IAM349- Entrepreneur and Best-selling Author Helps Clients Build Successful Brands

He is a 2x national award-winning entrepreneur, 2x national best-selling author, keynote speaker and a digital marketer. He previously was the co-founder of changing lanes international, which helped authors, speakers and coaches build their brands online. He took the company to a 6-figure business in 10 months! He was also previously a growth hacker at VaynerMedia building Gary Vaynerchuk’s personal brand. He’s built Syncsumo, a saas solution with customers in 30+ countries and now runs a consultancy which has generated millions of dollars for clients, a social media agency and has a handful of personal clients.

• • CEO Hack: Working out twice a day
  • CEO Nugget: Belief in yourself, you can help everybody
  • CEO Defined: Responsibility holder, everything falls down on you

Website: http://www.harisreis.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haris_reis/

Full Interview

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Transcription

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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 0:30

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I've Haris Reis of BIH Media. Haris, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Haris Reis 0:41

I'm super pumped to be here. Thank you for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:44

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Haris so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And he is a 2x national award-winning entrepreneur, 2x national best-selling author, keynote speaker, and digital marketer. He previously was the co-founder of changing lanes international, which helped authors, speakers, and coaches build their brands online. He took the company to a 6-figure business in 10 months!

He was also previously a growth hacker at VaynerMedia building Gary Vaynerchuk’s personal brand. He’s built Syncsumo, a saas solution with customers in 30+ countries and now runs a consultancy that has generated millions of dollars for clients, a social media agency, and a handful of personal clients. So, Haris, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Haris Reis 1:30

Hi, I'm pumped. I've heard about the community. I am super excited to share some of the value and hopefully like getting a lot out of it.

Gresham Harkless 1:37

Yeah, I definitely think we will. And to kick everything off. I wanted to hear a little bit more about your background and what I call your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Haris Reis 1:46

Yeah, man. So it's been a crazy journey. So I'm from Bosnia, originally, I was born in Germany. My parents fled Bosnia. My whole family was born in Bosnia, a really small town called Bunion, Dukkha. They fled to Germany, my dad got offered to play soccer, and amazing at soccer. He played on the national level and offered to go down there to play which is great for him because that's his dream. He takes his family out of the war Win-Win solution.

So they go down there, and then I happen. And I tore his ACL and he went back to for like, the third time. So he said, I have family, I gotta take care of them. I went back home to Bosnia, we spend time in Croatia and then they started with getting the paperwork to come to America. Fast forward, to 2001, we come to America out of all places, Omaha, Nebraska, which is a great place. Don't get me wrong, but the cold six months out of the year.

So we came here and then I saw my parents, I always had everything I wanted. So I don't want to preface it by saying like, Oh, I never had anything. I always had everything I wanted. But my parents were working all the time for it. I rarely saw them. They were working 18-hour days, four jobs each. So I was like, Okay, I want to help them. So at 12, I got my first job. I was officiating soccer. I played soccer. My dad's really good at soccer. My cousins with FIFA RAF. I was like, okay, I can maybe go down this path. And it was a good income. I was 12, making $25 an hour, which doesn't sound bad at all back in 2001.

Gresham Harkless 3:16

Yeah, it sounds cool.

Haris Reis 3:17

So, the second part of the story is I only play one game or two games a day. So I say, I made $25 a day people don't go Oh, that's great.

Gresham Harkless 3:25

But you said an hour because the game is an hour?

Haris Reis 3:29

Yes. So yeah, I did that. And then I realized, I'm only paid when the soccer teams are playing. And when they need artificial, I can't control that. How do I make money if I'm sleeping, I can make money if I'm awake. It has no other factor on anything besides, that wants to be online. So I built an online shopping mall. And then that failed. And then, hundreds of other businesses and then I had changing lanes, which was like my first success. But that was kind of the path. Well, it's just a bunch of companies trying a bunch of different things.

Gresham Harkless 4:06

Yeah, it seems like a lot of times when you peel back the onion of success and entrepreneurship, a lot of it is trying a lot of things and testing things out seeing what works and what doesn't work. And I appreciate you for doing that and continuing to try those things out. Because I think a lot of times the perception is that, you wake up, roll over or create something and then you make a million bazillion dollars. And that's often not the case.

Haris Reis 4:29

Yeah, man. It's weird. I thought I bought a domain and then I went to bed and it did not wake up being Mark Zuckerberg.

Gresham Harkless 4:37

What? What is going on with the world?

Haris Reis 4:40

I emailed Facebook support saying guys, what's the hack?

Gresham Harkless 4:43

Exactly. I watched the social network of very big. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about what you're doing now. Can you tell us a little bit more about what you're doing to kind of support the client you're working with?

