00:18:03 · Elias Curtis, Ezekiel Iferia
[00:18:03] S1: Well, it's going to cost. It's about quality. It's about getting it done right. You're gonna have to pay. You just have to pay. Now how you pay and who you pay to do this is totally different situation, right? I know for our business, we make our services very affordable for anybody who's willing to do this kind of work. We're not the cheapest in the market, but we're not the most expensive, right? So and services that we offer are global, so somebody in other countries want to adopt the services that we do, can always reach out to me and we can set something up that helps them build their business and to grow and scale. That's our whole motto, right? Build, grow and scale and that's pretty much how we work. Now it doesn't mean that we're gonna say no to one off services or like, hey, I want a website. We can do the website, but we know that this is much more than a website, right? Because there's people in business to make a profit and generate revenue. So we have to help them with that as well and that takes it from more of a client based relationship to more of a partner based relationship and that's kind of where we're heading as a company as a whole is being more partner based rather than just being client based. [00:19:29] S0: Alright. So, you know, you you focus on business automation and lead generation. So where exactly is the line between using technology to scale efficiently, you know, and maintaining that genuine human connection with customers?
00:19:49 · Elias Curtis
[00:19:49] S1: Both is necessary. Right? I mean, since AI came on the scene, it's made a lot of our workflow a lot more efficient. Efficiency is the word that we use. It's not because a lot of people say, Well, it makes things easier. Not always, not necessarily. Just because AI does things faster than how we would have done it years ago. We still have to work with AI in order to do the work, right? Because AI makes mistakes. It still makes mistakes, right? And so you have to pay attention to the mistakes it's making and refine it in order to do a job well done. Now I'm all about engaging people, right? People first when it comes to the business aspect of things, right? Way before generating revenue and making a profit so it's really that is the motivation behind a lot of things that we do is to really help business succeed and to grow. Now whether they can afford the services or continue to do it over time, you know it's up to them and how much they are able to afford but again you know if you're serious about your business then you will invest right where it makes sense or you'll lose money in other ways. So we've been doing this long enough, Ezekiel, to let you know that we've made the mistakes. We've dealt with fragmentation and we've lost a lot of business over it and suffered financially through a lot of that. But, I mean, yes, we're doing well overall as a company, but at the same time, we've been through the fire, if you will. So we don't want our clients or our partners to go through similar things that we went through, especially when it came to those problems and those pain points that most people face and it's pretty common. It's really common, like you can talk to any business and they don't have their stuff set up the way that they should, they just don't. So when we get in the weeds with them, we find out and we're like, okay, we do an audit and we'll find out, all right, this is what we can do to help. This is a long term big picture. What do you think about these things that we're able to do for you and even possibly guarantee and help. So, yeah, it's good stuff, man. I enjoy... I'm enjoying the journey. Right. All
00:22:14 · Ezekiel Iferia, Elias Curtis
[00:22:14] S0: right. Yeah. So you know, what's actually, you know, one common automation mistake you see businesses make? [00:22:27] S1: So one of the common mistakes with automation, I would say, I mean, it can be done in different ways. I mean, we see common mistakes with how social media is used. I mean, that's a big one, right? It's it's very time consuming, right? And so what we do is we want to be able to relieve not only this distress that clients may face when having to deal with tedious work on a daily basis, but also making things look again more efficient. For example, we're able to you know, configure 10 social media accounts into our system and be able to send out posts that are automated on a weekly basis. That saves a lot of time and energy and money. Also clients don't even have to go into their social media accounts to go ahead and do activity and post, right? They can just work on the back of the dashboard in their system, do it all from there and it's done. Right? So that's just one example of of of how the automation can go wrong if you're not properly doing it correctly. [00:23:38] S0: Alright. Indeed. That was insightful. So, Elias, you... You've watched the Internet evolve for seventeen years. So what... What's one of the biggest shifts you've seen? And what do you think the next ten to seventeen years will bring?
00:23:58 · Elias Curtis
[00:23:58] S1: Time is a big one now. Time is really what it comes down to. Can we build something successful in a short amount of time and succeed. That's what it comes down to. It's like, yeah, I mean, there's so many opportunities around us and there's so many case studies and a lot of people doing all kinds of things out there online, but when it comes down to value and building something that is beneficial and leaving a legacy, when it's all said and done, that seems to be more rewarding and more of something that is worth exploring, especially when it comes to building something out online. And so it really comes down to plan, goals, what you bring to the table, right? Because not everybody is going to be on board with what you do and that's fine, but at the same time it's like what are you leaving behind? When it's all said and done, you're building this whole thing online, you're building businesses and ecosystems and channels and funnels and landing pages and I mean it's like you spread it across the entire web. What's it doing? And so it's really wanting to help businesses and care about their success and bringing value to the table. And that's something that I would definitely continue to recommend and promote and share and to keep that going because that's... That that has purpose to it and meaning. Right? And so... Yep.
00:25:35 · Ezekiel Iferia
[00:25:35] S0: Alright. Alright. So, you know, after 17 building digital engines for businesses and you know, now navigating the shift from search engine optimization to generative engine optimization, I'd like to know what does innovation in digital growth mean to you now. Is it about better technology, better strategy, or perhaps better understanding of how people actually search for solutions in this AI driven world?
00:26:06 · Elias Curtis
[00:26:06] S1: Mean, being in business for seventeen years, Ezekiel, I mean, remember the days when we did a lot of things manual, right? We're sending invoices using Word document. Now we have AI helping out with a lot of the reporting and gathering data and spitting out reports, then being able to do things in such a way that it's very good and helpful. Now, as far as the shift, it's really coming down to just making our everyday life more efficient. Do we... And be able to spend perhaps less time doing things that consumed us before. I mean if you enjoy doing whatever you do online and you love it and it's purposeful, then of course time's not really an issue if you have the time to do it. If married, you have a family, you have kids, you have grandkids, you have a lot of things going on in your life, and of course, you'll see things a little bit differently as far as the time component. That's kind of like where I'm at. So it's really just going for and learning the tools and finding out what is the tool that's going to help you the most in your business. And there's a lot of technology, there's a lot of things we can talk about, you know, that how this overlaps in other industries, right? So, know, AI is a tool. People hate it or love it. I don't, you know, it depends on where they're at with it, right? So we can use it as a tool to benefit others or it could be one of those things where AI is replacing what I do and it's like, okay, that's sad too, right? I'm not all for being replaced by robots but at the same time, live in a time where it's like a lot of things are moving quickly. As we're talking on this podcast at the moment, it's like things are changing even now. AI is becoming more sophisticated right now as we're talking. Gathering data and becoming a stronger knowledge base. I'm all about the efficiency side of it. We'll see. We'll see how this is all going over the next five, ten years. I'm really interested to see how it's gonna work out.