Podcast appearances and mentions of bryan bloom

This episode uncovers AI search secrets straight from the source - Google itself. Brad Wetherall served 11 years developing the cryptic proprietary algorithm at the world's largest search engine as the leader of the coveted Holy Grail of marketing for moving companies around the world - Google Maps. After retiring from the corporate world inside Silicon Valley, Brad now works with Bryan Bloom and the expert SEO team at Mover Search Marketing as a contracted consultant. Discover myths and untold clandestine strategies of Google itself, and how AI is transforming online search in what is sure to be a multi part series on dominating local search online.   Connect with Brad Wetherall: YouTube: @BradWetherall Linkedin: in/bradwetherall X: @BradWetherall   Know more about Mover Search Marketing: https://moversearchmarketing.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/mover-search-marketing https://www.facebook.com/moversearch/   Become a MOVING TITAN at the next Moving Titan Retreat https://www.movingtitanretreats.com/   Tighten up your moving company operations with TITAN UP TRAINING https://www.titanuptraining.com/   This episode is powered by Hey Lieu Virtual Assistants: https://www.heylieu.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/hey-lieu/ https://www.instagram.com/heylieu.virtual/ https://www.facebook.com/heylieu   This episode is sponsored by: SmartMoving - CRM system that helps moving companies create growth and run their businesses seamlessly. https://www.smartmoving.com/wade   Moversville - an online marketing company and resource for movers, consumers, and those involved in the moving process. https://www.moversville.com/wade USA Home Listings - a moving leads company that helps your business grow with targeted marketing. https://www.usahomelistings.com/   About the Show Wade Swikle is the CEO of 2 College Brothers Moving, Storage and Franchising, currently with locations in Tampa, Gainesville, and Orlando, Florida. https://2collegebrothers.com/ Learn more and connect with Wade Swikle: Wade's website: https://2collegebrothers.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wadeswikle/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@2CollegeBrothersMovingStorage Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wadeswikle/

In today's pisode, we continue our conversation with Bryan Bloom about SEO. Bryan Bloom at Mover Search marketing is a search engine wizard, and has helped 2 College Brothers dominate local search in the markets it serves, consistently being one of the top 3 drivers of new business each month. Listen in to learn what's new in Google's algorithms, common myths and the truth about backlinks, and the future of Chat GPT and AI as it relates to SEO.    Connect With Our Guest    Visit the Mover Search Marketing at https://moversearchmarketing.com/     About the Show    Wade Swikle is the CEO of 2 College Brothers Moving, Storage and Franchising, currently with locations in Tampa, Gainesville, and Orlando, Florida. Find him online at https://www.2collegebrothers.com  

Bryan Bloom at Mover Search marketing is a search engine wizard, and has helped 2 College Brothers dominate local search in the markets it serves, consistently being one of the top 3 drivers of new business each month.  In this episode, we discuss what's new in Google's algorithms, common myths and the truth about backlinks, and the future of Chat GPT and AI as it relates to SEO.    Connect With Our Guest    Visit the Mover Search Marketing at https://moversearchmarketing.com/     About the Show    Wade Swikle is the CEO of 2 College Brothers Moving, Storage and Franchising, currently with locations in Tampa, Gainesville, and Orlando, Florida. Find him online at https://www.2collegebrothers.com  

In this episode, Curtis interviews Bryan Bloom, a financial advisor, author, and CPA for over 35 years. They sat together to talk about Bryan's experiences, and he also shared some ideas regarding the miracle of compound interest. Bryan started working in the field around 15 years ago, assisting people in making reasonable retirement plans. Over the past years, he learned a lot about how different financial tactics and financial products work and, more significantly, why they don't. Now he has written five books. His book The Confessions of a CPA series explains why everything I was taught as a CPA has proven false. If we follow what we are taught in academics, traditional planning, and the popular media, we have little chance of succeeding. Curtis's motto is that what you learn today and how you position yourself will determine your future financial well-being 5, 10, 20 years from today. To learn more about how to manage your wealth in a practical way, visit www.practicalwealthadvisors.com  Highlights Discussion on temporary death benefit reduction What is debt with the lens of a CPA The use of a permanent insurance policy Choosing the right insurance company Storing liquidity in ETFs and the importance of being liquid Opportunity cost as a financial concept Income and retirement IRA and 401k plan Links and Resources from this Episode www.practicalwealthadvisors.com Email Curtis for a free report - curtmay@gmail.com Call his office - 610-622-3121 Connect with Bryan Bloom Books: Confessions of a CPA: Why What I Was Taught To Be True Has Turned Out Not To Be Confessions of a CPA: The Truth About Life Insurance Confessions of a CPA: The Capital Equivalent Value of Life Insurance The America Group - https://www.theamericagroup.com/imt_team/bryan-bloom/  Special Listener Gift Schedule a 15-Minute Call with Curtis Free Ebook Financial Planning Has Failed Review, Subscribe and Share If you like what you hear please leave a review by clicking here Make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so you get the latest episodes. Click here to subscribe with Apple Podcasts Click here to subscribe with Spotify Click here to subscribe with Stitcher Click here to subscribe with RSS

This week we bring back Bryan Bloom, CPA, and Author of the book series, Confessions of a CPA: Why What I Was Taught To Be True Has Turned Out Not To Be True. Bryan discusses three main topics in today's interview: (1) How the pandemic and the market's reaction compelled him to update his original book (2) he has added a chapter in his book on a strategy he describes as “Tax Stacking” and (3) he has very specific advice for business owners looking to thrive in uncertain times. Additionally, Bryan answers the age-old question of why more accountants are not familiar with the Infinite Banking Concept strategy. Trust me.....you will not want to miss what he has to say. Enjoy this week's episode!! Resources: Confessions of a CPA - Updated Version Subscribe to our podcast at https://infinitewealthconsultants.com... Schedule your Discovery Call with Anthony or Cameron here http://bit.ly/iwc15YT We use affiliate links.  If you decide to buy something, we may receive compensation from those companies Check our online course at www.InfiniteWealthCourse.com  Nelson Nash documentary http://bit.ly/NelsonDoc   Buy Becoming Your Own Banker by R. Nelson Nash http://bit.ly/BYOBbookIWC

