IAM2438 – Co-founder Helps People Stay Updated With Their Peers and Colleagues Through Video Blogging
Special Throwback Episode with Vikram Rajan
Vikram Rajan is a co-founder of PhoneBlogger.net and VideoSocials.net—two marketing services tailored for attorneys, accountants, and consultants.
Vikram has been featured in Forbes and other major publications, and he shares his journey from working with his father, a management consultant, to launching his businesses focused on word-of-mouth referral marketing.
Vikram explains how he initially helped attorneys and accountants with marketing but soon realized the challenges of content creation, leading to the development of PhoneBlogger.net.
Vikram and his team created VideoSocials.net, a platform where professionals can record video blogs in a supportive, collaborative setting via Zoom.
Vikram credits his success to three core principles: convenience, comfort, and community. He believes that empowering his team through delegation and a strong company culture is key to business growth.
Website: Videosocials
LinkedIn: Vikram Rajan
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Transcription:
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Vikram Rajan Teaser 00:00
But we feel what really makes this powerful and magical is how we're able to engender that community and camaraderie.
I was saying that I don't use too often that people come to record, but they stay for the rapport.
And it's the way that everyone's able to help each other and really see one another grow. And because not only do we grow when we get feedback.
But even when we give feedback, we're reaffirming, edifying ourselves, and also, of course, helping that other person.
Intro 00:29
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview?
If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.
Gresham Harkless 00:56
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 Vikram of phoneblogger.net and videosocials.net. Vikram, it's awesome to have you on the show.
Vikram Rajan 01:06
Gresh, it's great to be here.
Gresham Harkless 01:07
No problem. Super excited to have you on. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Vikram so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing.
And Vikram is the co-founder of PhoneBlogger.net and VideoSocials.net. Both are word-of-mouth marketing services designed for attorneys, accountants, and consultants.
Vik has been published by Forbes, quoted by many, and is a frequent presenter at bar associations, CPA societies, and other professional associations.
While his staff works from across the country, Vikram works from his home office in Harlem, NYC.
Vikram, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
Vikram Rajan 01:39
Yeah, looking forward to it.
[restrict paid=”true”]
Gresham Harkless 01:40
Awesome. Let's do it. So the first question I had was to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.
Vikram Rajan 01:46 – 02:21
It's quite simple. Maybe 10, 15 years at this point. So it's been a little bit. So I first started as my father's right hand person, his apprentice, so to speak.
And my job when he left the main phone company here in New York, he decided to be a management consultant for small companies.
And so my job was essentially to introduce him to referral relationships who are mainly transactional attorneys, CPAs, who bring my father into their clients and help them with transition and process development.
Along the way, about six, seven years after doing that, I wanted to bring my own clients on.
At that point, I was from my early 20s to my late 20s, and a good number of essentially family friends, attorneys, accountants that were family friends around Long Island.
I turned to kind of hoping to do the same thing, to be brought in as a marketing consultant.
And a few of them wanted my help in the same way that I was helping my dad. And I was honored.
But I didn't really realize what I was getting myself into, and that there's a rather large cottage industry around practice management and practice marketing.
And then there are rules of the road, attorney advertising rules, their FINRA obligations, the AICPA governs, accountants.
I had to kind of learn the do's and don'ts, what they're allowed to say, can't say, must say, along with, of course, fine-tuning marketing for them.
Around word-of-mouth referral marketing, but using the internet as that was kind of fast-growing, and of course continues to be fast-growing, as you know.
And that became our focus, so created Practice Marketing Advisors, and then my book of business got really filled up.
I brought on a partner, Mark Bullock, my current partner. His plate got full. And then we started scaling to create a service called phone blogger and now video socials and go a little bit about the lessons around that. That's how it got started.
Gresham Harkless 03:37
Nice. Well, I know everybody always has the focus and goal and I was here to make sure the niche down.
And I think you spoke to it a lot as far as like understanding your market front, back, side to side, up and down.
