First Generation Black Entrepreneur, Brandon Anthony Clark, Leverages Keap CRM To Automate & Grow His Small Business

Jason Benedict on November 4, 2022

As a first-generation black entrepreneur, Brandon Anthony Clark wasn’t always living his dream. In fact, he was living day-to-day in what he called his “regular job” that was a means to an end.

“I just wasn’t living the type of lifestyle that I had imagined living as a kid growing up, because I wanted to be a professional athlete (football player to be more specific). And, one day I’m 28 years old, and I’m working at my regular job. And I’m like, wait a minute, how did I get here. I’m not driving what I want to drive, I’m not living where I want to live, I’m not doing anything that I want to do. I’m literally just going to a job, living paycheck to paycheck – living for the weekends, for football, sports, and to get away from real life. So, I had to make some different decisions,” said Clark.

Fast-forward a few years and Brandon is now the owner of Thrive Wealth Solutions, who teaches everyday people his patent pending F.L.I.P Method that helps him and his clients to obtain more wealth through a unique life insurance investment policy.

“I had never in my life thought that I would be selling life insurance for a living, right, because I’m not even a good salesman at that,” Clark added.

When asked to explain what the F.L.I.P method is, Clark stated “The simplest way I could put it is – imagine you had this credit card, and this credit card paid you an average of 3% cashback on every single thing that you purchase, for the rest of your life. That’s what the F.L.I.P method is … Basically, what we do is we take a life insurance policy, (not something that a lot of people are, let’s say familiar with, in terms of using a strategy like this). But to keep it simple, all we do is we take the life insurance policy, and we structure it in a way that allows you to be able to use your cash as collateral and borrow against your own money.”

As you pay money into your policy, it’s like paying money towards a mortgage. As you pay your mortgage down you are creating equity in your house, right, and that equity can be tapped into it anytime. So, we’re taking that same concept, but we’re applying it to a life insurance policy that provides many tax advantages.

Brandon not only used this F.L.I.P method to create wealth for himself, but says it works for nearly anyone looking to secure their financial future.

While Brandon is living his dream life he is also no stranger to the challenges of starting and growing a small business.

“There’s a lot of legwork involved in running a business, especially when you’re first starting out,” he says. “It can be tough to keep track of everything, from sales and marketing to customer service and operations.”

That’s why Brandon decided to leverage Keap CRM & Automation Agency to help organize and automate his small business.

“I remember a point in my business where I wasn’t busy, I’d keep track of everything. I literally had a piece of paper that I would write down what I needed to do the next day, maybe five tasks, maybe 10 at the max, and I would fill up my whole day, and I have downtime. But once I started growing, the business started growing, more people started reaching out and tasks and other things started getting left behind. There were just too many tasks to put on a piece of paper. And I knew then that I was in trouble. I needed to be able to either hire somebody or develop a system that can do the repetitive tasks, the things that I don’t like doing,” Clark added.

So, Brandon decided to do both. By hiring the Automation Agency, a growth agency located in Tempe, Arizona, Brandon was able to get organized, save time, and automate many repetitive tasks after purchasing the Automation Agency’s flowchart and funnel diagram service.

When asked about Brandon’s experience with the Automation Agency, he stated “I feel like this is the best money I’ve ever invested, you know, best money I’ve ever invested. I’m naturally not a very structured person. You know, I’m more of a creative person. But when you guys were able to sit me down and ask me all these questions about my processes, questions that I didn’t even really know should be asked – you asked. And basically you were able to take that information and plug it into my flowchart. And when I saw the flowchart, I was just so impressed. I was showing everybody – like I’ve got another partner who wants to experiment with the Keap CRM system. And I showed him the flowchart, he said, Man that is “Elite,” just the start to finish.”

In order to scale his business and continue delivering high-quality work to his clients, Brandon and his team began to use the Keap CRM solution that the Automation Agency customized to their specific needs. With Keap, he is able to manage his contact lists, create and send email campaigns, set up appointments and reminders, collect payments, track his progress towards sales goals, and much more. All of these features have helped him save time so he can focus on growing his business.

“It felt like a weight had been lifted off of me. And what I experienced with you guys (Automation Agency) is just your level of knowledge, I just knew it was gonna be good, just because of how I was, I came into contact with you, I know you guys were gonna be just great. Everything from start to finish was outstanding,” added Clark.

