"Resilience will be key in making sure you survive the low points when everything looks rather gloomy."
Marc Bromhall Tweet
Marc Bromhall is a content marketing and SEO expert. Former co-founder of the content agency, Contentellect. Now building and growing a portfolio of digital assets in affiliate marketing, e-commerce, lead generation, and the newsletter space. Passionate about growth hacking, writing, and artificial intelligence.
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Thank you for joining us today. Please introduce yourself to our readers. They want to know you, some of the background story to bring some context to your interview.
Marc Bromhall: I’m Marc Bromhall, founder of Marbro Media. We build, grow and sell digital assets, from eCommerce websites to newsletters. My background is in content marketing – before founding Marbro Media I co-founded content marketing agency, Contentellect.
You are a successful entrepreneur, so we’d like your view point, do you believe entrepreneurs are born or made? Explain.
Marc Bromhall: I think it’s a bit of both. You certainly get some entrepreneurs that are born and know nothing else other than to start and grow companies – think Richard Branson and Steve Jobs. But then are a whole host of other entrepreneurs like myself who may have been born entrepreneurs but worked for other companies for a number of years to gain valuable experience in a particular industry before cutting loose on our entrepreneurial path.
If you were asked to describe yourself as an entrepreneur in a few words, what would you say?
Marc Bromhall: An astute, strong communicator who is constantly listening and learning
Tell us about what your company does and how did it change over the years?
Marc Bromhall: Marbro Media builds, grows, and sells digital assets. These assets include affiliate marketing websites, eCommerce stores, and lead generation websites. To operate successfully we do two things very well – we write great content and we conduct expert SEO research and analysis. The type of digital assets we now look to invest in has evolved. Our most recent addition to the portfolio is a newsletter – something we would not have considered 3 or 4 years ago.
Thank you for all that. Now for the main focus of this interview. With close to 11.000 new businesses registered daily in the US, what must an entrepreneur assume when starting a business?
Marc Bromhall: They should assume that customers are not going to come knocking at their door. Therefore, they have to think about how they are going to acquire customers and what their customer acquisition costs will be.
Did you make any wrong assumptions before starting a business that you ended up paying dearly for?
Marc Bromhall: None that I ended up paying dearly for thankfully.
If you could go back in time to when you first started your business, what advice would you give yourself and why? Explain.
Marc Bromhall: It’s going to be a rocky road, so be prepared for more downs than ups. Resilience will be key in making sure you survive the low points when everything looks rather gloomy.
What is the worst advice you received regarding running a business and what lesson would you like others to learn from your experience?
Marc Bromhall: Hire a salesperson early on. I always tell entrepreneurs the opposite – they should do all the selling for a few months or years until the business is in a financial position where it warrants hiring a salesperson.
In your opinion, how has COVID-19 changed what entrepreneurs should assume before starting a business? What hasn’t changed?
Marc Bromhall: That no industry is immune to downturns – always have a contingency plan in place ideally in the form of another business. The pace at which the digital world moves hasn’t changed.
What is a common myth about entrepreneurship that aspiring entrepreneurs and would-be business owners believe in? What advice would you give them?
Marc Bromhall: That you need a large office filled with employees to run a lucrative business. I know several internet marketers that leverage a team of freelancers and have businesses worth over $5 million. My advice is to start small and grow your costs in line with your revenues.
What traits, qualities, and assumptions do you believe are most important to have before starting a business?
Marc Bromhall: Self-belief, great verbal and written communication skills, resilience, and commercial acumen.
How can aspiring leaders prepare themselves for the future challenges of entrepreneurship? Are there any books, websites, or even movies to learn from?
Marc Bromhall: Some of my favorite books include:
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
- To sell is human by Daniel H. Pink
- Influence by Robert Cialdini
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
You have shared quite a bit of your wisdom and our readers thank you for your generosity but would also love to know: If you could choose any job other than being an entrepreneur, what would it be?
Marc Bromhall: Product Marketer at Google or Facebook
Thank you so much for your time, I believe I speak for all of our readers when I say that this has been incredibly insightful. We do have one more question: If you could add anyone to Mount Rushmore, but not a politician, who would it be; why?
Marc Bromhall: Steve Jobs – because he made our lives better by changing the way we interact with technology.
Mike Weiss, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Marc Bromhall 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 Marc Bromhall or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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