You understand all the things you can do and cannot do. And that definitely is very important as far as marketing is knowing your audience more than.
Vikram Rajan 03:57
Yeah. Yeah. And, knowing what makes them tick. Also knowing what what they need, even sometimes before they even know they need it.
Gresham Harkless 04:04
Exactly. Exactly. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper in here, how you're working with clients, how you're serving the clients that you're working with, with your companies.
Vikram Rajan 04:12
Yeah, sure. So PhoneBlogger is kind of our main company. So the main need is that our clients, mainly attorneys, they're more lucrative business through word of mouth referrals, very often from other lawyers.
It's very similar to how like specialized doctors recommend each other, but they can't all do it all.
They can't all be experts in everything. So attorneys are very similar in that way. So they need to
stay top of mind with their peers, but also past clients and other referral relationships.
One of the simplest ways to do so is to send out an email newsletter. It doesn't get nearly as much hype as social media.
But more people took more email, more time today, more than any other social media combined.
An issue with email newsletters is the content. Who's going to actually sit down and write the articles?
And getting our clients to do it was a real pain in the neck. So we said, well, what if we brainstormed article ideas with our clients?
And we just set up a series of telephone interviews. And if they could say it in five minutes, we can type it up so that someone can read it in five minutes.
A blog article should be read in about 3-4 minutes, so that made sense and started working.
We started now having a regular weekly session with our clients, literally a 5-10 minute phone call, and everything else is taken care of.
That's really what we do at PhoneBlogger. And nowadays, when you go onto any of these social media sites, you go onto LinkedIn, let alone Facebook, every other post is video.
And we wanted to figure out a way in a very similar creative way, lack of a better word, force our clients to start doing video blogging.
They're all subject matter experts. They know what they're talking about. They're steeped in their practice and the area for decades.
So there's no reason why they should suddenly become nervous when there's a camera on them what I think to some extent we all do.
And so we wanted to create a safe environment, a place where they can practice, a place where they can feel comfortable and literally just talk to each other and present a topic and make it really easy.
So for example, we're using Zoom right now. So we bring together eight to 10 of our clients onto a Zoom video meeting, a video call.
And we each take two to three minutes to present a topic, essentially talking to around the room.
And everyone uses their laptops from their offices, they're around essentially the New York area now, but it could be around the country.
And once they record that two to three minute topic, we then stop and get some feedback from their peers right on the call.
And maybe over a period of time, even introductions like, hey, guys, I know someone who should watch that video.
That was really great. What you just talked about. I'll introduce you to that person. And that's powerful because that's referrals right on the call.
And then the next person goes and it's like a roundtable. So 45 minutes later, everyone on the video call has just recorded their video blog for the week.
They had fun. They got it done. They can click a couple of buttons right on our review page to post it on YouTube, on Facebook, LinkedIn.
They can put it on their website. If they think they can do better, they come back the following week and they record the same topic, get some more feedback and introductions.
And after one or two dress rehearsals, they got it down really well. And that's all they really need.
And after they do this about two, three times as kind of a video socials call, we have members now who are essentially good enough where they're happy with the result and they're doing weekly video blogging.
It's more like, hey, can we beat the clock? I mean, how close to two minutes can we get?
Kind of like breaking the four minute mile. We can actually do it and do it consistently and make it where they are video blogging on their social media and on their website effortlessly, again, together, fun and done.
Gresham Harkless 07:37
I don't know if you already touched on this, but I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce.
And this is what you feel kind of distinguishes you or your organization. What do you feel kind of sets you guys apart?
Vikram Rajan 07:44
Convenience, and comfortability, and community happens to be all C's, but that was not planned.
Definitely the secret sauce of what we feel that we're starting to really catch on at video socials is the community aspect.
And there is technology behind it. We have a review page which upgrades the video into HD and APIs work with LinkedIn and Facebook, YouTube.
There's technology behind it. So that's a little bit of a secret sauce. But we feel what really makes this powerful and magical is how we're able to engender that community and camaraderie.
