August 4, 2024 • 36 mins
From the Caribbean to Kuala Lumpur and beyond, Neil Ateem's journey from working in Trinidad and Tobago’s tech and oil sectors to becoming a globe-trotting entrepreneur is extraordinary. He's a Co-Founder Of Multiplier and shares the ins and outs of transitioning to remote work, overcoming hurdles in the Caribbean, and his pivotal role at Mindvalley in Kuala Lumpur.
Neil’s passion for marketing and leadership comes alive as he lets us in on the best advice he ever received: the "ready, fire, aim" approach, which focuses on taking action and building momentum rather than getting bogged down in endless planning. This actionable mindset has been instrumental in his success and could be the game-changer you need.
Balancing a remote lifestyle with professional dedication is no small feat, and Neil offers tips on staying organized and productive. Learn how to create a structured routine, embrace time blocking, and maintain accountability while enjoying the perks of remote work.
You'll also discover how Neil builds a strong company culture by hiring passionate, high-performing team members and why maintaining a balance between work and personal life is crucial.
Neil’s passion for marketing and leadership comes alive as he lets us in on the best advice he ever received: the "ready, fire, aim" approach, which focuses on taking action and building momentum rather than getting bogged down in endless planning. This actionable mindset has been instrumental in his success and could be the game-changer you need.
Balancing a remote lifestyle with professional dedication is no small feat, and Neil offers tips on staying organized and productive. Learn how to create a structured routine, embrace time blocking, and maintain accountability while enjoying the perks of remote work.
You'll also discover how Neil builds a strong company culture by hiring passionate, high-performing team members and why maintaining a balance between work and personal life is crucial.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today's location independent founder, is Neil
Ateem.
He's co-founder of Multiplayer,a marketing agency that
specializes in helping companiesachieve revenue growth.
They've generated 300 millionplus in revenue for renowned
brands like Mindvalley, catcherGroup, jordan Peterson,
(00:21):
coachingcom and many others.
Before starting Multiplier,neil was head of subscription at
Mindvalley, where he played apivotal role in building their
subscription product, scaling itfrom zero to an impressive 20
million in earnings in the firstyear.
With more than 10 years ofmarketing experience behind him,
encompassing product launches,marketing strategies,
(00:43):
subscription models and digitalproduct expertise, neil is
well-versed in a range ofindustries, including fintech,
real estate tech, saas andonline education.
So, neil, you're more thanwelcome and thank you for
joining me.
Hi, alex.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
First of all, thank you for having me on so a little
bit about myself.
I guess it's in the context ofremote work and in this field,
right?
So I actually didn't start outas a remote worker.
I'm actually from the Caribbeanand I have a background in tech
and oil and gas.
So I did spend a long time inthe corporate world.
(01:19):
For example, when I did live inthe Caribbean Trinidad and
Tobago specifically I worked forfive years in the oil and gas
field, in tech and IT, and mybackground was actually computer
science.
And after then I was looking foropportunities in the marketing
space because I had a deepinterest in marketing.
(01:40):
I did study business before inhigh school, but I ended up
jumping into tech when I did mydegree into computer science
specifically and web programming.
And, yeah, the marketing fieldjust drove me after that.
And then what happened was thatI started looking for jobs in
the marketing space.
(02:00):
I had an and that I had at thesame time in parallel with my
corporate job, and then fromthere it just naturally
progressed, with me leaving home, moving to Asia, moving to
Kuala Lumpur, taking up a jobthere with a huge company called
Mind Valley Some of you mayknow it.
But after this is when I madethe jump into actually becoming
(02:26):
somewhat of a remote worker, anomad, whatever it's called now.
But to me it's just aboutgetting that freedom and
starting to build my own thingand work for myself.
I do have a lot of otherexperiences that I've had along
the way in terms of businessesand stuff that I worked on, but
(02:46):
yeah, it's a lot actually, butthis is just the fast summary of
what actually took place inthat journey.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Next, can you describe a personal story or
experience that has influencedwho you are today?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So I can take off a specific instance actually.
So this is me picture this backhome in the Caribbean trying to
find jobs online.
So just to give you context, atthe time I did have a corporate
job and everything, and backhome it's a well-paying job, but
compared on a global scale it'snothing right, it's a drop in
(03:25):
the bucket.
And at the time I'm looking atthe options Okay, how do I get a
job online?
How do I actually make moneyonline and I can travel and do
all these things.
And then I started looking atdifferent options.
I came across I think it'scalled Amazon Mechanicalk
something doing like randommanual tasks every day, like
(03:46):
clicking stuff and everything,just to make a couple cents or a
dollar or something.
And then I couldn't even dothat right, because, being from
the caribbean, you're like Idon't know, somehow blacklisted
from the banking, basicallyanything on the outside.
It's crazy.
As long as you have thisnationality, it's very
(04:07):
challenging and I know a lot ofpeople who have this struggle as
well.
So just getting that first $1online, it has been a real
challenge for me in the verybeginning and I didn't have a
way to break past this exceptactually moving physically to a
different location and startingmaking money there.
(04:29):
At that time I just couldn'tcrack the code, I couldn't find
a solution because, even if Igot something, I would need to
set up banking.
How do I receive payments,because local banks don't even
take payments internationallyreceive payments because local
banks don't even take paymentsinternationally?
It's crazy.
Now, of course, that is superfrustrating, right.
So that led me along the paththat I am now, so I'm grateful
(04:51):
for it as well.
But yeah, I remember thatparticular instance just being
there, grinding it out, lookingfor opportunities on making
money abroad and everything oronline.
Yeah, that has been a real painand since then, like my mind is
open, like the opportunitieshas come and I see how it's
(05:14):
actually possible for someonelike me in that situation to
actually have access to theoutside world, so to say.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
As you look back on your life and connect the dots
that led you where you are now.
What are those dots?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
It's a good question, but it's hard to say exactly
which dots right, becauseliterally every decision, every
choice, every event leads you towhere you are.
But for me it hasn't been astraight path, and I don't think
it is for most people, becauseof the amount of things that
I've done before to get me towhere I am and somehow it all
(05:55):
pieces together.
So I'll just give you somebackground.
Like I said before that, Istudied a business in high
school, but after that I did godirectly into computer science
and then the reason, the logicbehind me going into computer
science, was that I had aninterest, first of all, but
secondly, I knew it was going tobe where everything is headed
(06:17):
right.
At the time, everyone wasstarting to get personal
computers and this smartphonestarted to become hugely adopted
and everything.
So I knew I could anticipateokay, this is where it's going
to go tech right, at least.
Having a strong background inthat, at the time I really loved
it Web design, coding, all ofthese things and I said I
(06:39):
started an agency as well.
I was providing like web designservices, social media
marketing services.
It was really broad because atthat time there wasn't a lot of
people doing it right.
So you just pull fromeverywhere and as long as you
had some technical knowledge,you'd be able to do really well.
And yeah, at the same time Iwas looking for a corporate job,
because having a steady incometo pay off debts and everything
(07:02):
is what we go through collegeand everything for.
And I did manage to getsomething.
I did get an internship.
I had 18 months to prove myselfand I did.
While I was working mycorporate job, I built one of
the first mobile, the firstmobile app in the company,
solidified my position and Iended up staying there for four
(07:24):
to five years, as I mentionedearlier.
Now even my time in corporate.
