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Ryan Rockwell, tell me about your vision.

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I wasn't really planning to do what I do now.

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It was never really in my,

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in the cards, if you want to say it that way,

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from the beginning.

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I studied chemical engineering,

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but I did like computers quite a bit.

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I enjoyed working with computers,

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and my ex-wife told me I should get into electrical

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engineering or computer science or something like that.

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And I was like, nah, I'm gonna stick with

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chemical engineering because I know it's good.

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It's an excellent field,

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and I could work in computers at any time.

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There's really no need to have that as a,

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on my resume saying I graduated such and such school

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with this degree with BS in computer science and like that.

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I knew I didn't want, I didn't need that.

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So, but what I did was, over time was,

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as I began to gravitate from more of the engineering

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and gravitating forward into doing something

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that was more technically related to computers

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and stuff like that, doing desktop support,

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and from desktop support,

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getting into something more like a

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implementation and software management validation,

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things like that.

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I started getting more of a feel for what the,

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how buried the industry is with respect to computers.

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Now, of course, it's just like, it's everywhere.

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This was back in the mid-90s and around the turn

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of the millennium, this entry,

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and Y2K was obviously a big deal, big concern for people.

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So, I said, well, this is actually looking pretty good.

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I thought I added some possibilities.

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And so what I would do is, I slowly,

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as I was working in computers and learning about

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that system validation and implementation,

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doing some project management and things like that,

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then I landed a role working as a implementer,

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software implementer with a company called Infor.

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They're the third largest software development company

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in the world, only behind SAP and Oracle,

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but they've all, basically they got so big through

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acquisition, so they acquired a bunch of other companies

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and bought their products and be able to work

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with their products.

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And so I started working with product lifecycle management.

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I had no idea what product lifecycle management was.

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So, as I became more knowledgeable about what that was

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and learning that it was really around the life cycle

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or the design or what a product would be from,

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basically from concept when somebody actually thinks

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of something and says, you know, this would be a really

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cool product to the point where you actually ramp it up

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into an actual product that is actually being used

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in the marketplace, industry-wide

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or whatever the situation would be.

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At some point, that product will usually get to the point

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where it's not quite so viable either because there's

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an upgrade or because the market shifts from one perspective

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to another and then that product will decline

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and then it will usually fade away.

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So what most customers do or what most companies do

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that are then creating products is they're continually

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reinventing their products, obviously,

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because they want to improve them,

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they want to make them better, they want to follow

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what the market's trying to do or they're trying

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to achieve some new innovative idea that the world

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has never seen before and bring that out into the marketplace

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as a new thing.

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Obviously, we know very well that when Apple came out

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with the iPhone at the time, it wasn't the best,

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maybe the best designed product in the world, no,

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but it would never exist.

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So people look at it like, this is amazing.

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This, I have to have one and built this desire,

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this demand for this new product.

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So what I've done, of course, in the past since the day

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that I was pretty much hired on with Infor in 2008 to 2014,

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was I worked for Infor doing this implementation of software,

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learning how it was implemented, what it was supposed to do,

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learning more about the concept of PLM and stuff like that.

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And in 2014, I basically got fired, got fired from my job

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and here I was out in the street again with no job.

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And thanks to one of my customers that I had with Infor,

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they said they wanted me to work with them

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as a direct consultant.

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And that was the total hole that I needed.

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So I started my own business.

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And because I really enjoyed what I did,

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I really enjoyed the ability to work with my hands,

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to work with software, with customers.

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I really enjoyed doing that.

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And because I really liked building things with my hands,

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one of the greatest things that I do in my spare time

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is to build bikes.

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That's just something that I enjoy to do.

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I love getting my hands dirty with that.

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Obviously, computers, I can't get my hands dirty with them,

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but I can at least do something with my hands

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and be able to construct something,

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either through coding, through configuration,

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through building computers themselves.

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I have three servers sitting next to me

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that I've built myself.

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And so this whole concept of building things

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and innovation and being able to use your mind to grow

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and to make the world a better place

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through products that you've created

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is something that I thrive on, I enjoy that so much.

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So now 10 years in the future, obviously,

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now I'm in my ear now, 10 years in my business.

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And I've been doing this all this time

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and I thoroughly enjoy it.

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Thank you for sharing that, Brian.

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That was very, that was a lot of information

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that you unpacked there.

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You covered where your vision came from,

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you covered how you get started.

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But let me ask you the second part.

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What is your why?

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What gets you out of bed then, Brian?

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Yeah, so, and that's really looking now

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into the future, if you will.

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But again, just being able to work with my hands

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has always been a big thing.

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But now I look at my business, my business had that,

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it was established in 2014.

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I pretty much worked on my own for a long time.