I was saying that I don't use too often that people come to record but they stay for the rapport.
And it's the way that everyone's able to help each other and really see one another grow.
And because not only do we grow when we get feedback, but even when we give feedback, we're reaffirming, edifying ourselves.
And also, of course, helping that other person. So that nurturing of relationships is really powerful.
And, they can take that offline, become referral relationships, but right in the room to do video blogging together, fun and done, is really that central core. So it's making sure everyone's helping each other.
Gresham Harkless 08:51
I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an Apple book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.
Vikram Rajan 09:02
Tremendously having awesome people on my team. I think that's what everybody's looking for.
In terms of the answer, because my greatest hack is to make sure that it's somebody else's responsibility and they do a better job at it than I could do.
A, because they're focused, B, they do it so often. So it's like the faster I can get it off my plate, the better.
It feels almost like a test act. The faster I can hit the ball back to the other side, the better.
I know I said one saying once to my wife, and it wasn't meant to be a 50 cliche, but then she brings it up every now and then, sometimes uses it against me, that I know if I'm having to do something, something's going wrong in my company.
It's something like that, to paraphrase it, where it's like, look, if it's on my shoulders, something's wrong.
And that was really because of my partner, Mark. Before Mark, I was a solo professional, and everything was on my plate.
Not that everything got done, but it was on the plate, and something fell off, and I didn't realize it.
And Mark a was my partner, so then I stopped being solo, but for a long time, we were kind of two solos, kind of like that binary star kind of thing.
And then, as PhoneBlogger started, we had to bring on other people. We just couldn't do all the interviews and the edits.
So, we started developing this infrastructure of people, and that's really what transformed it.
A lot of them are on staff, they're employees, but didn't start out that way, contractors.
So, I think anyone, cooperate and grow, is another kind of tenant. CoGrow happens to be my father's company.
If a tenant's in there, having a team, making sure that it's not all on you. I think it's better for the clients.
It's better for you and your own lifestyle and happiness and being able to be with your family and work, work, work makes a dull boy.
And it's obviously great for other people. Look, sometimes it's said sarcastically that we're job creators.
But we ought to be job creators. And if it's not literally an employment job, we're helping someone else in their business because they're a freelancer or a contractor.
But I think the more that we're trying to take it all on ourselves, it is a disservice to the client, disservice to our family, disservice to our country and economy and other freelancers.
And other people around the world where we could be actually creating a better organization.
So I think all around is a triple win to create a team. My staff is phenomenal. I marvel at what they're able to do.
And I know, look, a lot of it is because they're able to focus on one aspect, but they're great at that aspect.
It's hard to be great at everything, can't be a jack of all trades, master of none. That's not a good way.
Unfortunately, a lot of CEOs or at least CEOs of smaller companies feel that way.
And, we need to be more of the maestro and can't see the forest from within the trees and all those cliches.
So I think it's extremely important. It gives us that headspace to really think of strategy, vision. knowing how all the pieces fit together, ought to fit together, can be improved.
And that is really our role. I mean, look, for me, as a day job, so to speak, I'm a sales professional, I'm selling phone blogs, I'm selling video socials.
So I try not to get twisted that, you know, I got to bring in clients. So that's my day job. So unfortunately, sometimes I can only really be the CEO in its true form in the evening hours.
And on weekends, or something like that, to carve that out during the day with my partner.
But the more I can put that hat on, the better off everyone is going to be.
Gresham Harkless 12:12
And that might be what I was going to ask you for next, which is a CEO nugget. And this is like a word of wisdom or piece of advice.
And I sometimes say, like, if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?
Vikram Rajan 12:25
Build that team, build that infrastructure. It's easy to say build systems, but then you end up with a bunch of manuals with no one else to do it.
So it's like, all right, you know, it's like writing a cookbook for yourself. It's like, well, that's nice, but I already knew how to make that meal.
If you didn't have anyone to teach it to. And it's actually, I think better have that other person start writing the cookbook.
