When Andrew Chung's phone rang late one night, little did he know it would be the call that pivoted his entire career from sales into the dynamic world of digital marketing. Join us as the CEO of A Teamwork recounts his fascinating journey and how taking chances can lead to spectacular transformations in both personal and professional life. We swap tales and insights, emphasizing how specialized expertise and collaboration can catapult a company's growth to new heights.
Ever wondered how embracing virtual assistance can revolutionize your business model? I share my own evolution within the pay-per-call industry, inspired by the game-changing concepts in "The 4-Hour Workweek". We unravel the art of delegation, which has been key in allowing entrepreneurs like myself to step back from the day-to-day grind and focus on what truly matters – growth and innovation. Plus, get a firsthand look at how virtual staffing solutions have become a cornerstone for success, both in nurturing client relationships and in digging for those hidden golden opportunities.
This episode is a rollercoaster ride through the intricacies of a flourishing digital marketing firm, shifting from topics like the power of affiliate management and media buying to the strategic benefits of outsourcing to Argentina. Andrew and I dissect the cultural impacts on business practices, and how they've shaped our strategies for success. We cap things off by celebrating teamwork as the lifeblood of visionary business success, ensuring every fleeting idea has the potential to become a reality with the support of a dedicated and empowered team. So buckle up and join us for this deep dive into the heart of entrepreneurial spirit and the alchemy of teamwork. Let's go, baby!
When Andrew Chung's phone rang late one night, little did he know it would be the call that pivoted his entire career from sales into the dynamic world of digital marketing. Join us as the CEO of A Teamwork recounts his fascinating journey and how taking chances can lead to spectacular transformations in both personal and professional life. We swap tales and insights, emphasizing how specialized expertise and collaboration can catapult a company's growth to new heights.
Ever wondered how embracing virtual assistance can revolutionize your business model? I share my own evolution within the pay-per-call industry, inspired by the game-changing concepts in "The 4-Hour Workweek". We unravel the art of delegation, which has been key in allowing entrepreneurs like myself to step back from the day-to-day grind and focus on what truly matters – growth and innovation. Plus, get a firsthand look at how virtual staffing solutions have become a cornerstone for success, both in nurturing client relationships and in digging for those hidden golden opportunities.
This episode is a rollercoaster ride through the intricacies of a flourishing digital marketing firm, shifting from topics like the power of affiliate management and media buying to the strategic benefits of outsourcing to Argentina. Andrew and I dissect the cultural impacts on business practices, and how they've shaped our strategies for success. We cap things off by celebrating teamwork as the lifeblood of visionary business success, ensuring every fleeting idea has the potential to become a reality with the support of a dedicated and empowered team. So buckle up and join us for this deep dive into the heart of entrepreneurial spirit and the alchemy of teamwork. Let's go, baby!
LFG fam. We just shot a fucking banger. Right now. I can't wait till you hear this shit. It's like next level. No one's talking about this. Shout out to our sponsors, because without them, this shit wouldn't be possible. Shout out to Ringba. Shout out to Adam Young the paper call revolution. There's big, big money in paper call. Whether you're someone who's a novice looking to get into it, whether you're someone who's already doing it, putting up big numbers, let's fucking do this. Guys. Get the fucking book on Amazon. We're going to drop a link here. Take your shit to the next level. Let's fucking go.
Speaker 1:Welcome to another episode of the LLG let's Fucking Go show, sponsored by the industry's premier call tracking platform, ringba. I'm here today in New York City, happy to be back home. Just had some fucking great breakfast meal out here. I'm here with my man, andrew Chung, the founder and CEO of A Teamwork. Great to have you on the show, man. Thank you for having me. Oh, you're welcome, man.
Speaker 1:You're doing some great shit here and I want people to understand what you're doing, because I think what you're doing is very valuable. I've seen my own company flourish because of using your services, so I want everyone in the industry not only in our industry, but in the business world to know what you're doing, because I feel a lot of people don't. They try to. A lot of business owners try to do shit on their own and that's great, but it can only get you this far. So I want to talk more about what you're doing and what got you in this game. So, first and foremost, andrew, how'd you get into digital marketing? What got you in the space? How long you been in it? Tell the whole story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, how I got in is just totally random. I mean, I was always in sales, right, and you know dabbling in different things, you know mainly telecommunication and solar. But I got a call from a recruiter one day and it was some digital marketing company founder and CEO just would reject every single candidate. And so this recruiter said, hey, I don't know why, but you don't even have digital marketing background. But I just look at your face and your uh, cv or whatever, and I think he's gonna hire you and I'm like, well, I'm not even looking for for a job, it goes, just do me a favor. How old was this? This was like 10, over 10 years ago. And so turns out there was some dude that's korean, korean american, who lives in jersey, uh, has an office in palo alto, and, for whatever reason, a lot of people thought I look like him, except that I'm bald and he's got a ponytail and so, uh, but yeah, we, we immediately connected, like over the phone, and you know that interview was supposed to be like for an hour or whatever on a friday afternoon, but we ended up talking on the phone until like 4 am in the the morning and he goes dude, I'm going to fly to Palo Alto on Tuesday and I'm going to hire you, like you can't say no, and I'm like, well, let me think about it, I don't even know what my comp is. Right, he goes, we'll make it work, I mean, and that was how I got into the industry. And then, you know, I've been here ever since.
Speaker 2:I love the industry, I love the people and, compared to some other industry, I think what we have is, you know, it's like 80-20 rule, right, like you have 20% of people that generates 80% of the business. I mean, I really think that that's what really happens. And, of course, we're very inclusive and we want people to get involved. And you know, if you got, you know, real shit, then you know we'll support you. Like, I love our community because you can be an outsider, but as long as you create value, I think people just, you know, always are up to trying to support that newbie and, you know, trying to help them out. And I just love the generosity in, like, you know, in our industry, right, and so, and I can say the same thing about A-Team work. I mean, you know, I started out as a digital marketer, like specifically in paper call space, which I didn't know anything about in the beginning and then I got to know quickly and when I started in pay-per-call it was green. A lot of people were doing data.
Speaker 1:So what was this? When did you start pay-per-call?
Speaker 2:This was like 2014, 13, around then, and so, yeah, a lot of people just didn't even know that pay-per-call is like a form of lead also, they didn't even know that, you know paper call is like a form of lead also, you know they didn't know. And at the time, there were a lot of home services same thing with some legacy, like you know, carriers, you know, for auto insurance was huge and, uh, home security, like adt, was really, you know, king at the during, during that time, you know. Now things shifted. So, uh, it's not, as you know, a big campaign, as it used to be, but you also also have things like hotel chains buying calls.
Speaker 1:I had no idea, so it was you know back then I didn't know, hotel chains were buying calls. Yeah, yeah, like IHG.
Speaker 2:I think it was at IHG, like the. What do you call it? Whatever the IHG brand is, I don't think it's Hilton.
Speaker 2:But, anyway, like there were a lot of buying calls. I mean, it was just different day back then and you know, and I know you know we've migrated from that and obviously the buyers are getting smarter and smarter. So you know those folks like me, you know, for the longest time I, you know, trusted my affiliates or people who know how to generate traffic. And then I went and, you know, found direct buyers to manage. You know those budgets and also you know doing QA and making sure that you know we buyers to manage those budgets and also doing QA and making sure that we buy the right traffic. As you know, like everybody knows, that play is still there but the industry is moving. Where you got to generate your own traffic, whether it's media buying or getting call center and then converting data into call, whatever it is like buyers want you to just organically grow your traffic. That demand is getting more and more.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:You know. So I've seen that you know grow over the years and how things change, and so I mean that's part of the reason why I actually started, like I mean, one other thing that I would say about our industry is that there's so many people that are doing diverse things.
