Eric recently did an interview with the Tough Decisions for Entrepreneurs Podcast. Here is an edited transcript version of that podcast. The words in bold were the podcast hosts: Dan and Dennae Handford. Everything else is Eric.
Eric Kasimov is the founder of KazSource, a multi-faceted company that includes KazCM (a content marketing agency), SportsEpreneur.com (a content platform), and KazSource Insurance (an insurance brokerage group). He is also the host of the podcast, Entrepreneur Perspectives.
For Eric and his team, it’s all about helping entrepreneurs build and protect their business–and that starts with creating opportunities through content marketing.
Now for the Tough Decisions for Entrepreneurs Podcast episode summary…
Where is your focus right now, as an entrepreneur?
Eric: Right now, I’m focused on the clarity of our team—clarity in messaging, clarity in their tasks, clarity in their day.
It’s like cleaning out your closet or garage. You spend a day cleaning, and it’s much better, but now, with the clutter moved out of the way, you can see more things you need to do. It’s a never-ending process of improvement. Refining the way we do things around here, that’s been a constant.
Being an entrepreneur is all about making decisions. Can you share a decision of yours that turned out badly? Or at least not so good?
Eric: Sure. I remember driving to a client event in North Carolina with my business partner, right around the time we were in the early stages of the marketing business–creating content for people other than ourselves. We were talking about all kinds of things on that car ride, and the subject of our target clientele came up. Well, since we had started as an insurance brokerage company, I had focused on business leaders in financial services up until that point. That was not the right decision to solely focus on that market, although it is still a market of ours (just not the only one).
Eventually, we expanded our focus because we had business leaders from many different fields approaching us for help and we realized we could absolutely help them. But my initial decision to seek clients from only that one field slowed the growth of the marketing company early on–but we learned from that. Now we work with business leaders that have a growth mindset, understand the importance of outsourcing, want to re-invest in their business, and believe marketing can help. This includes leaders in financial services and other industries.
How about a decision that turned out really well?
Eric: Well, we’d just lost a major insurance deal at the last moment. It felt pretty devastating. We’d had success in insurance overall, but that loss made it obvious that there are factors beyond our control. We couldn’t be sure everything would always go our way. So we could just do our best going forward, or we could stack the odds in our favor. We decided on the second option. We had been creating content for our own business for a while at that point. We realized it was the time to listen to the requests of others and start creating content for them, too. Expanding into marketing was absolutely the right decision for us.
What strategies do you use to make these tough decisions?
Eric: I love my office, but I also know offices are like boxes, and I feel like I need to get out of the box to make a good decision. So that’s what I do. I walk outdoors a lot, around my office park or my neighborhood—I’ll walk around the soccer fields, if my kids are at practice.
I also get creative. Writing allows me to open up. I believe when we allow ourselves to get creative, it makes the logistic work or decision-making easier.
That and having clear priorities. If there are priorities in place, it allows for easier decisions.
What technologies make your life easier?
Eric: First, there’s the trifecta of Audible, my Apple podcast app, and my Kindle app. Even before I started my business, I realized I needed to get out of my own head. And I needed to fill my head with good stuff, not just random noise. This is when podcasts became huge for me and when I became the reader I needed to be. Quite honestly, these three tools have had an impact that I could never measure.
And for the second one, it is our systems. We have Google Works and operate both Apple and Microsoft products—We have a Microsoft Office 365 Platform – but within that, Sharepoint and Planner have been enormous for us.
Any favorite books that have helped you make better decisions as an entrepreneur–that the Tough Decisions for Entrepreneurs Podcast listeners might like?
Eric: Essentialism, by Greg McKeown, and Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight.
Any favorite quotes?
Eric: “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
What’s the next thing for you, right now, on your vision/dream board?
Eric: We are focused on creating super-great content – blogs and podcasts primarily. We are focused on our client’s stories. And we are looking for new entrepreneurs to invest our time in—we love helping entrepreneurs tell their story.
How can The Tough Decisions for Entrepreneurs Podcast listeners and others reach you?
Eric: Any of the following work!
KazCM marketing company website
Thank you to the Tough Decisions for Entrepreneurs Podcast team for having me!
Interested in telling your stories in a podcast or blog? We can help.
