CBNationI AM CEO PODCAST

IAM766- Founder Helps Businesses Increase Their Online Visibility

Podcast Interview with Lance Bachmann

 

Lance Bachmann, President of 1SEO.com, founded the company to help local, national and international businesses with increasing their online visibility through search engine optimization and is now a Google Premier Partner and Facebook Partner ranking the top 1% of digital marketing agencies. The former Vice President of AT&T and Premise Division founder of YellowPages.com, Lance is an American entrepreneur and marketer that now heads an award-winning agency in addition to his tech & cabling company, Shock I.T. Support. Since 2009, Lance and 1SEO have cultivated their team and talents, each year expanding, and receiving numerous prestigious industry awards including three US Search Awards titles.

  • CEO Hack: Have a routine
  • CEO Nugget: Go for it – It's not about them but about you
  • CEO Defined: Being a father and taking care of your family (employees)

Websites: https://1seo.com/

Personal Website: https://DigitalLion.com
Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/Lancebachmanndigital/
Instagram – @LanceBachmann

FULL INTERVIEW


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Transcript:

Intro 0:02
Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you’ve come to the right place, Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you’re in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Lance Bachmann of 1SEO.com. Lance, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Lance Bachmann 0:39
Oh, thank you for inviting me.

Gresham Harkless 0:41
No problem super excited to have you on and before we jumped in, I wanted to read a little bit more about Lance so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Lance is President of 1SEO.com, founded the company to help local, national and international businesses with increasing their online visibility through search engine optimization and is now a Google Premier Partner and Facebook Partner ranking the top 1% of digital marketing agencies. The former Vice President of AT&T and Premise Division founder of YellowPages.com, Lance is an American entrepreneur and marketer that now heads an award-winning agency in addition to his tech & cabling company, Shock I.T. Support. Since 2009, Lance and 1SEO have cultivated their team and talents, each year expanding, and receiving numerous prestigious industry awards including three US Search Awards titles. Lance, are you ready to be to the IAMCEO community?

Lance Bachmann 1:33
I am. I'm fired up-down.

Gresham Harkless 1:35
Yeah, let's do it. So you doing so many awesome things. So what I wanted to do to kick everything off, I just want to rewind the clock a little bit. Take Take us through what I call your CEO story. We'll let you get started with all the awesome things you're working on.

Lance Bachmann 1:46
Yeah, I mean, I'm typical, like most CEOs out there, most CEOs either start right out of college, and they know they're an entrepreneur, I went to corporate America, you know, fantastic experience. And then I started yellowpages.com premise division from zero to 150 9 million at the end 18. t. It was a turning point for me, Crossroads asked I'm going out on my own and bestest is never made. And, you know, like everyone else. I mean, when you own your own ship, and you run your own ship it because you've great rewards, and you also have a lot more responsibility and a lot more headache. And I always tell everybody, what you see on social media is not real. So don't leave that you only get a little glimpse in time of what that entrepreneur truly looks like most of his crazy days. And oh, my God doesn't stop moving.

Gresham Harkless 2:36
Yeah, that makes so much sense. I'm glad you bring light to that. Because I think so many times as you say, you see the social media, screenshots and you see that snapshot of a person's life when in reality, a lot of times you don't see obviously what that day looks like, let alone the process that it took to get to where that person is

Lance Bachmann 2:52
why I created to this to this is someone said to my side, a 30 year old sighs it's son, that woman you're seeing it just took that selfie on Snapchat or Twitter, Instagram, where maybe Facebook? It's probably the 16th, the 17th snapshot she took before she posted it. Right? All right. That's what really being an entrepreneur is like. I mean, it is. Try Try, try keep going. Don't quit, don't quit. And then finally pop you made it.

Gresham Harkless 3:23
Yeah, that makes so much sense. And it's so funny because you know, I think I read something recently where it talked about the real kind of determinant for success is not that you you know, you hit a home run right? When you go up to bat, it's that you continue swinging and that grid and the ability to continue to persevere like you spoke to is really the the thing that can help you be successful.

