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You Can't Afford Me
You Can't Afford Me
From Moving Boxes to Moving Credit Scores: A Real-Time Business Consultation
We conduct a live business consultation with Tavon Harvey of Illumination Consulting, a financial management company focused on helping underserved consumers with credit repair and financial literacy.
• Building trust in the credit repair industry through giving away free services to strategic contacts
• Combating misinformation by engaging in comment sections of influencer posts
• Converting social media followers to paying clients through relationship building
• Using video testimonials to capture emotional client transformations
• Networking strategies for reaching vulnerable communities like human trafficking survivors
• Benefits of starting a podcast to reach audiences during commute times
• Social media platform selection based on target demographic age groups
• Personal branding versus company branding considerations
• Establishing a unique position in the credit repair space through litigation specialization
Visit illuminationconsulting.net to learn more about credit repair services or reach out to Tavon Harvey directly on Facebook.
www.themrpreneur.com
Are you an aspiring entrepreneur? Our one-on-one coaching tailors strategies to your unique business goals. Dive into interactive workshops fostering skills essential for success. Looking for an inspirational speaker for your next event? Book Mr Prenuer to elevate your gathering. Visit wwwthemistrepreneurcom to learn more and embark on your path to entrepreneurial success. Mr Prenuer, empowering your entrepreneurial spirit. Welcome to the you Can't Afford Me podcast, where we skip the fluff and dive straight into the grind Real entrepreneurs, real struggles and the unfiltered journey behind success. Let's get into it, guys. This is something that I've been thinking about for a while doing on the podcast, and I met this gentleman and the thoughts started going through my head like what if we did a live consult on the podcast and literally talk through with new entrepreneurs their business model and questions they have, because I do mentor other entrepreneurs.
Speaker 1:But I thought like this would be very beneficial to like share this with the world and people seeing something like this in real time. So I got Tavon on the podcast today and I will tell you how I met Tavon. Like number one, you never know where you're going to meet people at. So we just moved into this office a couple months ago. Tavon was working for the moving company that came along, which I will say every guy on that moving crew. It was like dude, you never judge a book by its cover, because I'm talking to one cat. He was the youngest one in y'all's group and he was like, yeah, he was like I quit school at UVA, I was studying to medical field works and he's like I don't want to spend the rest of my life doing that, so like I'm doing this while I'm figuring out my next move. And it was just like you were like man, I got this business I'm working on. I was like geez, like these guys are the real deal.
Speaker 1:So we've developed a relationship over that period of time and been talking and we thought this would be a first episode where we do this format. So, episode where we do this format. So Tavon has a list of about 10 questions about his business and he's literally going to ask me these questions. We're going to have a discussion and you guys are going to see this in real time. So hopefully this is something where a lot of you watching are going to have these same questions for your business and we're able to answer those for you here in real time. So Tavon, first, appreciate you being here.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Thank you, being open and honest about something like this.
Speaker 1:I think this is a great opportunity for both of us. Number two tell everybody your business and what it is that you're doing.
Speaker 2:First of all, my name again is Tavon and thanks again for having me here, yep. The name of my business is Illumination Consulting. It's a financial management company designed to help underserved consumers help with their credit, get financial literacy and just understand how to get ahead. So my goal is to educate, provide resources and also walk people through preparing their credit learning, of course, like I mentioned, financial literacy so they don't have to actually go through that same cycle again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which is huge. Like services like this I'm a big proponent of, because you don't know what you don't know and a lot of doors are shut on you when you have a 502 credit score.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Like. Your only option if you've got to have a whip is you've got to go. Sorry, I'm going to blast out of company. The only option if you've got to have a whip is you've got to go to drive time and pay $700 a month for a 2005 Honda Civic that has 180,000 miles on it With 26% interest yeah. You're just getting screwed on payments and things like that. So I'm a big proponent of that. So let's fire it off. What's the first question you got?
Speaker 2:So, knowing that, how would you recommend that I position Illumination Consulting as a trusted brand, knowing the stigma on credit repair companies these days?
Speaker 1:Gotcha, and one thing I should say that I didn't is that I have not seen these questions that Tavon has. We're doing this in real time, so give me that question one more time.
Speaker 2:So how can I position Illumination Consulting, knowing the stigma that credit repair has right now? How can I position them as a trusted brand in the industry?
Speaker 1:So I think the easiest way to gain people's trust in the marketplace well, there are two things. Number one is start giving your service away for free, like if people are able to experience what it is that you have to offer and you have other people that can speak to what it is you're doing and the benefit they've seen from it. It's not just coming from the owner who's trying to get a check. It's coming from somebody who's actually received your services and like this is awesome, this worked for me. Like, you guys need to know about it. The second thing I think is again something on the free side, is giving information away for free. So, if you can put out content, talk to people and show them ways that they can. Let's just take specifically just the credit score piece. If you're making quick videos on Instagram saying, hey guys, today I'm going to show you how you can increase your credit score by 20 points over the next 60 days, and you're able to give them tidbits about this, like the insights of.
Speaker 1:I think somebody had told me an influencer or somebody I follow or it may have been the guy that helped me with credit repair years ago he told me when you get those letters from credit card companies saying, hey, you're in delinquency, like our company has now picked this up and we're coming after this debt. He said do not pay that company and here's why. And it's information like that, that number one, you're educating people and they now see you as an expert in that field because you're educating them for free. So think about somebody that you know that's high in a certain field, like if I'm not. I'm not a mechanically inclined gentleman. So when I hear guys talking about like, oh man, this car has 400 something horsepower and turbo.
Speaker 2:I don't know what that is.
Speaker 1:But hearing them explain that and break it down, I'm like this guy knows his cars.
Speaker 1:So if I'm looking, for a vehicle and I need to bend somebody's ear hey man, what do you think of this model year of this car? Like, I know that guy's going to be able to give me the real deal because this is his world. So I think the more you can educate people. Now, when I say give your service away for free, let me put limitations to that. So, number one you only want to give your service away for free to people that you're going to see as a valued resource later on. So let's say, for instance, I'll use my industry in marketing. When I first got started, I was looking for companies to provide free video, marketing, social media management, photography, all those things too. I wasn't approaching companies who had 50 followers on Instagram.
Speaker 2:Makes sense.
Speaker 1:I was approaching companies who had 10,000 plus followers on Instagram because I'm like once I produce this form, if they enjoy it and they like it, they're going to post it on their page.
Speaker 1:And now they're 10,000 plus followers, are now aware that I exist and that I provide this service. So there has to be some trade off there in terms of, hey, this is someone who is well known in the community and if I provide this service to them and they have a good experience, they're telling everybody in their circle, and their circle of people are the ones that I want to be working with. So you have to be strategic in terms of, like what clients you're, you're giving this service away for free. But if it's like this service away for free. But if it's like you know, jj down the block who, like you know, has some job that he doesn't really care about, he doesn't network with people, he's not going to the next level and you know he's not rolling with the people that you want to be in business with, then you don't give it away for free to people like that.
