IAM1250 – CEO Helps His Clients with their Media and Marketing Needs

Sir Sanju Ganglani, is a quintessential entrepreneur and an expert in marketing. He is also the founder of the award-winning Gang and Media, a global marketing agency founded over 10 years ago. Sanju knows very well how much dedication and effort it takes to turn a business that is starting into a successful one. He has worked with companies such as NCR, Microsoft & Dell and understands the struggle of leaving a corporate job to pursue a passion – he also has experience with all types of clients from startups to Fortune 500 corporations across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

• CEO Story: From a family of entrepreneurs, he started young. After college, he went to the corporate world and left it to do his thing, which is the media. Successful enough in global marketing, his dedication has paid off.
• Business Service: Website, SEO, social media, marketing, etc. bringing it into one agency.
• Secret Sauce: Take care of yourself. Have a good rest. You can not do everything on your own. Buy the freedom, enjoy the freedom.
• CEO Hack: Taking time to talk and listen to people. Where you can get more info that can help you and your company as well.
• CEO Nugget: Patience. Having the ability of patience to come to fruition on your goals.
• CEO Defined: Being responsible to yourself, to your company, and your community.

Website: askusforanything.com

Facebook: Tanjung

Instagram: media

www.AU4A.net

www.AndTalks.com

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Transcription

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00:10 – Intro

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 the valuable info you're searching for. This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:43 -Gresham Harkless

hello, Hello, Hello. This is Gretch from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Sir Sanju Gangalani of Gang and Lani Media. Sir Sanju, great to have you on the show.

00:55 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

Same here. It's a pleasure to be here.

00:56 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, super excited to have you on. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Sanju so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Sir Sanju is a quintessential entrepreneur and an expert in marketing. He is the founder of the award-winning gang and Lonnie Media, a global marketing agency founded over ten years ago. Sanju knows very well how much dedication and effort it takes to turn a business that is starting into a successful one.

He has worked with companies such as NCR, Microsoft, and Dell and understands the struggle of leaving a corporate job to pursue a passion. He also has experience with all types of clients, from startups to Fortune 500 companies across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Sanju, super excited to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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01:39 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

I am. This is awesome.

01:40 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, let's make it happen then. So to kind of kick everything off, I know I kind of alluded to it when I read your bio, but I wanted to rewind the clock, and hear a little bit more about how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

01:50 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

Sure. So I started my first company when I was around 14. It was kind of fun because I used to take my father and my brother with me everywhere to kind of knock on doors and meet people and kind of build credibility, right? So we kind of did that for a few years, you know, moved that off and then kind of went back and got educated and got the corporate jobs and did all that. But the itch in me was always to go back and do my own thing.

So, you know, a few years into the longest job I ever held, I got up at a conference in Orlando and said, I'm done. I got to go back to doing me. Flew back to Toronto, handed everything back, and started ganglioning media. So essentially, you know, with me, I come from a family of entrepreneurs. You know, my dad, his dad, their dad, my mom's side, my wife's side. It's kind of in the DNA, it's in the blood, but, you know, it's always been making sure and doing things that are a lot more exciting.

That's one of my backstories, is, you know, making sure that whatever I was doing, I was feeling fulfilled and I was feeling passionate about. And I think that's sort of what got me off the entrepreneurship side and kind of keeps me here.

02:48 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. So I know that your excitement, your enthusiasm, and your passion kind of led you to gang a lot of media. Could you take us through a little bit more on what you're doing there and how you made a huge impact?

02:57 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

Sure. You know, when we started, we were looking to fill a gap. Back in those days, the marketplace was either you got a 90-page proposal and said, see you later, good luck on figuring it out, or was, I only did websites, or I only do SEO, or I only do social media, and there's this huge gap where nobody was kind of bringing it all together. So what we or what I was looking to do at that point, because, you know, I was the gender, I was the accountant. That was everything.

That point was to bring everything into one place so you could walk in, get a strategy, build it, and then you'd have a team that understood the strategy because they built it and executed it in a way that worked in your best interest. Right. Because when you're working in multiple agencies and multiple companies, at times, technically everybody's competing because there's always some overlap somewhere.

So what was cool about our environment is that the SEO guy will turn around, talk to the social media person, will turn around, and talk to the website developer, and they're all kind of working in Uniz to work on your account. And so that's what, you know, we really kind of wanted to make sure that that experience and that feeling of being a part of your company was not only felt but was true. Right. And that's what sort of built the ethos of the company and the culture of the company is whatever we did.

And, you know, people walk in, clients will walk in. See, my team kind of arguing with each other, like, what's going on with them? It's like, no, it's okay because they're arguing for you. They're not arguing out of a place of ego or out of a place of, you know, I'm smarter than you are. It's really what's best for this client at this point. And how do we protect them and get them what they're looking for the best?

