What’s your backstory?
I was originally born and raised in Miami. There I was raised by my mother and grandmother after my father passed away at a young age. Saw my mom growing up and her story was a huge inspiration to my success. I have always had some kind of entrepreneurial spirit since a young age. I remember crossing the street from my house growing up to buy bubble gum and candy by the 6 pack at K-Mart and sell it at school the next day for a 100% markup. Were talking about making a $1 or so on each bar. Not a lot but when you are in 6th grade it felt good! I saved up a couple hundred and started a various businesses. Never really succeeded at a younger age in these ventures however each one taught me something different where later in life I was able to tie it all in. Losses are not a bad thing. Losses are lessons if you treat them as such. Others let them become a barricade.
In addition to this entrepreneur spirit I really had a passion for marketing too. One of my mentors in life worked as the president of marketing for Bacardi and I got to see the creativity behind making a concept a reality. I fell in love with it and knew that is what I wanted to do. I applied to the Naval Academy where I got a congressional nomination by Debbie Wasserman Shultz to go and lost 90 pounds for the physical tests. Long story short, I did not get accepted so I moved to St Petersburg, FL to study marketing at USF. Everything happens for a reason! At USF I met another mentor who soon became my boss. At this agency is where I ended up learning SEO and servicing clients for a few years. One thing I couldn’t deal with was the lack of freedom. That Monday through Friday 9-5pm in an office with rush hour traffic there and back to build someone else’s dream. It was not aligned with my goals in life. I wasn’t sure what to do so I went to sales where I sold travel memberships for a while as an independent contractor giving me the freedom I wanted. However this was not my passion. I was still in love with SEO and found it very rewarding to get my clients to the top of Google.
This is when Lux Digital Marketing was born. I had applied my SEO skills I learned at the agency and the sales skill to create Lux. We are an SEO focused agency helping businesses increase revenue by getting them positioned on the top of Google for the product/services that they sell. In a year and a half I scaled Lux to six figures and have been expanding since. The money is definitely rewarding however I find it more rewarding to see my clients win. Yes SEO focuses on getting a business on the top of Google and that is what everyone sees. However, I see a business that was able to increase their revenue to where they opened a second location. Now that is rewarding! Over the last 7 years I have helped dozens of businesses generate millions in revenue by getting them on the top of Google for their products/services. I have successfully optimized in several different industries and every time we break into a new one, we reach the same result.
From Lux Digital Marketing stemmed my consulting where I not only consult on SEO but also sales, business development, scaling, etc. I was able to do this for my business successfully and have helped others do the same.
Beyond scaling Lux to a seven figure business and helping all of my clients hit their goals along the way, one of my missions is to teach the proper white hat SEO techniques. Several SEO service providers still use tactics that are frowned upon by Google. Example, 10 years ago you could spam keywords everywhere on your site and rank high for them. Google now considers this black hat SEO and will remove a website off of Google for using tactics such as these. I wrote “The Fundamentals of Getting #1 on Google” to teach the proper techniques moving forward. With these techniques I have successfully achieved the #1 position on Google for several clients and have held that position. More people need to know the right way. In addition to my book, I also launched the Lux Growth Academy where I provide a ton of free knowledge through youtube videos, podcasts, blogs and more. This content is not just SEO related but also sales, business development, etc. I want to get as much proper knowledge in the hands of SEO providers and business owners so everyone can feel confident about SEO services moving forward.
I know this is not an easy job. What drives you?
There are SEVERAL things that drive me! In a later question I talk about how my mom is one of my “why’s” as Simon Sinek would put it. Freedom is another one. I have worked jobs and hated every single one of them. Scrubbed toilets, cleaned shower mats at the gym, even cleaned shit out of the showers. I’ve seen doctors who make a lot of money but don’t have time to spend with their families. I’ve seen people with all the time in the world but do not make any money to be able to support themselves. Then I saw successful entrepreneurs who had the time and money to spend time with their families, travel, and live life on their terms. In my opinion, true freedom is happiness. I believe true freedom requires freedom of time and money. We often restrict ourselves from doing the things that make us happy due to one of those two factors. Whether it’s not being able to afford a flight to a country you want to see or not having enough time with the ones you love. Happiness means something different to everyone. But it all ties back to those two things if we are being honest with ourselves. One of my biggest drives is making sure that I get those two factors out of the way early on in life so I can enjoy the rest of my life on this earth. We are here for such a short period of time and my goal is to live it happily and to the fullest!
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? What lessons did you learn from them?
My Mother
When my father passed away, my mom took the family by the reigns and was able to reach the top levels in her area of expertise. She was a senior partner at Ernst and Young. CFO of billion dollar companies. Sits on the board of well known companies. All of this has been very motivating. Knowing the high expectations she has for me is definitely a motivator. No one wants to let their mom down! It is part of your why and your fear. Other than being a motivating factor in my life she has also guided me in the right direction whenever I have seeked help. Whether it is consulting her over a business deal or having her take a look at my book. She has always been a great mentor to me.
Jake Kevorkian III
My friend’s dad pulled me out of the gym to sell me on a network marketing company several years ago where I sold travel memberships. I didn’t understand it at first but I bought it because I knew who he was and trusted him. He forced me to go to training events, read books, and taught me lessons that account for a lot of my success. He saw more in me than I did in myself at the time. Everything I learned from Jake and that company I applied to my business and experienced massive success. A lot of people knock network marketing however I credit it for a lot of my success. Jake is very successful and has been in network marketing for over 30 years. I may not be in network marketing anymore, but he instilled in me several skills needed to succeed in ANY business.
How do you push through your worst times?
I usually push through my worst times by advancing in other areas of my life. This starts a ripple effect for me. For example, going to the gym since I lost 90 pounds has been a very big part of my life. When I feel like I am struggling with work I might double down at the gym. I experience results in one area of my life and let it motivate and ripple through the other areas of my life. If we are talking specifically about the worst times in business then another way is starting with a clean slate. I might create a brand new pipeline of potential clients and start setting up meetings, making calls, writing proposals, etc. All out massive action. Start shooting and eventually something will stick. You have to take action if you want to change the circumstances. Most businesses experience a slow season during the holidays. It is during the holidays that you need to double all your normal actions to make sure that your business does not take a hit.