Lance Bachmann 3:41
I would hope for all four of my sons, they never swing number one first at bat, I want to start with seven strikeouts, I want balls, I quit my kids wrestle. So I want my kids to get pinned, they are going to that sport no matter what, they're going to lose a lot. And I wanted to go through the process, you know, and, you know, learn how to deal with adversity and be able to deal with failure and keep pushing through and I call it punching through the ceiling to get success.

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Gresham Harkless 4:07
Yeah, that makes so much sense. So I know you're you're running a phenomenal digital marketing agency now. So could you take us through exactly what you're doing, and how exactly that experience is working with you and your clients.

Lance Bachmann 4:19
You know, I'm very fortunate I have some of the best clients in the country. We don't have too many international clients anymore. We used to when I first started, most of our clients are local to the US. very fortunate. And we have some of the best employees. We have some of the greatest talent in the digital marketing world here. And it works so hard. They sacrifice so much. And they're competitive. You know, they always say we don't want to play games, you want to win championships. And I love that, you know, they're not happy just making a team they want to beat the other team. So I love that attitude. I would do SEO, PPC remarketing email marketing, web development. We're a full digital agency with some of the best best talent out there. You know, we won awards we just won for us Social Media Awards, which are very hard to win. It's all data driven. So So that's why when we apply for rewards are data driven because the data don't lie, numbers don't lie, people lie about numbers. So especially in this environment, right now, a lot of people could argue about that. Right? So,

Gresham Harkless 5:13
you know, popularity or war is definitely something that's data driven. Because as you said, you know, you definitely can understand exactly what you're doing or not doing based off those numbers.

Lance Bachmann 5:20
Correct. So, you know, we're a lead generation company for service based businesses, ultimately, and a branding company help you build your brand, build your revenue. And for the e commerce side seems I think we're an e commerce, we help grow your e commerce sales, and help build your brand.

Gresham Harkless 5:34
Yeah, I absolutely love that. And I appreciate that. Because the I you say the name of the game is all about being found visibility, if you can win that game, then you can win those championships as you guys spoke about? Absolutely. Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for yourself individually, or your agency or combination of both. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Lance Bachmann 5:55
I think first what separates us apart as an agency is our talent here. We have you know, I people always want to smash millennials. There's constantly smashing them, as I'll take my millennials against anyone kick your millennials as is. And as not to be me because I had a bunch of hard work and dedicated millennials here. For the most part, there's always the outliers always say there's the door to them, right? I mean, over 100 plus employees, and these people sacrifice, they work the hours they test, they study, they make sure they're making the product better. I mean, they're willing to fail, they're willing to take chances, and I can't put a you can't put a price tag on that. So I think that's really the secret sauce. Plus, we have experienced, we've been doing this, I've been known as 25 years. I mean, that's a long time is you know, in this space, I mean, most people haven't been doing this for three, four years, the average agency size is so in between six and eight people throughout the country. I mean, it takes a lot to build to this size, and it's small. Most of our clients are small, mid sized businesses, most people who were so large, they were enterprise, only about 10 to 15% of my revenue comes from enterprise. We love that small midsize client. And we do very well with it. Um, so that's our secret sauce. We know those verticals we're in, we don't take any verticals, we can't be successful. And so I think that helps us. As far as my secret sauce. There isn't much to it. I mean, I do the same thing every day. I'm fortunate to have a beautiful wife, I have kids that motivate my great brothers and sisters. Great Mother. I just think if you are disciplined, and I get up at the same time, almost every morning, I work out every single more not that I'm the preacher of health, but I try for my own mental ability. And I work the whole entire day to it's time to take my kids to sports. I mean, I try to do the same routine every single day. We eat the same foods. For the most part, I trust the same clothes. I mean, I think you keep it pretty simple life. It's easy to navigate such choppy waters.

