How to be a Media Buyer in 2025 | Earn 6 Figures (Full Course)

What I'm going to show you today is how to be a media buyer so that you can earn six figures by this time next year or faster. And the exact path that I've

faster. And the exact path that I've used to pay myself over a million dollars last year. Ever since I was a little kid selling candy bars in Little League, I always wanted to be the best

and make a lot of money. And not like pay my bills money, but like you money.

And you could play the victim for the rest of your life, saying that only those who are born lucky or caught a break deserve the success that you want.

Or you could have the financial freedom and pride and the ability to never have to say again in your life. Well, maybe

someday. And if that's you, then this video is going to change your life.

We're going to cover everything you need to know to answer all of the questions you have. And by the end of this, you're

you have. And by the end of this, you're going to have a very clear path and the cheat code to the success that you deserve. So, let me tell you everything

deserve. So, let me tell you everything we're going to talk about today and then get started. We're going to cover

get started. We're going to cover whether or not you need a degree from college to be a media buyer. We're going

to talk about the five types of media buyers and the career path that best fits that type of personality. We're

going to talk about the three stages of a media buyer's career and how to develop your skills. Very specifically,

how to identify your key skills and build your foundation, as well as what are commodity skills and how do you provide undeniable value and a quick little bit of foreshadowing. You need to

provide undeniable value if you're ever going to get out of your 9to-5. I'm also

going to show you the simple step-by-step process to achieve undeniable value and tell you where to get additional training and resources so you'll know the best ways to acquire and

enhance these skills and the best people to learn from for free. I'm also going to give you a preview of what the day in the life of a media buyer looks like.

Then we're going to cover how to land a job and how to go about building your clientele. everything from landing your

clientele. everything from landing your first client to the 10 most commonly asked questions during interviews and how you should answer them. And I'm

going to give you the playbook for networking and professional growth so that you know how to build relationships that last and help grow your career.

With that foundation laid, we're going to end this with exactly everything you need to know to make $100,000 a year or a lot more. We're going to cover the

five things that you need to know from accelerating your career growth in an ad agency to securing personal clients, strategic pricing and client management, how to transition into retainerbased

work, and getting rich by building a personal brand. And I'm going to be

personal brand. And I'm going to be honest with you, building a personal brand can be scary. It can be fun. It

can be challenging. And it can be extremely rewarding. But almost nobody I

extremely rewarding. But almost nobody I know that gets to the place that you want to be doesn't have some version of

this. And almost all of them started it

this. And almost all of them started it by accident. And it is now a cornerstone

by accident. And it is now a cornerstone of their success. And I'm going to show you exactly how I did it so that you can copy and paste your way to success. So

let's start with probably the single biggest thing that you think might be holding you back. Do you need a college degree to get into Mediavine? And the

short answer is no. You don't need one.

Some of the most successful and most popular media buyers I know never went to college. But there is also value in

to college. But there is also value in an education. And full disclosure, I

an education. And full disclosure, I have three college degrees. I have an associates in recording arts. I have a bachelor's degree in music business management. And I have an MBA in

management. And I have an MBA in marketing and business management. I am

very college educated, but that is not the secret to my success. If you don't go to college, that's okay. You can

learn online. You can watch YouTube.

You're doing it right here, right now on my YOUTUBE CHANNEL. YOU'RE ALREADY doing it. Also, you can learn from practical

it. Also, you can learn from practical experience. Skills learned through

experience. Skills learned through handson experience, internship, and on the job training are often the most applicable. And it's really important to

applicable. And it's really important to remember that the industry is constantly changing standards. And the honest truth

changing standards. And the honest truth is when I graduated from college in my associates and bachelor's degree, Facebook ads didn't even exist. And by

the time I got my MBA, I didn't even know about it. I was still editing MySpace bulletins to promote my band playing some donkey open mic night. What

I learned in college has very little to do with the buttons that I click inside of a Facebook ad campaign. But I do think going to college gave me an unfair advantage over others in a few very

particular ways. First, it gave me a

particular ways. First, it gave me a theoretical foundation around business principles. I gained a comprehensive

principles. I gained a comprehensive understanding of marketing principles, consumer behavior, and strategic planning before I ever spent a penny.

And more importantly, I think what I learned in college was how to think and understand business. My college

understand business. My college education helped provide critical thinking skills and a deeper understanding of how businesses operate, which was critical for making strategic

decisions in media buying. I think one of the things that separates me from a lot of the other media buyers that I'm going to talk about today is that I talk about digital marketing and media buying

from the perspective of growing a business. And we're going to talk about

business. And we're going to talk about a lot of other people where their skills are in other things that are also very valuable. But to be fair, I think

valuable. But to be fair, I think everybody at the top has their own unique flavor of undeniable value. And

when I think about what I pride myself on, that business outcome is something that I talk about in a way that nobody else does. So, let's talk about the five

else does. So, let's talk about the five different types of media buyers and what career path is best for you. First, we

have the data driven media buyers. These

buyers rely heavily on data analytics to guide all their decisions. They analyze

performance data from the past and ongoing campaigns and market trends to optimize strategies and improve ROI.

These are the optimizers. These folks

are extremely good at the numbers. They

are proficient in data analysis tools and metrics with a keen ability to interpret data and apply insights to real world applications. They have an expertise in AB testing, conversion rate

optimization, and audience segmentation.

Their primary focus is on maximizing campaign efficiency and effectiveness through rigorous data analysis and evidence-based adjustments. A great way

evidence-based adjustments. A great way to think about these folks is you give them a piece of marble, they'll chip out a statue of David. And there's a lot of value to that. Now, I also talked about

how I'm going to match your personality type to your career path. And if you are an INTP or an INTJ, then the datadriven media buyer is

probably perfect for you. Next, we have the creative strategist media buyer. And

these folks are having a big day right now because creative is everything. This

person's role is to specialize in developing and implementing advertising strategies that resonate emotionally with target audiences. They work closely with creative teams to ensure that the

content not only aligns with the brand's identity but also engages the audience in meaningful ways. Their biggest skill

is understanding brand storytelling and audience psychology and creative trends.

Their ability to integrate creative concepts with media buying strategies defines their effectiveness. Their main

focus is on crafting advertising that stands out for their creativity and relevance, thus strengthening brand recall and emotional engagement. And I

think the time for these creative strategist media buyers to shine is right now. The more and more brands are

right now. The more and more brands are embracing the idea that the creative is everything, the more and more these people are rising to the top. And it's

incredible to see the shift in the sand.

Now, if you are an ENFP or an ENFJ, this is perfect for you. So, now let's get to our third type of media buyer, the optimizer and performance marketer.

These media buyers are focused on achieving specific measurable outcomes such as conversions, clicks, or leads.

They continuously tweak and optimize campaigns to ensure peak performance.

Their skills are a deep knowledge of performance metrics. CRO tactics and

performance metrics. CRO tactics and cost per acquisition management. They

have very strong technical skills and campaign management tools and optimization algorithms. Their goal is to optimize every aspect of a campaign to drive the best possible business

results at the lowest cost. I love to think of these types of media buyers as the fixers. And these are the folks

the fixers. And these are the folks where they're not necessarily the reason a business is good, but they can take a mess, clean it up, and make that business phenomenally better at taking

advantage of the opportunities they already have. And to be fair, a lot of

already have. And to be fair, a lot of times that's all you need to five or 10x a brand. Now, getting down to the

a brand. Now, getting down to the personality types, this type of media buying is perfect if you are an INTJ or an ESTJ

on the MyersBriggs scale. Now, just like we had the ying of the datadriven marketer and the yang of the creative, we also have the balance between performance marketers and brand growth

expert. These media buyers specialize in

expert. These media buyers specialize in developing and executing long-term brand growth strategies. Their role goes

growth strategies. Their role goes beyond short-term performance metrics, ensuring that strategies and objectives not only deliver immediate results, but also contribute to sustained brand

equity. They have expertise in market

equity. They have expertise in market research, brand positioning, and multi-channel marketing strategies, and they have the ability to balance

short-term gains with long-term brand goals. They focus to expand a brand's

goals. They focus to expand a brand's market presence, enhance customer loyalty, and increase overall brand value through strategic media placement.

Now, like I said, a performance marketer might be somebody where you could hand them a big block of marble and they could chisel out a statue of David.

Another way of thinking about them is like a hunter where they'll catch and kill and they'll survive by their ability to consume more calories than

they expel. This is an amazing skill,

they expel. This is an amazing skill, but the brain growth experts, they're like a farmer. And to be fair, humans lived in caves for over a 100,000 years based on hunting, but as soon as they

began to farm, they built empires. And

lastly, we have the executional partner or the button clicker. Executional

partners are often more tactical in their approach. Focusing on the

their approach. Focusing on the executional aspects of media buying, they ensure that all elements of the media plan are implemented correctly and efficiently. Their skill is in their

efficiently. Their skill is in their attention to detail, proficiency in ad placement platforms, and a practical understanding of campaign settings and specifications. Their primary role is to

specifications. Their primary role is to execute campaigns according to the strategic plan, ensuring adherence to budgets, timelines, and target specifications. They are the ones who

specifications. They are the ones who push the buttons and monitor basic compliance and performance. To be

completely fair, all the other media buying types are a little woo woo. These

are the folks that actually get a lot of the work done. And if you look at a book like E-Myth Revisited, you think of the world as basically two types of

operators. You have the visionaries

operators. You have the visionaries and the integrators. And as much as we need the visionary to dream big and do all sorts of stuff, some people just

want to get the job done. And if you identify as an ISFJ or an ESTJ, this job might be perfect for you. And as

somebody that absolutely is not this person, I can tell you that without these types of people, most of the work wouldn't get done. So, full disclosure,

which one of these am I? I am an ENTJ.

And here's what that means. Extroverted,

intuitive, thinking, and judging, known as the commander. The strengths are visionary thinking, decisiveness, analytical, results driven, and strategic. But some of my challenges are

strategic. But some of my challenges are I can be impatient with inefficiency. I

often overlook emotional aspects and I prefer to have control. I can be really good at media buying, but I need to be in a highlevel role. Every time I had a

junior position, I got put on a work plan. Every time I was the boss of

plan. Every time I was the boss of things, we made a lot more money.

Everybody has a job. Everybody fits in a certain place. Every tool has a purpose.

certain place. Every tool has a purpose.

And every one of those has value. So,

which one of these is you? Well, I've

actually built out a table for you to just put in your personality type and see what the best fit might be and we're just going to roll through a short description of some of these jobs. You

can see it on the screen. When you see yourself, just go ahead and hit pause and take a look a bit more. But let's

take a look for a moment through all these options.

Okay, so now let's get started on the three stages of a media buyer's career.

The first stage for almost every media buyer is the ad agency world. This is

where you are an entry-level buyer. You

are an executional commodity. Your job

is primarily to manage budgets and report on campaign performance to show success to stakeholders. Your key

responsibility is just to ensure that every dollar spent is accounted for and that results are presented in a way that highlights success. I'll also tell you

highlights success. I'll also tell you here that most of the people at this job don't realize their real job is to make sure that the person who wrote the check

to your boss looks good to their boss.

