Revolutionizing Design with AI: Exploring the World of Generative Design

Revolutionizing Design with AI: Exploring the World of Generative Design written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing Marketing Podcast with Russ Perry In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Russ Perry. Russ, the founder, and CEO of Design Pickle, is a seasoned creative leader, entrepreneur, author, and thought leader. As a former agency owner, Perry intimately understands the challenges associated with all aspects of creative work and has […] Why Agency Owners Should Invest In Other Businesses written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing Marketing Podcast with Ben Young In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast, I interview Ben Young. He is the founder of Nudge, an analytics company, that was a commercialized product from his agency. Nudge helps you measure the performance of your digital properties through the lens of what people are paying attention to. With the retirement of Google Analytics, many are re-evaluating what options are out there.  Prior to Nudge, he co-founded an agency in New Zealand that was the 8th fastest-growing business at the time. Today, he will explain why agency owners should invest in other businesses. Key Takeaway: Agency owners should consider investing a portion of their own capital into other businesses as a way of personal development and to gain valuable insights from different industries. By investing in other companies, they can learn from other founders, gain exposure to new sectors, and understand emerging trends. While it’s essential to prioritize investment in their own agency, diversifying their investments can make them better founders and provide additional benefits beyond just financial returns. Questions I ask Ben Young: [02:26] What do you mean by investing in other businesses? [03:00] Agency owners are sometimes really invested in their own businesses. Shouldn’t they invest in their own business? [07:45] How do you analyze an investment if you don’t even know some of the terminology and what it really means? [10:29] Tell me a little about when you first started because you were an agency owner. Were you naturally drawn to maybe tools that you had used or tools that marketers use, or do you think that you actually got completely out of your comfort zone? [14:27] As an agency owner, one of the best investments I ever made was in a company that was a good fit and provided a core service that we can sell to our clients. Where have any of your investments fit into that category? [15:31] When people invest in things, the hope is that they’re going to make money out of this investment. Should there be a measurement or criteria of time in which they can see some sort of return or you can’t really calculate all the benefits of return? [18:02] Can you give an example of one investment that was a disappointment, but maybe you learned something from it? [19:52] Now, can you give an example of an investment that was a success and what you learned from it? More About Ben Young: Follow Ben on Twitter. Nudge website. Check out Ben’s blog. More About The Agency Certification Intensive Training: Learn more about the Agency Certification Intensive Training here Take The Marketing Assessment: Marketingassessment.co Like this show? Click on over and give us a review on iTunes, please! Duct Tape Transcript Email Download New Tab John Jantsch (00:00): This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by HubSpot. Look, AI is literally eating the web ChatGPT is more search than I don’t know, Taylor Swift . Check out HubSpot’s AI powered tools, content assistant and chat spott. They both run on open AI’s GPT model, and both are designed to help you get more done and to grow your business faster. HubSpot’s AI powered content assistant helps you brainstorm, create, and share content in a flash, and it’s all inside a super easy to use c r m now chats spott automates all the manual tasks inside HubSpot to help you arrange more customers close more deals, and scale your business faster. Find out more about how to use AI to grow your business at hubspot.com/artificial intelligence. That’s hubspot.com/artificial intelligence. (01:14): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast. This is John Jantsch. My guest today is Ben Young. He’s the founder of Nudge, an analytics company that was started as a commercial venture or product from his own agency. Nudge helps you measure the performance of your digital properties through the lens of what people are paying attention to with the retirement of Google Analytics. We’ve talked a lot about that on the show. Many are reevaluating what options are out there. Prior to Nudge, he co-founded an agency, a marketing agency in New Zealand that was the eighth fastest growing business at the time, and it was in that, that he started investing in today. That’s what we’re gonna talk about, how agency owners should invest in other businesses. So Ben, welcome to the