They may not get everything right. It may not be a hundred percent your vision, but at least in the interim, they're writing it down.
They can kind of follow a manual and then you could kind of go in and massage that at my staff understand that that happens all the time.
We, I believe, make a small mess first, then clean it up. Part of that mess is bring someone on, someone that you can trust, has that character, has that work ethic, has a little bit of skills there.
They don't have to be an expert. I think, I forget all the cliches, but it's kind of like hire for character, not for competence or something.
It's not that you don't want someone competent, but it's higher for character that's way more important because the trust is there.
He or she will figure it out because they're going to do the right thing. And of course, sometimes you really need that, that degree or certification.
You need to know that they know what they're doing. But if all things being equal, obviously we want the person with integrity.
Everything else will work itself out when it comes to education. That's a good question.
Gresham Harkless 13:33
Nice. And I know you touched on this a little bit as well, but I want to ask you for what my favorite question is, 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 Vik, I wanted to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you?
Vikram Rajan 13:46
I would say it's like being a maestro of an orchestra. The maestro may have gone through classical training through maybe a violin or the strings or one other type or the brass instruments or what have you.
But now he or she, when they're in the maestro role, know they're an expert musician in any one of those instruments per se.
Definitely not at the level of proficiency of the current musicians he or she is conducting, but it's really helping them be the best that they can be.
And really keeping everyone in time and in tune and having that bigger vision and being able to hear and see the forest because it's hard when you're actually playing that one instrument.
So we are that maestro, and that is our role. Now, sometimes we may have to step in and play an instrument because that's just kind of the nature of real life.
But the more we can spend time out while appreciating that they are experts and we want to affirm and empower their expertise in each person's instrumentalization, I think that's the empowerment.
It goes into a lot of that, that we need to empower each of our staffers or our teammates to make sure that they are doing their best.
And allow them that freedom, that autonomy to make mistakes, get better, teach others, create kind of a quartet around them, create kind of a unit around them.
So that they feel empowered and they can get it done because no one should feel like everything's on their plate.
The CEO shouldn't suddenly be the maestro that's like, all right, I'm going on vacation for two weeks.
Everything's on your plate now. That's not cool. So there always needs to be that backup. So hopefully that helps as a metaphor. We use that a lot.
Gresham Harkless 15:21
That makes sense. That makes sense. Well, Vik, I appreciate you for taking some time out.
What I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and our listeners know. And then, of course, how they can get a hold of you.
Vikram Rajan 15:30
I would almost extend the invitation not only to you, Gresh, but to any listener if they want to ever come on to a video socials call as my guest.
Get a free video out of it and present a topic. Try it out. I only ask that they tell their friends, tell their colleagues about what we're doing.
Because I think what we're doing is kind of fun and special, but anyone, just kind of send me an email.
And it'll be fun to find the right type of video blogging club that fits into what they do and there's going to be room and we'll find time and it'll be great for them to take a spin.
I'd be honored if they wanted to join as a member, we're very low cost, but nevertheless, take a spin, get a video out of it and tell their colleagues.
Gresham Harkless 16:05
That definitely sounds good. And the best way is it for them to go to the website to take advantage?
Vikram Rajan 16:10
They can go to videosocials.net. They can shoot me an email directly, which is vik@phoneblogger.net.
Easily find me on LinkedIn, Facebook. They could probably find me, but that's really where I'm hanging out with friends and family, but we'll figure that out.
Gresham Harkless 16:23
Sounds like a plan. And we'll have all those links in the show notes as well. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.
Vikram Rajan 16:28
Thanks for the follow through, Gresham.
Outro 16:30
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by CB Nation and 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.
Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at Blue16Media.com. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.
Vikram Rajan
00:00 - 00:27
But we feel what really makes this powerful and magical is how we're able to engender that community and camaraderie. I was saying that I don't use too often that people come to record, but they stay for the rapport. And it's the way that everyone's able to help each other and really see one another grow. And because not only do we grow when we get feedback, but even when we give feedback, we're reaffirming, edifying ourselves, and also, of course, helping that other person.
