241. Unleashing Success: Embracing Failure and the Power of Effort - Dimitri Smirnov

00:00:10
This is happiness solved with America's happiness. Coach Sandee Sgarlata.

00:00:21
Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining me today. I'm so happy you're here. I'm Sandee Sgarlata. I was born in Virginia Beach and raised in the Baltimore Annapolis area and had very humble and tragic beginnings. And as a result, my life was a hot mess.

00:00:36
Thankfully, 33 years ago, I got my act together and since that time, I have dedicated my life to serving others and raising awareness that no matter what you've been through, you can choose happiness and live the life of your dreams. Happiness Solved is dedicated to giving you content that is empowering, motivational, inspirational, and, of course, a dose of happiness. It's my way to give back to the world and share other people's stories. This thing called life can be challenging and my guests share their amazing stories, wisdom and life lessons that demonstrate anyone can choose happiness. You see, happiness is a choice and the choice is yours.

00:01:16
Today's episode is amazing and I am so grateful for you. Thank you for listening and don't forget to leave a review and follow me on social media at coach. Sandee Sgarlata. Enjoy the show.

00:01:35
Hello, Dimitri Smirnov. It's such an honor and a privilege to have you here today. How are you? I am doing excellent and thank you, Sandy, for having me on. I'm excited to jump in and talk about yes, yes.

00:01:49
I love it. So you are the founder of Big Life Marketing and you help entrepreneurs and businesses fix their creative copy, landing pages and optimization for Google Ad traffic. So we're going to talk a lot about that. But basically, you manage over $1.7 million in Google Ads and YouTube ads every month. Even Jordan Belfort, who was played in The Wolf of Wall Street.

00:02:17
So that's pretty awesome. But you also really at the core of what you're doing is you're helping entrepreneurs and businesses become happy in their lives. Because if you're growing your business and. The ads are working and that's helping. Drive traffic, of course you're going to be happy, right?

00:02:35
That's right. Of course. Yes. We do all that stuff. We drive traffic using Google Ads and YouTube Ads, and we make Google Ads the number one traffic source for many businesses.

00:02:46
But what we really do is we. Help business owners create impact through their. Passion, because whether it's a course or. A product or a service, most founders are really passionate about what they do, especially when they founded the business. And we help amplify that message, grow.

00:03:06
It, and get that value out to more people. I love it. That's so critical in today's world since everything is digital. So, Dimitri, tell me a little bit about your backstory and how you got to where you are today. And I love know company.

00:03:24
Yeah, we sell digital ads, but this is what we really do. It's great if you can really make it. Yeah, we're doing this. But this is how we're impacting our clients. So I love that.

00:03:34
So talk a little bit about your backstory and how you got to where you are today. Well, I'll kind of start with almost the end at the beginning. And right now the way we talk about ourselves is we say, hey, what would you do? Or how much would you pay? If you could deliver the perfect message to the perfect customer at just the right time?

00:03:59
You might say, I would pay $10, $100, $1,000 or more. Well, what if you could also introduce. Your product, tell your story, show the potential transformation, address objections all at the same time?

00:04:17
Well, that's a YouTube ad, and it. Cost about ten cents per impression. It's amazing. So this is where I've ended up, and I'm very happy to be providing or helping provide this service to people. But the way I started, it was not an easy road.

00:04:34
It was not just direct from I grew up as a kid and somebody asked, what do you want to do? I never said I want to be a Google and YouTube ads manager. I wanted to be an actor, a baseball star like everybody else. And so it was a little bit of a.

00:04:52
Mean going back. I grew up in Washington, DC area. I had immigrant parents from the Soviet. Union, and they really cared about school, something that a passion that I did. Not share, quite frankly, but it was still an important thing in our household.

00:05:09
So I was, of course, pursuing that. I was going down the mathematics and economics track, and actually that's what I majored in at the University of Maryland. And I was pretty good at it. But quite frankly, I didn't like it at all. It was very structured, especially with class.

00:05:29
You have to wake up early. There's a schedule. All the things adulting, right? The adulting things you have to do. It's what you're supposed to do and everyone's doing it, but it didn't seem right.

00:05:43
But okay, I'm still a kid and I have this other thing going on. One thing that my dad helped me. With is introduced me to refereeing ice hockey. So I was a hockey player, but. In order to make money as a kid, I could referee the ice hockey.

00:06:00
And starting at age 13, I was on skates and actually blowing the whistle and calling the penalties, having coaches and. Parents yell at me. I did that for ten years. Now, it's not an easy job, as you can imagine. Everybody's yelling at you and everything is your fault.

00:06:21
But I loved it. I loved it because not only was it exciting to mix a physical activity with a mental challenge, but I got to set my own schedule. I got to decide if I wanted. To wake up early, and oftentimes I did, but it was my own decision. And so when I went to school.

