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What are you working on? How did you come up with this idea?
Dennis Yu: We are focused on creating jobs and providing mentorship to young adults, and we plan to do this at scale with partners and software. That’s not what most people expect to hear when they look at BlitzMetrics, but that’s what it’s all about. The agency side of the business is the fuel for everything else we want to do in the long run. The core mission has always been centered around mentorship. It’s like Newton once said, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” We want to provide the shoulders for the next generation to stand upon.
Logan Young: Dennis couldn’t have said it better. At Blitz, we all believe in giving back through mentorship and education. We make a concerted effort to provide value and share our knowledge as much as we can. That’s why you’ll see us traveling the globe speaking at all these conferences, but also working hard in the video studio to create courses and training for businesses, partners, and even our own specialists.
How is your company different?
Dennis Yu: Our company differs in philosophy and in execution. We believe our mission can make a real impact and provide some alternative to the current, outdated education system. Not many companies are trying to do something on the scale which we intend to which means we have to be efficient in execution. Everything that we do is driven by checklists and repeatable processes so that anyone could perform any of the operations within the company. When we tackle something new, we document the processes, create a checklist, and record training. This is how we train our new hires too, by running them through checklists and congratulating them as they tackle more and more complex tasks.
Logan Young: One of our core tenets at Blitz is building processes that drive repeatable excellence. We like to use the analogy of the surgeon. Let’s say you’re rushed to the hospital for open-heart surgery. Do you want the general practitioner to open you up on the operating table, or the senior heart surgeon who has performed this exact operation over 1,000 times? The answer is obvious.
Surgeons also don’t go around knocking on doors asking to perform surgery.That would be ridiculous. Their business is all inbound which is one of the benefits we reap at Blitz from years of reliable execution on Facebook ads. We’ve worked hard to build our authority and drive results for marquee clients like the Golden State Warriors so that others see those results and ask us to work with them.
What’s your dream with your company?
Dennis Yu: I would love to see our company create jobs and companies for a million young adults in the next 10 years via our ecosystem. That’s the kind of impact we’re going for.
Logan Young: To see employees work for us 10+ years and be constantly progressing in their learning/earning. We have had some very talented people come through our system, start their own companies, and make millions of dollars. We want our internal team on that same level.
How do you creatively advertise?
Dennis Yu: When we talk about personal branding, we always dig into our “dollar a day” strategy and how you can use it to get featured in authoritative publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, and The Huffington Post. So, we had our friend Isaac at GoDaddy do this for his personal brand focused on fatherhood. He diligently created his series one-minute videos until about two months in one of them caught major traction. We let that video collect social proof and then boosted it to media and news professionals. It got picked up locally, so we shared their posts on his page and boosted those to the national news outlets… you see where this is going. The video ended up getting over 80 million views which resulted in interviews and speaking opportunities for Isaac, and I can tell you we didn’t spend much to make it all happen.
Logan Young: Isaac’s story is a great one. Not every video will go viral like that one, but we have mapped out the best practices that will build a strong brand over time. What we teach now is building a 3×3 grid of videos around your brand that funnel your audience from awareness to engagement to conversion. That way you nurture the relationship with your audience before asking for their money.
The 3×3 grid is simple to set up. You create your awareness videos which can be things like your “why” video and gratitude videos thanking people for how they helped you along your journey. Then for people who watch those videos, you show them your engagement videos which focus more on how you do things. The last step is to show your most engaged fans your conversion videos where you can finally make the ask in good faith knowing that you’ve built a relationship with them up to that point.
What is the biggest mistake marketers make on Facebook?
Dennis Yu: We see a lot of folks out-think themselves when it comes to targeting. They add layers and layers of interests, demographics, and behaviors until they have this super targeted audience with a few thousand people in it. There are specific instances for this when done right, but as a general Facebook strategy, it’s a flawed practice. Computers and algorithms today are beating the pros at games like chess and Go, and Facebook’s algorithm is the king of the marketing world. As marketers, we don’t want to try and beat the algorithm, but rather point it in the right direction and let it do the heavy lifting through oCPM, lookalike audiences, and custom audiences.
Logan Young: Overthinking the targeting is a very common problem often aggravated by marketers running ads to cold audiences that go straight for the sale. Most people aren’t going to click on a stock photo with a canned headline asking them to pay for products and services especially if they’ve never heard of you. The trick is to make your ads feel as native and personal as possible at every stage of the funnel and to only make the ask when they have watched your content and self-selected their way into your conversion audience.
What was your biggest failure and biggest success? What did you learn from them?
Dennis Yu: I dropped out of high school to be an entrepreneur/athlete and failed.
I learned that going solo, no matter how hard you work or hard smart you are, isn’t enough. My biggest success, or what I’m most proud of, is creating this training system that has turned unemployed dropouts into businesses owners and industry leaders.
Logan Young: I didn’t get accepted into the Creative Track in the BYU advertising program. I grew a hunger for learning/improvement of my craft from this. That’s definitely part of what has driven me to become an expert in Facebook ads. I always want to put my best foot forward and continually earn my stake in my field.
Give the readers the best entrepreneurship advice you have.
Dennis Yu: My mentor who was the CEO of American Airlines, Al Casey, once told me to focus on my learning curve and not my earning curve. Today, we see a lot of entrepreneurs pretending to be things that they’re not, selling snake oil to gullible and hopeful people. At Blitz, we believe in only teaching what we have already done ourselves. We call that Learn, Do, Teach or #LDT which you’ll see Logan and I reference often. Our team is competent and they have to prove themselves through execution before moving up in our system. You can teach a man to fish, but only if you are already a skilled fisherman.