Haris Reis 4:53

Yeah, so now I have a consultancy where we help high-net-worth individuals solve very complex problems. Sometimes solutions we use as spin-off companies. Because if we solve the problem, one company, we can usually solve it for more. There's a local trucking company here, I helped them generate dozens and dozens of leads. And now, 95% of their business all comes from social media, which is crazy, because they've been trying to do it, but they couldn't. And that's a very profitable industry I've generated in under four months, 16 and a half million for them. So I did that.

And I do a handful of other projects. I do social media management and marketing. I help people build their own personal brands. This year, in Gresham, I decided to build my own personal brand and started doing it for everyone else, always, which is hard for us entrepreneurs, especially as CEOs, where we always want to help others and we do a really good job and we forget about ourselves.

You come to me like Hearthstone to build my brand. Okay, great question here, the 100 steps, we need to do it. And we just know how to do it. It's like, okay, we need a picture with this. We need a video doing this. We need this. We need that. Easy. And then you flip the coin. You're like, okay, I want to build my own brand. Okay, well know what to do. But it's a little tricky.

Gresham Harkless 6:14

Yeah. That makes perfect sense. Like calves Kids, so to speak.

Haris Reis 6:18

Yeah, it's tough. Yeah, I'm doing that I'm building my own brand, and I'm documenting my journey of going from 500 to 50,000 followers on Instagram. One thing in business, especially our CEOs, we just want to be in the dirt kind of going clouds, and dirt will carry the analogy, which won't be going, where I've realized that's not good. And I invest money into mentors.

So I know Facebook very well, and I know social media very well. But there are others who know it way better than I do. So I want to build my own brand. I know the steps. But I still hired a mentor who crushes it on Instagram specifically, to help me understand that channel better. That's what I'm doing. And then handleable their personal just projects.

Gresham Harkless 7:05

Nice. So I definitely appreciate that. Because a lot of times, you forget that in order to be successful, as we kind of touched on a little bit to it. Also, you have the opportunity to tap into the expertise of so many people, and to do that by having mentors, you can do that by reading books, podcasts, and so many different ways. And this is an awesome time, just because you can tap into so much as far as how to be successful at whatever big goal you have, or even those small niche goals that you might have. Because there's somebody that probably is an expert at it that has created something,

Haris Reis 7:33

Right. And one thing that we never can lose, even if we become successful in one field because I've become very successful in the Facebook and paid media side becoming complacent, saying, okay, cool. I have that figured out. It's like I want, Well, that's a very bad mentality where I wake up every day saying, Okay, what's the next trick? And Facebook? How can I figure this out? Okay, 95% of clients, and customers are all coming from Facebook. How do I make that less generate more on other platforms? Well, I've got to learn more. Okay, who can teach me these other platforms instead of me trying to learn on my own?

Yeah, we can become complacent as some entrepreneurs, but not everybody. But sometimes we become robotic where we just know where the industry wants to stay in that. But you gotta be hungry for what's the next thing, especially in social media. Because, I mean, we all saw it a couple of months ago, when Facebook and Instagram just shut down for a day. Everyone went free.

Gresham Harkless 8:31

Yeah, it was anarchy. Definitely, just because when you don't have that at your disposal, but you're absolutely right. So would you consider that to be like your secret sauce, your sheer desire to continue to learn more and to push the envelope? Do you think that's what sets you apart and makes you unique,

Haris Reis 8:48

Obsessiveness to learn because the more I learn, the more I learn, like don't know much. And then the other part is just to have a way and I'm not the only one. I know that you have viewers too, that is probably the same way but we're very naive in a bad way. I also do MMA and Jitsu and Muay Thai. And I just think I can beat everybody like, and then I'll get beat. And then I'll go Okay, let's go again. You can put some fun in front of me and I can think if I want to get to Taylor Swift on Instagram, I just think I can figure out how versus a lot of people need to work with X, Y, Z, I have 50 I don't have a big business.

How do I work but I can't do that? I'm just from Omaha or a small town, in Virginia or Florida. I can't do that. Versus like, yes, you can use that to figure out your right angle. Because there always has to be something in it for them. So you just have to figure out your own angle. So being naive is big in business.

Gresham Harkless 10:06

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Because there's always a reason why you cannot do it, quote unquote. But to be able to have that different mindset shift, and that change to understanding why you can do it and how you can make it happen is something that a lot of people don't realize they can tap into. So appreciate you for sharing that with us appreciate you definitely for obviously doing that, as well. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I wanted to ask you about what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or a habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Haris Reis 10:36

Working out. And that might be a little cliche, but it does help actually do twice a day for someone to want to wake up in the last night during the day. You know, Jujitsu? I don't I mean, that's his workout. But it's kind of fun.