I started in the corporateworld at 19.
Everyone was practically twicemy age, sometimes even more
right often.
But I got to see how a hugecorporation runs.
It's a multi-billion dollarcorporation and I get to see the
processes, how people functionwithin teams, the whole dynamic
(07:47):
of it.
So it really caused me tomature much quicker than I would
say if I was on my own orstarted off at a small company
or something like that.
So that really sped things upfor me and just being around
these people day to day, seeinghow they think, besides work,
how they run their lives andeverything.
It was really interesting andreally fast learning.
(08:08):
And then from there it clickedfor me that I have to leave,
even maybe a year or two in.
But it took a while.
Right, paying off debt, findingthe opportunity and all of that
was a real challenge, but itdid come through, because the
main thing is persistency.
I tried so many times.
I got rejected so many timesbecause my nationality and
everything didn't have theexperience, the whole shebang
(08:31):
and but after enough triessomething will come through.
It's just about continuouslytesting it out.
And then I came to marketing,but my background is tech, is
marketing, so it's a lot ofthings that I have interest in,
but it came along somehow witheverything that I did before.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Why did you decide to become a leader in your chosen
niche?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Well, me it came somewhat natural right.
I don't know if I'm one of thetop leaders yet, but I will get
there.
Marketing for me, is somethingthat I enjoy thoroughly.
It's my passion.
I eat, breathe, sleep marketingand it has gotten me to where I
am right now.
My life, it's changed my life,so to say my personal life, my
(09:18):
income, my passion, how Icontribute to the world, like
it's all through marketing.
And I would say, why did Ibecome this person in my field?
It's simply because of interest, it's because of passion and
it's because of that drive, thatinner drive, to actually pursue
(09:39):
this field.
And the thing is, I don't liketo compare and say, like I am
this person compared to thisperson or vice versa.
However, it's to be recognized,to be seen as a leader in a
field or anything, you need tohave some sort of accolade to it
, you need to have some proventrack record, you need to be
(10:01):
doing things and it comes as aresult of that.
So it's more about it's moreabout focusing on the processes
as to the end result all thetime, because if you're
continuously building,developing, learning new things,
testing new things and gettingresults like for me it's
marketing previous jobs where Imade like million dollar
(10:24):
launches or took products fromzero to 20 million in a year, or
doing a product launch in acouple of days, generating
millions.
Like these kind of things.
It comes naturally when youfocus on the process and
optimizing and really looking todeliver results rather than
just focus on oh, oh, I justwant to be seen as this person,
(10:44):
but then there's nothing to backit up.
So first, the first step isbuilding the reputation and
actually delivering results, andthen it just comes naturally.
After that, Even aftercorporate spending a few years,
eight years specifically justgoing out after that doing
freelancing and stuff is okay.
How can I replicate the resultsthat I've gotten before for
(11:10):
anyone, whether it's a creatormonetizing their Instagram and
selling online courses, or a bigcompany who's scaling a
platform for 50 to 100 millionmarketing principles?
It stays the same across theboard writers it's about
communicating the value to thepotential customer that would
part with X amount of dollarsfor your product service.
(11:32):
Whatever it is you're actuallydelivering.
First, you need to learn how tomake one dollar, then ten
dollars and a hundred dollars,and a thousand and a million,
then a hundred million, and itthen $10, then $100, then $1,000
, then $1,000,000, then$100,000,000.
And it doesn't end.
Numbers don't end.
(11:53):
But yeah, it starts withbuilding up the actual results.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
And once you have that, it has a snowball effect
afterwards into anything you'reactually doing.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
What was the best advice anyone ever gave you and
did you follow it?
So I don't know if itconstitutes as advice, but I
have a friend and client of mineand he said he said, Neil,
you're a ready fire, aim type ofperson.
You should keep that.
And it really describes how Iam.
I don't overthink things, Idon't over plan things, I don't
(12:26):
over strategize things.
Sometimes you just need to getmomentum, especially on your
projects and ideas right,Because a lot of people I would
say nine out of 10 peoplethey're stuck in this ideation
stage and for me I've neverreally had that problem because,
like he said, I've always beena ready fire, then aim type of
person.
Not the best advice, but it hasbeen given and there's pros and
(12:53):
cons to it, of course, but forme it's like the main thing out
of that that can be actionableis action right, Is taking
action, because this is wheremost people fall short Just not
following through and takingthat first step, because it's
easy to map anything out andhave the best spreadsheets and
data and research and read 10books and do this course and
(13:18):
follow this coach or whatever itmay be.
They always need to dosomething or learn something
before they can do the thing.
But I think having that biastowards action and actually
taking the first steps andletting it go with momentum, I
think that is what is reallyimportant.
So, based on that remark, whichI would constitute as advice, I
(13:43):
think that is something that isactionable right there, just
taking that action.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
And what made you choose remote work and how has
it benefited you so?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
choosing remote work as an option for me has been
like a goal from the beginning,even when I was in corporate,
even when I lived in theCaribbean, and that was already
six, six, seven years ago sinceI left.
But it took me a while to getto that point, like I mentioned
earlier, searching foropportunities online and not
getting anything no one wantingto hire.
(14:15):
You can't even plug intoanything online because you
can't get banking or payments oranything like that, just
because of your nationality.
So it came somewhat out offrustration, because I really
love to travel, explore, havingthat adventurous lifestyle, and
remote work was the thing thatcould support, that would give
(14:36):
you the opportunity to beanywhere and just plug into a
laptop, plug into Wi-Fi andthat's it, get your stuff done.
And in terms of benefits, forme it changed my life right.
I literally live in differentcountries at multiple times per
(14:56):
year.
Right now I'm living with myfamily in Argentina and we can
move as a family because of thefact that I have remote right.
For example, we were in Mexicoseven months, now we're in
Buenos Aires and after thatwe're gonna go to Europe and
then to Asia, who knows, becausethe options is there right.
(15:17):
So basically, it opens thingsup for you in terms of freedom
and choices, and I love, lovehaving that right To me.
That's why I work hard to havethese options and choices.
And besides that, yeah, I thinkit really pays off financially
as well.
If you get really good at whatyou do, you do a great work.
(15:40):
People would happily compensateyou for that.
I'm in the field of marketingand I have done well in it.
It's allowed me to do somereally great things.
For example, I built my mamahouse and I got to do it
hands-on because I was workingremotely at the time.
I was hands-on building thishouse in the caribbean and it
(16:01):
was like one of the most funprojects I did is just building
a house during the day, but atnight I'm there doing my work,
and you can only do that withremote work.
And then at time, my client wasin Singapore a company there
and it allowed me the freedom todo that.
So I was earning, delivering mywork and still having the
(16:23):
opportunity to fly to theCaribbean, be there, build this
house hands-on and get it donehouse from zero to completion,
moving in, super fulfilling and,yeah, I can't think of another
type of job that would allowsomething like this to happen.
So yeah, I think to me it's ano-brainer with my lifestyle and
(16:46):
what I want.
I need to be remote and havethe option to be remote what are
your best tips for organizingyour day and staying productive?
so I'll tell you this, beingremote and unproductive kind of
goes hand in hand for a lot ofpeople right, even for me in the
beginning because you go frombeing in an office and only
(17:11):
having to work there to beinganywhere and having the option
to procrastinate.
No one is around, noaccountability really.