Speaker 1:So, be very strategic in that, in terms of like, okay, I've researched, I've identified, now it's time to approach, because it's very difficult for somebody to say, like if somebody came here today and they wanted a job here at Enzo and they said, look man, um, I've, I've followed your brand, I've seen what you guys are doing, I want to be part of this team. Um, I'm willing to work for you for free for the next three months because I want to soak up knowledge. I want to understand these cameras and equipment that you guys work in, the technique, on how you guys are editing, blah, blah, blah. It's very hard for me as a business owner to say no If you're adding value to me and it's not going to cost me anything financially yeah, let's get this enrolled.
Speaker 2:What do I have to lose? So I think, if you look at that approach, that's a big way that you're going to get people to be able to trust their brain moving forward. That's huge. Yeah, that's definitely huge. Okay, so to kind of follow that question, if I may yeah, right now you know there are, that we're in the influencer age. How do I follow that? Because right now that's what I'm facing is there's a lot of misinformation given from influencers versus what I'm giving out.
Speaker 1:So I love this question. So the first thing I would do I think a lot of people would think I'm automatically going to say you need to be creating your own content. That's not the first step. In a space like this, if you're trying to combat all these people that are giving bad information, the first place I would say, cost you $0 and you don't have to get in front of the camera and say anything. It's getting in the comments of these videos of people that are giving bad information. So let's say, for instance uh, some guy's video pops up and he's like uh, you know, here's how I took my credit score up a hundred points in 15 days. Someone like you may know there's no way possible that you can take your credit score up in 15 days.
Speaker 1:Someone like you may know there's no way possible that you can take your credit score up in 15 days. So listen to the video, consume it and then go in the comments section and be like hey bro, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but here are the top three reasons why this approach does not work.
Speaker 1:Because a lot of people now, especially in the influencer community. There are videos now where I just see I'll see something and I'm like I don't even care, like this may be bad. I don't necessarily want to make fun of somebody, but I'm gonna give y'all a real life situation. I saw this video the other day and this girl it was like a 20 second tiktok or something like that, and she was like talking about how she just got her nails done, so the music was playing or something like that, and then the caption came up got my nails done.
Speaker 1:So she's sitting there dancing for like five seconds and then she goes like this in front of the camera, bro, she had, like Vienna, sausage type fingers, and before I could even have a second thought, the first thing in my head was you know, I got to go in these comments.
Speaker 2:Because I know she's getting roasted right now, roasted in the comments and believe it or not, go to the comments.
Speaker 1:I'm sitting there laughing for like 15 minutes.
Speaker 1:People are just going in sure enough and so a lot of people are spending. When they see a video is going viral, they're spending more time in the comment section than they actually are consuming the piece of content. So I think if you can get good at doing that is like follow other people that you know you may not necessarily agree with what they do, but they have a big following you can jump in the comment section and be able to attract a large audience of people and be like hey, man, I saw your comment, hey, tell me why you said this to them. Or like where did you get that information from? Blah, blah, blah, and you can have real conversations with these people.
Speaker 1:And that's also going to lead to them saying, um, you know? Hey, man, it seems like you got a lot of questions. Hey, I do free consults, for free 30 minute consults, what's a good time. I can send you a Zoom link.
Speaker 1:Let's just have a quick chat, because we're not going to accomplish a whole lot in the DMs here Like I need to hear about your specific situation and how I'd be able to help. So I think that's step one. Because this may sound gross, I tell people some of my best work is done in the bathroom while you're sitting on the toilet. You can't tell me, you can't be in the comment section doing these things, so when people are like I ain't got time to do X, y, z.
Speaker 1:There are so much downtime throughout the day that people don't realize. Or these huge time sucks like when I'm flipping through tick-tock for an hour, is doing stuff like that. That's elevating my brain and I'm getting ideas for other stuff. So, like you made the second phase of that is you then creating content so you can look at that and say, all right, we're in the comment section still with with these brands or this influencer? Um, look at the questions that people are asking, because more than likely, let's say, this influencer has over 100,000 followers. Um, they ain't reading all these questions that people have, nor do they have the time to respond to them all. But you do. I do. So if you're going through the comment section, you don't have to sit down with a pen and paper and be like okay, what are the next 20 topics I'm going to talk about on my instagram? You can just go to these comment sections and be like people are literally telling you what they want to hear.
Speaker 1:So those are the first two things that I would do when it comes to that.
Speaker 2:That makes sense. That makes sense. Oh man, I appreciate that one. Yeah, all right, so you've been able to see a lot of my branding, like my website, things like that, that illuminationconsultingnet. Yeah, what would you recommend or say are the key elements of a brand for a service-based business like my own?
Speaker 1:That's a good question. So I love this because I don't know what the questions are coming and it keeps me on my toes. Number one I think you put together some great content, like when we were first moving in here and you told me about your business and you pulled your website up. At first I was like this is bruh. You should show me some jacked up site and I might have to fake like this thing was good. I was like bruh, this is clean.
Speaker 2:And I really appreciate this.
Speaker 1:This is a good looking brand. Um, I think people put too much emphasis on things like logos and colors and naming your company and all that kind of stuff, like you, think about Exxon. What the hell was Exxon before Exxon made an Exxon? What was Google before Google made Google? Google is now literally in the dictionary.
Speaker 1:That word did not exist before. So it's like who was Tavon before Tavon? Whatever name you give something, the meaning behind that, the work you put behind that, that's what makes a brand. So I think those things that we talked about early on was giving it away for giving it away for free, you know, adding the value, different things like that. At the end of the day, building a brand is like what are people saying about your company when you're not there? Got it Okay? So the biggest thing for me is just being truthful, Like there have been some painful moments for me in business where, like the other day, I'm dealing with this in real time now.
Speaker 1:Guy that we quoted back in January of this year I never met him. Somebody else on my team had quoted him and I had like a brief conversation. He told me what the guy wanted. I was like, yeah, here's what we would do, write it up for this. You know I have some on team writing proposals in it too. I've never had a conversation with this guy. There had a phone call. Luckily I love I'm a big apple person so I love on like the mac os for mail.
Speaker 2:It'll remind you and say like hey, you sent this email x amount of time right follow up with this.
Speaker 1:So that email popped up and I'm like who the hell is this guy like? I'm looking on and normally my first thing is like I'll copy and paste someone's first and last name and I'll go into facebook and I'm like, how do I know this person? Um, nothing was clicking and I'm going. I basically got a whole new staff here in the last couple of months so I ran through everybody. I was like does this name sound for me? Everybody's like nah, I don't know who the hell it is.
Speaker 1:I was like, all right, well, I'm gonna with him the other day, but I had to honor the price point that somebody on my team according, even though I didn't know this guy didn't know his business. And after hearing them I was like, well, now we should have we should have been a thousand dollars more than what we actually quarter, but having the right brand, I was like you know what somebody on my team put this out there. I gotta honor this. Like this is part of a brain, because if I came back to him be like hey, man, sorry, like that douche in the set x, y and z is actually gonna be this thousand dollars more and it's like you would have lost him bro, I just talked to you.