Speaker 2:You know they own like multiple businesses. They're musicians, they're artists. You know they do something really cool. So whenever you go to in these conferences, right, uh, there's, there's so many interesting people that does amazing thing, you know, like you, you just want to get to know them like just as friends. So that's another beauty about our industry, like compared to others not to say that there aren't interesting. You know people in other industries, but I think we really have very diverse kind of interesting high energy people and so when you do that as an entrepreneur, you know like you're dabbling in so many things.
Speaker 2:I still remember again this was like almost 10 years ago because my daughter's nine, when my wife got pregnant, she said you're doing way too much stuff. You you're running like three different companies and you you have a, you know, full-time job. You're also a musician like something's gotta give. There's no way you can't keep up with your lifestyle like this. You're gonna have to give up something. You know, because you're about to become a father and and and so I kind of had a midlife crisis, you know, when I, when she told me that she was very serious, I'm like, well, I don't want to give up anything. I love my life and I think I could be a great father too, but why do I have to give up something? I just couldn't cope with that idea. Like I mean, I just thought that you have infinite energy and infinite time, infinite love. You can do whatever you want, so, but I knew that I had to find a solution.
Speaker 2:So somehow that was when, for me, I came across a book that a lot of folks know about, especially entrepreneurs. It's Tim Ferriss' four-hour work week book, right, and that's where it tells you how to leverage globalized workforce and how you can work remote and leverage more affordable labor from overseas, so that you don't have to do things that you don't really have to do, and you learn how to delegate. And so I I don't know, somehow I was thinking about that I came across that book. So I immediately, like you know, just followed his instruction and found a virtual assistant out of philippines, and that was, yeah, like about 10 years ago, and I miserably failed in the beginning because I thought, oh well, I have this person who's dedicated for me, like, like you know, whatever 10 hours a week or something, and that's going to solve all my problems. So I was like, hey, do this, do that. And you know, and while I'm sleeping I'm like, yeah, they're working now, so it's like they're going to be producing some good work while I'm sleeping.
Speaker 2:But when I checked the work, it was sorry, it was shit, right, it was crap. So I was like, oh, like, and so I would get like you know, you know I was getting high blood pressure, getting all mad. But then I realized you know, it's not, it's not, it wasn't her fault, because I didn't explain exactly what I had in mind, I didn't take the time to really, you know, let her know, you know what it is that I'm doing. So so what would take me? 30 minutes, you know I realize I have to invest, like in the beginning, like two, three hours to go through the same task multiple times so that they finally get it. And then and then, so they got that move one. You know they have that one task done, so you just focus on that. So now you know that every time you do X, that's been trained then they know how to. They know how to do it exactly how you want it. So it's like because they're not in your head right to do it exactly how you want it. So it's like because they're not in your head right. So it's one thing to add workforce, you know, to help you, but it doesn't end there. You're gonna have to actually invest time to, you know, teach them like what is it that you want? So that was a model that I approached for me.
Speaker 2:And then you know, even back then, like before I even started A Teamwork, like I was big on just virtual assistant I used to tell other people like, hey, it'll change your life, but I always felt that there was a limitation of how much they can actually do for me. And then I finally started my own shop last year and then I needed just things started to blow up. So I really needed to focus on ramping up my workforce. But also it's expensive to hire folks here in the US. And somehow I came across folks out of Argentina and I hired my first Her name is Marty, who's now our general manager, and the quality compared to my team out in Philippines was just like night and day difference from the beginning to the point where I almost got offended.
Speaker 2:I'm like you know, there was a couple of individuals I worked with you know, uh, you know for for almost a decade. How could it be that new becomes and and just like crush it. You know, compared to what is it that? Like I wasn't doing before with them, or did I not have the high expectation, and so uh, uh. So anyway. So I thought it was just an individual, but I said, well, you're working out, so hey, can you find a friend you know who can speak English in Argentina? So I hired a second person Again. The quality was amazing. Then the third, fourth, and started growing, and so that's how I started this company. I mean, you know it's.
Speaker 2:You know, normally, when you're an entrepreneur or you're running or you're in our digital marketing space, you have so many innovative people, there's so many moving parts. There's always an opportunity to start a business based on idea. So normally I have an idea and then you pursue that and you start to see if you can monetize and make money and start a company. But in this case it completely happened by accident. I never thought that I would actually own a company that's based, you know, virtual staffing, but it was really for me. And then the quality was so good and they were surpassing the expectation that I would normally have here in the US.
Speaker 2:So then people like you and you know, like the family, you know, connection holding, and also, like AXAD or like you know, just few folks that I know, casually they also took notice about, you know, connection holding, and also, uh, like axad or like you know just few folks that I know, casually, they also took notice about, you know, about my team, and they're like, hey, I need an argentinian.
Speaker 2:And so I, I start to casually, you know, uh, make introduction and it got to the point where just demand just blew up. So so I was like, yeah, I, I, I think this is a business, and so that was, that was a little bit over a year ago, and so now, uh, we're, we almost have 100 people working in argentina. Uh, you know, we've got to about 50 clients now, mainly in our, in our, in our industry, and so, uh, so, yeah, it's been a ride, but it's been uh again. And going back to how I love folks in our industry, even though I don't focus on, like you know, day to day, like brokering deals or you deals, or whether paper call, or finding buyers or publishers or whatever now I feel very satisfied with the position that I'm in because I can help the very people that are in our industry that I love in a different way now.
Speaker 2:It really gave me a different perspective and helping them to grow by providing staff that's affordable and they're also quality, and so now it feels more like a partnership than ever, right, so that's what I love about about this and I love that, because you talked about me getting about adding, creating value or adding value right, and I'm a huge believer in that and I think that that's we we take for granted.
Speaker 1:I think sometimes all the shit that's involved in our industry, there are so many freaking moving parts and I've been there. Before you hire somebody, you expect them to understand it and then it's a lot of freaking moving parts, right? So I think now, because you understand you came from, you started in digital marketing over 10 years ago. You understand, you know web forms, you understand pay-per-call, you understand age leaves, have pay-per-call. You understand age leaves. Every asset broke all that stuff you're talking about, so you could speak the language. You understand the pain and the frustration that internet marketers, whether they're affiliates, whether they're advertisers that they go to. Would you say that? How do you think that that experience helped you? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know, I think I mean for sure, I mean that's how I was able to grow this so fast. Like I said, like part of it is just that generosity and innovation that our industry have. Like, a lot of folks are that way and whenever they see someone that you know that gets into a new field or a different thing, it's blessing. You know, like people just go, hey, what is it Like? Hey, you know I want to learn. Yeah, hey, hey, I need someone like that and just like they're so eager to help you and also do business with you. Of course, you need to build a good reputation and all of that. But yeah, like I think what's unique about digital marketing? Lead gen? You know our space is like telco, for example, or solar.
Speaker 2:Right, if you're in that industry, the sales harder. Like to create a relationship with your potential client is much harder. Right, you got to prospect the hell out of them to get them on the phone, then get an appointment, then do a presentation, but guess what, when they sign the contract, then you're done. You know you're going to get your money. But look at us, performance-based right, you can chase a buyer, you know, for two years and then finally you ink the paper like, yeah, yeah, I'll work with you, and then they give you a budget, but until you actually, you know, perform and convert, make it, convert like you make no money even after all that chasing.
