Today Brad speaks with Tim Brown, CEO of Hook Agency, an SEO & Web Design firm that’s gone from 1 person to 17 in 5 years.

Tim kicks off the conversation giving his take on the biggest challenges that business owners face in today’s shaky market. Some of these challenges include finding and retaining self-motivated team members, creating a meaningful workplace for younger generations of professionals, and looking past the glamor metrics at what really counts for business success.

Tim then gives his thoughts on creating a winning website and best practices for bringing in leads. Aside from optimizing your SEO, he recommends connecting with service providers in similar industries to yours and building out a network of referrals via those connections.

With regard to homebuilders in particular, Tim offers tips on getting the best out of content creation and social media strategy, again without getting distracted by vanity metrics. He goes in-depth on video content and why many business owners end up wasting time and money when investing in video.

Finally, Tim speaks to newer or smaller companies who are looking to maximize a lean marketing budget.

Topics Discussed:

[02:17] Business challenges that Tim is facing in today’s market
[04:25] Finding self-motivated team members
[08:27] Creating a training organization to fill gaps in skill
[10:49] Other factors that companies should focus on
[17:41] How to create a winning website
[24:48] How homebuilders should approach social media and content creation
[30:10] The power of video content
[38:54] What should a company with a lean marketing budget focus on?
[47:18] Tim’s biggest challenges as an entrepreneur in the early days
[51:58] Niching down your clientele
[55:18] The best advice Tim has ever been given

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Key Quotes by Tim:

There’s this movement with business owners for time freedom; but, getting more employees does not only mean time freedom. Sometimes it means a painful amount of management.
Video is fun. You know what’s not fun? Sitting around doing a bunch of content all day to get your thing to rank on Google.
You have more credibility when you specialize in something.
Trust yourself. You have more context on your situation than anyone else. [...] Do take advice—but take it with a grain of salt.

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