Intro
00:29 - 00:55
Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.
Gresham Harkless
00:56 - 01:22
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 Vikram of phoneblogger.net and videosocials.net. Vikram, it's awesome to have you on the show. Gresh, it's great to be here. No problem. Super excited to have you on. And what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Vikram so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Vikram is the co-founder of PhoneBlogger.net and VideoSocials.net. Both are word-of-mouth marketing services designed for attorneys, accountants, and consultants.
Gresham Harkless
01:22 - 01:46
Vik has been published by Forbes, quoted by many, and is a frequent presenter at bar associations, CPA societies, and other professional associations. While his staff works from across the country, Vikram works from his home office in Harlem, NYC. Vikram, are you ready to speak to the IMCO community? Yeah, looking forward to it. Awesome. Let's do it. So the first question I had was to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start your business.
Vikram Rajan
01:46 - 02:21
It's quite simple. Maybe 10, 15 years at this point. So it's been a little bit. So I first started as my father's right hand person, his apprentice, so to speak. And my job when he left the main phone company here in New York, he decided to be a management consultant for small companies. And so my job was essentially to introduce him to referral relationships who are mainly transactional attorneys, CPAs, who bring my father into their clients and help them with transition and process development. Along the way, about six, seven years after doing that, I wanted to bring my own clients on.
Vikram Rajan
02:21 - 02:56
At that point, I was from my early 20s to my late 20s, and a good number of essentially family friends, attorneys, accountants that were family friends around Long Island, I turned to kind of hoping to do the same thing, to be brought in as a marketing consultant. And a few of them wanted my help in the same way that I was helping my dad. And I was honored. But I didn't really realize what I was getting myself into, and that there's a rather large cottage industry around practice management and practice marketing. And then there are rules of the road, attorney advertising rules, their FINRA obligations, the AICPA governs, accountants.
Vikram Rajan
02:57 - 03:35
I had to kind of learn the do's and don'ts, what they're allowed to say, can't say, must say, along with, of course, fine-tuning marketing for them. around word-of-mouth referral marketing, but using the internet as that was kind of fast-growing, and of course continues to be fast-growing, as you know. And that became our focus, so created Practice Marketing Advisors, and then my book of business got really filled up. I brought on a partner, Mark Bullock, my current partner. His plate got full. And then we started scaling to create a service called phone blogger and now video socials and go a little bit about the lessons around that.
Vikram Rajan
03:35 - 03:36
That's how it got started.
Gresham Harkless
03:37 - 03:56
Nice. Well, you know, I know everybody always has the focus and goal and I was here to make sure the niche down. And I think you spoke to it a lot as far as like understanding your market front, back, side to side, up and down. You understand all the things you can do and cannot do. And that definitely is very important as you know, as far as marketing is knowing your audience more than.
Vikram Rajan
03:57 - 04:03
Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, knowing what makes them tick. Also knowing what what they need, even sometimes before they even
Gresham Harkless
04:04 - 04:12
know they need it. Exactly. Exactly. So I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper in here, you know, how you're working with clients, how you're serving the clients that you're working with, with your companies.
Vikram Rajan
04:12 - 04:33
Yeah, sure. So PhoneBlogger is kind of our main company. So the main need is that our clients, mainly attorneys, they're more lucrative business through word of mouth referrals, very often from other lawyers. It's very similar to how like specialized doctors recommend each other, but they can't all do it all. They can't all be experts in everything. So attorneys are very similar in that way. So they
Intro
04:33 - 04:33
need to
Vikram Rajan
04:33 - 05:00
stay top of mind with their peers, but also past clients and other referral relationships. One of the simplest ways to do so is to send out an email newsletter. It doesn't get nearly as much hype as social media, but more people took more email, more time today, more than any other social media combined. An issue with email newsletters is the content. Who's going to actually sit down and write the articles? And getting our clients to do it was a real pain in the neck. So we said, well, what if we brainstormed article ideas with our clients?
