Sam Eisenberg, Co-Founder of Design for Decks, a boutique pitch deck design firm whose decks have raised over $2 billion dollars.
He’s also the founder of Read with Love, a voice-cloning audio book service for busy education minded parents that uses AI to copy a parents voice and use it to create recordings of stories there kids can listen to when they are away.
Topics covered:
- Craigslist Sales
- Pitch Decks
- No-Code Startup
- Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
- AI Voice
Show Links
Show Transcript
paris_vega:
one of the first customers podcast today we have sam isenburg with us he’s the co founder of design for decks a boutique pitch stack design firm whose decks have raised over two billion dollars that’s billion with a b sam welcome to the show
sam_eisenberg:
you paris thank you for having me
paris_vega:
to have you here where your recording from today
sam_eisenberg:
the pest hungary
paris_vega:
okay now what are you doing over there
sam_eisenberg:
actually we moved that over here from my wife to the medical school so we’ll be here for five years it’s not quite alabama but close
paris_vega:
yeah that’s right if anybody listening i’m recording from alabama so we are definitely in different parts of the world thanks for making time i don’t know what time is it over there
sam_eisenberg:
it’s ten fifteen p m
paris_vega:
wow all right so let’s start off by learning little more about you your background um where did you grow up
sam_eisenberg:
i grew up in a small suburb of new york city called monte new york it’s about an hour
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
north of manhattan giver take spent you know my childhood there was raised there and then at eighteen years old i actually flew to israel for a gaper program a year abroad tended to like it there ended up drafting to the military and stayed in israel
paris_vega:
o
sam_eisenberg:
collected a few useless degrees and eventually moved on
paris_vega:
now is that a requirement i mean is that like culturally and family
sam_eisenberg:
yes
paris_vega:
wise that’s something
sam_eisenberg:
israel
paris_vega:
that okay
sam_eisenberg:
if you if you take it is such a citizenship in israel you are obligated to serve in the military but for myself it anyways was a source of pride i felt that if i’m in a country you know it is my way of giving back
paris_vega:
and how long do you live there
sam_eisenberg:
lived in a ot for a decade which i spent the first
paris_vega:
oh
sam_eisenberg:
a little over two years in the military
paris_vega:
what was your military job
sam_eisenberg:
i was a tank commander and then after after that i moved to
paris_vega:
by
sam_eisenberg:
armor and i was a platoon sergeant or i think they called a drill sergeant in an armor ventry mortar plute m
paris_vega:
so that’s a drilling sounds like like a high drillin couple rolls there
sam_eisenberg:
yeah the military definitely gives you a lot more than you give to it that’s for sure definitely you know
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
it’s milton not all not all video games and funning games as anyone sure can tell you but there’s a lot of there’s plenty of monday in time you’re plenty of non exciting things in the military but yeah of course you know you’re training for a reason and you’re preparing yourself for a reason unfortunately that reason happens more often than we’d like
paris_vega:
right let’s back up a little bit before hitting the military years when you’re growing up in new york did you have any like sales experience or like little kid fun raisers lemonade stands and that kind of thing
sam_eisenberg:
sales definitely not until today i’m a terrible sales person full disclosure
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
but my parents were where both entrepreneurs local businesses construction marveling grant and retail and they encouraged it as well subtly and i think we felt that we felt that in our household our parents always involved in multiple businesses and always meeting people and helping people and actually my my first i would say business experience is opposed to like you know worked in summer camps and worked in book stores and all that when i was twelve years old my my brother in law was was laid off from a very high powered position in retail and he anticipated a coming the company was structuring so he decided he was going to go independent and after he spent like thirteen years in that role he went and opened up his own store he understood it very well and unfortunately like a few months into his store he was just he was having a lot of trouble having a lot of trouble getting it off the ground so someone suggested they said hey why don’t you build a website and this was definitely long before that was the standard thing to do for any local business or any big businesses either and he went and he went and he said yea who had a platform built on ya built his store it looks pretty terrible and he said okay now i built
paris_vega:
oh
sam_eisenberg:
this store what do i do so he enlisted me his brother in law you know i was cheap labor i was very excited by it i was excited by the opportunity to work about the opportunity to grow something and my role was to bring the first customers to his brand new online store they sold party goods and paper goods and yeah that’s definitely something i mean i can elaborate on that a little more if you like what we did there i know that
paris_vega:
for sure
sam_eisenberg:
we’re
paris_vega:
what
sam_eisenberg:
just going
paris_vega:
do
sam_eisenberg:
started
paris_vega:
you do as you said you are twelve
sam_eisenberg:
yeah yeah i
paris_vega:
and
sam_eisenberg:
was twelve
paris_vega:
ere what was the platform that the store was on
sam_eisenberg:
his store was built on yahosonyho and he was actually so intrenched that even though history has grown significantly over the last over fifteen years but he still he still was on the who just just moved over to big commerce maybe a few months ago he
paris_vega:
wow
sam_eisenberg:
told as i said party goods and paper goods and when when i came on like hey what do i do i’m starting from zero i knew less than nothing nothing about online sales nothing about marketing so i started learning you know i had the power of google and unfortunately
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
you know a lot of experimentation and a lot of learning things that aren’t so good and a lot of wasting time and coming across things that may be right twelve year old shouldn’t see but ultimately i did i did figure out a strategy that worked with our with our first with our first to get our first customers and what that was is i knew crags list was an extremely popular board it was an extremely popular platform so i said hey let me post post on cyclist local boards which wasn’t exactly in line with their terms and not something i would do today but as a twelve year old with zero budget who is experimenting a lot was one of the channels i came across and i started posting and i was able to see in the back end that i was getting hits so said okay great i’m getting traffic i have no idea if it’s good traffic but i’m getting traffic and to me that was excited so i
paris_vega:
what
sam_eisenberg:
started yep
paris_vega:
so what of things were you posting on crags
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
list
sam_eisenberg:
i was posting on look on forms for different cities i don’t remember if i was using in general or for sale
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
i think i was using the
paris_vega:
i
sam_eisenberg:
first
paris_vega:
got
sam_eisenberg:
sale if i remember correctly i probably was i mean i was using multiple i don’t remember which one became my primary and i started doing that and then eventually crexlisis like hey this violates our terms and i started getting my emails no band
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
and i just was opening emails and posting and opening emails and posting and doing this for three months also trying to opthemize the store a little and about the three months mark we all got our first sale from crags list that was really
paris_vega:
three
sam_eisenberg:
cool
paris_vega:
months
sam_eisenberg:
like someone went from crags list to our website and ordered products to their home and that was like an i opening you know you opened for us
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
