Alex Valencia: Diversifying is Key to a Successful Business

Adaptability to change is a key trait to have in life, especially when growing a business. Any successful business owner could tell you that. If you aren’t able to change and adapt to your business’s industry, there is no doubt that it will plunder. Alex Valencia, the co-owner of We Do Web Content, is no stranger to this notion. “Diversifying protects you and your business,” he explains. “Providing different products and opening them up to diverse clientele is beneficial to any business.”

Alex has adapted to numerous bumps in the road to where he is now. He was previously working with Citibank for nearly 20 years until the market crashed in 2008. Like many others throughout the world, he was laid off from his job and left questioning his financial future. But he saw an opportunity to join his wife Yvette as she was starting to grow her new business, We Do Web Content.

We Do Web Content soon became a content pioneer within the law industry, creating content for attorneys that drove massive traffic and converted those eyeballs into sales. A piece of content that cost only a few hundred would have a lifetime value in the hundreds of thousands. The successful content model gained a lot of attention, and We Do Web Content grew rapidly, expanding to represent medical groups, other niche industries, and even Fortune 500 companies. Alex shared, “We’ve had a significant amount of growth based on helping others grow, and along the way, our business was getting noticed because we were assisting other people,” says Alex.

Their success is due to their faith and confidence in what they do and their ability to shift with the ever-changing market. The agency is constantly innovating to keep up with the changing market, and they have their newest project brewing – a software system called WeDo, that will change the way we think about content. “We live in a time where technology changes day by day, and we would have gotten left behind if we didn’t create it,” Alex says.

This new software program will not only be advantageous to clients of We Do Web Content, but it will be available to others in the market as well. “It will also help other agencies, content providers, and content developers have a seamless and cost-effective product that will save them time and money.”

Creating something new and morphing a business can be daunting and challenging, but not for Alex and his team. This new software is currently in beta testing and will complement and enhance the industry, unlike anything else on the market. We Do Web Content’s clientele will get their content needs to be met with this new innovation. “We know what it’s like to use three different platforms to deliver one thing, so we made it easy and developed one.”

We Do Web Content plans to unleash their exciting new software program for the fall. In the meantime, there are already companies on a waiting list to get their hands on this exciting new platform. The agency is fine-tuning the program and looks forward to onboarding new clients.

Although the agency changes with the times, one thing still holds true: the importance of people. Alex has a “treat others the way you want to be treated” attitude and applies it to his clients and his family and employees. He boasts about the importance of comradery in a business, no matter the industry. “We have a very family-centric, thoughtful, and driven company,” Alex explains. We Do Web Content might be a leader in the content industry, but their people-first mentality will ensure that their values will stay the same no matter how much they grow.

 

 

Jonathan Foltz: How Perseverance & Pivots let to $31 Million in Sales – And a $5 Million Public Acquisition

Jonathan found himself in the jewelry industry by accident. He sold one of his companies in 2016 and was about to invest the bulk of that money into his marketing agency, Digital Age Business. One night Jonathan was randomly browsing online and came across a video discussing Shopify, print-on-demand, and e-commerce trends. His mind opened up to this new business model, and he immediately went to work on a parody website centered around the election. It was slow to take off, and he tried a variety of products, pricing, and offers, but nothing stuck. Just as he was about to walk away from the project, he tried one more offer, and then suddenly, things began to take off.

At the same time that Jonathan was polishing his marketing skills with his political parody website, he already had the wheels in motion to launch Aphrodite’s. When he was curating the first collection to be made available for purchase, he discovered a heart-shaped tree of life design that caught his eye. It did okay but not as well as he felt it should be doing. It wasn’t until he tweaked the offer, the pricing, and he doubled down on the exposure through eye-catching ads that things began to change. The heart-shaped tree of life design went viral, and that is when Aphrodite’s began to scale and get to where they are today.

Aphrodite’s features an array of necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, and anklets, along with select watches and sunglasses. The affordable luxury items are available in trendy sterling silver, gold-tone silver-tone, and natural semi-precious gemstone pieces. Retail prices range from $29.95 to $99.95, and there is complimentary worldwide shipping.

The brand was finally finding its stride when the pandemic hit. As the world was shutting down, so were the borders in the United States. This meant that Aphrodite’s could not get items out to nearly 40% of their customers who were international. Couple this, with over $1 million in inventory they had carried over from the last quarter of the previous year, and things begin to get tight. As big retailers and small shops started folding, it was hard for Jonathan to keep forging ahead and not let outside factors affect his inner focus.

