We recently connected with Aedan Petty and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Aedan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Consistency and personal excellence are a huge part in becoming truly successful. Consistency nets you business growth and wealth, and personal excellence yields satisfaction and purpose. There are lots of things you need to do to be successful, but I think these two topics are ones that are forefront in my mind at the current time for my business.

I know plenty of creatives and business owners who are successful, not necessarily because they are the best at what they do, but because they were consistent in their efforts to build their company and brand. No matter whether they win or fail the day, or their deals, or something else they are trying to do; they continue to work and post and move their business forward. The other thing they understand is that failure is inevitable, and is part of learning how to win. Nobody succeeds without failure at some point. It’s all about getting back up when you fall, and keep moving forward.

As for personal excellence, it is extremely important to have good morals and ethics. There are so many fake gurus out there that take advantage of others who are not savvy to their industries. If you are a scumbag who makes lumps of money from scamming others or being unethical in your practices, you aren’t truly successful. You may have the appearance of someone who has accomplished many things, but it is all a facade. It takes someone who understands, appreciates, and practices personal excellence to become truly successful. It impacts all aspects of your life.

Aedan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Aedan Petty and I am the owner of POI Marketing. I am a professional digital marketer, photographer, and videographer. Currently, my main business offerings are websites, SEO, and digital advertising such as Google Ads. I regularly shoot automotive media as well.

I got into automotive photography shooting at Cars and Coffee San Antonio. I was asked to photograph a collection of cars, and ever since then, I’ve had my photography business. Over the years, I have shot numerous vehicles for collection memorabilia, high end auctions, and automotive companies looking to showcase their products.

I began to learn videography during this time, mainly due to the shift in social media content with reels and YouTube content. Eventually, I professionally applied my skills during a full season of Porsche Carrera Cup, traveling the USA to film the Porsche GT3 Cup cars for social media content. I have also shot automotive video content for multiple businesses to post on their social media.

Throughout college, I worked for a marketing company. I wrote content for websites and performed basic SEO tasks for various clients. As I completed my Bachelors in Business Management, I began working for the university running their digital marketing campaigns.

I founded POI Marketing in November of 2022 and have provided local businesses with website design, SEO, and digital advertising. My clients are in a wide variety of industries. I work closely with them to fine tune their digital marketing to successfully compete with and beat their local competition in web design, organic search results, and paid digital ads. I focus on understanding their business mission, pain points, and competition to provide the best digital marketing solution for their budget and goals.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Somewhat recently, I had to pivot my business away from offering mainly offering social media management and creative content services. This decision was the result of a tough realization that I had after a lot of thought. I realized I needed to change my main business offerings, and prioritize my other skills and expertise to further grow my company.

I recognized that I could not change the amount of time I have in a day. Delegation of tasks to scale my services would be my biggest obstacle. My clients for social media management and content were paying me for my own content and editing. This meant that for the majority of shoots, I had to be there in person, working hours scheduled around their availability. I also felt burnt out from having to spend so many hours creating and editing content. While I had fun creating and enjoyed the editing process, it was starting to lose its appeal.

Not only this, but during my stint doing content creation and social media management for Porsche racing teams, I recognized that this line of work in the automotive space was not going to fulfill my earning potential. It was a blast to work around racecars all the time, but it just felt like I could be doing something else that scaled more effectively. Running a social media management agency was not really of interest to me. I needed to do something differently.

I spent awhile thinking about what I was prioritizing through my marketing company. I loved the automotive content I was creating, but felt burnt out and tired. This is when I made the decision to prioritize websites, SEO, and digital advertising over content creation. I have all of the necessary skills to outperform the competition and provide top tier digital marketing services to local businesses. It was really just a matter of making that shift in my mind and in conversation with potential clients.

The reason I was prioritizing social media management and content creation was because of the opportunities that had presented themselves. However, these opportunities fell short of the expectations I had going into them. While they seemed great on the outside, once I was on the inside and working hard within their requirements, I realized it was not what I ultimately wanted to do.

So far, this has been a successful pivot in my business endeavors. I can scale these offerings much better, as they don’t necessarily require my creative touch in every aspect. I still offer photography and videography, but have scaled back on promoting that as much. I still really enjoy the creativity involved, so I still plan on doing it here and there, just not as much as before. Now, my priority is on websites, SEO, and digital advertising.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Yes. The book Greatness by David L. Cook is an incredible read. It gives so much valuable insight into the world of greatness. I highly encourage this book to anyone who aspires to achieve greatness in life, no matter what you do.

Podcast wise, I really enjoy listening to Andy Frisella’s podcast, and specifically the Q&AF podcast episodes. Andy is an extremely successful entrepreneur, and he provides his expert opinions and advice to other entrepreneurs and individuals who have questions about business, work, and life. His insight is backed by top level experiences and challenges he has faced.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://poimarketing.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aedanpetty/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/POIMarketingLLC
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aedan-petty/
• Twitter: https://x.com/poimarketingllc
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Aedan_Petty
• Other: https://aedanpettyphotography.com/