As a young, inspiring, black entrepreneur, Brandon has always had a servant’s heart that wants to give back to others. When asked about what advice he might provide to other young professionals not living their dream or those who want to start a small business, said

“I would tell them that they will never be successful or make more money than they believe that they can make. So, the first work that you gotta do is work on your own personal attitude. Before you go out and try to change – just know that as your personal attitude gets better, as you grow as a person, that your income will grow. And you can serve more people because that’s what it’s all about. Serving more people. In order to serve more, you have to become more. It’s that simple.”

When Brandon is not inspiring other young professionals or creating TikTok videos or YouTube videos on his patent pending F.L.I.P method, he enjoys spending time with his wife and kids.

As a small business owner of a rapidly growing company, Brandon knows that he can’t do everything himself. He also knows that his time is valuable and that he needs to be strategic about how he spends it. That’s why he decided to leverage the power of automation by using Keap CRM. By automating tasks like email marketing, lead capture, and appointment scheduling, Brandon has been able to free up time with his family so that he can focus on running his business and making sure that his customers are happy.

However, Brandon isn’t the only one who has benefited from automation. His customers have also appreciated the fact that they can schedule appointments and make purchases without having to talk to a live person. This convenience has helped Brandon build a loyal customer base who keep coming back for more advice.

Thanks to the Automation Agency and the Keap CRM, Brandon has been able to streamline his business and make it more efficient. He is now better positioned than ever to continue growing his business and achieving even more success in the future. As he looks towards the future, Brandon is confident that automation will continue to be an important part of his business and help him scale to new heights.

“What the Automation Agency has done for me is give me a system that I want to imitate, like, the way you guys work with me, Jason, I was like, man, if I could take my clients through the same system, or that process. I love your guys’ process, it just is everything that I want in my business to where we’re working as a team, right. But then I can just kind of be hands off and just step in when I need to step in and just help our team members, you know, get the job done for our clients, right. But it’s been awesome. Definitely saving some time already,” added Clark.

Brandon Anthony Clark is proof that the American dream is still alive and well. By leveraging the power of automation with Keap CRM, Brandon has been able not only to build a successful business, but also inspire other young black entrepreneurs to pursue their own dreams. We’re excited to see what Brandon will do next!

If you’re a small business owner who is looking for ways to automate your business, then Keap CRM is definitely worth considering. Thanks to its powerful automation tools and robust reporting features, Keap CRM has helped first-generation black entrepreneur Brandon Anthony Clark save time and grow his business. To learn more about how Keap CRM can help your business, schedule a demo today.

How American Turmeric Increased Sales Revenue By 52%

Jason Benedict on September 12, 2022

If you’re like most small business owners, you wear a lot of hats. You might be the CEO, the CFO, and the head of marketing all rolled into one. And while you might be a jack of all trades like turmeric farmer Ed Taylor, from American Turmeric Company, there’s one area where you could probably use a little help: automation.

Luckily, there’s a tool that can take some of the daily tasks off your shoulders and help you collect more leads, convert more clients, and create more fans: Keap.

Keap is a CRM and all-in-one sales and marketing automation software that helps small businesses automate repetitive tasks, data collection, email marketing, invoicing, collecting reviews, getting more referrals, and following up with prospects and clients.

American Turmeric Company is one of the many small businesses that has leveraged the power of marketing automation and Keap to great effect. In the last year alone, they were able to grow sales by 52%.

“It’s amazing to see our clients continue to grow revenue from the campaigns, automation, and customer journeys that we’ve developed leveraging the power of Keap and its sales and marketing automation solutions,” said Jason Benedict Co-Founder of the Automation Agency.

One way American Turmeric Company was able to increase sales was by using marketing automation to launch targeted email marketing campaigns. They used behavioral data — like which products a customer purchased and time lapsed since a customer’s last purchase — to segment their list and send each group highly-targeted messages. For example, they sent discounts to first-time buyers and special offers to customers who hadn’t purchased in a while.

Behavioral data is data that describes the observed actions of customers. It gives you real insights into how people are using or will potentially use your product. The Keap CRM helped the Taylors to not only grow turmeric but also grow their customer base.