Speaker 2:So it's almost flipped in terms of how you do your business development, and what I mean by that is there's just so many moving parts that even though when you close a deal does not mean that you close a deal right, it's not like you just sold, like, a $30,000 solar system, right. And so now the real work begin. Even after all that IOs and MSA that you sign, now you really have to perform and then drive that traffic. So you can do it in many different ways, obviously, whether it's you broker the deal with trusted affiliates that you have, or you already know how to do the media buying and create. You know data or calls, or you know you have that data and then you employ call centers. So, but there's just so many moving parts to monetize, but you have to monetize it. You know you got the contract. You have to monetize. So every day I know what people are thinking about right.
Speaker 2:And here's the thing our industry never stops. It's like you turn the faucet on and you can't turn it off. So if that water is leaking, then you're literally bleeding water, right. And so just imagine all that stress that you have to deal with when everything's. You have a good day because everything is flowing and everything's. You know all the calls or leads are flowing to all the right places and you're seeing the conversion. You have a good day.
Speaker 2:But you know how many days, many days, you know like you have a good day until all of a sudden you're about to have a heart attack because you know one of the good buyer also stopped taking the calls, or you know conversion, so you got to act fast. That means you know we got all these like technology that's coming up with, ai and machine learning and all that stuff. Still, you have to have a lot of eyes looking at those campaigns. And then when you find something, well, first of all you have to have a lot of eyes looking at those campaigns. And then, when you find something, well, first of all you have to find something ASAP. And then, when you find it, you have to do something about it to fix it ASAP. Right, there is no like oh yeah, we'll wait until tomorrow to get this fixed. So you know, I think a lot of people can sympathize with just the picture that I just drew in terms of all the stress and day-to-day things that we all have to deal with. It certainly helps when there's affordable human resource that can help you to execute those things, because on a high level, of course, I think what it is is that, with virtual staffing, the reason why this is great is that you keep doing what you do best, which is go out and find new opportunity, be innovative, maybe be like an R&D person to figure out. So what can we do with this? What else can I do with this data that we have? Like whether we do a lookalike, or how can we efficiently convert this to or align them up with the right offer or whatever it is. There's just so much to do.
Speaker 2:So it's not like if some of those things that you do day to day is replaced by, especially the one that's totally like duplicatable, something low key that people just need to be taught what to do day to day to look at it and fix it.
Speaker 2:Or like make sure that you optimize the campaign, but like a lot of entrepreneurs and people at a high level don't have the time, because you're so in the business that you're not able to just look at people more proactive about how to grow your business or what innovative thing you can do or what are some of the new elephant buyers that at least we start today to get to the point where you get those big accounts.
Speaker 2:And in order to do that, you need that workforce and more than ever, I think, nowadays you need that workforce and more than ever, I think nowadays you need that more, and this is where our team can help out. But, yes, to be able to articulate all of this in my normal sales calls with my potential clients, they tend to just get it because I've already been in it, I already know what they're going through. But also, at the same time, a lot of those folks because I've been in the industry for a it, I already know what they're going through. But also, at the same time, a lot of those folks because I've been in the industry for a while, I already know their challenges. There's trust.
Speaker 1:There's a trust, yeah, and I think the way to think about it. In our industry, there's so much gold under our feet. You need people to help you get that gold. Or maybe you know what's there, but you don't have the time to do. It is what it comes down to, and I'll give my example.
Speaker 1:I did something similar. You had the people in the Philippines and I have a class in Colombia. I love Colombia, my wife's from Colombia, my grandmother's from Colombia, and so I'm like a couple years ago I needed an assistant, so I did a virtual staffing company in Colombia. They started off all right but it wasn't working, so we had to fire both of them, and it wasn't until I got with you at the A-Team, where I found Debra, and Debra's been with us for a year and a half.
Speaker 1:I don't know what I would do without Debra. She's part of our company at the end of the day and she's just on top of stuff. She keeps me organized, she handles my scheduling and she takes meeting notes, and it's these little things that go a long way, and she'll make sure. If I say to her hey, I'm a big believer and I'm reading a book called 10X is easier than 2X and there's so much shiny object syndrome in our industry. So when I work with Deborah, we have daily meetings where we look at what are the big opportunities, what are the 10X opportunities.
Speaker 1:We gotta get across the finish line and she makes sure she'll call me and harass me to hey, did it get done? Cause she wants to check it off her list. But you need that kind of reminder. So you guys have been a blessing for us. We started with one agent. I think we're up to eight, and it's not just VA stuff that you offer, it's not virtual assistant. We started with that. But I want to talk about what else do you guys offer aside from virtual. Tell us the whole kit and caboodle of what you guys offer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So additional virtual assistant or executive assistant, you know that can handle your day to day, like taking notes and reminding you about what are your priorities, because you know that's definitely helpful, because especially if you are, you know, high level entrepreneur that are handling a lot of different things, like you certainly need that, so there's that. Or like just you know scheduling, or you know travel, like booking travels, things like that, so that's there. But also another big department we are now like we have like different departments. So one you know, probably our fastest growing department is ops, so we have operation and so this is a team that I have that you know serve our clients with all the needs for a tracking platform. So you know Ringba, retriever, leasepedia, leap, prosper, you know Babardu, funetsa. You know our team can they're very versed in all of those platforms, whether you know pay-per-call or you know pin-post leads or what have you. So not only they can you know when you get a spec from your buyer and just setting up the campaign, you know whether it's. You know, even something complex like setting up RTV on Ringba, for example. They have capacity to do all of that. Also QA and calls. So you know I mean whether it's live QA of, like you know. Just, you know monitoring to make sure that you know the buyers are picking up their phone and there's no phone drop or that happens. You know they know how to alert to appropriate person. Or, uh, listening to calls. If you're onboarding a, you know publisher and you want to make sure that their traffic's clean, they can do that also. But also, yeah, and also customize reports. You know, um, like you know different clients have different needs and how they prefer to look at the reports on. You know whether it's like every three hours or every day or once a week, whatever, but you know our team can do all of that for them.
Speaker 2:So, along with that now the other is affiliate management. So you know we have team members that can wear your T-shirt, you know, for your client and and they can they already speak our language. So, whether it's ACA or Medicare or auto insurance and duration and rate, like they know how to talk that language. So you know we have clients that are now employing our team to be the affiliate manager. So they're all out there in the marketplace. You know willing deals and stuff, you know.
Speaker 2:So then we have folks like that, you know. I mean, I wouldn't say like. You know, we have super duper salesperson that like handles big accounts, but this is a good fit for like ops doing their work for you know, optimizing the traffic. Or you need to pause this, you know, publisher, or you need to give them more budget and just day to day communicating like an affiliate manager. You know we have, we have a team member that can, you know, can help with that. So essentially, on a nutshell, with those two like and you can run a business like that. And then you know you as an owner or high level senior, you know salesperson, when they come across a bigger deal, then certainly you want to be part of that, you know. And then you step in, you know, but they can at least warm up or do an intro Now. So there's that's the ops team.
Speaker 2:But then we also have media buying, you know, content creation team. But then we also have a media buying content creation team where they can manage Facebook ad, google ad, keyword ad buying, optimizing it, creating contents for it, whether it's video, graphic or whatever creative ads, capturing form there or having a dynamic DID to generate calls from there. They know how to do all of that and doing all the full integration to back into the whatever tracking platform or even do like integration so that if you're a media buyer and you want to keep track of your A-B testing or whatever at the campaign level to see what's converting, our team is fully capable of keeping track of all that and setting everything up. So that's on the media buying and content creation side. We also have a call center. It's not a full BPO, but you know like they just rent our agents because they speak English, you know fluently and also, obviously, spanish.
