring predictive analytics to your organization, with actionable guidance that get you started today.
The fact that today we know, have the technology and knowledge to attribute sales at every level of the sales funnel is as exciting as it gets.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
One of my habits is waking up early. My usual day starts at 5:30 am but sometimes begins even earlier. Nothing more relevant and accurate today as that old saying: “The early bird catches the worm.”
What advice would you give your younger self?
Be bold, be passionate, make mistakes — the same thing I did. I believe that maturity changes our outlook, but to achieve any mature state, we must go through those life-changing experiences. Through win and defeats through struggle and others to get to the other side with the maturity of today.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
Have a list of to-do’s and every morning, afternoon and night checking my accomplishments against that list. My list includes short term, medium term, and long terms goals and the people and resources needed to achieve them. A consistent system that allows for a frequent check and balances is key to my daily wins and successes. I do this over and over almost obsessively
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Using my to-do list has become second nature to me. I believe that staying focused and on task can ensure you complete everything you need to throughout your day, as well as give you the flexibility to take on more than you might have thought possible.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
Always surround yourself with people you trust. When growing a business you cannot do everything, so it is so important to be able to delegate to good people.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
Every failure, the biggest and the smallest ones, have helped me to get closer to my goals and life purpose. Since we endured and overcame a category five (5) hurricane in Puerto Rico the words resilient and resiliency are part of our daily life. In my experience, these words have had great importance. Resilience, endurance, commitment, focus and the relentless pursuit of what I believe to be my path are all part of my key to succeeding in overcoming any obstacle.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
I can’t say this is a specific business idea, but be willing to try something that scares you. When you are complacent you cannot move forward and grow.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
Taking my daughter to a Broadway show, she wanted to see. Worth it!
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?
Fantastical 2 is an excellent calendar app and time management tool. xIts friendly and integrates with virtually all of the platforms I use. All calendars and events are in one place and geotag with the location of each meeting. The app Works with iCloud, Google, Exchange, Office 365, and others. I recommend it
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
Predictive Marketing is one of those books that changes your outlook and amplify your current knowledge. The marketing paradigm and the advertising business as usual is over. Some people say our paradigms are changing, I say paradigms of the past are over. We are experiencing a new reality, a new way of interacting with technology and a new way of buying and experiencing ads. This book provides a blueprint for navigating the transition from creative-to data-driven marketing, from one-size-fits-all to one-on-one, and from marketing campaigns to real-time customer experiences.
What is your favorite quote?
A goal is a dream with a deadline. Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches.
Napoleon Hill
Key Learnings:
- “Be Bold!” -Edwin Miranda
- Listen to those around you. Stay present.
- Pay attention to the details.
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.