And it gets even worse ifyou're your own boss, if you're
an entrepreneur and this kind ofstuff or freelancer, whatever
it may be, because there's notmuch accountability, at least no
(17:32):
boss or anything like that.
But how can you stay organizedand productive?
So for me now I've locked itdown this way when I move to a
place, I live in a trianglesomewhat.
I have my apartment, I have aco-working space and I have the
gym and I circle between thesethree places 80% of the time.
Other than that, maybesometimes in the evening and
(17:56):
stuff.
I may go out on the weekends,but now I have a family Not so
much going out at night but atleast on the weekends and stuff,
because what's the point inliving in a new place if you
don't explore and stuff?
And just having that triangle,as I call it, is a huge win for
me.
Now, specifically within yourdays and stuff, of course
(18:18):
there's things that are going tocome up.
However, just time blocking.
Blocking having thataccountability if you have a
team, if you have someone thatthat you work with, having that
accountability, havingdeliverables, setting your okrs
as in what you need to achieveby when, so that things actually
move.
So it comes down to theindividual as well, and with how
(18:42):
their working style is andeverything, but for me, I think,
yeah, just time blocking is oneof the most important things,
because, so, it comes down tothe individual as well and how
their working style is andeverything, but for me, I think,
yeah, just time blocking is oneof the most important things,
because comms like Slackmessages, whatsapps, emails all
these things sneak in and breakyour productivity.
So it's like turning off thephone or putting it on airplane
mode, whatever it may be, justto actually get real work done.
(19:05):
Because then there's meetingsas well, and there's so many
meetings that are likeunproductive or it's just
costing a lot of revenue, right?
So think about it If you havefive people on a team, each
making X amount of dollars, andevery hour of meetings with
everyone, that's costing a lotto the company, right?
(19:26):
So you need to think aboutthings this way as well.
That's your entrepreneur, but itcan apply across the board,
right, it depends on everyone'sworking style and stuff.
But yeah, just being uhaccountable I think is a really
good start, uh, to begin with.
So then you have to push things, because procrastination kind
of sneaks in, you know, foreveryone, no matter what level.
Accountable, I think is areally good start to begin with.
So then you have to push things, because procrastination kind
(19:46):
of sneaks in, you know, foreveryone, no matter what level
you may be at.
But when you're in flow stateand you're actually in execution
, sometimes it can go for a dayinto night, kind of thing, and
and that is great when thathappens, but it's not all the
time, right so now I want tofind out more about the company
that you're part of.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
So can you please begin by telling me more about
the company that you're part ofand its origin story?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, sure, Multiply Agency started a couple of years
back and it has been a companythat I co-founded, of course,
with a co-founder, and it's beena natural progression, like
because I left the corporateworld.
Like I said before, I used tobe head of subscriptions at
Mindvalley and then I launchedtheir product from zero to 20
(20:32):
million in one year.
It's a digital subscription toall their programs, online
courses, and since then I havebeen consulting and stuff.
But that's not scalable, right?
They're just spending hours ofmy time just being on calls and
telling people what to do withtheir business and how to make
more money and scale things up.
(20:52):
I naturally progressed towardsthis model and I pitched it to
my co-founder and then, yeah,just like that, in Bali, we
decided in one day okay, let'sstart an agency.
And we literally sat one day,we blocked off, we designed a
website, write the copy, come upwith the offers.
Like, literally everything wasso fast because it was just
(21:14):
something that was that neededto come out, that needed to be
in the world, that needed toexist.
And yeah, from there since thenit's been crazy.
We've been growing a lot,hiring everything.
We have a team spread across theworld, from Asia to Europe, to
me and the Americas.
(21:34):
We have clients across theworld, from Singapore to Europe
to Canada, north America, likeeverywhere, and we have the
funny thing is, for an agency,we haven't done any marketing,
it's all been.
It would have mouthed.
Because that's the thing Onceyou deliver results, it just
comes naturally right.
So people start recommendingyou and sometimes, of course, in
(21:57):
agency model, you take ondifferent clients and stuff.
Some people have niches, but forus we're all about scaling and
we take companies that just wantto scale their marketing.
But we have somewhat lockeddown or gotten a bit tighter.
So right now we focus oncompanies, scale-ups, what we
(22:18):
call it and then companies thatwant to take products, market
and then creators, so those withtheir followers who have
emailed us.
They really want to get thingsgoing.
So we came down to those Aftera long time of testing, had
really working with differentclients across the world and,
yeah, it's been been somewhat.
(22:40):
How do I describe this naturalprogression towards where we are
now?
Because it modeled on thedemand that me and my co-founder
had as freelancers at the timeand this consultant into this
agency or model of having anagency.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
And what's unique about the company.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
So what I would say is unique is the way we built it
from the ground up.
There's countless marketingagencies out there Now.
A lot of them.
They focus on specific things,different niches, all of this,
right.
What we focus on is on revenuegeneration, because, at the end
of the day, the bottom line howmuch money the business brings
(23:25):
in is one of the main thingsthat matters, right.
Everything depends on that.
If you can hire, if you canscale, if you can grow, if you
can take on differentinitiatives like a business is
essentially a vehicle thatgenerates the revenue.
Right, and how you do that isby product services, whatever
you deliver.
So we built it from the groundup and that's our main thing
(23:47):
that we focus on.
It is on generating revenue,and our team is diverse.
We're very highly experiencedand skilled people brought
together by me and my co-founderfrom around the world, and we
all have experience in this, andit can be different methods,
right.
Whether it's scaling on ads,using ASE campaigns on Meta or
(24:08):
Google or YouTube or UGC, or ifit's email campaigns or product
launch.
Like all of these things wehave in-house right.
We've sourced these talentedpeople that can actually do this
, but for the end result ofgenerating revenue.
So we don't fixate too much onthe methods, because it depends,
client by client, on where theyare at, what they want, what
(24:32):
are their goals, and we actuallygo in there and create the
strategy and help them executeit based on that.
So, yeah, the main thing thatsets us apart is our singular
focus on generating revenue forclients.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
What's your philosophy on building a great
team?
Speaker 2 (24:50):
So, building a great team, I would say first of all,
you need to look for A players.
You need to get the best hiresright.
So one of the first things Idid when I started hiring is I
found the smartest people that Iknow within my network and I
hired them and I didn't reallycare too much about what it
costs like, even if it was mesacrificing and not getting paid
(25:11):
.
That's just part of it.
When you're building a business, right, if you think you need
to be making millions of dollarsfrom the very start, then I
don't know if that's the bestapproach For me.
I don't mind taking a hit inthe beginning, but just getting
really good talent and havingthem produce their best work,
because it depends on yourbusiness, depends on this, right
(25:34):
.
If you're producing work forclients in my case, for example,
I'm a service-based business weneed to deliver really good
work and it's important that Ihave the best people for that.
Now, in terms of a philosophy,the thing is, if you hire these
people, they're a players.
(25:55):
They're passionate about whatthey do in my case, is marketing
.
It builds out itself, so theyembody this already and then you
set the tone for what the teamculture is and stuff, and
especially with a remote teamit's a bit challenging because
you don't have that in-personcadence of having things going
(26:17):
meetings, just interaction,water chat, whatever it may be,
but, yeah, just having greatpeople.
