"The only advice I wish I would have received is to trust your instincts and believe in your team despite it challenging the norms"
Furqan Sultan is a business enthusiast that has worked with numerous companies to flourish his business skills and provide brands a platform to enhance their brand presence and build a strong identity for themselves. He brings his extensive expertise in the avenue of leading revenue-oriented Business Units to firms. Currently, he is leading operational, sales, revenue, and marketing units at CydoMedia.
In addition, Furqan continues to offer consultancy services to multiple businesses involved in different industry verticals. From growth hacking to process management, he guides businesses on how they can successfully scale and grow big.
His network best knows him for his customer-first approach and pacesetting leadership, enabling the teams he’s led to capitalize on new market opportunities and deliver perfect customer value.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Furqan Sultan: Well, it is an honor for me to share the story of myself and my brand on a platform that has been widely recognized and reputed around the globe. To give a short intro about myself, I, Furqan Sultan, am a business enthusiast who has worked with numerous firms to provide them with skills to flourish their business growth and produce increased revenue.
I am currently the Managing Partner at CydoMedia, a digital solutions provider based in the United States. Cydomedia is the venture I dreamed of as it provides all sorts of custom-tailored digital solutions under one roof.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Furqan Sultan: 2020 and 2021 were two of the most difficult years for businesses around the globe due to the global outbreak of COVID-19. However, during these two years, I, like many others, learned a lot that is immensely valuable.
The pandemic taught us the art of collaborative success and showed us the beauty of fighting against odds and turning out to be a winner by breaking the norms.
During these two years, we never felt lost as we started to ride the bus of change as soon as the lockdowns were being implemented throughout the globe. Our business model changed its direction from reaching out to clients to letting clients reach us.
We focused on awareness campaigns and providing special offers such as our Referral Program, which did wonders for our company and our clients. We were able to close dozens of deals and allowed our customers to earn a commission for their referral which brought us to the limelight and increased our customers’ loyalty.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Furqan Sultan: The approach of every business should be to work on their business model despite the ups and down in the global economy. I strongly believe that if your work has the power to create the best possible solutions and your team strives to outperform themselves, then no disruption can affect your brand’s growth.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Furqan Sultan: The digital solutions industry and, most importantly, the web design industry have always been virtual as it allows us to connect with clients across the globe and showcase our work to the masses. Thus, the effect on our industry was minimal.
However, the WFH culture brought us increased productivity as our team could generate creative ideas with the ease of being at home.
CydoMedia was one of the first adapters to adapt to this change in the work culture, and we are not disappointed with the amazing projects we managed to pull out in harsh times.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Furqan Sultan: The only advice I wish I would have received is to trust your instincts and believe in your team despite it challenging the norms. The reason I say this is because I was concerned about my team’s health and their salaries, due to which I was in favor of the WFH culture from Day 1.
However, breaking the norm is difficult as people and businesses believed that WFH won’t bring the same outcome as on-site physical jobs. But once I took the decision of adapting to the change, I am grateful to my team and my clients, which showcased the power of belief and hard work that allowed us to outshine our performance despite the pandemic.
In 2022, I want to take this ambition of believing in my team and brand forward, to once again outperform ourselves and generate exceptional custom-tailored solutions that bring the best value to our clients across the globe.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Furqan Sultan: My expectations for 2022 are the same as every year. We being a tech company knows that the technological revolution will only take us forward, and with so much to eye on, we have a broad horizon waiting for us to conquer it.
Thus, my short-term and long-term goal is to once again ride on the bus of change with the belief in my team and clients to conquer the digital abyss with the best digital solutions that the world has ever seen.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Furqan Sultan: There’s no accurate hour rate that I can give, but to give a tentative amount of time, I usually spend around 8-9 hrs. in front of my screen. I love to work and find new ways to improve my expertise to benefit not just myself but also the people related to my brand.
Once I get off my laptop screen, then I go to the GYM as I’m a fitness freak and love to keep myself physically fit.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Furqan Sultan: I am blessed with a wonderful team of employees that are always willing to adapt to change and bring in new ideas that can change the world. To communicate with my team, I don’t often use stories, but I love to give real-life examples with which people can connect.
This is a strategy that I have used for years with numerous brands and clients that allow me to grasp their attention and make them think about a certain point to convert their interest into something that can be beneficial for both of us.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Furqan Sultan: Right now, the real challenge for any business is to segment itself in the flooded market. Today every industry has a lot of competition, and even new entrants are a threat with concrete marketing strategies.
Thus, the real challenge for me is to segment my brand and show the world that CydoMedia is not just another Digital Solutions provider that can get the job done but a company that puts in all its efforts with attention to detail to create a project that astonishes your client while representing your brand with sheer perfection.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Furqan Sultan: I love to read and learn about new things. The options that you gave me have surely made me confused as Crypto and NFTs are two of the most talked about topics in 2022. However, if I have to pick one, the most interesting topic that I am looking forward to learning more about is the new changes in Search Engines.
Google, as we know, is the king when it comes to Search Engines, and most businesses rely on their SEO strategies to be on top of relevant searches for increased exposure and lead. However, the ever-so-changing algorithms of Search Engines have made it difficult for companies to crack the code of being the best SEO Optimized website.
Thus, in 2022, I have set a personal goal of understanding the changing trends of Search Engines and cracking the code of exceptional SEO optimization.
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Furqan Sultan: As a student of business, I know the importance of Human resources. For every business, it is important to have a team of satisfied employees that perform at their full capacity to benefit the organization.
Thus, as a leader and a “BOSS,” I always look forward to the ways that support my team and enhance their work capabilities by believing in them and providing them with the sense of job security that every employee deserves.
A change that I have adopted at CydoMedia and think is a great way to eliminate the issue of the “Great Resignation”is a monthly Hands-On Meeting in which all the employees can share their progress and the issues that they face with the higher management.
This allows the employee and us leaders to create the best work environment to enhance performance and achieve company goals
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Furqan Sultan: Well, this is a question that I always wanted to answer, so firstly, a big thank you for allowing my dream business fantasy to make it to a big platform. Jokes apart, the Business Superpower that I wish for is to oversee the outcomes of the campaigns that we execute.
This will allow me and my team to always be on top by having a clear vision of what will go wrong and what new trends we can adapt to skyrocket our sales and be the best version of ourselves.
Coming out of the dream, I am always striving to make it a reality by performing different calculations and overseeing all the possibilities before implementing any strategies or campaign that has allowed Cydo to have the best campaign outcomes.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Furqan Sultan: Success is a subjective word that has a different meaning for everyone. For me, success is all about making this world a better place and emerging as a better individual with every step of growth.
In 2022, I want my brand to outperform itself and be the first name that pops into every consumer’s mind whenever they think of the best custom digital solutions.
I have been inching closer to this dream every single year, and with a lot of challenges, I have emerged as the best version of myself as compared to the previous year. Thus, 2022 is not going to be any different, and this Success loop of mine will just go forward.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Furqan Sultan for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Furqan Sultan or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.