00:06:42
I kind of gave that up into university, but also at the same time, I was pursuing another passion, which was poker. And there was a poker boom in. 2003 that just took over and I was super into it. And the interesting thing about that game is, similar to ice hockey refereeing, it's not a forgiving sport or game or job, however you want to call it, because there's heartbreak built into it. It's very challenging emotionally.

00:07:15
But what I loved about it was. Also that freedom of deciding when do. I want to play? And also one thing I got right away is instant feedback on every decision I made. So all of a sudden I'm starting to mix something I'm good at, like.

00:07:32
Statistics mathematics, with something I'm passionate about, which was maybe waking up a little. Bit later and staying up all night playing, making my own schedule and getting decisions. So that was not a career that. I wanted to pursue, ultimately. And I stumbled my way into an.

00:07:55
Internet startup that was running Google and Facebook advertising. I started working oh, by the way, all the people I went to school. With, they went to go work at. Wall Street Actuary companies and so on. I decided I didn't want any of.

00:08:16
That, and I'd work as a customer. Support agent at an internet startup. But it was intoxicating. It was amazing.

00:08:31
That's the backstory of how I got into the industry. Wow, that's pretty cool. And I love that you're combining your passions with your analytical abilities. That's really awesome. But real quick side note, I'm a.

00:08:47
Retired US national and international figure skating. Coach and started figure skating because my. Three brothers played ice hockey and my father coached it. But back in the 70s, women did not play ice hockey. So when I was like six, seven years old, I'm like, I want to play ice hockey.

00:09:05
And they're like, no, you are not playing ice hockey. So I went into figure skating, which was great, and I ended up doing a lot of training with hockey players. And we were part of that era where ice hockey realized what a benefit figure skating can bring to them in their skating and their basic technical skating skills. And so that was back in the early ninety s, and that was when ice hockey players really started having a little bit more respect for figure skaters. Right.

00:09:43
Because we could teach them how to. Really skate good, which a lot of. Times they don't get those technical skills. So anyway, I love talking to people that did that, and that's really awesome. Yeah, and skating is such a big deal.

00:09:59
And when I was growing up, we were also taught by figure skaters. So I totally relate to what you're saying. And even as a referee, you could. Not advance to the next level or a certain level to referee. Like I did three national Youth championships, tier one, ice hockey, college level, junior semi professional, unless you're a really advanced skater.

00:10:25
Really good. Yeah, almost, if not better than some of the players. Often. Because as a referee, you're on the. Ice the entire game.

00:10:35
You don't get a break. And so it was quite important. I love that. That's so awesome. So before we started recording, you told me about the name of your company and that there's kind of a meaning behind it and how you so can.

00:10:51
You talk about that a little bit? Yes. So what big life? Marketing or big life? What is a big life?

00:11:00
I think we kind of all want big lives in a way. What does that mean? And for me, it can be defined in the context of the word. When is the word used in? Where is it used?

00:11:11
In other places. Something I'm very inspired by are the founding Fathers of the United States and the Constitution that they wrote and they gave us rights. And among those rights, well, not the Founding Fathers, but they wrote that the Creator gave us rights. And among those are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And so the word life there, I think, in that context is very meaningful.

00:11:40
And what is a big life? It's one where we have liberty, we have the freedom to decide what we do with our lives. And we can and do pursue that of which we are passionate about. We can't just be free to pursue. We actually have to go and do that.

00:12:00
And that's part of finding our happiness. When I found something that I was. Passionate about, I wasn't just happy immediately. It was only when I went out. And started doing it and failing and then overcoming it, succeeding it that I found that happiness.

00:12:20
We're all blessed with a gift and some kind of potential. Finding that gift is step one. But then working to reach that potential is really where the meaning comes from and ultimately where that happiness will come from too. That's what I'm finding in my life, in our business and with our clients business, where we help these business owners pursue that happiness by amplifying their message through advertising. Advertising can sound kind of like a bad thing.

00:12:57
Maybe ads or that's not good, but. Really it's just a billboard. Every ad is a billboard. And it's your opportunity to put your messaging out into the world. And if you have a positive message, you're bringing positivity into the world.

00:13:14
So it really is a good thing. And whether your pursuit is public service or art or you have an HVAC. Business or anything like that, well, you. Need patrons, also known as customers. So it all comes together that way.

00:13:35
And that, to me, is what a. Big life really is. That's amazing. I love that. Well, and here's the thing.

00:13:42
When it comes to advertising, we all know, what do they say there's like eleven touch points before people are going to buy from you. So while one person may be annoyed. At seeing the same advertisement over and over and over, there's probably going to. Be ten other people who are going. To want to listen to it, right?

