SA Grant: Discovering & Empowering Your Online “Voice”

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SA grant. Good to see you, man. Welcome to learning from others. Yeah, I appreciate you having me here, man. I would call you by your government name, but you know, I’m going to refer to you as the SCOP senescence. Well, you know, you and I, um, when we first got connected on Facebook and you were kind enough to have me on your podcast, I can’t remember.

Did we talk about, we talked about how, uh, my name gets slaughtered all the time, right? Honestly, we talked, we talked about it off here. Did you see, after I made a post after talking about how I always get called David at the coffee shop instead of Damon, and then I got a new one. They mistyped on Starbucks.

My name was damn the AMN that’s it. And I was like, yeah, that’s a classic compliment. Classic. All right, man. What, uh, why are we listening to you? What’s your background? What are we gonna learn? Uh, I mean, the short answer of that is, is I’ve grown into being a growth strategist and it not necessarily kind of like quickly covers who I am and what I do currently.

Okay. So we talking online growth, correct. All right. Okay. We’re going to dive in more on that in a moment after I asked you question number two, which is what are you stuck? What I’ve always sucked that it is shown to be an octopus, too many schools and trying to do too many things at once. So to your point where we talked about it on my podcast was about creating systems, right.

So that’s kind of really where I’m at right now, kind of getting systems to, to supply my demand of things that I want to do. So. All right. So do you just get yourself in. Too many, too many opportunities drowning and opportunity. Um, it used to be like that. I mean, I’ve obviously I’ve gotten a lot better, but it got to the point to where literally I had a stroke because I was just completely overwhelmed.

I was working 22 hours out of 24 hours every day around the clock. So, uh, what age was that? Yeah, that’s crazy, man. Well, um, all right, well, let’s, uh, get into the good stuff then. Um, so growth strategies, like what are we talking? We talk in specific social channels where we talk in building audiences in certain places.

Like what, what’s the, where we starting. So, I mean, like my, it kind of, it could go either way, right? I mean, I have clients that are more so. They have storefronts and they want to kind of grow their footprint. I got clients that are online and they want to grow their influence online. So it’s really a mix.

I mean, growth strategy is a kind of umbrella way of saying that, you know, we can kind of help you in your marketing. We can come and help you with your business strategies. And the goal is if you’re at a hundred thousand, how do you get to a million? Once you’re at a million, how do you get to. What’s your background before that?

How’d you get into this space? Oh, man. Background is, uh, I will say it’s a complete jumble liar, right? Much like my personality. So, um, my original background, my first degree was graphic design. Uh, my second degree was web design and multimedia. And then shortly thereafter that I, you know, had my own business and it was doing more so, um, web design and graphic design.

And then from there I was like, there’s gotta be more. And then I became an insurance agent and got yeah. Social sector and I juggled both of them at the same time. So in the mix of that, I also became a travel agent and it was just for me, kind of like thinking I was not joking, man, but even the thing is, I mean, I got all my certificates.

I got a license. Susan. It was just kind of me absorbing information and taking in information. And that was, oh, good. I’m half analytical, half creative. What can I do with all this information? And that’s when I was like, okay, probably growth strategy is probably the best direction for me to go into. Could I have some different background tentacles?

What’s like, what’s your, what’s your favorite flavor out of all of that? Like what’s a w what, what pays the bills versus maybe what might be slightly different answers? What do you like, which service do you like doing the most personally? So, I mean, the funny thing is, is like what always pays the bills is always going to be the hourly based services to a certain extent, right?

Somebody either they want a one hour consult or somebody needs a website, any graphic design. So that’s like the evergreen way of paying the bills. Um, the things that I’ve grown into that I’m getting paid for as well too, is more so sitting down with somebody and understanding their vision and giving them a roadmap on how to execute that vision.

What’s the longterm plan. A long-term plan for me is essentially having a business unit that not necessarily I can sell, but it’s standing on his own to where his renewable revenue was coming in on a month to month basis. And I’m taking that money and I’m investing in it until. Yeah. Yeah. Well, what, uh, let’s, let’s walk through what it’s like to work with you.

So where do you, uh, you know, I understand you have kind of a diverse portfolio of clients, but let’s kind of speak kind of on average, you know, where do you start? So the first thing I usually do is I’ll submit back to systems, a form intake form and all that. Form. Then we go into like the business model, you know, what, what’s your value proposition?

