Interview with Chad DeBolt, Founder, Surchability

This interview is with Chad DeBolt, founder of Surchability.

Hi Chad, welcome to Featured! Could you start by telling us a bit about yourself and your journey as an entrepreneur?

I started my online marketing agency 16 years ago. I had recently been laid off as a recruiter, which was a 100% commission job. I was newly married, had a newborn son, and a daughter on the way.

The recruitment agency specialized in online marketing positions, and I fell in love with SEO.

Luckily, I had been teaching myself SEO for over two years late at night. So when I was laid off, I made the decision to start my new career in SEO.

I got my first clients from responding to Craigslist ads. Sixteen years later, I own a six-figure SEO agency.

You’ve built a successful marketing agency over the past 16 years. Can you share a pivotal moment or decision that significantly shaped your career trajectory?

I was still struggling to get my business off the ground when an opportunity to help start the online marketing department for an up-and-coming addiction treatment corporation came across my path.

I accepted that position, which became the reason why we now almost exclusively work with behavioral health organizations. It sort of put us on the map.

You emphasize prioritizing family time like client meetings. How do you manage the mental shift between “CEO mode” and “family man” when transitioning between those roles?

That’s a bit difficult since I work from home. I do what I call “batch time,” which means I group similar tasks together and block off time until they are completed. This goes for work tasks and family tasks.

You mentioned that becoming insanely good at sales is crucial for bootstrapped businesses. What’s your approach to effectively selling your product or service, especially in the early stages?

My approach is realizing nobody actually cares about you or the inner workings of your product or service. People want solutions to their problems. You have to realize you are not the star of the show. We have always painted ourselves as hired mercenaries versus a traditional agency.

You believe in consistently moving towards your goals, even on bad days. What advice would you give to entrepreneurs struggling with motivation or facing setbacks in their journey?

Always remember that success is not a straight line. Never accept mediocrity, but always take time to look back and celebrate how far you’ve come. Also, remember, if you want an exceptional life, you have to bear unbearable things sometimes.

Your “time batching” strategy optimizes your workflow. How do you recommend entrepreneurs identify and prioritize tasks, especially when starting out with numerous responsibilities?

You have to put things in various buckets (based on what’s important to you, not others).

For example:

– Important but not urgent

– Urgent and important

Realize if you are not prioritizing things for yourself, somebody else will.

Also, getting the most impactful things done first is always best. That way, if you are thrown a curveball later in the day, you are only missing out on busy work.

Looking back on your entrepreneurial journey, what’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned about building and managing a team?

It’s important to delegate, but it’s also important to have people you trust to delegate to.

What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who are hesitant to take the leap and start their own business?

Entrepreneurship can be the greatest thing that has ever happened to you. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it can legitimately change your family’s future.

Corporate America doesn’t care about you and will drop you as soon as they need to. You might as well believe in yourself and take your destiny into your own hands.