Speaker 2:And then we have a B2B prospecting team where some of our clients they use us to connect to more people on LinkedIn or capture their email. Then they're like a nurturing campaign, like the email, and then having like a weekly whatever, like if you're like a network and you're looking for offers or traffic, you can do that and then do a full integration back into like a CRM to manage all the you know opportunities, like you know. So we have a team that can also fully do that as well. So I mean, yeah, so now, like it's specifically tailored to our industry, you know. I mean in a nutshell, like you know, if you're an individual like, oh, you know, I want to start a company doing, you know, if you're an individual like, oh you know, I want to start a company doing a bunch of relationship and I want to get something going. You can come to us and literally, just you know, plug into all of our team and start a business, you know, having your own network or, like you know, a lead gen company, so I love it.
Speaker 1:I started Solar Direct Marketing in 2016. Right, and at first it was just me. I was doing everything. I was doing the fricking invoicing, I was doing the sales, I was like doing operations, all that. Then I hired a guy, tom, and Tom. Thank God for Tom. He was like my right-hand person. Tom was, he was managing the uh, my leads team and I leads media lead column, all that stuff. But he wound up doing like a million things. He's still with me for like four or five years, right.
Speaker 1:Then I got my bookkeeper but we started growing so freaking fast that you know things started falling through the cracks and you said a lot. There was a lot to digest, because when you're dealing with live leads, it's a commodity. You're talking about $50, $100 leads and there'd be days I thought I made X amount of profit, nice profit and they're like, oh shit, their leads never went anywhere. They were stuck. They fell to the floor Like what the fuck? All of a sudden now we went from making money to losing money, right.
Speaker 1:So I think that's the beauty of work with you guys that you guys can provide those eyes and trust me when you're a startup company. We're in New York City. It's the end of the day, business is about minimizing risk and maximizing gain, right? So when you hire somebody and to tell you the truth, a lot of times you hire someone probably like a freaking 30, 40% chance they're going to work. So you do all this onboarding. Time is money, you spend all this fucking money on them and they don't work, whereas with you guys listen we have eight I think we hired eight or nine people. I think we're like 88%, if not 90%. We're like way up there with you guys. So the retention is phenomenal and we're getting a lot more bang for your buck. You know what's your feedback on any of that? You have other customers telling you the same thing, or?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, so what? Yeah, I mean, I think the reason again, like the reason why I Again, the reason why I didn't even think that I would start this business and when I finally realized that there's something here, is because of all the feedback that I've been getting from our customers. Because I think you also understand, and I've been utilizing virtual assistant or VA service for a long time, so there is always a little bit of you get what VA service for a long time. So there is always like a little bit of you know you get what you pay for, kind of attitude. It's like, oh yeah, va, I know I've used it before. Yeah, like I, yeah, I know it's cheap, but you know, but also quality isn't there. So I'd rather, you know, I'd rather just utilize someone here.
Speaker 2:What actually also drove, uh, somewhat of a success last year with our aging work. Also, I give credit to pandemic right, because, you have to understand, prior to COVID, nobody was, we didn't have an infrastructure in place or people didn't even know how to work fully remote, but then we were forced to learn how to work remote and I think that's part of the reason why you know. But I think, with that said, I think you know our industry tends to be very like. We have a lot of like first trying people. You know like we're the most innovative people you know compared to other I I think you know, because you know they're really shots
Speaker 2:they always take you only take shot the risk taker, Like I mean, there are a lot of that in our industry that way. So I think that also helped. But you know, just working remote concept was not very friendly, you know, pre-COVID, but then now everyone's used to it, so I think that also helped. But, point being that, so a lot of folks when I say, hey, yeah, we have overseas, you know, virtual staffing that can help you to do ops, they're like get out of here. But you know, well, it's pretty affordable. And you know I don't have a contract, it's just month to month, so I'll give it a shot for a month and I would say, like I mean, you know, there was a time I got lucky.
Speaker 2:It was 10 out of 10 times, but I would say statistically-wise, over 9 out of 10 times my clients have been blown away. They're like what Are you for real? I had no idea. So they had low expectation. So maybe that also helped. They had low expectation, but then our team really delivered and so they were just so happy to actually have access to human resources like this, to the point where now, like you know, so many people want to just go to Argentina and meet their team.
Speaker 2:So, even though I support the kind of the HR part of it, you know, but that's the benefit too, so that you know we also provide the QA on the backend. We make sure that everyone has proper training, you know everyone's. You know, getting all of our clients gets a customer success manager who makes sure that everything is being delivered on time and making sure that our clients are happy. But I think and I always joke it must be their meat, something that they eat in Argentina, right? But I finally got to meet them in person.
Speaker 2:I flew down there in November and then, once I went down there, I kind of understood why, you know, we're getting such a great, you know, high quality discipline individuals from that country and I, you know, the reason why, I would say, is number one, it's pretty simple Time zone difference, Because when you work with folks out of, like, you know, Asia, they're in working night shift and so, no matter how like they have it all worked out and I'm, you know, again and they're working night shift and so, no matter how they have it all worked out, and again, they're really good people out of Asia too. I'm not saying they're all bad quality, but I think there are some challenges like time difference, right? So unless they're willing to work your hours, which they try, I don't think some of them are fully engaged, because it's tough to work night shift.
Speaker 1:You can have that real-time dialogue with them. Either you're sleeping right and you can't catch a mistake right away. You might fall asleep in six hours Like, oh fuck, there was a mistake that happened. You're, you're, you're playing beyond eight ball at that time. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I think, yeah, like I know that there are team members out of Asia that come out of U hours and they do night shift, but that just, you know, we're all human and you know, like, whatever, like it's just biologically it's hard right. But, um, argentina, uh, you know, from new york is only one or two hour ahead, depending on you know our the time of the year because of the daylight saving time, so they're only one hour or two hours ahead. So they pretty much work, operate, you know, similar to our hours and I I think that really helps. But here's another thing Now they have a new president, they have like very high inflation and they've had this problem for a long time. So Argentina economy is you know I mean it needs improvement.
Speaker 2:You know, I mean well, that's like nice way of saying it. But, like you know, the economy is kind of shit right now, right, and they have a new president that are trying to fix it. But in the meantime and you know, they always talk about how, like you know the, the strong dollars and you know the the economy is really bad down there and so, uh, you know the the quality of living and such things like that. But when I went down there, like quality wise, it was beautiful, like I mean I felt like I was in Paris or, like you know, barcelona or something like it was a very beautiful European city. In Buenos Aires. I felt like the people you know, just in general, they're very proud and highly educated. So another one really good thing about Argentina is that they have affordable education and healthcare, so everybody gets really good education.
Speaker 2:So we have a generation of people that are graduating, because my average age, I think for the people my teammate down in Argentina, is probably late 20s. So they all get out of college and, statistically, if they also speak English fluently, then they have high quality education. You know some of them, you know, goes beyond just BA and getting, like you know, master's or PhD and things like that, all free. So you have highly educated people that are highly skilled, but the job market sucks right. So they're all looking for this job, to have a stable job and things like that. So by having this opportunity through our work, it gives them such pride because finally they're working remotely with a US-based company doing you know high complex things. You know setting up office. Beyond that, like crunching numbers and pulling reports, or you know doing a lot more things that are just you know, something that's more fitting to what they had in mind when they went to university, graduating, and so they take so much pride. And so there's that.
