Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Eric Yaillen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Eric, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I had stopped working in 2014 due to significant health issues including Stage 3c Colorectal cancer, being in a coma, developing stage 4 kidney disease and more. I couldn’t work due to high levels of opioid prescriptions that made it impossible to deal with working both mentally and physically. However, new treatments in 2021 allowed me to reduce my need for medications and once capable, the type-A person I am wanted to be productive and contribute once again.

My first endeavor back was a technology consulting gig for a small company led by Perry Belcher, a.k.a. “the godfather of digital marketing.” It was a natural move blending my passions for both marketing and technology. I have a history in marketing going back to high school in the mid-70s and I started with computers in 1984. In fact, I developed the equivalent of the first CRM solution for the PGA of America back in 1992.

During that gig, what I discovered was that the vast majority of entrepreneurs I encountered lacked the core foundational knowledge they needed to accomplish their goals and dreams. At the core of any successful business is their brand. Today, personal branding is actually more important than business branding since people are searching to work and buy from those they know, like and trust.

The last hurdle most entrepreneurs struggle with is technology. They get easily confused and frustrated with the plethora of choices and the high costs of managing multiple subscriptions with their data strewn all over the place.

As a marketer, my primary responsibility is that of a problem solver.. I clearly saw the problem and knew that I also had the ability to provide the solution with both honor and integrity by offering more affordable solutions and overdelivering on customer service. Its with that that I conceived “the Megafluence Method, a simple 4-part framework that every business owner needs if they want to be a market leader in their niche.

It starts with solving the problem of personal branding.

There are 3 truths in life. You will die, you will be taxed, and you will be Googled! The question is, when someone searches for you, are you just another search result, or are you elevated to the status of a verified entity. To be considered an entity, you need to have a knowledge panel which is something that can only be earned. It cannot be bought. We show people how they can be granted this status.

Once your brand strategy is in place, you also need to know your ideal customer as well as how best to communicate with them. Most people just don’t understand how to properly craft their message and fall back on trying to sell features rather than benefits. We show our clients how to emotionally connect with their clients.

Part three of the framework is having SOPs. Standard Operating Procedures that can easily be replicated by others is how one is able to consistently grow and scale.

Last but not least, if they truly want to succeed they need technology. But most people are overwhelmed, confused and frustrated when it comes to choosing the right systems as well as implementing them properly. Whether its understanding the regulatory environment that governs digital marketing, implementing email systems properly to ensure emails get to the inbox, getting setup and compliant to handle text message marketing, creating websites and funnels, generating and following up with leads, or navigating social media, digital advertising, seo and other necessary functions today, we solve that too.

Eric, 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?

The world of digital marketing is replete with predators that are more interested in transactional relationships where they are mostly interested in making a buck rather than actually solving problems. The world of digital marketing is not necessarily that difficult, but there are lots of moving parts and lots of predatory players that charge excessive fees but don’t deliver results.

We established our company to solve that problem by basing our brand on the values of honesty and integrity. We have a reputation of investing the time necessary to help entrepreneurs implement complex systems and explain them in simple ways all while usually charging far less than others. Our satisfaction comes from saving our customers money where it was being wasted so that they have the resources to invest in those areas they couldn’t afford before. By having freed up capital to invest properly in their business in those areas that can generate a greater return on that investment, they ultimately see their revenues and profits skyrocket.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The story that resonates most with others when it comes to resilience is that I was forced into an early retirement at the age of 52 when I was diagnosed with Stage 3c Colorectal cancer. That ultimately led to a permanent colostomy in 2015. Then in 2016, excessive pain led to having a spinal stimulator implanted. A year later I developed Kidney stones and I developed sepsis from the hospital ultimately ending up in a coma. The destruction that resulted from radiation treatments also destroyed my uretors, and that led to stage 4 kidney disease as well as a permanent bilateral nephrostomy.

But by 2021, after effective treatments I was able to reduce pain meds to the point where I could be a functional human, and as a Type-A individual I wanted something more in life than just sitting around doing nothing all day. I evaluated my history of success in marketing and technology and also saw that there was a need for my types of skills. But my health situation still made it impossible to get a traditional job, so I made the choice to pursue another entrepreneurial venture in order to share my talents with those who could use it most.

