IAM618- Co-Founder Leads New Innovation in Marketing Efforts

Jared Bauman is the Co-Founder of 201 Creative Media, a digital marketing agency that specializes in SEO, Social Media, and Marketing for small and medium businesses. Prior to 201 Creative Media, he was a Co-Founder and President of ShootDotEdit, the premium post-processing company for professional wedding photographers worldwide. Jared has a 20-year history of leading new innovations in marketing efforts, both as a consultant and business owner. A nationally known public speaker, Jared has spoken in front of tens of thousands in public and online educational events, along with releasing a book titled “ Simple Steps to Master Public Speaking “, which reached #1 on Amazon in Public Speaking during its first week.

• CEO Hack: Tackling my inbox to zero every morning
• CEO Nugget: Manage your emotions as a leader
• CEO Defined: Good and effective manager of people

Website: https://201creative.com/

Personal website: http://jaredbauman.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredbauman/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaredmichaelbauman
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaredbauman

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 Jared Bauman of 201 Creative Media Jared, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Jared Bauman 0:39

Thanks so much for having me gonna be aggress.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

It's super excited to have you on and what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Jared so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. Jared is a co-founder of Tool One Creative Media, a digital marketing agency that specializes in SEO, social media, and marketing for small and medium-sized businesses. Prior to 201 Creative he was a co-founder and president of shooting shoot dope don't edit shoot dot edit I'm sorry, the premium post-processing company for professional wedding photographers worldwide.

Jared has 20 years of experience and of history of leading new innovative and marketing efforts, both as a consultant and also as a business owner. As a nationally known public speaker, Jared has spoken in front of 10s of 1000s in public and online educational events along with releasing a book titled Simple Steps to master public speaking which reached number one on Amazon and public speaking during its very first week. Jared, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Jared Bauman 1:34

Yes, let's do it.

Gresham Harkless 1:36

Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to start kind of at the beginning and hear a little bit more about your story, your story will let you get started with your business.

Jared Bauman 1:45

Yeah, you know, I've been running my own company since I was 19. This is a 201 creative is my third company. My first company was actually a wedding photography studio here in the greater San Diego California area. But um, you know, it's funny, because I actually had somebody ask me just last night about it. And I remember, you know, this being a podcast about being a CEO, being an entrepreneur, I remember that moment, when I decided to start my first company, I was working for the federal government in a really boring desk job. It was something that I was supposed to follow along in my career path, I was 19, and I was interning and transitioning into a job.

And there are so many good things ahead of me in this career path. But I remember sitting and looking at my window, and it was two o'clock in the afternoon. I just couldn't wait to leave for the day. And it's funny because I thought to myself, and I'm sure a lot of different people, different walks of life who have thought about being an entrepreneur have thought this, you know, what, what would it look like, if I did try to go start my own business, which had always been a goal of mine. And I realized that I could probably come back a year later if I failed, actually, what I was thinking when I failed, come back a year later, and probably come right back to this exact same seat.

And it's the exact same building and keep doing what I did, but at least then I would know that I wasn't supposed to be an entrepreneur. And there was something in that 19-year-old me that drove me to really want to go out and fail just so I could not have to look out that window and wonder anymore for the rest of my life. And then it turns out actually, it was something that I was able to push through and to be successful at. So but yeah, so that's been that's been that was the start of the journey. And then here we are now.

Gresham Harkless 3:20

I appreciate that. As someone who has also been sitting in front of maybe not the same exact computer window, but sending that window in the seat wondering like what I can do what I could not do, it's so funny that you said that goes in your head because I often will say the same thing, where a lot of times we have these, I don't know if want to call them stable, but things that are maybe more institutions that are always going to be around. And sometimes we have the opportunity to kind of go for it to try and see what we can do see how much we can fly. And we can always if need be go back to those institutions because they will kind of always be there.

Jared Bauman 3:55

We forget that you know, I mean, it's not like a parachute, but we forget that you know, failing, or not succeeding or just maybe not being something you enjoy. Like, that's not the end all. That's not the ultimate, there's always still something that you can go back to, but you go back to it with a new set of knowledge. And sometimes I know, my failures are usually the biggest, the biggest learning opportunities for me, so I kind of took a chance knowing that even if I failed, I would learn a lot and be able to come right back to something like that anyway.

Gresham Harkless 4:22

Yeah, absolutely. And nothing's more I guess, regretful than having that regret and not doing something that is trying and failing. It's really not trying at all. That really is the seed of disappointment. So I know we touched on you know your business a little bit more. I wanted to if you could take us through exactly what you do for clients and how exactly that process works.

