Today we’d like to introduce you to Allen Ashouri.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Allen. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I started working from a young age. I saw both my parents work very hard, especially my mom. She was my inspiration to dream a life bigger than what we had and showed me the work ethic it took to get there. I was very blessed with a great family and support system of love. We’re all very close and are there for each other. This helped build my confidence to go after the things I really wanted in life.
Over the years, I had tried to build a lot of companies; I had a computer repair business at 13 (it’s now a full-fledged computer repair store in Los Angeles called Comp-Pros), an art supply business at 19 while still in college, I sold espresso machines and other items on my online store, started an IT Support business/division of Comp-Pros in Los Angeles, and finally launched EMRG — a full service branding, digital marketing, ad management, and website design firm.
I’ve always loved business and people. With EMRG, I get to work with some pretty amazing team members to help our clients grow their businesses. Some are new start-ups, some are small businesses, and others are fortune 500s. We just finished a massive project working with all the shopping center websites for each of Unibail Rodamco Westfield’s malls in North America.
This was a very rewarding and exciting project, as it showed us how our hyper-focus on results had gained us a reputation in our field. I am super proud of my team and everything we’ve been able to accomplish in such a short time. And there’s much more to come.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has definitely been an interesting and challenging road. I’ve always loved business, but when I was younger, I never realized how difficult things can get.
We offer a lot of different services within digital marketing since we’re full service:
-Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
-Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
-Targeted Facebook and Instagram ads
-Social media marketing/management
-Website design, development, and management
-Reputation management: helping businesses grow their rankings on Yelp, Google Reviews, and others
This has been extremely challenging. Each one of these service lines works differently, with different staff, and often for different clientele. It’s almost as if we’re running six businesses in one. Most successful companies specialize in just one service line, and that’s enough to run a business. But we knew early on how important this was going to be for our clients; most companies need a digital partner like us to guide them through the complex SEO process, help them further develop their brand through their website and social/branding, and scale their business with paid ads. We HAD to be full service. It was the only way to keep in line with our mission statement– predicating ourselves on increasing profitability for our clients.
Outside of operations though, we’ve been through it all. Business is not always easy. It’s not always fun. There are a lot of sacrifices– I think this is one thing people overlook when fantasizing about their dream life as a business owner. From working 100 hour weeks for months on end, to dealing with health issues from that imbalance, to a strain on personal relationships, and even loss of sleep, the life of an entrepreneur is challenging. But through it all, I learned to grow stronger and tougher. I learned to keep balance in my personal life and health through eating better, meditation (this is a big one for me), family time, and time to unwind. I learned that this is how I can have longevity for the long road ahead.
All in all, I’m grateful for all of it. It’s turned me into the person I am today.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the EMRG story. Tell us more about the business.
We’re known for our results-focused marketing strategies. Everything we do is for the sole purpose of helping our clients’ business grow to their online potential, increase their profitability, and doing all while having a “giving back” structure built into our business model.
As a marketing company in Los Angeles, one thing that makes us different from other companies is our business-savvy approach. We use business acumen and profitability as our benchmark when working with each of our clients. If they have made $150k in revenue but had $200k in costs to get there, then we’re not keeping in-line with our mission. But, when my team and I focus on $200k net in our marketing campaign, then the pressure is really on. It gets all of us thinking about this business as if it was literally our own business. We are then forced to innovate. To think creatively. To think with the end-goal in mind. When you have a team as capable as I do, this makes all the difference with our results.
A little more about what we do and how we do it below:
-Website Design and Development:
When we work with a new client, we look at their overall business, industry, landscape, competitors, and market trends. When you use business acumen as a marketing company, it keeps things in perspective. Yes, having a pretty website is important. But, having a website that acts as a tool to convert traffic into revenue while creating your brand awareness is much more important.
-Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
When you are building this website, you should be using the best search engine optimization (SEO) practices to help your business get to the top rankings for keywords that your potential clients are searching for. After the site is built, you need on-going SEO to continue to drive traffic and rankings towards your business. This will help your website get the exposure and traffic it needs to grow.
-Reputation Management:
Even if you have a great website and great rankings, if you have bad online reviews or negative links then your online health will affect your business! Even people referred to you organically will think twice if they see scathing reviews. This is why having a strong system in place for rep management is important. We focus on both removing negative reviews and links as well as promoting and obtaining positive reviews on all platforms.
-Social Media Marketing:
When it comes to social, content is king. But so is communicating the right message, scheduling things at peak-performing times, engaging with others in your community, and gaining strong followership/interest. Social media can be one of the most powerful tools every business needs to be using to grow.
-Pay-per-click (PPC) Ads:
I love PPC as part of any/all of the strategies we use. When you’ve been doing this as long as we have, you start learning recipes for success with pay-per-click ads. We know that when we see certain numbers in search volume, competition levels, and cost-per-click, then we’re about to hit a home run. It’s exciting because our clients transform into bigger businesses right in front of our eyes. PPC ads are very easy to scale, so the limiting factor here is usually keeping up with all the new business.
Alongside all our different service lines and operations we are still extremely committed to our “Giving Back” causes. We still sponsor a new child through ChildFund.org with each new marketing campaign we launch. We went from having just one child sponsor to many; I still hand write letters with my kid from when we started this program years ago. It’s one of the things we are most proud of. We see the impact it makes on these kids and their families from providing them clean clothes, to much-needed mosquito nets, to books and school supplies.
I also consider myself extremely blessed to have such good team members here at EMRG. The culture here is very unique. We all love what we do. We all care (sometimes too much) about our work, the results we obtain, and our clients. We come in hungry each day. It’s motivating. I’m extremely proud of our team.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I consider myself extremely lucky. I speak it into existence as much as I can. Sure, I’ve had tough times and strokes of “bad luck.” But, such is life. My dad always taught me to stay positive; that’s where your power comes from. It’s easy to be happy and feel lucky when things are all going right. But when things start going wrong, that’s the most important time to stay positive, to visualize what you want to happen.
I believe the power of the mind is something incredible. There is nothing that people cannot accomplish with hard work and some patience/time. Elon Musk is a great example of that; he created an electric vehicle that performs higher than any normal car. This was thought as impossible just a few years ago.
For me, the power of the mind controls my luck in a large way. Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” taught me how visualization and hard work can give me the life I want. So, the harder I work and the more I put these positive thoughts into the forefront and subconscious of my mind, the luckier I become.
Contact Info:
- Address: 11601 Wilshire Blvd, 5th Fl Los Angeles, CA 90025
- Website: EMRGonline.com
- Phone: 310-747-4282
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: emrg_online
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EMRGonline
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/emrg-los-angeles
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