Design Pickle's Russ Perry Is "The Sober Entrepreneur"

Read your prospects to sell how they want to buy

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Founder and CEO of Design Pickle
- Had a creative and branding agency...but was bad at branding themselves
- He had tough companies he helped brand
- "You can't rename a baby"
- He hated boring names and names he can't share
- He hated acronyms
"Year of soul searching"
- Closed his business unceremoneously
- Had two partners in Buenos Aires
- Was doing consulting
- Spent time with two business coaches
- Two key questions
  - "What do you want?
  - "What kind of business will get you there?"
- He liked working with companies who needed simple, straightforward design
- He had an outsourced designer and a part time project manager
- January 2015 he launched
  - Everyone is full time with him regardless of where they are located
  - Guest blogging
  - Blasted his list via Gmail
  - Got MailChimp
  - Hustled
  - Landed about 20 clients his first month and has been profitable
The journey
- Year one:
  - Defining the target audience and being confident in that
  - Tried personas and target audiences but then they'd get a big influx of customers who weren't in that bucket
  - Shifted from an industry to a behavior of the customer
    - They have hired a designer before
    - They see the value
- Year two:
  - Growth in personnel
  - How do we organize / structure the team?
  - How do add management layers?
- Year three:
  - Honing in on the marketing strategy
  - Live events
  - Online ads
  - Partnerships
  - Affiliates
125 full time staff, $500k in recurring monthly revenue
His background prepared him for the launch of his company
- He saw the habits of his clients
- He knew their typical needs
- What's disruptive?
- What can I profit on?
- He was too low in the beginning
Rigorous hiring process
- About four weeks
- It boils down to communication
They screen their customers, too
- Weed out those who don't follow instructions
- Weed out the impatient
Releasing his first book, "The Sober Entrepreneur"
- Passion project
- Struggled with alcohol and addiction. Beat it in 2013.
- Gotten clarity across the board
- Was even addicted to a bad business
- Part personal memoir and part practical
Launching a same-day service tier

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Links Mentioned In The Sales Podcast

Check out Design Pickle
Buy his book, "The Sober Entrepreneur"

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