and i started you know doubling down on that and we started getting even more i you know improved my strategy so i was working and was getting maybe once a month at that point and then eventually we started hitting more legitimate channels and growing through that we used price comparison websites frugal eventually shop zilla and few of those a few of those platforms and we start getting customers from there expanded to bay and then you know the rest of the history as they say long i’m long not involved in that business
paris_vega:
oh
sam_eisenberg:
but i did take a lot of satisfaction
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
being able to help get those early customers
paris_vega:
did you say that it took three months to get the first customer
sam_eisenberg:
three months three months to get or for sale
paris_vega:
this so this was a side project for your uncle then
sam_eisenberg:
my
paris_vega:
or
sam_eisenberg:
brother
paris_vega:
was
sam_eisenberg:
in
paris_vega:
this
sam_eisenberg:
law no no he had
paris_vega:
he
sam_eisenberg:
his
paris_vega:
was all in
sam_eisenberg:
he had his
paris_vega:
ye
sam_eisenberg:
he had his physical store he was all in on his physical store and it just it wasn’t it wasn’t doing enough
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
so he went to the online model he
paris_vega:
gosh
sam_eisenberg:
went online edited like kind of desperation and that became my baby today that is like the bulk of his business he still maintains a store but online is his you know
paris_vega:
wow
sam_eisenberg:
his market
paris_vega:
makes more revenue online okay i think that’s really interesting it took three months of spanning the forums basically
sam_eisenberg:
it wasn’t just that i was doing so
paris_vega:
to
sam_eisenberg:
many
paris_vega:
get
sam_eisenberg:
things
paris_vega:
that
sam_eisenberg:
i was doing these things where you watch ads and they
paris_vega:
oh
sam_eisenberg:
give
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
you hed time so i’m watching useless as other people are watching my useless adds i try
paris_vega:
what
sam_eisenberg:
like tried to like a dozen different tactics which were all completely useless and cracis is pretty useless too but after three months we got to sell so there’s omething there
paris_vega:
got ya yeah at least gave you some signal that
sam_eisenberg:
m
paris_vega:
there’s potential
sam_eisenberg:
yep
paris_vega:
okay cool right in how many years were you involved with that
sam_eisenberg:
heavily involved i would say probably just the first year over time there were points where i came in and out just to help with different points like as i did learn more about commerce and marketing even today like here and there i’ll help you
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
know my brother in law were very close so we’ll have a call and hell mention a pin point of his and i’ll help try to solve it and help give suggestions and i helped him hire free lancers to you know his marketing team but one year i say intensively a few years a little less intensively than today very very infrequently
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
now and then
paris_vega:
so that seems like a really formative experience though having that direct
sam_eisenberg:
oh
paris_vega:
boots on the ground business experience at
sam_eisenberg:
oh
paris_vega:
twelve um and then okay see how that what it can take to get customers then you go to the military eventually then
sam_eisenberg:
well
paris_vega:
after that
sam_eisenberg:
actually
paris_vega:
how do
sam_eisenberg:
a
paris_vega:
you
sam_eisenberg:
step just
paris_vega:
go ahead
sam_eisenberg:
briefly a step before that i’m sorry i thought
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
that i was going to be designing websites but here’s the thing i am
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
not a designer i have no creative eye so i started off my services to different like friends and family like hey i’ll build a website for your business i did it and a few people paid me for like build these different websites and honestly they were pretty terrible but it was their first online presence so they were happy and then i think eventually i realized like that’s not my calling i mean i knew i had to be involved innovation business online but less so in building the actual websites
paris_vega:
gotta okay
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
and so
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
design for deck is your main business now um tell us a little bit of the back story on how did that get started
sam_eisenberg:
absolutely
paris_vega:
what led you to that
sam_eisenberg:
absolutely yeah so there was like a series of fortunate events i would say ultimately i for the i’ve spent the last four years or so working in online courses and selling all sorts of online programs and i learned a thing or two doing so about marketing them about building educational content about getting people involved user experience anyway so i was doing that as my main job and i always had run side hustles consulting in the like close close friend of mine was working a very high powered job but you know serious to start up he decided that he wanted to build an online education program for himself and he hired me as a consultant he hired me as a consultant i started doing that for him then along the way a few things happened and it turned into a partnership we started a growth marketing agency and one of the first people we were speaking to is my who’s now my partner jack zurb he wanted help with designing and creating online content as well we start doing that then i said jack like why don’t you you know what you’re really good at is not teaching people how a design de man you’re really good at that too but you’re also really good at designing deck so why don’t we scale that and he said well i design text but it’s a really cumbersome process it takes dozens of are my time and he started tellin me all the pain points and i said well maybe we can fix those so he said all right sam the balls in your court let’s see if you can fix those so we went through his process and we went through the pain points and it’s still not perfect i don’t want to you know two years later we’ve done it enough it’s really good but it always can be prove
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
and we were able to tack a lot of those initial pain
paris_vega:
ah
sam_eisenberg:
points that he didn’t enjoy collecting money from customers some of like the design work like the very simple i wouldn’t even call design work just collecting logos like administrative work and i was able to really we were able to together build that into process that really works and turn that into a business and it’s yeah two years later we we’re growing we’re enjoying it we’re improving our system our clients are pretty happy so yeah all and all good
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
things
paris_vega:
okay so you started out as a consultant or you were hired in a help
sam_eisenberg:
yep
paris_vega:
with the business and then you took over that aspect and then how did it go and i may have missed a part where you said how did it go from helping that business to turning it into a service you offered for others
sam_eisenberg:
that’s the service that we offer was the pitch text meaning that that was his specialty and that’s what his content
paris_vega:
right
sam_eisenberg:
was created around so we said i said to him instead of just teaching people about it let’s turn this into business because this is extreme high impact you know
paris_vega:
gosh
sam_eisenberg:
only only less less than one percent of companies successfully raised venture capital and in order to help big ideas come to the world they need to so let’s help them tell their story and that was what we did we we set out to the process we partnered you know we partnered as partners that’s what we did
paris_vega:
gotha and so he already had kind of a stable of clients
sam_eisenberg:
oh
paris_vega:
that you were teaching that
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
too and then you just turn them into customers for that you offered or
sam_eisenberg:
so in an ideal situation yes but in reality no because the people who are teaching
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
are a very different audience than the people who is paying for the service you know there’s a lot of founders a lot of talented founders founders who are boots strapping or don’t have a huge budget are not going to spend a premium on having a perfectly designed deck so it was very different audiences but because of his experience in the industry as a fan there and someone was involved was involved where he was able to get some of that least to early leads vi is his brand
