Balancing Surfing & Social Life as an Agency Owner, The Brandon Loures Story - Different Hunger

as well I'm from Florida originally and I've been living in San Diego since I was about 24 I moved here actually 25 2011 so I'm getting ready to turn 35 this year and oh yeah I was actually went to school for marketing and if anyone who in the group went to school for marketing you know that your

general bachelor's degree is pretty general and so I went out and after college and looking at the jobs I could get and things like that and it's pretty much fit to be a salesperson or work for a marketing agency but really didn't even have the skills coming out of a general marketing degree kind of just had a

lot of knowledge about marketing so I went into sales and that was my first couple jobs but I always knew that I wanted to start my own business so I was always kind of thinking about that in the background even in the early stages of just getting out of school I just knew that that was the path

that I wanted to go on but really didn't have any clue how to get there at that point and so I just was out just getting some experience but I also during that those two and a half three years working I just knew that that 9 to 5 schedule wasn't for me and just kind of always been

a bit of a rebel and gone against the grain on a lot of things so I I find you know so it fast forward I quit my jobs or my job when I was around 25 decided to moved to California just had a random opportunity moved to California and I found San Diego and I also started to

get a little inkling of interest into internet marketing at that time but I so I basically just worked some random jobs for a couple years but probably around 26 27 started studying in digital marketing and then ended up getting a job working for a smaller agency which worked worked with this other guy for a couple years was

super lucky to meet him learned all the skills and just got infatuated with with learning this you know this trade of internet marketing and that's what kind of was the springboard into starting a business just just acquiring all the skills so and and where was that before we started was I was about three years into business and

was starting to get some more recognition and more traction in the business just through word of mouth and just realized that I was on this hamster wheel or on this just kind of cycle of you know I realized that there's like a breaking point in my time in my business and I didn't really know exactly what to

do and I think that what this course has done for me is give a a path to to put these things in place and it's it's really been helpful and just to kind of solidify thoughts that I there's you know things that I heard and thoughts and then just really just kind of put that path in place

so before we met I was you know a growing business and now it's with with some of the processes I've learned that I'm just really putting these things the processes and more people into place and start to make it into the real business that I had envisioned so it's really been helpful working I think we started it

in May and yeah it's definitely been transformative so that's where I'm a so awesome dude so got it so you know sounds like the typical you know half like you know the 4-hour workweek type path right you know you're working the job just you know it's not for you start studying learning and then over the next few

months and years you know putting that into action and you know building building the business right so I mean what what was it that you know attracted you about like the agency business model in particular because you know there's a lot of different there's a lot of different possibilities and paths in the internet digital marketing world so

what was it for you that made you say okay I want to only get this agency gone well [Applause] it was one of the things was okay so I didn't have a lot of money and and so I one of the the things I knew needed to happen was I needed to learn a defined skill and so

I was looking for a skill or a trade that was valuable that I could learn I just kind of the culmination of my background and then the and then also so I had a couple friends that were that that had a digital marketing company they were an SEO company and this was seven or eight years ago and

when SEO was super popular and I saw what they were doing and then I connected with this guy named Joel who was well he was much older and he's always kind of been one step ahead of everything in life so he was I thought what he was doing I worked with him and saw this this business that

also it was really my goal to ooh to have a business that I could do from anywhere so it was that it was starting with no money because you can start an agency with next to nothing and and yeah it was just a way for me to to get ahead and and then also just just had all

the possibilities of this like location independent business and I was like this is it you know so and I always like working with businesses so that's that it just was really a fit for me and yeah it was it was everything just people and just my path so it was it's been a great you know a great

thing to get into so awesome beautiful and and you know obviously you know you live in an awesome life now in San Diego and we'll dive into some of the some of that in a bit but I mean just going back to you know where you were kind of at a few months back I mean you know

you're in business for a few years you know you already had a six-figure multi six-figure business I mean what were some of the specific kind of challenges that you are facing or like obstacles that you're facing that made you you know say alright let me let me see if I need some support or what that looks like