“It is one thing to hear what people say they want, but to see how they actually behave is even more insightful for business owners to make decisions that can lead to accelerated growth and better customer service,” said Benedict.

Another way American Turmeric Company increased sales was by using lead generation forms on their website. They used these forms to capture new leads of potential customers who had shown interest in their product but hadn’t made a purchase yet, and then followed up with them through automated email drip campaigns without losing the personalized touch required to build client relationships. These follow-up emails contained valuable content like educational tips, remedies about turmeric and what it does for inflammation, along with recipes for making everything from drinks to shakes to delectable meals with this miracle plant.

With the help of the Automation Agency implementing proven and tested marketing automation strategies into their business, American Turmeric Company was able to free up the necessary time needed in their business to focus on expanding their product line into new markets like skincare and dog food. They even donated 30 pounds of turmeric each month to the North American Elephant Reserve to help elephants with arthritis!

“The problem with elephants is the same problem with humans or dogs or anything – is that as we get older, our joints get stiff. We have so many testimonies Jason, from people that have experienced the healing qualities of turmeric. It’s really a privilege for us to be able to do what we do, and work with some of these people,” said Ed Taylor, Owner of American Turmeric Company.

When asked about how Ed and his wife Diane balance the farm life of growing turmeric along with running a small business and keeping organized, he said, “Soon after we got our website up and got our E-commerce site going, started selling products, shipping – we didn’t realize it, but we were building a customer base. But we didn’t really know what to do with it (at that time). They were just names and email addresses in a spreadsheet. So, we started thinking, what are we going to do with it (the email list)? I don’t know who’s buying, you know, more than once, who are my repeat customers? What are they buying? Where are they located? I didn’t know any of that stuff. So, we started looking around and we found Keap and the Automation Agency and decided that Keap was the vehicle that we wanted to use to put our information in regarding our customers.”

This was a leading indicator that the Automation Agency identified during their initial assessment that could help American Turmeric Company benefit from analyzing its behavioral data. By tracking, storing, and organizing their customer database in one centralized cloud-based solution, using Keap, these powerful analytics along with automation proved effective in helping them grow sales revenue and increase their efficiency.

Before hiring the Automation Agency to help them build out more advanced automations and designing a frictionless customer journey, the American Turmeric Company started leveraging Keap on a basic level.

“We started doing that in a rather simplistic way. And then we discovered there was this thing called Zapier, that would move our customer data out of our website every time we made a sale, and it would put into Keap,” said Taylor.

Like most new Keap users who start with humble beginnings, their curiosity grows alongside their sales, leading to continued revenue growth and more efficiency in their business, which means more margin growth. More margin growth means more profits and longevity for small businesses.

“The thing that impressed me once I understood what was going on… Is that this is an evergreen process. It’s not something that you need to focus on daily. Like you know, you wake up, you set your priorities, you do the important things that need to do. Once the automations are set up in Keap, you know, as far as I know, as long as there are computers, as long as there’s the internet, that’s kind of going to keep grinding it out. I don’t have to go in. And I mean, I can update it if I need to. But it just works. And that’s the miracle to me, is that we’re able to communicate to our customers, through the series of seven emails, initially, we have reminders in there, we have thank you’s in there – it’s just been very interesting. And to me, one of the more rewarding parts of what I do is work with Keap and work with Automation Agency, and see this thing work,” said Taylor.

So, if you’re looking for a way to grow your small business, investing in marketing automation software is a great place to start. Marketing automation will help you save time and money while still reaching new customers and growing your sales. Just take it from American Turmeric Company—automated campaigns helped them increase sales by 52% within their first year of working with the Automation Agency.

When asked about why Ed and his wife Diane chose to work with the Automation Agency, Ed stated “I liked your approach. I just liked the feeling of it. I liked what you showed us you could do. And I’ve said to you and to others before, that the team that you have the team that we worked with through Automation Agency, was part of my team. It wasn’t just your people. It wasn’t just Automation Agency, people that we were working with, they were our people. Because, really, we are in the middle of all of this, we launched a whole new website, that was a big deal for us to launch a whole new website. We brought on our new products and your team members were right there with us. If we need technical work done, it was done. They really went above and beyond what I had expected to help us solve some of the problems that we faced.”