FREE report 7 Simple Steps to Becoming Your Own Banker –  http://7steps.ca/    Wealth Without Bay Street EPISODE #104: Today on Wealth Without Baystreet, we are pleased to have Bryan S. Bloom. Bryan has been a CPA for more than 35 years, throughout those years he was involved in income tax returns as well as planning a retirement. His experience in planning retirement comes from helping individuals practically plan their retirement over the past 15 years. Bryan has also authored five books, the series Confessions of a CPA, which reveals why what he was taught to be true as a CPA turned out not to be true. He says, “We have no chance of success if we follow what we are taught in academia, traditional planning, and the popular media.”  Bryan and his wife, Pam celebrate 40 years of marriage together and have two daughters and four grandchildren. For Bryan, retirement is enjoying the joy of his life and sharing it with people around the country some of the financial realities in life that differ greatly from what we have all been taught to believe.    IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:   0:00 Introduction  4:40 Confessions of a CPA 7:17 To Pay Taxes on the Harvest or the Seed? 13:19 How to Have a Conversation With a CPA 17:46 The Original Insurance Concept  21:54 Learn and Work With Experienced People 30:34 Employer Retirement Plan 40:52 Policy Loans From Life Insurance Contracts 48:52 Who Would Bryan Want To Be a Hero To   

FREE report 7 Simple Steps to Becoming Your Own Banker -  http://7steps.ca/    Wealth Without Bay Street EPISODE #104: Today on Wealth Without Baystreet, we are pleased to have Bryan S. Bloom. Bryan has been a CPA for more than 35 years, throughout those years he was involved in income tax returns as well as planning a retirement. His experience in planning retirement comes from helping individuals practically plan their retirement over the past 15 years. Bryan has also authored five books, the series Confessions of a CPA, which reveals why what he was taught to be true as a CPA turned out not to be true. He says, “We have no chance of success if we follow what we are taught in academia, traditional planning, and the popular media.”  Bryan and his wife, Pam celebrate 40 years of marriage together and have two daughters and four grandchildren. For Bryan, retirement is enjoying the joy of his life and sharing it with people around the country some of the financial realities in life that differ greatly from what we have all been taught to believe.    IN THIS EPISODE, YOU WILL LEARN:   0:00 Introduction  4:40 Confessions of a CPA 7:17 To Pay Taxes on the Harvest or the Seed? 13:19 How to Have a Conversation With a CPA 17:46 The Original Insurance Concept  21:54 Learn and Work With Experienced People 30:34 Employer Retirement Plan 40:52 Policy Loans From Life Insurance Contracts 48:52 Who Would Bryan Want To Be a Hero To   

On today's episode I welcome back Bryan Bloom, CPA and author of The Confessions of a CPA book series. Join me as Bryan and I talk about capital equivalents, life insurance, the perfect loan, inflation, the correlation between tax and debt and his new book Confessions of a CPA: Why What I Thought To Be True Has Turned Out Not To Be Guest bio: Byan is a CPA and has been for more than 35 years. Most of those years he prepared personal income tax returns as a side to his normal activities involved in planning a retirement. Early on in his career, he was the Chief Financial Officer of the State Universities Retirement System of Illinois. This provided him with an understanding of the retirement plans of people who work in the public sector. Next, he worked with a Third-Party Administrator, Benefit Planning Consultants, designing 401(k) plans for small businesses. This provided him with an understanding of retirement plans of people who work in the private sector. About 15 years ago, Byan ventured into the arena he is in right now – helping individuals practically plan for their retirement years. During these 15 years, he has been understanding more and more about how different financial strategies and financial products work and more importantly why they don't work. Bryan has authored 5 books. The series Confessions of a CPA, reveals why what he taught to be true as a CPA has turned out not to be true. We have no chance of success if we follow what we are taught in academia, traditional planning, and the popular media. Together with his wife Pam, they celebrate 40 years of marriage together, have 2 daughters and 3 granddaughters and a grandson. They are the joy of their lives. For Byan – this is retirement! Sharing with people around the country some of the financial realities in life that differ greatly from what we have all been taught to believe. Guest links: Get Bryan's new book Confessions of a CPA: Why What I Thought To Be True Has Turned Out Not To Be https://amzn.to/3GmwFYT Episode Resources: Check out Bryan's other book Confessions of a CPA: The capital equivalent of Life Insurance https://amzn.to/3riLAPf Check out my first interview with Bryan Bloom: Understanding the Capital Equivalent of Life Insurance https://betterwealth.captivate.fm/episode/understanding-the-capital-equivalent-value-of-life-insurance-with-bryan-bloom

Lisa Mymo is responsible for the strategy and execution of AllianceRx Walgreens Prime's specialized programs, services and offerings.  Lisa and her teams are focused on best in class performance in the areas manufacturer and HUB services, patient access, patient services, financial services, implementation, pharma solutions and pharmacovigilance and REMS compliance.  Lisa has 25 years working and leading in varied areas of the pharmacy industry, including pharmacy benefit management, biopharmaceutical account management and specialty pharmacy operations. Bryan Bloom is a director at TailorMed where he works with providers and pharmacies nationwide to remove financial barriers to care. Prior to TailorMed, Bryan was co-founder at Dunn Meadow Pharmacy where he developed and managed relationships with top medical institutions throughout the United States. Bryan is currently a member of the Board of Directors at Stupid Cancer, a leader in young adult cancer advocacy, research, and support. He also sits on the CX Advisory Board at Rutgers University.

