E2: Bad hires, legal battles and lessons learned with Keith Roberts
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Bad hires, legal battles, and lessons learned from building a $2mm agency
Our guest today is Keith Roberts, the founder of the Denver-based digital agency Zenman.
Keith graduated from the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography in 1995, just as the emergence of stock houses was set to turn the photography business model on its head. Knowing that there wasn’t much of a future ahead of him in photography, Keith fibbed on his resume, tried to learn graphic design over a weekend and launched his career in digital marketing.
He founded Zenman in 1998, building talent around him while he continued to grow his own craft in web development and digital marketing. Today, Zenman employs 20 people with $2 million in annual revenue, working with clients like Frontier Airlines and Denver Mattress.
Connect with Keith
LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook
Zenman.com
Show Notes
[2:00] – Keith’s Background
The roots of the name ‘Zenman’
Transitioning from photography to graphic design to web design
Why he went from just websites to full-service digital agency
[4:23] – Zenman Today
20 person shop with $2 million in revenue
Enterprise clients with dedicated specialists
Contact Keith for contracts and documents
[06:41] – Starting Out
Getting his start in photography just as the industry was dying
Lying on his resume and learning graphic design in a weekend
Pivoting into web design and flash to follow the money
His first client was Urban Ventures, still a client
[14:12] – Hiring People
The first $5,000 and $500,000 checks
Getting involved in sales to “keep what you kill”
First hire fail: “Newman” and his DJ labels
Second hire fail: “Brother” and working with family
[20:40] – Landing Big Clients
Frontier Airlines
Denver Mattress
$100K legal battle
[30:53] – Turning Points
Joining the Entrepreneurs’ Organization
Implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)
Getting the most out of your professional networks
[35:26] – Next Big Projects for Zenman
“Bigfoot Web” to nurture $5-15K projects
Zenman Labs to nurture higher-dollar projects
[38:55] – Lighting Round
Best advice: “Life is too short to learn everything from experience.”
Best habit: Stubbornness, refusing to fail
Best resources: Basecamp, Harvest, Google Docs
Best books: Traction, Let my people go surfing, Art of Happiness