What’s your unfair advantages and your customer segments, who is your particular customers? What’s your channels of communication? How do you communicate with them? Um, what’s your return on investments? You know, and just kind of just looking at the top level things that should be addressed right off the bat before we even kind of dive into how to grow or how to fix anything, is there a reoccurring.

Issue that you see more often than not. It’s like really basic, uh, I would think underestimating the power of social media. I think that’s it. And not understanding that social media is a lot like stocks in the sense that you can’t just, you know, have something go viral in 24 hours, you kind of have to have the building blocks and a Domino’s before that happen.

Well, why don’t we talk about those building blocks a little, because I agree, you know, a couple of about two years ago, I actually, for as much as technology pays my bills, to an extent, once, once I clock out, I kind of want nothing to do with it. And what, what I found myself doing a couple of years ago is I, I just deleted all my social media accounts.

And when, I mean deleted, you know, when you delete Facebook, I get still there. But what I actually did. Well, largely my wife did for me as she went through and manually deleted every single post, every single picture, every single comment, unfriended every single person and just unwound that whole thing.

And it took weeks. But then. In that downtime, which I would say is about two months, I kind of changed my perspective where I was pretty personally personal on social media anyways. But then I started thinking more about the lost opportunities, business and networking. And so I said, what if I come back, fire it back up, but I.

I take a business approach. Foster relationships still keep my private life private, but not be the pukey sales guy and start to grow just like you and I connected and just meet people and come at it with no expectations other than just a general bigger, broader goal. And it’s real. Work it’s worked substantially.

I mean, it’s other than referrals, it’s probably our biggest source of leads. So like, is that the kind of thing we’re talking about is putting in time and, and just kind of finding out what your voice is or, or, yeah, definitely. And I think, I mean, that, that’s definitely part of it. I mean, a lot of times you’re dealing with a client, they have to understand that the example that I always use is like apple, for example, because everybody is a household brand, right.

They don’t realize that it’s multiple brands. They just think it’s apple. Well, Steve jobs is the brand and himself. Apple is a brand. iTunes is a brand I phone is a brand and you just have to understand. Okay. So in your business, what are your, your brands? What’s your umbrella brand and how do you market this brand and how to use it?

Segment that and market this brand, right? And then you put them all together and that’s how you kind of get that reoccurring system to where iTunes is feeding into the apple brand. And Steve jobs dead or alive is still feeding into the general brand of apple life after death. So it’s a system that needs to be set up to make that happen.

And how do you diagnose where to start identifying what those brands are? Well, the first thing I ask any client is like, so we’re just like question number 11 is kind like what’s your revenue. Like, not necessarily, I don’t need to know the numbers. I just need to know where are you making money? So is that product or is that service?

And then once they kind of stop and think about it, well, okay. For example, this say it’s a roofer, right? A roofer kind of gets paid based upon doing roofs and Alexa. What else can you do outside of that to make you more. The roofing is one thing, but what else do you have in your portfolio that makes you money?

In addition to that? So some of them may say they have subscription services, annual recurring to say, Hey, we’ll come out, maintain the roof, or check for leaks or whatever. It may be. That’s to me, that’s two separate revenue streams. So then they don’t have that. Then I’ll make the suggestion to say, okay, why don’t you try to interject something else based upon what you do based upon your history and your longevity, and create content in that market space and sell that content as another opportunity.

So I really I’m just trying to see what they have access. And I’m trying to build their portfolio based upon that. Do you ever have clients where it makes sense for them to stay in their lane or do you Excel best on people that can kind of diversify a little bit? It’s weird. Cause it goes to your point about you want to pay bills.

So if I have clients. Right. In the first two to three sessions, talking to them, I already can kind of perceive where that longevity of that relationship can be. So I’ll get them to where they want to go. But in my mind, it’s okay. This is a one-time client and I’m going to do whatever it takes to get them to where they are.

Versus a client that in the first opening conversations as synergies there, we were speaking the same way language. If they don’t speak the same language, they’re willing to embrace the lingo and understand and comprehend. And I’m okay. This is someone that’s willing to absorb so that we can kind of branch as we move down.

Do you have any big success stories that stand out or any, any cool before and after kind of things that always come to mind as a good win? I mean, literally each one of my clients there’s there’s micro wins and macro wins. Right? I mean, one client that I have, it’s M C baby. And I’ve been working with see baby out of Atlanta for about at least 10 years.