Jared Bauman 4:43

Yeah, so we're, we're a marketing agency. We do marketing for mostly small and medium-sized businesses. That's our sweet spot. You know, there are basically two types of clients we work with. It would be a local business that is servicing local clients, oftentimes with freakin workshop or, or even an online, you know, like a delivery business or something that's serving local clients and then there's more than national or even international clients. And we basically will handle one or two or three different components of their marketing for them. One of them is SEO, which would be search engine optimization, a second is social media, whether that's from an organic side of things we do a lot, for example, in organic Pinterest, implementation and management for clients, we also will do paid ads, you know, like a Facebook ad campaign for clients. And then the third would be email marketing, email, funneling signup funnels and running different conversions, landing pages through email, that sort of stuff.

So those are the three areas we will basically work with clients on. And it's great for small and medium-sized businesses, mostly because oftentimes, those are companies that either as they're growing, or in the current spot that they're at, they have a gap in a certain area of marketing. You know, certainly, for small businesses, you can think of like, sometimes smaller companies only have one person who's the jack of all trades for their marketing, or even as they expand, they kind of say, well, we have a graphic designer now but and we have somebody who specializes in content writing, but we don't really have anybody do email marketing, or social media marketing. So that's where we really slot in nicely as with companies where we can kind of be an expert for them in specific areas that they might have a blind spot in.

Gresham Harkless 6:20

Yeah, that makes so much sense. And just as you kind of said, you know, depending on the size and stage, and how many team members there are, you know, on or within that marketing department, or if you are the marketing department, which can also be the case, too, you want to be able to have it sounds like obviously the hands, but also that expertise to be able to lean on to know how not only you can, you know, complement what you might already be doing, but probably even integrate it and improve it as well, too.

Jared Bauman 6:46

Yeah, sometimes, I mean, it's more, I've had clients who will tell us that the biggest game they've gotten is actually just learning about how to process through their marketing, you know, and many will hire us for a short term period to help them with, say, their SEO, but then as they dedicated a team member to working with us on that, that will slowly be something that they can begin to take on and then they'll reposition this into other areas. And so can also be a great way, like you said, to kind of grow, but to do it with a watchful eye or with a critical eye towards excellence and towards what's working in the industry right now.

Gresham Harkless 7:16

Yeah, absolutely. And I think I hear it a lot of times, with, especially a lot of coaches, a lot of times, coaches will say, you know if you're hiring me or working with me forever, then I'm doing my job wrong. Because it is to get you to be able to be in a place where you can continue to build and grow, you kind of expand and reach and crush those goals that you kind of spoke to.

Jared Bauman 7:16

That would be the ultimate, I mean, you kind of want to work yourself out of a job, there's always the next opportunity for a company. Typically, I mean to say always, but there always is one, whether they want to pursue it or not, is sometimes dependent upon the company's goals and whatnot. But you, if you're not working yourself out of that six-month or three months, scope, if you're not achieving that and get to the point where it's not necessary anymore, that to some degree, as you said, you're not necessarily achieving all that you're you're setting out to do.

Gresham Harkless 8:03

Yeah, and then definitely not reaching, you know, the potential that you often have. So you must have kind of like that. Now, obviously, I know, it's a, I guess, a client relationship, but it definitely sounds like a partnership as well, too, because you also want to see the best of that organization, that company.

Jared Bauman 8:19

Yeah, it's funny, I just had a client call this morning, where we were talking about the partnership and how, you know, we can you know, we can check all of our tasks off and achieve the scope of the project, but it's really about becoming a partner that integrates into the broader goals of the company, right, you know, the KPIs key performance indicators that they're looking to achieve, as a result of the work we're doing. And at the end of the day, if we can, you know, kind of integrate into the company, rather than just achieve an outside set of tasks, then the company is going to be able to rely on us a little bit more, but also to be able to grow.

I mean, an example would be I think all of us at different points, whether it's in our job, or whether it's in our own company that we're running. When you hire an outside vendor, sometimes it can be harder to just work with that vendor, and it can be more work than the work that they were able to give you. Right. And so you kind of start to think that's like the great outsourcing dilemma. So it's really important to us to become a partner rather than just become another outsource vendor for them.

Gresham Harkless 9:20

Yeah, absolutely. And let me ask you this, would you consider that to be like your secret sauce, I call it, the thing that kind of sets you apart and makes you unique? And of course, it can be for you personally or your organization. But do you feel like the ability to be that partner and integrate into an organization is really what sets you guys apart?

Jared Bauman 9:37

Yeah, it's funny, because that was one of the things we talked about going into this interview is what's one thing that kind of sets you apart and makes you unique, and that's exactly what we would say is our ability to slot into a company to not just be a vendor, to not just be an outside agency to be an actual partner to become almost a team member to and we have different ways we do that. But really when we work with a company we want to become one of theirs. That's our goal, we want to, you know, to slot in.