That's your entire job. Just don't screw up and make them look good and you'll go really far. Your learning opportunity

really far. Your learning opportunity here is to gain essential skills in managing campaigns and client communication. And oftent times this is

communication. And oftent times this is seen as a stepping stone due to its focus on pleasing agency clients rather than strategic growth which might limit long-term career development. And I want

to be very clear here that your job is not to do the best work for your client in this space. Your job is to do what you are asked to do. A quick story. I

was once spending a million dollars a day for CBS television to promote TV shows. At the time, I was promoting the

shows. At the time, I was promoting the premiere of the late show with Steven Cobear. And we had a million dollar a

Cobear. And we had a million dollar a day budget, but I found a way to get the job done on only $800,000 and actually beat expectations, which is

amazing. I overd delivered and saved

amazing. I overd delivered and saved budget. Who wouldn't be unhappy about

budget. Who wouldn't be unhappy about that? Well, the person at CBS who put

that? Well, the person at CBS who put their job on the line asking for a million dollars, who now looked incredibly greedy and poor at management

because I was able to do the work for $800. And moving forward, instead of

$800. And moving forward, instead of getting a million dollar a day to spend, we only got $800,000 a day. And at my ad agency, which was

a day. And at my ad agency, which was Resolution Media, the performance division of Omnicom, we took a 20% commission on ad spend. Now, if you do a

million a day at 20% commission over the space of a week, I cost four times my annual salary and commissions alone and got the person who wrote the check to us

get written up at CBS. Yeah, I got put on a performance plan and almost got fired because I saved the client over a million dollars and outperformed

expectations. Know your job or you won't

expectations. Know your job or you won't have one. The next role for media buyers

have one. The next role for media buyers is the strategic partner. This is when you begin to freelance and maybe go brand side. You are a performance

brand side. You are a performance professional.

Your role here is to transition from just executing campaigns to being a strategic partner for clients and brands. This is ideal for freelancers or

brands. This is ideal for freelancers or in-house media buyers of brands, offering more direct involvement in decisionmaking. Your career grows here

decisionmaking. Your career grows here because it develops your ability to solve real world marketing problems and implement strategies that directly influence business outcomes. And you

have a significant opportunity to add value through experienced insights and tailored solutions. This is the

tailored solutions. This is the opportunity for you to raise your hand and start to say, "I think I can do this job in a better way." You can build a better mousetrap. You are now

better mousetrap. You are now responsible for the performance, not just getting the job done. You are no longer a line item on a spreadsheet. You

are somebody that people are relying on to make sure the lights stay on and the bills get paid. This is a higher responsibility role and where a lot of

people thrive. And lastly, we have the

people thrive. And lastly, we have the growth partner. Now, this is the senior

growth partner. Now, this is the senior level. This is when you become

level. This is when you become invaluable. Now, your role here is to

invaluable. Now, your role here is to collaborate closely with brand teams to drive overall business growth and elevate the team's performance. In

professional development, you get to engage in highlevel strategy and execution that directly impacts the brand's bottom line. And this is ultimately your career peak. Often the

final step before branching out to start your own agency or developing a personal brand. And the environment here is high

brand. And the environment here is high stress, high reward, offering both personal satisfaction and professional recognition. I will say that this is the

recognition. I will say that this is the level where you begin to realize that your best job is to make everybody else look better. This is where you begin to

look better. This is where you begin to say, "Oh, rorowaz doesn't matter. What

if my ads get attributed for half as much revenue, but the rest of the team sees three times as much profit? This is

when you begin to realize that things like rorowaz don't matter. This is when the focus isn't on customer acquisition cost, but cash flow and brand growth.

You begin to focus on things like LTV, purchase frequency, second purchase rate, bottomline growth, topline growth, new customer acquisition. You focus on a lot of other things. And at this stage

of the game, you're basically just trying to stabilize the machine so that everybody else's job is easier and more effective. When I've taken over brands

effective. When I've taken over brands where they had somebody who has a strategic partner and I came in as the growth manager, we would do silly things like take the rorowaz from a 2.5 to a

point 8 and the brand would grow from 15 million to 100 in less than two years.

This is where real exponential growth comes from. And to be fair, not

comes from. And to be fair, not everybody is good at this job, and that's okay. So, now let's talk about

that's okay. So, now let's talk about how to develop your skill. So, now that you know what the ideal career path is for you and the job types and what the

stages in that career looks like, let's break down how to develop your skills by primarily focusing on the three most important sets of disciplines that you

need to know. The first being analytical thinking. This is for the leftbrain

thinking. This is for the leftbrain folks. This is the ability to

folks. This is the ability to systematically and logically break down complex problems or data sets into smaller manageable parts, identify patterns and connections, and make

reasoned judgments and decisions based on the available information. This

empowers you to make informed decisions that can significantly improve campaign results, demonstrating your capability to handle complex digital landscapes, even without a formal degree. And again,

you don't need a college degree to be really good at this. Sometimes the

people that are graduates from the school of hard knocks are way better at this than somebody that just does what they learned inside of a book because the real world is very different than a

college classroom. Next, we have the

college classroom. Next, we have the creative strategy. This is for the right

creative strategy. This is for the right folks. This is where we focus on

folks. This is where we focus on developing and analyzing the direction and approach of engaging and compelling ad content that resonates with various target audiences to effectively

communicate a brand's message and achieve its business objectives. The

impact of being really good at creative strategy is that it sets you apart in a field driven by numbers and data, showing potential employers or clients that you can blend art and science to

drive successful campaigns. Now, I know I said it before, but some of you are skipping ahead. The world of media

skipping ahead. The world of media buying is relying more and more and more aggressively on the creative strategy right folks than the really datadriven

leftrain folks, especially when it comes to Facebook ads. Now, if you're in Amazon or some keyword-based platform like Google, the inverse might still be

true, but Facebook more and more and more relies on a strong creative approach. And if you can't master that,

approach. And if you can't master that, you're kind of dead in the water. So for

you wonderful, rightrained people, the future is very bright. And last, we're going to focus on technical proficiency.

This is about understanding executional efficiency and competency with navigating multiple advertising platforms such as Google Ads, Facebook ads, etc., and knowing not just how they

work, but also how to work them and do it quickly without mistakes. Focusing on

technical proficiency provides you the operational skills needed to execute campaigns effectively, ensuring that you can be trusted to contribute value from day one, even without traditional

academic credentials. Now, mind you,

academic credentials. Now, mind you, when I graduated with my MBA, it was like 15 years ago. The world of media buying as we know it today didn't even exist. But what I can tell you is that

exist. But what I can tell you is that people that get good at doing the work quickly and know how to work on multiple platforms have a leg up in the world. If

you can do the work of other people, the faster you can get the job done, the more reliable you are getting more work.

And honestly, like everything, mastery comes from repetition of the skill set.

And if I can do a hundred tasks in an hour and it takes you three hours to do the same, at the end of a week or end of a month, I'm going to do exponentially more work than you will. So think about

it. If I can do the same work in an hour

it. If I can do the same work in an hour that you can do in a day or the same work in a day that you can do in a week, by the end of the year, I'm going to have exponentially more experience than

you will. And the name of the game is

you will. And the name of the game is experience. make mistakes and learn,

experience. make mistakes and learn, challenge yourself and get quick. That

is something that if you can do it, that is a skill no one can take away from you and makes you extremely desirable. Plus,

it allows you to spend your time doing other more valuable things. Cuz let's be fair, clicking the buttons in the machine is one of the least valuable things that you can do with your time as a media buyer. Now, these three

disciplines are what we would call commodity skills. Basically, everybody's

commodity skills. Basically, everybody's got to be good enough at all three. But

there's a big difference between commodity skills and undeniable value. And going back to that [ __ ] you

value. And going back to that [ __ ] you money, you better have undeniable value or you'll never get there. You have to develop skills that allow you to bring

to the table undeniable value if you ever want to make lifechanging money. If

what you do can be replaced quickly, then you are not worth more money because your work is a commodity.

You might be very good at your job, but if you provide no added value over the thousands of other people who can do the work, you are a commodity. Remember that

there's always somebody else willing to work a little bit harder for a little bit less money than you are. When you

start out, you are not going to get paid what you think you are worth. And that

drives a lot of people out of the business. And it's one reason why

business. And it's one reason why there's a lot of turnover in the first year. Most people I know that try this

year. Most people I know that try this give up in nine months. And it's because they're like, I'm working really hard and it doesn't seem to take me anywhere.

And it's because they're not building commodity skills with undeniable value.

their path is ultimately just to be a cog in the wheel. And for some folks, that's very rewarding. But I don't want to work really, really hard and do really, really well so that next year I

can get a five or $10,000 raise.

Remember, there was a period of time where I was managing a million dollar a day at a 20% commission. That's $200,000

I was making the business a day. And I

was earning 75,000. If I did my job really really well and I got a promotion two years later I go from 75 to 90. Why

should I care? Why should I work really really hard if I know I'm getting a fraction of my value? And some people see that and their reaction is to bail.

And I'm here to tell you that you sticking it out and following this path that we're covering today is going to be the reason why you can make more in a month than they will in a year. And I

know that from personal experience and having seen hundreds of other people do.

Remember that if you only have commodity skills, that means you are immediately replaceable if you have undeniable value. That can make you rich.

value. That can make you rich.

Undeniable value starts by combining commodity skills. The easiest way to get

commodity skills. The easiest way to get started is to pair the skills you have with the opportunity that is available.

And I know this sounds super easy. So,

why isn't everybody doing it? And again,

most people never get started because initially you're going to get paid a lot less than you think you're worth. And as

much value as you think you bring to the table, remember somebody else will do the exact same job and work a little bit harder for less money than you. If you

can be replaced by that person, there's no reason for anybody to pay you what you're already getting paid. This is the trick of the day job. Somebody else did all the hard work so that you just have

to show up and do what you're told to do to get paid. And ultimately, you're getting a fraction of your value because you're doing a portion of somebody

else's job because ultimately you are replaceable. So begin to develop your

replaceable. So begin to develop your undeniable value. Start pairing your

undeniable value. Start pairing your skills with your experience. Now

remember before I told you about being a candy bar salesman at Little League when I was a kid. And from T-ball year number one, I set the record for the most amount of candy sold. And I beat that record every year. And because I sold

more candy than anyone else, I got a great gift card to Toys R Us. And so

every summer, I got a brand new Huffy.

And I got that because I was willing to go out to the grocery store and the video shop. And I would stand outside

video shop. And I would stand outside and sell candy bars. I learned how to talk to people and basically sell them something they didn't need for a price that was more than the place they were

going into. I WAS SITTING OUTSIDE OF A

going into. I WAS SITTING OUTSIDE OF A CANDY store selling candy for a higher price than YOU COULD GET IT INSIDE. BUT

AFTER DOING that for years, I learned how to talk to people. I've developed

the skill of understanding who wanted to talk to me and how to break the ice.