Logan Young: Recently, accountability has been my primary focus, both personally and professionally. Here’s a story for you. In 2010 I served a 2-year mission for my church during which I maintained a rigid schedule. Every day I woke up at 6:30 in the morning to exercise and eat, and I spent the rest of my day working, studying, and planning before going to sleep at 10:30 every night. As you can imagine, this schedule was tough to maintain for two years straight.
But when I was focused and kept the schedule my life had more meaning. I felt better about myself, and my attitude, demeanor and performance reflected it. I’ve come to realize since that accountability is an amazing thing. It’s why people hire personal trainers, they don’t need to be told how to do a push-up, they are paying for the accountability. Accountability leads to growth which leads to fulfillment which leads to happiness. All entrepreneurs should remember this when they are tempted to sleep in, slow down, or give up.
Teach us something about mentorship.
Dennis Yu: Finding a mentor might be the single most important thing any of us do. Mentors can open doors to new opportunities and shave years off your learning curve. I can tell you that when I first had meetings with the senior officers at American Airlines, I was intimidated. They all sounded so knowledgeable, knew what to do. Heck, some of these folks I had even seen on TV. And I felt like an awkward nobody– didn’t want my mouth to reveal my ignorance.
But when I did, I found that most folks really wanted to help me. In spite of “busy” they appeared, the top guys in the company clearly cared.
And over time, I realized that they were normal people, too– not know-it-all gods. Find successful people that will challenge you. If you’re not a little intimidated, then you’re not running with people who will help you improve your game, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Logan Young: I can speak to this from personal experience. Before I met Dennis, I was working low wage retail jobs to pay the bills. It was when I took action and reached out to some people in the industry and connected with Dennis that my life changed. As a results of his mentorship and our work at Blitz, I have traveled and lectured in 45 cities, 15 countries across 5 continents which I never expected to do.
What’s something new you’ve learned in the past month?
Dennis Yu: The wealthiest and most successful people say NO most of the time.
They protect their time and protect their privacy. That’s also something I remember my mentor, Al Casey, saying. Your availability is your greatest asset, so don’t give your time away for free.
Logan Young: That attitude precedes performance. Plain and simple.
Teach us something we don’t know.
Dennis Yu: I drink 5-6 coconut waters a day to stay hydrated, and I like how they taste. There are many professional athletes who do the same thing. It’s actually more hydrating than water. I highly recommend it. Taste Nirvana is my favorite brand.
Logan Young: Stephen King has written 97 books of which 71 have been good enough to turn into movies. He is a content king.
What do you think you do better than most people?
Dennis Yu: Building relationships. When we are out traveling the world and speaking at conferences, there are still dozens of important relationships that I maintain. These are people that we work with, people I care about, people I’m mentoring. They aren’t casual acquaintances that I can brush off and get back to later. With all the software tools available today, people often try to automate their relationships which is a critical mistake. Keep track, but it has to be personal. That’s why we send gifts to clients and friends regularly and also why I personally write all of my social media posts.
Logan Young: Leading by example. If you know me, I’m not the most boisterous person, but I still find that people respect my introverted style because I put in the work. Actions speak louder than words, and I believe it’s important to do well in my work. It sets the right example for others in the company. They know I’m working just as hard as anyone else, and they will never see me complain about a rough day on the job. Hard work and maintaining a positive attitude are both things I try to convey to the team.
What should an entrepreneur focus on?
Dennis Yu: Overcoming fear and taking action. We see so many specialists apply in our system that get overwhelmed and can’t overcome the resistance to pass our qualifying process. While those that do pass usually thrive in our system. Fear can be crippling or it can be the best motivation to keep moving. It all depends how you harness that feeling, and if you’re an entrepreneur you can’t afford to let fear hold you back. We all learn by doing not by theorizing or pontificating.
Logan Young: For me, this comes back to accountability. Make yourself accountable to yourself, the mission, or to someone else. Make sure that you have a reason to keep pushing forward. Entrepreneurship isn’t always easy, especially after that initial burst of excitement. You have to set your goal, make your action plan, and hold yourself accountable for completing each step. Otherwise, you’ll burn out like so many have.
What are some of the best books you’ve ever read?
Dennis Yu: Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson, since it gives me a view of what the future will be like. Great science fiction is more science than fiction. I don’t actually read any marketing books.
Logan Young: The Bible and The Hunger Games series.
Where do you see yourself and your product in a couple years?
Dennis Yu: The next 6-12 months we will continue to hire, so we have a loyal and competent team that can support our agency and the education at the scale we want to achieve 12-24 months out. In two years, we would love to see our partner network providing job and mentorship opportunities to young adults. We want to facilitate from behind the scenes by providing our processes and checklists to others to use. One day, we want to see BlitzMetrics as one of the biggest companies you’ve never heard of.
Logan Young: The next couple years will be when we bring things to the next level. Right now, we are operating well as an agency, we are selling our courses and speaking on stage at the big conferences. We’re positioned very well to make a big splash in the near future, and with the team we have now, I think we will.
Social accounts
Dennis: Facebook | Linkedin | Twitter | Instagram
Logan: Facebook | Linkedin | Twitter | Instagram
Links to best content:
Dennis:
- How much do FB ads cost?
- Lessons learned from over 730 speeches
- Create a killer FB funnel using a 3×3 grid
Logan:
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