Lisa is responsible for the strategy and execution of AllianceRx Walgreens Prime's specialized programs, services and offerings.  Lisa and her teams are focused on best in class performance in the areas manufacturer and HUB services, patient access, patient services, financial services, implementation, pharma solutions and pharmacovigilance and REMS compliance.  Lisa has 25 years working and leading in varied areas of the pharmacy industry, including pharmacy benefit management, biopharmaceutical account management and specialty pharmacy operations. Bryan Bloom is a director at TailorMed where he works with providers and pharmacies nationwide to remove financial barriers to care. Prior to TailorMed, Bryan was co-founder at Dunn Meadow Pharmacy where he developed and managed relationships with top medical institutions throughout the United States. Bryan is currently a member of the Board of Directors at Stupid Cancer, a leader in young adult cancer advocacy, research, and support. He also sits on the CX Advisory Board at Rutgers University.

John Kriney, is Founder and President at OptFirst Internet Marketing, a Google Certified Partner (2010) that specializes in full-service online marketing campaigns and website, app, and landing page development. Campaign expertise includes customized search engine optimization; Google Ads search, video, display and shopping campaigns; cross-platform remarketing; E-commerce marketing; Facebook and Instagram ads for lead generation, sales, or brand building purposes; LinkedIn ads; and combinations of all of that.  In 2003-2004, John started selling after-market auto customization products in Los Angeles, CA; ranked his business first in searches for body kits and parts, and generated up to $3.5 million a year in sales. As things slowed in 2006, John sold that business. What to do next? Seeing his success, six business owners he had worked with requested his help with their online marketing. In 2008, John moved his business to South Florida, named it OptFirst, and provided his clients with profitable conversions. He made sure they knew how much much money they were making per campaign, per campaign type to ensure long-lasting relationships. When companies wanted to focus on branding, he demanded that both the target and the success be quantified.  He admits there are three types of competitors that may steal his customers: the one-off internet whiz kid who is someone's nephew, vertical internet marketing agencies that draw customers away by speaking the “right jargon,” and the traditional marketing agency that's trying to tack on digital as a service. “Lost” clients often return – a tribute to his agency's collaborative approach of “one business owner working with another.” OptFirst was one of the first early adopters of LinkedIn direct conversion campaigns and has been running campaigns for the University of Miami's Continuing Education Department, marketing 22 different programs on that platform for over 4 years. Because OptFirst's efforts with the University of Miami outperformed all other universities by 90%, LinkedIn took John and a University of Miami representative to lunch. They had proved a profitable campaign could be run on LinkedIn.  John believes you need 3 channels of incoming advertising for any business . . . so they also run SEO campaigns, Google Ads, and paid social for the University. In total, the agency offers 11 different campaign types, of which SEO has the lowest CPA. John has written 3 books on search engine optimization and internet marketing. He thought he would hand his 8-step SEO plan to clients and lose business because clients would now know what needed to be done. Providing that knowledge was “the right thing to do.” But it didn't work that way. The 8-step book made him the “expert” for work clients did not want to do. They would thumb through the book and immediately sign his proposal.  Since the pandemic, John created “the seven steps of becoming an author” and has guided half a dozen business owners to getting published. He says “There's no better way to control your Google presence than . . . becoming an author. When you put a book out on Amazon, there's a knowledge panel to be claimed as an author on Google, and then you really control your first page.” John says his “slogan” for the times is: “2020 is survive, and if you make it to 2021, then you can thrive.” He can be reached on his agency's website at: OptFirst.com, at John Kriney on LinkedIn, and by email at: john@optfirst.com. Transcript Follows: ROB: Welcome to the Marketing Agency Leadership Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Kischuk, and I'm joined today by John Kriney, Founder and President of OptFirst Internet Marketing based in Miami, Florida. Welcome to the podcast, John. JOHN: Rob, thanks for having me on the show. I really appreciate it. ROB: Excellent to have you here. We were just chatting before the start – this is being recorded the day after the votes were cast in the election, but we don't know what's going on. But that's not why we're here. We are here to talk about OptFirst Internet Marketing. John, why don't you start off by telling us about OptFirst and where the firm excels?  JOHN: A little background on where we excel – and I think the backstory really paints the picture of our approach to how we work with clients and what our core strategy is. I started OptFirst after I sold a business, BodyKits.com. That was based in San Diego, California. If you can remember the “Fast and Furious” days where we had spoilers and bumpers and everyone wanted to make their Honda Civic look like a Lamborghini – remember those days? ROB: Oh yeah. JOHN: I really got onto that trend. This had a huge demand. All the product was coming into port in California, and Michigan was a huge spot for us, as well as South Florida. South Florida was a huge demand for body kits, spoilers. So, I dove in. We kicked it off in 2003-2004. That was when it was really hot. We ranked the website first for body kits, spoilers, and all the names, Buddy Club and all the crazy names we had for those body kits. I ranked for all those positions, and the business was doing millions of dollars a year. I think we topped off at $3.5 million. We had the volume. I could see the trend was slowing down as far as we hit 2006 and it wasn't so much about the body kits anymore and all the Fast and the Furious movies, so the trend cooled down. I sold the business to my supplier that was bringing in containers of product into LA. Through that process, I sold the business – everyone's read these self-help books, 4-Hour Workweek and all these books that we read for personal development. I was literally in my fifth week of sitting on the beach thinking, “What am I going to do next?”, and it came up, I've got these six other business owners that, through the last few years, I've worked with. They've called and said, “Hey, my name's Jim. I got your number from Bryan Bloom” or whoever it is. “Can you help me with my online marketing? I hear your business has grown really quick.” By the time I gave OptFirst a name, I already had six clients paying me monthly to help them with their internet marketing. In 2008, I moved myself and my business from California to South Florida. At that point, I gave OptFirst a name. So the backstory on OptFirst really is I'm used to working with other business owners in order to really focus on profitable conversions, make sure that they make money with their online marketing campaigns, and that eye always being on, every month, I want to show you how much money you're making per campaign, per campaign type – make sure you're making money so that we have a long-lasting relationship. I don't know about you, but I get clients that might be medium-sized or institutional, they're large clients, and they're like, “Listen, we just want to focus on our branding.” It's like, “No, you don't. You really don't want to focus on your branding. We have to