Years later, I became a touring musician. And one of the things that you

musician. And one of the things that you learn when you're on the road is you have to sell merchandise or you don't eat. If you want to get to the next gig,

eat. If you want to get to the next gig, you better make money. So, one of the very first things that I learned when you get off stage, don't ask somebody if they want to buy a t-shirt. Ask them

which t-shirt they want to buy. I got

very, very good because eating food depended on it. And at the time, I was also a heroin addict. So, like I had big decisions to make, right? Food, gas, or drugs so that I like wouldn't be

throwing up all day. And that was very dependent on my ability to break the ice, the skill that I learned selling candy bars, and also make sales. I got

really really good in understanding consumer psychology. I got really good

consumer psychology. I got really good at positioning and I got really good at communication when it came to closing the deal. I became very very good on

the deal. I became very very good on stage because I spent 15 years behind the desk at radio stations and behind the microphone in bands touring the

country. Those skills that I learned

country. Those skills that I learned before I ever spent a dollar on Facebook ads were the experience I could pair with being really fast at running ads

and being really good analytically and also having a strong understanding of business. That is a pairing of commodity

business. That is a pairing of commodity skill and experience that gave me undeniable value. And eventually I made

undeniable value. And eventually I made more in a month than most the people I knew made in a year. Again, this is the exact path that I'm using to get 50,75,

$100,000 a month. I paid myself over a million dollars last year, and it's built on these types of things. So, let

me break down the four core undeniable values. The most successful people that

values. The most successful people that I see in the space fall into one of these four buckets. You can be good at economics and being an econometrician.

There are folks with consumer psychology mastery. Some excel at strategic

mastery. Some excel at strategic operations management and others are very advanced at storytelling and communication. These are the nuances you

communication. These are the nuances you can apply to a combination of commodity skills to create undeniable value. Now,

let's dive deeper into each one. So, for

economics and being an econometrician, the nuance here is understanding the broader economic impact of marketing efforts beyond simple campaign metrics.

Your undeniable value is the ability to align marketing strategies with broader business objectives for sustainable growth, making the professional indispensable to any organization. The

econometrician is the person that's going to say, "Well, yes, our cost caps bring in the lowest CPA, but other types of customers where we're willing to pay a little bit more, their LTV is three

times higher. Instead of making a little

times higher. Instead of making a little bit more money today, we're going to make a lot more money tomorrow." They're

focused on things more important than the vanity metrics of the media buying dashboard. Econometricians have an

dashboard. Econometricians have an advanced skill set when it comes to data analysis. Their statistical expertise

analysis. Their statistical expertise uses advanced statistical skills to dissect marketing trends and consumer behavior. And they're often very good

behavior. And they're often very good with predictive modeling. So they can forecast consumer reactions, enhancing strategic precision for media buyers.

They're also really good at the optimization of ad spend. utilizing

statistical techniques to optimize advertising budgets across multiple channels for a better return on their investment. And their campaign

investment. And their campaign management style precisely evaluates campaign impacts to improve the effectiveness of spending. Their

strategic decisionmaking is built on insightful reporting. They can translate

insightful reporting. They can translate complex data into strategic insights influencing more informed decisions. and

their market forecasting skills result in economic predictions to inform media planning adapting to marketing shifts.

And lastly, their crossf functional integration, quantitative and marketing bridge. They convert analytical findings

bridge. They convert analytical findings into understandable marketing actions and team enhancement, evaluating the analytical prowess of marketing teams

for datadriven decision making.

Basically, what these people are phenomenally good at is looking at the bigger picture. These are folks that say

bigger picture. These are folks that say there's no eye in team and can prove it with dollars and cents. They say he who holds the gold makes all the rules. And

there's a reason why most of the richest people in the world are very close to the transaction of money. And

econometricians are probably the most skilled at making money. And if that's what you're good at, you're going to do very well. Now, another skill set that

very well. Now, another skill set that provides undeniable value is consumer psychology mastery.

The nuance here is a deep understanding of consumer behavior to enhance the marketing effectiveness. The undeniable

marketing effectiveness. The undeniable value here is that it transforms your standard marketing campaigns into powerful tools for driving consumer action, significantly boosting

conversion rates and customer loyalty.

When you have somebody that understands consumer psychology, you can move into focusing on starting with the why. You

can begin getting to embrace Simon Synynic's Golden Circle. You move from trying to make the sale to starting to attract customers. Attraction rather

attract customers. Attraction rather than promotion is one of the fastest ways to make significant changes in everything. Consumer psychologists can

everything. Consumer psychologists can lever deep behavioral insight. They

understand the motivation of what drives consumer behavior and decision-making and allow for an emotional engagement to craft resonant messaging enhancing

connection and response. This allows

them to also have much better targeted marketing strategies, allowing for psychological insights to tailor campaigns to market more effectively.

And also they're able to anticipate consumer responses to marketing stimuli enabling proactive adjustments based on behavioral predictions. Consumer

behavioral predictions. Consumer psychologists understand, oh, this ad did really well or this landing page did really well. How do these two things

really well. How do these two things work together? Remember that your ad is

work together? Remember that your ad is only one part of the customer journey.

And honestly, from here to here, it happens at the very end. People make

decisions because of a lifetime of experiences. The average customer

experiences. The average customer journey is decades long, not days. And a

consumer psychologist can understand how to leverage where people are coming from, how they feel, what motivates them. They can leverage emotion rather

them. They can leverage emotion rather than just best price or highest quality or fastest or strongest or brightest or lightest or most healthy, things like

that. They can begin to tell folks what

that. They can begin to tell folks what their life is going to be like because of the product or service. not just try to convince them to buy from you versus

somebody else. And that is a superpower

somebody else. And that is a superpower because of their psychology mastery.

There's an enhanced consumer experience understanding. So they can implement

understanding. So they can implement strategies that lever consumer preferences and behavioral data. And

this creates emotional connections. They

can tap into emotions creating a strong bond with a brand. And this allows also for innovative campaign development.

They can focus on psychological triggers to enhance buying behavior. And that

allows them to solve problems with creative content, weaponizing consumer psychology to influence and persuade.

There is a reason that you feel a certain way about brands, especially products that are completely replaceable. How do you feel when you go

replaceable. How do you feel when you go to a restaurant and you say, "Yeah, I'll have a Diet Coke." And they say, "Oh, we only have Pepsi." That feeling that you

have inside is something that a consumer psychologist can weaponize to improve the bank account. And that means that they're exponentially more valuable than

anybody that can click the button. This

undeniable value is something that is a force multiplier to the entire business.

And the people that are really, really good at this are irreplaceable. The next

undeniable value is strategic operations management. And we talked before about

management. And we talked before about this great book called E-Myth Revisited.

And it basically puts people into two categories, visionary or integrator. And

the consumer psychologists and the econometricians, they tend to be more in the visionary side. And that's great.

But if you don't have a good integrator, you have a bunch of great ideas with no ability to get it done. And strategic

operations management people, if you get a good one, they can move mountains for you so you can go and continue to dream big. And that is amazing. The nuance

big. And that is amazing. The nuance

here is the ability to optimize operations within a marketing context to increase efficiency and effectiveness.

The undeniable value is that they provide significant competitive edge by enhancing operational agility and reducing costs thereby increasing

profitability. It's one thing to be able

profitability. It's one thing to be able to do the job quick. It's another to be able to do the job well. But when you have somebody who can understand, project manage, and ultimately weaponize

the allocation of resources to understand which one of those gives you the best bang for your buck and can sometimes step away and build a completely new mousetrap that is an

irreplaceable team member. These folks

excel in efficiency optimization.

Streamlining the process to identify inefficiencies and reduce waste to enhance productivity and technology integration is a cornerstone of how they do this. Automating tasks and improving

do this. Automating tasks and improving data flow to significantly boost operational efficiency.

They also are great at quality control.

They set standards and they ensure that these are met and they have a focus on continuous improvement. implementing a

continuous improvement. implementing a culture through feedback loops. The best

people at this are excellent communicators and project managers and the ability to take all of the wins and losses from anybody on the team to make

the entire team continually better. 1%

better every day. Kaizen, that is amazing. The amount of teams that I see

amazing. The amount of teams that I see that don't have somebody like this that make the same mistakes over and over and over again with new employee, a new

agency, a new vendor because they haven't actually solve their problem is heartbreaking. But if you can master

heartbreaking. But if you can master this, your future is extremely bright.

Full disclosure, I'm also terrible at this. These folks also provide a

this. These folks also provide a tremendous value in their strategic decisionmaking. They have datadriven

decisionmaking. They have datadriven strategies using analytics to respond proactively to potential disruptions and opportunities. And they excel at risk

opportunities. And they excel at risk management, ensuring the organization remains resilient in the face of challenges. And one of my favorite

challenges. And one of my favorite things that these people do is stakeholder engagement. There's an

stakeholder engagement. There's an internal coordination enhancing collaboration between different departments to ensure alignment. It does

no good for everybody to have only their own myopic definition of success being their goal and everybody working really hard running a thousand miles an hour in one specific direction with no

connective tissue. If you don't have

connective tissue. If you don't have somebody good at this, that is going to be the downfall of your business. And

their external relations are also incredible. The ability to manage

incredible. The ability to manage external stakeholders to ensure smooth operational flows means the business continues to move smoothly. And that

brings us to advanced storytelling in communication. If you've ever heard the

communication. If you've ever heard the old adage, sell me this pen or somebody that can sell ice to Eskimos. Somebody

that can bring you to tears or completely change your mind with only a few words. That is an incredibly

few words. That is an incredibly powerful skill. The nuance here is

powerful skill. The nuance here is employing sophisticated storytelling techniques to engage and persuade audiences. And the undeniable value is

audiences. And the undeniable value is that it can elevate brand messaging, enhancing customer engagement and drive brand loyalty, making the marketer a key

asset and brand strategy. When you have an advanced storyteller, when you have somebody that can say why you should care about the brand instead of just the

product or service, you get an unfair advantage. This is what builds a moat

advantage. This is what builds a moat around your business. This is where somebody else just coming in with we're faster, we're stronger, we're cheaper, we're higher quality, any of these other

things doesn't move the needle for people because they've made an emotional connection based on the way that you've communicated the brand identity to

somebody. The brands that do this

somebody. The brands that do this exceptionally well own customers for years or decades or their entire lifetime. Honestly, I think my three

lifetime. Honestly, I think my three favorite examples of it is CocaCola, Nike, and Apple. How do those brands make you feel? Whether you love them or

you hate them, you have an emotional connection to these businesses because of the storytelling. That is amazing.