Vikram Rajan
05:00 - 05:31
And we just set up a series of telephone interviews. And if they could say it in five minutes, we can type it up so that someone can read it in five minutes. A blog article should be read in about 3-4 minutes, so that made sense and started working. We started now having a regular weekly session with our clients, literally a 5-10 minute phone call, and everything else is taken care of. That's really what we do at PhoneBlogger. And nowadays, when you go onto any of these social media sites, you go onto LinkedIn, let alone Facebook, every other post is video.
Vikram Rajan
05:31 - 06:07
And we wanted to figure out a way in a very similar creative way, lack of a better word, force our clients to start doing video blogging. They're all subject matter experts. They know what they're talking about. They're steeped in their practice and the area for decades. So there's no reason why they should suddenly become nervous when there's a camera on them. what I think to some extent we all do. And so we wanted to create a safe environment, a place where they can practice, a place where they can feel comfortable and literally just talk to each other and present a topic and make it really easy.
Vikram Rajan
06:07 - 06:37
So for example, we're using Zoom right now. So we bring together eight to 10 of our clients onto a Zoom video meeting, a video call, and we each take two to three minutes to present a topic, essentially talking to around the room. And everyone uses their laptops from their offices, they're around essentially the New York area now, but it could be around the country. And once they record that two to three minute topic, we then stop and get some feedback from their peers right on the call. And maybe over a period of time, even introductions like, Hey, guys, I know someone who should watch that video.
Vikram Rajan
06:37 - 07:06
That was really great. What you just talked about. I'll introduce you to that person. And that's powerful because that's referrals right on the call. And then the next person goes and it's like a roundtable. So 45 minutes later, everyone on the video call has just recorded their video blog for the week. They had fun. They got it done. They can click a couple of buttons right on our review page to post it on YouTube, on Facebook, LinkedIn. They can put it on their website. If they think they can do better, they come back the following week and they record the same topic, get some more feedback and introductions.
Vikram Rajan
07:06 - 07:34
And after one or two dress rehearsals, they got it down really well. And that's all they really need. And after they do this about two, three times as kind of a video socials call, we have members now who are essentially good enough where they're happy with the result and they're doing weekly video blogging. It's more like, hey, can we beat the clock? I mean, how close to two minutes can we get? Kind of like breaking the four minute mile. We can actually do it and do it consistently and make it where they are video blogging on their social media and on their website.
Vikram Rajan
07:34 - 07:37
effortlessly, again, together, fun and done.
Gresham Harkless
07:37 - 07:44
I don't know if you already touched on this, but I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And this is what you feel kind of distinguishes you or your organization. What do you feel kind of sets you guys apart?
Vikram Rajan
07:44 - 08:24
Convenience, and comfortability, you know, and community happens to be all C's, but that was not planned. Definitely the secret sauce of what we feel that we're starting to really catch on at video socials is the community aspect. And there is technology behind it. We have a review page which upgrades the video into HD and, you know, APIs work with LinkedIn and Facebook, YouTube. There's technology behind it. So that's a little bit of a secret sauce. But we feel what really makes this powerful and magical is how we're able to engender that community and camaraderie. You know, I was saying that I don't use too often that people come to record but they stay for the rapport.