So, you know, we were able to kind of build that out. We do a lot of community work and a lot of nonprofit work. Two years ago, I was knighted, as you kind of gathered from the title, you know, in recognition of the work that we do. And, you know, just for me, this was always a means to an end. Like, if I could, I just do everything for free and help people build their businesses. But unfortunately, like you said, that component of life gets in the way. The banks don't understand that, and, you know, the family still got to eat kind of thing.

So, you know, as much as that's sort of the vision, that would be the ideal situation for me, you know, right now, I fulfill that by making sure that we're treating our clients as they should and we're seeing them see success, and that's very important to us.

04:59 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for yourself personally, the business, or a combination of both. You might have already touched on this, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

05:10 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

This answer was very different a few weeks ago. And the reason I say that is, you know, recently I've come to realize that if you're not taking care of yourself and you're not able to get the rest and the focus that you need, you're not going to be able to help a lot of people. So that's my answer. A few weeks ago, I've been like, I'm available twenty-four seven, I got you kind of thing.

And as much as that's still true because we have people do that, but right now it's more, I think the value is making your life easier so that you can also have a bit of a balance. Because you know what? We all own businesses. We all own companies. We're always on this, on this hustle culture, on this got to keep growing, or it looks like we're not doing anything. But there has to be something that gives and there has to be a path where you can take a nap and not feel bad, where you can do things and not feel bad.

So I think what we bring to the table as of today is being able to assist you to get to that point where you don't have to do everything. We can help handle it and take that load off. And it's not just marketing, it's we mentor and we do a lot of stuff with new entrepreneurs and people who are new to the country, giving you the tools you need to have peace of mind so you can get some rest and do what you did this for. Right. Which is to buy the freedom. Right. So if you're going to buy the freedom, enjoy the freedom. And that's sort of the new outlook of the company and myself personally.

06:24 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I'm excited to hear that. And so many times you hear that you can't quote-unquote pour from an empty cup. And I think that as CEO entrepreneurs and business owners, we're going, go, go trying to juggle all those different things. But we sometimes forget by stepping back and like you said, being able to kind of partners and people that you can depend on, it's so huge because it allows you to do not necessarily less necessarily. I guess you are doing less, but you're doing more impactful things.

You're more in your zone of genius, you're more where you're supposed to be so that you can help your organization, your business, whatever that looks like, get to where it wants to be. And we often don't get to that place by doing more things. We get there by doing less and more impactful things.

07:01 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

Exactly. And as CEO, the traditional CEO's premise is to push, push, push, get more done, get more done. You realize that's not necessarily the best way to do it, right? It's good. In the first few years of new business, I fully get it. I respect it. But you reach a point where like that's not the best way to keep things moving. Not for yourself and not for your team.

07:19 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I think we're seeing that a lot. You know, with changes and people in positions and things that they're doing where they're starting to become more than just, you know, checking things off the list. It becomes purpose, it becomes legacy, it becomes those things that people are kind of looking for. And when you're push pushes towards goals and maybe having tie those goals into like how it's going to make that impact.

That's when you start to maybe not have as much success with being able to of course reach those goals, but also to kind of retain the talented people that there are out there as well, 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, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

07:57 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

I think it's taking the time to talk to new people and listen. You know, a lot of the time we'll go into conversations with people we do know or don't know, and we won't listen. So I think my biggest hack is listening because you'll learn a lot of things. You may not agree with it, and that's fair, but you'll learn a lot of things with different perspectives, and that's information, and that's a skill set you can take back into your own business to have that tolerance and have that ability to hear a perspective, handle it, and deliver a mature response. Right. And I think that only comes with practice, and it comes with a lot of patience and practice. Sorry to repeat myself, but, yeah, nice.

08:34 – Gresham Harkless

I love that. And you know what was coming to my mind? There's a book by Malcolm Gladwell called, I think, talking to strangers, or he has a part that talks about, like, talking to strangers and how sometimes when we were kids, obviously there was a reason why, you know, you didn't want to talk to strangers. But it sounds like we, as we grow up to adults, have that same kind of mentality, and we don't realize how that kind of, I guess, creates a barrier in terms of ourselves as individuals, but also our thoughts, our innovations, the way that we look at things. And so many times having those conversations, and talking to strangers, so to speak, provides so many innovations, even though we may not necessarily agree, it sometimes can help us look at things uniquely and differently.

09:11 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

I mean, to an extent, you're marketing yourself, right? If you look at it, you treat yourself as the business. You're marketing yourself. So how do you let people know you exist, and how do you learn from other people to grow yourself?