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My business was up and down, just kind of following

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whatever customers I was able to gather.

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I had no real ability to market myself

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as a implementer, because obviously I didn't know much about,

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I'd done other businesses, but again, the ability to,

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it's one of those weird conundrums.

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If you have a job, you have to dedicate yourself

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to the job, but then you can't market yourself.

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Then if a project would end, of course,

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now I have loads of time, but I don't have any money now,

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and now I'm having to try to build my business,

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but it's usually because I don't have this consistent

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marketing strategy going on, then things are up

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and down there as well.

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And so it doesn't really gather traction

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and be able to really move forward.

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So what I do now is, with the help of First Class Business,

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is I'm using their knowledge and know-how

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of what Jax has been able to provide

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to further my business from a website,

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from social media, branding.

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Obviously, strangely enough, I just got this shirt here,

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which is where it is, with my new logo on it

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for the first time I'm wearing this.

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I just received the shirt yesterday,

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and I'm now showing my new logo that was actually

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generated through First Class Business.

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I love it, and this is something I would never really

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have been able to do myself because of the fact

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that I have a lot of business.

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I just hired a new guy, and he is now helping me

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in expanding my business to give myself,

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because work is coming in more faster now

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than what I'm able to manage.

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And I don't want to have, I really strive to be consistent

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and be aware of what the customer is looking for.

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Because I don't want the customer to think,

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oh, this guy, all he's in it for is for the money.

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He doesn't really care about me as the customer,

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and I don't want that to happen.

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I've seen that too many times in the past,

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and these companies get too big,

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all they do is it's all about the cash, the cash inflow,

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and that's all they care about.

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I'm not that way.

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I'm much more interested in making sure

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the customer is comfortable, that I'm providing

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the best solution I possibly can,

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so that when they are able to get out of that,

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they see it was money well spent.

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If I ever realized that I left a customer's,

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and they were dissatisfied with what I did,

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I would want to go back and say,

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what did I do wrong, or what can I do to improve?

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Because I want to make sure that they understand

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that it was not because I was going to their doorstep

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to try to get a quick dollar,

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that I was really trying to look for their benefits.

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Wow.

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Wow.

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This is, oh, the value you just gave

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in that two minutes of talking is tremendous,

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and I really mean it.

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So, tell me one thing.

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What stopped you in the past from,

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because now you find first class business,

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and so have I, but what stopped you in the past

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from finding someone like first class business

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or a marketing firm to increase your business,

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and what was the difference between them

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and first class business?

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That actually is a great question,

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and I don't know if I have a really good answer

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for that necessarily, but it's one of those things

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where when people start their business,

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they're typically not looking for an expert in marketing.

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They're looking to get the job done,

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and so if they have a customer,

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usually they're concentrated on working with the customer.

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If they don't have a customer, then they're usually saying,

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what do I need to do to get a customer,

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what do I need to do to get a customer,

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but they're not looking at it saying,

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sometimes I need to find an expert,

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and it's all about exposure.

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I'll use the word exposure, because I'm sure,

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the problem is that when you come in

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as a new business owner, you are bombarded from all sides

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of people saying, I can make your business better.

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I'm an SEO, I can make you thousands of dollars,

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millions of dollars, and you hear,

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you're like, nah, that's not gonna happen.

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And so you become very leery about other people

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coming in to tell you what to do about your business,

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because they don't know my business like I do,

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and you become very, you fold your arms,

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you're like, I'm not gonna do this,

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and you become very, very calloused

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and protective of your business,

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because it's fledgling, it's new,

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and you don't want your new business to go under

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because you don't have the cash to spend on marketing.

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So you're saying, well, I have to do this on my own.

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I gotta start thinking of this stuff.

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What do I need to do?

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The fact you don't have a budget,

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then it limits you to what you can and cannot do.

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So obviously, shoestring budgets and fledgling businesses,

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struggling to get off the ground as a startup business

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is very common, and you're afraid,

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because you're saying, I don't have working capital,

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so I can't just go out and spend three grand, five grand,

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20 grand on some marketing schema or marketing campaign,

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that may or may not work.

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And so you're afraid to invest that kind of money

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in some marketing schema.

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You don't know if it's gonna work or not,

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and nobody will ever tell you,

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we can guarantee that you're gonna have

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this much money come in.

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Who's gonna say that?

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It's like prospecting in a stock market.

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They're not gonna tell you you're gonna make

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an extra amount of money on your returns.

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They're not gonna say that,

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because they don't know.

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Nobody knows.

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It's a risk.

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But if you're able to talk to somebody who says,

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look, let's start out small,

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work on the things that are most important first,

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use that budget, even if it's $5,

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I don't think it'd ever be that much,

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but if you say, if you have $100

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you're gonna spend towards something,

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let's make that money work the best possible.