paris_vega:
got all right and so he was leveraging his existing network to get those very first customers for that
sam_eisenberg:
no
paris_vega:
new service that you guys started to offer
sam_eisenberg:
he actually wasn’t even leveraging it to be honest i was in bone and we were very blessed in that regard but that only keeps you was all yeah but that only keeps you going for you know certain ment of time then it became about strategizing how do we actually bring on new customers where do we find new people that aren’t
paris_vega:
hm
sam_eisenberg:
reaching out to you and you haven’t already done work for or worked with their close friends or no
paris_vega:
right okay and so what are some of the ways that you guys have found new customers
sam_eisenberg:
so it’s still a lot of experimentation and a lot of learning but when when i approach any business i work in and i have you know another business as well i’m always starting from the top who is my audience who is my you know my ideal client and what are the channels that i’m going to reach them i’ve done this with my consulting clients too so in this case we basically have two sets of clients we have founders people who are actually growing a business and need to raise capital the second perhaps an interesting part is investors so investors who raise capital from other investors they also need a deck right they need they’re now having a fund they’re not put all that money in themselves he need to help people to buy into their fund so we
paris_vega:
right
sam_eisenberg:
those are basically the two audiences and also investors who advise their portfolio companies so at first there’s a lot of back and forth at first we said hey we have investors we already work with let’s try to deepen the relationships with them you know some of these investors and have them send us their portfolio companies but what i learned very fast is that they do do that we do have you know thankfully we do have investors who send us clients but they’re so focusedthe’re so busy with their own businesses that you can’t really rely on that as a growth channel in it of itself so the investors are extremely busy the founders are extremely busy building companies investors are extremely busy investing and going through they’re both very very busy audiences who are a lot of people are trying to get their attention so then we went to the founder
paris_vega:
sure
sam_eisenberg:
side and on the founder side there’s it’s also a little bit difficult to make sure you’re reaching the caliber or you know the founders that that can and want to buy our service so it also became about trying to find the ways that we can give them value and we can build trust with them without requiring a lot of them and one of the methods that we found that works is is we go into different founder ecosystems and we say hey we want to give a ton of value to your community and we don’t want anything exchange we’re not pitching them or not selling them on anything we’ve gone in and we’ve done these workshops which we’ve already built for our you know other audience and we now you know we’re obviously caring it to each audience but ere doing these workshops and then after these workshops just by default people love what you know what we’re teaching them people love what what we’re bringing to them and a percentage of them either end the booking calls because they do what they rather pay for the service they realize the value in it and if not you know it’s still we’re in the top of mind when someone asked them about a pitch
paris_vega:
hm
sam_eisenberg:
deck expert with top of mind so uh yeah it’s
paris_vega:
right
sam_eisenberg:
actually really neat because we get to give first and that’s it’s pretty cool because we’re giving value it usually helps us and if it doesn’t directly help us we feel good that we helped a lot of founders so that’s nice
paris_vega:
so you’re building that thought leadership or that authority in the industry as the
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
pitch deck company when anybody needs it
sam_eisenberg:
yep
paris_vega:
cool all right let’s talk a little bit about the other company that you mentioned i think we got
sam_eisenberg:
i
paris_vega:
idea of how
sam_eisenberg:
ah
paris_vega:
design for deck works
sam_eisenberg:
oh
paris_vega:
that story and how you guys are growing and you did say i design for decks through the pitch decks you’ve designed eopleofrays over two billion dollars so it’s obviously
sam_eisenberg:
yep
paris_vega:
an effective service as well awesome
sam_eisenberg:
we have a good team
paris_vega:
oh one more thing about that one more thing about that company you said that like investors with a portfolio of companies you explain how that specifically um i guess i relate to that the most maybe a book explain how that person would use your service
sam_eisenberg:
so it’s actually in two diferent two different ways so directly would be that an investor they most big institutional investors venture capitalists and even smaller ones they’re not just investing their own money and they’re vesting other people’s as well they now need to
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
go and say hey paris i’m going to be investing in web three startups or i don’t know ses art ups or whatever at whatever stage or whatever check round i want do you want to invest and earn a piece of that and now the investor has to win you over so what they have to do is they have to present the presentation in which they show obviously their success rates in which they show their you know their investing philosophy and whatever else they’re going to show who they are how they’re investing how fast they
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
want to deploy how much money so they actually need a deck as well and we’ve done that for them and the second piece is that if they have portfolio companies you know they invested in a company at an earlier stage we all seed or precede or whatever it is or seriously it doesn’t really matter and now this company needs to raise capital a second time or a third time fourth time in order
paris_vega:
got
sam_eisenberg:
to grow so they tell them they want their portfolio companies to raise more that’s essential to keep the business alive and they say hey we have a great pitch set company let’s bring you to them and so that’s
paris_vega:
makes sense
sam_eisenberg:
the actors are feral and it’s in their benefit that these companies are successful in their race because they are stake holders in those
paris_vega:
it
sam_eisenberg:
companies equity holders
paris_vega:
yeah it’s not worth risking raising less money just because you didn’t take the time to have a nice looking pitch tack
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
cool all right let’s talk about your other business said
sam_eisenberg:
okay
paris_vega:
it was called red with love um tell us about
sam_eisenberg:
ah
paris_vega:
it
sam_eisenberg:
absolutely so now that we’re segueing from the world of adventure capital and like startup being i’ve been so embedded
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
in that space i have immense respect for founders and for venture capitalist and i said that’s actually not the life i want you know father of two my
paris_vega:
uh
sam_eisenberg:
wife is a medical school
paris_vega:
uh
sam_eisenberg:
we enjoy travelling
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
well and i want to be able to you know i want to be able to build a business that allows me to enjoy all those things without the constant stress of the you know once you raise capital you you have a lot of res stability to a lot of different people and all sorts of other pressures and because i have so much respect for them i realize that’s not for me at my current stage of where i am so i keep an idea pat and i go through different ideas and and about two months ago i came on an idea a little more actually that got me excited i’ve now built it and started selling it so it’s cold red with love like you said and essentially what we’re doing is we’re taking parents are given a voice ample and we’re then turning that into an audiobook subscription which each month they get five short stories for their children read to them and it’s not their own voice it’s a clown voice it doesn’t say exactly like what are close and that way when they can’t be present at bedtime for whatever reason or even if they can be nd they’re just out of energy at least they can give their children a somewhat more personal experience an experience that has more of an educational aspect to um and you know we have other like little bells and whistles we put on to make that more immersive and educational so yeah yeah