I think the culture naturallybuilds off of that and then as a
leader, it would take you toset the tone, the direction as
to where the company is headed,the direction keeping them
motivated and everything, andmaking sure everyone is well
(26:39):
compensated, keeping themmotivated and everything and
making sure everyone is wellcompensated and, of course,
passionate about what they'redoing.
Because if you have anyone thatis not passionate and just not
at that a player level, ofcourse it's going to bring down
the rest of the quality of theteam as well can you talk me
through the steps of your hiringprocess?
Speaker 1 (26:58):
how would you describe the company's success
so far?
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Yeah, so far, I would think I would say so far.
I would say it's been reallysolid, a solid growth trajectory
, like starting off with justtwo of us co-founders and now we
have a distributed team acrossthe world.
We've got six people alwayslooking to hire more steady
clients.
(27:22):
Most agencies out there they'realways in acquisition mode
trying to get a client trying toget a client because they have
high churn right, so they're inthe business of getting new
clients.
But we're more focused onretaining, delivering the best
quality, the best results forour clients, and I think that
(27:42):
has helped us a lot actually getto where we are now in a short
space of time.
We're growing probably more than100% year on year.
I don't even pay so muchdetails to the numbers because
I'm so in it, but yeah, becauseI know we are growing a lot and
I'm not fixated on a specificmetric like that.
It's just how do I deliver thebest quality, how do I get the
(28:05):
best clients and how do I builda world-class team around that?
And, yeah, just keep themomentum going.
It's been pretty solid, builton the back that we try to
always under promise and overdeliver and, of course, keep the
quality top notch and aim forresults always because we are a
(28:27):
performance-based marketingagency.
It's very important that weactually deliver results right,
because then we won't haveanything to show.
We won't have anything to proveto future clients as well, or
even to our own clients or, mostimportantly, to ourselves, that
we are competent, that we canactually deliver results.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
And what's next on the horizon?
Speaker 2 (28:48):
So what's next?
I guess this is somewhatprivate, but I don't mind
sharing.
So right now we have the agencyarm, but what we're building is
an academy to actually helpfuture marketers, freelancers,
online entrepreneurs, whereverit may be, to this level,
because we have so much exposureto so many companies and so
(29:11):
many niches, we know what'sactually working, what's
actually current for this time,right now, right here, on what's
(29:31):
converting, what's gettingpeople to buy, what scaling
companies, what metrics, how todo your creatives, everything
Whether it's copywritingwriting,course creation, all of these
things, because we're a teamthat oversees hundreds of
millions in ads being spent,courses being created.
We sell everything from a onedollar product to a hundred k
(29:53):
product.
So we have a lot of experienceand this is knowledge that we
can share out there.
We are working actively rightnow on building out that academy
.
So we're going to be calling itMultiply Academy and we're
aiming to launch it this year,later on this year.
So right now we just haveMultiply Agency and, of course,
(30:15):
the goal is to scale that up asmuch as possible at the same
time.
The goal is to scale that up asmuch as possible at the same
time.
Yeah, just focusing on thatelement on that business while
we build this as well.
I would say, yeah, that's thenext thing, and, of course,
(30:39):
we're always looking for thenext company that can take off
or creator that can take off,for example.
Example, we work with creatorsand some of them we partner with
and then they may have aninstagram following.
For example, we have this oneperson who has 150k followers on
instagram.
We were able to generate 128grand in one week from launching
his online program from himbecause he didn't know how to do
it before.
He has done launches and stuffmade a couple grand, but didn't
(31:00):
know how to do it before.
He has done launches and stuffmade a couple of grand, but
didn't know how to do it thisway, selling things like high
ticket and everything, and yeah,and then giving our companies
that we work with as well thebest results possible.
Like right now, we're helping acompany scale from 50 to 100
million.
So the thing is, the fixationfor us is on delivering the
results and for us it justnaturally works out in our favor
(31:22):
.
Right.
Once we deliver those results,they'll be happy to compensate
us for the value we havedelivered.
So, yeah, that's a little bitabout where we're heading.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Next, Is there a particular team or company whose
culture you admire?
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yes, as I mentioned, I used to work in Mindvalley
before and we had a really goodculture there, as in.
Everyone was mission-oriented,bringing impact to humanity,
impacting billion lives, andthen the team as well has been
really solid there, like we'restill all of us, we're still
friends to this day and probablylifetime for sure.
(32:02):
But the thing is that culturethere that we built up was
really around camaraderie andfocusing on the team and not the
individual so much, and reallysupporting and helping each
other, at the same time havingfun doing things outside of work
and stuff together.
And and you would think that,oh, as I worked in the corporate
world before oil and gas,traditional industry you don't
(32:26):
see that so much.
Everyone is friends and doingthings outside of work and stuff
.
But in this instance it was somuch different and that is
something I really admire andsomething I do have in my
company today as well.
I think it's important when youwork with the people that you
enjoy being around and arefriends with.
(32:46):
It just makes it so much betterbecause we spend so much of our
lives like one third of ourlives and more actually working
right, almost an entire workingwaking day is spent on work, so
might as well enjoy with peopleyou like to be around.
So fostering that culture ofcollaboration and being friends
and all that, it's really solidand, as we begin to wrap up,
(33:07):
what excites you about what'sahead so I would say right now
the hype is on ai and everything, and I'm really excited for
that right, because there's somany tools and platforms and
software and everything that'sbeing created today to basically
make our processes, ourworkflows, our daily lives work
(33:29):
faster, better, sometimes, morequality Not always, but if we
come to Reliant.
But I would say what excites meabout this is the fact that
marketing my field is based onhuman psychology.
So with AI, with all the toolsout there, it's very logical.
It's very focused on thenumbers, right, which is huge,
(33:51):
and we rely on numbers a lot,right?
Numbers help us make decisions.
I think having that humanelement would be even more in
demand in the future, whileeveryone becomes more reliant on
these tools and technologiesand everything, because you can
have AI write your code, buildyour apps, whatever it is, but
(34:11):
you need someone who understandshuman beings.
At the end of the day, ifyou're selling to human beings
and I'm excited about that Ithink there would be somewhat of
a renaissance where reallyunderstanding customers,
understanding how the marketsthink, behavioral-wise and
everything, of course, enhancewith AI and the tools and
everything for the data, thenumbers and everything and, of
(34:33):
course, getting suggestions, butyou still need that human
element.
I think that it's going to beeven more in demand in the
future as people become morereliant on these tools and
everything.
It's just knowing how to workwith it and not let it just take
over and become the only sourceand what do you like to do when
(34:55):
you're not working?
yeah, so I have a lot of hobbiesand passions, but I recently
became a father so that kind ofoccupies a lot of my time while
I'm not working.
But other than that I reallylike working out.
I like to travel obviously I'mtraveling with my family with a
six-month-old baby now, but yeah, I like rock climbing, I like
(35:18):
gymnastics, I like calisthenicsJust adventure stuff and, of
course, just hanging out withfriends having fun.
And I think learning it takesup a lot of my time as well.
I'm always reading, studying,doing some course something when
I'm not working, and I'm at thepoint right now where even work
(35:40):
doesn't really feel like workmost of the time because I'm
doing what I enjoy right, likeliterally people are paying me
to help them make more money andpaying me at the same time to
do that.
So it's fun for me because Ilearn so much every single day.
I get to talk to CEOs on a dailybasis who build companies, are
(36:00):
making millions, tens ofmillions, hundreds of millions.
