Unconventional Life – Podcast, Blog, Live Events

Category: Business

  • Ep263: YouTube Ads and How You Can be a Retargeting Ad Machine, with AdOutreach President Aleric Heck

    Ep263: YouTube Ads and How You Can be a Retargeting Ad Machine, with AdOutreach President Aleric Heck

    Have you ever seen a bullfrog eat a dozen smaller frogs? Or a video on a haircut transformation? Or even wet paint being scraped off the side of a barrel in the most satisfying manner?

    Youtube is one of the many strange places on the internet where you find yourself spending hours upon hours, jumping from algebra lessons to cat videos, to a crash course in philosophy, and to videos about a dance group carrying a coffin. It entertains, educates, but as Aleric Heck of AdOutreach found out, it can also make millions.

    Aleric, before being the president of his own company, made his first exploits on Youtube through a review channel called AppFind which impressed the heck out of a client. So much so that they invited him to work for them.

    “They basically called me up and said, ‘Hey, we would love for you to drop out of college, fly out here to Silicon Valley, be in charge of YouTube ads and you know in this tiny side of YouTube thing will give you a six-figure salary,’” he narrated. “Maybe for a second I looked at that,” Aleric said, “but I knew that I’ve always been this way—that I wanted to be the king of my own castle.” He understood that there was more to Youtube than cat videos and Top 10 countdowns which is why he is encouraging everyone to dive into this new era of content advertising.

    “Right now is the time to come in as an early adopter on YouTube ads,” he emphasized, “and take advantage of that blue ocean.” He notes that Youtube is the second biggest search engine next to Google and it is a place where you can find leads, get sales, and most importantly, make revenue.

    On top of that, Aleric explains that even young starting influencers can grow their audience using what’s called Youtube Discovery Ads, where users will be suggested to watch your video next because it has the same theme as the previous video you watched; sort of riding the same wave that a more prominent channel has. A great tool for YouTubers looking to grow a fan base or take in more subscribers.

    Aleric notes that each business needs to make adjustments and decide on ads based on their own capabilities, but for him, there are set rules that one should follow which pay off big in the long run, one of these is to at least spend 20% on retargeting ads, guided by the Pareto Principle.

    He also encourages businesses to diversify their online presence in multiple platforms—omnipresence as Aleric put it—where he spends at least $50 a day, testing new platforms.

     

    More from Aleric:

  • Ep261: How To Book Big Names Into Your Podcast, with Command Your Brand Media founder, Jeremy Ryan Slate

    Ep261: How To Book Big Names Into Your Podcast, with Command Your Brand Media founder, Jeremy Ryan Slate

    Other than it’s time-consuming advertisements and often mediocre content, there are more and more reasons why a lot of us are turning away from the television. One of those is that in today’s advancing digital access and almost production-level free software, almost anyone can host their own “TV Show” and make an Oprah Winfrey of themselves with a computer, internet, and some recording hardware.

    However, with everyone racing to get the most views and internet traffic it’s easy to get buried by the sheer number of digital influencers who’ve had a head start. So how can you catch up to this fun and lucrative use of online media?

    Before Jeremy Ryan Slate was dubbed a Top Influencer by Forbes, the young Oxford graduate made money through some handy-man jobs, before teaching at a high school. Now he hosts the Create Your Own Life podcast that studies people of excellence, and the Command Your Brand Media that helps businesses optimize their PR strategy. Here are three tricks he shared with us to increase your reach and audience.

     

    The First 24 Hours Make The Biggest Mark

    Starting out in podcasting as an unpopular person, Jeremy knew that he needed to come in guns blazing—getting every person he could find to subscribe.

    “When I started out, I knew that one of the major things that ranks a podcast is the number of subscribers you can get in a 24-hour period in ratio to the number of current subscribers that you have,” he noted, “so right out of the gate, I was really pushing everybody that I noticed to subscribe—I was pushing for reviews, too, but they don’t really have much influence on your ranking if any at all. So really I was pushing as many people as I could to subscribe, and that really pushed us to have 10,000 listens in our first 30 days.”

     

    Know What Makes You Different

    It’s easy to get lost in trends and copy the styles that work, but Jeremy stressed that you should have a reason for what you’re doing. It should be clearly defined what your podcast talks about, what your channel is used to, and what a viewer can expect from your platform.

    There is an audience for everybody but it’s key to start somewhere that people already like, then grow more defined as you go along.

    “My show started as something for people creating life on their own terms,” Jeremy said, “and it’s gone gradually too, how do you be extraordinary and be world-class at that. So you kind of continue working on that [your show’s initial reason] to get there.”

     

    Content is King

    Being a regular “Joe Nobody,” Jeremy was counting on the fame and quality of his guests to carry and grow his podcast. To do this he made a list of 100 people that he admired and created an intense system of follow-ups that ensured every guest was there to make the most of every episode.

    “I created a Google Sheet, without all the names, emails, phone numbers anything I could find”, Jeremy emphasized, “and I created a follow-up system where I basically reached out to all these people day one by writing individual emails to them. It took me about eight hours which was pretty nuts, and I followed up with him every 30 to 60 days. The first person I reached out to was Seth Godin and he said ‘No, but when you get to 400, we’ll do it,’ and he was Episode 400 of the show.

    It was this consistency and dedication to the show that earned Jeremy his place in iTunes Top 100 and the number spot in the business category. Jeremy noted that even American entrepreneur Dave Asprey found time for his show after half a year of follow-ups.