paris_vega:
really cool so the parents do you have like you have like a set list of words that they have to read and i’m guessing it’s like an a i generated thing or a assisted process that
sam_eisenberg:
absolutely
paris_vega:
helps
sam_eisenberg:
absolutely yeh
paris_vega:
you know and so the kid can have a book read to them and it sounds like their parent are close to their parent reading to them
sam_eisenberg:
yeah you’re on the money so it’s it’s generative i which i know is a buzz word everyone’s very excited about but is supposed to chat g
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
p t it’s voice cunning so voice cunning has vance leaps and bounds in the past year which you can now got the same quality of voice with ten minutes of audio recording as in the past you needed about eight hours of audio recording so i’m leveraging
paris_vega:
wow
sam_eisenberg:
you now existing technology and i’m working at any time with three different com it’s because there’s kind of like a race you can have the highest quality of technology so i’m always testing all of them and i want to have the best possible output when i’m really excited about is that i know it’s only getting better like when i listen to the product now i say wow it’s really good but i wish it had more then you know certain little things that i can’t you know i can’t build that technology
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
but the technology is heading there which is really cool and in fact microsophs put out a demo about a month ago that they have a product that they can they claim can get the same audio quality with three seconds of voice ample which is really remarkable i don’t i don’t think it’s there just yet but it’s the anticipation is they’re going to release it pretty shortly and you know once that happens assuming you know that it’s getting that actual high quality output little leverage then it will make the process even better so yeah that’s that’s where we’re at we we give the parents a text to read they can really read any text but the closer the text is the output the better the output is so i’m giving them short stories you know all stories fables that we’ve heard to record i take ten minutes of the recording sample i get consent you know it’s very important to me that people understand what is being done with their voice and then start producing audio books and sending to them each month
paris_vega:
okay so what is something like that cost or their different plans or how do you how
sam_eisenberg:
so
paris_vega:
do you
sam_eisenberg:
it’s
paris_vega:
work
sam_eisenberg:
it’s
paris_vega:
out
sam_eisenberg:
it’s uh yeah so it’s going to it’s cost twenty five bucks a month there is like a discount that someone buys an annual subscription and we have like if someone wants to buy one month package for thirty five bucks they can try it out before they actually subscribe
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
and
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
yeah that’s that’s where it right now we’re still were testing different models i would love to offer try before you buy model the only problem is is that actually the bigger investment more than the money is that people have to sit there and consciously record ten minutes of audio which is a hurdle for a lot of very busy parents so respect that
paris_vega:
right
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
of course of course we offer like if people are happy with it we of course would refund them but i don’t i don’t anticipate that in the case
paris_vega:
so
sam_eisenberg:
oh
paris_vega:
all right you built this i guess you could call it start up or you’ve been working on the technology and tying all the tubes together in the tiber space or whatever you got to do to make it all work so once you’ve built that first version the n v p of your product how did you go about getting that first customer for this project
sam_eisenberg:
yeah it’s a really good question so i struggled with this a lot i struggle with my strategy a lot because every product has competitors this product is somewhat newer and somewhat unique and that i felt that i would have to have i would need a good way to get into a larger audience fast in order to get the validation that it really is a full isn’t it so initially i’ve just been keeping it very while building up the pie been keeping it close to heart but three people i spoke to actually want a head and boite already so that’s actually pretty cool that’s all you know initial audience and my first show is actually going to be paid paid social micro influencers for the very simple reason that they can get me into these very nice communities these very nice audiences you know momfluencers and our military military parents and the like work work i feel
paris_vega:
i
sam_eisenberg:
they’ll have a good need and i’m hoping you know the campaigns are supposed to be running already a month ago but you know how things are they sometimes
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
they take a little longer but and then the next week the first campaigns will be running and i’m getting positive signals but we need the market actually fully validated which i anticipate i hope will happen i should
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
say
paris_vega:
right and did you say you’ve gotten some paid customers for that already
sam_eisenberg:
three a ready
paris_vega:
you have
sam_eisenberg:
i have
paris_vega:
the
sam_eisenberg:
three already
paris_vega:
end how did you say those came in
sam_eisenberg:
people i was speaking to i mentioned what i’m doing they’re like
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
two of them bought it for themselves and one bought it as a gift for a friend and i have a few others who are who are ready but for various reasons i
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
told them like for them i want every step of the process to be like near perfect before i deliver them
paris_vega:
so how
sam_eisenberg:
i’ll
paris_vega:
long
sam_eisenberg:
pick
paris_vega:
has
sam_eisenberg:
that
paris_vega:
this
sam_eisenberg:
mate
paris_vega:
project been
sam_eisenberg:
sorry how long has this project been
paris_vega:
i was saying and alive like when did you start this project
sam_eisenberg:
i had inspiration for it i would say in november i build pretty fast and i and because it’s right now like when i’m building my n v p i need to get that validation like there so i leverish as much as i can existing tools i do have already on my concept board on my proritization board like what tools i’m going to invest in first once i see that it’s really selling that ill improve my efficiency or prove the output of the product so i had a intubration november i started building pretty fast i really was hoping to launch before christmas is like a last minute christmas gift but it was a little bit over leaguer on my part and then you know i’ve had a few my my kids were both home sick and a few other things that really sent me back a little bit and so november and now we’re at end of january so it’s
paris_vega:
that’s
sam_eisenberg:
three
paris_vega:
crazy
sam_eisenberg:
months to three months about yeah
paris_vega:
i mean that’s incredible to go from idea to first customer in two months that’s pretty awesome
sam_eisenberg:
yeah yeah
paris_vega:
two three months
sam_eisenberg:
i feel i feel blessed in that way and i hope that i hope that more than the people i know will also be press a lot of interest in the product
paris_vega:
right so
sam_eisenberg:
m
paris_vega:
all right you’re getting some good feed back you’ve got a few paying customers
sam_eisenberg:
oh
paris_vega:
um m that’s a really cool concept for a start up did you have to like code things or is this like a no code type start up i mean you’re just
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
you’re
sam_eisenberg:
totally
paris_vega:
doing it
sam_eisenberg:
no
paris_vega:
manually
sam_eisenberg:
code
paris_vega:
s
sam_eisenberg:
yeah totally no code so i i have as i said i have my my idea pad and my idea graveyard which i’m always jotting down ideas and inspirations like yea and i have like a system i put them through and there are some ideas that are also