Speaker 1:I talked to somebody on your team just a month ago like why, why you gaslight me? Why are you putting the prices up? So, instead of like, I'd rather take the hit on that and be like man this guy's a good guy, like you know and I told him straight up. I was like this price is actually too low. But because somebody on my team quoted you this, I'm going to honor it, and I've had that conversation with people in the past where it's like get some of those clients that are grandfathered in, like I got people that are paying like 2019 prices and 2025. Wow, but they've been with me for so long and they've never canceled and they've been great clients. I'm just like eventually, yeah, some of them I'm going to have to take up. It's just not the right fit anymore.
Speaker 2:But the one they, if they, call smoke.
Speaker 1:I'm like you've been good to me, Like you've helped us keep the lights on. I'm gonna keep taking care of you. So to me, that's what that piece comes back to. All the time is like the word that you have and what you're willing to do. It's your reputation.
Speaker 2:You got you that you have and what you're willing to do. It's your reputation you got you. So, as you mentioned before giving away free services, things like that, I've kind of defined that I'm catering my business to like more of the underserved human traffic victims, even homeless, if I can I have some barriers that I'm trying to get around with that but like like domestic violence victims, things like that, how would you recommend that I start kind of getting in front of those groups so I can offer my free services and can become lucrative in both ways?
Speaker 1:Yep, I think everybody sees me as like the social media guy, marketing guy. They think like that's my number one go-to when it comes to like developing relationships and building businesses. I'm a huge component of networking. Like every event, I had to come home late to the wife and kids because I was in a seminar last night that started at 6 o'clock and I got home at 8 o'clock. Number one I wanted the information that was gonna be presented there, but always, always, I knew that there was gonna be a networking component to that. So I'm like if these I knew was gonna be all business owners because of the subject matter of what I was going there for. So I'm like, yeah, I may not get to put my kids to bed tonight, but I'm going to get to meet probably four or five, six different business owners that I can potentially do business with. So I'm like it's worth the sacrifice on that end. So I think getting in those rooms I would just be searching every event that has to do with that topic.
Speaker 1:A lot of it's going to be free, but even if you have to pay for it, it's worth getting in those rooms. That's a big reason why I picked up golf. I've actually found a love for the sport now, but initially when I was looking at golf it was because I just wanted to get in the clubhouse where these guys were having these conversations. It wasn't that I was like this big golf fanatic I now have become one but I was like these are where the deals are taking place. I know if somebody's spending $2,000 a month on a country club membership, they're the type of person I want to be working with.
Speaker 1:Because if you're spending that type of money on a leisurely activity, then that means you're probably investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into your marketing for your business Makes sense. So a lot of times it's just thinking what can I do to get into these rooms? Okay, and that may be like, hey, you know, if you want to get in front of the, in front of the group, I still do this to this day If I see value in speaking to an organization like perfect, perfect example. Example my guy Ray. He has started this not necessarily networking group, but informational group with people who are investors in real estate. I mean, this guy packs the house. They do this meetup once a month and he packs the room.
Speaker 1:I mean people are literally standing outside in the hall because all the seats are taken up and they're just leaning for two hours to soak up this information. So I had a break the other day and I said, hey, bro, like I know you typically the speakers you have come in and talk or like real estate investors that have made it to a high level but I was like all these people, they need to understand marketing and how this can bring them more deals. Do you have any openings in the next couple of months for me to come in and talk about marketing? I think I can really excel what these people are doing Without hesitation. You respond absolutely, man.
Speaker 1:This is something these people need. Let me know the months that you can do. I'm going to get you booked in. I'm not getting paid a dime for that, but just about every time I speak in front of a group of people I end up walking away with a new client.
Speaker 1:But it's the relationships that I'm trying to develop here, because out of all the people in that room, I'm not gonna get to shake hands with everybody that heard me speak, but I may be out at Target one day or like something pops up on social media and they're like ignition.
Speaker 1:I know that guy that guy spoke at the thing blah blah, blah blah and the rapport is already being built there. So I would search everything in this area in terms of, like that subject matter with human trafficking, with credit repair, all those things, and be the guy that like every time something like that's going up, they recognize your face and eventually you know you may walk in in some of those rooms and be a little shy. You're not gonna be as aggressive in terms of running up to people shaking hands, having those conversations which I don't necessarily get that sense from you.
Speaker 1:But there are gonna be people in the room that maybe you don't even notice. And that third meeting that you go to, somebody's going to come up and tap you on the shoulder and be like bro, I haven't seen you at the last 10 of these things.
Speaker 2:Who are you and what do you do Makes sense, okay.
Speaker 1:That stuff is going to happen naturally. Now you couple that with the social media marketing and all these other different elements. Platforms. You're mixing all this up, like marketing and branding and reaching all these people and building a business isn't just one thing, like you know, if you only do direct mailers to people's homes but you neglect tv, radio ads, podcasting, social media, marketing, all the networking, all these different other things, you're only going to be so successful versus if you're doing a mix of all of these different things that makes sense, sense, that makes sense and which.
Speaker 2:That actually answers one of my next questions I was going to ask should I consider starting my own podcast?
Speaker 1:I'm all right here. Here's why I'm such a huge proponent of just about everybody starting their own podcast One. Do I think everybody has enough that they're the type of personality that can do a podcast? No, I don't think everybody is but the type of personality that can do a podcast? No, I don't think everybody is. But the benefits of podcasting. We're all fighting for the same eyeballs on social media TikTok, instagram, facebook, all this stuff. So it's very hard to capture someone's attention on social media. That's why you have to be so consistent with it, because they're seeing thousands of pieces of content a day. You think about the one area most businesses in any given area aren't able to reach a potential client it's when they're in the car.
Speaker 1:So, you can't drive down the highway for 30 minutes and be scrolling through Instagram while you're driving. I don't, man. I'm over to Kendrick Lamar and drink beef Like I'm a hip-hop head. I love listening to music, but I do it at certain times Right when I'm commuting in my vehicle. It's audio books or podcasts, so the people I'm listening to it's deepening the connection I have with their brand. So, like, one of my favorite podcasts is a market Mondays by the guys that earn your leisure. Um, they just dropped a book a couple of months ago, but as soon as the pre-release was available, I pre-released or pre-ordered that book, like months before that book actually dropped.
Speaker 2:Because every single Monday I listen to these brothers on their podcast.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:They don't know who Sam Anderson is, but I know who Troy, rashad and Ian are.
Speaker 1:Makes sense and I felt the need to support them. This is their first book. They've given me so much great information and helped me scale in terms of my brokerage account, investments and things like that.
Speaker 1:The least I could do is buy their $20 book right and that the information it was actually, I think, for where my financial knowledge is now and I'm not saying like I'm the guru of finances or stuff a little bit more elementary than like where I'm at now. But I went to the bar shop and uh, the barber that I see there, who's a shop owner his son has been cutting hair there and like he started following me on instagram and like when I go in he'll chit chat and like he's like man, tell me this about entrepreneurship or what are you doing this investing and stuff like that. And after I read the book I was like this is way too elementary for me, but a guy who's just starting out, this is the perfect investment book for him. So before I came in next time, I said, hey, bro, are you going to be here on this date? Like I'm coming in again. He's like, yeah, I'll be here.