These folks leverage narrative development, compelling storytelling that crafts a narrative to ensure that marketing messages are not only heard but felt, and the brand story

integration, making sure that the brand's core message and values get into every campaign to reinforce the identity and foster loyalty. They also leverage

multimedia content creation, utilizing diverse media formats, creating a variety of content formats to tell a story that captivates and engages. And

they also are really, really good at creative innovation, continuing exploring new ways to present content that breaks through the noise. One of

the beautiful skills of these people is the ability to not only tell a story, but to do it in a lot of different ways so that you can reach a lot of different people, but all make them feel the exact same thing. Remember that when you're

same thing. Remember that when you're trying to scale a business, you don't want a thousand different kinds of customers that all buy once. You want

one kind of customer that'll buy a thousand times. It becomes exponentially

thousand times. It becomes exponentially easier to make your business successful when you reduce the amount of kinds of customers you have and the kinds of

reasons that they buy. If you can get everybody walking into the door for the same reason, it becomes really really easy to get them to buy, to buy again,

and to do your sales for you and to come back month after month, year after year.

That is how you build a business.

Otherwise, you need really good salesmen who can trick people into paying you once, and that is not sustainable. And

these folks are incredible at audience engagement, developing campaigns that turn passive viewers into active participants. And they also utilize

participants. And they also utilize feedback, creating a dynamic communication loop that evolves based on consumer responses. And their strategic

consumer responses. And their strategic messaging is their superpower. Having a

tailored message that resonates deeply with specific demographics. Employing

psychological trigger principles to influence perceptions and behaviors, enhancing campaign power. So, at this point, you're probably asking yourself, how do I go from somebody with just

commodity skills to somebody with undeniable value? Well, this is the

undeniable value? Well, this is the 10-step process to go from somebody who's completely replaceable to somebody who's completely invaluable. And

remember, if you're replaceable, you're not going to get paid nearly what you're worth. And if you're invaluable, you can

worth. And if you're invaluable, you can charge whatever you want. Step number

one is self assessment. Begin by

evaluating your current skill set and identify what you excel at in the areas that need refinement. You need to be honest with yourself. Be your worst

critic. Next, we have skill fusion.

critic. Next, we have skill fusion.

Don't rely on a singular skill. Combine

multiple skills to create a unique value proposition. Remember, anybody can be

proposition. Remember, anybody can be good at getting the job done quickly.

Anybody can be good at choosing how to use data. Anybody can make creative

use data. Anybody can make creative insight. The ability to combine multiple

insight. The ability to combine multiple things rises you above just being another cog in the wheel. You need to focus on learning continuously. Enroll

in courses, attend workshops, and constantly update your knowledge. And

there are a lot of great places you can do it. I mean, you're doing it right

do it. I mean, you're doing it right now. A great place to do it is on

now. A great place to do it is on YouTube. You're here watching me on

YouTube. You're here watching me on YouTube right now continuously learning on how to develop yourself. And first

off, there's a lot of people that won't do that. So, congratulations. Like,

do that. So, congratulations. Like,

you're doing the good stuff. You're

moving in the right direction. And there

are a lot of other places that you can go beyond just the free stuff to get really pointed valuable education. For

what it's worth, I'm going to throw it up on the screen here real quick. You

can always join Disruptor Academy.

There's the QR code. So yeah, there are a lot of places that you can go to. I

think if you understand the kind of career path you want and focus on the people that provide the undeniable value that you relate to, a lot of those

people have a way that they're teaching others to follow in that footstep. And

that is the single greatest advice. And

your success in failure is probably going to come from your ability to discern who you should follow and who isn't really worth your time.

So find who speaks to you in a way that you can hear that challenges the way that you think and learn from them as much as you can. And if you have questions, ask. As a matter of fact, in

questions, ask. As a matter of fact, in the comment section, write down below anything that you want to know more about, ask it and I'll get back to you.

Challenge me. Let me know where you're uncomfortable or something doesn't make sense or maybe you disagree. That

uncomfortability in communication is what helps us all grow. And that's what this is completely about. That's why I'm doing this here for you today. You also

need to be focused on networking. Forge

connections with industry leaders and peers. Their insights can be invaluable.

peers. Their insights can be invaluable.

You cannot do this alone. And this

career can be lonely. So, it is part of your job to reach out to those people, right? If you DM me right now, if you

right? If you DM me right now, if you comment to me right now, I'll get back to you. It'll be me. Like, if you're

to you. It'll be me. Like, if you're watching this, let me know your questions. Let me know your value. And a

questions. Let me know your value. And a

lot of the other people that I talk to, they'll do the same. Reach out to Dra, reach out to Sarah, reach out to Roba and to Nate and to Dylan. Like, these

people thrive because their communication and their networking is something they've been really good at.

And every one of them was in the exact same shoes that you're in right now.

There was a time where I was on day one.

And I remember distinctly, I went to my boss and asked for help when I was supervisor of Omnicon. She took out her headphone, told me to check my job description, put her headphone back in,

and went back to writing emails. That's

the only support I got in the workplace.

So, I went to Facebook, I found groups, I went to different events, I made connections, I made friends, and I learned how to leverage other people as

one of my resources. I got mentors and I made relationships that I still have to this day. Some of the people that I met

this day. Some of the people that I met 10 years ago are folks where we're still texting each other all the time. That is

what you you should also be focusing on practical application. Theory without

practical application. Theory without practice is feudal. Implement your

skills in realworld scenarios. One of

the things that I did really early on is I tried something new with every single campaign. No matter what it was, if

campaign. No matter what it was, if there was an option to do something different than what I had done before, I used it. No matter what it was, if there

used it. No matter what it was, if there was an option to do something just a little bit different than I had done before, I took it. I challenged myself to have to win by doing things a little bit differently than I did before. Where

everybody else figured out the simplest way to just rinse and repeat, I challenged myself to get better and better. And I implemented every single

better. And I implemented every single thing I learned. When I binged a podcast and had a good idea, I executed it as soon as possible. That growth is vital

to developing undeniable value cuz every day that somebody else doesn't grow is an opportunity for you to get a little bit more ahead. You also need a feedback loop. Seek feedback both positive and

loop. Seek feedback both positive and constructive. It is pivotal for growth.

constructive. It is pivotal for growth.

You don't know how well you are doing.

If your scorecard is only the report that you send out and that's all you care about, you'll never be more valuable than that report and there's somebody else that can do a better job for cheaper. You also need to focus on

for cheaper. You also need to focus on having adaptability. Remember that the

having adaptability. Remember that the business landscape is dynamic. So stay

flexible and adapt to changing trends.

There was a point in time where you had to run just traffic or engagement campaigns. That was it. And when the

campaigns. That was it. And when the conversion objectives came out, when the Facebook pixel was released, the people that embraced it thrived. And the ones that didn't, well, a lot of them went

out of business. I also remember when advanced matching happened in 2018 and broad targeting became a thing. The

brands that embraced broad targeting nearly 10 years ago are light years ahead of those that are still trying to hack their way to success with lookalikes and interest groups. and they

understood that it's about a lot more than just what you see on the screen and the nuance of how all the marketing played together. And the third biggest

played together. And the third biggest thing that I can remember is when Facebook took away the 28 day attribution would there were agencies where their entire business was built on

delayed attribution and how good that report is going to look in 3 weeks. And

there were folks that understood that attribution isn't real. And they focused on trying to solve business problems instead of take credit for the work of the entire team. And well, we still have

some of those brands out there today.

Many of them move from delayed attribution to cost caps. Which to be fair, if your definition of success is making the report look good, that's the right move. And I'm not here to say that

right move. And I'm not here to say that that's a good or a bad thing. Remember,

you're defined by your job. And

sometimes your job is to make the person who wrote the check look good to their boss. But there's a big difference

boss. But there's a big difference between doing that and growing a business. And understanding the nuances

business. And understanding the nuances here and how to adapt is vital or you're just going to get left in the dust as soon as the wind changes. You also need

to focus on mentorship. Find a mentor who can guide you offering insights from their experiences. I had the fortune of

their experiences. I had the fortune of getting a couple phenomenal mentors in my career. One of them was this guy Ben

my career. One of them was this guy Ben who I'm still friends with. He came to my wedding and we met over a decade ago.

We were actually on this TV show on AMC called The Pitch where it was a bunch of ad agencies competing to be the agency of record for a brand and it came on around the time Madmen was on the air.

Anyway, he taught me some amazing lessons. And when I lost my job, every

lessons. And when I lost my job, every time I moved from one agency to the next, he sat me down and helped me work on my resume. And he taught me one of the most amazing things. And let me share that with you today. When you're

taking over business from somebody else, the goal is more of the same but better.

That is the starting place. Don't

rebuild. Just do a little bit better job and do it more often than somebody else and you'll always be in a better place.

I've also had the luxury of having mentors that were really good in other spaces like Marina. She was amazing. She

was the woman behind Guthy Ranker and the Ginsu knife commercials and Proactive and I got to learn offer construction from that woman. That's

amazing. She's also the person that taught me attribution is complete nonsense. She would spend $100 million a

nonsense. She would spend $100 million a year with a stopwatch on infomercials.

When I would come to her saying what the Facebook report is, she would kick me out of her office. It took me three months just to get 15 minutes of her time. and she was the only person in the

time. and she was the only person in the room that understood my work. And that

was incredibly humbling because by that point in time in 2017 when she became my boss, I had already spent $500 million on Facebook ads. I thought I was

amazing. And well, I learned a lot real

amazing. And well, I learned a lot real fast. And another mentor that I had was

fast. And another mentor that I had was this guy Roba. And he was at Triple Whale and now he's at a place called Fermat. And he actually followed me a

Fermat. And he actually followed me a lot through Facebook groups back in the day. But but mentorship isn't just about

day. But but mentorship isn't just about executional skills. Robba has taught me

executional skills. Robba has taught me a lot in the soft skills of communication. Robba just has a magic

communication. Robba just has a magic touch. I'm still not quite sure what he

touch. I'm still not quite sure what he does for a living, but every business he goes to blows up because he understands people and he's helped me do a redemption tour once or twice when I put my foot in my mouth a little too often,

a little too publicly, a little too much. You need these kinds of people in

much. You need these kinds of people in your life. Not only do you need mentors,

your life. Not only do you need mentors, but you need to focus on consistency of the work that you do. Mastery isn't

achieved overnight. Consistency is the key. Repetition matters. Practice makes

key. Repetition matters. Practice makes

perfect, but it's only as good as the work that you do. You need to challenge yourself. If you've ever read Malcolm

yourself. If you've ever read Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers, you know the concept of 10,000 hours. Now, one of the most misunderstood things about 10,000 hours, it's not just do the work for

10,000 hours. It's 10,000 hours of

10,000 hours. It's 10,000 hours of challenging yourself to do something more, do something different, and repeat the work, but try to get better. More of

the same but better. And that is how you become a master at something. It's not

just good to be executionally proficient. You need to understand the

proficient. You need to understand the why. You need to understand what's going

why. You need to understand what's going on behind the scenes. And it's one of those things where the more you know, the more you realize you don't know. And

that's where a lot of the excitement comes when you truly want to provide undeniable value. And lastly,

undeniable value. And lastly, re-evaluation.