quantify what the target is here and how we can quantify success. Because if you can't prove that you're making money through your campaigns, at some point shareholders and board members are going to want to know. If we can just cut that out in the beginning and set up the pieces to make sure that you're running profitable campaigns, we'll be together for a long time, happily.” I've got a local locksmith that's been with us for 10 years straight. He knows the ups and downs of the ecosystem of SEO. Let's say we're just talking about that. But through the ups and downs, making sure that she ranks – just last year, she was like, “We ran the numbers, and 39% of our new business comes from our SEO campaign. After 10 years, that feels great.” So that's really the approach of OptFirst: one business owner working with another. I think that can't be replicated as far as – we have two types of competitors that we may lose business to. Well, I guess there'd be three. There's the one-off internet whiz kid that is someone's nephew in someone's business and it's like, “This kid's the smartest kid ever.” The second is vertical internet marketing agencies. Sometimes we'll be running a campaign for 2 or 3 years for our client, and then a weight loss specific internet marketing company will come along and they'll speak the right jargon. They're like, “Oh, you definitely need to go this route.” Speaking the same jargon, we'll get clients that will try those companies out and then quickly come back. The third is the traditional marketing agency that's trying to tack on digital as a service. Those are really the only places that we ever lose clients to. I don't know about you, but that's our experience. ROB: You mentioned different sizes of clients. Is there a trend of when you started – you mentioned BodyKits.com; it seems like one of the interesting opportunities there was – I mean, it wasn't early early for ecommerce, but it was kind of early. I would imagine one of the opportunities there was dealing in a product that was worth shipping. What I mean by that is just that it's potentially a higher margin item that someone understands you have to pay to ship the thing when not everybody could do Prime shipping. So, what were those early clients? Because it sounds like your through-line, your prequel to the agency, was performance and converting. I would imagine that's been a trendline throughout. But the types of businesses that can afford to retain you and care about converting has probably shifted remarkably over the life of the company. JOHN: Oh, absolutely. Initially there were other old school manufacturers of widgets, let's say. It ran the gamut. But they could see that I was moving into a larger warehouse every 6 to 9 months. What we ran into – when we started, I remember the uproar of Overture, 5 cent bids. Overture had the audacity to raise from 5 cent to 10 cent clicks. We're like, “What? They're ruining ecommerce! Who's going to pay 10 cents for a click?” Obviously, that piggybacked on the whole Yahoo! infrastructure and when they really owned search. That moved over to Google. Obviously, in 2005 Google started winning, and it has ever since been winning the search engine war and the trackability through that adventure of AdWords, which is now Google Ads, really driving ecommerce. But what I was getting referred to is owners of products – I remember the owner of the last warehouse I had with BodyKits.com had the exclusive deal to Costco for golf pushcarts. She'd had it for like 20 years, but there's no money to make in Costco wholesale. They make sure of it. They whittle you down. So, she had this mass volume that needed another channel or outlet in order to be profitable. was getting people with products, and when I moved to Miami, I was like, okay, I've got these six clients. All I need to do is get myself out there, go to business networking groups and say, “Hey, if you don't have a website, let's get a website. If you have a website, let's either make it rank or do some ads towards it.” People in 2008 in South Florida looked at me like I was crazy. [laughs] I tried everything once. And being in South Florida, I've been tricked once in every which way you could possibly be tricked as far as a client-agency relationship. But I try not to be fooled twice the same way. Initially I tried everything. I even went to a Kiwanis meeting once. I didn't know if I was invited to it. These guys were all older gentlemen, over 70. I was like, “Listen, you guys need to get back in the business game. I can see they were all retired. What you need is a website. When you get that website, let's make it rank.” Then I was like, okay, I need to change the strategy. This is crazy talk. This is not going to work. But I tried everything. ROB: [laughs] It is remarkable the things that you'll try once. We don't talk about these stories very often. You've reminded me – I'd almost forgotten – I had somebody invite me to talk about social media marketing analytics at a Rotary club meeting. I did that, and great people, but not the best way to build the business. JOHN: Oh man, I'll never forget the Kiwanis stuff. Similar to the Rotary club. I remember that fondly because I've got account managers and junior account managers, and they'll be like, “Oh, no, I can't call on that business. I can't go to that” – I'm like, listen, I went to a Kiwanis club where everyone was over 70, everyone was retired. I still gave it 100%. In order to get business, I've tried everything once, and I've tried to be humble about it because you never know. And I tell you what – I've got a funny story for you, Rob. I saw when you sent me a connection on LinkedIn that we have a friend in common. I won't mention him yet. I think I actually, in my example, let it slip. But one of our connections in common is Bryan Bloom. Let me tell you a little backstory. Back in 2009, I had one client that I'd had since 2006, and he owned a moving company in San Diego, and I had him ranked first for 4 years for “moving company in San Diego.” He had three trucks. He used to call me every day. If he wasn't first – you know how there was so much jostling of Google Maps back in that day. If he was second that day, I'd get a call from California like, “Hey, John, what's going on? What have we got to do? I'm second today, I'm not first.” Because this was his whole marketing strategy – which nowadays I do not recommend. You need three channels of incoming advertising for any business. That's what I've come to and what I've noticed. I had an account manager at the time say – this guy was grandfathered in at a super cheap price, like $600 bucks a month, because that's what he could afford. He's like, “Why do you take this guy's calls?” I said, “Because it's key to his business. It's kind of a friend of a friend. Let's just leave it.” Sure enough, he was bought out by the largest moving company in Southern California. He bought him and he's like, “I really don't want your three trucks. I really don't want to keep your employees. I just want the number of your SEO guy, because I've been trying to get first above you for 2 years. Can't do it. Here's a check and give me the number of your SEO guy.” That was Bryan Bloom. I saw that was the connection we had in common. Time went on, and Bryan and I had a great relationship. He was Priority Moving. He bought out Gold Coast. Then time went on and Bryan said, “Listen, we've had a great relationship. I've decided to sell Priority to the largest moving company in California. And he wants to talk to you.” So, Republic bought Priority, and sure enough, they became a huge client for years on end. This one small SEO client became – I think the account was anywhere from $12,000 to $15,000. Now we were going national, we had Republic, we had Priority, we had Gold Coast, all in one portfolio. I saw Bryan Bloom as a shared connection and that brought up that story for me. ROB: Yeah, Bryan is a connection from – you know how