Interested in getting results like the American Turmeric Company? Request A Free 14-Day Trial To Keap, (the all-in-one CRM for Sales & Marketing Automation) and receive a complimentary 1-hour assessment of your business from the Automation Agency.

Dr. Jamie Wilkey – Arches Health | Client Spotlight

Jason Benedict on June 4, 2022

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After eleven years as a retail pharmacist, Dr. Jamie Wilkey, PharmD decided it was time to ditch the 9 to 5 retail pharmacy job and transform herself into an entrepreneur by combining two of her greatest passions: consulting and online education in pharmacogenomics.

Dr. Wilkey’s one-year metamorphosis into entrepreneurship began by becoming certified in Pharmacogenomics (PGx) and starting her own business, Arches Health.

This relatively new field of Pharmacogenomics is an emerging ground-breaking branch of medicine that combines both pharmacology (branch of science which deals with study of drugs) with genomics (the branch of science which deals with study of genes) for development of effective doses and safe medications tailored according to an individual patient genetic makeup.

When used appropriately, pharmacogenetic testing can be a practical tool to optimize drug therapy and avoid medication adverse effects. In layman’s terms, it is an examination of how genes affect an individual’s response to drugs.

Like most entrepreneurs, Dr. Wilkey felt a rooted desire to share her knowledge and passion with the world, however, she knew going into business for herself was not going to be easy, nor was there an established path for success as she pioneered her pharmacogenomics consulting practice into a successful business.

A Pioneer Entrepreneur

Dr. Wilkey cited the following motivators for her decision to exit a safe career as a retail pharmacist to start a unique practice in a new field as:

• She was becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of long-term opportunity as a retail pharmacist for advancement.

• She noted while she had great experience and a terrific education to become a pharmacist, she constantly felt she was underutilized.

• The inability to innovate as a retail pharmacist was a constant disappointment.

• The onset of COVID-19 put her squarely on the frontline, at risk, and away from her isolated kids and work-from-home spouse.

For Dr. Jamie Wilkey, the transition involved much more than just embracing a new discipline and carving out a new niche in a very competitive industry, the move involved immersing herself in learning how to become an entrepreneur able to organize, launch, and manage a new business complete with service offerings, marketing campaigns, accounting, e-commerce, and time management.

Removing Obstacles & Implementing Sales & Marketing Automation

One of the greatest obstacles Dr. Wilkey faced began with not knowing anyone else who had built a Pharmacogenomics consulting practice. In addition, she had no experience in launching or running a small business that required sales and marketing activity, and she had limited resources at her disposal.

Before meeting the Co-Founders of the Automation Agency (Jason & Therese Benedict), Dr. Wilkey admitted she didn’t know what a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) was or how significant the ability to create an effective and consistent “customer journey” would be to her new business. Upon hiring the Automation Agency Dr. Wilkey received expert coaching, a proven and tested lifecycle marketing framework (used by thousands of small businesses), along with her own account to Keap, the leading CRM for Sales & Marketing Automation (SMA).

Generally, a lifecycle marketing plan is a three-phase framework, Collect Leads, Convert Clients and Create Fans. In Dr. Wilkey’s case the Automation Agency identified that her new startup needed to focus on collecting leads and converting clients to help drive immediate revenue to sustain her PGx-Based consulting practice.

When Dr. Wilkey received access to Keap she immediately saw the value in having all of our data in one centralized location (which helped her to save time and get better organized), while also creating a customer journey that would help her remove many manual tasks and obstacles that she faced on a daily basis and replace it with sales and marketing automation.

“Specifically, from the moment the Automation Agency introduced me to Keap, I was able to abandon my notebook approach, categorize prospects, and identify the most likely to become my customers. Since every interaction is trackable, you can see your database grow and understand through email opens and click-throughs which communications are the most effective in creating engagement,” said Dr. Wilkey.

Creating a customer journey is the process that small businesses can use to align their marketing efforts with different stages of a customer’s life cycle. Lifecycle marketing is the process of providing your audience the kinds of communications and experiences they need, want, or like as they move from prospects to customers then, ideally, to advocates.

“It’s important for small business owners to know exactly where their prospects and customers are in the buying cycle so they can provide them with appropriate information at each stage: collecting leads, converting clients, and creating fans,” said Jason Benedict, the Co-Founder of the Automation Agency.