And that's why we have different ways we do that. But at the end of the day, that is the most important thing for us. Because, again, it comes back to it's one thing to hit a KPI. But it's another thing to do it in synchronicity with the company, because, you know, in marketing, there's a lot of different metrics you could look at. But if you're not achieving, not just the metrics, but the actual helping the company actually achieve the goals, then it's not moving the company forward. We found the best way to do that is to not just be an outside vendor but to slot in and become a partner with the company.

Gresham Harkless 10:35

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit. And I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an apple book or habit that you have. But what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Jared Bauman 10:46

Oh, that's a great question. So I was trying to figure out if I should go book, or if I should go kind of hack, I'd rather go hack because if I gave you my book, The E Myth revisited, it would be a book that I'm sure it's been mentioned 100 times in your podcast already. But it's always a great book. It's it's so process-oriented. Here's a hack I've been doing for probably a decade now. And I see I make everybody on my team, at least tried to try to do it, I'm sure when you know, whether they embrace it fully is up to them or not. But I so it's a really good hack that I've really found gives me a lot of daily success. And that is, it's kind of this hack for how to tackle the inbox, you know, the inbox is just constantly getting full. And it was really backing me up and kind of mentally blocking me for a long period of time.

Every morning, right now, I go into my inbox. And I have this system that I use to tackle it and get it down to basically zero that's the goal. And I open every single email and if it's something that I can take care of, whether it be forwarded to a team member, whether it be just actually addressing it and being done with it, whether it be creating a task for a team member to take care of if I can do it in less than five minutes, I take care of that right then and there, archive the email and move on. If it's something that when I open, I look at it, it requires more than five minutes of my work, maybe it's, you know, something I need to look into for a client, maybe it's a team member who's had a stopping point, maybe it's about preparing for a meeting, whatever it is, it's going to take more than five minutes, I create myself a to-do item on my to-do list, and I archive the email and I move on.

And so by the end of that every morning, I have a zero inbox. And I either have accomplished everything there, or I've moved all those items over to a to-do list where I can come back to and tackle them in a better manner, a manner that's not trying to use the inbox as a kind of half communication device half tracking half to do list, half project management. And that's where I think it gets confusing. I've had a lot of success with it, it really helps me organize my day, and it doesn't make me feel overwhelmed. And I don't tend to lose track of a lot of the things that end up in my inbox these little tasks that either stop team members from moving forward or stop clients in their tracks, or scheduling gets slipped through the cracks, or things like that.

Gresham Harkless 12:55

I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So that could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be around digital marketing or SEO. But what's something you might tell yourself or maybe a client or your younger business self?

Jared Bauman 13:07

Oh, you know, I think, to me, one of the most important things in business in terms of being a CEO, owning a company running a business is that you tend to, you tend to deal with mostly negative stuff during the day. And I don't mean that like your company's failing or anything, I just mean that you tend to deal with your problems or challenges or issues or potential challenges or potential issues. And so it can be really easy. If you're not careful. And you're not managing your emotions, it can be really easy to get down on yourself on your company on certain team members on certain projects on certain initiatives. And it's really important to manage your emotions. I think that would be my tip.

Gresham Harkless 13:56

Yeah, absolutely. No, it makes so much sense. So I wanted to ask you now what I call 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 Jared, what does being CEO mean to you?

Jared Bauman 14:10

Oh, being a CEO at the end of the day, to me means being a good and effective manager of people. At the end of the day, no matter what you do, no matter what you sell, no matter what your company is about, you're dealing with people you're dealing with the people that work for you and you're dealing with the people that are your clients.

Gresham Harkless 14:28

Truly appreciate that. I appreciate that definition and obviously appreciate your time even more. When I wanted to do especially 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 those other things you guys are working on.

Jared Bauman 14:43

Yeah, well I would say to just keep pushing. That's something I remind myself every day I've been doing this for 20 years now. And you know you think it gets easier right? You think that and it seasons it does and it seasons it doesn't and you know no matter where we are In that entrepreneurial journey, and in the journey of being a CEO, just keep pushing, keep getting better keep pushing yourself to do better.

And, and don't give up. If it's not time to give up, don't give up. Get a hold of me. I mean, our website is 201 creative.com. That's where you can find out more about some of the details that we do. But the best places to find me are probably on LinkedIn. And I can give that to you for the show notes. But I really appreciate you having me on here. We'd be happy to answer any questions that he has more than welcome to reach out.

Gresham Harkless 15:34

Awesome, awesome, awesome. I truly appreciate that Jared. And we will definitely have those links and information in the show notes so that everybody can click through and follow up with you. But thank you again, for that reminder about keeping on pushing, because I think, you know, you only fail if you quit. And I think if you continue to understand that it's you know, it may not be the same challenge as yesterday, but it may be a new challenge. It's going to be a challenge and continue to keep pushing on, no matter what you can definitely continue to find your way and hopefully find success. So appreciate that. And that reminder, hope you have a great rest of the day.

Outro 16:03

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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