Gresham Harkless 10:51

Yeah, my big thing is always to make sure your oxygen mask is on first before you try to help out others. And I think that is right in line with it. Because a lot of times, you think that by taking 30 minutes, or two hours to work out, you're missing out on 30 minutes to an hour. But in reality, you might be giving yourself more energy than you can add to three hours. So whatever you're doing that you couldn't do otherwise, right?

Haris Reis 11:12

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 11:13

And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Haris Reis 11:22

Yeah, great question. What would I tell myself it was actually a mental hack myself, and I feel that a lot of others can relate to this, where before I started building my own personal brand, I said, Why would people listen to me? And granted by this time, I was 21.5 now and I just decided to do it. But by the time I turned 25 have already built a six-figure business which most haven't. We've already invested probably over $250,000 If I had to estimate it into my own personal growth.

I worked with Gary Vee, you know, have a resume that most don't. I have amazing testimonials from people that are on Shark Tank, founders of the Dollar Beard Club or Dollar Shave Club, who have all of these assets. And then I could never make myself go, build my own brand. I said he's that bad mentality that you should never use. And then the nugget the wisdom thing was, why not me? if Forbes Grant Cardone called me years ago, a good example. And are you familiar with this power-player show?

Gresham Harkless 12:25

I think so. I think I've seen it all on Instagram or YouTube shopping.

Haris Reis 12:29

One of those shows where he brings on guests and interviews. He obviously has a huge audience. years ago, he invited me to be honest, I was like, the audience, I don't know how much value I can bring. I just didn't do it. Horrible. Today, if Grant Cardone or Forbes or whoever calls me, they call me wholesale, they're gonna call, the mentality is like, who else are they gonna call? Like, telling yourself, you're actually like this. I'm on many podcasts and a lot of shows getting a lot of calls. And people are posting on LinkedIn saying, there's one thing that hearts, you know, I was on a call with hearts, there's one thing really stuck out with me.

And it's the way I'm going to think for the next, coming years, and I was like, Oh, my gosh, and I'm helping a lot of people just by doing this. So that mentality shift was great. Telling my younger self, just as cliche as it sounds, but just believe in yourself, you can help everybody.

Gresham Harkless 13:28

Absolutely. And that mindset shift and just say, why not me? Who are you not? Who do you not think that you're great? Who are you not to be great, who are you not to be the person that can give so much value is something that's huge that we all can tap into. And I think something that there's always that imposter syndrome that I think a lot of founders and entrepreneurs deal with, but to be able to tap into that to realize that you're greater than sometimes you may give yourself credit for is something that can you know, level up everything.

Haris Reis 13:55

Yeah, the Greats knew they were great before anyone else did

Gresham Harkless 13:59

Exactly what Muhammad Ali says, I told myself, I was great before anybody else said it was so great reminder. And now I wanted 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 Haris, what's being a CEO mean to you?

Haris Reis 14:16

The highest of highs and lowest lows, because the CEO, you're at the top right, quote, unquote, the top. But the top means that everyone's problems come to you. The top means you're responsible for everyone else's paychecks. There's a lot of stress because they rely on that. So you have to bring in business. And the biggest thing as a CEO is everything comes down to you. There's no one to blame, if you're number three, or four, or five down the chain, you can always blame the person above you, right? Oh, it didn't work because some guy named Nate didn't do his job. Okay, well, if you're the CEO, if it didn't work, ultimately it's your fault. Regardless if the snake guy messes up who hired Nate, what you did do with his name? Well, you did. who's managing it? Well, you are, everything comes down to you.

Gresham Harkless 15:08

Absolutely. Yeah, having that perspective, to understand that the buck stops with you for good or bad. It's something that's very important. Because a lot of times it's easy to not put yourself in that position just because you want to blame XYZ, and you want to be not responsible. But in reality, you are, if you are especially in that quote-unquote, CEO role that you have, and you make the decisions, you manage the people for good or bad, so you have to understand that. Haris, I truly appreciate your time, what I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you want to let our readers and listeners know. And then of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things you're doing.

Haris Reis 15:48

Yeah, just think whatever you think is possible. Just think 100 times bigger. And that's kind of cliche if it's 10x everything. For people that want to follow up with you what's the best way is Instagram, the handle is haris_reis

Gresham Harkless 16:06

Nice. Well, we definitely appreciate your time. And we'll definitely follow you as well too and add a little bit to that number that you're at now and we'll have those links in the show notes as well so that anybody can follow up with you but definitely appreciate you, appreciate your time and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Haris Reis 16:20

Thanks, you too. Thanks for having me on.

Outro 16:23

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 at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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