Some of them are evenbillionaires sometimes and I get
to learn from them whilethey're paying me to optimize
their stuff or teach themsomething that I know I'm
learning at the same time.
So to me.
It blends my work but, yeah,outside of work it blends my
work but, yeah, outside of work.
I do try to keep that timeseparate from my family, for my
(36:24):
hobbies, for my interests aswell.
So I think it's important aswell.
When you leave something justsitting and you come back to it,
you get a fresh perspective ineverything.
So it is important.
I don't always heed this advice, but yes, it is necessary and I
acknowledge that as well.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
That's it for today's episode of the Remote Work Life
podcast, but if you're alocation, independent freelancer
, solopreneur, founder or leaderand want to provide a case
study for the Remote Work Lifepodcast, get in touch with me
via LinkedIn using the linkbelow in the show notes.
Today's location independent founder, is Neil
Ateem.
He's co-founder of Multiplayer,a marketing agency that
specializes in helping companiesachieve revenue growth.
They've generated 300 millionplus in revenue for renowned
brands like Mindvalley, catcherGroup, jordan Peterson,
(00:21):
coachingcom and many others.
Before starting Multiplier,neil was head of subscription at
Mindvalley, where he played apivotal role in building their
subscription product, scaling itfrom zero to an impressive 20
million in earnings in the firstyear.
With more than 10 years ofmarketing experience behind him,
encompassing product launches,marketing strategies,
(00:43):
subscription models and digitalproduct expertise, neil is
well-versed in a range ofindustries, including fintech,
real estate tech, saas andonline education.
So, neil, you're more thanwelcome and thank you for
joining me.
Hi, alex.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
First of all, thank you for having me on so a little
bit about myself.
I guess it's in the context ofremote work and in this field,
right?
So I actually didn't start outas a remote worker.
I'm actually from the Caribbeanand I have a background in tech
and oil and gas.
So I did spend a long time inthe corporate world.
(01:19):
For example, when I did live inthe Caribbean Trinidad and
Tobago specifically I worked forfive years in the oil and gas
field, in tech and IT, and mybackground was actually computer
science.
And after then I was looking foropportunities in the marketing
space because I had a deepinterest in marketing.
(01:40):
I did study business before inhigh school, but I ended up
jumping into tech when I did mydegree into computer science
specifically and web programming.
And, yeah, the marketing fieldjust drove me after that.
And then what happened was thatI started looking for jobs in
the marketing space.
(02:00):
I had an and that I had at thesame time in parallel with my
corporate job, and then fromthere it just naturally
progressed, with me leaving home, moving to Asia, moving to
Kuala Lumpur, taking up a jobthere with a huge company called
Mind Valley Some of you mayknow it.
But after this is when I madethe jump into actually becoming
(02:26):
somewhat of a remote worker, anomad, whatever it's called now.
But to me it's just aboutgetting that freedom and
starting to build my own thingand work for myself.
I do have a lot of otherexperiences that I've had along
the way in terms of businessesand stuff that I worked on, but
(02:46):
yeah, it's a lot actually, butthis is just the fast summary of
what actually took place inthat journey.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Next, can you describe a personal story or
experience that has influencedwho you are today?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So I can take off a specific instance actually.
So this is me picture this backhome in the Caribbean trying to
find jobs online.
So just to give you context, atthe time I did have a corporate
job and everything, and backhome it's a well-paying job, but
compared on a global scale it'snothing right, it's a drop in
(03:25):
the bucket.
And at the time I'm looking atthe options Okay, how do I get a
job online?
How do I actually make moneyonline and I can travel and do
all these things.
And then I started looking atdifferent options.
I came across I think it'scalled Amazon Mechanicalk
something doing like randommanual tasks every day, like
(03:46):
clicking stuff and everything,just to make a couple cents or a
dollar or something.
And then I couldn't even dothat right, because, being from
the caribbean, you're like Idon't know, somehow blacklisted
from the banking, basicallyanything on the outside.
It's crazy.
As long as you have thisnationality, it's very
(04:07):
challenging and I know a lot ofpeople who have this struggle as
well.
So just getting that first $1online, it has been a real
challenge for me in the verybeginning and I didn't have a
way to break past this exceptactually moving physically to a
different location and startingmaking money there.
(04:29):
At that time I just couldn'tcrack the code, I couldn't find
a solution because, even if Igot something, I would need to
set up banking.
How do I receive payments,because local banks don't even
take payments internationallyreceive payments because local
banks don't even take paymentsinternationally?
It's crazy.
Now, of course, that is superfrustrating, right.
So that led me along the paththat I am now, so I'm grateful
(04:51):
for it as well.
But yeah, I remember thatparticular instance just being
there, grinding it out, lookingfor opportunities on making
money abroad and everything oronline.
Yeah, that has been a real painand since then, like my mind is
open, like the opportunitieshas come and I see how it's
(05:14):
actually possible for someonelike me in that situation to
actually have access to theoutside world, so to say.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
As you look back on your life and connect the dots
that led you where you are now.
What are those dots?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
It's a good question, but it's hard to say exactly
which dots right, becauseliterally every decision, every
choice, every event leads you towhere you are.
But for me it hasn't been astraight path, and I don't think
it is for most people, becauseof the amount of things that
I've done before to get me towhere I am and somehow it all
(05:55):
pieces together.
So I'll just give you somebackground.
Like I said before that, Istudied a business in high
school, but after that I did godirectly into computer science
and then the reason, the logicbehind me going into computer
science, was that I had aninterest, first of all, but
secondly, I knew it was going tobe where everything is headed
(06:17):
right.
At the time, everyone wasstarting to get personal
computers and this smartphonestarted to become hugely adopted
and everything.
So I knew I could anticipateokay, this is where it's going
to go tech right, at least.
Having a strong background inthat, at the time I really loved
it Web design, coding, all ofthese things and I said I
(06:39):
started an agency as well.
I was providing like web designservices, social media
marketing services.
It was really broad because atthat time there wasn't a lot of
people doing it right.
So you just pull fromeverywhere and as long as you
had some technical knowledge,you'd be able to do really well.
And yeah, at the same time Iwas looking for a corporate job,
because having a steady incometo pay off debts and everything
(07:02):
is what we go through collegeand everything for.
And I did manage to getsomething.
I did get an internship.
I had 18 months to prove myselfand I did.
While I was working mycorporate job, I built one of
the first mobile, the firstmobile app in the company,
solidified my position and Iended up staying there for four
(07:24):
to five years, as I mentionedearlier.
Now even my time in corporate.
I started in the corporateworld at 19.
Everyone was practically twicemy age, sometimes even more
right often.
But I got to see how a hugecorporation runs.
It's a multi-billion dollarcorporation and I get to see the
processes, how people functionwithin teams, the whole dynamic
(07:47):
of it.
So it really caused me tomature much quicker than I would
say if I was on my own orstarted off at a small company
or something like that.
So that really sped things upfor me and just being around
these people day to day, seeinghow they think, besides work,
how they run their lives andeverything.
It was really interesting andreally fast learning.
(08:08):
And then from there it clickedfor me that I have to leave,
even maybe a year or two in.
But it took a while.
Right, paying off debt, findingthe opportunity and all of that
was a real challenge, but itdid come through, because the
main thing is persistency.
I tried so many times.
