All you need to do is find a painful problem that someone has, and solve it. That’s how you make money!
Matt Thibeau is a digital marketing expert and digital entrepreneur from Ottawa, Ontario.
For a long time, Matt was unsure about the direction of his life. After realising a professional cycling career was no for him, he attended university for a degree in communications to study marketing.
It was at this time that Matt realised his true passion – digital marketing. In his final year of university, he started a successful online publishing business, and also found work at a local tech startup as a digital marketing coordinator.
After realising the demand for experience and knowledge in the world of digital marketing, Matt began to do freelance marketing work for businesses. Today, Matt runs a successful digital marketing consulting business; helping business owners make grow their business with social media advertising, SEO, and branding.
Where did the idea for your consulting business come from?
It was just a natural progression. I became obsessed with learning more and more about online marketing, and other people needed my help. One client led to another and it just kept growing from there!
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
A typical day for me is about 4 hours of focused time on my business. Typically from 10am – 12pm, and then 2pm-4pm. In the evenings I enjoy reading and learning.
To make sure things stay productive and on task, I like to make a checklist for the day on my whiteboard and make sure I hit each task for the day.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Whenever I have an idea that I truly believe will work, I map out a strategy for how I would go about doing it on paper. Then, if everything makes sense, I just do it and tackle the problems as I go along. There will always be problems!
What’s one trend that excites you?
Paid advertising on social media. I believe that direct response marketing is the new brand advertising. Facebook has allowed small businesses to get a choke-hold on their markets without having to compete with big giants for super bowl ads or TV commercials.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
Writing stuff down on my whiteboard. I have so many things going on in my mind that by writing them out on a physical board for some reason makes me a lot more productive.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t be afraid to learn new things!
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on?
Mustard is absolutely disgusting.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Don’t try and reinvent the wheel. All you need to do is find a painful problem that someone has, and solve it. That’s how you make money!
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? Please explain how.
Referral strategies have been huge for me. Simply asking clients for referrals while you are working with them has given me a ton of extra business.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
I published a series of ebooks on a topic that was very much a fad at the time. Those books did not do well for very long and ultimately were at a loss for me. I overcame this failure by learning that just because something is hot today in trends, it can be over tomorrow. Always analyse the longevity of a trend and anticipate where the market is going.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
The other day I was thinking that it would be very cool to open up a drop shipping eCommerce store for trials biking. This is a segment of the cycling market that I know has huge untapped potential and if applied with the correct digital marketing strategies could be a very profitable niche business with little competition.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
I recently bought a bunch of audio books from Grant Cardone that have really been great. I am always trying to get better at my ability to sell and overcome objections in the deal.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
I really like a appointment scheduling software called Calendly. This helps me book appointments with clients on autopilot and frees up my time.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
Read “Blue Ocean Strategy“. This is a great book if you want to really wrap your brain around how to build a business that is in a completely other playing field than your competition.
What is your favourite quote?
“You just have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future” -Steve Jobs
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Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.