00:14:04
Because it's not going to appeal to every single person. Yes. And one of the most important things about advertising is actually speaking directly to your audience, but not just that it's. Excluding those people who aren't interested. You don't want those people to see your ads.

00:14:22
And with companies like Google and YouTube. And their advanced algorithms, those people quickly. Stop seeing your ads. It really is a magical thing that the Google AI now does is you put out messaging and it really reaches the right people pretty quickly and. Say.

00:14:44
For YouTube ads that you have to put together a script and record a. Video, which is actually easier than it sounds like. But if you use the basic rules of writing an ad, it's oftentimes going. To hit the right messaging pretty quickly and find your right audience to the eleven touch points point, that is true. There is a lot of competition for products like yours, but again, if you present yourself, you tell a story.

00:15:18
We all love stories, whether we're kids or adults, everyone in between loves a story. And advertising is all about telling a story, showing a transformation, overcoming a difficulty. If you can do that, you can sell anything. And again, when we're selling, it's a good thing. Again, it's a good thing.

00:15:39
You're bringing value to the world. That's right. Totally. Total value. So I want to go back to circle back to something that you had said before, because as entrepreneurs, and I consider myself kind of a serial entrepreneur, I've owned multiple businesses and different revenue.

00:15:54
Streams and whatnot, and you talked about the failures. It's such a big part of running a business. What advice can you give to people to help them put things in perspective and be able to look at failure. As the opportunity that it is and not like such a negative thing, because. That'S really just in life.

00:16:20
Right. Life is also a series of failures as well, right? Yes. Well, there is maybe this false dichotomy. Potentially of success averse failure.

00:16:33
It's either one or the other. If you're not succeeding or failing or if you fail, that's a bad thing. Well, that's the glass half empty way of looking at things. Success is not possible without failure. And that sounds cliche and all, but I can give you an example of how we do optimization, our business that.

00:16:58
Actually leverages failure to reach successes that. We didn't even expect. So if we have an offer that's already working, it's working well and it's. Profitable for the client, we could say that's it, we did our job, our. Job is done here and let it keep running.

00:17:18
But that's not what we do. We take ten to 20% of our. Budget and split test something meaning we. Change something about the offer or the marketing and we try something new. Almost every time we do that, we fail.

00:17:33
It doesn't work as well as the offer is already running. That's a failure. But maybe ten or 20% of the. Time or 30% of the time, it depends. Sometimes it's even less, sometimes it's 1% of the time.

00:17:48
We strike gold. We strike gold and we find an offer that performs twice as well and the customer can make twice as much. Revenue, twice as much profit using the. Same amount of ad spend. That is a success that I would.

00:18:06
Say.

00:18:09
Is an even higher success than you had earlier. So we could have never achieved that higher success, even though we were already successful, without going through failures that we. Really didn't have to go through, but we chose to do it. We overcame the negative things about that, the failures. But ultimately that's the process of finding out what works in the ultimate success.

00:18:42
Well, yeah, because everything is just like that trial and error you're testing and you're going to test out this one thing and maybe only run have like a small budget for an ad, right? Correct me if I'm wrong. You start out with a smaller budget. You run an ad, see if it works. If it doesn't, if you don't get.

00:19:01
Results, then you haven't spent a whole lot of your budget. And then you alter it and you change it. But isn't that just how life is anyway? Right? That's so true.

00:19:10
That's exactly how life is. We just test things, see what works, and do more of what works and. Less of what doesn't. And if something makes us happy, why don't we just do more of that? And if something makes us unhappy, we.

00:19:23
Can choose to do less of that. Right. And sometimes we can't, but not right away at least. But we can set up a plan. And build our way to do less of what we don't like to do and what doesn't make us happy and what doesn't work.

00:19:38
Yeah. Because sometimes you may have this thing that doesn't bring you the joy that you want. And let's just say it's a job that you want to leave, okay? If you plan it out correctly, you. Can say, okay, we're going to do.

00:19:55
This for now because it's what's working, but then have an exit strategy. But that's just like that in anything. It's all about being flexible. Excuse me? Shifting your perception about the situation and trying out new things that work better.

00:20:13
Than what wasn't working.

00:20:18
That's so true. And life and happiness takes work. And we all kind of know, or. Even more than kind of, we know what's the right decision to make and what food we're supposed to be eating. And if a job that we're staying in is right for us or relationship is right for us, or even a client is right for us, we know.

00:20:43
It, but a lot of times we get lazy. We don't want to go through the process. But going back to the Constitution and that quote that I was mentioning is it's really about the pursuit of happiness. It's that process, putting in the effort. And getting it done.

00:21:01
That's the only way it's worked. It's the only way it's worked for me is when the effort was put in. And as an example, I was a really good athlete as a kid. In fact, I was. One of the best.