this marketing world works, and certainly on LinkedIn as well. You just bump into people, and especially with this podcast, end up with some mutual connections like that. You mentioned some of those early clients, and then it shifted a little bit. What does your client mix look like now? Obviously, SEO has a tremendously local dimension to it. It also has a national dimension to it, and I'm sure you've been pulled in some different directions. JOHN: Absolutely. The client mix now is – we broke bread with Google at the end of 2010. I think that's when the real reach out was where they were like – I don't know your experience, but SEO was always kind of like the “let's trick Google so that we're first, and we're sure not going to buy AdWords.” It was a rogue specialty. I've been certified with Google as 2010 and I think as an agency since 2011. So that's when we all broke bread. They invited us into the fold and said, “You have these clients; why don't you also offer Google Ads?” Having that SEO base is, I think, really beneficial for any digital marketing agency. If we're ranked first – of those first six clients – and it wasn't Gold Coast, but people would call me and say, “I've got this widget manufacturing company. How much?” I was like, “It's $2,500 a month.” Half of them would be like, “Cool, I got your number from so-and-so. Great.” The other half would be like, “Why so much?” I'm like, “I have no idea what to charge you. That's the price. [laughs] This isn't what I do. I sell after market auto parts. You called me.” That's what it was. Those were the core six that I moved with. The mix now – it started with ecommerce and then getting out into the world and networking every which way. We've got some really cool, interesting clients. We've got the University of Miami. We're in our fourth year, so we're 4-½ years under contract with them. We do their continuing education. We've got 22 different programs that we market for them. Every 2 weeks, we drill down in their Salesforce – we've got our incoming leads and then we've got our closed leads, and we're quantifying our marketing campaigns, the profitability on spend, down to the last penny. That and a couple others are dream clients because that's where we want to be. We're running SEO campaigns for that client, but we're also running Google Ads, paid social. We were one of the first early adopters of the LinkedIn conversion campaign for the University of Miami. LinkedIn for so many businesses is the dream that never has come to fruition. It's like, “Okay, we have all these businesses on here, and we know who the marketing directors are. This should be the best place to market in all the world.” And it never came to fruition for us until the direct conversion campaigns were offered. I think that was maybe 3 years ago. LinkedIn reached out to us and they were like, “We want to take you and your client out to lunch because you guys are early adopters and you guys are outperforming all the other universities by 90%.” We were proving profitable campaigns on LinkedIn. So that's what our clients look like, whether it's lead-based or it's ecommerce-based. We even have a great client that we're working with called FlixLatino. It's like the Spanish Netflix. We're up to 11 different campaign types. We have a weekly meeting drilling down to each campaign, CPAs across every campaign. What's interesting – and I just gave another talk yesterday morning to a group of business owners – is that when we look at the CPA across all 11 campaign types, SEO is still the lowest CPA of all of our campaign types. I hear from businesses online, I guess there's a lot of mixed messages in media – coming from the day after the ballots have all been cast in the last election. 6 months out of the year, SEO is dead. It doesn't exist. SEO is dead. It's not real. The other 6 months, it's like, “Yo, you know where I can get that SEO? I heard that SEO is where I need to be. You know where I could get some?” It's like a whisper in a back alley. [laughs] That's our experience. I'm really glad you invited me on this podcast because even in the transitioning of clients to maybe wanting to try another agency, some of the greatest friendships and assets that I have are my relationships to other agency owners. Because you wouldn't believe it unless you spoke to another agency owner that has gone through the same thing. It's a wild journey and a wild story to tell. ROB: There's absolutely so much value in being able to compare notes, and particularly realizing that there is so much business out there. It's really rare that you're competing for business with somebody you know. You feel like it should be the case, but it just generally isn't. A lot of times those friendly agencies can also be helpful when you need some extra capabilities around you. If I rewind the story a little bit, you mentioned you were in that 2008-ish era in the business, and it's worth highlighting that was a time of some economic challenges, financial crisis, all of that sort of thing. We're far enough into this pandemic world now where some people think we're back where we started; some people say it's a K-shaped recovery, where some people are doing great and some people are doing not great. How do you see the similarities and differences between running an agency now and how clients are feeling versus that financial crisis era? JOHN: I think this really is the time – other than creating processes for how we run campaigns, I'm known for making one-off slogans. Really, I say 2020 is survive, and then if you make it to 2021, then you can thrive. I think that really encapsulates it. This is that time that certain businesses that we work with, especially the first 3 or 4 months of the pandemic, they had to put everything on pause. The local locksmith had 18 trucks, if I'm not mistaken, on the road; went down to one truck overnight, servicing all of the businesses that are in buildings in Miami Beach. It just came to a screeching halt. How can you make lemonade? Because we're all getting lemons. How do you make lemonade? Then other clients, like universities, the Spanish Netflix client I was referring to, they hit the gas. Universities increased two and a half times what they were spending. And of course, the app platform went four times what they were spending. So as an agency, you ride with the clients that you have that are stepping on the gas, and on the flipside, just working with clients that you could count on for monthly work – it sounds crass, but monthly billables – just freezing them and giving them that grace period until they got back on their feet. This is way different than the recession because I think there's lemonade to be made in every business. That's the talk that I've had with my business owners. Being based in South Florida, I would say everywhere from May to right at the end of the summer, all the way up to September, tourism slows down. It's really hot. People aren't going to South Florida. Tourism really drives the whole economy. So, I was already used to playing therapist 3-4 months out of the year. It just happened to transition where that happened during the pandemic. And I was able to really focus with certain clients on new products and services we could offer them where they could make best use of this pandemic. You may or may not appreciate this – I sat around and said, “Listen, I'm going to have half my clients step on the gas right now.” It's like summer just happened out of nowhere. That's the effect. I was like, “What kind of off service do I offer that I know has a lot of value and I know will really land with my business owners that we work with?” I've written three books on SEO and internet marketing and been through that process myself, so I was like, that really ties into our hire and reputation management campaigns, and those campaigns really are about controlling your Google presence. There's no better way to control your Google presence than