When it felt like there were no more options to explore, there was a light at the end of the tunnel due to quick and smart thinking. Jonathan and his team quickly pivoted what they were selling into gifting and sentimental experiences, switching the business model that had brought them success thus far. Stimulus checks started hitting bank accounts, driving dollars into the economy. And more consumers were shopping online than ever before. According to Digital Commerce 360, Consumers spent $861.12 billion online with U.S. merchants in 2020, up an astounding 44% year over year. That’s the highest annual U.S. e-commerce growth in at least two decades.

As Mother’s Day began to near, these elements blended to create the perfect storm for the brand. In the first week of May, they were able to generate over $2 million in a single week, with one of the days having a company record-breaking 8,700 orders resulting in nearly $400,000 in sales. The leftover inventory from the previous year ended up being a huge blessing since borders were still closed, and the company could not get inventory into their warehouse. The massive sales from Mother’s Day led to over 75% of that merchandise to be sold.

When so many were losing their jobs, the exponential growth allowed Jonathan to hire many new team members to help meet the demand and new workload for all the orders. Another critical element for the increase in business was a much-needed influx in cash and a strategic partner to help the company capitalize on the moment of significant growth. After countless meetings and several months of due diligence, Aphrodite’s was acquired by Bergio International (OTC PINK: BRGO),a world-renowned fine jewelry brand with the highest standards of traditional craftsmanship launched in 2007. The company was founded by Berge Abajian, a 3rd generation jeweler with expansive knowledge around manufacturing and the jewelry industry as a whole. It created the perfect marriage of forward-thinking e-commerce technology and traditional tried-and-true experience.

From Aphrodite’s we can expect them to enhance the customer experience and keep producing higher quality products. They are taking a holistic approach to upgrading everything from the start to end of the consumer journey, including viral ads, high-converting landing pages, premium customer service, and redesigned packaging to continually enhance the emotional experience they provide.

Jonathan Foltz shared, “In the future, we look forward to collaboration and cross-promotions with our parent company, Bergio International. They bring an incredible amount of industry knowledge, particularly on the manufacturing side, which will allow us to elevate our designs while maintaining an accessible price point.”

Nathan Delva Builds Envision Apparel to Create Fashion that Thrives with the Owner to Success

Fashion has always changed with and influenced people’s lives. For some, it is a way to express themselves. For others, it is a booster of confidence, and for a few, it is to help the youth realize the importance of life and passion. In a memoir provided by the clothes and effort he has put through, Nathan Delva, the founder of Envision Apparel, revisits the drive behind his clothing brand and his actions that led to where she is at present.

Nathan Delva is the architect of his life and company Envision Apparel. His works introduce a dazzling narrative about the beauty in hardship and perseverance, embracing techniques that create a vision of the imagined and hoped future. But behind the eyes of the breathtaking crafts and details is a story that pushed the CEO to thrive harder in what is close to his heart.

After his sixth grade, Nathan Delva had to overcome the hardship of living with divorced parents. Although it was difficult, more often than not, he had to accept the drastic changes in his life and quickly decide which path he would soon take. The situation gave him the epiphany to create a way of success where he could support his family, both current and future. With a business in mind, Nathan became determined to break generational wealth and start from where he is standing, only escalating to the top.

Envision Apparel started after manifesting a successful future. The company was established in 2015 while Nathan was pursuing his college degree, intending to build an establishment that could provide young teens and students jobs to save up for their future.

With his clothing line, Nathan Delva incorporates details that acknowledge each trial and error one has to go through before reaching success. The unique items he creates provides a vision of life that people of all ages can relate to. He hopes that Envision Apparel can give the motivation to use one’s talent to reach greater feats through his work. He added, “Throughout the hardest times of a journey is where you build the most character that generates your success in the near future.”

As a New York Fashion Week model, Nathan Delva knows the ins and outs of the industry, making him a steward among others. Still, he remains humble and centers his life on becoming better than he is at present. The spirit of competitiveness, along with lessons from short films and different perspectives as an entrepreneur, is what he uses to transform fabrics and pieces into concepts beyond what one can imagine. 

From the drive that keeps him pushing to the fashion pieces he creates, Nathan Delva delivers a message of the importance of focus and consistent effort. Little by little, together with Envision Apparel, the artist is sure to share with the world the talent he is born with—a talent to create, innovate, and inspire. 

Get updates and learn more about the versatile artist Nathan Delva, by visiting his Instagram or Envision Apparel’s website.