Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in business development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with David Taylor, founder, and CEO of David Taylor Digital, located in Glen Ridge, NJ, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
David Taylor Digital is an award-winning Digital Marketing Agency based in NJ that was founded in 2007. We help our clients increase sales and drive growth with results-driven digital marketing solutions. Our current roster of 140 clients is all B2B. Our ideal clients are business owners and Heads of Marketing of Manufacturing Companies based in the USA with revenue of at least 5M+ who value industry expertise and don't have or have a small marketing team that is overwhelmed or underperforming. Most often, our clients consider us a bolt-on marketing team that they have at arm's length to manage and maintain all their digital marketing efforts. Our core services include marketing strategy, SEO/SEM, website development, website hosting and maintenance, lead generation, and lead management. We are HubSpot certified agency.
Tell us about yourself
Both my parents owned their own businesses later in life, and I saw the freedom it gave them. However, they never took their businesses too far and kept them small, and they have told me that they regretted that. My father owned a graphic design company, and so I have always been interested in design, and so that is what I went to school for. Over the years, I went from job to job adding new skills and teaching myself website design. My last full-time job was as Senior Designer at Disney Publishing in NYC. At that time, I had an 18-month-old, and my wife was pregnant when Disney did a restructure, and I lost my job along with 20% of the workforce. It was then I decided to bet on myself and start my business, and I am glad I did.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My team has grown a lot in the past few years especially and they are taking on more and more of what used to be my responsibilities. I feel very accomplished when I see a check come in from a new client that I did not ever meet, and I don't even know what the project is about because my team is managing it without me. It feels fantastic when that happens.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
In my experience, one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner is maintaining the company culture. About a year into the pandemic, we decided to get out of our office lease and go 100% virtual. And we have grown and added team members all around the country. This means we mostly see each on Zoom. In order to maintain the culture, we fly the whole team in and get together two times a year for a business and play retreat where we realign our goals and stay connected. We are very careful with who we hire because we want to make sure they fit in our culture and can live our core values, which we take very seriously.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Take chances and often fail, so you can learn from your mistakes.
- Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you.
- Get a coach early on to keep you accountable for your own ideas.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.davidtaylordigital.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidtaylordigital
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidtaylordigital/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/david-taylor-digital/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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