    This intense dedication to the show’s subscribers is also reflecting in Jeremy’s ad campaign strategy, which he shares with us, that utilizes Retargeting Ads, a formula for making viral 30-second videos, and even noting the relevance of LinkedIn—a relatively smaller social media site with a more professional audience—to extend his reach and promotion of the show.

     

    More from Jeremy:

  • Ep257: Strong Roots Give Way to Beautiful Branches with Atlanta’s Personal Injury Lawyer Ali Awad

    Ep257: Strong Roots Give Way to Beautiful Branches with Atlanta’s Personal Injury Lawyer Ali Awad

    It’s very easy to lose ourselves with how the world is now. With television and the internet overflowing with Hollywood gossip and western influence, it’s hard not to feel like we are part of that space in the world. We envy so much the culture on TV that raised us as fans, that we sometimes forget to admire the culture that raised us as people.

    Brought up by Palestinian Muslim immigrants, CEO Lawyer Ali Awad shares his culture, religion, and how his parents made sure that he stays true to his roots as a young man living in Dalton, Georgia.

     

    Fifth Avenue

    Starting their life in the USA was nothing like the pretty suburban romcoms we see in movies. Ali’s family lived in an area in Dalton, where it showed a clear division of privilege. Despite the life in the neighbourhood, Ali’s dad made sure that all six of their kids would live a more guided life, not defined by where they live.

    “My dad was very, very conscious of ensuring that we held on to our Palestinian roots [and] in our Arabic language. And so even now, it’s very rare that I meet people that can speak Arabic who grew up their entire lives in the US. That discipline started manifesting itself in other areas of my life.”

     

     An Eye for Opportunity

    On top of his dad’s strict discipline, Ali is gifted to see profit where it is unlikely to grow.

    “I started my unconventional life around the age of five,” he narrated, “And I learned very early on that it’s fun, the business that I started at five years old was just selling pictures of Dragonball Z characters to my friends.”

    With his father working for a carpet company, Ali had access to a computer and a printer. And with the power of Google, he turned his classroom into his first and very own Super Sayan monopoly.

     

    Pressure as Privilege

    In a dinner he had with best-selling author and entrepreneur, Jesse Itzler, Ali reflected on how this difficult upbringing– being both poor and an immigrant– saw that he was privileged to be unprivileged.

    “You literally cannot teach hungry,” he said. “Most people don’t have the privilege of being under pressure. Most people live through life lackadaisical and get to enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labour. Most people don’t have the opportunity to grow up poor and to learn grit and to learn hard work and discipline. That’s why you and I speak different languages.”

    Ali described how the years of the pressure he got from poverty shaped his views. Ali noted that most people see success as the luxurious materials that people share on Instagram. Still, hardly anyone acknowledges the grit, the upbringing and the ugliness of “paving your own path.”

    “If all you’re exposed to is the highlight reels of everyone else, then you’re never going to have time to create your own highlight reel. You’re just going to look around and see that everyone else is excellent and that you’re not. [But] that excellence comes from just working a little bit at a time, day by day, piece by piece month by month.”

    Ali Awad is continuously providing support to professionals and people who are starting in business all over the world through consultations and coaching sessions.

     

    More from Ali:

  • Ep 254: How To Roll with the Punches and Come Out Successful with Dan Henry

    Ep 254: How To Roll with the Punches and Come Out Successful with Dan Henry

    In this week’s episode, our guest is the founder of GetClients.com and the author of The Wall Street Journal & USA Today Bestselling book “Digital Millionaire Secrets”. Dan Henry has sold over $10 million of his digital products and has been instrumental in creating several internet millionaires.

    But before his breakthrough, way back his college days, he would charge 50 bucks per hour to those who needed his advice on recording software. That was his way to pay for college, but little did he know that that was the start of him earning his first 6 figure business.

    He has grown a massive following and has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Business Insider, and more. While he is proud of his success, he is even more proud of having helped thousands of entrepreneurs turn their dreams into reality.

    “That’s how I’ve scaled my business by getting good at one thing and not always chasing the new.”

     

    Topics Discussed in this Episode:

    • How he went from a broke college dropout delivering pizza to an eight-figure earner
    • How to frame your mindset in times of stress and anxiety
    • His advice on how to move forward
    • Up your game to avoid selling yourself short
    • Strategies to effectively reach your desired audience pool

     

    More from Dan:

  • Ep 253: Bringing Your Unique Artistic Vision to Life Is Not A Piece of Cake with Albena Petrova

    Ep 253: Bringing Your Unique Artistic Vision to Life Is Not A Piece of Cake with Albena Petrova

    Albena Petrova, born in Bulgaria, was raised in a family of artists. Her passion for cakes began after she got her diploma from Pearson School of Culinary Arts in Montreal, specializing in Pastry Making.

    She uses her unique artistic vision to bring cakes to life and cakes with a message. Attention to details is a vital part of her work. And as her skills progressed, she can design cakes according to her customers’ visions and dreams. She never runs out of inspiration; it can be from flowers, fashion, art, architecture and nature. She’s been making cakes for six years now, and for her, every day is a new learning opportunity to improve her craft.

    So when I say her Instagram is a must-see, this is what I meant. “Be brave but calculate the risk.”

     

    Topics Discussed in this Episode:

    • Why she chose cake as her medium to express art
    • How she started Albena Cake Design
    • What she feels about starting a career at age 37
    • How to distinguish yourself in a unique way in a market that is already popular
    • How she goes about her creative process

     

    More from Albena:

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