09:21 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And those innovations, those opportunities can come from everywhere and anywhere. So I appreciate that. So I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this is a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice and might be something you would tell your favorite client, or if you happen to be a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

09:40 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

Patience. You're there. You're always there. Your head's in the forest, and you may not see it, but in everything that you're doing and every path that you're on most of the time, you tend to give up just before about to see it come to fruition. And I think having that ability to have the patience and have the wherewithal to be 3ft from gold, so to speak, right, and always realize that your efforts aren't wasted. It may pay off today, it may pay off in five years, but it will come back and help you in some way.

10:07 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. Well, now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're open to having different, quote-unquote CEO's on this show. So, Sandra, what does being a CEO mean to you?

10:17 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

I think it's being responsible not only to your team, and your clients but yourself and the community around you. I've always said that the reason that we do a lot of what we do outside of the business side is because, you know, I recognize that at some point in my life, somebody gave me a chance to, and somebody gave me some guidance and somebody kind of pushed me along the path and said, here you go.

And there's so many of us in our communities that have that in us, that have that spark, that have that idea that whatever you want to call it, and with just a little bit of love and guidance can blossom and grow and change their lives, whether it's financially or emotionally or whatever it is. But I think that's sort of where I feel a CEO's responsibility is to continually give back outside of their team, to the community around them, and to the places that can benefit so we can create more CEOs and create more companies and create more freedom for everyone.

11:13 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love that definition from that perspective. And I love the love and guidance piece as well because I think so many times, you know, we've been speaking about kind of narratives as well too, of the overnight success and self-made man or self-made woman. And I did it by myself. But I think if we really kind of drill down and understand that somebody might have motivated you, might have said some kind words in a podcast or potentially gave you finance or gave you an opportunity or opened that door when you thought there were no doors that were even existed or open.

So I think if we start looking at that, you start to realize, like, how can I, and as leaders, especially as CEOs, entrepreneurs, business owners, whatever the title might be, create that same type of spirit in everything that we're doing, whether we're talking about teammates or creating more CEO's. So I love that definition because I think so many times we can lose track of the process, the help, the guidance that we got, the love and kindness to get to where we want to be, where we are now.

12:05 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

I mean, I agree. And again, you know, remembering that what you're doing this for is not money. I mean, it may be, of course, it's a driver, but what it's doing for us to give you the freedom to do what you can to grow and grow everyone around you.

12:18 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. And it becomes an incredible responsibility once you understand that because it doesn't become just something to do. It becomes a charter, a mission that you're called to do, for lack of a better term.

12:27 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

Yeah. Thank you.

12:28 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, Sandra, truly appreciate that definition, of course. Appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do now is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know and of course, how best people can get hold of you on about all the awesome things you and team are working on.

12:44 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

Cool. I guess what I'll leave it with is if you're looking to figure out how to recover from what's been happening over the past two years if you're looking to figure out, you know, where to make investments and what to do, we always provide an open door. We have a no-obligation open door. We're happy to speak and understand people's businesses and see what guidance we can give them. Whether clients or not, it doesn't matter.

But whether it's us or someone else, I'd encourage you to go out and reevaluate your spending and reevaluate your plan, because we've come to this really interesting time where there's so much potential and things that we can take advantage of right now that weren't available pre pandemic. And if you figure out the right way to leverage that, you'll come out far ahead in the six, or eight months that follow and put yourself in a strong position. So that's what I put out there. Our website asks us for anything.com dot.

It's a fun one. And we do that because we have done everything that you can think of or found everything that you can think of, including weddings and everything in between. As long as something's reasonable, we're always happy to explore and see if we can make it happen. So that's our website. Our Instagram handle is gnlmedia.com, not.com rather gnomedia and LinkedIn. Just type in my name and you'll find me. And you know, feel free to reach out. And I love meeting new people and then networking and understanding what else is happening in the world.

14:08 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome, awesome, awesome. I truly appreciate that we will have the links and information in the show notes as well too, to make it even easier for everybody to click through and find out all the awesome things that you're doing and of course, connect. But I truly appreciate that last kind of tidbit and that last nugget as well too, because I think especially during a time like this, where everything seems to be upside down and completely different and change, it sometimes requires us to look at things differently and uniquely.

So I appreciate you bringing that to light. A lot of the great innovations and opportunities happen through less-than-ideal times like we're going through now. So if we keep our eyes open and know that there are opportunities about, of course, having those great conversations and walking through those open doors that we get offered, then really phenomenal things can happen from there. So thank you so much, Andrew. I appreciate it. I hope you have a phenomenal day my friend.

14:52 – Sir Sanju Ganglani

You as well. Take care.

14:53 – Outro

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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