all of a sudden under that same name becoming an author. Automatically when you put a book out on Amazon, there's a knowledge panel to be claimed as an author on Google, and then you really control your first page. So I was like, why don't I reverse engineer – and that's how I've done SEO and every other internet marketing service we have – why don't I just create the seven steps of becoming an author, put a price tag on it, go to my business owners, and say, “This is a great time, while you're slow” – I've always pitched this, but they're like, “I'm too busy to put my material together.” They have material that they've created. “I'm too busy for that right now.” I was like, “I know you're not busy, so how about becoming an author?” I've walked half a dozen business owners through the process of becoming an author through this pandemic. That was one of the added services in making lemonade out of the lemons that we all got for the business slowdown. ROB: And you had been an author before the pandemic? Is that right? JOHN: Yeah, I published three books. My most recent one on Amazon is The Online Marketing Manual. It's my least interesting book. [laughs] My first book in 2014 was my Jerry Maguire moment. I thought that I'd just figured out and reverse engineered how to make each client first. I woke up in the middle of the night, got out my whiteboard. I was like, “I have been figuring it out for 12 years. I've got an 8-step SEO process.” I'm writing it all over the board. The next morning, like Jerry Maguire when he goes “I have the client manifesto!” and is putting it on the boxes – I tell my whole team, “It's the 8 steps!” I thought that I would reveal how I'd been ranking websites for 12 years and I'd go on a big speaking tour, and I wouldn't have an agency anymore, but it's the right thing to do to tell everyone how to make your website first as a process. Lo and behold, I got the book finished, I brought myself through, I wrote a chapter every night, whichever step it was, and I honestly thought – just the naïveté of being in the moment and when you really get passionate about something – I would hand an 8-step SEO plan to a prospective client. I thought, they'll read it, they won't accept the proposal, but they'll know how to do it themselves. it's the right thing to do. They would thumb through it. Barely read it. They'd say, “You obviously know what you're talking about,” and they'd sign the proposal right there on the spot. I thought, “Why would you hire me? I just told you how I'm going to do it.” They're like, “Well, you obviously know how to do it, and I sure don't want to do it. Sounds like a bunch of geeky stuff.” I was shocked. [laughs] I was like, we're busier than ever. This is going to mess up my speaking tour. That never happened at that time. [laughs] It's funny how one thing leads into another. ROB: There's so many good lessons in there. This can be a moment to look at what assets we have sitting around and to reframe them. In that case you're mentioning you have this 8-step plan, and you twist it around and its proposals, and then I think we misconstrue what the purpose of a proposal is sometimes. The purpose of the proposal – you're seeking to inform, and indeed, you are. But in the process, it's also that proof of competence and that proof that they can trust you because they don't want to do it. And you also thought about having this knowledge of how to make a book, and you have the lived experience of using it well, and you're able to turn that around and say “What else can you do with it?” A college can focus on how people may not want to go to their campus, or they can focus on what is probably a pretty high margin product of their online course and selling that to people who are also sitting at home and have this opportunity of time to make themselves better. JOHN: Absolutely. So much has come out of this. So much information, misinformation. But businesses, I think we've finally got full adoption into the core need of internet marketing as one of those staples, those mainstreams – like the auto industry and dealerships have accepted and moved over to digital and accepted it as their core strategy. I see it now, and it took a while. I don't know if this happened at your agency, but initially people were like, “God, you've got to be busier than ever!” But I think there was this deer-in-the-headlights moment that lasted the first 3- ½ to 4 months. The businesses that had capital, that cancelled all their tradeshows, let's say – so they've got this excess budget – I think there was a deer-in-the-headlights. And I still see it happen where people haven't pulled the trigger, and I think that's finally melting. People are like, “Our core strategy needs to move, no matter what, to digital.” Which is amazing to me because I remember pitching dealerships back in '08 and '09 and looking down and saying, “5-8% of our overall marketing has been allocated to digital.” And just last year, being in a dealership and the client saying, “Hey, we've decided to heck with it” – this is before COVID – “we're going to go 100% digital!” To have that and be part of the industry during that transformation, I'm just like, Wow, they're really going to cancel their radio and TV? I'm shocked.” And only because I've been there for the whole history of it, and I see a lot of other industries finally pulling that trigger. I think that the election needs to pass and the commotion around it, any which way, and then I think we see full guns blazing to adopting new agencies and moving that – I'm still working with clients that are only at 30% digital because 70% was all their tradeshows booked out. There's an exorbitant amount of money that some businesses spend on that type of advertising. It's amazing. ROB: We saw the auto industry part right up front and center. We did an extended road trip this summer to my in-laws' place out in Utah and found ourselves realizing we needed to replace our car in the middle of a pandemic in not-our-home-state. They were kind of in between. Some stuff was very digital and easy, and some stuff was still – maybe the marketing is more up to it, but the actual buying process, they were pretty old school. They wanted to see you there in person. It was not very customer-centric, but that's okay. Business-wise, I agree. I've seen what you see. We have a Software-as-a-Service product, and we also have a software-product-development-shop kind of agency, and there was certainly this – March was almost like everybody kept doing whatever they were doing. April and May, we saw a lot of retraction. But then June, and from then onward, there's a lot of people who realize they've got to go full speed ahead. We were talking before – we're in hiring mode because people put those projects on hold for so long until they felt like they couldn't. Maybe we'll be in a micro version of that around the election. We're going to spend a week, we're going to count some votes, maybe we argue a little bit. But I think there are a lot of people who are fed up with waiting to serve their business. So, I'm definitely seeing that. John, when people want to find you and when they want to find OptFirst, where should they go to connect with you? JOHN: OptFirst.com is our domain. Information there. And then just like you did this morning, John Kriney on LinkedIn. I always review those and accept any connections there. I keep an open line of communication. That's always the best way. Anyone that wants to email me directly, it's john@optfirst.com. ROB: Super solid. John, thank you for joining the podcast, and best wishes to you and OptFirst. JOHN: Yeah. Hopefully you'll have me back on the show. I've listened to a lot of episodes, and you're doing a great job, Rob. I really think it's a service to the industry getting new takes and talking to other agency owners. I really enjoyed it. ROB: I enjoyed it as well. Thanks for sharing your experience, John. Be well. JOHN: Thanks. Bye.