show. Ben Young (02:00): Thank you. It was great to be here. John Jantsch (02:04): So I guess we need to set the table first. You and I were talking off air a bit about the, this idea of investing in other businesses, and I think some agency owners, because it’s a common model, might interpret that as you go to work for somebody for a piece of, of quid or profit sharing and you’re really, you’re talking about something different. So maybe let’s define Yeah, what you mean by investing in other businesses. Ben Young (02:28): So I, I’m sure a lot of small business owners and agency owners have had those requests where they’re like, can you do some work for some equity? And that’s not what I’m talking about today. What I’m talking about today is for agency owners to take a little bit of their own capital, set it aside and invest it as a proper investment as a, Hey, here’s some things I’m interested in. And to do that as a bit of personal development and to see how those investments grow and foster. John Jantsch (02:55): So, so I think one of the obvious questions, somebody listening to this might say, I’m already like really invested in this business that I’m building, right? Shouldn’t I take every dime that I have and put it in that? Ben Young (03:07): Yeah, it’s, it’s funny, I had this exact thing from a, a founder I was looking at investing in and they’re like, well, Ben, you’ve got an agency, you’re just gonna put all your money into that, so I’m not even gonna ask you for money. And I was like, well, okay, you’ve made an assumption there, but I think you’re right. As an agency owner, you want to keep investing in your own business and you want to make sure it’s growing, but also the learnings that you’re getting are only from your own business. So if you’re able to go, Hey, look, if I kind of think about over the next three years, I’m gonna do a bit of a personal development and learning and I’m gonna take away a little bit of cash and invest it in other businesses as a way to learn from other founders, because I think that’s an amazing thing. By investing in other companies, you are getting the collective intelligence and learnings from all these brilliant companies doing amazing things, and that’s in addition to what you’re already doing. So of course you should be investing in your own business first, but do consider kind of the bigger picture and how these investments can make you a better founder in your own business. John Jantsch (04:09): Yeah, so, so it’s not merely a oh 8% return on investment, you know, kind of calculation. Yeah, I mean, you’re saying that in some ways, even if you don’t have the money, the funds, you know, directly that go find them because in some ways it’s an investment in your own business. Ben Young (04:25): Yeah, and there’s a few things to touch on there. So it doesn’t have to be a lot of capital. So through websites like angellist.com, you can invest with as little as a thousand dollars per deal. And yes, investing a thousand dollars isn’t as as sexy as saying, I’m, I’m Mark Cuban investing on Shark Tank. Right? But it’s getting you into the deal and it’s getting you learning. And so if you committed to five deals a year, that’s $5,000 a year. And again, that’s not nothing. But I, the point is that you can start with a small amount. And then the other thing, and this is how I actually did my first deal. So my first deal kind of came about, someone said, Hey Ben, you know the incident? I was like, well, yes, I do . And they said, there’s this funny company, I don’t really understand it. (05:12): Can you have a look and would you consider investing? And so I had a look at the business and I was, I did understand it and I thought, you know, I, I thought it had a lot of potential. And so this was the very first deal. So this is like big stakes for me personally. So I went home and spoke with my wife and she said, but what if we lose it? And I was like, that’s a very good question, , what, what if we do lose it? And so I kind of sat and thought on it and I kind of went, Hey, look, if I do this sort of investment in other investments, I think from the learnings that will make me a better founder and help me identify new opportunities faster for my own business. So even if these investments go to zero, I’m gonna make that up through gains elsewhere. And I kind of detailed a few things where I thought it might help. So it was believable. I gave it to her and she said, okay, I get it. We can try it. ’cause worst case, you’re just gonna get the gains elsewhere. And I think that’s a good lens to look at it to go, Hey, look, let’s just start off and invest amount we’re comfortable with. But if I lose it, then I, I’ve made the gains or learnings elsewhere. And initially for my first investment, John Jantsch (06:23): You know, you make a, Ben Young (06:25): You go, John Jantsch (06:26): What I was gonna say is, you make a really good point though, is that, you know, a lot of times people get pitched and they’re like, okay, I’ve got, you know, and I