We kicked off our business in 2019, choosing to be remote to save our future clients money. This was a business built on the idea of efficiency. Efficiency is money. And if you are in the business of helping someone succeed, you have to provide more value than you cost. It’s founder recently left his position at Amazon as an Ad Tech AE, working with a really great group of people. In short, the team helped brands/agencies adopt Amazon’s DSP and find success in using Amazon’s rich resources. He left after it became clear that a growing audience would need help in using the platform, beyond what training could offer.  The speed of innovation at Amazon, the blueprint from Google & FB using partners to move towards self-service only, and the fact that the ads business was rapidly evolving provided some good assurance.
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He left on a Friday and started in the office on Monday. The office was the condo’s pool lodge.
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All part of the plan. Revive was to be a managed service partner that would help brands and agencies run on Amazon’s DSP. Simple and sweet.  Revive had connections that had seen the founder run campaigns first-hand, because they had once trained him at Yahoo. They were doing revive an enormous favor, but there was an aligned incentive. They wanted partners, we wanted them. We just had one obligation…but it was a big one. We had to uphold their reputation. They were taking a risk referring a client to an unproven partner.  Despite, Revive was given an unmeasurable gift to it’s foundation with a steady source of potential leads. We had the luxury of concentrating on one thing. Providing a good service.

That said, inevitably there will be a slew of challenges, but here are a few things we felt to be extremely important:

Build the business on trust. Demanding all spoken & written word is truth is a good start. No white lies, no hiding mistakes, no bending for a buck. Transparency becomes your backbone.  Be Vulnerable, be knowledgeable, be real. Let someone know what you CAN do and then let them decide if they can use your help.

Be frugal with your money…or should we say, their money. You only exist because someone has money to invest, and that isn’t an endless tap.  Spend it wisely. Don’t buy things to impress potential future clients. Herman Miller chairs, don’t do it! A game room? Not unless you want to suggest you’d rather play pong than manage their campaigns. How about you rethink having an office while you’re at it. If you’re servicing them, why would you ever ask that they come to you?

And last and most important. Build something to last. Build a business that concentrates on profitability. Set a fair price for your services and then work to maximize your share at no one else’s expense. Focus on the important details and look to cut the unnecessary things. And that never involves the people. Cherish the people. If you find a good person, do all you can to be nice to them and keep them. Build them up and they will build up the company and those around them.