Gresham Harkless 7:47
Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I think like as we were talking about that that social media snapshot, I think so many times it can, you can lose the sight of the small things, so to speak, that build up into the big things and that consistency that you're talking about the hard work that you talked about with your team. And I think if we lose sight of that lose sight of those foundational elements, then we lose sight of that ability to grab that success.

Lance Bachmann 8:08
Yeah, well, I mean, I think people want instant gratification now. touche. I think the biggest problem is this is right. You have Tinder, Grindr, Uber, eats Airbnb. I mean, you name it, you can have it pretty much instantaneously. And the most important things in your life from sex to where you sleep to when you drive. I mean this you think about so people think becoming a millionaire should be instant. Also, people think building a company should be like instant coffee. And it's so true. Not so false. They it's the furthest thing. And people just an example of a young woman called me. And she was out of New York. And she's like, I got referred you I'm so happy. You called me back or any color as Nicole. And she's like, I don't know why I'm not getting any traction on my podcast and a blog in one, right? So I'm like, cheers. I've known him for two weeks. And I'm like, Oh, my God, I just, I just said, Bernie, like, you know, I said, they were nice. They said, if you're going to take two weeks, and that's all you have, and you think you should be an instant success. Like you're missing a boat, this takes years and years of sticking with grinding through it and falling, see what you do well, and making it better and keep changing. So, um, but you know, that's, that's what some people expect. I think that's actually a majority anymore. rush to be honest with you.

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Gresham Harkless 9:28
And no, you're absolutely right. And I'm glad you you know, you spoke to the 20 plus years that you have in the industry, because I think again, so many times you see this success, but you don't see the process that it takes to be there. And I think that's to the detriment of you know, the actual work that you do, but also the the person that's starting out and thinks that there's an easy button to get to where you are but not realizing that is the time the consistency, the work and the talent that you have around you that allows you to be successful.

Lance Bachmann 9:55
Absolutely. I mean, the one thing I always say anyone that successfully I've great talent around. I have an incredible leader team here, great partners. I'm very lucky, I'm the most blessed man in the world.

Gresham Harkless 10:05
Absolutely. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app or book or habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Lance Bachmann 10:16
I think you know, what makes any CEO or anyone effective effective is having a routine. I think most people, they, I call it your, if you ever read the book traction, you get caught up on shiny things. And that's the worst thing people do people see, I see it all the time, friends of mine, that we talk to me in parking lots or wherever it might be, oh, I see this guy making money in this or this guy making money in this, I don't go do that. And I'm like, that person has been doing that five years, 10 years, 15 years, you didn't see the beginning struggles. And that's where people if you focused on what you're doing, and became great at it, and had a routine with it, you're most likely to become very successful. I mean, that's all I do. I tell everyone people say, ladies, what's your secret to success? I tell you one is I'm not the smartest guy in the room. I'm not the brightest guy in the room. I don't speak the best room. But I promise you this, I'm going to outwork you that I promise you, you're going to kill me to outwork me. I hope you don't like sleep. I mean, I got back last night at 1030 from Russell and, and literally at four o'clock this morning, I was up doing my routine, same business as usual. My voice is scratchy from coaching all weekend. And most people just aren't that discipline, most people would have stopped in this morning. And it would have made excuses. And that's where the breakdown happens. And then if you don't have some success in something, they give up immediately, and they start focusing on other things.

Gresham Harkless 11:41
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you happen to a time machine, you might tell your younger business self,

Lance Bachmann 11:52
go for it. Don't be afraid to fail. I tell myself all the time. Don't be afraid to lose, go go for the win. Like just go for like so many people are so afraid of what their friends think of their family members. But you don't understand it's not about what them it's about you and they didn't have the guts or the 80 to any up and go for it. And you did. So I'll take anyone that literally no one thing I always say when I see any youth kid playing any sport, whatever it is, I saw a young kid he's probably eight, nine years old. Yes, sir. Give me example, he was down by eight points go into 13 he tried to hit the candy cradle the whole entire time, he was going for the wind the whole entire time, even though he's down. He didn't just lay it up and go, that's gonna follow him through in life. Go for the win. Don't be afraid to fail. Third, last that last piece that no, you don't worry about what people think of you. Because haters are gonna hate people hate people want you to be successful, not more successful than them.