Speaker 2:And then the way we work is that, regardless of the client or not, when we hire, like work here full-time and so the job is secure, whether they got assigned to a client and that client disappeared, whatever. Not only that, but we don't toss them around from a call center to VA, to media, once you got hired and you have a specific position. Now you're doing that every day. So guess what happens? A year passes, they've graduated to the next level already because they're doing the same thing, but also they feel like this is a real job, it's not a standby, temp job. This is like, you know, you can grow.
Speaker 2:And then some of them, you know, took a lot of initiative and became managers, they got promoted, so they see the path, and so then what our clients are getting is very hungry, very intelligent people who actually think that working for that particular client is for the long run. It's like, oh, I don't know how long I'm going to do this, maybe a year, and I'm out of here. They're very committed, and so I think that those intangible things are what's leading to high quality, right, and so, yeah, and so, in addition to this being a big, really good business opportunity, it's too that, uh, you know, they get to also, you know, firsthand, learn about argentina, culture and them and and also understand their situation. So I think this is a perfect, like a win-win situation.
Speaker 2:Right, you know, we, we, we need cost-effective, uh, human resource to run our business, you know, and because we're not, like a lot of us are not corporate, like you know, we're still private company, that's, you know, just few of us in the garage or whatever, and then you kind of made it, made it work. But as you expand, now you have this, you know, extension of your team members out of Argentina. That's very cost-effective, but also you're giving them opportunity, right?
Speaker 1:So yeah, I love I can. I can talk virtues about you guys all day long. I saw a person as a business owner. I'm not only a business owner. I have a family. I got three kids. I'm traveling like crazy.
Speaker 1:Time for me is money. You guys have given me a lot more of my time. Your team has given me a lot more of my time and, like you said, they're a pleasure to deal with. No one's like playing games. They take pride in what they do, pride in what they're doing. I think you've instilled a sense of loyalty.
Speaker 1:Right, because you've given an opportunity because of the economic situation there. Right, and south america has been my mom's from venezuela, my wife's colombia right, I think south america has tremendous opportunities. Right, it's going to continue to roast. I think it's a blow up. El salvador's got some economic. They're blowing up right now. So the bottom line is that I think that you've found, you know you stumbled upon a great opportunity and that's great. This is like a campaign. It worked from day one Pretty rare, right, when that happens, when you find that happened. You got to press the gas, so you went from one agent. Now you got about nine plus agents on the team. Yeah, yeah, and so, with that being said, I know you've grown tremendously for a lot of factors. I keep talking about the call savings. What's the average call savings? Someone can get in or working with your team versus working with someone in the US.
Speaker 2:Is there a percentage or a range you can point out? I mean, let's talk about ops, for example, like how much you know if someone, who can you know if you need to hire an ad ops person, like I mean, you got to at least pay, like what? 60, 70k a year.
Speaker 1:I would think 60 to 80K, depending on where you are in the country.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean you're, I mean with, if you employ us, you're talking like more than half the saving. I mean you're barely paying a little over 20K a year, right? So so to talk about, think about the cost savings for the office person, yeah, you know, you know, and so, uh, uh, so that's it. And then, and then you know, the upside is that, uh, you know, I mean, as you grow, you can just scale more, like not just with one individual, but now it can touch on not just like ops, but media buying, and it's all flat rate, like we don't have, like you know, depending on the like, uh, what do you call it? The skill set, at least not for now, right? Uh, they're all flat rate, so it's easily, easily scalable, you know, so, so, so that's the beauty, so the cost saving is huge.
Speaker 1:And I was going to say one thing too we're talking about $60,000 to $80,000 in America for an ops person, right? We're not even talking about payroll taxes, workers' comp, all this other stuff they get eaten up with. I started a call center in South Carolina in 2021. I forgot what our hourly rate was and there were some savings in South Carolina versus doing it here in New Jersey or across the river, right. But yeah, at the end of the month I'm like I thought we made this much in EBITDA or profitability and I'm like where the fuck did the money go? It went to payroll tax, it went to this, it went to rent, it went to that. So when you talk about 60 to 80 to 20, it's actually more than that, because that 60 to 80 is more like 70 to 100 when you include the payroll tax you include workers' comp, you include this thing, that thing, you get E and up, and that's what I think is going on right now Business owners their back's against the wall.
Speaker 1:There's so many costs that you have running a business in any normal environment. Now you're talking about an inflationary environment where interest rates are through the fucking roof. Talking about an inflationary environment where interest rates are through the fucking roof, the calls and buy and get getting capital higher than ever. So this is why I think a product like yours is. It's the perfect timing for you to blow up. You're in the right place at the right time and you're doing a good job with it too. It's not like you're lucky. I've seen, I've talked to your people on your team. I was on Zoom with like dozens of them. They all seem generally freaking proud and they just won the World Cup too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:That fucking helps right. With that being said, it's a nice thing to see that people take pride in their work. That's what America used to be. You talk about America. In the 40s and 50s there was this fucking pride in America. Man, I hate to say it, I feel like that pride has disappeared a little bit. I go to Colombia.
Speaker 2:I see that. Who said this? You know, the hard time creates strong men and strong men creates, you know, whatever, like whatever, you make money when everything's going up.
Speaker 1:It's hard to make money when there's a bad fucking economy. Yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:So I think I mean, but you know, I got to say, you know, like before I went to visit Argentina, I thought they were just having a really hard time Not to say they're not. You know, I mean like economically. Yes, like I mean. You know, the inflation is like now like it's like 25% a month or something, sometimes, like you like, the story that I'm hearing is that you go into a supermarket and then like every day, like your toothbrush or whatever like the little things, supermarket, and then like every day like your toothbrush or whatever like the little things, it significantly the price goes up, so to the point where you have no idea how much you're going to pay for something like in a week from now. Right that that becomes like the norm of the conversation, even when you try to, you know, negotiate, you know, over there it's like oh, you buy it today, I can give it to you for this price, but I can't guarantee you it's going to be the same price a week from now because of the inflation.
Speaker 2:But even with all of that said, um, I, I, I really think, uh, you know, what I learned about argentinian culture is that they're very proud and um, and they're proud in a way that, like you know, um, they want to do things right. You know, like, and and, and then they want to thrive, right, and I, I really appreciate that. It's in their culture. So, you know, like, I, I don't know, um, I've had a lot of yes, people like, and you know, like, um, the one thing I would say maybe it's okay for me to say, because I'm asian, you know, and koreans are that way too, especially traditionally, but like you don't, you never say no to your boss. If, like, if I go, hey, by tomorrow, you, you got to get, like you know, you got to write like a hundred pages long like report and do this and do that, and you better get it done. I need that by 10 AM. Like you know, especially my parents' generation, in Korean and it's kind of all around in Asia, it's like you got to get that done. That means that if that means that you have to stay home, I mean, I'm not, you don't go home and you stay. Like you know, past like whatever, like just stay up all night, you have to get it done or you just don't get it done, you know, but you have to say yes. There's no culture of saying no. So sometimes what would drive me nuts was exactly that. There was a culture like. You know, when I dealt with, you know, folks in Asia is a lot of times sometimes that would happen they're like oh, yep, yes, yes, I get it done, yes, I get it done. And then I'm thinking I'm going to get all of these things will get done, and next day it's not done.