Speaker 1:I was like I got something for you. So I blessed him with the book. But podcasts can allow you to reach people in so many different ways and it doesn't have to necessarily be a format like this. So I talked to a previous client of ours. He's in the insurance field, he's a white dude but he's married to a latina woman.
Speaker 1:His two best friends are also white dude and they're also married to hispanic as well so they wanted to start a podcast talking about what it's like being a white dude married to hispanic women okay, so they're going to share stories of, like you know, the first time they got cussed out in spanish they had no idea what she was saying, but they knew what she was saying yeah, so they have like all these humorous stories and ways that they can connect.
Speaker 1:Um, and insurance can be a very boring field, right, right, uh. But he's going to establish relationships with people because it's like, yeah, you're providing me with entertainment and when I hear that ad in the middle about your insurance company, well, do I want to go with the lizard and somebody that's going to be from a call center or do I want to work with somebody lizard and somebody that is going to be from a call center? Or do I want to work with somebody local, with the guy who like making me crack up every week on his podcast? Like man, I'd rather work with that guy. So the benefits that are there.
Speaker 1:I think right now we're nowhere near mass consumption with podcasting. So I think the last stat I read was that 35% of Americans in America listen to one podcast a month. This is the second podcast I've recorded today and it's not even 1130. Yet I listen to two to three podcasts a day. So everybody sees a Joe Rogan and thinks like oh, that's the pinnacle and like that's the peak of podcasting. Right now, less than 40% of adults are listening to a podcast on a regular basis right now. Now less than 40% of adults are listening to a podcast on a regular basis right now. This will become like TV for a lot of people, where it's like if I got to cut the grass, I'm not listening to the newest Schoolboy Q album, I'm listening to a podcast.
Speaker 1:There are so many opportunities now I have to educate myself. The next phase that I need to educate myself in is AI. I'm not learning enough about AI right now and I know it's going to drastically change the industry that I work in, so I need to be falling asleep to podcasts on AI Right. So that's the next subject matter that I'm going to be diving into. But people are understanding now like, hey, I can skip college and listen to these podcasts and I'm going to get the education I need for the direction I'm trying to go. So, yes, everybody and their grandma should have a podcast, but you need to be the right type of person. If you're not charismatic enough, like to run a podcast solo, or you don't have the skill sets, like to interview someone in a scenario like this, get your skill set up, like figure out who you can talk to, like you can probably listen to a podcast on how to interview people right?
Speaker 2:okay, a youtube channel, something.
Speaker 1:So it's like if you don't have the skill set, but you know this is something that you want to do. Then find the information to make it happen. But I think podcasting is probably one of the number one ways a lot of business owners are missing out in terms of marketing and branding themselves okay, yeah, it does seem like a, a relational building tool that's being missed.
Speaker 2:Okay, absolutely. Um, so I do get testimonies, um, as I haven't been in a position initially to give away a lot of free services, but to who I have, I do have some testimonies. How would you recommend that I use those testimonies for um to effectively build my trust?
Speaker 1:so how do you, when you say you have testimonials from people, is this written? Are they on camera, like what?
Speaker 2:I have them, some that's on my website, some that are on Facebook, so written or the video, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm more of a fan of taking that to video than anything else. Cuz, let's be real man, I'm gonna give you some real realness. The first website I launched from my first company. I made up a quote and put like Susan P and said like this is the greatest business I've ever been a part of, like Sam Anderson, like really took care of me. Blah, blah, blah okay that's Susan P.
Speaker 1:I made that up just so I had something on my website. I don't think a lot of people are hip today cuz, like you can literally write anything and say that somebody says, but when they can see it on video and see this person. Now, with AI, things are changing because you basically have anybody you want, like do an ai video and it look real. But, um, having I've always been a big fan of like showing, showing people if this is your ideal client, putting them on camera, because the other people that look like them, sound like them, think like them, are going to see that video and say, well, she's just like me. If it's good enough for her, it's going to be good enough for me too. Um, so I think that's one of the better ways of doing it.
Speaker 1:I actually have to say that's the number one way. Um, now, if you do have to go the route of like, having it on your websites and text form which I'm not saying don't do that. I think it's a great thing to have on your website. I would just have a picture with the actual person to go with that quote. So I asked him for permission. Hey, can I pull this headshot off of your Facebook profile and use this on my website along with your quote?
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Speaker 1:Started so that way they're looking and seeing Okay, this, this is a first glance, this is a real person. So, yeah, using it testimonials in in that way Also, the other beauty with capture them on camera is sometimes you'll be working with someone and they'll say, well, hey, do you have anybody that I can talk to, that I can discuss your services and get their feedback? Glad you asked. Here's four videos of people talking about my services. Right, okay, you're kind of cutting out the middleman and like, because we're trying to get them to the finish line, we're trying to close this like if they're able to see that in real time, then I'm saving time and we can get to this money got it and how would you recommend?
Speaker 2:like, because the nature of my business, people are like.
Speaker 1:Want to be private about it.
Speaker 2:Right, they're scared to kind of let them know their financial situations and things like that.
Speaker 1:I would. You know well. So I think a lot of people are afraid or ashamed when they're in that situation, but when they come out of it they're willing to. It's like when I first started my first year of business with this company, um, I think I made eighteen thousand dollars okay I mean we're, we're approaching becoming a seven-figure business now.
Speaker 1:Okay, so like I will gladly boast that in my early days now, but my first year I made eighteen thousand dollars and I'm about to break seven figures now. Right back then, what was I going around telling everybody? I only made $18,000 this year.
Speaker 1:But once you come out of that situation. So if somebody you were working with at a credit score of 475 and now they're sitting at 675 and they're able to get a car loan, they're able to get a mortgage for the first time all these different things, those are things that you want to brag about. So I think maybe you're getting testimonials from people too early in the phase. It's like we got to get them to a certain point. The other piece, too, is like, if you're working with other organizations and not necessarily these individuals, that the organizations can speak on your behalf.
Speaker 1:So like if you're working with their clientele and they can come back and kind of say like, yeah, all the clients he's worked with, they've always come back and said such great things like because of the work that he did with this client, we're able to get them into affordable apartment or we're able to get them into their first vehicle so that they can go to their job, like whatever the case is.
Speaker 2:Um, so I think some of your clients it may just be too early right now to be able to get the testimony testimonials that you need okay, so the timing of my testimony I need to work on yep, okay, because typically what happens is usually people get excited when they see the increase, so they'll write something on my page or something you know yep but it's like you mentioned. It's just still too early to celebrate the final line yeah.
Speaker 1:So even with that, if it's looking at the difference and somebody's getting excited and saying, bro, my credit score just went up 30 points, they don't need to say my credit score went from 530 to 560. They can just say, hey, my credit score went up 30 points working with this brother. So I think you can get more like that in the early days, but definitely caption them on camera, say, hey, I see you're excited, I see you punk. Would you mind just pulling out your cell phone and saying what you just that google review. You just left us. Can you do that same thing on video and text me that video?