That’s my story about general resilience in life. Resilience is business is a whole other story. Resilience refers to our ability to bounce back from adversity or change, to recover and move forward. Perseverance, on the other hand, is about the continued effort to achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition. It’s about staying the course, even when the going gets tough. The entrepreneurial journey often requires both.

When I went to work for the Oregon Golf Association, I immediately saw the problems with their business and long term future and forged a plan to set them on a path to grow and scale. But like many membership organizations driven by ego-centric boards, they were resistant to any change.

I developed a comprehensive brand strategy and marketing plan with input by all of important stakeholders and while the entire staff bought in, when the executive director presented the plan to the board it met significant resistance. In fact, one board member literally asked that I be fired for creating such a plan in the first place because that plan involved a retrospective look at the business operations’ historical failures and successes. Another board member was instructed to gather all of the plans and destroy them.

But, I am not one to give up. Eventually I learned the board member assigned the task of destroying the plans had actually preserved it. We continued our efforts to slowly implement small incremental changes where we could.

When a new executive director was hired, the staff was given the task to evaluate the business and suggest changes. We were divided into two teams in the style of the Apprentice reality show and had to make presentations to the board.

Without going into all the details, the only significant change allowed to be implemented was the one that I had originally proposed years earlier. The Executive Director, however was still reticent to go forward and all of the responsibility fell to me. At the end of the year, this one program increased revenues by more than 25% and still exists to this day, more than 12 years since it was first implemented and also went on to win awards from the International Association of Golf Administrators.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My reputation has been built on many things and it all started because of my desire to align with powerful mentors. I have been fortunate to learn from so many pioneers in my chosen field.

First first mentor was a family friend who started a simple pharmacy and grew it to a chain of over 30, ultimately selling it to Walgreens. He then went and began a chain of optical stores. More than just a successful entrepreneur, he was also an internationally recognized philanthropist who gave both time and money to numerous charitable organziation.

My next mentor was another great entrepreneur who founded the temporary employment agency, Manpower Inc. in 1948, after his law firm encountered difficulties hiring temporary workers and essentially created what we now know today as Virtual Assistants. I had started my first venture as a freelance PR practitioner, and was hired to promote Elmer Winter’s non-profit “Operation 4,000” which had the goal of employing disadvantaged youth in the community,

Soon thereafter, I was hired at Wisconsin Electric Power Company and was given the responsibility of promoting the 100th anniversary of commercial electricity. The 1st hydroelectric power plant (and secord electric generation station) created by Thomas Edison was in our territory, It was then that I learned that the 50th anniversary was promoted by Edward Bernays, the father of modern PR who interestingly shared a birthday with me. I was fortunate to have been able to share stories with him when I met him a few years later.

The next pioneer I had the fortunate pleasure of working with was Ben Barkin, the father of special event marketing. With the sponsorship of the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. in 1963, the Circus World Museum, located in Baraboo, Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Ringling Bros., was able to exhibit their collection of historic circus wagons in a fashion similar to how a traveling circus would parade through the towns it visited. This was the first time a corporate title sponsorship to an event which today is commonplace. Who would know that I would also go on to become a regional marketing director for Feld Entertainment, the producers of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as well as Walt Disney’s World On Ice.

I had other great and notable mentors along the way including Paul Fullmer, the CEO of the world’s largest independent PR agency at the time who handed me the sole responsibility of handling his account with the Italian Trade Commission; Bob Anderson, the Lt. Governor of Iowa for whom I served as Press Secretary and who introduced me to Astronaut and Senator John Glenn; journalists David Brinkley and Peter Jennings who I worked with at ABC News; and many others. Most recently I had the opportunity to work for Perry Belcher, the “godfather of digital marketing.”

Mentors certainly play a crucial role in shaping the trajectory of any business. Their guidance, wisdom, and experience offers invaluable insights that can both give direction and propel most any entrepreneur towards achieving their goals. By leveraging the expertise of mentors, entrepreneurs can navigate challenges more effectively and make informed decisions that drive business growth. And it is because of my mentors that I serve others today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://GottaCallEric.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/eyaillen
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/eyaillen
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/eyaillen

Image Credits
The photo of me at the computer is from Ann Landstrom, Studio Ageless