There's no such thing as having arrived in knowledge. You rely on your CPA'S as a trusted advisor but your advisor can only be truly valuable if they are committed to having an open mind and are constantly growing and learning.  We know the power of compound interest, consider how powerful compounding your knowledge is. Most CPA's are focused on the short term objectives and it's a big missed opportunity. We dig in with Bryan Bloom, author of Confessions of a CPA.   Purchase his book here  https://wealthwithoutbaystreet.com/confession Want to take a deeper dive into becoming your own banker?    

There’s no such thing as having arrived in knowledge. You rely on your CPA’S as a trusted advisor but your advisor can only be truly valuable if they are committed to having an open mind and are constantly growing and learning. We know the power of compound interest, consider how powerful compounding your knowledge is. Most CPA’s are focused on the short term objectives and it’s a big missed opportunity. We dig in with Bryan Bloom, author of Confessions of a CPA. Purchase his book here https://wealthwithoutbaystreet.com/confessionWant to take a deeper dive into becoming your own banker?  

Today's Scripture is Song of Solomon 2:14-15.

Bryan Bloom is an SEO expert and former owner of a 3+ million dollar moving company.  In this episode he teaches us the secret to getting and keeping more Yelp reviews, and best practices overall in the online review game.      Check out how our Gainesville and Tampa moving companies apply these principles at http://www.2collegebrothers.com

Schedule your 15-minute call with Anthony or Cameron here: http://bit.ly/iwc15podcast

Bryan Bloom and Justin Leblang are SEO and Pay Per Click experts with Mover Search Marketing.  Bryan grew a successful multi million dollar moving company, by figuring out the secrets to Google and online marketing. In this episode they share what every mover needs to know about how to make money with Pay Per Click advertising, as well as critical mistakes to avoid. 

Bryan Bloom, CPA, talks with us about his books and the truth behind taxes, and the ones you don't have to pay.