Vikram Rajan
08:24 - 08:51
And it's the way that everyone's able to help each other and really see one another grow. And because not only do we grow when we get feedback, but even when we give feedback, we're reaffirming, edifying ourselves, and also, of course, helping that other person. So that nurturing of relationships is really powerful. And, you know, they can take that offline, become referral relationships, but right in the room to do video blogging together, fun and done, is really that central core. So it's making sure everyone's helping
Gresham Harkless
08:51 - 09:01
each other. I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an Apple book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient. Tremendously having awesome people on my team. I
Vikram Rajan
09:02 - 09:02
think
Gresham Harkless
09:02 - 09:02
that's what
Vikram Rajan
09:02 - 09:45
everybody's looking for. In terms of the answer, because my greatest hack is to make sure that it's somebody else's responsibility and they do a better job at it than I could do, A, because they're focused, B, they do it so often. So it's like the faster I can get it off my plate, the better. It feels almost like a test act. The faster I can hit the ball back to the other side, the better. I know I said one saying once to my wife, and it wasn't meant to be a 50 cliche, but then she brings it up every now and then, sometimes uses it against me, that I know if I'm having to do something, something's going wrong in my company, It's something like that, to paraphrase it, where it's like, look, if it's on my shoulders, something's wrong.
Vikram Rajan
09:45 - 10:16
And that was really because of my partner, Mark. Before Mark, I was a solo professional, and everything was on my plate. Not that everything got done, but it was on the plate, and something fell off, and I didn't realize it. And Mark, A, was my partner, so then I stopped being solo, but for a long time, we were kind of two solos, kind of like that binary star kind of thing. And then, as PhoneBlogger started, we had to bring on other people. We just couldn't do all the interviews and the edits. So, we started developing this infrastructure of people, and that's really what transformed it.
Vikram Rajan
10:16 - 10:47
A lot of them are on staff, they're employees, but didn't start out that way, contractors. So, I think anyone, cooperate and grow, is another kind of tenant. CoGrow happens to be my father's company. If a tenant's in there, having a team, making sure that it's not all on you. I think it's better for the clients. It's better for you and your own lifestyle and happiness and being able to be with your family and work, work, work makes a dull boy. And it's obviously great for other people. You know, look, you know, sometimes it's said sarcastically that we're job creators.
Vikram Rajan
10:47 - 11:16
But we ought to be job creators. And if it's not literally an employment job, we're helping someone else in their business because they're a freelancer or a contractor. But I think the more that we're trying to take it all on ourselves, It is a disservice to the client, disservice to our family, disservice to our country and economy and other freelancers and other people around the world where we could be actually creating a better organization. So I think all around is a triple win to create a team. My staff is phenomenal. I marvel at what they're able to do.
Intro
11:16 - 11:17
And I know, look, a lot
Vikram Rajan
11:17 - 11:46
of it is because they're able to focus on one aspect, but they're great at that aspect. It's hard to be great at everything, you know, can't be a jack of all trades, master of none. That's not a good way. Unfortunately, a lot of CEOs or at least CEOs of smaller companies feel that way. And, you know, we need to be more of the maestro and can't see the forest from within the trees and all those cliches. So I think it's extremely important. It gives us that headspace to really think of strategy, vision. knowing how all the pieces fit together, ought to fit together, can be improved.
Vikram Rajan
11:46 - 12:12
And that is really our role. I mean, look, for me, as a day job, so to speak, I'm a sales professional, I'm selling phone blogs, I'm selling video socials. So I try not to get twisted that, you know, I got to bring in clients. So that's my day job. So unfortunately, sometimes I can only really be the CEO in its true form in the evening hours and on weekends, or something like that, to carve that out during the day with my partner. But the more I can put that hat on, the better off everyone is going to be.
Gresham Harkless
12:12 - 12:24
And that might be what I was going to ask you for next, which is a CEO nugget. And this is like a word of wisdom or piece of advice. And I sometimes say, like, if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self? Build that team, build that infrastructure.
Vikram Rajan
12:25 - 12:35
You know, it's easy to say build systems, but then you end up with a bunch of manuals with no one else to do it. So it's like, all right, you know, it's like writing a cookbook for yourself. It's like, well, that's nice, but I already knew how to make that meal. If
Intro
12:35 - 12:35
you
Vikram Rajan
12:35 - 13:03
didn't have anyone to teach it to. And it's actually, I think better have that other person start writing the cookbook. Uh, they may not get everything right. It may not be a hundred percent your vision, but at least in the interim, they're writing it down. They can kind of follow a manual and then you could kind of go in and massage that at my staff. understand that that happens all the time. We, I believe, make a small mess first, then clean it up. Part of that mess is bring someone on, someone that you can trust, has that character, has that work ethic, has a little bit of skills there.
