Derek is the founder & CEO of The Artist Evolution, a full service marketing agency building successful brands, marketing tools, and campaigns for startups and household brands. He is also the author of the best-selling book Don’t Buy A Duck, endorsed by Seth Godin, and co founder of ChampagneMarketingCourses.com.

Click to tweet: Fire Nation, Derek shares his incredible journey on EOFire today!

Time Stamped Show Notes

(click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.)

• [01:03] – Derek is both a father and a husband
• [01:11] – He’s always been interested in business and music
• [01:21] – Derek’s first time on stage was at the age of three
• [01:37] – By age of 12, Derek was already managing a band where he and his brother were members
• [01:48] – His first business was a franchise he took over at 18 years old
• [02:36] – Derek’s area of expertise is in fixing the five crisis points in marketing
• [03:03] – The five things Derek generally fixes are:
  • [03:07] – Identity crisis’s (a brand’s Bermuda triangle)
  • [03:36] – Ideal customers or the Avatar
  • [04:38] – Marketing tools
  • [05:06] – Plans
  • [05:30] – Consistent execution
• [06:09] – Derek has a marketing course where he goes through exercises for the 5 things in marketing that need to be fixed
• [06:27] – Have a plan of action and be ready to execute that plan
• [08:08] – Test! Test! Test!
• [08:25] – Worst Entrepreneurial Moment: Derek was in the music industry for years and he had an opportunity to leave. Through a transition and a buyout not in Derek’s favor, he ended up in another company he never had any intention of working for. He left Los Angeles without a personal WHY.
• [11:28] – It’s alright to be a legacy entrepreneur
• [11:45] – Make sure you know your personal WHY
• [13:04] – Entrepreneurial AH-HA Moment: Derek’s ah-ha moment was when he was thinking about where his business’ niche would be. Being the execution specialist, Derek positioned them to be just that: “execution specialists”—something a lot of marketing professionals won’t do.
• [15:48] – Don’t make your customers come to you or meet them halfway – meet them where they are
• [16:09] – In 2017, Derek commoditized websites and videos for clients
• [16:41] – Be solution-oriented
• [17:25] – What is the one thing you are most FIRED up about today? “2 things – I am most fired up that we’ve been in business for 10 years… and I have this new online course”
• [20:49] – The Lightning Round
  • What was holding you back from becoming an entrepreneur? – “Focus and patience”
  • What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? – “Isolation is the enemy of excellence”
  • What’s a personal habit that contributes to your success? – “I tackle the important things to make sure the big things happen”
  • Share an internet resource, like Evernote, with Fire Nation – BombBomb Video
  • If you could recommend one book to our listeners, what would it be and why? – View from the Top – “it fills in a missing piece for me as an entrepreneur”
• [23:03] – Think strategically, not emotionally
• [23:47] – PETMAG (Plan, Execute, Track, Measure, Adjust, and Grow) is an acronym Derek coined
• 24:03 – Check out ChampagneMarketingCourses.com/Fire to get a 25% OFF of Derek’s courses plus FREE Downloads
• 24:21 – Check Derek’s book: Don’t Buy a Duck
• 24:24 – Connect with Derek on LinkedIn

3 Key Points:

1. Don’t just write off something that isn’t working – make sure you do it consistently first and if it yields the same result, that’s when you stop.
2. Everybody has to move on at some point in time – embrace it when that time comes.
3. Meet your customers where they are.

Resources Mentioned:

• BombBomb Video – Derek’s small business resource
• View from the Top – Derek’s Top Business Book
• Don’t Buy a Duck – Derek’s book
• Audible – Get a 30–day free trial of fantastic audiobooks!
• ChampagneMarketingCourses.com – Derek’s website
• Connect with Derek on LinkedIn
• FunnelOnFire – An 8-day course on how to create a funnel that converts!
• The Mastery Journal – Master productivity, discipline, and focus in 100 days!

Sponsors

• SmartMove: If you own a rental property, or know someone who does, try SmartMove so you don’t find out the hard way that a prospective tenant is a risk. Visit TenantScreening.com, enter code FireNation, and get 25% off your next screening!

Killer Resources!

1) The Freedom Journal: Accomplish your #1 goal in 100-days!

2)The Mastery Journal: Master productivity, discipline and focus in 100 days!

3) Free Goals Course: Accomplish a meaningful goal!

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