00:21:17
And for that reason, to play ice hockey? That's not it. You know, I was playing ice hockey. Baseball, basketball, all sorts of things. But because I was good, I didn't.

00:21:30
Take practice and work very seriously. And by the time I became a. Teenager, those who outworked me started to pass me, right. And by the time I realized I. Should have pursued my happiness more, it was too late.

00:21:47
And so now I'm not going to make that mistake again. Even if something is working in our business, we're trying to find a way. To get it to work even better. Yeah, well, and here's the thing. Just because I worked with athletes and most of them were teenagers, usually I started out with them when they were younger and then they eventually become a teenager.

00:22:14
And here's the thing. If you don't have that drive and that passion that you want to do. It eight days a week, then it's okay. Still do the sport, still have fun with it. But that's just not in your alignment with what you want.

00:22:31
And that's okay. Because if you're truly in alignment with your passions, you'll do it eight days a week and five times on Sunday. You want to do it. You want to do it. And if you don't have that drive, it's just probably not in alignment with your true passions.

00:22:53
Really. That's so true. And I want to bring up a. Word that can be interpreted multiple ways, and the word is addiction. And I think that especially in today's world, but always, but especially now, is.

00:23:09
That we're all addicted. We're all addicted to something. Now the question is, what are we going to be addicted to? Are we going to let the addiction happen to us? Are we going to get addicted to drugs and alcohol or television or something else?

00:23:27
Our cell phones? Or are we going to pick our addiction? Is it going to be exercise, our. Work, our sport, something like that? Something that we can actually get a benefit out of it it's our choice.

00:23:44
Yeah, well, at the end of the. Day, everything's a choice, especially our happiness. I say that all the time when I'm talking to guests. That it really is. It's your choice.

00:23:55
You have that choice every single day. Right. Just like anything else.

00:24:00
That's so true. And actually, I have a client and a coach, I would say an inspiration that we work with is Burke Castillo from the Life Coach School, and she says that all the time. She says that we get to create our own thoughts. That's right. And our thoughts create our feelings.

00:24:22
That's right. Our feelings, then create our actions. So we're in charge of it. We can decide what to think. I love that.

00:24:31
Yeah, a lot of people don't that concept. It's a little foreign to them, and that's okay. That's part of why I have this podcast, to just enlighten people and let them know that it is a choice, and the choice is yours. So, Dimitri, is there anything else that you'd like to share with the audience. Before we finish up?

00:24:55
Yeah, I would say that if you don't have a business yet but you've. Wanted to start something, maybe you have something you want to sell. Well, you can start on Etsy and sell something that you make. Just see how it goes. Maybe you have an expertise at something.

00:25:14
You're really good at crocheting, or you're amazing at teaching people how to drive or whatever it is. You can create a course and put that out there. You can do it for free on YouTube. You can sell it, but at least. Take the time and try.

00:25:34
Put it down, put it on paper, then put it out online. Online is the biggest network in the world, and you might as well try. And if you already do have an existing business and you're not using paid. Advertising yet, I suggest that you do. Try it, and you can do it yourself.

00:25:52
You don't have to use Google Ads. You can use Facebook, TikTok, pinterest. You can use any platform that you. Want to start with. And I would start with just one, but see how it goes.

00:26:07
You might find a pocket of audience that hasn't seen you yet. They're going to learn about you, buy from you, follow you, and you can. Spread your passion, and you can impact. The world at a much greater rate. Than you otherwise could have.

00:26:23
So please do consider trying to run advertisements. It's not a bad thing. It's a good thing. You're bringing value to the world. I love it.

00:26:34
Dimitri, thank you so much. And where can people get a hold of you and your website? Yes, so our website is biglifemarketing.com, and. You can see what we do. You can even schedule a consultation with us.

00:26:50
We don't ask for a lot of time. We're just going to see if maybe it'd be a good fit if you want to work with us. Or maybe we'll just audit your account. And see if we can help you. And then if you want to follow me along on social media, my favorite platform is on Twitter.

00:27:09
You can find me at Dimitri Smirnov. I'm posting there about all things Google. And YouTube ads and some other things, too, that sometimes just come into my mind that I want to share with the world and with the audience. So those two places will be best. All right, Dimitri Smirnov, thank you so much for the listeners.

00:27:34
Thank you so much for listening today. And his information will also be in. The show notes, so thank you. Thank you so much, Sandy, and best of luck for your continued success. Thank you so much.

00:27:46
Thank you.

00:27:55
But.

00:27:58
I certainly hope that you enjoyed today's interview. Thank you so much for joining me. And as always, I hope that you and your family are healthy and safe and that your lives are filled with. Peace, joy and happiness. Take care, everyone.