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And then based on the growth that you gain

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from that little investment,

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we can now expand and start to invest a little bit more,

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expand the horizons, get somebody to look at something

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a little bit deeper into something like maybe obviously,

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Facebook ads or something like that,

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or I'm gonna get on LinkedIn

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and I'm gonna start to promote my business through LinkedIn.

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Whatever.

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But as long as you're able to work with what you can do

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and then expand that to something more than what you can do

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because you're growing,

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as long as your business is growing, that's the key.

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The problem is of course,

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it really does come down to you're saying, I'm afraid.

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I'm afraid of what could happen.

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If this thing fails, I'm out of a job,

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I'm out of my business, so to speak, right?

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My business goes under and I lose.

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So this is where first class business

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has been helping me personally is because, okay,

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even though my business is established, established,

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that does not mean that I'm going to sit on my laurels

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and pretend like I've got everything figured out.

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I don't.

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So I'm willing now to say, okay,

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now I can invest some real money

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in making my business grow even more.

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Not necessarily exponentially.

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No, I don't necessarily want to be making seven,

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eight figures in six months.

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No, what I wanted to do is be able to say,

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now I'm reaching this audience that I could not reach before

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because I didn't have the knowledge of how to get to them

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or some sort of method by which they're coming to me

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and asking me about my business

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instead of me trying to go out and knock on doors.

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You are, you're absolutely correct.

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Let me add my golden nugget to that situation.

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Sure.

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I spent five bucks on Facebook advertising.

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I am dumbfounded and I am guilty of this.

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I had the golden nugget in my hand when I realized this,

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which is the craziest part.

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I started Facebook advertisement for contractors online.

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What I would do is create Facebook pages and advertise,

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sometimes for free and sometimes paid.

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The way free would work, I would just post on Marketplace.

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And every day I would get leads from people looking for it

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and I would send those leads to different contractors

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throughout the country.

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And on Facebook's end, I would spend like 40 to 20,

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20 to 40 bucks a week

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and probably get like 10 leads a week.

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Dirt cheap leads I would get.

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So people can spend five bucks a day and land a lead.

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That is very, very possible.

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And entrepreneurs are just afraid because they don't know.

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It's a fear of the unknown that gets them most.

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That costs them opportunity costs.

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Like if you were to spend the same amount of time

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working at a job, you would have made this much money.

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But because you took this time not doing any actions,

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you lost so much opportunity there.

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And that's what costs most entrepreneurs

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and they don't calculate that.

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So I totally agree that.

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And working with First Class Business Me

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has opened my mind to possibilities

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that I did not realize.

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And I haven't even started my journey.

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I mean, I have, but essentially I haven't started

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my journey getting clients for my marketing agency.

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Because I feel like I have so much to learn

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and I'm building that step by step with the right base.

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And I think, and you're on the same path as me.

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So I'm cheering for both of us there, Brian.

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I am, I really am.

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Now I appreciate that, Harry.

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And like I say, you also, you were able to

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describe that quite well.

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That really work with what you have.

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If you don't have a $20,000 budget for marketing,

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don't spend $20,000.

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But you have to know where to put your money

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to have the most bang for your buck.

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And the return on investment, the ROI that you get

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is really based on what type of business you have.

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But you need somebody to be able to analyze it.

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Because we typically don't, we just,

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you know, it's like throwing spaghetti against the wall.

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You know, you throw it on the wall, then it sticks.

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Oh, no, it didn't, okay.

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So, and we get discouraged because we assume

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that because you tried something and it didn't work,

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oh, well, marketing's a failure anyway.

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It's no good.

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And you lose the capability of saying,

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okay, wait a second, let me take a step back.

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Let me analyze what I did here

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and have experts provide some real world knowledge

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of saying, look, I'm not trying to knock

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what you're trying to do.

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But you would be better putting your money

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towards this thing because your business

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is geared towards this specific requirement.

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You know, like for my business,

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I don't typically expect to find many customers

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through Facebook or LinkedIn.

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Well, Facebook, I would say.

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LinkedIn for me would be much better

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because my business is more technical.

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So people browsing on Facebook,

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they're not gonna be looking at saying,

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PLM, I need this guy.

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No.

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But LinkedIn, which is much more of a executive level type

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of networking platform is a completely different story.

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And I would suspect that would get much better return

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on my money through LinkedIn than I would from Facebook.

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Thank you for being here today.

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I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.

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I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions

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as these episodes continue to move forward.

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This is gonna get more and more fun.

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We'll have more and more engagement as well.

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We'll invite people to participate in the show.

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And thank you for giving us your time and attention.

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Have an excellent time building out your vision

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and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.