Speaker 2:But you know, when I started to work with Argentinians, they were like I'm like, hey, you got to do it. You know, no, no, no, yeah, you're right, you know, maybe I overestimated or underestimated that job. Or sometimes, you know, you know how it is Like I'm too busy. So are you Like we're traveling all the time? So someone asks you like from the team Andrew, like I need an answer so I can move forward with this thing. You're holding me up, kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, I would never hear that from some teams that I worked with before, because they would just stay silent, because they know that if I ask for hey, why did this didn't get done? They will tell me oh, it's because of you. Like you see this Slack message. I asked you like two days ago. You never responded, so I was just waiting for your answer, right, so it gives them a reason to not do the work, and they will do that. I you know the most of my team members in Argentina if I don't answer, they will give me shit for it. They're like hey, andrew, you're wasting your money right now because I literally have one one person told me this before. You're wasting your money right now because I can't get this done and I thought that you said this was important and I can't get it done because you still haven't responded to me. I need your answer and I look at that. I'm like oh my God.
Speaker 1:Yes, you're here.
Speaker 2:Yes, because they care I mean, I guess that's what it is they care so much and there's so much pride that, to the point where it changed my life and my perspective on you know how I need to be more respectful.
Speaker 2:Not that I'm not being respectful, but in a sense that, like I always need to make sure that whatever I say, you know, I also have to do it with respect. And then also, their time is just as valuable, and when they ask for something, then I need to respond. You know, even though I'm supposed to be the boss, like I mean you know, cause we're all trying to accomplish the same thing. And I think boss, like I mean you know, because we're all trying to accomplish the same thing, and I think, I think I don't know. Again, going back to the intangible thing, it's hard to, you know, articulate all of that and have a team really understand it. But, like, I'm not saying everybody's perfect, but, relatively speaking, culturally, I don't know why, but I I've had so much easier time with my team in argentina compared to any other culture so far, and I think, I think that's what's been the key to success, to to this up to this moment, you know.
Speaker 1:I've seen it too. You just made me think we had, we had some growing pains last year. I mean we were like crazy. We went from we may ain't five, I mean three years in a row, four times in the last three years in multiple companies, and you start moving fast. You start and especially me, I move. We put bumpers in my company to protect us from me because I run so fucking fast that sometimes, like we will move so fast that shit will get fucked up, and the A team has helped with that kind of stuff, right. Well, that being said, there was one particular individual in Rodrigo. I love him. I love him man.
Speaker 1:We were like I had this bright idea one day. It seemed like a bright day. I wanted to have him do some other stuff that I thought would move the needle. And you know what he did he? He sent me a skype, I think he called me. I didn't answer, like I really need a few minutes of your time, and he was like listen, I I'll do this if this is what you want me to do, but I don't think it's the best thing for you to do because of this.
Speaker 1:A, b, c, d. Yeah, I was like holy shit. I mean this guy is right, because you know what? I'm over here moving a million miles an hour, right, I, this guy's in the weeds, he sees the stuff, right? Yeah, and I'm glad I listened to him, because if I hadn't listened to him it would have been a freaking disaster. So I think a lot of you know people that are ceos or visionaries, like like we are we, we, we have like a million ideas and we just need one out of those 10 ideas to sit and when that hits, that's how we make our money, right it's almost like gambling is what it comes down to.
Speaker 1:But we need people in the weeds to kind of question. You call you out sometimes, say hey, you know, I don't think this is good. And he did it in a very respectful way. He didn't do it like listen Dave, that's a bad idea. He's like listen kid, can we please talk? If you want me to do it, I'll more of my team would do that, because a lot of times, you know, as a boss, people are afraid to step on their toes. They're afraid to step on your toes. They think that you're going to fire them if something's going to happen, something bad's going to happen.
Speaker 1:But if you have a good leader, they won't do it. So he said that to me, like they've said it to you.
Speaker 2:I'm like damn, and this is like beyond, like virtual staffing, whatever, but it's exactly that. And you know, I and I think we're not the only ones, I think this is a common challenge for all of us that are, you know, running a company or doing a lot of different. You know just moving here, things here and there. You know just people that are like that. So when you stay in the high level, um, you know the very people that you want to work with, that that's, you know, kind of supporting you. Uh, um, that's what was regal did is exactly what I would think that I expect you know like that, because I, I'm not the one now.
Speaker 2:There was a time when I was setting up, you know things on platform or whatever, but now I, I rely on the team for that right, but when I, when I say that it's not just mechanical thing, like you, you do that and then whatever, because what I, what I don't like, and I, and the last thing I would want anybody, whoever I work with, whether it's like I'm the manager or business partner or whatever, is just uh, lack of interest. And here's what I mean by that, because when I, if obviously I said something, but that was, and I'm sure I had my logic, you know why. But then now I'm not in the detail level, so I don't know all the detail, I only come from this. I could be completely wrong, but here's what I two or three things could happen based on that. You know, if someone who feels like they have to challenge me you know because I said that either they'll just say you know what, I don't care, because let them just make the mistake. You said you're the boss, so I will just go with you, even though they know that it's wrong. They'll blatantly just go with you because they know that they're not going to get into trouble because it's on you, because you told me that and I just followed you.
Speaker 2:So it's kind of lack of interest and I've seen that unfortunately, like there's been lack of interest Sometimes, even then there's still value with that individual. So you can't completely like fire them or something, but there's always that. So what I personally do is okay, well, I can't expect that much from that person, so I will only go this much with that person. So you end up internally negotiating how you're going to deal with that person because you still need them, right, absolutely, that's the reality, or the other person doesn't know, and they just they didn't have an opinion, and then we make a mistake, right, that's the worst case scenario. But the best case scenario is someone who really knows what they're doing better than me and calls you out on it and say, hey, I get what you're trying to say, but we need to do it like this, and I'm adamant that we have to do this and you know, for that person, even if they were wrong, right, like I'd rather take that all day, right, because then that person cares about their job and they want to continue to grow, and then they care about you not making mistakes. So they, they, they care for you, and so, but sometimes I think you know, um, when, when you, when your team grows and it's not like 15 people, 20 people, and that's that's the first thing that I'm experiencing now, even though, like, I have nobody here over there, like I have almost a hundred people and they're all working remote, so so, challenge for me is, I'm starting to realize that in their mind, I became this big boss, so, so, so, like you know, uh, they're careful about what they say, or they have an idea, but they don't want to, like, directly talk to me, it goes just somewhere, and then later I hear that they have this idea.
Speaker 2:I'm like wait, why didn't someone say anything about it? So, as I think leaders are, you, are you? I'm learning how to be sensitive to that so I can always create a culture and encourage people to speak their minds and be more like Rodrigo. You know what I mean, but sometimes I think you think that you're doing that and that's, of course, what you want, and other people, other people in your team, feels that way. I feel like you have to constantly remind them that we encourage that behavior.
Speaker 2:At least, that's kind of that's like the thing that I'm thinking about all the time. Because how do you do that? Because I don't want you know, like we don't need yes, people, you know what I mean Like, especially when we're wrong. I mean the value is actually for someone who's an expert in that field to actually call you out on those things and let them make the decision, because that's the whole way for us to get out of it and then stay busy for things that we need to be busy on, and other people were their thing right, but that's, I think that's the whole reason. You know, if everything works harmoniously within a teamwork. That's the expectation for for all of our team members, internally with me, but also with clients like that's what we're trying to, you know, foster, because I think that's really like important, you know, and that's what's going to make us different compared to other services.