paris_vega:
oh
sam_eisenberg:
vary adding to me but i just like i said they don’t they don’t fit my current lifestyle and my current availability so this one when i realized what it is and it was just it was it’s a process a very simple process but just putting all the little pieces togeter so like how to source the books how to how to collect the voice recording how to con the voice how to then apply those to audio books make them audiogram so they read along how to create quizzes so it’s all no um not all of his automated whatever is not automated i currently have my va doing in the philippines and then i actually developed a process i have like sixty four sops that i’ve documented from a z so that the second i
paris_vega:
oh
sam_eisenberg:
need to scale i can quickly hire i can quickly hire the people that they can follow this you know it’s built for that anyone can apply and quickly you know
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
put my clients put the put the press put the orders through the process
paris_vega:
sixty four
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
s p so that’s sixty four processes just for taking somebody’s audio turning it into whatever they want to turn it into oh
sam_eisenberg:
well some of them some of the yeah not all them are about order processing some of them are on the n the building side how to pause or cancel subscription and some of them are
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
on the administrative side like
paris_vega:
business
sam_eisenberg:
how to had on board had on board new employees what access to give them so like the business you know
paris_vega:
oh
sam_eisenberg:
i’m still not done but at this point yeah at this point it it’s all it’s ready ready to expand very quickly
paris_vega:
so did you get that formula or templet what’s needed in the business from working with all the startups and you’re in the past or how did
sam_eisenberg:
what
paris_vega:
you
sam_eisenberg:
do
paris_vega:
come
sam_eisenberg:
you mean
paris_vega:
to
sam_eisenberg:
by
paris_vega:
that
sam_eisenberg:
even by formula i’m sorry
paris_vega:
that the i guess those sixty four processes like how did you know how to lay all those out
sam_eisenberg:
i mean some some of them have been already archive you know they’re not they’re not found to be essential but all i’m doing is thinking what exactly needs to be done and i start building it like what needs to happen the first thing ned happened as a person needs to buy then after they buy they need to get access to a form that they can record maybe now it’s not a good time for them so i needed to go to an email as well what else what else can i add that i’ll make this more immersive how to add sound effects to the story how you know more imersive effects what else can make this more of
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
an educational experience and short quizzes how to build the quizzes you know and kind of leveaging all those tools i am using chet g p t to help me in some of the quizzes but that’s still it’s about using the right prompts and using the right formula sots it’s using like i mean like you said a lot of no code tools
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
a lot of very simple tools and at least for my m b p that’s where we’re going to be and as we grow i still intend on staying away from code but perhaps i would introduce like robotic pro its automation or other things that i’ve learned not myself but that i can hire people to do
paris_vega:
yeah when you were kind of going through ideas for starting
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
the business or even come up with some of the processes did you consult a i like you mentioned that in g p t actually help you think through any of it because i realized that’s something i’ve used it for is like hiding the road block i like well let me just chat with the a a little bit just to kind of dust out the cobwebs break through here
sam_eisenberg:
yeah so actually i came across like i took a really good question so i came across like this validator tool and that also
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
is based off you know g p t three and i stuck the idea in and i wanted to see what what it’s bit back and it gave me like some legitimate concern so i wasn’t all that helpful so i’ve tried it i used for like ripping on copy and stuff like that it has helped me a little bit if i had to assign a number out to like ten percent or fifteen percent but not significantly and now also like i’m building for my content creator you know she needs to know hat videos to make so i came up with twenty or so ideas of my own and then i i stuck in a chat and i’m having it bit me forty ideas that i’m then now ring down to another ten or fifteen so yeah it’s helping
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
it’s helping my definitely helping my process but it’s it’s not court and it’s not not yet really
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
ready to fully reline them
paris_vega:
oh interesting okay yeah not to reveal too much to give you a bunch of competition like creating a bunch of copy cat services but
sam_eisenberg:
copy
paris_vega:
i appreciate
sam_eisenberg:
cats are fine
paris_vega:
your sharing okay there you go
sam_eisenberg:
the copy cats are
paris_vega:
that’s
sam_eisenberg:
fine
paris_vega:
the right
sam_eisenberg:
i’m
paris_vega:
hand
sam_eisenberg:
okay like i’m happy to have any parents who wants to do this on their own like i will walk them through the process is that’s totally okay with me it’s just it’s not it’s not worth unless it’s done at scale it’s not worth the twenty five dollars like it’ll just take you much too long i’ll thank you much
paris_vega:
right
sam_eisenberg:
too long and there’s a lot of learning curve but i know you know copy cats can gladly sprout that’s okay i hope that there’s enough of a market to justify copy cats that will actually be really really cool
paris_vega:
yeah i mean i think there could be that’s that’s really interesting yet i guess that’s part of your process that you’re having to go through is figuring out what’s the the market your target audience and the price point that makes sense to them or that makes it worth that time savings of using some other tools or whatever do
sam_eisenberg:
hm
paris_vega:
that i guess part of that would be factor and how long would it take for somebody just to record themselves reading the story you know and then
sam_eisenberg:
yes so they have to do it
paris_vega:
so
sam_eisenberg:
yes
paris_vega:
it always
sam_eisenberg:
so they
paris_vega:
have
sam_eisenberg:
ave
paris_vega:
to
sam_eisenberg:
to
paris_vega:
be
sam_eisenberg:
record the story five stories a month each of our stories are about like seven to ten minutes so it’s like fifteen minutes a month and then putting it in a form that their kid can listen to it easily like we’re giving it as an unlisted youtube link so they can share it across devices but no one else has access then and the read
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
along that it’s it’s an audio gram sat like your kid is starting to identify letters or starting to read making sure
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
they can read it and even like you know i’ve been larning about type faces that are like easier on the eyes i’m trying you know it’s
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
not going to be a perfect product not for a very long time but i am trying that at least now when i’m delivering my early early products they should be as much as possible something that you know was invested in and that shows that we care about our customers and that our customers care about their children you know that can really help them in that
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
process yeah
paris_vega:
that military use makes a lot of sense that seems like a really strong case there people who have to be away
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
from the kids a lot and it’s like yeah the time
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
lines may not always wake up for bed time and that kind of thing so that’s really neat and so is it like generated stories as well or is it like specific text that they’ll be reading that they can choose
sam_eisenberg:
sam
paris_vega:
like the parent can choose specific books or that
sam_eisenberg:
so it’s really good question so right now the way it’s built i choose the story so it’s five stories each month i’m not using meaning if someone would want customer story that’s not a big deal to do that but it would require an additional cast
paris_vega:
hm
sam_eisenberg:
on my side and i would have to pass it on as well so right now i’m sourcing stories of my own base and certain parameters obviously length obviously relevant age appropriate i mean one of the store that i thought it was good like after i listened to him like well this is a really confusing story like i’m having a dif difficult time following it probably shouldn’t give it to you know five year old or six year old or three year old and then also i have i’m trying as much as possible because i’m using like from literary classics or at least from classic authors brothers grim charles dickens you know oliver wild and whoever else am trying to keep the stories in the original but there are some points where you know i’ll slightly edit them for sensitivity like there’s i’m trying to think which story it was that had a very large amount of violence in so i tuned i turned
paris_vega:
oh
sam_eisenberg:
it down because i don’t want to be rewriting the story but i also you know i need to i need to recognize that some people may not like that and i respect that as well
paris_vega:
okay and was that generated story you said or is that
sam_eisenberg:
no no
paris_vega:
one
sam_eisenberg:
all
paris_vega:
that you
sam_eisenberg:
stories
paris_vega:
had picked
sam_eisenberg:
all
paris_vega:
in
sam_eisenberg:
stories all stories are stories are original all stories are original
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
because because anything i used i don’t have to either have the author’s permission or have to be in the public domain in which case you have full creative license so you can do whatever you want with the stories and yeah i try to kep the original because that’s how they were written but just like disney and a lot of other authors they actually take original stories and they their own spin to it
paris_vega:
okay cool so when you say original but you’re
sam_eisenberg:
oh
paris_vega:
not saying that you guys are writing every sort you’re saying
sam_eisenberg:
no
paris_vega:
that
sam_eisenberg:
no
paris_vega:
you’re
sam_eisenberg:
no i’m
paris_vega:
finding
sam_eisenberg:
sorry
paris_vega:
origin
sam_eisenberg:
i’m finding the original as much as possible like there are a lot of
paris_vega:
got
sam_eisenberg:
stories that we’re familiar with like
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
goldilocks goldilocks isn’t
paris_vega:
right
sam_eisenberg:
originally goldy locks that’s like a later take on it i try to i like the original original like the original author but sometimes i’m using a little
paris_vega:
oh
sam_eisenberg:
bit of like a second or third version so not the first but
paris_vega:
right
sam_eisenberg:
still eight years old or ninety sorry ninety five years old
paris_vega:
ah
sam_eisenberg:
whatever s
paris_vega:
because yeah if you go way back to some of the fairy tales were extremely violent like horror stories that slowly got you know watered down into kid stories
sam_eisenberg:
a lot of them
paris_vega:
but if you go like
sam_eisenberg:
a lot
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
of them a lot of them
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
they’re pretty violet a lot of them have a lot
paris_vega:
yes
sam_eisenberg:
of sexual sexual undertones or overtones and
paris_vega:
right
sam_eisenberg:
and i was reading one other day that one of the stories from like it was about him like his honest fourth wife and murdered his first three wives and i’m like wow yeah you know
paris_vega:
gosh
sam_eisenberg:
i’m not sure i should choose this
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
one
paris_vega:
yeah right for the little kids getting tucked into bed okay
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
interesting all right so i think we’ve covered those two businesses pretty well we’ve understand how you’ve gotten the customers for him how they’re doing
sam_eisenberg:
oh
paris_vega:
your target audience for each one um let’s do a little bit of a rapid fire section and kind of audit some of your tactics if you don’t mind
sam_eisenberg:
absolutely
paris_vega:
all right let’s start with traditional marketing tactics um seems like everything you’re doing is pretty much online based but um you’re in different phases of the business so at different times it seems like you know different types of marketing makes sense but in the traditional marketing side of things re you using any direct marketing tactics face to face meetings cold calls or direct physical mail
sam_eisenberg:
no physical mail no cold calls physical meetings
paris_vega:
oh
sam_eisenberg:
i would say more virtual meetings but yeah all the time like to me partnerships are really good growth channel and i’m actually today you know it’s now eleven p m here but i i’ve had four four meetings today three of them all four of them actually to explore partnerships which at least one of them is going to end
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
up being a pretty strong growth channel for my for my growth tactic for the deck business
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
and for red with love i have
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
quite a few of those in mind as well i just haven’t i’m waiting waitng for the first validation and then after that i’ll go to different parents groups writers clubs and things like that which i’ll also be reaching out called out reach and then collaborations
paris_vega:
cool all right what about print media newspaper adds magazine ads
sam_eisenberg:
i haven’t i haven’t ever thought about print media for any of my businesses but
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
yeah i had i had i had an uncle who is a publisher for like advertising magazines and my parents businesses marvel and grant and all that they did but for me i just i don’t know it never even entered my mind
paris_vega:
yeah uh h yeah especially things are all online based it doesn’t really come up as an issue but i guess something that people have mentioned on this this podcast as i’ve talked to different people made sense is if you have like a specific nitch audience that has like a trade magazine or some kind of industry mag or something that’s popular among that audience kind of justifies it for them but
sam_eisenberg:
yes it’s
paris_vega:
i
sam_eisenberg:
a good
paris_vega:
don’t know
sam_eisenberg:
question
paris_vega:
if there’s that
sam_eisenberg:
like
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
maybe there’s media maybe there is media that there probably is that speaks to either of my target audiences i’m just i’m just not familiar because you know at this point i also most
paris_vega:
right
sam_eisenberg:
things besides books everything i reading is digital
paris_vega:
right and it seems like the cost just from what i’ve seen at least the costs in print magazines are still so high compared to reach you get and the less trackability compared to online
sam_eisenberg:
m
paris_vega:
seems like that’s going to have to go down a good bit to make it over the git channel
sam_eisenberg:
yeah it’s a
paris_vega:
oh
sam_eisenberg:
good question i don’t know
paris_vega:
all right broadcast media t v radio ads
sam_eisenberg:
neither but web an artist webanarises absolutely webinars if that counts
paris_vega:
kay all right
sam_eisenberg:
and i would
paris_vega:
um
sam_eisenberg:
say and maybe a step
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
further or even like new slaughter sponsorship which i’ve used in previous businesses which is also a pretty nice tactic you find someone who has a strong trust and brand authority with a specific audience sponsoring that news letter can be can do really really well for you so but it’s about nice
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
audiences
paris_vega:
that’s yeah yeah and that’s kind of like an extension of your email marketing in a way i guess or you’re saying you are okay you’re sponsoring nitch news letters yourself
sam_eisenberg:
yep
paris_vega:
other people are okay you’re not running your own newsletter necessarily
sam_eisenberg:
they yeah they have an audience it’s kind of like like you said pen media it’s it’s similar in a way in which opposed to targeting a magazine that a specific audience reads
paris_vega:
hm
sam_eisenberg:
you’re targeting a news letter that a specific audience reads
paris_vega:
