"No quitters ever won the game."
Kyle Arnold is the owner of HyperWeb, a digital marketing company specializing in search engine optimization (SEO). He has been doing SEO for about six years and enjoys the challenge of constantly staying up to date with the latest techniques, opportunities, and test results for what pushes the needle in Google and helps businesses grow.
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Table of Contents
Let’s start with a brief introduction first. Introduce yourself to our readers.
Kyle Arnold: I’m Kyle, and I’ve been an SEO and marketing consultant for more than six years now. I love solving problems like how to rank in Google, analyze data, and do Facebook ads. Most of my time is devoted to learning more. SEO is a never-ending battle to stay on top. Every moment can be your last, so you must always be on your toes by studying new methods and ideas.
Our audience is interested to know about how you got started in the first place. Did you always want to become a CEO or was it something you were led to? Our readers would love to know your story!
Kyle Arnold: When I was young, I was exposed to a lot of entrepreneurs and business people. They were either my friends’ father or their friends. I learned to love how they think and work. I eventually dreamed of becoming one at an early age. This is the culmination of my dreams!
“Selfmade” is a myth. We all received help, no doubt you love to show appreciation to those who supported you when the going got tough, who has been your most important professional inspiration?
Kyle Arnold: I am most grateful to my dad for showing me the true value of hard work in all the painting jobs he does and the ethics that come with it. Whenever he asked me to help with painting houses, he would always remind me to take no shortcuts and make sure that the job was done on time and correctly.
How did your journey lead you to become a CEO? What difficulties did you face along the way and what did you learn from them?
Kyle Arnold: I have always envisioned myself owning a business, even at a young age. It just was not clear at first what business it would be. Because playing the guitar was a passion, I put up my studio to teach. It was not too bad, to be honest. But times are changing, business trends are moving too quickly, and I figured I needed to move along with it to keep pace. So I did. I needed to unlearn a few things to be able to learn new things.
Tell us about your company. What does your business do and what are your responsibilities as a CEO?
Kyle Arnold: Hyperweb is the name of my company. It is based in New Zealand. It was established in April 2017, making it 4years and nine months in operation. The company’s focus is on Web design, SEO & Social media (predominantly Facebook Advertising). As CEO, my main job is to ensure that my clients are given 110% work satisfaction
What does CEO stand for? Beyond the dictionary definition, how would you define it?
Kyle Arnold: A CEO for me is like a juggler, someone who knows how to balance several activities at once. Also, someone who can handle competing priorities and tight deadlines while ensuring that both his clients and his employees are fully satisfied.
When you first became a CEO, how was it different from what you expected? What surprised you?
Kyle Arnold: My very first thought was, ” Whoa! I knew I needed to work hard, but not harder than anyone else.” I was supposed to be the boss, right? So I’m supposed to boss people around.. haha. But yes, it was a shock to realize that because the stakes are bigger now, I needed to work triple time.
There are many schools of thought as to what a CEO’s core roles and responsibilities are. Based on your experience, what are the main things a CEO should focus on? Explain and please share examples or stories to illustrate your vision.
Kyle Arnold: As the main person responsible for the overall success of the business, a CEO would need to focus on several things all at once, like I mentioned, sort of a juggling act. You have to know your people so that when you delegate work, you have assured the best outcome most of the time. You also need to understand the clients’ needs, so you can offer them what works for them best, not just what gives you the most profit.
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts?
Kyle Arnold: The first thing that came to mind was when an employee made a mistake that greatly affected the client’s business negatively. This was when I was just starting and was still trying to grasp how the business works. The client was so furious at first and was demanding that I pay him for damages and that the person who made the mistake be relieved of his job. I did pay for the damages but stood my ground where my employee was concerned. I explained to the client that as CEO, I am taking full responsibility and will ensure that the employee was given more training to avoid the same thing happening again. Now said employee is one of my top ones, and coincidentally, he handles that said client’s main accounts.
How would you define success? Does it mean generating a certain amount of wealth, gaining a certain level of popularity, or helping a certain number of people?
Kyle Arnold: Success for me was never about amassing wealth or gaining popularity. I would consider myself a success when I see my business able to generate enough income for myself and my employees to live in relative comfort, with enough saved for possible expansion. Success is when I have built a trustworthy client roster that will help propel my company into the future, whatever the new trends and technology bring.
Some leadership skills are innate while others can be learned. What leadership skills do you possess innately and what skills have you cultivated over the years as a CEO?
Kyle Arnold: I had been helping my father paint houses from a very young age, so professionalism and a sense of pride in what I do have been integral since that time. What the last four years and nine months of running my own business have taught me is that one must be continuously learning and be open-minded as we are in that era where anything, even those we never even dreamed about, could happen.
How did your role as a CEO help your business overcome challenges caused by the pandemic? Explain with practical examples.
Kyle Arnold: Ironically, rather than becoming a bane, the pandemic proved to be a boon. Because of the intermittent lockdowns, people turned to the internet for more and more reasons; staying in touch with friends and families everywhere in the globe, keeping their business functioning via E-Commerce, getting their basic needs from online stores. I was fortunate enough to be in the business that was the core of it all.
Do you have any advice for aspiring CEOs and future leaders? What advice would you give a CEO that is just starting on their journey?
Kyle Arnold: For those still contemplating what business to start, remember two things: 1. It should be something you are passionate about, or it is work. At the end of the day, the amount of patience you put in will all depend on how much you love what you do, and 2. Ensure that it is timely, or even better, ahead of its time, lest it becomes obsolete shortly. For those who have just started and are only realizing how tough it is, hang in there. No quitters ever won the game.
Thank you for sharing some of your knowledge with our readers! They would also like to know, what is one skill that you’ve always wanted to acquire but never really could?
Kyle Arnold: To this day, I am still working hard on my people skills. In general, my employees would agree that I am a very open-minded boss. Then there’s the brave few who will not hesitate to say that I can be a little bit driven.
Before we finish things off, we have one final question for you. If you wrote a book about your life today, what would the title be?
Kyle Arnold: Since we are still in this seemingly uncertain situation, I think one good title could be “How I made it through.” I want the title itself to sound inspiring and the story to serve as an inspiration to people. It will tell them that not all is lost and that there is something to be gained if we learn how to use this wonderful technology that is the internet.
Mike Weiss, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Kyle Arnold 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 Kyle Arnold 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.