Speaker 1:I love it and I see it on a daily basis Amazing. So let's talk about the name A Teamwork. Where did that name come from?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you know I was, I wanted, I didn't want to. I didn't like the word virtual assistant and that's why I switched to virtual staffing, because, because I do feel like I've been I mean we've both been in the solar industry. You know how solar is such a you know noble thing. It addresses climate change and you know the program actually really is a great program because you save money right away. It's, you know, no upfront financing whatever. But because of so many kind of greasy salesman type folks that just hit the market and just there were a lot of bad experience with solar sales. Not the product itself and service, but the sales experience was so bad for a lot of consumers.
Speaker 2:Solar has a bad reputation and I feel like virtual assistant has a little bit of that Because what I've experienced and I first had experience. So every time I see an ad for virtual assistant, my first thinking is like oh yeah, it's. Yeah, what 15 bucks an hour? It's going to just waste my money. I'm going to get all mad because things got half-baked on and it's not going to just waste my money. You know, I'm going to have like get all mad because things got like half baked on and it's. You know it's not, it's not going to be good.
Speaker 2:So I just didn't like that name virtual system, just because it describes exactly what we do, but but it had like a negative experience and I wanted to get away from it. And so when we, when we were, when we were brainstorming, I liked those concept of teamwork, like you know, it's like you engage us, we're not just your assistant but we're a team. You have access to our team and then we'll help you to grow your business, so teamwork. But then like, okay, so we wanted to use the word team, but then I thought of the sitcom A-Team from the 80s. Mr T, yeah, mr T, right, but it's like I, you know A-Team, you know from the 80s, mr T.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mr T, right, I'm like, but it's like I can't call it A-Team, like everybody you know.
Speaker 1:And I even thought about the theme song, right, like I don't know, up in my head right now yeah, yeah, yeah, the gold chain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it pumps you up right. I mean, I you know when your business is in trouble, and then you have the A team that'll take care of you right yeah, come to the rescue.
Speaker 1:So.
Speaker 2:I really like that concept. So then, but obviously, like I can't call it the A team, so I call it the A teamwork. Like you know, this is all about teamwork. And then A. You know, I guess my name is Andrew, but also but that part was after the fact, after I thought of it I'm like, hey, a is for Andrew, but also A is for Argentina, right, and so so. So that's how the name kind of got stuck as a team.
Speaker 1:A quality, a quality, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's a great name. I love it. It's very fitting as well. So this has been. This has been great. I think we can go for hours. I usually say we do 30 to 40, you real quick. So obviously the show is for the LFG show. Let's Fucking Go show. Every business owner hits a point, I think, where you got to make a move. You got to freaking, go and make shit happen, take massive action to get to where you want to get to. What was your LFG moment with the A-team? What do you think it was?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's a good question. My well, just my the, the feedback that I was getting from my, my, my clients, you know, and and then, and also those, those moments, I had the same experience that you basically had, you know, internally with my team members, like you know, and, and from the same individual, rodrigo, for example, where got to the point where they were displaying and, in addition to Rodrigo, other folks as well where they were displaying, just owning their shit, right, like they really own their shit, like they're not just relying on me to make the decision, but they've gotten intelligent enough that they know how to make good decisions and just run with it. And that's exactly what I needed. And so, uh, in the beginning, um, whether I was the one that was teaching them about our industry, whether it's about, like you know, pay-per-call and what are the verticals and what kind of payout you can expect, you know things like that to, uh, whatever you know, just like you know who are the right group of people you need to contact or not you know, or just learning how to use all the tracking, you know platforms, right.
Speaker 2:But then one day and it didn't take long, like maybe sometime in May or June last year I got on a meeting right and we're just having a daily meeting and everybody was talking like. There was one guy that was like hey, you know, so I set up this campaign of Retriever and I need some help with, you know, like routing or something. And another person was talking about oh yeah, like you know, we have a client that's, you know, wants to do ACA. Like they were having a meeting on their own and I'm just sitting there like just kind of like you know, I was thinking that I'm going to have to drive the meeting, but they were all speaking our language. You know I'm talking like ECA company.
Speaker 2:That must have been a great feeling Like Retriever Ringba, so-and-so, this, and there was like 20 of them. They're just talking like talking shop, like you know from Argentina, and I'm like what's happening? Like I like I'm not, I don't even need to be there. What did I create? What did I create?
Speaker 2:it's amazing, you know, and that when I, when I, when I saw that and I'm like I have something really good here, like it wasn't even like looking at you know whatever, like balance sheet or pno report, none of that, it was just when I saw those people and they were talking on language and they were totally capable and I'm like man and you know, and they're not here, they're over there. And it's like man and they're not here, they're over there, and it's like, you know, I have, you know, with this team. I felt like with this team I can go somewhere. Like I was like I love you, let's go, let's fucking go, I love that.
Speaker 1:I got like chills hearing that, because you made me think of when my business started to turn around. Something similar and that's every, every business has. You know, it's like a relationship You've got. You got that moment you fall in love, right, and then you then, before you get married, then you have kids right yeah.
Speaker 1:That's part of the progression. So it's a great thing to hear yeah, yeah, wow, that. That that's. Maybe they're not brand new, brand new, but maybe they're, like I mean, and they can use them too. But maybe they're here and they're ready to go to the next level, or they're just being held back because they're sowing the dead weeds they can't get out of their own way. So let's pretend I'm an affiliate, say I'm doing 50,000, 100,000 spend per day. Right, and it's just me with two other people on my team. Like, what do you think would be the best for me to start off with? Like, if you were, from your experience, what's? How do I utilize your services to get to the next one? To go to 100, six figures a day? Sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the trend that I'm seeing and I think you see this too we all, we all, you, you know, people that are tuning into this, you know, that are in our space, people that we know, um, it's, it's nothing new. What's happening right, um, uh, the, the network days are nearing, right like. You're gonna have to figure out a way to generate your own traffic. Or you have special relationship with some of these affiliates that you've had for a long time and they're like solid and they want to continue to, um, you know, supply you the traffic and you manage the buyers great, right, uh, but the regardless, um, you need to be innovative, right, like, whether you're doing 15 000 or 5 000 or like 500 000 a day, right, like nothing's. You know, the one truth I mean just about any, but especially in our industry is that nothing stays forever, a hundred percent Right Like. You always have to reinvent, right. So, as a business owner, you know, and however many employees you have, I just know that a typical business owner, and like an affiliate, you're still doing everything, like. I mean, you know it's like like pretty, pretty much everything like you just don't have enough time in a day. So in that scenario, uh, I mean specifically, uh, you know, like, you have to define where is it that is, this can be delegated to somebody else. And I want to focus and I think, uh, the key to success and growth is kind of like what you're doing, like, and I see yourself like reinventing all the time, even even like podcasts, the solar direct marketing, the senior direct marketing, and you're getting into home services, but that's what it's all about. Once you understand how one thing works, you can apply that same business model that's your own signature and then you can expand into other things. Right, the repeat, the repeat. Yeah, that's your own signature and then you can expand into other things. That's a repeat.