Bryan Bloom is a former multi million dollar moving company owner and now leads Mover Search Marketing, the premier SEO and digital marketing firm for moving companies. In this episode, he shares everything a mover needs to know to dominate their local search market. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDRmau3PzGU Life insurance loans are one of the superpowers of the Infinite Banking Concept.  They give you ready access to capital at any time, for any reason.  These loans from life insurance policies make the cash value of specially-designed life insurance an ideal pool of capital for your investing strategy.  Life insurance policy loans provide the opportunity to earn uninterrupted compound interest and earn a return in two places at the same time.However, many people encounter a mental hurdle when they consider using loans to fund their investments. They don't want to pay to use their money.  And they're concerned that loan interest will eat into their returns when they put their capital to work.  However, much financial fear is based in partial truth and lack of understanding of the full range of impacts of your decisions.  And this isn't your fault.  Most “financial education” is a spiffed-up sales pitch offered by "financial experts."  Instead of helping you, it's a one-way street, viewed through rose-colored glasses, to a particular financial product.  Meanwhile, you're wondering if you will be convinced to buy something you don't actually want or need.  But, consider this, anything worth understanding has layers of complexity, and only those who pursue a comprehensive understanding will gain it. This quote by Bryan Bloom strikes at the heart of the matter: Why isn't everyone doing this?  Everyone who understands, does.– Bryan Bloom, Confessions of a CPA When it comes to life insurance policy loans, a healthy dose of curiosity will help you gain an understanding of a financial process, principles, and truths that will give you advantages most people only dream of. Table of contentsWhat We'll CoverWhere Privatized Banking Fits into Your Cash Flow SystemThe Function of Life Insurance Cash Value in Your Financial LifeA Garage to Park Your MoneyHow Life Insurance Increases Your LiquidityThree Parts of a Whole Life Insurance ContractThe Liquidity of Life InsuranceWhat Is A Life Insurance Loan?Collateralizing Your Cash Value1) You're Using Other People's Money (OPM)2) You Earn Uninterrupted Compound Interest3) You Recycle Your CashWhy “Paying Interest to Use My Own Money” Is a MythLife Insurance Policy Loans Allow You to Continue Earning InterestThe Value of Using Life Insurance Loans to Invest, Instead of Just Paying CashWhen You Pay Cash, You Trade ReturnsWhen You Use a Life Insurance Loan, You Stack ReturnsIncreasing Your Return on Investment by Using Life Insurance LoansPaying Cash to Fund Your InvestmentUsing Life Insurance Cash Value as a Private Reserve to Fund Your InvestmentAccounting for Loan RepaymentEarning in Two Places at the Same TimeThe Undeniable Advantage of Using Privatized Banking with Life Insurance LoansWhat Can You Use a Life Insurance Policy Loan For?Obtaining the Best Loan with the Best Interest RateIn SummaryYour Decision Point What We'll Cover In today's conversation, we'll answer your questions about life insurance policy loans and why we use them, including: What is the function of life insurance cash value in my financial life?How does life insurance increase my liquidity?What is a life insurance policy loan?What can I use a life insurance policy loan for?When investing, why would I use a life insurance policy loan instead of paying cash?How do I increase my Return on investment by using whole life insurance with my investments?Why would I pay interest to “use my own money”?Are there times that I should consider another loan with a better interest rate? Packaging it all together, we'll demonstrate why they increase returns on your investments.. Where Privatized Banking Fits into Your Cash Flow System Life insurance policy loans are a part of Privatized Banking, just one step in the greater Cash Flow System. Wedged between Stage 1 and 3, Privatized Banking fits into Stage 2,

We are joined by Bryan Bloom, author of “Confessions of a CPA", a must-read book that deals with the subject of cash flow, retirement, taxes, tax-exempt income, and the capital equivalent value of life insurance.   Links and Resources from this Episode Connect with Bryan https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanbloom/ Confessions of a CPA: The Truth About Life Insurance Video Caleb mentions    Get Your Free Copy of The AND Asset https://www.andasset.com/book   Show Notes Cash-flow strategy in retirement - 0:59 Using your life insurance to buy a wedding ring - 2:52 Discussing Bryan's book - 3:20 The U.S. traditional financial model - 4:49 The capital equivalent value of life insurance - 6:03 Understanding distribution rates - 6:47 The intricacies of double taxation - 9:56 Focussing on tax rates - 11:12 Achieving financial freedom - 13:30 Tax-exempt, tax-free, and taxable - 17:39 Borrowing money from death benefits -25:51 Too good to be true? - 27:19 The Legacy Question - 29:39 Three ways to understand Bryan’s book - 32:40   Review, Subscribe and Share If you like what you hear please leave a review by clicking here   Make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast so you get the latest episodes. Subscribe with Apple Podcasts Follow on Spotify Subscribe with Stitcher

In this podcast, RANE CMO Greg Radner interviews Jim Sisco and Bryan Bloom of ENODO Global, a risk advisory firm that utilizes customized data analytics platforms to uncover, quantify, forecast, and mitigate organizations’ social risk exposure both internally (e.g. organizational culture) and externally (e.g., negative public sentiment, protests, strikes, litigation, and violence).

Bryan Bloom, CFO at ENODO, joins hosts Sandi Hunt and Katherine Klein live from the Wharton Global Forum NY 2018 to discuss his work with partners and staff to help governments and private sector clients understand, measure, and forecast Social Risk impacts on Dollars and Change. http://www.whartonnewyork18.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bryan Bloom, CFO at ENODO, joins hosts Sandi Hunt and Katherine Klein live from the Wharton Global Forum NY 2018 to discuss his work with partners and staff to help governments and private sector clients understand, measure, and forecast Social Risk impacts on Dollars and Change.http://www.whartonnewyork18.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bryan Bloom, CFO of ENODO Global, joins hosts Nick Ashburn and Sherryl Kuhlman to discuss how investors can gain the tools to predict and understand the risks that surround political and social instability on Dollars and Change. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Listen to David interview Bryan Bloom, author of “The Truth About Life Insurance” book two in his “Confessions of a CPA” series. Bloom's second installment, of the Confessions series, was written to “dispel some of those issues and teach people, the American public, how to use their life insurance before they die.”   Throughout the program Bloom explains how life insurance policyholders can use their own money to “leverage everything else that they're doing,” by understanding some important principles and their personal Economic Human Value. EHV equals how much money it would take to replace yourself as a “financial engine” in your family. And if removed, “what lump sum of money would be necessary to sustain your family with 50 thousand a year—for life. By using some “uncommon strategies” we, the policyholders, can obtain our value before we need it, instead of needing it and not being able to have it. Bloom encourages his fellow Americans to start looking at life through the insurance perspective: better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.   By implementing the principles discussed, both, with David and inside Bloom's book, you will gain the power of financial leverage.   Click here to purchase a copy of “The Truth About Life Insurance”, one of Bloom's two books, David has chosen for suggested reading.   To listen to past interviews with Bryan Bloom click here.   Be sure to tune in next Saturday @ 12:00 pm week. David will be interviewing David McKnight the author of “The Power of Zero”.

Tune in this week to hear David chat with Bryan Bloom, Author of Confessions Of A CPA.  Some of the topics David and Bryan discuss include:  1. Miracle of Compound Interest 2. Rate of Return 3. Qualified Plans 4. Your Home is Your Greatest Asset Tune in to learn what you thought to be true about these topics, may just not be......