I got rejected so many timesbecause my nationality and
everything didn't have theexperience, the whole shebang
(08:31):
and but after enough triessomething will come through.
It's just about continuouslytesting it out.
And then I came to marketing,but my background is tech, is
marketing, so it's a lot ofthings that I have interest in,
but it came along somehow witheverything that I did before.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Why did you decide to become a leader in your chosen
niche?
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Well, me it came somewhat natural right.
I don't know if I'm one of thetop leaders yet, but I will get
there.
Marketing for me, is somethingthat I enjoy thoroughly.
It's my passion.
I eat, breathe, sleep marketingand it has gotten me to where I
am right now.
My life, it's changed my life,so to say my personal life, my
(09:18):
income, my passion, how Icontribute to the world, like
it's all through marketing.
And I would say, why did Ibecome this person in my field?
It's simply because of interest, it's because of passion and
it's because of that drive, thatinner drive, to actually pursue
(09:39):
this field.
And the thing is, I don't liketo compare and say, like I am
this person compared to thisperson or vice versa.
However, it's to be recognized,to be seen as a leader in a
field or anything, you need tohave some sort of accolade to it
, you need to have some proventrack record, you need to be
(10:01):
doing things and it comes as aresult of that.
So it's more about it's moreabout focusing on the processes
as to the end result all thetime, because if you're
continuously building,developing, learning new things,
testing new things and gettingresults like for me it's
marketing previous jobs where Imade like million dollar
(10:24):
launches or took products fromzero to 20 million in a year, or
doing a product launch in acouple of days, generating
millions.
Like these kind of things.
It comes naturally when youfocus on the process and
optimizing and really looking todeliver results rather than
just focus on oh, oh, I justwant to be seen as this person,
(10:44):
but then there's nothing to backit up.
So first, the first step isbuilding the reputation and
actually delivering results, andthen it just comes naturally.
After that, Even aftercorporate spending a few years,
eight years specifically justgoing out after that doing
freelancing and stuff is okay.
How can I replicate the resultsthat I've gotten before for
(11:10):
anyone, whether it's a creatormonetizing their Instagram and
selling online courses, or a bigcompany who's scaling a
platform for 50 to 100 millionmarketing principles?
It stays the same across theboard writers it's about
communicating the value to thepotential customer that would
part with X amount of dollarsfor your product service.
(11:32):
Whatever it is you're actuallydelivering.
First, you need to learn how tomake one dollar, then ten
dollars and a hundred dollars,and a thousand and a million,
then a hundred million, and itthen $10, then $100, then $1,000
, then $1,000,000, then$100,000,000.
And it doesn't end.
Numbers don't end.
(11:53):
But yeah, it starts withbuilding up the actual results.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
And once you have that, it has a snowball effect
afterwards into anything you'reactually doing.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
What was the best advice anyone ever gave you and
did you follow it?
So I don't know if itconstitutes as advice, but I
have a friend and client of mineand he said he said, Neil,
you're a ready fire, aim type ofperson.
You should keep that.
And it really describes how Iam.
I don't overthink things, Idon't over plan things, I don't
(12:26):
over strategize things.
Sometimes you just need to getmomentum, especially on your
projects and ideas right,Because a lot of people I would
say nine out of 10 peoplethey're stuck in this ideation
stage and for me I've neverreally had that problem because,
like he said, I've always beena ready fire, then aim type of
person.
Not the best advice, but it hasbeen given and there's pros and
(12:53):
cons to it, of course, but forme it's like the main thing out
of that that can be actionableis action right, Is taking
action, because this is wheremost people fall short Just not
following through and takingthat first step, because it's
easy to map anything out andhave the best spreadsheets and
data and research and read 10books and do this course and
(13:18):
follow this coach or whatever itmay be.
They always need to dosomething or learn something
before they can do the thing.
But I think having that biastowards action and actually
taking the first steps andletting it go with momentum, I
think that is what is reallyimportant.
So, based on that remark, whichI would constitute as advice, I
(13:43):
think that is something that isactionable right there, just
taking that action.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
And what made you choose remote work and how has
it benefited you so?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
choosing remote work as an option for me has been
like a goal from the beginning,even when I was in corporate,
even when I lived in theCaribbean, and that was already
six, six, seven years ago sinceI left.
But it took me a while to getto that point, like I mentioned
earlier, searching foropportunities online and not
getting anything no one wantingto hire.
(14:15):
You can't even plug intoanything online because you
can't get banking or payments oranything like that, just
because of your nationality.
So it came somewhat out offrustration, because I really
love to travel, explore, havingthat adventurous lifestyle, and
remote work was the thing thatcould support, that would give
(14:36):
you the opportunity to beanywhere and just plug into a
laptop, plug into Wi-Fi andthat's it, get your stuff done.
And in terms of benefits, forme it changed my life right.
I literally live in differentcountries at multiple times per
(14:56):
year.
Right now I'm living with myfamily in Argentina and we can
move as a family because of thefact that I have remote right.
For example, we were in Mexicoseven months, now we're in
Buenos Aires and after thatwe're gonna go to Europe and
then to Asia, who knows, becausethe options is there right.
(15:17):
So basically, it opens thingsup for you in terms of freedom
and choices, and I love, lovehaving that right To me.
That's why I work hard to havethese options and choices.
And besides that, yeah, I thinkit really pays off financially
as well.
If you get really good at whatyou do, you do a great work.
(15:40):
People would happily compensateyou for that.
I'm in the field of marketingand I have done well in it.
It's allowed me to do somereally great things.
For example, I built my mamahouse and I got to do it
hands-on because I was workingremotely at the time.
I was hands-on building thishouse in the caribbean and it
(16:01):
was like one of the most funprojects I did is just building
a house during the day, but atnight I'm there doing my work,
and you can only do that withremote work.
And then at time, my client wasin Singapore a company there
and it allowed me the freedom todo that.
So I was earning, delivering mywork and still having the
(16:23):
opportunity to fly to theCaribbean, be there, build this
house hands-on and get it donehouse from zero to completion,
moving in, super fulfilling and,yeah, I can't think of another
type of job that would allowsomething like this to happen.
So yeah, I think to me it's ano-brainer with my lifestyle and
(16:46):
what I want.
I need to be remote and havethe option to be remote what are
your best tips for organizingyour day and staying productive?
so I'll tell you this, beingremote and unproductive kind of
goes hand in hand for a lot ofpeople right, even for me in the
beginning because you go frombeing in an office and only
(17:11):
having to work there to beinganywhere and having the option
to procrastinate.
No one is around, noaccountability really.
And it gets even worse ifyou're your own boss, if you're
an entrepreneur and this kind ofstuff or freelancer, whatever
it may be, because there's notmuch accountability, at least no
(17:32):
boss or anything like that.
But how can you stay organizedand productive?
So for me now I've locked itdown this way when I move to a
place, I live in a trianglesomewhat.
I have my apartment, I have aco-working space and I have the
gym and I circle between thesethree places 80% of the time.
Other than that, maybesometimes in the evening and
(17:56):
stuff.
I may go out on the weekends,but now I have a family Not so
much going out at night but atleast on the weekends and stuff,
because what's the point inliving in a new place if you
don't explore and stuff?
And just having that triangle,as I call it, is a huge win for
me.
Now, specifically within yourdays and stuff, of course
(18:18):
there's things that are going tocome up.
However, just time blocking.