Speaker 1:makes sense most people, especially in moments like that. You got to catch them while the fire is there. Okay, so like if you took me because I think minimal and you may know this better than me I think the minimum credit score you have that you need to qualify for a decent interest rate on a mortgage is like 620. Usually 620, right, yeah, yeah. So if you took someone from 600 to 630 and they're now able to qualify for a mortgage, that's someone that's going to be extremely excited to share that information.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you want to get them in those moments like wait, hold up, bro, you just got approved for more dude. I mean, I need you to get on camera while you're excited about this, because people are gonna be able to see that and be like you know, that girl that's giving you that testimony is like I never thought that I was actually gonna be able to own a home. Like I just didn't see a way out in building credit and blah, blah, blah. But Tavon and his company got me right and now my daughter's going to grow up with a backyard and a picket fence and all this sort of. You want to capture the emotion of that.
Speaker 1:It's the stories that sell people, anybody can help somebody move the numbers on their credit score.
Speaker 1:What are the stories that come along with that, and I think that's especially in your industry. That's a mistake that a lot of people make. It's like they're just like expressing the numbers versus the story that goes along with it. Like being the first in your family to be able to afford a home or being able to qualify for a home purchase, or you know, you've been riding in beat up buckets your entire life and now they're rolling the Escalade. Like all these different things. That's a story attached to it versus just like the hard numbers right, I think once you can get the story out.
Speaker 1:That's where you start to see a lot of this come together okay, okay, that totally makes sense.
Speaker 2:Let me see. Let me see. Um, all right, so you know, right now there's the thing going on with tiktok. Potentially they're not going to be here, I guess, soon. Do you think I should still be concentrating on marketing on tiktok, or should I more focus on other real or youtube shorts or kind of those type of forms of you need to be on?
Speaker 1:everything is the short answer. Okay, um, let me share something with you on the tiktok thing. So back in 2018, trump was the one who came out and said TikTok needs to be banned from the United States. As soon as he came into office, what was one of his first platforms? I'm bringing TikTok back.
Speaker 1:TikTok needs to stay here in the United States, and all these idiots didn't fact check to see he was the one that was screaming for him to leave in the first place, but now he looks like a superhero because he saved TikTok.
Speaker 2:TikTok ain't going nowhere.
Speaker 1:It's back. It was gone for a brief period, it's back, it ain't going nowhere. But here's the thing you also have to understand with social media platforms, there's always a next coming and it seems to happen just just about every. I'd say every seven to 10 years there's a new platform that kind of catches fire, because every social media channel starts young and ages up and as soon as your mom and your grandma on the platform, it's no longer relevant. So you move on to the next thing.
Speaker 1:So like I could be a little bit more free on Instagram because, my mom doesn't even know what Instagram is, let alone have an account to see what I'm talking about on Instagram.
Speaker 2:Now my mom is on Facebook, so I am a lot more buttoned up on my.
Speaker 1:Facebook page than I am my Instagram. Now TikTok I can go. Ham, she has no concept of what TikTok is and my mom will never be on TikTok and have an account.
Speaker 2:Makes sense.
Speaker 1:So we're probably getting to the next phase where, like, there's about to be another one in the next couple years and I'm probably on social media channels that you've never even heard of before like there are hundreds of social media apps out there, um, but I think there are some that, like people don't uh necessarily consider social media channels, but they can have a lot of value in. So for me, I'm a much better speaker than I am a writer, but if writing is your strong suit, you should have a blog. You should be on.
Speaker 1:Reddit. You should be constantly writing content like that. Now, someone like me I don't enjoy consuming or making content that way, but there are still millions of people on Reddit every single day. Okay, pinterest, I don't use Pinterest, but there are millions of people that use Pinterest on a regular basis. So it depends on your industry and the demographic that you're going after. Okay Now, tiktok for your industry and maybe, maybe not. It's probably more of a long-term play, like it is for most businesses. Unless your product or service is directly going after tweens and early 20-somethings, the majority of your audience is not yet on TikTok.
Speaker 1:It's not TikTok, right but in the next year or two because, also, with Trump doing all that crap and this is not a political statement or anything you guys can Google and fact check. I'm not saying anything that's not real and this has no affiliation with who I voted for or whatever from red or blue or anything like that, but him just inciting all this. A lot of people that really didn't care about TikTok before are now going to TikTok.
Speaker 1:Because now they want to be like man. What's the big deal with this app? It right, because now they want to be like man. What's the big deal with this app? Like you know, it's gone. It's here. People are fighting for people protesting, blah, blah, blah, um. So it is aging up and it's aging up quickly, but your audience may not be there right now. If your audience is late 30s, early 40s and above, facebook is going to be one of your best best uh accounts. If your audience is senior citizens, 65 and above, youtube is going to be one of the best platforms for you.
Speaker 1:A lot of people don't know, older people go to youtube. It's the number one social media channel because they're searching for information. So if, uh, you know when you're growing up and, like my mom, calls me about every little tech thing, right, right, okay because I'm not in the house anymore, but if she was so inclined to um, if something happened on her iphone and she didn't know how to fix it, her first reaction typically at that age demographic is to go to youtube and say how do I fix x y?
Speaker 1:and z on my iphone. So people are going on youtube and searching how do I fix my credit? Like they're using it as a search engine. Okay, so, like as I'm saying this in real time with you, I think youtube is probably going to be one of your biggest platforms because that's what people are searching.
Speaker 1:most people are not going to facebook and saying how do I repair my credit. They are going to youtube and searching how do I repair my credit? Um, but I will say this about tiktok tiktok has the most advanced algorithm of any social media platform ever created, where the algorithms for Facebook, instagram, even YouTube, linkedin, all these other ones it takes a while for them to understand your voice and the type of content that you're interested in. Tiktok learns you way faster than anything else we've ever seen, and that's also the beauty of things is like, if I pull up my wife's TikTok, her newsfeed is drastically different than the stuff that pops up on mine, mine, is, like you know, guys talking about finances, guys talking about developing businesses.
Speaker 1:I've gotten sucked into like these cooking videos. I don't, bro, I don't put the kitchen and I have no interest in cooking, but I'm enamored by these guys who are taking a raw piece of steak and I see the whole process of them making the five-star meal from that um. So the content is is specifically curated to what it is that you're looking for. So that algorithm, I think, is the future. I think we're ultimately going to see the next social media platform. I think it's basically just going to be ai curated content. We're like ai is going to be so good the next couple years you are not going to know if you're looking at a real person or not, and they're not to get too grimy.
Speaker 1:There are only fan pages right now that bros don't even realize they're. They're paying an ai bot. There are some overweight dudes sitting in his mom's basement right now. That made an ai only and he is cleaning up and you're not even you're not even getting off to an actual woman, you're getting off to a what that's, how good it's getting.
