We recently connected with Gary Lovelace Jr and have shared our conversation below.

Gary , appreciate you joining us today. What’s been one of the most interesting investments you’ve made – and did you win or lose? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

I know it might sound rather cliche, but the best investment I ever have made was in myself and developing my skills. I had a couple key mentors who gave me years of insight on the master locks needed to build a sustainable scale-able business. I found out early on the most crucial skill needed was sales and negotiating. Your ideas or products are not responsible to sell themselves, you are! Success in business is founded on your ability to get attention, qualify a customer, present your product, overcome objections, and get a credit card number or put cash in a register.

Having this realization I need a fundamental solution to my lack of wherewithal or capacity. I simply went to Google typed in sales training I bought a book by Grant Cardone that changed my whole career called ” Closer Surival Guide”… A twenty dollar book on Amazon in the last ten years has helped me develop my cold calls script, laser in my presentations skills, and gave me a plethora of closing material to exhaust a customer into yes. This book improved my closing ration by 40% and his Grant Cardone University program along with video content has made me in the ballpark of 8 million dollars to date.

Ten years later the habit of committing an hour a day to practicing my cold call script, role playing, and rehearsing objections has made it a permanent part of my sales psyche.

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?

My curiosity for search engine optimization started back in early 2012. At the time I was working primarily in a sales and consultant role for Go Site Local here in San Diego. The company was struggling so they recruited me and my team to build their local s.e.o division and within 12 months we had acquired over 400 customers and generated over $1.5 million in sales in the first year. We became recognized as the top 28th S.E.O in the nation amongst companies like E- Gumball, Orange Soda, and Higher Visibility. We also had ranked over 1000 local business on the 1st page of Google Maps and had a 95% track record of success. Go Site Local today has over 60 employees and does over $3 million in revenue a year.

My second company Katapult S.E.O was formed in 2014. This business was my first in a founder position and was funded 100% by venture capital due to my successes with Go Site Local. We retained our first 200 customers within four months and we broke $1 million in our first year of operations.

Being involved with both of these businesses taught me a ton of valuable lessons and shaped my road to becoming an entrepreneur. I realized after a few micro losses and some failed partnerships, it was the cosmos way of telling that it was time for me to create my own brand, create a new narrative and tell my story. I’m an entrepreneur & S.E.O Consultant, with over 10 years of experience in internet marketing. I love business and the Internet, but what I love most is teaching others and helping business owners grow their companies. My goal is to continue to have a 100% client satisfaction and retention rate by delivering unparalleled results. Local LaunchPad has allowed me to work with small mom and pop businesses who have great products and know that the Internet can propel their brands and businesses to the next level. For me, however, it’s not just about higher search rankings or traffic; it’s about real results, my clients’ reputations, and their relationships.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Hands down cold calling is the most inexpensive tool with the highest return on investment. I love cold calling because your playing the law of averages, and what I mean by that as your skills improve your income becomes predictable based on how many outbound you make. I have my production goals in clear sight on my desk broken down from daily, monthly and quarterly, a dream without a goal or target is just a wish.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

My core values which are HUSTLE, HARD-WORK, COMMUNICATION, EXCELLENCE, AND CREATIVITY… I have been consistently meaner and tougher than 90% of my competition. I have worked 80-100 work weeks for over a decade with no time off time with family or for vacation or leisure. There wasn’t a single moment in those ten years I simply wasn’t on the phone in a pitch, I was asking for a referral, adding value to an existing relationship, or managing campaigns. Absolutely no time for hobbies or dates with my girlfriend. I built my business with balls and sweat equity the old school pull yourself up by your bootstrap mentality.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.locallaunchpad.net/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garrencehowardtha3rd/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/locallaunchpadllc/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garylovelace
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/garytheseoguru

Image Credits
I do have the rights to the images provided