And originally when we first started, I was more so like their webmaster. Hmm. And then that grew more into consultancy and we just kept on growing. They hired a bunch of midwives. Um, we set up a bunch of different campaigns. We set up a bunch of different events. And then finally I was telling the doctor, okay, that’s your apple?

You’re Steve jobs. Where’s your brand. So, you know, we’ve probably his book. His book was a top seller for about maybe his first. 20 weeks out the bat. He was just kind of a top seller with his book because of that target audience needed his information. Uh, we’re building out courses for them currently.

Right now we have a storefront for him. So think about he’s delivering babies on one side and now his personal brand has expanded more so into like merchandising courses and. Yeah. What you, you had touched on content briefly just a moment ago. Can you talk about the value or the approach in content?

Yeah. And then I think, I think that’s was one of the main reasons why I wanted you on my show is just because you understand the value of content. And I was just like really impressed with the content that you were putting out there. And I think a lot of people misunderstand content. It’s not necessarily a chore.

It’s kind of something that you should have fun doing and it should influence your audience based upon your principles of what you can do. So for myself, you know, I’m marketing on a regular basis, but I’m not bragging marketing. I’m just putting content out there based upon what I do and through doing what I love to do by default, I get referrals.

So I’m trying to show my clients the same philosophy. Okay. If you love birth, then let’s post content about birth. This look at the stats. Look at, look at what’s going on over here in Europe. Today is midwifery. Monday or midwifery month. And it’s just giving them opportunity to kind of take all the access to all the content that’s already out there and regurgitating it to a target audience.

Yeah. And th the nice thing about that is that you attract ideal buyers, better customers, because you’re educate them. And then it also makes the sales process easier and less salesy too, because they build a relationship with you subconsciously. And so it’s, it’s been, um, I. Made posts a couple of times saying that, you know, quote unquote free has been the most profitable source of income for me recently, just because of exactly what you said, what with things, you know, there’s so many different social media platforms.

There’s LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tik TOK. Um, is there, uh, what platform, even beyond social media, is there one that is, you feel like is under leveraged and has a lot of opportunity in the news? Ironically enough, I will say Tik TOK is kind of the, the unsung outreach, right? It’s it could be an Instagram killer.

It could not be. But the reality is, is that that platform is growing so fast and it think about it five years ago. It wasn’t here. Right. So, and they’ve crossed over a billion users and it went from seven year olds to 15 year olds to now it’s 40 year olds, 50 year olds that are using tick-tock. So just, you know, keeping your eye on Tik TOK and what they’re doing, and then they also have an ad platform as well.

It’s kind of a non brainer to kind of include that into your marketing strategy, based upon whatever content that you may have. As long as it’s video, you can put it on. H, how many users are they up to you? Did you say? I think I forgot the exact number, but early this year they had crossed over a billion.

So that’s crazy. Yeah. Yeah. No go for it. I’m gonna, I was gonna change topics to go for it. Yeah. I will just say it. I mean, they, they, they can’t compete with as far as Facebook because you know, Facebook is like half the world. Right. But Facebook took a period of time to get there, but Tik TOK got to a billion a lot faster than a lot of the platforms.

Yeah. Why don’t we talk about. You know, the S the success of Tik TOK, but in the opposite respect, um, can you talk about the importance of knowing where your audience is? And so the example that I’ll give is like, I’m not on Tik TOK because, um, the majority of my audience, I would assume is not there.

There’s certainly some that are there, but maybe speak to the importance of understanding your voice. And so what I mean by that is like, even if my audience is on Tik TOK, I don’t want to be the dancing SCL guy. And so I don’t, I don’t go on Tik TOK. So maybe talk about the importance of understanding where your audiences or understanding your voice and then finding the proper channel.

I mean, definitely to that point, it really is. The clarity of that is really understanding your market sector. Right? So Facebook is golden for, to say age 25 to 65 and probably even older than that at this point. But in net segmentation, if you’re looking for business owners, you probably find a little bit more business owners on Facebook, right?

Tick tock, tick tock has always been phenomenally known for younger generations, but to your point, everybody is under the presumption that tick dockage is dancing videos and it was like, Up until recently, like once covert hit Tik TOK became like a real platform on how to utilize that platform. So it’s not just dancing videos anymore.