yep and much more trackable than you can measure results a lot better all right what about like business swag you know printing your own merch and that kind of thing giving away cups or business motional materials
sam_eisenberg:
so i think it’s a good question like i’ve used that i’ve been to events and trade tours where we’ve done that and i’ve had events that i’ve posted for companies i work with we’ve done that as well but to me i would say at least what we’re doing you know other industries maybe it’s different before we’re doing i found it to be best experimental and really it’s just it’s really just one of those things that people do without usually a lot of thought but i have for instance if you’re you know sign business or if you’re there are certain businesses that can do that really well but for me it’s never you know it’s a high cost bet and i think
paris_vega:
right
sam_eisenberg:
the possible results are or the possible opisite is not all that exciting no unless it’s like i dont
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
know yo’re gonna get too you’re not gonna get that much exposure from your t shirts or your swag or whatever else you do
paris_vega:
right what about any kind of sales promotions loyalty programs physical cards it’s kind of related to the swag thing in a way but anything like that
sam_eisenberg:
so what i’m actually most excited about in that world is the cash back so as opposed to like offering discounts like you create like a loyalty club of sorts where people get cash back on every order and what i like about that is like especially i they’re using getting that they’re gonna this credit so their love in that way your system you’re rewarding them directly for their loyalty and if someone signs up gets it but doesn’t use it then they’re not a loyal customer and the i’m not by no means an expert on it but i have started looking at case studies and i’m quite pressed by what i’ve seen so once i have at least you know more than one product
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
offering and uh decently validated product then that’s that’s probably the first promotion type item i would add to my service my audioboxservice
paris_vega:
ah
sam_eisenberg:
i should say
paris_vega:
oh almost didn’t ask about the loyalty program type question because of the way you had framed
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
your other answers but okay
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
never know all right so on to the digital marketing side of things which it sounds like you’ve done a lot more of i guess we could focus more on well now you can answer however you want across both businesses but i’m assuming you have a website for each business
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
then do you use like blog like consistent content marketing putting yourself out there with on going
sam_eisenberg:
that’s
paris_vega:
content for each of those
sam_eisenberg:
so yeah so i’ve done that in the past i built a it’s a business when i was eighteen teaching teaching people with medical marana licenses how how they can home grow and it wasn’t me actually i was actually outsourcing
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
all those writers but fiver and got some really talented writers and i was you know structuring the content and there i was using so you know because i thought i understood it so
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
i was uptaining the blocks and it was working nicely now for the deck business we try anything we put out you know we try to put in extremely high quality so the level of investment that that requires i can’t can’t currently commit to
paris_vega:
right
sam_eisenberg:
but we are starting to do that with video we’re starting to use o you tube video
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
co which i do have a grass pon to drive traffic to our website and we do have resources that we’ve built as
paris_vega:
nice
sam_eisenberg:
part of our different master classes and workshops that i’m also going to be leveraging on our website to give our clients more up front to get potential clients more in front just give them resources debating we guess lead capture no lead capture but i think no to be honest
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
so yeah
paris_vega:
um
sam_eisenberg:
less
paris_vega:
and you
sam_eisenberg:
on
paris_vega:
started
sam_eisenberg:
that so
paris_vega:
to mention
sam_eisenberg:
less on i’m sorry less on the traditional co side more on content as a way to build trust with an audience
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
and give value to an audience oh oh
paris_vega:
nice so this is a good segu into social media marketing what platforms do you post organic content if any and what platforms do you feel like a valuable enough to run paid ads on facebook you tube what’s up instagramtiktok
sam_eisenberg:
yeah so so for the for the ah it’s a great question as well so for the deck business we did at one point when google adds to our master class and it didn’t do so well i think that actually
paris_vega:
m
sam_eisenberg:
part of that was the offer itself i think the offer maybe wasn’t the right offer now we we have a new service we’re offering that serves a wider audience a pitch check review service so now that we have a different entry level for we probably are going to turn on google ends the next month umfacebook so so that’s in terms of that’s the only channel i intend on using now high intent is reaching you know there’s a lot of cord volume and pretty decent casper click so that’s where we’re going to start in the audio book business i’m starting with tik tok which is a platform i’m wholly unfamiliar with to be very very honest the main main reason i’m
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
doing so is because a lot of the content that is being created a lot of the influences that i have this two v agencies and meaning not myself i’m getting really really good being being for the book and because there’s the potential for virility there’s a potential for something that’s controversial something that’s interesting something that’s unique to go viralyouca think on that but
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
to me if that does happen that would make it a lot easier for me to get my intended results then my next my next natural trannel will be facebookads at the end of the day the facebook picks als twenty years old they have the most data they’re the best for reaching audience is based based on interest and based on niches so i’m already ready to run that i just don’t want to deploy too many channels at once i want to first see how we do in the tiktok side tiktok face to the brand where i’ve i made for the brand
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
adds and micromflnzers then after that i’m going to be going to facebookeds
paris_vega:
so you produce some kind of video content then for tiktok do you re purpose that and just go ahead and publish it organically on all platforms or do you just
sam_eisenberg:
i’ll
paris_vega:
post
sam_eisenberg:
be
paris_vega:
on the platform
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
as on
sam_eisenberg:
i’ll be using it organically on facebook as well or and i also have instagram i’ve instagram to some of my influencers are doing both tik tok and instagram so instagram re purpose to facebook is really easy and if anything i see is getting a strong reception on tiktok i’ll probably leverage that of facebook or instagram as well
paris_vega:
okay and those are the only platforms nothing on snap chat telegram pentrist twitter
sam_eisenberg:
so i have a yeah twitter so for the next we use twitter my my partner has a decent following and we work on the strategy we’re working on the strategy together but that’s that’s more his baby than mine and we’ve got actual we’ve gotten up first cold client came through his twitter
paris_vega:
we go okay
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
interesting i think that makes sense yet for the deck design business because that twitter seems like it’s much more active in the start up world
sam_eisenberg:
a lot
paris_vega:
the v
sam_eisenberg:
of co
paris_vega:
c’s and what
sam_eisenberg:
is
paris_vega:
not are
sam_eisenberg:
a
paris_vega:
on
sam_eisenberg:
lot
paris_vega:
there
sam_eisenberg:
of investors exactly yet yeah that’s that
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
snap chap pints
paris_vega:
on that note
sam_eisenberg:
all
paris_vega:
what
sam_eisenberg:
these