Periodically revisit your goals and strategies, tweaking them for optimal results. It's one thing to try to run a

results. It's one thing to try to run a thousand miles in a direction and get better and better as you do it. But if

you don't look behind you to appreciate where you've come, or to realize whether or not you're still running in the right direction, then you could waste a lot of time and energy. And to be fair, I lost

years of my life in this career because I didn't do this well. There was a point in time where I was basically just the best person in the room every room I went into. And I stopped moving forward.

went into. And I stopped moving forward.

I just got really good at the work that I did and I could do more and more and more of it faster and faster. But I

stopped challenging myself really from the end of 2015 to 2017 when Marina became my boss. I got in a rut. And if I had focused on the soft skills that I

learned from Rabba and had really challenged myself to onboard more ideas, I probably would have gotten to where I am today 5 years earlier. But you live and learn. And honestly, that life

and learn. And honestly, that life lesson is one that I only can have because I've re-evaluated. And having

the humility to understand where you've fallen short and how to change direction is incredibly powerful because when

somebody comes to you with their plan, the ability to see it in yourself is going to allow you to see it in others.

And all of the experience you get along the way is going to help you understand how to communicate that, how to project manage that, and ultimately how to get somebody else who's about to make the

same mistake that you made to avoid it so that you can provide undeniable value to them by saving them time, money, heartache, and that is what makes you

indispensable to others. So, developing

your skills is all about training and resources. How to get better. Now, I

resources. How to get better. Now, I

mentioned some of these names earlier, but I want to dive in deeper. There are

a couple different avenues that I would love for you to start diving into. If

you want to learn more media buyer skills, look to Dar Denny, Barry Hot, and Nick Terry, and and of course me, too. But we all have YouTube channels.

too. But we all have YouTube channels.

To be fair, Dar Denny and Nicks are way more advanced than mine. They're

incredible, and we've shared ideas, and you'll see me say some of the things that they said, and I know that they've been saying some of the things that I've said. And that's a beautiful thing cuz

said. And that's a beautiful thing cuz we all have different skill sets and we're borrowing from each other. We're

stealing and and trying things out and making mistakes and we're all texting each other off hours and like that's what it's all about. And you're going to hear these names a lot. And I highly recommend that you dive into the people

who speak in a way that you can hear and that talk about things in a way that challenges the way that you think.

Outside of media buying skills, undeniable value comes from marketing skills. And some of the best people here

skills. And some of the best people here are Sarah Leingger, McCoy from Portland Leather, and Nate from Original Grain.

These are folks that are actually doing the work every single day, sharing their ideas with you. And they're way more than just media buyers. These are

marketers. Marketers. And while you might not know who they are, I highly recommend you seek them out because they're the ones in the trenches doing the hard work. And also, you [snorts]

might want to have an ad agency. You

might want to see how people who manage ad agencies do work. Remember, managing

an ad agency is very different than being a good media buyer. Yes, that's a good skill set to have, but running a business is very different than marketing the business. And some of the

best people at that, I think Iman Gazi, I think Taylor Holiday, I think Andrew Ferris, they're great at this work. And

again, their skill set is running agencies. That business is completely

agencies. That business is completely different than being good at media buying. If your ambition is to excel

buying. If your ambition is to excel within an agency or maybe run your own, be the most knowledgeable person in the room. These folks have great advice to

room. These folks have great advice to give and have been doing it for a long time. Now, there are also non-media

time. Now, there are also non-media buyer folks that I really want you to focus on learning from. Look for Dan Pantello, Dylan Ander, and Jimmy Kim.

Those who have built the foremost marketing tools often began as exceptional marketers themselves.

Understanding the rationale behind the tools you use enhances your problem solving skills for the issues these tools are intended to address. This deep

comprehension allows you to appreciate the nuances of marketing in a level not commonly achieved by others. Basically,

it's great to know how to use the tools, but if you can understand how and why the people who built the tools that you use chose to make the tool do the job

that it does in the way that it does, you're going to learn a lot more than just how to be good at your job.

Remember, to achieve extraordinary results and to truly stand out, you have to use unconventional methods. Because

conventional doing things the ordinary way ultimately means you're going to probably be almost as good as everybody else following everybody else. And that

means you're replaceable. Simply

following the standard path is safe and comfortable, but it won't lead you to excellence. Instead of merely imitating

excellence. Instead of merely imitating others, invest time in understanding the fundamentals. This knowledge will enable

fundamentals. This knowledge will enable you to think innovatively and make unique contributions. Remember, unique

unique contributions. Remember, unique contributions is really what this is all about. If what you contribute isn't

about. If what you contribute isn't unique, I can find somebody who will do it cheaper and somebody who work harder than you. Bottom line, nobody is the

than you. Bottom line, nobody is the best because somebody will always do it.

Bottom line. Remember, when you step out of your comfort zone and you begin to grow because you've embraced the uncomfortability and you begin to specialize, you can command any price.

If you learn nothing else today, I want you to take this away. Specialists make

a lot more money. If you get sick, if you have brain cancer, you don't want to go to the person at the walk-in clinic.

You want to go to the best brain surgeon available. When people have a valuable

available. When people have a valuable problem they need to solve, they're going to go to the best who can solve it. If you're the best, you can name

it. If you're the best, you can name your price. And that is how you begin to

your price. And that is how you begin to stack real paper. How you begin to make a lot of money. So now let's talk about what you can expect in the day in the

life of a media buyer because well setting expectations is really important. So in the morning, this is

important. So in the morning, this is best for doing a review of your analytics and to plan your strategy.

It's great to start looking at the metrics in your dashboard and using tools like Google Analytics and anywhere else just to make sure that you know what's on fire, what needs to be addressed. Because when you're making a

addressed. Because when you're making a plan for the day, having all of the context and making a complete plan for your strategic adjustments is really important. Going line item by line item

important. Going line item by line item without context can take a lot of time and you find yourself undoing half of your work before the day is done. In the

middle of the day, this is when we really focus on client interactions and campaign management. Right? This is

campaign management. Right? This is

where we're going to take everything that we've learned from our planning and from our analytics and we communicate it and we take action while also monitoring the work that we've done as well as

communicating with other team members and collaborating on getting more work done. And in the evening, our wrap-up is

done. And in the evening, our wrap-up is really just compiling the data, reviewing the performance, and preparing for tomorrow. To properly plan your day

for tomorrow. To properly plan your day as a media buyer, we have to remember that this is a service industry job.

Now, nobody expects you to be able to answer every single question first thing in the morning. But the number one way to be prepared when anybody ever asks you questions is to start your day by

getting informed. Look at your data. Be

getting informed. Look at your data. Be

able to know what questions might be asked. Be able to know what suggestions

asked. Be able to know what suggestions you might need to make. I see so many folks go account by account by account and it takes them all day to get stuff done. And who knows, maybe the third

done. And who knows, maybe the third account you look at is something where you needed to take an action in the morning, but you didn't find out about it till after lunch and now you have to answer questions about it tomorrow and you're just wrapped up just trying to

play catchup. Get your ducks in a row.

play catchup. Get your ducks in a row.

When I used to be director of strategy at a company called Hyphen, we used to have a meeting at 10:00 in the morning and every buyer needed to know all of their numbers as well as have a plan by

10:00 a.m. Now, I personally at the time

10:00 a.m. Now, I personally at the time was managing eight different brands across five different platforms. I had to have all my numbers ready and the ability to communicate it by 10:00 in

the morning. And while that was really

the morning. And while that was really tough to get used to, as soon as it happened, the rest of my day became so liberating and enjoyable because I was

never really playing catch-up. I was now just executing the plan and communicating and enjoying being in the moment. So, we know what kind of job are

moment. So, we know what kind of job are probably good for. We know how to get good at our skills, and we know what the day can look like. So, all that's left

is landing the job and building some clientele so that we can go from wanting success to starting our career path to earning lifechanging

[ __ ] you money. Okay, here's what you need to know. First, let's start with market research. Identify industries and

market research. Identify industries and types of campaigns that align with your interests and skills. Understanding

market demand helps pinpoint where you can add the most value. You want to be a worker amongst workers and you want to be comfortable in what you're doing. I

found really early on that doing promotional efforts for tourism boards wasn't nearly as interesting as e-commerce and lead genen for the way that I like to think. So, I moved my way

out of reach and frequency campaigns with engagement events and then trying to do creative insights and consumer analytics. I got way out of that and got

analytics. I got way out of that and got really into the things of like making money and solving puzzles. Like that for me was really rewarding. Had I stuck around in the just spend easy money to

like make a bit of a commission and then just deliver people insights that don't really mean anything and something that's exciting to me, I probably would have found another job. So many people burn out if they don't find the right

fit. So step number one, don't set

fit. So step number one, don't set yourself up for failure. Set yourself up for success. Now you can focus on

for success. Now you can focus on defining your niche. Focus on a specific area of media buying such as e-commerce or lead genen, whether you'd like to work at an agency or brand, and what

takes advantage of your skills. Like I

was talking about here, knowing what you are good at, knowing what excites you, knowing what you're willing to bang your head against the wall for a couple hours a day just to get one inch further in a

way that like motivates you, a way that feeds you is really important. And if

you don't know right away, that's okay.

I couldn't possibly have known when I got started. But having an idea of what

got started. But having an idea of what motivates you and what you're interested in means that when you're starting to make choices around where you want to begin your career or where you want to

take it to the next level becomes a process where you are way more informed.

And again, set yourself up for success.

If it's not interesting, if it's not something that's meaningful to you, odds of you becoming really, really good at it aren't that high. And there's enough money to go around. There's enough

opportunity out there. You don't have to do the boring thing. You can do something you legitimately enjoy. The

truth is, most people I know that are making mid6 or low seven figures a year really enjoy what they do. Without that

passion, they're just looking for a paycheck to go do something else. And if

you're just looking for a paycheck to go do something else, you're never going to make the money that you truly deserve.

And lastly, leverage your unique skills.

Use your unique experience to begin to develop undeniable value to differentiate yourself in your chosen niche, demonstrating how you can solve specific problems better than others.

Like I told you earlier on, like when I was a kid, I was the number one candy bar salesman in West Springfield Little League. Like I set a record every single

League. Like I set a record every single year. I got really good at selling

year. I got really good at selling merchandise on the road as like a touring musician with a heroin problem.

Making money and selling products and communicating with people. Getting

somebody to stop getting their attention and turning that attention into money that provided something that I needed was a skill that I leveraged for years and years and years. I honed that before

I ever spent any money on Facebook. And

that's one reason why I think lead genen and e-commerce is a great fit for me.

But there are other folks where that's not what they enjoy. They really like other things. And we talked about a lot

other things. And we talked about a lot of these different career paths, right?

We started this video off with what your best career path would be. And I was fully transparent. It was the best fit

fully transparent. It was the best fit for me. And that turned out in this

for me. And that turned out in this industry to basically be upper level management and director level for marketing and business development, which is 100% the way that I think about myself. And that's what my personality

myself. And that's what my personality said when I took the test when I was 18.

Um, it's it's funny like we just kind of find pockets and that MyersBriggs test.

If you haven't taken it, go for it because it's going to be a great fit.

