BizTraffic Helps Its Clients Navigate the Digital Highway: Q&A with CEO Vlad Molchadski

What do you do in your organization?

There was a time when my partner and I were doing it all. This included everything from Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click advertising, coding websites, to just about any other aspect of digital marketing you can think of. However, as we have grown I have gotten closer and closer to my end goal, which is to focus on my strengths: being the visionary of the organization and helping our customers, employees, and partners achieve their goals.

My daily focus is on strategically prioritizing projects and overseeing the needs of our top accounts. I work with clients to educate them on online marketing, and to ensure that our initiatives are aligned with the client’s specific goals. As our team has expanded, I am able to focus on bringing in more business and growing our network, which is what I love doing.

How is business for your company these days?

We could not be more excited about recent and future growth. Our revenues are up 8X from four years ago. Companies are continuing to migrate large portions of their marketing budgets from traditional to digital marketing channels, and we stand well positioned to provide expert guidance and deliver results to our customers.

What do you consider your chief business strength?

Having a big vision for us as a company and the confidence that we, as a team, will achieve it.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

There are two things: I enjoy both the challenge and responsibility for creating growth and learning opportunities for our employees and customers. And I enjoy building relationships.

What are some challenges you’ve faced on the job, and how did you overcome them?

Recent rapid growth has brought about three specific challenges for our business: cash flow, human capital, and fulfillment.

Cash flow: We have dealt with the cash flow challenge by switching to upfront, "due upon receipt" billing, not taking money out of the company as well as securing a line of credit. We meet regularly with our bankers to make sure they understand what we do and are part of the solution to our bright future as a company.

Human capital: Our vertical is very hot, and finding ethical, experienced, and quality talent is both difficult and cost prohibitive for a growing company. We have implemented a thorough, multistep hiring process, which includes predictive analytics tools, and we have hired those with no prior experience so that they learn by doing. Our most important consideration is alignment with our core values.

Fulfillment: We brought in new business, now what? It was easy with just a handful of customers, because everything that needed to be done was in my head! Well, now we have multiple heads and knowing what each is doing is more important than ever. My team has made a commitment to documenting and continuously refining our processes. We are also making good use of cloud technology, specifically Google Apps for documents and Basecamp for project management.

What are the most important skills that someone in your position needs to have?

The most important skill is the ability to say No.

No to clients that are rude or disrespectful to any of our partners or employees. Life is too short.

No to projects that we can’t get excited about or can’t make a positive impact on.

No to projects that will not have an immediate or future profitability.

No to spending time with people or on activities that are not pleasant or do not help us grow.

What do you wish you’d known on your first day?

Your network = net worth. This applies to financial, physical, and emotional well-being.

What is the smartest move you made in your career so far?

While being self-employed is NOT for everyone, so far going out on my own has been the smartest move I’ve made in my career. The credit for the initial move goes to the co-founder for believing in me, and to my lovely wife for supporting me throughout this journey!

What’s your management style with your employees?

As with every aspect of our company, I focus on growth and nurturing my employees individually. Ultimately, its about being honest with ourselves about our strengths and weakness, and learning what brings us each joy. If someone is not focusing on their strengths and doesn’t enjoy what he or she is doing, it affects everyone in the company. Open communication and transparency is key to making our business work, so I reflect that in my management style.

What are some other companies you admire, and why?

I admire Google. They are in the business of providing accurate answers and do a pretty good job at it. The outcome is brand loyalty resulting in billions in advertising revenue. They innovate and build with people in mind. I firmly believe an artificial intelligence engine is just around the corner and they will be on the leading front of that innovation.

What new initiatives are you working on?

We are just days away from becoming a HubSpot-certified agency, which will enable us to help companies grow by providing Inbound Marketing Consulting using HubSpot.

In addition to that, I have been privileged to be a part of Goldman Sachs 10K Small Businesses’ program in Dallas and I am scheduled to complete it in December of 2014. I gained incredible connections and amazing, practical knowledge to be a better business owner. As a result, I will walk away with a clearly documented growth plan we will execute in 2015 and be able to use it to gain access to capital in order to support our growth.

And lastly, staying involved with two very special organizations: SCORE and Entrepreneurs' Organization.

Do you have a favorite inspirational quote?

I often say, "You cannot change the direction of a non-moving object. So, let's get moving!"

What advice would you give to someone hoping to get into your field?

Focus on building relationships and documenting the system for delivering results -- the rest will follow.

If you weren't doing this, what would you be doing instead?

I would be teaching and helping others succeed.

Connect with Vlad Molchadski on LinkedIn and follow BizTraffic on Twitter,

Google+ and LinkedIn.

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