Speaker 1:So I I heard somebody say this and I did a deeper dive on it. I think we're getting to the point where the next social media platform, the next massive one, with adoption, it's all going to be AI generated. So when people have issues of like, well, I don't want to get on camera and I don't like the sound of my voice, and all that kind of stuff, pretty soon you're not going to have to worry about it, you're going to be able to prompt that social media platform to curate content specifically in your voice, but in ways that are going to attract other people and you never have to be seen.
Speaker 1:I think of some artists that you remember the Gorillaz back in the day, so we may be aging ourselves with the Gorillaz. It was rock hip-hop type band, but they were all animated.
Speaker 1:We had no idea what these guys looked like Multi-millionaires and I remember they had like Jurassic 5 was featured on one of their hit songs and it's like you know, they're working with massive artists and we have no idea what these people look like the DJ Marshmello where he literally has a marshmallow. Daft Punk. They wore like motorcycle helmets when they were saying no idea who these guys are and they are making a killing.
Speaker 2:We're going to see a lot the dancers, the Wookiees.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, the Jabberwalkers, jabberwalkers yeah.
Speaker 2:No idea who these guys were.
Speaker 1:Now if you were a super fan and you did your research, you'd figure it out. That's the way things are going to go, where it's just like the information and the entertainment value is more beneficial to the consumer than like the actual person is.
Speaker 2:And that makes sense, because you were telling me before how faceless videos are still very, very very beneficial way of doing things.
Speaker 1:The excuse for people not making content is about to be all the way out the window. Out the window, especially once we get to that point. If you choose not to make content. It's some demon that you're fighting on the inside because this is getting way too easy. Whether you don't like the way you look, don't like the way you say it, I've had so many women over the years tell me Sam, I'm going to start doing some video marketing with you once I drop 20 pounds. Don't give a damn If you have a service or product I want. I'm not looking at that and saying, man, you got a great product, but I could only work with you if you lost 20, 30 pounds. Nobody's thinking that is all a self-reflection. As my team edits this video and the audio and the video, I'm going to hear clips of this and be like bro, I hate the way I sound, or like what was I wearing that day? What was this on my shirt? Or whatever the case is, who cares?
Speaker 2:Right, because if the information's fire.
Speaker 1:I'm the only one that picked up on that in the video. The masses are looking at that they're not seeing. Oh, he had this on his shirt, or like he fumbled over this work.
Speaker 2:Who cares? Yeah Right, okay, that helps because that's one of I told you before some of the things that I was worried about my image and starting my business and things like that. So that's very, very helpful yeah um, in this case, of course, you mentioned you would be sharing this, this video on this podcast, with me how would? You recommend that I repurpose it for my branding?
Speaker 1:so you'll have multiple reels that we'll get um, that we'll produce from this um, but you'll have a full version of this video too, so you can chop this up into different sections and kind of do your own thing with it. Like you can highlight the fact that, like yo, I was on a podcast. Like everybody, go listen to this now. Like it's adding more credibility to you, utilize it to gain other opportunities, whether that's going on someone else's podcast and being like, hey, check out this podcast.
Speaker 1:I was on, I saw your podcast. You know what I did before I started my own podcast. This worked out better for me on Twitter or X or whatever, but I guess you could do it on any platform. I just went on Twitter and I searched entrepreneurial podcast. I just did a straight up search and I started going through and going on all these pages and finding people who had podcasts about entrepreneurship. And I started going through and going all these pages and finding people who had podcasts about entrepreneurship and I just started DMing them and all saying, hey, I'm an entrepreneur, I checked out your podcast. If you're looking for guests, I would love to be a part of your show.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I'd say probably 30 to 40 percent of the people that I've reached out to want. Yeah, because people don't realize, like as much as I'm helping you right now, you're helping me too, because we're creating content from this. So now I don't have to go to the storyboard and like figure this out and set something with my team to create my next piece of content. We're making this right now, um, and matter of fact, actually so, if you look at like news stations and stuff like that, people think it's hard to get on the local news. It ain't Bro, they are always looking for stories.
Speaker 2:For somebody.
Speaker 1:So if you come to them and be like, hey, I have an interesting story, blah, blah, blah. Nine times out of ten, they're like okay, yeah, like if you ever turn on the news before and they're like talking about a pig with no legs who visited kids at a school, don't make a damn, they ran out of stories. But if somebody had come to them that day and be like, hey, I have a business where.
Speaker 1:I'm helping people repair their credit score and people that are dealing with human traffic, blah, blah, blah. That's a story they're going to jump on. So it's the same thing in the podcast world. I'm constantly looking for new guests to interview. So if people are coming to me and making my job easier, why not? Why would I not bring them on? That makes sense. So I think, looking at things that way, in terms of reaching out to content, always realizing what you have to say is interesting to a segmented group of people, I may not be everybody's favorite cup of tea, but there are people that weekly are on social media looking for what Sam Anderson is putting out this week.
Speaker 1:What's he talking about? I had somebody I talked to. This was probably a couple months ago. He's not at the point where he knows he needs my company to help him with his marketing, but he's not where he needs to be financially to get that done. But when he called me he was like dude, I'm going to be real with you, man. I've been following your story on social media since day one. He's like Dude, I'm going to be real with you, man. I've been following your story on social media since day one. It's actually trippy for me right now being on a Zoom call with you, because I feel like I'm talking to a celebrity. I have no way, shape or form. And he was like a local celebrity type of man he called me like 50 Cent or something like that Right but.
Speaker 1:But you don't realize the change that you're affecting by doing these sorts of things. So, reaching out like get you have something interesting to share with someone, um, you may be the most interesting thing that has happened for another person's podcast in the last two years. Like you may be the juice that they need to get the next guest that they were looking for. Um, you may have that one gym that they that you drop on their show, that they're like, yeah, and it could be that one thing that you drop that helps elevate you to the next level. So I look at like podcasting, coming on as guests, social media, all these things I look at them as opportunities up at bat.
Speaker 1:If I play in the major league, if I play in MLB and I only get to go up to bat once per game. What's the likelihood I'm going?
Speaker 2:to hit a home run Very short, but if I get to, come up to bat 10 times a game.
Speaker 1:How much more are my chances increasing for actually hitting a home run 10 times a game? How much more are my chances increasing for?
Speaker 2:actually hitting the home run.
Speaker 1:That's all you're doing when you're marketing and doing things like that. Every podcast you produce, every social media post you make, every this, that or the other is another opportunity for you to hit it out the park, because you never know what that one thing is going to be, and generally it's the thing that you least expect.
Speaker 1:Like my most viral video. I've been doing this 10 years. My most viral video was something that I made within 10 minutes okay, and I shot it all on my cell phone and it has nothing to do with me as an entrepreneur. I made this golf video when I first got into golf and it was like new golfers be like, and it was like all the things, like I'm randomly leaning up against the wall like practicing my swing, or like I'm watching all these youtube videos, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:So it was like hilarious and, like you know, I'm like on the phone, like calling people, like hey, man, you have a tea time this weekend, like blah, blah, like all these different things, um, and that video, I think, within a week, got over 600 000 views, oh wow I've never had a video take off like that before ever, and I produced some very high quality stuff okay and the one that took off was the one that had nothing to do with my business and I shot it with my phone, so you never know what that one thing can be and that exposed me to a lot of people and and opened up a lot of doors for me awesome, okay, so I just need to really start getting more into documenting myself through video.