This ensures entrepreneurs and business owners like Dr. Jamie Wilkey are spending time and money on initiatives that will generate revenue for them in the long run (rather than just focusing on short term gains).

“By following the Automation Agency recommendations, I was able to quickly replace the chaos of ‘all over the place’ note taking and scrambling through notebooks to figure out who, when, and how to appropriately follow up with my prospects with compelling messages,” said Dr. Wilkey.

Results

After devoting months of research and conducting due diligence before attempting to launch her first online training course and consulting practice (tailored to other pharmacists looking to break free from their day job), Dr. Wilkey hired the Automation Agency to expertly assist her in developing a go-to-market strategy that included sales and marketing automation to scale her business quickly and minimize the potential pitfalls and obstacles.

The Automation Agency started by helping Dr. Wilkey create a unique and memorable customer journey that fast-tracked her success and allowed her to attract several new clients and collect $18,000 in revenue from launching her first online course, PGx Confidence Course, which teaches other pharmacists how to start their own consulting practice.

The Agency’s experience in creating highly customized individual communications, suitably segmenting prospects by category, and focusing on the prospects with the highest probability to become customers, had an immediate impact for Dr. Wilkey. The Keap CRM tools recommended by the Automation Agency helped to jumpstart Dr. Wilkey’s new endeavor. From the beginning, the agency believed what she had to offer was unique and valuable. They had a significant track record in delivering the most efficient and effective way to communicate a complex subject.

“The Automation Agency helped me understand how to target and automate the communication timing as well as the message to a seemingly overwhelming potential universe without sacrificing the personal touch. This is of particular importance to me in pursuing my goal of helping my individual patients to thrive in health using personalized, precision medicine,” said Dr. Wilkey.

The Future is Bright

With every passing day Dr. Wilkey’s positive mindset contributes to the formation of an even firmer business foundation for her future. She has continued to gain confidence in her value to other health professionals and enjoys spreading the news of the success of her company and the pharmacogenomics field.

When asked what advice Dr. Wilkey would recommend to other pharmacists and healthcare professionals who are considering starting their own business or breaking free from their day job, she replied, “invest in yourself and go all in. It’s easy to doubt yourself or to wonder if it’s right for you. But you need to invest in yourself and believe in a brighter future and take action on it. Taking action opens up so many opportunities.”

Dr. Wilkey also adds that you need to put that belief into action by hiring experts like the Automation Agency who can help support your growth and fast-track your success. “When you make a monetary investment, your skin is really in the game, and you are held accountable. And when you work with experts you can achieve remarkable success. Engaging the Automation Agency was the best move I ever made.”

Dr. Wilkey concluded that there was more risk in not initiating a career change in the long-term, than going forward in pursuit of the vision of her new endeavor. Pharmacists interested in learning more can visit: www.DrJamieWilkey.com.

The key to success as an entrepreneur is listening and following your intuition. However, this can be difficult when you’re constantly distracted by the numerous demands of running a business. That’s where the Automation Agency comes in. Our team of coaches and marketing automation experts have helped thousands of entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and small business owners to navigate their way through various challenges and have helped them to achieve amazing results!

Grow. Expand. Automate.

The Automation Agency is an award-winning marketing agency and Keap Certified Partner that helps small businesses to grow revenue, expand clientele, enhance productivity, increase sales, and enjoy more freedom from their business by automating their sales and marketing while maintaining consistent growth within their business.

The Automation Agency wants to help you make your dreams of becoming an entrepreneur or small business owner a reality. Which is why we offer a 14-Day Small Business Bootcamp Challenge, that gives you access to all the powerful marketing automation tools, like Keap to help you get started on the right track.

Sign up for our Free 14-Day Small Business BootCamp Challenge and get access to Keap today!

“The Automation Agency set me up with all of my contacts and communications in one place. The notebook approach I was using just wasn’t effective or sustainable. By deploying CRM tagging and segmentation tools, I have been able to appropriately communicate with every prospect in the database with the right messages at precisely the right time”, Dr. Wilkey noted.

“All of your communication is 100% trackable. It is fun to watch your database grow, the percentage of your emails that have been opened, and where exactly clicks occurred, so you get a real picture of how engaged your prospects and customers are with your message. You have a clear picture of how and when to nurture your prospects and customers.”