Vikram Rajan
13:03 - 13:29
They don't have to be an expert. I think, you know, I forget all the cliches, but it's kind of like hire for character, not for competence or something. You know, it's not that you don't want someone competent, But it's higher for character that's way more important because the trust is there. He or she will figure it out because they're going to do the right thing. And of course, sometimes you really need that, you know, that degree or certification. You need to know that they know what they're doing. But if all things being equal, obviously we want the person with integrity.
Vikram Rajan
13:30 - 13:33
Everything else will work itself out when it comes to education. That's a good question.
Gresham Harkless
13:33 - 13:46
Nice. And I know you touched on this a little bit as well, but I want to ask you for what my favorite question is, 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 Vic, I wanted to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you? I would say
Vikram Rajan
13:46 - 14:23
it's like being a maestro of an orchestra. The maestro may have gone through classical training through maybe a violin or the strings or one other type or the brass instruments or what have you. But now he or she, when they're in the maestro role, know they're an expert musician in any one of those instruments per se, definitely not at the level of proficiency of the current musicians he or she is conducting, but it's really helping them be the best that they can be and really keeping everyone in time and in tune and having that bigger vision and being able to hear and see the forest because it's hard when you're actually playing that one instrument.
Vikram Rajan
14:23 - 15:06
So we are that maestro, and that is our role. Now, sometimes we may have to step in and play an instrument because that's just kind of the nature of real life, but the more we can spend time out while appreciating that they are experts and we want to affirm and empower their expertise in each person's instrumentalization, I think that's the empowerment. It goes into a lot of that, that we need to empower each of our staffers or our teammates to make sure that they are doing their best and allow them that freedom, that autonomy to make mistakes, get better, teach others, create kind of a quartet around them, create kind of a unit around them so that they feel empowered and they can get it done because no one should feel like everything's on their plate.
Vikram Rajan
15:06 - 15:21
The CEO shouldn't suddenly be the maestro that's like, all right, I'm going on vacation for two weeks. Everything's on your plate now. That's not cool. So there always needs to be that backup. So hopefully that helps as a metaphor. We use that a lot. That makes sense. That makes sense.
Gresham Harkless
15:21 - 15:30
Well, Vic, I appreciate you for taking some time out. What I want to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and our listeners know. And then, of course, how they can get ahold of you.
Vikram Rajan
15:30 - 15:59
I would almost extend the invitation not only to you, Grish, but to any listener if they want to ever come on to a video socials call as my guest. Get a free video out of it and present a topic. Try it out. I only ask that they tell their friends, tell their colleagues about what we're doing. because I think what we're doing is kind of fun and special, but anyone, you know, just kind of send me an email and it'll be fun to find the right type of video blogging club that fits into what they do and there's going to be room and we'll find time and it'll be great for them to take a spin.
Vikram Rajan
15:59 - 16:05
I'd be honored if they wanted to join as a member, we're very low cost, but nevertheless, take a spin, get a video out of it and
Gresham Harkless
16:05 - 16:10
tell their colleagues. That definitely sounds good. And the best way is it for them to go to the website to take advantage?
Vikram Rajan
16:10 - 16:22
They can go to videosocials.net. They can shoot me an email directly, which is Vic, V-I-K, at phoneblogger.net. Easily find me on LinkedIn, Facebook. They could probably find me, but that's really where I'm hanging out with friends and family.
Gresham Harkless
16:23 - 16:29
But, you know, we'll figure that out. Sounds like a plan. And we'll have all those links in the show notes as well. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day. Thanks for the follow through, Grisham.
Intro
16:30 - 16:59
Thank you for listening to the IMCEO podcast powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at imceo.co. IMCEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at bluesixtymedia.com. This has been the IMCEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.
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