And I've included a link for you to take it down in the description below. 100%

free. Okay, let's keep going. So, now

let's go over the three-step guide to landing your first client or getting the job. What you need to know to start

job. What you need to know to start getting paid to do this, cuz again, I think it's the one of the best ways possible to pay your bills. All right,

step number one is resume and portfolio building. Craft a compelling resume and

building. Craft a compelling resume and digital portfolio that highlights your skills, previous work, and any successful campaigns or projects.

Include metrics that demonstrate your impact. And when I started out with my

impact. And when I started out with my first resume, I included a cover letter.

I think it's really important. I think

it's a great way to just not be ignored.

And so many HR people will just delete if you only send a resume. Like, make it personal. and I spammed everybody trying

personal. and I spammed everybody trying to get an interview or an opportunity and I constantly just got ignored when I actually took the time to be specific

with the work that I wanted to do. I got

interviews in a matter of days and it took me weeks of getting rejected to learn that lesson that I've now employed for over a decade. And the honest truth

is something else is that you don't need a client to start running ads. I started

running ads. My very first ad was promoting my band on Facebook. I put my credit card into the machine and started spending a couple of bucks a day just so

that my band could have more exposure on Instagram and get some views on our music video. That experience meant that

music video. That experience meant that when I went in to have a call with somebody, I had a couple college degrees, so people knew that I was well educated and knew what I was talking

about. I took the time to do my homework

about. I took the time to do my homework to write a cover letter and I showed that I know how to work the machine.

They didn't have to train me. Nobody

wants to train you. They want you to be able to do the job and then help you be better. But if they need to get you from

better. But if they need to get you from zero to one, you're going to be in a bad way. And if you don't know how to set

way. And if you don't know how to set stuff up, we have resources for you.

Again, just down in the description below, there's a link for a video on a full course 0ero to1 to help you set up your first ad account. Spend a dollar a day. Just learn how it works, what the

day. Just learn how it works, what the buttons are, so that you can talk to somebody about something because nobody wants to take you from zero to one. They

just want you to be already capable of crawling so that you can do it for them.

Next, focus on networking and outreach.

Utilize professional groups to connect with potential employers or clients.

Personal branding, exhibiting experience will also enhance credibility, visibility, trust, and demand from the market. Now, back in the day, it was all

market. Now, back in the day, it was all about the Facebook group. Which Facebook

group are you in for media buying, right? And then it became Twitter, and

right? And then it became Twitter, and people have YouTube channels and Instagram accounts. And, you know, a few

Instagram accounts. And, you know, a few years ago, it was really hot to get into some Slack groups like the Workspace 6 or the Triple Whale one back when it was good. And there's still a few good ones

good. And there's still a few good ones out there, like the limited supply, I think, is phenomenal. If you're not talking to people, if nobody knows you exist, then you're just trying to compete for a job as a stranger in

somebody's email box. But if you can show that you know what you're talking about, if you can have informed conversations, if you can make some connections, when the work becomes available, you're now no longer a

stranger. You're the person that has to

stranger. You're the person that has to turn down the job before they look for a stranger. And that's the real unfair

stranger. And that's the real unfair advantage. People only put out the job

advantage. People only put out the job listing when the folks they know can't take the work. Be somebody that they know and you won't have to apply. That

is the real trick. So the more active you are, the better your odds are at getting work. There was a period of time

getting work. There was a period of time where I very specifically took down all of my best work. And I put together little tricks and tactics and every

single day I would spam like 20 30 Facebook groups and post something on Twitter with just my tip or tactic or trick of the day encouraging people to respond. I did that for a couple years.

respond. I did that for a couple years.

What that did is it meant that nobody in the space didn't know who I was. Now,

some of the stuff I said worked, some of it didn't, but I got conversation. And

my ability to talk about it, as well as the attention that I got because I talked about it, gave me inbound leads at a place where I never had to interview ever again. The last job I

legitimately interviewed for was in 2017. Since then, it's about landing

2017. Since then, it's about landing clients and helping people. I think the big trick to this is consistency and then also, like I said, exhibiting

expertise. Just be smarter than somebody

expertise. Just be smarter than somebody else. If you're on day three, you can

else. If you're on day three, you can teach something to somebody that's on day two. And you never know who's on day

day two. And you never know who's on day two. I talk to business owners all the

two. I talk to business owners all the time who have just hired agencies and want to get somebody in house. They're

on day one, but they need somebody they can trust. If you're just better than

can trust. If you're just better than that one person, you have the opportunity to get that job. And that's

a great advantage. exhibit expertise in public and you will get attention before you need to submit resumes. People will

ask you for your work and that is a cheat code that nobody else is talking about. And I want you to know that that

about. And I want you to know that that is an easy way to get paid. And last

thing here, step number three is interview and pitch preparation. You

should be prepared to articulate your value proposition clearly in interviews and pitches. Practice common interview

and pitches. Practice common interview questions and be ready to discuss your portfolio in detail. Something I had to learn after years and years of being bad

at it is how to get my point across in sound bites. Don't take five minutes to

sound bites. Don't take five minutes to say three sentences. In an interview, you want to be the person answering questions and providing value, but if the other person is checked out, you've

already lost. When trying to land a

already lost. When trying to land a client, you want them to be asking questions more than you're answering questions. So, now, let's get you ready

questions. So, now, let's get you ready for that interview. We're going to cover the five most commonly asked interview questions and how you can answer them to get the job. Can you describe your

experience with media buying platforms like Facebook Ads Manager or Google Ads?

When you get asked this question, be very specific. Don't make false

very specific. Don't make false promises. And more importantly, speak in

promises. And more importantly, speak in a generic way that shows that you know what you're talking about without necessarily getting in the weeds. The

honest truth is most of the time the person interviewing you is either an expert that's not expecting you to know half of the things that they do or they have no idea. They're looking for

buzzwords and short catchphrases. What I

really recommend that you look at here, I want you to focus on giving somebody three bullet points that you can extrapolate on if asked, right? What are

you good at? Right? What do you have experience with? What are you capable of

experience with? What are you capable of doing well? And what have you done in

doing well? And what have you done in the past? It might be, I know how to use

the past? It might be, I know how to use Facebook ads and I've run stuff on Google, too. I'm really good at getting

Google, too. I'm really good at getting the job done quickly and making sure that mistakes don't happen. And I've

worked on conversion campaigns and lead generation efforts. Phenomenal. Now,

generation efforts. Phenomenal. Now,

either I've checked that box off as the interviewer or I can ask you more questions. Don't divulge information

questions. Don't divulge information that I don't need. If I want it, I'm gonna come and get it. And you're going to know you're getting the job because they're going to start asking you more and more about these bullet points. But

it's about delivering a sound bite and letting the other person lean in. If

they don't lean in, you're never going to get the job. And if they're just sitting back waiting for you to shut up, you've already lost the gig. What

strategies do you use to optimize a media buying campaign? What I want you to focus on here, again, the sound bites, but more importantly, try to be specific in this space. Just like

before, I want you to focus on the sound bites, but more importantly here, there is room for some specificity. You want

to use metrics. Talk about KPIs, right?

Don't use the word KPI, but be more specific, right? Talk about your cost

specific, right? Talk about your cost per purchase. Talk about your lead

per purchase. Talk about your lead conversion rate. Talk about your hook

conversion rate. Talk about your hook rate. Talk about your rorowaz. Don't use

rate. Talk about your rorowaz. Don't use

generic terms here. Hit on some keywords focused around what the business is looking for. Like if I was to try to get

looking for. Like if I was to try to get a job as a media buyer for a proteinshake company looking to scale their e-commerce, I'm going to talk to them about the rorowaz or their cost per purchase or their AOV. I'm going to talk

to them about numbers that relate to money because that's what the business is. Can you walk us through a successful

is. Can you walk us through a successful media buying campaign you managed? What

were the challenges and results? And

I've highlighted here challenges and results. Everybody's run a bunch of

results. Everybody's run a bunch of campaigns. What's really important is to

campaigns. What's really important is to understand how you deal when things don't go well. Getting the job done is a commodity skill. Being able to problem

commodity skill. Being able to problem solve on your own and learn from it and appreciate what happened. That's value.

So, what I want you to focus on here is very simply say, "Yeah, you know, I've run this or that." But one thing I noticed when running promotional efforts for the Girl Scouts of America is that every time we featured a video where it

opened up with a girl selling cookies, that got lower CPM than anything else.

Awesome. So, you could talk about how you did a promotional effort for the Girl Scouts of America and you noticed that every single time that you ran a video of a girl selling cookies, it got

a really low CPA. But when you followed up trying to retarget them with some static image that tried to get somebody to sign up for an event, your clickthrough rate was really bad. And

one of the things that you noticed was there's way too much text and really the image didn't align with the video. When

you fix that, things got a lot better.

We got problems. Maybe you can solve them for us. The point is you're now trying to position the interviewer as somebody that's going to benefit from your insight. How do you measure the

your insight. How do you measure the success of your media buying efforts?

What people are looking for here is your ability to understand that success can be defined differently. I would give a few examples something like well we had a growth brand and what we really

focused on was just getting the lowest cost per new customer and we had a lead genen business and while we were getting really lowquality leads the conversion rate wasn't that great. So when we improved the lead conversion rate we were willing to pay a little bit more

for those people but we made a lot more money. But you see how that's really

money. But you see how that's really giving some meat on the bones like I can ask you about that right? What you're

doing is you're starting a conversation.

You're laying bait out to see if they take it. If you were to tell me that,

take it. If you were to tell me that, I'm going to be like, "Oh, wow. What did

you do to improve the conversion rate?"

Now, you have the opportunity of really getting kind of deep and having a conversation. If you can get two or

conversation. If you can get two or three of those in an interview, the job is yours. Describe a time when a

is yours. Describe a time when a campaign did not perform as expected.

What did you learn and how did you adjust? This is not some trick to get

adjust? This is not some trick to get you to describe your weaknesses where you say, "Well, my biggest weakness is I work too hard." Or some nonsense like that. This is a great opportunity for

that. This is a great opportunity for you to say, "We had a plan. It didn't go well. This is what I did to change

well. This is what I did to change things." You could say something like,

things." You could say something like, "Well, we did a bunch of creative testing. We found the best stuff. We

testing. We found the best stuff. We

launched against look alikes of the folks that had done what we were looking for, but ultimately we found those ads really only worked for like a week or two. So, we took all of the winners and

two. So, we took all of the winners and we launched them against broad. And

while they didn't do as well, they did good enough and they lasted for months.

Now, we're teaching. Now, we're

exhibiting expertise. We're showing

experience. We're saying we were told to do something. It didn't go as planned.

do something. It didn't go as planned.