I mean, prime example, podcasters are using their podcast videos and they’re taking 10, 15 30 second clips and they’re just presenting those clips repeatedly with music behind them on Tik TOK. And they’re growing a following just by doing that. To your point. You must understand where your, your, your segmentation is in a particular market sector.

And if you’re looking for a hundred percent business people, then, then that’s LinkedIn, LinkedIn, more so than tic-tac. But if you’re looking for a lifetime value of a customer and your product could potentially roll into a younger generation, then Tik TOK is a great place to start because as they grow and develop, other platforms will come.

As you jump from platform to platform leaving from tic-tac. You may get a 16 year old. That’s eventually going to be 21, 25, 35 years old. And now you have a long-term client that started off when they were younger. That’s an interesting topic. Maybe. Do you have anything more you can add about, um, the importance.

Building a brand and the abilities, as you said, to attract them on one platform and have them follow you to others. Yeah. I mean, branding is like, when it comes down to like passion, like branding has always been like one of my passions, like when I first went to design school and I realized that a logo was part of a brand, but it does that include everything that you need to be a brand.

And I realized in that moment that there’s so much that goes into brand development, brand awareness. And so to answer that question, To me when it comes down to like marketing strategy, branding is probably the epitome of everything. If you don’t have brand awareness, then you know, you can have 15 minutes of fame, but if it’s not a brand supporting that fame, that’s why it’s only 15 minutes.

That’s why you’re in the limelight really quickly. Then you fade the black because. They remember what you’re saying, but there’s not any visual representation to tie you to a brand or tie the emotional response that they’re happening in at 15 minutes to something. So understanding brands and logos and targeting the color colors are valuable.

The shapes of valuable all these different elements in the logo are so valuable, but a lot of people just don’t pay attention. Yeah, I cringe a little when people go for the fiber logo.

Um, well, all right. So speaking of cringe, um, as we get close to wrapping up, you gotta, you gotta graffiti story. What happened there?

Yes. I think I started tagging writing probably was in middle school. Right. And so it just kind of, one of those things, uh, was my, one of my close friends introduced me to it. And I used to hear the crazy stories about cops breaking people’s hands and, and, you know, beating them up in the back of police cars.

So eventually I got myself into that situation, to where I had to on, on the D train in Brooklyn and we’re tagging. And we hear this. The keys is what we always listen for is the keys jiggling. Cause that’s the cops running, right? So we hear the keys and we turn around and sure as hell before we could even blink, it was just massive dude.

Only thing I saw was like his name tag was hill and he was more like a mountain and he literally jumped on us, like literally on the edge of the trail. Grab this and pull this up on a platform, put us in the back of the police car. And it was me and my other two friends. And they were like, okay. And I’m saying that, okay guys, let’s go ahead and make a break for it.

Let’s put, just put the handcuffs from behind us in front of us. So my friends are looking at me like, how the hell are you going to do it? I went back in a police car, so, and I’m demonstrating that. And so I went from back to front. We’re flexible. Right. And I’m sitting there and then opposite. The cops are in the back of the truck and then they look in the window and it was like, what the hell?

So they opened up the door, snatched me up and it was like, you try to make a fool of us. And then I got myself in the predicament to where I’m probably going to get smashed in the face by a cop because I brought my handcuffs in front and versus having them in the back. So it was definitely an interesting adventure.

What did, uh, did the, did the tagging journey continue after that? I mean, it’s one of those things that, you know, I think that’s how I ended up in art school. Right. I mean, once you kind of get a understanding of the principles of design and I didn’t really, I didn’t even know about design. Until I was in design school.

I was just tagging and drawing in a black book. And then I got presented with, oh, it’s art. I get to do this without getting in trouble every day. Sweet. Yeah. Yeah. That’s funny. Yeah. I was going to ask you where this was at, but he said Brooklyn. And was this, uh, I assume this was in your younger days. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was, um, in the mid nineties. Yep. Yeah. Cool. All right, man. I appreciate it. Stories, SA, grant, everybody. I want to give you the last few moments to tell our listeners how they can find out more. Uh, yeah, so you could definitely, um, was two folds, right? Um, SA grant.com is my, um, business brand for my individual.

Uh, cerebralthreesixty.com is my marketing web design web development brand and Boston cage, which is my podcast. You could find that at podcast.bostoncage.com and on social media it’s essay grant 3, 6 0, the letters SA and then grant. Thanks so much. SA Grant everybody. All right. I appreciate it.