Blocking having thataccountability if you have a
team, if you have someone thatthat you work with, having that
accountability, havingdeliverables, setting your okrs
as in what you need to achieveby when, so that things actually
move.
So it comes down to theindividual as well, and with how
(18:42):
their working style is andeverything, but for me, I think,
yeah, just time blocking is oneof the most important things,
because, so, it comes down tothe individual as well and how
their working style is andeverything, but for me, I think,
yeah, just time blocking is oneof the most important things,
because comms like Slackmessages, whatsapps, emails all
these things sneak in and breakyour productivity.
So it's like turning off thephone or putting it on airplane
mode, whatever it may be, justto actually get real work done.
(19:05):
Because then there's meetingsas well, and there's so many
meetings that are likeunproductive or it's just
costing a lot of revenue, right?
So think about it If you havefive people on a team, each
making X amount of dollars, andevery hour of meetings with
everyone, that's costing a lotto the company, right?
(19:26):
So you need to think aboutthings this way as well.
That's your entrepreneur, but itcan apply across the board,
right, it depends on everyone'sworking style and stuff.
But yeah, just being uhaccountable I think is a really
good start, uh, to begin with.
So then you have to push things, because procrastination kind
of sneaks in, you know, foreveryone, no matter what level.
Accountable, I think is areally good start to begin with.
So then you have to push things, because procrastination kind
(19:46):
of sneaks in, you know, foreveryone, no matter what level
you may be at.
But when you're in flow stateand you're actually in execution
, sometimes it can go for a dayinto night, kind of thing, and
and that is great when thathappens, but it's not all the
time, right so now I want tofind out more about the company
that you're part of.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
So can you please begin by telling me more about
the company that you're part ofand its origin story?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, sure, Multiply Agency started a couple of years
back and it has been a companythat I co-founded, of course,
with a co-founder, and it's beena natural progression, like
because I left the corporateworld.
Like I said before, I used tobe head of subscriptions at
Mindvalley and then I launchedtheir product from zero to 20
(20:32):
million in one year.
It's a digital subscription toall their programs, online
courses, and since then I havebeen consulting and stuff.
But that's not scalable, right?
They're just spending hours ofmy time just being on calls and
telling people what to do withtheir business and how to make
more money and scale things up.
(20:52):
I naturally progressed towardsthis model and I pitched it to
my co-founder and then, yeah,just like that, in Bali, we
decided in one day okay, let'sstart an agency.
And we literally sat one day,we blocked off, we designed a
website, write the copy, come upwith the offers.
Like, literally everything wasso fast because it was just
(21:14):
something that was that neededto come out, that needed to be
in the world, that needed toexist.
And yeah, from there since thenit's been crazy.
We've been growing a lot,hiring everything.
We have a team spread across theworld, from Asia to Europe, to
me and the Americas.
(21:34):
We have clients across theworld, from Singapore to Europe
to Canada, north America, likeeverywhere, and we have the
funny thing is, for an agency,we haven't done any marketing,
it's all been.
It would have mouthed.
Because that's the thing Onceyou deliver results, it just
comes naturally right.
So people start recommendingyou and sometimes, of course, in
(21:57):
agency model, you take ondifferent clients and stuff.
Some people have niches, but forus we're all about scaling and
we take companies that just wantto scale their marketing.
But we have somewhat lockeddown or gotten a bit tighter.
So right now we focus oncompanies, scale-ups, what we
(22:18):
call it and then companies thatwant to take products, market
and then creators, so those withtheir followers who have
emailed us.
They really want to get thingsgoing.
So we came down to those Aftera long time of testing, had
really working with differentclients across the world and,
yeah, it's been been somewhat.
(22:40):
How do I describe this naturalprogression towards where we are
now?
Because it modeled on thedemand that me and my co-founder
had as freelancers at the timeand this consultant into this
agency or model of having anagency.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
And what's unique about the company.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
So what I would say is unique is the way we built it
from the ground up.
There's countless marketingagencies out there Now.
A lot of them.
They focus on specific things,different niches, all of this,
right.
What we focus on is on revenuegeneration, because, at the end
of the day, the bottom line howmuch money the business brings
(23:25):
in is one of the main thingsthat matters, right.
Everything depends on that.
If you can hire, if you canscale, if you can grow, if you
can take on differentinitiatives like a business is
essentially a vehicle thatgenerates the revenue.
Right, and how you do that isby product services, whatever
you deliver.
So we built it from the groundup and that's our main thing
(23:47):
that we focus on.
It is on generating revenue,and our team is diverse.
We're very highly experiencedand skilled people brought
together by me and my co-founderfrom around the world, and we
all have experience in this, andit can be different methods,
right.
Whether it's scaling on ads,using ASE campaigns on Meta or
(24:08):
Google or YouTube or UGC, or ifit's email campaigns or product
launch.
Like all of these things wehave in-house right.
We've sourced these talentedpeople that can actually do this
, but for the end result ofgenerating revenue.
So we don't fixate too much onthe methods, because it depends,
client by client, on where theyare at, what they want, what
(24:32):
are their goals, and we actuallygo in there and create the
strategy and help them executeit based on that.
So, yeah, the main thing thatsets us apart is our singular
focus on generating revenue forclients.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
What's your philosophy on building a great
team?
Speaker 2 (24:50):
So, building a great team, I would say first of all,
you need to look for A players.
You need to get the best hiresright.
So one of the first things Idid when I started hiring is I
found the smartest people that Iknow within my network and I
hired them and I didn't reallycare too much about what it
costs like, even if it was mesacrificing and not getting paid
(25:11):
.
That's just part of it.
When you're building a business, right, if you think you need
to be making millions of dollarsfrom the very start, then I
don't know if that's the bestapproach For me.
I don't mind taking a hit inthe beginning, but just getting
really good talent and havingthem produce their best work,
because it depends on yourbusiness, depends on this, right
(25:34):
.
If you're producing work forclients in my case, for example,
I'm a service-based business weneed to deliver really good
work and it's important that Ihave the best people for that.
Now, in terms of a philosophy,the thing is, if you hire these
people, they're a players.
(25:55):
They're passionate about whatthey do in my case, is marketing
.
It builds out itself, so theyembody this already and then you
set the tone for what the teamculture is and stuff, and
especially with a remote teamit's a bit challenging because
you don't have that in-personcadence of having things going
(26:17):
meetings, just interaction,water chat, whatever it may be,
but, yeah, just having greatpeople.
I think the culture naturallybuilds off of that and then as a
leader, it would take you toset the tone, the direction as
to where the company is headed,the direction keeping them
motivated and everything, andmaking sure everyone is well
(26:39):
compensated, keeping themmotivated and everything and
making sure everyone is wellcompensated and, of course,
passionate about what they'redoing.
Because if you have anyone thatis not passionate and just not
at that a player level, ofcourse it's going to bring down
the rest of the quality of theteam as well can you talk me
through the steps of your hiringprocess?
Speaker 1 (26:58):
how would you describe the company's success
so far?
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Yeah, so far, I would think I would say so far.
I would say it's been reallysolid, a solid growth trajectory
, like starting off with justtwo of us co-founders and now we
have a distributed team acrossthe world.
We've got six people alwayslooking to hire more steady
clients.
(27:22):
Most agencies out there they'realways in acquisition mode
trying to get a client trying toget a client because they have
high churn right, so they're inthe business of getting new
clients.
