We were lucky to catch up with Donny Wells recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Donny, so happy to have you with us today and there is so much we want to ask you about. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others developed certain skills or qualities that we are struggling with can be helpful. Along those lines, we’d love to hear from you about how you developed your ability to take risk?
Risk taking is not something that comes naturally to most people. The prospect of failure, the insecurity of success, and sunk time can be a strong deterrent. These barriers were strong for me early in my career as I valued a stable salary over betting on myself in my personal business. One of my first jobs was selling marketing plans to the suppliers of the company I worked for. In that role, I was winning people over to the idea that they need to spend some of their hard earned dollars on marketing in order to make more money in the long term. I was explaining day in and day out that you have to take some risk in order to experience growth and success. The more I explained and sold, the more I believed the message I was preaching. This along with my job transitioning from the sales to the brand management gave me the perspective I needed. I got to watch a brand risk their money and effort and over time be glad they did. That experience motivated me to get my own business started and bet on myself. Even so, the first business I started failed! I was not profitable over the first year and other factors surmounted my success. However, I learned more in that experience than I could have doing anything else. I learned that some risk is not worth it and I learned to lean into what I know. That led to one of the main risks lessons I have learned- risk is easier to endure when you share it. Starting the GW Branding Group off strong was possible since I had a business partner to share the risk with.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My name is Donny Wells and I am the Co-Founder of the GW Branding Group. I am a web designer, search engine optimization specialist, and business owner. I have my bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing and I am certified in SEO. My main passion is as a relationship manager. Cultivating partnerships and strong working relationships with our clients has been a key to the success of the GW Branding Group thus far. My wonderful wife Brittany and I have a beautiful daughter and one on the way. They are my motivation to succeed and I want to make them proud with the work that I do.
The GW Branding Group is a project I have undertaken with my business partner Anthony Galizia. Galizia/Wells is where we get GW. Anthony’s creative mind for websites, sales skill, and history of running a successful digital marketing agency made him the perfect match for my skillset.
We pride ourselves in making websites work for businesses. We have seen it time and again where a business has a website that does not bring in any leads and the owners are left scratching their heads. Google is constantly changing their criteria for what is “good” SEO. At GW, we make it our business to know the criteria and utilize it! We are experts at making websites that bring the traffic you want to your business website. We help businesses go from taking what they can get to picking their most profitable jobs. A great start for any business is to hire us for an SEO Kick Off Campaign. We do research on what the current search results are as well as competitive audits to see where you are compared to others in your industry. Then we shape up your website to make it much easier for Google and other search engines to read.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Firstly, and most importantly, the ability to pivot has been crucial to my journey. It is not easy to take what you have been doing and tweak it, especially when you have worked so hard to develop and cultivate it. But if you swallow your pride and follow the open doors when they present themselves.
Second, learning Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been a serious asset to my business success. As a digital marketing generalist, I had many skills that could benefit companies. However, the niche I was developing in the home services and medical industries benefit tremendously from a strong website that shows up under many search queries. Anthony and I realized that and we developed a passion for SEO. I not only familiarized myself with the concept, but I made myself an expert through research and experience. That was a pivot that has made me able to bring success to my clients in the form of an influx of leads. My SEO skills and know-how has shaped the direction of our company and helped us carry our clients to higher and higher heights.
Lastly, my work ethic comes into play every day. Working for yourself means that you have the flexibility to take days off and make your life easier than it has to be. However, if your foot is off the gas, your company does not grow and you miss many opportunities. I am motivated and I work much more than at a typical job because I know that I am building something. I take personal responsibility for the success of my client’s websites. Being able to mentally tie my work to the growth of not only my business, but those who have put their trust in our business has been extremely important.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
Something I do when I feel overwhelmed is to categorize everything on my plate. Every morning when I wake up I have four main goals: increase revenue, decrease cost, mitigate risk, and increase company culture. If any of my tasks do not contribute to those goals, it becomes a secondary importance to me. When I write out everything I have to do and focus on those four goals first, it allows me to get the important work done first and I know my time is being used efficiently.
I never want to have important tasks hang over my head, but freeing up my headspace by knocking out my tasks one by one in order of importance helps tremendously.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gwbrandinggroup.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gw-branding-group/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@offthegroundpodcast