so you're saying when when did I realize that I needed to get some coaching with you guys now like what what were some of the challenges that you were facing I guess right before that it was I think doing too many things and not really knowing what was the cause of this this cycle I knew that I

needed to put people in place I knew I needed to charge more I knew I needed to do a lot of things but I didn't know exactly exactly how to do it and and so you know that's that's what as a lot of the the value have gotten out of this relationship is is just again just that

kind of solidifying the thoughts in my head and things like that so yeah I was just not having exact path continually you know two years of going like you know here and then here and then back up and then really not seeing the light so that's where was that gotcha awesome yeah and I mean you know like

some people are in that spot for you know a few years sometimes a lifetime right like so you know it's it's totally normal to to hit you know certain plateaus and obstacles it's just you know figuring out all right you know what's what's the path around and really you know one of the reasons that you know we

ended up working together was you know because you're hungry and passionate about your work and also your life and you know you're willing to do whatever it took so that you know that was awesome right so I mean so now you know tell us a little bit about you know what's anything that has changed you know any

big breakthroughs that you've had the last few months you know you just spent a week or so off the grid in Nicaragua that's where I got that sick picture for this interview which was awesome but yeah tell us a little bit about you know some some highlights from the last few months so let's see well I've been

I've been saying no to some clients and I've been taking on some some clients for the new the new offers that I've that I've developed over the last few months so that's been good just just having and and what's what the difference is with some of the new clients is that we have a more defined relationship to

where a little bit better expectations with the client which is so it's a different it's a different expectation from the beginning which I'm really you know trying to stick to to that so that whole thing has just freed up and and you kind of mitigated a lot of random phone calls from new clients and kind of just

giving them more assurance to what's going on with with some of the documentation like the client success documents and so it's just you know I also have a more defined processing with my pay-per-click so I set up a pay-per-click team and they're in the Philippines and they've really been taking all that day-to-day stuff off my plate which

is just and that's something that developed after I started the course so I didn't have anyone doing pay-per-click I was doing all the pay-per-click stuff I had some other people doing other VA things so I mean it's just I think I've since may have really trance transformed into more my day-to-day is more delegating tasks than doing tasks

and that has freed up my time to actually take on the right deals when they come my way so I mean before I there's definitely been times where I've been like I can't take on another client right now and you know now it's it's a matter of taking on the right so that's been a you know big

change and then awesome yeah I did I took took a trip so business has been good and then yeah I just feel like I'm more on the path to to having that freedom like I did when I was I was making you know five or six thousand dollars a month I had a lot of free time you

know and and that was you know I was very happy then and I think I'm I'm still able to maintain that that free time at the point I'm at right now billing you know close to 20,000 a month though awesome yeah that's you know it's interesting right it's like you know every next level up there's a new

set of challenges and problems that come up and you know like I know people that you know kind of what you're talking about they you know they're making enough to survive you know you're talking about five sixty and months and they're they opted to just kind of chill and stay there because they don't see the opportunity to

grow without just sacrificing all of their time and and all of their freedom but you know it's like with every next level up there's you know there's different challenges I mean for you like what was kind of that Nick what were some of those challenges that you face on the next level of that you've had to kind

of you know tweak and optimizer like specific processes that you've set up so that you can you know four or five x to your previous you know numbers without sacrificing you know all your time and all your resources well I think there is a little bit there you have to take different and I think you to take

more more risks one when you're when you do want to take it to the to the next level after that that freelance stage so I think you know yeah it's risky quitting your job and going into that phase but going into the next phase I think you do have to take a little bit more of a over

real entrepreneur mindset and like going from you know going from the basically freelance mindset which is great and independent and everything like that and you're starting to do you know to set up your team and things like that you know I think one of the challenges is when you are putting these things in place you do have

to take a few bigger leaps and then also and when what's been helpful is is setting up the the workflow processes is huge especially because you're when you're hiring people you know it's not it's not perfect it's never it's never going to be perfect you do you are gonna have turnover and when you are when you're growing

