Q. Kindly give our readers an introduction to your business. Please include what your business is all about, in which city you are located and if you have offices in multiple locations/ cities.
A. I founded My Impact Brand a digital marketing agency to educate and help people with digital marketing services. To educate because as a small business owner I realized that I didn’t know much about how marketing had changed in the last 10 years. I found myself overwhelm with various social media accounts and trying to engage with my followers daily. I found that millions of businesses got started just online without a storefront, I found that a lot of people where now working from home. The demographic was changing, and this new generation was doing almost everything online. As a business owner I understand the importance of staying relevant and making sure I can reach my customers. The truth is that your customers are online more than any other place, that is the reality. The best way to reach more customers is by having an online brand awareness. If nobody knows what you are selling how can people buy from you. My business is in Davenport Florida, I only have one location.
Q. Kindly give us a brief description about yourself (it should include your brief educational or entrepreneurial background and list some of your major achievements).
A. My name is Cesar Fernandez, I am 36 years old I have an associate degree in Occupational Studies, a bachelor’s degree in Technical Management and a Master of Business Administration with Distinctions. My entrepreneurship started with a gas station that my family opened in 2010. My father was semi retiring, and he wanted to invest in something, so he chooses a gas station. Because of my business education and experience I came to help. We took this gas station and increased sales by 30% in less than six months, but the location of the gas station was very dangerous, and we had a lot of people stealing and many dangerous clients at night, also it was a 24-hour operation which meant long hours and we always had to be on call. We decided to sell the gas station and buy FedEx Routes. We purchased 4 routes with FedEx ground and like any new business there was some growing pains. It took us about two years to establish the business, We when from netting 450 thousand to 1.2 million in 8 years. From around 5 trucks with 8 employees to 14 trucks with around 17 employees. During this process I fell back to my management roll and financing. I started consulting small business owner and individuals about business credit and personal credit. I opened a real estate investment company, Trucking company, a slingshot rental company and now a digital marking agency. The only company that I fully participate is in the digital marketing agency company because the other companies and structure so that they can generate passive income.
Q. What inspired you to (start a new business venture) or (to make significant changes in an existing business)? How did the idea for your business come about?
A. The inspiration to start a digital marketing agency came to me because of the lack of marketing education I had and many other business owners I knew had. I was so busy running and managing these other businesses that I never saw how the marketing industry was changing and developing. When I opened my Sling Shot rental company, I was stuck trying to figure out how to reach my clients. I didn’t want to sign a lease and buy too much inventory; I didn’t really think I needed a storefront. So, I stared to market but boy was I lost. I have a business background I understand marketing, but my clients were online. I got to work and did what I was thought in school, market research. I found out that I needed to understand my clients and find them. Try to figure out how my competition was marketing and how they were reaching clients. Online was the answer. So, I open all my social media accounts, I did google ads, Facebook ads, and engaged with my audience. It was night and day, because started to call me, message me, the responds were incredible. It was like I had a digital store front and people were just walking inside and buying my service. So, then I figure, how can I help others that have the same problem, that’s how I come up with the idea of opening a digital marketing agency.
Q. What three pieces of advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
A. One of the most important aspects of running any business must be your marketing budget. You also must understand how to market your services. It doesn’t matter if you have the best product or service, if people don’t know about it. Digital marketing is super important because newer generations are online and new technology has made it easier to do almost everything online. Business owner must understand that if they want to continue to grow their business and make a profit.
Q. What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
A. The top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur are brand awareness which is making sure that your company is constantly in front of people. Customer service and always making sure you add value to your clients. Your clients must understand why they are paying you.
Q. How many hours do you work a day on average?
A. I work anywhere from 4 to 8 hours
Q. To what do you most attribute your success?
A. Working hard and a clear goal.
Q. How do you go about marketing your business? What has been your most successful
form of marketing?
A. The most successful from of marking for my business has been digital marketing. Specifically, Google and Facebook, but this depends on the type of business.
Q. Where did your organizations funding/capital come from and how did you go about getting it? How did you obtain investors for your venture?
A. Many of my investors came from networking and unique financial tools that I can tap into because of my credit knowledge.
Q. What is the best way to achieve long-term success?
A. The best way to achieve long-term success is by developing a plan and dedicating a lot of time to working your plan. You need to have a clear goal in mind.
Q. Where you see yourself and your business in 5 – 10 years?
A. I see my self acquiring assets and preparing to retire because of the numerous passive income I can generate from multiple stream source.
Q. Excluding yours, what company or business do you admire the most?
A. I admire McDonalds and Coke because these companies have been around for many years, and they still seem to stay relevant. We all know them young and old. They know how to break the generational gap businesses seem to have.