"We definitely experienced an extreme shift towards digital advertisement during the pandemic, with a record-breaking amount of people spending much more time online than they have ever before"
From moving back in with his mum, after spending his last $5,000 on starting his online business from his children’s room feeling defeated by the corporate world, Marvin Adam took his online business from a zero dollar-bank account to $27,000/month in the first year … without doing any sales calls, without running ads, and without prior experience.
Marvin sold digital services in 39 countries worldwide and mastered the art of providing automated services that can be fulfilled in 15 minutes or less, in order to gain time-, location- & financial freedom. A year later, he crafted a program to teach his unconventional methods to his first students.
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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.
Marvin Adam: My entrepreneurial journey started in 2016 when I moved back in with my mother and started building an online business out of my old children’s room. Fast forward to 2022, I run two globally operating marketing agencies that specialize in lead generation services. I developed a strong passion to teach beginners and fellow marketers how to start or grow their own online businesses with a project called “fivedaytheory”. Within 5 days, we help people successfully launch their online business – in 5 days or less.
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?
Marvin Adam: We definitely experienced an extreme shift towards digital advertisement during the pandemic, with a record-breaking amount of people spending much more time online than they have ever before. Surprisingly, among older generations, there still seems to be a bias about digital advertising, which I think is the major lesson to learn for both, modern and old school businesses today. If you don’t shift your focus towards all those opportunities you got online, you are missing out on the most efficient methods to attract new customers. That can be said for the vast majority of industries and businesses, big or small.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Marvin Adam: I think that businesses should try to simplify their supply chains. If you’re operating on an international level, there are a lot of potential risks that you probably never considered before facing a pandemic. While that’s easier said than done, it will be more favorable to rely on locally, or regionally sourced materials in the coming years.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Marvin Adam: I’m fortunate to say that for me personally, my agencies haven’t been negatively affected. Quite the opposite was the case, since more and more business owners realize the potential of digital advertising, now that they experienced quite a long-lasting period, working from home, or being quarantined.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Marvin Adam: The biggest struggle I personally faced was to be confronted with older generations, who neglect their online presence and still invest in flyers and billboards. It seems that some business owners want to learn things the hard way. I invest a lot of time to improve my communication whenever I get in touch with older entrepreneurs, who have never spent a minute on Instagram or LinkedIn before.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Marvin Adam: This trend will continue and open more opportunities for young online businesses, or beginners who are just about to get involved, providing a digital service in 2022 and beyond. Those who started a digital business in these “early” stages will look back in a few years and realize that many markets have been less saturated and less competitive. It’s a unique opportunity and I’m grateful I started 6 years ago.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Marvin Adam: That’s a great question. I work a lot. Not because I have to, but it’s just my biggest hobby. I don’t categorize marketing as “work”. I simply enjoy what I do and I chase the dopamine rush of getting positive feedback from my clients or students. To answer your question, I’m sure I spend 10-14 hours in front of a screen on most days when I’m not traveling.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Marvin Adam: The biggest challenge is to bring something unique to your marketplace. The moment you come up with an idea, you can be certain there are at least 100 people who are several days ahead in terms of working on making that same idea a reality. The question is, does it demotivate you to think about that? Or does it add a few gallons of fuel to your motivation? If that inspires you, I think you can overcome any obstacle. That’s how you build resilience.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Marvin Adam: I did a fair amount of research to learn more about how artificial intelligence can be used for investment purposes, but also how it’s about to revolutionize the marketing agency space. It’s fascinating to think about AI becoming smarter than humans during our lifetime, and how that will potentially affect almost every industry in the world in the next 10-20 years.
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?
Marvin Adam: I can empathize with those who left their jobs and I can identify with the reasons why they had to make a drastic change in their lives. Personally, I made a lot of disappointing and depressing experiences in the corporate world, and I’m grateful that I could leave all of that behind. It is one of the major reasons why I developed a passion to teach people from all over the world, of all backgrounds, to start their online business from scratch.
Many companies suffer high levels of fluctuation because they hold on to authoritative personalities, something that I think pushes many employees to a point of frustration. Of course, not everybody can or should start their own business, but I think if you have trouble dealing with authorities, if you don’t “enjoy” the idea of hierarchical structure, it’s probably a great idea to look into entrepreneurship. Realistically, I don’t believe there is a way to “fix” the corporate system. For people like me, it’s broken beyond repair.
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?
Marvin Adam: Very interesting question. I think I would like to be able to help everyone embrace their full potential. It would be a real superpower if I could make everyone understand what they are capable of. I had to overcome some very drastic events in my life, especially as a kid. Never really spoke English as a first language, never studied or went for any degree in marketing. Now I can say I worked with clients from 39 countries and 5 continents. I took my online business to five figures in profit as a 24-year-old (in my first year). These are the kinds of things you wouldn’t believe to be possible, and I know a lot of people lack the confidence to just get started. That’s a shame, I would love to change that.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Marvin Adam: “Success” to me is about a sense of fulfillment in life that I gain from feeling “free”. Free doing “what” you want to do, “when” you want to do it. On your terms. While it’s great to have money, I don’t necessarily connect financial power to “success.” You can be rich and still live a depressing life. I value “time freedom” as the ultimate “success” you could gain out of your career. When you have time freedom, you can control the most important resource you have. You could always go and make more money, but you can never gain back the time you lost. Once you age, once you missed the time with your friends, family or your kids – you lost that part of your life. So to me personally, success means to live a free life.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Marvin Adam 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 Marvin Adam or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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