Speaker 1:You would say, but again too, like if you feel that writing is your strong suit, look at platforms like medium or reddit and different things like that. Like there's a massive opportunity there too. There are people that are still on chat, chat boards and things like that okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 2:I think I got one last question. Based on that, what would you say is the best strategy for converting social media followers into paying clients, with all of the different collaborations and platforms that you're recommending? Great question.
Speaker 1:Great question. So the number one thing is looking at taking digital relationships and making them real-world assets. You've got to get from hey, let's jump on a Zoom call to hey, let's meet for lunch, or let me buy you a cup of coffee, or let's go If you have some shared interests. Like the gentleman I met this week. We both share a love of golf. We're like hey, man, let's go get a round in next week. I'm going to be able to create a real relationship with that person playing golf with them for five hours. You're going to be able to create a much more tangible relationship with someone if you're sitting across the table from them and you guys are breaking bread together. I met my wife on Facebook. I took that digital relationship and I think that's a girl. We gotta get behind this keyboard. Let's go meet up at a bar, let's chat.
Speaker 1:So I think that's the biggest thing is how quick can you take a meeting from online to in person to in person? Because typically like, and especially with, I mean I guess your business is like all over the place, and when I say all over the place I mean like you're not local, just to Richmond, like you can provide this service anywhere, so you may have that obstacle on like a national scale, and Zoom is going to be the closest thing that you're going to be able to do with that.
Speaker 1:But I also think, too, like the type of content I put out is very personalized, meaning that there are people that have never met me who know my wife's name. Meaning that there are people that have never met me who know my wife's name, that know my dog's name, that have seen my kids grow up Because I'm willing to put personal information out there they feel like they've been on this journey with me. So when they finally come to the table and they're like I need to hire a company for marketing or I need this speaker for an event, blah, blah, blah, yeah, they got other people they can talk to, but who do they have the relationship with?
Speaker 2:Who do they have the rapport with? They can vouch for you. They can vouch beyond the relation that they've met with someone else Yep.
Speaker 1:So that's always been my approach. Now, this does not work for everybody, nor should it, because I know people that are 20 times more successful than me and it is impossible to find them on Instagram and Facebook, Right, like they don't have a public. And I'm talking people that are worth millions of dollars, like net worth wise. You have no idea who they are or what they're up to any given day. So I'm not saying you have to have social media and be a public figure in order, like, to scale your business. It's just what works for me. It's what I enjoy doing.
Speaker 1:If I didn't enjoy this, then, yeah, like the logo would be the main thing that people see, not me, but it's what I enjoy, because I like public speaking, I like getting in front of people, I like being able to share stories and have conversations like this, okay, but it's understanding what your strengths and weaknesses are. So I know that one of my major strengths, okay, is the gift of gab. I can talk, right, but I suck at writing. So guess what? I talk and I don't write. And when I need to write, I have people employed here that can do that for me Very well.
Speaker 1:So you got to look at the things and recognize what is it that I suck at and what is it that I can not only be good at, but what can I be great at. And once you write that list down, I think too many people focus on the things that they're good at and they don't focus on the things that they suck at. Because I'll take a basic thing like lawn care yeah, I can turn a lawnmower on and cut the grass, but I can't get them lines fresh and crispy like the way a professional guy can. So last season I hired a landscaper to cut my grass for me. It saved me time, which has ultimately saved me money, money and frustration, and my curb appeal is going up.
Speaker 1:I got one of the best looking yards in the neighborhood because I'm one of the few people in the neighborhood that actually hires a professional to take care of their lawn Right right.
Speaker 1:So I only did that because I recognized that I sucked at it. Right, there are people out there that I can pay a fee to that can do this way better than me. Now can I go online and figure out how to increase my credit score rating? Absolutely, but it's going to take me 10 times the amount of time to figure that out versus talking to somebody like you, right, like so.
Speaker 1:When you're talking to people that value their time, it's a lot easier to sell and make these real world connections. Because when you have to constantly convince someone why they should use you, those are generally the people that are coupon clippers. They want to try the free trial type thing, like blah, blah, blah. Versus the people that I talk to are like bro, I know your value, I know that are coupon clippers. They want to try the free trial type thing, like blah, blah, blah. Versus the people that I talk to like bro, I know your value, I know what you guys bring to the table, and I know I suck at this. I want to pay you to do this because I don't have time and my focus needs to be over here okay, those are my favorite clients because straight out the gate I I really don't have to sell because they know.
Speaker 1:They know the value that we're bringing to the table. But the second I have to get in and convince people and blah, blah, blah. I'm past that. You're going to do that in the early days when you're going to have to take the time. That's also helping you curate your pitch. I now know the things to say, like when to shut up, when to talk, the things I need to hit on when I'm talking to somebody, because I've fumbled so many consults that I know, okay, that doesn't work, this doesn't work.
Speaker 2:But you know what.
Speaker 1:Every time I do this, that ends up working. So I like to incorporate humor in just about everything I do. When I talk to people about this is the same joke I've had for years when I'm talking to people about creating short-form content. A lot of times I'll say to people you know what? I've seen? Somebody cuss out a microwave because a Hot Pocket takes two minutes to cook. People want what they want and they want it right now.
Speaker 2:And people go.
Speaker 1:You know what? Not only is that a little humorous, but you're right.
Speaker 1:And it's like I'm catching their attention, or like this was probably. Last year. I went to a networking event. Massive amount of people in this room I think it was for the Richmond Chamber is probably the ones that has the largest companies like on scale, like rep from like Capital One and people like that are at that chamber. So I'm looking around in this room and we all got about 30 to 60 seconds to tell who we are and what we do. I'm looking around this room and I'm like I'm maybe like the 20, 25th person that's going to get a moment to speak. I'm looking around this room listening to everybody and I'm like how am I going to make myself stand out?
Speaker 2:amongst all these people.
Speaker 1:They're going to hear 50 people talk tonight. What can I say to stick out and make people think, oh, I've got to talk to that guy? So it was like the few people that got to speak before me. It was like the string of people that were professors at VCU. Like it all just happened that they just like sat in the same area.
Speaker 2:Some of them didn't even know each other.
Speaker 1:It was like all these professors or people that worked at VCU were like went back to back to back to back. So when it came around to me, I stood up real quick and I said hey guys, sam Anderson, nice to meet you. I'm a professor over at VCU just playing. And the room just erupted and started laughing. They're like oh my God.
Speaker 1:And then I went to my pitch of like yeah, actually I do marketing, I got this blah blah blah, but I'm sitting there looking at all these people smiling like I had them. I had them in that moment because nobody else in the room thought to do something like that to capture their attention. So at the very least, when this is all done and I'm walking around this room, people are at least looking like oh, that's the funny guy, it's not?
