Journey to $100 Million

Between the years of 2006 and 2011 the year he hired his first employee, Kevin made 6 figures working in a condo on the beach with very little overhead, just a nice computer, some software, and a suit and tie. He was able to build up a business making over $100,000 a year, something he never saw possible. It was a result of a lot of hard work around the clock, going to meetings, growing his network, doing great work, and getting re... Read more

As a young employee, Erik always thrived off the praise of his employer; it was the ultimate compliment and it improved his work ethic. Now with 11 people on the Array Digital team, when one of his staff gets positive feedback from a client, that’s what really resonates with him. Recently, he received some positive feedback on Jamal, the project manager, from a previous employee, Bruce, who’s now created his own custom software d... Read more

It was 2011. Kevin brought on a full-time contractor. Not technically an employee as he didn’t offer benefits, but someone that was dedicated to the work he was doing. He definitely allowed Kevin to focus more on what he was doing but unfortunately, they found that he did not help to grow the company. They made the same amount of money that year as Kevin did when he was working by himself. And the next year too. Except now he paid ... Read more

In today’s episode, Erik gives the lowdown on the marketers meetup, Marketers Anonymous, that started in Norfolk in the fall of 2018. Right off the bat, it was a big success; there was standing room only at the very first meetup and people were literally sitting on the floor in the back. Of course, it was expected that it would simmer down over the holidays and pick up again after, which was exactly what happened. It was super exci... Read more

In today’s episode, Erik gives the lowdown on the marketers meetup, Marketers Anonymous, that started in Norfolk in the fall of 2018. Right off the bat, it was a big success; there was standing room only at the very first meetup and people were literally sitting on the floor in the back. Of course, it was expected that it would simmer down over the holidays and pick up again after, which was exactly what happened. It was super exci... Read more

In today’s episode, Kevin is talking about an organization he joined back in 2005 that also led to him starting his business. At the time it was called the Hampton Roads Technology Council. He joined mostly out of curiosity and started going to the meetings just as a bystander. He got onto the board and became super involved. It worked well for him: he got to get out of the office and meet people at grand companies and the heads of... Read more

In today’s episode, Kevin is talking about an organization he joined back in 2005 that also led to him starting his business. At the time it was called the Hampton Roads Technology Council. He joined mostly out of curiosity and started going to the meetings just as a bystander. He got onto the board and became super involved. It worked well for him: he got to get out of the office and meet people at grand companies and the heads of... Read more

Erik set a goal during the holidays of 2017 to run 1,000 miles. At the time he was running a little bit, about 3 miles a day 4 days in a row. It sounded like a great idea and like it would be a piece of cake but frankly, it ended up being very painful. For the first 6 months of running, his calves constantly ached and were always tight to the point where most days he could barely walk normally. He would roll out his calves, wear ... Read more

Erik set a goal during the holidays of 2017 to run 1,000 miles. At the time he was running a little bit, about 3 miles a day 4 days in a row. It sounded like a great idea and like it would be a piece of cake but frankly, it ended up being very painful. For the first 6 months of running, his calves constantly ached and were always tight to the point where most days he could barely walk normally. He would roll out his calves, wear ... Read more

When you first start a business, you are not going to get rich overnight. In episode 207 of Journey to $100 Million, Kevin talks about how he lost money during his first year in business, but never gave up. When he left his day job, all odds were against him as he was leaving behind a secured salary, benefits, and retirement plan. However, he was determined to recover his losses and pursue his new career path. Kevin was making mon... Read more

When running a business, one of the most important things you must focus on is finances. In episode 206 of Journey to $100 Million, Erik discusses how we handle our finances here at Array Digital. It sounds easy to get an accounting package like QuickBooks and just put all the numbers in - right? It is easy but you must pay attention to this information and dedicate time to it as well. In the beginning, Erik would put in all of t... Read more

When Kevin first started his business, he did not have any capital, debt or investors and he didn’t have access to any money, bank loans, or credit cards. In episode 205 of Journey to $100 Million, Kevin shares how he was able to create his first business without utilizing any of these factors. Fast forward to today at Array Digital, Erik and Kevin have built their company without the financial help from outside sources. We do hav... Read more

It is very easy for you to implement change within your company once you realize the need for it. But the challenge comes in when you must train your staff to successfully do the same. In episode 204 of Journey to $100 Million, Erik explains how he learned this valuable lesson and what he continues to do moving forward because of this experience. Ten years ago, Erik learned this lesson the hard way when he and his wife owned a bak... Read more

In episode 203 of Journey to $100 Million, Kevin talks about one of the individuals that really motivated him to expedite his decision to become an entrepreneur and start his own business. This individual was a close friend of Kevin’s and one that he has not seen in a while: Ilya Pozin. Ilya is a founder of Coplex as well as Pluto TV. At the time when Kevin was toying with the idea of starting his own business, Ilya had his own c... Read more

Recently, we had to suspend a client due to nonpayment. In episode 202 of Journey to $100 Million, Erik explains this painful situation that left the Array Digital team perplexed. This was a priority 1 client, meaning that they were top tier. Erik recently had a long face-to-face meeting, as he does every quarter, with this client and felt that he and the owner really connected. Three weeks after this meeting and this client had ... Read more

In episode 201 of Journey to $100 Million, Kevin dives into the experiences of starting his first business. Kevin was only 23 when he founded this company. He had no money saved, no capital investments, no loans - nothing at all to start-up his website design company. For Kevin, this experience was very challenging and scary, and he speaks on how if it was not for his wife, he probably could not have made this happen. When he fir... Read more

Here at Array Digital, we keep very detailed, meaningful KPIs (key performance indicators). In episode 200 of Journey to $100 Million, Erik explains a specific KPI that he was unhappy with after the second quarter of the 2019 business year. Starting in the first quarter of 2019, we created a “change in MRR” (monthly recurring revenue) KPI. This KPI measures how much our MRR increased and decreased over the quarter. At the end of q... Read more

The year was 2005 and Kevin was working for a large engineering firm. On the side, Kevin had been developing websites as a hobby, just like he had been doing since 6th grade. He had yet to consider the fact that he could continue this hobby as a career and make a profit. In episode 199 of Journey to $100 Million, Kevin shares the instance when he realized he was ready for something bigger than just sitting in a cubicle. Although K... Read more

Today’s episode is a special one! In episode 198 of Journey to $100 Million, Erik talks about a VERY special entrepreneur: his father, Larry Olson - and today is his birthday! Erik’s father, Larry, was an entrepreneur for years after his service in the Air Force. Once he retired from the Air Force, Larry found a franchise that he bought into and then opened a video store by the name of West Coast Video that Erik worked at while in... Read more