that can be really really painful or just just a challenge and and you need to be able to get you know another qualified person in place and have those you know that training and things like that in place to be able to to get that going smoothly so so I think just you know that the workflow documents

are huge and then also just just kind of sticking to a plan and and just starting to to make it a a workflow where you can have actually have your team working together virtually is is another big challenge so yeah it's definitely a totally different animal going from like you know from where I'm at now to to

being able to you know two three five x this business it's a it's a totally different mindset and just different set of responsibilities that you've got to be willing to take on so I'm excited about that that challenge and I think that's you need to be that type of person I guess or just in that point your

life so I think I'm I'm there right now to where I'm yeah it's you know so this is all super helpful and everything it's just you know it's going to be a big challenge and that has to be exciting and you have to want that so Oxman yeah I mean and you could you could stay anywhere you

could you could be a you know 10 grand a month or 5 10 grand a month company and be totally happy I think at the point where you're like one of the challenges is having the thought of am I gonna do this and so on 50 or you know and that's kind of the realization that you come

to after being a freelancer for a few years and write the whole burnout thing that you guys talked about a lot so yeah it's a it's a totally new new phase yeah yeah totally not I remember our first conversation you mentioned that right it's like you know like yeah I'm cruising I got some revenue I got some

clients but like am I gonna do this until I'm 40 and 50 right so like that's a such a powerful question to ask because like it's so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and be like yo like what's happening today tomorrow this week next month maybe at the furthest thought out but you just totally lose

track of like long term vision so like you know that's why you know a big part of why you've been able to crush it and like why you keep growing is because you have that vision of the future that you're working towards right so you know tell us a little bit about you know what your day-to-day and

and week looks like right now that you've you know set a lot of this up you know obviously you're still growing the business but you're also enjoying yourself and you know you're not slaving and you know meeting client requests at like 3 a.m. or anything crazy like that you know we've all done that but but yet take

us through a day in the life of Brandon and you know what your day to day looks like yeah so my day a lot of my days I normally do something active in the morning a lot of times probably 2 3 or plus days a week I would go surfing in the morning try to get out as

early as possible yeah I live right by the beach I live like a a but I used to walk to the beach now I'm like quick bike ride to the beach and cruder you gotta write down there drive yeah we have the scooters we got the bird of the horse you saw are those in Columbia yet yeah

they so not bird but different brands have you gotten which is pretty funny but the people are driving here you don't want to drive a scooter on the road so that's I God yeah so and then I my morning is we've we've done some work on on what we do in the morning try to spend some time

on sales in the morning but you know I my schedule I try to to really you know keep my my free time so I love having my morning to myself and then I really try to to segment my days into work time and not work time and so I I do work most most of the day so

I'll start work probably around if I'm going surfing I start probably around 9:30 or 10:00 maybe later on those days but that's not every day so and then so couple hours on sales working on proposals and following up with emails and then any outreach for new business and then and then I will just kind of tend to

the projects for clients and I am I have an SEO the small SEO teams it's a technical SEO on-site guy and the writer and then we also have a couple of their freelance writers so it's basically managing some of the content they're writing it and and my SEO guys really stepped up to kind of be an SEO

project manager and then Facebook Ads I have specialists in place it's actually two people so just if there's any kind of reports or anything like that and I'm kind of checked like kind of being a second set of eyes on a lot of the ads and just basically just I am I'm basically my role is the project

manager and client client relationship manager right now so that in itself is a big job we have 15 clients and anywhere from like 12 to 15 clients right now so you know that's a full-time job in itself and I think the next role is the next step is to get someone like an Account Manager to do that

and and so that's it and then I'm basically working on marketing and sales as much as I can yeah yeah awesome I mean you know that's the beauty of like you know getting the delivery down and like systemized and delegated so that you can spend most of your days on growing the business right like it's crazy how

many agencies you know will talk to or hear about that are you know like yeah like I've been trying to grow this for years and then when we get down to it it's like well you know they're spending 80 percent of their time on delivery and execution and fulfillment so like you know that's not gonna result in

