Innovate To Dominate (3) – #OnRamp Interview With Garious Founder

Throughout the interview, Aaron will shed light on business innovation best practices, Garious journey, On Ramp book and his vision for the future.

As far as I see it, Garious is a masterpiece in the making and the interview says it all…

(My questions/comments are in blue. Aaron’s answers are in black)

Q1. “Innovation catalyst” whose “passion for discovery brought him on the path of entrepreneurship”. How did your innovative spirit influence your business journey?

I’ve always been a problem solver and an entrepreneur. In fact, I remember selling Ghostbusters 2 posters at grocery stores parking lots. When I started learning about design thinking, I realized that I could help others better solve problems.

Also, for Garious the learning caused us to change directions many times and we are now focused on helping Real Estate pros.

Q2. Interesting insights! Can you further elaborate on when, how and why Garious was launched?

The Garious scheduling tool was created to solve an itch that I had. Working full time plus 2 companies, I was really busy. I needed more time. So about 1.5 years ago I thought the best way to market @atreveteinc was to schedule posts to MANY social networks but I quickly learned this was totally wrong.

Soon afterward, I participated in the Lean Startup Machine in San Francisco, where I learned how to determine product/market fit which I didn’t have. I had built the tool with the wrong customers in mind.

Q3. I love the “product+ market fit” concept. Did your experience with selling Garious scheduling somehow trigger Garious’ recent focus on social media education?

Oh Yes! What I found was that people wanted to use Garious scheduler to automate all of their tweets and turn into robots! I had learned through the process of marketing Garious that bots were bad form, but lots of other business owners had not.

Bots and intelligent social media presence don’t “rhyme” indeed!

Definitely not! Personally, I feel most of the confusion stems from business owners not understanding their customers well.

So I started teaching people about how to put social media and Lean Startup together effectively. I was learning from my customers using these tools and realized that there were a lot of business owners that could use our help with social media

Q4. I guess this explains the practical, hands-on focus of Garious On-Ramp book. What were the criteria/processes/research techniques that led you to target Real Estate professionals in particular?

It was 50% educated guess and 50% existing network. Meaning that the @SmartGroupAZ team and I were putting together a one-day class and we had a lot of connections in that area.

The other 50% was due to the fact that Real Estate pros have a different product they are marketing with each new client. Because of this constant change, we thought it was a perfect place to start.

We found a lot of existing material/surveys that showed that the Real Estate industry was utilizing SMM well about 25% of times. When choosing your customer, start by taking a SWAG. Then, test to see if you were right or wrong. Nothing is permanent.

I know SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. What does SWAG stand for?

SWAG stands for Super Wild Ass Guess. In other words, take a guess and see if you were right or wrong.

I see That’s hilarious but very true in essence. Successful innovative endeavors must involve “educated” guesses.

The key is to make that guess and then go test it. Typically, business owners make the guess and assume it’s always right.

That’s a critical point. Thanks for clarifying it, Aaron.

Q5. Now I am saving the best for last: What’s Garious vision for the future?

Once the book is finished I envision us providing other social media education products and services. My hope is to go really deep with a handful of industries and help transform their marketing efforts. We will focus on industries where the barrier to entry is really low and the complexity is high.

Honestly, I don’t know what the future holds, but I envision Garious making the lives of business owners better through education and coaching.

I also envision you interviewing @67tallchris about what it’s like to partner up with someone and write a first book!

Your vision is my command, Aaron . @67tallchris let’s setup an interview in the near future. I will email you all the exciting details…

Thanks, Aaron! Awesome interview. I’m sure our happy audience agrees. Am right or right? – A @T_Harv_Eker catch phrase!

I sure hope so I’d love to hear feedback from folks. What did you like, what do you wish was different?

You Heard Him Folks…

Now the mic is all yours. Please let us know your thoughts/comments/feedback…You name it