Speaker 2:In order to do that, you as an individual always needs to figure out how to duplicate that process. But when you know what that is, now you have to execute, and once you execute, that's when our team can come in and help you. So you already have the vision, and whether it's like oh, we've been traditionally a solar shop, but now we want to get into insurance, right, well, like you already know, you know all the maybe the good pubs that are playing in that space, so that's one option, or we got to do our own media buying. Okay, well, we got to go to our call center. Whatever it is right. Maybe you have all of that right, but you can't just stay there. That's the point. It's like, oh, we're doing fine, no, there's always something that you have to reinvent or find something in order to make sure that, while you're being fed right, you're investing in something else, so that when that steak is gone, then you can maybe eat like a chicken or something, but you still need to figure out how to make that chicken or eat that chicken eventually, so that, like, when this goes away, now you you're here, right and so, uh, so, but but first of all, you have to free your your day-to-day to to even have the mindset to think that way. So so again, our team can help you. So, whether that's if you're doing too much like you're living in too much in the platform, let us handle that, because why do you need to do that? You don't need to do that, maybe on a high level, to just pull the reports and understand what pubs are doing well, what pubs aren't doing well, and understand the trend of the industry. You have to still be in touch, yeah, but you don't actually have to go in there and do that every day. That's what our team is for, or like specifically for the ops, or maybe your network that doesn't know how to do media buying. So now you want to understand how to generate your own traffic so that you can get those buyers to give you more budget, and things like that. We can help you with that.
Speaker 2:That's another added area where you're in the same vertical, but you need to do something different and you have to. You know you're in the same vertical, but but you know, uh, you need to do something different. You have to understand it. But also, now, like, I think the other thing that's just added bonus is that we're growing enough that we're starting to have our own ecosystem.
Speaker 2:So if you have a little traffic, I mean, there are tons of people I can make the introduction to, because you know, if you, if you're, if you have good shit, like you know, there are people that's going to. You know, come in, they're more than willing to work with you, right? So so I think the other thing is just being part of the um, the wonderful kind of uh ecosystem that we have, uh, that they can be part of and and and so, like I mean, you know, I'm totally being willing to. I mean, I've I've gotten that, you know, and I'm still getting that in terms of a lot of good, generosity and introduction, I can do the same thing, and so we can all be part of this ecosystem. That's wonderful.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so I don't know, like on a high level I think that's what it is we can help you with executing a lot of different ideas, or even do a lot that, so that you are not in the business, you know, and not only that for especially lead gen space. We already know, we've seen a lot, not to say that you're not unique. We've seen a lot, so it's kind of a plug and play, right. So it's not like we have to. You hire these people and you're gonna have to go through a lot of training because we already know how to do that. So, uh, let us take the lead, we'll help you to do that almost. It's like. So it's becoming more of a consulting. How do you delegate your business so that you can, uh, you know, use the offshore team at a fraction of the cost to handle all those things, so that you and us-based good team that you have, they, they do bigger and better things.
Speaker 1:You said so much stuff that made me think. I think I'm myself a good example of this. Sometimes I've had people ask me Dave, do you even work? Of course I fucking work, right, I'm working all the time, but I can't. The reason why I travel all these places I have my team can actually do this stuff. They're doing all this stuff. They're making the operation home right, while I'm out here making deals and trying to do what I'm good at.
Speaker 1:The key is to have people do what they're good at, and you're talking about delegating. You got to be able to delegate if you're going to be able to grow. So I want to say to someone that's an affiliate that's got maybe got three, four, five, maybe even 10 people on your team, I guarantee you there's gaps you have where you can utilize out of the weeks and focus on the business rather than being in the business. That's when we started to grow like crazy. My partner, ed's the same way. We can go travel here. We can travel there because our team can handle this stuff right, we have confidence in them, and eight or eight people on our team come from the a team, right. So you have played a huge role in helping us get to that point, so freaking appreciate you for that man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well thank you, and and I'll say one more thing, which is, uh, like you, you I know that I mean well, you add, you know, and so many people, energies, like we're so high energy people, yeah, that I mean I I can, I can speak for myself, but I think you're, you're that way too. Um, you get good ideas every day, right you're?
Speaker 2:like're, like oh it's nonstop right, and most likely, out of thousand ideas, you're lucky if one of them turns into reality. But here's what I can tell you If you don't leverage, you know, virtual staffing or you have kind of your heads of other people around you, that where you don't articulate your idea and then store it to them and let them do the work, that you'll never get any of those ideas happen to reality, unless, like you're, like you live in some, like somewhere out in the boonies and you don't have much going on and you just have that one idea and then you just work on it every day by yourself, maybe, maybe. But how many people in our industry are like that? You're constantly traveling, you're running two, three businesses, but even that one business have so many moving parts. So even when you have that idea, do you even get it out in the air? And if you do, who's going to do all the work for you?
Speaker 2:I mean, I can't say how many times when I thought of an idea like, for instance, like you know, I have this other thing that's happening with the Korean like scheme product or whatever, and I thought it was just a thought, right, but I told Marty about it and I'm like, hey, remind me to follow up with that person. In fact, why don't you follow up with that person? And then you know, have a team with our marketing team, like, start to work on it. And so I forgot about it because you know me, you know it's like, like, I mean, you know, just like you like, and then life happens and I totally forgot about it. And then two months later I find out that they were having meetings and then they came up with the you know line link page already for the skincare. Now think about it, if I didn't have the team there's, no, I mean I probably forgot and nothing would have ever happened back then, right, there's no, I mean I probably forgot and nothing would have ever happened back then, right.
Speaker 2:So this kind of like you know, whatever, whatever, like it can be a little bit more like philosophical whatever, but you know you have a thought that's unique thought that you had. But then you know what is living all about and business, you know the right way of doing it is manifesting those ideals into reality. Well, like I mean, you know, if you take it all the way back, that's what this is all about. Right, like you need, especially for, like modern day, like people that have business and family and all of that like there's no way for you to think of an idea and you wish that you can make that happen.
Speaker 2:It's just never going to happen if you don't have people support, like have a team around you, that that where you store that information and they will do it for you and you just come in at the right time to just kind of give them direction. That's all you need to do, right, it's powerful If you have that kind of added resource. You know you can do so much more. You know. So I think that that's what I learned through this journey so far. You know, so I learned.
Speaker 1:And that's exactly. And that's what it comes down to is that I feel like CEOs, visionaries. Our job is to throw out, get ideas, and some might be stupid ideas. Most of the ideas are most idiotic, dumb ass ideas, but they're going to sell great, right? Some of these ideas come on when you're under the damn influence, right, and you're going to be like what the fuck? That was a terrible idea.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you get that one genius idea and that's what starts everything and that's what creates everything, but you need to have the money's really in the execution. You can't possibly execute when your brain is like I almost feel like we're artists. Shout out to AXA, by the way, to John Ariel, for letting us use their beautiful place here in Manhattan. An artist will build this idea right, Beautiful piece of work, right, and it's all like that beauty's an eye to the holder, right? You got to be able to get that beauty out of the harness and that's what your team does and I've seen it happen with me. That's what I utilize your team for. They've helped me execute on these ideas and you just need one damn fucking idea. I feel we got to do a part two to this. I feel like we're doing maybe we're doing Argentina. What do you think about?
Speaker 2:that? Yeah, that sounds good.
Speaker 1:Okay, and one other thing you got anything special with LOGFan. You think, something you can give them for signing up for 18?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so sure. So if you sign up through this podcast the first month, we'll offer a 20% discount 20% discount.
Speaker 1:Look, we're already saving people money. There'll be a special link we'll put out there for you. Listen, this was fucking amazing. I hope you guys listen to this. We can't grow by ourselves. If you're here and you want to get there, you've got to get people's help to do it. I've used A-Team. They've been fantastic. I hope you guys got a lot of value out of it. Where can people find you, Andrew? On Instagram, LinkedIn, like. Where can people find you?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, so we have a website, a-teamworkcom, you know, and you know a-teamworkcom. You can find us on LinkedIn also, Instagram, yeah, and Facebook as well.
Speaker 1:I love it. A lot of value here. Great to have you on the show. Let's fucking go, baby. Yeah, let's fucking go.