We took that data in. We tried something else and we learned from it. Right? Like

that's the exchange. These interview

questions are exclusively about personality fit. Are you a good fit for

personality fit. Are you a good fit for the team? Can you communicate clearly

the team? Can you communicate clearly what your value is? That's why we want to come up with sound bites. And can you explain to me something succinctly so that I get it? And what I really want

you to focus on when trying to explain something is is talk about it and communicate it. Like the person you're

communicate it. Like the person you're talking to has no idea what you're saying. How can you get the point across

saying. How can you get the point across without having to explain everything? If

you can do that, you're going to get the job. The folks that I know that are

job. The folks that I know that are really good at the work but never get clients are the ones that take an hour to say a sentence. There's just no

opportunity for that. unless their

personal brand is so good you deal with it anyway. And to be fair, I know a lot

it anyway. And to be fair, I know a lot of people that aren't that good at the work, but are phenomenal at the communication, and they get new clients

over and over and over again. So,

understand what you're good at.

Communicate it simply. And remember, the focus here isn't to explain everything.

It's to get the other person to ask you to explain what they care about. Now,

when it comes to networking and professional growth, there's three really big things that I want to focus on before we talk about how to get a good mentor. First, building valuable

good mentor. First, building valuable connections. You should be identifying

connections. You should be identifying key contacts. Focus on connecting with

key contacts. Focus on connecting with industry leaders, potential mentors, and peers who are also aspiring media buyers. Utilize platforms like LinkedIn,

buyers. Utilize platforms like LinkedIn, X, and Facebook to research and reach out to these individuals. It's one thing to have people that you look up to. It's

another thing to have a relationship with them. And like I said before, go

with them. And like I said before, go ahead and DM those people that I talked about, comment on their videos, reply back to their social media post, become somebody that they know because most

people are just sitting on the sidelines. For instance, I might have

sidelines. For instance, I might have over a 100,000 connections across all social media, but you could be one of the few dozen people commenting on everything. I'm going to know who you

everything. I'm going to know who you are. And if you ask me questions, I'm

are. And if you ask me questions, I'm going to make time to help you because helping you also helps me articulate what I'm trying to teach. It's going to help me develop those sound bites and explanations that we talked about in the

interviews. And that's still important

interviews. And that's still important now because I need to get these points across to everybody. Just because I know what I'm talking about doesn't mean that you necessarily know the 15th level of something. This is all about building

something. This is all about building relationships and learning how to communicate. Now, when it comes to

communicate. Now, when it comes to building relationships and communicating, it's all about engagement. So, here are a couple

engagement. So, here are a couple tactics for you. Regularly engage with content related to your niche.

Contribute to discussions and share your insights. Exhibition of expertise helps

insights. Exhibition of expertise helps establish your reputation as a knowledgeable and committed professional. Like I said before, be

professional. Like I said before, be active, show some insight. Remember when

I told you earlier I had this list of tips, tricks, and tactics and I would post them regularly whether they were good or not. I was more active than somebody else. I was more visible than

somebody else. I was more visible than somebody else. And because I got asked

somebody else. And because I got asked questions about them and I had to defend them or because somebody showed me where I was wrong, I learned a lot faster.

When you get shown that you're wrong, you get to stop making mistakes. When

you start to defend things, you get better and better at communicating them.

And the more reps you get, the better and better you get at it. And lastly,

communities and network events. You

know, they say your network is your net worth. Actively participate in open

worth. Actively participate in open forums and be visible. These events are opportunities not only to learn but also to connect with professionals who can provide career guidance or job

opportunities. Get into the Slack group.

opportunities. Get into the Slack group.

Get into the Facebook group, right? Uh

W6 is a great place if you're willing to pay for it. Get into the groups. Get

into the communities. Even if they're a little bit of money, you're not just paying for what you learn. We're also

paying for all of the people you get connected with. Like Disruptor Academy

connected with. Like Disruptor Academy has hundreds of people that you get to connect with. So, you're not alone and

connect with. So, you're not alone and you get to make those relationships. You

can also find stuff like that in Workspace 6 or for free in the limited supply Slack channel. You can get in on Twitter for free. Get into the comment section of this YouTube video for free.

Like, leverage your opportunity. The

more opportunities you take advantage of, the faster you're going to get better, the sooner you're going to get paid and the more money you're going to make. That's what it's all about. The

make. That's what it's all about. The

people that are really making a lot of money are the ones that are most well-known. And those two things are

well-known. And those two things are happening at the same time. And that is not an accident. Those are ramifications of one another. Now, when it comes to networking and professional growth, probably the single most valuable thing

that you can be investing your time and energy in is mentorship. Leveraging

experienced guidance. You want to look for mentors who have a proven track record in media buying. A good mentor can provide not only technical guidance, but also career development advice and

may even open doors to new opportunities. Now, I told you before

opportunities. Now, I told you before about my mentor, Ben, who was invaluable in my journey. Every time I had to find a new job, Ben sat me down and helped me with my resume. And every time I got the

job, he'd take me out for sushi. And as

a fun little quidd proquo to our relationship because it's all about relationships. When I quit my last job

relationships. When I quit my last job and went completely into business for myself with disruptor school and my agency and disruptor academy and everything that I've been building for

the last over 5 years now. I took him out for sushi and paid the entire bill.

We ran up nearly a thousand dollar budget in Beverly Hills and it was an amazing feeling to just take my mentor out and let him know that like I finally

left the nest and like we're no longer mentor mentee but well we'll probably always have that relationship but we were complete equals. He had sold his company and was doing something new and

like it was just this amazing piece. And

that brings me to point number two. In

your relationships with your mentors, you really got to focus on building that relationship. I want you to approach

relationship. I want you to approach that mentorship as a two-way street. You

need to offer value back, perhaps by assisting with research or providing fresh perspectives on new tools and trends. And utilize the mentor insights.

trends. And utilize the mentor insights.

Regularly meet with your mentor to discuss progress, changes, and strategies for advancing your career.

Apply their advice diligently and report back on your results, which reinforces the value of the mentorship for both parties. And one thing I want to let you

parties. And one thing I want to let you know here is now I've been lucky enough to work for some amazing people and a

lot of them became my mentors, but I've also paid to join mentorship programs. I've invested nearly $100,000

and programs for myself. Last year

alone, I invested over 30,000 to learn YouTube. And in the four or five years

YouTube. And in the four or five years before that, I invested in ways to build organic content and build communities and really expand my skill sets. And

it's a really valuable investment.

Remember that the single most valuable investment you're ever going to make is in yourself. And one of the greatest

in yourself. And one of the greatest investments you can is in not only developing your skill, but doing so in a space where you can have a relationship with the person teaching you. And in

fact, that's one of the core elements of disruptor academy is that I'm there talking to everybody. And that's part of the design. And one of the reasons why I

the design. And one of the reasons why I think what we're trying to do here is so valuable. It's not just in the what you

valuable. It's not just in the what you learn. It's in all the people you get to

learn. It's in all the people you get to meet and the relationships. And while

I've had mentors, now I get to be a mentor. And the ability to pass on

mentor. And the ability to pass on something that you've learned is tremendous. And what I want to tell you

tremendous. And what I want to tell you is right now, right now, today, there is somebody that is looking up to you, that wants to be where you are at. And if you

can find those people, I'll tell you, the more you can give it away, the faster you're going to grow. My efforts

10 years ago of joining every Facebook group that would ever have me to just drop in tips and tricks and tactics was my ability to begin relationships. And

there's a lot of folks where I was their mentor who are now in amazing places and really big businesses that have driven me business since then and we've worked

with each other for a long time.

Eventually, you all kind of get to the promised land. And the more people you

promised land. And the more people you have with you, the happier you're going to be and the more successful you will be, too. You can do this alone, but

be, too. You can do this alone, but you'll never be as successful as you bring people along with you. And so

mentorship is a two-way street. And I

really, really want you to take away that lesson from this section. Now, that

brings us to our last step here, which is mastering billing and creating true wealth. This is your independence

wealth. This is your independence through growth. The five stages of your

through growth. The five stages of your journey. And wherever you're at now,

journey. And wherever you're at now, following this path is how you can get to where you want to go. And I'll tell you this, if you were to set a goal right now of what success looks like,

before you know it, you're going to be looking back at that goal as just a stepping stone to the life that you actually have. I can tell you from

actually have. I can tell you from personal experience, my first goal was just to pay my bills. Then my first goal was to make six figures. Now I make over a million dollars a year. And I have a

team on five different continents. And I

have helped thousands of people achieve more success and less stress and create jobs and opportunity and joy for others.

There's no way when I got my first job I could have ever imagined that happening.

When I got my first client for $10 an hour and I used to go to her store and sit down at her computer to help her out with her Facebook, there's no way I

could have imagined being a by coastal multi- business owner earning seven figures a year. It it was inconceivable to me. So, that being said, here's the

to me. So, that being said, here's the five steps for your journey. The first

step that almost everybody takes, especially the good ones, is career growth in ad agencies. Strategic job

movement is key. I never stayed at an ad agency for more than nine months. I

knew, and I talked about this earlier, right? Like, I knew that if I worked

right? Like, I knew that if I worked really, really hard, I might get a five or 10% raise. Like, I might earn an extra $1,000 a month. But I was helping

my employer make a million dollar a week. Like that never made sense to me.

week. Like that never made sense to me.

So as soon as I was good enough for my boss's job, I got it at the agency next door. There is no reason that you need

door. There is no reason that you need to stay at below your capability. Your

value is defined basically at how inhibited you are in climbing the ranks.

And what really matters here is that ultimately at the highest levels of ad agencies, you're not doing any of the work. The higher you get, the more and

work. The higher you get, the more and more you get away from actually doing any of the things. Now, I told you before about some of those great ad agency owners you can learn from. Those

people ain't running ads. They're

talking about the work of their team who many of them don't even know most of the people on their team. They've never even met them. They're so far removed from

met them. They're so far removed from the day-to-day work. But again, that's what they're really good at. And that's

totally fine. But you need to understand that climbing in an ad agency means you're quickly management and you get away from doing the work. And honestly,

if you're not doing the work, it's really hard to get a lot better at it.

And most of those people that I talked about, they stopped doing the work a lot of years ago. And that means also that their awareness of what to do on a day-to-day basis is inhibited by their

lack of exposure because they're not able to have hands-on experience anymore. And you know, no slight against

anymore. And you know, no slight against them, that's the path they've chosen and they're all very successful because of it. So, everyone has a path, right?

it. So, everyone has a path, right?

That's something we've talked about here. I want you to focus on

here. I want you to focus on fasttracking your career in advertising.

Embrace strategic moves between agencies to rapidly ascend. And by always being prepared to step into a higher role, I accelerated my career progression and my

salary increased. Now, a little bit

salary increased. Now, a little bit about my story here real quick. I went

from working part-time helping somebody sell tickets to Jay and Silent Bob where I was earning a hundred bucks a day to a

$75,000 a year supervisor role in an ad agency in like six months. And I took that and parlayed it to the next job and the next job and the next job. And one

of the most valuable things that I think I gained out of working at a ton of ad agencies is the fact that I learned from the best and the brightest in a lot of different rooms and everybody did

something different. And it meant that I

something different. And it meant that I didn't learn one way of doing things. I

learned a lot of different ways to do the same thing. And I was able to pick and choose and understand the tools that were at my disposal. Remember that

10,000 hours isn't doing the same job over and over again. It's challenging

yourself to do new things. And remember

also I said every single campaign I tried something new. I can't tell you the amount of people that I've seen max out in their career somewhere in middle management cuz they spent months or

years doing the same job over and over again. And to be fair, maybe they wanted

again. And to be fair, maybe they wanted to work that job so they could go live some other life. But if you're working your day jobs, you can do another life.