But we're more focused onretaining, delivering the best
quality, the best results forour clients, and I think that
(27:42):
has helped us a lot actually getto where we are now in a short
space of time.
We're growing probably more than100% year on year.
I don't even pay so muchdetails to the numbers because
I'm so in it, but yeah, becauseI know we are growing a lot and
I'm not fixated on a specificmetric like that.
It's just how do I deliver thebest quality, how do I get the
(28:05):
best clients and how do I builda world-class team around that?
And, yeah, just keep themomentum going.
It's been pretty solid, builton the back that we try to
always under promise and overdeliver and, of course, keep the
quality top notch and aim forresults always because we are a
(28:27):
performance-based marketingagency.
It's very important that weactually deliver results right,
because then we won't haveanything to show.
We won't have anything to proveto future clients as well, or
even to our own clients or, mostimportantly, to ourselves, that
we are competent, that we canactually deliver results.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
And what's next on the horizon?
Speaker 2 (28:48):
So what's next?
I guess this is somewhatprivate, but I don't mind
sharing.
So right now we have the agencyarm, but what we're building is
an academy to actually helpfuture marketers, freelancers,
online entrepreneurs, whereverit may be, to this level,
because we have so much exposureto so many companies and so
(29:11):
many niches, we know what'sactually working, what's
actually current for this time,right now, right here, on what's
(29:31):
converting, what's gettingpeople to buy, what scaling
companies, what metrics, how todo your creatives, everything
Whether it's copywritingwriting,course creation, all of these
things, because we're a teamthat oversees hundreds of
millions in ads being spent,courses being created.
We sell everything from a onedollar product to a hundred k
(29:53):
product.
So we have a lot of experienceand this is knowledge that we
can share out there.
We are working actively rightnow on building out that academy
.
So we're going to be calling itMultiply Academy and we're
aiming to launch it this year,later on this year.
So right now we just haveMultiply Agency and, of course,
(30:15):
the goal is to scale that up asmuch as possible at the same
time.
The goal is to scale that up asmuch as possible at the same
time.
Yeah, just focusing on thatelement on that business while
we build this as well.
I would say, yeah, that's thenext thing, and, of course,
(30:39):
we're always looking for thenext company that can take off
or creator that can take off,for example.
Example, we work with creatorsand some of them we partner with
and then they may have aninstagram following.
For example, we have this oneperson who has 150k followers on
instagram.
We were able to generate 128grand in one week from launching
his online program from himbecause he didn't know how to do
it before.
He has done launches and stuffmade a couple grand, but didn't
(31:00):
know how to do it before.
He has done launches and stuffmade a couple of grand, but
didn't know how to do it thisway, selling things like high
ticket and everything, and yeah,and then giving our companies
that we work with as well thebest results possible.
Like right now, we're helping acompany scale from 50 to 100
million.
So the thing is, the fixationfor us is on delivering the
results and for us it justnaturally works out in our favor
(31:22):
.
Right.
Once we deliver those results,they'll be happy to compensate
us for the value we havedelivered.
So, yeah, that's a little bitabout where we're heading.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Next, Is there a particular team or company whose
culture you admire?
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Yes, as I mentioned, I used to work in Mindvalley
before and we had a really goodculture there, as in.
Everyone was mission-oriented,bringing impact to humanity,
impacting billion lives, andthen the team as well has been
really solid there, like we'restill all of us, we're still
friends to this day and probablylifetime for sure.
(32:02):
But the thing is that culturethere that we built up was
really around camaraderie andfocusing on the team and not the
individual so much, and reallysupporting and helping each
other, at the same time havingfun doing things outside of work
and stuff together.
And and you would think that,oh, as I worked in the corporate
world before oil and gas,traditional industry you don't
(32:26):
see that so much.
Everyone is friends and doingthings outside of work and stuff
.
But in this instance it was somuch different and that is
something I really admire andsomething I do have in my
company today as well.
I think it's important when youwork with the people that you
enjoy being around and arefriends with.
(32:46):
It just makes it so much betterbecause we spend so much of our
lives like one third of ourlives and more actually working
right, almost an entire workingwaking day is spent on work, so
might as well enjoy with peopleyou like to be around.
So fostering that culture ofcollaboration and being friends
and all that, it's really solidand, as we begin to wrap up,
(33:07):
what excites you about what'sahead so I would say right now
the hype is on ai and everything, and I'm really excited for
that right, because there's somany tools and platforms and
software and everything that'sbeing created today to basically
make our processes, ourworkflows, our daily lives work
(33:29):
faster, better, sometimes, morequality Not always, but if we
come to Reliant.
But I would say what excites meabout this is the fact that
marketing my field is based onhuman psychology.
So with AI, with all the toolsout there, it's very logical.
It's very focused on thenumbers, right, which is huge,
(33:51):
and we rely on numbers a lot,right?
Numbers help us make decisions.
I think having that humanelement would be even more in
demand in the future, whileeveryone becomes more reliant on
these tools and technologiesand everything, because you can
have AI write your code, buildyour apps, whatever it is, but
(34:11):
you need someone who understandshuman beings.
At the end of the day, ifyou're selling to human beings
and I'm excited about that Ithink there would be somewhat of
a renaissance where reallyunderstanding customers,
understanding how the marketsthink, behavioral-wise and
everything, of course, enhancewith AI and the tools and
everything for the data, thenumbers and everything and, of
(34:33):
course, getting suggestions, butyou still need that human
element.
I think that it's going to beeven more in demand in the
future as people become morereliant on these tools and
everything.
It's just knowing how to workwith it and not let it just take
over and become the only sourceand what do you like to do when
(34:55):
you're not working?
yeah, so I have a lot of hobbiesand passions, but I recently
became a father so that kind ofoccupies a lot of my time while
I'm not working.
But other than that I reallylike working out.
I like to travel obviously I'mtraveling with my family with a
six-month-old baby now, but yeah, I like rock climbing, I like
(35:18):
gymnastics, I like calisthenicsJust adventure stuff and, of
course, just hanging out withfriends having fun.
And I think learning it takesup a lot of my time as well.
I'm always reading, studying,doing some course something when
I'm not working, and I'm at thepoint right now where even work
(35:40):
doesn't really feel like workmost of the time because I'm
doing what I enjoy right, likeliterally people are paying me
to help them make more money andpaying me at the same time to
do that.
So it's fun for me because Ilearn so much every single day.
I get to talk to CEOs on a dailybasis who build companies, are
(36:00):
making millions, tens ofmillions, hundreds of millions.
Some of them are evenbillionaires sometimes and I get
to learn from them whilethey're paying me to optimize
their stuff or teach themsomething that I know I'm
learning at the same time.
So to me.
It blends my work but, yeah,outside of work it blends my
work but, yeah, outside of work.
I do try to keep that timeseparate from my family, for my
(36:24):
hobbies, for my interests aswell.
So I think it's important aswell.
When you leave something justsitting and you come back to it,
you get a fresh perspective ineverything.
So it is important.
I don't always heed this advice, but yes, it is necessary and I
acknowledge that as well.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
That's it for today's episode of the Remote Work Life
podcast, but if you're alocation, independent freelancer
, solopreneur, founder or leaderand want to provide a case
study for the Remote Work Lifepodcast, get in touch with me
via LinkedIn using the linkbelow in the show notes.
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