paris_vega:
about
sam_eisenberg:
other channels
paris_vega:
yeah go ahead
sam_eisenberg:
i’m sorry go ahead go ahead i’m not yeah
paris_vega:
i was saying linked in seemed like
sam_eisenberg:
my
paris_vega:
another one that like cos and things might
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
be on after
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
mentioning twitter have you used that
sam_eisenberg:
absolutely
paris_vega:
or seen any benefit there on link
sam_eisenberg:
absolutely yea so i just i’ve been i’ve had friends pushing me to linked in for like five years now and eventually you know i gave in a few months ago and i’m getting good quite good results in terms of reach interaction so i’m doubling down on that as well trying to give a lot you know a lot more value front and i’ve already got at this point six or seven leads just from the last few months in linked in when i say leads i’m an you know where we’re a high and service so that’s that was really cool to me so yeah i’ll be doubling down over the next two or three months and i’m sure those numbers will multiply
paris_vega:
so to clarify
sam_eisenberg:
oh
paris_vega:
on linked in you’re not running ads you’re just posting more organic content it sounds like
sam_eisenberg:
barely i mean to be honest i’m barely posting i’ve had less than ten posts to date i’m interacting interacting with other people’s content especially first of all i’m enjoying i’m enjoying consuming content i’m enjoying learning from other people and the the place is where i’m found you know if i appreciate something and i commented or i had my two cents or i disagree with it it’s a very easy way for you to get noticed when you don’t yet have a big audience right my audience is small i think at this point
paris_vega:
right
sam_eisenberg:
i have maybe eight hundred followers and linked in something like that you know
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
i’m lucky that i’ve got get i g good engagement i’m happy people are appreciating the content but it’s a lot easier to go on or act someone else’s content and reach a much wider audience because they already have that audience that’s that’s mostly where it’s been coming in from
paris_vega:
interesting
sam_eisenberg:
m
paris_vega:
okay we’ve covered social media paid advertising you said it was just a google and you’re planning on tik tok and facebook
sam_eisenberg:
my
paris_vega:
depending on how erformance goes
sam_eisenberg:
now tiktok tik tok is tiktok
paris_vega:
for the
sam_eisenberg:
running running this week already
paris_vega:
okay and
sam_eisenberg:
casookstat
paris_vega:
that’s for the
sam_eisenberg:
oh
paris_vega:
edith love business
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
okay what about the deck business
sam_eisenberg:
m
paris_vega:
that’s more developed or you guys running heads across everything or how aggressive are you guys on the marketing
sam_eisenberg:
nothing nothing we touched as i said we touched google ads that we’re not running anything else we’re looking at now that we have a new entry level service where we’re doing pitch neck reviews so at that at that point once it fully iron done that service i mean pretty much there then i’ll consider running google eyes as well but that’s it tiktok we looked at and to be honestly it all comes down to the quality of the brand can we content that is reflective of the quality that we want to and we just felt that given our
paris_vega:
enough
sam_eisenberg:
our current marketing budget that answers no like we can do it but we want to do it really well because we have we have a brand top hold thing that comes out of that brand has to meet those standards for me it’s limiting
paris_vega:
wow
sam_eisenberg:
you know as a marketer i wouldn’t one say one and say let’s do it anyway because i know it will work to an extent but my partner
paris_vega:
right
sam_eisenberg:
is in the right say brand first so where we’re holdin for now
paris_vega:
it’s very mature and probably
sam_eisenberg:
it’s mature
paris_vega:
wise
sam_eisenberg:
of them very mature of that
paris_vega:
yeah i definitely have that itch like try out a new tool let’s just throw something out there an see how it works
sam_eisenberg:
oh
paris_vega:
test it but but that makes a lot of sense though so there
sam_eisenberg:
oh
paris_vega:
so most of the sales are coming in through the network or the inbound leads think
sam_eisenberg:
furls
paris_vega:
at this point for
sam_eisenberg:
plus
paris_vega:
that brand
sam_eisenberg:
the workshops
paris_vega:
and so yeah
sam_eisenberg:
exactly
paris_vega:
okay interesting all right an you said you’re not worried about as much right now
sam_eisenberg:
yeah
paris_vega:
your business is your now focused on the content side of
sam_eisenberg:
i’m
paris_vega:
things
sam_eisenberg:
not i’m not focusing on so i think it’s too i think i have enough
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
channels that i can that can satisfy what i need well well before i need to think about
paris_vega:
yeah i think that’s the that’s most of the audit there that’s most of the platforms i wanted to ask you about um really interesting to see how you guys have got it honed in and set up where you’re focused in on your target audience um m tested things you know what works as far as the pitchdack business it will
sam_eisenberg:
always
paris_vega:
be interesting
sam_eisenberg:
testing
paris_vega:
to see
sam_eisenberg:
we’re
paris_vega:
how
sam_eisenberg:
always
paris_vega:
you’re
sam_eisenberg:
testing i’s testing
paris_vega:
okay
sam_eisenberg:
i keep a board i keep a board for each business in which i have four stages so i have my concept stage that’s this s actually it’s my partner system which i’ve adopted as well any idea no matter how small like whatever it is no friction it goes in the concept stage then a couple of times a month i go and look what can i move to paradise what what has a potential for impact what’s within our current ability what’s reaching whatever objectives were trying to reach partis planet launch it then track it check check what the effect was do we double down do we scrap it do we adjusted and try it again and i put everything through these processes and both so because we have a lot of a lot of ideas there tons of ideas in both boards and just a matter of what we experiment with this month what are we trying this month what are we trying to move forward and you have a lot of losses i want to call them losses but a lot of a lot of experiments that don’t work then you have a few that work and you double down on those
paris_vega:
ah i think i need a sam isenburg book on processes process of
sam_eisenberg:
sit
paris_vega:
process in your processes
sam_eisenberg:
i work with i work with people that are much much smarter than me and i try to learn from them a little so that’s all it is but happy to share any frameworks or any if any of the listeners want
paris_vega:
yeah
sam_eisenberg:
my temples are extremely simple i’m not a designer but they work my notion whatever it is i am happy to share and it’s helpful then god bless
paris_vega:
awesome well let’s close it out with maybe give the just direct to your let’s say if your target audience is listening what would be that pitch for each of the businesses and where can they
sam_eisenberg:
but
paris_vega:
find
sam_eisenberg:
wow
paris_vega:
you guys on
sam_eisenberg:
well
paris_vega:
uh
sam_eisenberg:
first of all yeah if you’re a founder and you’re listening awesome to have you here but you should be investing in just building your business you need to be doing that full time but
paris_vega:
yah
sam_eisenberg:
design design for dex dot com you can find us you can find me linked in sam isenburg if you have questions i don’t buy reach out you need resources not trying to sell you i’ll be happy to give you them as well and read with love is red r e a d w i t h dot l v if you’re a busy parent or or or an uncle or aunt or grandparent and you think you know a child who can benefit from this or parents who can benefit from a little bit more peace of mind than please do try our product please do give me your feedback and please do help me take it from m v p to polish finish version and i’ll try to reward you for that as well you know everyone the first customer is always the hardest to get are the ones we have to take the best care of
paris_vega:
every way to end it thank you so much sam
sam_eisenberg:
thank you so much paris i really appreciate it scraping and i look forward to continuing the conversation off line take care
Leave a Reply