We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brenton Thomas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brenton, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

When I started my first full-time job, my dream was to become a Chief Marketing Officer. I meticulously mapped out my entire career on my iPhone, detailing every step I needed to take from age 23 to 60 to reach my goal. At 30, I was thrilled to be referred to a Director of Marketing position, a role that perfectly aligned with my career aspirations. After three months of intense interviews, I was offered the job with an annual salary of $120,000. However, after a few months in the position, I realized that the company culture didn’t mesh with my working style. Just three months into the job, I was unexpectedly let go during a phone call with my manager and HR.

This setback turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It was the early days of the pandemic, and I decided to take the leap and start my own digital marketing agency. The uncertainty of how COVID-19 would impact businesses was daunting, especially for a new entrepreneur like me. Nonetheless, as time passed, my company’s revenue steadily grew. Meanwhile, I continued to look for a backup job. About a year into running my business, I reached the final interview stage for a position that offered $140,000 a year. However, after weighing the potential of my fledgling business against the stability of a high-paying job, I decided to withdraw from the interview process and fully commit to my agency.

Now, three years later, I can confidently say that starting my own business was the best decision of my professional life. The flexibility, sense of pride, and direct correlation between my efforts and earnings are unmatched. I am now a passionate advocate for entrepreneurship and encourage everyone I meet to consider starting their own business. There’s nothing quite like the freedom and fulfillment that come with being your own boss and building something from the ground up. Entrepreneurship is worth the risk!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I specialize in digital marketing, focusing on running paid ads for clients on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, X Ads, Twitter Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). My role involves crafting compelling text and designing eye-catching images for ads that represent my clients on these platforms.

My main goal is to generate leads or revenue for my clients. They invest in my advertising services and expect to see a return on their investment. When I can generate a profit for them, it brings the most satisfaction. We take immense pride in achieving impressive returns for our clients, often ranging from 200% to 600%. This success is due to our meticulous attention to detail, assigning only talented digital marketers to client accounts, conducting weekly phone calls, and rapidly creating and testing new campaigns.

If you’d like to learn more about our agency, visit our website at twibiagency.com or schedule a time to chat with me at https://calendly.com/brenton-thomas/30min. You can also find us on Google, where we’ve been featured in various podcasts, webinars, and conference recordings over the past few years.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

When I was let go from my corporate job, which paid $120,000 a year, I had already been freelancing for four years on a website called marketerhire.com, earning an extra $15,000 annually. After losing my job, I ramped up my freelancing hours and discovered another platform, growthcollective.com, which also provided leads for marketers. Between MarketerHire and Growth Collective, I was able to pull in $200,000 a year. I realized the pandemic created a high demand for marketing services, as many individuals and businesses had extra funds to invest in marketing expertise like mine.

As the pandemic wound down, the leads from MarketerHire and Growth Collective dried up completely. Fortunately, the timing was perfect because I had started sourcing my own clients. My agency’s revenue continued to grow to over $400,000 a year, fueled by referrals from former corporate colleagues, speaking engagements, and an effective cold email template that converted many prospects into clients.

Now, most of our new clients come from these referrals and engagements, showcasing the power of a strong network and proactive outreach. Transitioning from relying on freelancer websites to building my client base independently has been incredibly rewarding, and it’s exciting to see my agency thrive on its own merits.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Growing our clientele was challenging at the beginning because convincing someone to give you a chance without case studies or industry-specific stats to speak to is tough. To overcome this, we initially offered lower pricing just to land clients. Once we secured a client, we poured our hearts into providing exceptional service. This approach led to two possible outcomes: either we met the client’s goals and they were thrilled, or we fell short but the client still appreciated our hard work. Remarkably, we’ve received referrals from clients even when we didn’t meet their goals, simply because they valued the effort we put in.

It’s easy to focus solely on acquiring new clients, but developing strong relationships with those clients is equally important. Building trust and showing dedication can lead to referrals and long-term success, even if the initial results aren’t perfect. By investing in our clients and truly caring about their success, we’ve been able to grow our business and create a network of satisfied clients who advocate for us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.twibiagency.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twibi_marketing/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/twibimarketing/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/twibimarketing/
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/AgencyTwibi

Image Credits

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