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Gresham Harkless 12:51
Absolutely. I love that. And now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote unquote CEOs on the show. So Lance, what's this? What does being a CEO means you

Lance Bachmann 13:02
mean CEO, to me is almost the same as being a father people trust you people trust your vision. You know, some people don't when they leave, having to make the right choices having to make the hard choices. I'm having to put the company your employees before you. I mean, it's not always easy for someone that went into business, to be a businessman to make money, right. So sometimes making money and doing the right thing. Don't always align with each other. Right? So because you want to make money. So you might not you might cut a corner here you might. So I think that's the biggest balancing act. And fortunately for me, I pray people around me, I think being a CEO is making sure your clients are taking care first, your employees, you're taking care of second company third than you as a whole. I think if you have that reverse pyramid, you're going to have great success, and you're going to make money. And I always say to people, how much money do you really need some people go overboard, where they wind up burning down the house to be greedy? And that's that's that's just not a good thing?

Gresham Harkless 14:00
Yeah, absolutely. I think so many times, as you said, through those external influences, we lose sight of what success actually means to us. And making sure that we understand that and being that father figure as you talked about, to to so many different people and having that responsibility and carrying through on so many different levels so that we can, you know, be successful as well as huge.

Lance Bachmann 14:18
I get 100 Plus, people have to pay rent, pay their car payments, patient insurance is paid, make sure they're feeding their children. That's a lot of responsibility. People don't understand that. People only see me driving the car or going on a vacation on social media. They don't see the stress. I mean, make sure these males are fed and made sure once taken care of. So if you're a caring person, which I am, I think that's what really helps separate you as a small business medium sized business compared to other companies. You're going to care about your employees and I call them family. I just think you better make sure you take care of them. That's a lot of responsibility.

Gresham Harkless 14:51
Yeah, absolutely. Especially when you're really passionate about what it is that you do and you have that service based mentality, and that overflows itself in so many different ways. It definitely is hard not to be able to do that. So I appreciate you for reminding us of that appreciate your time even more, what I wanted to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you can let our readers and listeners know and of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about everything you and your awesome team are working on.

Lance Bachmann 15:16
Well, the best way to get a hold of me is www one seo.com. That same will ever austria.com you'll see all our information there. The best thing I would say to anyone watching this and you want to be a CEO or your CEO and you're struggling, just stay with it, grind through it, have fun, have strategy, leverage other people you know, you'd be surprised how many other business owners want to help other business owners like that's the one circle you have that really wants to see you be successful every business owner I know that I'm friends with I hope they surpass me. I hope they blow by me they make tons and tons because as your network keeps growing to bring you along with them. And that's that's what it's all about. Utilize your network legalized for education to have the right strategy and you're gonna grow.

Gresham Harkless 16:04
Yeah, absolutely. It's all about being successful success is a team sport, as you said so well. And I think when you are able to surround yourself with a phenomenal team and you get that opportunity to succeed in so many different ways. So truly appreciate that Lance, I appreciate your time again, we will have the links and information in the show notes and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Outro 16:22
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at IAMCEO.CO. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it’s a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. Grab CEO gear a www.CEOgear.co This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

Mercy - CBNation Team

This is a post from a CBNation team member. CBNation is a Business to Business (B2B) Brand. We are focused on increasing the success rate. We create content and information focusing on increasing the visibility of and providing resources for CEOs, entrepreneurs and business owners. CBNation consists of blogs(CEOBlogNation.com), podcasts, (CEOPodcasts.com) and videos (CBNation.tv). CBNation is proudly powered by Blue16 Media.

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