Kevin Getch
CEO at Webfor
Webfor’s Founder and Director of Digital Strategy started his career in marketing over 19 years ago. He is the author of Future Proof Your Marketing and has been quoted and published on leading sites like Forbes, Huffington Post, Search Engine Journal & Mashable. Kevin enjoys speaking at industry conferences as well as volunteering his time by serving as President of the board of directors for SEMpdx, a non-profit organization focusing on connecting and educating people in the digital marketing community. Having worked for some of the largest fortune 500 companies, in 2009 he felt it was time to venture out on his own. He started Webfor in early 2009 with a business model focused on what he called the 3 R’s (Relationships, Results & ROI). Kevin believed that if we delivered in all three of these areas for our clients that we would not only help a lot of businesses succeed that we too would have a long and extremely successful life as a company. Due in major part to this business philosophy of putting the client first Webfor has seen enormous growth. Kevin is involved in the day-to-day SEO for all of our clients. When he’s not focusing on helping small businesses grow their brand he’s running obstacle course races, practicing Jiu Jitsu, hiking, traveling and spending time with his beautiful wife and two kids.
Who’s your hero? (In business, life, or both.)
My heroes are everyday people who show extraordinary determination in the face of tough obstacles. Whether overcoming physical, emotional or mental hurdles, this is the disabled person who attempts a Spartan Race, the father who goes the extra mile to make sure his children know they are loved, the individual who follows their dreams to start their own business.
What’s the single best piece of business advice that helped shape who you are as an entrepreneur today, and why?
The Zig Ziglar quote, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” has really shaped me as a person. Our company was built around showing that we care in everything we do for our clients, our team members, our vendors and our community. When you truly care, it shows through in everything you do.
What’s the biggest mistake you ever made in your business, and what did you learn from it that others can learn from too?
The biggest mistake I’ve made was letting my fear of growing too quickly slow down our company.
In 2014, I was concerned about having Webfor’s quick growth possibly hurt our company culture and the quality of services we delivered to our clients. That fear led to one of our lowest year-over-year growth rates. I realized my fear was holding the company back. 2015 was a very different year. I changed my mindset. Now we have put in place processes that maintain quality of service while scaling growth effectively.
What do you do during the first hour of your business day and why?
Besides reviewing my calendar and scanning my email, every day I determine one thing I can accomplish that will have the biggest impact on the business. I then focus on getting that one thing done. Sometimes it’s solving a problem or making a critical decision, but often it is just spending time with people in our organization.
Once I’ve completed that one thing I feel like I’ve already had a positive impact for the day and am ready to attack the rest of the items on my list.
What’s your best financial/cash-flow related tip for entrepreneurs just getting started?
First, if possible, get paid upfront. Waiting months for payments while spending a lot on products, supplies, payroll, etc. will kill your business. Second, leverage a tool like FathomHQ that analyzes your financial data, allows you to create your own KPI’s and will alert you if certain benchmarks aren’t being reached.
Quick: What’s ONE thing you recommend ALL aspiring or current entrepreneurs do right now to take their biz to the next level?
Empower your people! Your team is your most valuable asset. Too many companies stifle their employees by promoting an environment where no one feels comfortable making mistakes, sharing their ideas on how to improve the company or making critical decisions.
If your team members are used to an environment where they can work independently, their input is valued and acted upon and they can make decisions without your oversight, you’ve increased your company’s capacity for revenue/profit exponentially.
What’s your definition of success? How will you know when you’ve finally “succeeded” in your business?
There are many different levels of success. Success means many different things to different people. I knew I was successful in my business when I put together a team of people who care about our company and our clients as much as I do and knew the company could thrive with or without me.