We were lucky to catch up with Paul Zanardo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Paul, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

The most important lessons/experiences that have helped me be successful as a business owner are my ability to connect and communicate efficiently with people based on individual needs. I was in sales and marketing for over 20 years. Those experiences taught me to actively listen to the client in order to meet his/her specific requests. I learned to adapt to various situations, products, and services. This stretched me creatively and allowed me to be flexible in how I marketed a product or service.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am Paul A. Zanardo, and I am the founder/CEO of Zanardo Dezignz LLC. My company was established in 2014, after spending more than 20 years in the field of sales and marketing. I excelled in all my professional goals but wanted more. This sparked me to return to school and change career paths. I wanted to ultimately help people achieve success in their own businesses, and I’ve always been passionate about the creative industry. So, I returned to school to pursue a degree in website development and graphic design where I graduated Suma Cum Laude from The Art Institutes.

At Zanardo Dezignz, we believe in integrity, honest business practices, providing a reliable turnaround time, and listening to our client’s needs down to the very last detail. Customer service is of utmost importance to us. We provide website development, SEO, graphic design, printing, and social media marketing. We’re your one stop shop for all branding services.

We are a 5-star Google rated company, and our reputation of excellent client relationships allows us to continuously help brands thrive and prosper.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Genuine engagement and providing useful content across all respective platforms have been the recipe for my success when it comes to a great social media marketing strategy.

My experience with social media began long before my business was conceived. Looking back, I realize that I was marketing on MySpace when Facebook was just for college campuses. Then hearing of Facebook, I was skeptical but decided to check it out. I soon discovered that Facebook was an excellent digital tool for connecting, selling, and marketing. I quickly learned how to use the platform to create and market events for colleagues. These experiences were laying the foundation for my social media marketing career. I am now proficient in marketing and branding on almost all social media platforms, everything from TikTok to LinkedIn.

It has taken many years of trial and error, blood, sweat, and tears, and continued learning to build my audience and network. I am constantly growing and learning from other professionals such as, Gregg Burkhalter, “The LinkedIn Guy.” My advice is “don’t sell yourself” and genuinely engage with your audience on social media via posts and comments. This will build organic relationships that will lead to success. My final piece of advice is to remember that your personal brand is just as important as your business brand. How you interact with others on a personal level can be a direct reflection of your business.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Several books have been influential in my journey.

The first being, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. He states, “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” This resonates with me on a deeper level when I am working closely with clients trying to meet their specific needs.

The next book that has helped me tremendously is Becoming a Person of Influence by John C. Maxwell. It has reinforced the importance of my integrity and rapport in life and in business. This book encompasses all leadership qualities and practices. The insights are practical, easy to apply and highly motivational.

Lastly, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker. This book has given me a paradigm shift in my financial blueprint. Eker says, “Having top-of-the-line tools is imperative but being the top-notch carpenter who masterfully uses those tools is even more critical.” This profound statement encourages me to be a master in my field.
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Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.zanardodezignz.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zanardodezignz/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZanardoDezignzLLC/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulzanardo?trk=public_profile_browsemap
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/zanardodezignz