growth right so you know it's awesome that you've been able to make that transition and that was really you know one of the biggest challenges that you shared with me when we kind of first chatted so it's awesome that you've been able to make that transition so I mean what's you know what's next for you like what's

what's a year outlook like for you and you know what's what's your kind of exciting vision that you're moving towards now so I'm I'm stay in the past I know we've gone back and forth on what I should be doing as far as like the niche that I'm focusing on and things like that but I'm my goal

is to so last year I doubled my business that's my goal to double my business again in 2020 so 2019 I've reached that goal growing 100% in sales and I want to do that again this year so you know I'm just working on just generating more of these leads and we're focusing mainly on dermatologists and plastic surgeons

and medical spas is our our niche so just gonna focus on this and then I also like you know I get some I've been getting some good leads through my site I'm actually gonna re I'm rebranding my or redoing my website because it's like three and a half years old so it just needs a reface on the

website and then working more on my funnels I click funnels so yeah more more better marketing and yeah and then later I think after this year I'm going to be looking for you know potentially new new business opportunities my mind's been going crazy lately on on all kinds of business ideas so just some of the stuff that

we've been talking about this higher level purpose stuff so hopefully you know maybe either an e-commerce business in the next year or there's some other cool opportunities and some much bigger opportunities also with looking at buying a house this year and then getting into real estate and things like that so we got awesome all kinds of businesses

might buy a surf shop yeah all right yeah I'll say they're not one per sale so all kinds of stuff on the horizon cool I have you thought about potentially exiting that agency or are you or do you just want to maintain that maybe get somebody else to manage while you do the other things that's another I

yeah not yet I I think probably at least a couple more years you know the agents new business if not if not longer but yeah I mean definitely trying to systemize and and continually you know keep customizing this business until till I can get I think it's gonna take a couple more maybe two account managers and then

maybe somebody else to do you know a business partner business manager or something like that but I think I'm I think I'm a ways out from that so yeah it's trying to focus on the the deal deal flow right now yeah okay oh yeah if you think looking where are their opportunities yeah I'll keep the agency rolling

and you know maybe item they'd be able to sell it or something but who knows yeah yeah totally and um and yet more we're actually about to update some of the materials and some of it some of the stuff that we handle will will address some of the account management and some of those things so that might

be helpful but uh but yeah all right awesome dude so yeah I mean you know keep growing the business double the business and then potentially you know the more things are automated and growing you know look at some other opportunities for for business and building the wealth and having a better life awesome all right perfect and so

how can we how can we keep up with you and follow along with you know everything that you've got going on and all that no I'm just I need to make an effort to get back on the calls those have been super helpful every every any time I'm feeling lost or something I try and try to chime

in on a call so but I know you guys are great everything love the the program and everything I think I think it's really good good quality stuff so yeah and you always you always tapped me and say hey what's going on and I go oh I need to be you know not doing what I used to

do and kind of yeah that's the thing is you know just it is I think staying on track and staying on goal and everything like that is is a lot harder than sounds when you first say it to yourself you know so easy to go back and go back to your old ways and so I mean just

those those taps every once in a while or appreciate it totally awesome and well yeah and and what's uh what's like your agency site and you know anybody that may be listening maybe there's partnership opportunities for you know your clients of dermatologists med spas plastic surgeons yeah how can we follow along so my site is WWB RN

lifts digital comm that's er a nd L ifs and Frank T digital comm and we're in San Diego and then yeah I don't really do a lot on social media unfortunately but uh yeah I don't have time for that right now that's cool yeah I don't know hit me up you want to chat anyone in the group

if you want to chat or collaborate on any any work you need any you know SEO help or anything like that yeah I feel free to reach out above to connect with anyone in this groove and yeah like I said hopefully get on some of the calls soon but yeah I really would love to connect with with

anyone else in the group so hit me up awesome dude well yeah thank you so much Brandon for for sharing your story and you know can't wait to do this again soon and talk about even you know more growth that you've had and awesome experiences but yeah dude thanks so much all right thank you Matt appreciate it

have a good one