That's great. But that's not how you become really wealthy. You're never

going to get to millions by doing a portion of somebody else's job for a portion of their pay because you are replaceable. No one will ever pay you

replaceable. No one will ever pay you that money to do it. Because I could find 10 people to work harder than you for cheaper. And that means you're never

for cheaper. And that means you're never going to get that paycheck. Now, the

second part of this is securing your own clients. Now, some people start at this

clients. Now, some people start at this step and they avoid the agency world entirely, and that's totally fine. I

just think the agency world is tremendously valuable and that you get to learn where your paycheck is covered regardless of how good you are at the job. Now, once you start securing

job. Now, once you start securing personal clients, the game really starts to evolve. Securing personal clients can

to evolve. Securing personal clients can significantly enhance your professional trajectory. Not only does this build

trajectory. Not only does this build your resume, but it also helps you establish your personal brand, attracting even more clients.

And the beauty of securing personal clients is it diversifies your income.

When it comes to getting clients early, the money is worth far less than the experience. Get any work you can, even

experience. Get any work you can, even for free. And then understand that

for free. And then understand that you're now building a reputation. So,

this is beginning to build a personal brand and establishing a strong personal brand attracts additional clients and enhances your market presence. It's one

thing to be an employee at an agency.

It's another thing to be someone that somebody else hired, right? You don't

necessarily know the name of some random employee at some random place you went to, but if there's a specific person that you call when you have a problem, you know who they are. And when you have

a friend that has a problem, you can make that recommendation. Your name

becomes your business. And the faster and sooner you begin to develop this, the better it is for you. Now, a little story from my career. I was doing freelance work before I ever got a real

job. When, you know, I was getting

job. When, you know, I was getting sober. I was living in Ohigh at this

sober. I was living in Ohigh at this place, and they paid me $10 an hour to help run the Facebook account for the sober living that I was living in. and

talking about that while playing some open mic night at this spot called Miners Oaks. I met somebody else who had

Miners Oaks. I met somebody else who had a friend in Los Angeles that worked at an ad agency that was looking for somebody to come in and basically do data entry for $10 an hour. And I got

that job basically because they heard me talking about the freelance work that I did. Me doing freelancing got me my

did. Me doing freelancing got me my first gig at an agency. And that is really the story of so many people. And

when I worked at that agency, I got more clients. And I worked on the side with a

clients. And I worked on the side with a lot of people. I always had two or three on the side. And I got fired from that agency and I built my own agency. And

then that got stolen from me. And I

built another agency. And then my partner took all of the money and ran away with it and sold his car. And you

know, he's sober now, but like things got crazy. So then I got another job at

got crazy. So then I got another job at another agency just doing things for Jamba Juice and Viking River Cruises.

And 6 months after that, I got a job running ads for Jay and Silent Bob and an antismoking thing and a couple other little pieces. And 6 months after that,

little pieces. And 6 months after that, I got a job at Omnicom as supervisor of West Coast operations in the Resolution Media Department, overseeing teams like

CBS Television, working with Activision and Levis, spending a million dollars a day. I got to do really fun things like

day. I got to do really fun things like I had a Super Bowl commercial for the launch of PCIL laundry detergent when we brought that product over from Europe. I

got to be a part of the Call of Duty launch like so many fun things and I had that job for nine months and then I went you know brand side and I had this wonderful journey through a lot of

different agencies and brands but what's really important is the entire time I was always working on the side. Now when

it comes to working on the side, you have to understand strategic pricing and client management. And this is step

client management. And this is step three of your journey. This journey

always begins by undercharging to help to build a diverse client base.

I want you to prioritize learning from all of your clients and trying as many things as you can. And as your reputation for doing good work grows, and look, you're going to do some bad work and you're going to do some good work. You're going to get some wins

work. You're going to get some wins based OFF OF STUFF THAT you really have nothing to do with and there going to be times where you do everything right and it still goes bad. But if you can

maintain client satisfaction through all the ups and downs, your reputation will bring you new leads and this will ensure a steady flow of opportunities. Start

with undercharging. Undercharge and

overd deliver to quickly build a client base while proving your value and learn from your clients. Also gradually

increase your rates. As your market reputation grows, strategically increase your rates to reflect your enhanced expertise. So again, my story here. Let

expertise. So again, my story here. Let

me tell you exactly how I did this. I

started charging $10 an hour. I got

three clients and I was earning a couple hundred bucks a week on the side. My

next client, I charged them 15. And the

client after that, I charged them 20.

And when that happened, I went back to those three that I was charging $10 an hour to and I said, "Hey, my new rate is 20 bucks." And either that was enough

20 bucks." And either that was enough for them to be like, "Wow, okay, $10 more. Sure, no problem." Or they were

more. Sure, no problem." Or they were like, "You're not worth it." And if you're not worth an extra $10 an hour, then that means you're not worth it. But

that's okay cuz you're now earning $20 an hour with your new client. I did that over and over again, rotating between three and six clients, raising my prices

10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 50. Then I moved to monthly fees. I started getting some

monthly fees. I started getting some retainer stuff and I went to 500, 700, a,000, 2,000. And now I'm $1,000 an

a,000, 2,000. And now I'm $1,000 an hour. And if you want to work with me

hour. And if you want to work with me and my team, it's in excess of $10,000 a month just to get us started. And that's

because my value is far more than just my time.

There's a great story about Picasso and this was in the 40s and he was an older man and somebody came up to him and said, "Wow, you're Picasso. Can you draw me something?" And he took out a little

me something?" And he took out a little pencil and drew a little scribble on a notepad. And he handed it to the guy and

notepad. And he handed it to the guy and he's like, "That's some astronomical number. I don't remember how much he

number. I don't remember how much he told the guy it was going to be." And

the guy WAS LIKE, "ARE YOU CRAZY? THAT

TOOK YOU 45 SECONDS." And he said, "Yeah, but it took me 45 years to get that good." Point is, you're not paid

that good." Point is, you're not paid for your time. Doing this means you begin to get paid for your value. And

your job is to always stay busy. When I

went through all of those clients at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 bucks an hour, I went through dozens. And the honest truth is,

through dozens. And the honest truth is, I DIDN'T EXPECT TO KEEP ANYBODY for more than a month. Some of them I kept for three, maybe six, but I went through dozens. and the amount of business

dozens. and the amount of business owners who talked differently, had different problems, that needed different situations solved and worked through that I also got to learn from because they were all business owners

successful enough to hire me, taught me so much more than anything I ever learned in college. It was the practical application of all the things that I learned up to that point that taught me

so much that developed the core of the undeniable value that I brought on top of just the ability to do the work. And

this really brings us to part number four, your transition to retainerbased work. Transitioning to retainerbased

work. Transitioning to retainerbased billing as you gain experience stabilizes your income. Remember, you

are no longer being paid for your time.

You are being paid for your undeniable value that you bring to the table. Now,

you might be doing this while also working at an ad agency or a brand. I

worked at a business where I really only had to do a couple hours of work a day because I got so good at doing the work quickly and because the econometrician side of me understood how to make that

work really effective so that ultimately I was only doing the things that lifted everybody else. Well, as a result, I had

everybody else. Well, as a result, I had hours of my day with really nothing to do. So, I was engaging on social media

do. So, I was engaging on social media platforms, commenting on Facebook, watching YouTube, stuff like that. And I

accidentally started an ad agency at my desk. I did that more than once and that

desk. I did that more than once and that was great. And what really matters about

was great. And what really matters about the retainerbased work is what your goals are. Remember that this strategic

goals are. Remember that this strategic shift enables higher, more consistent earnings and opens door to more lucrative consulting opportunities.

Transitioning to retainerbased work means you get stable income and you can leverage your experience for higher pay.

Now the real secret is this is where the unlock happens. We started this video

unlock happens. We started this video off by talking about [ __ ] you money, right? And the beginning of that is just

right? And the beginning of that is just like, can you get to six figures? Well,

let me tell you how to do it because you can get it done real quick in two different ways. The first, get a $50,000

different ways. The first, get a $50,000 a year job and get two people to pay you 2500 a month. If you can have two clients pay 2500 a month while you have

a $50,000 a year job, you're making $100,000 a year. Now, $50,000 a year in an ad agency is a great paycheck for somebody that doesn't have a job, but it's also peanuts when it comes to what

you're actually doing for the agency.

And one of the things I tell people all the time is if you're already a full-time employee, but you got some side work, tell your employer you want to work part-time. I have regularly had

multiple part-time ad agency jobs for 50 or 60 grand. Nobody said you couldn't have two of those jobs and a couple clients on the side. The first time I actually got to a quarter million a

year, I had two part-time ad agency gigs and I was regularly having three to five people paying me three or $4,000 a month. If you want to make 100 grand,

month. If you want to make 100 grand, you need 8,500 a month. Can you get three people to pay you $3,000? If

you're managing your Facebook ads right, that's maybe 510 hours a week per client. That's $100,000 on 20 to 30

client. That's $100,000 on 20 to 30 hours a week work. And if you do good work, you're going to have more people coming to you. And all you have to do is charge the next person more than the

last person. Like, are you seeing how

last person. Like, are you seeing how this all clicks? Are you seeing how this all kind of comes together? That's how

this really begins to work. Now, if you really want to force multiply all of this stuff, the number one trick that got me from a 100, 200,000 to a million

a year was building my personal brand.

You need to have a business built around you. That's just the nature of this

you. That's just the nature of this game. Building your personal brand can

game. Building your personal brand can lead to significant income, especially when combined with strategic consulting roles. My personal story involved

roles. My personal story involved managing my social media and YouTube and some other channels. And I eventually got to the point where I was earning more in a month than I used to make in a

year.

Like when I made $50,000 in one month knowing that I started at $45,000 a year, that blew my mind. There are

periods of time where I made that in a week. That's crazy. The fact that you're

week. That's crazy. The fact that you're sitting there right now with a clear path to fundamental life changing

opportunity is amazing. And I wish that somebody had laid it out for me, but that's what I'm here to do for you.

Remember that I went from $10 an hour to paying myself over a million dollar after taxes. And you can 100% do it,

after taxes. And you can 100% do it, too. And your keys here are diversify

too. And your keys here are diversify your income streams, build that personal brand so you get multiple streams of income, and also leverage high value

consulting role. Building a personal

consulting role. Building a personal brand will pay. It's uncomfortable for some folks, some people love it. I've

done it naturally my entire life. If you

like this video, go ahead and like this video and subscribe to this channel so you don't miss anything else. And if

you're ready for the next step and getting a little bit deeper on some of the things we talked about today, I made a great video for you. It's right here.

Until next time, I'll see you on the internet.