Speaker 2:that great of a joke, but at least you took that opportunity to be different.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So it's finding those things that can help you stick out, whether it's. I had a guy give me a business card one time, and it was not a traditional business card, it was a poker chip with his contact information on it. I was like you know what that is dope, because I will quickly drop somebody's business card, but a poker chip. I can use this as a marker when I'm golfing. I can put it down on the green when I'm putting. I'm constantly walking around like this guy's business card stays in my golf bag and I see it all the time.
Speaker 1:Somebody may forget their chip and ask like, hey, man, you got something I can put down from my putt. And then my friend's going to now see this and be like man, who's this guy? Like it's just branding to the uptick degree. So it's like finding these little things where you can like separate yourself, whether it's even in the credit repair industry. What is it about? There's gotta be some pocket there that, like you can speak on more than anybody else.
Speaker 2:Okay, whether that's.
Speaker 1:You know, I don't know Like I'm throwing stuff out, like because, arbitrarily, credit scores are just a report card of how well you can handle debt.
Speaker 2:It's like I'm able.
Speaker 1:Here's a score of like when people give me money, how I'm able to pay it back, if I pay it back on time, when I pay it back, all those sorts of things.
Speaker 2:In some terms, the one major thing that makes my company a little different is that we do concentrate on litigation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so there you go with the litigation piece the litigation aspect, if you can go all in on that and you're the litigation credit guy, because I know a ton of guys in the credit repair space or financial space and none of them come to mind when I think of litigation and credit repair.
Speaker 1:Okay space, and none of them come to mind when I think of litigation and credit repair. Okay, so if you can hone that to be your side, like, there's this one girl, uh, vivian. She used to work on wall street and she's coined herself as um I'm vivian, you're rich bff like that's her tag.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I saw that okay so she's like I'm your favorite wall street girly and like all that kind of stuff. So she coined herself with that phrase in terms of yeah, I used to be with all these D-bags in corporate America. Now I'm here with you. I'm going to teach you all the secrets that they taught me. This is why I'm your favorite rich BFF, because I'm going to tell you the secrets everybody else is telling you.
Speaker 1:I started coining myself with my Mr Perdue brand. I started telling people I'm your six-figure entrepreneur, Because everybody wants to hear from Mark Cuban or Jeff Bezos or all these people at an extremely high level. But before you can think about making billions, you got to get to six figures.
Speaker 1:I've done that multiple times. I haven't built $20 million businesses, but I've built strong six-figure businesses before. So if your business is making $15,000 a year and you're trying to get to that first hundred thousand dollars, I'm the guy that you need to talk to. I'm the go between between your, mark Cubans and all these other guys.
Speaker 1:I'm the guy they can help you get to that in that next level so it's finding something that you can like really tee up on and say, hey, I'm, I'm the guy in this space, like if you are talking about this subject matter, ain't nobody else around but me, got it. And you really got to sit with your brand and sit and think like number one what do I enjoy doing, what do I see people needing and where am I seeing a gap at in the marketplace? And become that guy. Like I was talking to somebody the other day they own a marketing firm as well, too out in Michigan.
Speaker 1:I was talking to somebody the other day they own a marketing firm as well, too out in Michigan and I was on a Zoom call with them and she was like I think I want to be the real person in our area, real meaning R-E-E-L making short form, vertical videos. And she's like you know, we do all this stuff. We've got video production, we've got podcasts and we've got web development. We've got all this other stuff. I want to be known as the Reels girl here in the Michigan area.
Speaker 1:And then I'm like I think that's genius, because every brand needs short-form content and it ain't going away anytime soon, so it's like, instead of you focusing on making Hollywood productions and documentaries and web development and all this other stuff and people just know that you're the go-to Reel girl. Your prices will continue to go up. You're the cleaner. At that point when, like when people are having problems, who are we going to call? Let's call the fixer to get in there, let's call the cleaner.
Speaker 1:I think that's one. And I'm still going even deeper with that, with my brand where it's figuring out how can I be known as this one guy, like when I had the bubble soccer business, people knew me as bubble guy in town.
Speaker 2:I was a bubble soccer guy.
Speaker 1:If you saw bubble soccer anywhere on national TV and you lived in Richmond, I was the first person you thought of. I had a business partner with that. He was more behind the scenes, I was more in front of it. I branded myself as a bubble soccer guy.
Speaker 2:That may be. Also. Something I need to look into is my personal branding, not just my company branding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because it also depends on where you're trying to go. So I know for me personally, I'm probably going to be involved in at least another 20, 30 businesses before my life is said and done, whether that's me acquiring businesses, starting another business, investing in them. Whatever the case is, I wanted to brand myself so that, no matter what direction I was pivoting, I had a support system so people could see. And I don't care if Sam's doing bubble soccer or this laundry thing or media or real estate or whatever it is, if he's involved in it, I want to be part of that right, okay, so like when you can, when you can brand yourself as someone like that, it allows you to make more.
Speaker 1:But everybody's not trying to do that, like everybody's not trying to have 50 businesses under their belt before they go six feet deep that's one of my goals, so if that's something where you're like, hey, I see myself being multi-faceted and being able to do x, y and z outside of this, then, yeah, I thousand percent recommend branding yourself too. I honestly think employees should be branding themselves. Like if I was an employee, I would want an employer on his Facebook or Instagram his or her Facebook Instagram tick-tock, whatever and seeing me and saying I need to have that person on my team and getting the phone call and saying, hey, whatever they're paying you, I'll double it. I need you come work for me break.
Speaker 1:Having a personal brand offers so many things. You could be looking for a romantic relationship, and if your brand's on point, it's going to be the caliber of women that you're looking for in your DMs. To me, I'm not going to say there's no downfall to having a personal brand, because there are massive downfalls. If I go out and do something dumb, there's a huge ripple effect that comes along with that. You've got to make sure you're ready for the pressure of that too, of your branding.
Speaker 2:Okay, and that makes sense. Okay, okay, man, I think you've fulfilled every question I have for you guys. Man, good stuff. I really appreciate all the time.
Speaker 1:I know that you dug in deep with all of this yeah for sure, and stuff like this is fun, man, I enjoy doing this all. Let me ask you guys, the viewers and the listeners listeners if you want to see me do more of this. I need you to comment, I need you to subscribe, I need you to share, I need you to show me that this is something you want to do, because I thoroughly enjoy doing this. Also, if you need this, I want you to comment, I want you to DM, I want you to subscribe. Let me know that you want to come on as a guest and we can do the same evaluation with you. But, tavon, like you got my number, man, you know you can always hit me up. If people want to inquire about your services, where can they go?
Speaker 2:You can go directly to my website, illuminationconsultingnet, or you can always check me out my name Facebook, tavon Harvey. Also Illumination Consulting on Facebook.
Speaker 1:Beautiful and on.
Speaker 2:Instagram. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Beautiful, beautiful Good stuff. We'll see you guys on the next episode.
Speaker 2:You guys take care.