Who are you, and what do you do?
My name is Jason Berkowitz, I’m the nerd that founded the Inbound Marketing agency, Break The Web and also operate as the SEO director.
My team specializes in helping businesses increase their awareness & positioning online, so when their ideal target expresses interest in their offering, the brand is front and center.
Currently, our agency has a presence in New York City, San Diego and very shortly, Salt Lake City.
What has been one insight or lesson that has been most helpful in your career?
Failure doesn’t you have failed.
When I made the transition from the business owner of a Personal Training organization in NYC to becoming a freelance SEO specialist, I thought I had everything figured out.
It wasn’t until we looked at the books within the organization of the first year and found out that I actually lost money.
It’s instinctual to think that your business has failed right at the start, when in fact, the mindset can be re-framed to interpret this experience as “I paid a little more for education.”
What has been your favorite mistake? A mistake that in retrospect led to a great lesson and progress.
My favorite mistake has been working with less than ideal brands.
Early on, it sounds reasonable to take on every client that’s willing to throw a healthy budget your way.
The issue is that it can definitely come at a cost.
Without properly pre-qualifying our clients (same way they would qualify us), we were exposed to point-of-contacts that were controlling, demanding, uneducated in the service (likely our fault, as well), MIA, and many other horrors you can think of.
Now, when we discuss a potential partnership with a brand, we hope they would perform due-diligence and qualify us, as well as give us the chance to qualify them.
Sanity and organization come first.
Project forward ten years. How will your industry or field be fundamentally different then? What opportunities do you see?
Being in the game of digital marketing and Search Engines, we’re at the mercy of 3rd parties and it’s up to us to evolve as technology and trends evolve.
With the rise of Machine-Learning, we’ve already been modifying our execution strategy slightly and in the future, who knows how we’ll be marketing.
We could very well be asking a chip in our brain a question, and be presented with the answer which gets directly uploaded into our brains hard drive (super cool yet super creepy).
There will always be an evolution in marketing and the brands that maintain are the ones willing to open their mind and acknowledge the change forthcoming.
What are some bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?
Being in the SEO game, I could go on and on about this topic (have been a guest on a few podcasts talking about this subject).
Going back to the evolution of marketing, many SEO specialists remain too comfortable, in that they fail to adapt as the search engines become more advanced.
They still hone in on delivering the best SEO, circa 2012.
These beta agencies might still recommend social bookmarking or submitting your website to thousands of search engines.
The specialist you decide to partner within SEO should be able to explain what they’re doing, and more importantly, how it affects the results.
In the last two years, what have you become better at saying no to?
Shiny objects in the form of business proposals.
Surprisingly, at least two times a month, someone is approaching me to join them in a business venture, which SEO could significantly play a huge part.
I used to entertain these ventures and spend a lot of time reviewing the nitty-gritty details before deciding but instead, if it’s not something I can be passionate about, I typically don’t spend much time on my decision.
What is the one book you recommend most often and why?
This is the hardest question because, in business, there are so many areas.
Since our health and mind have a huge impact on our business, I’m going to recommend Gamechangers by OG bio-hacker David Asprey.
Gamechangers discusses the framework used by some of the most successful people in the world, and how that related to your improving your overall health.
What advice would you give a smart and ambitious recent college graduate? What advice should they ignore?
Be ready for a change in business. With the advancement of technology, we’re in a huge shift in today’s time. Allocate 20% of your time to understanding how your field will change, and already start adapting, so when the time comes, you’re the expert with experience.
Ignore people that tell you that you need to wait around to be successful, that you need to move up the corporate ladder to start feeling joy in what you do.
Money is great and all but true success is in having joy with what you’re doing every day.
What is your favorite quote, one you aim to live by?
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
Connect
Connect with me on LinkedIn or at your local skydiving dropzone!